4/2: Carcassonne with Shelley, Celeste, and Rory
Celeste and Rory invited Shelley and I over for dinner which was EXCELLENT (salmon, rice, spinach/green beans, bread), and afterward we pulled out Carcassonne for a game to end the evening. Eating great brownies while laying tiles and placing meeples, each of us attempted to maximize our scoring. Rory and I competed for one city, hoping for a Cathedral tile that never showed, while Shelley built some good terrain and Celeste set up a strong farmer. Rory was hurt by stranded meeples and in the end I stole a field from him as well. The game ended in a tie between Shelley and me at 80 points for first place, followed by Celeste at 74 and Rory back at 56.
4/4: flowerpower with Karin
Needing a game to finish off the week, I coerced Karin into a quick game of flowerpower during my prep. Neutral zone play by both of us began the game, meaning that we ended the game on equal placement footing. Preventing a two 4-flower and a 5-flower garden from becoming a sixes helped keep me ahead and I wound up squeeking out a victory 20 to 19.
4/5: Paris Paris with Wei-Hwa
After a bit of a fiasco regarding Game Day (room scheduling conflict led to a rescheduling for tomorrow, Sunday) many of us headed to Neutral Ground for a chance to get in a game or two anyway. Since the store didn't open until 11:00, we sat out, enjoyed the sun, and played a 2-player of this new acquisition. Players build tourist shops on bus routes around Paris, scoring the left over stop that no one chooses in a particular round. Small & grand tours score depending on what has come previously and we quickly caught on to HOW to play, but I'll need to explore how to play WELL. Wei-Hwa wound up with the better placements, beating me by 6, 70-64.
4/5: Paris Paris with Rick, Eric, and Jeff
With the store open, I convinced three others to try this new Paris Paris game again. With four players there's more competition for prime places and some pondering of what placement will work best. Eric and Jeff were the primary contenders as Rick and I found ourselves behind early. In the end those two were neck & neck with Jeff getting the win at 32 points to Eric's 31, my 27, and Rick's 21.
4/5: Fresh Fish with Rick, Eric, and Jeff
Another new acquisition for my ever-growing collection, I read through the rules on this one and I'm very glad I could have someone who'd played it before teach me how to play. Rick & Eric had both played this one in the past, so their instructions and comments helped considerably. Laying out the board with the 4 supply depots (a harbor, gas processing plant, nuclear reactor, and GAMES production plant), we began selecting various plots of land on which we would build. Then, as our reservation markers dwindled, we began pulling tiles from the bag and either placing 'normal' buildings or auctioning off the destination buildings (fish market, gas station, nuclear waste disposal site, and game store). The object is to have your version of these four buildings get placed as close as possible to its supply. Road segments get laid as their mandatory placement is determined (only one road is allowed on the entire board, and supply/destination buildings MUST be on a road). Jeff did quite well with his placements, winning the game (misplaced the scores!)
4/5: Carcassone + Traders & Builders with Rory, Celeste, and Shelley
For the first game of Game Night I suggested that Carol teach Ben and Kristina Carcassone without farmers while I introduced the newest addition to Carcassonne to more experienced players. Pigs and Builders now join the meeples in each person's stash and can be placed on already owned areas. Pigs get placed in farms and at the end yield 5 points per city rather than the usual 4 points. Builders get placed on incomplete roads or cities and when one adds to that road/city he/she gets another tile to play after playing/scoring the first one played. Finally, new city tiles include textile, barrel, and wheat symbols and the person who completes a city with symbols in it gets a token for each symbol. At the end of the game, whoever has the majority of tokens in each type gets 10 points!
These additions made for an interesting new wrinkle or two for the game. I horned into Celeste's large field and wound up winning it from her. Celeste and I successfully kept Rory out of a jointly produced Cathedral city. Shelley wound up dispersing a couple of farmers that scored nicely for her. Ultimately, no one used their builder very effectively (that will come with practice), but the pig paid off handsomely for me, and I wound up with 20 points due to tokens (one solo, one - barrels - shared with Celeste), while Shelley got 10 from wheat. Final scores: Doug = 156, Shelley = 137, Celeste & Rory = 115.
4/5: Paris Paris with Rory & Celeste
Since I'd learned the game earlier in the day, I wanted to teach the game at least once at our event. Also, since I didn't have a good explanation of the game in my earlier post, I thought I'd do it justice here.
The board is a map of central Paris with 5 different bus lines crossing at certain points. These lines run around the city with a number of stops. Each player is secretly assigned a particular bus line for scoring at the end of the game, then players place tourist shops at various bus stops on each turn. Each stop has 1-4 markers representing it and 1 more marker than players playing is drawn each round. Then, starting with the first player, a stop is chosen from those drawn and a store in that player's color is placed there.
The marker that is NOT chosen then scores in one of two ways. A small tour, the most common type at the start of the game, scores 1 point for the stop on the marker OR, if no one has a store there, all stores closest to that stop score 1 point. A Grand Tour occurs when the same colored bus line thats left scored a small tour earlier. At that point the entire bus line scores, but only at crossing points. Also, players who have stores at a crossing AND a store at an adjacent stop as well score points for those adjacent stores too. In other words, the Grand Tours are the score builders. Each single-line stop can hold one store, while crossings hold 2 - this means that stores can get bumped from a prime location. However, whoever gets bumped the most in the game scores a point for each bumped store at the end. Finally, when all of the markers are gone, the secret lines that each player has get scored like a Grand Tour. The above may sound a bit convoluted, but it's fairly clear once you see it in action (though Celeste may contradict this testimony).
Our game was a closely contested affair, though Celeste's early beneficial placements meant that she was the one who lost the most stores in the end. After final scoring Rory and I were tied at 45, with Celeste at 36. Seven shops in the bag gave Celeste those points, bringing her to 43, but it wasn't enough and Rory won the tiebreaker with the second most stores in the bag.
The more I play the game, the more I see that there are certain spots that you definitely don't want anyone to monopolize. In a previous game the middle of the board was dominated by one player and he won handily. In this game, everyone made sure to keep things fairly balanced and the scores reflect that balancing. This one's fun and fairly quick, so I see it hitting the table again in the near future.
4/5: Clans with Rory, Celeste, and Steve
As we waited for Shelley, Carol, Kristina, and Ben to finish their game of Manhattan (Carol won), Steve arrived and joined us for a quick game of Clans. I'm still enjoying the interesting strategies in this one, though I did quite poorly, barely beating the 'dummy' player as Rory streaked ahead for an 8 point win. It's VERY important to make sure your color doesn't get too clumped up in this game and that happened to me (red) in a couple of lower scoring villages. Final Scores: Rory - 51, Steve - 43, Celeste - 41, Doug - 38.
4/5: La Città with Shelley, Kristina, and Ben
After a wonderful picnic-style dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, etc., we pulled out both copies of La Città for a massive tutorial/double game. Rory and Celeste were the teachers at one end of the table (playing with Carol & Steve) while I took the teacher role at the other end. A deep, meaty game, this one isn't for everyone and most struggled a bit to grasp all of the concepts present. As I've said elsewhere, this is a game of resource management and city building as each player attempts to feed his/her people and provide desired services. Using the 'cheat' I downloaded from the web, we were able to easily keep track of food vs people totals, however conflicts between cities began to cause problems for some as the game entered the 2nd and 3rd year (you play 6 years total).
Two hours of gaming passed more quickly for some than others and in our game Ben and I were competing closely while Shelley and Kristina had fallen behind in population growth. As the last year came to a close, Ben found that he should have added another farm, thereby upping his carrying capacity and feeding all of his people. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and the resulting 5 deaths (coupled with a 5 point loss of victory points) sealed the victory for me, though we had the same number of citizens before tallying began.
Though I hope we can get this one to the table again (we did make it the chosen game for the next few Game Nights) I may face some reluctance when I suggest it. Steve's response to my "it's about life" description of the game shows the problem: "This is WORSE than life," he groaned...."More chardonnay and peanuts!" Final Scores in our game: Doug = 42, Ben = 34, Shelley = 27, Kristina = 24.
The other game decided to 'end the misery' at the end of 5 years (they finished 5 at about the same time that we finished 6), so their final scores reflect that missing year's worth of growth. Rory - 29, Carol = 27, Steve = 22, Celeste = 21.
