August 3, 2006 |
Dan, who had missed two straight game nights, was jonesing for some games, so he recruited Scott and Lee (with false promises of attending offered by both Brian and Mark), and I got Karla out of the house.
| Bermuda Triangle |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | $260,000 | 1 | * |
| Dan | $130,000 | 2 | |
| Lee | $100,000 | 3 | * |
Notes: When Karla and I arrived, Dan, Lee, and Scott were in the middle of a game of Bermuda Triangle. Scott was kicking total ass, and by the end of the game, which ended when Dan lost his last ship, he still had all his boats and had completely dusted Dan and Lee.
| Beowulf |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Lee | 29 | 1 | * |
| Dan | 28 | 2 | * |
| Mike | 23 | 3 | |
| Karla | 22 | 4 | * |
| Scott | 19 | 5 | |
Notes: With some experience under Scott's belt, I brought Beowulf to make its second straight appearance.
In this game, I took the role of Jim, and completely struggled at the Risks for the first half of the game. There were two of them were I was the only person who failed at a Risk. Everyone else, in particular Karla, was doing fine. Karla didn't really run out of cards, but she Risked a bunch. Lee was more conservative, generally going for Risks when it wasn't too harmful and saving his cards. He played a nice, defensive game. Early on, he ducked out as soon as he avoided scratches or wounds.
Karla was the wildcard, almost always risking. Scott played great for the first half or so, then ran out of cards and never recovered. Dan played very well also (he only lost by one point!). Karla did fine, but probably did two or three too many costly risks when she could have played cards.
I had miserable first half, highlighted by wasting a bunch of cards because I was last on tie breakers. Also, a lot of times Dan would play a double or triple card, and as he went right before me, I had to be the first to respond to it. This cost me big time early on, and though I endured them later on, it set me back. In fact, at one point I had 4 wounds, though I did manage to get it down to 2 somehow.
In fact, during the last gold auction, Dan and I were the only ones going for it. As the last auction is for the quadruple axe card, if Dan got it, I would be screwed (since I'd be the first to plop down four cards or take a Risk), but if I got it, Dan, being the last to react, would probably still get second place. So, I expended nearly all my gold to get it, and Dan managed second place against the dragon anyway.
In the end it came down to the final auctions, and Lee had just enough cards and gold to fend off Dan's rally, as Lee hadn't done much over the last few auctions.
Dan announced that he had 18, and Lee had 29 while I had 23. "How'd you guys get 29 and 23?!?" he asked, incredulous. Then I added for him and he 28. These scientists just aren't any good at math.
Scott, who managed last again, said, "I hate this game. Let's play again." Lee echoed that sentiment, saying, "I like this game!"
| Nobody But Us Chickens |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 52 | 1 | * |
| Lee | 38 | 2 | * |
| Scott | 37 | 3 | |
| Mike | 27 | 4 | |
| Karla | 23 | 5 | |
Notes: After Beowulf, there was the option of playing either Medici or a combo of Nobody but Us Chickens & Tsuro. Lee wanted light stuff, and Dan didn't want Medici, so we went for the easy game duo.
Dan took to this game, and it seemed like I almost never made any clever moves. I also kept forgetting who had what cards, and that really helped Dan over the last three rounds, as he was usually the one I had underestimated.
Lee dominated the first round (leading 18 to 5 for the nearest). Then Scott and Dan caught up in the second round while Karla and I struggled again (Lee: 19, Scott 17, Dan 15). Dan continued his torried play in the third round, netting 16 to Karla's 13 and my 8. Dan then had two more nice rounds (8 and 10) to easily fend off Scott (2 and 15) and Lee (3 and 12).
Karla gets a gold star next to her name for having a healthy coop after all five rounds. Dan said he liked this a lot more than 6 Nimmt! as the mechanic is similar but has a bit more tactical play - and some bluffing. I told him about a new way of playing 6 Nimmt!, and he said that it would be better. Maybe we'll try it.
| Tsuro |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | Still Alive | 1 | |
| Scott | Fourth Out | 2 | |
| Lee | Collided with Mike | 3 (Tie) | |
| Mike | Collided with Lee | 3 (Tie) | |
| Karla | First Out | 5 | |
Notes: We played a quick game of Tsuro to wrap up a fun game night at Dan's. Lee was convinced Scott would win, but he was hemmed into a pretty tough corner. I was in good shape, but Lee took me out when I was at his mercy. Dan was stuck in a good corner with good cards and managed to hold out the longest quite easily.