Monday night is Games Night! Sadly, only Greg made it this week. However, I took this opportunity to introduce him to one of my favourite games, Carcassonne - The Castle. This is designed as a 2-player game so it seemed appropriate. Greg really enjoyed this once he got his head around how to position pieces. He agreed that it seems to be a fairly simple game but it is actually quite complex.
I pulled ahead in the scoring at one point. However, Greg got the token to score an unfinished road and he therefore constructed a very long road during the game. This really helped him catch up. I did manage to get most of the tokens that we passed and the biggest keep. But it ended with the scores closer than we thought they were going to be; Me 102, Greg 89.
Lisa then joined us for a three-player game of Caylus. This was a really good game; the leader kept changing and we were all within a few points of each other until the last round. In the last round Greg managed to build the only prestige building, the cathedral, which gave him 25 points. This gave him an unasailable lead.
Lisa did really well as she had not played this before. She got the hang of it quite quickly and played quite aggressively at times by moving the provost to scupper other player's building efforts (a good tactic!). Greg focussed on building whilst I concentrated more on dominating the castle building; both strategies seem valid! However, Greg did win with 102 points, I had 99, and Lisa had 77. Lisa lost out at the end as she had no gold which turns into lots of victory points. We all really enjoyed this and agreed that it works well with three players.
So, despite the compact nature of our gaming group, we still had a lovely evening.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Sunday 18th February 2007
Whilst Eleanor had an afternoon nap, Lisa and I enjoyed a quick game of Carcassonne The Castle. This looked to be a fairly close game. Lisa finished a huge tower, whilst I scored heavily for an unfinished road (with token) and had the largest keep. However, I also managed to obtain the most markets which helped me to my 109 points to 75 victory. Lisa played well but was frustrated that I managed to get to the corners on the scoreboard (and therefore the handy tokens!) before she did.
In the evening we played several hands of canasta. Lisa currently leads 3 games to 1. In this game I was winning 3960 points to Lisa's 2760. In the first hand Lisa profited hugely from the high melding threshold my score put me at. She got several canastas, including a natural one (worth 500 points) and scored 1570, bringing her total to 4330. I managed only 485 points (total: 4445).
Lisa played exceedingly well in the next hand and destroyed me, going out before I had done anything really. I managed 230 points whilst Lisa scored 1035. This put Lisa in the lead; 5365 to 4675.
With the help of many wild cards I managed to go out fairly quickly during the next hand to limit Lisa's scoring potential. I scored 1175 to Lisa's 595.
The next hand commenced with the scores very close: Lisa just ahead with 5960 to my 5850. I managed the next hand really well and managd to go out concealed for 895 really quickly. This stung Lisa who scored only 20!
This put me in the lead - 6745 to 5980. In the final hand I went out although Lisa scored the most points. Lisa scored 1290 bringing her total to 7270 - 230 shy of victory. I got exactly 1000 points making my total 7745; over the 7500 required. This means that Lisa now leads 3 games to 2.
We started the next game, which was disastrous for me, as Lisa went out really quickly scoring 1165 and leaving me with -415!!! Oh well. Fun none the less.
In the evening we played several hands of canasta. Lisa currently leads 3 games to 1. In this game I was winning 3960 points to Lisa's 2760. In the first hand Lisa profited hugely from the high melding threshold my score put me at. She got several canastas, including a natural one (worth 500 points) and scored 1570, bringing her total to 4330. I managed only 485 points (total: 4445).
Lisa played exceedingly well in the next hand and destroyed me, going out before I had done anything really. I managed 230 points whilst Lisa scored 1035. This put Lisa in the lead; 5365 to 4675.
With the help of many wild cards I managed to go out fairly quickly during the next hand to limit Lisa's scoring potential. I scored 1175 to Lisa's 595.
The next hand commenced with the scores very close: Lisa just ahead with 5960 to my 5850. I managed the next hand really well and managd to go out concealed for 895 really quickly. This stung Lisa who scored only 20!
This put me in the lead - 6745 to 5980. In the final hand I went out although Lisa scored the most points. Lisa scored 1290 bringing her total to 7270 - 230 shy of victory. I got exactly 1000 points making my total 7745; over the 7500 required. This means that Lisa now leads 3 games to 2.
We started the next game, which was disastrous for me, as Lisa went out really quickly scoring 1165 and leaving me with -415!!! Oh well. Fun none the less.
Saturday 17th February 2007
Today I made it to Beyond Monopoly! The club had relocated to Room 3 down the hall from our usual Room 1. I have to say that I wouldn't mind changing rooms permanently; it felt larger, lighter and brighter.... no storage cupboards for games though!
