May 27, 2008

It was just Eli, Phil, and myself tonight.

• Tzaar - Eli and I played two games of Tzaar, the newest addition to the Gipf series of two player abstract games. In Tzaar, each player has three types of pieces: 6 Tzaars, 9 Tzarras and 15 Totts. The pieces all have identical capabilities. On each turn, a player must first capture one of his opponent’s pieces. He then gets a second, optional move, in which he can either make another capture or create or add to a stack of pieces. A stack of pieces can capture any stack of equal or lesser height. A player loses if he can not make a capture on his first move of the turn, or if he no longer has at least one of each of the three types of pieces on the board. Eli won both games.
• Pacific Typhoon - Phil joined us, and wanted to try Pacific Typhoon. Pacific Typhoon, an updated version of Atlantic Storm, is a trick taking card game with a World War II naval theme. On his turn, a player draws two battle cards, and chooses one to be fought over. Battles occur in different years (1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, or 1945) and may be day or night. The player then looks at his cards and decides if it will be an air, surface, or submarine battle. Starting with the start player, each player in turn decides whether to play for the Allies or the Japanese, and can then play one or more combat cards of the appropriate type. After all players have played (or passed), the strengths of the two sides are compared. The side with the higher strength wins the trick, and the player who contributed the most to the battle gets to decide how the point cards are distributed. The game is okay with three, but plays better with six. Phil won with 47, I had 35, and Eli had 19.
• Blue Moon City - We managed to squeeze in a game of BMC before closing time. I got off to an early lead, and quickly got 4 markers on the obelisk, while Eli and Phil still had only two each. I placed my 5th marker before either of them could catch up, and won the game.

Our next session will be June 10.