Karla's (in yellow) winning arrangement (That's a can of Blatz Light in the upper left)
November 17th, 2004 |
Jim made his first appearance tonight, and Dan showed up Annie-less to eat pepperoni pizza and play a new game.
| Blokus |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Karla | -2 | 1 | * |
| Mike | -3 | 2 | * |
| Jim | -4 | 3 | * |
| Dan | -5 | 4 | * |
Notes: The rules explanation took about three seconds, and then we were playing. Everyone dashed to the middle, and then Karla immediately started poking into Dan's area. Dan and Jim encroached on me, and I tried to encroach on everybody. Spreading my section out until I was not a big threat anywhere, but still a threat.
The early forays into Dan's section slowed him down, then Jim was stuck. I made a bad play late, thinking that Karla couldn't really go anywhere, but she did - taking up some space I had planned to use, in fact. Had I put a different piece in the spot (or even the same piece differently) I would have held her off and won. As it was, she took the victory. It's a cool, quick game.
Karla's (in yellow) winning arrangement (That's a can of Blatz Light in the upper left)
| Evo |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jim (Triceratops) | 65 | 1 | * |
| Mike (Stegasaurs) | 64 | 2 | |
| Dan (Pteradactyls) | 61 | 3 | |
| Karla (Brachiosaurs) | 54 | 4 | |
Notes: I let Dan and Karla pick the next game, and they came up with this gem. I like playing this with new folks, as they tend to pick it up pretty well, and the instructions are easy to teach.
We all took our dinos and moderately advanced through the years. The Stegasaurs and Triceratops quickly developed horns. The Pteradactyls developed parasols, and the Brachiosaurs evolved into a long-tailed species. Every monster was going about equally until the Triceratops evolved into a second egg. This trait helped the Triceratops catch up and allow him to bid for more mutation points on future genes.
The Stegasaurs had a wide array of things - including a lot of legs, and every gene except a discount gene. The Triceratops also had a nice array of genetic development, while the Brachiosaurs were lacking egg genes, and the Pteradactyls were lacking legs. Both species were also lacking horns and both lost dinos to the late-game aggression of the Stegosaurs.
The Brachiosaurs lost the early lead when they were wiped out badly by being attacked by Stegosaurs and losing two more from the deluge while no other species lost a dino. The Pteradactyls, having few legs, resorted to some nasty card play, wiping out a baby Stegosaur at one point and replacing one baby Stegosaur with a baby Pteradactyl later! It was difficult for anyone to make moves into the firm standing of the Triceratops, though the Stegosaurs, by developing a longer tail and having a set of horns, started to pin the Triceratops in the corner.
On the last turn, the Triceratops and Stegasaurs were tied at 57, with the Pteradactyls back at 55. The Brachiosaurs were unable to recover from their mid-game devastation and were far back at 48. The Triceratops had 8 current dinos, the Stegasaurs had 7, and the Pteradactyls 6. The Stegasaurs were waiting for births - with births, they'd be able to match or perhaps pass the Triceratops on the board as they had the initiative. The Pteradactyls, which had hemmed off a safe corner of the board, had 3 births ready to put out and plenty of parasols and fur to protect them.
But the Triceratops had a trick up their sleeve - a card was played and there were no births this round! The meteor immediately struck (we had already dodged its arrival twice) and the game ended. The Triceratops 8 dinos kept his lead over the Stegasaurs 7.
Karla's Brachiosaurs lost because of some bad mid-game devastation. I believe Karla lost 4 dinos in one round! Dan lost because he had the mid-game lead and I targeted him a bit. Plus he had NO leg genes. This killed him once he had about 6 dinos out there. Good cardplay (mostly against me) kept him in it. I lost because Dan got me back and I had two episodes of bad luck. For one, Jim attacked me early (1 horn vs. 1 horn) and won (a 1 in 3 shot). This crimped my style, as Jim was getting 2 births per turn and I only 1, and he had initiative over me. I also attacked Dan late and lost (again, a 1 in 3 chance). So, wipe out one of those two setbacks and I think I would have won.
Still, Jim played well. He made the right mix of genes, never bidding too much for something, but often getting what he wanted, and he played a masterly stroke at the end with his No Births card. I still really enjoy this game.