Houston Gamers: I learn some new games

My Gamecount posts track two metrics: the number of games I played this year(3 games of Power Grid, 5 of San Juan, whatever) and the number of games I played for the first time ever.

The first requirement makes me eager to get gaming anywhere and with anyone cool. If Lee and I can get Wyatt Earp or San Juan on the table in the evening, great. The second one forces me to be more aggressive about playing games I have lying around unplayed, and be more outgoing at the Houston Gamers, so I play different games with more people.

Anyway, I went to the Houston Gamers and learned Perudo, a Liar's Dice variant that slows the game down and has more complicated rules, both of which are bad. I also learned Havoc: Hundred Years' War. Havoc turns out to be a 6-suited 6-card poker variant that's timed for aggressive play. It has some interesting rummy-like card drafting mechanics, and I hear it's fairly cheap, maybe $16 or so for a copy. I'd definitely pick this up... it's not too hard to explain and I thought it had some depth to it.

Gamecount: Individual game sessions played for the year = 121, New game titles played for the year = 20.