March 14, 2006 |
| Alhambra |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 99 | 1 | |
| Lee | 96 | 2 | |
| Scott | 75 | 3 | |
| Dan | 67 | 4 | |
| Annie | 48 | 5 | |
Notes: We had about an hour to kill before Scott's friends showed up, so we selected Alhambra out of the other options, as most of the others would take too long and Dan and I weren't keen on playing Bohnanza. I went over the rules quickly for Lee and we got going.
The first round was about as short as it has ever been. Dan didn't purchase one thing, and I managed to get the only tower. Annie and I split on Pavilions (netting each of us half of 1, which rounds down to 0). Scott had the only Arcades, no one had a Gemächer, and Lee had the Gardens. He had the nice foundation of a wall, too. First round scores:
Mike: 9 (3 wall)
Scott: 8 (4)
Lee: 8 (3)
Annie: 3 (1)
Dan: 0 (0)
Dan made up for lost time in the second round and started challenging in all the weaker areas: Serails, Gemächers, and Towers. He also took over second in the Gardens. I managed to cling to my Tower lead, and I ended up splitting Arcades with Annie. I also got in on the Gemächers, and we ended up with a three way tie among Dan, Lee, and myself.
Annie managed first on Pavilions, but other than that, she was buying too much of everything. She and Dan tied for Serails, but she didn't have a good wall, and she was in 3rd place (or worse) for everything else, though she did have one of everything.
Lee was going to make a bad purchase, but it would have closed off his city at 8 buildings, and he would have spent the whole 3rd phase of the game rearranging his palace. Scott managed to keep his lead in Arcades and tied for 2nd in Gardens, but missed out on the three-way tie for Gemächers by only having one. He also dabbled in Serails. Second round scores:
Lee: 46 (12)
Mike: 43 (5)
Scott: 26 (8)
Dan: 22 (8)
Annie: 12 (6)
In the third round everyone made their move. Mine involved staying in second in Arcades, keeping my Tower lead, and staying in first or second in Gemächers. I also certified a tie for first in Pavilions early in the round. I wasn't sure my strategy would work, because I overspent a few times, but the final round would be short (we went through a ton of tiles in the second round thanks to Annie, Scott, and Lee buying a lot of things at sub-optimal prices and Dan using his massive card collection). It was kind of an advantage to run out of cards with a couple turns left. I doubted there would be any more purchases in my future, so I just collected big money cards.
Scott maintained the status quo in Arcades and did well enough to garner third in Gardens. I managed second in Gemächers, with Lee expending a big money card to grab the lead. Unfortunately, it left him weak on two fronts, both of which Dan leaped on: Dan tied him for second in Towers and passed him in Gardens. Annie then hosed Dan by overpaying for the last Serail, thus clinching a three-way tie for first in them (with Scott or Lee - I forget whom).
When the last tie was drawn, I won two of the last tiles, and managed to eke another point out of my wall and expand my lead in towers. As I totaled the final scores (with just arriving Bill and Jasmine wondering what the hell we were playing) I knew it was between Lee and me. When I rocketed past him with my Towers, he said "shit!", but I wasn't sure I'd hold off his wall. Fortunately, it hadn't expanded too much from the last turn, and I won by three.
Final wall sizes were 6 for Annie, 8 for Scott and Dan, 9 for Mike, and 13 for Lee. It was a good game, though Annie has to stop impulse buying everything and go for a more coordinated effort. It's best to give up on at least 2, perhaps 3 buildings and find the weaknesses in the market.
| Bang! |
| Results | ||||
| Player | Role | Character | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | Outlaw | Bell Star | (Won) Lived | |
| Jasmine | Outlaw | Tequila Joe | (Won) Lived | * |
| Mike | Outlaw | Calamity Janet | (Won) 1st Killed | |
| Dan | Deputy | Suzy Lafayette | (Lost) 2nd Killed | |
| Bill | Sheriff | Slab the Killer | (Lost) 3rd Killed | * |
| Annie | Deputy | Paul Regret | (Lost) Still Alive | |
Notes: With seven, we opted for Bang!, as I had forgotten that I had brought Saboteur and 6 Nimmt! (or maybe Dan put a spell on me to make me forget about 6 Nimmt!) I went over the rules as thoroughly as I could, and explained the first couple rounds of cardplay. Bill and Jasmine picked up on them pretty quickly, and Sheriff Slab the Killer(!) quickly punished them by shooting at his Cuz and tossing good buddy Scott in prison on turn #1.
