Sunday, July 5, 2009

SOIREE JOUX At Bios de Vincennes

This weekend, I met a Canadian at Vinecenne to play board games together.

He plays board games with his wife. He said they play DOMINION.
I am impressed that his wife plays DOMINION, which is not for débutants. He said she even beats him.

We brought our own games and went to Bois de Vincenne to find a place to play them.
We walked into woods and found a wooden table with benches to play board games.

A game we play at first was Small World.
Now, it looks like this game is so popular in Paris. I was looking for this game and went to some stores, but they all said “C’est indisponible (It is all sold out!)”
After depressed a couple of times, I got one finally.

This is the first time for both of us to play this game. So we started playing the game reading the rulebook.

I chose “Flying Trolls” then I started conquer the land from the bottom right.
Then he chose “Merchant Ratmen”. I guess this is a smart choice because choosing “merchant” only gives you 2 tokens, but choosing the ratmen gives you 8 which is the most number among the races. So he got 10 rats tokens.
He spread over his ratmen on the other side of the land.
Each of his turn, he scored almost twice as much as mine.
I failed to use “flying ability” in the first and second turns. I just forgot my special power “Flying”. (Flying Trolls sounds weird, though.)
I cut his troops in two and placed a troll’s lair to protect the place where I conquered.
But this move is not crucial in this game. He collected the isolated rats, abandoned the region and conquered another region and kept scoring…
As my Trolls were well protected by a mountain and a Troll lair, the number of Troll tokens didn’t decrease so I think I missed the timing to put the Troll in decline.
We knew each other he won the game before the last turn.

We started the same game again. I chose “Stout Skeletons” and he chose “Forest Tritons”. In the map for 2 players, half of the land borders the sea or the lake, so he conquered several regions including forest regions in the first and second turn. Skeletons weren’t a bad choice and I conquered more regions than him, but 3 Forests are bordering the sea or the lake. So he took those forests back using less tokens. I should have watched the map more carefully.

I lost so badly, but I really enjoyed the game because so many things happen during a game.

He said he likes the game and is going to buy one.


Next game we played was “Mr. Jack” which he brought.
One plays Jack and the other plays police to arrest him.
He explained the rules and then said, “I never win when I play Jack.”
This is the first time that I play this game, so he let me play the police at first.
At the first turn of the game, I actually didn’t know what I should do, but the number of innocent people automatically (to me) increased. I picked up Holmes who tells you who is innocent and at the fourth turn, I figured out there are only 2 suspects left. I moved Miss Stealthy close to "Jack" as she can move farther than any other people. Finally she caught “Jack”. “I told you.”, he said.

Then I played Jack. I placed Sir William as a decoy near the exit of the town so that he seems to sneak out. I was planning to let “Jack” out of the town just after exchanging his position to Sir William. But the light near the exit won’t let to do it. So I changed the strategy, just keep escaping until the end of the game. At the last turn, I thought I win, but he found the way to reach Jack. Mmmm, I lost.

He plays very well, but I can’t still image how his wife plays DOMINION and beats him...

That was a wonderful evening. I wish I could play games with him again (and his wife if possible).

Monday, June 8, 2009

OYA Cafe


In Paris, there is a store where you can buy board games AND you can PLAY them.
OYA Cafe is located on Rue de la Reine Blanche (13e arrondissemont).


You will see hundreds boardgames on a wall. You can choose any game you want to play.


"OYA" basically means a parent in Japanese but also means a dealer in a game. It costs 5 euros to play the first game. You can play the game as long as you want until closing time.Then it costs 3 euros to play another game if you want.


You may find rare games published from 90's or before.


They also have a lot of board games and card games for kids.

The store is a little away from the center of Paris, but it is worth spending a time there if you want to play board games in Paris and/or are looking for rare board games.

25 rue de la Reine Blanche
75013 Paris
Tel: 01 47 07 59 59
Web site:www.oya.fr
e-mail address:oya@oya.fr
Open from 2:00 pm to midnight through Tuesday to Friday, to 9 pm on Sunday. Closed on Monday.
1-minute walk from Les Gobelins (Metro Ligne 7)

See also The list of Board Game Stores in Paris

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Docteur Stratageme


This store is located on rue de Maubeuge (9e arrondissement).

The store mainly offers poker supplies and related books. They also sell roulettes, board games, card games. There is a poker table in the shop and you can take a poker lesson there.

They have another store in St German.
(www.docteurstratageme.com/magasin_stg.php)

42 rue de Maubeuge
75009 Paris
Tel: 01 42 80 91 14
Web site: www.docteurstratageme.com/magasin_paris9/index.php (in French)
5-minute walk from Cadet (Metro linge 7)

See also The list of Board Game Stores in Paris

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

DreamWej


This store is located on Boulevard Diderot.

The store mainly offers game figures and related products. They have some card games and board games, role playing games. You may find some discounted role playing games in the shop.

125 boulevard Diderot, 75012 Paris
Tel : 01.43.43.32.92
Fax : 01.43.43.34.42
Web site: http://www.dreamwej.com
Open from 11:00 am to 11:30 pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm on Wednesday and Saturday
3-minute walk from Nation (Metro ligne 1, 2, 6 and 9 or RER A)

See also The list of Board Game Stores in Paris

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Descartes Meissonier


The store is located on rue Meissonier (17e arrondissement).
This is apparently the largest board game store in Paris. They have card games, board games, classical board games (but not so many), conventional board games such as Monopoly, Risk, Scrabble etc, war games, card games, toys for kids, Warhammer products, puzzles, books about games, books about military uniforms in the world and some carrom boards.

See also Descartes Ecoles

6 rue Meissonier 75017 Paris
Tel: 01 42 27 50 09
Fax: 01 42 27 20 81
E-mail address: boutique.meissonier@jeux-descartes.fr
Web site: www.jeux-descartes.fr/meissonier
Open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday
2-minute walk from Wagram (Metro ligne 3)

See also The list of Board Game Stores in Paris

Sunday, February 15, 2009

LE REPAIRE DU DRAGON


This store is located on Boulevard Magenta.

They have card games, board games, books about games, game figures.
There are some tables in the shop and people play games there.
You can check out the game schedule from the web site (www.lerepairedudragon.fr). Click on a date in the "Calendrier" which means calender in French, on the right side of the web site.

See also Troll2Jeux

44 Boulevard Magenta
75010 Paris
Tel: 01 44 84 70 69
Web site: www.lerepairedudragon.fr
Open from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Monday through Friday except Wednesday), to 7:30 p.m. (Wed), from 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday
2-minute walk from Jacques Bonsergent (Metro ligne 5)

See also The List of Board Game Stores in Paris

Thursday, February 5, 2009

AGRICOLA (French edition)


I bought a board game, AGRICOLA (French edition) last month.

When I was in the U.S., I wondered if I should buy one, but eventually I missed.


Playing boards

I joined some board game parties in Paris and played many kinds of games.
But when people start playing Agricola, I just watch them playing it.

I managed to play games if I don't need to read or speak in French during the game.
I still have problems to play games asking me to read a lot of French words written on the cards like "Shadows over the Camelot".

So, I decided to buy one "to study French", I mean, to play the game in French with French people.


French edition is published by Ystari



Animeeples


The 16-page rule booklet filled with a bunch of French words.


The cards written in French. There are 360 cards! If I translate one card per day, it will take almost 1 year to finish them all....

Well, I'll set out to translate the rule booklet first of all.