February 26, 2008

It was just Phil and I tonight.

• Uptown - This is an abstract tile laying game for 2-5 players. Each player has 28 tiles in a particular color (in the two player game, each player takes two colors). Each tile has a symbol on it, one of the letters A through I, one of the digits 1 through 9, one of nine pictures, or a wild card with a dollar sign symbol. The symbol on the tile restricts where on the board the tile can be placed. Players take turns placing tiles, trying to form the least number of connected groups possible. Captures are allowed, but count against the capturing player. I won, 4 to 5.
• Race for the Galaxy - Phil won with 36 to my 25. I was dealt several high value cards that had no abilities, and made the mistake of holding on to them with the hope of building them later, which hampered my early development.
• Tantrix - another abstract tile laying game. We were fairly even up until right near the end, when I managed to connect a six long segment to my 20 long segment. I won with 27 to Phil’s 20.

Our next session will be on March 11.

February 12, 2008

We had a low turn-out tonight, only four people, probably due at least in part to the freezing rain. We also got off to a late start, so only two games.

• Infernal Contraption - Tim, Brian, Hal, and I played Infernal Contraption, with the Sabotage! expansion. Hal had never played before. I had played the basic game before, but not with the expansion. (See 9/25/07.) Early in the game, Hal played a contraption to his machine that allowed him to draw a card from his parts pile and play it immediately. After adding some upgrades, he was able to draw eight(!) cards from his parts pile and play any or all of them. He was able to build one very impressive machine, but after drawing all of those cards from his parts pile, he left himself vulnerable, and he was the first one out. Brian, Tim, and I continued to slug it out. I was losing cards from my parts pile at a frightening rate, but had a contraption with upgrades that allowed me to take cards from the scrap pile and add them to my parts pile, which kept me just barely hanging on for quite a while. Finally, I got to the point where I realized my next turn would be my last. Judging Tim’s parts pile to be smaller than Brian’s, I aimed my machine at Tim, taking him out of the game, but burned my own parts pile in the process, leaving Brian as the winner.
• Guillotine - [Edited 3/3/08] We had about a half-hour left, so we decided to play Guillotine, which Hal won with 24, Tim had 23, I had 21, and Brian had 11.

Our next session will be on February 26.