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You are visitor number  since 11/23/98 Welcome to the highlights page of the Games Night web site. Every week I write a few lines about what happened at the friday night get togethers of our gaming group. I am trying to get a laugh or two out of the people who are in that gaming group. Other people who wander onto this site may find the highlights page helpful in picking games that might appeal to their friends and game playing groups.  Thanks for stopping by,  Spanky

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Pete, Spanky

Quote of the night: "'Package' size doesn't matter to dogs."  --Bill

The first game played was Bazaar. The four players in the game were Bill, Brendan, Pete and Spanky. The game was fairly even with Bill and Brendan buying four cards each and, Pete and Spanky each bought five cards. Spanky's won the game.

Jeff joined the group at this point.

The second game of the night was Seafarers of Catan. This was the first time that the Seafarers game was played at games night therefore, it did not count in the players stats. After the rules for the Seafarers of Catan were quickly read aloud the group picked scenario 1 which is call "Five Islands" and is designed for five players. The board was set up, with lots of helping hands, and the players placed there first two settlements. A battle for longest road was waged between a couple of the players and that focused the robber on those players. Spanky, who was hampered by the pirate, was able to score the extra two victory points for placing a settlement on a "new" island. That settlement plus a new city and a victory point from the development deck were enough to give Spanky the 12 points needed to win the game.

The group had the holiday gift exchange during the break between games.

The last game of the night was King of the Elves. The rules were explained in a less than helpful way to Brendan before the game started. Brendan, who had never played King of the Elves, did a good job of catching on to the game. The group didn't realize the Brendan had never played this game. The game went normally till the fourth hand which had no travel phase due to all of the players passing before anyone had a village played. Bill work many thieves, all to good effect. Spanky was dealt the "coin" and "reverse" cards which are needed to score the really big points. Spanky won the game.

Who was there: Brendan, Bill, Bob, Jeff, Ken, Pete, Spanky.

Plants of the week: Nasty powerful holiday greenery and evil grapes.

The first game of the night was Bazaar. Bob, who hadn't arrived yet, was the only player not in the game. Pete won the game with a final card buy of two stars with NO coins left for 12 points.

Bob joined the group at this point.

The next game was Knok. Bill won the game by the slim margin of four points over Spanky

The next game played was Formula De'. The group played the flip side of the last track played. They also went for the single lap game. There was some changes in the lead early in the game and then a small pack pulled away from the rest. Most players were waylaid by a single mistake or a single bad roll. The only player to not have a mistake or bad roll finished the game in first place and was way ahead of any other players. That winning player was Jeff.

The gaming group could well be ready for a multi lap game of formula de'. The multiple laps might allow trailing players an opportunity to catch the leaders. It could be worth a try.

A game of King of the Elves was started but was put aside when Bill pulled a "weak sister" deal during the first hand of the game and couldn't continue.

The next game was Skip-Bo. Spanky had ZERO skip-bo cards in the game. Jeff won the game.

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. What a surprise, Ken won the game with Spanky only four points behind.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan Dennis, Jeff, Ken, Lori, Spanky

Complaint of the week: Why are you putting it on me? How do you see ANY way for me to win?

The first game of the night was Bazaar. Everyone but Jeff played in this game. Lori grabbed a quick win with a good buy on the last card of the game.

The next game played was also a game of Bazaar. Everyone but Jeff played in this game. This game was much tighter with all of the players having high scores at the end. Dennis score was the highest and he won the game.

Wizards was the next game played. Jeff still was not in the game. There was a lot of trouble getting the ninth hand dealt and played. The third ninth hand was a keeper and the game moved on to the last hand. Ken won the game by having made only two bad bids the whole game.

Jeff joined the group at this point. Lori left the group at this point. (Don't read anything into the timing of those two events.)

Settlers of Catan was the next game to hit the table. Two volcanos was the only variant in the game. That means that the, standard rules, "easy seven" was in play. Spanky almost scored a very quick win when he grabbed the longest road with four cities. The only problem was the one of the cities was on a volcano and was reduced to a settlement by lava on that very turn. Spanky was stomped flat by the other players and could never make another run for the win. Bill's monkey won the game by pointing at everyone but Bill.

The next game was Knok. Spanky won the game with a successful knock on the very last hand.

The last game of the night was ForGet It. Dennis played the "sneak up close to 500 and then roll like a wild man to win" strategy to win the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Ken, Pete, Spanky

Lesson of the week: Never clean a carpet BEFORE games night.

The first game played this week was Bazaar. Bill, Dennis, Jeff, Ken and Spanky were the players in the game. Ken won the game.

Wizards was the next game played. Jeff won the game.

Pete joined the group at this point.

Split Second was the next played. The paddles were spun to make it fair. The game was quick and Spanky was the winner.

Brendan joined the group at this point.

The next game was Dalmuti. Jeff needed only 11 of the 13 hands to win the game.

Pete left the group at this point.

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. Bill won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Jeff, Ken, Spanky

Russian phrase of the week: An open vodka bottle is an empty vodka bottle.

The first game played by the group this week was Best of Chronology. The players were: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Ken and, Spanky. The group added a variant to the standard rules of this game. It is the same variant that the games night group uses with the original Chronology game and that is to play till one of the players has accumulated twelve cards. This variant seems to add some extra thrills in the end game as it become harder to successfully place cards in the more crowded timelines. Spanky won the game with several other players only a card or two behind.

The next game, Bazaar, was played by the same players as in the above game. Bazaar is normally a straight forward game and fairly monkey proof but, a slight player error brought out a lobbying monkey and the monkey won. Bill and his monkey won.

Bob joined the group at this point.

Sharks was the next game played. It was not a normal game of Sharks as three of the four stocks never rose above four dollars a share in price while the fourth, yellow, screamed up the to fifteen dollars to end the game. Pete, who was the only player to have more than one share of yellow, won the game.

Brendan left the group at this point.

King of the Elves was the next game played by the group. The goal of the game is to get the most gold coins. The players get gold coins by traveling to villages. There is some self leveling in this game as that players can hinder the leader with punitive cards. Spanky won the game.

Bob and Jeff left the group at this point.

Five Crowns was the last game of the night. With only three players playing the game goes very fast. All of the player received very good cards and none of the hands lasted very long before a player would "go out". Spanky won the quick, low scoring game.

Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Ken, Pete, Spanky

Treat of the night: Russian smokes.

The first two games of the night were Best of Chronology games. Bill won the first one and Jeff won the second game with a stunning nine cards in a row.

 King of the Elves was the next game. Bill worked some well placed thieves in the last hand to win the game.

Bazaar was the fourth and fifth game of the night. Spanky won the first game and Ken won the second.

The last game of the night was Sharks. Ken had never played the game and was helped with some advice from the more experienced players. Maybe the experienced players gave too much help. Ken won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Dennis, Ed, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Lori, Pete

Phrase of the night: Bluecocky

Game one was a new game for games night. The game was named Bazaar. The players were Bill, Brendan, Dennis and Ken. It was a practice game and didn't count in the player stats.

