Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Thing, Parked in Our Nation's Capitol, Day 3
My 3rd and final day at Thing, Parked in Our Nation's Capitol. Mark and I had breakfast and, after a trip to Panera for coffee that had some actual coffee flavor to it, headed into the game room around 10. Everyone else was already involved in a game, so we decided on 2 player Al-Hambra. Al-Hambra actually works really well as a 2 player game if you use the variant in which there is a 3rd mystery player who gets some random tiles each round and scores for them.
Anyway, just as we were about to start Chris came in, so we made him the mystery player and started off. Al-Hambra is definitely in my top ten games. It might even have a temporary place in my top 5, since lately I have been especially enjoying it. Chris won.
Up next was Viva Pamplona, a great little racing game,with Brian, Marion, Mark, Kurt and me. You have 4 guys who are moving along a track with the bull. You roll 2 dice and move one guy per die; you want to be as close to the bull as possible. After everyone rolls,you flip a card that tells you how many spaces the bull will move. Several times during the game a score card will be flipped instead - you score points based on your proximity to the bull. You also score points for entering the arena at the end of the race track; the later you enter, the more points you get. I was way behind, but managed a few good scores and ended up winning.
When there are 6 people standing around looking for a game, it seems a party game often comes out. We went with Split Second, a trivia game where the answer is always a number - you write your answer on your paddle and let it flip - first paddle flipped that also has the correct answer scores a point. Players included Anthony, Denise, Alan, Brian, Bill and I. I won, despite Brian's brilliant strategy of writing a number down before the question was asked and letting it flip . .. . . He actually did win a couple of rounds with this method!
Next party game was Beyond Balderdash - Brian, Stephen, Anthony, Bill, Denise, Marion, Joe and I. Hilarity ensued.
Next up was another game of Al-Hambra, this time with Stephen, Marion and I. I won.
Next up was Hey, That's My Fish, with Stephen, Marion and I. I liked this a lot more than I expected to. Stephen won.
We followed up with a game of Ra, with Will, Joe, Denise, Marion and I, while we waited for the World of Warcraft game to end. Which it did - about 2 hours later. Anyway, it was an interesting Ra game, with all of the Civ tiles appearing very early on. I didn't note who won, but I think it was Joe.
There were 5 of us just hanging around for those zany Warcrafters to finish up, so we played a game of 6 Nimmt with Amy, Will, Denise, Marion and I. It was a brutal game - everyone took plenty of points. I managed to win.
Nate, Amy, Chris, Kurt, Marion and I headed out to dinner at a yummy Thai restaurant that had the best lemonade I have ever had. We tried to follow it up with a trip to the ice cream shop, but they were closed. Alas and alack.
We returned to the hotel, where it was time for Celebrities. Random partnerships were Chris and I, Will and Bill, Mark and Joe, and Denise and Bryan. Celebrities is sort of a combo of Catch Phrase and Charades. Everyone writes down the names of 6 "celebrities"- people or characters who are famous for one reason or another. You put these name in a bag and grab a 30-second timer. Each person gets 30 seconds to try to get their partner to guess the name on the slip of paper. In the first round, you can do and say just about anything, and your partner gets as many guesses as they'd like. In the second round, you can do anything, but you can only say one word and your partner only gets one guess. In round 3, you can do anything, but you can't say anything and your partner only gets one guess. Denise and Bryan won.
We learned some interesting things, like Billie Jean King was a famouse baseball player, Dustin Hoffman is best represented as a hopping square, and having Purple People Eater, Werewolf and Anthony Hopkins. We also revisited an earlier game of Celebrities, in which my husband pulled out "Marie Antoinette" but somehow read it as "Annette Funicello" and proceeded to mimic surfing, much to the confusion of the other players. . ..
After this I played a few rounds of Guitar Hero. This is an awesome video game to which I am now addicted. After that, there was only one space open in a 5 player game, so Bill went to that and I went to bed.
We had to leave early this next a.m., but I hear there was gaming until about 5. We had a great time - it's always fun to spend a weekend gaming with good friends.
Anyway, just as we were about to start Chris came in, so we made him the mystery player and started off. Al-Hambra is definitely in my top ten games. It might even have a temporary place in my top 5, since lately I have been especially enjoying it. Chris won.
