Take Me Out To the Board Game

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.