Bazaar was also the second game of the night. Jeff joined the group from the first game in playing this game. Jeff was the winner and this game did count in the stats.

The third game was another game of Bazaar. Lori was added to the above group of players for this game. The game ended in a tie. Jeff and Ken split the win.

The fourth game of the week was Best of Chronology. Everyone but Ed played in this game. Brendan took a risk and won the game.

The fifth game was Knok. Lori didn't play and now Ed joined the game. Jim won the game.

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. Ken won the game and earned the first HOT PLAYER mark on this years stats page for winning three out of the four games of Five Crowns he has played.

Who was there: Bill, Dennis, Ken, Pete

The first game of the week was Best of Chronology. The game was played to, the rule specified, ten cards for a win. Pete won the game.

The second game was a brand new game called Facts in Five. Bill won the game. Since it was the first time that this game was played at games night, it did not count in the players stats.

The third game of the night was another game of Facts in Five. Bill won this game too and, this time it did count in the player stats.

The final game of the night was a new game at games night also. The name of the game is King of the Elves. Bill was the winner of the game and, since it was the first time the game was played at game night it didn't count in the player stats.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Ken, Spanky

Big deal of the night: a single exposed card.

The first game of the week was Chronology. The number of cards needed to win the game was set at, the now standard, twelve cards. Very few cards traveled away from the first player to have a shot at them. The few cards that did slip away from the first player traveled seemed to travel half way around the table before someone would win it. Ken's careful play won the game for him.

The group knocked 34 weeks of dust off of Balderdash and actually played it. Dennis peppered the game with colorful humor as only he can. One player had a word completely omitted from the definition he had writen leaving the definition an meaningless sentence. The only fair way of remedying such a problem is to have the whole round replayed. It seems to me a loss of time is far better than a loss of fairness. No remedy was implemented at all. The player who misread the definition ended up winning the game just edging out the injured player. I'm thinking no stats on this game. Send your letters of complaint to the usual email address and be sure to let me know if you want your letter posted on the web site as a "letter to the editor".

Wizards was the next game played. Jeff won.

Knok was the next game to hit the table. Bill, who never knocked, won the game.

Dennis left the group at this point.

The last game of the night was Can't Stop. This was about the best game of Can't Stop that games night was ever seen. The end of the game found all five players with two numbers captured and needing only one more number to win. A five way tie with only one number available. The eleven was occupied by all five players and the big break came when Bill rolled 2 sixes and 2 fives to jump two spaces on the elevens. That put him above all the other players and forced them to "go for broke" to try to catch him before he inched his way to the win. No one did catch up and Bill did win the game inch by inch.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Ken, Spanky

Bonus of the night: An extra hour of gaming due to the fall time change.

The first game of the night was Knok. Ken took the lead at the half way point and never looked back. Ken won the game with half the points of the next closest player.

Settlers of Catan was the next game played. The variants used in this game were two volcanos and, the standard seven rule i.e. no hard seven. With five players on the "german expansion" board set up and the two volcanos there were lots of good spots for everyone to build their first two settlements. Spanky set a record on the volcano by being "burned" five time on a volcano that only had its number rolled six times. That is roughly a 7776 to 1 shot on the odds of have a two rolled 5 times. Bill garnered the largest army card early and then later scored the longest road card to win the game.

Five Crowns was the next game played. Lady Luck returned to Spanky and fed him great cards and the win.

Lady luck was still with Spanky as he caught great cards again in the next game, The Great Dalmuti. Spanky won the game with an untouchable lead with two hand left to play.

Brendan left the group at this point.

The last game of the night was Skip-Bo. With four players in the game 30 cards were used in the "battle" pile. A wealth of wild cards sped the game along in the early going making for a fairly quick game. Bill won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Ken, Lori, Spanky

News of the night: Lori is gaming for two.

The first game of the night was Wizards. Lori did not play in the game. The game was a very low scoring game as all of the players failed to make their bids. Ken made the fewest errors and won the game.

The next game played was Settlers of Catan. The variants used were two volcanos and the hard seven. Brendan grabbed a spot on the volcano and paid a big price. Brendan lost three settlements to the lava and that effectively ended any hopes he had of winning the game. Jeff jumped out to an early lead and lived with the robber for most of the game. Bill, the robbers only other victim, had a good run near the end of the game but was thwarted when a spoiler, Brendan, stole the longest road card from him. Spanky was hampered by an extra loud monkey, Bill's, and could not easily trade with other players. It was a close game with seven rolls forcing many players to lose cards. Spanky snagged the longest road card at the end to win the game.

Lori left the group at this point.

Dalmuti was the next game played. Dennis was in total control of the game from beginning to end. Dennis won the game with three hands left to play with an untouchable lead.

Knok was the next game. {I think I got it all sorted out now. I was already on Moscow time as we played this game and I get a little loopy. After all, I had been up for 30 hours and it was 9 a.m. for me. I had just pulled an all nighter so my notes were getting "loose" during the last hand.} Spanky was caught with 6 points in the last hand and Dennis is sure that he didn't knock on that hand. Dennis was the only player within 6 points of Spanky. Therefore, Spanky won the game.

Jeff left the group at this point. The last game of the night was ForGet It. Ken rolled 18 fours on his last roll to overtake Dennis. Ken won the game.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Jeff, Ken, Spanky

New skill of the week: Gear shifting.

The first game of the night was Settlers of Catan. It was a "small world" game with only four players. (Bob had not arrived yet) The variants used in the game were NO hard seven and one volcano with a nine on it. Brendan grabbed a spot on the volcano with his very first settlement. Brendan paid a heavy price for that placement. He lots to the lava three times during the game and never recovered. Jeff bought development cards again and again ending up with seven soldier cards. Ken grabbed the longest road card and no one ever challenged his hold on that card. Spanky lived under the robbers wrath due to the seven soldier cards Jeff had. Jeff won the game.

The next game played was Blurt. The newly arrived Bob played in this game.  This is a game that sees Bob (⁷/₁₄=50%) or Spanky (¹²/₂₁=57%) as the winner most of the time. Spanky won this game.

Bob bought a new game and brought it to games night this week. The game was called Formule De^'. The first time played rule was in effect. The first time played rule causes the stats not to count for the very first time a game is played at games night. This game plays better than the the other race game played at games night, Speed Circuit. The group played the simple version of the game with the fewest options. The starting positions seemed to make very little difference in the order of finish. Spanky won the race. the rest of the field finished in this order Jeff, Brendan, Ken, Bob.

With much grumbling Split Second was the next game that the group picked to play. Spanky won the game.

Bob left the group at this point.
 

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. Jeff made a run at winning the game near the end but came up four points shy. Ken won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Bredan, Dennis, Jeff, Ken, Pete, Spanky

Tourist of the week: Bob at Lori and Bill's (HOME OF THE HOUND)

The first game of the week was Chronology with Bill, Brendan, Dennis, Ken and Spanky as the players. Very few cards "traveled" during this game but, ever card that did travel ended up in Bill's timeline. Bill won the game.

