We had a total of 9 gamers at last night's session: Eric, Paul, Gabe, Clayton, Sarah, Neil, Beth, Nicole and myself -- welcome back to Clayton who had missed the last few weeks.
We played a total of six games: Cloud 9, Wits and Wagers (twice), Falsche Fuffziger (aka Fake Fifties), The Bucket King and Beowulf.
For the Cloud 9 game, it was Gabe, Eric, Paul, Sarah and me who started the game -- later joined by Clayton -- Gabe eventually won the game -- I remember being all set to go to the top cloud and get 25 pts when Eric crashed the balloon for like the umpteenth time. We were then joined by Neil for two games of Wits and Wagers, first game won by Paul and second by me. Key moment was when Clayton was only three feet off the correct height of Mt. McKinley, unfortunately for Clayton he was off by three feet in the wrong direction (too high) and didn't get credit for the closest answer.
By then Beth and Nicole arrived and we split into two groups. One group of us (Beth, Neil, Eric and myself) tackled a game I had just recently acquired, Falsche Fuffziger (which roughly translates into Fake Fifties) which is about producing and laundering counterfeit money to then acquire rare coins which represent victory points. Unfortunately, nine o'clock came all too soon -- before we had a chance to finish the game. I was ahead at about the two-thirds point but no telling if the lead would have held up as everyone else seemed to be catching up on the learning curve rather quickly. Hope to get through a full game sometime soon, perhaps at next week's session.
The other group of five gamers (Gabe, Nicole, Sarah, Paul and Clayton) played a game of Bucket King followed by a Beowulf game that barely got completed as the Community Center started closing down for the evening. At first the scores showed a tie between Gabe and Paul, but then a five-point bonus for coming through the game unscathed was enough to give Paul a narrow victory.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
June 21, 2007 Session Report
Thanks to Eric Haas for filing this report on last week's session, which unfortunately I had to miss:
Attendees were: Gabe, Paul, Eric, Val, Sarah, and Neil.
We played:
Ricochet Robot: Gabe, Paul, Eric, Val, Sarah; incomplete, no winner
Tongiaki: Paul 24, Sarah 22, Eric 19, Val 16, Gabe 13.
Union Pacific: Gabe 102, Paul 89, Val 85, Sarah (?), Neil 66, Eric 66.
Attendees were: Gabe, Paul, Eric, Val, Sarah, and Neil.
We played:
Ricochet Robot: Gabe, Paul, Eric, Val, Sarah; incomplete, no winner
Tongiaki: Paul 24, Sarah 22, Eric 19, Val 16, Gabe 13.
Union Pacific: Gabe 102, Paul 89, Val 85, Sarah (?), Neil 66, Eric 66.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
June 14, 2007 Session Report
Pleased to see our largest attendance at the Club since March. A total of 11 gamers, including a first-time attendee, Carole Jackson, joined Doug, Gabe, Eric, Val, Sarah, Paul, Beth, Nicole, Neil and myself. A total of six different games were played: Lost Cities, Parlay, Princes of Florence, Citadels, Billabong and Wits and Wagers. The evening started with Doug and Gabe arriving a few minutes early and squaring off in a two-player Lost Cities that was won by Doug. Then, as we started playing Parlay (with more people than the six for which the chips are provided), even more people arrived, and we split into two groups for two longer games that wound up being the main events of the evening: a four-player Princes of Florence game and a seven-player Citadels game. I was in the exceedingly close PoF game which I managed to win with 66 to 64 for Neil and 61 for Beth while the game was a learning experience for Carole. The difference was managing to get all seven works completed (barely), while Neil came on like gangbusters with a late recruiting card while Beth and Carole were unable to get all their works completed.
I have less information about the Citadels game, which I hear was won by Doug. There was still some time left, and both groups raced against the clock to complete two more games-- Wits and Wagers (7-player) and Billabong (4-player). The Wits and Wagers game made it to the finish line, but alas the Billabongers wound up a few kangaroos short, although it seemed like Beth's blue kangaroos were on their way to victory.
Just want to let everyone know I expect to be out of town next week, but hopefully someone else will track the attendance and games played so they can be posted here.
