May 24th, 2005 |
It was my birthday, and we ate lots of pizza and some ice cream cake Jim brought. Lee, Jani, and Barbara showed for a while, which was great, but couldn't stay long enough to play some games (I was kind of hoping to get some Werewolf in...). Sam, Jill, and May also stopped by and made it past May's bedtime, but decided not to push their luck.
As a note, Sam was really upset with Jamie for bringing a chipmunk to the party.
| Family Feud |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Howard Silverberg | 346 | 1 | |
| Jim Silverberg | 346 | 1 | * |
| Jamie Silverberg | 346 | 1 | |
| Scott Silverberg | 346 | 1 | |
| Karla Hilton | 270 | 2 | |
| Annie Hilton | 270 | 2 | |
| Dan Hilton | 270 | 2 | |
| Mark Hilton | 270 | 2 | |
Notes: We had 9 folks, so I figured a game of Family Feud would be perfect, especially when Dan said, "I will not play Werewolf." When I said, "How about the Feud?", he said, "I'd rather play Family Feud than Werewolf." That clinched it.
They came up with their team names, Howard & Co. settling on Silverberg rather than Hatfield when Karla & Co. choose Hilton instead of McCoy. I was Richard Dawson (or is it Louie Anderson?).
The first round started, and Karla beat Howard to the punch in the question, "Where is a good place to put a nightlight?" Karla guessed the best answer (Bathroom) and the Hiltons played, managing to get 3 more answers (Bedroom, Hallway, Kid's Play Room) before faltering. Jim and Jamie both came up with Stairway and Howard went with it, so they stole the 98 points.
Next up, Annie beat Jim to the showdown for the question, "What is the most common reason a plant dies?" The Hiltons again had the best answer (Not enough water) but chose to pass. The Silverbergs nailed all four answers (Overwatering, Not enough light, Freezing, and Pests) to tally another 99 points. 197 to 0.
For the third question, Dan Hilton beat Jamie Silverberg to the bunch again and took the 2nd best answer of "What's easier to get into than out of." (Car) Jamie couldn't steal (Wetsuit, which wasn't on there. "There weren't wetsuits in the seventies!" said Howard). The Hiltons decided to pass again, and the Silverbergs promptly got two more answers. Scott said Waterbed, and I gave it to him (Bed), and Howard happily said, "Trouble!", which is the kind of wordplay that he enjoys. Jamie was impressed that Howard said it. The Silverbergs then made a couple more good guesses (like Pool, War, and the not-so-good Dress), and Karla, in an attempt for a Hilton steal, said, "Marriage." Everyone was wrong. I can't remember the other two answers, but they seemed kind of dumb. Silverbergs had the victory, 346 to 0.
Still, the Hiltons managed to get some points, netting 270 when the Silverbergs couldn't steal the fourth best answer to the question, "What are insecure people insecure about?" Mark had gotten Looks, Dan got Job, Karla got Money and Family (which I said could fall under Marriage). Howard chose House, not realizing that all 4 of their answers would count. Jamie explained that he had to choose for all of them. The final answer was Love. Final score: Silverberg 346, Hilton 270.
They then performed Fast Money, Jim first, then Jamie. The five questions were:
1) What do people often have a spare set of keys for?
2) What does an airplane need to fly?
3) Name a news magazine.
4) Name a sport that takes place in the air.
5) Name a musical instrument that needs to be tuned frequently.
They kicked butt. Jim said, House (31 points), Gas (35), Time (Top answer - 44), Ski Jumping (0), Guitar (36 - Top). Total: 147 points.
Then Jamie finished it off in his first two answers, Car (35 - Top) and Wings (39 - Top). As if to make sure, he added Newsweek (#2 answer), Hang-gliding (#2 answer), and Violin (#4 answer).
They won the $10,000 and I threw all the fake money in the air in lieu of confetti.
| Citadels |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 24 | 1 | |
| Karla | 19 | 2 | |
| Annie | 18 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 18 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Scott | 16 | 5 | * |
| Mark | 14 | 6 | |
| Dan | 1 | 7 | |
Notes: Jim left us, and we still had 7 people, so I chose Citadels, as we really don't have too many 7 player choices, and the only other request was Bohnanza, and I want to wait on Bohnanza until I can try my new expansion, High Bohn, which Dan bought for me. We've also played a ton of Bang! lately.
