I managed to piece a game night together involving five of my fellow history grad students plus (coming in late) Josh, AKA Mr. Cranky. We played in an empty classroom, my apartment being, um, otherwise occupied by extreme messiness. It actually worked out well; it may become our gaming venue of choice. Centrally-located (I'm on the edge of town), spacious...the only downside is that I have to take the games along, which requires some advance planning. But no matter.
The night began with dinner. I think we may have walked into an episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares; it's always a good sign when the waiter says that, quote, "Everything is going wrong tonight." And it seemed to have been. The tea machine was busted (bad news for a Chinese restaurant), service was spotty, some of the food was a little dodgy, but we seem to have emerged essentially unscathed.
Upon our return, waiting for Josh, we busted out Transamerica. This was unquestionably the hit of the evening, and perhaps the most intense and passionate game of Transamerica ever played. They quickly intuited the first rule of Transamerica: Your cards are awful, and you need to express it boldly."
"This one isn't a real city!"
"I don't think this is in the United States.
"It is mathematically impossible to connect these cities."
Some of the other rules were less easily intuited. Being a group of relatively novice gamers, some were faster learners than others--it took fifteen minutes to explain the rules of TA, but we did get going eventually.
And good Lord almighty did we get going. The game clearly hit some sort of pleasure center in the brain, as what resulted was over an hour of shouting, gesticulating, trash-talking (!), crying aloud, swearing--all at high-volume. We played about four rounds, six-player, all told (in, again, an hour or so), and never actually finished a game.
Josh arrived in the midst of this ("I shudder to think of how you guys would react to Transeuropa"), and when we finished that round we broke into two groups. Josh introduced three folks to the world of competitive zoo operation (Zooloretto, of course) while I guided two gamers through Metropolys.
Metropolys was a big hit as well. It was good to see them appreciate a somewhat brainier game, and they got their heads around the weird auction system quickly. One guy didn't grasp part of the final scoring...but it wouldn't have mattered in the end. I won by seven points, 40-33-18.
Zooloretto was a quieter experience than TA, which seemed to make it go down a little less well, but I can't really speak to that.
I have to admit that I was a little taken aback by just how intense Transamerica was. Part of me always hopes that the meatier fare will do better than the appetizers and desserts, but then again it's my job--as the gaming host--to ensure that my guests have fun, rather than that they become educated in the ways of Higher Gaming. Enthusiasm seemed to run high for another game night--and they liked the looks of Union Pacific...p'raps they're climbing the ladder after all.
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