Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

We had a theme -- I have to give credit to Brad and Ashlei for the idea. It was not mine...



And we played games in this theme. Let's see who played, and what we played...


  • Alex (n)
  • Ashley, Trumpeteer (n)
  • Becky (p)
  • Brad, Strategist (n)
  • Brian2, Overlord (n)
  • Cassy, Mascot (p)
  • Fenwick (p)
  • Gordon (?)
  • Jess (bunny!? <-- that's what it said on the score sheet)
  • Joe, Magus (p)
  • Justin (n)
  • Sandy (v)
  • Sean (p)
  • Steven (p)




  • Ten Days in Europe
    • Classic route building game. Fenwick ended up winning, spending most of his time in easternmost Europe.

  • Diceland
    • My favorite wargame. I never win, but I like it for some reason. Sean and Fenwick played a quick game. Sean eliminated Fenwick (me!) from the board, and had 2 remaining armies (dice) FTW.

  • Nexus Ops
    • We played a three player game with Sean, Brad, and Fenwick. Brad ended up winning with 10 points (Fenwick had 6, Sean had 4). Fenwick was VERY close to winning, controlling the Monolith, and a "Death From Above" card worth 4 points, which would have been implemented. But alas, it was too late...

  • Portobello Market
    • This is a *NEW* game club entry! It's definitely a pretty game, great bits. It's simple, but the decisions can be tough. Fenwick claimed a lot of points early, but after that, it went downhill quick. It looked like Gordon had won, but then we noticed an area of the board we hadn't scored! Brian ended up winning by ONE point. (Fenwick had an epic loss of 69 points...)

  • Quiddler
    • Steven demolished Cassy, Alex and Jess! He had 298 points, next behind him was 212, and it just went down from there...
    • The game got pulled out again a little later. Sean won that game with, oddly enough, also 298 points. (Fenwick was close behind with 294. Sandy had to leave in the middle and go to class.)

  • Ticket to Ride
    • Five new T2R players dragged this one out. They perused the rules and got going. Not sure they played exactly correctly, but whatever way they played seemed consistent. Joe ended up winning the game by ONE point. And, according to the score sheet comments, "He didn't even try or pay attention the entire game!!!"



May was at another table teaching people to play "standard" card games like Palace and B.S. So other games and players were happening, but we didn't write it down -- it was pretty informal.

And there's a few pictures!

10 Days in Europe. A classic.



Diceland. Battling Dice. Slightly strategic, slightly luck. All cool.




Nexus Ops is one of the most gorgeous games around. And there's battling aliens!



Portobello Market is a new one to Game Club. Nice bits, easy to play, quick to learn, quick to play. I think this'll come out again...


And here's Brian2's hand...

Friday, September 26, 2008

Wednesday, Sept. 24

We played games! Again, I'll just review the players and games... I was actually away from the game day for a little while, so I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked. We didn't even really make up a theme. I was needing portability, so the unannounced theme was "Games that Come in Smallish Boxes."
Anyhoo, here's the data:



  • Ashlei (p)
  • Ashley (n)
  • Brian2 (n)
  • Can't Stop (n)
  • Cengiz (p)
  • Dan (p)
  • Fenwick (p)
  • Gordon (n)
  • Jeff (n)
  • Jess (v)
  • Joe (p)
  • Krysta (p)
  • May (p)
  • Phil (v)
  • Sean (p)
  • Steven (p)


AND, instead of just a list, this time I'll add a few details. At the very least, the winner...

  • Continuo
    • Ashley won this 5-player game of Continuo with 155 points.
    • Later, Can't Stop and Sean played... Can't Stop won with 369.

  • Farkel
    • Steven wins with 10,100 after May's long reign as leader! [EDITOR'S NOTE: May?? Winning Farkel??? REALLY????]

  • Man Bites Dog
    • A couple of games of this were played... Joe won one with 930 points.
    • Gordon won a later game of it with 1045.

