We had a total of six gamers in attendance tonight: Sarah, Paul and myself were joined by Tucker and his dad, Bob, along with a first-time visitor to the club, Nick, who lives in Laurel. Hopefully, we will see Nick return for future sessions.
We played a total of six different games, one of them (Uptown) was placed twice. Paul and I arrived first a finished up one hand of a new game, KGB vs CIA, and then we were joined by Sarah and Nick. We played two games of Uptown, and I managed somehow to win both (the first with just one group). Everyone seemed impressed with this new game, by virtue of the fact that it was played two times back-to-back. Next up was Ticket to Ride, and while others focused on finishing off those 15-point connections, I drew tickets twice and managed to get five tickets completed, including one I drew after already having the connection -- but it was a close finish, as I barely made a 20-point ticket when Sarah ended the game. Meanwhile, Tucker and Bob had arrived and Tucker "schooled" his dad in Lost Cities.
Our longest game of the evening turned out to be a six-player Slapshot. Sarah triggered the end game by winning the regular season, but Paul swept through the playoffs, beating me, Bob and finally Sarah in an exciting best of five game final. Then we kept everyone involved by playing a couple of rounds of TransAmerica before the 10 PM closing time.
Hope everyone had a good time, and hope to see more of you next year in 2008 !
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
December 20, 2007 Session Report
Attendance was down a bit this week, as Paul and I (the first two arrivals) were eventually joined by Eric, my co-host John Goon, and Sam. It was the first time at our club for Sam, who jas been an attendee at past sessions at the Beltsville club. Paul and I managed to complete a few hands of Quiddler, which I managed to win by 245 to 183 after making good use of those two letter cards for longest word bonuses. Then Eric joined us, and we played Guillotine; I thought I was doing fairly well when I got Marie-Antoinette to go with King Louis, but Paul turned out to be the winner, 29-27, with Eric a bit further back. Next up was R-Eco, which turned out to be a runaway victory for yours truly, 17 points to 6 for Eric and 3 for Paul (Eric being the only player who did not illegally dumping).
Sam had arrived and we taught him Vegas Showdown, in which he proceeded to stomp us by getting lots of diamond points (and three of the four fancy lounges). Eric got the theater to move up to second, while Paul and I fought for the honor of not finishing last. Final scores were Sam 83, Eric 62, Paul 48, John W. 47.
John Goon joined us for the final two games of the session: Uptown and Carcassone-Discovery. Sam made it two in a row by taking Uptown on the tiebreak of fewest captures; it was past the halfway point before Sam made his first capture, and I wound up having to start a second group. John G. won the final game, Carcassone-Discovery, by 10 points, 50 to 40, with Same finishing second. So, two wins and a second for Sam, who also learned three new games!
Finally, for those of you interested, the rumored visit of a Baltimore Sun reporter to our session did not materialized.
Sam had arrived and we taught him Vegas Showdown, in which he proceeded to stomp us by getting lots of diamond points (and three of the four fancy lounges). Eric got the theater to move up to second, while Paul and I fought for the honor of not finishing last. Final scores were Sam 83, Eric 62, Paul 48, John W. 47.
John Goon joined us for the final two games of the session: Uptown and Carcassone-Discovery. Sam made it two in a row by taking Uptown on the tiebreak of fewest captures; it was past the halfway point before Sam made his first capture, and I wound up having to start a second group. John G. won the final game, Carcassone-Discovery, by 10 points, 50 to 40, with Same finishing second. So, two wins and a second for Sam, who also learned three new games!
Finally, for those of you interested, the rumored visit of a Baltimore Sun reporter to our session did not materialized.
Friday, December 14, 2007
December 13, 2007 Session Report
For this week's session, we had a total of eight gamers in attendance: Paul, Doug, Sarah, Clayton, Neil, Ben, Larry and myself. We played a total of nine different games: Lost Cities, Ticket to Ride, Ingenious, Skip-Bo, Guillotine, Power Grid, Coloretto, Settlers of Catan, and R-Eco (4x).
Some details follow.
Paul and I were the first to arrive and we were able to wrap up a quick hand of Lost Cities by the time everyone else began to arrive. We split into two groups for the first round of games. Sarah won a close Ticket to Ride (US) game against Paul, Doug and Clayton. Neil and I started a game of Ingenious, and Larry joined in; I managed to win with Larry a close second in a game where all three of us had the same "worst" color (yellow).
By this time Ben had arrived, and he, Larry, Neil, Paul and I played a five-player Power Grid using the new deck and the US Map. The game was completed in near-record time (an hour and a half) when Ben built to his 15th city at a time when most of the rest of us were banking on another turn. Final scores were Ben 13, Larry 12, Neil 11, John 11, Paul 10. At the other table, Clayton, Doug and Sarah played Skip-Bo and Guillotine; Doug won both games.
We re-shuffled players and games after this and Ben, Larry, Neil and Paul wound up playing Coloretto -- no report on the winner of this one. Sarah, Doug, Clayton and I played Settlers -- first game for Sarah, who seemed to pick up the game fairly well, taking both Largest Army and then Longest Road to finish just one point ahead of Doug, 10-9, with Clayton and I far in arrears. Finally, at the other table, Larry and Neil had left, but Paul and Ben decided to see how R-Eco played with just two players. Turned out they both seemed to enjoy it, as they played a total of four games, each scoring two wins.
Some details follow.
Paul and I were the first to arrive and we were able to wrap up a quick hand of Lost Cities by the time everyone else began to arrive. We split into two groups for the first round of games. Sarah won a close Ticket to Ride (US) game against Paul, Doug and Clayton. Neil and I started a game of Ingenious, and Larry joined in; I managed to win with Larry a close second in a game where all three of us had the same "worst" color (yellow).
By this time Ben had arrived, and he, Larry, Neil, Paul and I played a five-player Power Grid using the new deck and the US Map. The game was completed in near-record time (an hour and a half) when Ben built to his 15th city at a time when most of the rest of us were banking on another turn. Final scores were Ben 13, Larry 12, Neil 11, John 11, Paul 10. At the other table, Clayton, Doug and Sarah played Skip-Bo and Guillotine; Doug won both games.
We re-shuffled players and games after this and Ben, Larry, Neil and Paul wound up playing Coloretto -- no report on the winner of this one. Sarah, Doug, Clayton and I played Settlers -- first game for Sarah, who seemed to pick up the game fairly well, taking both Largest Army and then Longest Road to finish just one point ahead of Doug, 10-9, with Clayton and I far in arrears. Finally, at the other table, Larry and Neil had left, but Paul and Ben decided to see how R-Eco played with just two players. Turned out they both seemed to enjoy it, as they played a total of four games, each scoring two wins.
Monday, December 10, 2007
December 6, 2007 Session Report
Thanks to Doug Hoylman for furnishing the following report on last week's session, which I was unable to attend:
Paul and Doug were the first to arrive and played Quiddler and Qwirkle; midway through the latter Larry and Ken turned up, and the four of us played Power Grid and Carcassonne H & G.
Hope to be back on my "normal" schedule this week which means hopefully seeing everyone this Thursday evening.
John
Paul and Doug were the first to arrive and played Quiddler and Qwirkle; midway through the latter Larry and Ken turned up, and the four of us played Power Grid and Carcassonne H & G.
Hope to be back on my "normal" schedule this week which means hopefully seeing everyone this Thursday evening.
John
Thursday, November 29, 2007
November 29. 2007 Session Report
Tonight, we had eight gamers present and played a total of 13 games, counting two games that were played twice. Present and accounted for were Paul, Eric, Clayton, Jane, Olivia, Matthew, and myself plus one first-time attendee -- Ben Stephenson, who had been to some other locations and was joining our group for the first time (we hope he comes back!). Games played included two games that were new to the club (Uptown and Chateau Rocquefort) in addition to favorites such as Quiddler, Wits and Wagers (played twice), Ingenious, Blokus, Cartagena, Can't Stop, Carcassone, Guillotine (played twice) and Lost Cities. As usual, some details follow.
Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)
We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.
Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.
Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.
One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayton 34.
Hope to see everyone back next week.
Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)
We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.
Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.
Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.
One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayton 34.
Hope to see everyone back next week.
November 29. 2007 Session Report
Tonight, we had eight gamers present and played a total of 13 games, counting two games that were played twice. Present and accounted for were Paul, Eric, Clayton, Jane, Olivia, Matthew, and myself plus one first-time attendee -- Ben Stephenson, who had been to some other locations and was joining our group for the first time (we hope he comes back!). Games played included two games that were new to the club (Uptown and Chateau Rocquefort) in addition to favorites such as Quiddler, Wits and Wagers (played twice), Ingenious, Blokus, Cartagena, Can't Stop, Carcassone, Guillotine (played twice) and Lost Cities. As usual, some details follow.
Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)
We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.
Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.
Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.
One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayto 34.
Hope to see everyone back next week.
Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)
We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.
Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.
Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.
One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayto 34.
Hope to see everyone back next week.
Novermber 29. 2007 Session Report
Tonight, we had eight gamers present and played a total of 13 games, counting two games that were played twice. Present and accounted for were Paul, Eric, Clayton, Jane, Olivia, Matthew, and myself plus one first-time attendee -- Ben Stephenson, who had been to some other locations and was joining our group for the first time (we hope he comes back!). Games played included two games that were new to the club (Uptown and Chateau Rocquefort) in addition to favorites such as Quiddler, Wits and Wagers (played twice), Ingenious, Blokus, Cartagena, Can't Stop, Carcassone, Guillotine (played twice) and Lost Cities. As usual, some details follow.
Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)
We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.
Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.
Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.
One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayto 34.
Hope to see everyone back next week.
Quiddler was the first game up, and Eric, Paul and I got in around 4-5 hands before other people started showing up. Paul had a bad first round, getting hit with a -19 but rallied to put himself in contention in the final hand. Eric won the game, 95 to 92 for Paul and 80 for yours truly -- Eric was a bit more consistent and only had one hand when he didn't score alot of points. The three of us were joined by Ben and Clayton for a game of Uptown, which I taught after all of one play under my belt (everyone else was new). Ben won his first game at the club as he had all his tiles connected, despite taking a whole bunch of capture tiles (which would have hurt him had it gone to a tiebreaker -- but no one else had fewer than two so Ben won.)
We started up a game of Wits and Wagers just as Matthew, Jane and Olivia arrived. We split up into two groups as Olivia and Jane wanted to perfect their skills in some of the games they had learned in prior weeks. So, they played a three-player Ingenious (Paul being the third player) which Olivia won. Then the same group tried Cartagena and Jane was the winner. Meanwhile, a couple of five-player Wits and Wagers games were completed at the other table, with John coming on top in one and Matthew doing well to win the second, which we played with the new edition rules where you are guaranteed two "free" 5-chip bets per round.
Eric had brought the other new game, Chateau Roquefort, which he proceeded to start explaining -- it had some cute mice going after four different kinds of cheese, and Paul, Ben and Matthew joined him for the first play -- the score record shows another win for Ben. Meanwhile, Jane, Olivia and I tackled Blokus -- a game Olivia seems to have figured out as she stomped us, getting all her pieces down, Jane edging me for second.
Next round of games had four of us (Jane, Olivia, Clayton and myself) playing Can't Stop while the other table played one of the fastest Carcassone games ever. Can't Stop turned out to be a win for Clayton, who bombed out the first three rounds but then starting hitting his numbers while the rest of us played a bit too cautiously, as it turned out. Eric took the quick-playing Carcassone game by a fairly comfortable margin. Eric, Ben and Paul kept going with two games of Guillotine -- one of which was really close, 20-18-18, Eric squeaking by -- but Ben took the second game for his third win of the evening.
One final game was Lost Cities -- Clayton vs John -- and it was a little revenge for that Can't Stop debacle; after a full three hands, it was John 161 Clayto 34.
Hope to see everyone back next week.
Friday, November 16, 2007
November 15, 2007 Session Report
For the second week in a row, we hit double-figures in attendance even with a few regular attendees missing this week. (Imagine what heights we might reach if everyone showed up at the same time!) Roll call for this week's session included Paul, Doug, Clayton, Gabe, Helen and myself, plus Neil (who we hadn't seen for a good while) along with Joan, Matthew and daughter Olivia who were back for their second session. Woo hoo!
A total of six games got played, two of which (brought by me) were making their debuts at the club. First up was a quick game of Parlay, played by Clayton, Doug, Paul and myself, while we were waiting for others to arrive. The game broke up right after Doug scored some big points for his second 7-letter word in a row. (I think I have only come up with one seven-letter word ever since I started playing Parlay about six months ago!)
