Huntsville, Alabama
February 24 – 27, 2005
I arrived in Huntsville about 11:30 AM. Here’s a brief rundown of the games I managed to play Friday.
Die Weinhndler
With Tyler Putnam, Greg S., Josh Miller, Larry Levy
Interesting set collection game that I liked, but I had no ability to see which bid would win what, so I spent the entire game guessing what would happen. No wonder that I came in last. Id like to play this again, but dont think Ill buy it because I had a hard time understanding it.
Scores: Josh 54, Greg 42, Tyler 40, Larry 36, Me 35
Santiago
With Jay Bloodworth, Jim Cobb, Josh Miller, and Larry Levy.
Same designers as the first game I played, but this one I understand how to play. I first played it at Gulf Games in Pensacola, and feel that this is one of the better new games. I was able to eke out a close win over Larry.
Scores: Me 59, Larry 57, Josh and Jay 53 each, Jim 43
Odins Ravens
With James Miller
This is one of the better games in the overrated Kosmos two player series. I rarely get a chance to play it, because my son Sam, my typical opponent in two player games, prefers several other titles. James and I had a good time with this, I took the early lead and then he stormed back to win the last three races and the game, 13-10
Dicke Dmonen
With Frank Branham and James Miller
Very challenging abstract game made out of 4 colored laces and 50 pawns. I will be making my own copy, especially after seeing online that the designer doesn’t mind. Don’t ask me how I won, but I did, beating rank 10 to 9. James was shut out.
Jochen der Rochen
With Jim Cobb, John Palagyi, Ward Batty, and Frank.
John P commented several times that we hadn’t played any games together yet (hey, I just got to Huntsville!), but I dont think he expected this type of game. Rock the dance floor and try to get the right color fish to fall off. Silly dexterity game for kids that I enjoyed. Frank won the game. Zoch games costing what they do, I don’t think this one will find a place on my shelves, but I liked it enough to buy it if the price were right.
Pick Two
With Joy Mills, Henry Hunger, Michelle Corbin, Vickie Watson, CindyWood, John Palagyi, and Rob Wood.
Cindy won this game. I used to own a copy, but we cant find it anywhere, so I only get to play it at big events like Gulf Games. Too bad, I really like it.
Himmelstrmer
With Peter Hendee, John Palagyi, Earl Bailey, Michelle, and Joy.
I think I have a copy of the Parker Brothers version of this somewhere. I hope I do anyway, but it’s hard when you’re in the middle of moving to keep track of everything. This is a balloon racing game where people aren’t sure which balloon you want to win. You roll the die and move any balloon you want, subject to the effects of the spaces on the board or the position the balloon might be in the race. I like it, but its really a fluffy game. I don’t remember who won this game, and didn’t note it in my book.
Tante Tarantel
With Michelle, Earl, John P., and Peter
Fast and furious race through the web, with Earl coming out victorious. I prefer this to Finstere Flure, its got a similar theme but is much less prone to analysis paralysis.
Niagara
With Michelle, Earl, John, and Peter
Here’s a Zoch game I will be buying (because I couldn’t get one off the prize table). I won the game, but Im not sure how. It was a lot of fun playing, and the bits are incredible. My kids will definitely like this one. One comment I read online somewhere was that it would be interesting to try it where you play all but one of your tiles before getting them all back. Maybe after I buy a copy I can try that.
Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom (twice)
With Sharon Madden, Rob, and Cindy
This was a laugh riot. Make B movies while trying to attack (ruin) your opponents movies. I liked this better than Zombies, a game with a similar sense of humor (and considering that I took Zombies off the prize table, its pretty clear that this game is on my buy list). We had so much fun we played two games of it. Rob won the fist and Sharon won the second.
Big Boss
With Sandi West, Josh, Peter, Frank
Kramers salute to Acquire was so good it had me thinking about how to home-make a copy, considering the price it fetches on the used market. I lost terribly, but loved playing this.
Scores: Frank 550, Josh 475, Sandi 459, Peter 437, Me 297
SATURDAY
I was up extra early Saturday morning, because my body was still on Eastern time and I had gone to be at 11:30 Central time the night before. After eating breakfast I got the hotel staff to unlock the game room and started cleaning up some of the mess, waiting for an opponent. Chip Triplett wandered in shortly after I got in the room, and so we got started playing.
