The "Welcome Back Bash and Club/Organizational Fair" is a big name for a bunch of tables out on the lawn of the college. It is a time for clubs to show what they do, and to recruit new members.
Our table was loaded with games -- mostly games that could be learned in minutes, and could withstand the wind. We did play a bunch of games with old friends and new people, but we did not keep detailed notes on the games played...
But here's a list of games played at the Org Fair...
Jumpin' Java
Dino Dodg-Em
Travel Blokus (basically Blokus for 2)
Point Blank
Trippples
TransAmerica... and we do have photographic evidence that Olivia won!
Once the Bash officially ended, we all moved inside and had a sort of impromptu bonus game day!
Tsuro
Players: Kaylin, Sean, TJ, Crystal, Fenwick
Tsuro is one that we pull out a lot for a quick filler with bunches of players. It has one simple goal -- be the last 'alive' (the last to stay on the board). TJ was the last alive for this game, and he wins!
Sunken City
Players: Rich, Sean, TJ, Fenwick
In Sunken City, each player is an intrepid explorer trying to collect treasures from a sunken, magical city. Buildings containing artifacts can rise from the depths, only to be sunken again by the wrath of Neptune, and then to rise again in a different place!
On every turn, a person plays a card which gives that player a certain amount of building power, a certain amount of moving ability, and the ability to move Neptune (who destroys all in his wake, including any players that may be unfortunate to be in his way).
This game offers probably the most amount of screwage of any game we play. And, when you've been sunk by Neptune, you get the ability to use Neptune to a great extent somewhere later in the game.
It is SUPER frustrating at times, and with 4 players, there is a huge amount of nailbiting as the other players move the destruction closer and closer to you.
I oddly enjoy the frustration. It's actually a tremendous game -- there's almost NO randomness (only a slight bit when it comes to moving Neptune), so you basically know what abilities the other players have at any given time, and have to factor that in to how you play. You also need to factor in the PERSONALITY of your opponents. Some people may try to be inconspicuous and collect points, while others will spend their time destroying everyone else.
The number of artifacts recovered is your score... Here's our scores:
Rich: 0
TJ: 1
Chris: 2
Sean: 7
Obviously, it wasn't even close... Sean demolished us.
Ticket to Ride: Marklin Edition
Players: Rich, Mike2, Sean, TJ(replaced by Mike1), Fenwick
The Ticket to Ride games have been a worldwide phenomenon. I'm surprised they haven't been even MORE popular -- I think it just came out at a time when people don't care as much about board games. But this game is simple and strategic. It's basically about collecting sets of cards. There is a lot of press-your-luck factor as you try to complete more routes than anyone else, and wait for the best passenger routes -- if you wait too long, someone else will grab your points.
The Marklin Edition is the most complex of the bunch, and can take more than an hour and a half to play with the full set of 5 people. That's what happened to us... I actually meant to bring the USA version which goes much faster...
At the end of the game, you have hundreds of train cars decorating the beatifully designed large gameboard. This game has some of the niftiest bits of all.
Also at the end of the game, we check the scores... Here they are:
TJ/Mike1: 53
Rich: 55
Mike2: 78
Fenwick: 103
Sean: 123
Sean wins again!
Trippples
Players: Sean vs. Fenwick
Tripples is a crazy 2 player game. It has a randomly-made board with arrows all over it. Each player has a transparent game piece. The transparency is KEY, since you have to see what arrows lie below you. Actually, YOUR OPPONENT needs to see, since the arrows indicated on the space you sit are the possible moves for your opponent. It's an amazing game mechanic... your choices affect your opponent, but you can see your opponents possibilities and you know that his/her move is going to affect you right back. It feels like you need to turn your brain inside out.
After a very long, and almost stalemated endgame, Fenwick made a slip, allowing Sean to win once again!
Wallomoppi
Players: Sean vs. Fenwick
We decided to kill some more time waiting for folks to stop by... Wallomoppi is a fast-paced stacking game.
The game is played in 2 stages: first you each take turns drawing a disc, and building a triangle-shaped stack. Once the stack is complete, each player takes a turn pulling a disc from lower in the stack and putting it on top. This is pretty standard in terms of stacking games. The twist here: there is a marble run that is used as a timer. One player drops the marble into the marble run, and the other player must grab a piece, put it up on the stack, and catch the marble before it gets to the bottom. That player now drops the marble, and the other player must dash to make a move before the marble falls.
If either the tall stack falls, or the marble hits the bottom, the active player loses.
There is a little bit of strategy in building the stack and for what discs to pull, but mostly it's dexterity that will win the game.
We played three games.
Fenwick won game 1.
Sean won game 2.
Fenwick won the tie-breaking game 3.
Jumpin' Java
Players: Sean vs. Fenwick
Still killing time, we decided to play the very quick Jumpin' Java. You can play a game in just a minute or 2, and it has an amazing jst-one-more factor.
Basically, each player has two cups on saucers. By jumping other cups, you are trying to get them to the other side of the board. It's almost like a one-dimensional chinese checkers.
We played 13 games.
Fenwick won 6 of them.
Sean won 7.
(Embarrasing session note: In the 8th game, Fenwick managed to jump his cups too far, so that he wouldn't be able to get a saucer under it. He managed to beat himself.)
Coda
Players: Sean, Kaylin, Fenwick, Philip
Coda is a great codebreaking game, and one we play quite often. As people began to trickle back in, we pulled it out.
We played 3 games.
Kaylin won game 1.
Chris won the second game. Kaylin was eliminated quickly by Philip. She suggested that she had a very geeky set, and he guessed, correctly her four numbers: "1337".
Kaylin came back to win game #3.
Tsuro (again!)
Players: Philip, TJ, Sean, Kaylin, Chris, Nick, Fenwick
Folks were drifting back in... once we had 7 people, Tsuro immediately came to mind.
We played two games...
Sean won game 1. The field was narrowed quickly as both Philip and TJ were eliminated immediately after their first turn.
Kaylin won game 2.
At this point, it was close to 10:00 pm... we decided to break up the game day.
.... or DID WE?!
The Great Dalmuti
Players: Philip, Fenwick, Kaylin, TJ, Sean
The on-campus game day ended, but we were all hungry and made a change of venue to Taco Bell!
We grabbed some food and found a table that coul almost hold 5 people. We placed a tall chair on the end of the table -- the Great Dalmuti seat.
We only got to play 2 games before they closed, and kicked us out. The manager of Taco Bell came by and hung out to watch us play for a while.
We only got in three rounds:
Philip started on top. Going down in rank: Fenwick, Kaylin, TJ, Sean.
Kaylin won, becoming the new Dalmutti. Going down from there: TJ, Sean, Philip, Fenwick.
TJ won the last hand... going down from there: Fenwick, Kaylin, Sean, Philip.
It was an amazing game day. Especially since it wasn't even REALLY a game day!
1 comment:
FOr those keeping score: we were discussing the concept of 'taint' (don't remember how we got on the subject). We described it to Olivia, and she calmly interpreted: "So, if someone says their taint itches, you shouldn't shake their hand?"
That there is some good advice. Heed it.
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