May 13th, 2005 |
It was a Mad Mad Mad Mad Game Night, as there were 9 total in attendance. Chaos erupted when Karaoke Revolution was played (much to Jamie's disgust) and I let out the birds (much to Jason's delight). Still, it was much fun, though Jamie dubbed our place the "House of Harshness" because of my strict gaming principles (mostly the "last person out" rule in Apples to Apples and my insistence that Jamie not blow bubbles on my games).
| Igloo Pop |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jason | 15 | 1 | * |
| Karla | 14 | 2 | |
| Megan | 9 | 3 | * |
| Mike | 4 | 4 | |
Notes: This game is my kryptonite. I can't win it, and I'm particularly bad at it. When I put an igloo on the 13 marker only to find it revealed as #4, well, I'm pretty much a lost cause.
We got a late start, and Jason only made one guess in the first round, though he sped up as the game wore on thanks to his "strategizing." I thought Karla was going to run away with it, as she had about 5 cards before any of us had more than one, but then she slowed down a lot. Megan made a nice run in mid-game, and then Jason hit 3 single-number cards (worth 3 eskimos) in a row. He also nabbed a couple bidding chips in the final round, which gave him just enough eskimos plus thalers to win it.
| Coloretto |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 37 | 1 | |
| Megan | 36 | 2 | * |
| Jason | 33 | 3 | * |
| Karla | 31 | 4 | |
Notes: Next up was Coloretto, which worked out nicely. This was the first time we played 100% correctly, as previously I hadn't known that everyone gets a card to start the game. Whoops.
We just played one round, and I just barely managed to claim victory. Jason went for a few-cards + wild-cards strategy, but though he didn't receive any minuses, he didn't have any big collections. Megan and I both had a 6 and a 5, and I think I had fewer minus points or one extra +2 card to win.
| Coloretto |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Megan | 39 | 1 | |
| Sam | 38 | 2 | |
| Karla | 30 | 3 | |
| Mike | 28 | 4 | |
| Jason | 25 | 5 | |
Notes: Sam showed up, so we chose to play another round. I didn't do so hot this time, and Megan learned just enough about the game to edge out Sam by one. Sam benefited from some very kind plays by me. I usually drew stuff he wanted, and I gave it to him, hoping that he would leave the round. The first time I did it, I said, "I've got to get Sam the hell out of here." As he had just been complaining about my gaming technique (The "Lookit Sam! Lookit Sam! Zoink!" strategy), he thought I meant, "Get him the hell out the house." I meant get you out of the round, Sam, so I could wreck my own lines of cards without your help.
| For Sale |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Karla | $58,000 | 1 | |
| Mike | $56,000 | 2 | |
| Jason | $50,000 | 3 | * |
| Megan | $47,000 | 4 | * |
| Sam | $40,000 | 5 | |
Notes: After the second game of Coloretto, Dan and Annie hadn't showed up, so I knew something was wrong. I called him, and sure enough, he was sitting on his butt reading something. "I thought it was later," he pleaded. When I announced that Dan hadn't read my Game Night email to the table, instead of getting a "That idiot!", Sam replied with, "I never read that shit."
I wanted to play For Sale, despite Sam's groans, and tried to unveil my strategy for this game, which sounded cocky and boastful. I was genuinely trying to help, though my delivery needed work. I was simply tired of trouncing everyone! (There, that didn't sound boastful, did it?) I insisted on "value" as being the key, and the importance of group think for the selling of the real estate in the 2nd half of the game.
Karla, at least, took my braggadocio to heart and my 5 game winning streak was snapped. (Barely! In fact, Karla's math skills aren't so good, and I didn't actually check her score...)
| Apples to Apples |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Howard | 5 | 1 | |
| Dan | 4 | 2 | |
| Karla | 3 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Megan | 3 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Sam | 3 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Annie | 3 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 2 | 7 | |
| Jamie | 1 | 8 | |
| Jason | 0 | 9 | |
Notes: We wrapped up For Sale and everyone else appeared: Dan, Annie, Jamie, and Howard. I asked Howard if they had gone out for dinner, and he said, "Yup. Guess where?" When I correctly "guessed" Greenbush, he laughed and said, "How did you know?" He added that he and Jamie were nothing if not predictable and when Jamie proposed they go there and Howard seemed to say, "We were just there," Jamie replied, "It's been two weeks!"
We played with 9 folks for Apples to Apples, which is a game Annie can't intentionally hose Dan on, so he was happy (though he afterward wrote that we were all cheaters on my results sheet - Annie especially). We played with the "Last one in loses a chance" rule rather than the "first one to throw in two can do so" rule. With nine, there are too many cards, and it usually turned out that the person with no good card would just pass anyway. Also, as the game wore on, everyone waited nicely for everyone to be ready and familiar with their cards.
Anyway, Dan zipped out to 4 cards the quickest, but was never able to seal the deal. I had pretty cruddy cards all game, though not as cruddy as Jason's apparently. When I was judge, I seemed to pick Sam's card a lot, which surprised him, as I think he predicted that I would intentionally try to hose him. Jamie was cardless for a while and really tried to lobby for getting his card selected, but no one wanted to help him. Finally, Howard selected his card, which Jamie hadn't lobbied for.
