Savannah, Georgia
August 1 – 4, 2002
SWEET, SWEET SAVANNAH – PART 3
Gulf Games 10 began officially at 9:00AM on Thursday, August 1, 2002. The excitement was palpable as folks arrived in the game room early and the games began to be played.
Games Played: Mamma Mia, Alles im Eimer, Crokinole, Squint, 5ive Straight, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Villa Paletti, Midnight Party, Wildlife, Vampire Hunter
Mamma Mia: Appropriately, the first game I played was Mamma Mia, where I was joined by Joe Huber, Joy Mills, James Miller and Kevin Whitmore. I say ‘appropriately’ since Mamma Mia was the first game I played at the Gathering a few years back … with Joe Huber.
I got off to a slow start in successfully making my pizzas, but not as slow as poor Joy who just couldn’t seem to get her timing right. We all celebrated in the third and final round when she finally made her first pizza. I came on strong at the end, but it wasn’t enough to catch Joe “Mr. Pizza” Huber.
Finals: Joe 8, Greg 6, James 4, Kevin 2, Joy 1
Alles im Eimer: The bucket game! The irate barnyard animals were Steve Kurzban, Mike Adams, Joe Huber, John Moore and myself.
In spite of being new to the game and scoring zero points in the first round, K-ban managed to conserve seven buckets in the second and final round, claiming the victory.
Finals: K-ban 7, Mike 3, Joe 3, Greg 2, John 0
Crokinole: The Labranche’s had not played Crokinole, so I was obligated to teach them the game. Shanna and I teamed against Michael and Emma and proceeded to flick ’em off. Wait … that didn’t sound right. We beat them. That didn’t sound right, either. We won.
Finals: Greg & Shanna: 120, Michael & Emma 30
Squint: Several folks were singing the praises of this new Out of the Box release. “Pictionary for Dummies” or “Pictionary for folks who can’t draw” were the monikers being applied to this one. Basically, there are a bunch of cards face-up on the table, each depicting some sort of shape. A player chooses a card bearing the name of an object, then must hurriedly arrange the face-up cards in an attempt to depict this item. The first person to guess the item gets some chips (I forget how many) as does the ‘artist’. Play continues for a certain number of rounds, with the player possessing the most chips being victorious.
It was OK, but I’d rather Pictionary. Gail enjoyed it, so I subsequently purchased a copy.
Finals: Craig Berg 16, James Miller 13, Chris Lohroff 11, Greg 9, Michael Adams 6, Dennis Mill 3
5ive Straight: K-ban has always been a HUGE fan of this game. Indeed, it was his internet salesmanship that convinced me to purchase a copy years ago … from him! He was right. This is truly a wonderful game and I’ve played it over and over again.
Well, K-ban thought it would be appropriate to pair off with our wives and play a match. We were joined by John & Gina Moore.
I’ve played the game probably 30 – 40 times and have NEVER ended in a tie. That occurs when the board completely fills or everyone has used all of their cards. Well, it happened this time. Each team had a chance to win, but never once had the right card to finish off the required row of five pegs. It was tense and exciting throughout and ended in a draw.
Roller Coaster Tycoon: I had been reading some decent reports on the internet concerning this recent Hasbro release. However, I’m still dubious about purchasing most Hasbro games as they do tend to be a bit heavy on the luck side and really don’t measure up to the German style games I prefer. So, I was hoping to get the chance to play it at Gulf Games and was pleased to see that Ted Cheatham had brought a copy. He and his daughter Emily graciously taught the game to Tim Watson, John Moore and myself. Ted didn’t play, but Emily did.
The game is certainly a notch above most Hasbro releases, but still a bit too heavy in the luck department. It is sort of a combination of Hotels and Marracash. I certainly would be amenable to playing it again if someone requested it, but have no urge to purchase a copy. I can’t see playing this one when Marracash is a better game.
John proved to be the amusement park tycoon.
