Back in Blokus

The first game session of 2006 finished with the game during which we are pretty much guaranteed attendance. Blokus! The ease of play and colorful Tetris-like tiles attract even game newbies. This session was not played by newbies... it was mostly played by what could be accurately called the Math Center Gang.

We had Thomas, Jake, Eugene, and Chris playing two rounds of Blokus.

Here's how the games went down (winners in bold):

JAKE	EUGENE	THOMAS	CHRIS
-4	-17	-16	-21
-16	-12	-17	-14
SCORE TOTALS
-20	-29	-33	-35

Jake did great on game #1 - he only had his 2x2 square piece left... and, he discovered, some creative/strategic playing earlier on would have allowed him to get rid of that.

Game #2 was super-close - close enough that Jakes early lead kept him in the lead when the scores where totaled up.


The first day of the game club: complete success! New games, lots of old faces, a bunch of new people stopping by to watch for a few moments, and FOUR HOURS of gaming in total.

Gin + Scrabble = Quiddler

If you like word games at all, Quiddler is for you! It goes very quickly, and is just as fun with 2 people as it is with 10.

We played with six players: Thomas, Manny, Igor, Jake, Danielle, and Chris.

Here's the scores and the words played:

Thomas	Manny	Igor	Jake	Danielle	Chris
WAR = 17	VAIN = 30	(nothing) = 0	TIE = 7	PEN = 13	SKY = 15
TEN = 7	HAZY = 27	LIE = 5	WIN = 15	OX = 10	RUNG = 20
LEER + OR = 29	ON + OAK = 19	FUN + HA = 24	PIN + BAG = 27	ZIT + IS = 24	BYE + US = 21
CLOD + PIER = 32	ON + PIER = 18	CHAIN + HA = 45	OAK + LET = 20	FAX + TEN = 28	AXE + RIB = 31
TANNERS = 32	HOOD = 0	THY + YEN = 22	THEE + KOI = 23	BIG + BIDE = 33	POX + UNIT = 34
THAWS + FAST = 48	FARE + INK = 13	ZONE + CLUE = 35	TRY + IN + NIL = 29	WAX + LUG = 17	CLOT + IS + DRY = 34
STOLE + WIND = 30	GAIN + DOT = 4	MY + PILOTS = 21	HE + YEN + MANE = 34	THAT + BURNER = 38	LOX + US + JERK = 52
QUIET + OF + CORE = 41	HI + HI + TOO + DIN = 35	THY + FAT + PEER + GIN = 52	KILLED + AT + MU = 45	MEAN + CLOVES = 34	QUAY + VAN + WELD = 53
GRAND TOTALS...
236	182	204	200	197	260

Chris wins!

It needs to be mentioned that at one point during the game, all play came to a screeching halt as a grinning Manny gleefully exclaimed: "We should play some strip Quiddler!" The four other males and single female, as well as a decent part of the student center we were sitting in looked at him with a little horror.

"Inaccurate but Fun!"

The Carcassonne games are some of our favorites! We had Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers on hand, and the game had to be played.

Jake, Manny, Danielle, and Chris played the game.

We played with the "Scout" expansion pack, half of the King and Scout expansion. - Danielle picked the scout. Jake picked the boatman. Chris had the farmer. Manny had the hunter on the bridge. Everyone but Manny managed to play his or her bonus piece.

Here's a chart of what happened during the game. The numbers indicate chronology, but they are grouped according to who scored what...

JAKE	MANNY	DANIELLE	CHRIS
(4) 10 pt. forest + 4 pt. forest (7b) 2 pt. bonus from his boatman (14) 6 pt. forest (16) 4 pt. river [+2 for boatman] (17) 6 pt. forest (20) 4 pt. river (24) 4 pt. river [+2 for boatman] (26) 4 pt. river [+2 for boatman] (30) 6 pt. river	(7) 6 pt. river (11) 4 pt. river (22) 7 pt. river (24) 7 pt. river (29) 6 pt. forest	(1) 4 pt. river (3) 4 pt. forest (6) 4 pt. forest (8) 4 pt. forest (10) 5 pt. river (12) 5 pt. river (15) 4 pt. river (18) 8 pt. forest (19) 4 pt. forest (21) 4 pt. forest (23) 4 pt. forest (25) 7 pt. river (27) 4 pt. forest (28) 4 pt. river	(2) 5 pt. river (5) 6 pt. river (9) 4 pt. river (13) 8 pt. forest
TOTALS BEFORE ENDGAME SCORING
54	30	65	23
TOTALS AFTER ENDGAME SCORING
88	31	84	71

Jake wins!

