Yeah, it was actually a lot of fun! After Jeremy and I played a quick game of Battle for Hill 218, Matthew joined us and we played Alea Iacta Est (which Ed translated to mean "The Die has been Cast"--incidentally Alea mean dice or dice game in Latin! So many fun new facts!) Anyway, it is a fun dice game where each player rolls 8 dice and uses them to make sets of the same numbers, runs of numbers, or low numbers to win Bonus point cards, cities, and people to populate them. I'd give it a 7-8.
Then we played Tobago the inductive treasure hunting game. Again, a really fun game. on your turn you play cards which narrow down the search area of the treasure (i.e. treasure is next to a hut, but not in the forest or next to a river). Once the treasure is narrowed to just on hex on the board a player (who moves there) may dig it up. All players who played cards narrowing the location of the treasure have a chance to draw treasure cards--so you don't have to actually dig up the treasure to win. I tried that strategy though, and took last place :( There are a few other cool things like Easter Island statues that make amulets appear that give you special powers and cursed treasure that can make you take last place even though you had a great strategy :) I'd give it a 7-8. Finally, we played Diamonds Club. This was a great bidding game with a new sort of mechanic. You placed coins on a "Bingo" type board in order to secure money, technology, supplies, etc. Then you collect, buy, score, etc. The fun is in the bidding mechanic and set collection strategies. When bidding, if you want a square next to a coin or coins that have already been played then you have to play 1 more coin than the total of all surrounding bids. Important squares can become pretty pricey! There are about 3-4 different set collecting strategies to win, and just from our 2 games, they seem pretty balanced out. With players using the buy cheap, win quick strategy vs. get sets of cards with associated bonus tiles vs. fill you zone with trees at 6 points/piece...the margin of difference was always just 1 point. A bit too difficult for my family and friends at home to enjoy, this is one I'd enjoy again. I'd give it a 8-9. Matthew also brought Dixit, which I'm interested in, but didn't get a chance to play. Another group was playing Thunderstone, a dungeon- themed Dominion-like game. And it seemed to be a big hit too!
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