I know a day or late on this one. But better late than never. Besides I do have this whole #RPGaDAY2022 thing going on at the moment if you hadn’t noticed.

Plus I had my last shift at my current store yesterday before moving to a new one and a new role.

I’ve been really taken aback about how supportive and kind everyone at work has been. There’s a bit of me that thinks it doesn’t deserve all these kind words.

Yesterday my boss came in to say good bye, thank me, and give me a card and a bottle of Monkey Shoulder whisky. Charla a friend gave me a couple of chocolate cup cakes (I do have a whole cake thing going on). Then at the end of the shift I was given a card signed by lots of friends and colleagues, lots of chocolate and a chocolate birthday cake.

That last bit nearly made my eyes leak.

I’m kinda sad I won’t be working with them all. However it’s not a good bye. More I’ll see you around. As I’ll still be shopping there, and possibly picking up the odd overtime shift.

Anyway I digress and you want to know more about the blog post title.

Friday was once again that time for another Fenland Gamers club night at our hosts Wisbech St Mary Sports and Community Centre.

As per usual I was there early to get set up. With the help of Charlene, Colin and Ben we put up three tables, and some chairs. Got our refreshments in, and waited for others to turn up. My waiting included ordering and enjoying a banana split.

When Jonathan arrived he pointed out we didn’t have enough tables out! He was expecting seventeen people to turn up! Seventeen!

That is the club record that was broken. We’ve never had that many attend before. That’s massive for us.

Despite having so many attending I did get to game with Jonathan on a club night. Which as I’ve said before is a rarity these days.

But then I did have a couple of games Jonathan was interested in trying with me.

Our first game was The Bloody Inn. A game I came last in. I had an engine built that was good for bribing guests. But that took far too long to set up, and I let it too long before bumping off and burying guests.

Marcin on the other hand took quick and easy points and ran away with the victory.

Our second game of the evening was a new arrival that day Santorini New York.

I quiet enjoyed play this. It’s definitely a much better multi player experience than Santorini. Which is a two player game only. Never play it with more.

There are some nice twists to the core Santorini game play in this new version.

I like the different ways to win. There are now three ways. Two require that you meet the win condition and be the current player with the Statue of Liberty. The third just be the last person standing.

That requiring to be the player with the Statue of Liberty in order to win is nice. It creates some interesting decisions when it comes to selecting a card to play. Possession of the statue goes to the person who played the highest valued card each round. However that also means that person is going last that round.

There is the whole hand management side to the game deciding which and when to play a card. Even which card to keep for the next or future round.

I like the fact everyone has access to the same “god” powers. Although it’s possible to get a hand of cards that are mostly the same ability. In our second game on our final round I had three engineer cards out of the five cards in my hand.

Placing skyscrapers is a nice new addition, and adds in a whole new decision of how best to place to screw over an opponent. Ideally blocking them in so they have to lose a worker.

Visually like it’s predecessor New York looks stunning on the table. A real wow factor.

But there is a but! A big but!! The quality of the game board and cards is atrocious. It really lets the game down. I know it’s not an expensive game. But a better quality game board would be worth an extra couple of pounds to the price of the game.

There is room for both versions of the game in my collection. Especially considering that merits of both games. If I was just playing with another player it’d be Santorini every time. It’s an amazing game, and a better game. But want to play at a higher player count it has to be Santorini New York. That’s where it’s strength is compared to Santorini. It’s a much better multi player experience.

When I left what seemed like the longest game of Ticket to Ride Europe was going on. I think they are still playing!

This was an amazing evening of gaming. So great to see so many people playing games.