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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, |
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Who was there: Ken, Pete and Spanky
Game of the night: FLUXX
The first game of the night was a brand new game to the games night group. The game was Fluxx. The first time played rule was in effect and the group played 3 sample hands. The group decided that players should win two hand to win the game of Fluxx.
Fluxx game number 2. Ken won. The first time played rule was in effect.
Fluxx game number 3. Ken won.
Torres was the next game. Spanky won the game.
Fluxx game number 4. Ken won.
Fluxx game number 5. Pete won.
Fluxx game number 6. Pete won.
Who was there: Bill, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Observation of the night: "You'd have to go to a BINGO game to see colors like that."
Bazaar was the first game of the night. Spanky won the game.
Acquire was the next game played. Bill won the game by $100 over Spanky.
Wizard was the next game played. Bill was the winner.
Split Second was the next game to hit the table. The paddles were spun to start the game. Bill was the winner.
Split Second was played again. The paddles were spun again. Spanky won the game this time.
Who was there: Bill, Ken, Lori, Pete and Spanky
The first game of the night was Torres. Lori didn't play in this game. Bill won by more than twenty points.
Lori joined the group at this point.
Chronology was the next game to hit the table. The goal of twelve cards was set for the game. Spanky was the winner.
Knok was the next game played. Spanky won the game.
Lori left the game at this point.
Go Wild was the next game to hit the table. Spanky won the game.
Can't Stop was the next game to be played by the group. Bill won the game.
Pete left the group at this point.
The last game of the night was Five Crowns. Spanky won the game.
MISSING DATA FROM JEFF'S PLACE
Who was there: Bill, Jim, Lori, Pete and Spanky
Bazaar was the first game of the night. Bill was the winner.
Five Crowns was the next game played. Lori won the game.
Lori left at this point.
Torres was the next game to hit the table. The game ended with Spanky getting a bonus point when the final phase was scored and found Jim and Spanky tied with Spanky scoring last. Spanky won the game.
Pivot was the next game to be played. The fifth hand ended in a tie and so there was a sixth hand played to break that tie. The tie was between Bill and Jim. Bill won the game.
Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Evo was the first game of the night. Bob was the only player not in the game. Pete was the winner.
Wizard was the next game. All six player were in this game. Spanky was the winner.
Bohnanza was the last game of the night. Spanky was the winner.
Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Lori, Pete, Spanky and Woody
Special guest of the night: Woody!
Torres was the first game of the night. Bill, Jeff, Ken and Spanky were the players in the game. The scores were Jeff 200, Bill 214, Spanky 229 and Ken 230. Ken was the winner.
Bazaar was the next game and all of players, with the exception of Bob and Pete, were participating in this game. Ken was the winner.
Lori left the group at this point.
Pete arrives.
Uno Stacko was the next game. Pete joined the group at this point. Woody won the game with a draw two roll.
Bob arrives.
Uno Stacko was played again. This time Spanky was the winner.
Five Crowns was the next game. Bob was the winner.
Woody and Pete left the group at this point.
Pivot was the next game. The group decided to play six hands so that all of the six players would have to deal once. Spanky won the game.
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Lori, Pete and Spanky
The first game of the night was Bazaar. The seven players used seven cards per stall when the game was being set up. Bill was the winner with an 8, 3 and a 12 point buys.
The next game was Pit. Bill and Ken seemed to be bear-proof. Bill was the winner.
Lori left the group at this point.
Quiddler was the next game to hit the table. Jim was winning though out the whole game till the very last hand and then Pete scored major points to score the win. Pete was the winner.
The last game of the night was Wild One. Ken won the game.
May 31, 2002
Who was there: Bill, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
New equipment of the week: A new gaming table
The first game of the night was Wizard. Bill played a near perfect game, only one bad bid, but was saddled with poor cards. The battle came down to the last hand and Spanky held of Bill's challenge. Spanky won the game.
The next game was the new Shark. The game was odd in the fact that no stocks suffered a downturn. The players all made wild adjustment in anticipation of the impending stock reversals that never came. Pete bought the green stock early and the other players could buy it due to its rapid price increase. Pete rode that green wave to a victory.
