Gathering Report - Day 9

This morning was the Flea Market, and I picked up a few items: Marracash, Graenaland, Pepper, and some Adlung card game. Then we went to Penzey's and lunch with the Bender's, then returned to the hotel, where we played Tichu again. Noreen & Jon Ferro against Michael Weston and I. It was 920 to 880 on the last hand, when Michael called Tichu on the lead trick (there was a 5 & he played a K). John called Tichu, laid down a played a Queen bomb, then a 10-card straight. Noreen was able to pickup the last 5 points they needed and we lost again, 1080 to 820.

We are heading to dinner, and the Prize Table ceremony is at 7:00. The best looking candidates for Noreen's pick are Nacht der Magier (which I have had trouble trying to get for some time now) and 1001 Arabian Nights. I am sure we will play more games after the ceremony.

At the time I wrote that, there was not all that much interesting and special up on the prize table, and there were some pre-release items but as i could get those soon anyway, they did not grab my attention.

HOWEVER, Alan was holding back, and several items came out at the last moment, and one of them was a beautifully constructed Ticket To Ride: Switzerland map (Switzerland is part of the PC game, and not available in a printed form) mounted on a 1-inch thick wooden base with painted frame and suitable for display. When we saw it, we knew it was what we wanted, and of course, it was our pick. We had Alan sign it, and had the maker, Jesse McGarth, sign it as well.

Noreen also got a copy of Quarto, and I got the new viking game Fire & Axe (a remake of Viking Fury), and a copy of the Ys+ expansion. We also got 2 copies of the Spielbox Thurn Und Taxis expansions (which we already have)...

Good news came during the Prize table ceremony, Jay Tummelson of RGG is springing for the sodas for next year, so instead of dropping about $25.00 on sodas for the two of us for the week (at $.75 per can), they will be FREE. Make sure to buy lots of Rio Grand games this year so he can afford it.

After the prize table ceremony, we settled into party game mode, as much of the Gathering does every year at this time. We played Cineplexity which Kevin O'Brien won (8), followed by Bobby Warren (7), Me (6), Rhonda Bender (4), Rob Smolka (2), and Kevin Bender (0). The game is a bit like Apples to Apples in that a judge draws two cards and decides who wins. The cards have different movie things on them: scenes, characters, locations, props, etc. and people have to name a movie that the judge knows contains both items. they then get one point.

We then played Smarty Party, and Kevin O' won again, followed by me, Rob, Rhonda, Kevin, and a three-way tie for last with Michael Weston, Noreen, and Bobby Warren.

Finally, we played 2 games of Act One, in which players try to get their teammates to name a movie based on their reading of lines from the movie. We had different teams each game, and i was the only player on the winning side bothe times:

Game One: The Annoying Kevins and A Couple of Dicks (Kevin O'Brien, Kevin Nunn, Kevin Bender, Richard Bethany, and Richard Meyer) scored 8 points...
The Witches, Bitches, and Us (David & Noreen Fair, Rhonda Bender, Rob Smolka, David Fair) scored 27

Game Two: The Fives (Kevin Bender, Kevin O'Brien, Richard Meyer, Me) scored 27 points... The Knot Fives (Noreen Fair, Rob Smolka, Richard Bethany, Rhonda Bender, and Evan Tannheimer) scored 24 points.