R-Eco is not garbage

by Susan Rozmiarek

When I picked up the mail yesterday there were two boxes from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club rubber-banded together and addressed to Ed. The first one, obviously a decoy, contained several books by Glen Cook, one of Ed's favorite authors. Upon opening the second box, I found two.....romance novels?? What other dark secrets is this man hiding from me?!? *

On the topic of keeping the romance gaming alive, we are trying to revive our old tradition of playing a game on Wednesday nights even though we are usually very tired these days. Last week, I picked up a copy of R-Eco at our local game store after it got a thumbs- up from one of the picky regulars in our group. Until now, it had pretty much flown under my radar. Since we couldn't coax Shea from a new video game and Kevin had gone to bed right after dinner, a victim of his brutal early-morning/late-evening sport practice schedule, it was just Ed and me. We were a little wary of the fact that the two-player rule adjustments were tacked on to the end of rules like an afterthought, usually a bad sign. Happily, it played quite well. In fact, in contrast to Patrician getting a "not a bad filler" from me (but only with 3!), R-Eco, a game about garbage, gets a "that was excellent; let's play again!" Greg does a great job explaining the rules in his review if you are curious. While the game reminds me of 6 Nimmt and Poison with the forced taking of cards, it is not the same. In R-Eco you are trying to manage your hand within the five card limit and time your plays in order to win points while keeping within that limit. I found it to be a challenging balancing act and I did an incredibly bad job, losing to Ed with four points to his eight. I must play this one again soon.

Ed is taking the day off from work tomorrow and we are planning to work on some landscaping projects. I wonder if I can convince him to knock off early and pull out Battlelore. We keep buying all those darned expansions but have only played the game once.

*He's now off the hook as the box also contained paperwork addressed to a lady in Minnesota. Still.....

Posted by Susan Rozmiarek at September 27, 2007 3:34 PM