May 06, 2009

Participants: Jon, Gadi, Hershel, Max, Nadine, Abraham, Gili, Claude

Gadi is the guy who organized the Board Game Studies Colloquium in Israel a few weeks ago. He came to return my games that I had left for the colloquium members to play, to learn how to play Ark of the Covenant, which someone had left him, and to learn a little more about the game group. He is starting a Board Game Studies department within the folklore department of Hebrew U. He dropped by early, around 5:30.

Claude is someone who spoke at the conference about four pretty wooden games that he developed - all abstract or word tiles - and which he is now trying to get manufactured. Turns out that he is also a friend of Gili's. This was his first time enjoying games longer than a half an hour.

Ark of the Covenant

Jon+, Gadi

I'd never played this version of Carcassonne, but it took me only a few moments to learn the rules. It's closer to Hunters and Gatherers than it is to regular Carc. The main changes are a) and ark piece you can move around when you have nothing better to do, and each time it passes a meeple that meeple gains a point; b) single-tile cloisters (or keeps or something) where the person with the most people on or adjacent to it when it is surrounded by tiles on all four sides gains 7 points; c) a double-scoring meeple that you can use once in a city; and d) unfinished items score at the end of the game: full points for roads, half points for cities and cloisters.

On a few of the tiles it was unclear when a road ended or continued, and whether a road that was broken in two by rubble meant that the two sides of the road should be considered a single field or two distinct fields.

I had no problem playing, having played versions of Carcassonne many times. Gadi played around half a game and didn't quite figure out the strategy in that time. We stopped when many more people arrived.

Jon, Abraham

I enjoy Carcassonne but rarely get to play it with my group, but Abraham was willing to try this version. He had played other versions before. When scoring the end of the game, we removed meeples too quickly, and thus are not sure whether Abraham had control of a certain field or we both shared it. So I can't tell you who won.

Dvonn

Hershel+, Dvonn

First play for both. I figured that the best first introduction for Claude would be an abstract. Nadine had borrowed Yinsh, so I gave them this. I think they both liked it, although it will of course take several more games to get a good feel for any sort of strategy.

I saw the last few moves, and on the last move Hershel could have won with a complete victory (total elimination), but he missed it. Instead he won something like 20+ to 3.

Claude

Hershel+, Claude

Yes, Claude named (temporarily) one of his games Claude. It's a pretty wooden game based on Crossword Squares, but each player places three dead spaces before the game starts, there is a limited supply of letter tiles, and you score only if an entire line (wall to dead space, or wall to wall) is a word, 1 point per word length.

I enjoy Crossword Squares, so I enjoy this game, and the components are really nice. of course, it helps if you are fluid in English, which is not the case for Claude.

Gili, Gadi

Or Gadi.

It's Alive

Nadine 50, Max 40, Gili 37, Gadi 33

This is a great gateway game. First play for Gadi, and probably not too many more for Max. I didn't see the game progression. Gadi complimented me on it, afterward.

El Grande

Max 117, Nadine 111, Abraham 102, Hershel 101

It took a while to decide what to play next with newbies in the group, but a few jumped when I mentioned El Grande. Nadine usually wins, but she claims not so in four player games; she nearly won anyway, and anyway I don't believe her. First play for Hershel and Abraham, I believe. Only second or third for Max.

Max was slightly ahead after the first third, 35 to Nadine's 34. By the second third, he was way ahead, 93 to 77. This gap closed considerably at the end, as you can see. But the order didn't change throughout the game.

Settlers of Catan

Jon 10, Gadi 9, Gili 6, Claude 4

While they El Grande'd, I broke out the big guns for Gadi and Claude. Claude had some trepidations about a game that took longer than half an hour, but we assured him that that was because he wasn't playing the right games, aka games that are actually fun to play the whole way through.

Gili gave a lightning explanation all in Hebrew; apparently she's done this for SoC many, many times.

Both Claude and Gadi were suitably impressed by the game; for the first time this evening, Gadi actually came close to winning. On the last round he stole Longest Road from Claude and could have won if his development card was a VP, but it was only a soldier. Claude actually traded him the card he needed to steal Longest Road, much to his chagrin. I was guaranteed the win when Gadi finished, turning up a soldier to claim Longest Army.

