who has got our copy of Mosaix puhlease?

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…

53 gamers 400 games 6 years – just another record day at BM!

We started at 10am with a brisk climb up K2 and were still going at 8pm, trading Saucisson with French farmers in Carambouille. In between, 53 gamers got together in York and played as many modern games as humanly possible. That 53 is the highest number we’ve ever had at Beyond Monopoly! in our six years. A wonderful reward for our 6th anniversary, especially as the new people in came from our game demos, Vapnartak a couple of weeks ago and Thoughtbubble a couple of years ago. It can take a while for these demos to yield direct results, but even if they don’t bring people to the club, at least we get to show there is life after Monopoly, Scrabble and Cluedo.

And so, what did we play this time? Roughly speaking, it included… Tanz der Hornochsen, Medici, Goa, Caligula, both Ticket To Ride and TTR Marklin, Dominion got played twice, Diamant, Trans America, Hive, Stone Age, Boomtown, Valdora, Adios Amigos, Thunderstone, K2 was tackled twice (very interesting game, a different kind of racing), Shadow Hunters, Settlers Of Catan, challenging waterfalls in Flussfieber and Niagara, Mr Jack, Puerto Rico, Zooloretto, Mosaix, Merchants & Marauders, Gift Trap (no, Emily does NOT want roses!), Forbidden Island sank the explorers but they tried again and won, Apples To Apples (those pesky Ninjas!), The Three Commandments, Airships (excellent progressive dice game), Through The Desert (one of my all-time favs), Chinatown, dicetastic Troyes, In The Year Of The Dragon, Ausgerechnet Uppsala, Agricola, Saboteur, Thurn & Taxis, Tonga Bonga, Tutankhamen, Tinner’s Trail, Santy Anno and Carambouille… and more, but we forget.

We meet again at the RI on 1st Wednesday evening, 2nd March 2011 from 5pm on. Let’s see you there.

very busy week – knackered but happy

Last week was exhausting but fun. 1st Wednesday on er Wednesday evening, was well attended with 16 people (7 new to the RI). Then our 1st Saturday meeting on youguessedit Saturday had 46 count them 46 gamers and a time-lapse video. Yes. A time-lapse video. Finally, on Sunday, we went to Vapnartak and demo’d the games to lots of people. We got new email contacts and saw many gamers already on the list, so hopefully they’ll start coming along.

We sold nearly all the surplus games we’d prepared for Print & Pay, which brought in £61, but more importantly has freed up storage space for us. So we’ll be able to buy some more games on our wish list soon. Helen had run up excellent sheets to sell the games, and they only lasted a couple of hours. Remember, you can bring you own P&P sheets to BM! and sell or trade your surplus games too.

And since you are always interested, what did we get to play…?

On Wednesday, it was Heckmeck twice (Paul was noble in tragedy, twice), Alhambra, Carcassonne, our new copy of Apples To Apples (the new UK edition from Mattel), String Railway (an amazing from last-to-first place win for Helen!), Troyes, Alea Iacta Est, Dominion, Cash ‘n’ Guns, Zooloretto, Forbidden Island, Trans America, Atlantis (love that game, always different always fun).

On Saturday, split across 2 rooms and a hallway, we played Thurn & Taxis, Alles für die Katz, Tobago, Iliad, Sylla, Labyrinth The Card Game (variant rules), Shadow Hunters, Gift Trap (Helen LOVES movies, no wait, Helen HATES movies!), Mosaix, Diamant, Game Of Thrones, Agricola, Indonesia (yes, at last), Zooloretto, The Adventurers (our noisy fun drew attention and the game got borrowed after), Apples To Apples, Hab & Gut, Carcassonne, Marrakech, World Without End, Race For The Galaxy (played twice), No Thanks, Trans America, Survive! (the new edition of Escape From Atlantis), Tinner’s Trail, the new Civilisation (the game was filmed), Expedition, Ticket To Ride and a ton more.

