Game Night: Saturday 5-5-2001

 Roll Call

Ray made a booze run early in the week and dropped a chunk of change to re-fill the bar. God bless his pea-pick'n heart!

The Bar is stocked! (sorry, this was not a shot of the bar, but it worked)

Game Night had a special pre-chopsocky Attila game on Friday night.In our highest scoring Attila ever, Jen squeaked out a victory by ONE point.

On Saturday night, without Jen to thwart me, I opened up a big lead in century 2 (round 2).By ending that game early into round 4, I was able to hold off a last minute run by Beth. 

Attila Winner Ray 64 - Beth 60 - John M. 44 - Ed 41 - John P 30

Attila

Next up Mississippi Queen, I love this game, but it can generate frustration for some.Early on, John made an ill-advised turn and ended up too far behind to catch up.Ed on the other hand, was so determined to WIN instead of finish 2nd, he bolted by me right up onto the beach. Unfortunately, the beach he landed on was not the finish line. 

I pressured everyone into playing a game of Time's Up!, a few people bitched but I think, over all, it is a winner. This game is just plain fun, just like Apples to Apples.Once again, most laughs are in round 3, but round 2 did have 'Winnie the f***in' pooh."

I have got to stop sitting so far from the piles. Once again, I was tossing cards because I could not reach the piles.Don't let me sit on the corner!I had last all wrapped up until the final hand. Ray was very close to going out, in the hand before last, and Jen only had a few points. Pete, on the other hand was not going too bad until the last round.

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Game Night: Saturday 5-12-2001

Games Played

 Roll Call

Well, this was different.We started with a closely contested game of "Merchants of Amsterdam".In a very close game all around, Steve was victorious, beating me by a small margin.  I should have tried harder in warehouse district 2.Funny, but the biggest problem with the game is that there is no good place to put the clock (not that the clock is any prize in the first place). Since you have to slap it, you cant place it on the board.Since the board is what is in the middle of the table, your kinda always working around it. 

The second and longest game of the night was the reemergence of "The Great Dalmuti".Even Jen gave it a whirl.It was a great game, with everyone being King once (except Don, who was 2nd once) and many people forced to deal and serve drinks.Don was the best drink bitch ever, really delivering on quality.I think Prich was the best 'card bitch" due to his diligence in "racking" the cards after each round.Steve was by far the best king, as he rules with an iron fist. --Don't cross him!!!! We kept no score.

Game Night: Saturday 5-19-2001

Games Played

 Roll Call

Game Night went on the road this week, making a special guest appearance at Steve and Suzanne's housewarming party.The kids were pretty well zonked after a full day of outdoor hijinks featuring Nutty Dad Neal Manson, and went down around 8:30.The highlight of kids going to bed was clearly story-time on the patio swing, followed by Jacqueline's comical collision with the unexpectedly closed screen door. I must add that Ray and I became Balloon Masters. The children screamed for Balloon Dogs, Rabbits, Monkeys, Swords and Pirate Hats. Ray was the only one that made a monkey, it was very hard, and I don't think it looked much like a monkey. I must say, I learned a lot about balloon art that day. I picked up the medium size barrel of Cheesy Poofs at Sam's Club, the kids went nuts over them. I am sure Steve and Suzanne still have some left.

The onset of Game Night proper was delayed briefly due to Cigar-Smoking Late Evening out on the patio...and Cigar-Smoking Late Evening was itself delayed by the Window-Closing Transitional Period. 

The first game we played was Maskenball Venezie.This is a charades-type game in which the players try to pass "gestures" to some other players.We tried this game at Ray's several weeks ago but an angry crowd shouted this game down before play even began based on the fact that it was clearly designed by a total poofter as an excuse to sit around and stare at other total poofters.After actually playing a round, I have to agree. Strangely, I think this game would be quite playable as a good Game Night warm-up if we made our own cards with rude gestures but as-is it's a no go. Steve and Suzanne tied for the win with Ray and John M coming close. I don't agree, I thought this was a fun game. With the exception of Prich, who wanted to give four gestures at once, I think everyone did a great job.

Maskenball Venezie Winner Tie Steve & Suzanne 10 - John M 9 - Ray 9 - Ed 6 - John P. 5 - Jen 3

Next up was Oodles, a Trivial Pursuit type game with a timer and a "winning control of the card" angle.This was also a second chance at a previous Game Night reject, with similarly disastrous results.  We packed this game in once we noticed that the clear leader (Suzanne) could not even be bothered to stay at the table and was busily attending to party cleanup while still kicking our asses. With all due respect to Steve's fine missive, Oodles is not a reject. This game was a favorite to other groups, for some reason it didn't go over with the Basement Gamers. Oodles, Taboo and Scruples are in the same group of loved games, maybe they are just too old to be dragged out.

