Review: Are You the Traitor?

It’s been some time (read: ages) since I wrote a review, so it’s time to remedy that with a review of Looney Labs’ Are You the Traitor?


I’m a big fan of Werewolf, and I particularly enjoy moderating games. Of course, being a moderator means not participating in the game as a “player”, so it’s good to be one of the villagers every now and then.

One of the other “issues” with Werewolf is that once you’re night time fodder for the werewolves, or a victim of the noose during a day phase, your participation in the game is over and you have to watch the rest of the game play out from the sidelines (although this can have its own voyeuristic fun).

If you are one of those people who doesn’t like that aspect of Werewolf, then Are You the Traitor? could be the game for you. It features similar secret roles and a good team and an evil team, but everyone plays at all times, and everyone can change roles multiple times throughout the game. It does, however, max out at 10 players, but can be played with as few as 4.

OK, that’s enough of the lycanthropic comparisons for now. Here’s what you get in a game of Are You The Traitor?: 56 cards.

Well, 56 cards and a rule sheet.

The cards themselves come in three types: Character, Wizard Alignment, and Treasure cards.


At the start of each round, the character cards are shuffled and each player receives one card face-down. You can end up as one of four characters: The Key Holder, a Guard, a Wizard, or the eponymous Traitor (insert evil organ music here).

The number of each type of character is determined by the number of players. For example with four players, there will be one of each character, but with 10 players, the split is: 1 Key Holder (there is only ever 1 Key Holder), 2 Traitors (double the trouble), 3 Wizards (triple the wizardry¹), and 4 Guards (quadruple the, er, guardiness).

The Key Holder and Guards are on the side of goodness while the Traitor is, as one would suspect, captain of the evil team (note: there are no actual captains, but given the title of the game, anyone playing a Traitor has a right to a certain degree of cockiness).

That leaves the Wizards. These guys can be good or evil. That’s where the Wizard Alignment cards come in.


Anyone who is a Wizard must reveal his or her Character card. They are then given an Alignment card which must be kept secret. In any game with two Wizards, one will be good and one will be evil. Things get more interesting in a 9 or 10 player game when there are three Wizards. At least one is Good and one is Evil, but no one knows what the actual Good/Evil split is.

Now the Key Holder, while quite an important role, doesn’t get to remain as secret as he or she may wish. If there at least 6 players, then everyone except the Wizards gets to know who the Key Holder is. So it’s ye-olde-close-yon-eyes-thou-casters-of-magic-while-yonder-Key-Holder-makes-it-known-the-Evil-Magic-Key-is-in-his-or-her-possession time.

The last reveal belongs to the Traitors. If there are two Traitors (as there are in 8-10 player games) then everyone must close their eyes and allow time for the Traitors to open their eyes and identify each other.

After that it’s a free-for-all with unstructured conversation between all players. Everyone tries to figure out who everyone else is with suspicions flying left, right and centre. Who looks shifty? Which of the Wizards is good and which is evil? Who are the dastardly Traitors?

This can go on for some time or be over very quickly. The round ends when one player points to another player and cries “Stop!”

Why would they do this? Well, the thing is each player has a job to do. Everyone except the Traitor(s) has a target they are trying to identify:

The Evil Wizard, who wants the Evil Magic Key for his or her cunning and evil plans, is trying to find the Key Holder.

The Key Holder wants the Evil Magic Key to be destroyed and so wants to give the Key to the Good Wizard.

The Good Wizard and the Guards, meanwhile, are on the hunt for a Traitor.

The Traitor doesn’t have a target player so his or her job is to lie low and try to help the Evil Wizard.

If any player thinks they have identified their target, that’s when the finger pointing and “Stop!” calling come in. The round ends immediately and everyone reveals their cards. If the player who called “Stop!” has correctly identified his or her target, then everyone on that team (good or evil) wins the round and receives a Treasure card. If the person is wrong, then the members of the other team each get a Treasure card.


The Treasures are valued from 0 to 5 points, and the idea is to collect at least 10 points worth of the shiny stuff in order to win the game. This can be aided using the 1 Point Magic Rings which you can trade in in order to steal a random Treasure card from one opponent. You’d better hope that person doesn’t have a worthless Gilded Statue, as you have to take that card if the person has one.

Once the loot has been divided, all the Character and Wizard Alignment cards are shuffled and re-dealt, and the next round begins. You may very well find yourself on the opposite side of the Good/Evil divide and gunning for the Key Holder instead of trying to protect him or her.

This keeps going, round by round, until one person reaches the 10 point threshold. At that point, everyone else curses their misfortune (read: inability to bluff well) and quite possibly voices the desire to play again.

And that’s the game. From a fairly simple premise, the game can get quite clever with players learning how to play in their best interests. If you are the Good Wizard, you not only want to find a Traitor, which can be difficult, but you can also appeal to the Key Holder to give the Key to you.

Similarly if you are the Evil Wizard, you probably want people to think you are the Good Wizard. If you can convince the Key Holder to point to you, then you win. Of course, you don’t necessarily want everyone to think you’re good, as you also win if a Traitor, who knows the identity of the Key Holder, can surreptitiously point out the Key Holder to you.

And that’s just the start of the strategies. Usually at last once in games we play, the Traitor just comes right out and shouts “Key Holder!” while pointing at that player. It then becomes a race between the Evil Wizard on one side (who now knows who the Key Holder is) and the Good Wizard and Guards on the other (who have just had the Traitor revealed to them) to point at their respective targets. It usually comes down to whoever is most on the ball. And in the race to point to someone, players can often point to the wrong player!

There is even more room for cunningness with the maximum number of players. With fewer players, and only two Wizards, it is in the Evil Wizard’s best interest to claim that he or she is the Good Wizard. Christine tried the truth once when she was the Evil Wizard. No one targets the Evil Wizard, so Christine’s plan was to announce herself as the Evil Wizard so the Traitor would then point out the Key Holder to her. Unfortunately it backfired when the Key Holder (me) immediately pointed to the other Wizard and shouted “Stop!”

With three Wizards in play however, there is an incentive for an Evil Wizard to claim he or she is evil. As the Key Holder can’t be sure if one or both of the remaining Wizards is good, the Traitors have time to secretly signal the Evil Wizard. Then again, there’s nothing to stop a Guard pretending to be a Traitor and signal secretly to the Evil Wizard and point him or her to the wrong target...

And so it goes. On most occasions I’ve played this we played more than one game. It’s quick, easy to learn, and a lot of fun. There’s just something about secret role games that tickles people’s fancy. It’s the thrill of having your own little secret and being able to keep that secret or, even better, convince the other team you’re on their side.

On the down side, whether you win or lose a round is often outside your control, and whether you win or lose the game can come down to the luck of the Treasure card draw. But hey, if you get screwed by the Treasure cards, then that’s just an incentive to play again.

If you’ve never played one of these secret role party games, or if you can’t muster the numbers of players needed for a decent game of Werewolf, or you just want to try something new that’s not overly taxing on the grey matter, then give Are You the Traitor? a try.


1. Back in my youth I used to play a Commodore 64 game called Wizardry. Not to be confused with the RPG of the same name, this one was an isometric “graphical adventure” game in which you walked round a dungeon trying to find hidden objects and shoot spells at monsters and walls. I seem to recall it was incredibly fickle. If you didn’t line up a spell precisely (usually by lining your character up on just the right crack on the floor) it wouldn’t hit its target and you pretty much had to start the game all over again (being the C64 you couldn't save your progress). Of course with the incredibly obscure puzzles, knowing exactly what to cast and where was nigh on impossible without the walkthrough that came with the game. Except the walkthrough was only for Level 1. I think I eventually trial-and-errored my way through Level 2 but didn’t get much further. I much preferred the isometric adventuring of Head Over Heels, my all time favourite Commodore 64 game.

Amuse-bouche: Return from the Great Beyond

So yeah, this Great Beyond thing. So great and beyondy that it's so easy to get lost in a non-blog world of beyondness.

Which is my way of saying I've been a slack bastard and haven't blogged in ages.

I have kept my game stats up to date, and I do have a half written draft for my World Without End review sitting here, and I have been playing lots of games. But yeah, I need to write more.

With that said, today's amuse-bouche concerns the games I've purchased in the last couple of months, and my brief thoughts on them so far.

Firstly we have Red Dead Redemption. Not a board game. I've been playing the hell out of it on my PS3 and loving it. I've played through the story mode once and I'm now playing through again in a bid to get 100% completion. Highly, highly recommended. Riding horses around the Wild West and shooting innocent people and bunnies has never been so much fun.

