Game Night Report was an article I started on the previous website for FDR. Technically, this is not the first Game Night Report, but it is the first GNR on this website. So as to not confuse anyone in the future trying to find the first few GNRs by naming this one a number higher than 1, I am instead starting the article fresh! Make sense? Excellent!

This article is a look at any previous gaming sessions I have had in the very recent past. Through this article you will get to read about the games I play, and even thought it isn’t a full review it might be enough to get you interested in a new game. Hopefully it will provide a little humor along the way as well!

Let’s get started…

Wednesday, March 4th – The Jester’s Court

My son, Ayden, and I go to our wonderful, local game store, The Jester’s Court, for their weekly Board Game Night. The owner and I had been talking about playing Evolution for weeks and we nailed down this night as the debut.

Evolution

 We get ready to play with 6 players present  (the max number for the game), when another regular shows up and wants to play. Rather than exclude anyone, Ayden and I decide to join forces. We get our starting species, decide to play as an herbivore despite the fact that we got a ‘Carnivore’ card that would allow us to make our species a carnivore, and then we are eaten on the first turn…

With no species on the board we get to draw extra cards and set up a pretty beefy herbivore on the second turn. The ‘Burrowing’ ability allows our herbivore to hide from the nasty predators, and surprisingly this species survives for the rest of the game. Unsurprisingly, our late start and the untimely death of our first species gave us a little bit of a disadvantage.

Our lone (for the majority of the game) species was pretty untouchable. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a fast food (essentially Victory Points) gatherer. We introduced a second species (too late) and made it a carnivore. With it we terrorized a few newly made species… before promptly starving to death.

Outcome – Last Place!!!!!! In your FACES other species!

Hanabi

After Evolution the majority of the players stayed together and we started a game of Hanabi. I had heard a lot about Hanabi, had seen it being played, but had never actually played it myself. I was eager to see if it was anything like I expected.

Not so much. I’m really not sure what I expected, but Hanabi turned out differently than that; whatever that was. I really enjoyed the cooperative nature of the game, and the game was stressful for sure. Stress is something I really seek in a game. If you’re stressed while playing a game, then you’re involved. I enjoy being immersed so that was a welcome emotion during gameplay.

Everyone at the table had played before, except for Ayden and me. Despite the fact, Hanabi was super easy to learn and even Ayden (who is 12 years old) caught on quickly. Surprisingly he didn’t make any tactical errors during gameplay short  of discarding useful cards to restore the clue-token-thingies. If you have never played Hanabi before, then you have no idea what that means. If you have you do. If you haven’t then just know that the game is easy enough for a 12 year old to flourish on his first outing with the game.

Despite its simplicity, Hanabi is surprisingly difficult.

Outcome – We manage to get to the third highest point tier at the end of the game. You can’t really lose Hanabi, only get a laughably low score; team victory!

Final Thoughts

Despite the fact that we got creamed during Evolution, I still very much enjoyed it. It’s the kind of game that rewards experience and we were woefully short on that! Still, I very much look forward to playing Evolution again and will most likely add it to my collection

Hanabi was a delightful little game that elicited a lot of laughter and stress. While I can see having major problems with the game depending on the players present, it would certainly be a game I could see myself owning and breaking out occasionally with the right group. I might have to get them both!