The next game played was Knok. Bill, Brendan, Dennis,  Jeff, Ken and Spanky were the players in this game. Brendan made a brilliant knock on the last hand to leap from third to first. Brendan won the game.

Dalmuti was the next game. Everyone played in this game. Pete was in the Greater Dalmuti or Lesser Dalmuti seat eight out of the thirteen hands played. Pete won the game.

Five Crowns was picked as the last game of the night. Bill, Bob, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Ken, Spanky started in this game. Not all of those players made it to the end of the game. Ken called the last hand moot as he held few enough points in his hand to be unbeatable. Ken won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Ken, Lori, Spanky

Glimmer of hope of the week: A wild card spot for the TRIBE.

The first game of the night was Wizards. The game came down to the the final hand when Lori needed to make a seven bid and for Spanky to get set for her to win. The unlikely scenario played out just as Lori needed. Lori won the game.

Skip-Bo was the next game played. The players picked to play a twenty-five card game. Spanky burned through his twenty-five cards in short order and won the game, despite making a few errors. Good cards just can't be beat.

Lori left at this point.

The next game played was Settlers of Catan. The variants used for the game were TWO volcanos and the water variant. (THE STANDARD GAMES NIGHT "HARD SEVEN" WAS USED ALSO) Bill broke out to a huge lead and was stomped down with the robber and soldier cards. Ken took the the opportunity to win the game.

The forth game of the night was another Settlers of Catan. The same variants as the above game were use with out the water variant. Spanky was reduced to ONE POINT on the board when he was burned by a volcano. Spanky's hurried rush to build himself back into the game caused him to miss an opportunity to easily block the longest road gambit that Bill was working towards. The gambit worked and Bill won the game. All of the players ended the game very close to winning. Settlers seems to play out that way more often than not. Bill won the game.

Knok was the next game. Ken stayed quiet and won the game.

The sixth game was Crack the Case. With three players we played a round robin type game. Player 1 reads to players 2 & 3, then 2 reads to 1 & 3 and so on. The non reading players form a temporary team for the scoring of points. Totaling up the points each player scored as a team member found a winner. Spanky won the game. The round robin thing work well and doesn't seem to be a bad was to get in a quick game of Crack the Case when there are just three players.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Ken, Spanky

Class of the night: Stereo 101

The first game played was ForGet It. Ken was the first player to break the 500 point barrier to start the final round of rolls for the other players. Jeff rolled a great final round of 360 points. Which when added to the 304 point he had already gave him a score that no other player could top. Jeff won the game.

The next game was Settlers of Catan. The group picked to play with four volcanos and the hard sevens variants. The 5 to 6 player board was set up and the two deserts were replaced with volcanos and two land hexes, picked at random, also were replaced with volcanos. The two "desert" volcanos received the numbers as set out in the volcano variant. The "land hexes" volcanos received the numbers as they fell in the "alphabetical" order. The land hex volcanos had bad numbers, 2 and 12, and were not a factor in the game. Bill won the game with a sneaky large army.

The Great Dalmutithe next game played by the group. The group chose to play a half game of Dalmuti. The rules call for 20 hands and the group played 10. Spanky won the game.

Brendan left the group at this point to go home to change up his tailgating batteries.

Knok was the last game of the night. It was quick and clean. Spanky won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Ken, Lori, Pete, Spanky

Overzealous monkey of the week: Slap-nut's

The first game of the night was Phase 10. The game went on and on and on. It lasted hours and hours. The best part of the game was that the two leaders tied a few times near the end of the game. They even needed to play a tied breaking hand at the end. Bill won the game.

Brendan and Lori left the group at this point.

Game two was Knok. Bill won that game too

Game three was another Knok. Ken won this game.

Play of the night: The, rare and dangerous, squeaky wheel gambit.

The first game of the night was Five Crowns. Ken took the lead after the "nines" hand and never looked back. He won the game by a ton.

The next game was '21 FREEZE OUT. The description of this game is not included here because this game may never be played again at games night. The players could thwart each other too easily and the game dragged out horribly. The rules for this game set the game winning score at 500 points. That means that a player needed to win four or five "hands" to win. The first hand, after an open or practice hand, took over an hour to play. If the group had tried to play till one of the players reached 500 points, they would still be play at the time of this report. The game was aborted after the first "hand". Jeff, who won the first "hand" with a score of 94 points, REALLY thought that the game should count on the stats page. Jeff argued that we had played the practice hand and that means that the first time played rule should not be in affect. The first time played rule, normally, keeps games from counting in the stats the first time that the group plays a new game. The rule is being bent, one time only, by group acclamation, for one of the primary host for the games night group. Sometimes nice guys do win.

The third game played was Knok. The last hand started with a thirteen point lead for Ken. Ken lost his head and made an errant knock and got hit with a ton of points. A possible case of testosterone poisoning. Brendan won the game.

The last game of the night was Wizards. Bill, who made only one bad bid, won the game.

Four different games, four different winners. Spanky was the only non-winner of the night. The group enjoyed that.

Who was there: Bill, Dennis, Ken, Lori, Pete, Spanky

New look of the night: Doggiedo

The first game of the night was Skip-Bo. The game started with four players, Bill, Dennis, Ken and, Spanky, and was expanded to five when Pete arrived early enough to still be dealt into the game. The number of cards in the "battle" stack for each player was reduced to 22 cards so that the game would progress easier. Ken had some good runs and won the game.

Lori joined the group at this point.

Settlers of Catan was the next game that was played. The group used the standard "hard seven" and two volcanos in the game. The volcanos, a 9 and a 10, claimed no property during the whole game. There were two players that were running away with the game. One was seen and other was not. The player who was not seen won the game. Lori, the stealth master, won the game.

Lori took the win and ran off.

The five remaining players played Wizards next. The final hand of the game ended in a tie between Pete and Ken and there was the need to play a tie breaking hand. The group decided to play a, 12 card / no trump, final hand as the tie breaker. Pete and Ken tied again! A second tie breaking hand was played. Pete and Ken tied again! A THIRD tie breaking hand was played. Pete and Ken tied AGAIN! A fourth tie breaker ended with Pete and BILL tied. The Fifth tie breaker made Bill the winner.

Pete left the group at this point.

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. The final scores were: Dennis 201, Bill 149, Ken 101, Spanky 9! You can't beat good cards.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Jeff, Pete, Spanky

New stuff of the night: Twin greasy sisters, a purple seal, the mother of the bride and, a clean shaven spy.