4/5: Villa Paletti with Steve, Rory, and Shelley
THE HIT OF THE NIGHT!!!!! Yes, it's always good to end the evening with a dexterity game, and I thought I'd bring along this new acquisition and see how it played. Each player has 5 posts in a particular color. Before color is determined, all of the posts are placed randomly on the base. Then, the ceiling/next level's floor is placed on top of the posts. Color is then determined, and on a person's turn he/she pulls a post of hs own color out from the lower level and places it on the upper level. After the next level is built, the last person who is successful becomes the Master Builder.
From groaning to giggling with glee, Steve metamorphosed into a game lover before our eyes. "It's all about physics, man!" he exclaimed at one point as he yanked his next post out quickly with the hook that's provided (and more important than one would think). Smiles and tension-filled moments followed each other in rapid succession and sadly, I was the foolish builder who knocked down the building. Rory became Master Builder.
Game 2, for which I was camera man rather than participant, had Steve and Rory working on an even more precarious structure with Celeste and Carol. We were all amazed at the risks taken and the number of posts removed from that first level! Celeste ended up as Master Builder when Carol demolished the structure. This one is SURE to make it to the table often.
4/8: Carcassonne + T&B with Shelley
A first playing of the expansions as a 2-player and boy, it's tense! I felt the meeple shortage through much of the game, especially since I had to fend off Shelley's attempt to grab my field from me (it took 3 regular meeples + my uberMeeple!). Also, two of my meeples got stuck on monasteries needing only 1 piece to get them back. However, after Shelley jumped out to an early barrel and wheat advantage, I made a concerted effort to get into the action. In the end I snatched the barrel points from her and wound up with the cloth points as well. Tied at the end after counting everything but trader points, my 20 points to Shelley's 10 gave me the win, 188 to 178.
4/16: Odin's Ravens x2 with Shelley
Boy, you play German games and might think that going to Germany would mean you had plenty of opportunities to indulge. That's NOT the case. Fruitless searches for good deals led only to a couple of playings of Odin's Ravens on the trip. We started the first game on the flight over, failing to finish when I has a 11-10 lead. Picking up the game on an evening in Rothenburg, Shelley came from behind to defeat me 15-14. Then, in the next game, I attempted to do the same but failed to overcome the 2 point lead Shelley had established. She won 13-12. Bringing the game was a nice addition to the trip and a pleasant distraction on the long flight.
4/25: flowerpower with Karin
The trip, jet lag, and late nights at the paper have conspired to keep me away from games for the second week. Fortunately, I roped Karin into a quick game of flowerpower on Friday for a fine finish to a VERY busy 5 days. Our patented play for the neutral zone started the game, while we each stopped a 5-flower garden from becoming a 6-flower scoring chance. In the end I could have sworn she'd pulled out the win, but a 0 score to my 3 points on one flower, coupled with my consistent scoring across the types allowed me to triumph 20-17.
4/28: Coloretto at SVB with Rick, Jeff, Chris G., and Rich
I made it to SVB for the first time in quite awhile for Monday night gaming, bringing a few games I'd just received from funagain. This short card game of color collection had some confusing, though short, rules, so a clarification from Rick (a local Gathering Invitee) helped start us off. Piles equal to the number of players are established in the middle of the table and everyone starts with one card of one particular color (of 7 possible). On one's turn one either turns over a new card and places it in a pile (no more than 3 cards can be in a pile) or takes a pile and ends their turns for the round. The object is to collect cards in up to 3 particular colors, but if one collects cards in more than three colors those cards count against your final total. While I took a number of special +2 VP cards, Richard's ploy of taking the joker cards helped him to victory. Final Scores: Richard = 33, Jeff = 24, Chris = 23, Doug = 22, Rick = 19.
4/28: Alhambra at SVB with Chris G., Rick, and Shay
Another new game from my recent shipment hit the table next (with a bit of prodding from me) and since I didn't have an 'official' English translation, I used Rick's expertise to get some other items clarified. Four different currencies are used to buy different buildings for one's piazza. For scoring one tries to have the most buildings in each type/color for each or three scoring rounds. Also, one must place the buildings in one's piazza following particular rules and can create an outer wall that also scores each time. In our game Chris G. took a rather substantial lead at first, but I was able to get majorties in the two most lucrative building types and pull ahead in the end for the win. Doug = 127, Chris = 111, Rick = 109, Shay = 86.
4/30: Coloretto with Rene and Karin
I convinced Rene and Karin that they needed a quick game fix and therefore quickly went through the rules and began turning over cards. I forgot the "remove 1 color with 3 people" rule and that may have skewed the game just a bit, but everyone got the hang of the game play and began thinking tactically fairly early. Rene, however, hurt herself with at least 2 bad pickups early on and her score reflects that. Final Scores: Doug = 58, Karin = 40, Rene = 33.
4/30: Coloretto with Corine & Becca
I cajoled Corine and Becca to play a game with me before they left. I explained the rules and though Corine is not partial to game playing ("I hate this," she said with a grin), she gamely went along with the few minutes of torture. Strategy was immediately employed and scores were kept fairly low (I now see why removing a color tightens up the game for 3 players). In the end Cori and I tied, with Becca bringing up the rear. Final Scores: Doug & Cori = 38, Becca = 31
5/3: Coloretto (x3) with Shelley and Kindra
May's Game Night started with the on-time arrival (yes!) of Kindra - a new addition to the mix - so we headed out to the Game Room after a quick tour and began with this easy to learn card game. I did forget ONE rule (that everyone starts with one different colored card), but the game wasn't affected and it's quick enough that you immediately want to play it again. Shelley kicked butt in the first and third game, while the cards fell my way in game 2. This one's a great filler, was played later in the evening as well, and is certain to make it to the table again. Final Scores: Game 1 - Shelley = 35, Doug = 26, Kindra = 19; Game 2 - Doug = 45, Kindra = 36, Shelley = 27; Game 3 - Shelley = 35, Kindra = 30, Doug = 23.
5/3: Clans (x2) with Shelley, Kindra, and Rory
With the arrival of Rory (no Celeste, sadly, due to illness), I pulled Clans off the shelf and we spent some time building villages on different terrains. Making sure one doesn't get left out of scoring, while earning some of the village creation chits and trying to keep your color masked is a bit tricky, but I seemed to do fairly well. Shelley had the highest score at the end of Game 1, but 5 village creation chits to her 0 pushed me to the victory. In Game 2, I was far behind at first, but managed to catch up to the pack and tie for victory with Shelley (she was 1 ahead before chits and had 3 to my 4). Kindra got the hang of the game with the second playing and tied Rory. Final Scores: Game 1 - Doug = 51, Shelley = 48, Rory = 32, Kindra = 27. Game 2: Shelley & Doug = 50, Kindra & Rory = 41.
5/3: Blokus with Shelley, Rory, and Kindra
Carol, Sheldon, and Chona had arrived by this point, so it was time to get another game going. Rather than breaking up the already established players, however, Carol, Sheldon and Chona decided on Manhattan and they enjoyed their city-building while I taught Blokus to our table (by the way, Chona nailed down the victory in Manhattan using (I'm sure) her methodical, stay-under-the-radar-and-don't-pick-any fights strategy that has worked so effectively in the past. Their scores were Chona with 81 to Sheldon's 71 & Carol's 70. Correct me if I'm wrong, guys, but I can just picture Sheldon and Carol picking on each other while Chona secretly smiles and moves ahead.).
Blokus is a quick to learn but hard to master game of tetris-like pieces that one must fit onto the board following specific rules. One's own pieces can only touch at corners for placement and therefore one tries to avail oneself of as much real estate on the board as possible while limiting the other players' chances or placement. At the beginning it looked as if Rory had set himself up nicely with placement possibilities in a number of areas. This thought led everyone to limit him, however, thus allowing Kindra to sneak across the board and dominate the endgame. She only had 1 piece that she couldn't place by game's end! Final Scores: Kindra = -3, Shelley = -17, Doug = -18, Rory = -21.
5/3: Paris Paris with Shelley, Rory, and Kindra
Because Blokus is rather quick, we finished well ahead of the Manhattanites and therefore I pulled Paris Paris off the shelf for our perusal. I taught placement and scoring, though Shelley never really caught on to this one, and we began placing our souvenir shops at the various locales in Paris. Gaining an upper hand on some of the central stops that pay big dividends is key, and though we didn't have many Grand tours in the game, there were a sufficient amount of them to keep the game close, especially between Kindra and me. Rory kept getting his shops bumped and we could have sworn he would benefit from that scoring in the end. However, it was Shelley who had the most bumped shops (we weren't paying attention very well) and she jumped over Rory for 3rd place in final scoring. Scores: Doug = 41, Kindra = 37, Shelley = 33, Rory = 28.
