Great report, Susan. I continue to be puzzled at the mixed reaction Giganten der Lufte is getting. Our first game was very enjoyable and my thought was that this was going to be a huge hit and a certain SdJ nominee. But it might be a more fragile design than I first thought.

Like you, I'm also a fan of To Court the King (and Pickomino). I think there are two things in GdL that replace the freezing decisions and dice tweaking powers in TCtK. The first is that you have to choose your target before rolling. So you have to take into account the card's ability, its color, the dice it lets you roll, and so on. These aren't heavy decisions, but they are fun. The other innovation is the fact that the target cards limit the number of dice you can apply to reach its total. So if I have 3 white dice and 2 red ones, I can roll them all, but the card I'm trying to win may only allow me to use two white dice and one red die. Given this, what do I think the odds are that I can make required total? These aren't trivial probability questions and require the players to get an instinctive feel of what their odds will be. It's something new in dice games and I think a very nice innovation.

Combine this with the +1 chips, the decision of when and if to take an additional turn, and the timing of when to go after blimps and building the Hindenburg and I think you have a very nice game. It's main appeal, in addition to the decision-making, is how fast it plays. With just one roll per turn, it's the fastest dice game I know and that's a very welcome feature.

I'm not sure why this game hasn't proven to be more attractive to many experienced gamers. One thing may be the way it is being played. In my game, I decided to be very aggressive in going after the better dice. This gave me plenty of options and allowed me to keep going after bigger targets, rather than play catch-up. It also kept the game fresh and challenging right up to the end. If players are too timid (which might seem to be the more prudent course at first blush), I can see the game being less dynamic.

Anyway, I rank it right up there with TCtK and Pickomino and ahead of the Settlers Dice Game (which I also like). Hopefully, people will give it a second chance and not let it fall into obscurity.

I'm glad to hear a positive report about Kingsburg. I thought the mechanics sounded interesting (particularly the way dice are used), but I haven't heard too many good things lately. Its high price remains a barrier, though, so it's still a try before I buy.

Glad you enjoyed the con. I guess Kevin's team didn't win the tournament, as you were able to squeeze in some gaming on Saturday night. Hope he had a good time, though.

Thanks for your insightful comments, Larry. I think that everyone at our table was playing more of a timid game. However, I'm not totally convinced that this was the problem. As Ed commented to me, and I agree, in our game you usually had a very limited choice of cards to choose from because either you didn't have the right dice or your chances of getting the roll were low. Maybe we weren't being aggressive enough. At any rate, the game wasn't bad and I'm sure I'll get a chance to play it again. I wasn't all that impressed with To Court the King after my first playing either and now it is one of my favorite dice games.

I like Pickomino as well but I haven't gotten a chance to try the Settlers dice game yet. Nobody around here has a copy. I was hoping Mayfair would do it. I wish that I'd thought to check the BGG.con library for it.

Kevin's soccer team didn't do so well. :-( They lost two games and tied one. Kevin's performance was awesome though, and that's not just a mother talking! He's been benched most of the season with a shoulder injury and this was his first time back on the field so he was very happy.