John
I have less information about the Citadels game, which I hear was won by Doug. There was still some time left, and both groups raced against the clock to complete two more games-- Wits and Wagers (7-player) and Billabong (4-player). The Wits and Wagers game made it to the finish line, but alas the Billabongers wound up a few kangaroos short, although it seemed like Beth's blue kangaroos were on their way to victory.
Just want to let everyone know I expect to be out of town next week, but hopefully someone else will track the attendance and games played so they can be posted here.
John
Thursday, June 7, 2007
June 7, 2007 Session Report
We had a pretty good week attendance-wise with a total of 8 gamers: Gabe, Eric, Doug H, Paul, Sarah, Neil, Stan (welcome back Stan who hasn't been to the club in awhile) and myself. A total of six different games were played: Hey That's My Fish! (won by Paul), Age of Empires III (won by Eric, see comments in next paragraph). Tichu (the Gabe/Sarah team was successful), Boomtown (Doug claimed first in this one), Beowulf (Doug made in two in a row in winning this one) and finally two quick games of Category 5 (sorry don't have the results to report).
I spent most of the evening playing a longer game, Age of Empires III, which Stan was kind enough to bring and teach to Eric and myself. The game is about exploration/colonization of the New World and roughly designed to track the computer game, which I have never played. The game designer, Glenn Drover, was previously with Eagle Games where he produced several similar boardgames based on computer game counterparts, such as Civilization, Age of Mythology and Railroad Tycoon. During the explanation I glommed on to this one particular piece of advice from Stan about the importance of money, and after 2-3 turns I was earning like 20-30 a turn while Eric and Stan were still in single digits. This let me buy more buildings, but I am not sure in the long run, they were the better buildings. It was really close in the final score, with Eric winning with 112 to 109 for Stan and I brought up the rear at 106. Not sure what made the final difference, but I think I missed some nuances and didn't shift from money to points soon enough. One conclusion I think we all came to after just one play is that there seems to be no sure-fire, clearcut path to victory, which -- along with random draw of different tiles and buildings that makes each game different -- means a high replay value. Only negative about the game was a slight luck factor if you a short on colonist points when attempting a discovery -- Stan and I each got burned on this although I got real lucky in making one early discovery succeed with the minimum number of colonists (one). A bit of a learning curve, but it was an enjoyable game, one that I will probably add to my collection.
I spent most of the evening playing a longer game, Age of Empires III, which Stan was kind enough to bring and teach to Eric and myself. The game is about exploration/colonization of the New World and roughly designed to track the computer game, which I have never played. The game designer, Glenn Drover, was previously with Eagle Games where he produced several similar boardgames based on computer game counterparts, such as Civilization, Age of Mythology and Railroad Tycoon. During the explanation I glommed on to this one particular piece of advice from Stan about the importance of money, and after 2-3 turns I was earning like 20-30 a turn while Eric and Stan were still in single digits. This let me buy more buildings, but I am not sure in the long run, they were the better buildings. It was really close in the final score, with Eric winning with 112 to 109 for Stan and I brought up the rear at 106. Not sure what made the final difference, but I think I missed some nuances and didn't shift from money to points soon enough. One conclusion I think we all came to after just one play is that there seems to be no sure-fire, clearcut path to victory, which -- along with random draw of different tiles and buildings that makes each game different -- means a high replay value. Only negative about the game was a slight luck factor if you a short on colonist points when attempting a discovery -- Stan and I each got burned on this although I got real lucky in making one early discovery succeed with the minimum number of colonists (one). A bit of a learning curve, but it was an enjoyable game, one that I will probably add to my collection.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Session Report
We had six gamers in attendance this week: Paul, Sarah, Val, Gabe, Eric and myself, and this was Sarah and Val's third meeting qualifying them for GCOM associate membership.
We played a total of five different games. First up, it was a four-player Coloretto, and it wound up with Val and Sarah, the two newcomers, finishing 1-2 with 31 and 30 points, respectively. Paul came home third with 22, and I brought up the rear with 5. By this time Gabe and Eric had arrived and we played Incan Gold, which is a remake of the push-your-luck game, Diamant. Final scores were John 24, Val 23, Paul 16, Eric 10, Gabe 10, Sarah 6. Next up was Hoity Toity, and I pulled ahead to win after it was really close in the middle part of the game. Eric was second, Paul and Val tied for third, followed by Gabe and then Sarah. We then paired up in three two-player teams to play Iliad, and after much back and forth the game lasted the full 8 rounds with the Gabe-John team scoring 17 to 11 for the Paul-Val and Eric-Sarah duos.
