Seattle Cosmic Game Night, Saturday, 10 May 2003

A Whole Lotta Landscapes

Seattle Cosmic warred again on 10 May at 5:00 PM, at the house of Tim Higgins in Mill Creek (Bothell). Present were (in rough order of attendance), Timothy_Higgins?; Steve_Vall\xE9e?; Nat_Dupree? and Steve_Dupree?; Alex_Rockwell?; David_Adams? and kids, and Kathy_Kizer?; Chris_Bender?; ChadUrsoMcDaniel; Marty_Hale-Evans?, Ron_Hale-Evans? and John_Braley?; Jody_Eisler? and his girlfriend Robyn Gribble (a newcomer); Alex_Swavely?; and Mark_Haggerty?. That's a total of 16 people, not counting kids: a little low for Tim's house -- perhaps Mother's Day weekend was to blame.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Amun-Re

1. Amun-Re board.
2. Steve extends a godlike hand over the landscape of the Nile.

Game: Amun-Re?
Location: Kitchen
Time: 5:30-7:00 PM
Winner: Alex Rockwell
Prize: Mini tie-dyed beach ball

Scores

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Alex did a good job of talking Steve V into not competing with him for most pyramids on one side of the river (and instead competing with me on the other side). Of course he had so many points from monuments at the end that it wouldn't have mattered, per se, but it would have at least looked like a closer game.

--Steve_Dupree?

Very true. The best way to talk someone into not competing with you, of course, is to build a large pile of Pyramids there before they even start building. Steve Vallee's decision to fight with Steve D. over pyramids and not with me was based on the fact that I had 2 more Pyramids than him on that side, while Steve D. had only one more, and thus I was a much more difficult target. However, the key for me this game was temples. In the old kingdom I had 2 temples, which scored 4 points each, and in the new kingdom I had 3 temples, and sacrificed 20 to ensure that they would once again score 4 points. I drew practically all of the scoring power cards, which was both bad and good. Bad because I could not possible use them all, and ended up playing only two of them, but good becasue the other players didnt get them either.

Also: The beach ball prize. I lent it to Dave Adams' kids to play with, and then later when I went to look for it and they were gone, I couldnt find it. If they have it, thats fine, the kids can keep it. I am sure they will get more use out of it than me. If it hiding somewhere at Tim's, I guess I'll look for it next time.

--Alex_Rockwell?

Well that's the kind of game I need to play dummy at first just to understand all the tactics and traps along the road. I suppose next game I'll do much better. Still, it was a very fun game, an other winner from Knizia !

--Steve_Vall\xE9e?

We were playing several minor rules wrong during the game, mostly regarding the effects of some of the powercards, and their play. I later found out about the correct rules from discussions on spielfrieks. We will play this one correctly next time. ;)

--Alex_Rockwell?

San Marco

1. Dave extends the hand of "friendship" over the landscape of Venice. (Chris is skeptical.)
2. San Marco board.

Game: San_Marco?
Location: Dining room
Time: 5:45-7:00 PM
Winner: Chris Bender
Prize: neon sport water bottle

Scores

Comments from the players?

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Bleeding Hearts

A bunch of liberals play at Bleeding Hearts.

Game: Bleeding_Hearts?
Location: Living room card table
Time: 6:00-7:40 PM
Winner: Marty Hale-Evans
Prize: neon sport water bottle

Scores

The first game of the evening for me was David Parlett's TrickTakingGame Bleeding_Hearts?. This game is similar to Hearts in that players are trying to avoid taking cards of a particular suit; however, unlike Hearts, players bid for which suit they are trying to avoid, which can mean that each player is trying to avoid taking a different suit.

We played to 250 points. Marty won this game by a wide margin; at one point, she bid to take no tricks and did so, gaining 100 points in one trick. Marty said, "I've known how to slough cards since I was 10 years old." (They play a lot of Hearts in her family.)