The main game of the evening was Kingsburg, which was a handmade prototype of an Essen release based on the English rules -- the game is not yet available in the States. I taught the game to Clayton, Gabe, Paul and Doug. It's a 5-turn game with four parts ("seasons") where you roll dice three times per turn to influence advisors to this mythical king, build buildings and then prepare to wage battle with the king's enemies in the fourth season. Gabe and Paul expressed concern about the luck of the die rolls early in the game, and Clayton (who had some really good rolls in the first turn or so) raced out to an early lead. The game tightened up in the middle, but Gabe got the Cathedral built and managed to finish first, with a few cubes left over to convert into more VPs. Even Doug, who finished last, seemed to like the game. Final scores were Gabe 45 John 39 Paul 37 Clayton 34 Doug 30. Looking forward to trying this one out with the real deck of Enemies cards, as I just had to guess at most of them to come up with a playable hand-made prototype.
By then, Neil, Matthew, Jane and Olivia had arrived, and they played a couple of games of Blokus, which Jane and Olivia had learned from Doug and Eric the prior week. Olivia seemed to have picked up the game fairly well, and she won both games! By this time Helen arrived, and the Kingsburg game still had a turn or so left. Helen decided to teach Puerto Rico to the newcomers, a daunting challenge as it is a bit on the high end of the complexity scale. Well, as it turns out, the game didn't get finished, but Jane (who said she hadn't a clue) wound up with the most points. While Jane and Matthew were scratching their heads a bit trying to figure the game out after being exposed to one of the more advanced games, Olivia said she began to "get it" towards the end of the session.
Finally, the other game new to the club and just about all of us (except perhaps Doug, who recalled playing this one a couple of years back, was Leapfrog. It's a series of three frog races where each player controls his/her frog by playing a disck numbered 1-6. Scoring is based on finish position with an added incentive to collect tadpoles based on finishing position. At the end, Paul and I tied for first on points, but Paul won the tiebreaker, two tadpoles to won. Helen, Doug, and Clayton were the other players, but Clayton's frog "croaked" at the end.
Everyone should know the Community Center is closed for Turkey Day next week, so our next session will be in two weeks, which is Thursday, November 29, 2007.
Finally, the Games Club of Maryland is sponsoring a new event, a gaming retreat which will be a one-day FREE event coming in January. There are two requirements: Attendees must be GCOM supporting members and attendees must pre-register for the event in advance. For details, just ask me at the next club session (I have some copies of the pre-reg form) or check out the GCOM webpage for this event:
http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/gamingretreat.asp
A total of six games got played, two of which (brought by me) were making their debuts at the club. First up was a quick game of Parlay, played by Clayton, Doug, Paul and myself, while we were waiting for others to arrive. The game broke up right after Doug scored some big points for his second 7-letter word in a row. (I think I have only come up with one seven-letter word ever since I started playing Parlay about six months ago!)
The main game of the evening was Kingsburg, which was a handmade prototype of an Essen release based on the English rules -- the game is not yet available in the States. I taught the game to Clayton, Gabe, Paul and Doug. It's a 5-turn game with four parts ("seasons") where you roll dice three times per turn to influence advisors to this mythical king, build buildings and then prepare to wage battle with the king's enemies in the fourth season. Gabe and Paul expressed concern about the luck of the die rolls early in the game, and Clayton (who had some really good rolls in the first turn or so) raced out to an early lead. The game tightened up in the middle, but Gabe got the Cathedral built and managed to finish first, with a few cubes left over to convert into more VPs. Even Doug, who finished last, seemed to like the game. Final scores were Gabe 45 John 39 Paul 37 Clayton 34 Doug 30. Looking forward to trying this one out with the real deck of Enemies cards, as I just had to guess at most of them to come up with a playable hand-made prototype.
By then, Neil, Matthew, Jane and Olivia had arrived, and they played a couple of games of Blokus, which Jane and Olivia had learned from Doug and Eric the prior week. Olivia seemed to have picked up the game fairly well, and she won both games! By this time Helen arrived, and the Kingsburg game still had a turn or so left. Helen decided to teach Puerto Rico to the newcomers, a daunting challenge as it is a bit on the high end of the complexity scale. Well, as it turns out, the game didn't get finished, but Jane (who said she hadn't a clue) wound up with the most points. While Jane and Matthew were scratching their heads a bit trying to figure the game out after being exposed to one of the more advanced games, Olivia said she began to "get it" towards the end of the session.
Finally, the other game new to the club and just about all of us (except perhaps Doug, who recalled playing this one a couple of years back, was Leapfrog. It's a series of three frog races where each player controls his/her frog by playing a disck numbered 1-6. Scoring is based on finish position with an added incentive to collect tadpoles based on finishing position. At the end, Paul and I tied for first on points, but Paul won the tiebreaker, two tadpoles to won. Helen, Doug, and Clayton were the other players, but Clayton's frog "croaked" at the end.
Everyone should know the Community Center is closed for Turkey Day next week, so our next session will be in two weeks, which is Thursday, November 29, 2007.
Finally, the Games Club of Maryland is sponsoring a new event, a gaming retreat which will be a one-day FREE event coming in January. There are two requirements: Attendees must be GCOM supporting members and attendees must pre-register for the event in advance. For details, just ask me at the next club session (I have some copies of the pre-reg form) or check out the GCOM webpage for this event:
http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/gamingretreat.asp
November 15, 2007 Session Report
For the second week in a row, we hit double-figures in attendance even with a few regular attendees missing this week. (Imagine what heights we might reach if everyone showed up at the same time!) Roll call for this week's session included Paul, Doug, Clayton, Gabe, Helen and myself, plus Neil (who we hadn't seen for a good while) along with Joan, Matthew and daughter Olivia who were back for their second session. Woo hoo!
A total of six games got played, two of which (brought by me) were making their debuts at the club. First up was a quick game of Parlay, played by Clayton, Doug, Paul and myself, while we were waiting for others to arrive. The game broke up right after Doug scored some big points for his second 7-letter word in a row. (I think I have only come up with one seven-letter word ever since I started playing Parlay about six months ago!)
The main game of the evening was Kingsburg, which was a handmade prototype of an Essen release based on the English rules -- the game is not yet available in the States. I taught the game to Clayton, Gabe, Paul and Doug. It's a 5-turn game with four parts ("seasons") where you roll dice three times per turn to influence advisors to this mythical king, build buildings and then prepare to wage battle with the king's enemies in the fourth season. Gabe and Paul expressed concern about the luck of the die rolls early in the game, and Clayton (who had some really good rolls in the first turn or so) raced out to an early lead. The game tightened up in the middle, but Gabe got the Cathedral built and managed to finish first, with a few cubes left over to convert into more VPs. Even Doug, who finished last, seemed to like the game. Final scores were Gabe 45 John 39 Paul 37 Clayton 34 Doug 30. Looking forward to trying this one out with the real deck of Enemies cards, as I just had to guess at most of them to come up with a playable hand-made prototype.
By then, Neil, Matthew, Jane and Olivia had arrived, and they played a couple of games of Blokus, which Jane and Olivia had learned from Doug and Eric the prior week. Olivia seemed to have picked up the game fairly well, and she won both games! By this time Helen arrived, and the Kingsburg game still had a turn or so left. Helen decided to teach Puerto Rico to the newcomers, a daunting challenge as it is a bit on the high end of the complexity. Well, as it turns out, the game didn't get finished, but Jane (who said she hadn't a clue) wound up with the most points. While Jane and Matthew were scratching their heads a bit after being exposed to one of the more advanced games, Olivia said she began to "get it" towards the end of the session.
Finally, the other game new to the club and just about all of us (except perhaps Doug, who recalled playing this one a couple of years back, was Leapfrog. It's a series of three frog races where each player controls his/her frog by playing a disck numbered 1-6. Scoring is based on finish position with an added incentive to collect tadpoles based on finishing position. At the end, Paul and I tied for first on points, but Paul won the tiebreaker, two tadpoles to won. Helen, Doug, and Clayton were the other players, but Clayton's frog "croaked" at the end.
Everyone should know the Community Center is closed for Turkey Day next week, so our next session will be in two weeks, which is Thursday, November 29, 2007.
Finally, the Games Club of Maryland is sponsoring a new event, a gaming retreat which will be a one-day FREE event coming in January. There are two requirements: Attendees must be GCOM supporting members and attendees must pre-register for the event in advance. For details, just ask me at the next club session (I have some copies of the pre-reg form) or check out the GCOM webpage for this event:
http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/gamingretreat.asp
A total of six games got played, two of which (brought by me) were making their debuts at the club. First up was a quick game of Parlay, played by Clayton, Doug, Paul and myself, while we were waiting for others to arrive. The game broke up right after Doug scored some big points for his second 7-letter word in a row. (I think I have only come up with one seven-letter word ever since I started playing Parlay about six months ago!)
The main game of the evening was Kingsburg, which was a handmade prototype of an Essen release based on the English rules -- the game is not yet available in the States. I taught the game to Clayton, Gabe, Paul and Doug. It's a 5-turn game with four parts ("seasons") where you roll dice three times per turn to influence advisors to this mythical king, build buildings and then prepare to wage battle with the king's enemies in the fourth season. Gabe and Paul expressed concern about the luck of the die rolls early in the game, and Clayton (who had some really good rolls in the first turn or so) raced out to an early lead. The game tightened up in the middle, but Gabe got the Cathedral built and managed to finish first, with a few cubes left over to convert into more VPs. Even Doug, who finished last, seemed to like the game. Final scores were Gabe 45 John 39 Paul 37 Clayton 34 Doug 30. Looking forward to trying this one out with the real deck of Enemies cards, as I just had to guess at most of them to come up with a playable hand-made prototype.
By then, Neil, Matthew, Jane and Olivia had arrived, and they played a couple of games of Blokus, which Jane and Olivia had learned from Doug and Eric the prior week. Olivia seemed to have picked up the game fairly well, and she won both games! By this time Helen arrived, and the Kingsburg game still had a turn or so left. Helen decided to teach Puerto Rico to the newcomers, a daunting challenge as it is a bit on the high end of the complexity. Well, as it turns out, the game didn't get finished, but Jane (who said she hadn't a clue) wound up with the most points. While Jane and Matthew were scratching their heads a bit after being exposed to one of the more advanced games, Olivia said she began to "get it" towards the end of the session.
Finally, the other game new to the club and just about all of us (except perhaps Doug, who recalled playing this one a couple of years back, was Leapfrog. It's a series of three frog races where each player controls his/her frog by playing a disck numbered 1-6. Scoring is based on finish position with an added incentive to collect tadpoles based on finishing position. At the end, Paul and I tied for first on points, but Paul won the tiebreaker, two tadpoles to won. Helen, Doug, and Clayton were the other players, but Clayton's frog "croaked" at the end.
Everyone should know the Community Center is closed for Turkey Day next week, so our next session will be in two weeks, which is Thursday, November 29, 2007.
Finally, the Games Club of Maryland is sponsoring a new event, a gaming retreat which will be a one-day FREE event coming in January. There are two requirements: Attendees must be GCOM supporting members and attendees must pre-register for the event in advance. For details, just ask me at the next club session (I have some copies of the pre-reg form) or check out the GCOM webpage for this event:
http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/gamingretreat.asp
Thursday, November 8, 2007
November 8, 2007 Session Report
Three newcomers to this week's session swelled our attendance ranks to 11 -- thanks to Jane, Matthew and daughter Olivia who joined regular attendees Clayton, Sarah, Eric, Nicole, Doug, Beth and Paul and myself to make this week's session a good one -- we got in a total of 11 different games: Parlay, Management Material, Showbiz Shuffle, Five Crowns, Phase 10, Ingenious, Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, Cartagena, Blokus and Category Five. Jane, Olivia and Matthew were exposed to a bunch of new games, and we hope they return to future sessions.
Details on some of the games played: Started with Parlay and it wound up in a win for Paul while Nicole and I locked in a close battle for second; Eric and Clayton brought up the rear. Doug, Sarah and Beth played Management Material and Showbiz Shuffle, two of the endless variety of unique card games Doug brings to spice up our sessions -- no report on who won either of those games. Meanwhile, the five of us in the Parlay group took on the challenge of a new game -- Five Crowns -- and Eric came out on top with Nicole second and Clayton third. Eric and Clayton made great starts but, while Eric managed to "go out" in every hand, Clayton faded a bit near the end, allowing Nicole to catch up and pass him.
