It's been quite a long time since my last work board game night. Before Christmas, our last board game night was actually the office Christmas party where Amy taught Telestrations at the max player count of 12. I could not have asked for a more successful experience introducing people to games and I think plenty of copies of Telestrations were bought or given as gifts for Christmas by my co-workers. We also played Codenames, which was pretty difficult with so many raucous players - it was actually a situation where the new XXL version could've been really useful. Now we are settled back into a routine of monthly game nights, and although this week was a short session, I was really happy with how it went.
Week 15
Number of Attendees: 5
Games Played: Doodle Rush, Kokoro - Avenue of the Kodama
The Successes
Our hit game wasn't the crazy party game
After the amazing success of Telestrations, I expected that Doodle Rush would be the popular game of the evening. I think the guessing phase of Doodle Rush was actually too chaotic, even for this group. Instead, Kokoro was a surprise hit! Whilst we were playing, I thought I was sensing some frustration that people were not able to score points each round, but at the end of the game, everyone told me how enjoyable they found it. Even better, it was a close game and I did not win, which I'm always wary of when teaching a game I know well to a group of new players.
Still talking about a game for days afterwards
Kokoro was such a success that at least one person who played seemed to want to buy it, asking me how much it cost and if it was easy to find. My colleagues were still telling me how much they enjoyed it the next day and were making sure all the people who couldn't join us knew that there was an exciting new game to play if they came along to the next board game night. I'll have to make sure it stays in the bag!
The Challenges
How much time people have available
This week's game night only lasted about 1 hour. I'm actually quite impressed that we managed to play two games of Doodle Rush and a game of Kokoro - it's certainly getting easier to get people to sit around the table and concentrate on new rules. We're a very busy office and I'm not sure we are ever going to be able to play longer games, but hopefully I can keep identifying quick games in our collection that still give substantial gaming experiences.
How much time people have available
This week's game night only lasted about 1 hour. I'm actually quite impressed that we managed to play two games of Doodle Rush and a game of Kokoro - it's certainly getting easier to get people to sit around the table and concentrate on new rules. We're a very busy office and I'm not sure we are ever going to be able to play longer games, but hopefully I can keep identifying quick games in our collection that still give substantial gaming experiences.
Lessons for Next Week
Building on success
Everyone will definitely request Kokoro next time we meet, which is perfect because it will work even if we have more up to 8 players. I'm really happy, because I see Kokoro as a great next step to games like Karuba or Carcassonne and in general it might be an opportunity to move away from only playing party games with my work group so that I can have some more satisfying game time.
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