Game Session Reports

Apr. 14-16 - The Gathering - Tikal, Ra, In Teufels Kuche, Loopin' Louie,
                        Chinatown, Ricochet Robot, More to come!.......

Apr. 7 - Medieval Merchant x2, Settlers of Catan

Mar, 24 - Die Macher, Family Business x3, Mille Bournes x2, Twitch x9

Mar. 23 - Die Macher preparation

Feb. 17 - Wettstreit der Baumeister, Members Only x2, Samarkand, Mystery Rummy, El Caballero

Feb. 6 - Filthy Rich x2

Feb. 3 - Montgolfière, Falling x4, Samarkand x3, Cosmic Wimpout x2, Wizard

Jan. 27 - El Caballero, Members Only, Filthy Rich
 

Apr. 14-16 - I was only able to stay three days at the Gathering, but it was well, well, worth the trip.  Here are some quick reports on whatever I can remember about the games I played:

Tikal:  I played it only once, but it definitely left me wanting to play again.  I love the mechanics of the game - you have many, many options and a good number opportunites each turn to take advantage of several of these options each turn.  My only problem was with the length, either a timer or playing without the auction rules would probably be a good fix (I would assume removing the auciton part would detract from the game significantly, though).  I'll probably wind up picking it up, despite the current high price.

Ra:  With all the hype, I had to give it a try.  My initial impression was that it was a well-designed game, with beautiful artwork.  During the gameplay, however, I just didn't find myself actually enjoying it.  A straight auction game, I felt there was too little variety in play from turn to turn.  While it wouldn't be twisting my arm to get me to play again, it would not be one of my top choices from this season's crop of games.

In Teufels Kuche: This game had almost no strategy involved whatsoever, however I found myself enjoying the pure silliness that it did offer.  You are controlling a squad of cute little plastic devils wearing cute little bakers' hats attempting to carry cute little cauldrons across Hell's Kitchen while other players' devils getin the way (trying to do the same).  If two opposing devils clash, battle ensues, resolved by the Master Devil randomly popping out with a fork and knife to get the loser.  As I said before, little strategy involved, but good for some silliness.......which leads us to Loopin' Louie.

Loopin' Louie: My mouth dropped when I saw people playing this one.  A little man in a plane is diving to get your eggs.  Just as he is about to get them you must hit a lever which pops him up over the eggs, and if done skillfully, will dive right into one of your opponents' eggs.  That's all I have to say about Loopin' Louie. (OK, OK, I did have fun with it).  Back to the games....

Chinatown: This was one I definitely wanted to try before the week was out.  I love trading games, and trading is the key factor in this contest to build the most proftiable chains of business in (guess where?) Chinatown.  There is definitely a large luck factor involved - you are always hoping to draw tiles that will help your businesses the most, however this can be removed through effective trading (at least that's what happened in the game I played).  One part of the game I didn't see need for was the "Business Something-or-Other" deck, where each round players randomly get free money for having certain businesses.  On some level it promotes expansion into other franchises, however it is overshadowed by the fact that you are basically scrambling to open whatever businesses you can anyway, without too much choice in the actual businesses themsleves.  I can't decide on whether or not to pick this one up myself, another few plays may help in the decision.

Ricochet Robot (Rasende Roboter): Oh gosh.  I love total absorbtion mind-bending games, but this one threw me for a loop.  Everyone stares at a board, trying to figure out the most efficient way of getting one of four ricocheting robots to a particular space on the board.  A great puzzle game, one that I definitely will be picking up - I just wish I was a little better at playing!

More to Come!!!
 

Apr. 7 - I've been itching to play Medieval Merchant again for a while now, tonight I was pleased to have played in two games.  The first one was 5-player.  I started out in the mid-east, pulling a 6 tile, a 3, and a bunch of 2s.  Three players fought over the top regions, while the eventual winner (by a longshot) had the southwest all to himself.  Invading the southwest would have cost me entrance into the northern regions, and the others were fighting amongst themselves, so he was left to reap the rewards, eventually gaining most of the south. I managed a second place position, thanks to having gained the most regions.

We then started a four-player game of Settlers of Catan.  It was shaping up to be one of those Settlers games where you know who is going to win very early.  Doomed to an hour or more of waiting for the inevitable, an outside player agreed to take over for me while I and three others geared up for another round of Medieval Merchant. (About halfway through this second Merchant, Settlers ended with the expected player winning).

In this game I started in almost the exact position as the first - mid-east.  I was determined this time, however, to control the southeast position as my own, while also making a run for high number of regions.  I wound up accomplishing both tasks, and took the win by 2 influence points.

Both games of MM were excellent - I'm surely going to bring it along again this week, hoping to analyze new strategies and get more familiar with the map structure.

Mar. 24 - I did it.  I played my second game of Die Macher.  Out of 5 players, I ended up in fourth place, but I did accomplish the 2 goals I set out to accomplish during the game.  1.  I won the vote for the highest-scoring region of the seven.  2.  I maintained first place throughout the entire game in party seats.  To keep my sanity, I engaged in three games of Family Business during Die Macher game, also.  It was an old version of the game - 1983 (actually, it looked like it was from the 50s), but still from Mayfair.  In the first game I was run out of town with an ambush taking out both of my last mobsters.  The last two games, however,  I managed to hang in 'till the end and win - lotsa fun : ).

