Germantown 03/17/08

In honor of Saint Patrick's Day, Dave and I discussed bringing only games with an Irish theme. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be too many of those. So, we decided to play only games with a green box. With one exception, we did.

• Leslie Barkley
• Kevin Bealer
• Aubrey and Shannon Bell
• Dave and Martha Briggs
• Dave Fair
• Todd Heidenreich
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob Jones
• Helen Powell
• Eric Reinhold

First up, the only non-green game of the night, Saint Petersburg. (It should be noted that one of the types of cards is very green.) Leslie jumped out to an early lead with two 4-VP generating buildings, but was hurt by cash flow. Dave got an early judge and an observatory and the money flow and chance to see extra cards helped immensely. Final scores were Dave 83, Leslie 74, Doug 61, and Eric 41.

At this point, I arrived and started out the other group, who had kindly awaited my arrival, on Frank's Zoo. We played the very basic game which, I discovered, isn't particularly exciting. We definitely should play partnership mode and include the hedgehog and lion scoring. Final scores after three rounds were Shannon 11, Bob 11, Dave Briggs 8, Todd 7, Martha 5 and Aubrey 3.

While we finished Frank's Zoo, the other group took on Honeybears... Go Red Bear! This is an interesting game where you use colored cards to move the appropriate bear forward, but then at the round's end you use those same cards to score the bears who have gone the furthest. Leslie and Dave benefited when Dave ended the 2nd round with only the Red Bear scoring any points, leaving Eric and Doug scoring only 3 points each that round. Ouch! Final scores were Dave Fair 104, Leslie 91, Eric 73 and Doug 63.

We then broke into two different groups. The larger group played the trivia game In10sity, playing until everyone but Kevin and Dave Fair had reached the end. Doug won, followed by Leslie, Todd, Eric, Dave and Kevin. This is a fun trivia game with some strategy where all the answers are a number from 1 to 10. They noticed an abundance of Beatles trivia questions.

Meanwhile, I taught the classic rock-paper-scissors game, Adel Verplifchtet. Shannon had a great deal of trouble buying any items early on, but managed a strong comeback. Dave Briggs and I jockeyed for the lead for a while, but in the end, he pulled way ahead of everyone and won with the biggest final show. Final placement order was Dave, Shannon, Bob and Aubrey tied, and Martha.

The larger group played the fun "escape from the monster" game, Fearsome Floors. Leslie won by getting all three of her guys out. Of the people who got two guys out, Eric did so first, followed by Todd, Doug, and Dave Fair. Kevin did not get any out, but was also playing.

With about an hour to go, I brought out the awesome horse-racing game Royal Turf. Aubrey and I were neck and neck through the races with everyone else far behind. In the end, my bet on a single horse that Aubrey didn't bet on, won me the game. Final totals were Bob 1600, Aubrey 1350, Shannon 750, Dave Briggs 500, and Martha 450.

Helen arrived at 9:15 and when Finstere Flure was finished, joined Dave Fair, Leslie, Kevin and Doug for a quick game of Zombie Fluxx. Alas, they were unable to finish before the store closed.

Thanks to everyone for coming out.

(All images from Boardgamegeek)