The More the Merrier

So it’s should be no surprise that more players means more enjoyable games, but I was surprised this past weekend to find a game that seems to be just for two players is actually better with four. First let me tell you what we played first.

First up was History of the World.


I have been trying to get my own copy of this game for awhile now. My friend Ed bought it awhile back but it is out of print now. So I bought a copy on ebay for over $100 bucks, but it was worth it. It is such a fun game. Think of it as a Historically based Risk type game where you control not just one army throughout the whole game but several different armies throughout history. The game starts in 3000 B.C. with the Sumerians and ends in 1914 with pre WWI Germany. That spans a lot of history and the game divides that time into 7 Epochs. Each Epoch has 7 major Empires from roughly the same time frame and the players are randomly given control of one of those empires. Then the goal is to try and expand that empire as much as possible in the one turn that represents that Epoch. Then you move on to the next Epoch leaving the remnants of your old empire on the board and picking up the mantle of another empire trying to expand.

So this past weekend the four of us got together and played.


It was Me, Brandon, Scott, and Jessica, and like the title at the top of the page suggests, it was very fun to play this great game with more people. In the past Scott and I usually only got to play it with Ed so we were used to 3 player games. But History of the World is designed to be played with up to 6 players so it was no surprise that we enjoyed it more with 4 people.

I have to say that Scott might not have enjoyed it as much as I did because he had his worst game ever. Based on his score through out the game he was constantly in last place. Even the fact that the last place player gets to draw Empire Cards first could not save him.

Here is what the board looked like at the end of the game;

Scott was Green and Brandon was Yellow. I was Blue, and as you can see I was able to take control of Northern Europe and a good portion of Southern Europe too. This was thanks to the fact that I drew the Romans in Epoch 3 and Spain in Epoch 6 and then finished up with the Germans in Epoch 7. But it did not win me the game. I came in Second. Jessica, who was Red, won the game with a hefty score of 239.


So the final scores were; Scott 160, Brandon 203, Me (Mike) 212, and Jessica 239.

I guess the big surprise and the reason for the title up top, is the 4 player game of Crokinole we played. Scott and I had played some 2 player Crokinole the day before, and it was typically one sided, in more ways then one.


Not only did Scott kick my butt, but as usual in a 2 player game of Crokinole, each players discs are mostly on one side or the other. This had never bothered me before until the next day when we all got together and played a 4 player game. It makes total sense to me now. There are 4 quadrants to shoot from, duh! And when you play in teams of two you and your team mate shoot from opposite sides of the board. This completely changes the dynamics of the game. Now there is nowhere to hide. Your discs can be shot at and knocked of the board from both sides now, and in turn the goal in the center is more accessible for your team, you don’t get blocked out as much. If you are wondering what I’m talking about I suggest that you read my last blog entry where I explain the basics of Crokinole.

Well the bottom line is that it is always preferable to try a game with more people, even though it is a lot easier to get small groups together. I am just very glad that Scott and I have found some fellow gamers that we like to hang out with and enjoy these games together. Thanks a lot fellow gamers!!

Descent into……Crokinole?!?

Well it’s been awhile since I wrote but I hope to avoid that in the future by doing shorter articles. We’ll see how it goes.

My last blog was about my hopes for Descent, the yet to be determined ultimate dungeon crawl boardgame!


The Road to Legend expansion is supposed to make this game everything I ever wanted. Well I bought everything, the base game and all the expansions, plus the Road to Legend expansion. I have read through everything and I can say that the game sure looks great but I have not played it yet. Scott and I have been too busy with other games like Galaxy Trucker and Kingsburg. We have also been playing some Magic the Gathering since both Scott and I have been buying lots of cool pre-construct decks. Mostly we have avoided playing Descent because we have been busy breaking in some new players! Scott’s friend Brandon and my friend Jessica, have been joining us for few gaming sessions and learning the ropes. We have to start them slow and Descent would be a lot to deal with for first time players.

But the big thing that we have been focusing on right now is Crokinole!



Crokinole is an old dexterity game from the 1800s. It involves players taking turns flicking little wooden discs across a circular board and trying to get there discs as close to the center hole as possible, or, if your lucky, getting it into the hole for a GOAL!!! A goal is worth 20 points, and that’s a guaranteed 20 points. You can get other points if you can keep your discs on the board without them getting knocked off the board and falling into the outer ditch. It is difficult though because one of the main rules in Crokinole is that if your opponent has a disc on the board you have to try and hit it with your next shot. This usually results in your opponent getting his disc knocked into the ditch and if you are not careful and you overshoot, your disc might wind up next to his. At the end of the round when everyone has shot all 12 of their discs you give points for the discs that are left on the board dependant on what ring they are in; the outer ring is worth 5 points, the inner ring is worth 10 points, and the center ring is worth 15 points. As I mentioned earlier getting a disc into the hole in the very center is worth 20 points and you get those points immediately and remove your disc, your opponent can not take those 20 points away now, because your disc cannot be knocked off since it’s removed from the board. This obviously makes getting a goal very valuable. At the end of the round you take all the points awarded for that round and they cancel each other out and if a player still has points left after that they keep them and mark them down on the scoreboard. They you play another round. You keep going this way until someone passes 100 points and wins the game.

Scott and I have been playing a lot of Crokinole because he just bought a custom hand crafted board from the Hilinski Brothers. They make a lot of unique and beautiful boards and you can get one from their website at www.crokinoleworld.com. Scott ordered the Cat Balou board.


It’s a very nice board and blast to play on. Of course we just had to break it in, so needless to say we spent a lot of time last weekend doing so.