By then, the newcomers Olivia, Jane and Matthew had arrived and we got them into a couple of games right away: Doug and Nicole introduced Olivia and Jane to Ingenious, and they also found time for two other club favorites (Blokus and Cartagena). Meanwhile, Paul and I introduced Matthew to Ticket to Ride and Carcassone. The other four players (Beth, Sarah, Eric and Clayton) locked horns in Phase 10, a game that Sarah introduced to the club a couple of months back. Clayton once again got off to a strong start, at one point going out right off the bat before everyone else had got a play. But, in the long run, Beth prevailed with Eric second while Sarah recovered to finish ahead of Clayton, whose run of good cards ran out as soon as it started.
We said good bye to Jane, Olivia, Beth, Nicole and Matthew, and the rest of us wound up the evening with Category 5. Doug recovered from taking 27 points in the first hand to win, breaking a tie for first with Eric who struggled in the final hand. Final scores: Doug 45, Sarah and John 57, Eric 61, Paul 69, Clayton 101.
I am looking forward to the fifth annual EuroQuest gaming convention this weekend in Timonium and hope to see many of your there -- otherwise, hope to see everyone at the club next Thursday, our last session before the Thanksgiving holidays.
Details on some of the games played: Started with Parlay and it wound up in a win for Paul while Nicole and I locked in a close battle for second; Eric and Clayton brought up the rear. Doug, Sarah and Beth played Management Material and Showbiz Shuffle, two of the endless variety of unique card games Doug brings to spice up our sessions -- no report on who won either of those games. Meanwhile, the five of us in the Parlay group took on the challenge of a new game -- Five Crowns -- and Eric came out on top with Nicole second and Clayton third. Eric and Clayton made great starts but, while Eric managed to "go out" in every hand, Clayton faded a bit near the end, allowing Nicole to catch up and pass him.
By then, the newcomers Olivia, Jane and Matthew had arrived and we got them into a couple of games right away: Doug and Nicole introduced Olivia and Jane to Ingenious, and they also found time for two other club favorites (Blokus and Cartagena). Meanwhile, Paul and I introduced Matthew to Ticket to Ride and Carcassone. The other four players (Beth, Sarah, Eric and Clayton) locked horns in Phase 10, a game that Sarah introduced to the club a couple of months back. Clayton once again got off to a strong start, at one point going out right off the bat before everyone else had got a play. But, in the long run, Beth prevailed with Eric second while Sarah recovered to finish ahead of Clayton, whose run of good cards ran out as soon as it started.
We said good bye to Jane, Olivia, Beth, Nicole and Matthew, and the rest of us wound up the evening with Category 5. Doug recovered from taking 27 points in the first hand to win, breaking a tie for first with Eric who struggled in the final hand. Final scores: Doug 45, Sarah and John 57, Eric 61, Paul 69, Clayton 101.
I am looking forward to the fifth annual EuroQuest gaming convention this weekend in Timonium and hope to see many of your there -- otherwise, hope to see everyone at the club next Thursday, our last session before the Thanksgiving holidays.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
November 1, 2007 Session Report
A total of eight gamers appeared for tonight's session: Paul, Gabe, Doug, Carlos, Clayton, Eric, Helen and myself. Games played were Can't Stop (twice), the Hot New Essen game (Cuba), Blokus-Trigon, Lost Cities, Boomtown, Guillotine, Coloretto, Sequence (4x), San Juan, and Take 6.
Details: Paul, Gabe and I arrived a bit early and started up a game of Can't Stop which Doug joined in. Paul won with a conservative approach and edged out Gabe for the win by getting his second and third numbers on the same die roll. By then Carlos, Clayton and Eric had arrived and they played a series of games while the four of us went on to try out the hot new game from Essen -- Cuba -- that will be featured as part of the Wild Card event at next week's EuroQuest convention. It was a close game and wound up in a dead tie between Gabe and Doug, at 85 pts apiece. Gabe tried an early money strategy while Doug went for lots of buildings -- both went for the building that gets you victory point for your production good (be it cigars or rum). I came in third at 74 with Paul not far behind at 72. The game appeared to be well received, and it moved on at a steady pace after an not unexpectedly slow first turn while everyone was figuring out what to do.
Meanwhile, there were several games completed by the trio at the other table. Blokus-Trigon was won by Eric who managed to get all his pieces on the board. Eric also took top honors in the Guillotine game, scoring 28 to outpace Carlos (17) and Clayton (10). It was a different story in Can't Stop as Clayton won over Carlos with Eric in last. Eric bounced back to score another win in Coloretto, 38 to 31 for Carlos with Clayton in third. Then Carlos had to leave and Clayton took on Eric in four two-player Sequence games, which ended in a 4-0 whitewash for Eric.
With less than an hour to go, Eric joined the four of us for a five-player Boomtown game that was won by Paul, who used the Blue Governor to make mucho bucks. Final scores on this one were Paul 78, Eric 69, John 64, Doug 63 and Gabe 56. Helen arrived midway through this game and challenged Clayton to a game of San Juan which Helen won decisively, 30-16, just as time ran out. Doug, Eric, Paul and I got in two hands of 6 Nimmt (Take 6), and I didn't as soon not report the scores but I got 40-plus on one hand to wind up far behind with 67 (remember high numbers in this game are not what you want) wheres Paul managed single digits with nine (yes, nine) to finish ahead of Eric (14) and Doug (17).
Hope everyone had a good time. One more session (next Thursday night) with EuroQuest to follow the following Veteran's Day Weekend.
Details: Paul, Gabe and I arrived a bit early and started up a game of Can't Stop which Doug joined in. Paul won with a conservative approach and edged out Gabe for the win by getting his second and third numbers on the same die roll. By then Carlos, Clayton and Eric had arrived and they played a series of games while the four of us went on to try out the hot new game from Essen -- Cuba -- that will be featured as part of the Wild Card event at next week's EuroQuest convention. It was a close game and wound up in a dead tie between Gabe and Doug, at 85 pts apiece. Gabe tried an early money strategy while Doug went for lots of buildings -- both went for the building that gets you victory point for your production good (be it cigars or rum). I came in third at 74 with Paul not far behind at 72. The game appeared to be well received, and it moved on at a steady pace after an not unexpectedly slow first turn while everyone was figuring out what to do.
Meanwhile, there were several games completed by the trio at the other table. Blokus-Trigon was won by Eric who managed to get all his pieces on the board. Eric also took top honors in the Guillotine game, scoring 28 to outpace Carlos (17) and Clayton (10). It was a different story in Can't Stop as Clayton won over Carlos with Eric in last. Eric bounced back to score another win in Coloretto, 38 to 31 for Carlos with Clayton in third. Then Carlos had to leave and Clayton took on Eric in four two-player Sequence games, which ended in a 4-0 whitewash for Eric.
With less than an hour to go, Eric joined the four of us for a five-player Boomtown game that was won by Paul, who used the Blue Governor to make mucho bucks. Final scores on this one were Paul 78, Eric 69, John 64, Doug 63 and Gabe 56. Helen arrived midway through this game and challenged Clayton to a game of San Juan which Helen won decisively, 30-16, just as time ran out. Doug, Eric, Paul and I got in two hands of 6 Nimmt (Take 6), and I didn't as soon not report the scores but I got 40-plus on one hand to wind up far behind with 67 (remember high numbers in this game are not what you want) wheres Paul managed single digits with nine (yes, nine) to finish ahead of Eric (14) and Doug (17).
Hope everyone had a good time. One more session (next Thursday night) with EuroQuest to follow the following Veteran's Day Weekend.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
October 25, 2007 Session Report
This week we had a total of 7 in attendance, as Joan (Sarah's mom) was back for the second time to join Sarah, Paul, Eric, Stan, Clayton and myself. A total of 7 different games were played: Ingenious, Vegas Showdown, Lost Cities, Show Manager, Hoity Toity, Yinsh, and Category 5.
Details on some of the games: Started off with a three-player ingenious game that had an incredibly close finish. Eric looked like the early leader but stalled out when he couldn't push his worst color (blue) toward the end of the game. I managed to pull out the win (9) while Paul (8 then 9 for second worst color) nosed Eric (8 in two worst colors) for third.
By this time Clayton had arrived, and we played an old club favorite, Vegas Showdown. I snagged a Nightclub to take the early lead but midway through the game, an unusual situation developed when the price of the high-scoring Theater dropped as none of the four pre-requisite buildings, the Fancy Lounges, had appeared. I snapped up the Theater and saved up my money for the Fancy Lounge. Unfortunately, Paul outbid me for the two that came up and the game ended with the big square pile emptying while five rectangular buildings (and the two remaining Fancy Lounges) were yet to come out. The end result was a relatively low scoring game, won by Eric with 46, John 40, Paul 37 and Clayton 36.
Sarah and Joan arrived and occupied themselves with a two-player favorite, Lost Cities, won by Sarah. Then we all hooked up for a game of Show Manager (the precursor to Atlantic Star), and Stan joined in as Joan's mentor as she was new to the game. It turned out to be a real unusual game as the first completed show for everyone was the same -- the ballet -- meaning money was real tight since noone was able to borrow on that first completed show. Sarah and the Stan/Joan team seemed affected the most as both were forced to take several undesirable cards for free until a second show was completed. I had pinched my pennies early in the game, and this contributed to an eventual win as I finished second to Eric in NY and was first in Hamburg. The Stan/Joan team managed to finish second overall despite the early money troubles, and Sarah recovered to finish fourth, ahead of Clayton and Paul.
Eric and Stan split off to play several games of YINSH, and Eric reported besting Stan two games out of three. The other games played were a four-player Hoity Toity, another new game for Joan, who ended up doing quite well, leading the race around the board until the very end when Paul passed her and wound up with best collection to take the win. Sarah and I brought up the rear. Then Clayton joined the four of us for a few hands of Category 5, the late night staple, final scores were John 11 Paul 21 Sarah 34 Joan 48 Clayton 70 (three hands played).
A reminder that EuroQuest is just two weeks away, the pre-reg deadline is Nov. 1st. For details, go to http://euroquest.gamesclubofmd.org
Details on some of the games: Started off with a three-player ingenious game that had an incredibly close finish. Eric looked like the early leader but stalled out when he couldn't push his worst color (blue) toward the end of the game. I managed to pull out the win (9) while Paul (8 then 9 for second worst color) nosed Eric (8 in two worst colors) for third.
By this time Clayton had arrived, and we played an old club favorite, Vegas Showdown. I snagged a Nightclub to take the early lead but midway through the game, an unusual situation developed when the price of the high-scoring Theater dropped as none of the four pre-requisite buildings, the Fancy Lounges, had appeared. I snapped up the Theater and saved up my money for the Fancy Lounge. Unfortunately, Paul outbid me for the two that came up and the game ended with the big square pile emptying while five rectangular buildings (and the two remaining Fancy Lounges) were yet to come out. The end result was a relatively low scoring game, won by Eric with 46, John 40, Paul 37 and Clayton 36.
Sarah and Joan arrived and occupied themselves with a two-player favorite, Lost Cities, won by Sarah. Then we all hooked up for a game of Show Manager (the precursor to Atlantic Star), and Stan joined in as Joan's mentor as she was new to the game. It turned out to be a real unusual game as the first completed show for everyone was the same -- the ballet -- meaning money was real tight since noone was able to borrow on that first completed show. Sarah and the Stan/Joan team seemed affected the most as both were forced to take several undesirable cards for free until a second show was completed. I had pinched my pennies early in the game, and this contributed to an eventual win as I finished second to Eric in NY and was first in Hamburg. The Stan/Joan team managed to finish second overall despite the early money troubles, and Sarah recovered to finish fourth, ahead of Clayton and Paul.
Eric and Stan split off to play several games of YINSH, and Eric reported besting Stan two games out of three. The other games played were a four-player Hoity Toity, another new game for Joan, who ended up doing quite well, leading the race around the board until the very end when Paul passed her and wound up with best collection to take the win. Sarah and I brought up the rear. Then Clayton joined the four of us for a few hands of Category 5, the late night staple, final scores were John 11 Paul 21 Sarah 34 Joan 48 Clayton 70 (three hands played).
A reminder that EuroQuest is just two weeks away, the pre-reg deadline is Nov. 1st. For details, go to http://euroquest.gamesclubofmd.org
Friday, October 19, 2007
October 18, 2007 Session Report
We had a total of eight gamers at this week's session: Doug, Paul, Beth, Nicole, Eric, Clayton, Sarah and myself. We played a total of five different games: Olympia 2000, Balderdash, Lost Cities, Spree, 6 Nimmt.
