Panama City Beach, Florida
October 15 – 18, 1998
What a weekend!! 9 gamers (six of them with families) gathered at the brand new Beachcomber by the Sea in Panama City Beach, Florida for four days of gaming and socializing.
In attendance were Frank Branham and Sandi West; Ted Cheatham; Ty & Shay Douds and their 2 children; P eter, Kim & Timothy McCarthy; Mark and Shari Jackson; Tim and Vickie Watson; Lenny Leo; Eric Wood; and myself along with my wife Gail, daughter Lindsay and niece Karie.
In addition to the massive gaming, we also had various contests (game recognition, crosswords, etc.), a Liar’s Dice tournament and an excellent Welcoming Party with contests and events. This truly was a fun-filled, family convention.
I know many of you will be thankful, but I won’t be able to render detailed reports of all of the games played as there were many different games going on at once. I will say that we were pleased that many of the wives joined us at the gaming tables throughout the weekend, and many of us even took time to play some games with the kiddies as well.
Thursday, OCTOBER 15TH
GAMES PLAYED: Cheops, Business, Bamboleo, It’s Mine, Wettstreit der Baumeister, New Games in Old Rome (Imperium)
Ty, Peter, Lenny & I were able to arrive early Thursday and enjoyed a full night of gaming (until nearly 3AM!). We were joined later that evening by Frank and his wife Sandi.
CHEOPS
Well over 100 games were available for us to choose from. It was a visual overload! The first game off the shelf was CHEOPS, as neither Ty nor Peter had yet played. Lenny positioned himself for an early win as he was clearly in the lead and we were only one scarab away from having two price boards filled (thus ending the game). In order to reach the final scarab, however, he first had to choose a law. His plan was to play his neighbor tile, take the law, then use his double-move to take the needed scarab to end the game.
Unfortunately, the law altered the rules, now requiring that 3 price boards be completed before the game would end. Lenny was devastated!
The game thus extended, I was able to capture the lead and hold off Ty & #38; Peter for a narrow victory:
Greg 130, Ty 120, Peter 115, Lenny 75
Ratings: All 7’s.
I still maintain that Cheops offers lots of tough little decisions to be made each turn and is not the series of obvious choices others maintain that it is. This game consistently gets high ratings with both gamers and family members.
BUSINESS
Frank Branham then arrived and introduced us to this latest Sid Sackson release. For those who haven’t played it, the name of the game has absolutely NOTHING to do with the theme of the game. The ‘ PLAN AHEAD‘ name is much more appropriate.
The idea is to collect various color tokens which can be formed into various combinations and exchanged for money. Three exchange registers indicating the combinations and their value are visible each turn, allowing players to plan their moves accordingly.
On each round, five combinations of tokens are randomly placed and players secretly bid for the right to choose first. Following the bidding, players then may exchange their tokens for cash. This procedure lasts 12 rounds (which is a bit too long … the game gets too repetitive).
Several of the ‘turn spaces’ on the board are special, doubling the value of any exchanges that round. All of us agreed that this was too powerful and drove the game in such a fashion that players planned for those turns in which to exchange tokens. These ‘doubling’ spaces could be eliminated.
In any case, Ty proved the master at this game: Ty 1615; Peter 1380; Frank 1360; Greg 1200; Lenny 1010
Ratings: Greg 6, everyone else 7
The game certainly has a strong Bazaar influence, which is one of the things in its favor. I enjoyed the game, but as mentioned, I did find the turn sequence a bit repetitive.
BAMBOLEO
This was one of those bizarre, hidden treats tucked away in Frank’s unusual collection of games. Here’s the picture: On top a pedestal rests a cork ball. Resting atop this, delicately balanced, is a large, flat wooden platter containing an assortment of oddly shaped wooden pieces.
The object? Each player must remove a piece without spilling the whole mess. With each piece removed, the platter tilts precariously, threatening to topple. Points are scored based on how many pieces a player successfully removes, less penalties assessed for voluntarily skipping a turn and/or toppling pieces.
This game was a hoot. It was a surprising hit and Frank was barraged with “Where can I get this?” from everyone else. I suspect Adam Spielt may be deluged with orders for this one!