Dan groaned (again), but I ignored him. We played with three replacement cards, the Witch instead of the Assassin, the Tax Collector instead of the Thief, and the Wizard instead of the Magician. I liked the Witch and the Tax Collector, but really didn't like the Wizard that much. Next time we'll go back to the Magician. We went with the standard guys for the rest (King, Bishop, Merchant, Architecht, Warlord).
The game went innocently enough in the first round. I racked up a good deal of cash as the Tax Collector, and Scott stayed the King for the first two rounds, as he built a yellow area and wanted the extra $$$. By the second round I had the Great Wall built, which made my buildings more expensive to destroy. In round 2, though, after Dan had architected and now had 3 green regions, Scott decided to destroy one of them...the Docks, which cost him 2 gold. Normally, our Warlords tend to spend no more than one, so this was a new development, which had a big impact on the end of the game.
Dan got really grumpy at Scott for attacking him ("Sure, go for the guy in last place!"), and may have scared poor, innocuous Scott from choosing anything but the King for the rest of the game (which he proceeded to do). To be fair, though, Dan would have had a miserable game with those three regions anyway, as he would have constantly wanted the Merchant, and the Witch ended up taking the Merchant about 4 or 5 times. I frequently took the Tax Collector, the Witch, or the Bishop, choosing the Warlord once. Karla went all over, and Dan took whatever the witch was going for. Mark was frequently the Bishop, and Jamie tended to mix it up, too. Annie was usually at the end and took whatever she could, though she passed on the Merchant one time when he was the victim of the Witch (whom King Scott would summon by saying "Bring out the bitch!") 2 turns in a row. Dan used the Wizard the (seeming) one round he wasn't bewitched to take the one good card I had just picked up, which kind of bugged me, as everyone else on the table had more cards than I did. Still, I didn't bitch.
I had a nice city, and so did Karla - we were about equal. Jamie had one nice building, a bunch of 2 and 3 pointers, and a one pointer. Dan sat on his Tavern and Market collecting money. Mark had 4 okay buildings, as did Annie and Scott. The game looked to be between me, Karla, and Jamie, as Jamie had just built his 6th building, Karla had 4 very good ones, and I had 5 - 3 of which were really good plus 2 two pointers.
Annie was the Warlord, and it was up to her to choose the fate of the game. Dan was pretty grumbly, and Mark was kind of going along with his grumbling, though the game was going pretty smoothly. Jamie was arguing heavily for an attack on me - which would cost 2 gold, since I had the great wall. Dan was making unclear allusions, which I took (and Annie took) as meaning "Go for Mike." I didn't say anything, because when Annie is faced with too much advice, she gets defensive and goes for one of the advisors (not a bad strategy in this case, because one of the advisors - Jamie - had a lot to lose). So, instead of destroying Jamie's Watchtower for nothing, she spent 2 to destroy my Church. (Plus, when in doubt, Annie attacks Dan - who was languishing in dead dead dead last with 3 points - or me - even on my birthday! - who was near the lead.)
That was it. I had good points, but terrible cards and only a little money, so there was no way I could do a witch-architect and get up to 7 buildings. Also, I really really wanted a red building, but couldn't find one. Jamie now only needed to build one more building (which he could easily do), AND he had all 5 colors (plus the Hidden Cemetery, just in case he needed it). Had Annie made the right move and destroyed Jamie's Watchtower, I could have witch-architected the next turn to ensure that he didn't win that round, built up my cards and cash and made a late run.
So Jamie was the only person with the +4 and the +3, and, despite only 17 points in buildings (beaten by 3 others), he won the game. Had his Watchtower been destroyed, I think he would have finished in third. When the game was over, I facetiously announced, "Oh, what a surprise, Jamie won!" I said it out of semi-anger at Dan, who I was sure was trying to end the game by manipulating Annie into attacking me. Dan insisted though that he was trying to point her at Jamie. Huh?
One final note: Dan insisted that the final round Warlord (Mark, I believe) destroy one of his two remaining buildings, so Mark did, leaving Dan with only the Tavern.