The night started off very oddly. Brendan, Jeff and Spanky had a chat as they waited for other players to arrive. Bill was called in to identify some fungus and join in for a game too. The fungus was not good for much and the same can be said for the game. The first game played was Crack the Case.  This was a "new" game that was unearthed at a garage sale. It is a game that needs the players to be split into two teams. These team games get very little play at games night. It might be a good game to draw in non-gamers as there is very little pressure on any single player to perform well. The team works to solve a crime within the time allowed. The earlier a crime is solved the more points the team gets. The crimes are written out on card ranging from easy to hard. The front of the card is read aloud and the solution on the back of the card is only read by the "card reader" for that round. The two team agree on the number of cards that will be played by each team that game. Three cards seems to be the standard game. The person who reads the card to the "solving" team answers the "solving" teams YES or NO question with one of seven answers based on the information in the solution. They are 1 yes, 2 no, 3 yes and no, 4 irrelevant, 5 I don't know, 6 Define "X", 7 rephrase the question. Pete and later Bob joined in the game before it was all over. The group didn't score many point during the whole game. There were a few grumbles about how the readers answered some of the question and how that may have misled a team. This was the first time that this game was played at games night as so, it falls under the first time played ruled and does not count in the stats.

Bob brought a cool new game, that he had just bought, to this weeks games night and it didn't get played. The group was already caught up in the, rather long, first game. I hope that this will not have a chilling effect on future game buying. We can always use new games at games night.

The group was cut in half at this point when Bill, Bob and Pete left.

The last game of the night was Settlers of Catan. The three players set up the, small looking, board with the volcanoreplacing the desert. The standard hard seven variant was not used in this game. The volcano was very quiet and the had very little affect on the game. It was a simple game with very little trading between players. Spanky won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Ken, Lori, Pete,Spanky

Sighting of the night: A fat blind squirrel.

The first game of the night was Knok. This game is made for four or less players and the games night group makes an adjustment to the game to have it be more "playable". The adjustment is to reduce the penalty for a "bad knock" by half. When a player knocks and does not have the lowest total, they receive HALF of the total of all players hands. The game was typical and Brendan was the winner. Okay, the part where Brendan wins was not typical but, the rest of the game was.

Lori left the group at this point.

Wizards was the next game played by the group. Brendan was working hard to win this game too. Brendan and Spanky each only missed one bid in the whole game. Pete missed four bids, Ken missed six and, Bill missed seven bids. Bill is normally the master of this game winning it more than half the times it is played. It came down to a battle between Brendan and Spanky and Spanky got the win.

The next game was Settler of Catan. The game included TWO volcanos and the standard "hard seven" variant that is the games night house rule. Brendan and Ken were the only players to build on the volcano at the beginning of the game. The volcano di very little damage during the game. It was a fairly tight game with all of the players within a point or two of the lead at most times. The game did have one twist, the development card deck was exhausted as the game ended. The last card in the deck was the victory point Brendan need to win the game. Brendan won the game.

The last game of the night was Skip-Bo. The game was started with the dealing of 20 cards to each player. There should have been more card dealt to each player. Possibly as many as 25 cards per player. Spanky made a mental error and did not block a FOUR that Brendan could play on. Brendan played the four and eight more cards in the longest run of the game. Brendan's big lead couldn't be over come by any of the other players and Brendan won the game easily.

This was Brendan's big night. He won three out of the four games played. Congratulations, Brendan now has a black belt in  monkey talk.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Lori, Spanky

Mad cow of the night: Bill

The first game of the night was Split Second. Bill (running late) and Jim (also late) didn't play in this game. This game was picked by the group due to the fact that the "paddles" had been  restrung with fresh rubber bands and were as even as possible in speed. The group was also of the perfect size, six, the maximum for the game. The restringer pressed hard to have the game played before the rubber bands became uneven again. The game came down to a battle between Lori and Spanky. Spanky came from behind to win the game.

Blurt was the next game that the group played. Bill asked for this game to be played and the group went along with his choice. Everyone played in this game. The group used a penny and a dime for the 7th and 8th pawn. The break out leader early in the game was Ken. Ken zoomed ahead by winning the general "questions and winning the challenges other player forced on him. Spanky came from behind to win this game after Ken lost a challenge and left the door open for a lead change.

Five Crowns was the next game played. It was not till late in the game that anyone noticed that the game's maximum number of players was set at seven in the rules and that we in fact had one more player than the maximum. The concern was that the draw pile could become depleted during the final few hands. The final hand was cut short when the leader showed that he couldn't get caught with enough point to drop from first place. Therefore the card shortage never became an issue. Ken won the game in a big way. He had half the score of the next closest player.

Lori left the group at this point.

The group picked a 13 hand game of The Great Dalmuti. The game suffered due to the hour, after 1 in the morning. There was a misdeal or two and players dropped from the game (Bill). Jeff got a little "fuzzy" near the end of the game. The game was reduced to four players by it end. Ken didn't want the game to count unless it was finished so, the group pressed on. The game ended after the tenth hand when Spanky had a large enough lead that it was mathematically impossible for any of the other players to catch him.

COMMENTARY: The stats for a game count even when players drop out from a game because, to not have it this way would allow single players to "tank" a game or at the very least, drop from games that they are losing just to improve their stats. To allow this would harm the fellowship that we all enjoy at games night.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Dennis, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Pete, Spanky

Phrase of the Night: "I QUIT then!!!!" (half of the players said it)

The group wanted to play a quick game as they waited for Jim to arrive. Very few of the "quick" games can handle seven players so, a shortened game of The Great Dalmuti was picked. The length of the game was set at ten hands or when Jim arrives. The hand in progress would be finished when Jim walked in the door. Jim came through the door during the fourth hand. Bill won the game. "a cheapy"

The next game had all eight player in the game. It was another game of The Great Dalmuti. The group picked 10 hands as the length for the game. It was another good game of Dalmuti with very few player errors. The winner was Jim.

The last game of the night was Settlers of Catan. The group used two volcanos and no deserts. The number of cards for a  seven to "bust" was set at 8. (seven cards = safe)  For the very first time players other than the current player (dice roller) were allowed to trade and build. The "Secondary Builder Variant" was limited to the player directly across for the current player. The rolling player would roll his dice and the play his turn (trade, build, buy) then, the player opposite from him was allowed to have a non rolling turn to trade, build and buy. The game was long and loud. The volcanos (one was a "10" and the other was a "4")  burned players 5 times. Spanky, who was burned by the volcano three times, won the game.

COMMENTARY: Settlers of Catan games take about the same number of dices rolls every time. It doesn't matter how many players there are in the game. It does change with some of the variants e.g. the Rebel variant reduces the number of rolls because all of the sevens rolled produce commodities. Therefore, anything that slows the pace of the dice being rolled, slows the game. Having the non-current player have a chance to trade, build and buy slows the dice and, ipso facto, the game takes longer to finish. Not letting non-current players "have a turn" and letting player hold 14 card in their hands safely would have made for a quicker game. It was still an enjoyable game just because it had a new twist.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Lori, Pete, Spanky

New rule of the week: The original seat holders get their "good" chairs back after Dalmuti.

The first game of the night was Chronology. Jim was the only player not in the game (he arrived later). The standard games night, 12 cards to win, variant was used. Bill missed a few cards that would have given him the game and it came down to a battle between Bill and Spanky. Bill won the game.