While we were placing our shops around Paris, Sheldon, Chona, and Carol ACTUALLY took the eBay auction game out of its box and played a game! Carol won with $8600 to Chona's $7000 and Sheldon's $3700 and though he lost, Sheldon announced this was his "new favorite game!" GROAN!!!!!
5/3: Alhambra with Carol, Martin, and Kindra
During our Paris Paris & eBay playings Martin, Liana, & Jasmine arrived and that arrival, coupled with a phone call from Dave and Margaret who were on their way AND the unexpected pleasure of the arrival of Maria & Teri (two of Shelley's co-workers) meant that a dinner break was in order. I quickly finished setting up the burrito bar, while we opened up Carol's excellent Chile Rellenos and added other snacks to pur plates. Having things prepped in advance (a la Carol's example) made for less of an interruption in the festivities, but a fairly good meal. We did forget sour cream, however.
After dinner numerous groups needed to be established, so Shelley, Rory, Teri & Maria pulled out Carcassonne while Margaret, Chona, Dave, and Sheldon delved into Modern Art. The 'no farmer' teaching games of Carcassonne went well, though Shelley, who is used to farming, had a hard time making the mental shift. Maria and Teri seemed to enjoy the game and asked to play it again after finishing Game 1. Final Scores: Game 1 - Rory = 88, Teri = 73, Shelley = 67, Maria = 66; Game 2 - Shelley = 79 (she adjusted and stole a Cathedral city from both Teri and Rory!), Maria = 78, Rory = 64, Teri = 50. The Modern Art game seemed to be a marathon, but smiles and comments of "this is fun/we're having a good time" from both Margaret and Dave seemed to mean that the slow pace didnt' kill the game for them. Margaret was the best art dealer, earning $378,000 to Chona's $312,000, Dave's $267,000, and Sheldon's $256,000.
Meanwhile, I was busily teaching Alhambra to the remaining people (with Liana caring for Jasmine and looking on over Martin's shoulder). The rules are simple and everyone quickly caught on, so the fight to gain supremacy in the various types of tiles was hard-fought. Carol and Martin duked it out for purple, Kindra stole green out from under Carol, I nailed down white, blue and red, and we all split the brown. It was the walls that really mattered most int he end, for Carol and Martin had done an excellent job with their walls while Kindra and I needed to build our fortifications better. Final Scores: Carol = 90, Martin = 83, Kindra & Doug = 73.
5/3: Odin's Ravens with Carol
With Alhambra's completion, our first arrival decided to be the first to leave - Kindra headed out to deal with dog-sitting duties (we loved having her!), but she missed dessert (and AWESOME bread pudding that Chona made!). Martin needed to help with Jasmine stuff, so since the other games were still continuing, Carol and I went head-to-head in Odin's Ravens. I won the first race and tied the Magic Way for a 4-0 lead. Race 2 started with an immediate use of the Odin Marker on me by Carol, but I weathered the storm (ha!) and made the race last until I could recover, pushing my lead to 10-3. In the last race I was again able to jump out quickly and secure victory 16-6. Carol had a rather large auxiliary stack in a couple of the races and if she can use it more effectively, she'll kick my butt next time.
Meanwhile, Shelley, Teri, Rory, and Maria pulled out Coloretto once again, incorporated the 'start iwth a card' rule I'd forgotten, and played two quick hands. Game 1 - Maria = 30, Shelley = 26, Teri = 24, and Rory = 14; Game 2 - Rory = 32 (he learned quickly!), Teri = 26, Shelley = 24, and Maria = 23.
5/3: Perudo with Maria, Shelley, Teri, and Rory
After dessert and once Coloretto was finished, I pulled another quick-to-learn game off the shelf that we hadn't played before. Perudo is a dicefest bluffing game where each player ups the ante until their choice of what they think might be in the cups on the table is doubted by the person to their left. I was the first casualty after Teri had lost a couple die, followed by Maria, Shelley, Teri, and Rory. Nice comeback for Teri and we now know that Rory just can't be trusted!
While we played Perudo, Dave, Margaret, and Sheldon pulled Cartagena off the shelf and attempted to get their pirates to safety. It seems that Margaret was once again triumphant and Sheldon just couldn't get a pirate to the boat! Dave had 2 left stranded while Sheldon had SIX!
5/3: Villa Paletti (x2) with Sheldon, Rory, and Maria
As the evening wound to a close (Margaret and Dave left, while Martin, Liana, and Jasmine has headed home when I was playing Odin's Ravens), we knew that Villa Paletti had to make an appearance. Rather than going for a tall building, both of our games involved rather rickety structures that tumbled early. In Game 1 I was the loser, knocking the villa down as I tried to place my successfully removed pillar, making Maria the Master Builder. In Game 2 Rory lost out, pulling a bad pillar, crowning Sheldon and Master Builder #2.
While we were standing around our building site, Teri and Shelley started up a game of Odin's Ravens that was technically the last game of the evening. Villa Paletti ended and they were still battling. After 3 races Shelley had a 1 point lead, 8-7, but Teri pulled off the upset, nailing down 8 points in the final race to garner Odin's favor 15-8.
A great time was had (by me and hopefully everyone else) and I hope we can do it again before Shelley and I journey east in June.
5/8: flowerpower with Karin
A needed game of flowerpower provided a nice break in the middle of the day, taking thoughts away from the massive amounts of papers stacked everywhere for grading. A bit distracted, Karin missed a couple of opportunities to black me, while I capitalized on chances to stop her expansion of 5-flower gardens to 6. This left her with trapped flowers that could have been used elsewhere. I was able to win 20-18.
5/14: Amun-Re with Rich, Ric, Chris G. and Brian
Heading to Neutral Ground/Match Play for the first time in a couple of weeks, the five players present decided on Knizia's new Amun-Re since 3 (including me) hadn't played it yet. Rich did the teaching (took about 15 minutes to go throuigh the ins and outs) then we began to bid on the various areas of Egypt which reward the winner with cards, places for farmers, or building materials for pyramids. My first concern with the game is down time. After the bidding, each person spends money to buy cards that affect play (earnings, victory point conditions, etc.), place farmers (provide $$), or buy bricks (for the building of pyramids). Unaware of many of the strategies, and since this was my first playing, I moved through my turns fairly quickly just to get a feel for the game. Two others, however, suffered from rather bad cases of analysis paralysis, slowing the game down to a snail's pace and limiting my ability to actually appreciate much of the game's subtleties. At the end of the first epoch (1/2 way through the game) we'd already taken over 90 minutes. Yes, Brian, the most aggregious APer, was in the lead by 8 points, but MAN it was painful getting there! At this point I was in the game just to get through with it and make a relatively good showing. Rich and Chris had done a good job collecting cards and therefore had numerous scoring additions coming their way (I'll have to remember this if I ever play again). In the end Brian maintained his lead, while Chris (another APer) came in second and I came in dead last. Final Scores: Brian = 41, Chris = 38, Rich = 37, Ric = 30, Doug = 24. I don't know that I'd play this again unless coerced, and I certainly won't be buying it.
5/22: Balloon Cup with Erin
A new shipment of games arrived at school today, and since it's press night, I've had ample opportunity to peruse them all. Upon questioning what I was looking at while I pondered this new release and Spiel des Jahres nominee, I asked Erin if she was willing to play. With a response of "sure" I knew I'd suckered another student into a game.
Playing for cubes in five different colors, one attempts to gain a majority and win the cup in 3 of the 5 colors using cards of different values. However, one 'race' might score for the person with the lowest value, while another might score for the highest. Also, each player can play on EITHER SIDE of the boards, thus influencing the scoring of your opponent as well as yourself.
A couple of early 'oops' plays by Erin hurt her a bit (I corrected a few as well), but she was the first to take a trophy and was ahead 2-1 when I successfully out-maneuvered her on a 4-cube race and won both the yellow and grey trophies for the win. This is as great a game as they say, I think, and Shelley's sure to enjoy it.