It was a crowded board, as it normally is with four players. As first player, I placed my second settlement in the second best remaining spot instead of the best one - the best one would have nearly entirely choked Claude off right from the start of the game, and I didn't want his first game experience to be entirely frustrating. I think I make the right choice.

I ended up forgoing Ore because of that, but I was able to trade for it when I needed it. Wheat was in short supply in the early game, but eventually I built cities and more settlements on the wheat hexes and pulled in 5 at a time. The robber also played a part - I blocked off Gadi's 6 Ore hex several times, while the 8 didn't roll when it was on my 8 Brick hex. So yeah, there was some luck.

Magic: the Gathering

Gili+, Jon

First play for Gili. I taught her how to play in about five minutes, and then I pulled a random bunch of cards from my commons collection; lots and lots of junk. I had to toss half of them just to get anything resembling playable cards. Then I tossed 15 lands and 25 cards to Gili (blue and green), took the same for me (red and white), and we played.

We both had to struggle to come up with anything good to play, but eventually Gili got out a Craw Worm and an Illusionary Forces. I tried to Fissure the Worm, but Gili could Power Sink me for more than I could pay. I sacrificed a lot of little guys for a while, but eventually succumbed.

I gave Gili the cards to take home. I think I need some more lands. If anyone has MtG lands lying around, I could use some extras (especially swamps).

Fairy Tale

Abraham 45, Max 39, Nadine 37, Hershel 34

First play for Max, and possibly Hershel as well. Yeah, the game is pretty random in the end, but it's still a quick and decent filler.

April 29, 2009

Participants: Nadine, Hershel, Abraham, Jon

Game night at Nadine's house following Yom Haatzmaut. I arrived last.

Taluva

Jon 3/1, Hershel 2/1, Avraham 2/0/+, Nadine 2/0/-

I suggest this as an opener, as I'm still exploring it, it's not too long, it's pretty, and it's elegant. First play for Abraham.

I think I played one more time than either Hershel or Nadine, and this is my type of game, so I was able to plan several rounds ahead in certain areas, while the others were still exploring the possibility space. Toward the end, the others colluded to see if they could stop me, but every place they could hurt or stop me was protected.

Abraham picked the game up well and would have done better, but he forgot one of the rules which meant that his master plan couldn't come to fruition. I suspect he won't make that mistake next time.

Everyone enjoyed the game for what it was. I have yet to play it with less than four players; the extra turns for each player would make a significant difference, I believe.

Dominion

Nadine 30, Jon 29, Hershel 24, Abraham 24

Suggested by Abraham, and enjoyed by all. The set of card contained no attack cards and Gardens to boot. There were ample extra actions to go around. So the game ended reasonably quickly.

Abraham tried a unique strategy of using all of his extra buys to acquire coppers, and then buying several Gardens. But because of the length of the game, he could still make them only worth 3 each by game end, which was not enough. I thought I was doing well, but I also knew that Nadine had 2 Provinces before I started buying mine, so although I caught up, it wasn't quite enough.

Jon 32, Nadine 24, Hershel 23, Abraham 22

We had Gardens again, but this time no extra actions, and no extra cash, except for Militia. To make matters worse, we had Thief, which made buying Gold's nigh impossible; in fact, no one did.

I think someone got to 7 cash twice in the game. Instead the Duchies wet first, and I finished the Gardens while Nadine finished the Estates. Hard to work with Gardens when someone is stealing your cards all the time, but I managed to steal enough back to make my Gardens each worth 3.

Bridge

Jon/Hershel, Nadine/Abraham

Hershel hadn't played in many years, and it turns out that even when he had, he didn't use any sort of bidding system. Abraham is very much a beginner. So we did a lot of learning. Hershel and I made two partials and set our opponents in a partial. They made one partial.

It's Alive

Jon 49, Nadine 42, Abraham 27, Hershel 22

Abraham suggested we play this, and Hershel wondered if I wasn't already sick of it, but I'm not. In fact, I'm still trying out new strategies.

Jack the publisher seems to feel that you should never buy on your turn, and I tried something like that, but it's not always practical. In any case, I won not because of any strategy, but because I drew all three 10 cost coffins (and one villager). Nadine drew a coffin and no villager, while Abraham drew both 4 and 6 villagers. I ended with no cash, while Abraham had more than he could score.

