The solid foundation of a winning dino.
August 30, 2005 |
Another game night, and Lee broke his string of appearances. Karla bailed out after one game (which was one game later than I thought she'd stay). Other attendees were Dan, Annie, and Jamie, who almost got us in trouble with Karla because he thought we were leaving him out.
| Evo |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 71 | 1 | |
| Jim | 66 | 2 | |
| Karla | 51 | 3 | |
Notes: Jim was first to arrive, and he gave us a choice of Evo and For Sale. I chose Evo, as I had little hope that Dan and Annie would show up right away. I was sort of right. We were about halfway through when Dan and Annie showed up.
The game went quickly in the early going, as there were few conflicts, and no one played cards. I paid 2 for a leg early on while Jim paid 1 for a horn, leaving Karla (and a card gene) in front with 12 points. That leg was vital.
Next round I paid extra for an egg. This was probably the move of the game, as it gave me great leeway, especially as the genes weren't so helpful for a few turns. Jim took a tail gene and Karla a card gene, both for nothing.
The next turn Jim and I started encroaching on each other a bit, but we avoided conflict. I managed a free horn (in an effort to scare him off) while Jim took the Discount Gene and Karla took (gasp!) another card gene. She now had 5 cards and hadn't played one.
Now I started to get conservative, as my extra birth per turn was giving me a good lead and my horn kept Jim from destroying me. Jim kept going first, which hurt a bit, so I directed my dinos towards Karla's area. Both of them were starting to have trouble keeping their dinos alive, as they only had 1 leg each. In turn 4, I took a free card gene (the +2 at end of game card!), Jim paid 2 for a leg (1 after the discount) and Karla took a parasol.
Now we started getting nasty. I used the "You're not my husband!" card to steal a birth from Jim, as my dinos were going to take a hit this turn. Karla started playing cards, using the card that keeps all dinos in a cold zone alive regardless of fur. I managed a Discount Gene when Karla played the # of genes=# of players-1 card. She didn't want to pay anything, and Jim grabbed a parasol.
Next turn I made everyone pay for their dead dinos with mutation points (using my survival gene card). With the first fur gene available, Karla made a huge bid for it that Jim wouldn't pay, then revealed a card that gave her a free 3 mutation points to pay with. Jim managed a second tail and I had a Parasol.
The solid foundation of a winning dino.
Next turn I took a big hit, as I had no fur (which was needed) and lost a lot of Dinos. Jim started to catch up, since he had a second leg and added a horn, to threaten me with later. I did manage to get a fur during the mutation phase, using my ever-shrinking lead to get it. Karla paid for (and got) a leg.
Jim started to attack me, using his horn to advantage. He then grabbed a third leg in the evolution phase while I took the less appreciated third egg, which would give me a bit of leeway. Karla also took an egg for cheap. I had a small space walled off in the corner that Karla couldn't get to.
Jim took out another dino of mine this turn, but my egg advantage easily balanced it out. Karla still struggled, and Jim didn't pick on her. She managed another fur, I grabbed a tail, and Jim (finally) grabbed an egg. With turns running out, Jim rolled a 5. A 4 or less would have ended the game (which Karla and I eagerly wanted). We kept going.
I played conservatively, trying to get just enough dinos to stay alive. Jim, with his extra leg, the initiative, and two eggs, made a big rally in the last round, with 9 survivors, but I managed to keep 8 alive myself and I easily held on for the victory. (I thought I only had 7 left, but Dan counted 8 and showed us.) With my +2 card, I won by 5.
| Oasis |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 116 | 1 | |
| Jim | 92 | 2 | * |
| Annie | 69 | 3 | |
| Dan | 48* | 4 | |
(* - Played under Official Protest® )
Notes: Dan immediately requested Oasis, and I was more than happy to oblige. Jim was skeptical, but gave it a go, and did pretty well.
I can't recall too many specifics, only that Dan and I traded the #1 and #2 chips back and forth for a while. I managed to get some early steppe multipliers, while Annie managed some early rock ones. For once, I was getting a lot of camels, and later took a double camel multiplier card from Jim.
Jim did okay at everything but managed a ton of rock points, probably around 60. Dan had Jack Shit in terms of multipliers, with no more than 2 for any one good, though he did have lots of camels, steppe tiles, rock tiles, and oasis tiles.
Annie, aside from her early rock multipliers, didn't have many others. I had absolutely no rock points, but my focus on camels (with 5 multipliers) and steppes (with 4 multipliers) gave me a decent win over Jim.
Part of Dan's protest was in the fact that I was using my house rule of re-shuffling the deck early. He thought that, perhaps, some of the cards weren't showing up enough, and by not shuffling them early, there is a more even distribution. He's probably right and we'll do it his way next turn.
He also accused me of hosing him a lot, which I didn't realize at the time but noticed in retrospect. Whenever he was #1, he would put forth 2 or 3 good cards, whereas when I was #1 (realizing I could only top out at #2), I only offered 1 good card or 2 average ones. Sometimes I only had 1 card to offer anyway, as about mid-game I was short on cards.
I think Jim sort of liked it, but he wasn't smitten.
Jamie had arrived when we were halfway through, and right when we finished Karla came out to ask us not to leave Jamie out. Apparently they thought we had started another game while Jamie was chatting with Karla. We'd never leave you out, Jamie!
| Royal Turf |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | £2300 | 1 | |
| Jim | £1650 | 2 | * |
| Dan | £1550 | 3 | |
| Annie | £1350 | 4 | |
| Jamie | £750 | 5 | |
Notes: From Dinos and camels we went to race horses. We hadn't played this in a while, and I was eager to give it another play. I vowed that I wouldn't act like an anti-Earl Grey jerk, and instead put a double bet on him. Jamie and Jim teamed up to knock him back a bit, but he still finished in the top three, along with stalwart Mike favorite Othello and a surprising Caramello. First round scores:
Mike: £800
Dan: £550
Jim: £350
Jamie & Annie: £150
In the second round, I placed a fake bid on Othello and griped and moaned when everyone seemed to have a fake bid on Albino, whom I couldn't quite get to place (though I kept him out of last). Still, my double bet on Nougat and another safe bet on Earl Grey, who rebounded from last place to third over the last two turns, kept me in the lead.
Mike: £1600
Dan: £1150
Annie, Jim, and Jamie: £450
In the last round, I again avoided Othello (he had the 7, 3, 3, 3 card). I liked Caramello, though he didn't finish, and Annie helped me get Sahara Wind across the finish line (she put 2 betting chips on him), along with a good finish from Red Fox. Dan, in the end, hosed Earl Grey in favor of Red, thinking that he had a double bet on Red. As always, though, his double bet was on Earl. I had more than enough bets (despite Annie's triple bet and Jim's excellent final round, in which two fake bets on Albino and his sole 1 bet gave him a ton of second place cash, rocketing him into 2nd place) to maintain my lead and claim victory.