Friday, October 30, 2009

October 29, 2009 Session Report

Starting to get alarmed about the low attendance recently, as this week we had another dip to just four of us: Mike, Clayton, Paul and myself. We played a total of four games: R-Eco, Automobile, San Juan and Vegas Showdown.

R-Eco was won by Mike, who was the only player to reach double figures with 10 points. All four us had to "dump" at some point in the game, so no ecology points awarded. Next up was Automobile, I managed to win with 5020 to Clayton who was second (4310) followed by Mike (3660) and Paul (2940). Then came San Juan which Paul won with a City Hall and some nice purple buildings for a grand total of 35 to my second place score of 29, featuring a Guild Hall and seven mills, with Clayton (21) and Mike (20) bringing up the rear. We wrapped up the evening with a club favorite, Vegas Showdown, and this time Mike ran away with the game -- not even close -- lapping the board with 93 (!) points to 61 for me, 56 for Clayton and 55 for Paul.

Hey, it's time we saw a boost in attendance. Hope to see many of you next week. Two weeks to EuroQuest, Nov. 12-15th, pre-registration deadline is Sunday.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

October 22, 2009 Session Report

Just six for this week's session, as Eric S. joined Clayton, Doug, Mike, Paul and I for an evening of gaming at the Community Center. We played a total of seven different games: Owner's Choice, Endeavor, Thurn and Taxis, Anno 1503, Stone Age, Vegas Showdown and Ingenious.

First up was Owner's Choice, a relatively new Z-Man product that I had picked up recently after trying it a couple of times. Quick playing, stock market manipulation game, this one was won by Eric with 1150 followed by John (1070), Mike (850), Doug (480) and Paul (470). A couple of the players were hurt when one of the companies went belly up and thus ended with less money than they started.

By this time Clayton had arrived and we split into two groups of three for the rest of the evening. One group (consisting of Doug, Paul and Eric) got in a total of four more games. One was Thurn and Taxis, which Doug won by a huge margin over Paul with Eric far, far behind. Then it was Anno, where Eric turned the tables with Doug second. Then a really tight Vegas Showdown game came down to the money tiebreak and Doug prevailed over Eric. Then Eric wrapped up his mini-winning streak by taking Ingenious, 13 to 11 (Doug) to 9 (Paul).

The rest of us (Mike, Clayton and myself) played another recent Z-Man release, Endeavor, which has been getting alot of favorable comment recently. Clayton and Mike, both playing for the first time, managed to beat me with Clayton coming out on top (52 to 45 for Mike and 44 for John). We then played Stone Age, which took the rest of the evening, and it turned out to be a mirror image of the T&T game at the other table with wide gaps opening at the end. Final scores on that one: John 298, Mike 178, Clayton 59. My highest scoring Stone Age game ever!

Anyway, I have been a bit disappointed by attendance recently which has fallen into single digits. Hopefully, some of you who have been no-shows recently will return to boost our club's attendance next week as there are plently of cool new games to try out!

Friday, October 16, 2009

October 15, 2009 Session Report

Seven attendees this week: Neil, Greg, Doug, Paul, Mike, Clayton, and myself. We played six different games: For Sale, Power Grid (Korea), Railways of the Eastern United States, Chicago Express, San Juan, Too Many Cooks.

For Sale was the warmup gaming while waiting to see if more folks showed up. It was six players, and I emerged victorious. Final score count: John (51), Greg and Neil (46), Mike (42), Doug (35) and Paul (33). We then split into two groups for the rest of the session. One group (Mike, Paul and Neil) played Power Grid-Korea (won by Paul), Chicago Express (tie between Neil and Paul, with Mike, the teacher of the game, finishing far, far behind) and finally San Juan (another tie for first, this time between Mike and Neil).

The remaining four of us (Clayton, Doug, Greg and I) played the new version of the Railroad Tycoon, called Railways of the Eastern US. It was a very close game throughout most of the early stages, but Greg pulled away to become the big winner. Final scores: Greg 69, Clayton 57, John 54, Doug 49. We had time for another game, Too Many Cooks, which Greg brought and Greg (who had played it the most) won with 30 ahead of Doug with 25 well ahead of Clayton and I (who had played it the least, it was my second play, Clayton's first) but Clayton still put me in last, 8 for Clayton to 7 for John.

Hope to see a bigger turnout next week as the rainy weather may have kept some people away this week.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

October 8, 2009 Session Report

Back for this week's session after being away the prior week, and we had a total of eight in attendance: Alan was back for a second week in a row, along with Paul, Mike, Doug, Clayton, Don, Greg and myself. We made good use of the time, playing a total of seven games: Global City, Steam, For Sale, Ticket to Ride - Switzerland, Hollywood Blockbuster, San Juan and TransAmerica. Some details on the games follow.

Global City was first up, it is a privately-published game I had brought based loosely on scoring points for developing various cities in the world. Alan wound up the winner with 78 points, ahead of Doug (58), Paul (38) and Clayton (36). I would have played but then a second group formed, and four of us tried another newer game, Steam, which was a reworked version of a couple of earlier games that can probably best be described as a cross between Railroad Tycoon and Age of Steam. Greg won the game with a score of 45, followed by Don (40), John (38) and Mike (34).

The scoresheets suggested there were two games of For Sale, both won by Paul, one with Alan coming second and then a second game with Clayton as the runner-up. Doug, Paul and Clayton played a three-player Ticket to Ride-Switzerland which turned out to be a big win for Doug (111) ahead of Paul (92) and Clayton (61).

By this time the Steam game had finished, and we reconstituted in two groups. Four of us played Hollywood Blockbuster, and Doug romped to a runaway victory after scoring and completing a 22-point movie just before the end of the second lap around the board. Final scores were Doug 109, John 80, Don 59, Clayton 49. We barely got this game end before closing time.

Meanwhile, a couple of three-player games, both won by Mike who made up for his less than stellar showing in the Steam game. One game was San Juan, and the other was TransAmerica, and in both games the other two players (Greg and Paul) tied for second.

Friday, October 9, 2009

October 1, 2009 Session Report

I missed this session due to an out-of-town gaming event; however, with the aid of some diligent note-taking, I am able to recreate a brief session report. Looks like the total attendance was nine, with two new attendees (Alan and Ryan) who had attended the prior weekend's festivities at the Congress of Gamers. Others in attendance were Clayton, Paul, Doug, Mike, Jonathan, Don and Ray. Games played were Vegas Showdown, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and Agricola.

Scores of the games are presented without commentary.

Vegas Showdown: Doug 42 Paul 36 Jonathan 35 Mike 33 Clayton 25

Settlers of Catan: Alan 10 Ryan 4 Clayton 4 Paul 4

Ticket to Ride: Alan 160 Paul 92 Ryan 60

Agricola: Jonathan 51 Ray 42 Mike 36 Don 32 Doug 26