We had seven gamers for this week's session, as Greg returned along with Clayton (who had missed a couple of sessions), Nick, Ben, Paul, Sarah and myself.
First game up was the Ticket to Ride card game that I had won in a contest, and I wound up winning a four-player ahead of Nick, Paul and Sarah. Meanwhile, Ben and Greg had arrived and challenged Clayton to a three-player game of Can't Stop -- turned out Clayton had not lost his touch as he rolled his way to the top while the conservative approach did not work out for Greg and Ben.
At this point we reshuffled the players and played a couple of more games. Modern Art (which Greg brought) was featured in a four-player game which Nick won, and Ben and I also participated along with Greg. The other group of Clayton, Paul and Sarah played Carcassone-Discovery which was won by Paul. Sarah, who was new to the Carcassone series of games, enjoyed it and finished second her first time out.
We wound up the evening with a couple of hands of Slide 5. Nick and Ben, convinced there was no strategy to the game, decided to play random but it didn't work out as they got stuck with a bunch of negative points. Paul, with a total of 11 from the two hands, was declared the winner once we saw the 9 o'clock witching hour was approaching.
Hope to see some of you at the Picnic this weekend, if not at next week's session. Just got word that a couple of new games I have been waiting on for some time (Wealth of Nations and the English edition of Tribune) have arrived so I hope to have them on hand next week.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
June 19, 2008 Session Report
We had a total of seven gamers tonight, including one first-timer (Greg) and one long-time absentee (Eric). Doug, Paul, Ben, Sarah and myself rounded up the attendance list.
We started off with a game of Parlay while waiting for everyone to show up. The game started with just three (Doug, Paul and myself) but we later added Greg and then Eric who were trying it for the first time. All I can remember was losing out on the poker hand to Doug, who nailed me with a flush for the poker bonus and then flipped over a really great word featuring the X or Z card plus the length bonus for Sextant, worth something like 230 points. Nice going, Doug.
Eric had brought Power Grid with all the expansions so we tried a six-player Italy game joined by Ben, using the new Power Plant deck. I enjoy playing Power Grid with the new deck because (1) it tends to make the game go a bit faster; (2) the resource market is less likely to be stripped of resources) and (3) generally, the effects of Power Plant market jams are alot less. This game clocked in at just under two hours, and it turned out Greg (who had demonstrated his Power Grid prowess in a game at Games Days this year where he beat the current EuroQuest champion) wound up the winner in a highly competitive game, with Eric nosing out Paul for second in the tiebreaker.
I managed to bring up the rear in the Power Grid game, but I had a great excuse. Sarah had shown up a little after 7 and I had promised to get her in a game. So I played some two-player games with Sarah, first Can't Stop -- which Sarah won in a close game -- then Ticket to Ride -- Switzerland (played for the fourth week in a row making it the most popular new game in the club's collection) which I managed to win after getting four tickets covering virtually the same route -- connecting Lugano and Italy to France.
The last half-hour of the session was spent playing several hands of Slide 5, the skiing-themed Category 5 re-make. I missed a hand or two while finishing up the TTR game, but for the two hands where we kept score, Greg was the winner -- making him undefeated in his initial appearance at the games club. Greg, who lives nearby in Columbia, says he will be coming back and we look forward to his return.
Notice: The Community Center will be open in two weeks, Thursday July 3rd, the day before the Fourth.
We started off with a game of Parlay while waiting for everyone to show up. The game started with just three (Doug, Paul and myself) but we later added Greg and then Eric who were trying it for the first time. All I can remember was losing out on the poker hand to Doug, who nailed me with a flush for the poker bonus and then flipped over a really great word featuring the X or Z card plus the length bonus for Sextant, worth something like 230 points. Nice going, Doug.
Eric had brought Power Grid with all the expansions so we tried a six-player Italy game joined by Ben, using the new Power Plant deck. I enjoy playing Power Grid with the new deck because (1) it tends to make the game go a bit faster; (2) the resource market is less likely to be stripped of resources) and (3) generally, the effects of Power Plant market jams are alot less. This game clocked in at just under two hours, and it turned out Greg (who had demonstrated his Power Grid prowess in a game at Games Days this year where he beat the current EuroQuest champion) wound up the winner in a highly competitive game, with Eric nosing out Paul for second in the tiebreaker.
I managed to bring up the rear in the Power Grid game, but I had a great excuse. Sarah had shown up a little after 7 and I had promised to get her in a game. So I played some two-player games with Sarah, first Can't Stop -- which Sarah won in a close game -- then Ticket to Ride -- Switzerland (played for the fourth week in a row making it the most popular new game in the club's collection) which I managed to win after getting four tickets covering virtually the same route -- connecting Lugano and Italy to France.
