Germantown 07/16/07

Twelve people in attendance:

• Leslie Barkley
• Dave and Martha Briggs
• Aubrey Bell
• Rose Byington
• Dave Fair
• Todd Heidenreich
• Bob Jones
• Carol Loman
• David Raley
• Bill Salvatore
• Alex Smith

Unfortunately, records are somewhat incomplete for this session. I have a note that some folks played Fluxx, but not who played or what were the results. I'm sure it was wild and wacky.

Dave Fair played Rose at Balloon Cup. This is a very tight, fun game for two players with simple rules and many tough choices. In that way, it's similar to Lost Cities. Dave won 3 to 2.

I also have that David Raley, Carol and Leslie played the classic, Carcassonne. Alas, there is no record of a winner there either.

As I arrived at 7PM, Dave Fair, Martha and David Briggs, Bill and Rose were playing the psychologically-intense game, Raj. Final scores were Dave Fair 27, David Briggs 21, Rose 2, Bill 1, and Martha -11. The two Daves completely dominated. Apparently, this is not Martha's game.

Having advertised that I wanted to play the "Bohnanza board game" Bean Trader, I set it up and recruited four other players. Joining me were Carol, Martha, David Briggs, and Rose. The rules are completely horrendous and we stumbled a couple of times while playing. Turns out, we did get one rule wrong that extended the game somewhat. The correct rule is that when you play a new harvest card (except when it's played on another player's turn), you immediately put new beans into the towns. We were not placing the new beans until the player's following turn. This made the game go one extra round. A repeat playing would undoubtedly speed play considerably. After much trading, wheeling and dealing, Rose and Bob tied with 187 each. The other scores were David 156, Martha 153, and Carol 147.

As we traded beans, Dave Fair, Leslie, David Raley and Bill played the Caylus card game, Caylus Magna Carta. This is an excellent distillation of the great game, Caylus. Final scores were Bill 35, Dave 31, David 28 and Leslie 25.

While these games were happening, Aubrey Bell arrived with his friend, and first time attendee, Alex Smith. They played a quick game of Blue Moon City which Aubrey won.

Todd had arrived and so joined up to teach Carcassonne to Alex and Aubrey. Unfortunately, Aubrey and Alex had to leave for dinner and so didn't finish the game.

With Bean Trader still going, the Caylus MC group, minus David, added Todd and played our "game of the moment", Bohnanza. Dave had an impressive victory of 21 points, with Bill at 16, and Todd and Leslie tied at 15. This was a very high scoring game!

After Bohnanza, Dave Fair, Bill and Leslie played Loco. Final scores were Dave and Bill tied at 78, Leslie at 74.

Finally, Bean Trader finished and there was just enough time for me, David Briggs, and Martha to play two rounds of Poison. Martha won with 14 points to David and my 15 points. Very close game, quickly played to avoid the dreaded 10PM deadline.

That's all for this week.