Bohnanza was the next game to hit the table. The game had some wild trading is which cards or groups of card of very dissimilar values. Player work to accurately judge the height of the other player's coin stack to see with whom it would be okay to make a trade. Pete was the only player who bought the third bean field. Spanky won the game with 18 coins. The other scores were: Bill-17; Ken-15; Pete-14; Jim-13.
The last game of the night was Pivot. Bill led the whole game and was the winner.
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Jim, Ken and Spanky
Pre game of the night: Viewing of a few heavenly bodies.
The first game of the night was The Great Dalmuti. The group pick twelve hands as the length for this game. Then there was weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth as the whiners griped about playing Dalmuti. Spanky won the game.
The next game played by the group was EVO. During the set up the game and error was made. The error was that the players did not receive the three event cards that they were all suppose to get before the game started. This error made it very hard to pull back the leader. Jim got an early lead and never looked back. Jim won the game.
Bob arrived at this point.
All six players played in the last game of the night and that game was Naval War. The hour crushed the will of the players to complete the game. There was no winner.
Who was there: Bill, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Substitution of the night: Pete handing the control of his robot to Jim
The first game of the week was Torres. The player were Bill, Ken, Pete and Spanky. Spanky grabbed a prime castle tower and road it to victory.
The next game played was Robo Rally. The first time played rule was in effect due to the fact of the group never completing a full game of Robo Rally. To make the game a reasonable length, the group set up the game using three flags and four boards. The players were the same as the above game with one exception. Jim took over for Pete near the end of the game. The group did much better in choosing the places to put the flags. There were no impossible hard flags this time. Spanky won the game.
Journey of the night: Migrating to Pete's from Jim's house.
The first game was Pivot. Jim was not in this game. Pete was the winner.
Second game was Wizard. Jim was the winner.
Who was there: Bill, Pete, Jim, Ken
Through the Desert was played and Bill won.
Wizard was played and Bill won.
Five Crowns was played and Pete won.
Knok was played and Jim won.
Pete left at this point.
Duo was played and Ken won
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Skill of the night: creative fur patch placing.
The first game of the week was a brand new game for the group, EVO. In this game each player is in charge of a "dino" species and works to keep as many dinos alive through the climate changes as they can. There is a bidding portion of the game where player acquire new genes to help their dinos survive. Since this was the first time the game was played, the first time played rule was in effect and the game didn't count toward the players stats. The players found their stride quickly and the game progressed easier than most new games. Ken was the winner. Bill noted that player should NOT be allowed to RE-position their dinos once they had been moved during the movement phase. He a valid argument that it was too hard for players to remember the original positions of the dinos and that errors could arise from the confusion. Ken won the game.
The next game played was Skip-Bo. As normal a game as ever there was. Bill won the game.
Pivot was the next game to hit the table. Bill won the game.
Wizard was the next game played by the group. Jeff, who was only set once, won the game.
Who was there: Bill, Jim, Lori and Spanky
Genre of the night: Four player games
Uno Stacko started off the night's gaming. Bill, Jim and Spanky were the players. Spanky won the game when Jim tumbled the tower.
The next game was Five Crowns and all four players participated in the game. Jim caught a lot of points on the final hand and that gave the win to Spanky.
A brand new game, Torres, was the next game to hit the table. This was the first time that the games night players had seen this game. The first time played rule was in effect for this game. The rules were rushed through and the game began. The players all tried to grasp the tactical nuances of the game and this slowed play a great deal. This game looks like it should take about an hour to play. The group took much longer than that to complete the game. The good news is that the game WAS completed and the next time this game hits the table, it WILL count in the player's stats. Bill won this "non-stats" game.
Lori left the group at this point.
The next game of the night was Scrabble. The game was very close and Jim edged out everyone and won the game.
The final game of the night was Can't Stop. Bill was the winner.
Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff, Jim, Pete and Spanky
Magnanimous acts of the night: Bill NOT knocking other players out of the Shark game.