In any case, Peter proved to be the best at keeping the platter balanced (he must have been a waiter in college): Peter 21, Lenny 18, Greg 15, Frank 13, Ty 12
Ratings: Ty 9, Peter 9, Lenny 9, Greg 8, Frank 8
Keep in mind that I always stress that one should rate games for ‘what they are’. Bamboleo is a party game. The impressive ratings do not mean that they could compete with an El Grande or Euphrat & Tigris in the strategy game category. Nonetheless, this is a fun game … one that I must have!
IT’S MINE
With Frank retiring for the evening, I introduced the rest to Reiner Knizia’s It’s Mine. Ty proved masterful at value assessment and quick reflexes, winning the first two hands.
Ratings: Ty 7, Lenny 7, Greg 6, Peter 6
WETTSTREIT DER BAUMEISTER
Again, another new one for Ty. The game ended earlier than I wished as I was forced to complete my town without requiring that one more vital piece which would have perfectly balanced me, costing me 15 points (10 for town center and one more church). Peter captured a nice victory:
We did play with several variants, including the saboteur (being able to attack any town … roll higher than the number of shield to destroy a piece), optional income (a player can take 3 gold instead of rolling) and the ‘bury a piece’ (can pay 2 gold to bury a piece from the face-up pile before the auction, but then MUST choose either the next face-up piece or a face down piece. In other words, one can’t bury a piece twice in one turn).
Peter 37, Lenny 27, Greg 24, Ty 23
Ratings: Ty 9, Peter 9, Greg 8, Lenny 8
NEW GAMES IN OLD ROME (IMPERIUM)
With everyone ready to retire for the evening, we all agreed for one more quickie. Imperium from New Games in Old Rome was the choice, with Ty earning the victory:
Ty 9, Peter 7, Greg 7, Lenny 6
Ratings: Ty 7, Greg 6, Lenny 5, Peter 5
I like Imperium as I feel it offers some nice planning choices and it can be played in about 10 minutes or so.
Friday, OCTOBER 16
With everyone else scheduled to arrive during the day Friday, we were going to have a ‘full house’ by the afternoon. Also, on Friday evening, we had a fabulous Welcome Party complete with contests and games devised by Ted “Party Monster” Cheatham.
What was played: Man … so many different games. Here’s a list of what I was involved in: TOP IT (2), HEXENTANZ, FILL OR BUST, MARRACASH, KIT & KABOODLE, HASE UND IGEL, SVEA RIKE, DIE OSTER INSEL
Other games that I know were played included CARABANDE, MYSTERIES OF OLD PEKING, KEYDOM, CANYON, ESCAPE FROM COLDITZ, RAZZIA, MAGALON
Frank, Sandi & I were the first to awake and began gaming around 8:15 AM (with about 3 – 4 hours sleep under our belts!). Ty, Peter and Lenny staggered in a bit later.
TOP IT
Frank introduced me to this intriguing little placement game wherein players have to place various geometrically shaped pieces in precise fashions so as to maximize points. Each player has a set of pieces with various shapes and each piece carries a numerical value. Points are scored for the piece placed plus each piece that it lines up with … and it must line up perfectly (no overlapping edges). Further, each player has one stone which he can place on an opponent’s piece during the game. It scores for that piece and each piece touching it. Interesting geometrical / spatial game.
Frank’s experience showed as he swamped us:
Frank 124, Greg 109, Sandi 103
Ratings: Frank 7, Greg 6
HEXENTANZ
Oh, what an evil memory game this one is. I now hold Frank Branham responsible for the melt-down of the remaining half of my brain (Kurt Adam is responsible for the loss of the first half of my brain when he forced me into a game of Timbuktu).
This game is marketed as a children’s game. I’m sorry .. .but there simply isn’t any way that a child … let alone an adult …. can remember the location of the constantly moving, identical pieces. Only by peering underneath these pieces (shaped like witches hats) can one see the location of his four pieces. I think most of lost track about half-way through the game and just went on sheer luck. One suggested idea to improve this chaos is to allow a player to peek at any one token each turn IF he elects not to move.
Sandi was the first to get one of her tokens in and held on to take the victory.
