Gulf Games 7: Greg Schloesser – Games

Orlando, Florida
March 1 – 4, 2001

PRE-GULF GAMES

Gulf Games started early for me as Gail, Lindsay arrived on night after a long drive from New Orleans. After a full day at the Magic Kingdom on Saturday, we met up with Ty Douds and his family Saturday evening and played a few games.

UND TSCHUSS

• Ty Douds, Shay Douds, Ariel Douds, Zane Douds, Gail Schloesser, Greg

This is a very light card game from Martin Wallace. The game has been around for awhile, but I had never played. Players compete for score cards, of which there is one less per round than the number of players. Players simultaneously play cards to the table, with the player laying the lowest valued card dropping out of the round and taking the lowest score card on the table. This continues until only two players remain. At that point, the player playing the lowest valued card receives nothing. It’s a neat idea, but it is way to heavily dependent upon the luck of the draw. A hand of mid-range cards is deadly.

Ty stomped Shay, Gail, Zane, Ariel and me.

Rating: 4

DRAHTSEILAKT

• Ty Douds, Shay Douds, Zane Douds, Gail Schloesser and the team of Ariel Douds & Greg

I’ve really been enamored with this Reiner Knizia card game of ‘balancing’ your score between red and blue. It really is an interesting hand-management game with careful observation of the score cards required.

Shay nipped the team of Ariel and I for the victory:

• Shay: 10
• Ariel/Greg: 12
• Ty: 14
• Gail: 29
• Zane: 30

Rating: 7.5

BABEL

• Ty Douds, Greg

On Monday evening, I introduced Ty to Babel, the new Uwe Rosenberg game. I really want to like this game, but the wild swings in scoring and the heavy ‘luck of the draw’ factor prevent this from being a favorite. I find the game can also bog down when the temple levels needed by both players either don’t surface or get buried in the draw stacks. I’ve played two out of four games now that have gone over an hour … far too long for this type of game.

We aborted the game after an hour of smashing each other over and over again.

Rating: 6

IVANHOE

• Michael Labranche, Ariel Douds, Zane Douds, Emma Labranche, Greg

On Tuesday, many more folks began to arrive, so we had several tables of gaming in progress even though we didn’t officially have the meeting room till Wednesday!

I’ve discussed the problems I have with Ivanhoe before …’gang up on the leader’, Krieg und Friedenitis … but I still enjoy playing the game. Sure enough, the same problems surfaced once again in this game as several of us were in a position to win going into what would prove to be the final hand. Michael made a fantastic comeback and outlasted Ariel for the victory.

• Michael 4
• Ariel 3
• Greg 3
• Zane 3
• Emma 2

Rating: 6

TRAUMFABRIK

• Andy Merritt, Michael Labranche, Ty Douds, Rob Wood, Greg

This is another game I’ve become enamored with. To me, it’s ShowManager meets Modern Art. I find the bidding mechanism wherein the winning bid is split amongst the other players to be quite interesting. Plus, it is loads of fun putting together movies with strange combinations of actors and actresses.

One trend I am noticing, however .. whoever produces the best film has won every game I’ve played. If the best film is produced in the third round, it is worth at least 25 points … an amount that is difficult to overcome. This game was no exception as Ty produced the best film and won.

• Ty 72
• Michael 67
• Rob Wood 66
• Greg 57
• Andy 54

Ratings: Michael 8, Ty 8, Rob 8, Greg 7.5, Andy 7

Wednesday saw a large influx of gamers and their families. After the room was set with decorations, food, supplies, etc., a mass amount of gaming occurred.

SAN MARCO

• Tim Watson, Chris Lohroff, Ty Douds, Greg Schloesser

My first playing of this new Alan Moon / Aaron Weissblum design. I must say, I was quite impressed. I’ve only played once, so I haven’t seen the few problems that others have discussed. The game was actually very well received by all of us.

On the final turn of the game, I succeeded in banishing four of Ty’s markers from an area, denying him the victory and claiming it for myself.

Round-by-round scores:

• Round 1: Tim 21, Greg 19, Ty 12, Chris 11
• Round 2: Greg 36, Tim 34, Chris 30, Ty 20
• Round 3: Greg 46, Tim 40, Chris 30, Ty 27
• Final: Greg 53, Tim 52, Chris 49, Ty 45

Ratings: All 8’s.

CARTAGENA

• Chris Lohroff, Tim Watson, Ariel Douds, Zane Douds, Greg

Another running of the pirates. This has been, by far, the game I’ve played the most from the Essen releases. It is fairly light, yet not devoid of strategy, and can play in about 30 – 40 minutes. Further, it can easily be played by adults and children alike. It’s a winning combination.

Chris was the first to get all of his pirates safely into the boat.

Rating: 6

OGALLALA

• Ty Douds, Craig Berg, Jeffery Glanzer, Greg

Ty introduced us to this strange, older game of indian chiefs, canoes and booty. The game was over before I knew what was really going on. From what I recall, the idea was to draw a card and try to build canoes. Certain cards allowed you to attack your opponents and either sink them or steal their cargo. Other cards would cause one of your indians to go berserk and hatchet-chop your own canoe.

It seemed that an awful lot depended upon the luck of the draw. Still, we had fun playing using our horrible Indian accents.

Finals:

• Greg 15
• Ty 5
• Jeffery 4
• Craig 0

Rating: 3

M

• Rob Wood, Ty Douds, Michael Glanzer, Jeffery Glanzer, Craig Berg, Greg

Yet another game I’ve been smitten with, yet I’ve never won. I was also happy to learn that Gail, who played the game twice during Gulf Games and won both matches, really enjoyed it!

I can also appreciate that the designer and developers didn’t attempt to paste a theme onto the game. Somehow, it works just fine as an abstract.

Finals:

• Jeffery 220
• Michael 210
• Craig 190
• Rob 170
• Ty 170
• Greg 170

Rating: 7.5

KNIGHTS

• Chris Lohroff, Jeffery Glanzer, Craig Berg, Ty Douds, Tim Watson, Greg

The first bomb of the week. This is a new card game from Michael Schacht, who earlier brought us Kontor and Web of Power. I’m a big fan of Web of Power so was looking forward to Knights. Plus, the concept sounded like fun.

The game requires a LOT of dice rolling, with players attempting to beat a listed combination in order to claim castles and other goodies. I felt as though I was playing Fill or Bust … but for a MUCH longer time. I really enjoy Fill or Bust, but it plays in 10 minutes or so. Our game of Knights went on and on and on. Eventually, we were all rooting for someone to win. Eventually, Ty re-rolled dice which would have prevented Craig from winning, just so the game would end.