This marked the second birthday of Beyond Monopoly and it was nice to see the occasion marked by a high turnout, including more children than usual, which I strongly approve of, and several new faces.
I arrived around 11am and soon launched into a game of Manhattan with Bill, Paul and Keith. This is a fairly simple game in which you compete to build the tallest building, occupy the top floor(s) of skyscrapers and have the most of them in each city. Placement is based on a hand of cards and the orientation of where you are sitting. I enjoyed this alot although I got creamed! The game lasts for 4 rounds and in the first 2 it looked like I was being ganged up on! I simply could not recover from this and it gave Paul an opportunity to sneak ahead (no one challenged his dominance until it was too late!)
Final scores:
Paul 56
Keith 51
Bill 39
Me 31
My only slight complaint about this game is that I was unimpressed with the washed-out colours of the building blocks.
Next up was Die Saulen von Venedig (The Pillars of Venice?) which only Keith had played before. Kevin joined us for this one to bring us up to 5 players. I really enjoyed this game, although I again was royally trounced. Based on a card hand you play characters in Venice who can perform different actions. The 'pitchdipper' allows you to sink columns into the marsh on which other characters can construct buildings. Despite being in German this was still really good fun. I misplayed this as I did not expect the end to come so rapidly! If playing again I would build more and sink less columns. I would also make better use of the spy and gondolier to obtain extra points. Still, this is definately one I would like to own.
Final scores:
Paul 45
Bill 41
Kevin 37
Keith 34
Me 22
Last time I went to Beyond Monopoly I decided to tell people I was playing with about my neurological problems in case I looked like a complete idiot! I then felt like a bit of a fraud when I won several games! Today I decided not to mention it. Bad move! My apologies to the guys I played with as I said I had not played Niagara before. In fact I have but I don't remember playing it. I even own it but didn't remember that either!
This is a fast game in which you use canoes to collect jewels then paddle furiously upstream to deposit them whilst trying to avoid getting swept over the waterfall; something several of us failed to do....repeatedly! I like that you can influence the weather and thus the speed of the river.
I managed to lose this one as well! Bill won with seven different jewels. The other Paul had 6, Keith had 4 and Kevin and I each had 2. Still good fun though.
Bill left us at this point and the other Paul introduced us to the fast and furious card game 6nimmt. To be honest I didn't enjoy this that much. I think I missed a rule somewhere and this game didn't agree with my neurological problems. In essence, you have a hand of cards with numbers and bullsheads on them. You want to end up with as few of the heads as possible. Cards are layed out in rows and you simultaneously reveal the card to play. The lowest numebr goes first. There are several rows and you place cards in sequence along them. If you have to place the sixth card in a row then you have to pick up the row and thus accrue bullsheads.
I was hopeless at this! To be fair I did improve; in the first hand I misunderstood the entire game and picked up 34 heads. Things improved in the second hand so I only picked up 19 (still the worst of all of us). Then in the third hand I picked up only 2. The game ends when a players total score is 66 or above.
In the end Paul, Keith and I all went over 66 in the fourth hand. Kevin won magisterially with a total of only 21! I think his mind likes this kind of game! I'm not sure if I would play this again, although I did like it's 'filler' potential.
Kevin and Paul then departed. As everyone else seemed occupied Keith introduced me to the pleasures of Hive. This is a game I've been aware of since the first time I went to Beyond Monopoly but haven't got around to playing. In essence you have hexes representing different insects with different skills. The object is to surround the opposing queen bee. It's harder than it sounds! Keith and I played lots of times but I only won once. Again, this was more of a brain burner than it would normally be when I am firing on all cylinders. Still, I really enjoyed it and its definately a game I would love to own.
I rounded off the day by joining Jon, Chris and Amanda in a game of Carcassonne. This was the first time Chris and Amanda had been to the club (and their first bash at Carcassonne). I hope they continue to come; it's nice seeing couples there and they both seemed genuinely excited about the games. Jon gave a potted history of German games as we played which was hugely informative and useful; he really knows his stuff!
I realised that, despite it being my favourite game, I haven't played Carcassonne for months.....probably since last July! That was probably why I did so abysmally. I tried to compete with Jon for farmer-dominance in a field that was worth 24 points. Jon won that contest and I had failed to create a back-up plan! Chris and Amanda both did well getting their heads around a game which appears so simple but can quickly become quite complex.