Sandi 3, Greg 2, Ty 2, Frank 1, Peter 1, Lenny 1
Ratings: Ty 6, Peter 6, Lenny 6, Frank 5, Greg 4
An appropriate quote describing the game came from Lenny: “Interesting. Annoying, but interesting.”
FILL OR BUST
We broke into a quick dice rolling game of FILL OR BUST, with Sandi being the luckiest at pushing her luck.
Sandi 5150, Lenny 3350, Peter 3200, Ty 2400, Greg 2300
Ratings: Ty 7, Lenny 7, Peter 6, Greg 6
At this point, I left to go pick up Ted & Eric at the Panama City airport. In my absence, several games were played, including MYSTERIES IN OLD PEKING and KIT & KABOODLE.
MARRACASH
Upon my return, Ty, Ted, Lenny & I launched into a game of MARRACASH, while at the other table, Frank, Sandi, Eric and Frank played the new KEYDOM.
This game of Marracash was a think-fest, with players carefully studying the board before taking their moves. It lasted longer than a game of Marracash should, but was fun nonetheless. Lenny, using his best middle eastern accent, was able to entice the most customers into his shops, capturing a very impressive victory.
Lenny 3725, Ted 2725, Ty 2675, Greg 1450
Ratings: All 7’s.
Several posts have mentioned that the outer shops were the most valuable and the inner shops rarely received visitors. We found just the opposite. In fact, Lenny actually won two matches of this (one later in the weekend) and had pursued a strategy of purchasing the shops on the interior of the board. It worked.
KIT & KABOODLE
Yahtzee with pictures. Well, I don’t like Yahtzee so this should tell you what I feel about this game. I constantly had trouble visualizing how to match the dice rolls … was it shells, reptiles, wings, mammals, kitchen sink, etc.? Sandi was a true pro at it and helped both Lenny and I recognize sets and pairs we should be going after. Lenny & I tied for the victory, but it was really Sandi’s victory as she practically helped us both the entire way.
Greg 175, Lenny 175, Sandi 174
Ratings: Lenny 6, Greg 2
TOP IT
While the others were embroiled in a boisterous CARABANDE race, I introduced Ty, Lenny & #38; Ted (who was playing Carabande at the same time) to TOP IT. Lenny, Ted & I made critical blunders in the placement of our stone, allowing Ty to scoop impressive points. This proved his key to victory.
Ty 138, Greg 136, Ted 136, Lenny 113
Ratings: Ted 6, everyone else 7
HASE UND IGEL
Ty had not yet played this one and the kids were asking for it, so out came HASE UND IGEL. It was a bit crowded with a full field of six and we had lots of jostling for the lead. Ty made optimum use of the ‘Jugging the Hare’ charts, succeeding in chewing two of his lettuces off the charts.
Near the end, it came down to a 2-hare race between Ty & I. However, I thought I had calculated precisely, but on my final turn I realized to my dismay that I would have one more carrot than I could legally hold (11 instead of 10) if I executed my final sprint to the finish line! AARRGHHH!!
Ty, however, was much more precise, and was able to cross the line on the very next move and steal the victory.
Ratings: Gail (with Ariel Douds) 9, Ty 7, Greg 6, Eric 6, Karie 5, Lindsay 5
SVEA RIKE
What a game this one was! The contestants were Ty, Tim Watson, Peter, Lenny & I. Only Lenny & Ihad played before.
The hosing began on the very first turn when Lenny caused inflation, forcing everyone to contribute money to the bank. Peter, however, was particularly nasty to me, stealing one of my fiefs. Tim continued the monetary crisis by forcing everyone to lose 1/2 of their treasury. Ouch.
Turn 2 saw the outbreak of hostilities with Poland. Thanks to a nice card played by Lenny, victory was easy and resulted in nice booty for all participants.
During turn 3 I tried to instigate a peasant revolt in provinces controlled by Peter, but the attempt failed. Pete got a measure of ‘take that!’ on the very next turn as he moved first and promptly ended the turn after his move, denying everyone else a move!
Turn 5 saw Peter’s oppressed peasants rise in revolt, causing both Peter & #38; Tim to lose a fief. Meanwhile, Ty’s provinces were hit with a severe famine, causing him loss of fief income. The tragedies continued, however, as one of my Scientists met an untimely death and was ripped from my collection.
