Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Games

Boardgames – San Juan, Six and Oceania

The next game of the bookshelf in the lounge is San Juan from Rio Grande Games. This is a good game in terms of compact size, quick set up, relatively quick gameplay and scoring, and reasonably easy to learn rule. This game is the card game version of Puerto Rico, also from Rio Grande, set during the Spanish colonisation of the Caribbean. In the game you have to produce resources (e.g. coffee, silver, tobacco), as well as develop properties (which also convey certain advantages to the player). A round of the game, comprising a turn from each player, has the players selecting a particular activity (e.g. trading, building, producing etc.) and there’s an element of randomness governing the pricing of goods for sale. Overall, it’s a fun game to play – though as one commentator has noted, in a post-colonial context is might fall into the Best game with a morally repugnant premise: San Juan – 11 board games you should be playing as an adult – Vox category.

See also: San Juan | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

IMG_2877.jpg IMG_2879.jpg

Next off the shelf (and a game I played tonight with one of my children) is Six from Dr Wood/Foxmind. Basically it’s like two-player Connect Four played with hexagons on a flat surface, with the idea of creating six adjacent tiles in a straight line, a loop or a triangle. Very simple to learn, but you have to keep focused the whole time. Really good for introducting children to boardgames, while still challenging for adults.

IMG_2882

More details at: Six | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Video review at:

Another video review at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvA1PTmvCIc

The final game is Oceania from Mayfair Games. It’s a game my two older boys played for a while, and I’ve included it here because it’s one of the few games that is genuinely created for two players.

IMG_2876.jpg