In the early holiday season we managed to play some Catan games and some other fun ones.
Looking foward, we decided that squeezing in StarCraft: The Board Game was not feasible. We plan to substitute Tikal, which was acquired during the year. Since Birds & Animals and Trees & Flowers are both 2-in-1 card games, we decided to count them both as two games in the master list of 100. Subsequently, we dumped Tangoes (which although it can be played as a head-to-head challenge doesn't really fit the clime of the entire ensemble) and the Märklin variant of Ticket to Ride.
The battle for first place is heating up as we near Christmas. The band will be dispersed with respective families. The final, and colossal, sprint to the finish will start on the 28th.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
The First Big Weekend of the Fall
The weekend started with a big name in gaming, Puerto Rico. We dove right in. We have the expansion and added some of our favorite buildings to the mix, but we left the Forest tiles out since they just seem too tedious. With the Construction Huts going quickly and some diligence by those without, everyone managed to quickly obtain a pair of Quarries.
Over the course of the game Señor Bob went into Market upgrades and coffee production, but took too long to get his Coffee Roaster and failed to grab a Trading Post. Despite eventually getting into big buildings with the help of the Office, his pathetic pile of chips from shipping small amounts of corn and indigo left him in last place.
Señor Greg balanced his corn production with ever expanding sugar and tobacco production to give him a diversified shipping portfolio. There were a few key building purchases that he wished he had, as the girls managed to stay a step ahead.
Señorita Heather capitalized on shipping lots of indigo and sugar with the combination of her Aqueduct and Wharf and became the apparent chip queen. She did snatch a Trading Post, but she was lacking the high ticket production items to get her real estate into high gear.
As usual Señorita Jennifer, or should I write Doña Jennifer, brought in goods, money, buildings, and point chips by the bushel load. Her timely acquisitions of the Construction Hut, Large Market, Trading Post, and Wharf insured a healthy return every round on her way to victory.
Puerto Rico was followed by two smaller games, Quicksand and Quiddler, both of which Greg deftly won without breaking a sweat.
Race for the Galaxy was opening game on Day 2. Jennifer struggled getting card combinations and production planets going. Heather went for war and built up her military might to settle some high-point planets. Bob kept creating developments that gave him development bonuses and development discounts, but he ran out of time to sufficiently diversify. Greg had the blend going with a portfolio of production, trade, point planets, and chips for the big win.
In Rail Baron everyone wisely started buying some nice rail lines, but Bob had the trajectory on this one. Besides making an early tactical grab in the northeast, Bob managed to get a nice monopoly going in the north central and northwest regions. His rolls throughout the game gave him short to medium distance trips primarily on his own lines or on public lines, which allowed him to buy early and often.
To keep the pace going for the weekend, we played a single, standard RoboRally board with four flags. The flags were laid out in a moderately-spaced crossing pattern to encourage "interaction". The crossing pattern had some effect throughout the game, but "interaction" ensued before reaching the first marker. In the mad dash for the first flag, Heather decided to get the party started by judiciously shoving her husband's robot into a pit. He came back with a chip on his shoulder (and two on his card) and got into a few nice firefights that included tampering with Jennifer's programming cards. Jennifer inflicted her own levels of damage on the field, and at one point Heather took a dive in a pit. Greg kept skating along, and although everyone eventually abandoned their own endeavors to attempt to snipe or bludgeon him (or snipe or bludgeon someone who was attempting to snipe or bludgeon him), he had easy sailing to the finish.
In Rook Jennifer out-sparkled everyone with a perfect score of 1000.
Greg finished the gaming by claiming his fifth win of the weekend with a win in Rummikub
This post by Bob.
Over the course of the game Señor Bob went into Market upgrades and coffee production, but took too long to get his Coffee Roaster and failed to grab a Trading Post. Despite eventually getting into big buildings with the help of the Office, his pathetic pile of chips from shipping small amounts of corn and indigo left him in last place.
Señor Greg balanced his corn production with ever expanding sugar and tobacco production to give him a diversified shipping portfolio. There were a few key building purchases that he wished he had, as the girls managed to stay a step ahead.
