For me last year, I played only a couple of new games (which was really weird since I was at the Geekway during May of last year). I recorded four new games in May of 2016 - two were new from Geekway's Play to Win Table, and the other two were also learned at the Geekway.
This hadn't been delivered from Kickstarter yet at this point last year, but Jamey Stegmaier had donated an early copy to the Geekway for the Play-To-Win table. Myself, my girlfriend Alyson and my buddy Robert managed to sit down to the first game play of Scythe at the Geekway to see what the buzz was about. Since then, I have not had a chance to play Scythe again, but here is what I remember about the game - it was beautiful. I really liked the art style and all the bits etc. As for the game itself, it felt like an odd combination of engine/euro/war game. The fighting wasn't central to the game and not in a destroy you like Risk kind of thing. There were mechanics that reminded me of Euphoria, though it wasn't really the same kind of game. My gut reaction to the game was that it was good, but I didn't see why the hype was so high. I still don't, though admittedly that was my sole play of this game ever. VERDICT: Scythe currently sits in the BGG Top 10, though from my one play, I kind of feel like that is more hype than because this is truly a Top 10 game. If I ever get to play this again, I could opine about this more appropriately. For now, I can't say anything one way or another.
Alyson and my daughter both like deduction games, as do I. When I saw this and read the box description, I decided we should try it out (plus it has Charles Xavier on the box top). Alyson and I only played a partial game, but I enjoyed it enough and knew my daughter would like it, so when I didn't win it from the Play to Win drawings, I bought the game. The game is pretty straight forward. Each player gets a board that is a large grid of pictures (wizard hat, cauldron, deck of cards, magic hat, etc) in various colors (orange, white, black, green, etc). Each player picks one spot on the board and the other player tries to deduce what it is. You call out a grid spot - like M-8 (Orange witch's hat) and the other player says yes or no. No means that your item is not in row M, nor column 8, nor orange, nor a witch's hat. Yes can mean that any of the choices matched. So a no would mean I could mark off all of row M, all of column 8, orange and witch's hat. After a couple of no's, you can really start making better elimination choices to whittle down the selection. When a player is ready to guess, they declare so and make their choice. VERDICT: still the same as when I purchased it. The game plays quickly and is a good logic puzzle between two players who are racing to solve a similar puzzle. You can get unluck and hit a couple of "yes" choices early, which makes it harder, but a quick mind helps.
Justin Heimberger and his daughter introduced this little press your luck game to us. We all pressed our luck a bit too much and we all drowned/suffocated trying to get our treasures back to our sub. You roll a die to move and the more you are carrying, the less you can move (thus the fair amount of press your luck). It is a simple little filler game that kids will probably enjoy. VERDICT: Though I only played this once, it is simple enough to know that it is what it is - just a funny little filler. Not bad nor great. There are a ton of games that fit this bill.
Christopher Darden has a number of large games that he brings to the Geekway library every year and my friend Robert and I usually end up playing one or more of them. This incredibly loud shuffleboard kind of thing was there and so of course we tried it. Basically, you are sliding really heavy wood pucks down a long chute and trying to get them to slide into the small openings to various slots. It is a bar game and yeah, it is pretty loud. Definitely one of those things you get if you have a basement with foosball, pinball, darts, etc. VERDICT: not a game I'd try and own I think, even if I had the aforementioned gamer space. There wasn't anything particularly striking about the game to me, and like I said, it is LOUD. It was a cool novelty to be sure.
So there it is. After a year, one thumb up, one that needs more play and two that didn't impress.
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