Final scores:
Jon 81
Chris 64
Me 62
Amanda 55
All in all an enjoyable day if lacklustre scorewise. Now, I wonder if I can make a bootleg copy of Hive....
This marked the second birthday of Beyond Monopoly and it was nice to see the occasion marked by a high turnout, including more children than usual, which I strongly approve of, and several new faces.
I arrived around 11am and soon launched into a game of Manhattan with Bill, Paul and Keith. This is a fairly simple game in which you compete to build the tallest building, occupy the top floor(s) of skyscrapers and have the most of them in each city. Placement is based on a hand of cards and the orientation of where you are sitting. I enjoyed this alot although I got creamed! The game lasts for 4 rounds and in the first 2 it looked like I was being ganged up on! I simply could not recover from this and it gave Paul an opportunity to sneak ahead (no one challenged his dominance until it was too late!)
Final scores:
Paul 56
Keith 51
Bill 39
Me 31
My only slight complaint about this game is that I was unimpressed with the washed-out colours of the building blocks.
Next up was Die Saulen von Venedig (The Pillars of Venice?) which only Keith had played before. Kevin joined us for this one to bring us up to 5 players. I really enjoyed this game, although I again was royally trounced. Based on a card hand you play characters in Venice who can perform different actions. The 'pitchdipper' allows you to sink columns into the marsh on which other characters can construct buildings. Despite being in German this was still really good fun. I misplayed this as I did not expect the end to come so rapidly! If playing again I would build more and sink less columns. I would also make better use of the spy and gondolier to obtain extra points. Still, this is definately one I would like to own.
Final scores:
Paul 45
Bill 41
Kevin 37
Keith 34
Me 22
Last time I went to Beyond Monopoly I decided to tell people I was playing with about my neurological problems in case I looked like a complete idiot! I then felt like a bit of a fraud when I won several games! Today I decided not to mention it. Bad move! My apologies to the guys I played with as I said I had not played Niagara before. In fact I have but I don't remember playing it. I even own it but didn't remember that either!
This is a fast game in which you use canoes to collect jewels then paddle furiously upstream to deposit them whilst trying to avoid getting swept over the waterfall; something several of us failed to do....repeatedly! I like that you can influence the weather and thus the speed of the river.
I managed to lose this one as well! Bill won with seven different jewels. The other Paul had 6, Keith had 4 and Kevin and I each had 2. Still good fun though.
Bill left us at this point and the other Paul introduced us to the fast and furious card game 6nimmt. To be honest I didn't enjoy this that much. I think I missed a rule somewhere and this game didn't agree with my neurological problems. In essence, you have a hand of cards with numbers and bullsheads on them. You want to end up with as few of the heads as possible. Cards are layed out in rows and you simultaneously reveal the card to play. The lowest numebr goes first. There are several rows and you place cards in sequence along them. If you have to place the sixth card in a row then you have to pick up the row and thus accrue bullsheads.
I was hopeless at this! To be fair I did improve; in the first hand I misunderstood the entire game and picked up 34 heads. Things improved in the second hand so I only picked up 19 (still the worst of all of us). Then in the third hand I picked up only 2. The game ends when a players total score is 66 or above.
In the end Paul, Keith and I all went over 66 in the fourth hand. Kevin won magisterially with a total of only 21! I think his mind likes this kind of game! I'm not sure if I would play this again, although I did like it's 'filler' potential.
Kevin and Paul then departed. As everyone else seemed occupied Keith introduced me to the pleasures of Hive. This is a game I've been aware of since the first time I went to Beyond Monopoly but haven't got around to playing. In essence you have hexes representing different insects with different skills. The object is to surround the opposing queen bee. It's harder than it sounds! Keith and I played lots of times but I only won once. Again, this was more of a brain burner than it would normally be when I am firing on all cylinders. Still, I really enjoyed it and its definately a game I would love to own.
I rounded off the day by joining Jon, Chris and Amanda in a game of Carcassonne. This was the first time Chris and Amanda had been to the club (and their first bash at Carcassonne). I hope they continue to come; it's nice seeing couples there and they both seemed genuinely excited about the games. Jon gave a potted history of German games as we played which was hugely informative and useful; he really knows his stuff!
I realised that, despite it being my favourite game, I haven't played Carcassonne for months.....probably since last July! That was probably why I did so abysmally. I tried to compete with Jon for farmer-dominance in a field that was worth 24 points. Jon won that contest and I had failed to create a back-up plan! Chris and Amanda both did well getting their heads around a game which appears so simple but can quickly become quite complex.
