I didn’t take any photos during gaming on Sunday, but here’s a photo of some of the snacks. Snacks are very important for gaming. 
A few old friends came by, and we made a new friend, who has kids the same age as mine and who like video games, so they were cheerfully ensconced with Anand in the playroom for something like six hours, emerging only to gather food and drink and head back up again.
The grown-ups chatted for a while, but also played — I learned a new game, Cartographers, which I quite like (and have put on my birthday list for Kevin — my birthday’s coming up in a few weeks, 52, eep). In theory, it can take up to 100 players, but we had 4, which was just fine. Everyone gets the same cards communally, and you use them to draw individual maps — it’s a little like Tetris (or Patchwork), fitting the pieces in, but the drawing bit is fun. Next time I play, I want to put out colored pencils for everyone to use…
And then I taught Lanterns, which is just a lovely little game; if I could only have ten board games in the house, I think one of them would be Lanterns — it’s quick to teach (5 minutes or so), quick to set up (ditto), can be played by ages 8+, takes 30-45 minutes to play, and is still interesting for adults after many play throughs. Just a well-designed game all around!
Overall, nice to get back to board games & potluck. We used to do this roughly once a month pre-pandemic, and I really like it as a way to stay in touch with my local community. We’re not entirely sure if we’re doing any travel in late July / early August (there’s some possibility of visiting Kev’s family), but I’m pencilling in the next potluck & board games for July 30th, and monthly on the last Sunday after that.
If you’d like to be on the board games invite list, locals, give me your e-mail for the Evite. Kids are always welcome.