Dinner With The Dark!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to dine in a darkened room, surrounded by glowing decorations, whilst playing a strategic party game with a group of strangers? Well, the option is now available!

Dinner With The Dark will take place on 25th March 2016 in Antwerp, and it will be quite an evening of surprises and fun! Guests will be invited into a dim room that will be lit up by various glow in the dark decorations, then throughout the meal they will be participating in the party game DEER LORD. Each guest will receive five glow sticks and five 'do something' cards that tell them what to perform during the meal. These things could be as subtle as scratching your head, making up a story or as blunt as banging your head on the table. The guests must act out what is on their cards without getting caught, if they do then they lose a glow stick to their accuser. But, if the accuser is wrong...then they lose a glow stick to the accused! The dinner guest with the most glow sticks at the end of the meal is the winner. The game is all about deceiving and being coy; a bluffer's dream come true.    

This unique and unforgettable event is being organised by Nebulous Dinners, a group of BBA students from KU Leuven in Brussels. Their combined passion for gaming and helping others brought them together for a school project that has led to Nebulous Dinners being formed, with the proceeds going to the charity Restos Du Couer. They have set up an impressive campaign on Indie gogo for funding and so far have received over 21% of the goal.

Board games can liven up any party and break the ice. Adding the extra elements of having the room eerily lit and playing a game that is all about outfoxing each other in subtle ways makes for a very interesting night.          

Dinner tickets are available here. If you can't make it to the meal, like myself, but fancy playing the game and helping out, then you can pledge for the PnP of Deer Lord and other merchandise. You could then host your own crazy dining experience with friends and family! 

Thanks for reading.

Marisa xx

Burgoo - Stewing on it!

Last weekend I played two games by Tasty Minstrel Games; Burgoo and Dungeon Roll. I purchased Dungeon Roll from Orc's Nest in Covent Garden, the majestic-looking treasure chest caught my eye as I was browsing the shelves and the description on the box sounded quite fun and appealing to a fan of dice rolling games. Burgoo was given to me by a friend to help me reach my goal of playing 200 games in August, it is a loan but I have a feeling I may be purchasing it at some point. My notes on both of these games were quite lengthy, so I will concentrate on Burgoo tonight, to save my blog from turning into an essay.   

Burgoo is designed by Dan Manfredini and consists of a collection of counters, with six different images of food ingredients to make a special stew. The premise of the game is that it is a cold Autumn month, and the community have gathered together to prepare a warming stew for all. The winner of the game will be the first one to add all of their ingredients to the Burgoo, whilst sampling it the most. It is making me hungry all over again, just typing this! 

The game is set up by each player by randomly arranging ingredients of the six types into a column, this is called the Batch. In the two player version, as I have been playing it, each player constructs two Batches. They additionally take one of each ingredient into their hand and hide this from their opponent, keep it secret! All leftover counters are placed in the middle of the table and this becomes the Pot. As the game begins, there are three actions that players can take; adding ingredients, sampling the Burgoo and splitting a Batch.

Adding ingredients is how you empty your Batch; throw a robust onion into the hearty stew to give it a little kick! You can add an ingredient from the top or bottom of your Batch by throwing a matching one from your hand in the Pot. If your opponent has the same ingredient in the same place as yours then you acquire that piece in your hand, thus making your secret stash even bigger. 

To sample the Burgoo you simply grab a wooden spoon and dip it in to the simmering Pot. Or, in reality, you pick up a piece from the Pot that would benefit you in a future turn. 

When splitting the Batch you toss any ingredient from your hand into the Pot, then you split one of your Batches in any way that will benefit you, such as splitting it so you have two potatoes at the top, then when you next discard a potato you will be ridding your Batch of two. You can split a Batch multiple times, even down to one counter that is deemed both top and bottom, but you can only split once per turn. Doing this also could help out your opponent, though, so keep a watchful eye over their Batches and make sure you are not emptying their stack as much as your own!

This is an enjoyable game, I like the idea of neighbours coming together to make a big stew but trying to out-cook each other and finish up first. It is almost like a cooking show on the Food Network, with the chefs racing against time to finish their dish, but also sampling it and keeping a little stack of secret ingredients on their person. I have a bit of a penchant for games with a food theme (you may have noticed) and this one certainly ticks all the boxes with its accessibility and strategic game play. It even has a recipe for Burgoo printed in the instructions sheet!

Thanks for reading, next post will be focusing on Dungeon Roll :)

Marisa xx                   

The rain won't ruin my summer this year!

Every summer I have dreaded the rain coming, as it meant that I would not be able to skate outside or my pic-nic would be ruined. I was always desperate for glorious sunshine or I would become undone and sulk until the weather cleared up. But this summer I have finally found indoor activities to keep myself from despair. It is pouring down with rain today but I am not sad one little bit, as I have just joined a gym to release some energy and at home I am surrounded by fantastic games. My skates are sitting upstairs looking glum, but I will find a roller disco to give them a good roll. As for now, I have a very busy afternoon ahead of me...

I have set up a little conveyor of games to play. First up is the tile placing strategy game, Blokus, which was one of the first games I was introduced to last year that started me getting hooked. Then a spot of Famiglia, which is a deck building Mafia game I picked up at the UK Games Expo in May. after that we have M80, which is a great and tense card game I got on Kickstarter this year, I will be going into more detail on this game and others by the same games designer later next week. Last but by no means least, we have Coup on the table. This is another one of my favourite bluffing games, I hope I can claim victory in this round!

Wish me luck! :)

Marisa xx