January 22, 2008

Only three people tonight.

• Triple Triumph - this is a neat little abstract game for 2-4 players. There are 60 plastic pyramids with purple and green sides in various combinations. The bottoms of the pyramids are also either purple or green. During the game, these pyramids are stored in a bag from which players will later draw pyramids at random. Each player has a “hand” of three pyramids. On his turn, a player tries to play his three pyramids to the board, adjacent to existing pyramids. Touching sides must match color. For each matching side, the player scores one point. If there are four adjacent pyramids on the board, another pyramid may be placed upside-down, in the middle of the four upright pyramids. This scores four points, and the base of the upside-down pyramid becomes available for building another level of upright pyramids. Building on an upside down pyramid allows the player to draw one pyramid from the bag to be used immediately. The player’s turn ends when he is unable to play any more pyramids to the board, either because he has no more to play, or because there are no legal plays available. He then draws back up to three, and play continues with the next player. The game ends when no player can make a move. Phil and I player this for the first time. I didn’t record the scores, but I won.
• Race for the Galaxy - This is a card game with mechanics similar to San Juan, but a bit more complex, and a space exploration theme. Phil, Eli, and I played. It was a first playing for both Phil and Eli. I was dealt a good Alien world, and a development that gave me bonus points for Alien worlds, so I concentrated on building all the Alien stuff I could get my hands on. I fell a bit behind on building. Phil and Eli both built their twelfth card on the same turn, ending the game, while I still only had nine cards down. The Alien bonus really helped me, though, as I had five Alien cards. When the game ended, Eli and I tied with 36 each (we tied on the tie-breaker as well), and Phil had 30.
• Triple Triumph - After Phil left, Eli and I played Triple Triumph. I won 70 to 60.
• Fibonacci - Eli and I played two games of Fibonacci. Eli won the first and I won the second.

Our next session will be February 12. Hope to see you there.