Author Topic: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe  (Read 7625 times)

Offline Decar

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Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« on: May 25, 2016, 01:46:37 PM »
Rich the Fish was in Bristol today and because I live so close by, it was a great opportunity for me (and Mrs Decar) to cross the bridge into England and play games with him all afternoon!

Our venue was 'Chance & Counters', Bristol's first board game cafe.  It's newly opened, so we were both keen to check the place out.  I thought it would be helpful for forum members to hear my micro-review on our afternoon's play.

I want to start by saying: Chance & Counters is the best name for a board gaming cafe I've come across.  In my mind, it's next to 'Assault and Battery', a Fish & Chip shop in Battery Park - NYC.

We didn't have much difficulty finding games to play and the knowledgeable staff were on hand to make good recommendations.  I think this was a great opportunity for us all to play some of the games we'd seen but not found time to play.  The catalogue was extensive, to my eye all of the games were new; so if someone was looking for an ancient copy of Carcassonne: The Dice Game - they'd be disappointed (tbh: they'd be disappointed after they played it).

We started with something we knew:   7 Wonders Duel - Rich decided to sit back and see how this 2-player game worked.  Somehow I won - I have no idea how; I think Wonder points gave me the edge.

Next we took a recommendation to play Knizia's Battleline.  We made a few mistakes on the first 2-games, but managed to work out what we were suppose to be doing.  Thankfully the game is pretty short.  I really liked this game; you're essentially balancing sets of 3-cards against your opponent at 9-flags along a battleline.  Sets are like:  a run of 3 cards in the same suite, which beats 3 of a kind, which beats a run in different suites...all the way down to 3 random cards.  I have a feeling that going first is a big advantage, but the strategy cards probably change this.  Rich and I couldn't work out when they should be used.  It was safe to say it earned the easy-to-play hard to master category of game, as the staff suggested.  I'll be looking for this in the future.

I had my Carcassonne travel box with me and one staff member was knowledgeable and explained that they worked with moulds and silicon.  My wife had explained the meeple I made using a rubber mould last year.  I have no doubt I'll be heading back to get crafting/forging tips in the future!

After these light games, we moved onto something larger:  'Isle of Skye'  (Skype).  I'd heard a lot about it - it's nominated for a Kinnerspiel SdJ award.  I was expecting good things.  The game had been freshly popped - we were the first to play with it!
It might be that I'm a carcassonne player, but the roads confused me.  You can't go building roads which end in a mountain.  It was compared to Carcassonne and 'Castles of Mad King Ludvick'.  It's much closer to 'Carcassonne:The Discovery', IoS has 3 types of areas which make the landscape: grass,mountains and seas (just like Discovery).

There are so many ways to score things, it's hard to know what to invest in.  My economy tanked at the start of the game and I struggled, for the rest.  My wife liked the buying/pricing of tiles; but Rich managed to storm ahead - considering his slow start: a worthy victory.

Here's the end game:


I think we all liked the game's scoring mechanic.  But people refer to this as the 'Carcassonne Killer' - safe to say:  it isn't.  The game wasn't terrible, but I didn't find many moments where I had any control over what was really happening.  Mind you, it's hard to say how good a game after one game.  So, I'd be keen to give it another go now I've got a grasp of the rules.

Next it was time for Alhambra, a Spiel des Jahres winner!  I've only played 2 player Alhambra on my phone against AI - this was my first time against real opponents and with 3 players.  Obviously, my opinions on this one are totally distorted because I won.  I really enjoyed the purchasing mechanics, the tile laying and the scoring, but we all thought the game could have been over.....about 21 tiles sooner.  AP set in and we all wanted it to end a little sooner.  Having said that though, the scores were pretty close!

Here's a photo of me looking smug with myself for winning :D


I don't think I missed anything - but should just add some more factoids about the Cafe:
The coffee was much better than at Thirsty Meeple & my wife enjoyed the cake she had.
The staff came with good recommendations and explained rules clearly (impressively so for IoS, which had not been played but read through about an hour before).
The staff were friendly to talk to about all aspects of gaming too!

It's safe to say the afternoon was extremely well spent and I'm happy knowing there's a great venue, just up the road (and over a bridge) away!  Thanks for a great afternoon Rich the Fish!

My wife and I are already looking forward to the next visit, so if anyone's in Bristol for a day with nothing to do, let me know :)

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2755.0

Offline jma03

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2016, 03:24:47 PM »
thanks for sharing this reading !! well done guys
I assume that you have had a great evening.
Mérit for You
  :(y)
When you lose, do not look at what you lost, but what's left to win ..