5/23: Balloon Cup with Karin
I talked Karin into a game of this new acquisition and (unfortunately) she quickly caught on! I love the mounting tension in this game! We both had gained 2 of the 5 trophies and Karin only had to play one card on my side to win the needed cube, but she just didn't have it and couldn't finish out that particular 'hop'. Thus, I was able to come back and nearly had the needed cubes for the final trophy until disaster struck - Karin couldn't play ANY of the cards in her hand, therefore she was able to discard 4 cards, obtain her needed card, and get the final trophy for the win. GREAT STUFF!
5/23: Balloon Cup with Erin
A rematch of yesterday's contest, Erin no longer made the mistakes she'd made in the first game and I was a bit distracted with students coming in and discussion literature. Things looked rather dire until about 1/2 way through I had a hand of 6 yellows and no place to play. Thus, I traded in 4 cards, wound up with a much better hand, and started to pull in the needed cubes. With 5 yellow cubes and 2 green ones, I made a play for a single green cube, won it and claimed the last trophy for a 3-2 win!
5/24: Balloon Cup with Shelley
We headed to Kublacon (Day 1) up in Burlingame around noon, running errands and working out (health kick still continues!) before submitting to a sedentary afternoon. After a bit of exploration, and a visit to a seminar put on by Reiner Knizia, I convinced Shelley to try this 2-player. A bit confused at first, Shelley caught on about 1/2 way through and will probably do better next time. This time, however, I was able to best her 3-1.
5/24: Carabande with Shelley, Rich I. & two others
Heading up to the Board Game area of the conference, we arrived just in time to get into a game of Carabande. Out of practice since numerous other dexterity games have taken over the closer spot, I couldn't seem to nail a jump the first time (and there were THREE in the game!). Richard and the other guy playing nearly lapped me and Shelley and the other woman player. Richard barely won and I was in third at that point.
5/24: Balloon Cup with Charlie
Sitting down and taking a breather, Balloon Cup caught the eye of a passing gamer who expressed an interest in learning the game. While I taught and played him, Shelley headed off to the Days of Wonder booth to play a couple of their games. Once again experience paid off for me as I earned a 3-1 win in the game. We did have a weird situation where the game seemed to last longer than it seemed to should, but this hasn't soured me on the game yet.
5/24: Alhambra with Greg P.
Another passing gamer stopped by to watch some of Balloon Cup and then stuck around for a game of Alhambra once Charlie left. I had never played Alhambra as a 2-player and I'm happy to say that it works quite well. A ghost 3rd player had 6 tiles drawn for him to start the game and then at the end of the 1st and 2nd scoring rounds. Thus, one must compete for majorites with this 'player' as well. A close game throughout, Greg wound up with 130 to my 137 after final scoring. The fact that this one scales so well make it a great game for that 1 hour slot.
5/25: Tor with Kevin O.
Arriving early (well, 9:30) and solo for Day 2 of Kublacon, Kniziathon was already in full swing. A marathon of Reiner Knizia games in honor of his presence, everyone had already begun working on their scoring to do well in the tournament. Not really caring to participate in a hard core way, I convinced Kevin to play a two-player Knizia neither of us had every played. Tor is a 2-player soccer game with a tiny board divided into 6 areas (2 mid-fields, 2 penalty boxes, and 2 goals). Each person has a hand of cards and in a 'press your luck' fashion the players play cards simultaneously and the higher card wins and moves the ball toward his opponent's goal. After two halves neither of us had scored, but in overtime I was able to scoot a 'kick' past Kevin and win 1-0. Fun, but VERY light.
5/25: Mole Hill (x2) with Greg L.
With Kevin finding duties elsewhere as a convention organizer, I roped a new arrival into another 2-player Knizia. Pulling Mole Hill off the pile of Knizia games available, Greg read through the instructions and we played a learning game, followed by one that 'counted.' In the game each player plays the mole for one round, then the gardener for the other. As the mole, you leave 'holes' around the garden (wooden circles), attempting to move either diagonally or horizonally. Meanwhile, the gardener attempts to fence in the mole with wooden sticks. In the first game I successfully surrounded Greg's mole, but then failed miserably in game 2. Game 1: Doug = 15, Greg = 5; Game 2 = Greg = 16, Doug = 14.
5/25: Samurai with Greg L., David, and Kevin O.
A new game for Greg and David, I began a quick run-through of the rules and Kevin joined us. As I said to Kevin, this is one of those 'quiet' games as everyone playing intensely studies the board while others make their plays. I was worried that Greg (who monopolized the island down at his end of the table) had done a good job of spread his acquisitions out. Unfortunately he did too good a job, failing to gain a majority in any of the 3 castes. Kevin gained a military majority, David earned a farmer majority and I had the religious majorty. With majorities removed, I earned the victory with +5 to Kevin & David's +3 (Kevin won the tiebreaker for 2nd place).
5/25: En Garde with Kevin O.
Going for "one of my favorites," Kevin suckered me into a 2-player game that he dominates - En Garde. This enjoyable card game pits your fencer against your opponents. You move up the track by playing cards numbering from 1-5, then, as you get in range, you move and lunge (this canbe retreated from) or just lunge. Kevin certainly knew how to play this one, managing his hand quite well and beating me 5-1.
5/25: Modern Art with Clark, Greg P., Bernard, and Jodi
After finishing up En Garde, Modern Art was just about to start on a nearby table. A quick refresher with a bidding summary helped me get things straight and we began trading in art. This was the German version and I like the different sized money, but it seemed like there was less of it than there should have been. In the end Greg came away with the win at $427,000 to Jodi's $346,000; my $324,000; Bernard's $274,000; and Clark's $253,000.
5/25: Balloon Cup with Allen
Amazingly enough, Allen came up to the con to visit, look around, and actually play a game! I decided on Balloon Cup (probably not the best choice - I should have kept Odin's Ravens in the bin and played that with him) and led him through a rules summary. Things didn't click until near the end of the game and my one big boo boo gave him his one trophy. I won 3-1, but I'm glad he visited and we were able to chat and wander around the con together.
5/25: Coloretto (x2) with Charles and Candace
Reiner Knizia spoke again in a Q&A session and afterwards I enticed Charles and Candace with the call of a short game. Flattered that both knew of me through my web site, I then ran through the rules and had a great time playing. A bit dubious at first, Candace & Charles warmed to the game quickly, realizing the neat tactics present. In both games Candace came out on top, but everyone improved their scores over the two games. Final Scores: Game 1 - Candace = 45, Doug = 37, Charles = 30; Game 2 - Candace = 48, Doug = 45, Charles = 39.
5/25: Alhambra with Charles and Candace/Greg L.
Looking for another fairly quick game, I pulled both Clans and Alhambra out of the bin and when neither of my compatriots had a clear choice, I opened Alhambra - a game I've become enamored with over the past few playings. Rules clicked fairly quickly for the two newbies and we began purchasing our various buildings. Things went well for me, but didn't go so well for Candace - the money and buildings just weren't there for her for about 1/2 of the game. Unfortunately the game went a bit longer than anticipated and Candace had to leave to sell at the Flea Market. Greg, who had been watching the game for a bit took over and we finished up in a close race. A fortuitous purchase wrapped my wall nearly all the way around my piazza near the end, ensuring me of a rather close victory. Final Scores: Doug = 145, Charles = 136, Candace/Greg = 92.
5/27: flowerpower with Erin
Erin, one of my students, has become a game addict in the last week. Wanting to play Balloon Cup once again, but unable to since I'd left it at home, she willingly accepted a new game - and the only one I had access to. Not as interactive as Balloon Cup, flowerpower did go over fairly well. As someone who has played the game 50+ times, I'm fairly good at capitalizing on mistakes of others, but try to limit that when playing someone for the first time. Erin did well, gaining a 10-flower garden (that I could have prevented, but didn't), but I managed to spread my gardens throughout all of the types and won 23-16.
5/28: Alhambra with Joe
I arrived a bit late to SVB and thus had to wait around a bit while a game of Puerto Rico and Nautilus were getting played. Joe, a new gamer to me, came in carrying a Settlers box and since Settlers doesn't work as a 2-player, I convinced him to play a 2-player game of Alhambra. After one run-through where I forgot to take some money out of the deck and drew for the dummy player belatedly, we played a proper game that was marred only by a very early arrival of scoring round 1 (due to drawing for money AFTER placing thescoring round cards in the deck). The dummy player jumped out to an early lead and then Joe took off in scoring round 2. With a wall that was broken up in a number of places, Joe didn't score well in that area and I was able to creep up a bit. In the final round, I passed Joe with a 15 point wall, but upon counting his, he jumped over me for a 2-point win. Very enjoyable! Final Score: Joe = 111, Doug = 109.