There's only one little teensy weensy problem with my quest to get 100% completion on Red Dead Redemption. And that is a little timesink game known as Starcraft II. I loved the original, and I'm really loving this one too. I'm 6 or so missions into the single player campaign and can also highly recommend this one, especially for fans of the original.

Starcraft II is pretty much more of the same as the original except with more polish and a lot of new units. And the Battle.net interface is fantastic. There are extra challenges to teach you more skills than the basic tutorial does, and I've also become somewhat of an achievement whore. There's just something about collecting achievements and getting those extra points that's so damn addictive.

The only negative thing I have to say about Starcraft II is the dialogue. The scripting is pretty average, and the voice acting is quite universally awful. Don't let that put you off, though, because overall it's a very polished and entertaining package, even if it is only one third of the single player game (with two more games due out in coming months to complete the campaign).

So, other than those two non-board games, on a trip to Brisbane last week The Giggling One and I picked up Dixit (her choice) and Fresco (my choice).

We played Dixit at a recent HoGS night and both loved its artistic simplicity. I thought it was a little light to win the Spiel des Jahres, but it's clever and family friendly.

I haven't played Fresco before. I've read (and watched) a few reviews and heard nothing but good things. It sounded like my type of game so I figured I'd take the opportunity to grab it while we were in a city that actually sells decent board games. :-)

Oh, and we also bought the Inns & Cathedrals expansion for Carcassonne. It was a spur of the moment decision, but having taken the basic game to Queensland with us (to have an easy-to-learn game to play with my parents), we wanted to flesh out our Carcassonne experience a little more. We're yet to play it, but hopefully we'll get a chance soon.
 

World Without End

Kingsbridge, England, 1337. It has been 200 years since Prior Philip’s cathedral was built. The cathedral still dominates the town, but now the monastery has been joined by a convent, and wool has become the major commodity traded at the market. This is World Without End.


If you’ve read Ken Follett’s novel on which the game is based, playing this game may well mean more to you, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable strategy game if you haven’t read the book. Because it is. The fact that it won the 2010 Spiel des Jahres Plus award is more than enough reason to check out this game. But seriously, read the book anyway. Ken Follett is a brilliant wordsmith and both The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End are fantastic reads.

In World Without End - I was about to start abbreviating the game as “WWE”, but I kept picturing big beefy blokes throwing each other around a ring, so I think I’ll stick with the full name – players earn victory points by undertaking various tasks around Kingsbridge. Rather than place workers on the board to signify what you want to do, each player instead has action cards. In the six rounds of each of the game's four chapters (yes, that’s 24 rounds all up but don’t worry – it’s not excessively long), you are allowed to choose 1 action per round from your 12 available actions. Everyone has the same 12 actions, so there’s no blocking another player from taking a particular action by getting in first. Of course, you can always make one action less desirable for another player if you jump in and grab that last wheat token or complete the building project they had their eye on.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s do this by the book and start by having a gander at the board.


It’s pretty isn’t it? Michael Menzel has done a fantastic job with World Without End. Around the outside of the board is the ubiquitous victory point track. Down the left side of the board are the field, quarry, and forest where the wheat, stone, and wood tokens are placed. A smattering of houses surrounds the wool market in the centre of town, along with various other buildings including the famous cathedral. The bottom left of the board depicts Leper Island where you will be able to build your own houses during the game. Finally, there’s a favour track forming an arch in the bottom centre of the board.

A sizable amount of extra stuff also comes with the game.


While stone and wood come in the ever-popular cube motif, the wheat actually looks somewhat wheaty which is nice. Wool and cloth are, erm, curvy, carpety shaped. Other (not pictured) "resources",for want of a better term, are represented by cardboard tokens. These include medical knowledge, piety, and loyalty.


For those interested in accumulating a little wealth, gold coins are also provided in three denominations.


Each player also gets their own supply of 4 houses, 2 donation seals, a scoring token, and most importantly, a nifty screen to hide stuff behind. Handily, the screen also has a picture to keep you amused and to remind you of the mandatory duties you must pay at the end of each chapter.


There are also seven buildings which may come on to the board during the game, and which you may help build by contributing resources. While the bridge and the tower come on to the board at the start of the first and third chapters respectively, the other buildings will only come on if the appropriate event card is drawn.


Speaking of event cards, each round starts with the topmost event card being drawn by the starting player for the round (the player who starts the game is the last player who built something, so if you want to go first in round 1, you may want to knock something together before you play). There are actually 11 event cards per chapter, but with only 6 rounds per chapter, 5 cards from each chapter won't be used.

If you have a glance at the picture above, you'll see that event cards come in two exotic colours: red and blue. Red means the event is one-off and immediate (you do what it says straight away). For example, the event card for Chapter III shown above reads "Each player receives his or her choice of either 1 wood or 1 stone or 1 medical knowledge." Blue cards, however, mean the event is long-term, and will generally last until the end of the current chapter. These events are not taken into account until the action card phase of each round (we're coming to that).

You may also have noticed that each event card also happens to have a picture of a resource in each corner. After resolving the event (if necessary), the current player gets to orient the card in any one of four ways. Each player then gets the resource that is facing them (it therefore helps if players are seated along each edge of the board). So yay, a free resource for everyone.

But the event card fun doesn't end there, oh no. Also depicted on each card is a little red arrow along one edge. The current player must also take this into account, for whichever direction the arrow ends up pointing then determines how the marker on the favour track moves (from 0 to 3 spaces). If the marker moves then the current player gets their own little benefit dependent upon the space it lands on. Bonuses like VPs, piety, wool, or wheat are available. Alternatively you could end up losing money to the outlaws. Funnily enough, most players tend to avoid that outcome.

Alrighty, so now everyone's got some resources, and the current player hopefully has a bonus. This means it's time to move on to the action card phase.


There are 12 action cards in total, and all players get exactly the same set of cards. Each turn you get to play one of your actions. These let you do things like gain grain, wood, stone, or piety, or build a house on Leper Island, or contribute resources to a building project. Each building project, by the way has its own little spot on the board so it seamlessly blends in with the rest of the artwork. Nice.


All of these actions have their perks, particularly the building project one as you can gain 3 VPs per wood or stone you place on a building. In the third and fourth chapters, the Medicine action can come in handy as you can gain stuff by curing residents of Kingsbridge of the plague. Each action card can only be played once per chapter, so some degree of planning helps.

Another tricky thing the designers have put into the rules in the action phase is a cunning little mechanic called discarding. You see, every time you choose one of your action cards to play, you must discard another card from your hand. This discarded action will not become available until the next chapter. This makes planning ahead even more vital, because if you find you want to play an action you've already discarded, then too bad. Of course, if you're not quite sure what you're doing, then planning can be difficult. So good luck with that, then.

I mentioned the plague earlier. The plague is a central theme of the novel, and it also plays a role in the board game. After the end of Chapter II, the houses in Kingsbridge, along with the outlaws, may become infected. This is achieved in the game by randomly distributing the plague markers face down on each house.

Thereafter, in Chapters III and IV, each event card also has a house number on it. That house's plague token is turned face-up to see how many inhabitants are affected by the plague. If you wish to cure a house, and therefore gain a reward (generally 2 VPs plus a resource), you'll need to not only play the Medicine action card, but also have accumulated enough medical knowledge tokens equal to or greater than the number of infected inhabitants. The good news is you don't lose medical knowledge by using it, so you can go on to cure another house in the next chapter (or indeed the same chapter if you use the Privilege action that allows you to repeat your last action).

And so the game goes. Players gain resources and then use them to do stuff in order to gain VPs. Easy.

Yeah, I'm fibbing a bit. If accumulating and using resources was all there was to it, this game would be a lot simpler, and a darn sight less frustrating (in a good way), than it actually is.

And that's because of the dues. Just like Agricola, where you have to worry about feeding your family when each harvest comes around, in World Without End each player is required to pay dues to the king at the end of each chapter. And he's a right greedy bastard.

Every player must pay two piety, two wheat, and a gold tax equivalent to the roll of the tax die (a d6 with sides 2,3,3,4,4,5 just like the tax die in The Pillars of the Earth). Failure to cough up the required dues results in loss of Victory Points as well as an additional penalty applied in the next chapter.


