October 23, 2008 Session Report

We had a total of eight gamers tonight, including an old gaming buddy of mine who happens to live in Laurel, Ron Rector, who was making his first appearance, thanks in part to Don who also talked Ron into joining us. In addition, Mike B. was present for his third session, and Don, Nick, Paul, Clayton, Rodney and I rounded out the group. We played a total of seven different games: Race for the Galaxy, Puerto Rico, Vegas Showdown, Lost Cities, Boomtown, Hollywood Blockbuster and, for the first time at our club, the new hit, Agricola.

First up was Race for the Galaxy, and it wound up being a three-player game with Mike, Paul and Nick after some musical chairs action when a couple of more people showed up. Nick, who still claims not to have an overall strategic approach to the game, won going away with 55 points to 33 for Mike, who was playing for the first time. At the other table, it was Don, Ron and myself playing a three-handed Puerto Rico. Don got off to a nice start, and I was kind of surprised to wind up tied with him at 41 points, with Don winning on the goods plus doubloons tiebreaker. While both these games were going on, Rodney and Clayton arrived and got in a couple of hands of Lost Cities, each winning once.

Another game that down to the tiebreaker was Vegas Showdown, this one going to Rodney over Clayton by a couple of dollars after both finished with 64 points, followed by Mike at 60 and Paul at 52. Nick sat out this game, waiting to join Don, Ron and myself in a game of Agricola that literally took up the rest of the evening, even though we opted for the family version without the Occupation and Minor Improvement cards. Nick won with a score in the 30s, gaining 10 VPs for four Major Occupations, after getting off to an early edge with a Family Growth action before the second harvest. After being initially turned off by the luck factor of the cards, I am kind of regaining interest in this one, particularly the so-called Family Version which seems to have a bit less luck in it, although the scores are likely to be alot lower.

Meanwhile, Paul, Clayton, Rodney and Mike kept right on playing two more games, first Boomtown -- won by Rodney (152) ahead of Paul (95) in second, and finally another favorite, Hollywood Blockbuster, which saw Clayton emerge victorious, 92 points to 87 for Rodney. So, all in all, a fairly good night for Nick, Clayton and Rodney who won multiple games this evening.

Hope to see everyone next week, and then the following week will be at EuroQuest, which starts on Thursday this year.