  • Quiddler
    • Classic. There haven't been many Game Club meetings without Quiddler. Brian2 won with a respectable score of 284 (especially respectable amidst a 5 player game!).

  • Stone Soup
    • This is a new one to Game Club. It is basically a variety of a 'standard' card deck game called (abbreviated) B.S. (sometimes called "Cheat" or "I Doubt It"). We had a lot of fun with it, though we probably played with too many people. We played two rounds: Phil won one, Jeff the other.

  • Treehouse
    • Treehouse... portable, pretty, simple. Sean and Can't Stop played 4 games. Sean won the first. Can't Stop won the rest.

  • Zombie Fluxx
    • This was meant to be like a 10 minute filler game to get the club started. It turned into like an 8 player drag fest. At one point (with a set of rules Draw 5, No Card Bonus, Play All) Phil played his whole hand, got a "Trade Hands" card, and played somebody else's hand, got a "Take Another Turn" to do it all over again. There were some other cards that let him play extra stuff, too. He ended up playing for about 10 minutes BY HIMSELF. I swear he almost played through the entire deck. It was crazy. Joe ended up winning with the "Food for Thought" goal.



Another good day!

More games on Monday...

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Chonkeys. Oh, yeah. Chonkeys.


Before we begin... a word from our sponsor.

Today's Game Club extravaganza was brought to you by Chonkeys™!

Do you crave a delicious, nutritious snack? Do you enjoy the flavor of cheese? Presenting... CHONKEYS™, a taste sensation unlike any you've ever imagined! It tastes like cheese, because it IS cheese.

We all love cheese, but it comes in those unwieldy "bars" or "blocks" or even "wheels". What a hassle! OR they "grate" it into little tiny strips, that are too small to eat comfortably. Well, we've taken a variety of delicious cheeses, and miraculously cut them into small, bite-sized pieces. Chonkeys™ are born!

Eat them with crackers. Eat them without crackers. The possibilities are nearly endless, with Chonkeys™!

That's right, Chonkeys™, an official sponsor of the CCM Strategic Gaming Club.



Monday, September 22 was a good day for games. "Why?" you ask? "Were the games EXCEPTIONALLY good?" No. I mean they were fine, but we had a HUGE tray of cheese nearby to nom on. MMMmmm. Cheese. There were some grapes and delicious crackers, too. It was sheer decadence! (At least for us easily impressed members of game club.)

We did have people play, play we did. I'm going to make a quick post again of just the players and games, to make sure we keep the blog up to date as much as possible.

THE PLAYERS (there were 20!)

  • Alicia
  • Ashlei
  • Brad
  • Brian2
  • Cassy
  • Cathy Willms
  • Cengiz
  • Chris
  • Dylan
  • Eden
  • Fenwick
  • Harper-Dylan
  • Jen
  • Jess
  • Joe
  • Justin
  • Krysta
  • Paul
  • Pete
  • TJ


THE GAMES

  • Blink (which we played, very dangerously, with 3 people for a bit!)
  • Continuo
  • For Sale
  • Great Dalmuti
  • Hey! That's MY Fish!
  • Incan Gold
  • Intrigue
  • Oodles of Doodles (which we just sort of played for fun at the end of the day...)
  • Quiddler
  • Quo Vadis?
  • Speed Scrabble (a Scrabble variant introduced to us by Paul!)
  • Wise & Otherwise
  • Zeus on the Loose


Fun was had. Cheese was 'et. We play more on Wed, Sept. 24.

(Once again, today's Blogisode was brought to you by Chonkeys™ brand cheese snacks. Remember, when it's got to be little cubes of cheese, it's GOT to be Chonkeys™. Be sure to try our new "little triangles" shape!)

Friday, September 19, 2008

Two week lump dump.

Hey all! We've been playing like crazy the past couple weeks. I've let the blog drift by the wayside, and I don't have time to do as detailed a report as normal. But I did want to put down AT THE VERY LEAST, the games we've played and the people who played them over the past 4 game sessions. Here goes...