Someone requested Mille Bournes, and we played a full 2 vs. 2 partnership game.  I and my partner started out with a tremendous lead - something like 3,000 to 750 at one point.  Then the torture set in.  It took us three full rounds to get over the 5,000 point mark to win, and the other team managed to get within 700 points.  Ah well, a win's a win.

After that, it was Twitch until the end of the night.  I think I went 5 for 9.  But the last game I was falling asleep at the table - you can't do that in Twitch.

Mar. 23 - No games played today, but I'm prepping myself for a game of Die Macher I'm planning on playing tomorrow night.  This will be my second game.  The first one took 5 and a half hours, and I had no idea what was going on at any given time - it had a kinda charm to it, like a prolonged roller-coaster ride.  This time, however, I hope to be a bit more prepared (maybe I'll use a media counter this time).  Expect a report to come....

Feb. 17 - Well, we started off with a 4-player game of Wettstreit der Baumeister, using all the variants I could remember at the time.  This was probably the best game I've witnessed.  It featured one player continually rolling high but ending up with many cards leftover in his hand at the end; one player with huge town gathering 10 + each turn from city gates, but getting saboteured (big target); one player playing rather middle-of-the-road (the main player of the saboteurs); and one player (myself) who continually received poor rolls - it was quite funny after a while - but who won in the end by having a compact 5-tile town taking advantage of all the bonuses and no cards in hand.  Nice, balanced game.

Next, a round of Members Only.  Green got off to a nifty start and never let up, winning the game after a few short rounds rather convincingly.  I was never in the game, grabbing only two points in the first two rounds, and I believe ten total.

The guys from the Feb. 3rd rounds of Samarkand were crazy determined to pummel me into the ground this time around in revenge , and so they did.  I could not sell anything, ever.  I wound up dumping a 6-set late in the game, leaving me with still under $300; I  was hosed utterly and completely this time around.  Hey, I guess I had it coming.

While waiting for a bunch of the others to finish their game, I started in on a three-player Mystery Rummy.  Having been the only one to have played so far, the game kinda fell into my hands rather easily, but even in pointing out strategies to others, it seemed that card luck was on my side.  I took the 100 in a few quick hands.

Next up, another 4-player round of Members Only.  This was another runaway game for one of the players - twice in one night (two different players, though).  I usually do not see terrible runaways happening much that much in this game, but it happened that way tonight.

Finally, it's about 1:30 am, and four of us were up for one more game.  Some wanted Durch die Wueste, some wanted Bohnanza, but we all agreed on El Caballero.  I've sometimes taken a stopwatch to restrict time on players' turns during this game, as sometimes they can get extremely long; this time, however, we just played it straight out, and it wound up ending around 5:30am.
This one was great fun for me.  I managed to build up quite a profitable little maritime business on an ever-increasing river.  First round brought me 24 points (6 tiles/fish X 4 boats).  Second round brought me 60 points (10 tiles/fish X 6 boats).  Third round brought me a whopping 119 points (17 tiles/fish X 7 boats), equal to the final score of one of the other players!.  final scores: 104, 119, 126, 277.
 

Feb. 6 - A few games of Filthy Rich were played this afternoon.  Two notes in particular to share about these games:  First, an unprecedented feat (at least in the games I've played).  It's early in the game, I've got 2 one-card businesses, a Yazuka Loan ($2 tax), and $3 to spare.  We're on page 4.  I roll the four dice, and low and behold, 4 zeroes appears at the tops of the dice, as if by magic.  I sell my businesses giving me a total of $7, one dollar shy of the $8 needed to cover taxes on the Loan.  I'm out of the game.  I was in shock.  Simply amazing.
Next, I discovered the clown-face signs (the 2 X 2 square business) aren't that bad after all.  In fact, they're great.  $12 initial capital investment, with $8 salvage value and $3 per hit  means only two hits are needed for profit (discounting covering fees).  Sure taxes are high, but it's definitely manageable given a good number of hits on any of the four signs prior to rolling a zero - and if it ever gets too bad, you can always sell it off.  Thanks to this business, I managed to actually pick up the $45 Space Shuttle for my third luxury!
 
 

Feb. 3 - Tonight was a nice night of gaming starting with a 6-player game of Montgolfière.  This game simulates a hot-air balloon race where whoever can rise the highest before the decks run out will score the most points - continuous rounds are played, 50 total points is the winning score.
I started out doing quite well the first two rounds, I ended up the highest or second highest each of these and maintained a small but nice lead.  Third round I was devastated.  I just couldn't play the right cards at the right times and ended up way below everyone else.  The fourth round was a total balancing round for all players.  Scoring after this round was tallied a tie for first place at 49, and the four other players (myself included) were tied at 48!  The next (and final) round was extremely tense for all, however I saw the writing on the wall for myself quite early - there was no way I was ending up on top this round.  The final score was a tie as one of the 48 pt. players ended up one level higher than one of the 49 pt. players after this last round.  I suggested a tiebreaker for future games would be whoever managed to soar the highest in the final round would win.
Everybody agreed it was a good game.