Finals: John 72, Tim 59, Emily 58, Greg 46
Villa Paletti: I readily admit that I was completely shocked and disappointed when this dexterity / balancing game won the coveted Spiel des Jahre. There seems to be widespread consensus that Puerto Rico is one of the best games to be released over the past several years and was leaps and bounds beyond the competition it had this year. Yes, I fully understand that the the SdJ looks for games which have wide family appeal, but Villa Paletti seemed to offer little new in the field of balancing games.
Still, since it did win the the SdJ, it was high on my list of games to try. Fortunately, there were several copies of it available during Gulf Games so I jumped into a game as quickly as I could.
Yes, it is fun, but it really doesn’t offer anything radically new. If I’m going to play a balancing game, I much prefer to play Hammster Rolle or even Kapitan Wackelpudding. Perhaps I’m really out of touch, but I think awarding this one the SdJ is close to absurd and, at least for me, really tarnishes the award and the jury. But, I’m sure they don’t give a hoot about my opinion!
Ty Douds, Tim Watson, Kim Berg and I tested our balancing skills. Somehow, I possessed the cube when the tower tumbled, earning me the victory.
Midnight Party: A bunch of kiddies were available, along with a few wives, so the opportunity was ripe for a game of Midnight Party. Most had not played before, so I taught the game to everyone, including the all-important rule to shout “Booo!” everytime the ghost was moved. I’m sure everyone at neighboring tables were just thrilled with this!
The party guests were Nikole Addison, Bill Batty, Bill Rozmiarek & Josh Kurzban, Elaine Lohroff, Patti Adams, Erica Moore, Kayla Berg and myself. I somehow managed to escape the wrath of Hugo in both rounds, winning the competition.
Finals: Greg -1, Nikole -8, Kayla -9, Bill -13, Bill/Josh -14, Patti -16, Elaine -19, Erica -27
Wildlife: I had played this recent Wolfgang Kramer release a few weeks back with the Westbank Gamers and, even though we misplayed a few rules, I still enjoyed the game. I was anxious to play it again. Since the game isn’t that common, we easily filled the table with eager gamers.
The players seeking dominance were Ed Rozmiarek, Ty Douds, Kenny Douds, Ward Batty, Larry Levy and myself. The game was extremely tight throughout, with the lead changing hands several times. Unfortunately, we were continuously distracted for numerous reasons, meaning the game was dragging on longer than it should. It is a game that requires a fair amount of concentration and the distractions inherent in a convention setting were a bit too much. Still, we made our way through it and I managed to emerge the dominant species (scary, isn’t it?), edging out Larry.
Finals: Greg 73, Larry 71, Ty 69, Kenny 68, Ed 59, Ward 57
Vampire Hunter: Ted Cheatham was gathering groups of people into the dimly lit back storage room for this spooky game released by Hasbro. Now, getting caught with Ted in a dimly lit back storage room is scary enough, but to be forced to play this game at the same time is just too much.
I must admit, the central mechanism of the game is quite cool. There is a tower with a light that alternates between red (day) and blue (night). The board is designed so that different features will appear or disappear based on the light. Thus, players may suddenly find themselves ensnared in a trap or surrounded by hostile wolves when the light changes. Cool idea. Unfortunately, the game that was built around this idea is really bad. It takes the worst of the time-worn ideas spewed out by American game companies and re-uses them here.
This is just the sort of thing that gets me so angry with most American game companies. There is a central idea or gimmick that is kinda neat, but the developers … well, they just don’t develop. If some thought and effort were put into developing a good game around the cool mechanism or gimmick, then the result could be something really, really enjoyable. Sadly, they seem to just slap a lame game around it and rely on the gimmick to sell the game. This is really sad and frustrating.
James Miller, Sheldon Smith, Laura Smith and I endured this beast of a game. Ultimately, our efforts at slaying the vampire were futile as he escaped when his ship sailed from the harbor. The game was bad, but fortunately, the company was good and we did get in a few laughs. This is one I hope never to see again.
After emerging from the darkened room, the hour was very late, so I headed for bed, eager for another day of gaming and socializing.