There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
1. Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization I've only played this version once and the previous edition 4 times, but this is the game I want to play the most. It combines a lot of the game mechanics that I love---drafting, resource management, worker placement, city building---with a theme that just works. It's a long game (3 to 4 hours), but every action you take matters.
2. Agricola + Farmers of the Moor This is the game that made Puerto Rico obsolete for me. Has a similar role choosing mechanic like Puerto RIco, but adds a good bit of randomness with occupation and improvement cards. IMO, Farmers of the Moor is a must for me because base Agricola boils down to 5 family members or bust.
3. Factory Fun Basically a tile-laying, engineering game. My brain just loves trying to figure out how to tweak factory layouts to maximize efficiency. This game totally drives some of my friends crazy though.
4. Galaxy Trucker Another tile-laying game where you rush to build a spaceship, head out on an adventure, and watch your ship get smashed by asteroids and pirates.
5. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game D&D distilled into card game form. I have a ton of memories of my playgroup's narrow escapes and improbable deaths.
6. Tichu I've watched my friends play way more Tichu than I've played myself. The more I think about Tichu, the more I'm unsure what to say about it. It's a great game; I should rank it higher...
7. Hanabi Great cooperative game. Dead-simple ruleset, but very interesting decisions to make each turn because you can see everyone else's cards but not your own.
8. Power Grid This is the game you want your Accounting or Finance department to be great at. Literally planning your power plant bids, fuel purchases, and electrical grid connections down to the dollar every turn. You either shuddered or got really excited reading this.