Why is 10 Days important?

RI have never played Racko and, thanks to the 10 Days series, I probably never will. The 10 Days games takes the sorting mechanic of Racko and marries it to geography. This change makes a game that is more visually interesting, educational and engaging.

In every game in the series, you are trying to create a sequence of contiguous countries/states/provinces while different vehicles like planes or cars  can help make connections. There have been seven games in the series, although some of them weren't in English. I think. And, actually, it doesn't matter since place names are the only words in the games :D

About twelve years ago, I wrote a review of 10 Days in Africa: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/89054/light-enjoyable-game-geography Rereading it, I'll still stand by that review.

The 10 Days series is not Alan Moon's best game design. (Or Aaron Weisbaum's, for that matter) BUT I do think it's one of their more important designs.

Rule wise, the 10 Days series is very, very simple. They are games that you can teach to just about anyone, children and teens and adults. They are accessible enough that non-gamers can be competitive while tense enough that seasoned gamers can enjoy them.

If that's all the 10 Days series had to offer, that'd still be pretty good. However, in addition to teaching cognitive reasoning skills (which hopefully most games will teach), the 10 Days series also legitimately teaches geography. Pulling that off while being fun is a pretty impressive feat.

While Edutainment has come a long ways in the last few decades (What can I say? Bubble Guppies impressed me when our son went through a Bubble Guppies phase) but a game that really works as a game that is very educational is still no mean thing. The 10 Days series can work as a standby in most game libraries and classrooms.

At the moment, it looks like the US map is the only one available in the US. Which is a shame and I hope that changes. I am glad, though, the series is still out there.

King's Breakfast - a tiny but tasty card game

It has been years since I've played King's Breakfast but, back in the day, I played the heck out of it. A simple little game of card drafting and brinkmanship, I got a lot more fun out of it than I would have expected.

In the game, you've been invited to the castle to have a sumptuous meal with the king. Fame and glory in the form of victory points will be showered upon you if you share in the king's tastes. But not if if eat more than the king.

The game consists of a deck of cards of different types of food, plus five dragon cards since dragons always mix with royalty and fine dining. 

Each round, you deal out twice as many cards as there are players. You then sort them by type of food, with any dragons placed on the side. Then, on your turn, you can take all the cards of one type of food or draw a card from the draw pile or use a dragon to eat two cards from the king's collection of cards. After everyone has had a turn, all the unclaimed cards go in the king's collection.

When there aren't enough cards in the deck left to deal out a round, the game's over. You get points by multiplying the number of cards of each food type by the number the king has. Oh, unless you have more than the king. Than you get nothing for that food type. Naturally, whoever has the most points wins.

It was designed by Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum. Moon is the man who have given the world games like Elfenland and Ticket to Ride. Weissblum has done a number of collaborations with Moon, including the 10 Days series.

King's Breakfast was not one of their big hits. It's a light little filler with some card counting mixed with pushing your luck and a dash of spite with the dragon. (Because, since everything accept the blind draw is open knowledge, you just use the dragon to mess with someone else's scoring) There aren't any compex decision trees going on here.

And yet, every time I played King's Breakfast, I had a good time and ended up feeling happy. It wasn't just a pleasant little game. It was a relaxing one, a game that took away any grumpiness the day might have left me with.

One part of my enjoyment of games from the meditative state I can get from playing them. Lord knows that is part of why I love Ingenious, although I also enjoy it's tactical play. For me, King's Breakfast was almost entirely meditation.

I don't think King's Breakfast is for everyone. I don't think it's either designer's finest work. But it did right by me.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6263/kings-breakfast