December 30th, 2004 |
It was a big and rowdy game night, as almost everyone stopped by at some point except Scott, Lee, Howard, and Jani. I had a couple new games to try out, too.
| Gang of Four |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Karla | 6 | 1 | * |
| Jim | 14 | 2 | * |
| Dan | 23 | 3 | * |
| Mike | 28 | 4 | * |
Notes: Gang of Four is a lot like the drinking game we play called president, only there is no "wipe" card, and you don't use as much profanity. You try to get rid of all your cards (you start with 16) and try to make the other folks get stuck with as many cards as possible. The quicker you get rid of your cards, the more points your opponents pile up. Novice players (like me, Jim, Dan, and Karla) typically only manage to get people stuck with 2 or 3 cards at a time. Since the game goes up to 100, it takes a while for novices to play. I knew this going in, and when Dan asked "When does the game end?" and I answered "100" (no one had more than 27 points at the time after 5 hands), I told him we'd quit after a couple more hands and that it goes quicker as people get better at it.
So, we started playing. I can sometimes come up with a plan for a group of cards, but 16 cards was too many and I wasn't used to making combinations in a useful way. Karla had a lot of "Gangs of Four" and was able to win several hands. I won a couple, but Dan and I both were hit with the most cards (10) on a couple hands. With some practice this game will get good, but it may take a while. We only played 6 hands.
Dan kept forgetting the "Last Card" call, and when I waited all of one second to call him on it, he kept getting angry. I told him to say "last card" AS he put the card down, but he had a problem with this. I remember as a kid that I kept getting slammed in Uno because I would get called on it after about one second sometimes, so I don't think we were being unreasonable.
The next morning, when I was talking to Karla about this game, she was really talking some trash, saying stuff like, "You guys couldn't beat me" and so forth.
| Mystery of the Abbey |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 4 | 1 | |
| Mike | 2 | 2 | |
| Jim | 0 | 3 | * |
| Karla | -2 | 4 | |
Notes: It had been just about forever since we played this, so I dug it out and we went off to the Abbey to find out who murdered brother Adelmo.
Brother Jim made his way into the Bibliotheca and took out a book that allowed him to make a free revelation. He supposed that the murderer was a Benedictine. I asked questions that only aided Brother Dan and myself, such as, "How many brothers of the faction of the card I gave you have you eliminated?" (when Annie showed up about 1/3 of the way through she demand we say elimidated.) Sister Karla was pissed when Dan and I asked questions like that, and when I tried to ask Sister Karla a similar question she said she couldn't remember what card she gave me and couldn't answer that question.
Anyway, Sister Karla went through the same rigamarole as usual, tending to give too much information in her questions. Brother Jim was pretty discreet, and went for a lot of books, and he also took about 3 cards from me, including one I was hoping to keep secret. Soon, I had it narrowed down pretty well, with about 5 suspects remaining, and 4 of them had beards, so I revealed that the culprit was bearded.
Sister Karla then accused Brother Cuthbert, as I refused to answer any questions about him - for some reason he was focused on - and I revealed that he was not the murderer. Sister Karla felt remorse and served some penance.
Then Brother Dan seemed to be on to something, and I had eliminated all but two fellows, Novice Guy and Father William. When Brother Dan kept asking about Father William, I figured he was the culprit. Brother Dan made it into the Capitulum before anyone else and made his accusation. We all held our breath in silence as we realized Brother Dan had found the murderer.
I was pleased to note that Father William was bearded, as I had proposed, but he was a Templar, not a Benedictine, so Brother Jim did not receive any points. I asked Dan how he came up with Father William, and he listed a pretty good run of logic. He knew Father Matthew (the other Templar father) hadn't done it, and he noticed that Karla and Jim didn't have William either. When he found out from me that I hadn't found him either - in one of our veiled questions, I should add - he was pretty sure Father William had done it.
The game was pretty good, though I wish Sister Karla had been more willing to use the veiled question technique. Brother Jim seemed reluctant to ask many questions, as he didn't like to give answers, and he frequently (as I mentioned) went for a card and book collection strategy; in fact, he managed to get into the Bibliotheca twice (thanks to a special Scriptorium card). Not me, though. I went for some cards and some questions, refusing to answer about certain guys. All in all, it was probably the best and most strategic game of this we played.
| Igloo Pop |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 16 | 1 | * |
| Dan | 12 | 2 | * |
| Karla | 9 | 3 (Tie) | * |
| Jim | 9 | 3 (Tie) | * |
| Annie | 8 | 5 | * |
| Mike | 0 | 6 | * |
Notes: Jamie had shown up just before Dan had solved the Mystery of the Abbey, and with Annie there, too, I pulled out Igloo Pop, a kid's game that is pretty fun. Each player tries to match each igloo with a card that has a number or numbers on it. Each igloo has a certain number of beads in it, and you try to guess the number by shaking the igloo.
Annie and I were awful, while Dan and Jamie got off to early leads. Annie recovered to a respectable degree, but I never did get one right. 0 for 10. Yeesh!
