Gentes

Gentes arrived with the slightly severe air of a game that has been patiently taking notes while you admire your own work. I liked it very much. What unsettled me was my spectacular slide on the scoreboard: I never felt, during the game, that I had made an obviously bad move.

Play moves forward through the choices each player makes in turn, with the final scoring doing the rather unsentimental accounting. In my game the margin was close to double, yet nothing at the table had announced that gap with any great drama.

The interaction, as I experienced it, lies in that shared pressure around the table: you watch what the others are doing and try to spot where you are losing ground before the points explain it for you. It is the sort of game whose journey can feel calm while the finish line keeps very careful books.

I absolutely want to play it again, just not after being on my feet for 34 hours, when judgement has already gone home for the evening. There may be a mistake there that I failed to see; Gentes may simply ask for a clearer head than I brought to it. For now, it is quietly excellent, and it deserves a fairer second meeting.