Ratings: Craig 4, Ty 3, Greg 3, Chris 2, Jeffery 1, Tim 1

ELEMENTS

• Mark Jackson, Craig Berg, Rob Wood, Andy Merritt, Greg

This was the final game of the evening … and it must have been near 3AM. I have absolutely NO recollection of this game. None. I’m serious. When I wrote down the names of who was playing, I even listed Craig’s name twice! Exhaustion had clearly set in.

Sorry I can’t give more details … I don’t even remember playing! I had to go re-read Mark Jackson’s report just to find out who really played.

Finals:

• Greg Schloesser 0 19 = 19
• Mark Jackson 4 7 = 11
• Craig Berg 3 7 = 10
• Andy Merritt 9 0 = 9
• Rob Wood 0 0 = 0

THURSDAY, MARCH 1ST

Gulf Games officially began at 9AM on Thursday morning. Several of us were in the game room early and began games before that time, but they were eligible for contest purposes since they didn’t finish until after the official start time.

RIFFIFI

• Mark Jackson, Chip Triplett, Greg

Mark showed me this light little game which incorporates lots of ‘slam your neighbor’ opportunities. It’s very light, but it was still entertaining. The idea is to collect a certain number of blocks in each of the five colors. I was the first to achieve this and captured the victory.

Ratings: Chip 6, Greg 5.5, Mark 5

PROTZEN

• Michael Glanzer, Toni Glanzer, Rob Wood, Tim Watson, Greg

This is a strange bidding game introduced to us by Rob. I honestly don’t recall much about it since I was ousted from the game before I fully understood what was going on. It’s funny, even the rules had a line stating, “in the rare case someone goes bankrupt”. Well, I was the rare case. I was out of the game in just a few minutes.

I do recall that the mechanism had the start player laying a series of possession cards, displaying his ‘wealth’, so to speak. Then, each player had to lay cards to somehow match or beat these cards. It was a bit confusing, but I’m sure it would have eventually made sense had I managed to remain in the game.

Tim dutifully recorded the final scores for me:

Finals:

• Toni 4,600
• Tim 3,100
• Rob 2,500
• Michael 0
• Greg 0

WAY OUT WEST

• Juliette Merritt, Andy Merritt, Chris Lohroff, Craig Berg, Greg

Second time for me with this new Martin Wallace design. I will say that the second go round was much better than the first. As far as I can tell, we didn’t miss any rules this time and we did include the critical rule wherein undefended buildings, transportation counters or cattle receive one die in defense.

I do enjoy the game, but still feel that the combat system is way too random. It is quite possible for one player to be devastated on a single turn, effectively eliminating any chance he might have of winning. For a game which seems to encourage strategic thought and placements, this random gunfight element plays too large a factor in determining the outcome of the game.

I knew that Craig was my main competitor and that the final tally would be close. I just didn’t know how close. Craig managed to squeak out a one point victory.

Finals:

• Craig 39
• Greg 38
• Juliette 27
• Andy 26
• Chris 15

Ratings: Craig 7, Juliette 7, Greg 6.5, Chris 5, Andy 5

DRAGON’S GOLD

• Frank DiLorenzo, Chris Lohroff, Ward Batty, Jim Cobb, Greg

My first playing of this new Bruno Faidutti title, part of the ‘Blue’ game series from EuroGames. I must say that I really enjoyed the game … especially since I’m partial to negotiation and deal-making. I found the game has a nice mix of planning, negotiation and event cards. Plus, it plays to completion in about 40 minutes or so … just the right amount of time.

I’ve since learned from Bruno that you only score the 5 point bonus for ONE set of colors you collect. We played you received the bonus for EACH set of five colors. I actually like this method better as it gives players more to pursue. Limiting the bonus to just one set drastically increases the value of the black diamond strategy: get the black diamond and as much gold, silver and red as you can. I think I’ll continue to play with the ‘multiple’ 5 point bonus rule.

Frank used the Black Diamond strategy to work his way into a tie with Ward, who had multiple sets of colors.

• Frank 50
• Ward 50
• Greg 38
• Chris 28
• Jim 23

Ratings; Frank 7, Ward 7, Greg 6.5, Jim 5

JUMP

• Shanna Labranche, Cindi Wood, Frans Labranche, Craig Berg, Greg

I had played this light Kramer / Kiesling design back at GG4 in Destin and I wasn’t terribly impressed. However, when Magnus Spielt had it on close-out for $5.00, I couldn’t resist and purchased a copy. I’ve now played it several times since and rather enjoy it, especially in the family environment.

The theme of the game is to have your ‘jumpers’ leap from the two planes and land as close to the water as possible … but not land in the water. More points are scored the closer you get to the water, while negative points are scored if you splash down into the sea or lake. The game uses a Raj like mechanism wherein everyone plays a card face down, then reveals and executes them in turn order. Most of the cards force one of the two planes to move forward or backwards, while others allow you to jump, cancel jumps, or blow other jumpers off course.

Yes, it’s light, but it is also fun. The timing of your jump is critical, even though you ultimately don’t have a terrific amount of
control over your fate.

I managed to be just a tad bit more accurate than Cindi and captured a 2 point victory.

Finals:

• Greg 11 + 14 + 3 = 28
• Cindi 11 + 7 + 8 = 26
• Frans 10 + 10 + 0 = 20
• Shanna 7 + 0 + 11 = 18
• Craig 5 + 13 + 0 = 18

Ratings: Shanna 7, Craig 6, Greg 5.5

EVO

• George Michaels, Mark Jackson, Rob Wood, Craig Berg, Greg

Time to dive into the other ‘new’ game of the week … Evo, from Philippe Keyaerts. This, too, is a EuroGames release, so it was two-for-two for me in terms of liking their new releases.

The comparison of Evo to Ursuppe is right-on. I’ve heard it described as “Ursuppe-lite” and that is a very accurate description. Players struggle to keep their dinosaurs alive by evolving (acquiring genes in a clever bidding round) and scurrying to the proper terrain as the climate changes. There’s a nice mix of event cards, combat, bidding and strategy. I’ve described the game in much greater detail on the Westbank Gamers site (under Game Session Reports), so if you’re interested in the mechanics, head on over to the website.