Final scores:
Jon 81
Chris 64
Me 62
Amanda 55
All in all an enjoyable day if lacklustre scorewise. Now, I wonder if I can make a bootleg copy of Hive....
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Thursday 15th February 2007
Once Lisa and I had the evening to ourselves we decided to have a couple of quick games; something we've not managed to do for awhile. First up was Carcassonne - The Castle. This is still one of our favourite games.
Lisa took an early lead and managed to sneak around most of the corners and collect the rather useful tokens. Paul rallied a little but was unable to compete really. Still, the final scores were closer than we expected. Lisa won with 101 points to Paul's 92. Lisa managed to secure the largest keep, which gave her 8 points.
It was fun to play this after quite a break.
Next up was a hand of Canasta, which we haven't played since November! We had a warm up hand to re-acquaint us with the game. Lisa was massacred!
This was repeated in the game proper. Carrying on our previous match, Paul scored 950 points, bringing his total to 3960. Lisa scored 80, bringing her total to 2760. I now need 12o points to meld in the next hand though....
Lisa took an early lead and managed to sneak around most of the corners and collect the rather useful tokens. Paul rallied a little but was unable to compete really. Still, the final scores were closer than we expected. Lisa won with 101 points to Paul's 92. Lisa managed to secure the largest keep, which gave her 8 points.
It was fun to play this after quite a break.
Next up was a hand of Canasta, which we haven't played since November! We had a warm up hand to re-acquaint us with the game. Lisa was massacred!
This was repeated in the game proper. Carrying on our previous match, Paul scored 950 points, bringing his total to 3960. Lisa scored 80, bringing her total to 2760. I now need 12o points to meld in the next hand though....
Monday 12th February 2007
Monday Night is Games Night! Tonight I was joined by Spencer, Jack and Greg, with Vin arriving later in the evening.
We played a couple of quick games whilst waiting for Vin to arrive. First up was my homemade copy of Die Mauer. This is a simple bluffing game in which players try to empty their hand of town wall segments by guessing which piece the master builder is attempting to construct. It's a really simple game; describing the rules makes it sound more complicated than it actually is.
Spencer won this, being the first to have built all his pieces, Jack was next with wall worth only 5 points left in his hand. Paul was next with 6 points worth and Greg brought up the rear with 26 points left. I don't think Greg enjoyed it!
As Vin had not yet arrived we turned our attentions to Guillotine. This is something of a favourite as it is always good fun and is easy to play. Spencer and Jack drew on 20 points, although as Jack had executed the King we felt he was the moral victor... sort of. Greg came next with 17 points and Paul was last with 16.
Vin arrived during Guillotine and so we decided to play Alhambra. This is a beautifully-produced Queen game. It's one of those which is easy to play but hard to play well. The aim is to build the palace of Alhambra by purchasing tiles. You can choose to purchase tiles or collect cash each turn. There are three scoring rounds during the game where poits are awarded for the length of your enclosing wall and having the most, or second most, or even third most, of each building type.
I've previously not done too well at this. This time I kept more of an eye on who was building what and managed to score for several building types. As a result I cam joint first with Greg (we both had 85 points), Spence was next with 80 and Vin and Jack drew for last place with 58 points.
Another fun evening with much wit, laughter, and some sarcasm!
We played a couple of quick games whilst waiting for Vin to arrive. First up was my homemade copy of Die Mauer. This is a simple bluffing game in which players try to empty their hand of town wall segments by guessing which piece the master builder is attempting to construct. It's a really simple game; describing the rules makes it sound more complicated than it actually is.
Spencer won this, being the first to have built all his pieces, Jack was next with wall worth only 5 points left in his hand. Paul was next with 6 points worth and Greg brought up the rear with 26 points left. I don't think Greg enjoyed it!
As Vin had not yet arrived we turned our attentions to Guillotine. This is something of a favourite as it is always good fun and is easy to play. Spencer and Jack drew on 20 points, although as Jack had executed the King we felt he was the moral victor... sort of. Greg came next with 17 points and Paul was last with 16.
Vin arrived during Guillotine and so we decided to play Alhambra. This is a beautifully-produced Queen game. It's one of those which is easy to play but hard to play well. The aim is to build the palace of Alhambra by purchasing tiles. You can choose to purchase tiles or collect cash each turn. There are three scoring rounds during the game where poits are awarded for the length of your enclosing wall and having the most, or second most, or even third most, of each building type.
I've previously not done too well at this. This time I kept more of an eye on who was building what and managed to score for several building types. As a result I cam joint first with Greg (we both had 85 points), Spence was next with 80 and Vin and Jack drew for last place with 58 points.
