Birmingham, Alabama
February 13 – 16, 2003
Well, Gulf Games 11 is done. As always, this is one of the highlights of my year, both gaming-wise and friendship-wise!
HIGHLIGHTS
– the tightest game of Gnadelos I’ve ever played… Susan Rozmiarek shot out to what appeared to be an insurmountable lead, but a couple of poker games gone bad and a vulture on the final payday knocked her back enough to let me catch her!
– the closest I’ve EVER come to winning Basari, as Leon Hendee and Michael & Julie Weston played for the first time… with Julie edging past me by one lousy point. Yes, I’m 0 for 12 at this wonderful game.
– Craig Berg breaking his promise to me – “this won’t hurt your brain” – and talking me into a game of Halleluja… which was subsequently interrupted by the fire alarm & the order to evacuate the building.
– Avoid games with “X’s” in the title… I had horrific luck (but a grand time) playing Exxtra and Hexen Rennen, while NEVER EVER getting close to winning either game.
– Mark should not play memory games with children… or Susan… or Joe. I racked up losses in Enchanted Forest, Rabatz Auf dem Riesenrad, Au Backe, Die Ritter von der Haselnuss, yadda, yadda, yadda…
– For the third time, winning my 1st round table in the Liar’s Dice tournament, and crashing & burning in the finals. Ouch.
– I’m not sure if it’s really a ‘highlight’, but I got beat at Flowerpower (sigh) by my otherwise wonderful roomie, Larry Levy. I’m now 23 out of 25.
– Watching Jurrasic Park III: Island Escape live up to it’s dice-heavy potential as Frank “I’m the Dinosaurs” Branham managed to turn Tim McCarthy & my men into chewable vitamins while Kyle Berg got his last man onto the beach (over & over again) to finally pull out the win. A grand time was had by all.
– Two tie-breaker wins: one against Chris Lohroff in a very late night game of Mamma Mia (I had more ingredients left) and one against Bryan Rankin in Klunker (I had ONE less item in my window/safe than he did). Gosh, those feel good!
– A delightful treat – Joe Huber designed a Princess Bride: Sword Fight game and brought me a prototype! (Lighter than air, but any game where the scoring track consists of quotes from my favorite movie can’t be all bad.)
– My “Morning’O’Doris’N’Frank”, where I played Au Backe, Tante Tarantel & Igel Argern back to back. It’s nice to be reminded how solid all those designs are… and to win at Igel Argern.
– It was great to put faces with Michael Weston and Ed & Susan Rozmiarek… Nigglybitters of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your e-mails!
DISCOVERIES
– The new Crazy Race (rail theme) is better than the old Crazy Race (monster theme), and not just because the components are nicer. The scoring is tighter and makes for some very nice decisions… here again, Jim Cobb snaked me out by one lousy point. (Also, as always, nice to play to with Henry Hunger, also known as the Elusive Gamer OR The Holy Grail of The Friendliest Gamer Contest.)
– Entenrallye… wow. What a nifty game… got to find me a copy of this one. Sort of a race game, sort of a roll’n’move, but with decision-making & a nice “press your luck” element on when to go for the car rallies and/or the inspections. 5th out of 6th (by a long shot) but I still had a grand time playing it.
– Newest addition to the Fluffy Wish List: Konig der Maulwurfel (I’m SURE I’ve spelled this wrong) – another box full of oddness from Zoch. (It literally translates “King of the Dice Mouths”.) In this case, you build dice towers (ramps, dice, frames, “hats”, and a number of action cards) and race them around the table. The distance your die rolls is how far your tower moves – but only if the face of the die reads the same as the numbers on your “hat”. Turn order is determined by the frame (‘mouth’) of your tower, and the action cards allow you to break the rules or hurt other players. Did I mention that the dice are all different – a d12, a d10, a d6 and a d4? Anyhoo, in two games, I managed to beat my arch-fluffy-nemesis, Frank “He’s Got More Weird Games Than I Do” Branham… then lose to a trio of scheming girls: Jeanette, Nikole, & Emma (the eventual winner)
– I’m glad I ordered Trendy before Gulf Games (based, actually, on the reports from the LAST Gulf Games)… because it’s a delightful filler in the mold of Zirkus Flochati. I played it twice this weekend.
– I don’t really need to own Abenteur Menscheit (or however you spell it – about to be released as Settlers of the Stone Age byMayfair). It’s a perfectly good game, but I wouldn’t play it enough to justify the expense. (The fact that we got beat 10-4-3-2 by John Moore probably didn’t help my impression, either.)
– I didn’t like Mogul near as much as I thought I would… it felt a bit ponderous to me. (Which is weird, as I usually like Michael Schlacht’s games.) I’m guessing, however, if you enjoy Don, you’ll enjoy Mogul.
– Joe Huber has a great kids prototype called Ranger Race… now, if I could just tell the difference between a monkey & a warthog.
THANKS
– Hats off (as always) to Greg & Tim & Vicki for running one of the coolest and most enjoyable events (gaming or otherwise) I have the privilege of attending.
– A big “thank you” to Larry Levy for giving me a place to hang said hat for the duration of the weekend.
– To all who were able and/or intended to attend the Sunday morning prayer service… frankly, this is the first time I’ve led a worship service while sitting on a hotel bar.
– to the entire Gulf Games crew… it’s always a joy to get together with these folks!
I may not make Williamsburg, but in the words of Arnold Schwarzenagger, “I’ll be back.”