Tichu

Jon/Hershel 535, Nadine/Abraham 265

We taught this to Hershel who liked it. It's certainly less brain-intensive and more forgiving than Bridge.

I started with a Tichu, but lost most of the points: 115 to 85. They won most of the point in the next round, too: 140 to 160.

I bid and made Tichu again, but we actually ended with a -15 score to their 115: 235 to 265. I keep saying that Tichu is more important than points, and it is, but I guess you do need to look out for points.

Hershel ventured a Tichu on the last round and he made it. My hand was equally good, so I went out second, giving us a final victory.

April 22, 2009

Participants: Gili, Hershel, David K, Nadine, Jon

Game night was moved to Gili's as I had some commitments.

Notre Dame

Gili 68, Nadine 64, David 59, Hershel 59

First play for Hershel. They started this before I got there. I didn't really follow the game.

Princes of Florence

Hershel 55, Jon 54, Nadine 53, David, Gili

First play for Hershel. I didn't note either David's or Gili's scores, but they were less than 50 and more than 40.

Both Gili and Nadine had 3 builders by the end of the game; Gili got hers on the first three rounds. David made a number of cascading mistakes, so that he was one WV away from playing his last work. Nadine only made one mistake, but it was forgetting to acquire the requirements on her prestige card, which lost her enough points to go from first to third. Nadine adds: I'd rather play well and lose 'accidentally' than play poorly and win 'accidentally'.

Hershel bought prestige cards on rounds 1 and 2, and ended the game with 15 points from them, winning the game by a nose. I thought I played relatively perfectly, but it just wasn't enough, I guess. I played a work on the first round, something I haven't done for a while, though it earned me some financial security and gave me the best work on round 1. I also got best work on rounds 6 and 7 (the last with a 30 WV work).

April 13, 2009: Games Day

Participants: Jon, Koby, Zohar, Itamar, Oren, Nadine, Elijah, Gili, Hershel, Adam, Abraham, Binyamin, Tzvi Yehuda, Hannah, Yoseph, Yael, Dekel, Rachel A, Bill

Koby, Zohar, and Itamar arrived from the Rechovot group. Oren is also from that area. T"Y is Binyamin's son, and Hannah is his mother. Yoseph came to our group a few times a while ago, and Yael is a good friend of both mine and Rachel's, who came to the group before it became an official group. Dekel is a friend of Zohar's. The rest are group regulars.

Amun-Re

Elijah 45, Yoseph 43, Itamar 39, Yael 30

First play for Yael and Itamar.

Cosmic Encounter

Elijah+, Yoseph+, Adam+, Nadine, Zohar

First play for two of them, I forget which. Double powers seems a bit much for a first play, but I don't get to set the rules. A triple win.

Binyamin+, Dekel+, Elijah+, Adam

First play for Dekel. Another triple win, this time against a lone defender.

Dominion

Itamar 24+, Koby 24-, Zohar, Oren

Itamar won on the tie.

Koby 36, Jon 27, Binyamin 25

Jon 54, Nadine 42, Gili 21

Nadine started straight off for the Duchy's, which I warned her wouldn't work. She did better than I expected, however. I trashed a lot of coppers and silvers to get golds.

Fairy Tale

Elijah+, Oren, Nadine

First play for Elijah and Oren. Played as filler, and I think interrupted before finishing.

Imperial

Binyamin, Jon, Hannah, Gili, Tzvi Yehuda

Binyamin taught this to all of us (except Tzvi Yehuda). I had been interested in learning it, as it is a sequel to Antike, a game I very much enjoy. We ended up quitting the game after a few turns our of a combination of boredom, annoyance, and frustration.

It looks like the core of the game is interesting, though very long. Our major problems were situational: Hannah and Tzvi Yehuda really don't speak any English, so translation had to go back and forth all the time. Also, this didn't seem to be Hannah's type of game, and she was slow to learn every rule, and could make no decisions as to what to do on any turn. Tvzi Yehuda also hed to be reminded all the time when it was his turn.

