On Crafting? - Game resolution Day 2

After what turned out to be a very busy day yesterday at the Werribee Open Range Zoo, the intent was to make today a quieter day at home to relax.

Then we remembered that we had not done any grocery shopping in recent memory, so we had to pack up and go restock the food stores.  While most of you readers may (correctly) consider this to be a menial task, for us it is not quite so simple, at least not right now.

Part of the complication is the fact that we have chosen to live in the big city sans automobile.  This means that  any and all travel involves public transit.  Fortunately Melbourne has one of the best transit systems in the world.  I have no complaints about that.  Regardless, it does have an impact on the timetables of a shopping trip.  The larger impact is that it limits the quantity of groceries that one person can be expected to carry on a single trip.  Therefore acquire a reasonable amount of food to feed a family of five, both adults need to go to the store with the aid of two shopping trolleys.  This brings me to the other difficulty, children.  If both of us need to leave the apartment, then we are obligated to bring the progeny along with us.  Unfortunately they are not yet of the advanced ages where we can leave them to their own devices for short periods of time.  Anyone with children will understand that any trip, even a short one, will be significantly longer if it includes three children.

Eventually we return with food in tow and the children still in one piece.  As we contemplate dinner, I am pondering the day's game selection.  My wife's suggestion is to occupy the eldest for a time and play a round of his new game.

Gaming Report Day 2: Minecraft Card Game?

Yes, the question mark is part of the title, though for the life of me I cannot really understand why.  Aside from that minor little annoyance with the game publisher, this is actually a fun little game.  The players have actions that they can take on their turn.  They can either mine resources from piles of resource cards, or they can use previously mined resources to craft items in one of the piles of craft cards earning points.  There is also the option of reserving a craft card, a useful option if one of the other players has made the mistake of telegraphing what they are going to do next. One of my first thoughts when playing this game is that it is a simpler version of King's Forge, a crafting game I also enjoy.  I ended up winning, though not by much.  My son was at most one turn behind.  I can also say (predictably enough) that they game was much more entertaining with three players as opposed to two.  I wonder if my son will think this is fun enough that I am continue to put off buying the real Minecraft game?  One can always hope, I guess.