Williamsburg, Virginia
August 7 – 10, 2003
What follows are some notes on the games I played in Williamsburg. I got in a lot of games with a lot of people, and wish we could have stayed through Sunday like we have in previous years.
Thanks again to all who helped organize the event, to all who brought their games for us to share, and to all who made Gulf Games so much fun, either by playing games, engaging in stimulating conversation, or by putting up with our family. I hope to see all of you again soon!
GULF GAMES 12-Williamsburg, Virginia
Russelbande a fitting start to Gulf Games, teaching this delightful game about racing pigs to a bunch of kids. I played with Tessa and Emma Samuelson, Allison Vander Ark, Emma Labranche, and Jeanette Vander Ark. Tessa, Jeanette, and Emma Labranche shared the victory.
Crokinole Sarah Samuelson and Fleur Brennan teamed up against Patrick Brennan and myself. I think this may have been the Brennan’s first game of Crokinole. Pat and I won.
Smarty Party This is a party game with an innovative scoring/moving mechanism. I really liked the way the game worked, even if I didn’t always care for the answers listed on the cards that we were trying to match. I played with Gail Schloesser, Ted Cheatham, Greg Schloesser, Vickie Watson, Peter McCarthy, James Miller, and Elaine Lohroff. What a fun group of people to play with!
Zendo x3 Ted taught this game to a group of us, and we played three times in a row. I won one game. Joining me were James Miller, Stephen Glenn, Ted, and Doug Cheatham.
Piratenbilliards Craig Berg took this one along, and it saw almost constant play. I am terrible at it, but it’s a lot of fun to play nevertheless. I played against Kayla Berg, Craig Berg, and Chris Lohroff. I think Kayla won, but Chris was close (he actually may have won).
Evo Even though I own this game, I had never played it. Joe Huber taught the game to Theresa and I. We were joined by Michael Labranche and Frans Labranche. I had a great time and am looking forward to playing this one again soon. There’s just the right balance of tension and conflict in the game. My notes don’t say who won, but I know it wasn’t me.
Enchanted Forest I started a game of this with Valori Glenn, Stven Carlberg, Michael Glanzer, Kyle Berg, and Jason Matthews, but it was aborted early (for supper?). I wish I could have gotten it back on the table, it’s a memory game that I am terrible at but always enjoy playing.
Take it Easy Joe, Ben, and Megan Huber were at my table along with Sarah Bigelow (?), Allison Vander Ark, Vonda and Eliza Matthews. Sarah won our table with 175 points. Allison was second with 163 (!) I had 149.
Crokinole this time I partnered with Dave Bernazzani against Chris Lohroff and Jenn Bernazzani. Dave and I won.
Smarty Party I played a second game of this. At the table with me were Frank Hamrick, Frank Branham, Sandi West, Michael Weston, and Peter McCarthy. My notes don’t say who won, but I know it wasn’t me.
Halunken & Spelunken I had agreed before Gulf Games to teach this to Stven Carlberg. We were joined by Ed Rozmiarek. The game is over before you know it, and there’s not quite as much tension with 3 as with 4, but it’s still a neat implementation of a Raj-style bidding game. Stven won by a few points.
Time’s Up Another party game! This is unusual for me. I had never played it before, but Theresa had at a previous Gulf Games and had told me to try to play it this time, since it was fun. I partnered with Vickie Watson against Frank Branham & Theresa and Sandi West & Kim Berg. Vickie and I came in third place, but we had a great time. I am looking forward to playing this one again.
Expedition I taught this to Philip Sasse. I think it’s an excellent two player game, and it can be played with two in just a half hour. I won the game 20-18.
Edel Stein & Reich This has rapidly become one of my favorite games, even though I am really bad at it. I’ve enjoyed it with either 3 or 4 players. In this game Theresa and I were joined by Jack Lindsay and Philip Sasse. I scored a huge amount in the second round, but it was not enough to offset my poor first and second rounds. Philip won the game, and I was a close second.
Ursuppe Another game that I had been looking forward to playing for a long time. K-Ban agreed to teach this one, and had played it a few weeks before Gulf Games to help get the system back into his head to make it easier to teach. I played with Peter McCarthy, Jeffrey Glanzer, Theresa, and K-Ban. We played for a long time, even taking a 90 minute lunch break, but it was worth it. Jeffrey won the game, but I loved it and will gladly play it again.
Alhambra I played this with Theresa, Alan Moon, and Christian Leonhard. Christian won. I like Stimmt So, the original version of this better than Alhambra, I think. I don’t see how the addition of the requirements for building your tiles instead of merely collecting sets improves the game substantially. I also wonder if the wall can be as much an irritant as a strategic consideration. Despite these criticisms, I love the game system, and was glad to get a chance to play it again.