Not enough piety? Then it's penance for you miladdo. You don't get to choose your action card discard in the next round - someone else randomly chooses it for you. Ouch. At least you'll get an action in the next round, unless of course you can't pay your tax. Double ouch.

I found that ensuring you have the requisite resources to pay your dues is always in the back of your mind as each chapter goes on. That's not to say you can't do other things, because you can; it's just that it's a very delicate balance of accumulating a decent amount of resources, while avoiding those dreaded penalties. It can be quite difficult to play an entire game without once being penalised, especially when you only have control over the event card once or twice per chapter.

Frustrating though it may seem, and somewhat of a grind early on, World Without End is still a solid, enjoyable game. The mechanics are clever, and work in nicely with the novel. There is very little down time as everyone is involved in every round. There are just enough screw-your-opponent options in the game to be satisfying, but not game changing. And that's always a good thing.

If you like your "Euro" strategy games like Caylus, Agricola, or The Pillars of the Earth you'll like World Without End. I do.
 

Amuse-bouche: The Great Flood

Inspiration. Sometimes it's there. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it doesn't need to be there.

It's the middle one for me. But here I am back blogging again.

OK, enough of the flimsy excuses. Time to write about something gamey.

Like my "quest" to make my own game this year. Erm...

Moving on then, surely it's time for a new review. I did score Dominion: Seaside, Agricola: Farmers of the Moor, and World Without End for my birthday earlier this year. While I've played the former once, and the second game not at all, it's the third game I'm keen to write my next review about. Except I've only half played it, and I'm not going to put up a post until I've played it at least once all the way through.

Why only half a game of World Without End? Well, I could make a really lame joke and say we couldn't finish it cos it's without end, but the truth is slightly more interesting: The Great Kingsbridge Flood.

A very quick overview: World Without End is based on the novel of the same name by Ken Follett, which is itself a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, which was also made into a board game by the same designers who made this new one. While both games are set in the town of Kingsbridge, World Without End plays completely differently to Pillars.

The plague plays a significant role in the novel, and is introduced to the game half way through. After playing two of the four chapters in the game, the houses on the board become infected with the plague, which the players can combat using medical knowledge they have accumulated. Except the plague never came to Kingsbridge in the game we played. It would have come, except the town was wiped out by a flood first.

One of the players, who I do not wish to shame in any way, accidentally knocked over a glass of water, spilling its contents upon the board. A large portion of the board was covered as well as pieces both on and off the board. To the credit of the mortified flooder, the next hour was spent drying out the pieces between pieces of paper towel weighed down by books, and ironing the board (beneath tea towels) in an attempt to minimise the water damage.

To this person's further credit, upon realising that the game board and some components were not what they were to begin with, another game was promptly ordered online and shipped directly to me. So now I have a brand new copy of World Without End, while the water damaged, but still very much playable, version now belongs to the generous water spiller.

I haven't had a chance to get the game out again at another HoGS night, but I make the commitment now to bring a review up the vacuum thingy as soon as a full game is under my belt.

Speaking of HoGS (he segues, having deliberately mentioned HoGS in the preceding paragraph), the Hobart Games Society is well on its way to become a fully fledged, registered organisation. While we're not formally registered yet, we do have a committee and officers and members, and have had a couple of committee meetings. I am pleased to say that yours truly was elected as Secretary.

Which means I get to write minutes and agendas and other exciting stuff to make me feel important.

Happy Easter to everyone out there, especially those in the gaming blogosphere whose writings I do enjoy. Here's hoping you get a chance for some good gaming over the long weekend. I know I will.

Bellamy Sports: Bellamy Bunny-Oon

If you thought the other Bellamy Sports were odd, then hold on to your hats folks - you ain't seen nothing yet!

What do you do when you're at someone's birthday party and you want to have a little fun? Easy. You play Bellamy Bunny-Oon.

Now what the *&^# is Bellamy Bunny-Oon you ask? You may come to regret asking that, but you're gonna have a lot of fun if you try it.

Bellamy Bunny-Oon came into existence in 2000 at Leah's birthday party. To celebrate ten years of Bunny-Oon, we played it again last Saturday at my birthday party.

For Bellamy Bunny-Oon, you need a few things: friends, seats/couches, and balloons. You can have a few drinks as well, but you'll want to keep them well clear of the play area.

This game is best played with plenty of balloons. About 50 balloons will do nicely, though most are for decoration (it is a party after all).

Players divide into two even teams. Three to five players per team is a good number, as long as you can accommodate that many people sitting side by side. If you have an uneven number of people who want to play, don't worry - as you'll see Bellamy Bunny-Oon caters for that eventuality too. In fact, this game is best if you do have an odd number of players.

The players sit in their two teams facing each other on couches, chairs or benches approximately 1½ metres apart. Each player holds a balloon in each hand. These are known as rabbits. Another balloon acts as the ball and is known as the oon. For best play, the oon should be a different colour to the rabbits. As you may now have gathered, the name Bunny-Oon is derived from these.

One other player (or two if you have an even number of participants) takes part. He or she is not a member of either team, but sits on the floor in between the two teams clutching a rabbit in each hand. This person is the Confusoid. The Confusoid is there to assist the oon to remain in play, and alternately hits the oon in one direction and then the other.

Play commences with an Oon-Up by the Confusoid. The Confusoid hits the oon into the air with one of his or her rabbits. While the Confusoid should not favour either team, it does not matter if the oon goes toward one particular team during the Oon-Up.

At the first Oon-Up, and any subsequent post-goal Oon-Ups, players must hold their rabbits to the top of their heads like big bunny ears until the Confusoid plays the oon. Players then try and whack the oon (this is known as doinking) as hard as they can with their rabbits in an attempt to get the oon to pass over the heads of their opponents and hit the floor or wall behind them, thus scoring a goal.

Players may not doink the oon twice in succession with the same rabbit (a double doink), though there is no limit to how long a player keeps possession by alternating rabbits.

Additionally, at no time may a player's buttocks leave their seat unless retrieving the oon from out of play.

There is no penalty if the oon comes to rest on the floor between the teams. This simply results in an Oon-Up (without the bunny-ears requirement). Should the oon land out of bounds (eg. on a side table) then the last team to touch the oon loses possession, but no penalty is incurred.

At certain times during the game, penalties will inevitably be incurred. If a penalty doink is awarded (read on for penalty doink situations), then the team who incurred the penalty must sit bunny-eared while the other team gets a free doink. The penalised team may not play the oon until it ceases its forward motion or comes into contact with any member of the penalised team or their rabbits (players may not move to make the oon hit them).

Should a team incur another penalty during a penalty doink, then the penalty doink is retaken for the opposing team by the Confusoid.

Should the oon burst (a burstation) then a replacement oon must be found and the last team to doink the oon concedes a penalty doink.

If a player's rabbit undergoes a burstation then not only do they concede a penalty doink, but they must continue playing with one rabbit until the next goal is scored. The rabbit may then be replaced. Should burstation occur to both rabbits before the next goal is scored, then that player must remain seated without taking any further part in the action.

The same rule applies to any player who is de-rabitted (ie. loses hold of one or both rabbits). That player may not recover his or her rabbit(s) until a goal is scored.

There is no penalty if the oon should come into contact with a rabbit-less player. However, should a player deliberately doink the oon with a hand that does not hold a rabbit, then that player not only concedes a penalty, but must also leave the play area until the next goal is scored.

Any deliberately induced burstations of either the oon or rabbits will also concede a penalty doink and result in the offending player's ejection from the play area until the next goal is scored. Any player who falls foul of a deliberate burstation by another player may immediately replace his or her rabbit.

If any penalty situation occurs due to the actions of the Confusoid, then, while no penalty is incurred, all players are free to leave their seats and doink the Confusoid soundly on the head with their rabbits.

A goal is scored when one team manages to doink the oon past their opponents, by hitting the floor or wall behind the opposing couch. It's best to have some space between the back of the couch or chairs and the wall to allow for swinging rabbits.

The first team to score five goals wins the round. The teams then switch positions and play again. The first team to win two rounds wins the game.

In summary, teams can incur a penalty doink if:

a player's buttocks leave their seat when doinking the oon; or

a player moves a rabbit out of the bunny-ear position before the Oon-Up; or

a player moves a rabbit out of the bunny-ear position while defending a penalty doink, and before the oon stops its forward movement; or

a player does a double doink; or

they were the last team to doink the oon before a burstation; or

a player's rabbit undergoes a burstation; or

a player doinks the oon with a rabbit-less hand; or

a player deliberately causes a burstation.

