June 05, 2008

Participants: Jon, Binyamin, Nadine, Gili, Bill, Shirley, Ari

Shirley is Bill's wife, come to the group for the first time. Binyamin won every game he played tonight.

Mykerinos

Binyamin+, Jon

Nadine opted to sit this out, which I believe she has come to regret seeing as how long her Puerto Rico game ended up taking.

Mykerinos is actually an elegant game. When I first played it, I thought certain moves were fairly scripted, but this is not the case. It's definitely a game of tradeoffs, all the time. Unfortunately, in the fourth and last round, decisions really are sort of scripted, since nearly every move is a simple math calculation (in two player).

I haven't played this in a while, whereas Binyamin had. Therefore, I forgot a few rules and was blindsided by them when they came up in play. For instance, at the end of the game I forgot that after one person passes, the other players have only one more turn. I kept thinking that the other player can play himself out. This made a real difference.

I knew, but kept forgetting as I actually played, that control is for quadrant, not per board. As a result, I completely screwed up the first set of placement actions. I insisted that we stat again, since having played with the wrong goals in mind, I had lost every single quadrant. I restarted the game after the next two placements again, because I started out doing it again. Only on the third try did I finally get it.

I still lost by a great amount, because I neglected the library. That was totally my fault, however.

Mississippi Queen

Binyamin+, Ari+, Jon -2

I had played this only once, but the rules were fairly easy to remember. The only fuzziness was, when you pushed another player, did you drop speed as well as movement, or only movement?

It was a close game, not too long, and worth playing again.

Race for the Galaxy

Binyamin 36, Jon 35, Ari 31

Binyamin is convinced that the game is simply too short, and should be extended to 20 buildings and a lot more VPs. I am convinced that, if not the winner, then the losers are fairly well known by turn five, making any game extension simply more torturous to them.

Meanwhile, I'm convinced the, while there are multiple paths to victory, some people are going to draw a cohesive set of cards, and some aren't. The former have the potential to win, while the latter don't. Which makes the game torturous to the latter, anyway. But then, I can't explain how David K and Binyamin always seem to beat me. So I really need to study some strategies before I make any final conclusions.

To appease Binyamin, I thought we would try that the game ends when someone has built 8 devels or 8 settlements, and not simply 12 cards. And we added 12 more VPs. I think 10 would have been the better number, as the game was still nearing its end as Binyamin dumped 1 point devels nearly every round.

To me, any game where the end can be "hurried" when someone is ahead is problematic. It's what sinks Lost Valley as a game, too.

Power Grid

Binyamin 17, Ari 15, Jon 14

We played in Central Europe, and with the new deck of power plants. And, as usual, with the top four cards of the power plant deck face up (but still accessible only in order). We played in the three Eastern provinces. I started in the middle of the board, which squashed my expansion and that was nearly that. I had more capacity two rounds before the end, but less cash, and so I couldn't solidify my capacity and buy the fuel I needed and also buy the eight or so cities I needed in the last two rounds.

Binyamin adds: We totally forgot about the -1 discount for garbage [in Wien]. I had the 21 plant - 3 garbege for 5 cities - for at least 4 rounds and didn’t take any discount. That might have made an absurd change, as if I had more money and as I thought Ari has lots of money. I might have tried to go for a 7 plant and not finish the game, which would have been wrong, of course, but I didn’t know that. Interesting thought, how a bit more money could actually make me, maybe, be lose the game.

Puerto Rico

Shirley 57, Nadine 44, Bill 40+, Gili 40-

During the time it took us to play half of Mykerinos, Mississippi Queen, Race for the Galaxy, and Power Grid, these guys played one game of Puerto Rico. It was Shirley's first game, and Bill's second game. Shirley really loved it, and winning by a mile didn't hurt.

She ended with 36 shipping points and Custom's House. Bill had some good shipping, but no big buildings. Otherwise, I don't know what happened.

Nadine adds: I enjoyed Puerto Rico even though it was very slow. Part of that was for multiple explanations, which I don't mind. Bill got a Wharf near the end. He had enough for a big building afterwards, but it was too late to mayor it. Shirley was third and had a Sugar monopoly for a long time, Bill had early Tobacco, and got a Factory. Shirley had Harbor which gave her a lot of points. Gili produced Coffee and Indigo only. I had a Factory and Wharf and Coffee.

Bill had 3 corns and shipped 5 corns on his wharf at least twice, he also had a small warehouse.

It's Alive

Shirley 57, Nadine 53, Bill 45

Again, Shirley's first play and Bill's second. Assuming that Shirley finished her board first, it looks like she won with the board completion bonus.

