Final Friday is moving from the Harlequin Coffee House to the Railway Institute. We’ve had a nice run with Gordon and Sarah but it wasn’t working out as hoped for and we’ve agreed to move on. Our next Final Friday meeting on 24th February 2012* will be at the Railway Institute. We’ll be hiring the room there, so we will need to charge you for entry the same as on 1st Wednesdays. heyho.
* note to self: book the room at the RI.
And can we have it back?
Our club copy of Mosaix, a really nice little dice game in a tin box, has gone missing. Lorst and gorn. Where is it? Have you seen anybody suspicious hanging round near it? Have you seen one being offered for sale, maybe at a market or car boot sale? Do you know of an international Mosaix smuggling ring, which steals Mosaix to order and ships them overseas to foreign potentates?
So somebody has got it and we’d like it back please. Please. We’ll turn the lights out and count to 10…
Final Friday is back! BM! will be back at the Harlequin Coffee House this Friday afternoon from 5pm to 10pm. Entry now costs £1 for adults, and 50p for concessions. Bring the games you want to play. Bring a friend. Bring a stranger in from off the street. Bring your granny. Bring somebody!
And now, a video.
Only 100 years to go before the Solar Federation liberates us. While we wait, let’s play games all day at the UK’s premier boardgame club, Beyond Monopoly!. We meet as usual at the Railway Institute on Queen Street, York, just next to the station. Starting at 10am and finishing late in the evening, your first visit is FREE!
Our very own Andrew Brown went to Berlin last year to compete in a Freidrich tournament hosted by the publisher Histogames. Andrew rates the game highly (and it’s counterpart Maria even better) and enjoyed his trip despite not placing. We strongly recommend Brits to travel to these Continental tournies. You’ll have a great time in nice cities, and meet very friendly people wanting to help you enjoy your stay. Just don’t bother looking for Sachertort in Vienna.
Andrew writes…
In 1756 Friedrich der Grosse of Prussia had to face the grim reality that half of Europe had formed an alliance against him with nothing less than the total destruction of Prussia on their agenda. I arrived in Berlin nearly 250 years late for what became known to history as the 7 years war, but nicely in time for the 2011 Friedrich World Championships.
For those of you unfamiliar with the game a short explaination follows. One player takes Friedrich himself. A second player takes Russia and Sweden, a third player Austria and the Holy Roman Empire (which as Voltaire pointed out is neither Holy, Roman nor an Empire) and the forth player takes France. Russia, Sweden, Austria, the Empire and France all have a set number of objectives to conquer before fate intervenes and knocks them out of the game whilst Friedrich just has stop them. For the Friedrich player it’s rather like the circus act with the spinning plates, one may be spinning nicely but over on the other side another plate is about to fall.
Each participant plays each of the four roles once; and the four players with the best combined score go forward into the final. There were 20 participants althogether. As well as a strong German contingent there were also players from Sweden, the Netherlands, the US and the UK. The game’s designer Richard Sivél was also on hand, providing a vital role as umpire, organiser, score keeper and in the ordering of pizzas. I was not in the final. I came 18th out of 20 players, which did at least make me the highest ranked British player there.
Everybody enjoyed playing very much. I would certainly return another year and I would also not hesitate to recommend the event to any Friedrich player who fancies trying out their skills against some of the finest in the world.
…and if you want to try playing Freidrich yourself, Andrew is always happy to teach the game at BM!.
And we’re back! Yes, this blog has been a bit quiet what with somebody having to work a lot in December, but now we have returned. And the club meets this weekend, on Saturday 7th January 2012 at the Railway Institute on Queen St, York, from 10am till late as always. We actually had our first meet of the year on Wednesday evening, which was nice. You should have come along. It was good to see one player who did, returning after a long absence, and we hope more of you follow a resolution to get back to BM!. See you tomorrow, bright and early.
Martin Wallace is planning to visit BM! this Saturday to playtest a prototype development of one of his recent games. If you a big fan of his work, then please make yourself available through the day. It will help if you’ve played A Few Acres Of Snow recently.
Martin is also bringing some Treefrog games to sell. Bring cash money and bundles of it.
Just popped in to see our dear friends at Travelling Man this afternoon and lo and behold there was our copy of Nuns On The Run waiting for us. So that’s been bought and will be in the club on Saturday. Very interesting chat with Steve about Essen and stuff. It’s going to be an interesting year for the industry, we’re both of the opinion that a shake-out is imminent.
Remember, club members get a discount card on their second visit to BM!, giving them 10% off games at any of the Travelling Man shops. Plus TM also has their own excellent loyalty card which gives you even more savings.
With no Final Friday meet in December, we’ve only three more meetings until the year end. Loads of new games in the club for you to try out. Next meeting is this Saturday at the Railway Institute as normal, Queen St, York. 3rd December 2011, from 10am to late in the evening, your first visit is FREE and it’s only a quid after 4pm anyway.
We’ve had a bunch of new people lately, but some of our regulars are missing. Time for you to get back to BM!.
Just to let you all know, November’s Final Friday was last week, a week early. So it is not tomorrow. And we’re not doing one in December. So the next Final Friday will be in January 2012, on 27th January 2012 in fact. We will start taking a charge as well, £1 for each person, 50p for children. This is because we’re now paying to hire the room.
Next regular meet is at the RI on Saturday 3rd December 2011.
