Jan 16-17th

Thursday was the last day of teaching games that we are familiar with, and because I taught on Tuesday I was assigned to play a game. We ended up playing Amazonas, which is a resource based game that is set around establishing settlements in the Amazon. I found this one to be pretty interesting, because it combines with how well you can plan for the future. You play a resource card that gives you income, but depending on the card that is flipped on the field, you may have your income halved, or with luck doubled. So it really forces you to play to the future, because if you use your high income cards early, you might have trouble keeping up with everyone. I thought it was interesting though how it combined the river and the jungle paths, because I was used to just focusing on the jungle paths. It was somewhat like Ticket to Ride because your goal is to take control of settlements on certain areas of the map. I was planning a long path to get my 4th and final settlement, but I ended up realizing that I could move on the rivers for half the cost. There's a lot of planning on the game, which makes it a lot deeper than it first appears.

After that we ended up playing a card game. Card games are probably my least favorite group games to play, they've just never grabbed my interest. It took a little while to get the hang of the game, especially because the game isn't of english origin, and whenever a phrase came in I didn't know I got confused. But it was fun overall, and by the end I feel like I was starting to get the hang of it. I enjoyed the competition, though I'm more looking forward to the Coop stuff on Monday. I really enjoy games where you work together, it makes it that much more entertaining and strategic.

I enjoyed the speaker on Friday, it was interesting to see how something such as an interest in games can last an entire lifetime. His collection and knowledge of games was impressive, and I really appreciated his enthusiasm for the games and the groups of friends that he's fostered. I also found the cons really interesting too. I personally want to go to Comicon at some point, but the one convention in Indianapolis sounds really cool, and it's a lot closer. It's something I'm definitely going to consider going to in the future.