Chris noticed that if he had played his last tile differently, he would have completed a large forest that potentially could have won him the game.

Also, as we were counting the final points, we noticed that Manny had played an illegal tile that we didn't notice until it was way too late.

This was Danielle's first time playing, and she remarked that she didn't believe prehistoric hunters and gatherers worked in this fashion, but agreed that the game was still enjoyable.

Architecturally intriguing...

The first official meeting of the second semester of the game club happened on Monday, January 23, 2006! It's good to be back.

Jake did some game purchasing over the break, and one of his new purchases was Villa Paletti, a strategy/dexterity/building game. It's a nifty little game where you are all taking turns building a tower. The game begins with a bunch of columns in different colors holding up the second floor of the tower. Each turn consists of moving a piece from the bottom floor to the second floor. Once enough columns have been moved up, another floor is placed, and the tower climbs higher. The different columns have different point values, so there is some strategy regarding which columns to move. Since they still have to support the lower floors, your choices may be limited.

The game conveniently comes with a hook, with which you can yank those pieces out, sometimes with vigor and enthusiasm. The first time I (Chris) chose a questionable piece to withdraw, and yanked that hook fiercely, I let out a battle cry which caused the entire table to just about jump out of the pants. It was great.

We had four players for the game -- Jake (yellow), Manny (green), Chris (blue), and Danielle (Red).

As you play through the game, the person with the most points on the highest level gets the "Master Builder Seal" to note the current leader, as well as the previous leader. If anyone besides the leader destroys the building, the leader wins. If the leader destroys the building, the previous leader wins. As we built up, Jake got the seal first. Chris (after continuing his groaning and screaming each turn) obtained the seal next. Danielle got the seal as she started on the next floor.

Jake then knocked it down -- Danielle wins the first game of the year!!

[There is a sort of deluxe version of the game called Palazzo Paletti -- probably also fun -- if you have $125 to throw around on a game. Yeeps.]

the Strategic Gaming Club is back!

A new year is here, and the second semester of the SGC can only be better than the first!!

We've bought some new games, and are ready to play.

Our game sessions will be starting a little later, but they will be lasting longer.

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Here's the official announcement for upcoming gaming sessions:

Our meetings this semester will be every Monday, starting around 1:00 pm in the Student Center lobby. We've blocked off time until 3:30 pm - but I wouldn't be surprised if we often went longer!

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More games, more players, more time to play, more fun.

It's going to be a good semester.

Although, Jake, basically the student founder of the club, will be leaving us after this semester!! We'll have to groom some new leadership...

A couple quick games to get the semester started.

Hey there!

A new semester has begun, and the Strategic Gaming Club is going to continue! Today I (Chris) bumped into Cathy and she twisted my arm very hard to get in a quick game or two.

First we played some Cribbage. I don't like playing regular card games, in general, but the strategy and variety of game play in Cribbage makes it a wonderful game. The two parts of each round, and the luck of the crib make every hand feel fresh. It's a great blend of luck and strategy -- with just enough on the strategy end that you can actually be pretty good at the game.

Then we went on to play some Spite & Malice. This is one that I mentioned to Cathy a while back, and she's been itching to play. It's really just a slight variant of Skip-Bo, with clever artwork, and some nifty, nasty tricks involved. I actually like it better than Skip-Bo, which to me felt like a two player game of solitaire the first few times I played it. I've warmed to it a little more since then, but still think Spite & Malice has a little more variety of play.

I failed to keep track of how many times each of us won, but I think it was a pretty even match-up.

These couple games have really made me ready for another semester of solid gaming. And the official start date is Monday, January 23rd!