Last night I stopped by Borders again to game with the Dallas Gamers.  I convinced Brandon to come along, and we met up with his friend Eran, who I’ve heard about and seen before, but never officially met.  There were several other people standing around looking for games, and eventually a game of Robo Rally was started.  I wanted to play, but opted out to teach a couple of other players how to play Alhambra.  This was my third game of Alhambra in four days, so I may have to lay off for a while.  I played with two guys named Jason and Mike, who took to the game well.  So well, in fact, that they crushed me.  Jason took to the strategy immediately, always picking up two currency cards if possible, and buying with exact change very often.  I know I’m not particularly good at the game, but I did suffer from some poor luck for most of the game.  I rarely had the opportunity to buy buildings in the colors I needed, settling for purchasing ones I didn’t.  That ensured I rarely scored first place, and wound up with a lot of third place finishes.  It was not my best effort, but I’m glad I got to introduce another two players to the game.  It continues to be one of my new favorites.

Shortly after I finished up with Alhambra, Brandon and Eran ended their game of Robo Rally.  From what I hear, they were playing some sort of partner scenario.  I’d like to get my hands on a copy of the rules to see just what’s changed from the different versions.  The three of us sat down to play a game of Cape Horn, and were joined by John as a fourth.  This was a new game for me.  Fundamentally it is another race game, but just like Around the World in 80 Days, it plays much differently than how I expect a racing game to play.  The limited selection of tiles a player may play, along with the opportunity your opponents have to fiddle with your plans gives the game a nice feel.  All four of us grabbed the first flag fairly quickly, but due to some lucky tile draws I was able to beat everyone to the second set of flags.  While everyone else went for the 3–flag victory condition, I raced for the finish line with 2 flags.  I made a mistake getting there that very nearly cost me the game, but at this point everyone was trying to keep everyone else from winning.  I had just enough time to cross the finish line the turn before Eran grabbed his final flag.  I really enjoyed this game, and loved how it could be played quickly.

We finished up the night with two quick plays of the filler game Diamant.  Again, this was a new game to me.  It is very light, but enjoyable with the maximum 8 players.  At its heart it is a bluffing game.  There are 5 caverns that the players explore in sequence, making up 5 rounds of play.  Each round, a series of cards are flipped face-up representing the next section of the cavern.  There are two basic possible cards – a hazard card or a numbered card.  If a numbered card is turned, a number of jewels matching the number on the card are evenly divided between the players.  Any remaining jewels are placed on the card.  The players then secretly decide whether to leave the cavern and keep any accumulated jewels or press on, risking what they already have.  Any players who vote to leave evenly split any remaining jewels on the cards and sit out the remainder of the round.  However, the jewels they accumulate are “safe”.  Any remaining players keep playing.  When a hazard card is turned up, a check is made to see if it is the second of that type (there are 5 different types of hazards).  If not, play continues.  If it is the second of a type, the players in the cavern lose any jewels they have accumulated, and play moves on to the next round, with all players participating.

Diamant is simply a bluffing / guessing game where you weigh risk versus reward.  If you leave the cavern too soon, you risk other players collecting many, many more jewels.  Too late and you may wind up with nothing.  The game is very simplistic, and I wouldn’t want to play with less than a large group.  It plays very well for a large-group filler, and was a nice way to relax at the end of a night of gaming.

I had another fun night playing with the group at Borders.  The biggest advantage is being able to draw from such a large game library.  I love to play new games, and there is always something new with this group.  This was also the third straight time I’ve seen Louis XIV being played, and the third straight time I missed out!  One of these nights I’m going to get to try it out.  Pictures are in the gallery.