In week one, We played the game Avalon. This game is based in the mythical and magical times of Merlin, Arthur, and Mordred. This game requires strategy and deceit. The strategy is easy to learn, and I am thankful that this was the first game we were introduced to in the class. The objective of the game, if you are a good character, is to complete three of five quests in order to win. The evil characters attempt to fail the quests by collaborating with other evil characters in order to be the majority sent on the quest. Each player also has a way to stop the mission from taking place by accepting or rejecting the mission based on who is sent to go on the quest. Each move a player makes is critiqued and carefully watched by the other players in order to figure out who is good and who is evil. This proved to be difficult because the game was fast paced and did not allow much time to reflect on the moves of each player. The game can progress to include more difficult aspects once certain characters are added, however, we only played a few rounds of the game including these tougher roles.

The hardest part about it for me was embracing my role as a villain in the game. I usually always want to be the “good guy” in the game, however, in Avalon it seemed the villains had more of an opportunity to play and strategize as a team. I enjoyed this aspect of the game. One villain can convince the players they are trustworthy and then whomever they pick to send on the mission is not scrutinized. The other villains can then follow along when chosen for the mission. I think this ties into leadership because in a leadership role, you have to gain the trust of your teammates, coworkers, etc.

I think my sister would enjoy this game. We both watched the TV series Merlin so seeing this characters again would excite her. She would also jump at the chance to be able to play as a powerful, well-known character like Morgana or Merlin. This game also does not take long to learn, so we could easily teach it to other family members and get them involved, which I think she would like.