Another fun evening with much wit, laughter, and some sarcasm!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Monday 5th February 2007
Monday night is Games Night! I was joined by Vin and Greg this week; three being a cosy number! We decided to get our teeth stuck in to Caylus. Greg and I had played it before once, although I could hardly remember it and Greg was a bit hazy. Vin was simply curious as he had heard that it is supossedly a very good game.
It was! We went slowly having a thorough read of the rules. Once we understood the theme - placing workers to build either a town or a castle and receiving points for doing so - it made sense. I had a couple of disastrous moves at the start of the game when I didn't understand the rules as well as I did later on, and it took me most of the game to recover from this. Greg did very well and built lots, earning many point for constructing prestige buildings; this was a trend Vin attempted to follow although he also put alot of effort into castle building. Greg also made good use of the goldmine and the merchant-thingy which got him 3 denier each go!
In the end Greg's lead was unassailable and he won with 98 points. Despite early failings I managed to rally to come second with 80 points, sneaking ahead of Vin at the last minute with 76 points.
This is a very good game and one I look forward to playing again.
It was! We went slowly having a thorough read of the rules. Once we understood the theme - placing workers to build either a town or a castle and receiving points for doing so - it made sense. I had a couple of disastrous moves at the start of the game when I didn't understand the rules as well as I did later on, and it took me most of the game to recover from this. Greg did very well and built lots, earning many point for constructing prestige buildings; this was a trend Vin attempted to follow although he also put alot of effort into castle building. Greg also made good use of the goldmine and the merchant-thingy which got him 3 denier each go!
In the end Greg's lead was unassailable and he won with 98 points. Despite early failings I managed to rally to come second with 80 points, sneaking ahead of Vin at the last minute with 76 points.
This is a very good game and one I look forward to playing again.
Saturday 3rd February 2007
At long last I made it to Beyond Monopoly; my first visit since the onset of my neurological problems. I had a good, if slightly nervous time. I had decided to explain briefly to people that I am having some difficulties; I thought this would spare embarrassment if I had to constantly ask the same rules-related question over and over (a good call as it turned out!).
I forgot to note down scores or the names of other players...so my apologies to all concerned.
First up was a new game for me; Der Dieb von Bagdad (Thief of Baghdad). The aim of this one is to steal four treaure chests from a range of six palaces by bribing guards, placing your thieves, and placing your guards to confound the attempts of others. All actions depend on the cards you hold which allow you to perform an action in the palace matching the guards (similar to Ticket to Ride). You can collect three cards per turn and place a piece or move a piece on the board, or you can skip a go, get three cards and a Dancing Girl Card, which acts as a wild card. There is some merit in collecting cards for awhile I discovered. However, when a treasure chest is stolen from a palace, the next one in the palace requires more thieves, therefore its best not to wait too long.
The two people who had played it before came first and second (Mason), I came third and Colin came last. I sense that with more experience this would be a fairly simple game. However, in my current condition I found it quite hard, although quite quick! It is made by Queen Games and is up to their ususal high standards.
Jon then introduced five of us to Die Mauer; a bluffing game in which you work collectively to build a castle wall. Jon had a copy of this to sell and I was tempted (despite Lisa's ruling that I cannot buy any games until 2008). However, when I got home I created a bootleg version!
Again, this is a simple game requiring an ability to remember who has already placed what and then trying to outbluff your opponents. I really enjoyed this (hence the homemade effort!) and would happily play it again. In the end I came third.
I then played Hey! That's My Fish with Mason and Colin. I managed to win by slicing off a fair chunk of ice; I think they were concentrating more on the 3-fish floes and so didn't spot what I was trying to do.
The three of us then moved on to Diamant whilst others went off for lunch. I managed to win this as well (and realised that Lisa and I have been playing it slightly wrong.. although after discussion we decided we like our way more!).
Colin and Mason then introduced me to the auction game, Modern Art. In this you represent a gallery and have to buy and sell works of modern art at varying forms of auction. The more popular the work of one artist becomes, the more expensive their work is in later rounds. I really enjoyed this as I quite like the psychological aspect of auction games. I managed to win this although I don't understand how!
I then joined four others (including Mason and another Paul) to play Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers for the first time. I have been curious about this for sometime, particularly as several people say they prefer it to original Carcassonne.
