Game Night logs for November 2002

Ashley	Don	Ed
John M.	Ray

In what might have been the last of the official "standing" game nights (more on this later), it was a very climactic game of Settlers. With Ed in the lead early, I made a deal with him to give him a resource he needed in exchange for "future considerations". Ed did not like having this over his head and repaid the debt early. Even as Ed was gathering resources at an alarming rate, Alias Johnny was also doing a superb job of resource gathering. It looked to everyone, including myself, that one of those two were about to win. As a matter of fact, had I not grabbed "Longest Road", John would have won that very turn. But I had set that up VERY early in the game (placement stage), because I had last placement and knew I was going to get less resources than everyone else. In Settlers, that can be the kiss of death as each turn you slip farther out of contention. (That's why we like the seafarers expansion, as it seems to lessen that aspect), But what really came into play was the longest road. That is *2* victory points out of only 10 needed. Since Don had the largest army, and was not vying for the lead, the longest road was huge. Still, what gave me the victory was taking a chance on a "card". Most of them are army cards, which allow you to move the "robber". This is important, because if you get saddled with the robber, this is a free escape. I bought a card simply for that reason, and pulled a building! Well, a building is one victory point that no one knows you have. Because of this, I was able to pull out the victory one turn earlier than Ed or Alias Johnny did. I asked Ed to trade me one of his *18* (yes 18) resource cards (I needed only a grain) and I would owe him a "future consideration". This, of course, was evil of me since I knew damn well if he gave me the card, there was no future to answer to. Still, I felt I would get away with it since Ed was loaded with cards and I had shown him the value of being able to hold a resource over someone's head. Since it did not look like I was close to winning (I was actually a point behind both of them at this point), he made the trade. I secured 2 points and revealed the hidden 3rd (the building card) for the victory.

Since Jen was working, we pulled out the "piggy game". (Not one of Jen's favorites). I love this game and suggest it when Jen is out (just like I eat Thai food at lunch which Jen also does not like.) I played the first perfect game, getting 3 or more points on every hand.

Liars dice was not as close, as Ed and John eliminated everyone within 3 rolls. Ashley got out on roll one by saying 14 Fives when there where only 25 dice. Then Don went down after calling out 10 Fours out of only 15 dice and WE MADE IT! After that, it was all Ed.

Ashley	Don	Ed
Jen	John M.	Ray
Steve

Playing Puerto Rico is like starting a business. Don't spend a single cent on something unless you MUST have it to win. As the game wound on, my empire looks like shanty town. I had precious few buildings, no money in the coffers, and only low end goods being produced. Even my last minute city hall, hastily build out of discarded Cocoa Puff boxes barely got occupied before the game ended. But when it came down to the end, Steve was shocked that I had quietly managed to ship boatloads of crappy corn and course sugar back to the mainland, thus sucking up to the empire and acquiring victory points at the cost of having absolutely no future in tourism. This was Steve's first game of Puerto Rico and he joins us in saying that it is an amazing game that rivals Settlers in its fun and excellent dynamics.

Since it was one of the longer games, it was late and we finished up with Liar's Dice. Don, obviously energetic after waiting for almost an hour to play something, was merciless in his slaughter. But I beat him in Hat Trick.

Ashley	Don	Ed
John M.	John P.	Ray
Steve

Ashley	Don	Ed
John M.	John P.	Ray