Paul Regret (Annie) started her mad shooting, taking pot shots at Suzy Lafayette (Dan) and El Gringo (Lee) before anything had happened. After two boring rounds (except for Dan's complaints), El Gringo (Lee) lit some dynamite, and Calamity Janet (Mike) took a shot at Sheriff Slab (Bill). Calamity Janet was looking to start a fire under her fellow outlaws, as Sheriff Slab was gettin' mighty powerful, with a Barrel, a couple green-bordered defense cards, a gun, and a Mustang.
Well, Sheriff Slab didn't take kindly to that, and rather than expose themselves, Calamity Janet's two allies stayed hid, though El Gringo was merciful, helping Janet whittle down Suzy Lafayette (that hussy!). I tell you, Calamity Janet's barrel musta been made outta paper fer all the good it done 'er. She wuz dead as a doorpost after four shots, killed by Sheriff Slab hisself in a mighty one-sided duel.
By then it was apparent to everyone that ol' Suze Lafayette was a gun-totin', loyal-blooded Deputy, tho' Paul Regret wasn't no friend a hers and took turns hasslin' Suze and Tequila Joe, who wuz quiet as a rusted Musket in a rainstorm, if ya take my meanin'. Joe didn' like bein' shot at, so he whittled Paul down to almost nuthin', but Paul decided he had taken one too many ribbings from ol Suze and shot her full of lead. Paul nearly wept when he saw Suzy was none other than the other Deputy.
(At this point Dan and I laughed at Annie "I never pay attention..." Graves, and headed to the fuzzy table to play some Wyatt Earp. I should say that I had concluded, from various actions that took place, that Annie was a Renegade, and that Lee and Scott were the Outlaws. I thought Jasmine was just being a quiet Deputy because she didn't want to shoot at anyone she didn't know. Boy, was I wrong.)
Tequila Joe and Belle Star were helped by the dynamite exploding on Sheriff Slab, who had chucked a lot of his Beer away at the start of the game. Then, the two outlaws started whittling the weakened Sheriff and his pitifully wounded Paul Regret down to nothin'. It helped that Belle Star didn' need to shoot over the Sheriff's barrel. El Gringo couldn' stop the slide to take the Sheriff out hisself, and soon ol' Slab was deader 'n a headless rat stuffed fulla arsenic.
Calamity Janet's soul gave a cry of joy from the other table.
| Wyatt Earp |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | $25,000 | 1 | |
| Mike | $24,000 | 2 | |
Notes: Jeez, I can't believe I hadn't played this one in so long (Not since June 1st of 2005). It's far and away my favorite rummy game, and it's a blast.
Dan I went outlaw hunting while Bang! was still going on. The first round had a slight advantage for Dan, as he scored huge on Bob Dalton ($8000), and I managed a moderate score on Billy the Kid (BTK, as per Dan) and we split Jesse James and Sundance. Dan had the first round lead $12,000 to $9000. There was some good money on Butch Cassidy, but it hadn't been claimed.
At this point, the Bang! contest ended, and Annie and Scott wanted to play Saboteur (another hidden role game). I explained the essentials of the rules - the broken equipment, the distribution of the gold, the distance from entrance to gold, etc., then Dan and I played a fiery second round.
I had an excellent round, starting off on Bob Dalton, Belle Star, and Wes Harden. I had an exclusive grab at Wes, getting his total worth up to about $8000. I had semi-foolishly spent a Stagecoach robbery on Bob Dalton because Dan looked to have a better foothold on Belle and Wes. I was wrong. He played a Dalton Photograph and soon had me bested by 1 in Bob. I had a hideout, but if I played it on Bob, I only had 7 points to my name on him and I'd forego a big share of loot. So I let Dan keep his meager lead.
Dan eventually passed me in Belle Star, too, but I grabbed a load of money on Billy the Kid (probably around four or five grand - all my own). I ended the game on the turn I played my Bill the Kid cards (3 plus a photograph), so that Dan wouldn't be able to build on his Butch Cassidy meld. I had also spent a turn fending off the Hideout Dan had played on Wes Harden. (Gunshots worked pretty well. Dan and I each missed a couple uncritical Bank Robberies, but that was it.)