The other major problem, to me, was one of the major mechanics of the game. Unlike Antike - and nearly every other game in the universe - where each player does their best on a turn by taking their turn. Turns are taken by the countries on the board, not the players. The player who currently controls the country plays for that country. Therefore, some players take more turns than others, and it's quite likely or even probable that a player will quite literally have no turns to play. The player can still react a little on other player's turns.

Binyamin tells me that this doesn't detract from the fun that some people have in the game; I'm guessing that it's possible, if difficult, to win this way. But in my book, it violates a core rules of fun in a game: equal participation and involvement by all players, or at least the possibility thereof. It's just plain a NOT fun mechanic, to the point that, added to the other frustrations that were going on, I was really annoyed.

I may try the game again later, perhaps with four players, all quick players and all English speakers.

Pivot

Elijah++, Adam

Elijah+, Dekel

Yoseph++, Elijah

Dekel brought a prototype of his game Pivot, an abstract game with pieces consisting of twin pegs connected by rubber bands. Looked interesting, and played very quickly.

Power Grid

Itamar 15+, Adam 15-, Hershel 14, Jon 13, Koby 12

First play for Hershel. We played on U.S. without the southeast. Adam dominated the entire west for most of the game. I started in the northeast and quickly got crowded. It was anyone's game until the last two turns, as usual.

Zohar 17, Tzvi Yehuda 15, Hannah 14, Yoseph 13

I hear that they accidentally played on all six regions. When they realized their mistake midgame, they closed of one of the regions, but couldn't close another one. First play for at least someone.

Puerto Rico

Jon 39, Gili 35, Rachel 32, Nadine 32

Gili hadn't played in a while.

	Jon	Rachel	Nadine	Gili
Round 01	Settler	Builder	Mayor	Craftsman	I start with quarry and leave a corn to Rachel. I build a Small Indigo first round, and accidentally take an indigo when Gili crafts, forgetting that I didn't have indigo fully manned. I sheepishly put it back when I remember.
Round 02	Builder	Trader+	Prospector+	Captain+	Early trade for Rachel. I build Small Fashion District (2/1 trade indigo at +2).
Round 03	Prospector	Craftsman+	Settler+	Mayor+	Rachel also has a Small Fashion District, but she never gets to use it since I always do. Nadine already has a Tobacco going.
Round 04	Mayor	Builder+	Craftsman	Trader+	I forgo Builder+ since I need more colonists and have nothing to build.
Round 05	Captain++	Settler+	Prospector+	Trader	My captain prevents Rachel from trading again, I think. Gili took Trader five times during the game. I begin to realize that I can't compete in victory points and so have to end the game early with building. I eventually get Factor and tobacco, and never get corn.
Round 06	Trader	Mayor+	Builder+	Craftsman+
Round 07	Builder	Captain+	Prospector+	Trader
Round 08	Settler	Craftsman+	Builder	Mayor+
Round 09	Trader+	Captain+	Mayor	Prospector+
Round 10	Builder+	Settler+	Craftsman+	Trader	Gili trades coffee, as she does several other times during the game. She had a coffee monopoly, and eventually a coffee boat. I build my first big building. Gili builds a Wharf that she only uses once.
Round 11	Builder	Prospector+	Captain+	Trader	I build my second big building.
Round 12	Builder	Settler+	Craftsman+	Captain	I build my 11th space. Gili builds a big building.
Round 13	Builder	Mayor+++	Captain	Settler	I would have taken Mayor; Rachel then would be unable to buy and man a big building, because I would buy my last building at the same time and fill up my board. To take pity on her, I agreed to buy if she would mayor; I needed Mayor to man my two big buildings. I ended with 4 shipping points, but many more building points.

R-Eco

Itamar 12+, Koby 12-, Zohar, Oren, Hershel

First play for many of them. Koby loses on the tie, again.

Binyamin, Tzvi Yehuda, Hannah, Abraham 12+

Race for the Galaxy

Abraham 67, Jon 41

I played this at the same time as Power Grid, and it's not easy. For some reason I tried some military might, but Abe beat me down with 6 6-point developments.

Koby 41, Itamar 27, Binyamin 21

Binyamin usually does better than this.

