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.
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