Gathering Report - Day 5

Started the day at 2:00pm, as I had gone to bed at 7:00am...

Terry Bailey and I Taught Taluva to Brian Fealy, and Terry won by building all his huts and all his towers. I had one tower and 5 huts left, and Brian had one temple, one tower, and 8 huts. The game plays better in 3-player than it does in 4.

Next, I taught Brian Fjords, which he won, 5 to 7.

I played Montage, and interesting crossword type game. I partnered with Randy Cox, and played against Stephen Glenn and Nate Beeler. It was a very close game, which we just squeaked out a win in.

Next I played Die Saulen von Venedig with Rob Smolka and Bobby Warren, and Rob won on the last turn 69 to my 66 to Bobby's 56. Rob has a habit of passing me just as the game ends...

Power Grid - Germany was next, in which we played with Freidemann's prototype expansion due out for Essen. It is basically just a new deck of power plants, but it was startling how much it changed the game. Jim Fairchild was shut out of coal on the last turn, and thus ended the game with $64 dollars, 5 capacity (15 potential), and 12 houses (shorthand: $64/5(15)/12) and ended up in 5th despite it looking like he was going to win... John Garnett ended with $76/7(7)/13 for 4th place, Warren Madden took third with $7/10(15)/12, Michael Weston came in second with $93/11(11)/14, and I snuck in a victory with $129/12(12)/15. The new deck is very interesting and adds a lot to the game. I will be making a copy for us to try until the deck is released.

Michael Weston and I teamed up for two games of Tichu against Curt Churchill and Rob Smolka. They were pasting us early on, but we found our rhythm, made back-to-back 1-2/Tichus to get right back in it, then they responded with a 1-2/Tichu, to make the score 920(us) to 980. On
the final hand I made a Tichu call again, and we scored every point to win 1120 to 980. Great game. Luckily, the next game followed the pace of the first, and we were in the zone... It took us only 7 hands to win 1050 to 250.

Followed this up with Outburst. Team "A" was Lisa Johnson, Nate Beeler, Dan Blum, Curt Churchill, and I. Team "B" was Rob Smolka, Jessica Robert, Tom Lehmann, Richard Bethany, and Benjamin Corliss. Outburst is like Speed family Feud, but you just shout your answers.
Through careful use of our passing chips (which allow you to decline a category) we were able to get categories like Cooking Methods, Cheeses, US Allies, and The Roaring 20's, while forcing our opponents into categories like Beers of the World, Janes and Jaynes, and British Actors. We crushed them by an astounding 65 to a paltry 63.

I ended the night playing Factory Fun with Eric Martin, Patrick Korner, and Larry Levy. Patrick Eric laid down the smack, only building one pipe the whole game, and scoring 82. Larry had 51, I had 50, and Patrick had 42.

It was now 7:00am, and I needed some cash, so I went to the car only to find one of the tires was flat. It had felt funny the last time I drove it, so I was not completely surprised. Luckily, there was an NTB 2 doors away, and I got two new tires on the front, and found the alignment was off, causing uneven wear and the flat was cause by wear on the inside down to the cords. After getting the car fixed, I got some cash, and came back to the hotel and hopped into bed at 8:30am.

It's now almost 2:00pm, and day 6 is starting. Tonight is the Tichu Tournament, and Noreen will be back around 10pm.