Thursday, November 29, 2007

November 29. 2007 Session Report

Tonight, we had eight gamers present and played a total of 13 games, counting two games that were played twice. Present and accounted for were Paul, Eric, Clayton, Jane, Olivia, Matthew, and myself plus one first-time attendee -- Ben Stephenson, who had been to some other locations and was joining our group for the first time (we hope he comes back!). Games played included two games that were new to the club (Uptown and Chateau Rocquefort) in addition to favorites such as Quiddler, Wits and Wagers (played twice), Ingenious, Blokus, Cartagena, Can't Stop, Carcassone, Guillotine (played twice) and Lost Cities. As usual, some details follow.

Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)

We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.

Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.

Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.

One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayton 34.

Hope to see everyone back next week.

November 29. 2007 Session Report

Tonight, we had eight gamers present and played a total of 13 games, counting two games that were played twice. Present and accounted for were Paul, Eric, Clayton, Jane, Olivia, Matthew, and myself plus one first-time attendee -- Ben Stephenson, who had been to some other locations and was joining our group for the first time (we hope he comes back!). Games played included two games that were new to the club (Uptown and Chateau Rocquefort) in addition to favorites such as Quiddler, Wits and Wagers (played twice), Ingenious, Blokus, Cartagena, Can't Stop, Carcassone, Guillotine (played twice) and Lost Cities. As usual, some details follow.

Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)

We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.

Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.

Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.

One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayto 34.

Hope to see everyone back next week.

Novermber 29. 2007 Session Report

Tonight, we had eight gamers present and played a total of 13 games, counting two games that were played twice. Present and accounted for were Paul, Eric, Clayton, Jane, Olivia, Matthew, and myself plus one first-time attendee -- Ben Stephenson, who had been to some other locations and was joining our group for the first time (we hope he comes back!). Games played included two games that were new to the club (Uptown and Chateau Rocquefort) in addition to favorites such as Quiddler, Wits and Wagers (played twice), Ingenious, Blokus, Cartagena, Can't Stop, Carcassone, Guillotine (played twice) and Lost Cities. As usual, some details follow.

Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)

We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.

Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.

Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.

One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayto 34.

Hope to see everyone back next week.

Friday, November 16, 2007

November 15, 2007 Session Report

For the second week in a row, we hit double-figures in attendance even with a few regular attendees missing this week. (Imagine what heights we might reach if everyone showed up at the same time!) Roll call for this week's session included Paul, Doug, Clayton, Gabe, Helen and myself, plus Neil (who we hadn't seen for a good while) along with Joan, Matthew and daughter Olivia who were back for their second session. Woo hoo!

A total of six games got played, two of which (brought by me) were making their debuts at the club. First up was a quick game of Parlay, played by Clayton, Doug, Paul and myself, while we were waiting for others to arrive. The game broke up right after Doug scored some big points for his second 7-letter word in a row. (I think I have only come up with one seven-letter word ever since I started playing Parlay about six months ago!)

The main game of the evening was Kingsburg, which was a handmade prototype of an Essen release based on the English rules -- the game is not yet available in the States. I taught the game to Clayton, Gabe, Paul and Doug. It's a 5-turn game with four parts ("seasons") where you roll dice three times per turn to influence advisors to this mythical king, build buildings and then prepare to wage battle with the king's enemies in the fourth season. Gabe and Paul expressed concern about the luck of the die rolls early in the game, and Clayton (who had some really good rolls in the first turn or so) raced out to an early lead. The game tightened up in the middle, but Gabe got the Cathedral built and managed to finish first, with a few cubes left over to convert into more VPs. Even Doug, who finished last, seemed to like the game. Final scores were Gabe 45 John 39 Paul 37 Clayton 34 Doug 30. Looking forward to trying this one out with the real deck of Enemies cards, as I just had to guess at most of them to come up with a playable hand-made prototype.

By then, Neil, Matthew, Jane and Olivia had arrived, and they played a couple of games of Blokus, which Jane and Olivia had learned from Doug and Eric the prior week. Olivia seemed to have picked up the game fairly well, and she won both games! By this time Helen arrived, and the Kingsburg game still had a turn or so left. Helen decided to teach Puerto Rico to the newcomers, a daunting challenge as it is a bit on the high end of the complexity scale. Well, as it turns out, the game didn't get finished, but Jane (who said she hadn't a clue) wound up with the most points. While Jane and Matthew were scratching their heads a bit trying to figure the game out after being exposed to one of the more advanced games, Olivia said she began to "get it" towards the end of the session.

