March 9th, 2005 |
Dan, Annie, Scott and Jim made it tonight. Jim was starving and managed to get a sandwich while Dan and Annie ate burritos from Jennifer Street. Scott was giddy as a schoolgirl.
| Sleuth |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jim | Correct Guess | 1 | * |
| Scott | Incorrect Guess | 2 (Tie) | * |
| Mike | Incorrect Guess | 2 (Tie) | |
| Annie | Incorrect Guess | 2 (Tie) | |
| Dan | Incorrect Guess | 2 (Tie) | |
| Karla | Incorrect Guess | 2 (Tie) | |
Notes: We tried this game out for the first time a long long time ago, but everyone was willing to give it a shot. We started with 5 cards each and 5 face up cards on the table. In this game, each player wants to eliminate possible cards to deduce which set of gems was stolen. Each card has one of three categories: color (red, blue, green, yellow), type of gem (pearl, opal, diamond), and number (solitaire, pair, cluster). Each turn, the players ask someone a question based on the question cards they have in front of them. All gems are kept track of on a scoresheet, which can be used to keep extensive (or not extensive) notes.
We're still pretty new at this sort of thing, and Annie didn't quite understand what she was supposed to be checking off. About 2/3 of the way through, Dan and she had a secret discussion in which Annie found out that she had been playing incorrectly. I'm not sure what she was doing, but she was razzed by Dan quite a bit and she blushed from embarrassment. I didn't ask.
Karla didn't keep good records, and was flying by the seat of her pants. About halfway through, Dan and I saw the light at about the same time. Dan made little notes to keep track of who did not have what. For instance, if he was sure Jim didn't have any pearl clusters, a little "J" went in the corner of each pearl cluster box. I had been keeping notes from the beginning based on what everyone was being asked, but only made the transition from that "list" info to Dan's shorthand info very late, and only at specific cards. Jim and Scott kept more notes than Karla and Annie, but they both admitted that Dan and I kept better ones.
I guessed first. I was first trying to eliminate Green Solitaire Pearls, but then switched and went for Blue Pearl Clusters. When I was making my switch in eliminating, I accidentally transferred a note that said that Jim had no Green Solitaire pearls to the Blue Pearl Clusters. He had no Green Solitaire Pearls, but he DID have the Blue Pearl Clusters. No one else had it, but my switching over of the note doomed me. I instantly felt betrayed, like someone didn't tell the truth in his answers, but I checked my notes and I just transferred a note stupidly.
After that, it went all downhill. Dan and Karla got impatient and made guesses. Then Annie guessed. Then Scott was pressured into guessing, and we were all excited because he said "Yellow Diamond, no Opal Clusters." We all let out a gasp of disappointment. Then, Jim was tempted to keep playing, but felt that it would be boring for everyone else, and said, "I haven't eliminated a lot of them, but my gut tells me it's the Yellow Diamond Solitaire." Ding ding ding! We all yelled in glee as Jim's gut told it true. Bravo, Jim. He said it was a lucky guess, but Karla knows better. "He's smart, I knew he'd get it."
I can tell we're still rookies at this game because we only used the single category question cards once(!). With the double category cards, a player gets to look at all cards that match those categories if the player has them. For instance, if the card has "Pearl" & "Cluster" on it, the questioner gets to see all the Pearl Clusters a player has. With the single category cards, the questioner asks simply how many of a category the player has. This type of questioning can be really useful. When Karla asked Scott how many pearls he had, he said, "0". That is much more useful info than asking for Green Opals or something.
The game holds promise, and I'm eager to try again, now that I've got a system I'm eager to try.
| Medici |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Karla | 102 | 1 | |
| Scott | 100 | 2 | |
| Mike | 85 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Dan | 85 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Jim | 74 | 5 | * |
| Annie | 67 | 6 | |
Notes: On to the most underrated game I own. This smooth, quick, auction game is a beauty. I had a definite strategy this time: stay in the top 3 in daily shipments and get 1st or 2nd in two goods (at least). I pretty much did so, but not quite, and it cost me.
The game started pretty well, with nobody bidding too much the first round, though Jim and Scott were down to around 15 or 16 in order to fill their ships. Dan had the best shipment of the day, as he had flipped over the Gold card and managed to get the last bid on it. I managed the second best shipment. I was very careful what I bid on, and never did take more than one "1" card, and never took a "0" card the entire game. I got by by spending the least on my goods in the first round, spending 7 points to get the goods. Still, I was only in a tie for first in grain and in second in furs. Dan had a nice lead in Dyes, and there was a monkey pile on Spices. I had the second best shipment, followed by Jim, Scott, Karla, and Annie. Dan, on the strength of Dyes and his best ship, led after the first day of trading: Dan 58, Mike 50, Jim 42, Karla 39, Scott 38, Annie 31.