The final two penalties also result in the player being kindly asked to remove himself or herself from the play area until the next goal is scored.

Phew!! That's the general gist of Bellamy Bunny-Oon. As long as you remember your doinks, penalty doinks, oons, rabbits, burstations, bunny-ear positions, and Confusoid, you'll have a wow of a time. :-)
 

Dice Town

While I was pondering about posting a piece about Dice Town, the They Might Be Giants song Cowtown entered my head unbidden, and found itself morphed into a somewhat different version...

I’m going down to Dice Town, the dice are friends to me
Living in the Wild West, and that’s where I will be
Beneath the skies, the skies, the big blue open skies
I’m gonna see the town with all the dice

It’s enough to make any TMBG lover cringe, but I just had to get it out of my head.

Now that that’s done, let’s take a look at Dice Town.


If it’s not clear by now, Dice Town is a dice game with a Wild West theme. Players roll poker dice in order to try and visit various locations in the town as determined by the faces on the dice.

On the face of it, Dice Town appears to be a fairly light and not supremely strategic game. As it happens, that’s quite an accurate assessment. It’s not without strategy, of course, and therein lies the core fun of the game: attempting to outguess your opponents by either rolling what they are not, or trying to outroll them and get to visit a particular location instead of them.

Before we look at how the dice mechanic works, let’s mosey on into town to take a closer look at the various locations on the board.


Each location can only be visited by one player each round, so it’s important to choose wisely as sometimes there’s a battle to be the one who collects the good stuff.


First up we have the gold mine. And wouldn’t you know it, there be gold nuggets in that there mine. Any nuggets you obtain from the mine (and manage to hold on to) will be worth 1 Victory Point (VP) at the end of the game.


Next to the gold mine is the first of the town’s buildings: the Bank. All money deposited at the bank is available for withdrawal (at gunpoint naturally) by one enterprising player each round. In front of the bank you’ll find the Stagecoach. Any money spent by players during a round is placed on the Stagecoach ready for delivery to the bank at the start of the following round.


The General Store is the next stop in town. Here there are various cards available for the taking. A visit to the store will get you a card which bestows a benefit upon your good self. Some cards are worth VPs at the end of the game, while others allow you to take extra actions during the game (like doubling your takings at the gold mine or allowing you to change a dice roll).


The Saloon is where you get to have a drink of the local brew and win the favour of the Girls. Using their feminine wiles, the ladies will assist you in taking a card from another player.


I’m not sure if the regular Sheriff patronises the drinking establishment, but he just so happens to handily have his own place right next door. In fact, it seems he must be holed up in a dark corner of the saloon, as he’s delegated his sheriffy duties to the players. The youngest player starts with the sheriff’s badge, but anyone else can take it for themselves with a visit to the jail. Being sheriff means you get to break ties during the game (bribes from the other players are actively encouraged), and if you are the sheriff at the end of the game, you get a bonus 5 VPs.


The final stop in Dice Town is the Town Hall. This is where the town dishes out Property Claims, and with each claim valued at between 1 and 5 VPs, this is where the bulk of the scoring takes place.


Now, if things don't go your way, it's not the end of the world. Just the end of town. For any player who didn't get to visit one of the six main locations, Doc Badluck is but an arrow's flight away just waiting for you to come blowing over like a tumbleweed.

Doc Badluck is, as his name suggests, there to make you feel better about being shut out of town. His services include providing barbed wire for one of your properties so no one can steal it, letting you draw the top card from the General Store, making every other player give you $2, or making every other player give you a gold nugget. That's not too bad huh? In fact, those last two are very nice indeed, especially in a 5 player game (the game plays from 2-5 players), and it can sometimes be advantageous not to fight for a spot in town when you know the good Doctor is going to assist you in the acquisition of four gold nuggets.

Alrighty, so you've had a look around and assessed the lay of the land, and you have an idea what you might like to go for. Alternatively (as happens a lot) you have no idea what you want to do and will just play it by (front) ear as the round progresses.

Now we come to the meat in the proverbial sandwich, or...um...whatever passes for grub in this neck of the desert: the dice.


Everyone gets five, shiny poker dice and a cup to put them in. At the start of the round every one shakes their cup, then turns it face down on the table. Now it's time to see what you rolled. Everyone secretly lifts up their cup, keeping the dice hidden from the other players and peeks at their dice. Then comes the hard part: deciding what to keep.

You get to keep one die for free. You choose which die you want to keep, then secretly remove the other dice. However, you can choose to keep more than one die if you want. Heck, you can choose to keep all five if you had a really good roll.

The catch is that you have to pay $1 for every die in excess of one. So if you keep three dice, you have to pay $2. To keep all five dice,you'll have to fork out $4. Oh, and if you don't like the look of any of your dice, you can choose not to keep any of them. It'll cost you $1 to remove all the dice from under the cup.

Once everyone has removed the dice they don't wish to keep, everyone lifts their cup and reveals what they kept. Everyone who paid to keep extra (or no) dice now places their money on the Stagecoach.

All kept dice are then put aside and the process then repeats for the remaining dice. Deciding what to keep on subsequent rolls now takes on a whole new dimension as not only do you have to keep in mind what you've already kept, but you also now get to see what everyone else has kept. Have you kept the same dice as someone else? If so, do you try and roll the same again, hoping that they won't, or do you try for something different?

"But hang on just a second there mister," you say "How do I know what to keep if I don't know what the effect of the dice I roll will be?"

Well, to answer that question, here's the rundown:

The player with the most 9s goes to the Gold Mine and takes nuggets equal to the number of 9s he or she rolled.

The player with the most 10s robs the bank and takes all the money currently in the bank.

The player with the most Js takes cards from the top of the General Store deck equal to the number of Js he or she rolled. That player keeps one card, and discards the rest face down next to the board.

The player who rolls the most Qs goes to the Saloon. He or she chooses one other player and takes cards (either General Store or Property Claims) from that player equal to the number of Qs he or she rolled. One card is kept, and the rest are given back.

The player who rolled the most Ks becomes Sheriff and takes the Sheriff badge.

The player who has the best poker hand goes to the Town Hall and takes the bottom-most face up Property Claim, plus an extra claim for each Ace in his or her hand (though you can never take any more than the three face up claims).

Any player who hasn't got anything so far visits Doc Badluck and chooses one bonus. If you have at least one 9 or 10, you can choose to barbed wire a property by removing it from your hand and placing it face up on the table. If you have at least one J or Q you can take the top card from the General Store pile. If you have at least one King, you can force every other player to give you $2. Finally, if you have at least one Ace, you can hold everyone else at gunpoint and order them to give you a gold nugget.

Now, where was I? Ah yes: choosing dice to keep. So as I said, you keep one die for free or pay to keep more or less. Kept dice are put aside, and the process is repeated until one or more players has kept and set aside all five of their dice.

At that point, any player who has not yet kept all five dice gets one final roll. There are no more choices now; you just keep what you roll. The good news is that if you are rolling more than one die on this final roll, you don't have to pay anything. You just keep what you roll for free.

And then you look around and either give a self satisfied "yippee!" or a disgruntled "you %^&(#;@ bastard!" when it becomes clear that another player has beaten you to the punch.

Then everyone sees who has rolled the most 9s, 10s, Js, Qs and Ks, and each action is taken from left to right on the board. You'll find that ties are a common occurrence. Two or more people are often tied for the most Js or Qs or whatever it may be. That's where the Sheriff comes in as he or she gets to decide who takes the cake.

Now let me make this abundantly clear. Being Sheriff can be a very good thing. You may think that rolling the most Ks just gives you a shiny badge but no actual nuggets or cards so what's the point. Bribery. That's the point. Any time players are tied, they can offer the Sheriff money, nuggets or cards in any combination. If you can start the tied players in a bidding war it can be very lucrative indeed. Plus the 5 VPs for being Sheriff at the end of the game ain't too bad, but this can also make the Sheriff's badge a popular target when everyone knows the game is about to end.

That end comes when one of two criteria are met. The game will end when either there are no more nuggets in the Gold Mine (there are 30 to begin with) or when all 25 Property Claims have been taken.

And then, wouldn't you know it, everyone adds up their points for nuggets (1 VP per nugget), dollar bills (1 VP for every $2), General Store equipment cards, Property Claims, and for being Sheriff (5 VPs). The highest scoring player wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most Property Claims wins. If there is still a tie, the Sheriff gets to decide who wins.

