Table Top Game Club Week 18: Madness!

Week 18 has come and gone, and we had a great week of gaming.  Tuesday's session featured a new game to our collection, The Big Book of Madness, a clever deck building game from IELLO.  In TBBoM, players take on the role of first-year students in a wizard college (*cough* Hogwarts *cough* *cough*) who have accidentally opened a grimoire of magical creatures.  The players each have a deck of cards made up of symbols representing the four elements.  Players use element cards to thwart curses, cast spells, and deal with ever increasing doses of madness inflicted by the aforesaid grimoire.  The cooperative aspect of the game is reinforced by players having the option of sharing their element cards, and casting spells that benefit your fellow wizards.  We played two games, with a loss for us the first time around, but we rallied to a win the for the second game.  The more I played the game, the more I was hoping we will get a second chance to have a go at this game.  There is tremendous replayability built into the game, and I want as many students to get to try it.

Friday's open-gaming session was a treat when a student brought a game from home that is a tradition in her family.  Her family apparently has played the game for decades, and they call it "Ching", but the more common name for it is Gimme Five.  It's a fun game that can be played by up to six people.  It's a game with a simple concept; two decks of standard playing cards are shuffled together and dealt out to players.  As you lay down a card, you play a chip on a board that has pictures that correspond to the cards.  The goal is to lay down five chips in a row while preventing opponents from completing their rows of five. We played in teams of two, and my student brought her custom made board from home along with customized chips (not pictured above).  It's a simple game in concept, but the strategy is surprisingly deep.  Looking for possible five in a row while thwarting your opponents takes some great multi-tasking.  We had tremendous fun while playing this game, and I can see how it can be a family tradition akin to cribbage.  It's a great game, so I might try to get a hold of the game for the club's collection.

I'll be taking a couple weeks off from the blog as we head into final exams.  The club doesn't run during finals, but when we return, we'll jump into Specter Ops!

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