Agricola should play in two hours with four players once everyone knows what’s going on.  Pandemic should be back in stock any time I think…

Apparently the Pandemic reprint is already sold out at the publisher level so get it while it’s hot.  :D I think it’s the same case for the first English Agricola printing too.

I wonder if Zev and others are considering a tweak to their business models in regards to these hot commodotity titles. I really don’t want to wait until 2009 for Agricola, but I am not in to the whole pre-order thing (mainly because I don’t trust getting mail where I live). I’m sure there is some sort of pressure from stores and distributors, right?

I think Kingsburg is an excellent choice.  Like you, I’ve been playing it on the PC a lot lately and have really been enjoying it.  All the reasons you give why your students should enjoy it are all valid ones for choosing it.  The only issue with it is it’s pricy, but for a group purchase like this, that’s less of a concern.

St. Pete’s a possibility, although I think it’s a game that plays far better on the computer than it does face to face.  The latter is pretty fiddly and takes more time than I feel the game is worth.  For a 5 minute game on the computer, though, it’s hard to beat.  St. Pete is a game that’s challenging at first, as it takes a while to figure out how to properly set up your engine, so your students might get some good play out of it.  It certainly is the appropriate weight and usually makes a good first impression, so I don’t see this as being a bad choice.

As I think I’ve mentioned in the past, Airships is a slam dunk.  It’s fast, it has decisions, it’s forgiving, and everyone likes to roll dice.  You might have a concern about adding two dice games at the same time, but it and Kingsburg use them very differently, so that alone might be a good lesson in how different designers work.  Gotta go with the blimps.

If you can manage to snag Pandemic, you probably should.  Cooperative games that can hold kids’ attentions should be a great addition and this one should have a compelling theme for them, as well as letting them learn a bit about a sobering, but nonetheless important issue.  I’d use the rules in the box about how much information should be revealed about everyone’s hands, to keep the bossier kids from dominating the procedings.

Tichu isn’t the easiest game to learn, as it has a host of exceptions and special cases, not to mention you have to learn how to work with a partner.  If you’re looking for a good introduction to climbing games, you might want to check out Gang of Four, which is derived from a similar game to Tichu, but takes it in a different direction.  Then again, Tichu isn’t rocket science and it’s certainly cheap enough, so you might want to try it out and see how the reaction is.  I’m not convinced it will have the same hold on youngsters it does on many gamers, but I could be wrong.

Finally, Pillars is worth thinking about, but it’s a game that rewards experience and foreknowledge of the cards.  In addition, I wouldn’t expect the theme to be of much interest to kids, unless they’ve read the book.  A more accessible worker placement game than Pillars or Agricola might be Stone Age, which should be available from Rio Grande any day now.  I think the strategies are easier to see, the dice should make it seem friendlier, and the theme is great.  Then again, if everyone is comfortable with Caylus, you really don’t need much of an introduction to the genre.  Pillars is probably the deeper game, but Stone Age does have more options than is first apparent.  It probably comes down to ease of play and theme vs. depth; I’d probably go with one or the other game, but not both.

Glad to hear the student gaming club continues to be a success.  Keep up the good work, Matt!

Our last meeting of the year last tuesday was particularly nice.  We had over 20 students in attendance - and only 2 were seniors.  I think it was a new peak.

Pandemic is worth buying. After playing the playtest set at BBGCon last year I immediately pre-ordered the game . . . and it has seen a lot of plays since it arrived. Hell, I now keep it in the office so that anyone can play when they get the time. (Pandemic was one of the games played during our Game Day this past Friday.)

It’s still early in the year but at the moment I’m ranking Pandemic as the best game of 2008. A fast-playing cooperative game that I want to play again as soon as a game is finished? Yeah, my game of the year.