5/29: Coloretto with Matt & Cyrus
With a bit of down time in journalism, I has a few minutes to teach Cyrus & Matt this enjoyable card game. With 3 players one must remove a color (which I did) but then forgot to give each person a starting card. In the end both of the newbies beat me by 1 point - they each had 38 to my 37.
5/30: Coloretto (x2) with Erin & Mike
Two games of Coloretto and this one still hasn't worn out its welcome. I came in second place both times, with each of my opponents winning a game. First game = Mike = 38, Doug = 36, Erin = 32; Second game = Erin = 27, Doug = 23, Mike = 19.
5/30: Coloretto (x4) with Shelley & Martin (and Liana & Lois)
After a GREAT movie viewing ("Bend It Like Beckam is fantastic!), Martin succumbed to the stack of games I just happened to bring over. Since Coloretto makes for a quick to teach, fun bit of strategy, Shelley joined in the chorus of promoting it and so it hit the table. Now whenever Martin and I play a game, it seems that beating the other ranks high on the list of priorities. Given that I lost all three of our 3-player games, Martin did well in this regard. However, since Shelley WON all of the games, I was consoled a bit. A bit later, Liana & Lois came home from an ice skating show and I convinced them to join in a final game of Coloretto for the night. Benefitting from the addition of 2 newbies, I was able to place second. Final scores: Game 1 - Shelley = 44, Martin = 31, Doug = 18; Game 2 - Shelley = 37, Martin = 31, Doug = 28; Game 3 - Shelley & Martin = 27, Doug = 16; Game 4 - Liana = 29, Doug = 28, Shelley = 22, Martin = 13, Lois = 12.
5/30: Europa Tour with Shelley & Martin
A first time playing of this geographically-focused game in which players attempt to construct a continuous trip through Europe. Each player gets 10 initial cards which either represent a country, a boat, or a plane and places them in a rack. Once placed, a card cannot be moved. One can travel between adjoining countries, by boat to countries connected by a dotted line over water, or by a like-colored plane to like-colored countries. You must begin and end in a country, so luck of the cards is a fairly big factor. However, I enjoyed the geographical aspect (I made color maps with names in English that helps quite a bit with finding countries for the geographically challenged) and, yes, wound up winning by a card (Martin would have picked up his needed plane on his next turn). Shelley struggled to get the hang of it, but seemed to get it clicked in about 1/2 way through. Light and a bit more luck-driven than some, I can see pulling this out at Game Night.
5/31: Alhambra with Sheldon
Sheldon came over for a 'play date' (both of our wives had work to do and wanted us out of their hair) and we wound up enjoying a couple of games to finish out May. I nailed all of the rules down properly and we began buying our tiles and taking money. Lucky exact purchases happened early on for me, so I built a substantial lead after wnd scoring, but Sheldon came back and pulled a couple of 1st place majorities from me at the end. A tie on wall meant he couldn't surmount my lead, however, and I won 140 to 120.
5/31: Balloon Cup with Sheldon
"Low, low, low...high, high high" was Sheldon's mantra as we played our first head-to-head contest of Balloon Cup. Sheldon started slowly, but came on strong toward the end. I was up 2-1 in trophies and found that by giving Sheldon the red trophy (we were VERY close in red), I could then use my red cubes to win the final trophy in blue for a 3-2 win. I like the subtleties of this one and know it will continue to get played often.
5/31: Carcasonne with Sheldon
After not playing this favorite for quite awhile, I enjoyed getting it to the table again. As a 2-player game, I think this one really shines. Sheldon began with some farmer dominance and at the end I had two worthless farmers, but two completed Cathedral cities (one completed with the final tile!) helped me tremendously and pushed me ahead for the 185-151 win.
6/1: Carcassonne with Shelley
After a day of wins, I needed to be brought down to earth and Shelley supplied me with that needed ego deflation. In our head-to-head competition, Shelley was able to pull in a SEVENTH farmer to win the field. That, coupled with a 54 point city, left me further in the dust than I ever have been. She won 220 to 98. OUCH!
6/1: The Gaudi Tile Game with Shelley
Deciding on a new game for our second outing, I taught Shelley this beautiful game of colors and patterns. Each player has one of three colors and one of three patterns that s/he tries to create. Players score a point for creating a 3-tile group in their color or their pattern, scoring two points if it's both. The tactics come in when one tries to prevent a score by messing with another's placement possibilities, because one only scores if THEY create the assigned color/pattern. Shelley was a bit befuddled at first, but caught on a bit and will do better with successive plays. I won 26 to 15.
6/1: Odin's Ravens with Shelley
For a final game of the night, Shelley chose this newer favorite. I started strong with a 3-0 race, but Shelley tied it at 6 with the next flight. A 9-8 lead for me ended race 3, but Shelley pulled a 3-0 race for an 11-9 lead going into the last race. I pulled ahead, but my scoring position and bad cards ultimately hurt my chances. Shelley won the race and I won the Magic Way, so she took the game 14-12.
6/5: Coloretto (x3) with Erin & Lauren
Erin needed a game (as did I), so we convinced Lauren to join us in a 3-player game of Coloretto. A quick rules summary led to some painful decisions and enjoyable shouts of "Darn!" or "Yes!". Game 1 found Lauren pulling off an upset: 42 to my 36 & Erin's 33. The cards fell my way in Game 2 and I squeaked out a win with 44 to Erin's 42 & Lauren's 33. Game 3, our final match, found everyone scoring high, but Lauren once again dominated with a 55 to my 48 & Erin's 44
6/6: Coloretto with Erin, Mike, & Ashleigh
Another day, another game of Coloretto, but this time we had 4 with the addition of Ashleigh. Why is it that you teach this game to someone new and they proceed to win? I think it's an easy game to learn AND there's LOTS of luck. Ashleigh trounced all of us with 44 points to my 36, Erin's 29, and Mike's 25.
6/7: Alhambra with Adrian, Mark, and Richard
June's Games Day rolled around and after setting up the tables, I rounded up an initial group for a game of Alhambra. Four players seems to work fairly well with this one, though Richard was grumbling about the numerous aspects of luck in the game. He's right, though I think they can be mitigated to SOME extent with a bit of anticipation of what might come up in the various currencies. Needless to say, things did NOT come up well for me, but did for Adrian, as he ran away with the game. Final Scores - Adrian = 110, Mark = 101, Richard = 81, Doug = 80.
6/7: Mermaid Rain with Adrian & Mark
Turning to our piles, I saw that Mark had a copy of this new one from Japan. I'd heard some positive reviews, but given its price tag a couldn't justify a 'buy before playing' strategy. Thus, I convinced the others to get this one to the table. Richard, who initially thought to join us, decided to head over to a scheduled game of (I think) Napoleonic Wars. Therefore, the three of us reconfigured the board, placing a number of 5 different items on various islands (some face up and some face down), received a rule review from Mark, and began to play.
Combining aspects of poker and set collection games, each player begins with a hand of 8 cards. These cards are one of three types - Dolphins, Gulls, or Turtles. With these one chooses 2 and sets up the start of a poker hand then proceeds to lay down up to 3 more. For example, one could lay down 2 Dolphins and then put down 2 more for four of a kind. Whoever has the best hand goes first and each hand earns one points or extra actions - four of a kind earns one 7 points, for example. Once turn order and earnings/bonus are meeted out, three sets of tiles that are hex groups (a bit like Java hex groups) are chosen from. Taking one's pawn and placing it on a starting spot, one places the hex group and moves to islands using the remaining cards in one's hand. For example, the hex group could be 3 tiles in a line and once placed could connect a player to a couple of islands. That hex group and each island has a Dolphin, Gull or Turtle symbol on it. To move onto the hex group or onto an island, a player must play a card with a corresponding symbol (thus, having a good initial hand may limit your movement since you don't get new cards until the end of the round). Five rounds are played and some hex groups are removed from the board after each round, while others stay.
