April 29, 2004 |
It was a fun and late-running game night tonight, as there were surprise appearances by Jani and Annie, and Karla was able to show off her EyeToy game. Pepperoni pizza made an appearance by the end, and we had a nice blend of light games (Can't Stop, Apples to Apples) and strategic (Taj Mahal).
| Can't Stop |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 3 | 1 | |
| Dan | 2 | 2 | |
| Karla | 0 | 3 | |
Notes: Karla was distracted as soon as Lee and Jani showed up, and her performance was brutal after that. She really stopped paying attention. I tried to win it all about 5 rounds before I needed to, and that gave Dan a chance to catch up quite a bit. Near the end, with all the popular numbers closed (6, 7, 8), it came down to who could roll an 11 (Dan) or 12 (Mike) first. I got the 12.
| Taj Mahal |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 57 | 1 | |
| Dan | 47 | 2 | |
| Lee | 40 | 3 | |
| Sam | 36 | 4 | |
Notes: Third time the group played this. Dan went for an elephant strategy, and amassed a lot of goods early. Lee went for the princess strategy, but he never really had a firm grip on the +2 card. Sam had a definite palace strategy, but was never quite able to connect big strings of them. He made a couple 2 and 3 connections, and one big one late in the game that helped him get competitive, but he also ran into some bad luck. That is, while he was going for one certain guy (Monk, Green guy, whatever), Dan's or my cards, as we were going for the elephants, would compete with his cards. So Sam often had to drop out with nothing, or spend extra cards.
Dan, Lee, and I exchanged leads often, with Dan having the early lead, Lee in the middle, and I had it near the end. I played really well, making sure my main competitors never got anything too cheaply, and yet always getting at least one thing that I was trying to get each round. I had a nice, well-coordinated string of palaces (I was careful to forfeit palaces only on one side of the board - maintaining a string on the other side), and I managed to get 4 elephants. My balance was too much in the end for Dan's advantage in goods.
| Apples to Apples |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 10 | 1 | |
| Lee | 7 | 2 | |
| Dan | 6 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Jani | 6 | 3 (Tie) | * |
| Annie | 4 | 5 | |
| Karla | 2 | 6 | |
Notes: This was Jani's first exposure and she had a great time. She liked it so much she wanted to play up to 10 instead of the 6 recommended on the box. Karla recommended to play this game - her bitterness towards it must have dissipated. Though it will probably return again, thanks to her poor showing. :)