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

Quote of the night: "I wonder why this fire doesn't suck more."

The group was in a festive mood and there was great holiday food for everyone to snack on. After all of the holiday greeting the group got down to serious gaming. The first game was Wizards. When there are six players in the game there are only ten hands played. A ten hand game is fairly quick to play. Spanky won the game.

The next game was Settlers of Catan. The group got luck when the first box of settlers stuff that they opened was set up for a six player game. It was a good game of settlers with all of the elements gamers look for: whining, players "going kamikaze" on each other, ruthless dice, new player nick names i.e. "Calypso Louie". Bill won the game.

Forget It was the next game. Spanky broke the 500 point mark after his forth turn, No one cought up to his score on their "lasties". Spanky won the game.

Lori, who was expected at work the next day, left the men at this point.

The last game of the night was. The Great Dalmuti. The group pick to play a game of twelve hands in length. After the tenth hand Bill had an insurmountable lead. Bill won the game.

That's all for 1998. A great full year of gaming. I would like to say thank you to all of the gamers who played this year. I had a great time and I hope you all did too.

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

Best game of the night: Fighting for control of the radio setting i.e. what "music" we listened to.

The group looked for a quick game to start the night while they waited for Bob to arrive. The game picked was Forget It. Spanky won the game and as a special note, Jeff ended the game with zero points. Jeff may have used up all of his luck earlier this week. He passed the first test on his way to his MCSE certification.

Bob arrived at this point. Axis & Allies was the next game played.

The big moves in the game were:

• Bob, Germany, spending all of his money in the second round to get super weapons and getting none.
• Jeff, England, beating and holding Germany.
• Jeff, England, beating Germany a second time but, not keeping a tank alive to hold it.
• Spanky, America, not having any troops close enough to take the empty Germany.
• Bill, Russia, walking into Germany and winning the game by declaration.

Bill won the game.

Forget It was the final game of the night. Brendan won the game.

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

Quote of the night: "Barney town is going down."

Forget It was the first game of the night. Jeff had a huge lead and reached 500 points first but, was passed by Spanky. Spanky won the game.

The next game was Wizard. It was a good game with Bill, Bob and Lori in a battle till the very end. Lori won the game by a slim two point margin over Bill.

Settlers of Catan was the next game the group played. After a great deal of discussion, the group decided to try something new. They would use TWO robbers and the robber could be placed on a land hex OR a port hex. Players who used a soldier card or rolled a seven could choose which of the two robber to move.

• The results of using these options were:
• The majority could come down hard on a player in the lead.
• It was harder for a player to rid themselves of the robbers.
• No one had a good commodities/port match up. so the port option was never employed.
• Due to the small number of sevens rolled and soldier played, the robbers rarely moved.

Bill, a.k.a. Barney, used a well timed monopoly card to accelerate "Barney town" past everyone and take a clear lead. Bill won the game.

Bob left the group at this point.

The four players who remained chose to play a short game next. The game picked was Split Second. It was a great game of Split Second. Bill, Jeff and Spanky all needed just one more point to win. Lori kept winning all the points till she had nine points too. Lori was, sadly, the "reader" for the most important question of the game. Spanky won the game.

Lori called it a night at this point.

Bill, Jeff and Spanky picked Settlers of Catan as the next game. The "standard" settlers game board looked very small to the gamers after all of the 5 to 7 player games the group had played. Spanky won the game.

A blowout game of Forget It was the next game. Spanky won the game with nearly three times as many points as the next closest players.

Another game of Forget It was the seventh and final game of the night. Spanky hit 500 points first but, was overtaken by Jeff. Jeff won the game.

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

Oops of the night: Murus maximus incopleo.

The first game of the night was Forget It. Brendan had 500 points exactly after his sixth turn. All of the other players "busted" trying to win with their "lasties". Brendan won the game.

Blurt was the next game the group played. The group chose to use the "one answer" rule during this game. The one answer rule has become the default option for Blurt. Spanky made a quick dash around the board to win the game.

Wizards was the next game played. The game's length is set by the number of players in the game. With five players there are twelve hands played for a full game. The twelfth hand was not needed in this game due to the fact of all of the players, except Spanky, were mathematically eliminated from winning. Spanky won the game.

Settlers of Catan was next. After the now customary sorting of the game pieces the game started. At the midway point, it was a fairly close game with all of the players, except Jeff, having a chance to win the game. Bob had a comanding lead near the end of the game. He had "the great wall of Bob" cutting the "world" in half. All he needed was one more piece of road to make his wall complete and make it impossible for any other player to get the "longest road" card. Spanky won the game by using a road building card by getting the longest road card before Bob built that road.

Bob decided to call it a night at this point.

The final game of the night was Spades. The group dealt out cards to pick the teams. The first two with a matching suit were a team. The teams were Bill & Brendan vs. Jeff & Spanky. The final score was Jeff & Spanky 545 points, Bill & Brendan 48 points. Jeff and Spanky won the game.

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

Phrase of the night: "Good deal!"

A visitor from a far off land came to play games this week. Tim from Michigan, a great game enthusiast, was in town. A great many games were played during Tim’s visit but, the games night highlights will only chronicle the games played on Friday evening.

The first game of the night was Forget It. This was a long game of Forget It. Bill was the first to reach 500 points but, Spanky passed him with his "lasties".

Pete and Jeff arrived at this point, just in time for the next game.

The next game was Dalmuti. The group chose to play a 15 hand game. The last hand found half the players with a chance to win. Bill was the winner.

Spite, a new game for the games night group, was the next game played. The game is a simple game with a great deal of player interaction. Basically, If you roll your own number six times, without getting knocked back by other players, you’re in the pit. The pit is the place you want to be. If you are in the pit, at the beginning of your turn, you may knock other players back. A player that is knocked off the board is out of the game. Player may choose to "attack" the same person over and over again or, pick a new target and spread the damage. If the player attacks the same person repeatedly, often they will not be attacked by the collateral players. There is also a fair amount of "lobbying" done during the game. Lori was the winner. The first time played rule was in effect. Sorry about that Lori.

