Small game session: Mexica, Bunte Runde

I met the guys at the University cafe for a small session yesterday. Interesting enough, the entry exams for information studies were at the same time as our games! I was there too, six years ago, and now I'm just about graduated. I'm glad I'm done with that, really.

Next up was Industrial Waste as requested by Olli H. It was a rare thing, a four-player game. I've played mostly three-player games... With four players you'll see more accidents, and in our game everybody but me got hit few times. Guess who won? I'd like to think I did well otherwise, too. Olli M. had his factory rationalised early on, but got just about one card to actually remove the workers. That's bad luck - considering he had some money problems that kept him from winning (debt and all), that might've been crucial.

Mexica was one of my wishes. It's one of those games I feel I don't play enough. Mario Lanza writes about Mexica (and other games) in his blog, and hadn't I just played the game, I'd be annoyed. Now I'm happy, but I want to play again!

I didn't do well, that's one reason... I was the starting player, a position which I don't like. As Mario's entry tells you, Mexica is a game of efficiency and of course it's very important that everybody gets as many turns. Still, I hate it when people surprise me and end the game sooner than I expected. I know the deal: pay more attention! Also, as a first player being the player to end the game might be a good idea. I was kind of aiming for that this time, but it didn't work out, as Olli M. traveled little but built a lot.

Anyway, it's a clever game and I'm pondering if I should actually play it again in Seurapelikerho this Sunday...

For the last game we took a round of Bunte Runde. It's a small game from Knizia and Winning Moves. Olli M. had bought it, for some reason, and it's not a bad deal at all. It's a small filler, but the mechanics are interesting and the wooden components are very pleasing.

Bunte Runde looks like a children's game and, well, that's correct: there's a children's game in the box. But it's not bad with adults, either. The simple mechanic of collecting pieces from the board to score points seems shallow, but is deeper than you'd think. Bruno Faidutti's thoughts on the game are interesting, he has an interesting variant for the game.

It was a good small session and as I said, next up is the board game club on Sunday.