Iowa City Game Day at Chris and Edie's House, Saturday, 13 May

Time sure flies. It really doesn't seem that long since the last game day. Perhaps I'm just that busy. On the other hand, maybe it's just that I've grown to anticipate them so much. Either way, I woke up on Saturday, ready to game.

It was drizzly and chilly Saturday AM, which is nice, as I wasn't going to feel bad about spending the rest of the day indoors. I guess I probably would have anyway, as I was out late the night before, soaking up second-hand smoke in the Foxhead with my visiting friend Erik, in town from London, Ontario. As a consequence, I had just a bit of a headache as the day began.

Shooting for the noon start time, I ran out to buy some snacks to take along, got a sandwich at Milio's and a quad iced soy mocha at the Java House. With a full tank and caffeine jump, I cruised over to F street, St. Petersburg, Princes of Florence, Res Publica, and Nexus Ops in tow.

When I got there, there was a fury of Dracula game going, and a few people waiting around for something to start. I had brought Princes of Florence at Chris's request, and we decided to set that up. About three quarters of the way through the explanation, two new players, Jason and Laura, showed up. Chris bowed out of the game to start something else, and Jason and Laura joined our game. We went through the rules again, which, I think, was good, as it made sure we were all on the same page, and then got started.

Starting turn order was: Gare Erin, me, Jason, Laura. Nobody but me had played before, and I had only played two games with three players. Bidding in the five player game was much higher than in the three player game. Our first round of bidding, however, was pretty low, with the firest jester going, apparently, low for 700, and the first builder going for 600, and everything else going for 200, I think. Maybe one of the landscapes went for a little more. Laura created a work on the first turn, going last, to get the quick pp. Bidding on the jester jumped up to 1500 in this round, and the builder went for 800. Jesters continued to be high bids, going for 1400 and 1100 and 1500 over the next three turns before falling to 300 and 500. The builder dropped to 200-400-400. Nobody went for a builder strategy, prefering to take a balanced approach. Laura and Erin both picked up two prestige cards as the game went along. I miscalculated my money a couple turns in a row, and, as a result, cost myself a few points. I should have let the 2nd turn builder go, and gotten a prestige card instead. I ended up missing out on prestige entirely, due to money miscalc (I couldn't bid high enough), and in the last round I couldn't get anything at all. I did build a gigantic work, though, for 35, and caught back up with the 17 pp it gave me. As the 7th round rolled by, we were all pretty tight on pp. Revealing prestige cards, it turned out that Erin didn't make one of hers, and Laura was able to sneak up and snag the victory by a point. So, the final standings were: Laura, Erin, Jason, me, and Gare. I liked the game much better with five, and this was a fun, good group to play with. I really need to keep better track of my plans, with upcoming rounds in mind, to spend my florins optimally. I look forward to playing again.

Another game broke up, and we split into three games. I ended up with Reef Encounter, a game I keep seeing people talking about on BGG. Jason brought the Zman edition, and taught the game to myself and Erin, with Laura also sitting in. There seems to be some debate over the game's art. I like the look of this game, it's nice and colorful (the screens could probably be moreso, and could maybe have some reminder/rules summaries on the back. Jason said the designer had worked hard to incorporate details marine biology into the game, but with a lack of such specific knowledge, the theme seems purely aesthetic, and the game is basically an abstract. The rules were quite different from pretty much anything else I've ever played. I felt pretty bewildered throughout the explanation, and really didn't know what was going on as the game started. I had a basic understanding of the course of a turn, and got some stuff on the table. I think I started one batch of coral too quickly. I think we were already in the midgame when I stopped to exclaim "I really have no idea how I could possibly make anything happen in this game." I just gave up a couple turns and did nothing besides taking tiles, as I felt I was slowing down the game though analysis paralysis. I watched the two experienced players, and came up with some ideas for plays. I ended up, though, rushing into eating my black coral, which was the one decent sized group I'd built up. I could have made it a few bigger the next turn, and should have, because it looked like it would be worth the most, with two tiles locked up. The tile I had started in my fish box was black, though, and I figured I'd have the advantage there, without scaring away the people who were working to make it dominant. After that, I slowed down, made a silly play, and suddenly it looked like Jason would win the game. I had a pretty fun penultimate turn at that point, eating a decent set of coral, flipping and locking some of the dominance tiles. I still didn't really understand the game, but I made things happen, and that made me feel a little better. I experienced a lot of brain burn in this game, coupled with significant downtime due to analysis between many of the turns. With four players, the game is pretty chaotic, and it would require a high degree of concentration and dedication to be able to play strategically consistently. I felt I might enjoy the game quite a bit more with fewer players, as there would be less changing between each turn. I wasn't real happy with this particular session. I won't be rushing out to buy Reef Encounter. That said, I found the game interesting, and the mechanics intriguing, and I'm going to try to play it a few more times, both on spielbyweb and in real life, and I expect it will become quite interesting.