Señorita Heather capitalized on shipping lots of indigo and sugar with the combination of her Aqueduct and Wharf and became the apparent chip queen. She did snatch a Trading Post, but she was lacking the high ticket production items to get her real estate into high gear.
As usual Señorita Jennifer, or should I write Doña Jennifer, brought in goods, money, buildings, and point chips by the bushel load. Her timely acquisitions of the Construction Hut, Large Market, Trading Post, and Wharf insured a healthy return every round on her way to victory.
Puerto Rico was followed by two smaller games, Quicksand and Quiddler, both of which Greg deftly won without breaking a sweat.
Race for the Galaxy was opening game on Day 2. Jennifer struggled getting card combinations and production planets going. Heather went for war and built up her military might to settle some high-point planets. Bob kept creating developments that gave him development bonuses and development discounts, but he ran out of time to sufficiently diversify. Greg had the blend going with a portfolio of production, trade, point planets, and chips for the big win.
In Rail Baron everyone wisely started buying some nice rail lines, but Bob had the trajectory on this one. Besides making an early tactical grab in the northeast, Bob managed to get a nice monopoly going in the north central and northwest regions. His rolls throughout the game gave him short to medium distance trips primarily on his own lines or on public lines, which allowed him to buy early and often.
To keep the pace going for the weekend, we played a single, standard RoboRally board with four flags. The flags were laid out in a moderately-spaced crossing pattern to encourage "interaction". The crossing pattern had some effect throughout the game, but "interaction" ensued before reaching the first marker. In the mad dash for the first flag, Heather decided to get the party started by judiciously shoving her husband's robot into a pit. He came back with a chip on his shoulder (and two on his card) and got into a few nice firefights that included tampering with Jennifer's programming cards. Jennifer inflicted her own levels of damage on the field, and at one point Heather took a dive in a pit. Greg kept skating along, and although everyone eventually abandoned their own endeavors to attempt to snipe or bludgeon him (or snipe or bludgeon someone who was attempting to snipe or bludgeon him), he had easy sailing to the finish.
In Rook Jennifer out-sparkled everyone with a perfect score of 1000.
Greg finished the gaming by claiming his fifth win of the weekend with a win in Rummikub
This post by Bob.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Update
Heather and Bob adopted a baby girl!!! Hooray!!! She's the cutest thing ever! Also, Bob is now gainfully employed as a Design Project Manager at a thriving engineering and surveying firm. Incidentally, the gaming has been slow and the blogging has been non-existent. We'll have some more to add at some point, but for now, I'll just update that we've played through Power Grid, and we're wondering how we're going to squeeze in the rest of them by the end of the year!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Team Jennifer
All three games for this particular weekend were played as team games, either two-on-two or everyone versus the board.
Jennifer played Lord of the Rings for the first time and did splendidly. Since it was a first time for her and since it had been several years for the rest of us, we started with the easy version and put Sauron at spot 15 on the corruption line. We struggled at first with some harsh going in the mines. Then things evened out at Helm's Deep and in Shelob's Lair, and we picked up some momentum to destroy the ring with 65 points. Jennifer picked up her first Lord of the Rings victory unscathed and she picked up a win with the rest of the group.
The next game was a GK Rhinos favorite, Lost Cities. We play the four-person team variant that requires some extra cards from a second deck. We traditional play this as guys versus girls. In short, during the first hand the guys couldn't get much; for the second hand they loaded on some good stuff; and for the third hand the girls said ba-bye and stomped their way to a big finish. Jennifer picked up her second team win of the weekend with Heather as her partner.
The final game of the weeknd was Magic: The Gathering, which was another new one for Jennifer. Did that matter? No. This time it was family versus family. We only used one deck per family since we didn't have enough time to teach Jennifer to handle her own deck for a three-game match. Greg and Jennifer used one of Greg's Time Spiral decks. Bob and Heather used a custom Red and White deck. Greg and Jennifer played their hands beautifully and Bob and Heather dug and dug and dug for land cards, never seeming to find enough. Jennifer picked up her third team victory of the weekend, this time with her hubby.
