This week in EDL 290T, our class played the game Ladies & Gentlemen. Ladies & Gentlemen is a game that has players working both individually and as teams. The players that choose to play as ladies must go to the shops and purchase servants or outfits for an upcoming ball while making sure not to own pieces from more than two designers. The gentlemen work on the stock market and fulfill trade deals, then use the money they make to buy their ladies outfits. The team that manages to earn the most stars by completing the fanciest outfit, having the most servants, and completing the most trade deals wins the game.

In my group, I played as a gentleman. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to pick out the stocks that I needed to complete trade deals, since those were worth more cash than I could scrounge up on my own just by selling products individually. It took me and my partner a while to be able to put together the outfit and it was mildly frustrating at times to not be able to buy all the things we wanted, but in the end we did alright as new players of the game. The game was pretty straightforward and I liked how there was both an individualistic side and a team gameplay aspect. I would’ve liked one or two more rounds to play to get the hang of the game or the opportunity to play as a lady but it was still fun. The hardest part was planning the budget so I could get the best deals and still buy the best outfit for my partner, but after figuring out how the market worked it got a lot easier.

The game was important because it focused on stepping out of our typical more comfortable roles into ones we might not normally associate ourselves with – for example, I wouldn’t normally play a male character but I enjoyed trying that out this time. As leaders, we may need to step out of our comfort zones sometimes to be as effective as possible at our jobs so practicing this via tabletop game was a fun step towards doing that for me.

I would recommend this game to people like my mom, who enjoy historical time periods (since this is set sometime that’s either Victorian or Edwardian) and semi-cooperative gameplay. It was a fun game to try and I may eventually get it for myself once I have the chance to shop for things again.