Kearney Area GameFest

Each year in Essen Germany hundreds of game designers submit there best designs in hopes of winning the coveted Spiel des Jahres (Game of theYear).  In 1995, Klaus Teuber won with this gem.  It is a game that has spawned dozens of expansions, hundred of variants, countless websites and even broke into video (Xbox360?) games.  Exciting and strategic, with just the right amount of luck, Settlers involves the players in building mini civilizations on the new isle.  By collecting resources, players race to build roads, settlements and cities in order to win the game.  The genious of the game is it's trading element:  you won't produce everything you need, so you must trade with other players.  This trading element ensures that all are involved in the game at all times, often in an exciting way.  Where else can you hear grown men shouting "I have wood for sheep" ?  I have no game in my extensive collection that is so versatile.  A family with bright kids (8 and older) can enjoy it.  Mixed couples, multi-generational family get-togethers, and  even cut-throat, competitive adult gaming groups bring this out time and time again.  I have bought seven copies, plus many of the expansions.  Great stuff--come Friday night and try it!

A couple of years ago, Dominion was shooting up the "hot games" chart.  I was never a card-flopper, so I ignored this one.  Adam Giddings bought it (he buys everything) and brought it to the table one day at my house.  None of us except Adam had ever been into the CCG thing, yet everyone at the table LOVED the game immediately.  It is essentially a deck-building strategy game.  The base game consists of 25 different sets of action cards and a game uses 10 sets (either at random or suggested groups of sets) out of the 25.  Each player starts with a bare bones hand of 7 copper and 3 victory point cards.  After shuffling, a player draws the top five cards and uses the coins to buy action cards, ugraded money cards or Victory points.  After buying, the player takes all of his used cards plus his newly purchased cards and places them in discard, drawing five more from his deck.  When his draw pile is exhausted, he shuffles all  discards and creates a new draw deck, improved by his previous rounds' buys.  Action cards, when played, improve your turn by allowing you to draw more cards, play more action cards, get money off buys for the round, attack other players in various ways, etc. as CCG fans are probably used to.  The action cards available offer multiple paths for victory.  A player chooses which card combinations will efficiently lead him to victory.  The game is fast and fun.  A former Magic player in my group said that "Dominion scratches every itch" I have for Magic.  Though not perhaps as interactive (varies based on the deck) as Magic, it is an excellent alternative.  So far, two expansions have been made, increasing the action cards available to around 75, and many more expansions are in the works.  I encourage every Magic player to try this during Gamefest.

This is a game about planting, trading and harvesting beans.  Wait!  Don't stop reading!  I know, I know, this sounds like zero fun, but there is much gaming goodness to be had in a small package here. 
Bohnanza is a card game based on beans.  There are around a dozen or so types, each varying in number and relative value.  The bean deck is shuffled and dealt.  But unlike any other card game you've played, when you pick up your cards you don't change the order.  On each turn, you must plant the first card in your hand into a field.  You have two fields in front of you, your limit (with one exception explained later).  Each field can only hold one type of bean.  After planting your mandatory one bean, you MAY plant a second bean.  If it is the same type, it stacks and increases the value of the crop; if it is different you have to put it in your other field.  After planting, turn two cards from the draw pile face up in front of you.  The fun begins.  You either have to plant, trade or donate these.  If they match what you have planted, you just add them to your crops.  If they don't match, you need to get rid of them.  You can offer one for one trades ("I'll trade this Soy Bean for a Black-eyed") or you can sweeten the deal, offering cards from your hand in addition to the face up offerings.  Offering cards from your hand is most important as it is the only way to alter your hand's order before your turn.  Again, on your next turn, you must first plant at least one bean; if it matches a field you've started, you will increase your earnings.  If it doesn't, you must dig up a field of beans to plant the new ones.  Harvested fields earn coins (represented on the backs of the cards).  The more beans of a type in a field, the more coins you get.  But there is a minimum and if you dig up a field before you reach the minimum, you get nada.  You may dig up fields at any point and you may buy a third bean field (though I've only seen someone win once this way in all my years of playing). 
This is a very quick and clever hand-management game that my family and I love!  Trading, with people who know how to play, can rival Wall Street action ("I've got a Stink Bean for that Garden Bean!"  "Wait!  I'll give you two Stinks for that!")  Sometimes you have to donate a bean to someone, and even that can be fun, too!  My daughter will frequently remind players that they owe her for beans donated earlier and my wife will lie and say she has nothing to trade just to get something free!  Bohnanza is a favorite at the Petersen house--try it!

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"We are gangsters gathered together to split the loot from our latest heist.  To ease negotiations, each of us has brought his gun..."  How can you not like that as an intro?  In this fast, easy game of bluff and bluster, each player is given a foam gun and 8 bullet cards.  A pile of loot is put into the pot, each gangster selects his bullet card, and...draw!  Each gangster points his gun at an opponent.  If no one is aiming at you--good!  You will probably get some cash that round.  If one person is aiming at you?  Well, 5 of his bullet cards are blanks.  Is he bluffing?  And what if several people are aiming at you?  Can they all be firing blanks? After a three count, each player can either lay down their gun (taking a shame marker, but saving themselves for the next round) or shout Geronimo!, Banzai! or whatever gives you courage.  Bullet cards are revealed and whoever isn't wounded by a shot or chickened out gets to split the pot (in a nice twist, if the pot can't be split evenly, no one gets anything and the next rounds pot is twice as nice).  The next round goes the same way, but each bullet card can be used only once.  As I said, 5 are blanks.  But two are shots and one is the dreaded Bang!Bang!Bang! which shoots first with no chance for the defender to shoot back.  Use them too early and everyone knows you are impotent later.  Use them too late and you might not get much cash.  Three wounds and you are dead.  Each shame marker takes away $5,000.  Whichever gangster has the most  money after 8 rounds wins the game.  Great fun packed in a 15 minute game, especially  if you know your opponents.