Settlers of Catan was the next game. The group used a double set to make the game board. This was a larger board than was normally used for six players. It had more room to play then the group was use to. The normal tactic of cutting off a player’s paths to expand was almost never used during this game. Tim, the only player who was cut off and had no place to expand, won the game. He had the largest army, a couple of victory points and three cities.

Wizards was the next game. With six players there are ten hands played. Bill and Spanky did battle in the last hand for the victory. Bill won the game.

The final game of the night was a game of Forget It. Tim took a commanding lead early in the game and never looked back. Tim won the game with more than twice as many points as the second place player.

Who was there: Brendan, Jeff and Spanky

Exhibition of the night: Jeff showed us his bird.

Scrabble!!! We played Scrabble. This is the third time that Scrabble has been played in as many months. There were no seven letter plays but, it was still a good game. There were a lot of good defensive plays made by the players. Spanky won the game.

The next game was Forget it. The full name of the game is really "Don't you forget it". Jeff may have set a record during this game of Forget it. He scored 112 points on his first turn and then "busted" on his next 10 turns to end the game with 112 points. Brendan won the game.

A second game of Forget it was the final game of the night. Jeff won the game.

Games night ended early due to many of the players need to get up early the next day for a road trip to Ohio State University. Go Bucks!!!

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

Surprise of the night: Pete's haircut. "He don't clean up half bad."

A few new games showed up at games night this week. One of the games needed for the group to assemble more than thirty house hold objects to be used during the game. Bill, Lori and Spanky collected the objects for later use. The first game of the night was Sequence. The players were Bill, Jeff, Lori and Spanky. Dice were rolled to choose the teams. It was Lori and Spanky vs. Bill and Jeff. Bill and Jeff won the first game. Lori and Spanky won the second game.

Pete arrived in time to play the next game. Hold Everything, the new game that needs the 30+ objects, was the next game played. The 30+ objects were dumped on the table and the "game board" was dealt out. Everyone was dealt three object cards and picked up the corresponding stuff. The object deck was reshuffled and the game began. The rules state that you may not use you strong hand and arm to hold any object. The strong hand and arm may only be used to pick up objects, put down objects, roll dice and move you pawn. If a player drops an object they must pick up and extra object. The squares on the "game board" may have players remove an object from the game, trade objects with other players, make a gift of an object to another player or pick up an object from the table. The first game ended quickly with Pete winning. The first time played rule was in effect so, this first game does not count in the stats. The group played a second game of Hold Everything. This game lasted a bit longer with the same result as the first, Pete won and this time it counted in the stats. The group felt that the object used for the game were too easy to hold. If more "wicked" objects were used (e.g. bowling ball, live animals) the game would be more fun.

Forget It was the next game that was played. This is also a new game for the group. The equipment consists of nine special dice and a score pad. The dice are special due to the fact that their sixes have been replaced with words. The words "for", "get" and "it" are each on three of the dice. The rules are simple. You roll all nine dice and put aside all "words" rolled and a pair or better of numbers. You take the total of the numbers "taken" or roll the remaining dice to add to your score. With four dice having the same number, the score for this turn double; five triple; six or more quadruple. If at anytime the player accumulates all three words "FOR GET IT", the player lose all points gained on that turn. After a player passes 500 points and stops, everyone gets one last turn. The highest score after this round wins. Jeff won the first game. The first time played rule was in effect so, this first game does not count in the stats. The group play a second game of Forget It. Pete won the game. The group liked this game. It may become a staple game at games night. Lori called it a night at this point.

Settlers of Catan was the next game. It was a quick game. Jeff was the winner. A second game of Settlers of Catan was the final game of the night. This game was a wild one. Three of the four players went on a road building spree. Bill won the game when, on his last turn, he built FIVE roads to add the "longest road" card to his "largest army" card and the two points he had in "development" cards. He had won the game with only four points showing on the board. This is relatively rare.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Jeff and Spanky.

Out of character action of the night: Jeff, as the "you've built so you can't trade" cop .

The group wanted to play a quicker game due to Bob's anticipated arrival. The game chosen was Blurt. It was a quick game too. Bill got off to a huge lead early but, stalled. Late in the game Spanky made a run to win.

With Bob's arrival, the group picked Sharks as the next game to be played. This is the stock market game that a player needs or a million dollars to win normally. In the game on this night, that was not true. Only two of the four stocks climbed in value. The "yellow" stock never dropped in value as it topped out to end the game. Spanky won the game with only $323,000 in assets.

The next game was The Great Dalmuti. The group chose to set the length for this game at 12 hands. After 5 hands, Bob and Spanky each had twice as many points then the player in third place. From that point on, it was a drag race between Spanky and Bob. A two point swing on the last hand gave Bob a victory by one point. Bob won the game.

Bob left for home at this point. The remaining players chose Settlers of Catan as the final game of the night. Sorting the game pieces and setting up the board has gotten complicated lately. The game was a fairly quick one. Bill won the game with the longest road and largest army.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Lori and Spanky.

Missing gamer of the night: Bob [we thought about having somebody else wear a "Bob hat" but, it wouldn't have been the same. (Bob hat = 12 pack box)]

The first game of the night was Wizards. Spanky went into the lead after the 6^th hand and never lost that lead. Spanky won the game with Lori only one point behind him.

The next game was Settlers of Catan. This game of settlers had a wildly uneven distribution of numbers rolled. During the whole game, nine was rolled only once and eight was rolled twice. Bill was the the winner of this wildly uneven game. Lori, who needed to go to work in the morning, called it a night at this point.

Outwageus was the final game of the night. The lead changed hands quite a few times during the game. This was due to the large number of sevens and elevens rolled early in the game. Sevens and elevens increase the amount players are allowed to bet. There was the discovery of a hitherto unenforced rule during this game. The newly discovered rule deals with the "start" and "enter" spaces on the board. When a player lands on one of these squares, they move to the center of the board and roll to set the odds. All of the players place there bets before they know what category the question will come from. Now, here is the part that was never applied till now. If the player answering the question gives a wrong answer, their game piece is moved to the "start" square and they DO NOT get the $5000 for crossing the "start" square. This adds a risk to the "corners" that had not been enforced before. Bill won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Jeff and Spanky.

Conclusion of the night: This was one of the nicer games nights.

The first game of the night was a quick game of Split Second. With only four players, the game goes even faster. Bob didn’t play this game, due to his late arrival. It was a close game with Spanky winning in the end.