The second game was The Great Dalmuti. Everyone, except Jim, played in the game. The standard games night rule of two hands per player was shortened to a total of twelve hands. Ken played very well and was a dalmuti, lesser or greater, in nine of the ten hands. The last two hard were not played due to no other players having a mathematical chance to win. Ken won the game.

Knok was the next game played. Everybody played in this game. This time the group set the penalty for a bad knock at one third of the total points. This adjustment was made so that errant knocks don't put players out of the game completely. Spanky won the game with a quick knock in the last hand.

Jim, Lori and Pete left the group at this point.

Settlers of Catan was the next game. Five players and a volcano. The basic gold volcano variant was used in the game. Spanky built on the volcano and paid a heavy price. The volcano produced/erupted six times and Spanky lost a settlement to the lava five times. The main battle was between Ken and Bill. Brendan took longest road from Ken and Bill lead from that point on. Bill won the game.

Jeff leaves, Jim returns.

The last game of the night was ForGet It. Lots of people came close to winning the game but, Jim was the winner.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Pete, Ken, Lori, Spanky

Ugly trend starting: Grabbing a "good" chair like an Oklahoma claim staker.

The night was Chronology. Pete, who arrived  to late, was not a player in the game. Lori won the game.

The second game played was Five Crowns. Ken lead the game wire to wire and won with the tiny score of 57.

Dennis, Pete and Lori left at this point.

Knok was the next game. Bill won the game when Ken was over come with testosterone poisoning.

Can't Stop was next and Brendan pressed his luck very hard and and defied the odds to win the game,

Skip-Bo was the last game of the night and Ken was the winner.

Who was there: Bob, Jeff, Spanky

Upgrade of the week: A computer is now being used to search for intelligent life at games night. (none found)

Scrabble was almost played this week. The game was aborted when we got a third player and the night became  an "official" games night.

The first game of the night was Chronology. The winning number of cards was set at twelve. Dice were used to set the seating around the table BECAUSE IT IS MORE  FAIR THAT WAY. There are players who are really good at this game and it is a hardship to be seated to the left of one of them. These players who rarely miss a question make it, almost, impossible for the player to the left to win a game. If seating is to be static then, there will be some ugliness at the beginning of the night as players pick their "permanent" seat for that night. Spanky won the game with Bob only one card behind.

The last game of the night was Guerilla. This game had not been played since october of 1998. The dusty box was opened and the game began in a halting manner due to the player's vague memories of all of the rules. It was a long game with the Rebels winning for the first time ever at games night. Bob won the game with the help of a relutant U.N. that was never played.

Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Ken, Lori, Pete and, Spanky

Quote of the night: "Gentlemen, start your monkeys!"

The first game of the night was Knok. The players were Bill, Jeff, Pete and, Spanky. Bill was the only player who was not within striking distance, of a win, at the end of the game. Spanky won the game.

The next game played was Chronology. Everyone played in this game. The group picked 12 cards to be the winning score for this game. This has become a standard variant used by the games night group. It causes more cards to travel around the table and therefore makes for a more exciting game. Bill caught two cards in a row to win the game.

The third game was a Settler of Catan. The Volcano variant was played. The games night group also has one standard variant that has been used for every game. It is called "THE HARD SEVEN".That variant is in the way that players can play once they have rolled a seven. In this "games night" variant, the current player must move the robber and then his turn is over. He or she may not build. He or she may not trade. He or she may not buy a development card. They do get to "steal" a card form a play when the move the robber but, that is the be all and end all of their turn. This variant can thwart a player who holds all the cards he or she needs to win if they roll a seven. They will now be stuck holding all the cards and hoping that no other players roll a seven and force them to divest themselves of half their cards before it is their turn again. Other players will also have one more turn in which they may win the game thus stealing the victory from a player who could have won if this variant was not in effect. The group has played the last 75 games of settlers of catan using this variant. It may be time to try one game without it. Pete and Spanky built on the volcano (which had a number 10 on it). Pete was the first to loss a settlement to the lava and Spanky quickly snatch up the spot by building a settlement on the Pete's ashes. Pete, who has able to build on the another corner of the volcano due to the roads he still owned on the volcano, was back in the "volcano roulette" game again. The volcano knocked one of Spanky's cities down to a settlement and destroyed a settlement too. Pete lost a second settlement to the volcano too. The "GOLD" the the volcano produced has very helpful to Spanky but did little for Pete. The timing of the lava crushed any chance Pete had in the game.  The game was close for most of the other players. Bill used his longest road to win the game.

Lori left the group at this point.

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. Bill lead the game wire to wire and won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Lori, Pete, Spanky

Injustice of the night: Fixed seating.

The night started a little as some of the group arrived at about nine. The first game of the night was Skip-Bo. Bill peeled off cards with ease as the rest of the players struggled. In the end, it wasn't even close. Bill won the game.

The second game was Settlers of Catan. The game was played with a brand new variant, the volcano. (Click for volcano variant rules) The volcano variant replaces a hex with a volcano that "can" produce gold (resource of player's choice) and also can destroy settlements and cities with lava flows. The volcano only produced/erupted two or three times during this game. Lori won the game and she was nowhere near the volcano. This does look like a promising variant and may need a little tinkering to make it a favorite of the games night players.

The next game was Blurt. The game was picked by Bill who had won the roll off to see who would pick the game. There were a few groans from the other players about Bill's pick. Spanky won the game.

Lori and Brendan left the group at this point.

The final game of the night was Five Crowns. Pete got in trouble early and never recovered. The other three players were in the game with a chance to win till the very end. Spanky caught good cards on the last hand and won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff, Ken, Lori and Spanky

Exhibition sport of the night: A Biathlon: Wild Chair Riding / Wine Toss

The first game of the night was Knok. Everyone but Bob played in the game (Pete joined in the fourth hand).  Jeff won the game.

The next game was Five Crowns. Bill and Pete were the only players who still had a chance to winning the waning hands of the game. Pete squeeked out the win.

The Great Dalmuti was the final game of the night. The game was on of the closest games of Dalmuti that the group has ever played. Ken jumped out to a huge lead and then faded. More than half of the players had a mathematical chance to win the game in the final hand. Bob won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Lori, Pete, Spanky

Question of the week: If potatoes can be a snack (chips), why can't peas (oriental hot wasabi style)?

Games night play started over an hour later than planned. The first game played, after one false start, was Knok. with four people playing the game goes very fast. Lori won the game.

The next game played was Settlers of Catan. The players couldn't agree on which variants to use for the game and Bill came up with an idea for settling the disagreement. The players would roll to see who would get to pick the variants. Spanky had the high roll and pick the "extra bone" variant. The game was a little shorter than normal. There were very few sevens "rolled". Spanky's last turn included using commodities cards to build three roads, a road building card (giving him the longest road),  and a victory point card. This gave him the three points he needed to win the game. Spanky won the game.