The first game of this week was a brand new game. The game Robo Rally has been available to the group for a few months but, hadn't been played. The group work to digest the rules and start the game. The mechanics of the game were grasped quickly by the group and game play began to quicken. The group had made the fatal error of placing the first flag at the bottom of the "coliseum". Unknown to the player at the time of setting up the game, the rec.games.board news group has had lots of post warning of this very scenario. The news group also suggests a rule that a flag square must have 3 normal ways to enter it (walls, pits, conveyor belts, etc. are not a valid way) for beginners. The game was halted before it was even close to being half way completed. Bill had a healthy lead over the other players when the game was halted. This halting of this game means that the next time this game is played, not only will we know how to set up the game to be more playable but, the first time played rule will be in effect.
All six players played in the next game. The game was Wizard. half of the player still had a good chance to win the game going in to the final hand. Bill won the game.
Bob left the group at this point.
The next game to hit the table was the new Shark game. Bill had the chance to knock several players out of the game. Bill had the magic touch and could do no wrong. He rolled his numbers. He rolled his colors. Bill won the game by a wide margin.
Pete left the group at this point.
Knok was the last game of the night. Two good knocks was all that Spanky needed to win the game.
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Creep out of the night: Ken was channeling AWOL gamers.
The first game of the night was a game of Twitch. The standard of three hands won wins the game was used for this game. It only took five hands to get a winner. Jim won the game.
Acquire was the next game the group played. The game was a close one with no clear leader. The player counted their money at the end of the game and found that Jeff had just edged out two other players. Jeff caught three quick bonuses with his American stocks and the was what made the difference.
The next game to be pulled out was Wizard. The game was of the "wide open" type with the players often missing their bids. Typically, the player who made the fewest errors won the game. Jeff only bid one or zero in each hand and only missed his bid once. Jeff won the game.
The group was in the mood for a quick game next. The game that fit the bill was Pivot. Bill went out in three out of the five hands and was only caught with three points for the whole game. Bill was the winner.
The last game of the night was Don't You Forget It. Ken expertly positioned himself at 491 points and looked like the most likely person to start the final round. Jim caught a 220 point roll and started the end round with 604. Pete overtook Jim by rolling 21 5s adding 420 points to his 200 for the winning score.
Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jim, Lori, Pete and Spanky
Quote of the night: "Eat that bean." or "It's Greek to me."
The first game to hit the table was Bohnanza. All six players played in this game. It was the normal grumble feast with all the deal making and whining the gamers have come to enjoy. The end game took an ugly twist when a few players tried to play king maker. Lori won the game without the help of the "king makers".
Wizard was the next game played by the group. It was a tight game with very few bad bids. Jim played the tightest game with only one bad bid and won the game.
Lori left the group at this point.
The group played Pivot next. Short and sweet, Bob won.
Pete and Jim left the group at this point.
The last game of the night was a quick game of Bazaar. Bill, Bob and Spanky played a five card per stall sized game and Bill was the winner
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Alternate game of the week: Something about scratching and balls.
The first game played by the group was Knok. Jeff was the only player who did not play in this game. An early knock in the ninth gave Spanky the win.
The next game played by the group was Pivot. Jeff was the only player who did not play in this game. Bill led all but one hand and won the game.
The new Shark game was the next game to hit the table. All six players were playing in this game. This was the most volatile game of Shark ever played at games night. Pete toppled the red stock early in the game and caught Jim leaning the wrong way. jim needed to sell everything and still did not have the cash to cover the loss and this knock Jim out of the game. Pete crushed the red stock again a little later in the game and this time the victim was Bill. Bill couldn't cover the $7,000 per share loss and was out of the game. Jim and Bill entertained themselves playing pool till the other players completed the Shark game. The final scores were Jeff $464,000; Spanky $451,000; Pete $400,000 and Ken $338,000. Jeff won the game. [There is a forgotten rule in the new Ravensburger edition of Shark and this is according to Jean V Anaise, the Designer of Shark. Jean said "In the original game, a group can be over seven, but it pays only up to 7 so to reach 15, you need at least 3 groups... Also when you join the 8th building, there is no salary paid, no raise in share prices" The lack of this rule did not affect the the two players who were knocked out the game but might well have affected the ending of the game. Yellow had one very large, over seven, group that was being counted incorrectly according to the "forgotten rule" and it was yellow reaching $15,000 that ended the game. The stats for this game still count due to the fact that the group was playing with the rules, as written, in the Ravensburger game.]