Started off with a four-player Olympia 2000 (Doug, Paul, Nicole and myself) and Doug's athletes won a close contest (by two points) which included a win by one of his handicapped athletes. Paul collected no laurels, something I haven't seen very often in this game. Next up was Balderdash, which Doug brought, and we started out with seven players, then Sarah joined as Nicole's partner, but two people dropped out near the end. I had eased into an early lead, then was caught by Beth, and finally both of us were surpassed by Doug who came on strongly to win.
Meanwhile Paul and Sarah played a very high scoring Lost Cities game, featuring one hand in which they both scored over 100 pts. Final scores (after four hands) were reported as 401 for Paul and 215 for Sarah. Not much defense in that one.
Nicole and Beth left early, leaving six of us to play the final two games of the evening. Doug introduced us to Spree, a Cheapass game, this time Doug had all the bad luck, and Sarah went on to win, stealing two Queens from Paul who had previously stolen them from Doug, the original owner. Paul was second and the rest of us were pretty far behind Sarah's winning score of over 150 points.
Final game was 6 Nimmt (Take 6), scores were Paul 40 Doug 53 John and Sarah 54 Eric 65 Clayton 71 -- low numbers are good, so this was another win for Paul.
Started off with a four-player Olympia 2000 (Doug, Paul, Nicole and myself) and Doug's athletes won a close contest (by two points) which included a win by one of his handicapped athletes. Paul collected no laurels, something I haven't seen very often in this game. Next up was Balderdash, which Doug brought, and we started out with seven players, then Sarah joined as Nicole's partner, but two people dropped out near the end. I had eased into an early lead, then was caught by Beth, and finally both of us were surpassed by Doug who came on strongly to win.
Meanwhile Paul and Sarah played a very high scoring Lost Cities game, featuring one hand in which they both scored over 100 pts. Final scores (after four hands) were reported as 401 for Paul and 215 for Sarah. Not much defense in that one.
Nicole and Beth left early, leaving six of us to play the final two games of the evening. Doug introduced us to Spree, a Cheapass game, this time Doug had all the bad luck, and Sarah went on to win, stealing two Queens from Paul who had previously stolen them from Doug, the original owner. Paul was second and the rest of us were pretty far behind Sarah's winning score of over 150 points.
Final game was 6 Nimmt (Take 6), scores were Paul 40 Doug 53 John and Sarah 54 Eric 65 Clayton 71 -- low numbers are good, so this was another win for Paul.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
October 11, 2007 Session Report
We had another good week attendance-wise, including two first-timers to the club. Heather (friend of Gabe's) and Larry (who was picking up a Crokinole board from Stan) joined Paul, Gabe, Doug, Carlos, Nicole, Beth, Sarah, Eric, Stan and myself to bring the total attendance to 12 for the sessions. We played a series of different games as we spent most of the evening divided into two groups.
At one table, Gabe, Carlos, Paul and Doug played a four-player Tsuro which was won by Doug. There was a game of Incan Gold (and perhaps others) completed, don't have scoresheets or results -- sorry. Other games that I do have scores for are Ticket to Ride, which was won by Paul with 119 ahead of Carlos at 107, Gabe at 98, Sarah at 90 and Doug with 85. Paul also won a four-player Boomtown over Sarah, Gabe and Doug. Take 6 was a three-player, won by Paul ahead of Sarah and Doug. I also remember seeing a game of Target being played, afraid I may have missed others as I was busy playing games at the other table (need to do a better job of keeping track next time).
The other group started out as Nicole, Beth, Eric and myself. We played Megastar, a card game by Friedemann Friese with a records theme: Eric won by one point, 35 to 34, I came second with Nicole at 30, two points better than her mom. Next up was Qwirkle, and I drew just about all the right tiles and won a fairly decisive win ahead of Eric with Nicole once again in third. We then played R-Eco, and everyone but Nicole dumped, but this game wound up with the dumpers beating out the ecology-minded, and Eric got the last set of cards to secure the win. At this point, Beth and Nicole had to leave, and Eric and I were joined by Stan and Larry in playing Before the Wind, an engrossing card game I had introduced to the group the prior week. We didn't quite finish, but Eric appeared to be on his way to a win when we picked up the game just before closing time.
At one table, Gabe, Carlos, Paul and Doug played a four-player Tsuro which was won by Doug. There was a game of Incan Gold (and perhaps others) completed, don't have scoresheets or results -- sorry. Other games that I do have scores for are Ticket to Ride, which was won by Paul with 119 ahead of Carlos at 107, Gabe at 98, Sarah at 90 and Doug with 85. Paul also won a four-player Boomtown over Sarah, Gabe and Doug. Take 6 was a three-player, won by Paul ahead of Sarah and Doug. I also remember seeing a game of Target being played, afraid I may have missed others as I was busy playing games at the other table (need to do a better job of keeping track next time).
The other group started out as Nicole, Beth, Eric and myself. We played Megastar, a card game by Friedemann Friese with a records theme: Eric won by one point, 35 to 34, I came second with Nicole at 30, two points better than her mom. Next up was Qwirkle, and I drew just about all the right tiles and won a fairly decisive win ahead of Eric with Nicole once again in third. We then played R-Eco, and everyone but Nicole dumped, but this game wound up with the dumpers beating out the ecology-minded, and Eric got the last set of cards to secure the win. At this point, Beth and Nicole had to leave, and Eric and I were joined by Stan and Larry in playing Before the Wind, an engrossing card game I had introduced to the group the prior week. We didn't quite finish, but Eric appeared to be on his way to a win when we picked up the game just before closing time.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
October 4, 2007 Session Report
Despite the absence of a couple of "regular" attendees, attendance was still strong, at 9, and we had two games going on for most of the evening and one new attendee: Estefani (known as Teffy to her friends) who arrived with Val. Paul, Doug, Gabe, Eric, Sarah, Clayton and myself rounded out the list of attendees.
We played a total of eight different games: Olympia 2000, Bang, Lost Cities, Thebes, Before the Wind (first time play for this new game at the club), Mamma Mia, The Nacho Incident and the ever-popular Category 5.
Here's some details. Olympia 2000 was our quick 6 PM filler game while waiting for others to arrive. Final scores were John 14, Paul 10, Gabe 9 and Doug 7. Then we were joined by Sarah, Clayton and Eric for a full 7-player Bang using the extra cards from the Dodge City expansion. Doug played the role of the Sheriff and always seemed to have enough bullets and beers to make life difficult to those on the outlaw side of the equation. Clayton started shooting at me, then Sarah started shooting at Eric, both Eric and Sarah took shots at Doug, then Clayton went after Eric while Gabe tried to take out Sarah, making me think both Clayton and Gabe were the deputies. I didn't have much time to find out as I was the first one out (as one of the three outlaws) when some dynamite (which most of us had dodged once or twice already) happened to go off at the wrong time. (Hate when that happens!) Doug and his two deputies (Gabe and Paul) managed to survive while all the outlaws and the one renegade (Clayton in this case) were wiped out. A win for the Good Guys, so to speak, although it wasn't clear who the Good Guys were for a long time.
Eric and I (first two knocked out of the Bang game) managed to get in a quick hand of Lost Cities which Eric won handily. Then it was two three-player games, one being Thebes which Paul won over Sarah and Gabe after Gabe missed on some key excavation pulls. The other game was a new one I wanted to try out, Phalanx's Before the Wind, a someone innovative card game which Eric, Doug and I took on its maiden voyage. Doug seized the early lead and managed to win, 50 to 44 for myself (I had Clayton watching as my teammate in this game) with Eric at 34, with all of us going into the final round within striking distance of the win (Doug hit the winning point score of 50 exactly). The game seemed to get thumbs up from both Doug and Eric, enough to warrant a second appearance some time soon.
Val and Teffy had arrived by this game, so a five-player Mamma Mia was arranged, and Val and I were tied for first with six orders apiece and also tied on the tiebreaker, number of ingredients in hand. Eric was not far behind with four orders while the game proved to be a learning experience for Sarah and Teffy, the two newcomers to the game. Not to be outdone on the food-related themes, Doug, Gabe and Paul hooked up for a game of Nacho Incident, which lasted the rest of the session, final scores: Paul 85 Gabe 79 Doug 76 (a close one!) Clayton joined the Mamma Mia group for a final hand of Category 5 which finished up just as the witching hour of 10 PM struck. Final scores were John 1, Sarah 2, Teffy 11, Eric 13, Clayton 22, Val 32. Teffy -- the one newbie to the game -- managed to avoid taking any negative points until the penultimate (9th of 10 cards) were played, when she wound up taking a full row but still did well to place third in her first game.
Hope everyone had a good time and look forward to seeing everyone again next week.
We played a total of eight different games: Olympia 2000, Bang, Lost Cities, Thebes, Before the Wind (first time play for this new game at the club), Mamma Mia, The Nacho Incident and the ever-popular Category 5.
Here's some details. Olympia 2000 was our quick 6 PM filler game while waiting for others to arrive. Final scores were John 14, Paul 10, Gabe 9 and Doug 7. Then we were joined by Sarah, Clayton and Eric for a full 7-player Bang using the extra cards from the Dodge City expansion. Doug played the role of the Sheriff and always seemed to have enough bullets and beers to make life difficult to those on the outlaw side of the equation. Clayton started shooting at me, then Sarah started shooting at Eric, both Eric and Sarah took shots at Doug, then Clayton went after Eric while Gabe tried to take out Sarah, making me think both Clayton and Gabe were the deputies. I didn't have much time to find out as I was the first one out (as one of the three outlaws) when some dynamite (which most of us had dodged once or twice already) happened to go off at the wrong time. (Hate when that happens!) Doug and his two deputies (Gabe and Paul) managed to survive while all the outlaws and the one renegade (Clayton in this case) were wiped out. A win for the Good Guys, so to speak, although it wasn't clear who the Good Guys were for a long time.
Eric and I (first two knocked out of the Bang game) managed to get in a quick hand of Lost Cities which Eric won handily. Then it was two three-player games, one being Thebes which Paul won over Sarah and Gabe after Gabe missed on some key excavation pulls. The other game was a new one I wanted to try out, Phalanx's Before the Wind, a someone innovative card game which Eric, Doug and I took on its maiden voyage. Doug seized the early lead and managed to win, 50 to 44 for myself (I had Clayton watching as my teammate in this game) with Eric at 34, with all of us going into the final round within striking distance of the win (Doug hit the winning point score of 50 exactly). The game seemed to get thumbs up from both Doug and Eric, enough to warrant a second appearance some time soon.
Val and Teffy had arrived by this game, so a five-player Mamma Mia was arranged, and Val and I were tied for first with six orders apiece and also tied on the tiebreaker, number of ingredients in hand. Eric was not far behind with four orders while the game proved to be a learning experience for Sarah and Teffy, the two newcomers to the game. Not to be outdone on the food-related themes, Doug, Gabe and Paul hooked up for a game of Nacho Incident, which lasted the rest of the session, final scores: Paul 85 Gabe 79 Doug 76 (a close one!) Clayton joined the Mamma Mia group for a final hand of Category 5 which finished up just as the witching hour of 10 PM struck. Final scores were John 1, Sarah 2, Teffy 11, Eric 13, Clayton 22, Val 32. Teffy -- the one newbie to the game -- managed to avoid taking any negative points until the penultimate (9th of 10 cards) were played, when she wound up taking a full row but still did well to place third in her first game.
Hope everyone had a good time and look forward to seeing everyone again next week.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
September 27, 2007 Session Report
This week we had a total of nine attendees, one of whom was attending her first session at the club. Gabe, Paul, Nicole, Beth, Eric, Clayton and myself were joined by Sarah who brought her mom, Joan, to the club. While Joan was new to the club, she was not new to gaming and was familiar with a couple of the games we played.
The first five to arrive (Gabe, Nicole, Paul, Beth and myself) played Turn the Tide, aptly described as "Category 5 on Steroids" -- with five players, we played five hands (passing each hand around the table) and the winner was Gabe with 17 with Nicole in second at 13, everyone else had 9. The second group to arrive (consisting of Eric, Clayton, Joan and Sarah) decided not to wait around and played a four-player Blokus Trigon, won by Sarah who got all her pieces on the board.
We then split up for two more games, with the five-player group of Gabe, Sarah, Paul, Joan and Clayton playing Boomtown (won by Sarah) and Ticket to Ride (won by Gabe). The rest of us (Eric, Beth, Nicole and myself) played Himalaya, which ended in a victory for yours truly over Eric, 32-29 on yak points after Beth was eliminated on stupas and then Nicole on political influence.
