September 16th, 2005 |
I was still jonesing to play some games after canceling game night on Tuesday, so I called a makeshift night for Friday. Dan couldn't make it because his dad was in town, but everybody else pretty much made it.
| China |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 57 | 1 | |
| Karla | 44 | 2 | |
| Lee | 39 | 3 | * |
Notes: Before we played, I warned that experience was the best teacher in this game, and that it was tricky. Lee laughed and said, "So you think you're gonna win, huh?" I smiled and shrugged, and said, "It takes some experience to get it." Karla had played once before (and not paid much attention), so she kept forgetting rules. Lee kept opening up new regions, although he did a nice job in the purple region. But their inexperience showed, and about halfway through the game, Lee said, "This game is pure strategy! No luck at all!" Well, there's a little bit of luck.
Anyway, I dominated the ambassadors and had a long road buttressed by a fortress. Lee just missed connecting two size 3 connections to a 7, and Karla managed a size 4 road with a fortress. Lee managed a couple ambassador points, but I still obliterated them. Next time, they promised, they'd get me.
| Gulo Gulo |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | Found the Baby Gulo | 1 | |
| Howard | 4 Back | 2 (Tie) | * |
| Karla | 4 Back | 2 (Tie) | |
| Jamie | 4 Back | 2 (Tie) | |
| Lee | 15 Back | 5 | |
Notes: Next up was Gulo Gulo, which Jamie really wanted Howard to try. We all did pretty well, though I (for the first time I can recall) managed to take out the 5th and last egg of a color (I believe it was red or green). This enabled me to skip ahead of Jamie (who had gone before me) and go for the baby hunt at the end first.
Lee kept knocking over the egg alarm (we all compared our thumbs to his, and Karla freaked out at how thick his fingers were). Lee insisted he was "on a bad beat." That's why he was so much farther back. Everyone else was at the last space before I did the baby hunt, which I managed pretty cleanly.
| Villa Paletti |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | Master Builder | 1 | |
| Howard | 4 points | 2 | |
| Lee | 3 points | 3 | |
| Mike & Karla | Knocked Tower Over | 4 | Mike |
Notes: Next up was a game of Villa Paletti, which I had only moderated before. This time I was able to play, and I did okay until I picked up a piece and the tower fell over. I could have actually been in a place to win, because if I had picked an easier piece, I would have been master builder, and I'm sure someone else would have knocked it over.
We had only just gotten to the 3rd platform when it fell. The reason that happened was because Jamie set the second platform in a really precarious position, so it was hard to tell what was going to tip it. I took a piece that I thought would have no bearing, but it caused the tower to topple while Jamie had the best pieces at the top.
| Igloo Pop |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Karla | 18 | 1 | |
| Lee | 17 | 2 | |
| Howard | 16 | 3 | * |
| Jamie | 8 | 4 | |
| Scott | 7 | 5 | |
| Mike | 5 | 6 | |
Notes: Scott came by and played another light game, Igloo Pop. It was Howard's first game and he enjoyed it (and did pretty well). The only interesting occurrence was that there were two groups: the good group (Karla, Lee, and Howard), and the sucky group (Scott, Jamie, and Mike). That's me again on the bottom.
| Igloo Pop |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 17 | 1 | |
| Mike | 15 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Lee | 15 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Howard | 13 | 4 | |
| Scott | 12 | 5 | |
| Karla | 5 | 6 | |
Notes: This time Jamie, Scott, and I did much better, Lee had another good round, and Karla tanked. Jamie managed to pull it off by keeping more of his thalers (I ended up running out) and he also hit 2 or 3 single number (3 eskimo) guesses, which boosted his score. I almost won! Maybe I'm getting better...
Lee added his thoughts to my note sheet: "Lee really dominated but Jamie cheated." I suppose that says it all.
| Alhambra |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | 93 | 1 | |
| Mike | 88 | 2 | |
| Jamie | 83 | 3 | |
| Lee | 72 | 4 | |
| Karla | 70 | 5 | |
Notes: I let Scott pick our next game, because he usually picks ones that I like, or one we haven't played in a long time, and he didn't disappoint. It had been a while for Alhambra.
Everyone played pretty well. A 23 point spread from first to fifth is pretty good, and shows that everyone's starting to get this game. I thought I played very well, but I had a slight bit of bad luck that helped Scott (who played great), and Jamie played sneaky well.