The last half-hour of the session was spent playing several hands of Slide 5, the skiing-themed Category 5 re-make. I missed a hand or two while finishing up the TTR game, but for the two hands where we kept score, Greg was the winner -- making him undefeated in his initial appearance at the games club. Greg, who lives nearby in Columbia, says he will be coming back and we look forward to his return.
Notice: The Community Center will be open in two weeks, Thursday July 3rd, the day before the Fourth.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
June 12, 2008 Session Report
A smaller group tonight, such that we only had one game in progress at any one time. Doug, Paul and I were joined by Ben and Nick; later on Sarah stopped in but didn't have the chance to get in any games with us. We played just four games: Ticket to Ride-Switzerland, Carcassone-Discovery, Hoity Toity and Igel Argern (the Hedgehog Racing game).
First game was another brutal Ticket to Ride-Switzerland, played with the newer 1910 cards. I got blocked on one of my routes by a one-train tunnel placement by Paul, but turned out not to matter as I managed to pull out the win in a very close contest, 115 to 108 for Doug, in which the 10-point bonus for longest train proved crucial after Paul and Doug each garnered the 15-point bonus for most tickets.
Then we broke out the new club game, Carcassone-Discovery, where you only get four meeples and can place or pick up (and score) but not do both in the same turn. Ben and Paul shared the win in this one, I was two points back in third, followed by Doug and then Nick in last.
We then played Hoity Toity, and this time Nick emerged as the winner with a strong front running strategy, ignoring the thieves on the last show. I came in second with a good final show, but was too far back to catch Nick. Paul was third, followed by Ben and Doug.
Final game was Igel Argern, which we barely got in. Somehow things worked out for me as Ben and Doug, the two perceived early leaders, faded in the end. Or maybe I just got the right die rolls at the right times.
First game was another brutal Ticket to Ride-Switzerland, played with the newer 1910 cards. I got blocked on one of my routes by a one-train tunnel placement by Paul, but turned out not to matter as I managed to pull out the win in a very close contest, 115 to 108 for Doug, in which the 10-point bonus for longest train proved crucial after Paul and Doug each garnered the 15-point bonus for most tickets.
Then we broke out the new club game, Carcassone-Discovery, where you only get four meeples and can place or pick up (and score) but not do both in the same turn. Ben and Paul shared the win in this one, I was two points back in third, followed by Doug and then Nick in last.
We then played Hoity Toity, and this time Nick emerged as the winner with a strong front running strategy, ignoring the thieves on the last show. I came in second with a good final show, but was too far back to catch Nick. Paul was third, followed by Ben and Doug.
Final game was Igel Argern, which we barely got in. Somehow things worked out for me as Ben and Doug, the two perceived early leaders, faded in the end. Or maybe I just got the right die rolls at the right times.
Friday, June 6, 2008
June 5, 2008 Session Report
There were a total of six gamers in attendance for this week's session: Clayton, Paul, Nick, Doug, Helen and myself. We added four new games to the club collection (the second wave of games from the recent PG County grant). Three of them were among the games played, which included For Sale, Anno 1503, Ticket to Ride-Switzerland, Moose in the House, Slide 5 (a new version of Category 5) plus another run at the prototype I brought from last week.
First game up was one of the new ones, For Sale, and it was a four-player with Doug, Paul, Nick and myself competing -- final scores were John 67 Doug 60 Nick 52 Paul 40. By then Clayton and Helen had arrived and we split into two groups of three. Helen, Doug and Nick played Anno 1503, and my sources later informed me that Doug won a close game with Helen in second. That same group then also played Moose in the House, sorry no report on who won that one.
At the other table, Clayton, Paul and I also got through two games. First, it was Ticket to Ride-Switzerland and I just kept drawing tickets, not completing all of them but enough of them to wind up first (with the bonuses for most tickets and longest train) at 134 with Paul (who completed all seven tickets) second at 111 followed by Clayton with 79. Then we played that prototype game from last week with a different set of action cards that kept the score down considerably. The game turned out to be a well-deserved win for Clayton, with 19 to 16 for John and 3 (!) for Paul, who was figuratively and literally "cursed" through the whole game.
We ended up with Slide 5, the latest version of Take 6/Category 5 with a skiing theme. All six of us participated and we managed to sneak in three hands before the nine o'clock witching hour. Final scores (remember low numbers are best) were Paul 21 Doug 33 John 40 Helen 43 Clayton 44 with Nick bringing up the rear at 72.