The next round of games say Clayton joining Eric and me for a series of Sequence games, which wound up being a total of five games, Eric winning three and me two while Clayton was (surprisingly) shut out although this has become a recent favorite game. The other game was Queens Necklace, with the final scores reported as Gabe 120 Paul 80 Sarah 60 and Joan 20.
With around a half hour left in the session, the entire group played three hands of Category 5, with Paul hanging on to win despite being zinged for 22 points on the final hand. Sarah came in a respectable second place while Eric was a close third.
The first five to arrive (Gabe, Nicole, Paul, Beth and myself) played Turn the Tide, aptly described as "Category 5 on Steroids" -- with five players, we played five hands (passing each hand around the table) and the winner was Gabe with 17 with Nicole in second at 13, everyone else had 9. The second group to arrive (consisting of Eric, Clayton, Joan and Sarah) decided not to wait around and played a four-player Blokus Trigon, won by Sarah who got all her pieces on the board.
We then split up for two more games, with the five-player group of Gabe, Sarah, Paul, Joan and Clayton playing Boomtown (won by Sarah) and Ticket to Ride (won by Gabe). The rest of us (Eric, Beth, Nicole and myself) played Himalaya, which ended in a victory for yours truly over Eric, 32-29 on yak points after Beth was eliminated on stupas and then Nicole on political influence.
The next round of games say Clayton joining Eric and me for a series of Sequence games, which wound up being a total of five games, Eric winning three and me two while Clayton was (surprisingly) shut out although this has become a recent favorite game. The other game was Queens Necklace, with the final scores reported as Gabe 120 Paul 80 Sarah 60 and Joan 20.
With around a half hour left in the session, the entire group played three hands of Category 5, with Paul hanging on to win despite being zinged for 22 points on the final hand. Sarah came in a respectable second place while Eric was a close third.
Friday, September 21, 2007
September 20, 2007 Session Report
Attendees: Paul, Doug, Stan, Eric, Sarah, Clayton and myself (7 total).
Games Played: Qwirkle, Sequence (4x), If Wishes Were Fishes, Winners Circle, Lost Cities, Twilight Struggle, Amun-Re, TransAmerica.
Highlights: Three of us got there are few minutes early and we played a game of Qwirkle using the interesting homemade bag brought by Doug who also supplied the game. The scores were very close: Paul 131 John 127 Doug 121. Doug got the 6-point bonus for ending the game but Paul and I got more of the 6-point bonuses during the game.
Clayton and Eric arrived and played a game that seems to be Clayton's new favorite, Sequence. Clayton and Eric split a pair of two-player games and were joined by Stan in a couple of three-player games, of which Clayton and Stan were the two winners. Meanwhile, at the other table, Sarah joined the earlier trio of Doug, Paul and myself in a game of If Wishes Were Fishes, and ran away with what started out as a fairly close contest. Final scores in that one were Sarah 86, John 76, Doug 60 Paul 53.
At this point there was a bit of chaos as Eric, Stan and Clayton had started up a game of Winners Circle, while Doug took on Sarah in Lost Cities. Stan and Paul took a bit of a break, so I filled in for a round in the Winners Circle game, then Paul finished up the game while Stan and I started up Twilight Struggle. The final totals of the Winners Circle (a remake of Royal Turf that uses the names of real-life champion horses) was Eric 2700 Stan/John/Paul 1950 Clayton 1150. The Lost Cities game was a high-scoring affair, Doug 171 to 120 for Sarah (I assume they played three hands).
While Stan and I relived the Cold War with Twilight Struggle, Eric, Doug, Paul and Sarah went back to ancient times for a game of Amun-Re. The Twilight Struggle game ended with an automatic victory for the Russians (me) as I pushed the VP marker to 20 on Turn 4, with the world tottering on the brink of nuclear war at Defcon 2 for much of the game. The Amun-Re game lasted close to the 10 PM closing time, with a win for Eric (48) ahead of Doug (44) Paul (41) and then Sarah (32).
The Cold War ended earlier than expected so Clayton joined Stan and I for a quick game of TransAmerica using the new variant where each player gets to lay three sections of track that only they can run on. (Forget the name of it -- we used some Settlers pieces to represent the special track sections.) I believe I won after about 3 rounds or so over Stan when Clayton went off the ledge.
All in all, a fun session, hope to see everyone back next week in addition to a few of you who missed out this week!
Games Played: Qwirkle, Sequence (4x), If Wishes Were Fishes, Winners Circle, Lost Cities, Twilight Struggle, Amun-Re, TransAmerica.
Highlights: Three of us got there are few minutes early and we played a game of Qwirkle using the interesting homemade bag brought by Doug who also supplied the game. The scores were very close: Paul 131 John 127 Doug 121. Doug got the 6-point bonus for ending the game but Paul and I got more of the 6-point bonuses during the game.
Clayton and Eric arrived and played a game that seems to be Clayton's new favorite, Sequence. Clayton and Eric split a pair of two-player games and were joined by Stan in a couple of three-player games, of which Clayton and Stan were the two winners. Meanwhile, at the other table, Sarah joined the earlier trio of Doug, Paul and myself in a game of If Wishes Were Fishes, and ran away with what started out as a fairly close contest. Final scores in that one were Sarah 86, John 76, Doug 60 Paul 53.
At this point there was a bit of chaos as Eric, Stan and Clayton had started up a game of Winners Circle, while Doug took on Sarah in Lost Cities. Stan and Paul took a bit of a break, so I filled in for a round in the Winners Circle game, then Paul finished up the game while Stan and I started up Twilight Struggle. The final totals of the Winners Circle (a remake of Royal Turf that uses the names of real-life champion horses) was Eric 2700 Stan/John/Paul 1950 Clayton 1150. The Lost Cities game was a high-scoring affair, Doug 171 to 120 for Sarah (I assume they played three hands).
While Stan and I relived the Cold War with Twilight Struggle, Eric, Doug, Paul and Sarah went back to ancient times for a game of Amun-Re. The Twilight Struggle game ended with an automatic victory for the Russians (me) as I pushed the VP marker to 20 on Turn 4, with the world tottering on the brink of nuclear war at Defcon 2 for much of the game. The Amun-Re game lasted close to the 10 PM closing time, with a win for Eric (48) ahead of Doug (44) Paul (41) and then Sarah (32).
The Cold War ended earlier than expected so Clayton joined Stan and I for a quick game of TransAmerica using the new variant where each player gets to lay three sections of track that only they can run on. (Forget the name of it -- we used some Settlers pieces to represent the special track sections.) I believe I won after about 3 rounds or so over Stan when Clayton went off the ledge.
All in all, a fun session, hope to see everyone back next week in addition to a few of you who missed out this week!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
September 13, 2007 Session Report
Strong attendance this week, a total of 12 gamers (one newcomer) to the club: Clayton, Gabe, Paul, Doug, Nicole, Beth, Sarah, Eric, Rodney, Val and Kathryn B. -- newcomer, friend of Sarah's -- and myself. Games played (11): Thurn & Taxis -- Power and Glory; Qwirkle; Blokus Trigon (x3); Quiddler; Lost Cities; Incan Gold (x2); Sequence (x3); Fairy Tale (x3); Gnadenlos; Parlay; Category 5.
Here's the details: Four of us (Gabe, Paul, Doug and myself played the Thurn and Taxis sequel, Power and Glory. This game uses the houses from the original game but a whole new board and set of cards and victory chits. It's a bit longer and more strategic than the regular game, as city cards can be played as horses to pull the carriage or for the city itself. The endgame is different, too, as players aren't collecting those carriage cards and the Cartwright is not part of the game. Gabe was doing real well, picking up multiple VP chits with a nice 6-city route. I was going last in the turn order and, for once, everything clicked as I set myself up for a nice 8-route to put five houses down to end the game. Paul and Doug wound up barely registering on the positive side of the scoreboard, and I nosed out Gabe for the win.
By this time a group consisting of Nicole, Beth, Clayton and Rodney formed to play two "Q" games: first Quirkle, which was won by Clayton by virtue of the six-point bonus for ending the game; final scores were 101 for Clayton, 95 for Beth, 87 for Rodney and 76 for Nicole. The Quiddler game was a close one, with Rodney and Nicole battling it out for the win; final scores were Rodney 144 Nicole 139 Beth 117 Clayton 89.
Kathryn and Sarah arrived at the other table, and they joined Eric to play several three-player games of Blokus-Trigon, two of which were won by Eric with one win for Sarah. I also have scores for one hand of Lost Cities between Eric and Sarah, 24-4 for Eric. By then the T&T players were looking for another game, and it was Incan Gold which was played twice -- first game had seven players, and somehow I managed to win a really close one, with 32 points versus 30 for Gabe and Sarah with Paul not far behind at 29. (We figured out that Sarah could have won by staying in the cave for one more turn.) Second Incan Gold game had Rodney moving over from the other table to score a decisive victory, with 33 pts, well ahead of Eric (20) in second.
At this point we re-split into two groups. Rodney and I took on Clayton and Eric in Sequence (playing as two-player teams). We played three quick games, and I'm pleased to report Rodney and I won two out of three. The other table played three hands of Fairy Tale -- if I am reading the scores right, it was Doug and Kathryn winding up tied with 106 pts overall. Clayton, Eric and I convinced Val, who had just arrived, into joining us for a game of Gnadenlos. The game ended when Val picked up her third Vulture and it turned out the winner was Clayton. Meanwhile, the other group played a game of Parlay -- no scores to report on that one, unfortunately.
Finally, the nine of us who were left played a hand of Category Five, and Paul, who played two low numbers and took no other rows, wound up the winner with only two negative pts, ahead of Doug and Eric who tied for second with 7.
Here's the details: Four of us (Gabe, Paul, Doug and myself played the Thurn and Taxis sequel, Power and Glory. This game uses the houses from the original game but a whole new board and set of cards and victory chits. It's a bit longer and more strategic than the regular game, as city cards can be played as horses to pull the carriage or for the city itself. The endgame is different, too, as players aren't collecting those carriage cards and the Cartwright is not part of the game. Gabe was doing real well, picking up multiple VP chits with a nice 6-city route. I was going last in the turn order and, for once, everything clicked as I set myself up for a nice 8-route to put five houses down to end the game. Paul and Doug wound up barely registering on the positive side of the scoreboard, and I nosed out Gabe for the win.
By this time a group consisting of Nicole, Beth, Clayton and Rodney formed to play two "Q" games: first Quirkle, which was won by Clayton by virtue of the six-point bonus for ending the game; final scores were 101 for Clayton, 95 for Beth, 87 for Rodney and 76 for Nicole. The Quiddler game was a close one, with Rodney and Nicole battling it out for the win; final scores were Rodney 144 Nicole 139 Beth 117 Clayton 89.
Kathryn and Sarah arrived at the other table, and they joined Eric to play several three-player games of Blokus-Trigon, two of which were won by Eric with one win for Sarah. I also have scores for one hand of Lost Cities between Eric and Sarah, 24-4 for Eric. By then the T&T players were looking for another game, and it was Incan Gold which was played twice -- first game had seven players, and somehow I managed to win a really close one, with 32 points versus 30 for Gabe and Sarah with Paul not far behind at 29. (We figured out that Sarah could have won by staying in the cave for one more turn.) Second Incan Gold game had Rodney moving over from the other table to score a decisive victory, with 33 pts, well ahead of Eric (20) in second.
At this point we re-split into two groups. Rodney and I took on Clayton and Eric in Sequence (playing as two-player teams). We played three quick games, and I'm pleased to report Rodney and I won two out of three. The other table played three hands of Fairy Tale -- if I am reading the scores right, it was Doug and Kathryn winding up tied with 106 pts overall. Clayton, Eric and I convinced Val, who had just arrived, into joining us for a game of Gnadenlos. The game ended when Val picked up her third Vulture and it turned out the winner was Clayton. Meanwhile, the other group played a game of Parlay -- no scores to report on that one, unfortunately.
Finally, the nine of us who were left played a hand of Category Five, and Paul, who played two low numbers and took no other rows, wound up the winner with only two negative pts, ahead of Doug and Eric who tied for second with 7.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
September 6, 2007 Session Report
Once again, we had a total of 8 gamers in attendance: Gabe, Doug, Nicole, Beth, Clayton, Sarah, Eric and myself. With the added hour, we got in more games than in most of our recent sessions. Games played (and I hope this is a complete list): Parlay, Sequence (4 times), Lost Cities (5 times), Hey Thats My Fish, Tsuro, Power Grid, Guillotine, Blokus Trigon and Loco, for a total of 16 plays of nine different games, at least that's what I counted on the sheets.