After years of misery, turn 6 proved profitable as we all enjoyed a nice Tax refund. The joy was short-lived, however, as famine struck again during turn 7 and Lenny forced everyone to lose an event card. Turn 8 saw one of Ty’s palaces was the victim of an arsonist attack, but Ty successfully voided the attack. Finally, in a bizarre move, Tim successfully stole one of my military cards, but I used a special event card to retrieve the card Tim had just played and promptly stole the military card right back from Tim!! Tim was not too distraught, however, as he used a special tactic to take two turns in a row, yielding a total of over 60 gold to his treasury. The cries of ‘Get Tim’ rose in unison.
By turn 10, Tim’s war chest was causing grave concern amongst the remaining players. Something had to be done. War with Prussia was the answer. I used a special event card to cause the outbreak of hostilities, which forced Tim to remove all 5 of his merchants from Prussia, thereby destroying his cash base. I also rewarded myself with some extra booty.
War with Prussia was immediately followed on the very next turn by War with Russia. Ty was forced to remove his merchants, but I used a card to successfully protect mine. We achieved a glorious victory and enjoyed even more spoils.
Turn 12 saw one of Tim’s scientists fall victim to ill health, while turn 13 saw the evil tax enforcer confiscate 1/2 of all of our treasuries, costing Tim over 50 gold in one turn!
As the final turn approached, all of us were trying to secure the needed fiefs & history cards to boost our victory point totals. Alas, on turn 16, War with Russia resulted, and we suffered a humiliating defeat when Tim opted out of the war. Alas, the king was so displeased with Tim’s cowardice that he revoked one of his fiefdoms!
Lenny, however, had one more trick up his sleeve.Ty appeared to be ahead based on his fiefs. Lenny was close behind. Lenny was hoping to cause Ty to lose another fief so he took a chance and played a card which extended the game another turn. The same event as the previous turn was again in effect … a continued war with Russia. We all opted out of the war, as only 3 of us had fiefs to fight the huge Russian force. On the critical roll, Ty was the only one to suffer the wrath of the king and was forced to lose a fief. This ultimately proved to be a master stroke by Lenny, and he claimed the victory in the first tie-breaker over Tim.
Lenny 8, Tim 8, Ty 8, Peter 6, Greg 6
Ratings: All 8’s.
DIE OSTER INSEL
With the hour growing VERY late (near 3AM), I convinced Tim, Lenny and Peter into one more game … DIE OSTER INSEL … the game of racing huge statues across Easter Island.
I think it was a bit too late to cover a new game with Lenny. His face was blank and his eyes glazed over as Peter covered the few rules. I don’t think he ever got the hang of it. He later was heard muttering that he doesn’t like games with rocks and ugly statues!
In any case, I managed to cross the finish line first and had the most stones, thereby capturing the victory.
Stones: Greg 39, Tim 37, Lenny 28, Peter (who finished 2nd) 22
Ratings: Greg 6, Peter 6, Tim 5, Lenny 4
Other games that I was able to secure ratings on were:
MAGALON: Tim 6, Lenny 5, Mark 5, Ted 4
KEYDOM: Frank 9, Eric 8, Tim 7
Now, the big hit of the evening was the Welcome Party. After some introductory remarks, I turned the activities over to Ted Cheatham, who had prepared some really neat and fun events for everyone.
In the first activity, everyone had a name of a game taped to their back along with several clues. Each person had to discern the name of the game on their back by asking questions of everyone else. This forced everyone to mingle and meet everyone. A nice idea and it was lots of fun with wives & kiddies playing, too.
There was also events involving game slogans, charades, etc. Everyone really got into the spirit of the evening and had a wonderful time. A great big ‘thank you’ to Ted for putting this all together.
Saturday, OCTOBER 17
Here is a list of what I played Saturday: EN GARDE, KAPITAIN WACKELPUDDING, LIAR’S DICE, VIVA PAMPLONA, IN TEUFEL’S KUCHE, KEYDOM, VALENCIA (Ted Cheatham’s prototype), FAMILY BUSINESS, KK&K, MONSTERS RAVAGE AMERICA
Other games that I observed being played (and there were probably tons more): INKOGNETO, EUPHRAT & TIGRIS, EXPEDITION, BARBAROSA, A LA CARTE, KAPITAIN WACKELPUDDING, MIDNIGHT PARTY
EN GARDE
Tim Watson and I were the first to awake from our blissful 3 hours of sleep and return for more gaming. While awaiting the arrival of the other zombies, I introduced Tim to Reiner Knizia’s En Garde.