Finally, the other game new to the club and just about all of us (except perhaps Doug, who recalled playing this one a couple of years back, was Leapfrog. It's a series of three frog races where each player controls his/her frog by playing a disck numbered 1-6. Scoring is based on finish position with an added incentive to collect tadpoles based on finishing position. At the end, Paul and I tied for first on points, but Paul won the tiebreaker, two tadpoles to won. Helen, Doug, and Clayton were the other players, but Clayton's frog "croaked" at the end.

Everyone should know the Community Center is closed for Turkey Day next week, so our next session will be in two weeks, which is Thursday, November 29, 2007.

Finally, the Games Club of Maryland is sponsoring a new event, a gaming retreat which will be a one-day FREE event coming in January. There are two requirements: Attendees must be GCOM supporting members and attendees must pre-register for the event in advance. For details, just ask me at the next club session (I have some copies of the pre-reg form) or check out the GCOM webpage for this event:

http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/gamingretreat.asp

November 15, 2007 Session Report

For the second week in a row, we hit double-figures in attendance even with a few regular attendees missing this week. (Imagine what heights we might reach if everyone showed up at the same time!) Roll call for this week's session included Paul, Doug, Clayton, Gabe, Helen and myself, plus Neil (who we hadn't seen for a good while) along with Joan, Matthew and daughter Olivia who were back for their second session. Woo hoo!

A total of six games got played, two of which (brought by me) were making their debuts at the club. First up was a quick game of Parlay, played by Clayton, Doug, Paul and myself, while we were waiting for others to arrive. The game broke up right after Doug scored some big points for his second 7-letter word in a row. (I think I have only come up with one seven-letter word ever since I started playing Parlay about six months ago!)

The main game of the evening was Kingsburg, which was a handmade prototype of an Essen release based on the English rules -- the game is not yet available in the States. I taught the game to Clayton, Gabe, Paul and Doug. It's a 5-turn game with four parts ("seasons") where you roll dice three times per turn to influence advisors to this mythical king, build buildings and then prepare to wage battle with the king's enemies in the fourth season. Gabe and Paul expressed concern about the luck of the die rolls early in the game, and Clayton (who had some really good rolls in the first turn or so) raced out to an early lead. The game tightened up in the middle, but Gabe got the Cathedral built and managed to finish first, with a few cubes left over to convert into more VPs. Even Doug, who finished last, seemed to like the game. Final scores were Gabe 45 John 39 Paul 37 Clayton 34 Doug 30. Looking forward to trying this one out with the real deck of Enemies cards, as I just had to guess at most of them to come up with a playable hand-made prototype.

By then, Neil, Matthew, Jane and Olivia had arrived, and they played a couple of games of Blokus, which Jane and Olivia had learned from Doug and Eric the prior week. Olivia seemed to have picked up the game fairly well, and she won both games! By this time Helen arrived, and the Kingsburg game still had a turn or so left. Helen decided to teach Puerto Rico to the newcomers, a daunting challenge as it is a bit on the high end of the complexity. Well, as it turns out, the game didn't get finished, but Jane (who said she hadn't a clue) wound up with the most points. While Jane and Matthew were scratching their heads a bit after being exposed to one of the more advanced games, Olivia said she began to "get it" towards the end of the session.

Finally, the other game new to the club and just about all of us (except perhaps Doug, who recalled playing this one a couple of years back, was Leapfrog. It's a series of three frog races where each player controls his/her frog by playing a disck numbered 1-6. Scoring is based on finish position with an added incentive to collect tadpoles based on finishing position. At the end, Paul and I tied for first on points, but Paul won the tiebreaker, two tadpoles to won. Helen, Doug, and Clayton were the other players, but Clayton's frog "croaked" at the end.

Everyone should know the Community Center is closed for Turkey Day next week, so our next session will be in two weeks, which is Thursday, November 29, 2007.

Finally, the Games Club of Maryland is sponsoring a new event, a gaming retreat which will be a one-day FREE event coming in January. There are two requirements: Attendees must be GCOM supporting members and attendees must pre-register for the event in advance. For details, just ask me at the next club session (I have some copies of the pre-reg form) or check out the GCOM webpage for this event:

http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/gamingretreat.asp

Thursday, November 8, 2007

November 8, 2007 Session Report

Three newcomers to this week's session swelled our attendance ranks to 11 -- thanks to Jane, Matthew and daughter Olivia who joined regular attendees Clayton, Sarah, Eric, Nicole, Doug, Beth and Paul and myself to make this week's session a good one -- we got in a total of 11 different games: Parlay, Management Material, Showbiz Shuffle, Five Crowns, Phase 10, Ingenious, Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, Cartagena, Blokus and Category Five. Jane, Olivia and Matthew were exposed to a bunch of new games, and we hope they return to future sessions.

