Tri-Games - last weekend

So, Tri-Games has become my favorite game store. I don't know exactly when that happened.

I played Emil And The Detective (new to me) and two games of Kevin Nunn's prototype "King's Menagerie."

Emil And The Detective is a short deduction game, probably best for kids or half-toasted grownups. Not drinking at the time, I was under-impressed. It does come with blindfolds for all the detectives to wear as Emil the thief makes his move.

I've played King's Menagerie twice before in a previous incarnation. It's shaped up into a solid game that feels like a Kevin Nunn design: every turn, the players are given more and more knowledge about what the King will eventually want in his menagerie. Selling animals to the king early not only nets you some cash, but diminishes his interest in that variety. Action cards add some swing, but aren't overly powerful or available. All in all, good stuff.

Len, George, and I got in a good game of Power Grid. We played the craziest game on the southern half of the Germany map. We finished with no power plants for sale, no oil, coal, or garbage for sale, and only five nukes for sale. I won, having managed the previous turn to corner the coal and oil markets, damaging Len and George's ability to run plants.

Len and I also played Alhambra (he won by a fair bit) and Blue Moon City (I lost, lost, lost).