Bob now joined the group for the next game. The game was Guerrilla. Bill hid behind his unassailable presidential palace to avoid both revolutions and win the game.

Bob and Brendan left for home at this point. This left just Bill, Jeff and Spanky to pick a game to finish the night. The game chosen was Settlers of Catan. The group got to work splitting up the merged game sets to make up a single game set. It had been months since the last time fewer then 5 players had played a game of Settlers. Once the game board was all set up, everyone could not get over how small the board looked. Bill had an early lead and was then knocked back with a large number of robber hits. Bill lost 5 or 6 cards in a very short period. This gave Spanky a chance to get ahead. Spanky hit a lucky roll at the end of the game and received the exact cards needed to buy a road, build a settlement and buy a development card. The development card was a victory point and gave Spanky the win.

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

Unofficial game of the night: Gas horse. Bob wins the gas king award.

Everyone but Bob played a quick game of Dalmuti. At first, the group decided to play a game of 15 hands in length. When Bob arrived, the group shortened the game to only 10 hands. Spanky won the game.

The next game was a seven player game of Settlers of Catan. The group used two complete settlers game sets to make a huge board for this game. The extra room on the board gave all of the players a lot of choices for placing their settlements. With a game this large there is always a danger of some unnoticed player running away with the win very early in the game. The robber was used in a fairly effective manner and kept the game very even. Bill won the game with five of his points coming from the development cards he bought.

The final game of the night was a five player game of Wizards. The five players were Bill, Bob, Dennis, Jeff and Spanky. It was a battle between just two players, for the lead, the whole game. Nether of those two players won the game. In the end, Jeff was the winner. Jeff had never been in the lead during this game, until the very end.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Jeff and Spanky

Unanswered question of the night: The Question of the week. (found on the LINKS PAGE.)

Tribe fever delayed the start of game playing this week. Naval War was the first game of the night. Brendan won the game in only two hands due to a "whacked" idea that some players harbor. That is the idea that the best strategy for winning is to attack the player in last place. Please, give up this idea.

Bob, Jeff and Spanky played a game of Speed Circuit to wind up the night. The group pick a new track to race on for this game. It was the tight track with a lot of turns and very few straightaways. The players "created" their own cars for this race. Jeff wisely chose and faster starting speed and got the lead at the very start of the race. He never lost that lead. Jeff won the race.

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

Best peon of the night: Bob {never complained, did everything asked of him.(an example for us all to follow)}

The first game of the night was a five player game of Scrabble. The players were Bill, Jim, Lori, Pete and Spanky. Lori made the play of the game when she used all seven of her letters on the very first play of the game. The fifty bonus points that she received gave her a lead that was never over taken. Lori won the game.

All eight players joined in a quick game of Jenga. Brendan won the game when Pete dumped the tower early in the game.

A twelve handed game of Dalmuti was next. As the last hand was about to begin, Spanky had a 6 point lead. The only player who had a chance to beat Spanky was Jim. Jim needed to finish the last hand first and Spanky had to finish the hand last. That is just how it went too. Jim won the game.

Barons of Fyn was the final game of the night. Pete and Lori didn't play this game. Due to the hour, a truncated game was won by Bob.

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

Wish of the night: Can't tell ya, or it won't come true.

The first game of the night was, the new game, Barons of Fyn. This week, the game moved much quicker. During this game, some of the more powerful cards showed their full strength for the first time. Spanky won the game. There was some talk of making a new deck of cards using color to differentiate types of cards.

Dalmuti was the next game. It was a little boring. The greater peons no longer take orders. The having the peon do stuff was one of the best features of Dalmuti. In the future, more pressure must be brought to bear on the peons. Bill was the winner.

Wizards was the final game of the night. Brendan didn't play this game. Bill was the winner

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

Bad advice of the night: "Attack the shock troops." given by the Geppetto.

The first game of the night didn't start till after 10 p.m.. Settlers of Catan was the game that the group picked to play first. This has become a game that the group has very little trouble agreeing to play. It was a close game, with all of the "masters" of Catan within one turn of winning when the game ended. Bill was the winner. Maybe the the group could try the pirate rules or the "Islands of Catan" might be modified for 5 or 6 players. There are even new ways of building the board that the group could use. This may help Settlers of Catan from getting stale.

A brand new game was next. Bill, Bob, Jeff and Spanky played Barons of Fyn. This is a game that is available for free on the internet at the Bone Game's site. The game moved a little slow due to all of the players being unsure of the rules. This game was well received by the group and all agreed that it would be played again. The rules and equipment of Baron of Fyn may need some tweaking e.g. should the "must play" cards be marked on their backs. The "first time played rule" was in effect.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff and Spanky (and Brendan as the kibitzer)

Phrase of the night: "It will be a greasy day in puckerville, before I help you again."

As the group was picking which game to play first, Bob had a weak moment. Bob said that he would play ANY game. Bill, Jeff and Spanky had the Scrabble board set up within a minute of Bob's statement. Bob, a man of his word, played with very little complaint. Spanky won the truncated game.

Settlers of Catan was the next game played. This was one of the better games of Catan that the group has played in recent weeks. All of the players were "in" the game till the very end. The only rolls that would win the game for Spanky, on his last turn, were 4 and 6. Spanky rolled a 4 and won the game. It maybe the case that 4 is the best number of players for Settles. It maybe time that the group try a new variant for 5 or 6 players. The group could try the pirate rules or the "Islands of Catan" might be modified for 5 or 6 players. There are even new ways of building the board that the group could use.

Naval War was the last game of the night. After the first hand, Bob had a huge lead. Having a huge lead early is not a good thing for a Naval War player. All of the other players attacked Bob. Bob, for no know reason, attacked the player in last place. The winner of the game was Jeff.

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

Setting for the night: A lovely home in the "burbs".

The first game of the night was a quick game of Blurt. The player were Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Lori and Spanky. Bob had not arrived yet. Spanky won the game.

The next game played was Jenga. Lori went AWOL for this game. Bill was the winner.

Settlers of Catan was next. After a little set up trouble, the game went smoothly. The "robber" was hard on some player and easy on others. The end of the game found a couple of players on the verge of winning with Jeff getting the victory.

