More recent gaming

Tacta — I was happy to spot this in a bag and asked to play it, as it is the very rare (for me) instance where I saw a preview for the game and said “That looks like a great idea.”

Each player has a hand of cards (identical except for color). You shuffle up your cards and can play only either end (cards are two sided, the same except for parity). You must cover a part of one card, you must keep the outlines matching, and each card can only be cover one card (but cards can be covered by multiple cards). The edge of the table matters. At the end your uncovered points score.

Simple. Novel. Great aesthetics. Fast. Suggest.

Free Ride — Still enjoying this and did in fact Suggest.

Dice Realms — Back in the bag so I’m ready when the expansion drops. Suggest.

New Frontiers — I’m not against this game, but it sort of has the “Why not just play Race?” argument. That’s not fair, because its competing against Puerto Rico and is just as good (except possibly in that it takes longer to setup). I no longer suggest Puerto Rico because of the left-right binding issues although I play when offered. I actually prefer New Frontiers (for fixing that, and also because I’ve played Puerto Rico enough to have a feel for all the standard strategies) but that thought had never occurred to me until last night. So … Indifferent but a good game and it could be move up to suggest. I’ve raised my rating on BGG. (This game included the expansion, but I have no thoughts on it).

Bacon — Indifferent.