The last game of the night was another game of Settlers of Catan. This time the group pick to play no variants at all. The game had an odd grouping of number on the board do to the desert being just to the right of the hex that started the numbering. There was a lack of some number in the dice rolls during the game, mostly nines. Lori rolled 12 a number that benefited her alone, at least 3 times. Bill rolled sevens by the ton and never overcame their effects. Lori kept her longest road from the harmful effect of Pete's attack. Hey Pete, if you let us help you with a trade on that last turn of yours, we might have given you what you needed to take the longest road from Lori. Lori won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff, Lori, Pete, Spanky

The audience for the night: Everyone out on the web.

The first game of the night was Five Crowns. It was a classic game of Five Crowns with all of the players taking a large point hit at one point or another. Bill was winning the game till he got stuck with 80 points worth of cards in one of the later hands. Spanky took the smallest hits and edged out Lori and Jeff who were only a point or two behind. Spanky won the game.

Chronology was the next game played. The group set the number of cards needed to win at twelve. The standard winning number is ten cards. The added card make for a more interesting game. Pete was one fire and rarely missed getting cards. Pete won the game.

The last game of the night was Sharks. This was the second game of Sharks in which no stocks lost value. Many of the players sold off stocks fearing a large loss that never came. Spanky bet heavy on green, Bill was hold tons of blue. Yellow got pricey early therefore, very few players had much yellow. Most of the other players had balanced stock holdings. Bob quietly won the game.
 
 

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Lori, Spanky

The first game of the night was Outwageus. The odd question of the game was "Who is the head pygmy?" and the windfall question was Jeff's question about the second largest city in Texas. Jeff won $61,000 on that one question due to all of the players who had bet against him. Jeff won the game.

The final game of the night was The Great Dalmutui. The number of hands to be played was set at twelve. Spanky won the game in the tenth hand.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Ken, Lori, Pete

Ritual of the night: Sticking pins in the voodoo doll of Spanky.

The first game played was Wizards. Everyone but Bob played in the game. Bill won the game.

The next game played was Knok. Everyone played in this game. Dennis won the game.

Duo was the third game of the night. Brendan won the game.

Bob left the group at this point.

Dalmuti was the final game of the evening. Dennis won the game.
 

Who was there: Bill, Dennis, Ed, Jeff, Lori, Pete, Spanky

Special guest of the night: Big Ed from Michigan.

Five Crowns was the first game of the night. The players in this game were Bill, Dennis, Lori and, Spanky. All of the other players had not arrived yet. The game came down to a battle between Lori and Bill in the late hands. Bill caught Lori with substantial point in a couple of hand and edged out a win. Bill won the game.

The next game played was Split Second. Everyone but Pete played making it a full game. The game is built to handle a maximum of six players. Lori made a great showing only to come in second to Spanky. Spanky won the game.

Knok was the next game played. The group added Pete to the game after the fourth hand had been played. Pete was generously given a score equal to the average of the other player's scores. Bill won the game.

The Great Dalmuti was the next game played. All of the players were in the game from the very start this time. A very short game consisting of only ten hand was chosen by the group. Bill's score was uncatchable after the nineth hand. In the nine hands played, Bill was The Greater Dalmuti or The Lesser Dalmuti in seven of them and even when he got knocked all the way down to Greater Peon in the nineth hand his lead was unassailable. Bill won the game.

Lori left the group at this point.

The last game of the night was Skip-Bo. Brain cramps surfaced during this game. Spanky won the game. By the way, I am very sure that two of the three cards that were in front of me and were placed in the draw pile were "skip-bos".

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Pete, Spanky

New sport of the night: Chair rodeo.

Knok was the first game of the night. The group picked this as a good and, quick starter game for the night. The game did have a few odd things in it. On a couple of hands, no one knocked and the deck was run out. Spanky had a streak of good cards and won the game.

The group dusted off Sharks, a game that hadn't been played since July 30th of '99, for the next game. This "stocks" related game was a little uneven. There were no chances for players to hurt the leaders. A big part of this game is guessing when a stock is going to take a tumble and lose some of its value. In this game, no stocks ever fell in value and that is very rare. Without the volatility the game quickly gets lopsided and there are players who get left in the dust with no way of catch up. Spanky won the game.

Settlers of Catan was the next game. The group wanted to play with no variants in this game. This "variant" now carries the name "missionary" style. All of the players had trouble in this game. Pete was plagued with sevens, Bill missed getting some of the commodities he earned, Spanky suffered from a lack of sixes being rolled and, Jeff got a little lost. This left Lori room to move under the radar, no one ever put the robber on her, and she won the game.

Lori left the group at this point in a "take the win and leave" move.

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. It came down to Pete and Jeff locked in a battle during the last four hands of the game. Pete hand the lead after the 10's hand, Jeff after the Jack's, Pete after the Queen's and Jeff won the game by one point after the King's hand.

Who was there: Brendan, Jeff, Spanky

Catchy ailment of the night: Brain Cramp!

The first game of the night was Five Crowns. In the eleven hands in the whole game, Brendan was caught with points only twice. The next closest player had four times his score. Brendan wins the game by a ton.

The next game played was Settlers of Catan. The group used three variants in the game. The variants used were: Rebel (2's and 12's act like 7's and 7's act like 2 and 12), Water (water, ports and land mixed together w/bridges) and, Extra Bone (3 dice are rolled with the rolling player picking which 2 dice count). Brendan, who must have used up all of his luck in that first game, never had a chance to win. The battle was between Jeff and Spanky as they both worked hard the steer Brendan's moves. A flurry of "7s" in the last part of the game gave Spanky the win.

The last game of the night was Skip-Bo. Spanky's luck held up and gave him the win.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Lori, Pete, Spanky

Quote of the night: "Monkey talk make me tired." --Pete

The first game of the night was Wizards. Everyone except Spanky played in the game. Brendan and Lori battled till the end of the game. Lori won the battle and the game.

A six player game of Settler's of Catan. The group went nuts and decided to use every variant there is. The variants use were: Extra Bone, Rebel, Law and Order, Two Robbers and, Islands. The "crazy as a shit house rat style" game was filled with monkey talk and played very uneven. The two robber caused most of the unevenness. The other problem was that some of the players didn't take into account all of the variants when they selected their locations for their first two settlements. Bill wisely bought lots of cards and this kept the robber from ever bothering him and gave him the added benefit of the two points for the largest army. This freedom  gave him the win.

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. Pete was master of the cards and beat all of the other players like a rented mule. Pete won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Ken, Lori, Spanky

Support of the week: Interdiction no, embargo yes

The first game of the night was Can't Stop. Everyone but Lori played in the game. Bill jumped out to the lead and then got stymied. In the end, all of the players were very close to winning. Ken was the player who got the job done. Ken gets his first win at games night and adds 90 points to his batting average.

The next game was Five Crowns. It was a typical game of Five Crowns with many lead changes and most of the player still with a chance to win the game with three hands left to play. The game's final hand had Ken and Spanky separated by a single point. Spanky, who was in the lead, went out first and won the game.

For Get It was the next game played. This game normal take quite a while for the games night group to play. Most of the times that this game is played, it takes 13 or 14 turns per player to find a winner. It took only six turns per player this time. Brendan broke the 500 point mark on his fifth turn and no one could beat his score. Brendan won the game.