While waiting for another game to end we played 4 rounds of Falling.  This is the fast-paced card game where everybody is falling from the sky - whoever hits the ground last wins.  People grab and claw at others as they fall down and try desperately to keep from going splat before everyone else does.  I think I snagged 3 out of 4 out of these games (one dealer, 4 players).  Each game lasts about 2 minutes, but it's guaranteed to be quite a nutty 2 minutes each time around.  Silliness.  Fun.

Next I was particularly interested in getting in on Euphrat &Tigris, however I was persuaded to get in a 4-player game of Samarkand (they didn't have to twist my arm too much).  There was no clear leader throughout this game - at first it appeared that one player was gaining a large advantage by buying out a number of filled tents for the amazing price of 10 piaster each.  This never actually paid off for him, however, as he was getting hurt by die rolls and just couldn't get around the board in time.  Another player was getting dangerously close to winning - after selling a full set of camels, he had 495 piaster (5 less than the 500 needed to win).  I thought it was all over, until I managed to pull the final 2 diamonds I needed from the oases to complete my set of 6.  I scooted over to the gem city, dumped them all off for a cool 200 piaster, and emerged victorious.  I really had not expected this victory, but hey, I didn't complain!

Everyone wanted another game of Samarkand, so I stayed in.  Another player was added, so we now had 5.  I don't remember all that much from this game, but I did manage to win (another close one, though).

With a new found determination to make sure somebody, anybody would win this game other than me, they said to go for a third game of Samarkand.  I was rather nervous as people were selling off gems and carpets early while I was just trotting around trying to decide either to collect the grain or fruit.  I managed over the course of the game to do rather well in both of these low-profit but very common commodities, though - I believe I sold 2 sets of 7 grain and a set of 6 fruit in all to give me 505 piaster, giving me the win once again.  Yikes - 3 for 3!!!  Needless to say, I really like this game : )

As the others were now finishing up Euphrat &Tigris, I broke out a game that I haven't played in quite a while - Cosmic Wimpout.  After a quick briefing of the rules, we managed to squeeze one game in before the end of E & T.  Nothing really to report other than the usual zaniness of this silly dice game - lots of highs, lots of lows, people (well, mainly me, to no success) attempting to channel their energy into the dice to provide favorable results.  After seeing the fun we were having the players who then just finished E & T came to join in a second round of Cosmic Wimpout.

We finished the night off with a 5-player game of Wizard.  In this trick-taking game players try to decide at the beginning of each round exactly how many tricks they think they will take, and points are awarded at the end of the round for accurate guesses.  In a five player game, the first round consists of each player getting one card, the second round has each getting two cards, up until the 12th and final round where are 60 cards are dealt out (standard 52 card deck with 8 special cards added).  At the end of the 11th round I was tied for first.  The player with whom I was tied bid 3 tricks; I was thinking I could probably get 4 tricks (giving me the win) if I bid 4, but I was conservative and bid 3.  Sure enough, I wound up being forced to take the 4th trick, falling all the way down to a third place finish.  I've been kicking myself all night for this one.
That's it for tonight - nice night of gaming indeed.
 
 

Jan. 27 - First off - El Caballero.  I've played this game quite a few times with two players, needless to say, four players is a whole different ballgame.  The game took off to an eerie start as the initial tile placed at random was the all-water tile.  In the early game focus was mainly on the stretch of river that was created from this initial tile, however by the end of the 4th round a mighty sizable land mass has crept up in the game as well.  This landmass by the end of the game was worth 32 points to the player with the highest caballeros.  I managed to eke out this victory through a last-second change in kingdoms (my Grande was moved for the first time in the game to an open square which allowed my to add 15 caballeros to the 8 I already had.  This snagged the lead from the previous leader who had - and was then stuck with - 22 caballeros).  There was about a 35 point difference between first and fourth place at the final scoring, with the large landmass deciding the game for me.  The game was just as good with four as it was with two, and is a solid game overall.

Next - Members Only.  Interesting Knizia betting game where wagers are placed as information is revealed as to which bets will win.  In this five player game, I was in the winner's circle for quite some time, trying to make the game end (with me victorious).  Once I did end the game, however, an astonishing feat took place.  One of my opponents had a "7 or more" bet placed on the hats.  Zero were placed in the first two placing rounds.  Of the final ten cards revealed by all players, no less than seven of them were indeed the pink hats!  Grrrrr...he took the game with an impressive finish.

Finally - Filthy Rich.  I had played this game once before, and was itching to play again.  My impression of it is a cross between Settlers of Catan and Netrunner - with all the pleasures and annoyances that come with both.  This one took about 2 and a half hours - much more than anyone expected, and honestly all I can remember is consistently building up a third of a page with high-profit businesses, consistently rolling four dice, and consistently not getting any hits.  I still managed a solid second place finish out of five players, and will definitely continue to enjoy this strange but fun Richard Garfield creation in the future.