It has some nice features. Hunters can be placed in meadows (like farmers). They score 2 points for each animal in the meadow, although they lose one deer for each tiger that is also there. Rivers (as opposed to roads) are terminated by lakes. A fisherman scores for the number of tiles between lakes and the number of fish in those lakes. This made rivers quite profitable as long as you could finish them (unfinished features score nothing at the end - another change). My favourite feature was the fishing huts. Each player has two of these. They can be placed on a river system and, at games end, score for the total number of fish in the whole system; this could 'net' a lot of points!
The mountains worked like cities, with mushrooms instead of shields. Some mountain tiles contained gold nuggets, which allow you to draw a special tile. These had less common landscape variants, such as a three-way river junction, and some tiles which change the rules a little, thus allowing for high scoring if placed well.
I ended up winning this, mainly due to two high scoring fishing huts and a better-stocked-than-I-realised meadow! I enjoyed this game and would love to own a copy! I slightly prefer original Carcassonne, but I suspect only because I played it first. My only slight complaint was that the colouration of the tiles did not offer much of a visual contrast, which I found made it slightly harder to work out where pieces could fit.
All in all, a great day. I had a chat with Jon and several other 'regulars'. I played 4 new games (I always said I wanted to play at least 1 new game each time I went) and I managed to win 3 games (my best victory score ever!). More importantly, I had been putting off returning to Beyond Monopoly as I felt my neurological problems would hamper my enjoyment, would make me feel embarrassed and might even put me off games. I'm pleased I waited until I felt truly ready to return. As it was, some things were hard, but the games and the people were great, and made it worth the effort.
I forgot to note down scores or the names of other players...so my apologies to all concerned.
First up was a new game for me; Der Dieb von Bagdad (Thief of Baghdad). The aim of this one is to steal four treaure chests from a range of six palaces by bribing guards, placing your thieves, and placing your guards to confound the attempts of others. All actions depend on the cards you hold which allow you to perform an action in the palace matching the guards (similar to Ticket to Ride). You can collect three cards per turn and place a piece or move a piece on the board, or you can skip a go, get three cards and a Dancing Girl Card, which acts as a wild card. There is some merit in collecting cards for awhile I discovered. However, when a treasure chest is stolen from a palace, the next one in the palace requires more thieves, therefore its best not to wait too long.
The two people who had played it before came first and second (Mason), I came third and Colin came last. I sense that with more experience this would be a fairly simple game. However, in my current condition I found it quite hard, although quite quick! It is made by Queen Games and is up to their ususal high standards.
Jon then introduced five of us to Die Mauer; a bluffing game in which you work collectively to build a castle wall. Jon had a copy of this to sell and I was tempted (despite Lisa's ruling that I cannot buy any games until 2008). However, when I got home I created a bootleg version!
Again, this is a simple game requiring an ability to remember who has already placed what and then trying to outbluff your opponents. I really enjoyed this (hence the homemade effort!) and would happily play it again. In the end I came third.
I then played Hey! That's My Fish with Mason and Colin. I managed to win by slicing off a fair chunk of ice; I think they were concentrating more on the 3-fish floes and so didn't spot what I was trying to do.
The three of us then moved on to Diamant whilst others went off for lunch. I managed to win this as well (and realised that Lisa and I have been playing it slightly wrong.. although after discussion we decided we like our way more!).
Colin and Mason then introduced me to the auction game, Modern Art. In this you represent a gallery and have to buy and sell works of modern art at varying forms of auction. The more popular the work of one artist becomes, the more expensive their work is in later rounds. I really enjoyed this as I quite like the psychological aspect of auction games. I managed to win this although I don't understand how!
I then joined four others (including Mason and another Paul) to play Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers for the first time. I have been curious about this for sometime, particularly as several people say they prefer it to original Carcassonne.
It has some nice features. Hunters can be placed in meadows (like farmers). They score 2 points for each animal in the meadow, although they lose one deer for each tiger that is also there. Rivers (as opposed to roads) are terminated by lakes. A fisherman scores for the number of tiles between lakes and the number of fish in those lakes. This made rivers quite profitable as long as you could finish them (unfinished features score nothing at the end - another change). My favourite feature was the fishing huts. Each player has two of these. They can be placed on a river system and, at games end, score for the total number of fish in the whole system; this could 'net' a lot of points!
The mountains worked like cities, with mushrooms instead of shields. Some mountain tiles contained gold nuggets, which allow you to draw a special tile. These had less common landscape variants, such as a three-way river junction, and some tiles which change the rules a little, thus allowing for high scoring if placed well.