First game up was one of the new ones, For Sale, and it was a four-player with Doug, Paul, Nick and myself competing -- final scores were John 67 Doug 60 Nick 52 Paul 40. By then Clayton and Helen had arrived and we split into two groups of three. Helen, Doug and Nick played Anno 1503, and my sources later informed me that Doug won a close game with Helen in second. That same group then also played Moose in the House, sorry no report on who won that one.
At the other table, Clayton, Paul and I also got through two games. First, it was Ticket to Ride-Switzerland and I just kept drawing tickets, not completing all of them but enough of them to wind up first (with the bonuses for most tickets and longest train) at 134 with Paul (who completed all seven tickets) second at 111 followed by Clayton with 79. Then we played that prototype game from last week with a different set of action cards that kept the score down considerably. The game turned out to be a well-deserved win for Clayton, with 19 to 16 for John and 3 (!) for Paul, who was figuratively and literally "cursed" through the whole game.
We ended up with Slide 5, the latest version of Take 6/Category 5 with a skiing theme. All six of us participated and we managed to sneak in three hands before the nine o'clock witching hour. Final scores (remember low numbers are best) were Paul 21 Doug 33 John 40 Helen 43 Clayton 44 with Nick bringing up the rear at 72.
Friday, May 30, 2008
May 29, 2008 Session Report
This was our first 2008 session with the shortened summer hours, and our second session with the expanded games inventory. A total of eight gamers were in attendance: Sarah, Clayton, Paul, Ashley, Gabe, Ben, Nick and myself split into two groups for most of the evening. We played a total of six different games: Cloud 9, Blackbeard, San Juan, a handmade prototype game, Executive Decision and Ticket to Ride-Switzerland. (Because we were pushing it on time, the last two games did not get completed.)
First up was Cloud 9, and the balloonists were Sarah, Clayton, Paul, Nick and myself. Turned out to be a three-way tie as Paul and Sarah reached 50 and then I bailed out at 35 for 15 more points with Nick left holding the bag as the pilot with a bad die roll. Oh, well ...
The Blackbeard game was a four-player using the game with the new GMT edition. Ben (whose two pirates were Lowther and Tew) won the game, which used the shortened victory conditions. Ashley had the colorful "Calico Jack" Rackham and Quelch as her pirates: Gabe had Conant and Taylor, and Nick had De Lusan and Roberts after losing his initial pirate (Bonnet) to a first-turn mutiny ... gosh, I hate when that happens.
The four of us at the other table played a hand-made prototype game that I had put together based on a recent playtest; final scores on this one were John 35 with Sarah a close second at 32. (Sorry, can't post more details here, the final version of the game is expected to be released some time later this year, however.) We then played San Juan, and Clayton ended the game by building to 12 with a Smithy, Guild Hall and bunch of mills. Paul had all purple buildings, and I got lucky and got three bonus "6" buildings down. Turned out I needed all three of them as the final scores were really, really close: John 30, Paul 29 Clayton 28 Sarah 21.
The final two games of the evening were Ticket to Ride-Switzerland, with Clayton and me playing as a team versus Paul and Sarah. When we had to clean up, Sarah had a huge lead with like 45 in completed tickets so we declared her the winner. The other game, Executive Decision, and old 3M/AH classic, barely finished one or two "months" activity before being called with no winner.
First up was Cloud 9, and the balloonists were Sarah, Clayton, Paul, Nick and myself. Turned out to be a three-way tie as Paul and Sarah reached 50 and then I bailed out at 35 for 15 more points with Nick left holding the bag as the pilot with a bad die roll. Oh, well ...
The Blackbeard game was a four-player using the game with the new GMT edition. Ben (whose two pirates were Lowther and Tew) won the game, which used the shortened victory conditions. Ashley had the colorful "Calico Jack" Rackham and Quelch as her pirates: Gabe had Conant and Taylor, and Nick had De Lusan and Roberts after losing his initial pirate (Bonnet) to a first-turn mutiny ... gosh, I hate when that happens.
The four of us at the other table played a hand-made prototype game that I had put together based on a recent playtest; final scores on this one were John 35 with Sarah a close second at 32. (Sorry, can't post more details here, the final version of the game is expected to be released some time later this year, however.) We then played San Juan, and Clayton ended the game by building to 12 with a Smithy, Guild Hall and bunch of mills. Paul had all purple buildings, and I got lucky and got three bonus "6" buildings down. Turned out I needed all three of them as the final scores were really, really close: John 30, Paul 29 Clayton 28 Sarah 21.
