Germantown 10/15/07

Another good crowd gathered for some gaming on a Monday evening.

• Leslie Barkley
• Kevin Bealer
• Shannon and Aubrey Bell
• David and Martha Briggs
• Rose Byington
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob and Ben Jones
• Helen Powell
• Eric Reinhold
• Howard Wagner

(Images below from Boardgamegeek)

First up, Billabong, the game of racing kangaroos! Yes, racing kangaroos. I proved the most adept at maneuvering bouncing marsupials and was first to get my five kangaroos across the finish line. Following me were Eric 4, Rose 3, and Doug with 1. I won even though I wasn't yellow, which is a rather grand achievement I think.

Rose left for home so next up was a quick three-player game of Circus Flohcati (Flea Circus) with Eric, Bob and Doug. Doug completely routed us, finishing the game early by presenting a Gala Show. Final scores were Doug 84, Bob 58, and Eric 54. This is a very fun, quick, push-your-luck game that can be played on a very small surface area.

As a rather large group arrived at the same time, we got them playing Poison. Howard, the leader going in with only 8 points, had a terrible last round which cost him the game and gave it to Martha and Aubrey. Final scores were Aubrey 11, Martha 11, Shannon 17, Leslie 17, Howard 24, and David 31.

We then split into two groups. I taught Reiner Knizia's Rheinlander to Martha, David, Shannon and Aubrey. It was a somewhat conflict-free game, with only a few Duchy-fights. Still, the few fights that occurred were crucial. Some last minute merging of opponent's Duchies hurt both Aubrey and Martha, giving me the game with 35 points to Martha 34, Aubrey 31, Shannon 26, and David 21.

Around that time, Kevin and Ben arrived and played a game of Travel Blokus, coming to a hard-fought tie!

Meanwhile, Doug taught Anno 1503 to Howard, Eric and Leslie. Final scores were Doug 3, Eric 2, Leslie 2, and Howard 1.

While the above games were still on, Helen arrived and taught Transamerica to Kevin. They didn't finish as Helen stopped the game when Rheinlander was nearing conclusion.

After Anno 1503 finished, Leslie, Howard and Doug played Qwirkle. Doug won with 160 points to 140 points for Leslie and Howard.

The rest of us broke into two groups for the final games of the night. Ben and I taught Martha and David Cartagena, the game of pirates fleeing prison. This was a remarkably quick game with some pirates making it onto the boat during the second round! I've never seen a group of pirates move so quickly. Ben dominated and finished first. Final scores were Ben 6, Bob 5, Martha 4, and David 3.

The other group played On the Underground. Despite valiant efforts, they weren't able to finish before closing time. Aubrey was ahead when they had to call the game. Scores at the time were Aubrey 33, Helen 27, Kevin 26 and Shannon 22.

We have two consecutive Mondays coming up. Hope to see you there!