The goal is to collect at least one of each of the 5 tokens which are payment to the witch who will make you human. If you don't have one of the types, you lose 5 points for each missing token. Once payment is made, then points are scored for gaining majorities in the tokens you have left.
Our game played fairly quickly, and I must say I wasn't too impressed. I felt that there are other set collection games out there that I'd rather play, and though this one went by fairly quickly, it certainly isn't worth the money required to purchase it. Mark, thankfully, received it in a trade and seemed to enjoy the game more than I. Final scores: Mark = 77, Adrian = 55, Doug = 53.
6/7: Keythedral with Mark, Chris & Joel
After a nice lunch with Shelley, I headed back to the library for more games. Catching Chris & Joel who were looking for something to play, I suggested something out of my tub. Since Chris had a good experience with his previous playing of Keythedral (pulling outa win with a nice use of a law card at the end) he was up for it, as was Joel. Mark joined us and I ran through the rules. After building the board, it seemed as if Chris was unstoppable, gobbling up production cubes with each harvest. Law cards, however, played a decisive role once again, as I used one to determine all of the fields that produced in one particular round, and Joel used a 'bad harvest' card to prevent Chris from pulling in so many cubes on another round. Finally, using a 'price decrease' law card to gain one of the 2 5-point tiles allowed me to pull off the win. Final Scores: Doug = 15, Joel = 11, Mark & Chris = 10.
6/7: Clans with Mark, Chris & Joel
Keeping our 4-person group intact, I convinced them to try this SdJ nominee. Deceptively simple, the strategy begins to emerge as huts get pushed together. The fact that one's opponents' colors aren't known is the twist that makes the game work for me. Not only are you trying to figure out what other people are (to some extent) you're also trying to make moves that don't reveal your own color. As the only experienced player in the game, I was able to pull out the win with 55 points to Chris' 50, Mark's 49, and Joel's 48. It WAS very close, though.
6/7: Alhambra with Greg, Kevan, Kevin O. & Kim
Another playing of this Dirk Henn SdJ nominee - Greg requested it since he had finished Candace's game at KublaCon and enjoyed it quite a bit. Kim was a bit dubious and somewhat frustrated by the luck factors, but was a great sport throughout. Proper building of walls can become a huge factor in scoring and in this game my long wall and Kevin's short wall meant that I balanced his greater totals in majorities and we tied. Kevin, Greg, and Kevan seemed to enjoy the game quite a bit and Kim said she wanted to try it with 3-4 people to see if that changed some of the randomness that hurt her strategy. Final Scores: Doug & Kevin = 93, Kim = 71, Greg = 70, Kevan = 61.
6/7: Clans with Wei-Hwa, Chris & Hareesh
Shelley came for dinner and afterwards I joined the fray once again. Finding three and hearing that Chris needed to leave in about an hour, I suggested that we play another game of Clans. Wei-Hwa and Hareesh hadn't played it before, so another quick rules run-through got us started. Sitting to the left of Hareesh helped my fortunes a bit as he left me with a couple of chances to create villages, earning me chits for end scoring. As the green player, I found myself near the lead and in competition with black. It turned out that Wei-Hwa was black and with final chits added into our scores, we tied. Final Scores (low because when all colors scored we didn't add in the points): Doug & Wei-Hwa = 34, Hareesh = 20, Chris = 11.
6/7: The Antoni Gaudi Tile Game with Wei-Hwa & Hareesh
Chris had to leave, so I wound up pushing another 'new to them' game on Wei-Hwa & Hareesh. Colorful and somewhat strategic, the tiles came out of the box and I showed them the fairly basic rules. Since each player has 3 tiles in his/her hand at a time, one spends a bit of time scanning the board for way to score in his/her color or animal. I thought I was doing quite well, tied with Wei-Hwa for a time, but then just couldn't seem to get/find a scoring opportunity. In the end Wei-Hwa dominated with 21 points, though Hareesh made a late charge for 19 and I wound up with 15.
6/7: Hellas with Wei-Hwa
As our group dwindled to 2, we looked around for one more game to play. Wei-Hwa suggested Hellas, a game I own but hadn't played yet, and I willingly joined in. A mini wargame, each player attempts to gain control of cities as they form through exploration and warfare. Hex tiles are turned over for exploration and attacks happen over either land or sea. Also, God cards can be played that influence actions.
Ultimately I found the game unsatisfying. For at least 2 consecutive turns I had a strong chance to win by exploring, but the tiles are so limiting that none of my voyages were successful. Thus, Wei-Hwa capitalized on my paralysis (an unsuccessful voyage = you didn't do anything for that turn) and achieved mastery of 10 cities before me. I can see this just going back and forth too much and already placed this one on my "Trade" list on BGG. Final Score: Wei-Hwa = 10, Doug = 8.
6/8: Alhambra with Shelley
Sick of grading and not yet ready for bed, I convinced Shelley to play a game of Alhambra with me. I'm less enamored with this game as a 2-player because there's less competition for the various tiles and more tiles need to be purchased. Also, this game showed me the luck factor involved, for Shelley played half-heartedly at best and we still tied at 132 points.
6/9: Blokus with Karin
Given that today was the final 'regular' day of school and since my review would only take 15-20 minutes at most, I brought a number of games in and had them available for the students to play. It's pretty cool when the games you bring in are enthusiastically picked up by the students. I had a group of boys playing Perudo, a group playing Wheedle, two girls stumbling through Lost Cities, and four students figuring out Blokus. Later, after lunch, I convinced Karin to clear an area on her desk and play a game of this abstract but beautiful Tetris-like game. I'd already pointed her toward the Blokus web site, so she'd played a few games against the computer. Playing live is a nice change, however, and we each played 2 colors, alternating back and forth. Karin made the first block as we approached the middle, but I was able to section off an area for my yellows and we competed around the board a bit, trying to place as many pieces as possible. We both kept too many large pieces that we couldn't place in the end, but I successfully placed one more in each of my colors, giving me a -33 to Karin's -52.
6/14: Coloretto (x2) with Shelley, Sheldon, and Chona
June Game Night began with our arrival right on time (4:00) at Chona & Sheldon's. Since everyone else is somewhat late to arrive, we sat down (after babbling about how wonderful SUMMER VACATION is) to a couple of games of Coloretto. Quick and easy to learn, with a rather large dollup of luck, Game 1 seemed to be going Shelley's way until she was forced to take some less than favorable piles at the end. I snuck up to tie her for the win at 32, with Chona earning 27 & Sheldon collecting as many colors as possible and earning 21 points. Game 2 prove that Sheldon had learned a bit and wound up with some nice piles to draw. He won with 34 points to Shelley's 30, my 23 & Chona's 21.
6/14: Balloon Cup with Sheldon
Since the ladies were talking school & cooking and no one else had shown up yet, I convinced Sheldon to play a game of Balloon Cup, one we'd enjoyed on a day off a while ago. The cards fell my way and I had a rather large lead in all cubes, and a 2-0 trophy lead, but Sheldon made a push for a cup and gained the green trophy out from under me. However, I was able to claim the yellow trophy soon after for a 3-1 win.
6/14: Perudo with Melanie, Kevin, Dennis, Shelley, and Sheldon
Just as we pulled out Perudo, since Dennis had arrived while we finished Balloon Cup, Kevin and Melanie - newcomers to the gaming obsession - walked through the door. A quick shift of chairs and we were rolling the dice and trying to bluff our way to victory. It seems that I'm not the best bluffer or challenger as I was quickly vanquished from the game, followed shortly thereafter by Sheldon, then Shelley. Amazingly, Dennis stayed in for a 3rd place finish and our newbies, Kevin & Melanie were left to go head-to head. At this point Melanie had not lost a single die & Kevin was down to 3. Needless to say, Melanie triumphed!
6/14: Keythedral with Carol, Shelley, Melanie, and Kevin
Jumping right into something just a wee bit more complex, I figured Keythedral would work well with one of the 2 groups of 5 that we now had present. Sheldon took Dennis, Dave, Margaret, and Chona out to the patio for a rousing game of Modern Art (DENNIS WON!) and I set out explaining the ins and outs of this Settlers of Catan on steroids. It took about 1/3 of the game before things began to click for Kevin and Melanie, but everntually I saw the lights go on and they worked hard to gain ground based on their placements. Carol made sure she went first in the last round, but guessed wrong as to the number of purple cubes Melanie had collected. I purchased a gold and bought the last 5-point tile on my next turn for the win at 14 to Melanie's 10 (she got the other 5-point tile), Carol's 8, and Shelley & Kevin's 7.
