Dale Yu: The King Is Dead, Long Live the King! And Essen Games at the Thanksgiving table.

[In advance, I apologize for the brevity of this week’s column.  I still have to clean up the house, go pick up my bird, make 6 pies and 5 loaves of bread for Thursday!]

Well Thanksgiving is almost upon us, at least if you’re an American, which means a few days off.  If you’re English, you don’t get any days off, but you can still give thanks that all of those religious idealists who managed to abandon the mother country in search of somewhere else to live.  If you’re Canadian, well at least you can pick up some of the NFL games for free over the air as long as live close enough the the US. 

Thanksgiving for my family means that it’s time for the whole family to get together, eat a huge dinner, and then have them all look in awe/wonderment/disgust/disbelief at my games closet.  In years past, I have given up trying to convert my family members to gaming.  After a few miserable attempts, I just haven’t felt it was worth it.  However, there are a few games from this year’s Essen crop that I might actually try to bring to the table after the pie.

Project X – as I mentioned in a previous column, this game looks be a party game… And that’s just the kind of game that I will likely have the most success in getting to the table.  Even as my family members have tryptophan-heavy eyelids, they can still likely spend a bit of time searching the board to find things that you can eat or things which belong in a pie.

Taluva – though this may be a bit complex to the non-gamer, this game has fairly simple rules to explain.  The primary goal is to rid yourself of two different types of pieces.  If you can’t place a piece on your turn, you lose.  And there are only a few different ways that you can play your tiles and pieces.  This game could eventually serve as a new gateway game for me.

Gra Gra Company – OK, there is admittedly not much of a game here.  But after turkey, trimmings, pie and a few beers, what would be more fun than trying to stack wooden cubes on top of each other?  I figure this will be the kind of game that will generate lots of laughs as the tower of wooden cubes tumbles down to the ground.

Through the Ages – Am I serious?  Well, sort of.  I do plan to get this game out this weekend.  But this is more for when the guests leave.  As my brother will be in town, this might be a chance to get the full game in!

FANTASY FOOTBALL UPDATE

Valerie kicked my heiney this week.
0-11.
Only 2 more games to go to achieve perfection.
Given my fantasy luck, week 14 will be the week Shaun Alexander comes back and scores 6 touchdowns in a game.

THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!

Let me take a minute to thank Rick for everything he’s done here at Boardgamenews.com.  Without him, I would have been most ill-prepared for my first Essen trip two years ago.  Lord only knows what kind of games I would have brought back without the guidance of the “Baedeker of Spiel ’04â€? published here by Rick.  This site has served as a place for not only first-rate game previews and insider information but also witty insightful commentators.  So, good luck to you in whatever you choose to do next, Rick. We’ll miss you here at BGN.com.

But now that good ol’ whats-his-face has moved on, let’s talk a little bit about the new boss, Eric.  He’s a swell guy who has written more articles about boardgaming than you’d expect.  He is clearly in the forefront of the gaming community, and I can’t imagine a better person to lead us into 2007.  My first experience with Eric was on the Essen subway when he showed me how to exploit the German penchant for orderliness and “rules-followingâ€?.  Eric was among the brash Americans that showed my how to ride the subway without first purchasing a ticket.  .  But that’s a story for another column (when I have more time to write).  I have to go clean off my nose now. [NB: Please let me keep my column.  I promise to write better columns in the future!]

KIDS GAME OF THE WEEK –
Sorry, the kids are at the small table this week.  Hopefully they’ll graduate to the big people table next week.

Until your next appointment (and pass me the pie on your way out),
The Gaming Doctor

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