Session Report: March 15, 2004
Games Played: Touche, Clans, Bucket King, Liar's Dice, Electronic Catchphrase
Gamers: Rob, Mark, Mike, Marianne, Chip, Vitas
Thanks to Rob for hosting.
TOUCHE (0:15)
Chip: 3
Marianne: 1
Rob, Mike, and Vitas were playing Attika when we arrived, so Marianne and I entertained ourselves with flipping magnets. Vitas told us two of the ten or so rules, and that was good enough for us. After we played a few games, he tried to explain some of the other rules, but we weren't listening (: Not a bad way to waste fifteen minutes.
CLANS (0:23)
Vitas: 46
Marianne: 44
Chip: 44
Mike: 43
Rob: 22
Attika finished up just as I had set up Clans, so we did a quick rules refresher and started the game. Once again, we were playing with one player over the limit.
Despite having little success with this strategy before, I tried to keep my color huts spread out in hopes of being in as many villages as possible, while creating villages when they came along and preventing the next player from getting an easy score. I need to pay more attention to the actual formation of each village.
As a footnote, somehow Rob thought that the tokens that players received were worth ten points each, and thus he focused solely on acquiring them. He was disappointed, to say the least, when they turned out to be worth only a single point each.
This is a fun game that I don't play often enough.
BUCKET KING (0:40)
Mark: 5
Rob: 4
Chip: 3
Mike: 2
Vitas: 1
Marianne: 0
At this point, Mark arrived. I preferred to break into two groups of three, but I was outvoted, so we played Bucket King for six instead. I did manage to convince to group to play one round until everyone was eliminated (a la Liar's Dice) instead of three rounds, which would have taken considerably longer.
This turned out to be the most fun session of Bucket King I've ever played. Rob consistently reminded us who was winning (as early as the second bucket falling), and we all watched eagerly for the next player to run out of cards.
I wasn't able to stay in the entire game, but I was happy to cause the demise of two players. I made Vitas lose six buckets in a single strike, leaving him with only one bucket remaining, and I took out Mike with a similar heavy-handed play later in the game. Unfortunately, this viciousness took its toll, and I wasn't able to compete against the more conservative Mark and Rob.
Despite the emphasis on elimination in this method of playing, I think this version is more tense and more exciting, even for the players that lose all their buckets early. It also left us with more time for other games.
LIAR'S DICE (0:27)
Mike: 5
Mark: 4
Chip: 3
Vitas: 2
Marianne: 1
Rob: 0
Still looking for quick six-player games, we took out Liar's Dice. I think Vitas was new to the game, but everyone else had played before.
Rob fell victim to Vitas's strategy of always challenging. At one point, Mark called for 5 of a single die when there were three stars showing. I confidently increased the bid to three stars and the game moved on (:
Mark and Mike played a very good game, retaining all of their dice until they were the only two remaining. At the very end, Mark had one die, and Mike had two, when Mark opened with a bid of two 1s. Mike looked at his dice, neither of which was 1 or wild, and confidently called his bluff to end the game.
ELECTRONIC CATCHPHRASE (0:38)
Rob, Chip, Mike: 2 games
Vitas, Marianne, Mark: 0 games
I suggested Electronic Catchphrase which was quickly agreed to by all. We set up some house rules before we started: 1) If the buzzer goes off while the device is between players, no one gets a point. 2) If a player says part of the clue, the clue giver can repeat that word to guide the players in the right direction. Happily, with these two rules we avoided most of the arguments that usually accompany this game. Some of the more impressive clues that each team got were "Tennessee Titans" and "Witch hazel".
Session Report: March 13, 2004
Games Played: Alhambra, King's Breakfast, 6 Nimmt!, Basari, Foppen
Gamers: Marianne, Chip, Tom, Sara, Kevin, Lev, Linda, Dawn, Brandon, Raymond, Bill, Alec, Jerry.
Thanks to Matt for hosting and for the chili!