Liana & Martin had arrived by this point and picked up Europa Tour for a quick 2-player game. It seems that Liana is the better tour planner, for she won! By the way, the Modern Art scores were Dennis = 480, Dave = 383, Sheldon = 371, Chona = 350, Margaret = 343.
6/14: Clans (x2) with Martin, Liana, and Kevin
After an AMAZING dinner (a couple of salads, SPICY beef, and rice), new groups needed to form. I attempted to give a quick overview of Alhambra to Margaret, Dave, Dennis & Sheldon (since they didn't finish the game, I'm not sure how successful I was) and Shelley, Chona & Carol took Manhattan and taught it to Melanie. (Given that Melanie won, I'd have to say that she picked up the intricacies fairly quickly!). Meanwhile, I toted Clans out to the patio. Telling Kevin it's 'simple to learn, difficult to master,' he was intrigued. A quick run-through of the rules led to hut pushing around the board. Game 1 ended with Kevin forming the last village and Martin sneaking ahead for the victory (I was THIS close!). Scores: Martin = 50, Doug = 46, Liana = 44, Kevin = 41. In Game 2 I realized I was out of the running early on and played king-maker to some extent, ending the game earlier than Martin would have liked & giving Kevin the victory. Our lower scores in this game reflect the greater degree of ability we now all had. Scores for Game 2: Kevin = 41 (same as game 1, but now a winning score), Liana = 37, Martin = 35, Doug = 31.
Manhattan wound up at about this time with Melanie scoring 47 to Chona & Carol's 44 and Shelley's 36.
At this point we took a dessert break and Chona presented me with the most AMAZING cake I've ever seen - mounds of chocolate icing with truffles ringing the outside. Inside, three layers of spong cake & nuts. WOW! Everyone knew they were getting something special and I felt very honored to be the recipient of such an amazing treat that took so long to make (6 hours for the frosting alone!!!!).
6/14: Paris Paris with Kevin, Liana, and Martin
To end the night and allow the cake time to digest a bit, I convinced almost everyone to play another game (Dennis, Margaret, and Dave took off). While Carol, Shelley, Chona, and Melanie began building a Pueblo, my group headed out to the patio for a quick game of Paris Paris. Another rules explanation under our belts and we began placing souvenir shops around the city. At the end we ran into a problem - somehow when one of us had pulled tiles, a sixth tile had jumped out of the bag. This meant we were short a tile for the last round. Choosing a random tile to allow us to finish, Kevin then wound up with 6 shops in the bag (one more than Liana) and scooted ahead of me for the victory. Final scores: Kevin = 39, Doug = 35, Liana = 26, Martin = 23.
Pueblo ended with Carol as master builder, earning only 24 points to Shelley's 37, Chona's 49, and Melanie's 50.
An excellent evening, and a wonderful hosting job!
6/18: Balloon Cup with Shelley
Upon arrival in Atlanta for Oasis of Fun we dragged our bags to the room then brought down our meager supply of games to add to the great abundance already present. Stven and others were setting up and didn't need help, so we played a game of Balloon Cup. I wound up winning 3-1 with no Green cup awarded.
6/18: Himmelsstürmer with Stven, Dave E., and Shelley
Stven saw our game of Balloon Cup and as we finished asked if we wanted to play something balloon-related. Always willing to try something new, Shelley and I joined him for this balloon race game in which one has three balloons he/she is trying to get home first. The twist, of course, is one's assigned balloons are secret. A bit of a roll and move extravaganza, but the bits (cool plastic balloons) coupled with a few nice variables made it fun. Stven won.
6/19: King's Breakfast with Chris C., Frank H., Colin C., and Shelley
The next morning after an OK continental breakfast we joined the early birds in the game room and made introductions. It's great to put faces and live personalities with everyone who I've read/written to on the web. Greg Schlosser came down to say hi before heading out to a theme park and took the time to teach us this fun little card game the fills the same spot that Coloretto takes up. A course of a meal (10 cards) are served and each player takes all of a particular type of food. The leftovers go to the king. Once all courses have been served, players score only if they have as much or LESS of a particular dish than the king. If they have more, they were too greedy and get no points. This was Game 1 of Shelley Day during which she won nearly every game she played. She wound up with 67 points to Colin & my 47, Chris' 46 & Frank's 40.
6/19: Alhambra with Chris C, Scott B, Frank H, Colin, and Shelley
I volunteered to teach Alhambra next and we had a full compliment of 6 for our game. This tends to push the luck factor to a level that many don't appreciate, but we still had fun with it. Once again, Shelley came out on top with a score of 75 to Chris' 72, Frank's 71, my 70, Scott's 53, and Colin's 49.
6/19: Coloretto with Chris, Scott, Colin, and Frank
Taking the teaching role once again, I ran through the brief rules of Coloretto. Everyone seemed to enjoy the quick but decision-filled game. Frank especially enjoyed himself, though it was Chris who picked up the win with 28 to my 26, Scott's 22, Frank's 15, and Colin's 14.
6/19: Odin's Ravens with Shelley
After lunch, Shelley and I played a 2-player of Odin's Ravens while waiting to get in on a multi-player game. A tie game at 14 was the result - I came back from being down 7 to 11.
6/19: Paris Paris with Philip A, George, and Shelley
Teaching session once again of Paris Paris, a game I still enjoy, though I see how luck can rule the day. Shelley had the luck going her way, but also knew how to play the center of the board to her advantage, killing the rest of us with a score of 53 points to my 35, George's 34, and Philip's 28.
6/19: Keythedral with Philip A., Shelley, Frank, and Scott
Once again I played teacher, though Philip was as, if not more, adept at the game. Complex, the game takes a bit of time to get your head around and those first placements can make or break you if you haven't roped in enough of the resources. Philip nailed the resources and pulled in at least one of the 4's and 5's. We played with his variant where the resources needed are known and I see that value, but also see where the luck of what COULD be there is also enjoyable. Philip = 15, Shelley = 10, Doug = 9, Scott = 8, Frank = 4.
6/19: New England with Scott, Shelley, and Jeff
To finish off the afternoon I convinced Jeff to teach us New England, one of the new Alan Moon games. As other have mentioned in write ups about this game, the mechanism for action is interesting with the initial player choosing a number from 1-10, then the other players choose in order. This is then the value one must pay to take an action based on the tiles drawn from the bag. I enjoyed the game, but can't see myself purchasing it until I get another play or two under my belt. Shelley once again dominated with a score of 28 to Scott's 27, my 25, and Jeff's 23.
6/19: Sticheln with Jack, Philip S, and Gerry
After a Mexican dinner at a local restaurant Shelley wasn't feeling so well, so she went up to bed and I headed down for more games. This card game was just beginning as I wandered in, so I received a quick overview and we played. A trick-taking game, the deck is made up of a number of suits and it is completely dealt out for each hand. Once you have your cards, you must scan through them and choose a 'misery' suit, one that will score negative points for you if you get any of its cards. The initial player's card's suit isn't a trump, but any subsequent suit can become the trump and then can get taken. I enjoyed the game quite a bit and since it can be played with up to 8 people, I picked up a copy. Gerry was the card-counting wiz and won with 56 to Philip's 42, my 32, and Jack's 11.
6/19: Clans with Jack, Philip, and Gerry
Taking the teacher role once again, I introduced Clans to the group. Gerry seemed a bit less enamored by the game but Jack and Philip seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, with Jack getting the win at 49 points to Gerry & Philip's 43 & my 38.
6/19: Coloretto with Jack, Philip, Kevin G, and Gerry
With the addition of Kevin I suggested a quick game of Coloretto since it supports 5. Quick rules and regs, then we drew and placed our cards or took the piles. I think it was Kevin who kept taking piles very early if they had a wild or wouldn't hurt him at all. His conservative play nearly paid off, but I bested his 22 points with 25. Philip also scored 22, while Gerry wound up with 15 & Jack had 10.
6/19: Crokinole with Jack, Gerry, and Philip (my partner)
A 4-player partner game of Crokinole was next and my lame shooting hurt the team. A dexterity game with pucks on a round board, one tries to flick his puck to the center to score the most points, but must hit the opposing team's color if they're on the board. Quick and fun, I can see Rory loving the game. Jack & Gerry won by 30 points.