Tim took an early 1-0 lead, but I then zoomed to a 4-1 lead by using my tactic of racing from the start so that the match could be played on my opponent’s side of the board. I use lots of charges to keep my opponent backing up. Tim managed to win the next match, but I closed for a 5-2 victory.
Ratings: Tim 7, Greg 6
KAPITAIN WACKELPUDDING
Another of Frank’s evil stacking and balancing games. Players travel to various ports and must load various oddly shaped wooden blocks aboard this tiny ship. As they sail from port to port, the load becomes even more precarious. The object is to not have any of the blocks fall, so the player causing the fewest blocks to fall will claim the victory. Card play also influences the game, usually causing a player to add more blocks while en route or to sail merrily around an island.
Well, dexterity certainly isn’t my forte as my warehouse had an abundance of blocks by games end, while Sandi and Frank hadn’t caused a single spill.
Frank 0, Sandi 0, Tim 1, Mark 8, Greg 18
Ratings: Oooops … I forgot to get them. I’d certainly rate it at least a 6.
LIAR’S DICE
This was our one tournament of the weekend and was open to wives as well as this game is easily accessible to all. We had enough contestants to fill three tables:
Table 1: Ty Douds, Shay Douds, Lenny Leo, Vickie Watson
Table 2: Peter McCarthy, Kim McCarthy, Mark Jackson, Tim Watson, Greg Schloesser
Table 3: Eric Wood, Frank Branham, Sandi West, Ted Cheatham, Shari Jackson
The winner and runner-up from each table advanced to the finals:
Finals: Ted Cheatham, Shari Jackson, Kim McCarthy, Mark Jackson, Shay Douds, Lenny Leo
In the finals, Ted managed to out-bluff Lenny for the victory. The reward was a $10 gift certificate from Boulder Games which had been donated by Jim. Many thanks to Jim for his generosity.
VIVA PAMPLONA
The kiddies were clamoring for this one, so I (with the help of Peter) covered the rules for them. My wife Gail had the unenviable task of controlling 5 kids, whose attention span stays up about as long as Clinton’s zipper. Not to mention the constant battle of who gets to turn the bull card and the commotion caused by the pieces being continually knocked over. I think Gail headed straight for the adult beverages after this one!
In any case, the contestants were Timothy McCarthy, Zane Douds, Ariel Douds, Lindsay Schloesser, Karie Rodriguez (my niece) and Gail. I kept a close eye on the proceedings to help the kiddies optimize their moves (kind of like the blind leading the blind here!) and keep control of the rabble. I was forced to substitute for Zane when something else caught his eye and he wandered away. Fortunately for me, he left me in an admirable position and I was able to hold on to claim a victory for him!
Finals: Zane/Greg 84, Ariel 77, Karie 76, Timothy 59, Gail 59, Lindsay 40
IN TEUFEL’S KUCHE
This game ranks right up near the top of the ‘Games with Great Bits’ list. Silly devil caricatures wearing removable chef’s hats, pots of boiling soup and a big ‘honking’ (using Frank’s word) kettle mechanism, out of which pops Lucifer himself during a battle! This is mindless fun, with some added tension when one has to push the mechanism during battle, always wary of when the devil will pop up. It was great fun watching Kim McCarthy as she had to press the mechanism … she would squint her eyes and draw back as if the mechanism would explode!!
Well, I proved to be a lousy devil (I guess that’s a good thing, right?) as I promptly lost the first five duels I was involved in. I was thus forced to play the remainder of the game with one hatless demon. Ted managed to scoop the victory with three kettles returned to his kitchen.
Ted 13, Kim 8, Mark 5, Greg 0
Ratings: Mark 7, Ted 6, Kim 6, Greg 6
KEYDOM
I had seen this mentioned on the ‘net and actually wrote to the designer and ordered a copy sight unseen. Fortunately, I was able to secure a copy before his limited supply was exhausted.. Thus, when Frank showed up with the game, I was anxious to give it a try.
