A fantastic Coastal Board Gamers night to kick off the festive season!
Here are the games that made it to the table:
Barbecubes
Parks
Kingdomino
SETI: Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
Inventions: Evolution of Ideas
Forest Shuffle
Carcassonne
Moon River
River Valley Glassworks
Command of Nature
Bad Company
Solar Storm
Architects of the West Kingdom
Queue (Kolejka)
Coup
Guillotine
Heat: Pedal to the Metal
At this CBG event, Ettienne, Mike, and I finally got Inventions to the table! A beautiful Vital Lacerda game about the growth of technology and how one invention leads to another. Players take turns presenting their ideas, inventing new concepts, or sharing inventions with the world. As this was a learning game, we spent plenty of time in the rulebook. Even though we didn’t have time to finish, it was great to finally get this one to the table.
It was also the last time Mike and I will get to play a game with Ettienne for a while, as he is moving interstate. It felt very fitting to send him off with another big Lacerda game. We will miss you at the table, Étienne, and wish you all the best. Thank you for your contributions to CBG over the years and we hope to see you at a table again soon.
After dinner, Mike and I decided we needed something lighter. Lacerda games are wonderful, but they can take it out of you! We settled on a print-and-play title Mike brought along called Queue. It’s an English translation of a Polish game called Kolejka. This is a fun, light, heated “take-that” game where players manipulate queues of shoppers attempting to buy different goods. This time, we were joined by Jared, so the odds of victory were stacked against us.
Set in communist Poland, Queue explores the underhanded tactics of shoppers trying to get their purchases before each store runs out. Half of the rulebook is dedicated to the real-world stories and photos that inspired the game. Players take turns playing cards to reorder one of six queues, jockeying for position at the front of the line to claim limited items. Unlike many “take-that” games, Queue strikes a great balance between planning your strategy and interfering with others. At no point did anyone have that classic “bad feeling” moment as their hopes of a shiny new Men’s Tie vanished, usually their disappointment came with laughter when someone played a “Borrowed Baby” to jump the queue just before the store sold out and closed for the day.
Queue was an absolute blast. Light, fast, and featuring a surprisingly rich decision space. With a limited number of action cards per round, we had to decide whether to take three turns early and risk being short on cards later, or pass sooner and gamble on someone disrupting the queues we needed most. Naturally Jarod won. It was such a refreshing game and a great way for us to end the night. I hope this one gets to the table often, if you have the chance give it a go.
This month we have our CBG New Year’s Eve Event!
Twelve hours of board games to ring in the new year. Starting at 2pm on the 31st and finishing at 2am on the 1st. Come and join us as we welcome 2026, board gamer style!
CLICK HERE for all the details—we hope to see you at the table!