Dice Town is, first and foremost, fun. You will laugh a lot, and quite possibly curse a lot as well. If you're like me, you may well curse at your own stupidity when you bribe the Sheriff $1 to visit the Saloon so that you can take one card from another player, and that card turns out to be useless as the game is about to end, and you then realise that had you not spent that $1, you could have gone to Doc Badluck and taken a Gold Nugget from everyone because you had an Ace. Sigh.

I've played the game three times so far: one 2-player game, and two 5-player games. It was certainly a lot more fun with more players as you all vie for the various spots in town. Going to Doc Badluck is a viable strategy in the 5-player game. Just don't expect ever to do that if you only have two players.

It's hard to know what is a good strategy in this game. There are many paths to victory as they say in the classics. One such path I found that worked for me with five players was what I cunningly call the "Saloon Strategy" in which I consistently kept Queens and took the Saloon action (stealing cards off other players) for the majority of the game. This proved to be a very successful strategy, and I amassed 42 points (second place was 34) which is a pretty impressive total if I do say so myself.

I heartily recommend Dice Town as a good, fun, family-friendly game, as well as one you can pull out at games nights with more serious gamers to get those competitive juices flowing. The game box says games last 30-45 minutes, but you can easily double that time if you have anyone prone to analysis paralysis in your group. The good thing is it's not one of those games where you worry to much if you make the wrong choice.

Not excuse me while I get back to my song.

I’m going down to Dice Town, the dice are friends to me...

 

Bellamy Sports: Bellamy Volleyfoot

Bellamy Volleyfoot is the third Bellamy Sport, following in the footsteps of Bellamy Tennis and Bellamy Football.

Bellamy Sports came indoors with the advent of Bellamy Volleyfoot. The accolades for the name of this game go to Heidi. Also present at Bellamy Volleyfoot's inaugural game were myself, Paul, Narelle, Mick, and Leah.

This game actually has nothing to do with volleyball, and even less to do with football. So what does it have to with? Stuffed if I know, but it's a lot of fun!

For this game you need an even number of players (six is best), a soft miniature football and a largish living room, preferably with couches and a coffee table. Cushions or other similar sized objects serve as goals.

From there it's simply a matter of each team placing their goals in an open space (eg. on top of a couch or propped up against a wall), team members placing themselves in strategic positions, and then pelting the opposition's goal with the ball.

Prior to commencement of play, players' positions should be defined. No player may start within an arms width of their own goal, and a maximum of two can be just outside arms width. Any other player must be within their own half of the room, generally strategically placed beside the coffee table.

Players' starting positions normally involve buttock contact with a particular item of furniture. For example, player one's starting postion may be defined as having one buttock cheek on a rug, while player two's left buttock must be in contact with the couch. If one team is defending a goal on a couch, one player may kneel behind the couch, with their starting position defined as having both arms flat on the back of the couch.

Players may not move from their starting positions until the ball has left the hand of an opposition player having a ping at goal. Once the ball is flying through the air towards the goal, the defenders can dive in front of the goal in an attempt to stop the ball hitting it. There is no restriction on how much arm waving there is prior to a shot at goal (except, that is, for any player behind a couch whose starting position requires their arms remain on the couch).

If the ball misses the goal, then the nearest player grabs it, regardless of who had the last possession. If the ball comes to rest outside the reach of all players then anyone may leave their position to fetch it, but they must return to their starting position before playing on.

Team members may pass the ball between themselves as much as they like in an effort to gain an advantageous shooting position. When they do shoot for goal, the ball may not hit the wall above a goal and then drop onto it (if this happens it does not count as a goal). However, ricochetting into the goal off another player, the floor, a side wall or the coffee table still counts as a goal.

The first team to nine goals is the winner of the game. Teams then change places and play again. The first team to win two games is the winner.

That's Bellamy Volleyfoot. Don't forget to use a soft ball. It's also probably a good idea to remove breakables from the room before starting - this game can get particularly violent! Enjoy.
 

2010 Games Quest

To my myriad of readers, my 2010 quest may not come as a complete surprise, given that I've already mentioned it a few times, and that it is that part of my 2009 quest that I failed to complete. Or even get off the ground really.

My goal this year is to produce a workable, playable, enjoyable board game. I'm not talking about getting it published - though that is a future goal. I'm talking about developing a working prototype with a board, pieces, cards, and rules.

Preferably I'd like to work at it and get it on the table for multiple play tests with interested/bribable folk.

I'm not starting completely from scratch, however. I do have quite a few pages of thoughts, ideas, scribbles and diagrams to work from. It's been slowly cobbled together over the last two or three years, and has already seen a number of changes from my original concept. No doubt it'll see some more as I discover what works and what doesn't.

Now I'm not going to give out any info about the game here. Not yet anyway. I'm intending to keep a diary of the progress that will one day see itself in the pages of this blog, and I may decide to post thoughts/snippets of the game here as I go.

Ultimately, I see this quest as the next step in my evolution as a gamer. Here's hoping I don't develop some hideous mutation and slide into extinction.
 

2010 Games Record

I ended up playing 7 more games in 2010 than in 2009, but the plays of those games combined came to 46 fewer.

Summary for 2010:

Total different games played: 53

Total number of plays: 187

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Games Played (Number of Plays) - from most played to least played:

Martian Fluxx (28)
Magic: The Gathering (18)
Time's Up! Title Recall! (14)
Are You the Traitor? (12)
Werewolf (11)
Zombie Fluxx (7)
Carcassonne (6)
Dice Town (5)
Geschenkt (5)
Killer Bunnies (5)
Dixit (4)
Man Bites Dog (4)
Munchkin Quest (4)
Pandemic (4)
Set (4)
Ca$h 'n Gun$ (3)
Dominion: Seaside (3)
Jenga (3)
Oriente (3)
Aquarius (2)
Bang! (2)
Colosseum (2)
For Sale (2)
Fresco (2)
Saboteur (2)
The Pillars of the Earth (2)
The Resistance (2)
Too Many Cooks (2)
World Without End (2)
Agricola: Farmers of the Moor (1)
Apples to Apples (1)
Bellamy Bunny-Oon (1)
Bluff (1)
Bohnanza (1)
Bugger (1)
Ca$h 'n Gun$: Live (1)
Catan Card Game (1)
Citadels (1)
Dominion (1)
EcoFluxx (1)
Fact or Crap (1)
Junta (1)
Knaves (1)
Lawless (1)
Lifeboats (1)
Mall of Horror (1)
Mamma (1)
Mississippi Queen: The Black Rose (1)
Munchkin (1)
Samurai (1)
Settlers of Catan (1)
Vinci (1)
Why Did The Chicken...? (1)

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Games In Detail

3 January 2010 - Magic: The Gathering (Plays #1 - #6)

Jeremy (White) v The Giggling One (Green/Red); Winners: The Giggling One (#1: 16-0; #6: 22-0), Jeremy (#2: 31-0; #3: 20-0; #4: 14-0; #5: 15-0) - Set: Magic 2010

10 January 2010 - Magic: The Gathering (Plays #7 - #11)

Jeremy (White) v The Giggling One (Green/Red); Winners: Jeremy (#7: 37-0; #8: 6-0; #9: 18-0; #11: 46-0)The Giggling One (#10: 7-0) - Set: Magic 2010

16 January 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #1)

Jeremy def Bernd, The Giggling One, Christine, and Trent

16 January 2010 - Man Bites Dog (Play #1)

Bernd (610) def Jeremy (525), Nina (425), Christine (400), Ewan (395), Carl (395), Trent (370), Carla (365), Belinda (360), The Giggling One (325), and Erin (290)

16 January 2010 - Dice Town (Play #1)

Jeremy (42) def Erin (34), The Giggling One (27), Ian T (21), and Ewan (16)

16 January 2010 - Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (Play #1)

Ewan (9 carrots) def Jeremy (3 carrots), The Giggling One (no bunnies), Ian T (no bunnies), and Erin (no bunnies) - Magic Carrot: #9

16 January 2010 - Werewolf (Play #1)

Villagers - Belinda (Seer), Erin (Bishop), Carla (Mason), Ian T (Mason), Mark, The Giggling One, Carl, Christine, Trent, and Nina def Werewolves - Jeremy and Ewan (with Bernd as the Moderator)

16 January 2010 - Werewolf (Play #2)

Villagers - The Giggling One (Seer), Mark (Bishop), Carl (Mason), Ewan (Mason), Jeremy, Christine, Trent, Nina and Carla def Werewolves - Erin, Belinda, and Ian T (with Bernd as the Moderator)