Up next was Viva Pamplona, a great little racing game,with Brian, Marion, Mark, Kurt and me. You have 4 guys who are moving along a track with the bull. You roll 2 dice and move one guy per die; you want to be as close to the bull as possible. After everyone rolls,you flip a card that tells you how many spaces the bull will move. Several times during the game a score card will be flipped instead - you score points based on your proximity to the bull. You also score points for entering the arena at the end of the race track; the later you enter, the more points you get. I was way behind, but managed a few good scores and ended up winning.
When there are 6 people standing around looking for a game, it seems a party game often comes out. We went with Split Second, a trivia game where the answer is always a number - you write your answer on your paddle and let it flip - first paddle flipped that also has the correct answer scores a point. Players included Anthony, Denise, Alan, Brian, Bill and I. I won, despite Brian's brilliant strategy of writing a number down before the question was asked and letting it flip . .. . . He actually did win a couple of rounds with this method!
Next party game was Beyond Balderdash - Brian, Stephen, Anthony, Bill, Denise, Marion, Joe and I. Hilarity ensued.
Next up was another game of Al-Hambra, this time with Stephen, Marion and I. I won.
Next up was Hey, That's My Fish, with Stephen, Marion and I. I liked this a lot more than I expected to. Stephen won.
We followed up with a game of Ra, with Will, Joe, Denise, Marion and I, while we waited for the World of Warcraft game to end. Which it did - about 2 hours later. Anyway, it was an interesting Ra game, with all of the Civ tiles appearing very early on. I didn't note who won, but I think it was Joe.
There were 5 of us just hanging around for those zany Warcrafters to finish up, so we played a game of 6 Nimmt with Amy, Will, Denise, Marion and I. It was a brutal game - everyone took plenty of points. I managed to win.
Nate, Amy, Chris, Kurt, Marion and I headed out to dinner at a yummy Thai restaurant that had the best lemonade I have ever had. We tried to follow it up with a trip to the ice cream shop, but they were closed. Alas and alack.
We returned to the hotel, where it was time for Celebrities. Random partnerships were Chris and I, Will and Bill, Mark and Joe, and Denise and Bryan. Celebrities is sort of a combo of Catch Phrase and Charades. Everyone writes down the names of 6 "celebrities"- people or characters who are famous for one reason or another. You put these name in a bag and grab a 30-second timer. Each person gets 30 seconds to try to get their partner to guess the name on the slip of paper. In the first round, you can do and say just about anything, and your partner gets as many guesses as they'd like. In the second round, you can do anything, but you can only say one word and your partner only gets one guess. In round 3, you can do anything, but you can't say anything and your partner only gets one guess. Denise and Bryan won.
We learned some interesting things, like Billie Jean King was a famouse baseball player, Dustin Hoffman is best represented as a hopping square, and having Purple People Eater, Werewolf and Anthony Hopkins. We also revisited an earlier game of Celebrities, in which my husband pulled out "Marie Antoinette" but somehow read it as "Annette Funicello" and proceeded to mimic surfing, much to the confusion of the other players. . ..
After this I played a few rounds of Guitar Hero. This is an awesome video game to which I am now addicted. After that, there was only one space open in a 5 player game, so Bill went to that and I went to bed.
We had to leave early this next a.m., but I hear there was gaming until about 5. We had a great time - it's always fun to spend a weekend gaming with good friends.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Thing, Parked in our Nation's Capitol - Days 1 and 2
We spent Labor Day Weekend at an invite-only gaming convention in Fairfax, VA. It started out as a way for a few groups of friends who live in different areas of the country to get together to play games. Many of the original members don't actually attend anymore, but it is still fun. I had attended Thing in the Cancer Belt (it is supposed to change locations each year, but has been parked in Fairfax, VA for the past 3 or so) back in 1999 but hadn't made it back since. Labor Day in Gloucester means the Schooner Festival, the Parade of Lights (boats all decked out with lights, usually incorporating a theme) and fireworks, all of which we really enjoy, so we aren't too keen on leaving town that weekend. We decided to make an exception this year and head down to Virginia, since some of our favorite gamers were going to be there. It turns out to have been a good decision since A. We had fun and B. The weather absolutely sucked in Gloucester and most events were cancelled or rescheduled to Monday night, by which time we were hime.
Day 1 started with an unexpectedly speedy trip through Airport Security at Logan. There were still a few people there who hadn't yet grasped the "items banned for carrying one the plane" idea. This one woman was trying to argue that her hand cream was really thick, so it didn't really count as a liquid.
Anyway, since we breezed through security we had plenty of time to get some coffee and a snack and then play a couple of games of cribbage. Mark won one, and I won one.
