Thursday night is usually game night at our place, but with Nik still sick and Bruce out of town at the GDC, we had to call it. Rick swung by though and the two of us went for dinner at the Columbia City Ale House, which is one of the few cool places to eat in our immediate area. The first time Nik and I went we dug it, but feared the place would go out of business because it never seemed to get crowded. Well, last night the joint was packed, which is pretty good for a Thursday. We like the place because it’s not pretentious, it has good food, and the employees often play decent music. Last night there was a good amount of punk and ska, for instance, and my ears really perked up when they started playing some classic stuff by the Fall. Nice.

After dinner we went back to my place and played Attika, a boardgame I’d heard quite a bit about but hadn’t played. I’ve seen several discussions about Attika, wondering if it’s going to be the next Settlers of Cataan. I don’t think so, as I don’t think it’s as easy for casual game players to pick up. Nonetheless, it’s a very good game. There are a couple of different ways to win, many strategies to choose from, and the mechanics offer you interesting choices. We played two games (Rick won the first, I the second) and afterwards I totally wanted a copy. What’s nice is that it seems to be a game that’s equally fun with 2 players or 3 or 4, which is rare. We were also able to play two games in just a couple of hours, another plus. I have three of the cool-looking Eagle games now and haven’t gotten to play any of them because I need 3 or 4 other players and at least 4 hours of free time. Makes me miss my college days, when I played games at least twice a week. Ah, nostalgia.