Board Game Friday: March Board Game Arena Plays!

I'm still in the heart of the busy season of my semester which means I haven't had a ton of time for in-person board gaming.  However, there are online sites such as Board Game Arena that allow me to play games virtually (and in a turn-based way since there's almost no way I can finish a full game in a single "live" play)!

For the month of March, I completed a total of 63 games (winning only 22, but the real goal is simply to have fun)!  Here's the full list of my game plays:

I definitely played less overall games online in March (January - February saw me average 100 games per month) but I think the quality of the games I played in March was much higher overall.  I've talked about most of the games on that list before but here are my thoughts on the new-to-me games:

Lost Ruins of Arnak:

I own this game in its physical form and I've actually played my copy (and loved it).  However, I think I only ever got to play it once in person and though I did enjoy the game a lot, I kind of forgot all of the rules.  Luckily, learning most games on BGA is quite easy and after a play or two the game came back to me.  Of course, I have learned that playing on BGA you run into a lot more good players but I've been having a blast with Arnak (as evidenced by it being my most played game in the month of March)!  

In short, Lost Ruins of Arnak is an exploration game where you race to find treasures and work your way up a scoring track.  To do so, you have a total of five rounds in which to go from zero to hero!  The game has a deck building aspect which is how you can do more and more each round (and hopefully score lots of points along the way).  There are several different ways to score points and plenty of randomization so each play does feel substantially different.  Highly recommend this one!

Flip Freighters:

I stumbled across this little roll-and-write game and found it perfectly pleasant.  It's not one that I'll probably every need to purchase for myself but as a simple diversion from doing work, it hits the spot.  Basically, each player gets the same three cards to place out on their board (you write the rank of the card on your sheet of paper).  Repeat the process a bunch of times, eventually filling up trucks and then driving them to a destination in order to earn points.  Highest point total of three weeks (of five days/rounds each) wins.

All told, I'm loving the fact that BGA exists and I definitely love the wide variety of games on the site.  I love playing games with my son in person but BGA allows me to play some "older person" games that my five-year-old can't quite handle yet.  I also love the stiffer competition as I'm definitely learning and getting better at many games!  

As always, I'd be happy to play over on BGA with anyone!  I'm always up for learning new games and I don't mind losing a bunch while I do so.  Of course, I would eventually like to get my win rate up over 50% at least but that's only because I do have a deep-seeded competitive fire that I can't quite put out!