Players in attendance....
Don Phelps (pirate)
Fenwick (pirate)
Heather (pirate)
Phil (n/a)
Rachael (pirate)
Sam (ninja)
Sean (pirate)
And now... Onto the session report!
[1:10 pm]
Hive
Players: Don Phelps (p), Sean (p)
As usual, we have shown Don Phelps an abstract, two- player, strategy game (previous ones include Deflexion and Oshi...). AND, as usual, once he has seen one play, he becomes quite invincible!
Two games were played. Don Phelps won the first. Don Phelps won the second.
[1:20 pm]
10 Days in Europe
Players: Sean (p), Fenwick (p)
We needed a quick game to get us going before some other playeres meandered in. the "10 Days" games are a pretty safe bet. I think we like the Europe one a smidge more than the USA one. We had 10 Days in Europe on us, and away we went.
Fenwick won.
[1:30 pm]
Cityscape
Players: Sam (n), Fenwick (p), Sean(p)
We always love the satisfying bits of this game. Sort of a controlled version of playing with blocks as a child. Blocks rock. Sam wandered in, and we immediately roped him into a game. He hadn't played before, but the description of the game is simple... he was up to speed in no time...
How'd it go?? Well, like this:
| Sam | Fenwick | Sean | |
| Round 1 | 40 | 90 | 70 |
| Round 2 | 70 | 40 | 20 |
| TOTAL | 110 | 130 | 90 |
That would make Fenwick the winner of the first round, Sam of the second, and the total going to Fenwick.
[2:06 pm]
Hey! That's MY Fish!
Players: Sam (n), Fenwick (p), Rachael (p), Sean (p)
Penguins. PENGUINS. Did you hear what I said?! Penguins. No one can turn down a game of Hey! That's MY Fish! Ok, maybe somebody could, but they would be out of their mind. The penguins are cute, and basically irresistible!
It was easy to show the newbies how to play, and we dove right in.
As we were setting up, a couple folks toting large cameras came by. They told us that they were shooting a commercial for CCM, and wanted video of people doing enjoyable things on campus. They asked if they could film us. We laughed at the concept, but told them to go right ahead! I think they took a total of 7 seconds of footage before they gave up and made us all sign waivers. It took longer to fill out the waiver form than it did for them to film us. They skittered away before we managed to set up the game... You know, I think it was just those cute-ass penguins that brought them over in the first place...
Anyhoo, Rachael got blocked off fairly quickly, but it was an even battle between the fellas for control.
The final scores came out like this: Rachael - 13, Sam - 24, Fenwick - 26, and Sean - 29.
Sean wins!
[2:45 pm]
Incan Gold
Players: Rachael (p), Sean (p), Sam (p), Fenwick (p)
This is a game Fenwick had read about for a while and picked up recently. It turned out to be crazy amounts of fun.The bits are nifty -- mostly it's just cards, but there are opaque gemstones in black, turquoise, and gold that are wonderfully shaped and shiny. (Say the next sentence in a squeaky little girl voice in your head...) It's hard to not just eat 'em up, they're so candy-cute.
Anyway, it's a press-your-luck style game, with a whole bunch of psycho-strategy thrown in. The rules are simple... each turn, decide whether to venture further into a temple filled with treasure and horrors, or escape with the treasure you've grabbed so far. The more people who do the same thing, the more the treasure is split up. The longer you stay in the temple, the more likely you will be tragically killed in a horrible adventure accident. Each decision is painful -- both in trying to decide whether to risk your safety, as well as in trying to be unique in your movements and not have to divvy up the goods. Each turn of the cards (another step into the danger-temple) is nail-biting, hair-pulling, breath-stealing and downright hilarious. This will likely remain a Game Club staple for a while. AND an entire game lasts about 15 minutes. Brilliant.
After our first Incan Gold game ever, Rachael had 11 gems, Sean had 38, Fenwick had 46, and Sam had an astounding 71. One of his windfalls occured when he meant to play a "Leave the Temple" card, and instead accidentally played his "Keep Going" card.
[3:05 pm]
King of the Beasts
Players: Phil (n/a), Sean (p), Sam (n), Fenwick (p), Rachael (p)
Phil watched the end of Incan Gold, and we managed to pull him in to a game of King of the Beasts. It's a Reiner Knizia, who is probably the favorite game designer of Game Club. Simple, fun, quick, 50% strategy, 90% luck. Great little speedy party game. The cards have a nice texture, and the whole package is rather compact.
The game results...
| Phil | Sean | Sam | Fenwick | Rachael |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| TOTALS | ||||
| 9 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 17 |
After 4 rounds.... Rachael wins!
[3:45 pm]
Continuo
Players: Fenwick (p), Rachael (p), Sean (p), Sam (p), Phil (n/a)
This is supposed to be a light, fun, quick semi-strategy game. It was that. For 4 of us.
OK, children, it is time to interrupt our session report for the Game Vocabulary Word of the Day. It is "analysis paralysis". This is a game term for when gameplay is totally halted by someone who has to analyze and re-analyze every stinking possibility on the board. Usually it is accompanied first by joking threats of hostility if haste is not implemented, followed by jokes like "Hey, my clothes are going out of style," or, "I guess I'll just write the Great American Novel while we're waiting," etc. It ends with the joking threats not being jokes anymore, and anyone who suffers from nicotine fits running out of the building to their cars for cigarettes.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. Phil was almost killed many times throughout the game for him "analysis paralysis". Actually, Sean and Rachael LEFT THE BUILDING before Phil's last turn, because they couldn't stand it. I'm pretty sure Sam was late for work.
Let's just look at the final scores: Rachael had 115, Sean had 138, Sam had 139, Fenwick had 152, and Phil WON THE GAME with 154. He's really lucky he left with his life intact, there was some ferocious growling whenever it was Phil's seemingly endless turn.
The game usually takes MAYBE 20 minutes. This game took an hour.
[4:55 pm]
Transamerica
Players: Fenwick (p), Rachael (p), Sean (p), Phil (n/a)
Transamerica is a fairly standard Game Club entree. No need to go into much detail, and though we usually record more than the final scores... here's what they were: Phil had 4 to go, Fenwick had 3, Rachael had 1, but Sean was off first for the win!
[5:50 pm]
Quiddler
Players: Fenwick (p), Rachael (p), Sean (p), Heather (pw*)
It's hardly an actual Game Club meeting with Quiddler. This time it finished off the day....
Heather had to leave after the 8-card round, so she only had 158 points. But the rest of us finished the game...
Sean had 255, Rachael had 266, and Fenwick had 268. Fenwick wins!
[* pw = pirate wench ]
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