Played this week: Chicago Express, Chinatown, Cosmic Encounter, Cosmic Wimpout, The Downfall of Pompeii, Five Crowns, Power Grid (Italy), Tichu.

The last game of last year was Cosmic Eidex, one of my absolute favorites. It would’ve been hard to top that, so we didn’t even try. Downfall of Pompeii (or, as we always call it at home, “throwing people in the volcano”) was a great way to start the new year.

The Italy map for Power Grid is… interesting. Resource starvation definitely hit us hard, and the steps resolved in an odd way… we hit step 2, and then immediately hit step 3. None of us were past 7 buildings yet! I’m not used to a step 3 that requires building 11 buildings, so wasn’t sure how to pace myself, and I wound up critically short of cash — I needed another $20 or so to build into another city, and then I still would’ve lost the tiebreaker. Still, I can’t wait to play more Power Grid this year. There’s some talk of making it January’s game of the month.

I learned an important lesson about Chicago Express — don’t overspecialize, especially in the two railroads least likely to reach Chicago. (Actually two lessons, the other being “alcohol impairs play of games that actually require thought”!)

Chinatown is a freewheeling negotiation game with very light rules, and it’s surprisingly easy to balance trades. Whether someone will ever let you get away with an even trade is another thing altogether…