Duo was the next game played. The rules for this game has all of the players starting the game with a score of 15 and then working to reduce their score to zero to win. In the past, the games night group has found that the game would often end after the first hand if one of the player caught a good run of cards and went out early. The standard games night variant for this game has become to increase the starting score to 25 so that the blow out win in the first hand become impossible. Spanky won the game by going out in the first two hands of the game.

The group wanted to play Duo again since the last game ended too quickly to be satisfying for the players. Spanky again had two blazing hands and won the game.

The next game played was Wizards. Lori jumped into a big lead and then worked hard to keep that lead. Lori won the game.

Lori left the group at that point.

The last game of the night was Skip-Bo. The group played the variant where the piles could be started with the standard "1" or the non standard "12" card. Piles started with a 12 count down and finish with a 1. Spanky's luck in cards held up and he won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Dennis, Jeff, Pete, Spanky

Faux pas of the night: No one looked at Bob's new car.
Bring it back so we can all see it in the light.

The first game of the night was Five Crowns. Pete and Bob didn't arrive in time to play. It was a good game with quite a few lead changes. Spanky won the game.

The next game was Knok. Everyone but Bob played in the game. It was the same old boring knok game that we all play just because it is a short game and fills the time allowed. Bill won the game.

The last game of the night was Naval War. Pete didn't play in this game. It seems as if the group has lost the main idea of this game. Don't let someone run off with the win. Hit the leader as hard as you can as often as you can. It had been almost nine months since the last time this game had been played so, who can blame the players for not being on top of the finer points. Bill won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Lori, Pete, Spanky

Conclusion of the night: You can't fight a Russian (black or white) and win a game at the same time.

The first game of the night was Settlers of Catan. The group played the Rebel variant this time. Rebel causes sevens to be twos AND twelves also twos and twelves act as sevens. Lori jumped out to a great lead and the fact that the robber was only moved twice and never onto her during the bulk of the game, she was unstopable. Lori won the game.

The second game of the night was Five Crowns. The game was quick and Pete was the winner.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Pete, Spanky

Quote of the night: "She had thirty of 'um and, you didn't use one? Yikes!"

The first game of the night was started three time before it really got going. The game was 5 Crowns. It was close game with Bill and Spanky battling out in the last half of the game. Spanky won the game.

For Get It was the next game. Bill ran his score over 400 in only four turns. The other play worked to catch Bill. Pete was the first to pass the five hundred mark and thus began the final round. All of the other players crapped out and Pete won the game.

The next game was Skip-Bo. Pete won that game too.

The last game was Knok. Spanky won the game.

The games night group needs a few better games. Something that more like Settler of Catan. The quick card games are getting boring to report on.

Who was there: Bill, Michigan Bob, Dennis, Jeff, Lori, Pete, Spanky, Tim.

Upgrade of the week: The new, 8 sided, hard wood, gaming table and matching chairs.

The first game of the night was Knok. Bill, Dennis, Jeff and, Spanky were the only players in the game. Bill was the winner.

Pete and Lori joined the group for a game of Wizards. The game came down to two players who had a chance to win. Pete had a chance to pick the winner by how he played one card. He played it straight and gave Bill the win.

Tim and Michigan Bob join the group for the next game. The game pick by the group was The great Dalmuti. The number of hand that the game would be played to was set at 14. The game was a little slower than normal and the group began to lose focus. Two players were battling it out for the lead with everyone else's score being far less. The game ended after 10 hands and Dennis was the winner.

Lori, Pete and Jeff left the group at this point.

The next game was Shooter's. It was a christmas game that Tim brought with him on his visit. The group played a quick game of five cards and, as always, the first time a game is played at games night it doesn't count in the stats. Bob won the game. A second game of Shooter's was played and this time Dennis won the game and it does count in the stats.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Ken, Lori, Pete, Spanky

Question of the week: Is there really a tax on "nice guys"?

The first game of the night was Split Second. The players were Bill, Brendan, Ken, Lori and, Spanky. This game might need better rubber bands on the paddles. They action of the flip seemed slower than it should be. Bill won the game.

The next game was Knok and the same five players played. The group picked to play a variant. In this variant, a player who makes a bad knock receives only half of the total of all the cards. This variant seems to work when there are more than four players. It keeps players in the game after they make a bad knock. Bill won the game.

Pete and Jeff joined the group at this point. The group picked The Great Dalmuti as the next game. The number of hands was set at 13. There was still a lack of peon abuse in the game, an ugly trend. The game was a good one with every player but one having a turn as the Greater Dalmuti. It took all 13 hands to find a winner. Bill was that winner. Bill was three for three at this point.

Jeff and Lori left the group at this point.

The last game of the night was Skip-Bo. Spanky had several runs of luck and won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Dennis, Jeff, Lori, Pete, Spanky

Question of the night: How many sheep did you see?

The first game of the week was Balderdash. Pete did not play in this game. This standard Balderdash has grown old with some of the players and the group might enjoy the less obscure things to write about found in the newer game called "Beyond Balderdash". The game was a little longer than normal but, this may be due to the group being out of practice with this game. Spanky won the game.

The next game was Settlers of Catan. With seven people in the game the group pick a new game board layout. The "peanut" layout was used. There were no other variants used for this game. The battle over the road card was the only real thing to watch during the game. It changed hands a few times. There was no largest army. The game was not substantially changed by using the peanut layout. So, now you're asking "well, who won the game?". There was a problem at the end of the game. Spanky traded sheep into the bank and did not make sure that players saw all of the sheep being traded. [commentary] I feel that it is the responsibility of the player making the trade with the bank to make sure his or her trades are seen by other players and can be verified by them. If a player fails in this responsibility, there should be some loss to that player. If there is some question about the trade, and there is no way to verify what did happen, the trade should be undone in the must favorable rate that can be verified. As an example, if there is a question of there being two or three sheep given to the bank, and there are players that believe that it was only two and thus not a valid trade, the trading player would give back the card he had traded to the bank to get and take back two sheep. At this point the player may still trade with the bank and others. [end commentary] The game ended with a tainted trade. To undo this trade would undo the end of the game. It is now impossible to tell who would have won the game. This game does not count in the stats.

Bob left the group at this point.

The last game of the night was Five Crowns. This game runs on luck and not making a mistakes. Almost all of the players played without error. Spanky received more than his share of wild cards and won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Lori, Pete and, Spanky

A.W.O.L. of the night: Jeff and all of the Settlers of Catan

The first game of the night was Skip-Bo. The game was marred by poor gamesmanship e.g. whining, begging, taunting. It was a quick game with Pete as the winner.

The next game was Chronology. The game was played to 12 as a variant of the standard 10 cards needed to win the game. The game was close with many players ending the game one card away from winning. Spanky won the game. A game of Chronology played to 15 may give the game even more of a  "everyone is still in the game" feel. This being  due to the time lines getting very crowded and the cards becoming much harder to get. The hard to get cards would travel around the table more often and would raise the excitement level.

