Monday Night Boardgaming

Technical difficulties and miscellaneous silliness prevented me from report yesterday on Monday night's boardgaming.  My brother-in-law Jim was absent, off on another work-related junket.  That left Bruce, Carl, and I.  Carl was in a bit of a hurry, so we played two relatively short games.  The first was Vinci, a great little bronze age Europe empire building thingy, sort of an abbreviated History of the World or an expanded Britannica.  I love these sorts of games for the feeling of faux archeaology they create.  Did my ancient empire of Red Markers originate in Scandinavia or Ireland?  Since both were legitimate first moves and I occupied both areas on the same turn, the world may never be able to unravel this mystery.  Who are the strange aboriginal people who occupied Macedonia for the entire game?  I love looking at these sorts of things.  For our second game we had another go at Bohnanza, the silly bean-themed cardgame.  I did a bit better than last time, as I was more ambitious in planting my fields and holding out for more matching cards.  However, I think I threw off too freely and ended up handing too many points to Bruce and Carl.  Still I had a good time and wouldn't mind playing it again.  Next week I'd like to play Puerto Rico again if the rest of the group is up for it.  And I'd like to play a round of Carcassonne soon.