I pursued the ‘legs’ strategy … acquire a lot of leg genes so I could scurry quickly to the proper terrain. I ignored the aggressive ‘horn’ strategy, and, fortunately, the meteor impacted on the very first opportunity. I say “fortunately” as my more aggressive opponents were beginning to surround me with a hungry look in their eyes.

We had a blast playing, joking our way through the game. Everytime the meteor would move closer, Craig would utter various phrases such as, “Hey, is it getting brighter outside?“, or “I can read at night now!“. George, who was playing the ‘blue’ dinosaurs, played the part well by being the pessimist. He kept complaining that there was no point in all of this as we were all doomed anyway! It was a great bunch of guys to play with, that’s for sure!

Finals:

• Greg 42
• Craig 39
• Mark 37
• Rob 34
• George 32

Ratings: All 7’s

STICHELN

• Richard Glanzer, Shanna Labranche, Michael Labranche, Jeffery Glanzer, Greg

I heard several folks praising this game following GG7 in Navarre Beach, so I ordered a copy shortly thereafter. We’ve played several times with the Westbank Gamers crew and it has proved quite popular. I really like the name as it aptly describes what you can do to your opponents … Stick ‘Em!

It’s another trick-taking variation. There seems to be no end to the twists that folks can put on this simple concept. In Sticheln, the lead card is trumped by EVERY other card and color, except the 0. The person who ultimately played the highest valued TRUMP card takes the trick. The really nasty part, however, is that before each round, every player must lay down a card which becomes their ‘misery’ color. Any cards collected which match this ‘misery’ card count as negative points equal to the value of these cards. All other cards collected are positive points, but only 1 point apiece. It doesn’t take long to figure out how to ‘stick’ your opponents with cards they don’t want.

Michael took an early lead, but was quickly slammed for -32 points in the second round. This left Shanna in the lead, so she was brutalized in the third round. On the VERY last hand, I got ‘suck’ with -15 points, costing me the victory. Instead, it was quiet Jeffery, who seemed to not be in contention, who captured the victory.

Round-by-round scores:

• Jeffery – 6 + – 6 + 1 = -11
• Greg 1 + – 1 + -15 = -15
• Michael 10 + -32 + 2 = -20
• Shanna 3 + 5 + -29 = -29
• Richard – 2 + -33 + 0 = -35

Ratings: Greg 7.5, Richard 7, Shanna 6, Michael 5

QUESTS OF THE ROUND TABLE

• Craig Berg, Ty Douds, Jeffery Glanzer, Greg

I found this GameWright title on closeout at a local Tuesday Morning store. It was $4.99 so I couldn’t resist picking up a copy. I should have resisted … $4.99 wasted.

The concept is neat … go on quests to defeat beasts, capture treasures, find relics, etc. Successful quests bring you notoriety (shields) and you progress in rank and esteem. The first player to reach the top Knight position (10 shields) wins.

Now the BIG drawback .. everything is based on the luck of the draw. The first thing you do on your turn is turn over a card. If it is a Quest, you can elect to host a quest, laying a series of cards face-down in front of you following a sequence outlined in the rules. Opponents can then opt to participate in the quest or not. If they do participate, they then lay down cards (weapons, allies, etc.) that they THINK will total enough to beat the first stage in the quest. If successful, they move on to the next stage, but most of the cards used in the first stage are defeated. Thus, they have fewer and fewer cards in which to complete the quest. Ultimately, if successful, they earn a number of shields equal to the number of stages in the quest. However, they DO NOT get to re-fill their hand following the quest. The presenter of the quest gets a few cards back into his hand … but not enough. This is the ONLY way of getting cards into your hand.

Thus is revealed one of the major problems of the game: When your turn arrives and you have the opportunity to host a quest, you probably won’t have enough cards to do so if you previously participated in a quest. Thus, you won’t be able to get more cards. It’s a downward spiral. Craig had a full hand of cards, but none of them were conducive to putting on a quest. He couldn’t do anything. Yuck.

I mentioned earlier that you turn over a card at the beginning of your turn. In addition to the possibility of revealing a Quest card, you may reveal an event card. These event cards are ludicrous. Ty had managed to complete a quest and earned two shields. On two successive turns, he never revealed a Quest card. The second event card he did reveal forced him to lose his two shields! It was at this point we all decided we’d had enough and aborted the game. YUCK!!

The final humorous event involving this game was that I placed it on the prize table immediately after our playing. On Saturday night, when Ty’s name was called, he sent his son Zane up to the table and allowed him to choose any game he desired. Zane proudly trotted back to Ty carrying Quests of the Round Table! Poor Ty!

Rating: 2

AURA POKU

• Tim Watson, Jeffery Glanzer, Craig Berg, Ty Douds, Mark Engelberg, Greg

Ty brought this game along and was anxious to give it a try. Who could blame him with that super ‘Angry Brother’ piece? In spite of the VERY late hour, we all decided to give it a try.

Well, this made two stinkers in a row. This was a very simplistic race game, with the only ‘cooperation’ element being the few opportunities at a few locations on the board to negotiate a joint sailing across an inlet to save some movement spaces. I’m sure the designer thought this would make the game a negotiation game, but in reality this aspect was very weak and didn’t have that great of an impact on the game. For the most part, it was roll the die and move one of your pieces, running as fast as you could for the village. Along the way, you could collect coins if you passed certain check-points and there were coins remaining at the location.

Everytime a ‘1’ was rolled, a ring was placed on ‘Angry Brother’s’ hand (at least we hope it was his hand!). When he held three rings, he would toss them down in anger and move forward one space towards the village. The game ends when ‘Angry Brother’ reaches the village. Players then score points the huts they occupy in the village (assuming they managed to get any of their tokens to the village before Angry Brother arrived), plus the value of their coins collected on the way.

Angry Brother was really ticked off, as he sped towards the village faster than an Olympic track star. Only a few of us managed to get tokens to the village before his arrival. Even though I didn’t occupy the highest valued hut, I did manage to have a nice hoard of coins in my possession … enough to claim the victory. Mark was lured away by another game, happily exiting our game midway through.

Finals:

• Greg 33
• Ty 26
• Craig 25
• Jeffery 21
• Tim 16

Ratings: Jeffery 4, Ty 3, Craig 3, Greg 3, Tim 2

FRIDAY

On Friday morning, I was surprised to see my wife and daughter enter the game room early. Usually, they enjoy sleeping late, but decided to come down early for some gaming.

