November 1, 2005 |
Once again attendance hit the Awesome 8 mark, though one of us looked up during our game of Medici, thinking we were 7, only to find Kaveh in the living room, looking at my copy of Acquire. We really were 8! Jamie said, "I didn't even know you had come in!"
I asked Kaveh if I should pronunce his name "ka-VAY" or "KAH-vay." He said, "For you, Mike, ka-VAY." As his wife Anne says it the other way, I wonder if he reserves ka-VAY for the retards he knows like me, Dan and Brian.
| Acquire |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | $32,100 | 1 | |
| Jamie | $31,300 | 2 | |
| Dan | $29,600 | 3 | |
| Annie | $24,800 | 4 | |
| Karla | $19,500 | 5 | |
| Scott | $16,700 | 6 | |
Notes: With 6 of us, I pulled out Acquire before we built up any steam for something else.
I re-explained the rules and helped Jamie out by telling him always to buy three shares if he could afford it. The only way to go is up, after all (except at the end of the game, perhaps).
Dan was masterful at first, though he traded a quick money-making chance when Sackson and Phoenix merged into a long-term hope on Phoenix (which would eventually pan out). I gave up on Phoenix and tried for profits and majorities in every other company. I had a fair mix of long term stocks, though I wanted more, but I did a good job of turning my short-term stocks into Majority or minority bonuses.
The other two sharing my plan were Jamie, who had more long-term plans, and Karla, who was operating exclusively on short-term plans. Scott was kind of all over the place, buying shares equally everywhere. Annie had a nice game, focusing on 2 or 3 companies all game and eschewing the practice of buying everything.
Still, I thought Dan had the best early game situation. He was definitely the leader in Phoenix, and I knew he'd be a player in Zeta (when it re-appeared), Fusion, and Hydra, all of which were about to merge. The problem was that they never did merge. I merged Quantum into Phoenix, which netted me a bunch of cash. Then there were some smaller mergers: Sackson into Fusion, etc., and Dan was broke for two turns. Had he had some money, he would have dusted us all.
In the end, it was between Jamie and me. I had the final turn, which helped a lot, as I made a triple merger among Quantum, Sackson, and Phoenix. I had the majority in Quantum and was able to parley that final play into a win, as the stock bonuses for Sackson were both smaller and shared among all the players.
Everyone counted up their cash, and Jamie's pile sounded catch-able. It was. I counted my cash and met his pile with $800 to spare.
The thing I like about this game is that there are some inherent "right moves," but they vary with the players and their strategies. There is some luck, but if you play your cards right, you can focus on the right things and never get stuck in the broke stage. Dan had a good strategy, it just barely missed. One or two more mergers early on would have really helped him out. As it was, he was a very close third.
| Medici |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 95 | 1 | |
| Annie | 92 | 2 | |
| Scott | 91 | 3 | |
| Jim | 86 | 4 | * |
| Mike | 65 | 5 | |
| Dan | 50 | 6 | |
Notes: Jim arrived and Karla bowed out, so we were able to play Medici. Normally Jamie puts up a fight to play this one, but either we had it set up too quickly for him to notice or he foresaw his victory. Either way, I'll take it.
I never win, and Dan and I stunk it up tonight. We kept trying to be greedy, and though I managed the best shipment in the first round, my 4 commodities were different (I had the gold) and I received no bonuses for goods, except for 2 points in fur. Everyone else was going all over the place, but Dan got supremely hosed as he greeded it to the max, having 5 spots to fill on his ship when everyone was out. He got stuck with almost pure crap, but at least he didn't pay for it. Round 1 scores:
Mike: 52
Jim: 47
Scott: 45
Annie: 44
Jamie: 40
Dan: 39
Everyone was in good shape. The next round was brutal. Annie and I were competing for Furs, so I thought I'd have the advantage in getting them. No such luck. Annie, on both of her turns to flip cards, flipped 1 or 2 good fur cards. Thus, she had final say on them and took them without much problem. I started going for Cloth after that and never did manage to get anything of much value. I took 2nd to last in the shipment and had a miserable round. Dan's greedy strategy continued to fail him, and Jim had an excellent round. Scott could have augmented his score, but opted not to get the 20 point bonus in Dyes that he could have managed, instead choosing to go for something else. Jamie didn't do too much either, but he was focused in one or two commodities. Annie, bolstered by the best shipment, rocketed into a strong 2nd. 2nd round scores:
Jim: 74
Annie: 73
Scott: 69
Jamie: 58
Mike: 56
Dan: 49
In the third round, it seemed like everyone got what they wanted except me. Scott managed the best shipment, barely edging out Annie. There were a lot of empty decks, which enabled me and my mediocre 15 points to manage 3rd, just beating Jamie. Dan and Jim pulled up the rear, which hurt Jim's chances and kept him out of the top three. I thought Scott might pull it off, then I though Annie had it, but Jamie's sole possession of the Cloth commodity majority in the top spot managed to snag him third place. Dan and I were hurt by going for the same batch of goods. Dan bid 18 and I overpaid for it. Then, on the next auction that Annie drew, she got an even better stack of goods for only 9! I couldn't believe Dan bid me up but not her. The reason was this: he wanted the stuff I did and didn't want the stuff Annie wanted. The responsibility for bidding up should have rested on someone else's shoulders.
| Lost Cities |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Karla | 87 | 1 | |
| Kaveh | 57 | 2 | * |
Notes: While we were playing Medici, Kaveh arrived around the end of the first round. We had a ways to go, so Karla played Lost Cities with him. I'm not sure how the round by round scoring went, but Karla pulled out the victory by a semi-handy 30 points, according to my interpretation.
Kaveh assured me he lost afterwards.
| Liar's Dice |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 1 Die Left | 1 | |
| Dan | 3rd Out | 2 | |
| Scott | 2nd Out | 3 | |
| Mike | 1st Out | 4 | |
Notes: To wrap up the night we played Liar's Dice, which everyone was really keen on playing except Annie, who refuses to play it. I kept calling Dan, whose bids were usually bolstered by an unwillingly helpful Jamie. Scott made a poor call on me early and was short of dice all game, but I quickly passed him and was knocked out first. Then he went shortly after. He refused to look at his dice for a while (which upset Jamie when he found out), and when he went out on a bid of 3 ones, Scott was pleased to see he had a one in his cup.
Then Jamie and Dan, each with 4 dice, duelled. They whittled each other down to 1 die each, and Jamie had first bid. He bid one 4, a very conservative bid. Dan called him, a strategy Scott, Jamie, and I couldn't comprehend, especially as he had a 6 in his cup! In that instance, we all agreed, Dan should up the bid to 6 and wait Jamie's inevitable call or bluff.
Dan said, in his defense, that he was operating under the premise that he was going to call anything Jamie said, thinking that he would bluff no matter what. That's a bad idea, because Jamie tends to be a conservative bidder.
Tonight was fun, and I think I may have made a believer in Medici out of Jamie, though Dan is still a lost cause.