16 January 2010 - Werewolf (Play #3)

Villagers - Carl (Seer), Erin (Bishop), Trent (Mason), Nina (Mason), The Giggling One, Ewan, Carla, Belinda, and Ian T def Werewolves - Bernd, Mark, and Christine (with Jeremy as the Moderator)

16 January 2010 - Werewolf (Play #4)

Villagers - Carla (Seer), Erin (Bishop), Mark (Mason), Belinda (Mason), The Giggling One, Carl, Christine, Trent, and Ian T def Werewolves - Bernd, Ewan, and Nina (with Jeremy as the Moderator)

16 January 2010 - Werewolf (Play #5)

Villagers - Bernd (Seer), Christine (Bishop), Jeremy (Mason), Trent (Mason), The Giggling One, Carl, Ewan, Carla, and Belinda def Werewolves - Erin, Nina, and Ian T (with Mark as the Moderator)

23 January 2010 - Ca$h 'n Gun$ (Play #1)

Deb ($95,000) def Jeremy ($90,000), The Giggling One ($90,000), Kerry ($65,000), Matt ($50,000), and Vanessa (Dead)

23 January 2010 - Ca$h 'n Gun$ (Play #2)

Vanessa ($90,000) def The Giggling One ($85,000), Matt ($85,000), Jeremy ($40,000), Deb ($30,000), and Kerry (Dead)

23 January 2010 - Ca$h 'n Gun$ (Play #3)

Deb "You Don't Need It Any More" ($105,000) def Kerry "It Does Not Even Hurt" ($90,000), Jeremy "The Specialist" ($80,000), Matt "6 Feet Under" ($70,000), Vanessa "The Unbreakable" ($50,000), and The Giggling One "Dragon Skin" (Dead)

24 January 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #2)

The Giggling One def Jeremy, Matt, and Vanessa

24 January 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #3)

Jeremy def Matt, Vanessa, and The Giggling One

24 January 2010 - Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (Play #2)

Jeremy (6 carrots) def Vanessa (4 carrots), The Giggling One (2 carrots), and Matt (no bunnies) - Magic Carrot: #12

25 January 2010 - Bohnanza (Play #1)

Matt (23) def The Giggling One (17), Jeremy (17, and Vanessa (14)

25 January 2010 - Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (Play #3)

Vanessa (3 carrots) def The Giggling One (7 carrots), Matt (2 carrots), and Jeremy (0 carrots) - Magic Carrot: #1

25 January 2010 - Bugger¹ (Play #1)

Matt (160) def Jeremy (60), The Giggling One (50), and Vanessa (50)

31 January 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #4)

The Giggling One def Jeremy and Ian T

31 January 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #5)

The Giggling One def Jeremy and Ian T

31 January 2010 - Citadels (Play #1)

Christine (35) def Bernd (31), Ian T (30), Gordon & Polly (29), Jeremy (27), and The Giggling One (15)

5 February 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #6)

Jon def Christine, Bernd, David, The Giggling One, and Jeremy

5 February 2010 - Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (Play #4)

Jon (6 carrots) def The Giggling One (5 carrots), Jeremy (1 carrot), Ian T (no bunnies), and Mark (no bunnies) - Magic Carrot: #11

5 February 2010 - Dice Town (Play #2)

Jon (32) def Ian T (28), Jeremy (22), The Giggling One (17), and Mark (15)

5 February 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #1)

Bernd & Christine (42) def Jeremy & The Giggling One (37), Ian T & Mark (25), and David & Kam (16)

8 February 2010 - Magic: The Gathering (Plays #12 - #14)

Jeremy (Blue/Black) v The Giggling One (Green/Red); Winner: Jeremy (#12: 3-0; #13: 18-0; #14: 19-0) - Set: Magic 2010

13 February 2010 - Bellamy Bunny-Oon (Play #1)

Tim, Madelaine, Brian, and Neil def Jeremy, The Giggling One, Leah, and Mick (4-5, 5-2, 5-4) - with Paul as the Confusoid

13 February 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #2)

Leah (48) def Jeremy (42), The Giggling One (38), Mick (36), Tim (30), Brian (25), and Madelaine (21)

20 February 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #7)

Jeremy def The Giggling One, and Belinda

20 February 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #8)

Belinda def Jeremy, The Giggling One, and Mark

20 February 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #3)

The Giggling One & Dan (39) def Trent & Mark (38), Christine & Belinda (22), and Ewan & Jeremy (21)

28 February 2010 - Mamma (Play #1)

Bernd (11) def Jeremy (8), The Giggling One (3), and Christine (-4)

28 February 2010 - Mall of Horror (Play #1)

The Giggling One (12) def Christine (5), Jon (3), Bernd (3), Kit (3), and Jeremy (0)

5 March 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #9)

Christine M def Bernd, Jeremy, Christine C, Peter, and Michael

5 March 2010 - Mississippi Queen: The Black Rose (Play #1)

Michael (1st) def Christine C (2nd), Peter (3rd), Bernd (4th), Jeremy (5th), and Christine M (left early)

5 March 2010 - Dominion: Seaside (Play #1)

Christine (46) def Jeremy (39), and Bernd (36)

6 March 2010 - Settlers of Catan (Play #1)

Jeremy (11) def Ian T (8), Christine (7), and Bernd (7)

8 March 2010 - Munchkin Quest (Play #1)

Jeremy (10) def The Giggling one (10)

13 March 2010 - Junta (Play #1)

Ian T ($17) and Christine ($17) def Mark ($12), Jeremy ($9), Dan ($6), and Bernd ($2)

20 March 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #10)

Wade def The Giggling One, Alice, Tom, Gypsy Anna (with Bernd), and Jeremy

20 March 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #11)

Jeremy def The Giggling One, Wade, Alice, Tom, and Gypsy Anna (with Bernd)

20 March 2010 - Zombie Fluxx (Play #1)

The Giggling One def Jeremy, Wade, Alice, Tom, and Christine

20 March 2010 - Zombie Fluxx (Play #2)

Christine def Jeremy, The Giggling One, Wade, Alice, and Tom

20 March 2010 - Oriente (Play #1)

The Giggling One (18) def Bernd (15), Tom (14), Alice (13), Christine (13) Jeremy (13), and Wade (5)

20 March 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #4)

The Giggling One & Jeremy (46) def Christine & Bernd (42), and Tom & Alice (32)

20 March 2010 - Bluff² (Play #1)

Alice def Bernd, Tom, The Giggling One, Christine, Alice, and Jeremy

2 April 2010 - Catan Card Game (Play #1)

The Giggling One (13) def Jeremy (12) - with Barbarians & Traders expansion

2 April 2010 - Munchkin Quest (Play #2)

The Giggling One (10) def Jeremy (2)

2 April 2010 - Munchkin Quest (Play #3)

Vanessa (10) drew with Matt (10), Jeremy (9), and The Giggling One (8) - game called a draw after it got too late to continue

17 April 2010 - Set (Play #1)

Jeremy (7) def The Giggling One (6), Christine (5), Ian (2), Bernd (1), Ewan (1), Clyde (0), and Dan (0)

17 April 2010 - Set (Play #2)

The Giggling One (6) and Christine (6) def Ian (2), Dan (1), Jeremy (1), Ewan (0), and Clyde (0)

17 April 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #12)

Jeremy def Christine, The Giggling One, and Ian

17 April 2010 - Dominion (Play #1)

The Giggling One (30) def Jeremy (29), Christine (28), Ian (26), Belinda (25), and Mark (19) - Random mix of Base game + Intrigue

17 April 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #5)

Christine & Bernd (33) def The Giggling One & Jeremy (30), Belinda & Dan (17), Ian & Mark (16), Rebecca & Rachael (13), and Ewan & Clyde (11)

17 April 2010 - Werewolf (Play #6)

Villagers - The Giggling One (Seer), Dan (Bishop), Jeremy (Mason), Rachael (Mason), Ian, Mark, Clyde, Belinda, and Rachael def Werewolves - Christine and Ewan (with Bernd as the Moderator)

17 April 2010 - Werewolf (Play #7)

Villagers - Belinda (Seer), Rebecca (Bishop), Dan (Mason), Rachael (Mason), The Giggling One, Christine, Ian, Mark, and Ewan def Werewolves - Bernd and Clyde (with Jeremy as the Moderator)