In the first round, everyone was pretty patient. It's generally not worthwhile to go too crazy in the first round, since the scoring isn't very heavy. Still, I focused on a good foundation and exclusively went for Gartens, as I had three of them. Lee managed the Pavilion lead and Scott had the Gemächers. Karla split the Arkaden lead with Jamie, whose Tower helped boost his score. Lee had the best wall with a 5, helping raise his Pavilion only score. Four people teamed up on Serails, so no one got that score (2 divided 4 = .5, rounded down to 0). First round scores:
Jamie: 11
Mike: 8
Lee: 6
Karla, Scott: 5
Things stayed close in the second round. I bought a 4th Garten and saw Karla and Scott battle for second. I made a move into Towers, and Jamie and I battled for it. Karla and Jamie stayed neck and neck for the Arkaden, and Scott totally dominated the Gemächers. The last Serail came out pretty early, and Lee, Scott, and Karla all had 2, Jamie 1. Lee had an indomitable lead in Pavilions, with 4 of them. Scott picked one up. I was pretty happy with my round (I also had a nice wall) until Scott picked up a 4th Garten just before I was going to grab it. This happened just before the second scoring round, and by my calculation, cost me the game. I was disappointed that I was utterly unable to get into a third building's points. That stunk. Still, I had the lead thanks to tying for the lead in the two best buildings and having a good wall. Still, Scott was poised for a big final round. He was scoring (big) on four different buildings. Lee had longest wall with 11. Second round scores:
Mike: 38
Scott, Jamie: 33
Lee: 28
Karla: 27
In the final round, Lee kept getting stuff he couldn't put into his palace in an effort to hose Jamie or Scott. Scott held onto his places in every building for the last round and neither of us managed to get the last Garten, which came out on the final tile draw and went to Lee (who couldn't place it anyway).
I finally passed Jamie for first in Towers and Lee scooped up a couple Towers to get some extra points. He had an extra one stuck in his reserve that would have tied Jamie if he could have gotten it out. I was still shut out of the other 4 buildings. I was hoping to get an Arkaden, but Jamie and Karla were going crazy on them, and I couldn't get in. I thought Scott had wrapped it up, and Jamie missed a couple turns because he got impatient on the Arkaden. Scott, though, was worried my wall would catch up to his. Here was how everyone finished:
Scott: Gemächers (1), Gartens (Tie 1), Serails (Tie 1), Pavilion (2), Arkaden (3); Wall = 8
Mike: Towers (1), Gartens (Tie 1); Wall = 12
Jamie: Arkaden (Tie 1), Towers (2); Wall = 11
Lee: Pavilions (1), Serails (Tie 1), Towers (3); Wall = 11
Karla: Arkaden (Tie 1), Serails (Tie 1), Gartens (3); Wall = 15
It was a well-played game, and had that Garten not been claimed by Scott before the second scoring round, I would have won by about 3 or 4.
I have a note written by Lee again, it reads: "Jamie said during the game: 'This game is harder than Bingo!'"
| Circus Flohcati |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 54 | 1 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 54 | 1 (Tie) | |
| Scott | 47 | 3 | |
| Lee | 41 | 4 | |
Notes: Next up was my favorite filler. I don't know why, but I really enjoy this game. I went for the Grand Extravaganza and managed to pull it off before anyone had an overwhelming lead on me. Jamie did have 3 sets out, but no one else had more than 2. I would have easily won, but I had lost a 7 card to a draw and had to settle for a 0, so Jamie and I settled for a tie for first.
| Circus Flohcati |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | 79 | 1 | |
| Jamie | 69 | 2 | |
| Mike | 68 | 3 | |
| Lee | 49 | 4 | |
Notes: One more time. I got slapped around early, especially when Jamie went to draw a card from me. I looked at my hand, said, "He's going to take that 7 red, I should shuffle them up." Sure enough, he was about to take it, and I stepped back and said, "Wait, let me shuffle them." This is called cheating, ladies and gentlemen. When Jamie laughed in shock, I finally saw the error of my ways and gave him the excellent card (which Scott later stole from him anyway).
So I didn't do so hot. Lee was trying to finish the Grand Extravaganza, but kept missing out on the Human Cannonball card. At one point, Jamie drew from Lee's hand. He had 10 cards, 9 different colors. Jamie took the one duplicate card - the lower one! Still, Lee never managed to get that 10th color, and Scott took the opportunity to steal from his hand and make 4 displays. Jamie and I each had three, but Scott took the cake. Lee had excellent final hand cards, but only one display.
As Jamie left, he said, "That was a fun game night!" Lee said that he didn't do so hot.