Williamsburg, Virginia
August 7 – 10, 2003
It was really nice to see Alan playing games at a convention. I think I played as many games with Alan in three days as I have in 7 years of the Gathering.
* It was really nice to have faces to put with names. Magnus & Sus, Patrick & Fleur (& Matthew), Frank, Vera, and on and on. Since I started communicating with the online boardgaming community the better part of a decade back, I’ve slowly but surely met with most of those I’ve conversed with through the net – and without exception, it’s been a wonderful experience. I always wondered about the name “The Gathering of Friends” until I realized that the reason I was going back – and the reason I started coming to Gulf Games and will continue to do so whenever life allows – wasn’t the games but instead the friends I wanted to see & spend time with.
* As much as I love amusement parks, Busch Gardens Williamsburg continues to blow me away. Most amusement parks one day is enough. A few – Cedar Point comes to mind – can be better appreciated at the pace two days allows. But Busch Gardens… as I was leaving on Sunday, I stopped by the park to get one more Strawberry Sundae (light on the ice cream, heavy on the Strawberries) before my journey. And even knowing I had a 10+ hour drive in front of me, even having spent the first half of the week at the park, I longed to go on just one more ride.
Some thoughts on some games…
* Cubus – a standard Wittig game, though the components are a bit bland for one of his. Significant brain burner potential, in a good way.
* Ol� – a game I first played and dismissed six years before; a game was forming so I gave it another go. Didn’t care for it any more than the first time; I can see the appeal, but significantly prefer others of the genre (Foppen, for instance).
* Mississippi Queen – I always thought that it was deserving of the SdJ it received, even though that decision seems to be one of the most derided choices by “gamers”. (Well, OK, I would have chosen Bohnanza, but given that a card game can’t win I thought it the best of the remaining choices.)
* Evo – I hadn’t realized that a second edition had been printed. Some nice improvements to the playability.
* Zendo – one of the few games I played for the first time this time around; didn’t care for it, even as a pastime.
* Zicke Zacke Huehnerkacke – very cute memory game. I thought Emma had us; in fact she needed a game with a bit more to it (Au Backe) to clean the table with Michael & I.
* Wizard – not a bad game, though I still don’t understand Dave’s obsession with it. Of course, if I sit back and think of my own odd preferences…
* Im Schatten des Sonnenkoenigs – bad graphics, but the game seemed a bit cleaner than Knights of the Rainbow – or maybe it’s just my bad memory. Still not my cup of tea.
* Zirkus Flohcati – was a pleasure to lose to you, Frank – particularly since you won when I declared the gala. Haven’t seen that happen as often as I’d like…
* Dia De Los Muetros – I think I have a perfect record in this game -never having won. I even managed to drag Frank to a loss this time…
* Control – James’ game, which I first tried last November. Back then I thought it had some promise; I think James has done a lot to turn that promise into a really nice little game. I’ll be picking one up…
* Password – Not my cup of tea either. I wanted it to play like a smart party game, but the pacing just didn’t work for me. Was fun to try it, though.
* Oskar – great potential. Uses some of the same mechanism as Ol�, but much more cleverly, IMHO. Suffers from a broken scoring mechanism, but I am certain it’s solvable – and it may even be simple to solve. Anyone got a copy they’re longing to rid themselves of?
* Res Publica – I’ve play Res Publica with Greg – and Timbuktu _twice_. Never expected to say either of those things – thanks, Gulf Games! B^)
Time’s up, I fear – oh well. Until February, then…