It was time to head back to Cosmopolis, the town just south of Aberdeen, WA to Shiloh Bible Camp for another board game weekend.
This time around, that windy drive at night wasn’t as bad as I headed off highway 101 considering I had now been through it before. It wasn’t as foggy either. Though I had forgotten about the small one lane bridge you have to cross with a stop sign each way. Definitely watch for that if you ever head that way from the west direction.
This year was a little different than last year. For one, more people came. There was double the amount. It was also more structured as we had 3 church services in the chapel room. We did not meet in there last year.
After check-in at 7pm, we headed to the chapel. All three services were good. Anyone could volunteer to pick a song for worship from the list we were given. Then it was played on the keyboard up on stage. Worship was then followed by a message from the guest speaker that stayed the whole weekend. After the service, we played Get To Know You Bingo. I’m sure many of you have done this for conferences and other functions you have attended, but you have a Bingo sheet and the squares contain something you ask someone else. It could be a question such “Have you been to the beach?” If that person you asked has, the square gets crossed off by the person’s initials.
It was then time for the board gaming to start. We headed into the cafeteria and lobby area to begin. My highlight of the first night was learning a Harry Potter deck building game called Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle. I have always liked the co-op among the players in many deck building games. This one sure was the case. We teamed up to defeat all the villains. You earn tokens to buy cards to expand your deck. It didn’t take me long to understand it. You just got to remember to do all the steps you’re supposed to do.
Day 2
It was clear and sunny there all weekend. However, it was the coldest I had experienced all winter and saw frost on the ground for the first time. When I woke up the next morning. This winter here in the PNW has been warmer than usual. This spot seems to get colder than many other places around here. So prepare for that if you ever drive through there.
I didn’t sleep as good this year. I was assigned to one of the cabins out back behind the building we were in most of the time. I liked the staff building up on the 2nd floor where I stayed last year. But I could deal with it, and knowing that breakfast was going to ready soon the next morning, it helped. At this retreat center, mattresses are provided. It is up to you other than that. You have to bring the covers, mattress pad, etc.
Day 2 was a big day. I began it with D&D and played an elf. It was the best session of D&D I had played. We all actually survived in the story. That’s something I haven’t done before. My abilities allowed me to survive against anything that attacked us when exploring.
My favorite game I played the whole weekend was Railroad Tiles. There are tiles you place down and connect containing railroads, highways, and buildings. Some tiles have icons such as people, cars, and trains. You place down the game pieces on them as well as connect train tracks and highways to earn more points. If you like games where build a civilization like in Settlers of Catan, I would say give this one a try.
The first of two tournament games was here. We played Hues and Cues. It was an entertaining game to do a tournament on. Having to give a clue while the other players guess the color was quite funny. The correct color tile has to be in the middle of the 3×3 square that clue giver places after everyone has made their guess with their marker pieces. I liked how you can still get a point if you are just outside of the square.
The next game I played was Team Ticket To Ride. We had three teams of two. I liked this way of playing because you have cards that go in front of both of you for you to use to build your railroads. You don’t really have to talk things over because everyone still has their own cards with certain railroads they have to make for points. But all points go for the whole team at the end.
It was time for the 2nd tournament and I learned Liar’s Dice. We split up into two tables and had a winner from each table. It’s all by elimination one by one. Everyone starts with five dice that they secretly roll. Then everyone guesses how many of each numbered dice there are. If I remember right, you start with the number two, all the way up to five. Someone will make a claim that someone else’s guess is wrong. Then everyone reveal’s their dice. If whoever was called out for a wrong guess is wrong, then that player goes down to four dice. A player has been eliminated when all dice have been removed. I was amazed at how competitive it got as there got to be less players. If you’ve played the card game Doubt aka BS, you might like this game.
To cap off Day 2, we ended with a big group game of Werewolf. It was played a little different. You still sit around in a big circle and accuse someone of being part of the mafia. But everyone has assigned roles with some rules. Part of the game has everyone getting walk and walking around to discuss information with others. You can tell the truth or bluff about who you are. After a certain amount of time given by the Game Master, everyone then sits done and does the usual procedures. After a certain amount of people that are left, the Game Master will decide when discussion will take place in the circle and no longer involved getting up. I think I like regular Werewolf better, but it was something to learn. It was a very late night as it was 3am by the time we got to bed.
Day 3
Despite such a late night, I managed to still get up by 9am in time before breakfast closed down. We had a few more game sessions of whatever before our final worship in the chapel at 11:30. We then had lunch before our final few hours. After trying all weekend, I finally got a session of a game I brought called Telestrations. It is just like the phone game, except it is more like Pictionary for how it is played. It is really just for laughs as there are no winners or losers. You can though keep score if you want by having everyone vote on their favorite drawing and guess.
That wrapped up this year’s board game retreat. It was better than last year. Thank you all for checking all this out. Feel free to subscribe to your email inbox so you can get notified every time I post a new article. Drop a comment too and tell your thoughts. I will try to have some more games reviews on the way. The first convention I attend every year is coming up in March as I will be heading down to Portland right off the Columbia River for GameStorm. This is an all-board game convention. I am looking forward to going over all that when I get back. If you are interested in learning more about it and buying tickets, you can check it on the GameStorm website.
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