November 11, 2008

We had about 15 people tonight.

Games played:

• Tumblin-Dice Jr.
• Shadows over Camelot
• Blue Moon City
• Munchkin Quest
• Auf Achse
• Race for the Galaxy
• Die Säulen von Venedig

October 28, 2008

• Eli and I played Race for the Galaxy. Eli won with 39 to my 35.
• Then we played Gloom, which Eli also won with -100 to my -55.
• After Gloom, we played Uptown. We both ended with six groups, but Eli won the tie breaker by only capturing nine tiles to my fourteen.
• I then played Condottiere with JP and Chandler. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to finish the game.

September 23, 2008

I’m really behind on the blog. I will try and get caught up over the next few days.

• Phil and I played a game of Cosmic Wimpout. This is a quick dice game, where you can keep rolling and building up your score, until you either choose to stop and take your points, or until you “wimp out” by not scoring with any of the dice you rolled. There are several rules that sometimes force you to roll again even when you don’t want to. We chose to play to 300 points. Phil took the lead early. I kept rolling a “flash” of three 10s (worth 100 points) and a 5; this forced me to roll the remaining non-scoring die in the hope of getting a 5, which I couldn’t do to save my life. Phil stalled out at 295, and I finally got a couple of high scoring rolls that brought me to 345, and won the game.
• Next, we played Tantrix. Early in the game, we both got stuck with a handful of tiles that we didn’t want to play, making for some agonizing decisions. Phil eventually managed to close the biggest loop I’ve ever seen, winning the game with 60 points to my 18.
• Phil had to leave just as Eli arrived, so Eli and I played a game of Cosmic Wimpout. I won with 355 to Eli’s 235.
• Eli and I then played Uptown. With two players, each player plays two colors. I won with two groups to Eli’s four.
• JT arrived, and the three of us played Tantrix. JT managed to close a loop for 38 points, Eli finished with 23, and I had a closed loop for 20.

September 9, 2008

Jeff, Chris, Eric, Phil

• Stone Age
• Hive (w/Mosquito expansion) - EH won, Phil lost
• Tomb
• Race for the Galaxy - Eric 48, Phil 47
• Apples to Apples

July 8, 2008

For the first time in a long time, we had enough people to have two games going at once.

• First, I played a game of Torres with three new comers, Greg, Amy, and Jo Yu (sorry if I’ve misspelled her name). Despite being the only person who’d played the game before, I came in last. Jo Yu won with 178, Amy had 177, Greg had 157, and I had 143.
• In the meantime, Hal, Eli, and Ian started a game of Stone Age. Eli won with a score of 183.
• Stone Age was still going on when we finished Torres, so I brought out Princes of Florence. Again, I was the only one who played before. All three new players picked up on the game fairly quickly. I won with a score of 64, but Greg wasn’t far behind with 59, Amy had 44, and Jo Yu had 39.

Our next session will be on July 22.

June 10, 2008

• First up, was Race for the Galaxy. Eli won with 31, Chris had 28, Jamie had 24, and I brought up the rear with 20.
• Next, the four of us played Vegas Showdown. Jamie won with 67, Eli had 63, I had 52, and Chris had 38.

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.