Lori left the group at this point.

Scrabble was the next game. How long has it been since Scrabble was played at games night? 448 days or, 64 weeks or, almost 15 months take your pick. The play of the game was Bill's playing of the "X" which scored over 50 points. There were no seven letter words played. Spanky went out first and caught the other player with lots of tiles on their trays including that "Q" but, even that was not enough to over come Bill's lead. Bill won the game by a single point.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Pete, Spanky

Scientific observation of the night: Once you've seen a wormhole, you can't get the image out of your mind.

The first game of the night was Five Crowns. The game has Pete's from the very start. Pete got the lead in the first hand and never gave it up. Pete won with an amazing score of 80 points.

The next game was Settlers of Catan. The group used the "islands" and "extra bone" variants for this game. Bill won the game by building his road so that no one could cut it. He held the longest road card and worked to build the largest army which would give him the game. The other players would only pick to play a "seven" if the robber was sitting on their hex. This unwillingness to attack the person in the lead allows the leader to grow unchecked. This may be one of the flaws in the "extra bone" variant. As stated above, Bill won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Pete, Spanky

Phobia of the week: Bill's fear of the extra bone.

The first two games of the night were games of Uno Stacko. Bill, Brendan and Spanky were the players. Brendan won the first game and Spanky won the second game.

Pete arrived at this point.

Skip-Bo was the next game. The group chose to have 30 cards in the player's "stock piles". This lead to the draw pile becoming depleted. The bottom three cards from each of the player's stock pile were used to create a new draw pile. Spanky run down his stock pile quickly but, stalled with only two cads left. Brendan made a run at the end of the game and won.

The next game was Settlers of Catan. There were no variants used. The game was a very close one with most players within a point of winning at the end. Pete amassed the largest army any of the players had ever seen and therefore, he faced no challengers for the largest army card. The longest road card changed hands only once. Spanky won the game with 4 cities and 2 settlements.

Chronology was the next game. Ten cards was set as the goal to win the game. There were a few cards that slipped by all of the players when no one could pick the right spot for that card in their time line. Bill won the game.

The last game of the night was Can't Stop. The dice ran very hot and very cold. Bill used small steps to win the game.

Who was there: Bill, Dennis, Jeff, Pete, Spanky

Diminished skill of the week: Peon abusing

The first game of this week was Blurt. The group used the, now standard, one answer variant. The game was a close one with many lead changes. Near the end of the game, a crowd of pawns had gathered within striking distance of the finish line. Spanky won the game.

The Great Dalmuti was the next game. Pete had a streak of hot cards for the first third of the game and held the early lead. He also had a streak of cold cards for the last two thirds of the game. Spanky took the lead at the midpoint of the game and never looked back. Spanky won the game.

The next game was Settler of Catan. For this game, the group decided to use the "extra bone" variant. That is, roll three dice and the rolling player chooses which two count." This new variant slowed the game a bit but, also added a whole new level of strategy to the game. Sevens became a weapon that could be used almost at will. All of the players but one were within a point or two of winning at the end of the game. Spanky won the game.

The last game of the night was Uno Stacko.  It was a quick game. The tower came down very early. Most players only got two or three turns. Pete won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Jeff, Pete, Spanky

Quote of the night: "Now I got a 14 inch tool"

The first game of the night was Knok. The three non tardy player that play in this game were: Brendan, Jeff and Spanky. Jeff had good cards during the last half of the game and held the lead going into the last hand. Spanky knocked early in the last hand, hoping to catch Jeff with big cards but, Jeff cards were all of the small variety and he won the game.

The next game, eventually, had all six players in the game. The game was a new game to games night. The game was Home Improvements. It is a game inspired by the T.V. show of the same name. Players are dealt home improvement cards that each have a job that needs doing. They roll dice to move around the outside of the board and land on stores. In the stores, players buy the supplies and tools that are needed to do the jobs. After getting everything needed to do a job, players may go into the center of the game board, where that rooms of the house are. A player who gets to the right room and has everything needed to do the job gets equity added to the value of his house. The first player to add the $50,000 in equity wins. There are a few added twists that things can take. When a player completes a job, he draws a card to see how good of a job he has done. A one rating normally means a bonus in cash or equity, a four rating means that the job was done so badly as to add no equity to the players house at all. The group set the winning total at a "quicker" $30,000 in added equity. The game was slow to start but, did pick up speed as the player got into a routine. The cards, and there are many types of cards, were long winded and jokey. Brendan worked his monkey to death and won the game. If you don't understand the monkey thing, it's because you weren't there. The "first time played" rule was in effect and the game does not count in the stats. The true test of how playable this game is will come on its next playing. Most of the players will have a basic understanding of the rules and will concentrate more on strategy. The $50,000 goal may allow more time for the "knock down the leader" elements of the game to tighten the scores.

Bob left the group at this point to go bake a cake.

The last two games of the night were both games of Skip-Bo. Bill won the first one and Pete won the second
 
 

Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Lori, Ray, Spanky

Snack of the night: That damn cheese!

The night started with a game of Five Crowns. It was tight game all the way to the end. Bill played an error free game and beat Jeff by seven points. Bill is now three for three in Five Crowns.

Ray left the group at this point.

The next game was Settlers of Catan. The group decided the use the variants that would speed up the game. The variants used were the "islands" and "rebel". The rebel variant speeds play quite a bit and you can not use the rebel variant easily on the standard, four player, board layout.  The 2 and 12 just land in the wrong places. So, since the numbers need to be mixed, it is just as easy to use the islands set up. Bill got pinned in early and work to play spoiler during the game. The other three player were within a point or two of each other throughout the whole game. Jeff and Lori both had nine points when Spanky won the game.

Lori called it a night at this point

The group picked Skip-Bo as a good three player game. The game started slow as it normally does. Jeff grabbed the early lead in the game. Bill had some great runs and won the game.

The last game of the night was Uno Stacko. This jenga knockoff has some good changes from its older, wooden predecessor. The die that is used adds a lot to the game. The fact that a play may need only to roll the die and not have to draw any pieces from the stack can really change things. The reverse also adds much to the game. Spanky rolled a "draw two" that put Jeff in a tough spot. Jeff worked harder then any Stacko player should and still couldn't keep the tower from falling. Spanky won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Lori, Spanky

New event of the night: The gift exchange. { Types (one of each) : animal, mineral, vegetable and, a game }

The first game of the new year at games night was Five Crowns. Bill and Lori were locked in a tight battle throught the entire game. Bill gained a four point lead with only two hand left to play in the game. Lori kept her score the same till the end of the game but, she only caught Bill with three points on the very last hand and that was not enough. Bill won the game by one point.

The next game was Skip-Bo. The four player rules for this game sets the player's battle pile at 30 cards. With so many cards in the battle piles, there were very few cards in the draw pile. This made it a very slow starting game. In this game it was Spanky and Jeff that battled for the lead. Spanky won the battle and won the game.

The last game of the night was Knok. Spanky won the game.