After a fun-filled flight through the hurricaine, we arrived at Dulles, picked up our luggage, got our rental car in record time and headed to Fairfax. After a brief detour going the wrong way, we made it to the Hampton Inn. We were all ready to start gaming and headed right down to the game room - where we found only Alan and Bill, playing Magic.
Since everyone else had gone to dinner, we decided to go to dinner, too. Bombay Bistro. Yummy.
We came back to find about 15 people in the game room. We hung around for a bit, watching a game of Dawn Under while we waited for people to finish up. I ended up playing Beyond Balderdash with Alan, Bill, Marion, Mark, Chris and Nate. I love this game, and I especially love playing it with these guys -there are always some hilarious quotes.
I went to bed after this, since I had been up since 3:45 a.m.
Day 2
Day 2 started out around 10 a.m. with a game of Die Neun Entdecker with Kurt, Bill, Mark and I. I love the original Entdecker. I'd only played Die Neun version once before, and I wasn't impressed with the changes. I actually like the changes better this time, but I still prefer the original with the added variant that you can pay for one of the automatic completion tiles.
I didn't note who won, but it definitely wasn't me. My scouts did not do much for me at the huts, and everyone else horned in on my very large island.
Cosmic Eidex
I'm a fan of trick-taking games, so I am always happy to try a new one. Alan taught Bill and I this odd little game that only works for 3.
All the cards are dealt out. The last card dealt is the trumpc color, although the card then goes into the dealer's hand. Cards range from 6 - A in 4 colors. Each card is worth a specific number of points; this number of points varies between trump and non-trump. In the trump color, in addition to the differing # of points, Aces are not high. Jacks are high, followed by the 9, and then the ace and then the rest of the cards in rank order.
Your goal is to either have the most number of points or the fewest number of points - these 2 players get a point each, while the player with the middle number of points scores nothing. However, if the player with the most number of points goes over 100, then the other 2 players score a point and he/she scores nothing.
Play continues until one player reaches 7 points. If 2 players are at 6 points, neither can actually win on the next turn - whichever of them is the low player loses a point and the other player gains nothing. If all 3 players are at 6, it's Chaos, but since that didn't happen I have no idea what occurs.
This was the basic game - apparently there are more rules to make this even more complicated. Wow. I'll have to try that sometime, but first I think I need a few more plays of the, ahem, basic game.
Alan won with 7, and Bill and I tied for 2nd with 5.
In10sity: Bill, Nate, Will, Denise, Rod, Mark, Tery
A fun trivia party-style game from Simply Fun. Players take turns reading trivia questions to which the answer is a number. 3 dice are rolled to determine what points will be gained or lost for having the correct answer, being one off or being way off. First player to the end of the board wins. Rod won.
Liebrary Bill, Nate, Will, Denise, Rod, Mark, Dan, Tery
Another Simply Fun party game. Mostly just like Ex Libris - apparently Liebrary has some additional rules, but we just played it like Ex Libris. Dan won.
Descent Kurt the Evil Overlord vs. Nate, Marion, Tery and Mark
I had always thought I wouldn't be a fan of dungeon crawler, die-dependent games, but it turns out I really like them. I had been itching to try this one after hearing about it at the Gathering. Led by Marion/Mordrug, the extremely large and well-armored brute, our band managed to defeat Kurt the Evil and his legions of spiders, firebreathing beasts and ogres. All despite the fact that Nate had a nasty habit of falling into pits . . .. This game did take about 5 and a half hours, but that did include a rules explanation for the 3 of us that were new to the game. We took a dinner break partway through, but I'm not including that in the total amount of time. (Dinner was once again at Bombay Bistro, and this time we were joined by Kurt, Marion, Nate and Brian)
After Descent ended after midnight, I was too pooped to play anything else and went up to bed.
Next up . . . day 3.
Day 1 started with an unexpectedly speedy trip through Airport Security at Logan. There were still a few people there who hadn't yet grasped the "items banned for carrying one the plane" idea. This one woman was trying to argue that her hand cream was really thick, so it didn't really count as a liquid.
Anyway, since we breezed through security we had plenty of time to get some coffee and a snack and then play a couple of games of cribbage. Mark won one, and I won one.
After a fun-filled flight through the hurricaine, we arrived at Dulles, picked up our luggage, got our rental car in record time and headed to Fairfax. After a brief detour going the wrong way, we made it to the Hampton Inn. We were all ready to start gaming and headed right down to the game room - where we found only Alan and Bill, playing Magic.
Since everyone else had gone to dinner, we decided to go to dinner, too. Bombay Bistro. Yummy.