Nadine adds: I finished my It's Alive board first, because I always pretty much play the basic version, but it wasn't enough this time. Shirley had the some score in Puerto Rico and It's Alive, and won all her games too, though two isn't the same as 4.

March 28, 2007

Participants: Jon, Adam, David K, Gili, Tal

A light and short Pre-Passover game night.

Mykerinos

Adam 57, David 56, Jon 51

After posting our first session reports to the Geek, and getting encouragement to try this again, I decided to try this again.

As I'd said in the last report, I thought it was good, but believed there might be some problems. In particular, it seems that the museum basically gets jammed in the first round or two, and after that it becomes unplayable - as do the brown cards that let you put pieces there.

According to the Geek, this is group-think on our part. Apparently, other groups take the cards in the first round, and then use the brown abilities in the second and third rounds. I find it hard to believe that this is a successful strategy. As I mentioned, this is one of those NxM games, where you need a balance of both N and M.

A 5 point cube in the museum times 5 cards is superior to 20 cards with no cubes in the museum. And cards are in plentiful supply, while museum space is not. That means a rush to the museum, no matter how you slice it.

As far as the variable worth of the cards in the later rounds, that makes the game less interesting rather than more interesting, because there is less competition for specific cards. All in all, something doesn't quite hand together right.

In our game, the first round saw no brown cards at all, so there was no question about rushing to the museum. Somehow, David managed to get 3 out of the 5 prime spaces, leaving 1 each to Adam and me.

David and Adam kept passing before I was ready to quit, leaving me extra cubes and not enough actions to use them.

Adam, however, took many more high-scoring tiles. David had freer choice of what to go for in the last round, but he needed to catch up. He could have, but on the very last move of the game he chose the wrong tile, giving Adam a complete set of 5 colors, which was enough to give him the win.

Taj Mahal

David 51, Jon 48, Gili 46, Adam 24

This may look like close scores, but it wasn't really. I took a commanding early lead, while David reinforced his hand round after round. From round 7 and on, he dominated commodities. I couldn't let him take them too easily, so I had to fight him a little, which resulted in both of us draining cards, with him draining slightly faster than me. But it wasn't enough.

he overtook me round 8 or so; by round 10, I knew I had no way to win. Meanwhile, Gili was keeping close pace behind me, but just far enough behind. After the twelfth round, she lay down the largest point hand I've ever seen in the game: 12 points. Which was almost enough to catch me.

Adam was trailing behind, knowing he couldn't catch up, which is one of the slight flaws of the game.

Tichu

Jon/Tal 230, David/Adam 70

We played two hands of this, but David and Adam had to leave early. In the first game, no one called Tichu and we all seemed to have pretty bad hands. In the second round I got back almost exactly what I passed and no one called Tichu again. This time, Tal and I managed to both go out first.

Yehuda

January 31, 2007

Participants: Jon, David R, Elijah, Binaymin, Nadine, Adam, Zack, Eyal

David R is an American in Israel on the Birthright program; actually,
he extended his visit after the program for a few months. He was happy
to find a game group in Jerusalem, and we are happy to have him over.

Attendance was fairly light this evening, but we had a good time.

The Menorah Game

Jon+, David R

It's always my pleasure to introduce new players to the game, even if
only two players and even if playing the basic version.

For Sale

Elijah 91, Zack 75, Nadine 73

This is not one of Nadine's favorites, but she gamely played it as a
filler game.

Go

Jon+, Adam

Adam had been practicing, going to the Go club and reading up on Go
strategy and the like, which gave him even more of an advantage than
usual. Furthermore, I haven't really graduated from the 11x11 board,
yet, but Adam wanted to play 13x13.

I'm pretty lost on a 13x13 board. As a result, Adam gave me two stones
to start with. While I'm not an expert on Go, I'm still a fairly strong
tactical game player.

As a result, and combined with the fact that we wanted to play quickly
so that we could join others in a larger game, Adam made a few mistakes
in play which I was able to exploit, while I only made one major error
(that I noticed).

Adam resigned when it was obvious to him that he would lose the last
major corner he needed to compete.

Wall of China

David R 42, Binyamin 40, Eyal 38

Another filler game played before the main games, I didn't see what
happened and I don't know the game. It appeared to be one where the
theme was not relevant to the gameplay.

Mykerinos

Binyamin 57, Adam 34, Elijah 31, Eyal 30

I taught them all how to play and they all appeared to enjoy it. With
a bit more strategy information than I had about the museum, the
resulting control of the museum was more evenly distributed among the
players, and therefore appeared to me to be heading to a close game.

This was obviously not the case, however. Apparently Binyamin was able
to pull every five-point tile he needed, and collect sets. I don't know
what happened with all the other players.

