Damascus 06/27/08

A smaller week and some lighter games to get the summer started...

• David, Noreen, Corwin, and Andrew Fair
• Lance Jones
• Jason Cheng
• John-Paul Pizzica
• David & Martha Briggs
• Howard & Nathan Wagner
• Paul H.
• Nathaniel Klinger

We started with Uptown, which Jason won with the rest of us (Andrew, Lance, David) tied (listed in tie-breaker order though). this is fun and fast essentially abstract tile-laying game that reminds one of Sudoku quite a bit, at least in the board design if not in the actual gameplay.

Over at table #2, we had a game of Big Points. This looks like a race game, but is really a set collection game. Noreen (36) won, followed by Martha, Corwin, and David B.

When Howard and Nathan arrived, I joined them for a game of Ticket to Ride: The Card Game. It manages to feel familiar to players of the board game while still being a fresh and welcome addition to the series. Howard (153) won, followed by Dave (80) and Nathan (72).

Next up was a game of Alhambra. This one was very close with lots of calculating on each player's part. Corwin (93) won, followed by David (91), Paul (90), Nathan (68) and Howard (66).

Njet is a rather obscure card game, even by our standards, but it is well-liked by those familiar with it. Jason (227) managed the win over John Paul (209) Andrew (142) and Lance (also 142).

Repeat performances of Uptown and Big Points were next. Jason (21) won Big Points over Andrew (19), Nathaniel (18), John-Paul (17) and Lance (also 17). In Uptown, David B won with all his tiles connected. He was followed by Noreen, Martha, and Corwin.

We had 3 games of Dominion, played back-to-back-to-back. Nathaniel, Paul, and David played all three. Scores were not logged in the main book. I may have them elsewhere, and if I find them I will add them later, but IIRC, Paul won game 1, Dave Game 2, and Nathaniel game 3.

3-player Agricola is usually fast, and tight. David B (35) turned out to be the best farmer, followed by Martha (30) and Noreen (20).

Plying Power Grid on the German map usually makes for a tough contest as players find the map pushes people together. The game ends (in 5-player) with the 15th city on the board, but that player that built it is not necessarily the winner, that goes to the person who can power the most cities (with money being the tie-breaker). Lance and Nathan both powered 12 cities on the last turn, but Lance's cash reserves gave him the win, leaving Nathan in second. Jason was third with a huge pile of unspent cash that tells me he was expecting at least one more turn, followed by John-Paul and Howard.

Don't forget about the 5th at Fisher's, and about the upcoming detours that may affect your getting to the Rec Center on July 11. See you then!