18 April 2010 - Pandemic (Play #1)

Jeremy (Dispatcher) and The Giggling One (Scientist) were defeated (5 Epidemics)

24 April 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #6)

Jeremy (67) def The Giggling One (56), Leah (51), Brian (33) and Narelle (33)

7 May 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #13)

Jeremy def The Giggling One

7 May 2010 - Oriente (Play #2)

Mark (21) def Christine (20), Bernd (18), Carl (17), Dan (16), Trent (15), The Giggling One (14), and Jeremy (7)

7 May 2010 - World Without End (Play #1)

Jeremy (43) def Mark (31), Ian (30), and The Giggling One (29)

7 May 2010 - Pandemic (Play #2)

Ian (Researcher), Jeremy (Dispatcher), The Giggling One (Operations Expert), and Mark (Scientist) were defeated (5 Epidemics)

22 May 2010 - Too Many Cooks (Play #1)

Christine (22) def Ian (17), Bernd (17), Jeremy (3), and The Giggling One (3)

22 May 2010 - Bang! (Play #1)

Mark (Outlaw), Ian (Outlaw), and Jeremy (Outlaw) def Christine (Sheriff), Bernd (Deputy), and The Giggling One (Renegade)

22 May 2010 - Bang! (Play #2)

Ian (Sheriff) def Bernd (Deputy), Christine (Renegade), Jeremy (Outlaw), The Giggling One (Outlaw), and Mark (Outlaw)

22 May 2010 - Why Did The Chicken...? (Play #1)

Mark (6) and Jeremy (6) def Bernd (4), Christine (3), Ian (3), and The Giggling One (2)

22 May 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #7)

Bernd & The Giggling One (46) def Jeremy & Christine (44) and Ian & Mark (30)

4 June 2010 - Dice Town (Play #3)

Jeremy (36) def Jon (28), Christine (27), Mark (19), and Bernd (17)

4 June 2010 - Colosseum (Play #1)

Mark (94) def Christine (86), Bernd (84), Jon (82), and Jeremy (76)

12 June 2010 - Lawless (Play #1)

Jeremy (16) def Christine (14), Bernd (12), and Mark (10)

19 June 2010 - Man Bites Dog (Play #2)

Christine (515) def Steve (440), Ewan (435), The Giggling One (395), Jeremy (335), Ben (330), Fern (315), and Ruth (235)

19 June 2010 - The Pillars of the Earth (Play #1)

Jeremy (50) def The Giggling One (47), Ewan (44), and Ben (30) - with Expansion even though there were only 4 players

19 June 2010 - EcoFluxx (Play #1)

Ben def The Giggling One, Ewan, and Jeremy

2 July 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #14)

The Giggling One and Jeremy were forced to retreat!

2 July 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #15)

Christine def Jeremy, Splat, and The Giggling One

2 July 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #16)

Jeremy def Christine, Splat, and The Giggling One

2 July 2010 - Saboteur (Play #1)

Jeremy (6) def Splat (5), The Giggling One (5), Bernd (5), Ian (2), and Christine (2)

2 July 2010 - The Pillars of the Earth (Play #2)

Jeremy (50) def Bernd (46), Splat (43), Ian (42), The Giggling One (41), and Christine (37)

17 July 2010 - Zombie Fluxx (Play #3)

Ewan def Jeremy, Bernd, Meryl, Melanie, and Miriam

17 July 2010 - Dice Town (Play #4)

The Giggling One (29) def Maka (29), Jeremy (25), Miriam (18), and Mark (17)

17 July 2010 - Dixit (Play #1)

Jeremy (48) def The Giggling One (44), Miriam (35), Ewan (33), and Mark (31)

17 July 2010 - For Sale (Play #1)

The Giggling One (60) def Jeremy (55), Ewan (49), Mark (46), and Miriam (36)

17 July 2010 - Werewolf (Play #8)

Villagers - Meryl (Seer), Ewan (Bishop), Christine (Mason), Miriam (Mason), Jeremy, Joel, Melanie, Dan, The Giggling One, and Belinda def Werewolves - Ian, Thamar, and Bernd (with Mark as the Moderator)

17 July 2010 - Werewolf (Play #9)

Villagers - Christine (Seer), Meryl (Bishop), Ian (Mason), Joel (Mason), Melanie, The Giggling One, Belinda, Bernd, and Miriam def Werewolves - Thamar, Ewan, and Dan (with Jeremy as the Moderator)

30 July 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #17)

Jeremy def The Giggling One

30 July 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #18)

The Giggling One def Jeremy

31 July 2010 - Carcassonne (Play #1)

Jeremy (81) def Vicki (79), The Giggling One (58), and Gordon (43)

31 July 2010 - Zombie Fluxx (Play #4)

Jeremy def The Giggling One, Gordon, and Vicki

31 July 2010 - Zombie Fluxx (Play #5)

Jeremy def The Giggling One, Gordon, and Vicki

31 July 2010 - Zombie Fluxx (Play #6)

The Giggling One def Gordon, Vicki, and Jeremy

31 July 2010 - Zombie Fluxx (Play #7)

The Giggling One def Vicki, Jeremy, and Gordon

1 August 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #19)

Jeremy def The Giggling One and Gordon

1 August 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #20)

Gordon def The Giggling One and Jeremy

1 August 2010 - Carcassonne (Play #2)

Jeremy (85) def The Giggling One (81) and Gordon (68) - with The River

1 August 2010 - Carcassonne (Play #3)

Jeremy (84) def Gordon (64) and The Giggling One (61) - with The River

14 August 2010 - Carcassonne (Play #4)

Jeremy (133) def The Giggling One (96) and Paul - with The River and Inns & Cathedrals (46)

21 August 2010 - Set (Play #3)

The Giggling One (8) def Bernd (6), Christine (5), Jeremy (3), Ewan (1), and Dan (0)

21 August 2010 - Set (Play #4)

The Giggling One (6) and Christine (6) def Jeremy (5), Bernd (3), Dan (1), and Ewan (1)

21 August 2010 - Oriente (Play #3)

Bernd (19) def Jeremy (19), Dan (18), Christine (18), Ian (16), The Giggling One (12), Belinda (8), and Ewan (5)

21 August 2010 - Samurai (Play #1)

The Giggling One (2 majorities) def Bernd, Jeremy, and Christine (all with 0 majorities)

21 August 2010 - Dixit (Play #2)

Bernd (18) def The Giggling One (17), Christine (14), and Jeremy (13)

21 August 2010 - Saboteur (Play #2)

Ewan (8) def The Giggling One (7), Bernd (6), Ian (4), Jeremy (2), and Christine (1)

28 August 2010 - Lifeboats (Play #1)

Maike (28) def Mark (18), Christine (15), Bernd (15), Jeremy (14), and Ian (12)

3 September 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #21)

Jon def The Giggling One, Jeremy, and Mark

3 September 2010 - World Without End (Play #2)

Jeremy (44) def The Giggling One (43), Jon (34), and Mark (32)

3 September 2010 - For Sale (Play #2)

Jeremy ($60,000) def Jon ($49,000), The Giggling One ($49,000), and Mark ($40,000)

3 September 2010 - Geschenkt³ (Play #1)

Jeremy (43) def The Giggling One (55), and Mark (65)

3 September 2010 - Geschenkt (Play #2)

The Giggling One (38) def Mark (57), and Jeremy (75)

4 September 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Plays #22 - #24)

The Giggling One def Jeremy (in all 3 games)

4 September 2010 - Geschenkt (Play #3)

The Giggling One (10) def Jeremy (43), and Bernd (54)

4 September 2010 - Dixit (Play #3)

Jeremy (32) def Gypsy-Anna (30), Bernd (29), The Giggling One (25), Christine (21), and Ian (19)

11 September 2010 - Agricola: Farmers of the Moor (Play #1)

Jon (36) and Christine (36) def Ian (35), Bernd (32), and Jeremy (22)

18 September 2010 - Jenga (Play #1)

Joel def Gypsy Anna, Miriam, Bernd, The Giggling One, Melanie, Jeremy, and Christine (Loser)

18 September 2010 - Jenga (Play #2)

Christine def Gypsy Anna, The Giggling One, Joel, Melanie, Bernd, Mark, Miriam, and Jeremy (Loser)

18 September 2010 - Fresco (Play #1)

Jeremy (119) def Mark (102), The Giggling One (92), and Joel (72)

