Our next meeting will be Tuesday 7^th March 2023.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  For those who want to eat, the table is booked from 6.45pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be New York Zoo (review; tutorial video; rules), a tile laying game by Uwe Rosenberg (designer of Agricola, Bohnanza and Patchwork and many other games).  The idea is that players are building pens in their zoo, populating them with animals, and building attractions.

– Adapted from image by BGG contributor aldoojeda

Speaking of zoos…

The kangaroo kept escaping from his enclosure at a zoo. The zookeeper, Jeff, decided the way to fix it was to make the wall higher, so increased its height by a meter.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work, and the next day, the kangaroo escaped again.  So Jeff added another two meters to the wall.  That didn’t work either though, and the following morning the kangaroo had got out again.  It was clear to Jeff that the wall just wasn’t high enough so this time he added another three meters to its height.

But the kangaroo escaped again and again.  When the kangaroo had been brought back for the tenth time, his friend, the elephant asked, “When are you going to stop?”

The kangaroo replied, “When Jeff closes the door of my enclosure, I guess.”

Our next meeting will be Tuesday 21^st February 2023.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The Horse and Jockey will be holding a Thai night, so for those who want to eat, the table is booked from 6.45pm.  As this is likely to be quite popular, please let us know in advance if you would like to come and whether you would like food so we can give the pub an idea of numbers.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be Verdant (review; overview video; rules), a card game where players are trying to match plants to rooms and grow luxurious foliage to give them the most points at the end of the game.

– Image by BGG Contributor kalchio

Speaking of plants…

Recently, Jeff had started gardening and he was proudly showing his friend Joe his new plants.

“I like plant all my herbs in alphabetical order,” Jeff explained. “That way I know where they all are and can easily find what I want when I am cooking.”

“That’s really impressive,” mused Joe. “It must take you ages to sort it all out though, especially when you buy something new and everything needs to be moved. How do you find the time?”

“Oh,” answered Jeff, “That’s easy, it’s next to the sage.”

Our next meeting will be Tuesday 7^th February 2023.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub will be serving food and, for those who want to eat, the table is booked from 6.45pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be Flamecraft (review; overview video; rules), a game where players take the role of Flamekeepers, gathering items, placing dragons and casting enchantments to enhance the shops of the town.

– Image by boardGOATS

Speaking of dragons…

The villagers down at The Jockey all looked very upset, so Jeff asked why people looked so sad.

“There is a huge dragon at the top of White Horse Hill.  Every week, it comes down and eats one of our virgin girls,” one of the villagers replied.

Nobody was convinced, but Jeff promised to do what he could to help.

Three weeks later, the dragon starved to death.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday 24^th January 2023.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub will be serving food and for those who want to eat, the table is booked from 6.45pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be Bellfaire (rules; new rules run-through video; review), an expansion to Everdell (review; play through video; rules).  We have picked this because Everdell was so popular when we played it in November it won the Golden GOAT Award just before Christmas and, although the Bellfaire expansion adds a little bit (principally asymmetric player powers and some special events), it doesn’t change the game too much.

– Image by boardGOATS

Speaking of special events…

Joe was preparing for a party, it was his birthday and quite an important one.  He’d cleaned the bathroom, put bleach down the toilet and went to hoover the front room when he discovered the vacuum cleaner was missing.

“Hey, Jeff!” he asked his housemate.  “What’s happened to the hoover?”

“Oh, I sold it” replied Jeff, “It was just gathering dust…”

Our next meeting will be Tuesday 10^th January 2023.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be Long Shot: The Dice Game (rules; run-through video; review).  Based on the party game Long Shot, this is a light horse racing and betting game in a similar mould to that of Turf Horse Racing.  As it is quick to play, it should give us plenty of time to play some of our other old favourites.

– Image by boardGOATS

Speaking of betting on horses…

Jeff had spent an enjoyable day at the races and was telling his mate Joe all about it.

“I put a bet on a horse to come in at 10 to 1,” he said, “And it did!  Unfortunately all the others came in at 12.30…”

Although there has been a bit of a hiatus, this year, on Sunday 31^st December, we will once again be holding a party for New Year’s Eve.  As the pub will have their own event, we will be meeting at a private house in Stanford with people arriving from 7.30pm with food served sometime around 8pm.  Please get in touch if you would like to come along so we know how much food will be needed.

The plan is to start off with the “Feature Game”, which, as has become traditional at these events, will be the gorgeous, dexterity car-racing game, PitchCar.  After that, we will be eating, popping party poppers, playing games and admiring the village’s fireworks at midnight.

– Image by boardGOATS

And talking of cars…

A policeman sees an elderly woman driving incredibly slowly on the motorway, so he pulls along side and notices her knitting in the driver’s seat.  She remains focused on the road and keeps knitting and driving.

He beeps his horn to get her attention, but she is oblivious and carries on.

Getting more frustrated, the policeman turns his siren on and, as she finally notices him, he signals for her to wind the window down.

After a time she finds the button and down goes the window.

Incensed, the cop yells, “PULL OVER!”

“Oh, no sweetie,” she replies.  “It’s a scarf, see?”

Our next meeting will be Tuesday 27^th December 2022.  As it is a bank holiday, we will start a little earlier playing shorter games from 7pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be the card drafting animal game, Zuuli (play-through video).  This is a light game that is a bit like Sushi Go!, but with animals.

– Image by boardGOATS

Speaking of zoos…

Jeff was telling his friend Joe about his trip to the zoo the other day.

Jeff explained, “Some of the animals didn’t bring their wallets, so I ended up paying the lion’s share…”

Our next meeting will be Tuesday 13^th December 2022 at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.

As this is our last meeting before Christmas
we will be meeting early from 7pm for pizzas and Christmas festivities.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be Merry Madness: The Nightmare Before Christmas (review & play through video, rules), followed by a range of Christmas and winter themed games like Santa’s Workshop, Christmas Tree, Snow Tails, Carcassonne: Winter Edition, Giftmas at Dungeon Abbey, Gingerbread House and Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries.   Merry Madness is a real time, dice chucking game where players are trying to gather together all the spooky-themed gifts in Sandy Claws’ Christmas Bag.

– Image from spelhuis.be

Speaking of nightmares…

It was shortly before Christmas when Jeff had a nightmare and dreamed that he was stuck inside a snow globe.

When he woke, he was really shaken up…