Bob who claims to "own" Wizards, due to the fact that he wins three out of four games played, arrived just in time to play it. It was a very close game with many players still in reach of a win during the last hand. Bob gets the win. What a surprize.

Split Second was the last game for Lori, the only games night player who needed to go to work the next day. Spanky won.

Outwageus was the game the group picked to play next. It was a wild game with a winner "declared" by the group. Brendan scored a giant payday when he answered a question with an increased limit. This left almost all of the other players bankrupt. Brendan was declared the winner of the shortest game of Outwageus ever.

The final game of the night was Jenga. Jeff was the winner.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Jeff, Spanky (and a non-game playing but cordial Chuck)

Complaint of the night: Games night has been ruined by the stats.

Per an ageement made last week, The first game played was Axis and Allies. In the hopes of faster and better play, pages of strategies tailored for each of the countries were passed out before the game. The result; maybe better play but, unlikely faster. Spanky was declared the winner.

The stats page has passed the one year mark. The final stats for the year are shown on the first year page. The stats page will now take a month off. It may return after the October 2nd games night.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Jeff and Spanky

Mold sample of the night: The official scrabble dictionary. (the expanded edition, sorta')

Hurray!!! The group chose Scrabble as the first game of the night. The scores were very close, with all the players having a chance to win till the very end. Spanky won the game.

The last game of the night was Naval War. Bob won the game with 50 points more than the player who came in second.

Next week, due to a deal struck to play scrabble, Axis & Allies must be played. A little light studying of strategies to use in Axis & Allies, may be in order. Last person to show up will be forced to be "Japan". Just kidding!

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff and Spanky

Whine of the night: "Harder game should be worth more in the stats."

The first game of the night was Wizards. The game calls for 15 hand to be played when with four players in the game. Bill won the game even though Spanky, who had no chance of winning, worked hard to stop him. This did force Bill into an extra "tie breaker" hand.

Split Second was the next game played. Split Second is the most often played game at games night. This is due to the fact of it being a very quick game to play. Quite often, a quick game is needed to fill the time between long games so that game play ends at an appropriate hour. Bill was the winner. Bill has become driven to boost his stats and has great stats as of late.

Settlers of Catan was the next game played. Jeff won the game.

Another game of Split Second was next. Spanky was the winner. Bob left at this point. With some time for game play left, the three remaining players searched for a game of appropriate length to end the night.

They decided to play a game of Settler of Catan to a score of eight. This small modification to the rules changes the game a great deal. The winner leaps up quickly with very little warning. Bill was the winner in a very quick game.

Who was there: Bill, Brendan, Jay, Jeff, Lori and Spanky.

Odds and ends of the week: "Hey!, One of the players wasn't wearing any pants." and, Jonesing for a Jones or two.

This week started with a game of Settler of Catan. Bill, Brendan, Jeff, Lori and Spanky were the players. Bill won the game by using a monopoly card to grab a great deal of "rock" cards which allowed him to build cities and buy development cards. At the end of the game Bill had three soldier cards, giving him two points for having the largest army, and three victory point cards.

Wizards has the next game played. Bill won this game also.

Jay join the group for a game of Split Second. It was a typical Split Second game with the only exception being that the "readers" had trouble with disclosing the answer before everyone had given their answered. This caused a fair number of "do overs". Spanky won the game.

The next game was Great Dalmuti. The group chose the "two hands per player" length for the game. For purely mathematical reasons, all twelve hands were needed to determine a winner. Bill won the game.

The final game of the night was Puppies. Jeff won the six dollar pot.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Jeff, Spanky and Bill sorta'.

Bad advice of the night: "Stick around, this game will be over in an hour."

After consulting a printout of the "stats page", the group decided to play an unplayed game. Bob, Brendan, Jeff and Spanky began a game of Rail Barron at 9:30 p.m.. An hour after the game had started, Bill arrived. Bill tried to entertain himself till the others finished the game, but couldn't. The end of the game was very close with almost every player with in striking distance of the win. Spanky was the winner of the four hour long game.

A few games of Bop It, that do not count in the stats, wrapped up the game playing for the night. These games did not count due to a vote by the group. An ugly trend? All game count in the stats unless: First time played rule is in effect, Game is found to be a "game of chance" with no elements of skill or the group votes not to have the game count before the game begins.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff and Spanky

Bobbism of the week: Caligula

Bill, Bob, Dennis, Jeff and Spanky started this games night with a quick game of Balderdash. Due to the more cerebral nature of Balderdash, it is a good game to start the evening off with. In this game, when writing definitions, it is important to remember not to exceed the limits of the definition reader. Many good ideas have been lost due to the quirks of the reader. Spanky won the game.

Nick at Night was the next game played. This game has not been played for over a year. The group needed to pick a level to play at. The game has five levels of questions. To speed the game, the group selected the second easiest level. With five players playing a four player game, the group needed to make new game pieces. As one player neared the victory, a rule change was made to thwart him. A player now needed to answer a question from each of the five levels to win the game. This rule change made the game much closer and longer. Spanky won the game.

A brand new game for games night was next. The game of Bop-it is a very simple game. All the players need to do is what the game asks. If the game says "bop-it" you bop-it, "twist-it" you twist-it, "pull-it" you pull-it and "pass-it" you pass-it. When the game asks the player to "pass-it" he passes the game devise to the next player. If a player makes a mistake, he is eliminated from the game. After all of the players but one have made a mistake, the player who was mistake free is the winner. Spanky won the game.

Brendan arrive at this point and brought snacks, for the group, with him. After a short break to snack and to acknowledge a games nighter's birthday with a cake, the group played a twelve handed game of Great Dalmuti. This was one of the closes games of Dalmuti ever played at games night. After ten hands had been played Bill, Bob and Spanky were within a single point of each other. Bob won the game by one point over Bill, in the final hand.

