board games & card games for all ages
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Thursday 26th July 2007
Nine of us in the shop this week, which is one of the easiest to divide up!
Players:
Darren, Dave C, Dave F-F, Mark L, Mike, Neil H, Nick, Stewart, Sue
Games Played:
A change from our regular opener, we thought we'd try this fun little "four in a row" game fresh in from Germany ...
Mark
L: 4 in a row
Mike:
Nick:
Sue: All lost!
This is a game that none of us had played before face to face, although three of us had tried the online version. The actual game is a little tougher than the online version, as you have to add everything up yourself! Mark nabbed his four in a line before I had the chance to add to my three in a row (not that I had the cards this turn!).
We were up to five but still expecting more, so another quickie was called for ...
Nick:
12 (11 from Treasures)
Sue:
12 (5 from Treasures)
Mark: 8
Darren: 8
Mike: 2
This is an evil little game, as the only way to play it is to pick on everyone else! Mike and I were both in double figures for minus points, but I constantly had a hand full of treasure, and so could counter the dodgy pyramids with some shiny gold. Sue and I tied for first but, much to my surprise, the tie-breaker went in my favour!
We were now up to eight players, and so we split into two fours. This new one is still proving very popular ...
(Artifacts + Exhibitions + Congress + Majorities)
Mark:
(35 + 0 + 6 + 6) 47
Nick: (33 + 0 +
1 + 8) 42
Darren: (31 + 0 + 0 + 8) 39
Stewart: (18 + 0 + 10 + 6)
34
Another excellent game of this one, and one we all enjoyed. Oddly, no one had any luck with the excavating, and the first few digs brought appalling results. No one even tried to put on an exhibition, as it took us all so long to get the right artifacts. Stewart went for collecting congress and various modes of transport early on, although I think - based on the few games we've played - that knowledge might prove to be more important in the long run. There were an amazing amount of cards that turned up as soon as someone left the city they were for as well! Basically ... Mark won a game played by four very unlucky players!
The other group of four also went to the desert ... but to do a little shopping.
Sue:
90
Mike: 83
Dave C: 69
Neil: 64
Sue's hours of practice (honest!) playing the computerized version of this excellent game seems to have paid off, as she grabbed the win by a (fairly) comfortable 7 points.
The Yspahan game was over and another player had arrived, so a quick 5-player game was in order:
Neil:
8
Dave F: 6
Dave C: 6
Mike: 6
Sue: 2
This is always a fun and quick little game, and this one looks like a really tight game as well (for four of them anyway ... looks like a grudge was being held from the previous game!). A good win for Neil, who - for some bizarre reason - has actually started winning games these last few weeks.
The nine of us shuffled the groups slightly, with four off to Vegas and five off to Spain.
Darren:
64
Neil: 63
Stewart: 43
Dave C: 43
I don't know much about this one, I'm afraid, but it looks like there was an incredibly tight battle for first place, along with another scrap not to come last!
Meanwhile in Spain ...
Nick:
111
Mark: 105
Mike: 101
Sue: 90
David F-F: 86
An excellent - and quite nasty - game as always. Very unusual at the start, as people were scoring loads of points right from the outset. The game turned in my favour at one point where I was pretty much forced to take Mike's homeland from under his nose and then throw the King in there. From that point, Mike seemed a little far back from Mark and I, although he came storming up at the end! Three people over 100 is fairly unusual (if I remember correctly), so I have a feeling we saw more than our fair share of scoring cards in the game.
Just 4 Fun (2)
While they were waiting for El Grande to finish, these three managed 3 quick games:
Stewart:
2 wins
Darren: 1 win
Neil:
0 wins
And finally there were five of us left. not quite enough for Saboteur, but a great number for this one ...
Mark
L: 10
Darren: 7
Nick: 6
Sue: 6
David F-F: 0
Lots of laughs and lots of messing each other up as always. We played with the special powers for a change, although only Mark (wizard) and I (barbarian) actually used ours. This was another of those games where it looked like it was going to take forever for people to get the necessary coins, only for there to be a mad rush of them at the end of the game. Mark made his 10 with four coin tokens (2 x 3 and 2 x 2), whereas my four tokens only added up to 6!
And that's was that for another week. Thanks to all those who came along and we'll see you again soon.
