Last Sunday at Critical Hit

No AGOT today, as there were tournaments the night before to honor Lucas Reed's departure for Minnesota and his job at FFG. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend these events due to a scheduling conflict with a wedding held in Des Moines. Good luck Luke!

Well, I didn't think there would be any gaming today, but Dan decided to put together a five player Puerto Rico game. I made it over to the store just in time, and then we discussed various ways of trying to mystically make Dan show up, like starting another game. In the end, we called him, and he showed up a little bit later.

It was Dan, Drew, Jerod, Tim, and myself. We rolled off for starting position, and randomized seating. I found myself seated to the left of Jerod, the second-least experienced player in the group (to Drew). I suppose this had an effect on the game, but I frankly didn't notice it.

I was determined to play a little differently than I have in recent games of Puerto Rico (although we haven't played in a while), as I felt I had been a bit repetitive in my choices. This may also have been due to me having a bit of a frustrating day, with my soccer league game being cancelled, and not that many players showing up for (optional) practice for the hs team that I coach. Whatever the reason, I was feeling a little burnt, and I think my play reflected that.

So, this ended up feeling a lot like my initial plays of this game. I tried to develop a plan, make decisions, and play accordingly, but ended up feeling like a spectator. It seemed I was watching the game go by, as though pulled downstream, with not much I could do to alter it. I felt Tim had a very good start in the five seat, getting a decent amount of corn and then moving straight into tobacco for which he had multiple plantations fairly quickly. He also had some early shipping rounds for the corn for which he was the only one who really made points, giving him a nice early lead. Jerod waffled on indigo/sugar and went into coffee. I tried to go with sugar, and then tobacco, and even got into coffee. Drew went heavy sugar, and then indigo, if I recall correctly. Dan got a lot of corn, and also got into tobacco.

I was having trouble making anything work, getting frozen out of the trading house (I kept the wrong good after captain phase at least twice, coffee when I should have kept sugar as coffee was the lone good in the TH), and also out of shipping, as people in front of me started boats I couldn't contribute to and filled boats I could. I did manage a few shipping vp's. I tried to diversify, and went into a factory, but got it a little (probably a round) too late. I didn't make enough money for a big building until they were all gone (Jerod ended up buying two), and went with a harbor, which was at least a turn too late.

I spent the last several turns of this game just sort of taking roles and playing it out, as it was clear to me fairly early that I didn't have a chance. This is one of the things I don't really like about Puerto Rico - you can be functionally out of a game at a certain point, but you can't just concede and get it over with, as your involvement is necessary for the other players to continue. This leads to players at times having sessions in which they are fairly miserable for several turns as they watch it all finish up.

So, I was a little on autopilot as I coasted through the final turns, watching people pick up big buildings, watching Dan ship corn hoping to catch up with Tim, watching Tim and Dan reap the benefits of other people crafting, etc.. When Dan finally forced the end by taking the mayor role (I'm not sure how he calculated that it was the right time to end the game, perhaps he'll comment), I didn't even bother to calculate my vps (I had a little over 30), and I went to get food. So, I'm not sure how it all shook out. I do know that Tim won, by what Jerod called "a lot." I'm sure Dan got 2nd. Jerod only had 7 shipping vps, but I would guess he got 3rd as he had two big buildings. Drew and I were somewhere behind that, I suppose. I should have been last, I expect.

This game certainly reinforced the lesson I took from my first ever game of PR, that the diversification strategy doesn't really work (at least for my play style). This strategy might have worked a bit better if the trading had gone a bit differently, but, in general, it limits your shipping vps and requires you to spend more money on extra processing buildings. This session also contributed to me accepting that quarries are not that necessary, as two players built three and didn't make the best use of them, and the player who won didn't have a single quarry. It seems to me that the quarry you can pick up from your first chance at the settler role as one of the first players should be adequate, and that using a construction hut to get extras in the late position can cripple your money development early, as you lose building money and plantations that would otherwise make you money down the road. I'm not saying that the CH is worthless - there are probably justifications for taking it if you are one of the late players, to try to have a quarry earlier, to make it more worthwhile, but that probably just balances on the money you spend on the CH. By the time you build it, and man it, a couple building phases will probably have gone by, somewhat reducing the value of the extra quarries you get, especially the third, if you happen to take a third.

We talked about getting another game of PR going, as Jerod really wanted to play, but I wasn't really up for it, Drew left, and then Dan left as well. Jerod and Tim occupied themselves with some AGOT league play, and I took off shortly after their game.

I feel a little burnt out on PR, and I was interested reading Chris Farrell's comments about the game on his geeklist of overrated games. PR certainly deserves to be one of the highest rated games, but it does have it's problems. It's packed full of strategic decision making, it's pretty easy to learn, and it plays fairly quickly. However, it can be hard for people to actually have fun, I think, with all that thinking. Also, the game is prone to something that Chris calls the "post game recriminations phase," which is when players obsessed with "proper play" deride others for their "incorrect" choices which "corrupt" the game. As Chris mentions, this recrimination tends to creep forward into the game as players get more plays in. If you have a player that decides to obsess over this idea, having fun playing this game can get even harder.

As much as I can say that I'm burnt out, I would actually like to play this game with a different group. It would be interesting to compare the experiences.

GG, GL