April 6th, 2005 |
We got started pretty quickly, thanks in part to Scott being kind enough to tell us he wasn't coming, so we didn't have to wait up for him. Dan, Annie, and Jim were the Game Night Special Guests. We talked a lot about OdysseyCon, which had Karla so worked up that she barely paid attention in our first game.
| Alhambra |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 106 | 1 | |
| Annie | 101 | 2 | |
| Dan | 92 | 3 | |
| Jim | 67 | 4 | * |
| Karla | 43 | 5 | |
Notes: I got off to an early lead and managed to hold it all game. In the first round, I managed to get the lead in Gemächers and tie for the lead in towers. I had a nice wall, too, which helped, but it made my palace rather hard to expand. I was going to have trouble later. No one else had done much, though Annie was off to a nice lead in Gartens, and Dan had the foundation of a nice wall to go along with his tie for the lead in Arkaden. Jim had a very good starting spot (3 buildings with no walls) but no wall points. Karla had the lead in Serails.
First round scores:
Mike 17
Karla, Annie 8
Dan 7
Jim 3
Things got exciting in the second round. I had to buy some wall-less areas in order to expand later, as my palace was getting inhibited by walls. I therefore had to spend on a Pavilion, a Garten, and an Arkade so that I would be able to expand more easily in the future. Still, I managed to keep my lead in Gemächers thanks to a very opportune tile flip. I also focused on my other building type, the Tower, and kept a 1 building lead in that as well. Thanks to my investment in some expansion interest buildings, I was able to keep a good-sized wall. Jim challenged and overtook Dan for the lead in Arkaden, but didn't do much else yet. Karla began to falter, and was passed for the lead in Serails and was too spread out in all the other buildings. She had one each of Gartens, Towers, Arkades, Pavilions, and Gemächers. Dan had second in Gartens and Arkaden and Gemächers. Annie had the lead in Serails, Gartens, and Pavilions, and she was ready to start storming ahead of me. Her wall was still small, Dan and I had the only good ones (10+ points).
Second round scores:
Mike 51
Annie 47
Dan 31
Jim 20
Karla 17
In the third round all the missing Gemächers and Towers started to appear. Jim and Dan fought over Gartens. Dan passed Annie for the lead in Pavilions. At one point, Karla took a Tower that I had saved up for two rounds to purchase and I was upset with her. I knew it would clinch victory for me. So, since the game was almost over, and the board was full of only Gemächers and Towers, I decided to collect money. Fortunately, I managed the last big cash card on the board (a 7 Ducat card), so everyone after me was stuck with 3's and 4's. Jim, in the third round, finally started making a lot more purchases. He never did get a decent wall, but he made a nice move forward by maintaining his lead in Arkaden, tying Annie in Gartens, and getting a few Tower points. Annie expanded her wall, but was forced to settle for a tie in Gartens, which cost her 3 points. Karla barely did anything, holding second in Serails and 3rd in Gartens. Dan was second in Gemächers in addition to his Pavilion lead and 3rd in Towers. Karla was also hampered by needing to spend turns re-arranging her palace. Jim didn't know this was possible and hassled me with the old, "These new rules keep popping up."
When the game ended, Annie and I ended up having the most money. I managed Ducats and Dinars while Annie had the Guilden and the Dirham. The buildings (1 Tower and 1 Gemächer each) didn't help her much at all, though, and they helped me immensely, expanding my wall and making sure that I kept sole majority in both buildings. I felt like I had it, though Dan temporarily tied me with his huge ass wall (15 points). Annie's wall (12 points) was larger than I thought, too, but mine (14 points) was good enough to hold on for victory. Jim's (4 points) and Karla's (6 points) walls were still very tiny and hardly helped them out.
| By Hook or Crook |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | Head of Table | 1 | |
| Mike | 4 spots from Table | 2 | |
| Karla | 4 spots from Table | 3 | |
| Annie | 6 spots from Table | 4 | |
| Jim | 8 spots from Table | 5 | * |
Notes: We turned ourselves into British Lords and watched Lord Daniel of the Hairy Haven wipe the floor with us. The detective was used quite a bit in this game, and the Auction house was used a lot early on by Jim, Annie, and Karla. Dan and I managed to make the most exhibitions early, but I was only able to keep up with him halfway around the table. It wasn't that I played poorly, it's just that Dan's choices were perfect.