In the end, despite the "House of Harshness" rule, Howard won, scooping up card #5.
| Can't Stop |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 4, 6, 5 | 1 | |
| Dan | 12, 10 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Annie | 7, 8 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Sam | 9 | 4 | |
Notes: When Apples to Apples broke up, everyone began migrating towards the TV, where Karla was firing up Karaoke Revolution. After a little while, I finally tried to get another game going, a new one called China, which, when I pulled it out, Dan muttered, "This looks like Clans" and Sam broke the deal by not wanting to play. I didn't want to play it with 3, so I put it back grumpily. Then, I let out the birds, mostly because Jason and Megan were really curious about them, and they delighted Jason. They buzzed his head about 20 times, which he loved, and he tried to teach Annie how to make it fun. Then, without much prompting, Moonie and Robin hung out on his shoulders! He's the first non-Nerdahl to whom they have granted this especial favor, so I hope he enjoyed it. (Though a few others, including Lee, have held them on their finger.)
Anyway, after the aborted China fiasco, I vetoed the Sam-recommended Puerto Rico, mostly because I've been played too much of it lately. So Sam picked another game we play all the time, but which Sam has only played a couple times, Can't Stop.
Sam played very poorly, usually sticking himself with 3 difficult numbers (like 3, 4, and 10) or not taking double numbers when he had a chance. Dan closed the 12 in the first round, and Annie joined in for the second round. I managed to stick around, and when Dan closed the 10, I made a concerted effort to close out the 6, which he was aspiring to. He also needed only 4 rolls to get the 8, but he had bad luck, and the 8 remained unclaimed long enough for Annie to close it out.
We were now in an unusual situation. Only hard numbers were left: 2, 3, 5, 11. It took a long time, and I realized it would, so I was incredibly patient. I maintained a slim lead in 5's for a while, and Dan got really close to closing out the 2 a couple times. Sam almost closed out the 3, but that only would have been his second roll anyway. Dan, at one point, had a chance of winning the game the turn before I did, requiring only an 11 or a 2 or a 3, but the dice were cruel. I won it with two rolls of 5 on my next turn.
| Mississippi Queen |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | First | 1 | |
| Jamie | Second | 2 | * |
| Annie | Third | 3 | |
| Mike | Fourth | 4 | |
| Karla | Fifth | 5 | |
Notes: Sam took off because he had to get up early to go see "Whaddaya Know?" Howard secretly took off without saying good-bye. (Jamie revealed that Howard was a poor "Good-Bye-er.") Jason and Megan had to get going. That left Karla, Jamie, Annie, Dan, and I, and I thought that Mississippi Queen would be an easy game for us to play. I was wrong.
It was pretty painful, because everyone had gotten to the loud and pretty much disinterested part of the evening. Dan made the whole thing worse by ramming my steamboat when he wanted me to ram his. Here was the situation: Dan was two spots away from picking up a traveler. I chose to zip around him so that I could get the traveler, and I slowed down. Had I rammed Dan, it wouldn't have done me much good, as I would have had to speed up to four, then burn two coals to slow all the way back down enough to pick up the traveler. So, Dan rammed me, and I was at speed 1 with no chance of getting the traveler. I had to speed back up and slow down twice more to get my travelers.
Thus, thanks to Dan's maneuver, I was in grim shape, and I had to remind Jamie and Karla constantly that it was their turn. They spent no time strategizing, but just zipped around. I had to fix Karla's moves about 4 times because she tried to do illegal things. At the end, there was only one tile left, and Jamie, rather than speed up to discover it, slowed down, which gave Dan the extra time he needed to zip ahead of him. Dan was going to pass Jamie anyway, but had forgotten that he would be able to go first simply by passing Jamie, which he did. I told Dan that if he did that, he'd go first next turn, and therefore win. Jamie thought I was helping Dan to his own detriment (he thought he was in the Anti-Jamie wing of the House of Harshness).
I did manage to burn coal like mad and pass Karla (who had helped Jamie on at least two occasions by bumping him forward a space). Annie was stuck in a need to pick up passengers late, too, just like Karla and me. Jamie hadn't burned any coal throughout the whole game, whereas the rest of us used pretty much all we had.
| Pounce |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 3 | 1 | |
| Mike | 2 | 2 | |
| Karla | 1 | 3 | |
| Jamie | 0 | 4 (Tie) | * |
| Annie | 0 | 4 (Tie) | |
Notes: To wrap up the night we played Pounce. It was universally hated for the following reasons:
1) It's loud
2) It's a game like "flinch"
3) It's hard to see the dice and hear the roller's numbers
4) At one point, when just Jamie and I were left and Dan was the cat, Dan captured Jamie and me twice in a row, and
didn't understand why he wasn't rewarded with another "win". I said, "Does it make sense that you don't capture us
8 straight times, then when you catch us both you should get the win?" That made sense, but it's true that the game is
a bit odd at that point.
5) Dan, three times in a row, didn't roll the numbers he needed, but slammed down the cat head anyway. According to the
rules, he's supposed to pass the cat on to Jamie, but we didn't do that. (And I think that's stupid, because it gives
the person that should be penalized another chance for a win.)
I think I agree with Jamie that this is stupid...as a game. If we would just pass around the cat and play it a lot more lightly it'd be better. But not much better.