SpielMas - Fourth of July

My daughter has been carving from avocado stones, so I used them for our display. In honor of Jimi Hendrix, July 4 was rockin’!

I was able to participate in the four-day dry run of SpielMas over the traditional Fourth of July weekend here in the United States.

All of the games I played with family and friends were on Board Game Arena.

Days

Thursday, July 1

My wife and learned to play the Pantheon expansion to 7 Wonders Duel. She loves the base game; she’s an elite player in Arena. Last year we learned the Agora expansion much to her delight. Learning this “new” expansion to Board Game Arena was high on our list, so the timing was perfect.

Friday, July 2

She and I played Tichu, which is another game we love playing together online. She was able to call Grand Tichu for the first time, which helped win the game with a come-from-behind victory.

Saturday, July 3

I taught her how to play Medina, which I enjoyed when it recently came out of beta. We played several times, but it hasn’t hooked her like other games. I like it, because it reminds me of chess.

Sunday, July 4

My Tuesday night online game group has been stealing moments to get together during the pandemic. Many of them were doing things in real life on Sunday, which is a sign the planet is healing. That left us only one person to teach a new game with my wife and I.

Since we can’t have fireworks on the Fourth of July here in California due to wildland fire, I chose to learn and teach Hanabi. It’s always been on my list to try, because the game mechanic is so interesting; two in our group who couldn’t attend want to play it as well. We all like playing The Crew and Papayoo, so trick-taking games are high on our list.

We played several three-person games and were able to peak at 21, which is considered “Very good! The audience is enthusiastic!”

Happy SpielMas!

Published Jul. 5, 2021.