Bill and Dennis left at this point. The last two games of the night were Bop-it games. Both games came down to Jeff and Spanky in a "dual to the death" ending. Jeff won both games. Jeff also made a great solo Bop-it effort, scoring 69 "moves" without a miss. All of the games played on this night count in the stats. Nick at Night has been played at games night before stats were kept and therefore, it counts. Bop-it has been played by three of the games nighters before and it is a very simple game therefore, it counts too.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff and Spanky

Lobbyist of the night: Bob (due to his persistent efforts to have the group play Axis & Allies)

The first game of the night was Axis & Allies. The game lasted about three hours. Bill was Germany; Spanky was Japan; Jeff was England; Bob was the U.S.A. and Russia. The strategies were much clearer this time as compared to the game played on June 5th. Quite often, bad dice rolls could undo the best strategies. Near the end of the game, Germany occupied Moscow, England occupied Berlin. Due to this set of events, England was ready to over run europe, with tanks, on its next turn. Jeff was declared the winner.

The next game played was a brand new game. Illusions had been waiting to be played since the January. This is a game that has players guessing which of two views, of an illusion, another player sees. This game also has an element of players being able to move parts of the game board around to hamper their opponents. With four players, two teams play the game. Bill and Bob won the game. The first time played rule was in effect so this game does not count in the stats. As for the "it all counts" idea from March 20th: That referred to a game of Cosmic Encounters played that night. Cosmic Encounters had been played by the group before the stats had begun. A question was raised as to if this was a "first playing" and, if it should count in the stats.

The last game of the night was Split Second. Jeff, who REALLY didn't want to play this game, won.

Who was there: Bob, Guest#1, Guest#2 and Spanky

Non-scoring game of the night: Duck the Goofy Granny.

Due to a lack of game nighters, Bob, Guest#1 and Spanky hit the streets looking for games to play. First stop, Jigsaw Saloon for Pinball. The machines were not working quite right and therefore the results are inexact. As best as can be determined that Bob won two games and that Spanky won two games. Guest#1 won no games. Guest#1 left for home at this point.

Bob and Spanky moved to the Lincoln Inn. Bob and Spanky acquired control of the vacant pool table and play against each other. Bob won the very long first game. Guest#2 arrived at this point. He had money on the table. Guest#2 beat Bob. Well, This could get real boring so, Here are the final totals for all of the pool games played: Bob won 3 out of the 5 games he played. Spanky won 3 out of the 5 games he played in. Guest#2 won 2 out of the 6 games he played in. The only exciting moment was in the forth game when Spanky sank the 8 ball "on the break" to win the game.

P.S. Guest#1 is Joe Shepherd and Guest#2 is some guy named Charles.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Chuck, Jeff and Spanky

Jerk of the night: Spanky, with Chuck a close second.

The choosing of the first game of the night was hard for the group to do this week. The first game of the night is the only time that a game that takes more than 4 hours to play are an option. The group talked about have a games night that starts an hour or two early every so often, so that the longer games could be played without causing anyone hardship.

The first game of the night was Blurt. Bob, heated by the above discussion, made quick work of his opponents to win the game. The next game was Jenga. The group rolled dice to set the order of play. It was an average Jenga game with Bob as the winning.

Great Dalmuti was the next game played. The game length was set at 12 hands. This is a short game by the games own rules but, a longer than normal, (2 hands, times, the number of players) rule of thumb normally used at games night. Jeff won the game. He was in the lead early and never lost that lead.

Split Second was the next game. Spanky won, coming from behind, with a flurry of answers. Blurt was the final game of the night. With Bob no longer heated, (see above), the door was open for someone else to win the game. Spanky was the winner.

Who was there: Brendan, Bob, Jeff, Dennis and Bill

Beer of the night: Dos Equis

The first game of the night was Settlers. Brendan, Bob and Bill jumped out to 5-6 points but then Bill won with an impressive roll of 11 giving him four wheats for a total of 16 cards to spend on his turn which he used to get the victory.

The second game was Split Second: Brendan left before this game. It was a close game between Bill and Bob with both of them having 9 points before Bill won.

The last game of the night was Wizards: Bill lead or was tied for the lead the entire game and at one point had a lead of 100 points. Bob came back in the last hand to set Bill and win the game thus preserving his perfect record at this game.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Jeff and Spanky

New talent of the night: Funion ring face decorating.

Bad weather slowed the start of games night play. The first game to be played was Blurt. This was using the one answer variant that the group had tried and liked two weeks ago. Spanky won the game quickly. The second game of the night was another game of Blurt. Also using the one answer variant. Spanky won this game too.

Split Second was the next game played. All of the players played well. Bob was the winner. The next game played was Jenga. This game has become a games night staple. It is now the practice of the group to roll dice to set the order of play when playing Jenga. The group worked hard to optimize the towers height. This was done by choosing to remove only outside pieces and no center ones. It maybe impossible for us to get a tower to its maximum height due to the shaky table that the game is played on. Jeff was the winner.

The final game of the night was Outwageus. This is the game where you bet on whether another player will answer an unknown question correctly. Spanky had a large lead till the very end. Brendan made a giant 40K+ move on one of his own questions to win the game with 100K exactly. Brendan was the winner.

The games night players picked games that were low stress this week. It is amazing how time and friendship heals the wounds of life. Games night can get tense from time to time but, over all, it is a positive thing.

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

Pet peeve of the night: Gamus interruptus.

The group voted to spend the evening learning and playing a new game. The game was Axis and Allies. Two of the games night player had tried a practice game several months ago, and should have been able to help the inexperience players along. Axis and Allies is a very simple game with few rules compared to other games of the "large scale, war game" genre. The moving of all of the small plastic playing pieces to resolve the outcome of conflicts was a little tiresome. The other negatives about this game were the speed of play, Often it would be 30 to 40 minutes for it to be a player's turn again and, even the experience players were surprisingly and unexpectantly affected by subtle rules. Due to the speed of play a rule, "out of the blue", could undo a players plan that was an hour and a half in the making. After six hours of play, it was clear that the Axis power were in the early stages of, a death by a thousand cuts, type end. Due to the late hour, the game was not completed. There was no winners or losers. If the game had been completed it still would not have affected the stats, due to the "first time played" rule.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Chuck, Jeff and Spanky

Lofty plan of the night: Bob's plan to institute a weekly games facilitator.

The first game of the night was a four handed game of Spades. The two teams were; Chuck and Spanky vs. Bob and Jeff. The players opted to play a short game. They set the winning score at a very low 250 points. Only four hands were needed for Bob and Jeff to amass the winning score.