PEZ CARD GAME

• Gail Schloesser, Lindsay Schloesser, Craig Berg, Greg

Gail became the Pez guru throughout Gulf Games, teaching it to several different groups, including multitudes of eager children. As the weekend wore on, she actually tried to weasel out of few games of it, but was unsuccessful.

The game itself isn’t bad. The idea is to fill your pez dispensers with the proper flavors and in the order specified on the dispenser card. On your turn, you have three actions: (1) draw a new dispenser card from the display; (2) play flavor cards onto a dispenser; and/or (3) force an opponent to discard a flavor card. At the conclusion of your turn, you pick two more flavor cards, but can only hold five in your hand.

The idea is to correctly fill dispensers and be the first to reach or exceed 25 points. However, you do lose 1 point for each unfilled dispenser.

The game is very accessible by children and easy to play. There is quite a bit of luck involved due to the ‘luck of the draw’, and this can sometimes be frustrating if you’re looking for a particular flavor and just can’t seem to draw one. However, you must realize that the game is light and meant to be a family style game. In that venue, it really isn’t bad.

Craig started off fast, but then hit a wall waiting for the flavor he needed. I managed to hold him and Lindsay off and sneak by for the victory.

• Finals: Greg 34, Craig 21, Lindsay 19, Gail 17

SCHRILLE STILLE

• Gail Schloesser, Lindsay Schloesser, Dennis Mills, Mark Jackson, Craig Berg, Greg

I played this once while at Mark Jackson’s home back in January and found it OK, but a bit too long for the type of game it is. Still, I wanted Gail to try it as I felt it just might be to her liking.

The basic idea is to get your recording artists to climb the charts and score points for having popular records. In addition, you are also trying to pick the ‘chart toppers’ and those artists who experience the greatest positive movement on the charts. This, too, earns points. Of course, at the same time, you’re also trying to negatively influence your opponent’s artists and have their musicians fall down and off the charts.

The most appealing feature of this game is the clever ‘CD’ mechanism used to determine how many votes each artist received. It really is a clever gadget that Mark Jackson just can’t seem to stop fiddling with!

The game isn’t bad, but it is very prone to luck and very difficult to plan properly. Further, it lasts too long for the fun it generates.

Gail sure understood the strategies better than I did as she zoomed out to an early lead and held it for most of the game. Unfortunately, most of her ‘artists’ appeared early, so as the game progressed, fewer and fewer were on the charts. Thus, her scoring stagnated, allowing Lindsay to shoot past her for the win.

Finals:

• Lindsay 79
• Dennis 66
• Gail 64
• Craig 59
• Greg 55
• Mark 47
• I failed to get everyone’s ratings, but I’d rate it a 5.5.

STRAND CUP

• Team 1: Mark Jackson, Craig Berg, Gail Schloesser Team 2: Ty Douds, Shanna Labranche, Greg

This was the unexpected surprise of the event … not only for me, but for many folks who played it. I’d really never heard anything about this game prior to GG, and a card game about beach volleyball sounded dubious, at best.

However, it was a blast! It did take awhile to learn what the various cards could do, especially with Mark’s ‘blitzkrieg’ explanation, but once we understood this, the game proceeded at a lightning pace and was very exciting.

Strange as it sounds, you really got the feeling you were playing volleyball! One player would tap the ball to a fellow teammate, who would then set it for the third teammate to slam over the net. Then, the opponents would have to toss a card which equaled or exceeded the strength of the hit. If they couldn’t, a point would be scored. If they did manage to stop the hit, then they would set and return the ball in a similar fashion.

The event cards allowed for blocks, slams, saves, sun blindness, etc. All are designed to throw neat twists into the game. For speed, we did allow a point to be scored no matter who was serving. This worked just fine and the game didn’t drag at all.

The team of Mark, Craig and Gail shot out to a large lead, but then we came storming back. True to my real-life volleyball skills, I was the albatross around our team’s neck for most of the game. It seemed that whenever I went for a slam or block, I would roll abysmally and lose the point for our team. Ultimately, I seemed to improve and made some contributions.

The match was tied at 10-10, so it was ‘match-point’. We volleyed back and forth several times before Shanna rose high for a slam. Sadly, she rolled a ‘1’ and the ball slammed into the net, giving our opponents the final point and a victory.

This game was fun. Sure, it has some flaws, but so what? We had a blast playing. I can’t wait for my copy to arrive.

Finals:

• Mark, Craig, Gail: 10
• Ty, Shanna, Greg: 9

Rating: 7

WYATT EARP

• Brent Carter, Mark Johnson, Ty Douds, Greg

Brent Carter arrived for his first Gulf Games and promptly introduced us to Wyatt Earp, a design by Rich Borg and Mike Fitzgerald which borrows heavily from the Mystery Rummy series. I’m a fan of the series, so I was destined to like this western-themed release.

The game does, indeed, play very similarly to Mystery Rummy. A round ends when a player is out of cards, and money which has accumulated on the outlaw cards is then divided amongst those players who played melds of that outlaw. If a player has an overwhelming advantage of cards on a particular outlaw, he gets all the reward money. Otherwise, it is split.

There are a variety of special cards which add considerable spice … gunfights, hideouts, etc. The drawback is that there is quite a bit of German text on the cards, so it is definitely worth waiting for the English version.

Brent meets regularly with Rich Borg, so he has played innumerable times. His mastery showed as he crushed the rest of us in just three hands.

Finals:

• Brent: 33
• Greg: 17
• Mark: 14
• Ty: 9

Ratings: All 8’s.

JAVA

• Chip Triplett, Jim Cobb, Ward Batty, Greg

Chip had expressed a desire to learn this latest in the Kramer / Kiesling series (which includes Tikal & Torres), so I was more than happy to oblige. Although others aren’t as enamored with Java as they were with Tikal, I find it to be even better with a considerably more thinking and analyzing required. This, however, is part of the complaints, as it does cause the game to drag on a bit with even more downtime as players analyze the various options available to them.

I find the game a very rich gaming experience, one which tests my abilities to the fullest. I enjoy this sort of challenge, but fully recognize that it is not for everyone.

Chip pursued an interesting strategy of placing and closing irrigation tiles. This rewarded him early and he held a lead following the first few turns. Eventually, however, my strategy of upgrading temples by large amounts paid off and I shot into a hefty lead. Unlike my first game several months ago, I kept a close eye on the mammoth final scoring round and positioned my developers well.

Finals:

• Greg: 119
• Chip: 91
• Jim: 76
• Ward: 60

Again, I failed to get everyone’s ratings, but I give Java an 8.5.