I had been aching to play this game since I first read the rules at David Parlett's site. I would very much like to see it become a part of the GamesToTheRescueBook. Everyone who played, including John (who doesn't like card games), agreed it was one of the best TrickTakingGame``s they had ever played. We thought it was even better than Hearts, which has a number of fans in Seattle Cosmic. The depth of strategy in the game led Marty and Chad to comment it might be inappropriate for GamesToTheRescue; however, I suggest that there is room in the book for games of many different depths, from fluffy to brain-burning. A brain-burner may be just what someone in the hospital needs to take their mind off their troubles. In my opinion, the important thing is to separate the games by level of difficulty; brain-burners could perhaps be marked with a different icon in the table of contents from fluffy games. In any case, while Bleeding Hearts is deep, the rules fit on a single page, and it's easy to learn, and that's key.

You will notice that Parlett's page gives the primary title of the game as "Bugami", a pun on "bugger me!" alluding to the "bug suit" each player is trying to avoid. I am referring to this game by its alternate title "Bleeding Hearts" because it is less likely to offend someone reading the GamesToTheRescueBook.

Comments from the players?

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Kremlin

Game: Kremlin?
Players: Dave Adams, Steve Dupree, Kathy Kizer, Alex Swavely
Location: Dining room
Time: 7:00-8:30 PM
Winner: Kathy Kizer
Prize: wooden backscratcher

No scores were given for this game, but Kathy was said to have won "with no one contesting". You have to watch out for Kathy; she's quiet but a good gamer.

Kathy was awarded a wooden backscratcher, for which she exclaimed, "Oh, thank you!", and immediately began scratching her back. After Kremlin, Dave and Kathy and the kids went home, around 8:30. Alex Swavely waited around for another game, then left around 8:55.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Dave chose to explain this game using the "lets play the game and read the rules as we get to each step." My random choices for starting setup turned out to be a poor "strategy," but at least we know how to play for next time I suppose?

--Steve_Dupree?

Democrazy

Game: Democrazy?
Location: Kitchen
Time: 7:00-8:00 PM
Winner: Alex Rockwell
Prize: red and white giant dice

Scores

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

This game is very chaotic, however one of the first laws we adopted added a fair amount of strategy to it. This was that whenever you voted with the majority on a law, you lost one of your scoring chips, and when you voted with the minority, you gained a scoring chip. Thus, people tried to guess whether the law would be adopted, and vote to get, and not lose, their scoring chips.

--Alex_Rockwell?

I would say it's chaotic in the way that you don't know before playing *which* tactic will be needed to win. That's a big difference. Once few rules have been adopted, then there's definitelly a big element of tactics/strategies involved. In this case, the main strategy was to always vote different from the majority, which Alex excelled. So in the end, it look like a big chaotic games, but it's lot more tactic than expected.

--Steve_Vall\xE9e?

Tyros

1. Tyros board.
2. Marty begins to Tyre.

Game: Tyros?
Location: Living room card table
Time: 7:45-9:45 PM
Winner: Tim Higgins
Prize: ???

Scores

Tyros? is a city-building game set in the ancient Mediterranean. "We just can't seem to get away from the Mediterranean!" said Marty, alluding to the string of recent Mare_Nostrum? games at Seattle Cosmic.

Although I came in second, at the beginning of the game I was actually doing rather badly. Marty blocked me from building a city, and I exclaimed, "What is this, LoserHosen??" (which is of course the opposite of LederHosen).

It actually turned out to be a close game, closer even than the scores would indicate. Tim pointed out to me afterwards that I had made a tactical blunder. I could have blocked his building his final city just by moving a ship into that space -- easy enough to do, in fact so easy that some of us were wishing there were combat in the game. If I had done so, Tim would have lost 12 points, and the scores would have been Ron 70, Tim 69, Marty 68, Chad 67.

Did Tim get a prize for this?

Comments from the players?