El Grande

Nadine 125, Jon 111, Zack 75, David R 66

Speaking of runaway winners, we taught this game to Zack and David.
Nadine took a commanding lead already by the end of the first scoring
round, around 15 points ahead of the rest of us in a pack. By the end
of the second scoring round she was 30 points ahead of me, and I was
around 20 points ahead of Zack and David R.

Partially this was owing to Nadine dropping single cubes in five areas
and then moving the King in the first round of play, and partially it
was due to a lot of clashing for second place which left Nadine taking
first place and no one at all taking second - a lot of wasted resources.

We seriously considered resigning, but Nadine wanted to play it out,
and the game is still enjoyable even when you're losing, although
obviously a bit discouraging for all that.

Nadine took interim scoring between scoring rounds two and three which
put her even further ahead. But my continuous and directed assault on
her positions, ultimately futile, were doing good damage. I managed to
catch up 30 points on her by the end score, which was much better than
I had anticipated.

Santiago

Jon 113, Zack 111, Nadine 103, Eyal 102

Another non-favorite of Nadine's, this is still a favorite of mine. We
played for the first time with the optional oases, which didn't add very
much to the game, but neither did it hurt the game in any way.

The water irrigation was plentiful and abundant in our game, so that the
water carrier wasn't making much money and points were high. Only one
field dried out at the very beginning of the game, and only two other
fields lost any cubes at all the rest of the game.

Fields were large and contiguous. Zack managed a great play of singly
occupying two separated potato fields and then connecting them while
I was busy with a large pea field. It netted him 70 points for that
field alone.

Cosmic Encounter

Elijah/Jon+, David+, Binaymin, Adam

Elijah had to go near the end of the game and Nadine briefly took over
after which I took over. Eyal had begun learning the game near the
beginning, but he switched to Santiago and gave David his seat in
return. That was a good switch, I think, as there was too much English
for Eyal, and it was more the type of game that David has experience
with I think.

They played two powers each and a few comets (which I detest). I
inherited a position where everyone had four bases. After being briefly
thwarted for the win by Binyamin who Filthed a planet, bringing me back
down to four bases, I captured the win on the next challenge with the
joint assistance of David.

Only after Binyamin went home did he write me an email saying that we
forgot that David also lost his fourth base on the Filthed planet, and
therefore he had only four bases at the end to my five, and therefore
wouldn't have allied with me if we had noticed/remembered this. Ah
well.

January 24, 2007

Participants: Jon, Nadine, Gili, Zack, Dylan, Adam, Eyal, Binaymin, Rachel

Eyal returns again, as does Dylan, but we push off roleplaying yet again.

Mykerinos

Jon 49, Nadine 46, Gili 30, Zack 25

This was our first play. For a review, see my blog entry.

In our game, I started by securing an x5 in black and brown. I didn't realize brown's potential until too late; I will correct this in the next game. I decided to pick up either first or second in three areas each round, and either first or second seemed about equal to me, since there is typically enough left over for second place that whatever first place chose, I simply chose something else equally good.

Another thing I sort of missed in my first game was the value of third and fourth place wins in the first two rounds, where cards are typically left over. Another thing to correct in the next game.

Regardless, I still pulled off a win of 49 points, to Nadine's 46. Zack, who only had a single x5, and Gili who had none, were not really in competition.

Caylus

Dylan 93, Eyal 76, Adam 69

Adam taught these two how to play. The game actually went fairly quickly ending around the same time as our Mykerinos game.

Poker

Adam, Dylan

While waiting a few minutes for us to finish Mykerinos, Adam and Dylan played a few hands of five card stud. Another first for the game group.

Princes of Florence

Gili 54, Jon 48, Nadine 46, Binyamin 45, Zack 36

Proving that most Jesters doesn't equal the win if you spend too much on them, and especially in a five-player game. The order of play was as follows, with me starting first. In our game, players may choose one profession out of two, instead of out of five, and the twenty-first profession is flipped up and available for recruiting but may not be purchased.