Korsar Leon Hendee and I joined forces against Jason Matthews and Philip Sasse and K-Ban and Michael Weston. I had never played this as a partnership game before, and quite enjoyed it. Leon and I were the bloodthirstiest pirates, winning the game by a couple of points.
King Lui This is a game that I picked up from the Oasis of Fun prize table. I’ve played it a couple of times with my group at home, and it fits works perfectly as a 10-15 minute filler game. I was joined by Magnus Lundgren, Dave Bernazzani, K-Ban, and Patrick Brennan. K-Ban won.
Ave Caesar A game I had read about and was hoping to be able to play. I had played Ausgebremst at Gulf Games 8 and didn’t feel like it was all that special. Ave Caesar uses a similar system, but I had read that it was a better game. Playing along with me were Magnus Lundgren, Dave Bernazzani, K-Ban, and Patrick Brennan. We had an outstanding time, due in large part to the trash talk going on. Magnus declared his intention to declare war on the Australian, while Patrick forced us to stand and loudly give our tribute to Caesar. I don’t remember who won, but it was a great time. I’d love to find a copy of this one.
Ta Y Stven Carlberg and Timothy McCarthy beat Ed Rozmiarek and me in this game. I don’t think I’ve recovered from this one yet. The tile draws were outrageously against us. It was painful.
Expedition I taught Frank Hamrick how to play this and he beat me in a close game. Another fantastic way to spend 30 minutes gaming.
Klunker I had hoped to play a game of this with Patrick Brennan. It was his ringing endorsement of the game that encouraged me to seek it out. We played with Stven Carlberg, who had not played before. Even though I thought I was pretty good at the game, Patrick did things on his way to victory that I had never seen tried. That they worked shows me that there are depths to this one that I hadn’t found yet.
Wyatt Earp Michael Green and I taught this to Philip Sasse, and he returned to favor by beating us at our own game. I was leading before the third hand, but was dealt 9 sheriff cards in that hand and ended up taking only $2000 on that hand. I couldn’t earn any capture points with all those sheriff cards, and couldn’t get rid of them fast enough to remain in contention in the game.
Exxtra I played this with Chris Lohroff, Gail Schloesser, Merel Koch, Greg Schloesser, and Craig Berg. This was the start of the silliness that evolved into an insane game of calling out the names of the die rolls and trying to hex your opponents into rolling an X. I don’t think Gail and Merle quite understood the adolescent silliness that started happening on our end of the table, and I appreciate their tolerance in putting up with us. I laughed so hard I was crying.
Samurai James Miller had brought his copy of the game, and I taught it to Sarah and Tessa Samuelson. We had a bit of trouble because James’ copy was missing the rules. I was OK up until trying to explain how to figure out the winner. I think I got it right, with some help from James. I must have done a good job teaching it, because Sarah won and we all had a good time playing it.
Moderne Zeiten I’ve played this with the original, incorrect rules (the Atlanta Version), and with the corrected rules (the Designer’s Version). For such a simple game it’s a shame that there have been this many problems with rules. When it was being taught at Essen last year people complained that the demo people at the Jumbo stand couldn’t teach it correctly either (was this the reason for the original incorrect rules translation?). I like the game either way, but I think I prefer the designer’s rules at this point. Ed Rozmiarek, Leon Hendee, Derk Solko, Ward Batty, and I played by the Atlanta Version, the first rules translation. Ward and Leon ended up tying for the win.
Balloon Cup Stephen Glenn taught me how to play his game published by Kosmos. I won.
Newlywed Game Theresa and I had said we’d play it but missed out on the game the night before. When a game of this was being organized, we jumped in right away. We were joined by Dave and Jenn Bernazzani, Alan Moon and Janet Niver, Greg and Gail Schloesser, Erik and Beth Arneson, and Frank Branham and Sandi West. All I can say is that we had fun, even though some of the questions were a bit embarrassing
Exxtra a second game using the rapidly evolving Cosmic Exxtra variant. I played with Chris Lohroff, Al Newman, Ted Cheatham, Patrick Brennan, and Craig Berg. Things got sillier as the game progressed. I think Chris is going to post the list of Cosmic Exxtra rolls on the Geek.
Viva Pamplona My notes are sketchy on this one, but I think I played with Chris Lohroff, Ted Cheatham, Patrick Brennan, and Craig Berg. I don’t know how good the game is, but the company at the table made it special. This, sadly, this was my last game at Gulf Games 12, as we had to leave early the next morning.