After we finished up with Iliad, there were just about 20 minutes left in the session (ending at 9 PM due to the summer schedule for the Community Center), just enough time for two rounds of Category 5. Paul took no points the first round and was the overall winner with just 7 points. Other scores (and in this game, low is good) were Val at 8 (just one point behind!), Sarah 26, Eric and Gabe tied at 33, and yours truly (with a big fat 46) once again taking it on the chin.
We played a total of five different games. First up, it was a four-player Coloretto, and it wound up with Val and Sarah, the two newcomers, finishing 1-2 with 31 and 30 points, respectively. Paul came home third with 22, and I brought up the rear with 5. By this time Gabe and Eric had arrived and we played Incan Gold, which is a remake of the push-your-luck game, Diamant. Final scores were John 24, Val 23, Paul 16, Eric 10, Gabe 10, Sarah 6. Next up was Hoity Toity, and I pulled ahead to win after it was really close in the middle part of the game. Eric was second, Paul and Val tied for third, followed by Gabe and then Sarah. We then paired up in three two-player teams to play Iliad, and after much back and forth the game lasted the full 8 rounds with the Gabe-John team scoring 17 to 11 for the Paul-Val and Eric-Sarah duos.
After we finished up with Iliad, there were just about 20 minutes left in the session (ending at 9 PM due to the summer schedule for the Community Center), just enough time for two rounds of Category 5. Paul took no points the first round and was the overall winner with just 7 points. Other scores (and in this game, low is good) were Val at 8 (just one point behind!), Sarah 26, Eric and Gabe tied at 33, and yours truly (with a big fat 46) once again taking it on the chin.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Thursday, May 24 Session Report
Attendance for this past session was nine: Gabe, Doug Hoylman, Sarah, Val, Eric, Beth, Nicole and myself were joined by Doug Mercer, a veteran gamer who I have known from prior GCOM sessions over the past five years or so who was attending at our location for the first time.
We played a total of nine different games over the course of the evening: Lost Cities, Ingenious, Bank Bandits (Gabe's prototype design), Blokus Trigon, Tongiaki, Queen's Necklace, Quiddler, Pitchcar, and Saboteur.
Hope everyone had a fine Memorial Day weekend. Keep in mind that starting this week, the gaming sessions will end an hour earlier.
We played a total of nine different games over the course of the evening: Lost Cities, Ingenious, Bank Bandits (Gabe's prototype design), Blokus Trigon, Tongiaki, Queen's Necklace, Quiddler, Pitchcar, and Saboteur.
Hope everyone had a fine Memorial Day weekend. Keep in mind that starting this week, the gaming sessions will end an hour earlier.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Introductory Post
Well, I have just completed the log-in process to set up this blogspot to communicate about the fun exciting gaming-related activities available each week at the Laurel Community Center Games Club. The Games Club was started in September 2005 in cooperation with the Laurel Department of Parks and Recreation, which operates the Community Center. Attendance at all our sessions is open to the public, free of charge, all ages and gaming experience welcome.
In February of 2006, the club became affiliated with the Games Club of Maryland , a statewide organization with over 30 separate locations in Maryland and surrounding states. As of the time of this writing, there are five other GCOM locations that operate at Community Centers in Maryland. For more information about GCOM, check out the organization's website at:
http://www.gamesclubofmd.org
For more information about our local games club, check out the specific website at:
http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/locations.asp?location=29
In February of 2006, the club became affiliated with the Games Club of Maryland , a statewide organization with over 30 separate locations in Maryland and surrounding states. As of the time of this writing, there are five other GCOM locations that operate at Community Centers in Maryland. For more information about GCOM, check out the organization's website at:
http://www.gamesclubofmd.org
For more information about our local games club, check out the specific website at:
http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/locations.asp?location=29
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