We played with a g...g....g...girl!

I sat down with my friend Jim and his new Lady friend P.P to play some boardgames. Now in my 32 years of gaming, whether RPGing or boardgames, I never actually played with anyone other than guys. Oh, there were some mystery party games I played in College with my female classmates, but that was not core gaming with my regular buddies but excuses to drink and get drunk with some mystery game thrown in.

This time, we played with a ..whatchamacallit... a woman in our midst. There is a first time for everything it seems and basically was no different than the usual. She actually won some of the games tonight and put up a hard fight when we played Fury of Dracula.

The first game on the list was the Name of the Rose, a deduction game loosely based on the book by Umberto Eco.

The object of the game is to cast suspicion and clue points on the other players while at the same time not making it obvious who your secret identity is, for if the other players guess right, clue points will be added to you. The object of the game is to have the least clue points.

Lots of mind games can happen with a bit of backstab-your-buddy thrown in for good measure. You could for instance, cast suspicion on the blue Monk if you are secretly the blue Monk to throw the other players off, but then later, when timing is crucial, deduct points from Blue just before scoring.

Lots of mind games with the game clock as well. A new day brings in scoring, so you could delay the onset of a new day if your character monk is in the lead in suspicion points by trying to get someone else in the lead before the day ends, all the while not make it obvous you are secretly in the lead. If you are the cause of ending the day (e.g, sneaking around at night), more clue points are eventually allotted to you, so you try and shaft the other guy to end the day instead of you.  And so on.

Jim on the left, with PP on the right, playing The Name of the Rose

Every second turn,you have to indicate which of the 6 colours you are not. It got hilarious as all 3 of us picked the exact colours we all flipped up two turns in a row. I wonder what the odds are for that.

I guessed at the end correctly who Jim and PP were, but Jim got a victory.


Next on the list was the light game The Adventurers, an Indiana-Jones type game where you try to collect as much treasure as you can before the big round boulder gets you or seals up the entrance.

We used my Indiana Jones idol as a game reminder who the dice roller was for each turn.

We played it twice, and with the usual screaming deaths in the lava pit. However in both games all three of us managed to get at least one character out before the ball shut down the site or crushed you. Strangely, no one died by wall crush, or drowning or falling into the pit due to rotten planks.

Jim put on the movie Indiana Jones in the background to set the mood as well as wear a fedora and whip to go along with my idol.

Jim and PP won a game each.

Lastly, we played Fury of Dracula, where I got to play Drac-baby. I put on my Top Hat, Jim put on a 19th century bowler hat and PP put on a hat of her own to get into the mood.

My Top Hat

Jim wearing a bowler hat during play

The hunters looking for Dracula

Closing the noose around me as they sensed correctly I was in England.

The object of the game is to find and kill off Drac. I had them chase me all around Europe and got in some early victory points when I found one of the hunters isolated and proceeded to engage in combat and win. I also managed to get one of my Vampire Brides to mature. That's +2 victory points each, with another VP when I made it to another day for a total of 5, with 6 needed to win.

You remember the Vampire Brides from the movies... Lovely to look out, deadly to encounter, wonderful to get points for.

L to R : Mariskha, Verona, and Aleera from Van Helsing

Brides from the original movie

Despite trying to lead them in a wild goose chase with innuendo and lies (hey, he is the Prince of Darkness after all), they managed to find me in England and attack me in a weakened state. With my 5 victory points, with only 1 point left to win, I would win by default as soon as dawn broke in the next turn, with another +1 victory point for a total of 6. If they won the fight and kill me, I would lose in the nick of time.

Card played, counter cards played back at me, .....it was close battle, but thankfully, I managed to escape in mist and eke out a victory. But it was close.

All in all a good time. Jim said that he found Rose and Dracula equally enjoyable. PP said she wanted to try Rose again in the near future.