I Have Become a Starfarer

If ever I wondered if I was a geek- yesterday I received confirmation. Starfarers of Catan is a board game. Last night Katz, Ren, Candy, Tali and I met up at Katz's place. Candy mentioned she had a new board game that was really complicated and similar to "intergalactic risk". We decided to play and so Candy went home to get it and Tali ended up going home. We started at just after midnight and I think at 1:30 just started to actually play the game.

The rules took a while to read and understand and setting up is quite a task as the game has lots of pieces. As soon as we started playing the game though, we were all hooked. At four we called it quits for the night and tonight we finished the game. The game took us about 5 hours which is three hours longer than the 2 hours the box says it takes to play.

The idea of the game to explore the galaxy. You do this by traveling around a board colonizing planets and making trade deals with aliens. Building these colonies and trade outposts cost resources as do improvements on your ships. You receive resources by rolling dice, making trades and other methods. The winner of the game is the first person to make it to 15 points. Points are collected by colonizing planet, making deals with aliens or becoming more famous, among other things. You become famous by battling pirates, rescuing distressed ships and other missions you get by drawing "encounter cards". Are you starting to understand why this game is complicated and why it confirmed my geeky-ness?

I had a great time even though I got my ass kicked. Katz ended up winning (partly my fault) but next time, everyone better watch out!