The Players...
  • AJ (?)
  • Alex (n)
  • Alicia (n)
  • Ashlei (p)
  • Ashley (n)
  • Becky (p)
  • Brad (n)
  • Brian (n)
  • Brian2 (n)
  • Caleb (v)
  • Can't-Stop (n)
  • Carlo (n)
  • Cengiz (p)
  • Chris (p)
  • Dan (n)
  • Dylan (p)
  • Eli (n)
  • Fenwick (p)
  • Harper-Dylan (p)
  • Heather (v)
  • Jay (p)
  • Jeff (p)
  • Jess (v)
  • Joe (p)
  • Krysta (p)
  • Maxine (p)
  • May (p)
  • Patrick (p)
  • Pete (p)
  • Phil (v)
  • Ryan (p)
  • Sam (n)
  • Sandy (v)
  • Sean (p)
  • Sergio (n)
  • Steven (p)
  • Victoria (n)


OK, that's 37 PEOPLE. THIRTY SEVEN! Not too shabby...


And now... the Games people played...

  • Bull in a China Shop
  • Citadels (3x)
  • Cityscape
  • Elk Fest
  • Farkel
  • Flea Circus
  • For Sale
  • Give me the Brain
  • Go
  • Great Dalmuti
  • Igloo Pop
  • Incan Gold
  • King of the Beasts (3x)
  • Lascaux
  • Lost Cities
  • Mall of Horror
  • Man Bites Dog
  • Pit
  • Quiddler (6x)
  • Rage
  • Samurai
  • San Juan
  • Shear Panic
  • Spacebeans
  • Super Showdown
  • Transamerica
  • Treehouse
  • Zombie Fluxx


And, if you count each game session, included repeated games, that comes out to 37 games, too! Amazing. Same as the number of players. And average of one game per player. COINCIDENCE?!?! Well, yeah. Of course it is.

And here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

WE HAVE A NEW SCORESHEET! I like it. Well, that's not saying much, I made it...

We had some themes...




(That was supposed to say "CONSTITUTION DAY". I can't spell.)


The game Aquarius. Look at all the colors, man. The colors. Whoa.




Brian2 had a blinky reflector to represent his ever-beating heart. Aw. (the camera makes the room look much darker than it was!)


Sam tried them on his eyes. Buggy.


Citadels has become quite popular...




Dylan introduced Ashlei to Go...


Harper-Dylan DESTROYED us in Igloo Pop.


Krysta and Ashlei worked on their Rubik's Cube solving skills. And they have those skills, let me assure you. Nothing near setting world records, but they can kick that cube's butt.


One of my all-time favorite bidding games: Lascaux. Cool art, awesome bits (get a bowl, trust me), painful decisions, lots of frustration and laughter.




Mall of Horror! Why are they all holding their voting discs and smiling...??


...oh, I see. I'm pretty sure the yellow player (I'm pretty sure it was Jeff) was thrown to the zombies after this vote. Looks like he even voted for HIMSELF.


Zombies win this room.


Ah, the random terms and phrases that come out of Quiddler...


Treehouse always makes for interesting arty photos with its pretty plastic bits...






TransAmerica. CLASSIC.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Announcing the officers of 2008! [insert fanfare music here]

We appointed the new officers for this semester. And here's how it is:

PRESIDENT: Ashlei


VICE PRESIDENT: Brian


TREASURER: Krysta


BLOGGER: Sam said he would help out when he could! Fenwick will probably continue to do it, too.


We have many other members of game club. Many wanted to hold offices, but were not intrigued by the standard offices held. So some new ones were created - their abilities/responsibilities will be called upon as needed...

OVERLORD: Brian2


SECRET AGENT: Paul


VIZIER: Cengiz


TRUMPETEER: Ashley


EDIT: We have a couple I forgot!

MASCOT: Cassy (she doesn't actually play, but she is often there to cheer us on...)


HISTORIAN: Philip


MAGUS: Joe


STRATEGIST: Brad