18 September 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #8)

Mark & Bernd (33) def The Giggling One & Christine (47) and Jeremy & Melanie (19)

24 September 2010 - Carcassonne (Play #5)

Jeremy (371) def The Giggling One (247), Mark (240), Christine (233), and Ian (169) - included The River II, Abbey & Mayor, Inns & Cathedrals, King & Scout, The Cult, The Princess & The Dragon, The Tower, and Traders & Builders

1 October 2010 - Jenga (Play #3)

The Giggling One def Gypsy Anna, Bernd, Kevin, Jeremy, and Christine (Loser)

1 October 2010 - Fresco (Play #2)

Jeremy (98) def The Giggling One (97), Ian (71) and Jon (68)

1 October 2010 - Geschenkt (Play #4)

The Giggling One (27) def Jeremy (54), Jon (60) and Ian (63)

1 October 2010 - Geschenkt (Play #5)

The Giggling One (41) def Ian (46), Jeremy (54), and Jon (73)

16 October 2010 - Fact or Crap (Play #1)

Jeremy (44) def The Giggling One (34), Christine (21), Bernd (20), Gypsy Anna (20), Joel (19), Miriam (13), and Thamar (13)

16 October 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #1)

The Giggling One (13) def Ewan (10), Thamar (10), Joel (10), Jeremy (9), Erin (9), Bernd (7), Christine (5), Ian (5), and Miriam (4)

16 October 2010 - Dominion: Seaside (Play #2)

The Giggling One (42) def Ewan (34) and Jeremy (30)

16 October 2010 - Dominion: Seaside (Play #3)

Jeremy (38) def The Giggling One (36) and Ewan (33)

16 October 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #9)

Jeremy & The Giggling One (49) def Bernd & Ewan (35), Carl & Christine (33), and Joel & Thamar (21) - with 46 cards instead of 40

22 October 2010 - Magic: The Gathering (Play #15)

Jeremy (Blue/Black) v The Giggling One (Green/Red) - Winner: Jeremy (2-0) - Set: Magic 2010

22 October 2010 - Magic: The Gathering (Plays #16 - #17)

Jeremy (Blue/Black) v The Giggling One (White); Winner: Jeremy (#16: 15-0; #17: 10-0) - Set: Magic 2010

22 October 2010 - Magic: The Gathering (Play #18)

The Giggling One (Blue/Black) v Jeremy (White) - Winner: The Giggling One (17-0) - Set: Magic 2010

22 October 2010 - Munchkin (Play #1)

Jeremy (10) def The Giggling One (6)

23 October 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Plays #10 - #12)

Jeremy & The Giggling One (78, 71, 78) def Matt & Vanessa (42, 49, 42)

29 October 2010 - Carcassonne (Play #6)

Ian (288) def Bernd (215), Jeremy (212), The Giggling One (162), and Christine (154) - included The River II, Abbey & Mayor, Inns & Cathedrals, King & Scout, The Cult, The Princess & The Dragon, The Tower, and Traders & Builders

5 November 2010 - Apples to Apples (Play #1)

Bernd (6) def Jeremy (5), Martin (4), Steve (4), The Giggling One (3), and Christine (1)

5 November 2010 - Vinci (Play #1)

Bernd (101) def Jeremy (92), The Giggling One (91), Christine (89), Martin (86), and Steve (80)

5 November 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #2)

The Giggling One (12) def Martin (9), Bernd (8), Christine (5), Jeremy (3), and Steve (3)

5 November 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #3)

Bernd (11) def Jeremy (10), The Giggling One (7), Martin (6), Steve (5), and Christine (0)

13 November 2010 - Aquarius (Play #1)

Christine def Ian and Jeremy

13 November 2010 - Aquarius (Play #2)

Bernd def Jeremy, Christine, and Ian

13 November 2010 - Knaves (Play #1)

Jeremy (20) def Christine (15) and Bernd (9)

20 November 2010 - Werewolf (Play #10)

Werewolves - Matt, Naomi, and The Giggling One def Villagers - Kerry (Seer), Daniel (Bishop), Bronwyn (Mason), James (Mason), Vanessa, Kim, Scott, and Lauri (with Jeremy as the Moderator)

20 November 2010 - Werewolf (Play #11)

Werewolves - Matt, Bronwyn, and James def Villagers - Vanessa (Seer), Daniel (Bishop), Naomi (Mason), The Giggling One (Mason), Kim, Kerry, Scott, and Lauri (with Jeremy as the Moderator)

20 November 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #13)

Jeremy & The Giggling One (56) def Daniel & Bronwyn (34), Matt & Vanessa (19), and Kim & Kerry (11)

3 December 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #27)

The Giggling One def Jeremy and Mark

3 December 2010 - Martian Fluxx (Play #28)

Mark def The Giggling One and Jeremy

3 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #4)

Christine (1) def Kit (7), The Giggling One (7), Jeremy (6), Mark (4), and Jon (3)

3 December 2010 - Dice Town (Play #5)

The Giggling One (33) def Kit (29), Jeremy (29), Jon (20), and Mark (18)

3 December 2010 - Too Many Cooks (Play #2)

The Giggling One (32) def Mark (17), Kit (17), Jeremy (9), and Jon (7)

3 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #5)

Jeremy (12) def The Giggling One (8), Steve P (5), Christine (4), Mark (4), Kirsi (3), Steve W (2), and Bernd (0)

3 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #6)

Bernd (10) def Christine (9), Steve W (8), Jeremy (7), Steve P (4), Mark (4), and The Giggling One (1)

3 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #7)

Mark (13) def Steve P (8), Steve W (6), Christine (6), Bernd (6), Jeremy (4), and The Giggling One (2)

3 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #8)

Steve W (13) def Bernd (12), Jeremy (8), The Giggling One (8), Mark (6), Steve P (3), and Christine (3)

4 December 2010 - Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (Play #5)

Scott def Jeremy, The Giggling One, Vanessa, Matt, and Lauri - Magic Carrot: #11

4 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #9)

Jeremy (11) def Vanessa (6), Matt (5), Lauri (5), Scott (3), and The Giggling One (2)

4 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #10)

The Giggling One (10) def Jeremy (8), Scott (6), Vanessa (4), Matt (4), and Lauri (4)

11 December 2010 - Colosseum (Play #2)

Mark (95) def Christine (80), Ian (78), Bernd (77), and Jeremy (69)

18 December 2010 - Ca$h 'n Gun$: Live (Play #1)

Chris, Anson, and Martin ($340,000) def Gypsy Anna, Christine, and Sam ($315,000), and Bernd, Julianne, and Steve ($215,000) (with Jeremy as the Godfather)

18 December 2010 - Pandemic (Play #3)

Mark (Scientist), The Giggling One (Dispatcher), Jeremy (Researcher), and Martin (Operations Expert) were defeated (5 Epidemics)

18 December 2010 - Pandemic (Play #4)

Jeremy (Researcher), Martin (Medic), Mark (Dispatcher), and The Giggling One (Scientist) were defeated (5 Epidemics)

18 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #11)

The Giggling One (10) def Sam (8), Splat (5), Steve (4), Martin (2), Jeremy (0), Mark (0), and Chris (0)

18 December 2010 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #12)

Splat (10) def Anson (5), Bernd (4), The Giggling One (4), Steve (3), Jeremy (0), Martin (0), and Mark (0)

18 December 2010 - The Resistance (Play #1)

Imperial Spies Splat, Steve, and Anson def Resistance Operatives Jeremy, Martin, Bernd, Mark, and The Giggling One

18 December 2010 - The Resistance (Play #2)

Imperial Spies Jeremy, Anson, and Mark def Resistance Operatives Splat, Steve, Bernd, and The Giggling One

22 December 2010 & 26 December 2010 - Munchkin Quest (Play #4)

Jeremy (10) def The Giggling One (8)

25 December 2010 - Man Bites Dog (Play #3)

Jeremy (515) def Wynne (445), Chris (390), and The Giggling One (285)

25 December 2010 - Man Bites Dog (Play #4)

The Giggling One (540) def Wynne (420), Jeremy (390), and Chris (330)

25 December 2010 - Dixit (Play #4)

Jeremy (33) def The Giggling One (24) and Wynne (18)

25 December 2010 - Time's Up! Title Recall! (Play #14)

Brian & Leah (41) def The Giggling One & Tim (40) and Jeremy & Mads (39)

1. aka Up the River, Down the River and lots of other names.
2. aka Liar's Dice
3. aka No Thanks!