LOST CITIES

• Mindy Engelberg, Greg

Ben Baldanza again hosted the Knizia Trilogy tournament, with contestants advancing through brackets (similar to the NCAA Basketball tournament) and playing Lost Cities, Tabula Rasa and Schotten Totten. My first round match was scheduled against Mindy Engelberg and the game was Lost Cities.

I shot out to a big lead following the first round, but Mindy stormed back in the second and held a narrow advantage. Round three was much more balanced, but I managed to nip her by just enough to claim the victory and move on to the second round.

Round-by-round scores:

• Greg: 57 + 4 + 54 = 115
• Mindy: 18 + 51 + 32 = 101

WHACK A MOLE

• Jason Matthews, Greg

Have you seen that children’s arcade game where you moles pop up from various holes and you have to whack them on the head with this large padded mallet? Well, Jason brought along this really neat portable version. It consisted of a large mat which rolled out. On the mat were about a dozen or so moles, each with a light on their head. Half of the lights were red, the other half white. When the game began, the lights would pop on and off and you had to smack the mole of your colored light with your mallet, but only when it was lit. An electronic counter kept score.

This was a hoot! I’ve always enjoyed the arcade version, so this was a sure-fire hit for me (and most of the kids!). Now, I just have to find one!

George Michaels was the preferred opponent during the event as George has a form of color blindness which made it difficult for him to distinguish between the red and white lights. Thus, if you played against him, you would be sure to gain some points due to him hitting your moles, too!

M

• Jason Matthews, Ward Batty, Andy Merritt, Dennis Mills, Mindy Engelberg, Greg

Another game of this fascinating title released by Abacus Spiele. I thought I was doing quite well, until I got slammed very late in the game by being forced to take a third color, effectively subtracting 40 points from my score. Plus, none of us were able to match the ‘token’ king, Andy, who had amassed 11 tokens.

Finals:

• Andy: 280
• Mindy: 260
• Greg: 240
• Ward: 200
• Jason: 180
• Dennis: 150

Ratings: Ward 8, Dennis 8, Greg 7.5, Mindy 7, Andy 6, Jason 6

TAKE IT EASY

• At my table: Sandy Borg, Ed Bonet, Brent Carter, Ben Baldanza, Rich Borg, Tim Watson, Vickie Watson, Greg

Each Gulf Games, we play a massive Take it Easy game during our Welcome Party, with 10 or more tables of participants. Ted Cheatham, host of our Welcome Party, serves as the ‘caller’. I actually managed to win one of these group contests way back at GG4 in Destin. It didn’t even come close this time. The entire event was won by little Emily Cheatham, with a score in excess of 180!

Finals at our table:

• Ed: 161
• Tim: 151
• Rich: 132
• Brent: 130
• Sandy: 122
• Ben: 108
• Greg: 101
• Vickie: 94

WONGAR

• Ben Baldanza, Mark Jackson, Ward Batty, Jason Matthews, Greg

My only attempt at this Rich Borg design was an ill-fated, aborted effort at last year’s Gathering of Friends. Joe Huber was involved in that game and was forced to leave early due to his commitment to participate in a tournament. Truth be told, none of us were very excited about the game when we aborted.

Still, I’ve been hearing some very positive things about the game and have been really itching to give it another try. So, I was pleased to have the opportunity arise.

You know, the game isn’t bad. It’s a bit different and really does take awhile to understand how everything comes together and works. In fact, I’m still not sure I fully understood how the ‘boomerang’ and the start figure worked. There’s also quite a bit of chaos involved and things can change awfully quickly.

I fell WAY behind early, but managed to accumulate a handful of cards. The drawback, however, is my opponents, wary of my arsenal, booted me out territories before I had the opportunity to participate in many negotiations. I still managed to hang in there and had a chance at winning late in the game, but took a safer route by agreeing to a deal instead of getting into a potentially dangerous card fight. I was hoping the game would last a bit longer, but those nasty scorpions surfaced quickly thereafter and ended the game.

Finals:

• Jason: 60
• Ben: 51
• Greg: 45
• Mark: 44
• Ward: 31

Ratings: Greg 6.5, Jason 6.5, Mark 5.5, Ben 5, Ward 5

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

• Peter McCarthy, Tim Watson, Jeffery Glanzer, Mark Jackson, Greg

I’ve heard SO much about this on rec.games.board that I’ve really been clamoring to try it. However, I’ve NEVER found the game at a price less than $24.95 here in the New Orleans area. I kept searching for those $4.99 or $9.99 sales others spoke of, but to no avail. So, I asked Ted to bring his copy along so I could give it a try.

Ted was kind enough to teach us the game before bolting to participate in something else. Jeffery was selected as the controller of the ‘evil’ minions, while the rest of us played Buffy and her cohorts. I had the pleasure of playing Oz, the werewolf dude, and would emit howls everytime I changed to wolf form. At 2AM, this was a bit disconcerting to the rest of the room!

Buffy managed to get herself surrounded by two evil vampires, but the quickly approaching sunlight forced the blood-suckers to scurry for safety. We felt it was our best opportunity to strike at the master before he acquired too many evil cards. We were being bashed until Mark sent Willow (I think that was his character) charging at the Master with a #2 pencil. Amazingly, he rolled the right number of stakes, striking the Master a death blow and winning the game for good!

We laughed and role-played nicely, but the game really has very little going for it. It’s better than most Hasbro productions, but still wouldn’t hit the table more than once or twice before being sold. I’m glad I played because now I won’t have to buy it.

Rating: 4

GERUCHTE KUCHE

• Timothy McCarthy, Peter McCarthy, Mark Jackson, Greg

One last game before retiring for the evening, and, with my luck, it was a memory game. I don’t even recall the mechanics, but I do know you were trying to collect sets of cards by asking opponents to give you a certain number of a particular card. If they had EXACTLY that number, they had to give them to you. Otherwise, they would say if they had “more” or “less”.

This certainly isn’t my style of game and I really didn’t like it at all. We played a couple of hands before calling it quits.

• Greg: 16
• Peter: 6
• Timothy: 3
• Mark: -2

Suddenly, it was Saturday. Gulf Games was on the other side of the peak and it all would be ending soon. This event flies SO fast … it is over before you know it.

STEINBESSER

• Mark Jackson, Brent Carter, Dennis Mills, Frans Labranche, Chip Triplett, Greg

As usual, my good friend Mark Jackson was the first to join me in the game room. He was followed shortly thereafter by Chip. After we finished tidying up, Mark introduced me to this little known game.

