Headache seems to have pretty much subsided today, which means I probably don't have brain cancer or anything, which is nice. I really do think it's just the heat; it's been extremely hot and sunny for the last few days — unpleasantly so. In fact, driving back from my friend's house this evening, I was struck by the feeling that in the summer months, we'd probably all be a lot more productive if we slept through the day and worked in the cool breeze of a summer evening.
But anyway.
Yes, I went to a friend's house this evening, what with us being allowed to for the moment. With all the scaremongering in the media about crazy new virus variants, I suspect we'll probably end up in another lockdown sooner or later, so we decided to take the opportunity to see each other for the first time since… last September, I think we worked out it was.
We played a tabletop game called "The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine", which proved to be a big hit with everyone. Thematically, it's a game about performing missions in space to track down a legendary mystery planet, but mechanically it's bollocks all to do with that; it's a trick-taking game where each "mission" tasks players around the table with accomplishing particular things — usually taking a trick containing a particular specific card.
The interesting twist is that some of the "tasks" you have to complete require you to take low-numbered cards, which means you need to win a trick but also ensure that the "bad" card is in there. Thankfully, the game is a cooperative affair with strict rules on limited communication with one another, so it's all about working together to ensure that everyone is able to play the optimal cards for any given situation.
As the game progresses, additional mechanics are layered atop the basic formula, such as having to complete the tasks in a particular order, with prerequisites or with limitations on who is allowed to do what. In all, there's a "campaign" of 50 missions of increasing complexity — but the game is highly replayable by virtue of the fact its simple card-based nature means it's different every time you play.
I enjoyed it a lot! It was just the sort of reasonably lightweight yet also a bit thinky game that is perfect for a summer's evening. Hopefully we'll get the chance to try it again at some point in the near future… assuming we're still allowed to see other human beings by the Tuesday after next!
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