Gaming Day 29.6 – On The Table Event

What did we play today?
Ticket to Ride – Team Asia, Tichu, Isla Dorada and a lot more.

 

Well, there was that big event in Tel Aviv that I read about, we all met in a bar during the day and we were about 30 people going in and out, every time around the room were about 6 to 7 games opened. I myself came with Ticket to Ride – Team Asia and Lords of Waterdeep, and because of my addiction I made people play Team Asia with me. As there were quite a lot of games going on and I’m not that known for my blog right now (who knows, might be in the future, yeah, right), I’ll just mention the games I know of and not any other game, so I’m sorry in advance.

What did I have in stored for that day?
1. Meeting new people
2. Teaching people awesome games!
3. Learning some new games

Want to read more about the event and how I managed to stand in my goals? Read on!

 

Gaming Day 29.6

Location: Bloom Bar, Tel Aviv

Participants: Ori (me), Thierry, Roy, Allon, Dan, Gavriel, Inbal, Asaf, Moshe, Effi, Mikkie, Ben, Omri and many more

 

So I came so early that they were still organizing the place. I helped move some things from one place to another and then I tried to open up a table for “Ticket to Ride – Team Asia”, selling the game as a great team game (Which it is).

 

Ticket to Ride – Team Asia
(Ori + Roy)* 196, (Dan + Allon) 124, (Inbal + Gavriel) 117

So we divided into groups quite naturally, as Inbal and Gavriel came together and so did Dan and Allon, and so I was teamed up with Roy.
I taught everyone the game and then we played it. In the end me and Roy managed to finish so many destination tickets that the score was with that big of a difference. Only after the game was over that I found out that Roy already played the normal Ticket to Ride. We connected the board so beautifully that we deserved that victory. especially as we managed to synchronize and work together so well. The other players didn’t understand the importance of taking ticket cards, so while we had a lot of them, they took some new ones but not a lot.

Ticket to Ride 1st run end game

 

Isla Dorada
Thierry lost, not sure what were the scores or who were the players

Thierry came after me, so he went to play another game while I played Ticket to Ride, and it was Isla Dorada. We played Isla Dorada at Thierry’s place, but it we didn’t find it that interesting, but it seemed like they played with a weird house rule in which you can add your bid to someone else’s bid to make it easier to pass from place to place and make the bidding process a bit better, and the all game a bit more interesting. Thierry was targeted with 4 pandas, so he didn’t really have much of a chance from what he told me, but at least I managed to take a picture of the ending photo!

Isla Dorada end game

 

Tichu
(Ori + Asaf)* 455, (Thierry + Moshe) 45

Me and Thierry taught Asaf and Moshe Tichu. Me and Asaf had a lot of luck in the game which made the score be quite one-sided, as even Asaf managed to get the grasp of the game and go for a Tichu in one of the rounds. In the end both of them left the game before it ended which made me and Thierry look for another game, without much choice in the matter.

Rate: Well, was nice getting good hands, would’ve been better to have a long game…

 

Ticket to Ride – Team Asia
(Ori + Thierry)* 206, (Effi + Mikkie) 188, (Ben + Omri) 90

So someone came to me and asked if the game was mine, so I said “No, it’s his”, “So you are Ori?” and I’m all like “No, that’s me :O” and he asked us if he can play our Ticket to Ride, and I said that it’s fine by me, but we’ll be glad to join in on the game, and that’s how me and Thierry found ourselves teamed up against two teams that didn’t know the game. I found out when we started that I was playing with two guys I met at the dorms in my university and we and Elad played a bit D&D together, which was nice to meet them again.
it was a funny game and an interesting one. Effi and Mikky played it so good for first timers that it made me sweat a bit. In the end they managed to take the Globarrator (the one for the one with most tickets completed) but although that me and Thierry managed to win with better cards.
The funniest part of the game was that me and Thierry built trains in two different parts of the map, and in the end we managed to connected it somehow which gave us a lot of power, and an ability to finish a lot of cards that give a lot of points. But we were laughing about it throughout the game “we are playing two different games…”
Also Ben completed a cycle by mistake midgame, which really made Omri upset, which is logical, but that helped them get the Longest road in the end, so I don’t think it was that of a bad move.

Rate: Playing this twice in the same day really made me understand that this game is fun and that new players can learn quite quickly about the power of tickets by seeing other people do a ticket strategy, so the advantage of knowing the game is apparent, but new players can win in this game even without an experienced player.

Ticket to Ride 2nd run end game

 

After the game was finished the event was over and me and Thierry went to eat something to finish off a nice day.

So, if I need to summarize my goals, I did meet some new board gamers and did teach people Ticket to Ride – Team Asia (and even Tichu) but!! I did not play new games. So I guess that now I can only wait for the next event of this kind (this was the fourth one) and also to Draconicon, which is a yearly gaming event here in Israel that will happen… Exactly next month (8/8), to which I’ll come with the goal to only play new games. What’s different? Well, for the event above everyone brings his games and we pay for free drinks and to meet people and the place (which is cool), but for Draconicon we pay for the place, the people and for their games library.

 

That’s all for today,
Probably need to do something about all those name tags (now there is an Allon and Alon tag, and an Asaf and Assaf tag) eventually…

Also next time will probably not be a gaming session post, so be aware!
Yours,
Ori Markovitch.