San Juan

Gili 40, Nadine 38, Jon 37, Elijah 35

We hadn't played this in a while. The game desperately needs expansion sets. Close game, as you can see. I spent time trying to find 6-pointers, only to realize that Nadine was holding on to one, and Elijah had buried one in his Chapel. As usual, the players who built the most 6-pointers scored highest.

Santiago

Jon 103, Elijah 95, Yoseph 90, Adam 84

I was happy to play this, as usual. First play for Yoseph. I concentrated more than the others and paid higher for things when they were worth it. Adam caught on to the valuation, and was fierce competition for me. Don't know why he didn't score higher.

Stone Age

Abraham 205, Tzvi Yehuda 134, Gili 131, Hannah 127

Someone else smudgily wrote these scores down, so I don't know if they're accurate. First play for some of them. This is a game I very much want to try, but haven't gotten to it yet. It's on the buy list.

Taluva

Jon+, Koby, Itamar, Hershel

First play for everyone. Koby was looking forward to playing it. Afterwards, he thought it was nice but not worth buying. I liked it a lot.

Another game with very few rules, but very interesting implications. And beautiful pieces.

Nadine+, Bill, Gili

I taught this to them and left them to play it, only to discover that I forgot to tell them that you couldn't build more than one temple in a settlement. They had to start again. Nadine thought it was good, but not her type of game, which I predicted. Still, she says she would play it again.

Tigris and Euphrates

Nadine 7/7/8/8, Adam 6/6/7/9, Hershel 6/6/7/7, Zohar 4/4/4/5

First play for Hershel and Zohar. First win for Nadine, I think.

Year of the Dragon

Oren 96, Zohar 95, Elijah 92, Nadine 84, Gili 75

First plays for Oren and Zohar, and they won, too. I think second or third play for Elijah.

April 01, 2009

Participants: Jon, Noah, Hershel, Nadine, David K, Avi

Noah comes for his first time. He made aliyah recently, so welcome aboard. He may be heading for ulpan or the army soon, however. Hershel returns for his second game night. And David brings back his young 'un, Avi.

R-Eco

Noah 15, Jon 2, Hershel 1

First plays for both Hershel and Noah. I don't remember much of the game.

Jon 33, Avi 1

Played much later, this is my personal best for the game. Of course, it was two-player.

Hershel 9, Nadine 6, Avi 4

I don't know about this game, either.

Agricola

Nadine 48, David 42, Hershel 26

First play for Hershel. Lucky for me, I didn't hear Nadine explaining the game to him. Nadine and Hershel both had good animals and ovens.

Power Grid

Jon 17, Avi 16, Noah 13

First play for Noah. This one is much easier to explain to a new player, especially one with a strong math background. We played on the cheap East Coast of the US.

I'm still fairly confused as to how one wins, though I suspect it has to do with some kind of perfect timing in the last three rounds. And a lot of that has to do with luck as to what plants are - and are not - available.

Trias

Noah 36, Jon 31, Avi 25

First plays for both Noah and Avi. I don't get to play this with the regulars, as they don't like it. I still think it's a fascinating, elegant game.

Avi was confused as to how the scoring worked, but he loved to drift extra tiles on his turn. The second island in our game already left the center tile completely isolated.

Magic: the Gathering

Jon+, David

We didn't have much time, so we forgoed our usual draft and simply each pulled 68 cards. I had pathetic in everything but blue and green, so that's what I played, with very light mana. David built a black, green, blue deck.

David pulled perfect mana, perhaps a tad in excess. By round four, he had 5 mana available, while I was stuck at 2 for some time. I eventually pulled mana's 3 and then 4 by the end of the game. That left my biggst cards unplayable, but I could get out most of the deck, one at a time.

The creatures I got out were nearly all fliers, which David couldn't stop. I pulled one card that killed his only annoying creature. And then I played a card that forced him to draw two cards and then discard four. Since he only had two cards in his hand at the time, it wiped out both a big creature he was poised to cast, and an enchantment that would have make it unblockable and untargetable.

He didn't draw anything else as useful after that, so I won. A miracle.

March 25, 2009

Participants: Jon, Gili, Heschel, Nadine

Heschel contacted me this week and dropped by for his first game night. He's played Ticket to Ride and some other light fare, but not Settlers of any of the other Euros. He's a good Chess player, however.