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Adel Verpflichtet (#1)

1. By hook or by crook, they will...
2. Adel V board.

Game: Adel Verpflichtet
Location: Kitchen
Time: 8:00-9:00 PM
Winner: Chris Bender
Prize: neon drawstring bag

Scores

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Clearly I suck at this game. I will have to play it some more to get the hang of it. ;) In both games of Adel V. that were played, I got stuck with 2 thiefs in jail for a long time. The second game, however, was far worse. Both Chris and I got our thieves stuck early on, and the other three players absolutely refused to play a single thief, and basically shut Chris and I out of the game for over half the time. This was because we couldnt thief, we didnt have big enough checks to buy antiques, and couldnt steal more, and we didnt have sets to display that were big enough to beat those of the other players. We continued to try and convince Mark to thief when it was clear that Steve and Nat would display, and thus break up their big sets and get one himself, however he refused, and it ultimately won him 3rd place, as both Steve and Nat beat him in the final scoring.

--Alex_Rockwell?

Tikal

John considers the jungle landscape of Tikal.

Game: Tikal?
Location: den coffee table
Time: 8:00-10:50 PM
Winner: Jody Eisler
Prize: wooden backscratcher

Scores

A very close game. In fact, Jody and John thought they were tied at 109 points until Jody recounted and found he had an extra point. He was awarded a wooden backscratcher, which he said would be "perfect as a cat tormentor and toy".

Jody and Robyn left after Tikal, shortly after 11:00.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

What can I say beside Tikal *IS* my favorite game ever. I poorly played on this one, yet I had a *TONS* of fun, as usual. I would play a 3 hours of Tikal every game night and I'll be in heaven. But to find as much dedicated players is not easy tho ... :-)

--Steve_Vall\xE9e?

Fresh Fish

1. Mark H considers the urban landscape of Fresh Fish.
2. Fresh Fish board.

Game: Fresh_Fish?
Location: Kitchen
Time: 9:00-10:00 PM
Winner: Alex Rockwell
Prize: red and white giant dice

Scores

Snapping the photo above, I remarked to John Braley that I was surprised he wasn't trying out Fresh_Fish?, since the mechanics have something in common with AlienCity. John was too absorbed in the tense Tikal? game to hear me, however.

Alex won as usual, and was awarded more giant dice. Marty remarked that soon he'd have enough of these for Yahtzee?.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

I asked, and he has 8 giant dice so far. Yahtzee requires 5, doesn't it? So he's there already.

--Steve_Dupree?

Steve, having decided that he had lost, at one point made an outrageous bid of all his remaining money, just becasue he could. I would consider his 'true' score to be the not nearly so bad 16.

--Alex_Rockwell?

Ra

1. Ra board.
2. Players deeply consider the potential of the empty board.

Game: Ra?
Location: Dining room
Time: 9:50-10:35
Winner: Tim Higgins
Prize: pocket Spirograph

Scores

Chad left after the Ra? game, around 10:40.

One interesting thing Chad was doing this evening was keeping a record of how long games really take to explain, set up, and play, to the minute. Marty suggested this could be a new page for the Wiki. Alternatively, we could simply list these "real" play times on the pages for the individual games. It would certainly be useful information, considering how unrealistic many game manufacturers' estimates are, at least for an American audience.

Marty also suggested starting an "If you like this game, then you'll like that game" page. If anyone wants to initiate either of these projects, by all means have at it!

Comments from the players?

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Adel Verpflichtet (#2)

A rare quiet moment in the raucous Adel V game, as Alex makes an art deal.

Game: Adel Verpflichtet
Location: Kitchen
Time: 10:00-11:00 PM
Winner: Steve Dupree
Prize: Neon drawstring bag

Scores

Alex kept score again. Thanks, Alex. His only remark as he was jotting the scores down was, "I seem to be really bad at this game."

Steve and Nat did a little newlywed dance in which he demanded she pick out a prize for him that he would like. This took several minutes, and our attention wandered. I therefore don't quite remember what Steve's prize was. More giant dice? A neon drawstring bag?

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Actually, I was only saying in words that I wanted her to pick something I would like; my intention was that she pick something she would like, but I don't think she got the message either. It's a strategy to spread the happiness between the two of us - one of us gets the pleasure of winning, and the other of getting a fun prize they like. :)

--Steve_Dupree?