Jon	Zack	Gili	Binaymin	Nadine	Notes
Recruiter 800 Travel Profession	Jester 1200 Profession Opinion	Builder 700 Travel Profession	Lake 200 Profession Watch Maker [+2] (+3)	Forest 200 Profession Opinion	Second player is the one who can afford not to buy a profession in the first round (and if he doesn't, third player can also skip, and so on), but Zack bought, so everyone else did, as well. My Recruiter came cheaply, partly because others didn't recognize them as more valuable in a five player game (despite my warning).
Recruiter 700 Opera [+3] Choreographer [+0] (+3)	Builder 900 Laboratory [+3] Religion	Forest 200 Opinion Bonus	Jester 1200 Travel Bonus	Lake 200 Travel Bonus	I get a second cheap Recruiter. The professions were all gone last turn. Since I am last player, it is easy for me to take the three point bonus, while playing a work for cash. I still have five more works to play.
Prestige 200 Bonus Bonus	Forest 200 University [+3] Philosopher [+0] (+3)	Recruiter 700 Religion University [+3]	Jester 1100 Religion Poet [+0]	Builder 600 Opera [+3] Composer [+2]	I didn't realize that this was Binyamin's second Jester, or I would have bid one more time. Gili and Zack are both shy on cash at this point. There are eight more actions to go; I have five works to play, which leaves me three actions, and I have two bonus cards. At this point I figured three more bonus cards and then five works, each with a bonus. Except that I didn't think I would be able to get all my works out without a Jester or two. Also, my Prestige and Bonus cards both required me to have Lakes, as did half my works.
Lake 200 Bonus Religion	Jester 1100 Library [+3] Bonus	Prestige 200 Philosopher [+0] (+3) Workshop [+3]	Recruiter 900 Opinion Theater [+3]	Park 400 Laboratory [+3] Physicist [+3]	Zack and Binyamin both have two Jesters each, but they've paid high prices for them. Now Binyamin is also working on Recruiters. I get my first Lake, which is good, but I take Religion instead of a Bonus, thinking that the +3 for one of my works, plus potential +3 for something I recruit, is better than another Bonus. In this, I'm wrong, as I had plenty to recruit that used Lake and Travel, so I used Religion only for that one work, and a Bonus would likely have been at least as good or better. Gili fought briefly for the Park, and Zack is out of cash, again.
Lake 200 [+3] Mathematician [+4] Bonus	Park 600 [-6] Bonus Jurist [+6]	Prestige 200 Bell Maker [+6] Bonus	Builder 300 Cartographer [+4] (+3) Library [-3] [+3]	Jester 800 Chapel [+3] Bonus	Zack and Binyamin both pay the price for not having enough cash. I gain some cash and points carefully from my works. I'm starting to worry, because I know I can't play all of my works and I don't have the Jesters that I need. My second Lake helps both Prestige and Bonus. Even now, I don't see Gili sneaking up behind me.
Jester 400 Painter [+8] Watch Maker [+8]	Lake 200 Botanist [+10] --pass--	Park 200 Theologian [+10] Studio [+3]	Recruiter 600 Dramatist [+6] (+3) Tower [+3]	Forest 200? [+3] Organist [+7] (+3) Bonus	I was thrilled to get a Jester at this price, even though I still couldn't play my last work, yet. I was less thrilled when Binyamin picked up his second Recruiter.
Jester 400 Composer [+8] Physicist [+8]	Prestige 400 Alchemist [+11] --pass--	Park 200 [+3] Bonus Sculptor [+11]	Forest 400 Jurist [+10] Astrologer [+12]	Lake 200 [+3] Bonus Pharmacist [+14] {+3)	I was again thrilled to get a Jester, which finally allowed me to play my last work. However, Nadine took a second Lake which reduced my Prestige bonus from +6 to +3. Gili ended up unable to play both of her last works, so she took a bonus and played one of them. I thought that that was that. However, my Prestige card was worth only 3, Zack's was worth 7, and Gili's two cards were worth +13, which gave her first place.

Wildlife

Zack+, Binyamin

Binyamin and Zack wanted to play this, and Binyamin was only willing to play two or three players, since it was already ten o'clock. They played two player.

Tichu

Jon/Dylan 210, Adam/Gili 90

We played three hands. Dylan called Tichu in the second, but Adam went out first, which would have been the same result if Adam had simply called Tichu first. In the third hand, we both went out before our opponents.

Puerto Rico

Rachel 47, Jon 45, Nadine 41

The scores were predicted from our seating position, according to Nadine. However, the seating position is less relevant when we are using different buildings (and especially no Small Market), and when I screw up the classic opening by starting with Builder/Construction Hut.

We almost never play with Construction Hut, but I was playing with a four point building that gave +2 VP for each quarry you have, so for once the building was worth it. Unfortunately, still not enough to beat Rachel.

Nadine was able to man and produce indigo on the second turn thanks to the unusual opening. Both Rachel and I acquired early Hospices on our next plays, because Corn hadn't made a showing on any of the first three settlement pools, which implied that they would be readily available in later pools. This was correct, and combined with my Construction Hut, made Settler always productive for me.

Meanwhile, Rachel was using Hospice just as well. Nadine had early trading in Tobacco, and I followed it up with early trading in Coffee, but she was also able to secure Tobacco shipping (producing three each time), while I was never able to ship Coffee. Rachel took Tobacco as her fourth good type and acquire Harbor. Even though she ended with no big buildings, she had 31 shipping points to my 7, which was enough to clinch the victory.