Well done, Jennifer!
Written by Bob
Jennifer played Lord of the Rings for the first time and did splendidly. Since it was a first time for her and since it had been several years for the rest of us, we started with the easy version and put Sauron at spot 15 on the corruption line. We struggled at first with some harsh going in the mines. Then things evened out at Helm's Deep and in Shelob's Lair, and we picked up some momentum to destroy the ring with 65 points. Jennifer picked up her first Lord of the Rings victory unscathed and she picked up a win with the rest of the group.
The next game was a GK Rhinos favorite, Lost Cities. We play the four-person team variant that requires some extra cards from a second deck. We traditional play this as guys versus girls. In short, during the first hand the guys couldn't get much; for the second hand they loaded on some good stuff; and for the third hand the girls said ba-bye and stomped their way to a big finish. Jennifer picked up her second team win of the weekend with Heather as her partner.
The final game of the weeknd was Magic: The Gathering, which was another new one for Jennifer. Did that matter? No. This time it was family versus family. We only used one deck per family since we didn't have enough time to teach Jennifer to handle her own deck for a three-game match. Greg and Jennifer used one of Greg's Time Spiral decks. Bob and Heather used a custom Red and White deck. Greg and Jennifer played their hands beautifully and Bob and Heather dug and dug and dug for land cards, never seeming to find enough. Jennifer picked up her third team victory of the weekend, this time with her hubby.
Well done, Jennifer!
Written by Bob
Jennifer's post (by proxy)
The Great Dalmuti Staying on top is the goal. Bob clawed his way up.
Guesstures The men made a valiant effort, but they were schooled by the women.
Guillotine Just when we all thought we were getting a head (ha, ha), Greg won by a nose.
Hearts It was very sad for those who lost at hearts, but Heather had the sweetest heart of the night.
Hit the Deck Uno meets Slap Jack. It didn't go over too well. Still, Bob hit it big.
Le Havre A wonderful, meaty game. I'm on a boat. But Greg won.
Guesstures The men made a valiant effort, but they were schooled by the women.
Guillotine Just when we all thought we were getting a head (ha, ha), Greg won by a nose.
Hearts It was very sad for those who lost at hearts, but Heather had the sweetest heart of the night.
Hit the Deck Uno meets Slap Jack. It didn't go over too well. Still, Bob hit it big.
Le Havre A wonderful, meaty game. I'm on a boat. But Greg won.
Heather's Food Blog (by proxy)
{We had some delicious food this particular weekend, which Heather might tell us about at some point.}
Farkle In the end Greg and Jennifer were vying for the title. There was cut-throat action involved.
The Farming Game The womenfolk were sharing farm equipment, so the menfolk did the same. There were many head of cattle involved.
Five Crowns There were points involved.
Fluxx There was food involved.
Galaxy Trucker Bob and Heather opened this game earlier and had a practice game to learn it. Although they tried to pass on to Greg and Jennifer what they had gleaned, Bob and Heather had an unrealistic advantage since speed and planning are part of the game. There was carnage involved.
The Game of Life Using the newer reprinting we were able to enjoy(?) buying multiple houses and partaking in multiple careers. There were numerous speeding tickets involved.
Farkle In the end Greg and Jennifer were vying for the title. There was cut-throat action involved.
The Farming Game The womenfolk were sharing farm equipment, so the menfolk did the same. There were many head of cattle involved.
Five Crowns There were points involved.
Fluxx There was food involved.
Galaxy Trucker Bob and Heather opened this game earlier and had a practice game to learn it. Although they tried to pass on to Greg and Jennifer what they had gleaned, Bob and Heather had an unrealistic advantage since speed and planning are part of the game. There was carnage involved.
The Game of Life Using the newer reprinting we were able to enjoy(?) buying multiple houses and partaking in multiple careers. There were numerous speeding tickets involved.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The lists of our favorite games - some thoughts by Greg
A couple weekends ago we talked about which games surprised us and which ones were our favorites so far. We decided that we'd keep a running list for each of us on our top five games so far. Look to the right for our lists. ----->
This may not be where we would rate the games in a pure way if asked, "Please rate these games from best to worst." These are the games that rank high for us right now. These are games that may have surprised us and we just can't wait to play them again. Bob and Heather went home right away and put together their lists. Jennifer and I finally got around to it today. Some of our game choices surprised us. It's a fun to think, "What would I want to play again next if given the choice."
