It has been a good quarter. With the new Thursday sessions I’ve had time to play more games, which is always good. I even made it to the Board Game Club.

Previous quarter was a good one, too.

Fairy Tale is definitely the hottest game, with 13 games played and thoroughly enjoyed. It’s certainly my number one filler right now. What a great, great game. I still suck in it, though, I have won exactly one non-partnership game.

Slovenian Tarok is another hot newcomer. I’ve fallen in love with the Tarot games, and the Slovenian is my favourite so far. There’s room for skillful play, interesting fluid partnerships and — I have to admit — the cards add some extra charm as well. If you’re looking for a skillful trick-taking game that works with both three and four players and is fairly easy to learn, this is a good choice.

Portobello Market is pretty neat and quite a good choice for a light family game. I did enjoy it, and I like the way it plays real fast, but I’m also pretty much done with it.

Age of Steam got few plays, which means I have few less unplayed expansions. This just tickles me right: the combination of familiar and very enjoyable mechanics with the new expansions satisfy both my need to play the same good games again and again and my need to try new games.

Yspahan became a board game for me: I haven’t really played the PC version, now my wife got a new laptop and I’ve been able to use our old PowerBook all the time. It’s very good that way, too, and definitely one of the highlights of the year.

Phoenicia is another highlight. I like this one a lot, I do! The balance seems pretty good, and I like how you can do pretty well without having the best income.