On the other table, I introduced Mark G, Nicky and Andrew to Dungeon Petz. This 2011 game from Vlaada Chvatil is all about running a pet shop full of magical creatures, raising them from their infancy until they are old enough to take part in exhibitions and be sold off to the Dungeon Lords. In each of five rounds you have the opportunity to buy pets, cages to keep them in, cage improvements, food and more but the crux of the game is managing the cards that you draw to satisfy the needs of the pet. When you have one young pet, this is pretty straight-forward but as your pets age, their needs become greater and juggling your hand of cards to satisfy multiple pets becomes quite a task. And if you can't manage it, the pets get sick, develop mutations, break out of the cages or perish.

We thoroughly enjoyed this as the humour in the game is fantastic and everyone is constantly involved. It did run on a little bit long but that didn't seem to matter. Andrew managed to set up one fantastic sale to a strange customer who was looking for pets in heavily soiled cages. Andrew's pets obligingly pooped all over the place and he claimed 45 points from that one action which gave him an easy win.