This may not be where we would rate the games in a pure way if asked, "Please rate these games from best to worst." These are the games that rank high for us right now. These are games that may have surprised us and we just can't wait to play them again. Bob and Heather went home right away and put together their lists. Jennifer and I finally got around to it today. Some of our game choices surprised us. It's a fun to think, "What would I want to play again next if given the choice."
Something I found especially interesting was that for our initial lists we all picked Clue - Master Detective. I think most of us had played it at least once. I think we all just forgot how much we enjoyed it in the past and that there is a challenge we aren't used to. Even though it's based on a classic, it isn't a game style or mechanism we see in games we play.
No other game made every list, and everyone had some unique games. The next seemingly most popular to date is Canasta Caliente as it made three lists. This rummy style game isn't completely original, and it has many elements from other classic rummy and group making games. I think we enjoyed the team play and the little unique pieces and themes that make it intriguing.
There is only one other game that made more than one person's list, and that is Dutch Blitz. I don't really know what those two people see in the game. :) It basically stresses me out. I think both Bob and Jennifer excel at games of speed and matching in general (although Blink seems to be the exception for Jennifer -- that one seemed to elude her).
My last little observation is that Heather put three Cranium titles on her list. THREE! Obviously, they made an impression. We may be playing a lot more Cranium after this 100 game experiment is over. "Watch out Tigris & Euphrates, Heather is starting to eye a new game..."
Well here's to seeing our lists develop.
Happy Gaming,
Greg
There is only one other game that made more than one person's list, and that is Dutch Blitz. I don't really know what those two people see in the game. :) It basically stresses me out. I think both Bob and Jennifer excel at games of speed and matching in general (although Blink seems to be the exception for Jennifer -- that one seemed to elude her).
My last little observation is that Heather put three Cranium titles on her list. THREE! Obviously, they made an impression. We may be playing a lot more Cranium after this 100 game experiment is over. "Watch out Tigris & Euphrates, Heather is starting to eye a new game..."
Well here's to seeing our lists develop.
Happy Gaming,
Greg
Favorite Games of the Year So Far (as originally posted March 6, 2012)
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Tuesday Night Interlude
As we continued to recover from illnesses and injuries in late February, we took some time on a Tuesday evening to knock out a game of Elfenland. Elfenland is a combination of planning and luck. Each player takes the role of a young elf who sets out to explore the cities of the kingdom via various and strange modes of transportation (giant pigs, elfcycles, magic clouds, unicorns, dragons, troll carts, and rafts). In each of the four rounds, players mark out which roads will be traveled by different forms of transportation; then any player who wishes to use a marked route must produce the matching card or cards. Each player has a final destination city that is kept secret from the other players.
During the first round, Bob noted from the discussion around the table and from the initial placement of the markers that all the players seemed to be headed the same direction into the kingdom (north and then west). Bob decided he would use his one obstacle tile to its fullest potential and hinder the first marked route out of the starter city while he took a raft down the river. This may have been an ill advised move, since his first road marker also received an obstacle tile, Greg didn't bother taking that route, and both of the ladies took the obstacle in stride by creating new branch routes from Greg and Bob's transportation tiles. The result? In Round 1 Bob visiting a humble 4 cities, Greg and Jennifer visited an impressive 6 cities each, and Heather visited an unprecedented 7 cities even after traveling through an obstacle!
Other than the fact that it allows me to write something interesting such as the round began to see the dispersal of the fleet, Round 2 was boring. Greg struggled slightly with matching up cards with tokens as he explored the southern kingdom on his westward journey; Jennifer, Heather, and Bob generally traveled westward in the northern part of the kingdom and visited, on average, a standard five cities each.
