July 2008 Game of the Month

Well, July ended up being a lean month for gaming. I've been pretty busy just packing and trying to get my house sold (including trying to get my house repaired from storm damage last month). This pretty much left me with one game night and some cards with my folks another. Oh well. So, the game of the month this time is still a great game. Medici is one of Knizia's best auction games. The play is simple, so teaching the mechanics doesn't take very long *(even if you play the auction the wrong way). The beauty of this game is the risk/reward bidding. Your bids are done with your victory points. If you bid high early, you may miss out on things you need later. Wait too long, and there may be nothing left for you to bid on (cheaply or not). In short, when played with players that are familiar with the game, it becomes a great big game of chicken. There are loads of ways to score points each round, so you have to balance scoring (getting paid) with building up something that will help you a couple rounds later. This is fast and tense and I really really like this game. I have the new version of the game, which has a much better board (there are still flaws as far as I'm concerned, but it is still way way way better than the last crappy version). This version also uses tiles for the goods instead of cards, which are nice, yet not as easy to use as the cards. The tiles should hold up longer than cards being shuffled and handled and bent, but its really much easier to deal cards off a deck than to pull tiles from the bag (and try not to look at them) before each round. Its also easier to pass the deck than the bag of tiles. These are small quibbles though. If you are looking to get this game, buy the new release. Its pretty inexpensive and its about the best version I've seen so far.