I was pleasantly surprised. The big, monster style components initially gives you the impression that this is a children’s game. Sure, the rules and mechanics are easy enough for children to learn and play, but there is a nice element of strategy involved which will keep adults interested.

The idea is to maneuver your stones around a path and attempt to avoid being gobbled by the rock-muching giants. These giants move towards the outer path whenever their color is rolled, and they jump onto the path and gobble stone whenever a stone appears opposite their position.

There is safety in numbers, however. Stones grouped together in threes are safe from being gobbled. However, inevitably you will be forced to break free of the safety of such a group and try to join up with another one. You’ll have to make some leaps over the waiting giants, however. Deciding which stones to move and how to group them is part of the strategy.

I managed to keep my stones in groups for most of the game, thereby avoiding the hungry monsters.

Finals (stones remaining):

• Greg: 4
• Frans: 2
• Mark: 2
• Dennis: 2
• Brent: 1
• Chip: 1

Rating: 6

JOHNNY CONTROLETTI

• Dennis Mills, Richard Glanzer, Mark Johnson, Ty Douds, Kenny Douds, Greg

Yuck. This one reminded me WAY too much of Munchausen. A dice is rolled to determine which player you had to make an offer. You then laced a few bills face-down on the table and stated an amount. If the opponent believes you, he takes the bills into his hand. If he doesn’t, he challenges you. If you did NOT offer the amount you said, you have to offer more face-down. If you did offer the amount you stated, he must then pay you, but he takes more money from the face-down deck to compensate for this loss.

Ug. This is nothing more than a bluffing / guessing game. Further, who you make the offers to is determined by a die roll. Mark’s number came up several times in the first round and he won before the first round was over!

Rating: 2

LIAR’S DICE

It was time for the traditional Liar’s Dice tournament. We had six tables of cup-shaking in the first round, followed by the finals. I failed to write down who was at my table. I do know that I didn’t make it to the finals!

The finals consisted of George Michaels, Tim Watson, Andy Merritt, Ben Baldanza, Richard Borg (the game’s designer) and Frans Labranche. We have a picture of the finals, but this one person is obscured from view. Sorry for the omission.

The result of the finals was SO appropriate, considering we were in Florida. The match came down to Tim and Ben, each with one die remaining. Apparently, Tim made a call and revealed his die, thinking he had one. Unfortunately, Ben wasn’t given the opportunity to respond. So, they had to re-roll and do it again! This time, Ben emerged the champion!

This wasn’t the only “re-count” we experienced during the event. In the traditional Die Macher game, after all was completed, it appeared that Neil Carr had emerged victorious. He even proudly grabbed the Die Macher medal from the wall and attached it to his badge. However, there was a discrepancy in the counting and a re-count was done. When all the votes were tallied (not sure if they counted dimpled or hanging chads!), it was revealed that Vonda Matthews had actually won! Only in South Florida ….

JUMP

• Ariel Douds, Gail Schloesser, Lindsay Schloesser, Emma Labranche, Timothy McCarthy/Greg Schloesser

Second time playing this light, yet fun little game from the design team of Kramer & Kiesling. Timothy and I played as a team. Sadly, I wasn’t much help as we finished dead last! Lindsay proved to be quite the capable parachutist … a skill I hope she doesn’t try in real-life!

• Finals:
• Lindsay: 3 + 2 + 6 = 11
• Gail: 7 – 3 + 6 = 10
• Ariel: 5 – 1 + 1 = 5
• Emma: 7 -11 + 7 = 3
• Timothy/ Greg: 0 – 9 + 2 = -7

TABULA RASA

• Juliette Merritt, Greg

Moving into the second round of the Knizia tournament, I found myself facing Juliette Merritt. Juliette was already developing a reputation as an excellent player, so I knew I was in trouble.

We played 3 rounds and each was EXTREMELY close. I’m usually half-way decent at this game, but she proved slightly better, capturing all three hands. To my great pleasure, Juliette went on to win the entire tournament, triumphing over Ty Douds in the finals. Now, I can at least say that the only person who beat me was the eventual champion!! :o)

• Game 1: Juliette 28, Greg 26
• Game 2: Juliette 22, Greg 21
• Game 3: Juliette 20, Greg 18
• Totals: Juliette 70, Greg 65

STIMMT SO

• Steve Friedland, Jim Cobb, Ty Douds, Richard Glanzer, Greg

Since discovering this light and clever game by Dirk Henn last year, it has become quite a hit down in the bayou. I’ve played well over a dozen times, and it has hit the table with our Westbank Gamers group even more often. Sure, the game is heavily driven by how the cards surface, but there is some hand management skills and choices to be made.

Richard and I held a slight lead after the first scoring round, but quickly saw that dissolve in subsequent rounds. Ty held of Steve to claim the victory:

• Round 1: Richard 5, Greg 5, Steve 4, Ty 4, Jim 2
• Round 2: Ty 25, Steve 21, Greg 18, Richard 16, Jim 16
• Finals: Ty 65, Steve 61, Jim 57, Greg 56, Richard 49

Rating: 6.5

KOHLE, KIES & KNETE

• Steve Friedland, Jim Cobb, Tim Watson, Chris Lohroff, Ward Batty, Greg

Several folks had not yet played this long out-of-print gem from Sid Sackson. I was recruited to teach the game and filled the sixth spot.

My feeble counting skills once again deserted me as I figured Ward was slightly ahead of me most of the game. My concentration on Ward, however, forced me to overlook a few of my other opponents, who slipped past me in the final few rounds of the game. This is the first time that I’ve seen the game end in a tie.

• Finals: Jim 44, Steve 44, Tim 43, Greg 35, Ward 33, Chris 31

Ratings: Greg 9, Steve 9, Tim 8, Chris 8, Ward 7, Jim 7

HIGH BOHN

• Mark Jackson, Mark Johnson, Ken Girton, Kenny Douds, Greg

Ever since I witnessed this game being played at Mark Jackson’s home in Nashville, I’ve been fruitlessly searching for a copy. This is the ONLY Bohnanza expansion which was not published by Amigo. From my understanding, only 2000 copies were printed and they quickly sold out. To my great surprise, Chris Lohroff had secured a copy for me and presented it to me upon his arrival at Gulf Games!