In Round 3, Heather was looking invincible. She had cleaned up most of the north and west with her great start and was poised to shoot across the kingdom to finish her cleanup of the southern and eastern areas. Hence, Jennifer and Greg made her life more difficult with two obstacle tiles. Bob had some good draws and managed to sweep down the western edge of the kingdom and move back toward the middle. Greg made his push toward the northwest. Jennifer found herself in a mess this round; she had expected some help from others in placing transportation tiles on desert roads in the middle of the kingdom and she found herself stuck when her remaining tiles were poorly suited for desert travel.
Round 4 started with Greg in the northwest looking to finish up some scattered cities there; Jennifer, Bob, and Heather all needed to finish visiting cities in the south and east, but they weren't necessarily coming at them from the same direction. Transportation tile placement for the round immediately started to overlap to the benefit of some and the detriment of others. No one knew exactly where each player needed to end so leftover transportation tiles were thrown here and there as possible deterrents to others.
Jennifer traveled valiantly, but was not able to recover from her desert drawbacks in Round 3. Heather, along with being hindered by the two obstacle tiles in Round 3, was thwarted by the transportation tiles thrown down by Jennifer and Bob in the final round. Bob managed to slide nicely across the south and then up the eastern side to his destination city, bypassing only one city along the way. Greg managed to clean up his spiderweb of cities in the northwest, also missing only one city; however, he made a mistake regarding which city was his final destination and handed the victory to Bob. Greg boldly demonstrated one of his favorite rules for the group: "There are no points for stupidity."
Written by Bob
Friday, March 2, 2012
Chasing Bob
Before the weekend started our win totals were tallied and Bob had an eight game lead on the rest of the group with thirteen. "THIRTEEN" wins for Bob while the rest of us were keeping each other company, tied with a grand five wins. So things were a bit different this weekend.
The mission: win as many offerings as possible while limiting, or better yet eliminating, Bob's wins. Jennifer, Heather, and I (Greg) accepted the challenge and threw ourselves at it with all the courage we could muster -- worrying all the while about Bob's gaming prowess. We each succeeded in varying degrees, but collectively could not keep Bob from adding a few wins during this whopping TEN-GAME WEEKEND. Right on to round one.
Here's a trick: withhold calories from Bob. This seemed to work very well with our first game as we decided to get to it before eating our yummy African sweet potato and bean stew for supper -- made by none other than our personal chef Heather. The game was Catch Phrase. This electronic game offers 10,000 different words and phrases grouped into categories. We split into two teams of two with the couples pairing up. Our goal was to get our life partners to guess the word or phrase on the game screen and pass the electronic game unit on to the other team before the timer ran out. When the timer ran out, the team not holding the game was awarded 1 point. Conveniently, the game device seemed to run out of time consistently just as Bob was getting a turn, "Buzzzt" (poor partner Heather). The game would have ended without the Thaynes being awarded a single point if I hadn't accidentally used part of a phrase in an attempt to get Jennifer to guess it. Final score: Seven to One -- Wendts. Bob's win total: Zero!
Now it gets serious. After some calories we stepped up to Caylus -- one of Bob's own games. We had a tough time learning this game the first time. We were in Mexico, and I remember a gaming session in an airport. Fun times.
NEWS FLASH -- While writing this post, an announcement is being made. Bob was awarded the prestigious "Microbadge Design Award" on Board Game Geek. There is much cheering and many congratulations for Bob's rare achievement as I pause from my writing. For more details, see Microbadge Design Award.
Time to relive our childhoods. For some of us it was the first real playing of Chutes and Ladders, but for Heather this was a reunion with a special link between her and her father. Each night, her patient and oh so loving father would consent to playing it with her. After this session, Heather gained an increased appreciation for her father's love and patience. As most undoubtedly recall, this is not a complex game, but it is full of opportunities to keep the game going on for longer than any of the GK Rhino's expected. We were playing a Dora the Explorer edition. Technically, this is Hayden's game, but it's on the list for love of a childhood memory. After moving along the path, climbing ladders, and sliding down chutes for what seemed like hours, Jennifer finally moved to the finish and won the game. Bob's win total: surprisingly, still Zero! (after playing Chutes and Ladders for longer than we expected, however, we were all happy just to see someone win.)