I knew I had the better round, but I was worried Dan would get just enough cash (thanks to passing me in Bob Dalton, who was worth $8000, split 5 to 3 in favor of Dan) to break $25,000. He did, and pulled off the victory by $1000 after two rounds.
| Saboteur |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Lee | 5 | 1 (Tie) | |
| Annie | 5 | 1 (Tie) | |
| Bill | 4 | 3 | * |
| Scott | 3 | 4 (Tie) | |
| Jasmine | 3 | 4 (Tie) | * |
Notes: I don't have many details on this game, but I did take a gander during the first round over how things were going...and it wasn't good. The path was pretty messed up, and the good dwarves were accusing each other of diverting the path and broke each others equipment. Saboteurs Annie and Jasmine were undiscovered while Scott, Bill, and Lee destroyed each other.
In the second round, Scott and Jasmine were the saboteurs, but couldn't stop the other three, and in the third round, Bill and Jasmine were defeated.
Jasmine was a Saboteur all three times, and Lee was a good dwarf all three times.
Scott told me that he was fooled one time because Annie and Lee would use a map card to discover the gold, and they'd stop after one card. When they did that Scott thought he knew where to dig, but Jasmine spent a turn looking at the same card, then playing another map card to look at another. That was part of the confusion that cost the good dwarves the first round.
Based on what Scott told me, it looks like Lee won twice (2 loyal), Annie won twice (1 saboteur, 1 loyal), and Scott (1 loyal), Bill (1 loyal), and Jasmine (1 saboteur), each won once.
| Acquire |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | $47,800 | 1 | |
| Dan | $44,600 | 2 | |
Notes: Meanwhile, back at the fuzzy table, Dan and I were rockin' along in a 2 player game of Acquire. It was kind of an odd game.
Dan and I spent several turns not purchasing stock, though I won an early majority when Sackson was merged, and I managed to buy a lot of shares early on. Dan did clinch the 13 shares for majority required in the biggest company (Phoenix) and also 13 in Hydra, which never expanded beyond two and was never absorbed into Phoenix despite being right next to it for 3/4 of the game.
Dan was eventually forced to merge Zeta into Phoenix, much to my own profit, as he was desperate for cash. Then we got into a duel over quantum, and Dan was fortunate enough to draw a low tile so that he was minority stockholder on it. (Dan twice drew 1's for the "neutral" player's share total.) My big midgame advantage felt pretty safe as Phoenix tipped 35 squares and I had the tile to merge it into Fusion, which I had a handy majority in. We both had been out of cash for a while, but Dan had been able to create two late game companies, giving him 1 share of each and at least a minority stockholder-ship in them while I had nothing.
So I merged Fusion and drew a 7 for the neutral, which was safely below my 9 shares and nicely above Dan's 4. Had I drawn a 3 or lower, Dan would have netted $4,000 more and probably would have nipped me.
As it was, his one share lead in Phoenix nearly beat me. He amassed $12,000 in majority stock and a further $15,600 in selling the stock. I only grabbed $6000 and $14,400. I had a one share lead in Quantum, though, and his 13 to 12 victory in Hydra didn't net him anything substantial.
He did get a little lucky, drawing a 1 tile to tie him for majority stock in his newly created Zeta company late in the game (which gave him $1500 instead of $1000). He also had minority share in American (with 1...grr!), but that only gave him $1500 more. We totaled our shares, and despite his huge Phoenix grab, I won by just over $3000, mostly fueled by the mid-game, when I was able to buy Zeta, Fusion, and Quantum while Dan was mostly broke.
Dan liked the two-player version though it had potential for hosing. I like how it keeps a late lucky tile match (when no one else has any of that stock as they expect the game to end) from ruining the moves of the game to that point, as being sole possessor nets an owner both Majority and Minority shares, and that would have garnered Dan a further $3000 or so.
At this point, we discovered it was 11 o'clock, and Dan gave Lee a ride home. I told Lee to say hi to his mom for me when she picks him up for work.
Scott said it was a great game night, and then I complained to him about how stupid the NFLPA is and how salary caps aren't really that good for sports...only for those who want low salaries (i.e. rich billionaires).