Saturday, May 29, 2010

May 27, 2010 Session Report

This week's session had six gamers in attendance: Paul, Greg, Clayton, Ben, Ding and myself. A total of eight different games were played in our last session this year before Memorial Day (and the CC goes to its summer close time of 9 PM).

First up was Lost Cities. Paul and I played a quick hand waiting for everyone to show up. I got the best of it and won, 65 to 26.

Four of us played Tinners' Trail, first time play for everyone. It's a Martin Wallace game that just got re-released as a reprint. Very close scores: John 94, Clayton 88, Greg 86, Paul 78.

By this time Ben and Ding had arrived and occupied themselves by playing a couple of two-player games, first of all TransAmerica and then a couple of games of Ingenious. No details except for the fact that Ben won all three.

Next we played two games of Olympia 2000. Ben won both games, I was last both games, everyone else was somewhere in between. First play for Greg and Ding. Clayton was taking a break but came back for the last round of games.

We then split into two groups for Ticket to Ride-Switzerland and Ra. Ra was a three-player, very close game won by Ben 37 over Greg 36 and myself at 31. Ben took 5 pts. from Greg on ending sun values and that was the difference. The Ticket to Ride Swiss game was a romp for Paul, who make 14 of 15 tickets and won with a score of something like 175. Ding was second, Clayton was third.

We had 20 minutes left, so we wrapped up the session with some balloon-flying with Cloud Nine. Ben, who had not lost a single game yet, was leading most of the way and was the first across the line to 50. However, the balloon trip kept going. At the 20 level I rolled all four die and Greg jumped out to pass Ben and take the lead. But, I had a Wild Card left and managed to win -- an exciting finish. Final scores were John 65, Paul 64, Greg 62, Ben 54, Ding 40, Clayton 36. Probably the highest-scoring game of Cloud Nine ever, three players above 60, finishing with a 25-point trip!

Final reminder, next week we're back to the summer schedule, the sessions will still start at 6 PM but finish at 9 instead of 10.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

May 20, 2010 Session Report

A bit of a dip attendance-wise this week, as we had six gamers for this week's session: Paul, Mike, Doug H, Eugene, Jane (back for a second session) and myself. Missing some regulars, notably Clayton. Games played: Cheeky Monkey (x2), Ra, Wits and Wagers, Settlers of Catan.

Started with five of us playing Cheeky Monkey. Got in two games, Eugene won both. Scores of game 1: Eugene 35, John 30, Mike 15, Doug 9, Paul 6. Game 2: Eugene 45, Mike 24, Paul 10, Doug 9, John 8. Eugene was the only one of us who had not played the game before.

Next up was Ra, which we haven't played that much recently. Something unusual happened, I actually won a game of Ra. Final scores: John 45, Doug 40, Eugene 35, Paul 19, Mike 18.

At this point Jane arrived and Eugene left. Jane wanted to play Wits and Wagers which she had learned last week. I managed to win a close one over Mike after the last question was a sports question about when Jackie Robinson made his major league debut.

There were four of us left for a final game, so we chose Settlers. We played with the quick start variant where your second placement is a city with an extra road. It was a close game with three of us in contention. I managed to eke out a win, Mike and Paul were one point short at 9 while Doug, who got pounded mercilessly during the game, still had 6 points by game end.

A reminder that with Memorial Day coming up in a week or so, we have one more week with the regular 6 PM - 10 PM schedule, then the Community Center will have a 9 PM close time during the summer months, starting with the week after Memorial Day.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

May 13, 2010 Session Report

Nine gamers in attendance for this session. We welcomed two first-times to the club (Art and Jane) along with Mike, Paul, Clayton, Don, Eugene, Ben and myself who were among the "regular" attendees. Counted a total of seven games that were played over the course of the evening: Can't Stop, LeHavre, Vegas Showdown, TransAmerica, Wits and Wagers, Homesteaders and Cloud Nine.

Here's a few details. First up was Can't Stop, it was a four-player, with Clayton, Mike, Paul and myself. Clayton had been on a bit of a winning streak, but this time he couldn't pull it off despite some very strategic decision making. It turned out to be a really close game, I won over Mike who was one space short of his third number. Clayton only got one number to the top and came in third, ahead of Paul who was shut out.

Don was itching to play LeHavre, which Mike had brought, but it turned out Mike wasn't up to playing it, so I took on the role of "teacher" and Eugene, who had not played the game before, was the third player. Even though we started around 6:30, the game ate up all the rest of the session time and we still were three rounds short of completing the required 18 turns. We totaled up the scores after 15 turns (each person had an equal number of turns going first), plus one extra turn, Eugene did well with some late building to take the win in his first game, I came second and Don, who got off to a good start with some strong buildings, seemed to flounder when he picked up a couple of loans which he eventually paid off, and came third but everyone was over 100 points, so it was a fairly good game.

Vegas Showdown was a four-player, very close game, with Paul ending the game by filling all his Casino spaces (unusual for a four-player game). Mike scored well on diamond points to win a squeaker, 57 to 54 for Paul and 53 for Ben, with Clayton bringing up the rear with 38. With LeHavre still going on at the other table, this same group tackled Homesteaders. This time Ben came through with the win, with a very good score (65) to 58 for Mike, 51 for Paul, 22 for Clayton. Seems Ben has a knack for doing very well at this game, even going back to the days it was still a prototype a couple of years back.

