Five of us this week and the first for a while when we played only older games. The others suggested I might have run out of new games to try out on them, but there are still a few Essen releases I’ve not brought to the table yet. Anyway, we started off with Traumfabrik, Reiner Knizia’s excellent auction game based around the film industry. Nige started out as he meant to go on, bidding aggressively to secure early tiles. This enabled him to get first pick at every party throughout the game, as well as being the only person to complete a film in the first year. John made an early attempt at worst film, completing a four star masterpiece that had the audiences flocking to anywhere but the box office. I managed to complete two classy films that picked up oscars in years two and three, although Mark K’s eventual ‘green’ film, released after more than three years in production, ended up being the best overall. However, Nige’s strategy of releasing quick and dirty titles proved to be a winner, as he emerged with the most VPs at the end.

Traumfabrik is always great fun to play, with plenty to think about in terms of valuing bids. You can’t let your opponents get stuff too cheaply, even if you’re not interested in the items yourself, but it can be difficult to push the price up when you risk winning an auction you don’t want, leaving yourself short of funds for later auctions you do want to win.