We came back to find about 15 people in the game room. We hung around for a bit, watching a game of Dawn Under while we waited for people to finish up. I ended up playing Beyond Balderdash with Alan, Bill, Marion, Mark, Chris and Nate. I love this game, and I especially love playing it with these guys -there are always some hilarious quotes.
I went to bed after this, since I had been up since 3:45 a.m.
Day 2
Day 2 started out around 10 a.m. with a game of Die Neun Entdecker with Kurt, Bill, Mark and I. I love the original Entdecker. I'd only played Die Neun version once before, and I wasn't impressed with the changes. I actually like the changes better this time, but I still prefer the original with the added variant that you can pay for one of the automatic completion tiles.
I didn't note who won, but it definitely wasn't me. My scouts did not do much for me at the huts, and everyone else horned in on my very large island.
Cosmic Eidex
I'm a fan of trick-taking games, so I am always happy to try a new one. Alan taught Bill and I this odd little game that only works for 3.
All the cards are dealt out. The last card dealt is the trumpc color, although the card then goes into the dealer's hand. Cards range from 6 - A in 4 colors. Each card is worth a specific number of points; this number of points varies between trump and non-trump. In the trump color, in addition to the differing # of points, Aces are not high. Jacks are high, followed by the 9, and then the ace and then the rest of the cards in rank order.
Your goal is to either have the most number of points or the fewest number of points - these 2 players get a point each, while the player with the middle number of points scores nothing. However, if the player with the most number of points goes over 100, then the other 2 players score a point and he/she scores nothing.
Play continues until one player reaches 7 points. If 2 players are at 6 points, neither can actually win on the next turn - whichever of them is the low player loses a point and the other player gains nothing. If all 3 players are at 6, it's Chaos, but since that didn't happen I have no idea what occurs.
This was the basic game - apparently there are more rules to make this even more complicated. Wow. I'll have to try that sometime, but first I think I need a few more plays of the, ahem, basic game.
Alan won with 7, and Bill and I tied for 2nd with 5.
In10sity: Bill, Nate, Will, Denise, Rod, Mark, Tery
A fun trivia party-style game from Simply Fun. Players take turns reading trivia questions to which the answer is a number. 3 dice are rolled to determine what points will be gained or lost for having the correct answer, being one off or being way off. First player to the end of the board wins. Rod won.
Liebrary Bill, Nate, Will, Denise, Rod, Mark, Dan, Tery
Another Simply Fun party game. Mostly just like Ex Libris - apparently Liebrary has some additional rules, but we just played it like Ex Libris. Dan won.
Descent Kurt the Evil Overlord vs. Nate, Marion, Tery and Mark
I had always thought I wouldn't be a fan of dungeon crawler, die-dependent games, but it turns out I really like them. I had been itching to try this one after hearing about it at the Gathering. Led by Marion/Mordrug, the extremely large and well-armored brute, our band managed to defeat Kurt the Evil and his legions of spiders, firebreathing beasts and ogres. All despite the fact that Nate had a nasty habit of falling into pits . . .. This game did take about 5 and a half hours, but that did include a rules explanation for the 3 of us that were new to the game. We took a dinner break partway through, but I'm not including that in the total amount of time. (Dinner was once again at Bombay Bistro, and this time we were joined by Kurt, Marion, Nate and Brian)
After Descent ended after midnight, I was too pooped to play anything else and went up to bed.
Next up . . . day 3.
Hello
So I've been meaning to start a blog forever. I keep thinking I ought to do it every time I hear someone mention their blog. I really like to write, but almost never get around to doing it. I took an on-line writing class through my local community college a few months ago, but it was pretty terrible - you were only allowed to provide positive feedback. No negative feedback was allowed whatsoever, including constructive criticism. So, someone would write some fabulous paragraph like "My name is Pete. I have a cat. I like the cat. The cat is brown. It is a cat who is a boy." and everyone would be required to make a positive comment about the writing. Oy. No more writing classes for me for a while.
Anyway, the reason I took the class was to make myself write every day. Why spend the money on a less-than-helpful class when I can come right on over to Blogger.Com and create a blog? I can write what I want, when I want and I don't have to tell any middle-aged men that they have a great grasp on the writing style of a seven-year old.
Anyway, the reason I took the class was to make myself write every day. Why spend the money on a less-than-helpful class when I can come right on over to Blogger.Com and create a blog? I can write what I want, when I want and I don't have to tell any middle-aged men that they have a great grasp on the writing style of a seven-year old.