Brendan now joined the other four players in a game of Blurt. The players opted to use a rules variant found in the Blurt rule book. This was the one answer variant. Using this optional rule, each player is allowed only one answer for each definition read during the game. This replaces the standard rule of allowing each player an unlimited number of guesses for each definition. The results of using the one answer variant was that the game was much quieter, less combative and more exact in its play. The group seemed pleased with the variant. Bob was the winner of a very close game.

The final game of the night was Speed Circuit. Everyone except Brendan played. The group chose to "build" their own cars rather than using the "prefab" cars that the game supplies. Chuck suffered a crash at the very start of race due to a poor starting position. The one lap race was won by Jeff with all of the other players in very close pursuit.

Who was there: Bob, Chuck, Jeff and Spanky

Quote of the night: "Yo buddy, flip an egg."

Circus Maximus was the only game played. It was a loud game with many of the players chariots failing to finish the race. This was much better than the last time this game was play at games night. Last time, there was very little battling between player's chariots and, it was just a boring sprint to the finish. It's a little disappointing to only play one game for the whole evening. Maybe we need to have a night of playing all of the quick games.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Chuck, Jeff, Ray and Spanky

Moods of the night: Strident combativeness

The first game of the night did not start till after 10:30 p.m.. The game was Blurt. Blurt is a simple game in theory but, it can take some ugly turns in practice. It is often unclear who has given the correct answer first. Chuck jumped out to an early lead and only needed to fend of a little light competition to win the game. At this point Spanky needed to run an errand.

The next game pick by the group was Settlers of Catan. The choosing to play "Settlers" was based of the fact that Spanky wasn't there. The player set up the game board and were in the process of placing their first settlements when Spanky returned. The grouped allowed Spanky to play if he would take his turn last. Bob made some unsettling comments about how "This game promotes cheating". The group made a few questionable calls on "cocked" dice rolls. A dice roll was interfered with, by a player, without penalty. Bob and Ray left the game very near the end. This left the remaining players with the problem of how to end the game with the quitting players pieces still on the board. It was decided that the quitting players pieces would remain on the board as "dead wood". The game ended after only two more dice rolls. Jeff won the game.

Jenga was the final game of the night. The game started by rolling dice to assign the order in which the players would take their turns. This was a long game of Jenga with a tall and unstable tower near the end of the game. All of the players made impressive plays during the last part of the game. Spanky was the winner.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff and Spanky

Declaration of the night: The old Yoko is toast. All Hail, the new Yoko. [poetic license used]

Well, it was a late start for games night again this week. The third player arrived at 9:30 p.m. and, the fourth arrived after 10 p.m.. Guerilla was the first game played. There was a need to review the rules to the game due to the fact that, it had been a long time since this game had been played. With four players in the game the deck is not reshuffled. This means that everyone knows the revolution card is in play only once. The revolution card can force players to change their alliance near the end of the game. Spanky drew the powerful revolution card and played it on the player with the highest score, Jeff. Forcing him on to the losing side and, cutting his score in half. Spanky won the game.

Split Second was the next game played. It was fast and even thoughout. Spanky won.

The final two games of the night were Jenga. Bob was very determined to not lose. The first game was of average length. Bob won the game. Jenga #2 was a very long game. Bob won this game also.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Chuck, Jeff, Ray and Spanky

Question of the night: Does reading a question twice, make it harder to answer?

Big time surfin' on the web took up the first hour of game night. With Bob's arrival, we start a game of Outwageus. It was one of the wildest and loudest games in recent memory. Chuck won this long and loud game.

Brendan and Ray left for home at this point. Split Second was the next game that we played. With four people playing, the game is a sort of, "sprint", in its play. Bob got off to a good lead and then stalled, only to come back and win in the end.

The Great Dalmuti was the final game of the night. The group decided that a game of eight hands in length was about right for as late as it was. The end of the seventh hand found Bob with an insurmountable lead. Congratulations to Bob for winning two out of three games.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Chuck, Jeff and Spanky

Mood of the night: Calm

A lot of chatter and a little tinkering with the computer slowed the start of games night. The first game of the night did not start till after 10 p.m.. a close game of Split Second was played. Bill was the winner.

Wizards, a brand new game to games night, was played next. The equipment used to play the game consists of a deck of 60 cards. The standard 52 cards found in a poker deck plus, 4 Wizard cards and 4 Fool cards. This is a game of bidding tricks exactly. Wizards "trump" everything. Every hand but the last has a trump suit that is determined by the top card in the unused deck after the deal is over. The first hand, everyone only gets one card and two cards in the second hand and so on. When six people are playing, the game ends with the tenth hand. Bob won the game.

The third game of the night was Wizards. Bob won this game also.

Outwageus was the next game played. It was a long game. More question were answered correctly than normal. Are we getting smarter or, just trying harder? Spanky spent most of the game as the official question reader because, he had no money to bet with. Before everyone had their forth turn, Chuck won the game.

Naval War was the final game of the night. The group decided to play to a score of 60 points. Only two hands were played. At the end of the second hand Brendan had 57 points, 15 points more than the next closest player. Brendan was declared the winner.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Dennis, Jeff, Ray and Spanky

Whine of the night: "Jenga shouldn't count as much as other games."

The first order of business is to welcome a new person to games night. Bill brought his brother in-law, Dennis to play games with the group. After a lot of chatter a game was picked to be played. Balderdash was the first game. Everyone but Ray played. Bob made it a horse race but, Spanky won.

The next game was The Great Dalmuti. The group decided to place a shorten game of only 10 hands in length. After the ninth hand was played Bill was in the lead and only Jeff had a mathematical chance of catching him. In the tenth hand, Jeff came close but, Bill was the winner. Brendan left at this point.

Split Second has the next game played. Spanky had a large lead till a highly motivated Bill came from behind to win the game.

Bill, Bob, Jeff, Dennis and Spanky played four games of Jenga next. Jenga#1; Spanky won. Jenga#2; Spanky won. Jenga#3; Dennis won. Jenga#4; Spanky won. At this point Jeff made the point that Jenga is not like other games and should be scored in a special way on the stats page. The rule has been that a win is a win. If the game's rules say that a person is a winner, that's how it is treated on the stats page. All of the players know the nature of the game before it is played. If some one doesn't like the way a game names a winner, they are free to vote against that game being played at the time the group decides what game it wants to play.