Offline ARabidMeerkat

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2016, 04:02:06 PM »
I'm really impressed that you managed to find this place before my wife and I did, bearing in mind we live in Somerset and my wife works in Bristol! There must be something in your Welsh water...
If only I had another Halfling.....

Offline toastytoast

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2016, 02:07:06 AM »
Great review - sounds like they're off to a good start.

I wish there was board game cafe when I was living in Bristol as a student!

Offline jungleboy

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2016, 03:38:42 AM »
Nice one Decar - you are slowly but surely 'collecting' all the board game cafés in the UK!

Offline Whaleyland

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2016, 05:56:36 AM »
Great name for a board game café, although I think I would name it Chance 'n' Counters just to make the play on words even more obvious.

I have the same problem with Alhambra. Usually I want the game to be over around the time the second scoring round happens (sometimes sooner). I don't know what it is, but most games with desert/yellow-colour themes just tire me out faster than other games. Weird, right?
« Last Edit: May 26, 2016, 05:58:54 AM by whaleyland »

Offline Decar

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2016, 07:31:05 AM »
I thought they were playing with a 'D&D' thing by calling it 'C&C' too.

Know what you mean about the desert thing. I know nothing of the tile distribution but definitely feel some tiles could be removed for a shorter game.

Offline jungleboy

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2016, 08:17:42 AM »
When I first started 'branching out' from Carcassonne, I thought Alhambra looked great and I was all set to get the Big Box. Now it's fallen off my radar and I don't think I'll get it.

Meanwhile my latest 'out of print but I just discovered it and I want it' game is Firenze.

Offline Decar

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2016, 09:05:50 AM »
Firenze.

You just want it for the coloured tower pieces to use in Carcassonne :p

Offline jungleboy

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2016, 09:54:41 AM »
Firenze.

You just want it for the coloured tower pieces to use in Carcassonne :p

Oh, the towers are a massive part of it. And I was already thinking about whether they could be used in Carcassonne - whether players could have 'exclusive' towers that only they could build on. So you could lay a tower foundation tile next to your own meeple if you really wanted to place the tile there, and just build one layer with one of your coloured towers, and then you'd be safe. But each player would only get perhaps 3 of these. I'm sure there are plenty of other possibilities too.

But anyway, I think Firenze looks great regardless of the Carcassonne connection with the Tower pieces.

Offline Rich_The_Fish

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #10 on: May 26, 2016, 01:44:56 PM »
Top write up Decar, thanks for doing this. It was great to meet up with you and Mrs Decar yesterday afternoon, I had a really enjoyable time (even if Alhambra did drag on a little bit). I can't believe just how fortunate things turned out, in that you were free to visit Bristol despite that I was there less than 24 hrs and that the excellent Chance & Counters had only opened it's doors a few days beforehand - I guess it was just meant to be!

I was very pleased with the choice of games that made it onto our table (even if Carcassonne wasn't one of them). I'd wanted to play them all for sometime, especially 7 Wonders Duel. I wasn't familiar with Battleline, so big thanks to Richard at the café for recommending it. Having seen a Dice Tower review earlier tonight, I'm still wondering if we played it a little bit wrong, but it was enjoyable nevertheless and definitely one I'm looking to add to the collection.

If any of you are in the area, I'd throughly recommend that you call in to Chance & Counters, I know I will next time I'm in Bristol.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


Offline jungleboy

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #11 on: May 26, 2016, 02:09:24 PM »
Sounds like a good choice for the next UK meetup.


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Offline Rich_The_Fish

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #12 on: May 26, 2016, 02:32:49 PM »
Sounds like a good choice for the next UK meetup.


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As it happens, I'll be visiting my 3rd venue in the East Midlands next week, with a view to arranging a meet up in July at the most suitable place. This will be the most northern location we'll have had for a UK meet up so far - Decar and I were chatting after Oxford and thought it would be good if there was one that was easier for folks living in central / northern parts of the country to get to.

I'm not dismissing Bristol at all, but I feel that it'd probably be better to visit again once they've had chance to build up their games library and become more established. For instance, they mentioned that they were intending to start sell games in the future which would be handy for those of us that like adding to our collection when visiting these establishments.

I'll post details of my proposed venue and possible dates in the next week or so.

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Offline Decar

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Re: Chance & Counters - Bristol's board game cafe
« Reply #13 on: May 26, 2016, 03:06:29 PM »
I just watched a quick review of battleline. Yes. It makes a lot more sense now. I had a feeling the first player had an advantage. I think we lacked the 'you can only win a flag when you can prove you can't be beaten' rule.  That makes a lot more sense.  It's definitley on my wishlist.  But like all GMT games; they're pretty pricey - let me know if you find it cheap :)

Good luck with your next café visit - looking forward to our next venue!


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