Oceania
With Chip Triplett
This is a new two-player game from Klaus Teuber, based on Entdecker. On your turn you choose where to start exploring, draw a tile, and play it if it fits. If it doesn’t fit, it goes in front of you and could cost you points at the end of the game. If it fits, you have the choice of playing one of your scout tokens onto any land discovered on the new tile. Tokens are worth 1, 2, or 3 points. When an island is completed, the player with the most points worth of tokens wins the points for the island. This pretty much sums up the game. I liked it, its pretty simple, about on the level of Flowerpower. Chip won the game.
Game of Life Card Game
With Ben Huber and Rob Wood
This was a lot better than I expected, given the mindlessness of the board game version of this game. Each turn you choose whether to spend either time or money from the budget allowed by the profession you have chosen. Rob won our game, despite never going to college. I had everything needed to become President of the United States except children. If I had been able to play the President card, Id have won the game.
Die Sieben Sigel
With Frank, Joe Huber, James Miller, and Chris Comeaux
I’m happy to play this whenever I can, which isn’t often enough. James won.
Exxtra
With Chis Lohroff, Craig Berg, Jim Fairchild, James Miller, and Leon Hendee
We of course played with the Gulf Games name the die rolls rules. Leon had trouble coming up with good ways to die. Best one I remember (from Chris) was cell phone call while pumping gas. I had an early lead, but I think James won the game.
Ticket to Ride
With Joy Mills, Rob, John P., and Chris (not sure which one, sorry)
John built a huge train line spanning the nation, and ran away with the win by about 20 points or so.
Union Pacific
With Stven Carlberg, Kayla Berg, and Joy
I never had a share of either the red or green train companies, yet still ended up winning. I accomplished this by tying for the lead in UP stock each round, plus I was the sole shareholder in three lines on three of the four dividend rounds. Also, I managed to steal control of the yellow line before the third dividend round, and that ended up being the third largest company on the board.
Scores: Me 129, Stven 118, Joy 114, Kayla 110
Showmanager
With Stven, Chris C., Joy, Charlie Davis, and Cindy
This is one of my favorite six-player games. I like it in either its Atlantic Star or its Shwomanager theme. In this one I made a fatal hand management mistake early, and paid for it the rest of the game (I ended up with a card in my hand the entire game, never able to play it).
Scores: Stven 51, Charlie 41, Cindy 38, Chris 34, Joy and me 28 each
Ave Caesar
With Warren Madden, Charlie, Joy, Ward, and Sharon Madden.
I took the early lead, but dirty racing tactics blocking me from getting into the pit lane on the first lap cost me dearly, and I ended up finishing a distant sixth. Warren won, Charlie was second, and Ward was third.
Akaba
With Warren, Joy, and Sharon
Typical Haba oddness, this quirky memory game is themed around players on flying carpets visiting different booths in an oriental bazaar trying to collect five different items. How can you not like a game where the start player is the player who flies the farthest when he jumps in the air? We had a standing broad jump contest to see who went first (me!). How can you not like a game where you move your piece by blowing it around the board with a bulb syringe? How can you not like a game where your turn lasts until your left-hand neighbor rolls doubles on the dice? We laughed like crazy. Joy won the game, but we all had a blast.
Rsselbande
With Joy, Sheldon Smith, Joe Bennet, and Charlie
Another Gulf Games staple, and another lightweight racing game. In this one you race your acrobatic pig along a path, giving piggy back rides to your opponents sometimes, but overall just have fun with the fun bits.
Easy Come, Easy Go
With Craig Berg, Josh Miller, and Chris L.I like the idea behind this, but it seemed to last too long for what it was. Comments elsewhere suggest this may be due to the fact that we played with 4 players instead of 3.
Dancing Dice
With Craig, James, and Chris L
Another dice filler game, I liked this one a bit more than Easy Come Easy Go. I had a difficult time seeing the different values on the dice, but I was VERY tired at this point and that may have been a factor.
That’s all the gaming I managed to get in in Huntsville. I spent a lot of time socializing on Sunday morning, and never managed to get in that game of Santa Fe Rails with Anye Sellers that we had talked about on Saturday evening. Even though I played Tante Tarantel, I didn’t get to play with Joe and Ben, despite the fact that we had tried to plan that ahead of time. I enjoyed the non-gaming time spent socializing, both in the game room and at area restaurants. I’m glad to have made it to my seventh Gulf Games, and hope to see all of you in New Orleans this summer.