Art and Jane had arrived and while I tried to get them interested in Lost Cities, they settled for TransAmerica instead. I understand they played two rounds, with Art winning both times, while waiting for the Homesteaders game to continue. Then Art and Jane joined Paul and Clayton for Wits and Wagers, with Paul winning by a wide margin while Art edged June by one for second. Once again, Clayton finished in last. Final game for this group was Cloud Nine, looks like it came down to the wire, final scores were Paul 52 Art 51 Clayton 48 -- don't have any scores for June who I don't think participated, at least for the full game. Well, at least Clayton was the most consistent performer this week -- last in every game. CORRECTION: Clayton was actually next to last in one game, so this statement is incorrect.

Mike, I have your LeHavre game and will bring it to next week's session. Thanks for letting the three of us play with it.

Also, thanks to everyone who showed at the Laurel Main Street event last week. While it was quite windy (such that we had to take the tent down), everyone had a good time and I am hoping the club got some new members (Art and June, who were at the Festival the preceding Saturday).

Monday, May 10, 2010

May 6, 2010 Session Report

Seven in attendance for this session: Clayton, Paul, Mike, Don, Doug, Ron and myself. Games played: San Juan, Top Race, Mermaid Rain, Homesteaders, Can't Stop, Hab & Gut, Cloud Nine. Some details follow.

San Juan, first up, four players (Mike, Paul, Doug, John). I got the Guild Hall/Smithy combo going and won with 35 to 30 for Mike, 28 for Doug, 27 for Paul.

Top Race. Three players, Clayton, Don and Ron. Won by Don, Ron was second. This is the newer version with nicer components, maybe a couple of new rule changes from the original.

Mermaid Rain. Four players, John 60 Doug 50 Mike 41 Paul 36. Doug and I had played before while Mike and Paul were new to the game.

Homesteaders. Four players, very close game. Doug won by a point (54) to Mike (53), Don (51), Paul (44). Mike and Don had more buildings but Doug got alot of points by building the Church fairly early in the Town phase.

Can't Stop, three players, won by Clayton (who else) -- Clayton did not bomb on a single roll in this game. Ron and I also played, Ron was the only other player to get a number to the top.

Hab & Gut, a popular quick-playing stock market game I discovered recently. Taught it to Ron and Clayton. Close game, I won by a narrow margin over Ron, who probably would have won had he not donated to charity on his final turn. Clayton was third, eliminated after donating the least to charity.

Cloud Nine, final game of the evening, we had to call it short as time ran out. Five players, final scores: John 41 Clayton 36 Doug 31 Paul 30 Ron 24.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Main Street Festival Information

Here is the information for the Laurel Main Street Festival, which will take place on Main Street this Saturday May 8th 9 AM - 4 PM.

Once again, the Games Club of Maryland will be running a booth at the Laurel Main Street Festival, promoting the club and club events. Our booth location this year will be 512-A-B which will be the south side of Main Street between 5th and 6th near the entrance to the Highs store. We expect to have several of tables of games set up for people to play. Please join us at this open air, come rain-or-shine event.

For more information about the festival, see:

http://www.laurelboardoftrade.com/home/events/MSF.wgs

Here's hoping for nice weather this Saturday for the event!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

April 29, 2010 Session Report

Things were a bit back to normal this week, attendance at nine. We had Mike, Paul, Don, Ron, Steve, Clayton, Tim, Eugene and myself for a total of nine. Games played: Stoplights, Sam Grant, Nostra City, Ticket to Ride-Switzerland, Tribune w/Expansion and Lost Cities, the first three games were new to the club.

Started off with a quick card game, Stoplights, three-player between Mike, Paul and John, Paul won after about 10-15 min. It's a quick playing card game where you try to get your color (or the neutral white color) lights in a row of five on your turn.

By then Ron and Don had arrived and started a game of Sam Grant. Not sure it was completed, Ron was the Union and Don the confederates.

Steve had brought Nostra City where Mike, Tim, Paul, Steve and I tried our hands at organized crime. Paul and I were "snitches" and when the verdict against the crime boss was Guilty, the two of us finished at the top although the other three thought they were competing for the win. Even though I was next to last on the all-important "Respect" track, I won the game and Paul, who was last on the track, came in second, because we had turned Snitch and ratted out the boss.

Then we had three games going for awhile as Clayton, Paul and Tim and played Ticket to Ride-Switzerland, a very very close game with Tim coming out the winner (97) by just one over Paul (96) and Clayton not far back in third (85).

Eugene had arrived, and we played a recent favorite (Tribune) that Mike had brought, using the expansion. Players were Eugene, Mike, Steve and myself. Game lasted four turns and it came down to the tiebreaker between Mike and myself. Mike won by one, but with an asterisk -- we had a rules question that wasn't answered (after checking that evening and also today just before this posting) on BGG. The question was whether a Tribune counted as a Scroll for the pre-requisite of obtaining a Favor of the Emperor tile. If the answer was Yes, then I would have won with five more points on the tiebreaker. Still, a fun and close game.

Speaking of close games, Clayton and I wrapped up the evening with a quick one-hand game of Lost Cities. I got too many handshakes (in four different colors), took some negative hits, which enabled Clayton to win a squeaker, 34 to 31.

April 22. 2010 Session Report

Unfortunately, I missed this session due to Game Days. Attendance was four (Don, Ron, Paul and Clayton). Games played: Top Race, Ticket to Ride and Manuever.

Scores for Top Race: 1. Clayton 360 K 2. Ron 290 K 3. Paul 260 K 4. Don 200 K

Scores for Ticket to Ride: 1. Don 125 2. Paul 121 3. Clayton 85 4. Ron 72

Sorry, no report on the Manuever game, played between Don and Ron.