The final two games of the evening were Ticket to Ride-Switzerland, with Clayton and me playing as a team versus Paul and Sarah. When we had to clean up, Sarah had a huge lead with like 45 in completed tickets so we declared her the winner. The other game, Executive Decision, and old 3M/AH classic, barely finished one or two "months" activity before being called with no winner.
Friday, May 23, 2008
May 22, 2008 Session Report
We had another good turnout for this week's session: Doug, Ashley (back for her second session), Paul, Clayton, Gabe, Sarah, Nick and myself were present and, with great fanfare, we added around 15 games to the club's collection which had just arrived courtesy of a grant from your PG County Government. We had two games going for most of the evening, and my notes show we wound up playing nine different games, many of which were the newly-opened copies played for the first time at this week's session.
After spending a few minutes unwrapping, bagging, punching and labeling the new games, we started off with Can't Stop at one table, featuring Gabe, Ashley, Sarah and Clayton -- Clayton was victorious. The other table of Doug, Paul, Nick and myself tried Zooloretto, aptly described by Paul as "Coloretto on Steroids." Doug, who seemed to know the game fairly well, wound up the winner with 26 to 24 for Nick and myself (Nick second on the most money tiebreaker) with Paul at 20 bringing up the rear. A close game, one I enjoyed and am looking forward to playing again.
Meanwhile, the Sarah-Ashley-Gabe-Clayton group got in two more quick games, Hey That's My Fish, another close one won by Sarah with Clayton and Gabe not far behind. Then it was Moose in the House (another one of the new games to the club's collection), and Gabe was the winner.
Then we split into different groups for the next group of games. At one table, it was Nick, Gabe, Doug and Ashley playing Nexus Ops, a game that Nick brought and -- no surprise -- Nick was the winner. The other table of Sarah, Clayton, Paul and myself played Ticket to Ride with the new cards from the 1910 edition, and -- after complaining about being blocked out on two of my tickets -- I drew a bunch more, made them, and managed to edge out Sarah for the win. Whew -- usually when I miss on two tickets and take a -21 point hit, that doesn't happen! Sarah got her revenge in the very next game, Hollywood Blockbuster, winning with a solid score of 91.
Then Clayton took a break and the rest of us played Boom-O, the card game of the ticking time bomb. Sarah, who seemed eager to play, was eliminated first, then Doug, Paul and I were eliminated and it came down to Ashley, Gabe and Nick. I didn't write down the final result -- but I believe Nick won.
The final game of the evening -- Cloud 9 -- saw Nick and I wind up tied at 35 when the session time ran out. I believe there may have been a game going on at the other table, but us balloonists were really focused on our piloting efforts -- in particular Nick, who made an impressive solo flight to move from the 12 cloud to the 25, putting him in contention after the rest of us had bailed out.
It was great to have the new games arrive -- everyone should plan ahead though, because starting next week, the CC's summer hours will be in effect -- we will close an hour earlier, at 9, not 10.
After spending a few minutes unwrapping, bagging, punching and labeling the new games, we started off with Can't Stop at one table, featuring Gabe, Ashley, Sarah and Clayton -- Clayton was victorious. The other table of Doug, Paul, Nick and myself tried Zooloretto, aptly described by Paul as "Coloretto on Steroids." Doug, who seemed to know the game fairly well, wound up the winner with 26 to 24 for Nick and myself (Nick second on the most money tiebreaker) with Paul at 20 bringing up the rear. A close game, one I enjoyed and am looking forward to playing again.
Meanwhile, the Sarah-Ashley-Gabe-Clayton group got in two more quick games, Hey That's My Fish, another close one won by Sarah with Clayton and Gabe not far behind. Then it was Moose in the House (another one of the new games to the club's collection), and Gabe was the winner.
Then we split into different groups for the next group of games. At one table, it was Nick, Gabe, Doug and Ashley playing Nexus Ops, a game that Nick brought and -- no surprise -- Nick was the winner. The other table of Sarah, Clayton, Paul and myself played Ticket to Ride with the new cards from the 1910 edition, and -- after complaining about being blocked out on two of my tickets -- I drew a bunch more, made them, and managed to edge out Sarah for the win. Whew -- usually when I miss on two tickets and take a -21 point hit, that doesn't happen! Sarah got her revenge in the very next game, Hollywood Blockbuster, winning with a solid score of 91.