On the second day, Dan again flipped over the gold card, and this time Dan made a huge bid for it, as he wanted the 5 cloth that went with it (along with a nice grain). I managed to keep in second place in grain and fur, but Annie was able to stay ahead of me in fur, and Karla passed me in grain, forcing me into a tie with Scott. (Two stupid points!) Dan barely stayed ahead of Scott in Dyes, and Jim claimed cloth. There was another monkey pile on Spices (4 people, for the second turn in a row, tied for first - I wasn't one of them this time). Annie made the mistake of taking a lot of 3 cards only because she could get it for cheap. Jim managed the best shipment of the day, followed by Karla and Scott. I was in 4th, Annie 5th, Dan in 6th. Only two people had good second days, led by Karla, whose greed tactic at the end was what zipped her way ahead of me in grain. Day 2 scores: Karla 75, Dan 67, Scott 61, Mike 56, Jim 51, Annie 42.
By day 3, it was obvious what everyone needed. Scott went for a bunch of dyes, Annie took furs, Karla took grain, Jim took cloth, and Dan at the end managed to get a lead in spice, though he lost his lead in dyes to Scott. I (again) took second in grain and furs, getting some extra bonus points for furs (5) and grain (10), and I also managed to get the second best shipment of the day again. Jim was enamored with the best shipment of the day, and took it for a bid of 20 at one point. That was probably a bit high, but it also gave him one more cloth. In the end, it came down to Scott's greed at the end of the day. He was hoping for a big payoff by not bidding on stuff as the game went on, and I think he also hoped to get the second place points in fur - but I had definitely picked that up by grabbing 2 more furs in the final round, whereas he was stuck with just one. In the end, the two cards he flipped for his last shipment betrayed him, and his poor shipment total for the day doomed him. Jim had the best shipment, I had the 2nd best, then Karla, Dan, Scott, and Annie. Scott was only a point or two away from Dan, so with a little more luck, he could have gained 5 more points and taken the victory.
Dan groaned again after this game, but I don't see why. It's a slick game.
| Bang! |
| Results | ||||
| Player | Role | Character | Place | First Time? |
| Karla | Sheriff | Jourdannais | (Won) Lived | |
| Scott | Deputy | Calamity Janet | (Won) 4th Killed | |
| Mike | Renegade | Lucky Duke | (Lost) 5th Killed | |
| Dan | Outlaw | El Gringo | (Lost) 3rd Killed | |
| Jim | Outlaw | Suzy Lafayette | (Lost) 2nd Killed | |
| Annie | Outlaw | Pedro Ramírez | (Lost) 1st Killed | |
Notes: We sauntered into Deadwood, eager to perform a little rootin' tootin' gunslingin'. Pedro Ramírez said, "That sceriffo, I no like him," and took some shots at Jourdannais, who dove to the ground like a man who'd just dropped a hundred dollar bill. Calamity Janet took offense and started shootin' at Pedro and called her Indian friends. Not only that, but she whipped out her Gatling Gun and took a shot at everybody! Renegade? Or Deputy?
Soon, Suzy Lafayette revealed herself to be an outlaw, as she and Jourdannais started exchanging shots in the back of Ike's Saloon. Lucky Duke, in an attempt to create a diversion put out some dynamite and put ol' Pedro in prison. El Gringo didn't like his ally gettin' ganged up on, so he robbed Lucky Duke's Schofield and took a chunk out of him.
Pedro spent a turn in prison tryin' to escape, and Calamity Janet took a shot at her. Suzy Lafayette and Jourdannais again traded shots and holdups, as Suzy took the Frenchman's horse and Frenchy took Sassy Suze's winchester. Lucky Duke then threw Suzy in prison and laughed in glee as his dynamite started to be passed around. He wasn't laughing so hard, though, when he faced Pedro in a duel and got his clock cleaned.
El Gringo escaped the dynamite and whittled Lucky Duke down to 1 bullet of life. Pedro, forced to draw, found that the dynamite didn't have so long a wick after all. BOOM! All that was left of Pedro was a pair of smokin' spurs. Next up was Suzy, who was stuck in prison and caught in a crossfire between Calamity Janet and Jourdannais. She was in bad shape and Jourdannais kept drinking beer, much to her dismay.
Jourdannais threw El Gringo in prison, but he slipped out after Lucky Duke decided to get back had gotten back at him, leaving El Gringo stumbling for cover, bleeding like a stuck pig. Sheriff Jourdannais then filled Suzy Lafayette full of too much lead. Duke again tossed El Gringo in prison, but he gave Duke the slip and wounded "Lucky" Duke again. Unfortunately for El Gringo, Calamity Janet had just enough firepower to finish him off behind ol' Zeke's stables.
Jourdannais knew someone was helping him and that either Janet or Duke was the traitor. Duke said, "Well, Frenchy, just think 'bout who's been usin' more cards that hurt us all. Sure, I throwed the dynamite, but think a' all the gatlin' guns and injuns that there Janet's been usin'." Jourdannais could have sworn I heard El Gringo's corpse laugh, but said, "Je ne t'aime pas, Mademoiselle Calamité!" and after two shots from his Volcanic, Deputy Janet fell down dead, betrayed but vindicated, for the lad had defended his sheriff well.
Jourdannais cried out, "Je te déteste!" and aimed for Duke. Unluckily for Lucky Duke, he never did heal hisself from all those shots from Pedro and El Gringo, and Jourdannais quickly called for his Indian buddies, who shot him dead with an obsidian tipped arrow and paraded around with his scalp. Jourdannais almost wept when he buried his brave, erstwhile deputy, Calamity Janet. "Je suis désolé," he whispered, tossing a rose on the fresh dirt of her grave.