Frank, Eric, Tim and Sandi were the first to play and the ratings were solid. Thus, I was anticipating a great game when Ted, Lenny, Tim, Eric and I brought it out. I was a bit disappointed.
I won’t go into great detail describing the game as someone else has already done that, but the mechanism of placing various tokens, each with different values, on different locations on the board in attempts to be able to exercise that areas power or secure resources was interesting. Since tokens had to be played face down, however, there really wasn’t much control here. One gets the impression he is using some strategy, but in reality there is very little involved in this segment. One wonders why these tokens couldn’t be played face-up … it would add a much greater strategic element to the placement of tokens.
In any event, the object of the game is to grab four titles and progress to the inner chambers of the castle to claim a victory. Resources are the key to being able to contest for areas as each area requires the expenditure of certain resources. So players are constantly maneuvering in attempts to gain the resources they need. However, depending upon how many tokens and the value of those tokes that players place in the resource areas, it is quite possible to be shut out of certain colors each round. Again, since tokens are placed face down, luck has a lot to do with this.
We played for about 1 1/2 hours and it was getting awful close to our group 6PM dinner. So we agreed to play one more turn and scrap the game (over my protests as I wanted to resume after dinner). On the final play, Lenny played two cards in succession which battered all of us, particularly me, costing me so many resources that I was unable to acquire the 3rd title I had set myself up for. AARRGGHHH! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I feel that it is too easy to get hosed in this game without providing a good mechanism to defend oneself.
At the abbreviated conclusion, Eric, Tim and Ieach had two titles, while Ted and Lenny had one apiece. I really do want to try this one again as it does have promise.
Ratings: Eric 7, Tim 7, Lenny 6, Ted 6, Greg 6
Following a 6PM dinner which was attended by nearly everyone in the group, we returned for more gaming.
VALENCIA
This is a Ted Cheatham prototype that I had played a few months back. My wife Gail (who is quite the artist) is helping design the pieces. It is certainly not a finished product so we played with a rough prototype. The contestants were Frank, Sandi, Ty and I. I won’t say much more as I don’t want to spoil the finished product.
Greg 76, Sandi 73, Frank 71, Ty 63
No ratings … this was a learning and critique session.
FAMILY BUSINESS
We wanted to fit in a fairly quick game before diving into Kohle, Kies & Knete while Ty was completing his game of Euphrat & Tigris. Family Business was just the ticket.
I enjoyed this game the first time I played at Ted’s and Mark was kind enough to pick up a copy for me at his local hobby store. Mark did point out that we had played incorrectly at Ted’s, as we had failed to use the rule that whenever a player plays a ‘red’ defense card, he usurps control of the next turn. This seemed interesting, but in reality I found that it had the effect of locking a player (or players) out of several turns in a row. Near the beginning of the game, I actually went five rounds without a turn (I had no red cards in my hand).
In any event, I was hammered early as I had no red cards for defense. However, after that I was pretty much left alone. This allowed me to creep back into the game and build up a hand of defensive cards. Thus, when the late game carnage really began to hit, I was able to better protect myself and emerge with a narrow victory over Eric.
Ratings: Mark 8, Ty 7, Lenny 7, Eric 7, Greg 6
KOHLE, KIES & KNETE
This was, without a doubt, the HIT game of the weekend. The cast of characters was just about perfect: Lenny Leo, Mark Jackson, Peter McCarthy, Eric Wood, Ty Douds and I. The deal making and card play was intense, with cards flying fast and furious. Poor Ty … who had never played the game and is a very careful and precise mover … kept begging for the action to slow down so he could better analyze the situation. That just ain’t gonna happen in a game like KK&K!!!
One of the best lines came when Ty, who was the current boss, was trying to hammer home a deal. Peter kept waving cards and making insidious threats. Ty … ever the careful and wary gamer … said with all sincerity, “I’m scared!”. And he really was!!
This game was a real hoot. I absolutely LOVE this game, but fear that all future games of it will not be able to compare to the all out chaos and one-upmanship that characterized this match. Guess I’ll just have to keep playing with this cast of characters.
