July 25, 2006 |
I took Jim up on his offer to host some day, and we amassed 7 of us in his finely-furnished condo. He fed us white cheddar Nips, Garden Salsa Sun Chips, and Spicy Jabanero Dorito's, which freaked me out but delighted Lee.
| RoboRally |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 3 Flags | 1 | |
| Jim | 2 Flags | 2 (Tie) | * |
| Brian | 2 Flags | 2 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 2 Flags | 2 (Tie) | |
| Scott | 2 Flags | 2 (Tie) | |
| Karla | 56 | 6 (Tie) | |
| Lee | 47 | 6 (Tie) | |
Notes: Every once in a while, we get caught up in a game that takes too long and is a really big mess. The game drags on until we universally agree to quit, or we suffer through it with some cheating. This was one of those times.
When I presented three games for consumption: Shadows Over Camelot, RoboRally, or 6 Nimmt!, there were whispers of RoboRally that led to its being played. With 7 players, this turned out to be a tremendous mistake. Part of the mistake may have been that I chose a tough board, but really, they all have their annoyances.
To sum up, Jim and Brian got to the first flag quickly, then couldn't get anywhere. Jamie and Lee were damaged and kept trying to proceed with damaged robots. Lee, in fact, sent his robot to the second flag, and, damaged, couldn't get it to move an inch in three turns. I was quite pre-emptive in my Power Downs, so I was never in really bad shape.
Anyway, after long last and much frustration, Jamie and I joined Brian and Jim in getting to Flag One, followed shortly after by Scott. Then Jim and I managed to get to Flag Two. By this point, we had played for about 2 hours, and Brian, who had been shot about 80 times, was frustrated, as were Lee and Karla, who had yet to reach Flag One. With all this angst going on, I chucked Flag #4. I figured Jim would speed across Flag 3 in a heartbeat and the game would end.
Jim, though, simply could not figure out the conveyer belts surrounding Flag 3, and zipped around doing nothing for a long time. His confusion gave me a chance to win, and I was one move away from it when he maliciously (for the entire group) pushed me out of the way. This led to a further agonizing 4 turns, which did nothing more than allow Karla and Lee to approach Flag 2, Scott and Brian to reach Flag 2, and give the victory to Jamie.
Given normal amounts of luck, I would have beaten Jamie anyway, but whereas Jamie got the required "turn left" and "move 3" cards, I missed out on the "move 2" card I needed, though I did get the "turn left" card. Had I gotten the appropriate card, I would have pushed Jamie off the flag and taken the victory.
As it was, Lee gave up and said, "Maybe I should have worked late tonight," there were several suicides (robotic, not human), and I threw my cards in disgust twice. Karla asked me if I was retarded once, then admitted that she was the retarded one.
The game ended after 3 hours, and was a complete disaster. I'm going to veto any more playing of this one for more than 4 people.
| 6 Nimmt! |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 23 | 1 | |
| Karla | 32 | 2 | |
| Jamie | 33 | 3 | |
| Jim | 39 | 4 | |
| Scott | 42 | 5 | |
| Lee | 69 | 6 | |
Notes: After RoboRally, Brian high-tailed it out of there with Jim's 100-CD changer, and for him and me, at least, the night held some redemption. I overcame a second-round Scott lead to claim victory in 6 Nimmt!
My first round was glorious, and when Lee noticed that I had no cards collected he said, "Mike, you're good at this game." First round scores:
Mike: 0
Scott, Karla: 8
Jim: 15
Lee: 17
Jamie: 21
My second round was a near disaster, as I kept scooping up cards, though most weren't completely destructive. Still, I forfeited the lead to Scott. Second round totals (2nd round points in parentheses):
Scott: 15 (7)
Mike: 17 (17)
Karla 21 (13)
Jamie: 26 (5)
Lee: 35 (18)
Jim: 36 (21)
In the last round, though, Scott fell from 1st to 5th, and my meager total of 6 points was only beaten by Jim, whose decent third round moved him from 6th to 4th. Lee was kind enough to get enough points to clinch my victory by 9 over Karla.