.png)
While I patiently wait for @R0land1199 to return from SHUX and post his usual post (I actually did pretty well last month!), I decided I should start on mine. For anyone who may care, the 3rd quarter of my mini shelf of shame contest wrapped up a couple days ago and I made a lot of progress playing my previously unplayed games. I went into the quarter with (I think) 52 games that I hadn't played. Thanks to a bunch of gifts, crowdfunding projects arriving, and my own never ending purchases, that number ballooned up to a final number of 75 unplayed games by the end of the quarter. I still held myself to attempting to reduce that number to 39. I did it and then some. I ended with a total of 33 games on my shelf of shame to start out quarter 4. Of course my own self sabotage will continue to add to that number, but for now I feel like I accomplished something.
Anyone that pays attention to me may know I was playing games at a rapid pace over the past month. Per BGStats, I played 46 board games a total of 82 times in September! If I were smart, I'd mark the new ones to me off as "new" to make this easier on myself. However, I'm not that intelligent so here I am manually counting the new to me games played over the course of last month. I'm pretty sure it's 18, matching my highest total from July. I'm going to rank all 18 and give my quick thoughts on each. If anyone wants to participate in this exercise, feel free. I know no sane person will have played this many new games in a month, but humor me haha.
- #Caylus - Played this on BGA with @docker37 and @WadeB1977 as I mentioned in the latest "what did you play last week" post. I quite enjoyed it and think it would be even better playing in person as the turns are for sure going to be much quicker.
- #Tikal - This was on top of my wishlist for a very long time before I was finally able to pick up the new Super Meeple version. I then proceeded to let it sit on my shelf for way too long because why not? When I finally did get a chance to play, it did not disappoint.
- #Hawaii - Another one played on BGA. I don't know if this got up so high on the list because I actually enjoyed it or simply because I spent so much energy trying to acquire a complete copy lol. Don't get me wrong, I do like it. I just think it has a shorter than average shelf life as I believe all the tiles come into play every game and I could see it getting stale.
- #Milestones - A totally random purchase I had made turned out to be pretty good. I think this is a case of the people I played with making the experience more fun than it should have been. My friend and I had a lot of laughs playing this.
- #Brass: Birmingham - Staying on that theme, Sarah hated this and therefore brought it down a bit in my initial rankings. I actually am really itching to try it out again, but the initial rules confusion really killed the experience for her and subsequently me.
- #Blood Rage - After we played this, I swore we got the rules wrong because certain things didn't really make much sense. I want to play it again because it also felt like we rushed through it. I don't know if I really need to keep this game, but it was fun.
- #Russian Railroads - The first game so far that I don't own. Played this on BGA and had a great time despite being completely lost on strategy. Would try it out again. Maybe after I read the rules lol.
- #Trekking the National Parks: Second Edition - Just played this the other night with Sarah, my brother, and my sister in law. I don't think it was the greatest game ever but, going back to the Milestones/Brass talk, the people playing made the experience better. Another one I don't own and have no intention of buying.
- #The Architects of the Colosseum - This game is the definition of "just okay." I was ready to sell it. Sarah made the point it's light enough to play with anyone. We're keeping it for now..
- #Orongo - Past the halfway point and this feels like the perfect spot for this. I think the component quality ranges from great to so so in terms of looks. In terms of useability, it's pretty terrible. If not for that, it's an interesting game that I want to play more. Do I think I'll keep it forever? Probably not.
- #Route 66: The Mother Road - Played this a couple times online. Those plays were just alright. I think docker said he'd much rather play #Can't Stop and I don't disagree. It feels like it has an extra rule too many to really be a smooth experience. Playing in person was better though not by much. When I backed it, I was thinking of it for family game nights. For that purpose, I think it's great.
- #America's Main Street - This was part of the Route 66 KS pledge level I backed. It's basically 2 very simple push your luck games in one package. It's really not bad if I'm being totally honest. My only problem is I played both games solo and that's very clearly not ideal. Will reassess once I try it with more players.
- #Cinderella's Dance - I got this because I wanted American Bookshop and it was cheaper for me to back both games. I don't typically play 2 player only games and this certainly isn't anything special. I think my friend really liked it so I may offer it to him. If not, it's going in the next pile of games to sell.
- #12 Days of Christmas - Played a round or 2 if that with my brother and my cousin. Might have been higher had we actually finished the game. I don't own it so I'm probably never going to see it again lol.
- #Babylonia - @theDL was really surprised by my hot take that this game isn't that great haha. I sold it pretty fast and had no regrets.
- #The Guild of Merchant Explorers - It's a roll and write in disguise. I don't generally like those. I will say this wasn't as bad as other games I've played. Just not for me.
- #Good Puppers - Picked this up with Sarah in mind, but there didn't seem to be much of a game there. Maybe I'm missing something? Owning so many games I didn't feel like I had time to find out. It's been sold.
- #Flip City - This game is complete trash. Never again.
This is the 3rd month now that I've made this post. So far I feel like I've discovered some pretty great games and some pretty terrible ones lol. What I've enjoyed most about making these is realizing not every game I play is going to be awesome. To that point, not every game I buy is going to be awesome. I have a fairly large collection. I like to think everything I buy is something that will hold my interest, but that's proven to not be true. Since July, I've played a total of 51 new to me games. While I've kept a majority of them, I have sold a total of 10 games that have appeared on these lists. Combine that with the 10 titles I don't own and will likely never own, that's nearly 40%. Without ranking them month to month and comparing to each other, I'm not sure if I would have made the same decisions.
This month is vastly different than the previous 2. In July, I had 3 awesome games at the top. The remaining 15 I don't think I would miss if they went anywhere - I've actually sold 5 of them. August didn't miss; 12 of the 15 games I played were pretty great and the other 3 I don't think I'd say no to playing again. For September, I think the top 2 games are awesome, 3-6 have the potential to get better or worse with repeat plays, and 9-12 are a combination of games I could play with family and would like to explore more but could easily part with. The rest are either unowned, already sold, or very close to being sold lol. To be fair to myself, I bought Good Puppers for the dog theme, Cinderella's Dance to get another game cheaper, and Babylonia despite knowing I had Blue Lagoon. I MIGHT be finding my stride as far as picking out games I like.
At the end of my August post, I also looked back at games I had ranked in July that I managed to play again. I have a few more I got back to in September.
#Keyflower - Played this for the first time in August. I think my September play was just an asynch game that carried over from that time. Either way, I really enjoy this game. I keep saying I need to at least open my copy. One of these days I will.
#Heimlich & Co. - Back in July, I was pretty hard on this, ranking it 12 out of 18. I said then that at 3 it was pretty obvious who was playing which color and that maybe the problem was my friends are bad at board games. After playing with Sarah and my sister in law (aka also at 3), it's clear I hit the nail on the head. I had no idea who was who and was VERY wrong by the end of the game. Still need to play with a higher player count, but this game is pretty fun.
#Deep Sea Adventure - A game I wasn't wrong about from last month. I gave this the benefit of the doubt last month and I shouldn't have. It's sold now.
#Coloretto - I officially gave this a rating of 8/10 after having played it again in September. Looking back at my list of games ranked in August, I think it's right where it should be compared to those other games.
#Bruges - Need to play this more now that I know Sarah likes it. Could see this one getting an 8 from me as well.
#Battle Sheep - Looking at my comments from August, they check out. Still don't love it, still don't hate it.