In any event, the ever shrewd Mark Jackson was the beneficiary of some fast talking (you must give some great sermons, Mark!) AND an early end to the game (it ended on the first turn possible).
Mark 33, Ty 29, Peter 22, Eric 18, Greg 16, Lenny 15 The ratings: All 9’s (and mine is approaching a 10)
MONSTERS RAVAGE AMERICA
After the intenseness and chaos of KK&K, everyone was ready for something lighter. Ty elected to sit out, claiming his brain was fried. Thus, Mark, Peter, Lenny & I delved into the dice-fest of MONSTERS RAVAGE AMERICA.
No deep strategy here, but the theme is great. Hollywood-type monsters rampaging across the U.S., stomping cities and battling the various branches of the military. The game concludes with a ‘Celebrity Monster Death Match’, with monster facing monster in a duel to the death. A real hoot!
It must have been a bit too late as Peter seemed zombie-like throughout the game. He just didn’t get into it. Lenny pursued a strategy of seeking out mutation sites so that he could gain new abilities, while I sent my Tomanagi monster up the eastern seaboard to ravage the big ticket cities such as New York, D.C., Philly & Boston. Peter was busy battling off Mark’s pesky Air Force in the South, while Mark was concentrating on devouring the West.
The key to the game proved to be Lenny’s acquisition of Monster Tentacles, which gives him 3 attacks each turn. This mutation is much too powerful. I will remove it from all future games. With it, Lenny was able to dispatch all of us very easily in the final Monster Challenge segment and claim the victory. Here were the health points we each entered the final phase with:
Greg 36, Peter 25, Lenny 19, Mark 17
Yet, Lenny’s superior mutations proved the key to victory.
The ratings: Greg 6, Mark 6, Lenny 6, Peter 4
Sunday, OCTOBER 18
We had planned an informal worship service for Sunday morning, but the days of late nights and little sleep held down attendance to just Mark and I. We were able to have an interesting discussion, however, of a spiritual nature.
MOLE IN THE HOLE
Everyone else began stumbling in around 9:30 or so. My daughter and niece were with this group and had asked to play Mark’s MOLE IN THE HOLE game, which is actually quite an interesting little game.
The game is by Ravensberger and the idea is to get as many of your moles into the holes as possible. Once the holes are filled, one level of the board is removed and only those moles who had burrowed safely into a hole remain on the next board to continue play. This procedure continues until the final board is removed and only one mole remains.
Movement is regulated by numbered disks which are shuffled and stacked face down. A player doesn’t know the order, but can play the odds. The numbered disks are 1 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 4. The strategy is to position one’s moles so when a disk is revealed, the odds of being able to move into a hole are greatest.
My niece Karie was able to get her mole into the final hole and claim victory over Lenny, Lindsay and I.
IRON HORSE
With a bit of time to go before shuttling Ted and Eric to the airport, I wanted to introduce Ty ,Shay and Vickie to Dirk Henn’s IRON HORSE. They all enjoyed the clever tile placing mechanism and also enjoyed (a bit too much!) hosing each other with plays.
I managed to get a nice 18 point route and several 9’s and captured the victory.
Greg 53, Shay 43, Vickie 40, Ty 38
Ratings: All 7’s.
MARRACASH
Time for one more game before we all head our separate ways. Mark and Tim had not tried MARRACASH, so we gave this one another play.
Again, Lenny used the strategy of purchasing inner-city shops and it proved quite effective. Most of us thought Mark, who had the only active purple shop, was in control, but it proved the shrewd Lenny who emerged victorious.
Lenny 4700, Mark 4075, Tim 2850, Greg 2425
Ratings: All 7’s.
All good things must come to an end. Sadly, Gulf Games in now history, but will certainly will be fondly remembered by my as one of the best gaming experiences I’ve every had. I am a huge fan of Alan Moon’s Gathering of Friends, and I rank Gulf Games right up there with it. Gulf Games>does provide a forum in which we can get the families involved and get to know each other on a much more personal and intimate basis. I simply cannot wait until the next Gulf Games, which will likely be held in the early months of 1999.
A very special thank you to all who attended and made this such a tremendous success.