I ended up winning this, mainly due to two high scoring fishing huts and a better-stocked-than-I-realised meadow! I enjoyed this game and would love to own a copy! I slightly prefer original Carcassonne, but I suspect only because I played it first. My only slight complaint was that the colouration of the tiles did not offer much of a visual contrast, which I found made it slightly harder to work out where pieces could fit.
All in all, a great day. I had a chat with Jon and several other 'regulars'. I played 4 new games (I always said I wanted to play at least 1 new game each time I went) and I managed to win 3 games (my best victory score ever!). More importantly, I had been putting off returning to Beyond Monopoly as I felt my neurological problems would hamper my enjoyment, would make me feel embarrassed and might even put me off games. I'm pleased I waited until I felt truly ready to return. As it was, some things were hard, but the games and the people were great, and made it worth the effort.
Wednesday 24th January 2007
Lisa and I played cribbage. Lisa played well. I didn't. She won. The end.
Almost...
I seem to lack the ability to construct good hands at this game. Sometimes I was dealt fairly poor hands and Lisa admitted that she did have several amazingly good ones. But still....I feel I'm doing something wrong.
Its still a good game though.
Almost...
I seem to lack the ability to construct good hands at this game. Sometimes I was dealt fairly poor hands and Lisa admitted that she did have several amazingly good ones. But still....I feel I'm doing something wrong.
Its still a good game though.
Tuesday 23rd January 2007
Lisa and I have borrowed Uno Extreme (interestingly known as 'Uno Attack' in the US). We didn't think it would play very well with just two, but we gave it a go. The rules say that the loser is the first to 500. In the first hand Lisa scored 1. We realised at that point that we may need to scale down the scoring! In the second hand Paul scored 2, effectively confirming our suspicions! Lisa then scored 20, bringing her total to 21. We decided to play to only 200. Paul eventually won scoring 66 to Lisa's 240. The game lasted for 8 hands.
We actually quite enjoyed this. We struggled to remember the powers of the special cards so there was a fair bit of rules checking. The battery-powered card dispenser was good fun; although I seemed to be dealt 4+ cards with depressing regularity. Of course, having more cards can be an advantage....
We strongly felt that this game would be great fun in a crowd with alcohol being involved. It did not work so well with just 2 though, as we suspected.
We actually quite enjoyed this. We struggled to remember the powers of the special cards so there was a fair bit of rules checking. The battery-powered card dispenser was good fun; although I seemed to be dealt 4+ cards with depressing regularity. Of course, having more cards can be an advantage....
We strongly felt that this game would be great fun in a crowd with alcohol being involved. It did not work so well with just 2 though, as we suspected.
Sunday 21st January 2007
Lisa, Eleanor and I went to visit Sarah, Stuart, Maisy and Henry today for a lovely Sunday lunch. Me being me I took a game along with me to see if they could be persuaded to have a go. Whilst Eleanor and Henry napped, the rest of us played Diamant. It appeared to go down well, as we had 3 games of it!
Sarah did well winning the first game with 39 jewels. Lisa was next with 17, Stuart and Maisy (who is aged 8 I should point out!) were next with 15 and Paul brought up the rear with only 8. Everyone had got to grips with the rules of the game really quickly (one of the nice things about this game).
The second game saw a reversal of fortunes. Paul won with 63 jewels, Lisa was next with 53, then Maisy with 39, Stuart with 24 and finally Sarah, the previous winner, with 22. Interestingly Mine 5 collapsed after only 2 cards were drawn... yet it was still a fairly high scoring game. In fact there were only 9 gemstones left uncollected at the end of the game; Lisa and I do not think there have ever been so few left when we have played before.
The third game was disastrous. Mines collapsed very quickly and few jewels were collected at all. However, Maisy won with 11 jewels, Sarah managed 5 and Paul had 1. Lisa and Stuart failed to collect any!
Everyone agreed it had been fun and that Diamant is a good, fun, quick game; just what was needed after Sunday lunch.
I was then persuaded, by Stuart and Maisy, to have a go at the Disney Edition of Monopoly. I agreed. I haven't played Monopoly for a few years and, to be honest, I used to quite like it. I had forgotten how long it takes to play (although that is a good discipline to instil in kids!) and how repetitive it can become.
This edition had some nice features; the pieces were weighty reproductions of Disney characters and the spaces on the board were movies rather than places. In the middle was a giant pop-up Disney-esque castle which was stunning (although it did prevent players seeing the far side of the board).
The problems started with the rule changes. For starters (this may have been a house rule set to make play easier for littlies) everyone had £5000 more than you normally start with. This meant that there was no disincentive to just buy everything you land on... your money isn't going to run out quick enough to stop you doing this.