Details on some of the games played: Started with Parlay and it wound up in a win for Paul while Nicole and I locked in a close battle for second; Eric and Clayton brought up the rear. Doug, Sarah and Beth played Management Material and Showbiz Shuffle, two of the endless variety of unique card games Doug brings to spice up our sessions -- no report on who won either of those games. Meanwhile, the five of us in the Parlay group took on the challenge of a new game -- Five Crowns -- and Eric came out on top with Nicole second and Clayton third. Eric and Clayton made great starts but, while Eric managed to "go out" in every hand, Clayton faded a bit near the end, allowing Nicole to catch up and pass him.

By then, the newcomers Olivia, Jane and Matthew had arrived and we got them into a couple of games right away: Doug and Nicole introduced Olivia and Jane to Ingenious, and they also found time for two other club favorites (Blokus and Cartagena). Meanwhile, Paul and I introduced Matthew to Ticket to Ride and Carcassone. The other four players (Beth, Sarah, Eric and Clayton) locked horns in Phase 10, a game that Sarah introduced to the club a couple of months back. Clayton once again got off to a strong start, at one point going out right off the bat before everyone else had got a play. But, in the long run, Beth prevailed with Eric second while Sarah recovered to finish ahead of Clayton, whose run of good cards ran out as soon as it started.

We said good bye to Jane, Olivia, Beth, Nicole and Matthew, and the rest of us wound up the evening with Category 5. Doug recovered from taking 27 points in the first hand to win, breaking a tie for first with Eric who struggled in the final hand. Final scores: Doug 45, Sarah and John 57, Eric 61, Paul 69, Clayton 101.

I am looking forward to the fifth annual EuroQuest gaming convention this weekend in Timonium and hope to see many of your there -- otherwise, hope to see everyone at the club next Thursday, our last session before the Thanksgiving holidays.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

November 1, 2007 Session Report

A total of eight gamers appeared for tonight's session: Paul, Gabe, Doug, Carlos, Clayton, Eric, Helen and myself. Games played were Can't Stop (twice), the Hot New Essen game (Cuba), Blokus-Trigon, Lost Cities, Boomtown, Guillotine, Coloretto, Sequence (4x), San Juan, and Take 6.

Details: Paul, Gabe and I arrived a bit early and started up a game of Can't Stop which Doug joined in. Paul won with a conservative approach and edged out Gabe for the win by getting his second and third numbers on the same die roll. By then Carlos, Clayton and Eric had arrived and they played a series of games while the four of us went on to try out the hot new game from Essen -- Cuba -- that will be featured as part of the Wild Card event at next week's EuroQuest convention. It was a close game and wound up in a dead tie between Gabe and Doug, at 85 pts apiece. Gabe tried an early money strategy while Doug went for lots of buildings -- both went for the building that gets you victory point for your production good (be it cigars or rum). I came in third at 74 with Paul not far behind at 72. The game appeared to be well received, and it moved on at a steady pace after an not unexpectedly slow first turn while everyone was figuring out what to do.

Meanwhile, there were several games completed by the trio at the other table. Blokus-Trigon was won by Eric who managed to get all his pieces on the board. Eric also took top honors in the Guillotine game, scoring 28 to outpace Carlos (17) and Clayton (10). It was a different story in Can't Stop as Clayton won over Carlos with Eric in last. Eric bounced back to score another win in Coloretto, 38 to 31 for Carlos with Clayton in third. Then Carlos had to leave and Clayton took on Eric in four two-player Sequence games, which ended in a 4-0 whitewash for Eric.

With less than an hour to go, Eric joined the four of us for a five-player Boomtown game that was won by Paul, who used the Blue Governor to make mucho bucks. Final scores on this one were Paul 78, Eric 69, John 64, Doug 63 and Gabe 56. Helen arrived midway through this game and challenged Clayton to a game of San Juan which Helen won decisively, 30-16, just as time ran out. Doug, Eric, Paul and I got in two hands of 6 Nimmt (Take 6), and I didn't as soon not report the scores but I got 40-plus on one hand to wind up far behind with 67 (remember high numbers in this game are not what you want) wheres Paul managed single digits with nine (yes, nine) to finish ahead of Eric (14) and Doug (17).

Hope everyone had a good time. One more session (next Thursday night) with EuroQuest to follow the following Veteran's Day Weekend.