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.
# posted by Tery N @ 11:35 AM 