The last game of the night was Sharks. Bill, Bob, Jeff, Dennis and Spanky played. It was a close game for the most part. The only person who did not sell back a large set of stocks was Jeff. This may be the winning strategy. Jeff was the winner.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Chuck, Jeff, Ray and Spanky

Phrase of the night: If idiots had wings? This place would be an airport.

Question of the night: When do the morels pop up around here?

Jeff's new computer has change the game playing at games night a little bit. Some of the time, the group will split up. Some in the group will play at the computer and the rest of the group will play a board game. In many cases this worked quite well. There are several game that get very little play because we have more players then the game can accommodate.

The first game played was Sequence. This is a three player game. The players were Bill, Chuck and Spanky. Bill won. The second game was also Sequence. Chuck won the game.

The third game of the night was Balderdash. Everyone played in this game except Jeff and, the game took very little time to play. Most likely coincidence. Spanky was the runaway winner.

All seven players played Settlers of Catan next. The group picked the "big island" option for this game. The game ended with several players able to win on their next turn. Ray won the game when he regained the longest road card. The next time that we have a group of seven or eight players for Settlers of Catan it may be a good idea to try the other option for laying out the game board. The "big island" has very little coast line and therefore very few ports.

The next game was The Great Dalmuti. Everyone but Ray played. In order to shorten the game the group decided to play a game of eight hands in length. After the sixth hand had been played Bob was out of reach and declared the winner.

Puppies was the next game. Bill, Brendan, Chuck, Jeff and Spanky played the game. Spanky won.

Jeff, Brendan and Spanky played another game of Puppies. Brendan won the double pot.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Chuck, Jeff, Ray and Spanky

Question of the night: Who's havin' all the fun?

Split Second was the first game of the night. Everyone played except Bob, who had not arrived yet. It was a quick game. Spanky won.

All seven players participated in a Great Dalmuti game next. A rule of thumb of "play two hand for every player" was offered by Bob. The group agreed to this rule of thumb so, the game was to end after the 14th hand had been played. After the group had played 13 hand, Brendan could no longer be caught and was declared the winner. At this point, Brendan, took his victory and headed for home.

The last game of the night was Naval War. Due to the late hour, the group decided to play to a score of 50 points. The game was over quickly in part due to Ray using a destroyer group successfully to sink all six of Spanky's ships. The game ended after the first hand. Ray won with 52 points.

Congrats' to Jeff on getting his new 'puter. It's KEWL.

If anyone cares the 5 oceans are: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic. This is an answer to a question raised in the first game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Brendan, Jeff, Ray and Spanky

Phrase of the night: "It all counts."

The game player drifted in one by one this week. The first game got underway with only three players. Bill, Jeff and Spanky played Sequence. Sequence is a game that uses a double deck of poker playing cards and a game board. The game board has all of the cards printed it, except the "jacks" which are the special cards. Two eyed jacks are wild and the one eyed jack allow a played to remove an opponent's piece from the board. Eveyone gets six cards and then each player discards a card from their hand and places his game piece on the corresponding "card" on the board and then drawing a card from the deck. The object of the game is to get five of your pieces in a row. Spanky won the first game after his fifth turn. The second game of Sequence was much longer. Bill was the winner.

The next game was played by Bill, Brendan (who arrived during the last game of Sequence), Jeff, Thin Ray (who came in just before we choose what game to play) and Spanky. Split Second was the game we played. It was a long game, for many reasons (scrooge vs. stooge). Bill was the winner.

With Bob's arrival the stage was set for a six player game of Cosmic Encounters. Cosmic Encounters is a bit complicated for a "games night" game but, we played it anyhow. The short desciption of this game is that everyone gets to be an alien with a special power and, have a system of five planets. The goal is to colonize five planets in other player's systems. Spanky won the game. Thin Ray left after the game ended.

The Great Dalmuti has the next game played. The group decided to play a game of ten hands in length. After seven hands had been played, it was still anyones game. After the ninth hand, Spanky could no longer be caught. Spanky was the winner.

The last game of the night was the old favorite, Naval War. To shorten the game, the score to win was set at fifty points. Three full hand were played. Three players had more than fifty points. Bob had 51, Jeff had 53 and Bill had 63 points at the end of the game. Bill was the winner.

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

Snack of the night: Bob's homemade salsa.

For the first time in more than seven months we played Balderdash. This is a game in which players make up definitions for obscure words and try to pick out the correct definitions from all of the made up ones. If other players pick your made up definition, you advance on the game board. If you pick the correct definition, you advance on the game board. If you are the "dasher" and nobody picks the correct definition, you advance on the game board. "Dasher" is the person who reads the selected word to the players and reads all of the definitions aloud to facilitate player choosing. In a come from behind streak, Spanky won the game.

Next we played a short game of The Great Dalmuti. This game has become a staple at games night. After the ninth hand of a ten hand game, Bill's lead was insurmountable. In other words; Bill won the game. After the game was over Brendan headed for home.

Circus Maximus was the next game that we played. With only four people playing everyone gets to control two chariots. Bob was the first person to flip one of his chariots in a corner. Bill's two chariots fell victim to Bill's fatique. Spanky and Bob crashed their lead chariots together and they both flipped. In other words; Spanky and Bob "traded queens". At this point there was only three chariots left in the game. Jeff had two chariots and Spanky had one very fast chariot. Due to the facts of Spanky's chariot's speed and luck of the draw being on Spanky's side, Jeff threw in the towel. Spanky won the game.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff, Spanky, Pete and Andrew

Phrase of the night: "gamester's" mulligan.

Pig out was the first game played. Andrew won the game with, almost, twice as many points as his next closest competitor. Eight full rounds were played to find the winner. The big question is; Does it count in the stats? Due to the factors of; A) Andrew has only played two full games at games night [split second on Oct 3rd 1997 and this game of Pig out] and is therefore, a non-regular player. B) a non-regular player won the game. C) non-regular do not appear on the stats chart.; It would appear that the answer would be no. Is the group feels that this is not correct, it can be changed by a group vote.

