December 18, 2008 Session Report

With the Community Center being closed for the Holidays for the next two Thursdays, this week's session would be our final one for 2008. We had strong attendance once again, a total of eight, including one newcomer (Chris) who joined Don, Ron, Paul, Mike, Jonathan, Clayton and myself for the session. We played a total of five different games, one game twice: Mississippi Queen, Can't Stop, Ra (x2), Agricola and Ticket to Ride.

First up were Can't Stop and Mississippi Queen, which Don had brought. Mike, Jonathan and I were the Can't Stop game, joined by Clayton starting the second round of turns. The game turned out to be a tough one after three of us got two markers each to the top. Mike, who was behind, battled his way back into contention. Clayton was just one space away but missed rolled the needed number, and I finally won it by rolling a 12 when needed. A really close game.

I was keeping my on the Mississippi Queen game which finished just about the same time as Can't Stop. Ron had raced ahead to an early lead, but at some point he was slowed down by picking up a passenger, facing the wrong way, running low on coal, maybe all three, and Don came blazing back from behind to take the win. I believe it may be possible that Paul, who was trailing most of the way, may have nipped Ron for second. Don't recall hearing anything about anyone ramming into another paddleboat, but who knows, anything was possible.

We then resplit into two groups, with Mike, Jonathan and Don playing a three-player Agricola game that took up most of the rest of the session. Ron, Paul, Clayton and I played Ra, joking that we might finish the game before Mike finished with the Agricola explanation. Well, this didn't quite happen, but as I recall they were still looking at their cards (not the Family Game this time) when we finished scoring the second epoch. We were close to wrapping up when Chris (whose daughter was in a ballet class across the hall) wondering in, having looked at one of our flyers. In part because I was distracted talking to Chris, I lost track of whether I had been given a proper 5-point scoring token, which wound up being the difference in the game between Paul and myself, who had the top scores. So, I was credited with the points but was quick to think my win might be tainted.

Chris had been watching us for the last few plays of the Ra game, and we readily agreed to include him in a second game since it fit his time requirement. The second game also ended in a five-point win for me with Paul again in second, 43-38, but at least this time I believe we got the scores right. Clayton was third with 26, followed by Ron and then Chris. We hope to see Chris back at future sessions of the club!

Clayton, Ron, Paul and I then had a little more than an hour left for the final game of the evening, and we played Ticket to Ride -- another close finish between Paul and myself, Paul winning 115-112. It was Ron's first time playing Ticket; he did really well, finishing in third with over 100 points. Finally, that left the Agricola game that had been going on for two hours or so. I recall Jonathan and Don expressing dismay when Mike played the "Ratcatcher" occupation -- apparently there were a couple of interactive-type cards that worked their way into the supposedly "easy" deck. Anyway, it was a close finish, and the final scores of that one were Mike 37, Jonathan 35, Don 28.

Wish everyone a Happy Holiday season -- our next scheduled session will be Thursday, January 8th -- next year, of course.