6/19: Rumis with Greg S., Gerry, and Ward
This Spiel des Jahres nominee made it to the table as Greg wanted to play something to get his mind off his mother's illness and Ward had the game to teach. Like Pueblo to some extent, players have 3-D pieces that must be fit onto a grid, coupled with a height requirement for particular rows. Scoring only occurs once when no one can place a piece and then only the color that shows from the top counts. A fun game with different grids to try - Greg won with 12 points to Gerry's 8, my 7 & Ward's 5.
6/20: Union Pacific with Scott, Shelley, and Jack
After a fun day of sightseeing, Shelley and I returned to the game room in the evening for a couple of plays. First up was a game that I purchased as it was being liquidated, but I hadn't played yet. A stock collection game with some press-your-luck elements, UP involves either placing trains to build up a particular line OR taking stock in particular companies. Shelley and I were both intrigued by it and enjoyed the game, so it should hit the table soon. Scott wound up ekeing out a victory with 120 points to my 117, Shelley's 112, and Jack's 110.
6/20: Crokinole with Jack, Frank, and Shelley
I had to introduce Shelley to Crokinole, but we were overmatched by Jack and Frank who seemed to make every shot possible. Fun stuff and short, so we didn't mind the slaughter by 160 points.
6/21: Through the Desert with Shelley, Stven, Susan, and Bill
OK, this is a game I enjoy most of the time, but as the teacher of the game I felt the 'expert must be picked on' syndrome to a huge degree this game. I counted 4 straight times where my caravans were directly blocked when others could/should have been. Oh well, such is the life of a teacher of games.... Susan kicked butt on this one, earning 63 points to Stven's 55, Shelley & Bill's 50 and my 48.
6/21: Goldland with Stven, Shelley, and Lionel
Stven was the teacher of this game I had just purchased but not played, and Shelley and I enjoyed out outing into the outback. Players build the board and explore into tiles, using a 'backpack' to carry their gear. However, the more items in the pack, the less movement you can make. Lionel wound up winning with 21 points to Stven's 18, my 17, and Shelley's 14.
6/21: Loopin' Louie (x4) with John, Brian, and Jonathan
Lighter than air but totally fun, this game with a mechanical plane and chicken protection goes by in an instant, but gets some of the best hoots and hollers. The plane circles and you must tap your paddle so that it jumps over rather than hitting your chicken tokens. You can't play just one game!
6/21: Trias with Shelley, Sheldon, Jim, and George
Another teaching session as I chose to bring out Trias, one that the others gathered hadn't played. Jim and Sheldon's eyes lit up as I explained the game and they seemed to enjoy the experience, commenting that this was a game that they'd pick up. Islands were slow to form so scoring was low at first, but then picked up toward the end. Final scoring found Sheldon claiming victory with 22 to Jim and my 16, Shelley's 13, and George's 12.
6/21: Mississippi Queen with Shelley, Earl, Michelle, and Kevin
After a lunch and workout break, we sat down to a new (to us) game that Kevin brought out. Mississippi Queen is a paddle boat race game where one must pick up two belles then scurry to the end of the river. Unfortunately, the exact path that the river takes isn't known until a new board piece is needed. Thus, a bit of guessing and luck factor into the game. Shelley didn't enjoy herself much, and I just thought it was OK, but I'm glad I tried it and played with some new people. Kevin (the game's owner) won, with Earl earning 2nd, Shelley coming in 3rd, I came in 4th, and Michelle brought up the rear.
6/21: Andromeda with Shelley, Earl, Michelle and Kevin
Sticking with our group, Kevin suggested another one from his collection. A space game about colonization, cards get played and are traded, then the 'cosmic ashtray is used to see if a colony gets established on the satellites around various worlds. Luck plays a rather large factor in the game and I was able to pull out the victory with 57 points to Kevin's 47, Earl & Michelle's 42, and Shelley's 23. The bad luck that Shelley expereienced left a bad taste in her mouth.
6/21: Samurai with Dave, Heidi, and Shelley
After the prize table and some dinner, Shelley and I returned to play a few more games, found Dave and Heidi looking for something to play, and suggested Samurai. We then proceeded to have a weird game in which NO ONE had a majority in any of the items, meaning that total pieces broke the tie. Dave had 10 pieces to Heidi & Shelley's 9 & my 7.
6/21: Alhambra with Dave, Heidi, and Shelley
Another game of this winner of the SdJ was in order. Shelley did an amazing collection job, gaining a number of majorities and JUST pulling ahead of me for the victory with 115 points to my 113. Heidi had 87 & Dave had 70.
6/21: Paris Paris with Heidi, Jonathan and Shelley
Teacher role once again (and demolished once again) in this tourist shop game. Heidi pulled off the win rather nicely as Jonathan tried, but failed, to catch her. Heidi wound up with 46 to Jonathan's 41, Shelley's 40, and my 28.
6/21: Coloretto with Stephen G, Jonathan, and Shelley
I had to get in one game with Balloon Cup designer Stephen Glenn and the opportunity came up as we finished Paris Paris. A quick rules refresher, then the cards began to get placed. Shelley kicked butt with 32 points to Jonathan's 28, Stephen's 23 and my pathetic 21.
6/21: Loopin' Louie (x2) with Stephen, Jonathan, and Shelley
Another couple of rounds of Loopin' Louie had to be played to end the evening. Shelley had a great time, but Stephen dominated game 1. Then, I actually WON game 2. We played in multiple rounds so that the winner of a round had one fewer chicken in the next round. If we could find one of these darn games, it would be a hit at Game Night!
6/22: For Sale with Randy, Philip A, and Shelley
Our final convention day and after breakfast it was time to play a couple of games to wind up a great weekend. Philip brought out For Sale, a quick card game of betting that just didn't do much for me. However, I did win rather handily with 77 points to Philip's 62, Shelley's 53, and Randy's 37.
6/22: Ra with Randy, Philip A, Stven, and Shelley
A final new game (that I own, but hadn't played) to end the Oasis of Fun. Stven taught this bidding extravaganza to Shelley and me, then proceeded to trounce all of us. Interesting mechanics and worth gettting to the table. Stven wound up with 41 points to Randy's 36, my 34, Philip's 24 and Shelley's 22.
6/25: Odin's Raven with Shelley
Escaping the heat in Hatteras South Carolina, I convinced Shelley to play a quick game of Odin's Ravens while we hung out in the air conditioned B&B room. A close game throughout, I had a 10-8 lead going into the final race and was able to cinch the victory at 13 to Shelley's 11.
6/26: Balloon Cup with Shelley
Final night in Hatteras (tremendous heat!) and one final game for the trip. I was once again triumphant in Balloon Cup with a 3-1 win.
Total Games Played: 194
Babel: 1
HamsterRolle: 2
How Ruck!: 1
Kingdoms: 1
Manhattan: 3
New Entdecker: 1
Starship Catan: 1
Wallenstein: 1
flowerpower: 13
Trias: 6
ZooSim: 1
FFF: 1
Keythedral: 5
Stephenson's Rocket: 1
Adel Verpflichtet: 1
Kupferkessel Co.: 2
Carcassonne: 13
----with T&B expansion: 2
Princes of Florence: 1
Apples to Apples: 1
Traumfabrik: 2
Fubi: 2
Africa: 1
Puerto Rico: 1
Samurai: 5
Hase und Igel: 1
Hare & Tortoise: 1
Expedition: 1
Odin's Ravens: 18
La Città: 2
Clans: 11
Through The Desert: 2
Carcassonne: H&G: 2
Paris Paris: 7
Fresh Fish: 1
Villa Paletti: 3
Coloretto: 24
Alhambra: 11
Blokus: 2
Perudo: 2
Amun-Re: 1
Balloon Cup: 10
Carabande: 1
Tor (Knizia Soccer Game): 1
Mole Hill: 2
En Garde: 1
Modern Art: 1
Europa Tour: 1
The Gaudi Tile Game: 2
Mermaid Rain: 1
Hellas: 1
Himmelsstürmer: 1
King's Breakfast: 1
New England: 1
Sticheln: 1
Crokinole: 2
Union Pacific: 1
Rumis: 1
Goldland: 1
Loopin' Louie: 6
Mississippi Queen: 1
Andromeda: 1
For Sale: 1
Ra: 1