Herein lies an epic tale. After years of existence, the GCOM Germantown location had an unprecedented event. An event so awesome it challenges me to even describe it. Here goes.
On April 6, 2009, at Borders bookstore in the cafe area, we hosted 25 gamers. Yes, 25. It was crowded but amazing.
Here's the attendance:
- Leslie Barkley
- Christopher and Tiffany Bass; Alidia and Clarisa Findley
- Aubrey & Shannon Bell
- David & Martha Briggs
- Dave Fair
- Doug Hoylman
- Ben & Bob Jones
- Nathaniel Klinger
- Carol Loman
- Doug Mercer
- Mike Mullins
- Eric & Laura Reinhold
- Ethan Goffman & Marianne Szlyk
- Bless, Liberty and Love
When Ben and I arrived at 6PM, there were already 9 players so we broke up into two groups. One group played the simple but fun Reiner Knizia game of exploring Africa called,
Africa (what else)? As we were setting up a young boy came over and asked about the game so we invited him to play. With the permission of his mother, Bless played with us and then stuck around for the rest of the evening. Final scores in Africa were David B 53, Ben 47, Bless 39, Carol and Bob tied at 35.
Meanwhile, the other group played the quick and fun race game,
Snow Tails. The order of finish was Eric, Dave F, Mike, Doug H, and Laura.
Of course, more people continued to arrive. With the arrival of Chris, Tiffany, Alidia, and Clarisa, I decided to get all the kids together to play one game. First up,
Cartagena. As the game went on, Bless's younger sisters, Liberty and Love, helped me secure the win. Final scores were Liberty/Love/Bob, all 6 pirates escaped. Then came Clarisa 5, Bless 4, Ben 3 and Alisia 2.
Chris was interested in a meatier game and so got together with Ethan, Nathaniel and Marianne to play the game of evolution and poop-consuming,
Primordial Soup, a great game I don't think has ever made it to the table here. They apparently had an excellent game. Final scores were Marianne 44, Nathaniel 40, Chris 35, and Ethan 25.
Dave was hoping to get
Battlestar Galactica to the table again and with so many people, he had no trouble getting a quorum. The Cylons have had a run of success lately and this night was no exception. The two Cylons, Aubrey and Doug H, triumphed over the last remnants of the Human race Dave, Tiffany and Doug M.
And at the same time we still had enough people for a game of
Around the World in 80 Days. In a very close game, Eric made it around the world in the winning time of 75 days, followed by Carol who also finished in 75 days but lost the tiebreaker. Then came Shannon at 76, Mike at 79, Leslie at 80 and Dave B who didn't make it back to London as he was eaten somewhere in the United States.
A three player game of
San Juan was played. Eric won 16+2+10+0=28. Leslie had 15+2+0+4=21 while Mike had 16+0+0+0=16.
Most of the older kids played round-robin games of
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. As far as I can gather, at least eight games were played by Ben, Alidia, Clarisa, and Bless.
Meanwhile, Love, Liberty and I played
Pickomino. Love won 5 to Liberty and my scores of 4.
When Martha arrived, I played a couple of rounds of my prototype, Continuum, with her and David.
Finally, a quick game of
Chronology was played. Marianne won with 11 points. Doug H had 9, Ethan 7 and Nathaniel 6.
And so ended this, the most epic night. Thanks to everyone for coming out to this historic occasion. I hope we'll see you all again very soon.