Details: The Parlay game was a 6-player, with Sarah joining after missing out the first two hands and winning her first hand with a nice score of 100 pts. The game was won by Gabe with 545 pts (winning condition is 500) with Doug second at 400. Sarah wound up third at 250 and Nicole, Beth and I also participated (scores withheld at personal request).
Eric brought a game called Sequence that proved to be fairly popular. He taught the game to Clayton, winning two out of three. Later, Sarah won a three-player game over Nicole and Gabe. Sorry I missed out on the chance to play this one -- it looked interesting.
Lost Cities had a nice revival, as both of the club copies were in play at once for a good part of the evening. The scores had Clayton edging out Nicole in one game, Gabe and Sarah tying in another, Gabe topping Sarah in a third game (I believe Sarah was playing LC for the first time, however), while Beth and I had quite a tussle which finally turned my way in the final hand as I wiped out a 41-point deficit as Beth got some bad cards, or so she said. I think there was a fifth game played involving Clayton and either Sarah or Gabe, but sorry no results reported. (Another tie, perhaps?)
The one long game played was a four-player Power Grid on the always challenging Italy map. Eric, Doug, Beth and I had played before so it was a tough game that got even tougher as the Power Plant market got jammed up. When the first jam occurred in Phase 1, it looked like Doug had the advantage. But when Phase 3 got started, Eric got a nice 7 garbage plant that let him get to 17 cities and take the win with Doug just one city behind, followed by Beth and then yours truly in last.
Other games: Tsuro, a three-player won by Gabe versus Sarah and Nicole: Hey That's My Fish, two-player, Gabe with 57 and Sarah with 42; Blokus-Trigon, another three-player won by Doug who got all his pieces on the board, followed by Eric with 4 and Nicole with 11 (low scores are better); then Guillotine, with Doug coming out on top in a close one, 21-19 over Nicole while Eric came in third despite bagging Marie Antoinette.
We wound up the evening with a game of Loco, which I thought I knew but didn't. The game was a 4-player but since there were six of us, we had a played with a couple of teams. Eric took the game with 18 points; other scores were 13 for the John/Clayton team, 12 for Doug and 10 for Nicole/Beth team. However, I claim a moral victory since Clayton and I were the only new players to the game.
I got to play a wide variety of games and enjoyed the session even though I didn't do that well in many of the games. Looking forward to this weekend's TriadCon convention in College Park and hope to see everyone next week.
Details: The Parlay game was a 6-player, with Sarah joining after missing out the first two hands and winning her first hand with a nice score of 100 pts. The game was won by Gabe with 545 pts (winning condition is 500) with Doug second at 400. Sarah wound up third at 250 and Nicole, Beth and I also participated (scores withheld at personal request).
Eric brought a game called Sequence that proved to be fairly popular. He taught the game to Clayton, winning two out of three. Later, Sarah won a three-player game over Nicole and Gabe. Sorry I missed out on the chance to play this one -- it looked interesting.
Lost Cities had a nice revival, as both of the club copies were in play at once for a good part of the evening. The scores had Clayton edging out Nicole in one game, Gabe and Sarah tying in another, Gabe topping Sarah in a third game (I believe Sarah was playing LC for the first time, however), while Beth and I had quite a tussle which finally turned my way in the final hand as I wiped out a 41-point deficit as Beth got some bad cards, or so she said. I think there was a fifth game played involving Clayton and either Sarah or Gabe, but sorry no results reported. (Another tie, perhaps?)
The one long game played was a four-player Power Grid on the always challenging Italy map. Eric, Doug, Beth and I had played before so it was a tough game that got even tougher as the Power Plant market got jammed up. When the first jam occurred in Phase 1, it looked like Doug had the advantage. But when Phase 3 got started, Eric got a nice 7 garbage plant that let him get to 17 cities and take the win with Doug just one city behind, followed by Beth and then yours truly in last.
Other games: Tsuro, a three-player won by Gabe versus Sarah and Nicole: Hey That's My Fish, two-player, Gabe with 57 and Sarah with 42; Blokus-Trigon, another three-player won by Doug who got all his pieces on the board, followed by Eric with 4 and Nicole with 11 (low scores are better); then Guillotine, with Doug coming out on top in a close one, 21-19 over Nicole while Eric came in third despite bagging Marie Antoinette.
We wound up the evening with a game of Loco, which I thought I knew but didn't. The game was a 4-player but since there were six of us, we had a played with a couple of teams. Eric took the game with 18 points; other scores were 13 for the John/Clayton team, 12 for Doug and 10 for Nicole/Beth team. However, I claim a moral victory since Clayton and I were the only new players to the game.
I got to play a wide variety of games and enjoyed the session even though I didn't do that well in many of the games. Looking forward to this weekend's TriadCon convention in College Park and hope to see everyone next week.
Friday, August 31, 2007
August 30, 2007 Session Report
This was our final session before Labor Day, when the Community Center moves to the 10 PM closing time (so now four hours of gaming instead of three).
Attendance was down a bit but not much as we had eight gamers in attendance: Gabe, Sarah, Eric, Paul, Rodney and myself were joined by Neil and Stan, whom we welcomed back to the club after a brief absence.
First game was Atlantic Star (the remake of ShowManager), which was a 6-player contested by Eric, Paul, Gabe, Sarah, Neil and myself. Paul had difficulty getting the right cards for his first cruise, which unfortunately for him wound up being the five-star one. However, he borrowed on it right away and finished the game in a strong third place. The game actually ended in a tie for first (something fairly unusual for this game) between Eric and myself, and I had a few extra bucks on hand which was the tiebreaker. Final scores were John and Eric 53, Paul 42, Sarah 26, Gabe 25, Neil 22.
Next up was Fist of Dragonstones and Sarah made up for her tough luck in the cruise line business by being the first to three points for the win. Eric and Rodney were not far behind with two points apiece, Gabe and I got one point, Paul had zero.
By this time Stan had arrived and the seven of us (Neil had left by this point) played two games. Gabe, Paul, Rodney and Sarah played a four-player If Wishes Were Fishes which Rodney (who may have been the only person to previously play the game) won. Eric and I were looking to try out a sailing game, called Race the Wind, and we persuaded Stan to join us. It turned out to be a real close race as we had to contend with wind puffs and wind shifts as we zigzagged up and down the course. I fell in behind Stan and then blanketed his wind after he led the way past the first mark. I pulled ahead briefly but then came a key moment where Eric and I were about to collide and he explained to me the starboard/port tack rules which I got wrong and had to give way. This put Eric and Stan ahead but I was in position to play kingmaker, which I did, by blanketing the wind of the only other boat I was close enough to mess with, which in this case was Stan. So Eric won a very, very close race.
A reminder that weekend after next (Sept. 8-9) is TriadCon at U of Md. in College Park. Pre-reg. deadline (save $5 off admission price) is today, Aug. 31. Here's the website:
http://www.triadcon.org
Attendance was down a bit but not much as we had eight gamers in attendance: Gabe, Sarah, Eric, Paul, Rodney and myself were joined by Neil and Stan, whom we welcomed back to the club after a brief absence.
First game was Atlantic Star (the remake of ShowManager), which was a 6-player contested by Eric, Paul, Gabe, Sarah, Neil and myself. Paul had difficulty getting the right cards for his first cruise, which unfortunately for him wound up being the five-star one. However, he borrowed on it right away and finished the game in a strong third place. The game actually ended in a tie for first (something fairly unusual for this game) between Eric and myself, and I had a few extra bucks on hand which was the tiebreaker. Final scores were John and Eric 53, Paul 42, Sarah 26, Gabe 25, Neil 22.
Next up was Fist of Dragonstones and Sarah made up for her tough luck in the cruise line business by being the first to three points for the win. Eric and Rodney were not far behind with two points apiece, Gabe and I got one point, Paul had zero.
By this time Stan had arrived and the seven of us (Neil had left by this point) played two games. Gabe, Paul, Rodney and Sarah played a four-player If Wishes Were Fishes which Rodney (who may have been the only person to previously play the game) won. Eric and I were looking to try out a sailing game, called Race the Wind, and we persuaded Stan to join us. It turned out to be a real close race as we had to contend with wind puffs and wind shifts as we zigzagged up and down the course. I fell in behind Stan and then blanketed his wind after he led the way past the first mark. I pulled ahead briefly but then came a key moment where Eric and I were about to collide and he explained to me the starboard/port tack rules which I got wrong and had to give way. This put Eric and Stan ahead but I was in position to play kingmaker, which I did, by blanketing the wind of the only other boat I was close enough to mess with, which in this case was Stan. So Eric won a very, very close race.
A reminder that weekend after next (Sept. 8-9) is TriadCon at U of Md. in College Park. Pre-reg. deadline (save $5 off admission price) is today, Aug. 31. Here's the website:
http://www.triadcon.org
Thursday, August 23, 2007
August 23, 2007 Session Report
Another strong week attendance-wise as we had 11 gamers in attendance, including two first time visitors to the club: Kathy (Rodney's mom) who was visiting from Arkansas and Kathryn, a friend of Val's who was visiting from North Carolina. Gabe, Sarah, Doug, Eric, Clayton, Paul S, Rodney, Val and myself made up the rest of the group as a total of 10 games were played, three at once for a good part of the evening.
Gabe, Paul, Clayton and I played the recent Queen/Rio Grande release, Thebes, which turned out to be a nice win for Paul (aided by 15 pts from speaking tours) with 51 pts to 43 for Clayton; I came in third with 41, followed by Gabe with 35. After several initial turns to collect cards (extra shovels, learning, etc.) we all "got our hands dirty" with some excavating, some of which was more successful than others. Clayton dominated the Greek excavations, and interestingly, he and Paul (the two new players to the game) finished one-two -- setting up a trend that lasted throughout the evening's games.
Rodney (one of those new to the game) won a game of Skip-Bo, playing with Doug, Kathy and Sarah. Eric and Val tied for first in a really close game of Guillotine, 26 each for Eric and Val and 24 for Kathryn. Kathryn then won two games in a row (Mamma Mia with eight completed orders and Loco) playing with the same group of players. There was also a four-handed game of TransAmerica contested by Doug, Kathy, Rodney and Sarah -- sorry, don't have the results for this one.
After this, we went for larger groups and played an eight-player game of Incan Gold (formerly known as Diamant). Clayton seemed to be one of the first to return to the tents, sometimes with alot of treasure, while Rodney seemed to be the one pushing his luck. The winner, however, turned out to be Rodney's mom, Kathy, with a score of 21. Clayton at 17 was second, followed by a large group at 16 (Doug, Paul, Rodney and myself), Sarah at 14, and Gabe bringing up the rear with 11.
The final two games of the evening were Saboteur and Category 5, again with 8 players in each game. All three rounds of Saboteur saw the dwarves outsmart the Saboteurs, and Doug and Sarah tied with 8 gold. Other scores were: Eric 5, Gabe and Kathryn 4, Paul and myself at 3 followed by Val with 2. Category 5 also lasted three hands, and Val hit the incredibly high score of 100 but, unfortunately, low score wins in this one and Doug edged out Gabe by 3 points after Paul held a slender lead going into the final hand.
A reminder: We have just one more week with the summer closing time of 9 PM, then after Labor Day the sessions will revert to the normal hours of 6 - 10 PM.
Gabe, Paul, Clayton and I played the recent Queen/Rio Grande release, Thebes, which turned out to be a nice win for Paul (aided by 15 pts from speaking tours) with 51 pts to 43 for Clayton; I came in third with 41, followed by Gabe with 35. After several initial turns to collect cards (extra shovels, learning, etc.) we all "got our hands dirty" with some excavating, some of which was more successful than others. Clayton dominated the Greek excavations, and interestingly, he and Paul (the two new players to the game) finished one-two -- setting up a trend that lasted throughout the evening's games.
Rodney (one of those new to the game) won a game of Skip-Bo, playing with Doug, Kathy and Sarah. Eric and Val tied for first in a really close game of Guillotine, 26 each for Eric and Val and 24 for Kathryn. Kathryn then won two games in a row (Mamma Mia with eight completed orders and Loco) playing with the same group of players. There was also a four-handed game of TransAmerica contested by Doug, Kathy, Rodney and Sarah -- sorry, don't have the results for this one.
After this, we went for larger groups and played an eight-player game of Incan Gold (formerly known as Diamant). Clayton seemed to be one of the first to return to the tents, sometimes with alot of treasure, while Rodney seemed to be the one pushing his luck. The winner, however, turned out to be Rodney's mom, Kathy, with a score of 21. Clayton at 17 was second, followed by a large group at 16 (Doug, Paul, Rodney and myself), Sarah at 14, and Gabe bringing up the rear with 11.