There is a golden Tinkerbell statuette who moves on to the next property when a double is rolled. If you land on this fairy space and someone already owns the movie, then the bank pays the fine rather than the player. I quite liked this random element to begin with, but later in the game I found it annoying as it repeatedly stopped people having to mortgage property thus elongating the game. If you land on an unowned movie with Tinkerbell on it then you get the movie FOR FREE! I felt that this really didn't add anything to the game, apart from, again, making it longer. I admit I did benefit from this feature (once), but interestingly, Maisy (who won in the end) benefitted from this several times.
The stations have been replaced with modes of transport (including Mr Incredible's car..which I really like!). You can choose to 'drive' the vehicles to cut the corners off the board and go straight to the next 'vehicle' (think 'station'!) but efffectively miss a go. This meant that you could bypass expensive properties and avoid paying for landing on them. Again, this seemed good fun to start with but ends up making for a long game.
Now, I admit, I did lose! But I still think my dislike of the game is warranted. I would play it again with Maisy, because she was fun to play with and I had a good time. I would also play standard Monopoly (if required) as it might now seem quite fast! However, the rule changes made it a very long game and it reminded me of playing Monopoly years ago; it starts out being fun, but then it becomes repetitive and ultimately horribly competitive - or you get knocked out and feel obliged to spend half an hour watching everyone else slog it out. Oh the joys of childhood....
Sarah did well winning the first game with 39 jewels. Lisa was next with 17, Stuart and Maisy (who is aged 8 I should point out!) were next with 15 and Paul brought up the rear with only 8. Everyone had got to grips with the rules of the game really quickly (one of the nice things about this game).
The second game saw a reversal of fortunes. Paul won with 63 jewels, Lisa was next with 53, then Maisy with 39, Stuart with 24 and finally Sarah, the previous winner, with 22. Interestingly Mine 5 collapsed after only 2 cards were drawn... yet it was still a fairly high scoring game. In fact there were only 9 gemstones left uncollected at the end of the game; Lisa and I do not think there have ever been so few left when we have played before.
The third game was disastrous. Mines collapsed very quickly and few jewels were collected at all. However, Maisy won with 11 jewels, Sarah managed 5 and Paul had 1. Lisa and Stuart failed to collect any!
Everyone agreed it had been fun and that Diamant is a good, fun, quick game; just what was needed after Sunday lunch.
I was then persuaded, by Stuart and Maisy, to have a go at the Disney Edition of Monopoly. I agreed. I haven't played Monopoly for a few years and, to be honest, I used to quite like it. I had forgotten how long it takes to play (although that is a good discipline to instil in kids!) and how repetitive it can become.
This edition had some nice features; the pieces were weighty reproductions of Disney characters and the spaces on the board were movies rather than places. In the middle was a giant pop-up Disney-esque castle which was stunning (although it did prevent players seeing the far side of the board).
The problems started with the rule changes. For starters (this may have been a house rule set to make play easier for littlies) everyone had £5000 more than you normally start with. This meant that there was no disincentive to just buy everything you land on... your money isn't going to run out quick enough to stop you doing this.
There is a golden Tinkerbell statuette who moves on to the next property when a double is rolled. If you land on this fairy space and someone already owns the movie, then the bank pays the fine rather than the player. I quite liked this random element to begin with, but later in the game I found it annoying as it repeatedly stopped people having to mortgage property thus elongating the game. If you land on an unowned movie with Tinkerbell on it then you get the movie FOR FREE! I felt that this really didn't add anything to the game, apart from, again, making it longer. I admit I did benefit from this feature (once), but interestingly, Maisy (who won in the end) benefitted from this several times.
The stations have been replaced with modes of transport (including Mr Incredible's car..which I really like!). You can choose to 'drive' the vehicles to cut the corners off the board and go straight to the next 'vehicle' (think 'station'!) but efffectively miss a go. This meant that you could bypass expensive properties and avoid paying for landing on them. Again, this seemed good fun to start with but ends up making for a long game.
Now, I admit, I did lose! But I still think my dislike of the game is warranted. I would play it again with Maisy, because she was fun to play with and I had a good time. I would also play standard Monopoly (if required) as it might now seem quite fast! However, the rule changes made it a very long game and it reminded me of playing Monopoly years ago; it starts out being fun, but then it becomes repetitive and ultimately horribly competitive - or you get knocked out and feel obliged to spend half an hour watching everyone else slog it out. Oh the joys of childhood....
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