ALHAMBRA (1:12)
Sara: 100
Tom: 93
Chip: 89
Kevin: 88
Marianne: 38
When we arrived, there was a group playing Zoff in Buffalo. I haven't played it myself, but after watching the last few turns, it doesn't look all that appealing. After Zoff finished up, I brought out my new copy of Alhambra which I received for my birthday. I think Tom and Kevin were new to the game, but picked it up quickly.
I tried to stick to a strategy of only purchasing tiles with the exact amount, but after the second scoring round, there were some tiles that were simply too tempting. I wasn't able to build a decent wall, and I think this was reflected in my final score.
Alhambra becomes more chaotic with more players, but even with five players, there was some decent interaction. I took a money card that Sara needed to buy a tile that we were competing for (it was either white or purple), and followed up by purchasing that tile in my next turn. I don't usually pay attention to which player has which currency, but such knowledge does help me plan ahead.
This is a great game that I'm willing to play, even if I lose. I'm glad to add it to my collection.
KING'S BREAKFAST (0:42, 2 rounds)
Lev: (96) 36, 60
Chip: (92) 54, 38
Tom: (91) 43, 48
Sara: (67) 30, 37
Linda: (60) 26, 34
Marianne: (46) 23, 23
Sara and I had played King's Breakfast at EllisCon last year, and we wanted to try it again. We broke the official limit of number of players (five), but I don't think the game suffered any ill effects as a result.
When we played before, we shuffled the five copies of Emerald into different parts of the deck. We didn't do that this time, and four of the five cards came up in the same round. This was a bit unusual, but didn't seem to affect the game too much.
This is a quick, light game that I don't really have any strong feelings about. It's pleasant to play, and not too challenging.
6 NIMMT! (0:50)
Tom: 13
Dawn: 33
Lev: 40
Sara: 41
Chip: 53
Brandon: 52
Marianne: 54
Raymond: 72
There were a number of people standing around while we finished King's Breakfast, so I suggested a game for lots of people. A few players were new to the game, but I think everyone enjoyed it.
There were some really painful rounds. Lev managed to take 34 bulls in the first round, while Sara and Brandon escaped untouched. Raymond took it one step further and gathered 47 bulls in the second round, bringing him one point shy of ending the game. We all watched Ray carefully in the last round, as he made it through nine tricks without taking a single card. Unfortunately, he took seven points in the last trick, and the game ended with Tom in the lead by a considerable margin.
This game gets more chaotic and a lot more fun with more people. It brings out the sadist in everyone.
BASARI (0:55)
Alec: 96
Bill: 69
Chip: 64
Sara: 61
I brought out my other birthday present game - Basari. I had played this once before at Out of the Box's booth at Gencon last year.
I need some practice at determining what to bid when haggling over the right to a contested action. A few more plays should help me see the value of things more clearly. As it was, I started the third round with two gems. While that didn't help my chance of winning, at least I wasn't completely eliminated from the game as I could still try to get VP and die rolls to try for the round-completion bonus.
Bill lead for most of the game, and even gave Sara some gems to keep Alec from getting the red gem bonus. Alec had some high rolls early in the game and got the 10 points bonus each round (as well as number of gem bonuses).
This is a fun and challenging game. I look forward to playing it again soon, and hopefully learning from my mistakes.
FOPPEN (0:50)
Sara: -3
Alec: -10
Tom: -12
Jerry: -13
Marianne: -27
Chip: -51
We were back up to six players, and someone suggested Foppen, which is new to me. We had a brief explanation of the rules and scoring, and we started.
I made some bad choices in a few hands, occasionally playing a risky card when I had a safer choice in my hand. Although these decisions played a part in my final score, I also received a really unbalanced hand in the last round. I never seemed to have cards in requested color and I played the foppen tile as often as I played cards. I lost 25 points that round, doubling my already negative score.
Despite my dismal performance in this game (and my usual distaste for trick-taking games), I enjoyed playing Foppen. The rules are simple and elegant, and there's plenty of room for strategy. The role that luck plays (say, in getting a poor hand) is outweighed by playing a number of rounds. I look forward to playing again.
Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well enough to stay for Rob's Haste Worte game, which I was looking forward to. I'm sure it was a resounding success, and hope I get to participate in the next one.