The final two games of the evening were Saboteur and Category 5, again with 8 players in each game. All three rounds of Saboteur saw the dwarves outsmart the Saboteurs, and Doug and Sarah tied with 8 gold. Other scores were: Eric 5, Gabe and Kathryn 4, Paul and myself at 3 followed by Val with 2. Category 5 also lasted three hands, and Val hit the incredibly high score of 100 but, unfortunately, low score wins in this one and Doug edged out Gabe by 3 points after Paul held a slender lead going into the final hand.
A reminder: We have just one more week with the summer closing time of 9 PM, then after Labor Day the sessions will revert to the normal hours of 6 - 10 PM.
Friday, August 17, 2007
August 16, 2007 Session Report
Ten attended last night's session: Gabe, Paul S., Rodney, Clayton, Doug H, Eric H, Sarah, Nicole, Beth and myself wound up playing a total of nine games during the course of the evening. We had three games going at once for the part of the time.
Gabe, Paul and I got there a few minutes early and we played a card game called Treasures and Traps which Gabe had brought. We decided to abandon the game when others began arriving, as it wasn't clear how long it would take before the game would finish. By then we had seven players and split into two groups, one for a four-player Vegas Showdown which began as a close battle between Clayton and myself, but I managed to score some points for diamonds near the end to pull away while the one new player to the game (Sarah) came home second. Final scores were John 62, Sarah 49, Clayton 41 and Paul 40. Clayton had five (!) lounges in the game but, unfortunately for him, the Lounge Lizard card did not come out to give him a big points bonus. The other game, a three-player game of Thebes (the recent remake of Jenseits von Theben), was claimed by Eric, 80 to 65 for Gabe and 59 for Doug, the only new player at the game.
By then Nicole, Beth and Rodney had arrived, and they set up a third table to play Alchemist. Rodney and Beth, who had both played the game before, finished 1-2 with 85 and 81 points, respectively, ahead of Nicole, the one new player, with 61. That same group played For Sale, and this time the winner was Beth with 82, followed by Nicole at 71 then Rodney at 64.
For the next round of games, we split into two groups of five. One group played Cash n' Guns, which was won by Eric (now 2 for 2 for the evening) ahead of Beth, Nicole, Gabe and Rodney; final scores were reported as 110-85-80-75-55. The other game was an old club favorite, Hoity Toity, and Paul managed to snag the win by taking best collection on the "oldest" work tiebreaker just ahead of Sarah and Clayton, all of whom made it to the finishing spaces; Doug and I also played in the game but we didn't come close to winning, having both our thieves in jail for a good part of the game.
The final two games of the evening took us right up to closing time. There was a four-player Category 5 which was won by Sarah based on consistency -- defined as never taking more than 25 pts on any one hand. I had the early lead but could not hold it, while Doug recovered after a 38 pt first hand to wind up challenging Sarah for the win. I think we played around 6-7 hands and the final scores were Sarah 74, Doug 84, Paul 92, John 112 (lower scores are better in this game). The other game was Beowulf, and this time the winner was Gabe (34) followed by Rodney (29), Beth (23), Nicole (20) and Eric (16) who finally had his winning streak for the evening snapped.
Hope everyone had a good time, looking forward to seeing you all again next week.
Gabe, Paul and I got there a few minutes early and we played a card game called Treasures and Traps which Gabe had brought. We decided to abandon the game when others began arriving, as it wasn't clear how long it would take before the game would finish. By then we had seven players and split into two groups, one for a four-player Vegas Showdown which began as a close battle between Clayton and myself, but I managed to score some points for diamonds near the end to pull away while the one new player to the game (Sarah) came home second. Final scores were John 62, Sarah 49, Clayton 41 and Paul 40. Clayton had five (!) lounges in the game but, unfortunately for him, the Lounge Lizard card did not come out to give him a big points bonus. The other game, a three-player game of Thebes (the recent remake of Jenseits von Theben), was claimed by Eric, 80 to 65 for Gabe and 59 for Doug, the only new player at the game.
By then Nicole, Beth and Rodney had arrived, and they set up a third table to play Alchemist. Rodney and Beth, who had both played the game before, finished 1-2 with 85 and 81 points, respectively, ahead of Nicole, the one new player, with 61. That same group played For Sale, and this time the winner was Beth with 82, followed by Nicole at 71 then Rodney at 64.
For the next round of games, we split into two groups of five. One group played Cash n' Guns, which was won by Eric (now 2 for 2 for the evening) ahead of Beth, Nicole, Gabe and Rodney; final scores were reported as 110-85-80-75-55. The other game was an old club favorite, Hoity Toity, and Paul managed to snag the win by taking best collection on the "oldest" work tiebreaker just ahead of Sarah and Clayton, all of whom made it to the finishing spaces; Doug and I also played in the game but we didn't come close to winning, having both our thieves in jail for a good part of the game.
The final two games of the evening took us right up to closing time. There was a four-player Category 5 which was won by Sarah based on consistency -- defined as never taking more than 25 pts on any one hand. I had the early lead but could not hold it, while Doug recovered after a 38 pt first hand to wind up challenging Sarah for the win. I think we played around 6-7 hands and the final scores were Sarah 74, Doug 84, Paul 92, John 112 (lower scores are better in this game). The other game was Beowulf, and this time the winner was Gabe (34) followed by Rodney (29), Beth (23), Nicole (20) and Eric (16) who finally had his winning streak for the evening snapped.
Hope everyone had a good time, looking forward to seeing you all again next week.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
August 9, 2007 Session Report
A good bounceback week attendance-wise: With a total of 13 people, we had three games going on at once for most of the evening. I instituted a new system with some slips to record information on specific games (courtesy of Dave Fair, host of the GCOM-Damascus group and co-host at two other locations).
In attendance: Sarah, Val, Paul S., Gabe, Eric, Clayton, Doug H, John Locke (John is a regular at GCOM-Potomac who was attending at our location for the first time), Carlos (welcome back, Carlos!), Rodney, Nicole, Beth and myself were the group.
I brought a newly-purchased copy of Phoenicia and Paul, Val and Sarah joined me in a four-player game for its initial play. The game took close to two hours, but it should go faster once all players are familiar with the rules. Val took an early lead and pulled away to win with 34, while Sarah (27), John W (27) and Paul (26) were bunched closely together at the end, but nowhere close to Val.
Clayton and Eric squared off in a game of Lost Cities. The scores were reported as 194 to 94 in favor of Eric, a 100-point win. Thought Clayton would make it a bit closer.
Gabe, Carlos, Doug, John L and Rodney tackled Beowulf, another game that lasted for more than half the session. Final scores were reported as a tie between Gabe and Rodney at 30 apiece, followed by John L at 25, Doug at 23 then Carlos at 18.
Nicole and Beth had arrived and joined Clayton and Eric for Quiddler. Nicole was dominant, scoring 148 while Eric edged Beth for second, 126-124 and Clayton was not far behind at 117.
Clayton took a bit of a break and Rodney subbed to play several games in a row with Beth, Eric and Nicole. For Sale was won by Eric (82) ahead of Rodney (66), Beth (50) and Nicole (49). Then Incan Gold was played twice, Nicole winning the first game and then finishing a point behind Rodney in the second. I will not embarrass Beth and Eric by reciting their scores.
In the meantime, Doug joined Sarah, Val and myself for a four-player Blokus which Doug won. The results (remember in this one, low scores are best): Doug 4, John 11, Sarah 14 and Val 30. We also played a game of Coyote and the results were totally different (girls beat the boys) as I was out first, followed by Doug, then Sarah won the final head-to-head confrontation with Val.
The other four (John L, Gabe, Carlos and Paul S) were locked in a Duel of Ages game that unfortunately did not finish when the 9 o'clock witching hour arose. (Looking forward to the week after Labor Day when we return to the four hour sessions lasting until 10 PM!)
A couple of more quick fillers -- Sarah and Val played a couple of games of Blink, a game that Doug and I only watched as they were moving way too fast for us older guys to keep up with them. Doug then produced a really short card game called Pepper (every one starts with five cards and tries to get rid of them) which turned out to be the final game of the evening for Doug, Sarah, Val and myself. We finished two hands, first one won by Doug, second one by Val.
Recap: A total of 11 different games played, three more than once, 15-16 games in total (depending on how many games of Blink Sarah and Val worked in, as I really couldn't keep up!)
Hope everyone had a good time. I know I did.
In attendance: Sarah, Val, Paul S., Gabe, Eric, Clayton, Doug H, John Locke (John is a regular at GCOM-Potomac who was attending at our location for the first time), Carlos (welcome back, Carlos!), Rodney, Nicole, Beth and myself were the group.
I brought a newly-purchased copy of Phoenicia and Paul, Val and Sarah joined me in a four-player game for its initial play. The game took close to two hours, but it should go faster once all players are familiar with the rules. Val took an early lead and pulled away to win with 34, while Sarah (27), John W (27) and Paul (26) were bunched closely together at the end, but nowhere close to Val.
Clayton and Eric squared off in a game of Lost Cities. The scores were reported as 194 to 94 in favor of Eric, a 100-point win. Thought Clayton would make it a bit closer.
Gabe, Carlos, Doug, John L and Rodney tackled Beowulf, another game that lasted for more than half the session. Final scores were reported as a tie between Gabe and Rodney at 30 apiece, followed by John L at 25, Doug at 23 then Carlos at 18.
Nicole and Beth had arrived and joined Clayton and Eric for Quiddler. Nicole was dominant, scoring 148 while Eric edged Beth for second, 126-124 and Clayton was not far behind at 117.
Clayton took a bit of a break and Rodney subbed to play several games in a row with Beth, Eric and Nicole. For Sale was won by Eric (82) ahead of Rodney (66), Beth (50) and Nicole (49). Then Incan Gold was played twice, Nicole winning the first game and then finishing a point behind Rodney in the second. I will not embarrass Beth and Eric by reciting their scores.
In the meantime, Doug joined Sarah, Val and myself for a four-player Blokus which Doug won. The results (remember in this one, low scores are best): Doug 4, John 11, Sarah 14 and Val 30. We also played a game of Coyote and the results were totally different (girls beat the boys) as I was out first, followed by Doug, then Sarah won the final head-to-head confrontation with Val.
The other four (John L, Gabe, Carlos and Paul S) were locked in a Duel of Ages game that unfortunately did not finish when the 9 o'clock witching hour arose. (Looking forward to the week after Labor Day when we return to the four hour sessions lasting until 10 PM!)
A couple of more quick fillers -- Sarah and Val played a couple of games of Blink, a game that Doug and I only watched as they were moving way too fast for us older guys to keep up with them. Doug then produced a really short card game called Pepper (every one starts with five cards and tries to get rid of them) which turned out to be the final game of the evening for Doug, Sarah, Val and myself. We finished two hands, first one won by Doug, second one by Val.
Recap: A total of 11 different games played, three more than once, 15-16 games in total (depending on how many games of Blink Sarah and Val worked in, as I really couldn't keep up!)
Hope everyone had a good time. I know I did.
Thursday, August 2, 2007 Session Report
At least four of our regular attendees were at the WBC convention last week, so not surprisingly, our attendance took a bit of a nosedive.
Thanks to Gabe Cornett, here is the belated report from last week:
Attendees: Gabe, Val, Sarah and Clayton
Games Played: Tsuro (won by Val); Wings of War (won by Sarah, Gabe and Val tied for second); Phase 10 (won by Val)
For anyone interested, I filed a recap of my activities at WBC on BGG. Here's the link:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/23588
Thanks to Gabe Cornett, here is the belated report from last week:
Attendees: Gabe, Val, Sarah and Clayton
Games Played: Tsuro (won by Val); Wings of War (won by Sarah, Gabe and Val tied for second); Phase 10 (won by Val)
For anyone interested, I filed a recap of my activities at WBC on BGG. Here's the link:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/23588
Thursday, July 26, 2007
July 26, 2007 Session Report
Another good turnout with a total of 12 gamers, including two newcomers to the club: Patrick Chapman and Eric Sokolowsky, who joined Gabe, Eric H, Sarah, Val, Nicole, Paul J, Beth, Clayton, Neil and myself to play a total of eight different games: Lost Cities, Puerto Rico, Boomtown, TransAmerica, Rummikub, Coloretto, Wits and Wagers and Category 5.
Here's a few comments on some of the games, who played what, winners and scores where I have them, etc. Gabe and I got there first and played a really weird hand of Lost Cities; I think we had a bunch of handshake cards at the start that didn't match any of our cards so it was tougher than usual putting together high scoring expeditions. I believe I pulled it out by getting three colors going while Gabe could only manage a positive score on two of three.
