Yeah, I think Dominion is a fabulous game. Played about 6 games so far and still haven't won one but got close... well, once.

DQ, I'd take another shot honestly. I had a good teacher and that made a hell of a difference.

IOGamingN, I hate Carcossonne (sp?) and love Pandemic.

And I eagerly await the release of Halo: Reach.

I can't imagine lasting through any game with someone yelling at me. Or reason #537 why my sister's family hates playing games with her.

And I eagerly await the release of Halo: Reach.

The second time I played dominion, it was with 2 newbies, and one ubber nerd who has played it a million times, and me. The newbies did ok, but were a bit confused and hesitant. I was trying to help them as much as I could. Ubber nerd dude was playing faster than the Flash could, and feeling very righteous that he could play so fast, and not helping the newbs out at all. Needless to say, he won. The second game that night, I came within one of him, and he was a little flumuxed that he didn't wipe the floor of us again. It was a little surreal. All that to say, good teachers are the world of difference (in games, and in life).

I've never played Dominion. I suspect I'd enjoy it, I've been a mad fan of card games since childhood. (Never played any CCGs though, which is not irrelevant to the Dominion equation.) Indeed, the best value I've had for my game-buying money, certainly in the last few years and possibly ever, is Race for the Galaxy. Before Ryan was born, Wallybee and I used to play it all the time. (For me, it takes everything good about Puerto Rico, cuts out the tedious stuff, and marries it with the joy of card games.)

Carcassonne doesn't appeal to me much either, though I've only played it the once (with a German couple in Philadelphia). Pandemic is a good co-op and I found it enjoyable, but the replay value starts to drop off for me. (I suspect the BSG experience is colouring my view of it.) I do however expect that it'll be great for when Ryan has become interested in games but is maybe still coming to terms with losing.

Ooh, I played Pandemic recently. We only played the simplest variation because several of us (including me) hadn't played before and learning on the fly was a bit of a challenge, but it was fun. I think we actually won one game.

DQ, wow, what a dick. Too bad Dominion doesn't have a board and pieces that you could've flipped over dramatically as you exited.

I like Carcassone, kinda. I love the tactile aspect of it; the tiles and the meeple feel nice. I've been teaching Mal to play it, and of course he's more focused on building a nice map than on getting points, but I can't say that's wrong.

I'll have to try Race for the Galaxy again. Even after a fair amount of Puerto Rico experience, R4tG seemed confusing and odd and like multi-player solitaire.

I do however expect that it'll be great for when Ryan has become interested in games but is maybe still coming to terms with losing.

Thankfully we've just gotten out of this phase with Mal. The "sore loser" phase was initially hysterical (because he was a walking cliche) and then tiresome. But it didn't last too long, honestly.

A Mal story I don't think I've shared here: the DH and I were sitting in the game room, doing inter-session busy work for D&D (levelling up characters, etc). Mal came in, looked at us, grabbed a marker for the white board, and said "OK. I'll draw where you guys are. (draws a square, starts putting smaller squares inside it) This is a village, and these are the houses. But it was attacked by zombies. Wolves. Zombie wolves. So you guys are right here, and you have to rescue the people."

DH and I melted at our 5yo DM. So we played out the scene, with Mal even telling us to "roll to hit."

I'll have to try Dominion again, then; maybe I'll ask for a one-on-one session with another friend of mine. I can't remember if it can only be 2 players, but maybe just for teaching purposes it would be fine.

Weird thing about that player who was so overbearing... I think I just can't play board games with him. Oddly, he's one of my players in D&D (Pathfinder, actually) and he's fine--doesn't overbear anybody, doesn't tell anyone what to do (though certainly he discusses tactics, but the whole group does that and they do so amicably), and doesn't give me a hard time (but I am the DM). And he's a fantastic roleplayer to boot. Not sure what the difference in atmosphere... maybe he's trying to GM gmless games, I don't know.

Race for the Galaxy is fun--I've only played it once, but I really did enjoy that.

Pandemic was... interesting. The concept is very interesting but the game seemed very hard to win.

Story about 5 yo GM: Priceless. And I bet he was a fantastic GM too.

I have a story that is nowhere near as cute, but I was at a friend's house, where apparently one of my dice had fallen out of the bag into their yard. Their 4 year old daughter found the die and shouted, "Daddy, daddy a twelve sided die!"

I am so proud of my geek friends for teaching their children the important things (also: great counting tools, dice).

I'll have to try Race for the Galaxy again. Even after a fair amount of Puerto Rico experience, R4tG seemed confusing and odd and like multi-player solitaire.

There's a learning curve getting used to the meanings of the symbols. Once you get the hang of it, they're really a very efficient system, but different people have different affinities for them. The multi-player solitaire feel is in part another hurdle - once you have the hang of what you're doing, you can spare more attention for how your choices benefit the others (and vice versa). It'll never be as interactive as a game like BSG, though.

(The second expansion includes rules that allow you to steal planets from other players' layouts; that introduces some more interaction. I think the third expansion does too, but I haven't bought that yet. I apparently have a decent tax return coming, I'll get it then.)

Mal came in, looked at us, grabbed a marker for the white board, and said "OK. I'll draw where you guys are. (draws a square, starts putting smaller squares inside it) This is a village, and these are the houses. But it was attacked by zombies. Wolves. Zombie wolves. So you guys are right here, and you have to rescue the people."

That is just awesome.

BSG

While we're waiting for the President to check in, Chief, are you all set for your turn? Anyone want to tout for an XO?

(I'm not much use for one, the most useful thing I can do is try to get out of the Brig. I'll ask on my turn if the crew's ok supporting my release, but I don't think it's worth chewing up extra actions before then.)

R4tG seemed confusing and odd and like multi-player solitaire.

Dominion seems like multi-player solitaire to me. That's why it's a bit funny that someone would get so invested in someone else's cards.

I'll have to try Dominion again, then; maybe I'll ask for a one-on-one session with another friend of mine. I can't remember if it can only be 2 players, but maybe just for teaching purposes it would be fine.

I think I've only played it with two so far.