Last week I had pretty tight schedule as in addition to all the other pretty responsibilities I was Main Organizer for second stage of car-orienteering championship - and this took all the available time. By Saturday night it was over and therefore, when we were invited to the birthday party on Sunday, several games were taken along.

Cable Car is an excellent gateway game with easy-to-understand rules, high-quality components and practically no downtime. I was explaining the rules, so, naturally, I was the one who was getting mainly "Oh, you got only 3 points? Whoops..." moves - but, hey, it was fun nevertheless.

With Kingdom Builder there were also more interested participants than vacancies so I just explained the rules and watched the game flowing. It was quite ineteresting to notice, how, from turn to turn, players discovered new options and possibilities and sometimes it took quite a time to make the good tactical/strategical decisions. This crowd is all good players and quick learners - their learning curve has been: first introduction to boardgaming was Roborally, after that we continued with 1856 - and I'm not kidding.

Playing was finished by Abandon Ship and Rumble in the House - two fillers that are both simple, fast and fun - as fillers are meant to be. It's not the winning that matters with those, but the journey itself.