By then more people had arrived and five of us played a game of Boomtown, which was won by Sarah (84) ahead of Eric S (77), Eric H (70), Gabe (59), I was in last (40).
Patrick, Neil, Clayton and Val had arrived by then, and they contested a four-player TransAmerica. The same two groups kept going for the next round of games, which consisted of a 5-player Puerto Rico, where Sarah, who was playing for the first time, managed to win (assisted by a cast of thousands), with a final score of 55 (had the harbor and two large buildings) followed by me (46), Eric S (44), Gabe (39) and Eric (37). Meanwhile, there was a four-player Coloretto, which I heard wound up in a tie between Clayton and Patrick (? -- not sure on this one as the PR game was so intense I had difficulty keeping up with all the other games going on).
Beth, Nicole and Paul J arrived a bit later and Beth and Nicole introduced Paul to Rummikub -- which Paul promptly won (another win for a first-time player at a new game, which seemed to be the theme for the evening). Next up for the non-PR group was a full table of seven for Wits and Wagers, which I heard was another tie involving some of the new players again. Then the evening wound up with a couple of quick fillers (Category 5 and Blink) to keep up our tradition of pushing the envelope of finishing right on the verge of the 9 PM closing time.
Hope everyone had a good time -- hope to see Patrick and Eric S back at some future sessions. I have a new limited edition Cycling game called "Tour" that I hope to try out soon at a future session, but I was happy to have the opportunity to play PR at Eric S's suggestion. Sarah brought an interesting looking card game I would like to try some time soon as well.
Next week some of us (including myself) will be out of town for the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, PA) -- thanks in advance to one of you who I am hoping will track the attendance/games played (there's a couple of sheets in the club's notebook) and either forward the info to me or post it here.
I was pleased to display the GCOM banner which has been made available to hosts at all GCOM locations -- unfortunately, I forgot to leave it in one of the game bins with the club games so it won't be making a future appearance for at least a couple of weeks.
Here's a few comments on some of the games, who played what, winners and scores where I have them, etc. Gabe and I got there first and played a really weird hand of Lost Cities; I think we had a bunch of handshake cards at the start that didn't match any of our cards so it was tougher than usual putting together high scoring expeditions. I believe I pulled it out by getting three colors going while Gabe could only manage a positive score on two of three.
By then more people had arrived and five of us played a game of Boomtown, which was won by Sarah (84) ahead of Eric S (77), Eric H (70), Gabe (59), I was in last (40).
Patrick, Neil, Clayton and Val had arrived by then, and they contested a four-player TransAmerica. The same two groups kept going for the next round of games, which consisted of a 5-player Puerto Rico, where Sarah, who was playing for the first time, managed to win (assisted by a cast of thousands), with a final score of 55 (had the harbor and two large buildings) followed by me (46), Eric S (44), Gabe (39) and Eric (37). Meanwhile, there was a four-player Coloretto, which I heard wound up in a tie between Clayton and Patrick (? -- not sure on this one as the PR game was so intense I had difficulty keeping up with all the other games going on).
Beth, Nicole and Paul J arrived a bit later and Beth and Nicole introduced Paul to Rummikub -- which Paul promptly won (another win for a first-time player at a new game, which seemed to be the theme for the evening). Next up for the non-PR group was a full table of seven for Wits and Wagers, which I heard was another tie involving some of the new players again. Then the evening wound up with a couple of quick fillers (Category 5 and Blink) to keep up our tradition of pushing the envelope of finishing right on the verge of the 9 PM closing time.
Hope everyone had a good time -- hope to see Patrick and Eric S back at some future sessions. I have a new limited edition Cycling game called "Tour" that I hope to try out soon at a future session, but I was happy to have the opportunity to play PR at Eric S's suggestion. Sarah brought an interesting looking card game I would like to try some time soon as well.
Next week some of us (including myself) will be out of town for the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, PA) -- thanks in advance to one of you who I am hoping will track the attendance/games played (there's a couple of sheets in the club's notebook) and either forward the info to me or post it here.
I was pleased to display the GCOM banner which has been made available to hosts at all GCOM locations -- unfortunately, I forgot to leave it in one of the game bins with the club games so it won't be making a future appearance for at least a couple of weeks.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
July 19, 2007 Session Report
This week we had a total of 10 gamers in attendance, making it three weeks in a row we have hit double figures. Clayton, Gabe, Eric, Doug H, Sarah, Paul J, Neil, Beth, Nicole and myself played a total of six different games: Cowpowker (played twice), Stonehenge, Phase 10, Billabong, Take 6 and Slapshot.
I was involved in the first Cowpowker game which I managed to win with a fortuitous card play that let me take an active card from each opponent. Then played Phase 10, which Sarah brought, and the game took a bit longer when it turned out to be more difficult to reach the later goals; Doug was the early leader but Sarah came back -- I think the game was abandoned after Doug was the first to reach Phase 8. After Beth and Nicole arrived, it was a five-player game of Slapshot that ended right before 9 one game into the playoffs. The three players who hadn't played before (Neil, Nicole and Beth) made the playoffs while the two who had played before (Eric and myself) were on the outside looking in.
Hope everyone had a good time. If anyone wants to post comments about the other gamers, feel free to do so.
I was involved in the first Cowpowker game which I managed to win with a fortuitous card play that let me take an active card from each opponent. Then played Phase 10, which Sarah brought, and the game took a bit longer when it turned out to be more difficult to reach the later goals; Doug was the early leader but Sarah came back -- I think the game was abandoned after Doug was the first to reach Phase 8. After Beth and Nicole arrived, it was a five-player game of Slapshot that ended right before 9 one game into the playoffs. The three players who hadn't played before (Neil, Nicole and Beth) made the playoffs while the two who had played before (Eric and myself) were on the outside looking in.
Hope everyone had a good time. If anyone wants to post comments about the other gamers, feel free to do so.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
July 12, 2007 Session Report
Pleased to report that attendance held strong at 12 this week: Gabe, Paul S., Clayton, Neil, Sarah, Paul J., Stan, Nicole, Beth, Tucker, Bob and myself were in attendance. There were a total of nine different games played, and here are some of the highlights.
Gabe introduced RoboRally to several newcomers, and the game was played at least twice (first a two-player with Gabe and Paul S. and then later in a larger game that included Paul S, Gabe, Tucker, Clayton and Bob. Neil wanted to try out Yspahan and played a four-player with two new players and of course the newcomers (Sarah and Paul J.) finished one-two ahead of myself and Neil, the "teacher" in that game. I felt good about getting all six buildings but little in the way of camels or souks and only narrowly managed to fend off Neil for third spot.
By then Stan, Nicole and Beth had arrived, and the three of them squared off in a game of Ingenious which ended up in a very narrow win for Beth. Gabe, Paul S. and Clayton played Fist of Dragonstones, followed by Fairy Tale (and perhaps a third RoboRally game was worked in at some point as well). Beth introduced a recent TransAmerica variant (we needed to borrow some colored "roads" pieces from the Settlers game) where each player gets to play three sections of track each round where they have exclusive track rights; Stan and I joined Beth in this variant which gave TransAmerica a more "strategic" feel when played with this additional twist. Meanwhile, Nicole joined Neil, Paul J. and Sarah in a game which Sarah brought, called "Speed Scrabble"--a variant on the regular game where each player arranges his/her own tiles to make a series of words. It looked interesting and something worth trying again.
At Neil's urging, six of us (Beth, Nicole, Sarah, Paul J, Neil and myself) played Coyote and, following the pattern of the earlier Yspahan game, the two new players (Sarah and Paul) came home one-two. With 20 minutes to closing time, we started a game of Sticheln but only had time to complete one hand -- the game was a learning experience for most of the players who were playing the game for the first or second time.
Gabe introduced RoboRally to several newcomers, and the game was played at least twice (first a two-player with Gabe and Paul S. and then later in a larger game that included Paul S, Gabe, Tucker, Clayton and Bob. Neil wanted to try out Yspahan and played a four-player with two new players and of course the newcomers (Sarah and Paul J.) finished one-two ahead of myself and Neil, the "teacher" in that game. I felt good about getting all six buildings but little in the way of camels or souks and only narrowly managed to fend off Neil for third spot.
By then Stan, Nicole and Beth had arrived, and the three of them squared off in a game of Ingenious which ended up in a very narrow win for Beth. Gabe, Paul S. and Clayton played Fist of Dragonstones, followed by Fairy Tale (and perhaps a third RoboRally game was worked in at some point as well). Beth introduced a recent TransAmerica variant (we needed to borrow some colored "roads" pieces from the Settlers game) where each player gets to play three sections of track each round where they have exclusive track rights; Stan and I joined Beth in this variant which gave TransAmerica a more "strategic" feel when played with this additional twist. Meanwhile, Nicole joined Neil, Paul J. and Sarah in a game which Sarah brought, called "Speed Scrabble"--a variant on the regular game where each player arranges his/her own tiles to make a series of words. It looked interesting and something worth trying again.
At Neil's urging, six of us (Beth, Nicole, Sarah, Paul J, Neil and myself) played Coyote and, following the pattern of the earlier Yspahan game, the two new players (Sarah and Paul) came home one-two. With 20 minutes to closing time, we started a game of Sticheln but only had time to complete one hand -- the game was a learning experience for most of the players who were playing the game for the first or second time.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
July 5, 2007 Session Report
July 5 turned out to be one of our all-time best Thursday evening sessions attendance-wise, with 13 gamers present. We welcomed two first-time attendees, Paul J. and Crosby, along with Sarah, Neil, Gabe, Eric, Doug, Paul S., Beth, Nicole, Rodney, Clayton and myself. We played a total of 11 different games -- with that many people, it was often literally a three-ring circus with three games going on at once.
With 11 people there by the 6 PM start time, we split into two groups: Gabe, Crosby, Beth, Nicole and Eric played Ark; the two Pauls, Sarah, Doug, Neil and I played Hoity Toity which accommodates six. Then, Rodney and Clayton arrived and squared off in a game of Lost Cities. Next up was Incan Gold, don't know who all played, but I was informed and am pleased to report that our youngest attendee, Nicole, was the winner.
I had brought a prototype of a new game I have been working on and managed to cajole Neil, Eric, Nicole and Clayton into testing it. It uses timers a la Space Dealer for actions and has a figure skating theme -- you are developing and training a skater for a skating competition that takes place at the end of the game. Working title is Gold Medal Skating. In our game, Eric (who was the only one of the four familiar with the Space Dealer mechanic) managed to get a third timer in play and won fairly easily. Nicole took the Silver Medal while Neil and Clayton wound up tied for the bronze, and I think the tiebreaker favored Neil who did a bit better in the final program.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of action at the other tables: Alchemist, Blokus, Blink, and Beowulf were among the games played. Beth recorded her first ever win at Puerto Rico, besting Rodney and Doug, two experienced PR players, in a three-player game. The final game, Olympia 2000, did not quite get to the finish line as the witching hour (9 PM for the summer months) approached all too soon.
Thanks to everyone who attended and made this one of our best sessions yet!
With 11 people there by the 6 PM start time, we split into two groups: Gabe, Crosby, Beth, Nicole and Eric played Ark; the two Pauls, Sarah, Doug, Neil and I played Hoity Toity which accommodates six. Then, Rodney and Clayton arrived and squared off in a game of Lost Cities. Next up was Incan Gold, don't know who all played, but I was informed and am pleased to report that our youngest attendee, Nicole, was the winner.
I had brought a prototype of a new game I have been working on and managed to cajole Neil, Eric, Nicole and Clayton into testing it. It uses timers a la Space Dealer for actions and has a figure skating theme -- you are developing and training a skater for a skating competition that takes place at the end of the game. Working title is Gold Medal Skating. In our game, Eric (who was the only one of the four familiar with the Space Dealer mechanic) managed to get a third timer in play and won fairly easily. Nicole took the Silver Medal while Neil and Clayton wound up tied for the bronze, and I think the tiebreaker favored Neil who did a bit better in the final program.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of action at the other tables: Alchemist, Blokus, Blink, and Beowulf were among the games played. Beth recorded her first ever win at Puerto Rico, besting Rodney and Doug, two experienced PR players, in a three-player game. The final game, Olympia 2000, did not quite get to the finish line as the witching hour (9 PM for the summer months) approached all too soon.
Thanks to everyone who attended and made this one of our best sessions yet!
Friday, June 29, 2007
June 28, 2007 Session Report
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.
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.
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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