Germantown 05/05/08

Monday night gaming at Borders!

• Leslie Barkley
• Aubrey Bell
• Shannon Bell
  
• Dave Briggs
• Martha Briggs
• Richard Christin
  
• Dave Fair
• Todd Heidenreich
• Bob Jones
• Nathaniel Klinger
  
• Carol Loman
• Brian Meeks
  
• Helen Powell
• Eric Reinhold
• Laura Reinhold

The evening opened with the great filler, For Sale. Eric was the most successful real estate mogul with 67 points, followed by Leslie 62, Carol 57 and Dave Briggs 57. Close game.

I'm not sure of the timing at this point, but Dave took Laura and Leslie to China, Michael Schacht's rejiggering of his classic Web of Power. Experienced showed as Dave won 76 to Laura 67 and Leslie 47.

As they were setting up for a game of Hanging Gardens, Brian Meeks walked by and asked about the game. Dave invited him to play and he accepted! Public exposure to new gamers is the greatest benefit of the Borders location and I'm thrilled Brian chose to join us. Final scores for Hanging Gardens were Dave 41, Helen 33, Brian 32 and Leslie 31.

For my first game of the evening, I set up one of my favorite games, Big City, with Richard, Laura, Aubrey and Martha. I neglected to note the scores, but due to some confusion over the size of the Shopping Center, I was able to play it without anyone interfering. I believe I ended up the winner with several people close behind.

The first of two games of Race for the Galaxy involved Eric, Dave Briggs, Carol and Todd. Todd managed his empire the most efficiently (or ruthlessly) and won with 47 points, a very good score which included 14 points for his "6" worlds. With what is normally a winning score, Eric finished with 39, 27 of which were from consuming. Holy cow! Carol had 29 points and Dave had 15.

As the first game of Hanging Gardens ended, Brian said he would like to play again, so a few players shuffled and another game was started. Brian obviously learned a great deal from the first game, because he cleaned up during the second. Final scores were Brian 42, Leslie 32, Eric 26, and Dave Briggs 25.

The second Race for the Galaxy game was a bit lower-scoring than the first. Dave Fair continued his winning streak at this game with 39 points against Todd 35, Nathaniel 29, and Helen 28.

After Big City finished, Shannon joined my group and we played China. Aubrey and Martha tied with 29 points each. Shannon 25, Bob 23 and Richard 20.

Finally, Leslie, David Briggs and Eric played High Society. Leslie had the most points, 22, but the lowest remaining money and so was eliminated, giving the game to Eric with 16 versus Dave Brigg's 10.

A great evening all around. We played several games twice which is unusual for us.

Looking forward to seeing you next time.