And we did play on Sunday too, Forbidden Island and Marrakech a lot, Dominion, Apples To Apples, Shadow Hunters and more.

run down on last meet and run up to last meet of the year – 18th December 2011

So this Saturday, 18th December 2010, is our regular 3RD SATURDAY meet and our last meet for 2010. It’s been a big year for Beyond Monopoly! We’ve had much better attendance figures all through the year, especially in summertime. We’ve seen a load of new faces and many of them have stuck. We’ve got this blog going, and we’re tweeting and facebooking now (is that a verb?). This has really pushed our message wider, and we’ve definitely picked up new people through these channels. Plus, we’ve built stronger contacts with publishers and designers too.

And we’ve done loads of public demos this year. From Vapnartak in February to Clements Hall a few weeks back, including our Ticket To Ride tournament at the National Railway Museum, we keep taking our games out to the public. Remember, this is a big deal for BM!, it makes such a difference and is one of our club goals. We had 2 days showing games to staff at East Coast Rail too, a great invite that reached a new range of people for us.

We also finally got an evening meet going as well – 1ST WEDNESDAY. We started in the Orgasmic Cafe, but that just closed so we’ve switched to the bar next door, REVOLUTION. This meet has got up to 15 gamers going, and is great for folk who can’t make it on Saturdays. And it helps with the PiP Campaign. Last one, we got some people come over and ask to join in. Just what we want!

Plus, we reviewed the game collection and we have over 400 games, and most of the top games off BGG. This is very satisfying, we’ve been steering the club along the right lines all along. But we now have a nice shortlist of games to acquire and we’re knocking them off as we go.

We also had visits from Martin Wallace and Leo Marshall, each to show off their games. And our very own Robert put his own game, Beehive, out on Print & Play (PnP). We’ve also helped along Gareth and Newcastle Gamers who are cracking along with regular meetings on Saturday nights. On sadder news, Garforth TableTop Gamers closed its doors after 2 years backing up the month end. We’ve all being saying how we miss the quick trip over to Garforth. Hopefully, Hugo will be able to get back in the swing again.

So this Saturday is our regular 3RD SATURDAY meet and your last chance to get in to BM! this year. Please get out and join us, and let’s break another record before the year end!

And so, what did we play last meet…? Elk Fest, 2 de Mayo (not a game about mayonnaise), Heckmeck BBQ, Dominant Species, BANG!, World Without End, Before The Wind (not a game about sprouts), Eketorp, Memoir ’44, Viva il Re, Ticket To Ride Marklin, Thief Of Bagdad, Zombie In My Pocket, Le Havre, Havoc (poker-styled game), Atlantis, Medici, 7 Wonders, Mosaix, Adios Amigos, Carcassonne Discovery, Manhattan, Relikt, Stone Age and loads more.

important news and then what we played last meet…

IMPORTANT! Please note – in January 2011, our meetings at the RI will be on the 2rd and 3rd Saturdays. Normally, we meet on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays each month, but this January, the 1st Saturday falls on a Bank Holiday and the Railway Institute will be closed. So, just this time, we’re shifting to the following Saturday 8th January 2011. Please make a note in your diary, and on your calendar.

Betcha forget!!

Remember too, we’ll be at Clements Hall this Saturday, 27th November 2010, doing another games demo for the passing public from 12-5pm. We’ll be showing off some of our modern classics, and hopefully get some quick ones played too.

We got more new games in the club. Mare Nostrum joins its expansion, courtesy of a club member. And we bought Vabanque, Carcassonne Discovery, Agricola: Farmers Of The Moor (the expansion) and Mosaix. And we bought an extra shelf for the new cabinet too.

Another Saturday at Beyond Monopoly! over, and 33 gamers got through at least 25 games. As follows (pay attention, there’s a test at the end)… Trans America, Rheinlander, Tobago, Puerto Rico, Le Havre, String Railway (it does exactly what it says on the tin box), Parade, Cuba, Carcassonne, Priests Of Ra, Imperial 2030, Through The Desert (one of my all-time favourites), Balloon Cup, London, Boomtown, Guillotine, Agricola, Drunter & Druber, Times Square, Mosaix, Thurn & Taxis, The Three Musketeers (cracking 1-vs-all game, got played three times in a row), Aber Bitte Mit Sahne, Wadi, Hab & Gut and many, many more…

Next meeting on 1st December 2010 at the Orgasmic Cafe and then back in the RI on Saturday 4th December 2010. SEE YOU THERE!