October 9, 2008 Session Report

Nine in attendance tonight: Clayton, Paul, Don, Doug, Nick, Mike B, Sarah, Rodney and myself played a total of eight different games (ten games total, as two games were played twice): Dominion, Power Grid (China map), Race for the Galaxy (2x), Wyatt Earp, Ra, Traders of Carthage, Qwirkle and Cloud Nine (x2).

First up was a Dominion prototype, this time played with the advantage of having the English rules which have been recently published on the web. We went for the Size Distortion setup, and what turned out to be distorted was the size of the final scores -- really low ones for everyone! In the first one of these games I can recall where noone bought a Province, the game was won by Nick with 3-4 duchies and a final score of 13 to 11 for John, 9 for Doug and, yes, believe it, a -3 for Clayton who couldn't get rid of those curses fast enough. There has been alot of buzz about this game which is due out in the US sometime in the next month or so.

Don, Mike and Paul got started with a three-player game of Power Grid on the China map, which Mike had brought; final scores were tied on powered cities and cash on hand with Mike and Paul sharing the victory, although the unofficial tiebreaker (highest numbered power plant in play) would have given the win to Paul. Meanwhile, Rodney and I locked horns in a couple of games of Race for the Galaxy, with each of us winning won; Rodney had the bigger winning margin. Doug, Sararh, Clayton and Nick tried Wyatt Earp, and Nick won after pulling ahead to an early lead.

Sarah left us, and we were down to two 4-player games. Nick, Clayton, Don and I tried a new game, Traders of Carthage, designed by Mr. Kawasaki, who is also the designer of the popular ecology game, R-Eco. Mike, Rodney, Paul and Doug played Ra at the other table, and Rodney won with Paul edging Doug on the tiebreak for second. Since our Traders game wasn't finished yet, the four of them played a second game, Qwirkle; final scores were reported as Doug 115 Rodney 114 Paul 99 Mike 96, a real squeaker of a win for Doug. By this time, the Traders of Carthage game had wrapped up with a win for Don, 15 points to 11 for Nick, followed by Clayton at 7 and yours truly, last at 6.

The final game of the night for most of us was Cloud Nine. While the Qwirkle game was finishing, Nick, Clayton and I got in a quick three-player game that was won by Nick. The second Cloud Nine game had a full table of six, and wound up in a tie between Paul and Mike B. at 49 as the clock struck 10 before we could finish. Nick, Doug, Rodney and myself were the other four players

Ecology will be the theme for another one of those special community outreach events in Beltsville this weekend. I will be demoing some games (featuring R-Eco and Power Grid) from 10 to 12 at this event, sponsored by the Prince Georges' County Government. The event, called "Greenfest," will be held at the Vannsville Elementary School at 6813 Ammendale Road in Beltsville, and it takes place from 10 AM to 2 PM. Hope to see some of you there.