May 16, 2006 |
Kaveh and Anne were kind enough to host, and as I was hoping to get Anne to play something, I brought a couple party games over, as she'd be getting home around 8 or so. Attendance was going to be light, as Jim was in Frisco, Jamie was having band practice (claiming the Game Night time of Lee and Mark), Erin has some sort of class (as does Annie), and Rakesh and Amanda were busy until well past 7 o'clock.
| Domaine |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 22 (+4 ducats) | 1 | |
| Scott | 22 (+0 ducats) | 2 | * |
| Mike | 18 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Kaveh | 18 | 3 (Tie) | * |
Notes: With four, I thought we'd play Domaine, which is a pretty easy to understand game that flows excellently and doesn't take too long.
I kind of thought I'd be in for a long game when my first castle was almost completely surrounded by Scott and Dan. My second and third ones were in decent mining areas, but there were very few cities surrounding them. Dan looked to be in good shape for both mines and points, as did Scott. Kaveh was going to need a big wall investment, but after that he'd probably be good.
That's essentially how things turned out. Scott and I were the first to make Domaines, and I expanded and claimed a couple mines. Scott made two domaines, then Dan made one, but Scott's second domaine was rendered useless by a very hosey move of Dan. My first domaine was solid, but my second one was a victim of Scott's Achilles-like wrath, which arose from Dan's super-sexy hose move - trimming a fancy-pants 10 point, 2 gold domaine of Scott's to 1 point and no chance for further expansion.
Dan was the next victim of retribution, as Scott and I made forays into his two domaines, whittling down his points. Then Kaveh made two domaines, and within about four rounds was with 4 points of ending the game. Then Dan made his second sexy hose move of the game, this time costing Kaveh about 8 or 9 points and one gold per round, and things became incredibly even.
As I said, I had no chance of making a third domaine, and though my first domaine was okay, my second was caught next to Scott's awesomely Knighted one and the one Dan eventually devoted fundage to. Kaveh took some big hits right before the end of the game, and Scott made a last push with his big domaine at the end, spending three straight turns expanding.
I had no expansions in hand at the end, so I just collected money. Dan was able to move into my region the turn before I buttressed it with a knight, so he consolidated his points. After that there was much holding of the forts.
Scott made one final expansion, which gave him a tie with Dan. Unfortunately, though he expanded over the last three rounds, he had no money left, and Dan had been able to take just enough from my second best domaine to tie him. As Dan had 4 gold left to none for Scott, he won.
| The Top 10 Game |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | Winner's Circle | 1 | |
| Scott | 1 back | 2 | * |
| Dan | 3rd | 3 | * |
| Kaveh | 4th | 4 | * |
| Anne | 5th | 4 | * |
Notes: We got Anne to play, as I'd hoped, and after she and I hassled Dan about his love life for a bit, Anne opted for the Top 10 Game over Cranium.
Scott was a tough nut to shake, but the Top 10 favorite Star Wars characters and the Top 10 States for Traffic Fatalities questions gave me just enough of an edge to hold him off by one.
There was a bit of controversy at the end. The question was Top 10 things about being president, and I said, "Don't have to think." Scott said that that shouldn't count, but I got a 4 to 1 vote in favor of it. I mean, really, you don't have to think. You get a bunch of guys to do your work for you, say whatever pops into your idiotic head, and even if your approval percentage drops below 30 you're still the president!
Scott was very upset because it hurt his win percentage.
My favorite answer was to the 10 Excuses you can't work late. Dan said, "I have to ring the Salvation Army bell." That was beautiful both for its effectiveness and creativity.