Mark Jackson taught us the game and did a good job of explaining the rules. He even had handy English charts available, which made it easy to translate the German cards and understand the special powers of the special cards. I don’t think Kenny got the hang of it, however, until near the end of the game.

The main difference in High Bohn is that players can convert the coins earned from beanfield harvests to purchase “special” cards. These cards convey a wide range of special abilities (extra beanfields, extra coins, warehouses for undesired beans, etc.) and really give the game a neat twist. It may be a bit much, however, to keep up with all these special powers. Still, I enjoyed my first playing and look forward to playing again soon.

Mark Jackson seemed in control early, in spite of Ken Girton’s seemingly supernatural ability to acquire and harvest the valuable Garden (“Angry Farmer”) beans. Mark Johnson slipped past Mark at the very end, however, based on his wealthier bank.

• Finals: Mark Johnson 25, Mark Jackson 24, Ken Girton 22, Greg 21, Kenny Douds 15

Rating: 8

LAGUNA

• Mark Jackson, Kim McCarthy, Chip Triplett, Greg

I had been bugging Ed Bonet to show this game to my wife, as I felt the puzzle-solving aspects of the game would make it attractive to her. Unfortunately, my wife was grabbed by the kiddies for yet another game of Pez, so all she could do was stop by and watch a few turns of our game. She didn’t seem terribly impressed.

I had played the game once before back at the Gathering and wasn’t taken by it. Still, if Gail had enjoyed it, I would have acquired a copy. She didn’t, so I’m happy to pass. The game just isn’t my style.

After grabbing an early lead, Chip was surpassed by Mark who finally got the hang of the movement system and cruised to three straight marble drop-offs.

• Finals: Mark 4, Chip 3, Greg 2, Kim 2

UND TSCHUSS

• Mark Jackson, Jane Cheatham, Frans Labranche, Greg

I seized the opportunity to rope the elusive Jane Cheatham into a quick game, promising her that the game was extremely quick and we would play just one hand. Sadly, she was saddled with an incredibly bad hand and never could win any positive valued cards. I’ve since learned that the English translation of the rules is incorrect and the player who drops out of a round first can discard their hand and re-draw new cards. This would make a major difference in the game and will likely improve my rating.

Mark and I had much better hands and ended the game in a tie.

• Finals: Mark 50, Greg 50, Frans 36, Jane -15

UND TSCHUSS

• Derk Solko, Neil Carr, Vonda Matthews, Craig Berg, Greg

Fresh from their Die Macher game, Derk, Neil and Vonda were itching to head out for something to eat. Since they were waiting on a few others to join them, I grabbed them for another quick game of Und Tschuss. This time, it was Craig and I who were saddled with incredibly bad hands, while Derk breezed to the victory.

• Finals: Derk 36, Neil 29, Vonda 12, Craig 4, Greg -10

TROIA

• Dennis Mills, Mark Engelberg, Mindy Engelberg, Greg

Frank Kulkmann had given this one glowing reviews on his website, claiming it was the best game at last year’s Essen game show in Germany. I couldn’t resist such glowing praise and immediately ordered a copy of this limited edition release.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first playing at Mark Jackson’s home and was eager to give it another try. The game is very different than other games I’ve played and the theme is very tight. Players are excavating the ancient city of Troy and must dig for artifacts and then must ‘publish’ their findings by fitting the pieces into the proper locations on the various levels of Troy (frames).

The digging part is quite fun as all of the pieces from the different epochs are ‘dumped’ face-down onto a large center board. The back of each tile depicts faint contour lines which match-up with the appropriate location on the frame wherein that specific tile must eventually be placed. So, part of the challenge is to discern where each piece ‘fits’ and into which epoch. Some have complained about this aspect of the game, claiming it slows the game down and is not very interesting. I disagree. I find this an intergal part of the game and a fun puzzle-solving challenge.

When you playing a digging card, you can excavate up to five pieces from this pile. Here the game resembles ‘Pick-up Sticks’ in that you can only take pieces which are not encumbered by other pieces. So, often you ‘see’ the tile(s) you want, but cannot get to them because of the rubble lying above it. Those pieces have to be removed before you can get at the artifacts you desire. This is where clever hand management comes into play. You try to play cards so that opponents must dig before you, hopefully clearing away the other tiles first and allowing you to get at the pieces you desire.

No, the game is not great and not without some flaws, but it is so different than most other games that it is sort of a novel experience. I may eventually grow tired of it, but for now I find it very interesting.

Mark, Dennis and I vied for the lead most of the game, with Mark holding the slight edge. In the final round, I scored a large quantity of points and thought I had just enough to beat out Mark. However, Mark also scored well and matched my point total exactly. According to the rules, this meant that my marker had to be slid back one space, thereby giving Mark a 1 point victory!

• Finals: Mark, Greg -1, Dennis -7, Mindy -9

Ratings: Dennis 7, Greg 6, Mark 5.5, Mindy 4

WEB OF POWER

• Jon Pessano, Rich McKiernan, Vonda Matthews, Ben Baldanza, Greg

Jon had never played this challenging and fast game from Michael Schacht and was excited to try as he had just purchased a copy. We did have some debate as to the proper rules to use (can you open a new territory with a cloister AND place an advisor there), but settled on the rule wherein if you open a new territory with a cloister, you cannot add an advisor on the same turn.

I kept an eye on the pivotal second round scoring and was setting up some nice connections with advisors. Unfortunately, that thoroughly evil Vonda, who masks her evilness behind her sweetness and captivating smiles, placed a cloister and an advisor into one key territory, costing me a tie for the majority of advisors in that area and eliminating one ‘link’. That cost me six victory points and the game. Arrghh!

• Finals: Rich 41, Greg 40, Vonda 37, Ben 37, Jon 26

Rating: 7.5

BONGO

• Calvin Douds, Timothy McCarthy, Zane Douds, Greg

I just knew this game would cause me severe pain, but, again, how can you say ‘no’ to a bunch of kids? I allowed myself to be lured into a few quick rounds of this thoroughly frustrating quick-recognition dice game. Of course, I was simply TERRIBLE at it. The kids, however, were amazing. How in the world can they be so quick?

ALLES FUR DIE KATZ

• Zane Douds, Timothy McCarthy, Calvin Douds, JP Labranche, Greg

Yet another game with the young folk before retiring for the evening. Hey, come to think of it, it was 1:30AM … what were these kids doing up so late, anyway!!! Craig Berg quickly taught us this light card game wherein you are trying to place your animals into a zoo and collect value animals for your hand. Calvin proved to be a masterful zoo-keeper.

