BONUS: Game Night with Kirks

 It is summer, and that means I have time to get together with friends!  As I look back, I see that this is our fourth game night with the Kirk family since I began this blog.  The picture above is of the games - some ours, some theirs - that were stacked up on their kitchen counter to select from over the course of the evening.  We ended up playing Deception, Bonkers, Barenpark, and Settlers of Catan (double).  Barenpark ("Bear Park") was new to us.  Tyler had gotten it as a birthday gift earlier in the week from Anna, and they taught us how to play.  It felt to me like a combination between Tetris, Kingdomino, and Cathedral.  We all really enjoyed it.

 The game is pretty easy to play, but I'm finding it hard to explain right now - maybe because I'm posting late at night.  Basically, the idea is to build a bear park (koalas, pandas, polar bears, etc.) including enclosures, water features, playground areas, monuments, etc.  Various pieces are with varying amounts of points.  There are multiple aspects of timing and point collecting that players need to balance as they build.
 Since our two youngest sons were in town (a situation that is becoming rarer and rarer), we had a total of 6 gamers, so we played a game of Double Catan with 3 at each board.  We all agreed that we like the structure and artwork on the original board (below right) better than the updated board.  Anyway, a very good evening!  I'm looking forward to more summer game nights!

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