I forgot to mention another game I was introduced to a couple weeks ago. Someone from a board game group I participate in texted me and told me that if I showed up that night I’d get to play Dragonmaster, a 1981 game that his friend was planning to bring.
For whatever reason I assumed that the game would likely be mediocre. Maybe I’m biased against games from that era, but some of them are pretty bad.
When I arrived I discovered that it’s a trick-taking game, which got me more interested. And then I saw the card art, which is charmingly reminiscent of old paperback book covers. And there’s a good reason for that, I would learn later that evening when I looked the game up online. The art is all by Bob Pepper. Yes, that Bob Pepper.
The person who brought the game had a copy that had obviously been played many times. The cards were well-worn. He explained that he played it endlessly with his siblings growing up. Just that one game. When his mother died, they found that in her will she had requested that at her wake everyone clear the room at one point and he and his siblings play a game of Dragonmaster right there in front of the casket. It’s a little longer than most trick-taking games, so they didn’t get to finish during the service, but he recorded the state of the game so they could continue later and he still brings that up when talking to them because thus far they never have.
I’m not sure I’d want to play the game as many times as he has, but I enjoyed it and between the art, the genre, and his story I decided I’d check the price of a used copy. Some were quite expensive, but I saw a cheap copy that appeared to be in very nice shape. It just arrived in the mail today and it is in fact in great shape.