Three new games

One great thing about Dragoncon, even when I don't go, is that jet_li_wannabe's hyper-gaming-obsessed buddies always come into town, and there's a massive gaming night at which I can discover all sorts of new games.

Last night was no exception (even if we started way later than I'd have liked), and I've discovered three new games, all of which are a blast:

First, we played a number of rounds of Zendo. Zendo is a really fun logic game, with aspects of Mastermind, but a lot more complex. One of the best logic games I've played in a while, I can also see how incredibly complicated it can be when played with anything but the basic set of rules. The idea of the game is that one player (the Master) sets up the various pyramids according to a rule, and also sets up some pyramids in a way that violates that rule. The other players then have to create pyramid combinations to test the rule and figure out what the rule is. Like so many games, it's simple at heart, but can be incredibly tough to play.

We then played Ricochet Robots, which was my favorite game of the night. This game is simply amazing, and possibly the purest crunchy game I've ever encountered -- since all players play simultaneously, there's not even a penalty for turn order. Players all try to figure out the shortest number of moves to get a robot to the proper square, and the person who comes up with the best solution gets a point. It's one of those games that drives some folks insane, but all of us who were playing loved it. It also has a nice set of rules that allow those who fall behind a chance to play catch-up.

We ended the evening with a shortened game of the German edition of Citadels. Although we didn't finish, it was still fun, and it's a nice variation on the traditional "build stuff and count points to win" game. It's no Puerto Rico, but what is?

So yeah, three new games, all of which I'd gladly play again. Definitely a worthwhile night.