This week we played our recent purchase of Viticulture for the first time. As a learning-game with two players the experience was fine. It was not exceptional but still enjoyable and very thematic.

I think it blends some worker placement and order-fullfilment well. We will have to play a couple more times to make a final assessment.

We also played our classics Dominion and Ark Nova

We have settled a bit more and had the chance to whip out some games: We played one game each of Ark Nova and Castles of Burgundy with two players. I think these two games are our current two-player favorites and it does not feel like something is left out when playing it (unlike some other games for more than two players).

We also played two 4-player session of Clank!: Catacombs - I love it more and more, maybe not with two players but with 3+ its great fun. It can be more deadly than the first and I enjoy this. Depending on the explored dungeon, the exit might be very easy or really hard. I like that a lot. Dungeon crawling, deckbuilding, exploration, interesting decision and fun mechanisms.

And last but not least is Amritsar - it was all our first time playing but our host was very well prepared and guided us through the beginning. We were 4 players and the game combines a few different mechanics like those found in 5-Tribes. While the game is interesting, it did not click with me. It was fun playing it but I dont think I would choose it again as a game on the table.

We are in the middle of moving to a new city but we managed to still squeeze in some sessions with our current group.

We played Terraforming Mars for one last time as a 4 player game. Its a bit cursed because I lost once again with a single point. We almost managed to cover the entire planet with structures. Very fun session.

We also played a 2 player session of Ark Nova - I lost that game but honestly this was good because otherwise my gf just hates the game and we would play it less.

We also played another 4 player of Burgundy which was our final game with that group.

Now looking for new players in Barcelona;)

I really wanna try Pandemic at some point but am afraid of quaterbacking. Do you see this as a problem?

We played some more Castles of Burgundy with two players, it was a tight race with only 2 point difference!

We also played some Exploding Kittens with 5 and I will never like this game. Its super random and not enjoyable.

We also played a 5-player game of 7 Wonders which was a bit chaotic because we had not played it for a long time. Its still a good game for the casual crowd (better than exploding kittens for sure)

We also played one 2-player game of Ark Nova. Still enjoy every game as much as the last

We had a very busy week and only managed to squeeze in one game of Ark Nova. It remains my favorite game for two players.

We also had some family over with whom we played some games before even though they are not that much into boardgames. They usually play lighter Euros like 7Wonders Duel of the like. We introduced them to Castles of Burgundy. It was a gruesomely long game, at least 3.5 hours. In particular one of the relatives was stuck in analysis paralysis for a long time. Even though he was the last player, it felt like he did all the thinking when his turns start. However, Burgundy remains a really strong game and I usually just try to reach at least 200 points towards the end of the game.

The good thing was, since the game lasted until 2am, we had the prime-time window for the Peresid Metero Shower which was really spectacular. One was so strong that its tail remained visible for much longer than normal ones and was not a thin streak but more a thick line tapering on both ends. We also spotted Andromeda with our Binos.

oh wow, its retro gaming. Which one do you prefer?

We played some Castles of Burgundy during the week. The first session I managed to almost fill my entire board and scored almost 250 points in the end. The second session was a bit more of a slog, the board was hard to fill and in the end I scored 208 points. Was still a lot of fun but one thing we keep on noticing, the dies are loaded. Depending on which color you choose, your dies will land more often on certain numbers. Its super odd. This creates a situation where a specific board might be super easy for one player, but super hard for another, depending on the color chosen.

We also played more Ark Nova It still remains my favorite at the moment. After a stomp earlier this week my gf was against playing the game again. However, in the end, I managed to convince her by helping her along a bit with a strategy for the early game. That game turned into a tight race, while she did not win, it was close, only a few points difference. At other session it could be well over 20-30 points apart.

I also tried the sp variant of Ark Nova. I lost miserably and while the game in essence stays the same, you get a lot less actions and need to prioritize a lot. Will give it a go again this week.

Deckbuilders are one of my favorite genres and Dominion and Clank are both in my collection, including addons and so forth. I also tried El Dorado but have to say it felt like a poor version of Clank. I did not find it very thrilling or the cards fun.

I also had the pleasure of playing El Grande and for that it is a Eurogame, its pretty much confrontation pure. It worked really well though and I think its a very special game. If you can get your hands on it, I really recommend it for 4 to 5 players!

Haha, I try to be less analytical in games, this app would destroy me and possibly the fun of the others I play with.

Its probably cool to optimize each game and I would even like to do it for some of them. But this only works well if the others can invest just as much into theory-crafting and data analysis otherwise I would just win most of my games and nobody would like to play anymore.

When I found by accident that chapel is the best card in Dominion and tried it out and won all games where there is a chapel it is now a banned card from the table :D

Interesting challenge! Its curious how programming leads to this systematic analysis and the revelation of complexity even for “simple” things

There are some games where the turn order can be influenced that I am not sure are covered by your rules:

5 tribes has a auction-style system by players committing a certain amount of currency to occupy a specific slot in the turn. For 2 player game each player goes twice and auctions twice for the upcoming turn

Bot factory is using a rotating worker placing mechanic with 4 sections with each 2-3 worker position, with the limitation that you cannot remain in the same section

Castles of Burgundy player order divided in 5 turns divided into 5 phases which changes depending on playing certain tiles (ships and specific monasteries)

I think it even took them a while to introduce the „Kennerspiel“ category. Maybe we need something like an Expert category.