We got out our spy glasses, dectective notebooks, and our very suspicious attitudes as we set out to find Mr. Boddy's killer in Clue Master Detective. This spin on the classic: Clue, offers basic rules similarities and familiar rooms, weapons, and suspects. Ultimately, there's more of everything, including the use of a pair of dice to make movement from room to room quicker. A nice little addition are spy glasses scattered throughout the common area to allow a player who touches that square to peak at a random card from another player's hand. Ultimately the player with the best notes, a little craftiness, and just a bit of luck can make an accusation of who took out Mr. Boddy, in which location, and with what weapon to solve the case and win the game. Our session had a nice mix of luck, good sleuthing, some missteps, and some great craftiness by each of the players to keep everyone guessing. Jennifer ultimately put together all the Clues to solve the case and grab another weekend win. Bob's win total: Shockingly, still zero. O_o
Let's party: Cranium style! Here's a game made popular around the same time that Starbucks was going global and completing their takeover of every city block in America. In fact the two made a bit of a team for awhile as Cranium products found themselves prominently displayed on Starbucks' shelves. Cleverly combining creativity and logic into a single game, Cranium became a popular way to encourage groups to gather and laugh at one another. It had been a while since any of us had played this one. So we had to refresh on the meaning of symbols and the fine points of the rules. We played as couples again. This time, Jennifer's and my roaring start never really made much noise. We missed our first attempt to answer the card's question and were forced to head down the "slow" track. Bob and Heather decided to make up for their rather nonexistent play during Catch Phrase. Not only did they get on the fast track, but they often rolled from purple, allowing them to jump to the next brain. Just as we thought we were starting to catch up, they would zoom on. In the end either their ability to work together, a bit of luck, the calories now in Bob, or a combination of the three were just too much. Bob and Heather took a well deserved victory. Bob's win total: now one. Mission: somewhat less successful. (We are not surprised).
A theme got underway as we unpacked a spin-off of the last game, Cranium Hoopla. Here was an opportunity for everyone to get a win as Hoopla is played by the group against the clock. Faced with fifteen minutes, twelve cards, and the pressure that Bob had to hurry off to a hockey game, we got going. We started off well with each player able to get the team to guess a couple cards using one of four methods: alliteration, scribbling out a quick sketch, miming, or utilizing our understanding of what we learned in kindergarten regarding what is bigger and smaller than the item on our card. Unfortunately some of us were less prepared for the game style or the pressure and kept adding cards to the game. In the end, the buzzer sounded and we still had cards left. So instead of having winners, this game found a bunch of losers. Well, Bob's win total still remained one.
How about some more Cranium? This time in the form of a cute little card game called Cranium Zigity. As with all Cranium games, it offers multiple ways to play -- in this case the goal is to be the first person to rid themselves of their hand of cards. It was looking like an even race. Players used cards to add to other players' hands and each person had managed to whittle their numbers down. I was down to 1 card when I was offered a set I could not play and had to add some cards to my hand. In the end, the leading gamer was able to pull off another for his count. Bob's win total, now up to two. Mission becoming less and less successful. But what could we expect.
Now on to one of our favorite games. Dominion has a nice game play for strategy and luck along with a relatively short time requirement. The game is not named for dominance, as I first suspected when it was first introduced to our group. Rather, the idea is to grow a one's dominion or region of land. The game does have a downside. Many times, players find that the best strategy is to minimize action cards and simply fill their hands with cards representing purchasing power in the form of silver and gold. This time we had an interesting mix of action cards, and we all chose a different mix to gather our land. In the end, the run on mid sized land and two of the more favored action cards lead to such a quick game that Jennifer's strategy of buying land every chance she got paid off as she became the biggest land baron and won the game. Bob's win total: unchanged.
For our next game, we pulled out Dutch Blitz. This is a Skipbo style game that has everyone playing at the same time to cause a great deal of stress and twitchy muscles as everyone struggles to get their cards on the right piles before someone else takes their spot. After a test run to get those less experienced up to speed (ish), we jumped in. Heather and I made a valiant effort to keep up, and each of us won even won a segment. Bob employed some quick moves and even a little stacking to push Jennifer. In the end, no one could match Jennifer's quick mind or reflexes. Bob's win total: Really, no change?! Wow.