Everyone enjoyed it, though it was pretty silly. Jamie was delighted because he finally won something.
| Bohnanza |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 14 | 1 | |
| Mike | 12 | 2 | |
| Jill | 11 | 3 | |
| Sam | 10 | 4 | |
| Annie | 8 | 5 (Tie) | |
| Dan | 8 | 5 (Tie) | |
| Jim | 8 | 5 (Tie) | * |
Notes: Sam and Jill then showed up, as Nancy had arrived from Kenosha and was willing to baby sit little May. Karla volunteered to play some Taiko Drum Master, and we had seven. Jamie got off to a nice start again, and the game was notable in that nobody bought a third bean field, not even Dan or Sam, who are both big fans of them - though Annie tried to steal one for Dan.
Jim never really had any good deals made with him, and Jill and Sam did pretty well. Dan floundered after a nice red bean harvest, and I had a slow middle game when no one was willing to trade me the stuff I needed. Jamie raked in a ton of black eyed beans twice, usually getting them for cheap things like blue beans or chilis, especially as the game was winding down near the end. Annie was kind of quiet and didn't really make too many trades. I'm not sure if this was because she had very few cards and only planted long-term beans (like Blues and Chilis) or because she had bad luck in trading beans.
About 2/3 of the way through the game, I said, "Wow! Look at Jamie's stack of coins!" Everyone looked at Jamie and seemed to be moved to envy, but then Jamie said to me, in an effort to defend himself, "Hey! Look at yours!" (My stack was prettty good-sized, too.) I then laughed, and the tension eased up, as everyone then stopped taking Jamie and me very seriously.
By the end, my mid-game crawl cost me the victory, as Jamie's two big Black-eyed bean collections got him into first place.
| Puerto Rico |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 52 | 1 | |
| Sam | 48 | 2 | |
| Dan | 43 | 3 | |
Notes: Jim then left us, and Annie, Jill, and Jamie joined Karla in watching her Live Aid DVD. Dan watched a couple of Judas Priest songs. Annie said that Rob Halford looked "cheesy". Dan didn't appreciate that comment. Jill couldn't believe that Priest was even in the concert, as she didn't think they were popular enough to be invited.
Finally, I got us to play Puerto Rico. Dan and Sam started with indigo, and I got the corn. All thoughts of shipping were cast away quickly, though, as Sam, within about 4 or 5 turns, managed to get both the Wharf and the harbor. Meaning that it was impossible to keep him from shipping something, and every time he put something on a boat he received a +1 bonus. When Dan took the other harbor a turn or so later, I had to abandon shipping altogether, as Sam would easily double up VPs on me.
I had one advantage: money. By about mid-game, Sam and Dan had given up on getting doubloons and Sam focused exclusively on shipping. I had completely abandoned shipping, and went exclusively for money and buildings. It didn't hurt that I was the only person with two quarries. Dan was stuck between the hammer and the anvil. If he took the craftsman, he would get some points (as he had the harbor, too), but he would be giving Sam a ton of shipping VPs. Meanwhile, I would get doubloons from my factory (3 per craftsman phase). If Dan went for a building strategy, though, he would also be behind, as he was only producing corn, indigo, and sugar, while Sam and I were both shipping coffee as well (no one managed to make tobacco).
Stuck in this situation where both obvious options were taken, Dan kept taking craftsman and letting Sam ship. I persuaded Dan not to do it once, but then he did it later anyway, giving Sam the points one turn later than usual. Shipping wasn't a complete loss for me, though, as I would still manage about 4 or 5 points per phase. This was behind the rate that Sam and Dan were getting them, but at least I wasn't getting nothing. No one had one big shipment of a crop that tended to fill a ship. The ships usually had 1 or 2 spaces available and no one was really able to monopolize a boat. Sam tried to crowd the biggest ship with coffee, but I had coffee and was also able to start a ship with sugar, a crop only Dan was harvesting. So, while shipping obviously helped Dan and Sam, it wasn't a total loss for me, as I was usually able to squeeze a good onto all three boats. Dan did a pretty good job of manipulating the ships despite not having the wharf, and I think he had the early lead in shipping.
By the end, my decision to ignore shipping worked wonderfully. Dan and Sam focused on using their crops to ship, while I used mine to get more money and eventually more buildings. I scooped up 3 bonus buildings, as I had a TON of cash. Sam and Dan never did get much more money, though Dan did buy the University late in the game. Sam was hoping to get the Customs House (which gives 1 VP for every 4 shipping victory points), but he ended the game before he could purchase it. I managed to get a colonist on every building, but I still felt - after a very nice shipping phase for Sam - that I was going to lose.
Final breakdowns:
| Player | VP Chips | Building VPs | Bonus VPs | Total |
| Mike | 17 | 21 | 14 | 52 |
| Sam | 35 | 13 | 0 | 48 |
| Dan | 30 | 13 | 0 | 43 |
Thus, my complete turn around at the end, and, I suppose, the fact that Sam ignored building anything for the last half of the game, got me a victory. I felt pretty good about it, but then I remembered how tipsy Sam was...
| Igloo Pop |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Karla | 17 | 1 | |
| Mike | 9 | 2 | |
Notes: The next day I made Karla play this with me, as I couldn't live with myself after my 0 for 10 performance. The game is much nicer to everyone with only two players, as you're able to shake and listen to more igloos before committing to anything. I started out okay, but then hit a big slump and missed 7 out my last 8 or so. Karla schooled me. She wanted to play the game at Rakesh's New Year's party, but Rakesh had two tables, and one was covered with good snacks and the other was in the freezing back patio area.