The Great Dalmuti was the next game played. The group decided that a game of thirteen hands in length was appropriate. Andrew left after the fifth hand. Spanky won the game with an eight point lead after the twelfth hand.

UBI was the next game played. UBI is a geography based game that has some very hard questions. Some of the people at games night had never played this game before. It was decided that after everyone had had two turns, we would vote on continuance of the game. The group decided the play the game to the end. Bob left early. Bill won the game.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Chuck and Jeff

Phrase of the night: " Let's play settlers while Ken and Bill aren't here!"

We played Eucher which Chuck and Brendan won and then a game of Settlers of Catan. The settlers game was one that had all four players with eight points on the last round. Jeff pulled out a victory.

There was no official games night.

Who was there: Bob, Brendan, Jeff and Spanky

Phrase of the night: "Man, you don't like to lose."

A brand new game was the first played this week. The game was Melee. A game about mortal combat with primitive weapons. After we outfitted our fighters with their weapons and armor the game began. We played the game as teams, this being the first game of Melee that we had ever played. The game ended with Bob still standing and Brendan alive but, unconscious.

The Great Dalmuti was the next game played. It was a shortened game of 15 hands in length. After 10 hands had been played, only 3 points separated first and last places. Bob went on a tear for the last third of the game and won.

The next game was Split Second. It was a close game with Spanky and Bob in a battle till the very end. Bob won this game.

Blurt was the final game of the night. This game also found Spanky and Bob battling till the end and, again Bob was the winner.

Good job Bob! Bob gets a big boost in his winning percentage from his sweep of all the games played this week.

Who was there: Bill, Bob, Jeff and Spanky (special guests: Joe, his wife and child)

Question of the night: You going to whip or ram?

The first game played was a very short game of The Great Dalmuti with Joe and his wife sitting in. Due to the shortness of the game and the fact that we were teaching the game to new players, the game did not count in the stats. Bill won the game. Joe, his wife and child left at this point.

Circus Maximus was the next game that we played. This is a game of chariot racing. The game is a very involved in its nature. It uses a lot of dice rolling for determining the outcomes of interactions between players. This was the very first time that any of the players had played this game. A lot of time was spent checking the rules so that everyone had a clear understanding of them. Considering that this game has these few things that the gamesnighters don't really care for, the game played well and was fun. The game does have one thing in it's favor, it has a lot of beat up the leader potential. The race down the last stretch at the end of the game was very close. Due to the fact that it was the first time this game has been played at games night, it didn't count in the games night stats. Spanky won the game.

It seems that the "first time a game is played, It doesn't count in the stats" rule has firmly taken root.

The last game that was played was Puppies. Jeff won the $4.00 pot.

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

Order of the night: "Tweeze my crabs."

A few new games showed up at games night this week. The only one of the new games to get played was The Great Dalmuti. This is a card game with a twist. If you get rid of your cards first, you become The Great Dalmuti. The person who is last to get rid of their cards becomes The Greater Peon and, is subject to the whimes of The Great Dalmuti. The Great Dalmuti may ask the peon to get beverages, clean ash trays, sit on the floor or, anything else they could think up.

The first game of The Great Dalmuti was a short, ten hand long, game. Bill was the winner of the game. He was the Great Dalmuti 5 out of 10 hands.

Settlers of Catan was the next game that we played. It was a battle between Bill and Spanky with both of them just waiting to get the last point they needed to win. Bill won the game with all buildings and victory point cards.

The Great Dalmuti was the next game we played. This time we would play the full 20 hards. The rule book suggest that 20 hands is the optimal length for this game. Bill was the winner of this game also. Below is a chart of the game

P. S. Congratulations to Bill who won all three games played.

Who was there: Midnight the cat A.K.A. Kitty

Phrase of the night: Yoko Onoed

If Midnight played any games, they were solitaire type games and thus, do not count in the stats.

Who was there: Bob, Chuck, Jeff and Spanky

Phrase of the night: "He said I could"

For some reason, picking the first game to be played was a problem this week. After much discussion we agreed to play Settler of Catan. Chuck, who had played Settlers of Catan only once before, needed to review the rules before the game could begin. The game was an unremarkable one. Spanky won.

Split Second was the next game we played. The game was fairly even throughout it's play. A question came up as to whether a player could retrieve their, as of yet, uncovered paddle and change their answer. The answer is "just this once but, never again". Bob made the point that the keeping of "stats" had changed the feel of games night. Bob made this point by, opening the window and, throwing the "stats pages" out. Chuck was the winner.

We played the Jenga five times in a row. We have never before played a game that many times in a row before. We added the rule that no one but the person whos turn it is may touch the table. Jenga #1 was won by Jeff. Jenga #2 was won by Spanky. Jenga #3 was won by Bob. Jenga #4 was won by Jeff. Jenga #5 was won by Bob. Bob went home at this point.

Chuck, Jeff and Spanky played a game of Puppies to end the night. Twice the last roll was a four, forcing everyone to re-ante and play some more. Spanky won the $9 pot.

The keeping of "stats" may end soon. Please make your opinion known.

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

Question of the night: How much did it cost to make this beer?

Well, we had an old friend show up at games night. Pete's attendance gave us a chance to play Settler of Catan with six players. This is something that we never had done before. It was a good game with a lot of close scores till the very end. Bill was ready to win on his next play, when Spanky (who had no chance of winning) took the longest road away from him. This gave Pete the win. We like to let the new people win. It makes them want to come back to play more games.

Split Second was the next game we played. With six people playing the game it takes a little longer to get a winner than normal. After a while it was clear that Bob's natural talent for unfiltered response would make him the winner. That's right, Bob won his first game since Oct 10th.

Sharks was the next game played. It was a hard fought game. Bill, who won the other two times that we played this game, won with only 26 thousand more than Bob. Why do we play this game?

After watching us try to pick the next game to play, Pete left for home. Let's hope we didn't scare him off for good.

Speed Circuit was next. Bill had never played this game before. Bill made some mistakes that, actually, worked out well. Everyone was still in the race till the very last corner. Bob did all he could to cross up the other racers, and we guess it worked, for he was the winner. It looks like Bob's slump may really be over.

Puppies was the final game of the night. Brendan took home the pot of five dollars.