Aladdin's Dragons

Game: Aladdin's_Dragons?
Location: Dining room
Time: 11:00-12:25 PM
Winner: Marty Hale-Evans
Prize: neon drawstring bag

Scores

Aladdin's_Dragons? was the last game of the evening for many players. Having tried the advanced version and found it too random, I requested the basic version, and we played it. Steve Vall\xE9e agreed with me that the basic game is cleaner, or as Steve put it, "a pure BlindBiddingGame?". Tim Higgins thought he'd prefer the advanced game, however, and Marty said she wanted to try it, at least.

I did pretty well for most of the game, but lost two auctions for tiles in the last round, preventing me from passing Marty and allowing other players to catch up with me. Even if I had won one of them, I would only have had 7 points, and since Marty cleverly grabbed the Camel in the last round, allowing her to break ties, she would have won anyway. A pretty close game overall.

Everyone who was playing Aladdin's Dragons left immediately afterwards, except Tim, of course, since it was his house. That left only the Acquire players in the kitchen.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Like very much this game, tho I think (hopefully not getting big-headed) that I personnaly prefere Maiestas, my own version of AD. The whole bidding process is faster, simplier, and even more "pure". Yet, the goal is more subtile, behing located between the "Basic AD" and the "Advanced AD". Still, Aladdin's Dragon is always a nice way to kill time :-)

--Steve_Vall\xE9e?

Acquire

Game: Acquire
Location: Kitchen
Time: 11:10 PM-1 AM?
Winner: Chris Bender
Prize: TBA

Scores

Unusually for Seattle Cosmic, this game was played with a near-mint original 3M edition of Acquire, belonging to Chris Bender.

Since we left before this game was over, I don't have any scores for this game, don't know when it finished, and couldn't award a prize. Would someone in the know please flesh out the info above? And whoever won, you've got a prize coming.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Chris and Alex got in on the first merger of the game, and so were the only ones with any cash. It was a *long* time before another merger happened. I didn't get in on a merger myself until about 2/3rds of the way through the game, far too late for it to do any good.

--Steve_Dupree?

I did well thanks to being in on not only the first merger, but also the second, which gave a bonus to me and Mark. This game seems to be very dependant on never running out of money.

--Alex_Rockwell?

Thanks to all for a fun evening, as usual. Thanks to Marty Hale-Evans for most of the captions on this page and help with the title. Thanks to Nat Dupree for the photo of the Amun-Re board. Advance thanks to Chad McDaniel for snapping photos, particularly of the games I didn't shoot. And thanks to everyone who helped keep score!

In other news, the Spring 2003 schedule of Seattle Cosmic ends on 28 June. Tim Higgins suggests that we move the Saturday, 5 July game night to a LongGameDay at his house on the Fourth of July (Friday), considering how fantastic our informal Fourth of July get-together was in 2002. (Remember, Tim lives in an unincorporated area, so we can launch all the fireworks we want in the street.) Let's discuss this on list.

The next game night will be at our house in Kent. It will be a CosmicNight, so we will be playing Cosmic_Encounter? among other games. I hope that people will want to play the variant I am working on, CosmicPig, if it is ready in time. If you haven't read the InterstellarPig novels yet, you might want to do so -- they are very interesting for CE players.

NEXT MEETING

Saturday, 17 May 2003, 5:00 PM at the house of Marty_Hale-Evans? and Ron_Hale-Evans? in Kent. It will be a CosmicNight. Come play for fun and FABULOUS PRIZES from the PrizeBag!

Remember, Seattle Cosmic Game Night occurs every weekend, in one of three locations: Kent, Mill Creek, or Tukwila. Email Ron Hale-Evans for a full schedule and directions. If you come, please bring a snack or drink to share (cookies, chips, soda, juice, etc.)

Supporting Seattle Cosmic and Games to the Rescue

GamesToTheRescue is a philanthropic project of the Center for Ludic Synergy and Seattle Cosmic Game Night. The aim of the project is to provide game rules and equipment to hospitals, for use by patients and visitors. You can support GamesToTheRescue by buying games via our Funagain affiliate program, buying Seattle Cosmic Gear, and in a number of other ways. See the GamesToTheRescue page for more details.

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