Games Played: Merchants of Amsterdam, For Sale, Keythedral, Bohnanza, Freeloader
Gamers: Josh, Jon, Lowell, Chris, Chip, Aaron, Mark
Thanks to Josh for hosting.
MERCHANTS OF AMSTERDAM (1:30)
Chris: 1,280,000
Lowell: 1,030,000
Chip: 970,000
Jon: 900,000
Josh: 760,000
I didn't compete as much in the commodities market, but I did manage to capture and hold a majority of area in two districts of Amsterdam and the American trade ports. I believe I defended my holdings in the former a bit too vehemently towards the end, but I'm pleased with my first play of this game.
Overall, I liked this game a lot. Turns moved fairly quickly, as players had at most three options (discard, keep, or auction) with each drawn card. Downtime was minimal, and the game had a good sense of goals (e.g. increase my sugar supply, retain the majority in East Indies). This is possibly my favorite game of the day, and I look forward to playing it again soon.
FOR SALE (0:10)
Jon: 54
Aaron: 53
Chip: 42
Lowell: 41
Josh: 36
(0:10)
Lowell: 57
Josh: 53
Aaron: 42
Chip: 37
Jon: 35
These games went by very quickly. I don't think I've got the hang of auction games yet. In the first game, I held 1, 2, 19, and 20 after the first auction, and got 0, 0, 18, 19 as my checks (plus a few chips left over). In the second game, I tried to acquire more of a range of cards in the first round, and ended up with 6, 7, 8, and a high card. As most of my cards were sequential, it didn't matter which one I played (other then the high card).
This is a fast and simple game, perfect for either a short mental breather between games, or for the end of a session. I'd play it again, and probably do just as poorly (:
KEYTHEDRAL (1:40)
Josh: 12 (4)
Jon: 12 (2)
Aaron: 11
Chip: 7
Lowell: 4
I was very relieved to find that this game was not, despite initial appearances, like Settlers (: I was pretty happy with my initial placement of tiles, and I felt that my houses were in good areas. I was the only player that had any fences built against his houses (twice, in fact), but I don't think that hindered me too much. In the final round of the game, I had two purple blocks available to acquire one of the 5 point building tiles, when Aaron opened the door for me by purchasing the final 4 point tile. However, he promptly shut the door by using a law card, increasing the cost of that 5 point tile to 3 purple blocks.
I felt, like others, that the endgame is very abrupt, especially for a longish game. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the game, and would play it again.
BOHNANZA (1:00)
Lowell: 12 (5)
Mark: 12 (4)
Chip: 12 (3)
Josh: 10
Aaron: 10
Jon: 7
Every game of Bohnanza is a close game, but this is the closest I've ever seen. We had to revert to the tie breaker (hand size). The cards ran out during my turn, and if I had been able to draw the 4 cards allotted, I would have won. Unfortunately, there was only one card left for me to draw at the end of the game, so I placed third instead. For those tracking this sort of thing, I did not purchase a third bean field.
I continue to enjoy this game. It's good for gamers and non-gamers alike.
FREELOADER (1:30 + 0:19 rules and setup)
Aaron: 54
Lowell: 52
Josh: 49
Mark: 47
Chip: 30.5
I didn't really get into this game. The theme is interesting and fun, but I didn't really pick up the mechanics of the game until it was too late. I didn't fully use the favor tokens in the different houses, which I think contributed to my low score.
I didn't care for this game, but I didn't really give it much of a chance. I could be persuaded to try it again in the future, but only if it's the only game available.
posted by FlyingSheep @ 12:30 PM
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