Oodles* Winner Suzanne 3 cards (no one wanted to go to 10) not sure about the rest

With 2 loser games down, we switched to guaranteed crowd pleaser Rage.John M ran away with this game by the brilliant strategy of getting lots of +5's. Ray, exploiting the strategy of getting lots of -5's and not making his bid to boot, ended up with the lowest Rage score I've ever seen (15).

Rage Winner John M. 65 - Suzanne 57 - John P. 56 - Steve 47 - Ed 32 - Jen 32 - Ray 15

Next week, Game Night returns home to the Eifler's.

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Game Night: Saturday 5-26-2001

Games Played

 Roll Call

What a big night.The first time ever we had 3 simultaneous games running! I forgot my camera this week, I would have liked to get a picture of this huge group.

I got Steve, Tom and Mike together for a game of "Candyland for big kids".After teaching them to play, the teacher became the student and Tom booted me in the head.

Cartagena Winner Ray - Mike - Steve - Tom
Cartagena winner Tom - Beth - Mike - Ray - Steve

(This game went on in parallel) Tim had not played Attila yet, and John M. has played once, but this never stops our band of ragamuffins. I am not very good at this game, but I do love it. Attila has that same bit of magic that makes Medici afavorite. I think everyone has found a soft spot for this game. The only thing that sucks, Carlos Magnus hasn't been played in a long time. I see that Attila made the Spiel des Jahres nominations this year. Torres took it last year, beating out Carlos Magnus.

Attila - John M. 108 - Tim 105 - Ed 102 - John P. 86

(This game also went on in parallel.How do you tie?I mean, gez.) The game does not end until the current balloon ride is over,so it is easy to have a tie if someone can't take the balloon up another level. Don, Noelle and Kristine had never played Cloud 9, I guess everyone like it, they played two games. 

Cloud 9 Winner Tie Noelle & Suzanne 48 - Don 45 - Kristine 41
Cloud 9 Winner Noelle 49 - Don 46 - Suzanne 46

(After the games finished, I declined to play Wyatt Earpeven though I was not asked to play) I and wondering why Ray was not invited? The dynamic duo of John & John seem to like this one, I do too. Tim loved it but he was spanked both games. That Hideout card can be a killer! 

Wyatt Earp Winner Ed 30,000 - John M. 26,000 - John P. 21,000 - Tim 13,000
Wyatt Earp Winner John M. 27,000 - Ed 26,000 - John P. 25,000 - Tim 19,000

We taught Mike to play the game night staple Medici.He pulled his own, but got out maneuvered in turn 2 when his boat ran into the reef.

Medici Winner Ray 128 - Beth 127 - Steve 109 - Mike 96

Wow, Ray wins a Condottiere game?!!?How can this happen?!  Well, I'll have to admit it.Both Suzanne and I were going for the win and had something miraculous happen.We both had good hands.Now a good hand in this game is about as common as a roof pig.But both of us?  We battled back and forth while the others could only get slaughtered in the wake.In the end, I had one more card than Suzanne.

Condottiere Winner Ray 5 - Beth 2 - Noelle 2 - Suzanne 2 - Don 1 - Steve 1

This capstone game has kept Liars Dice off the table for a month!There were some nasty crash and burns, resulting in John winning with a unusually high score of 28.Most of which he got in the first hand! Maybe Prich has morphed into the Take 6 Winner now. He is well known for being one of the highest scorers in this game. I come in a close second in the biggest Take 6 loser!

Take 6 Winner John P. 28 - Jen 34 - Suzanne 41 - Ray 43 - Steve 53 - Ed 73

LUAU NOTES!!!!Ok, due to logistical nightmares and Neal and I raising the bar on expectations, I could NOT be ready by this weekend.So, the Luau is the 23rd.This is the ONLY weekend I could get most everyone due to summer schedules.If you have to miss it do not despair.The basement Tiki room conversion is now going to be permanent. (More on this later.) 

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General Strategy Games, Multi-Player

General Strategy Games, Two-Player

Historical Simulation Games

Thanks to BoardgameGeek for the list and links

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 This is the Spiel des Jahres nominees list:

• Babel
• Capitol
• Carcassonne
• Cartagena
• Das Amulett
• Die Händler von Genoa
• Dragon Delta (Drachendelta)
• Ebbe & Flut
• Hexen Rennen
• Land Unter!
• Royal Turf
• San Marco
• Zapp Zerapp

Thanks to BoardgameGeek for the list and links

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