The flow was like this: Jim, Karla, Annie tried to accumulate goods at the Auction House. Mike and Dan got early points from exhibits. Then Annie got in, but was robbed by me. At this point, I had a nice sized exhibit, and had managed to get two more artifacts at the auction house, which was keeping Jim down. Finally, it dawns on Karla and Jim to try to steal from Dan's increasingly mammoth exhibit, but their thieves get caught. Jim and Karla manage to keep up by catching Dan's and my thieves later with their detectives. Annie, poor Annie, would give exhibitions, but then lose her items.
I was only robbed once, but it was twice, by both Annie and Karla. That was bad, but the worst part was when Annie, Jim, Karla, and Dan were in the castle, and Dan took the thief while everyone else took exhibits. So Dan managed to steal three pieces while the three people the worst off not only lost works, but had to fight each other to finish in first or second. (For the record, Karla was first, Jim second.) So Dan had his pick of the litter and managed to acquire an incredibly huge display. For the rest of the game, he was set.
Dan now made a big push forward, and whenever we played thieves against him, he was usually the only one exhibiting, so he would only display a set of 3 "A" cards, which were only of moderate help for us. At one point, Dan could have entered the banquet and ended the game, but he tried one last robbery against us for some reason, which only resulted in Annie and I getting points. On the last turn of the game, Jim and Karla were trying to re-build their exhibits in the Auction House while Annie, Dan and I were in the castle. I was out of thieves, but otherwise would have robbed Dan. I didn't want to get robbed myself, so I didn't display. So, I thought, Annie would try to expand her display by robbing, so I chose the detective. Annie, not realizing that I was out of thieves, tried to catch my thief. So we had two detectives wandering around Dan's legitimate display. We all laid our displays out on the table, and, as I had the second best display, I took second. Dan ended up all the way around the table.
Dan was so happy at how well he was doing that he said, when he had made it halfway around the table, "If this is as far as I get, I'm still super happy." I can only imagine how happy he was by the end. Jim wasn't too thrilled, partly because he didn't do too well. I think he was caught with an unusable set and he was continually hosed in the Auction House. Karla did pretty well, usually from catching thieves. I still really like this game.
| 6 Nimmt! |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 22 | 1 | |
| Jim | 35 | 2 | * |
| Annie | 44 | 3 | |
| Karla | 53 | 4 | |
| Dan | 90 | 5 | |
Notes: Dan stepped out to use the bathroom, and as we had about 35 minutes left, Karla called for 6 Nimmt!, which we haven't played in ages. Dan returned and said, "Is this my punishment for winning a game?"
His hatred was soon rewarded, as he suffered the worst in the first round, and so did Jim, who was still managing to get a handle on the game. I tried to give him some tips, but really, you just have to play it to learn them. Now that you've played, Jim, check out this link for some tips.
First round scores:
Karla 5
Annie 6
Mike 9
Jim 16
Dan 23
Dan played nearly as poorly in the second round as in the third, but he was joined in his misery by Annie and Karla. Jim was beginning to catch on.
Second round scores:
Mike 12
Jim 17
Karla 21
Annie 27
Dan 44
In the third round Dan temporarily went to a "random play" method, but when he was instantly hosed with a card even he consciously wouldn't have picked, he quickly gave up that strategy. Still, he was rewarded with his best round of the night, and Jim refused to be shaken. Annie and Karla were starting to fall away.
Third round scores:
Mike 17
Jim 21
Karla 36
Annie 36
Dan 59
On the second turn of what proved to be the final round, Dan collected about 10 points and said, "Game's over. I lost." Sorry, Dan, but you have to suffer through the rest to see how many points the rest of us end up with. It was a tight game, but Karla really saved my hide when she played a 90 to take the worst row (about 15 points) when I had the 91. Jim's stellar play finally slipped, as he took a row worth 14 points. Annie didn't fare too poorly, and held on for third.
Dan said, "I've always hated this, from the first play. I've never understood it." I always do really well, so I don't know why everyone has a hard time with it. Sometimes there's luck, but I don't think I've ever finished last in this game, and I've played it close to 20 times. I've probably broken 50 two or three times. Dan just stinks at it, which is kind of funny, because it is, in essence, the exact same type of game as By Hook or Crook, which he had just won.