The next game played by the group was Wizard. Jim who was never in the lead, won the game by making the best of a poor final hand. Jim won the game.
The final game of the night was The Wild One. It was a closer game of The Wild One than most of the others played in the past. No players were left in the dust this time and Bill legged out a narrow victory.
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Word of the night: Lid
The first game played by the group was Quiddler. There were just a few challenges and very few bonuses. Pete played a slow a steady game to get the win.
The next game played was Bohnanza. The trading seemed to run the whole range from stingy to charitable. It's hard to beat a player who draws pairs and catches on the flop. Spanky won the game. [The search continues for a practical holder for players to place their hand full of cards.]
The third game of the week was Go Wild. It took nine hand to find a winner. Ken won with twice to points of the second place player.
The last game of the night was Wizard. Jim made ALL of his bids and, of course, won the game.
Who was there: Bill, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Venue of the week: Bongtiniville
The first game played by the group was Pit. It was a very loud, i.e. could be funny with Bob playing, and long game. The bulls and bears seemed to hit some players harder than others. Pete caught 3, Bill ate 4, Jim got hooked 5 times, Spanky tasted fur 9 times and Ken caught a bull or a bear on almost every hand, 13 times, and dug a deep hole for himself. Spanky made a quick start and built up a good lead and Bill was the only player to give chase but, Spanky still won the game.
The NEW Shark was the next game played by the group. This is the latest version of Shark put out by Ravensburger games. The group has owned the Flying Turtle version for years. The group discussed whether this was a new game or not and whether it should fall under the first time played rule. The fact that we play variants in many of the games the group plays and never declare those to be "new games" seem to fit this situation very well. The group had even played a variant of Shark that was very close to the spirit in the rules in the new Sharks game. THEREFORE: The game would count in the stats. Spanky made money early and became the player to lean on. In the NEW version of Shark it is much easier to pull back the leader. Pete, who stayed under everyone's radar, won the game.
Wizard was the next game played by the group. The highlights in the game were the couple of hands that saw the co-leaders both miss their bids which allow the player in the back of the pack to catch up. Spanky won the game.
The group picked Bazaar as the next game to play. The set up was seven cards per stall and a couple of trading cards that meshed very well. Trading definitely outpaced rolling in this game. Spanky won the game.
Pivot was the last game of the night. Five vanilla hands and Spanky won the game.
Who was there: Bill, Jim, Ken, Lori and Spanky
Ride of the night: Vicodin (that's why the game summaries are so short this week)
The first game of the night was an exhibition game of Tikal. The game was played "till Jim shows up" and even a little after. In this way, Lori and Jim could both learn the game. The game was not played to completion and would not have counted in the stats even if it had been.
Bazaar was the next game played by the group. Bill and Spanky tied and split the win.
Lori left the group at this point.
The next game played was Five Crowns. Bill won the game.
Acquire hit the table next. Ken won the game.
Pivot was the next game played. Bill won the game.
Jim left the group at this point.
The last game of the night was Can't Stop. Spanky rolled a victory.
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Jim, Ken and Pete
Quote of the night week: "Change my oil."
The first game played was Through the Desert. Bill keeps his master camel jockey title as he won Through the Desert yet again.
Wizard was the next game played by the group. Ken won the game.
The Great Dalmuti was the next game. This could well have been Pete's last game of Dalmuti ever. Jeff was the winner.
The last game of the night was Pivot. Jim was the winner.
Who was there: Bill, Jim, Ken, Lori, Pete, and Spanky
New exhibition of week: Watching Lori twitch.
As to not waste any of the player's beer the playing of Twitch as the first game of the night seemed to be good idea. The games night standard of winning three hands for a victory was used for the game. The bowl needed to make a few of the calls on disputed challenges. Digging down to a color dot was and reviewing the cards played after resolved most of the challenges. Bill worked his defense and held off the leading players for a while. Spanky won the game.