Dominion

Jon 43, Nadine 30, Gili 26, Heschel 20

Second time for me playing with a non-coddling game set. Our kingdoms: Festival, Spy, Remodel, Bureaucrat, Moat, Cellar, Woodcutter, Moneylender, Adventurer, Feast.

Festival was first to go. We all struggled to build engines that would get to 8, but most of us kept managing to get only to 7, most of the time. As a result, the second card to go was Duchy. Which didn't help any, of course. Nadine ended the game by buying out the Estates; there were 2 Provinces left.

I had a few more Festivals, and therefore had a little more luck with the treasures and got 4 of the Provinces, and several Duchys. I had a few Moats, but never got to play them, even to protect myself against attacks. Heschel had a good hand going but turned to buying victories too late.

Amun Re

Jon 40, Nadine 33, Gili 29, Heschel 25

First play for Heschel; I'm sad he didn't place better on his first games, but first games are a learning experience, after all.

Money never went over 2 in any round, and most rounds it was only 1. That's because I got the 8-camel province in the first round. Nadine was leading 20 to Heschel 13, Jon 12, Gili 6 at the end of the first eon, but I had more cash due to caravans.

I was able to snap up all the best pyramids on one side in the next three rounds: first round due to most cash, second due to a card blockade, and third round from simply being willing to spend the most.

Nadine and Gili politely conspired to share the maximum pyramid bonus on one side of the Nile, while I took the other.

Fairy Tale

Gili 51, Nadine 38, Jon 36, Heschel 28

I concentrated on one of the 3/*3 sets, which didn't do too badly for me in the end, but Gili made me flip a few cards, and then hunted one of my last ones, too. It was a struggle. Meanwhile, Gili had a set of 5 squares, and a 3 square, as well as a 9 point "most of" and some other stuff. Nadine had a number of "most of"s as well. Heschel had some, too, but none of his panned out.

Once again, I felt that the game gets better each time I play. But I still really want to add Cosmic powers and flares and stuff.

March 17, 2009

Participants: Jon, David K, Josh, Alexis, Nadine, Gili, Avraham.

We didn't have game night last week, and this week we held it on Tuesday since I had something else to do on Wed evening.

Josh and Alexis were in the game group last year (at least, Josh was) but he moved to Boston after getting married. They were in Israel for a wedding and had time to drop by, which was excellent.

R-Eco

David 9, Josh 8, Alexis 6, Nadine 1

First plays for Josh and Alexis. They played with the colors all in the appropriate stack, but in random order. Nadine managed not to dump, but this didn't help her as you can see.

Agricola

Nadine 42, Jon 38, Alexis 31, Josh 29

First play and explanation for Josh and Alexis. I thought I explained this before, but it felt like I was trying to explain it for the first time. Man, is that difficult. It's not enough to just explain the victory points and actions; you have to explain the whole animal, plowing and sowing concepts, and harvesting and food concepts. I need to figure out the right order of explanation.

Josh had difficulty creating sustainable food production, so later in the game he had to take food several times. So he came in last, even though he was first to get a new family member.

He had some nice card synergies, but his best synergy he didn't realize until later in the game, by which point it was too late to play them. Chalk it up to first game experience. He actually did pretty well with farming and animals, but had too many empty farm spaces and not enough bonus points in houses or cards.

I had only one occupation, one minor and one major improvement until close to the end game, whereupon I bought two other major improvements for the bonus points. My cards gave me two extra food for baking bread, and the ability to bake bread during the harvest. Netting 7 food during every harvest for one wheat, I was set for food throughout the game.

Nadine had a nice stone house, five people, and no empty spaces. She also had synergy with animals, so no food problems.

Dominion

David 18, Avraham 8, Gili 3

First game for Avraham, and second or third for Gili. They played the standard first game kingdoms. David was killing with a card engine that let him draw his entire deck on several occasions.

Avraham 37, Gili 24, David 15

They played with random kingdoms, including Gardens. Avraham was the only one who abused this card, ending with 7 Gardens and 44 cards (28 points from Gardens alone). I don't know what other cards they played with.

Traders of Carthage

David, Avraham, Gili

First play for David, and second for Gili (I think). David didn't fare very well, I understand, but I don't know the final scores.