It’s definitely gumbo weather in south Louisiana. We joke around about turning the air conditioning down to 69 degrees so we can pretend that it’s cold enough to get the roux going. But we do not need to joke around this week!

The cold weather mixed with rain has limited the chances to get some gaming in around town. (Plus, we went to see Hadestown at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans this weekend — which was excellent — so that took some time out, too.)

Besides playing Unicorn Glitterluck: Cloud Crystals with the grandbugs, the gaming was few and far between. BUT! Mitchell caught a break from school duties to meet me at our local game store for an afternoon session of two player gaming.

When I walked in, Mitchell already had Inventors of the South Tigris set up. Yes! I am kind of meh on Wayfarers, but I really loved Scholars of the South Tigris. I really believe that it’s Garphill Games‘ best game.

So, I was very excited to try out Inventors. And I wasn’t disappointed.

We are still playing in the time of the early civilizations around the Tigris River. Fast forward a few years, and now, bright young minds in the river area are feverishly working on new ideas and inventions. Need a Water Powered Fountain? Or a Robotic Helmet? (Who wouldn’t?) We’ve got you covered.

It has that engine building mechanic from Revive or Wingspan, but on steroids. Players will discover inventions, build them, test them and publish the design to the world. There’s also a little bit of area majority (sort of reminiscent of Scholars) and lots and lots of combos. In fact, this might be the most combotastic of the three. Two thumbs up from Mitchell and me, and I was jealous, because right after our game day, Mitchell stayed in Lafayette to teach it to Connor!

Double woah!

Next up, I brought out Tokaido Duo, the new version of the two player only game from Antoine Bauza that had recently been published by Stonemaier Games. I knew that Mitchell was not a big fan of the original, but would this version change his mind?

In Tokaido Duo, gone is the walking across the entire map concept, a la the original game or like in Aqua Garden or Heaven & Ale. Instead, each player has three meeples (a merchant, an artist, and a pilgrim), each walking around a province of Japan with a goal. The merchant wants to pick up goods from the mountains and sell them for a profit on the coastline. The artist wants to wander the back areas and paint beautiful pictures to gift to friends. And the pilgrim wants to visit all of the shrines and temples and hot springs to restore his faith.

We are essentially trying to “win” two out of the three meeples’ boards, by rolling dice and choosing the best and fastest way to score the most points. There is a tiny bit of engine building, in that each player can add bonuses to their board to make each of the meeples’ actions better. But it’s not necessary to win, as Mitchell beat my score by a few points without getting a single upgrade! His merchant was constantly finding and selling high dollar goods and raced to the game end.

I like Tokaido Duo a lot. I’ve played it twice, and each time it crafts a puzzle that you have to figure out. The game only takes twenty minutes, so the fact that there is a lot of luck — players are wholly dependent on the dice rolls and the bag pulls and the art reveals — doesn’t bother me one bit. Good news is that Mitchell agreed, and he said this was a lot better than his original Tokaido experience.

Finally, we are continuing to explore the cards in the Silver series, this time pulling out Silver Fang. I love the theme of this one. Players are going to flip cards like wild, revealing characters in our decks or the other players’ decks, too. Plus, the fang itself and many of the cards mess with the discard pile, which is always fun. At one time, Mitchell and I had three different discard piles going, plus the original.

I had a really bad first round and played catch up the entire time. It was close between us, except for that disaster, but what I really enjoyed was how each round we started to grok some of the built in combos that the cards create. There are a lot of cards that have face up powers, and getting a few of those out lets you manipulate the deck pulls, which is always a joy. I think I still prefer my plays of Eye a little better, but this is another great set in the line.

We’ve got another round of arctic air on the way, so I am foreseeing a lot of gumbos being cooked this week. Hopefully, we will get some gaming in, too. Stay safe out there!

Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!

— BJ from Board Game Gumbo