Wizard was the next game played. Jim only had one bad bid while all of the other players had three or four bad bids. Jim one the game by two points over Pete.
Lori left the group at this point.
The next game played was Bohnanza, which is a much better game now that we play it the right way. It was a rough game with lots of monkey talk and uneven trading. Ken and Spanky tied for most coins and the tie breaker was needed to determine the winner. Ken held 4 cards in his hand and Spanky had only 3 therefore Ken was the winner of the game.
The next game picked by the players was Pivot. The game was won by Spanky.
Jim and Pete left the group at this point.
The group was down to three players and this presented an opportunity to play a brand new, two to four player, game. The game was TIKAL. The first time played rule was in effect. It didn't take very long to explain the rules to the inexperienced players and begin the game. The players worked hard to grasp the nuances of the workable strategies for the game. This work slowed play a great deal. The group pressed through to the end and all felt that Tikal was a excellent game and the biggest draw back is that the game's maximum number of players is a measly four. Spanky, the only experienced player, won the game.
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Ken, Spanky
Player of the week: Ken for winning three out of six.
The first game of the night was Bazaar. The group split the difference between the "games night standard", 7 cards per stall, and the 5 per stall stated in the rules. Ken made the last by and scored the victory.
The next game to hit the table was Quiddler. Bill legged out a win with his great constancy.
The Wild One was the next game played by the group. The game became a battle between two players, Bill and Ken. Ken edged Bill out by one point for the victory.
Wizard was the next game to hit the table. An error free run gave Spanky an insurmountable lead with two hand remaining in the game. Spanky given the win in this game by acclamation.
The next game was Pivot. Ken was the player who "went out" in three of the five hands in the game and won easily.
The last game of the night was For Get It. Bill perched at 495 points and then rolled an unsurpassable 160 to begin the final phase of the game. The other players all had great rolls but did not overtake Bill's, game winning, total.
Who was there: Bill, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Lori, Pete and Spanky
Score for the night: 5 winners and 2 losers
The first game played by the group was Knok. Jeff tried to win the game with a 9th hand knock and came up 5 points short. Lori won the game.
Pivot was the next game played by the nine players in attendance. More than half of the players had a good chance at winning the game during the final hand. Jim was the winner of the game.
Lori left the group at this point.
The next game played was Wizard. Once again, the final hand saw half of the player within striking distance for the win. Spanky won the game. In this game no player was perfect in their bids but, Pete and Jim each only missed one bid each.
Grumble grumble and Acquire hits the table. Lots of take-overs were in play in the early parts of the game and the players who were not part of those chains were left behind. None of the players could really tell who was in the lead as the game was approaching the end. Bill won the game by an even $5000 over Ken.
Pete and Jim left the group at this point.
The last game of the night was Five Crowns. Ken won the game with half the points of the second place player.
Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Pete and Spanky
Quote of the night: "Why scratch 'um if you can lick 'um?"
The first game of the night was Beyond Balderdash. Bob and Ken were not players in this game. The game took long than it should have, no doubt to the lack of practice. Bill churned out the victory.
The Great Dalmuti was the next game played. Everyone but Ken played in this game. The number of hands for the game was set at the default of lucky 13. Spanky edged out Bob by a single point for the victory.
The last game of the night was Pivot. All seven players played in this game. Bill led most of the game and won it.
Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jim, Lori, Pete and Spanky
Quote of the night: "I think some of the boys want to hear the airport/knife story again."
The first game of the night was Five Crowns. Jim crushed all of the other players as hand after hand he was the first to "go out". Jim won the game with a huge margin of victory.
Pivot was the next game to hit the table. Duty called Lori away from the game. Jim won this game too.
The last game of the night was Shark. This
was the first time that the eight sided "field" die was used and an "L"
was added to the color die. When a seven is rolled on the "field" die the
player must place a marker in the field with the fewest markers in it. An
eight grants the player free choice as to the field to place a marker in.
The "L" on the color die, when rolled, should force a player to put out
a marker of the color that is least in number in the six fields in total.
We played that the "L" force the player to use the color of the lowest priced
stock. This variant seemed to add some quality elements to the game and
looks to be a keeper. Jim won this game also.
since 11/23/98