Bunker Project Log

Much like Kyle Reese, I was in love with this game even before I played it. First, it is by Days of Wonder, which gives it a ginormous amount of points right out of the gate. Second, it is damn beautiful and oozes theme, which I have been needing lately. Finally, it is a co-op game, where my ineptitude and complete lack of luck will drag the entire group down, not just myself all by my lonesome.

Sort of.

You see, this game is mostly a co-op game, except for the traitor.

We had a group of five, but VitaminZ was stranded at work, so we busted out the 4-Player max Pandemic. No offense Z, but we are lucky we started with this game, because it was truly awesome.

The first thing to know is, this is a strictly coop game. The players must work together to defeat four different diseases rampaging across the globe. At the same time, each player is forced to carry out the spread of infection at the end of each turn.

Each player is given a different role at the beginning of the game, which grants him/her special powers against the spreading doom.

I’ve been on the lookout for 2-player games to play with Mrs. G. The problem is, I’ve been really obsessed with theme lately, and she just wants simple rules. Luckily, Mr. Jack has both, with lots of decisions to boot.

In a nutshell, Mr. Jack is played by two players, one trying to catch Mr. Jack, the other trying to get Mr. Jack out of the city.

There are eight characters on the board, one of whom is Mr. Jack in disguise.

Only the player helping Mr. Jack knows who Mr. Jack really is. In this game, Mr. Jack is Dr. Watson.

I picked up this groovy table and chairs set from my favorite place… Unique Thrift Store, for $100. They were beat to hell. I spent this weekend taking them apart, washing the… DNA… or whatever it was encrusted all over them, buffing and polishing, and finally reassembling. One chair probably won’t make it, unless I whip out the JB Weld.?

All in all, I’m pretty happy with how they came out.

In other news, I got the PS3 Eye of Judgement during an Amazon DotD a month back. It will be out and ready for play from any nerd nerdy enough to try it out.

It’s been a long stretch of months. I’ve spent a lot of time in the hole tearing this thing apart and putting it back together. Now it’s time for the reveal of the ultimate grayness… Bunker 2.10.0!

Thanks to a very fortuitous Craigslist listing back in November, I procured two more Dell E521’s. In order to accommodate them, I pulled out the surface on the back wall and moved it to the right. there are now five machines. On each side. If we were organized enough, we could balance our team games so that a single team were on each side.

Okay, I’ve got 21 minutes to post this before Mrs. G catches on and puts me to work…. so if it’s sloppy, tough.

Anyway, Mrs. G and I took Lost Cities for a spin. This is one of the most often recommended couples games on the Geek. I was also recommended this by a Bunker attendee who shall be known as “THE”.

The idea behind the game is that you are sponsoring expeditions. These are represented by color-coded cards numbered 2 – 10, as well as 3 “investment” cards for each suit. The cards themselves show a progression of the expedition to the goal. The 2 card shows the beginning of the trail, and the 10 shows the final achievement.

At some point over the holidays, Fantasy Flight had their annual blowout sale on their cheaper games. Quicksand was one of the… few… that I ordered. You can’t beat $5.

The game is simple enough. There are six different characters who are in a race to get to the temple at the top of the board.

You move these characters by playing cards from your hand.

You can play as many cards as you want, as long as they are all the same. The only exception is the Mask card, which can stand in for any adventurer. You may move an adventurer one space for each card played.

During the Christmas season, Target had the “Express” version of three popular boardgames: Scrabble Express, Sorry Express, and Monopoly Express. I picked up Scrabble Express right away because it looked good. Sorry I had no interest in, and I have an intense hatred of Monopoly. (Mainly from getting savagely beaten at it by my dad in my tender years.)

However, when Target did their usual clearance thing, and priced these games at $2.50, I had a hard time stopping myself from buying it for two fiddy. I immediately took it to lunch and gave it a test run.

I’ve spent the last three months tearing apart the Bunker and putting it back together again. (at least three times in fact.) I’ve upgraded a lot, both for the sake of fun, and for my own sanity (no more cable bundle!)

Unfortunately, all this change has resulted in having no time to do anything on the blog, and I’ve gotten out of habit.

However, there’s been a lot of gameplaying to tell about, and a bunch of games that I hope will make it to the table on the next Bunker Party. So, watch this spot!

So, Ma and Pa are out, watching the Illusionist (which was lame, btw, and can’t hold a candle to “The Prestige” which was teh awes0m3z.)

Next thing I know, Pa is running out saying… “uh son… I think there’s something wrong with yr projector… there was this ‘pop’, and it all went dark.”

$300 later:

Doh!