Then Clayton took a break and the rest of us played Boom-O, the card game of the ticking time bomb. Sarah, who seemed eager to play, was eliminated first, then Doug, Paul and I were eliminated and it came down to Ashley, Gabe and Nick. I didn't write down the final result -- but I believe Nick won.
The final game of the evening -- Cloud 9 -- saw Nick and I wind up tied at 35 when the session time ran out. I believe there may have been a game going on at the other table, but us balloonists were really focused on our piloting efforts -- in particular Nick, who made an impressive solo flight to move from the 12 cloud to the 25, putting him in contention after the rest of us had bailed out.
It was great to have the new games arrive -- everyone should plan ahead though, because starting next week, the CC's summer hours will be in effect -- we will close an hour earlier, at 9, not 10.
Friday, May 16, 2008
May 15, 2008 Session Report
Attendance this week was up to a total of nine -- one first-time attendee along with a couple of people we welcomed back after not seeing them for awhile. Ashley was the one newcomer, and we also saw Sarah and Val who had been missing in action for the last couple of months, along with "regulars" Clayton, Ben, Paul, Gabe, Nick and myself.
We started off with a game of Can't Stop that was abandoned after a couple of rounds when more people arrived. We then played a seven-player Boom-O, and people who were knocked out early joined the new arrivals for more Can't Stop. I had Gabe down as the final survivor in Boom-O, with Ben second and Ashley third. Nick, Paul, Sarah and myself also participated.
The Can't Stop group included Sarah, Val, Clayton and myself. We wound up playing a total of two games, I won the first and Sarah won the second. The other group of five (Ben, Nick, Paul, Ashley and Gabe) played the "Zombie" game, Last Night on Earth which Ben had brought. Ben was nice enough to play the Zombies and, in the initial play, went down to defeat in what I was told was one of the "easy" scenarios for the good guys. (Any excuse for Ben losing as the zombies.) In the second game, with a more difficult setup, Ben was able to pull out a win as the zombie player.
In the meantime, the other group of four (Clayton, Val, Sarah and myself) got in two more games, first Ingenious, which was a really close game, won by Sarah with 14, John 13, Clayton 9, Val 9. Next up was Quiddler, this time Val and I were battling it out until one hand where Val got no vowels -- and a -57 (ouch!) for the hand. Needless to say, that put the end to Val's chances. Final scores were John 273 Sarah 230 Clayton 193 Val 157.
We still had around 25 minutes left so we brought out an old favorite, Category Five, that all nine of us could play. We got in only one round, but this time Val (2) was the winner, followed by Paul (7), Gabe (9), Ashley (10), Clayton (15), John (16), Ben (22), Nick (24), Sarah (30).
A good time was had by all and hopefully we can keep up the strong attendance next week, which will be our last session before Memorial Day, when the CC closes an hour earlier.
Also, some new games for the club's collection have been ordered, so hopefully they will be making an appearance soon.
We started off with a game of Can't Stop that was abandoned after a couple of rounds when more people arrived. We then played a seven-player Boom-O, and people who were knocked out early joined the new arrivals for more Can't Stop. I had Gabe down as the final survivor in Boom-O, with Ben second and Ashley third. Nick, Paul, Sarah and myself also participated.
The Can't Stop group included Sarah, Val, Clayton and myself. We wound up playing a total of two games, I won the first and Sarah won the second. The other group of five (Ben, Nick, Paul, Ashley and Gabe) played the "Zombie" game, Last Night on Earth which Ben had brought. Ben was nice enough to play the Zombies and, in the initial play, went down to defeat in what I was told was one of the "easy" scenarios for the good guys. (Any excuse for Ben losing as the zombies.) In the second game, with a more difficult setup, Ben was able to pull out a win as the zombie player.
In the meantime, the other group of four (Clayton, Val, Sarah and myself) got in two more games, first Ingenious, which was a really close game, won by Sarah with 14, John 13, Clayton 9, Val 9. Next up was Quiddler, this time Val and I were battling it out until one hand where Val got no vowels -- and a -57 (ouch!) for the hand. Needless to say, that put the end to Val's chances. Final scores were John 273 Sarah 230 Clayton 193 Val 157.
We still had around 25 minutes left so we brought out an old favorite, Category Five, that all nine of us could play. We got in only one round, but this time Val (2) was the winner, followed by Paul (7), Gabe (9), Ashley (10), Clayton (15), John (16), Ben (22), Nick (24), Sarah (30).
A good time was had by all and hopefully we can keep up the strong attendance next week, which will be our last session before Memorial Day, when the CC closes an hour earlier.
Also, some new games for the club's collection have been ordered, so hopefully they will be making an appearance soon.
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