Germantown 04/07/08

Monday night was a rare two week in a row session due to March having a fifth Monday. Despite this, we had a good crowd of gamers.

Attendance:

• Leslie Barkley
• Kevin Bealer
• Dave and Martha Briggs
• Shannon and Aubrey Bell
• Todd Heidenreich
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob Jones
• Carol Loman
• Mike Mullins
• Mattie Pascual
• Helen Powell

I arrived to find Doug, Todd and Carol setting up for San Juan. I figured more people would arrive shortly, so I declined to join them. That turned out to be something of a mistake, but eventually more people started to arrive. San Juan gets a good amount of play in our group and rightly so. It's a fabulous game. Final scores were Doug 50, Todd 32 and Carol 31.

When Mike, Aubrey and Shannon arrived, I taught them my favorite abstract game (a genre I'm not overly fond of) by my favorite designer, Reiner Knizia. That game is the fabulous Einfach Genial (Ingenious) in which your final score is your lowest score of the six colors. The players were fairly aggressive at blocking but I started getting "genials" and thought I had walked away with the win. Alas, while I got an impressive five "genials", my lowest score was 12 which meant that Mike's 13 made him the winner. Scores were Mike 13, 14, 14, 17, 18, 18, Bob 12, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, Aubrey 8, 10, 12, 17, 18, 18 and Shannon 7, 12, 13, 18, 18, 18.

Dave and Martha arrived and so joined the San Juan folk for Metro, laying track in the Paris Metro to score your trains and make your opponents' trains finish prematurely. Todd came through with a commanding victory. Todd 58, Dave B 49, Doug 37, Carol 33, and Martha 25.

Mattie joined the Einfach group so we played three rounds of the quick card game Poison. The goal is to take as few cards as possible (especially the Poison cards) and the lowest score wins. Kevin arrived after one round so we gave him the average of the first round scores. Scores were Kevin 5+3+0 = 8, Mike 5+2+6=13, Shannon 0+7+10=17, Mattie 13+4+0=17, Aubrey 7+8+2=17 and Bob 10+6+2=18.

When Helen arrived, she convinced Doug and Todd to play Race for the Galaxy so the rest of us broke out the push-your-luck game Diamant. Diamant plays up to eight players who venture into the mines for gems and treasure, trying to avoid the mortal dangers within. Hilariously, I died in each of the first four mines while Martha's conservative strategy put her into the lead. In the fifth and final mine, with four revealed dangers, I pushed on after everyone else had fled. The strategy paid off big time as some high scoring cards were revealed. I had a tough decision on when to stop in order to pass Martha and I picked correctly, fleeing when I had accumulated 33 gems. Final scores were Bob 33, Martha 24, Shannon 22, Kevin 17, Aubrey 16, Mattie 16, Dave 11, Mike 9.

Meanwhile, in Race for the Galaxy, Helen put together a successful resource engine and won her first game. Helen 44, Todd 35, and Doug 32.

After Diamant finished and Mattie went back to studying, we broke into two groups. Martha, Dave, Aubrey and Shannon decided to play perennial favorite, Ticket to Ride. With many games under her belt, Martha is a serious contender now and took the win. Martha 131, Dave 122, Aubrey 119, and Shannon 89.

Meanwhile, I taught Mike and Kevin one of my favorite games, the tile laying influence game Samurai. It was a rather vicious game with many twists. To be eligible to win, you have to have the most of one of the three types of figures. Mike ended up with the most Buddhas, Kevin with the most High Helmets. Alas, after Mike's last turn capture of a rice field, I tied with him for the most rice fields and so was ineligible for the win. Mike won with the most remaining figures. Well played! Mike 6 (most Buddhas), Kevin 3 (most High Helmets), Bob n/a (tied for most rice fields with Mike).

After Race for the Galaxy, Todd, Doug and Helen were joined by Leslie. They decided to again play the very similar but still excellent San Juan. Final scores were Todd 41, Helen 35, Doug 33 and Leslie 24.

Thanks for a fun night! See you next time.