Game 33: Arabian Nights

 Tales of the Arabian Nights: The Legendary Storytelling Boardgame in the World of Aladdin and Sinbad.  How's THAT for a title?!  Since David, who is not a fan of this game, was gone tonight, I suggested to Caleb and Jacob that we play it - which was a good idea.  I also suggested that we play outside - which wasn't such a good idea.  Even though it is the third longest day of the year, the sunlight didn't quite hold out for us and reading got a bit hard at the end, and there is a lot of reading in this story-based game.


 As you go through the game encounter many things, such as serpents, elephants, princesses, magicians, sages, beggars, beasts, storms, whirlpools, maidens, rocs, and more!  At each encounter you decide how to act in your encounter - whether to attack, aid, honor, abduct, bargain, hire, trick, grovel, avoid, pray, etc., etc., etc.  Based on your decision, the reader of the Reaction Matrices tells the reader of the Book of Tales which paragraph to read in order to determine what happens.  Since there are 2600 paragraphs (and a randomizing +/- die and other roll modifiers) you don't have to worry much about repeats.

 During your journey you can gain skills, such as magic, weapon use, enduring hardship, storytelling, courtly graces, wilderness lore, acting and disguise, and these skills help you do better in encounters.  You can also accumulate treasure or pick up curses or become imprisoned or go insane or get wounded or end up married or go on pilgrimage.  Or you could, as happened to me last time we played this game, be drowned by angry mermen!
Generally it's a game that results in a lot of laughter.  You might be imprisoned by a mad jailer, pursued by an ugly maiden, ensorceled by a vengeful sorcerer, or end up making a choice to drink the wrong thing and finding that your sex has been changed!  (And if that happens to you, you cannot win the game until you find a way to get it changed back; good luck with that!)  This is definitely a game of chance and not a game of skill, but I find my imagination tickled by this game.  It can be kind of lengthy but quite fun - very social.

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