Groups were re-dividing again, and I found that I didn't have a preference for any of the games being put forward. I decided to just let people put me wherever they needed a player. I didn't really come into this game day with specific games in mind - I figured I would play Princes, and was maybe hoping for Caylus. The only things I really have wanted to get in on were Union Pacific (which unfortunately went off while we were playing Princes), and Santiago (which Kurt has brought, but he wasn't there this time). I ended up playing Ticket to Ride this time, with Judy, Erin and Chris.

The two tickets I kept were a 17 and 20 that both went along the Southern part of the map, though the big black, green, and red routes. These were really nice starting tickets, big points that worked together with plenty of 6 car routes. To me, getting tickets like this is a significant advantage in this game. Another advantage became clear as it appeared that everyone else was building mostly in the North, so I was able to waltz across the map with little, well, basically no, interference. The gameplay was quick, as we knew that Tower of Babel in the other room was not a long game, and we wanted to be done at around the same time. There was little, or basically no, defensive play, although a couple times people were unintentionally blocked. Chris took some extra tickets, and so, I think, did Judy. I decided to take one after I finished my routes, which was probably a bad idea, but I get nervous when other people have five tickets and I have two. I picked up one I could finish pretty quickly, and ended up blocking the ticket Chris had just taken with my next move. I managed to trigger the game end with two cars, and then play them on the end of my string of cars to make myself only 3 cars out of perfect on longest route, taking it by a fair amount. With a considerable lead already, longest route, and fifty points of tickets, I ended up way out in front at 168. Judy was 2nd with 122, Erin in third with 104, and Chris was the caboose with 74 (I think he would have been close to 100 with his other ticket completed). This was a nice group of people, and a pretty fun game, but I think I've played enough of basic Ticket to Ride for a while. Oddly, it's a game I own, and consequently don't try to get into at the game days, but is the only game I've played two game days in a row. I wish they'd print an expansion with a fifth 20+ point ticket, so that you could distribute big tickets to everyone before the game, as in TtR: Europe.

Several people wanted to play St. Pete, so I sat them down and taught the game. It was weird teaching the game without sitting at the table, and I felt I needed to hurry as there were three players in the other room waiting for me to play Stephenson's Rocket. I hope I wasn't too confusing in this hurried state. Sometimes I forget that, for some people, this game doesn't seem as simple as I think it is. After explaining, setting up, and getting things going, I ran into the other room for my second train trip of the day. I knew Stephenson's Rocket was a Reiner Knizia game, which is a good sign, to me. I also had a general impression, though, from BGG geeklists and stuff, that this was not that popular of a game, so I came in expecting a medium-level experience. Chris taught the game, and, perhaps due to my rushed state, or the general sort of brain fuzz I seemed to have going all day, I really didn't visualize the rules well. It took me until what I would consider the end of the early game to have a feeling that I could develop some strategic moves. At that point, I promptly over-thought a couple of them and missed out on some important money by not putting down stations I should have. I focused on getting down stations on one train (green) and taking it across the board to hit some of the cities I had majorities in. It took me even longer to figure out that the game isn't all about hitting those cities, as that's not how you score the really big money. That was made apparent when Steve started making tall cash off of the purple train with his two stations, and even more so when Steve ran the blue train into the green line, making Sue a heaping pile of bank notes and a tidy sum for himself as well. I couldn't seem to find a way to successfully alter my tactics at this point, though, and pretty much just kept doing the same thing. I wasted my majority in green stock to veto Steve's move and put the train in my station. In the end, I would have had 14 grand more by not doing so, as Steve never managed to run the red line into green, and I would have still had station majority with two. As it was, the train tiles ran out and the game ended with several active lines on the board- green, which was huge, red, which was pretty big, orange, which wasn't terribly large, and grey, which was small. Chris had a lot of majorities, and looked like he might contend. Sue had made huge money once, and consistent money around that. I though I might have a chance to beat Steve. Well, it appears I really have no handle on the game, as Steve ended up winning. Steve had 66k, Sue was 2nd at 65k, Chris was third with 62k, and it was my turn to caboose with 55k. This game was moderately close, and it became clear to me that each little move, costing a few thousand, was tremendously important. I certainly mispicked a couple times early in the game, just based on this. I liked SR, and would play again. However, I don't think I'll seek it out. The goods majorities really seem to play too little a part in the game. There's also decent downtime and the analysis problems that come with too much known information.

That ended up being it for the night. I only played 4 games on Saturday, which is fewer than usual. The games I played were longer - especially Reef Encouner! Also, I just wasn't in a mood to hustle any games today. It was fun, and I got to play some new games, which is always a goal of mine. No new classics, for me, but lots of food for thought. These game days keep getting bigger and bigger - maybe we'll have to move into the library! I look forward to next month, when maybe some of us will have to play outside... (I'll bring a soccer ball). It's great to be meeting so many new gamers, and having such good times, but for me it has an ironically sad side, too. I wonder why it has to be the case that now, since I've finally found a big group of great people to game with on a regular basis, I have to move across the country. It's no big deal, though, I'll just enjoy it while it lasts and look forward to meeting the gamers of the Triangle area.

GG, GL