May 13, 2004 |
Yet another game night, with Scott, Lee, Jani, Karla, Dan, and myself. Next week it's back to Wednesdays.
| Vom Kap bis Kairo |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 8 | 1 | |
| Lee | 7 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 7 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Jani | 5 | 3 | * |
Notes: First time we played this little gem in quite a while. As Karla and Scott weren't ready to play just yet, Lee suggested it, and we all leaped at the chance.
Jani got off to a great start, while Lee was stuck with some hefty mountain cards to begin. Then Jani mistakenly bid nothing on a set of cards one turn and never made it over the 0 track mountain in front of her. I thought I was going to win, until I saw how much cash Dan had left. I made one last gasp by crossing my 7th card before Dan, but he had set himself up incredibly well, and I never really had a chance to cross the last card by the end. Lee made a nice comeback to cross his 7th card just before Dan won it all. Jani liked the game until she was stuck behind the mountain for about 4 straight turns. Then she said, in her sing song Ecuadorian accent, "Oh, I don't like this game!"
| Pirate's Cove |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Malicious Mike | 50 | 1 | Cheater! |
| Spectacled Scott | 38 | 2 | |
| Barnacle Dan | 36 | 3 | |
| Karla the Pirate Queen | 33 | 4 | |
| Captain Jani & Lee the Jolly First Mate | 32 | 5 | Jani |
Notes: Sheesh. Every time we play this there are countless controversies. To top it all off, in this game, I, Michael David Nerdahl of Kenosha, Wisconsin, cheated. I'm not sure if it would have resulted in me not winning, but I feel bad about it all the same and will not count this game in the ol' record book. It was during a fight, and I was contemplating running away, so I tried to secretly roll to flee, but I was scared to roll a "1", which would have resulted in a mutiny. So I rolled, got a "1", and tried to cover it up, but Dan caught me. So I reneged, counted the one as a battle roll, and fought Dan (and eventually won). Dan handled it pretty well, but he was kind of disgusted.
Scott was the "Chicken Pirate". Whereas everyone else kept fighting one another (Dan blew the Lover's Pirate Ship of Jani and Lee out of the water the first two turns and Karla and I had a couple bitter rows), Scott kept sneakily sailing all over the ocean, and depositing loot. He didn't have a wide array of tavern cards, or else he might have pulled it off. (Hmm. Maybe it's essential to get blown out of the water to get all those free tavern cards! Just a thought...)
I took a big lead when I did two things (the cheating only netted me about 4 points). First I stole half of Karla's treasure with my tavern card - a card I am really starting to dislike, and I am going to take it out of the deck from now on. Second, I had a buried treasure card on an island that gave out double everything. I got it, and netted 4 treasures and 18 doubloons. I then buried all that on the next turn, and rather than try to get more treasures, I said to hell with my ship and teamed up with Dan to blow up the Evil Pirates on turns 11 and 12. We destroyed the Flying Dutchman and Blackbeard on our last two turns. (Lee and Jani had destroyed Captain Hook at about turn 6.) No one was able to break into my insurmountable lead, though, as we all shared the fame points and took moderate treasure.
I must say that we have played this now about 5 or 6 times, and it is still incredibly popular. It seems like we play it every week.
| Midnight Party |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | -19 | 1 | |
| Lee | -21 | 2 | |
| Jani | -24 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Karla | -24 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Mike | -26 | 5 | |
| Dan | -41 | 6 | |
Notes: I was in great shape after Round 2 (I had -9 and was in a close 2nd), but then everything fell apart. Jani fell with me, as she had -7 after Round 2. Lee was in second to last after a rough second round, but came back to get second, and Scott had three solid, undevastating rounds. Good ol' Dan. There are certain games where he just refuses to let anyone finish behind him, and this one, along with TransAmerica, 6 Nimmt!, and High Society, saved me from the ignominy of last.