March 21, 2006 |
Lethal was good enough to host despite a crazy tax season, and we zipped through five good games tonight. Amanda and Rakesh joined an Annie-less Dan to give us five, as Karla decided to stay at home with the birds.
Dan said that with Annie not around over the next several weeks, his winning percentage would quadruple. Last week's Bang! episode was still weighing heavily...
| Vom Kap bis Kairo |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 8 | 1 | |
| Mike | 5 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Lee | 5 | 2 (Tie) | |
Notes: Man, this game was frustrating tonight. Dan didn't really start bidding until piece number four came by, and then he kept outbidding Lee by one down the stretch, taking some very important cards that helped him whiz near the end.
Then, on the last turn, when Dan was at 7 and I convinced Lee to get to 5 so that Dan would have a slim chance of getting enough track to get the last piece (I was completely set up to purchase a bunch of cheap terrain in a row), Dan would be able to win if a 3 track was flipped over. He got it.
This totally sucked because a turn earlier all I needed was ONE piece of track flipped to start making a big comeback. But my comeback fell apart when I received...you guessed it, Zero.
Lee's problem was getting stuck with crappy terrain. When he wanted to be in the top 2, he'd be at #3. When he wanted #1, he'd get #2, usually by one or two pounds.
| Circus Flohcati |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 89 | 1 | |
| Lee | 78 | 2 | |
| Dan | 65 | 3 | |
Notes: Rakesh and Amanda showed up just as we were starting up a game of flea circus, but as they were eating burritos from Pasqual's, we made them watch.
I went for the grand display and got it. Lee had three sets out and I had two, so it came down to cards in hand for the win. I had enough 6's and 7's to snag the win.
| Circus Flohcati |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 56 | 1 | |
| Amanda | 54 | 2 | |
| Lee | 50 | 3 | |
| Mike | 43 | 4 | |
| Rakesh | 30 | 5 | |
Notes: When we finished, we immediately played again, this time with Amanda and Rakesh. As you can see, it was incredibly close. We all laughed as Lee was happy to have flipped over a 7 brown on his first turn, then Dan flipped over the Draw a card from someone, and he took it from Lee, then Amanda got the "pick a color" card and took it from Dan. She kept it the rest of the game, though, as the other "pick a color" cards were wasted in a couple of "safety net" draws.
I couldn't really get going and I fudged my strategy. I thought about collecting sets, but it's harder with 5 people, so then I sort of went for a grand display, then I kind of went back to the sets...it didn't work out.
Rakesh went for the "draw a double" strategy, which didn't work. Also, he kept grumbling when Amanda took a card, so I think she was impacting what he wanted to happen.
Dan and Lee went for drawing high cards and making a couple sets, and Amanda had enough high cards in the end to make it close, but not quite pass Dan. Had Rakesh not flipped over the last card on his turn and let me have one more draw, I would have scored at least another 7 or 8 points.
| Modern Art |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | $440,000 | 1 | |
| Rakesh | $383,000 | 2 | * |
| Mike | $343,000 | 3 | |
| Lee | $330,000 | 4 | |
| Amanda | $309,000 | 5 | * |
Notes: After Circus Flohcati, Amanda complained that I hadn't brought any games they already knew how to play, and Dan said that the trick was to learn one a week for a year, then you can play all of them.
Anywho, I explained the rules, and though Amanda and Rakesh were unclear on the object at first (or in Amanda's case, didn't like the object - she just wanted to collect art), both made nice profits over the last couple turns and Rakesh actually placed second.
In the first turn I flooded the market with Peter Sharpes, making them worth the most money pretty handily. Amanda and Dan collaborated on making the Polkes worth second most, and Lee was squeezed out of third when Dan spent a turn selling a Gonzalez to make sure its 2 paintings passed by Lee's one Tex. After the first turn, it was pretty much a wash, though Amanda had the most paintings.
In the second turn, I kept thinking I would maximize my money on Peter Sharpe, but then Dan would sell a Peter Sharpe after me, and the prices got a little out of hand. Mine went for a pretty fair price, but Dan's went for way too high a price. Then Amanda sold another one...nearly taking it herself for $32,000 (when it was only going to be worth $50,000). I explained that it wasn't worth it for her to bid more, since she could take $31,000 from Dan or just make $18,000 on her own. When she understood what I was saying, the light went on a bit. Up to that point, both she and Rakesh were just buying so long as they made a profit. In round two, Lukshina was first, Sharpe was second, and Gonzalez took third. I had actually hoped someone would sell something other than a Gonzalez (as Dan had the only sold Gonzalez that round) so that we could hose Dan out of some cash (as he was really making a killing on his sales), but no one wanted to take the hit.
The third round saw Tex take third place and Peter Sharpe made it to second, making it worth $70,000 per painting. I had hoped that by selling a pair for $105,000 or so I'd make the most, but then Dan sold a pair for a little more than that. Argh! At the end of the round Rakesh but a price on a pair of Polkes for $110,000. I didn't want anyone else getting it and making a profit, and I didn't think Rakesh was leading, so I bought it. Rakesh and Amanda also had a couple bidding wars on a couple paintings of Dan's, who was really exploiting their desire to purchase stuff. I didn't want to tell them they were paying too much, but when they started getting too ridiculous, I'd say, "Remember, your money's going to Dan," and that would usually stop the already high bidding.
In the last round with a little luck I could have pulled it off, but Lukshina passed Tex for first place, and Polke garnered third, making the three worth $60,000, $30,000, and $70,000, respectively. Dan made one last killing off a set of Polkes on a blind bid, and I knew that pushed him over the edge. He also had a Lukshina painting, which went from being worth $50,000 to $60,000 thanks to Rakesh or Amanda (one of whom ended the game).
By the end of the game, Dan, Lee, and I had primarily been sellers, with the three of us averaging about 1 or 2 paintings per round. Dan went painting-less once, as did I. Lee never really had the cards to sell, and Amanda, though she sold well, probably overbid...as did Rakesh. Dan exploited their desire for more paintings and won by a healthy $57,000. Had things gone my way on the final round, I would have closed on Dan by about $40,000 or $50,000, and would have probably passed Rakesh, but I think Dan still would have dusted us all.
About halfway through Amanda said she liked shopping games.
| China |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 61 | 1 | |
| Dan | 49 | 2 | |
| Lee | 43 | 3 | |
Notes: Rakesh and Amanda had to take off, since it was 9:30, but Lee and Dan were up for a shorter game. I plucked China out of the pile, which is pretty much the perfect three player smarty-pants filler game, re-explained the rules, promised to kick their butts, then did so.
Experience counts, and I had a bunch of it. (This was my 10th or 11th play.) I went for a "consolidate the middle with Ambassadors" strategy, and it paid off in spades. I also put caps on both Dan's and Lee's long (and fortress-ed) roads. Dan didn't really compete with me in the center for ambassadors, so he created his own string in the three provinces in the northeast corner of the board. Lee abandoned ambassadors altogether, but had a ton of houses out there and a really big road.
At one point, Dan could have played a piece which would have made my getting a fortress or road very very difficult, but he inexplicably put it somewhere else. As it turned out, I probably would have won by 1 or 2 anyway, but it might have somehow made a difference.
After scoring houses, Lee and Dan were tied. After ambassadors, Lee looked to be nearly skunked, and I had 49 points. I added another 12 for my road, while Lee made his score much more respectable.
They both said that the more they play this game the more they like it.
It should be noted that Dan, without Annie around, won 3 of the 5 games. Coincidence?