• Finals: Calvin 30, Greg 25, Zane 24, JP 22, Timothy 6

SUNDAY

A sad, sad day … Gulf Games 7 was coming to an end. Still, there was time for a few more games and a fun game show hosted by Derk Solko and Ken Girton.

DRAHTSEILAKT

• Andy Merritt, Richard Glanzer, Juliette Merritt, Toni Glanzer/Robbye Friedland, Greg

One more time for this clever Knizia title. Once again, that dastardly scoring twist which allows you to eliminate a previous round’s score if you score a perfect zero jumped up and bit me, costing me the game. I was winning entering the final round, but both Andy and I managed to score perfect zeros in the final round. I was able to erase my previous high of 5 points, but Andy was able to eliminate his hefty score of 10 from the first round. This gave him a 1 point victory.

• Finals:
• Andy: 10 + 1 + 0 = 11 (-10) = 1
• Greg: 2 + 5 + 0 = 7 (- 5) = 2
• Juliette: 1 + 3 + 3 = 7
• Richard: 10 + 4 + 2 = 16
• Toni/Robbye: 5 + 4 + 8 = 17

Rating: 7.5

ATTILA

• Mark Johnson, Shay Douds, Tim Watson, Greg

Following the ‘Family Feud’ game show, we jumped into a game of Attila. We recruited Shay to be the 4th player. Shay is always the trooper and will play just about any game.

Mark held the lead throughout most of the game and appeared headed to victory. However, I had managed to get into first or second place in four of the tribes, so was in a very good scoring position. Mark, whose turn was immediately prior to mine, figured if he didn’t end the game on his turn, I would find a way to do so on my turn. So, he took a chance and ended it, hoping he would have enough points to stay ahead of me. He fell just short and I claimed a narrow victory.

• Finals: Greg 109, Mark 105, Tim 83, Shay 82

Ratings: All 7’s.

HONOR OF THE SAMURAI

• Ken Girton, Jason Matthews, Mark Johnson, Ward Batty, Greg

Time for one last game before exiting the meeting room and calling an end to GG7. Most had not played this Game Wright release and were intrigued enough to give it a go. My only played was over 3 years ago and I remembered the game being very random and prone to going on and on and on.

My memory proved correct. Every time someone got in a position of being the perceived leader, everyone else would slam him with cards and attacks, knocking him senseless. This trend continued over and over and, after an hour or more of play, no one was closer to victory than when we had begun. So, although we had fun laughing and using bad Japanese accents, we opted to abort.

This is a game that was ‘almost there’, but a few of the cards are simply too powerful and there is no defense against them. A few tweaks might make it a workable game, but there are so many other better games available, it just isn’t worth the effort.

Rating: 4

Later that evening, after most folks had departed, a few of us headed out to dinner. I enjoyed a relaxing final meal with the Glanzers, the Matthews and Ken Girton. After some much needed rest, I departed Orlando on Monday morning for the 10 hour drive back to New Orleans. All the way home, I reflected on the absolutely fantastic time I had with some of the greatest folks you’d ever want to meet. I can’t wait till Gulf Games 8 in Nashville, Tennessee!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Just a quick rap-up of some of the contest winners:

CASSANDRE’S FRIENDLY PERSON CONTEST

To me, this is our most important contest. The idea is to play with as many different people as you possibly can. This ‘forces’ you to step away from your usual group of gaming buddies and meet and socialize with everyone else. We have a huge board on which everyone places marks by the names of those they play with.

Several individuals managed to play with over 50 different people throughout GG7. Here are the top 5:

• Mark Jackson: 57
• Greg Schloesser: 55
• Ty Douds: 53
• Craig Berg: 52
• Frank DiLorenzo: 51

GAMING GOD

No, we certainly don’t want to become too competitive or stress winning. But, it is fun to keep track of who has won the most games. Everyone wears a name badge which has little clips attached. As you win a game, you take a medal and attach it to your badge. The medals are a BIG hit, as most contain humorous sayings, phrases, etc. There are also special medals which depict games. If you win a game which is depicted on one of these medals, you grab that medal and wear it.

For the second time in a row, Ty Douds proved to be the ‘Gaming God’:

• Ty Douds: 17
• Frank DiLorenzo: 16
• Andy Merritt: 14

RIDE THE RIDES

Since our theme was ‘Theme Park U.S.A.’, we had many decorations depicting theme park rides, attractions, etc. Around the room were 14 different rides, each named after one of our GG participants: The Douds Cloud Ride, Lenny’s Looping Leo, Berg Family Fun House, etc. Each of these rides had a dozen or more medals attached, each depicting a game.

If you won a game which was pictured on one of these medals, you attached the medal to your badge and wrote your name on the appropriate ride. At the end of Gulf Games, the individual who captured a medal from the most rides, “rode the most rides” so to speak, would win an award.

We had a tie for this honor, with both Steve Friedland and Ty Douds riding 5 of the 14 rides.

• Steve Friedland: 5
• Ty Douds: 5
• Ariel Douds: 4
• Rob Wood: 3
• Elaine Lohroff: 3

PARTY CRASHERS

A poster depicted 46 different ‘people’ whose images were gleaned from game boxes. Players had to identify as many of the games pictured on the poster as possible.

Dennis Mills edged out Ty for the victory.

• Dennis Mills: 44
• Ty Douds: 40

FUN HOUSE MIRRORS

Tim Watson had distorted the images of game box characters, kinda like those old fun house mirrors. The idea was to identify as many of these as you could. Ty nudged me out for the most correct answers.

• Ty Douds: 11
• Greg: 9

PASTOR MARK’S BOX OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Mark Jackson had assembled a dozen or so pieces from games, some obscure and others a bit more common. These pieces were placed inside a box. You had to shove your hand through the opening and identify the games by feeling the pieces.

The second part of the contest was the dice box. Ten dice were placed inside a clear container. Again, you had to identify as many of the games as possible.

I won the dice section (9 out of 10), but Ty proved his incredible knowledge of games by identifying 11 of the 12 game pieces.

KNIZIA TRILOGY

As mentioned earlier, Juliette Merritt bested Ty Douds in the finals to capture the title in the Knizia Trilogy tournament. This was loads of fun and thanks to Ben Baldanza for again hosting this event.

Another Gulf Games is now history. This is truly a FANTASTIC event, one which is very, very special to me. Thanks to everyone for attending and sharing your friendship and love so freely.

See y’all in Nashville!