Now for the final game: The Big. Which is otherwise known as, El Grande. Ah, this is an old favorite of mine that was almost ruined for me by our drive to employ as many expansions as possible at once (some of which were not meant to be played together). That was a long time ago, and we have since seen the error of our ways. This was the unadulterated original (the expansions all stayed in the box). This is the one that got away. As we played the last round, it was clear that one player was going to take it away easily. I don't even remember all the details, but I do remember that I had a plan to play a specific sequence of cards, and got upstaged by the big man himself. Also, we all foolishly attempted to take the same region by placing all our caballeros that were hiding in el castillo into the same region. In effect, changing very little. So, Senor Bob was able to control that last round and win El Grande. Bob's win total: now Three.
It was a valiant effort, and the mission was somewhat successful. Bob ended with three wins. That's still more than either Heather or I gained. As it turns out, we have good weekends and bad weekends. After a weekend with zero wins, Jennifer claimed the most wins for this weekend with 5 of 10 total (and that includes the game that everyone lost, so really she grabbed 5 of 9 total wins). Great job, Honey! As for Heather and I, well, we're still hoping our weekends come along. With Jennifer's help, I came away with two wins and Heather added one with Bob's assist.
In the end, we're all still Chasing Bob.
Written by Greg Wendt
The mission: win as many offerings as possible while limiting, or better yet eliminating, Bob's wins. Jennifer, Heather, and I (Greg) accepted the challenge and threw ourselves at it with all the courage we could muster -- worrying all the while about Bob's gaming prowess. We each succeeded in varying degrees, but collectively could not keep Bob from adding a few wins during this whopping TEN-GAME WEEKEND. Right on to round one.
Here's a trick: withhold calories from Bob. This seemed to work very well with our first game as we decided to get to it before eating our yummy African sweet potato and bean stew for supper -- made by none other than our personal chef Heather. The game was Catch Phrase. This electronic game offers 10,000 different words and phrases grouped into categories. We split into two teams of two with the couples pairing up. Our goal was to get our life partners to guess the word or phrase on the game screen and pass the electronic game unit on to the other team before the timer ran out. When the timer ran out, the team not holding the game was awarded 1 point. Conveniently, the game device seemed to run out of time consistently just as Bob was getting a turn, "Buzzzt" (poor partner Heather). The game would have ended without the Thaynes being awarded a single point if I hadn't accidentally used part of a phrase in an attempt to get Jennifer to guess it. Final score: Seven to One -- Wendts. Bob's win total: Zero!
Now it gets serious. After some calories we stepped up to Caylus -- one of Bob's own games. We had a tough time learning this game the first time. We were in Mexico, and I remember a gaming session in an airport. Fun times.
NEWS FLASH -- While writing this post, an announcement is being made. Bob was awarded the prestigious "Microbadge Design Award" on Board Game Geek. There is much cheering and many congratulations for Bob's rare achievement as I pause from my writing. For more details, see Microbadge Design Award.
Back to the present and the challenge at hand. Caylus is a medieval French themed game that poses each player as a master builder attempting to earn prestige by building parts of the castle, town, and resource acquisition locales. We play this game with a fairly traditional pattern. Heather starts the game with commanding lead. Somewhere along the way the rest of us start to catch up. The last time we played, there was no catching her. Somehow this time was different. Jennifer, Bob and I made a mad push at the end of the game and made this a raucous French battle. As usual, Heather got out to a good lead utilizing a strategy of only working on the castle. Bob and Jennifer looked like they were fighting for second most of the game. Eventually, Bob and Jennifer overtook Heather. The picture to the left was taken while I was trying to figure out how to become relevant. This is the last round. Note my black score piece on the bottom of the board is last while the green one is in first (that's my smart and very beautiful wife). It looked hopeless for me. Any of the other three looked well suited to win. It seems, however that I was able to sneak up on the whole group and surprise Jennifer who had made a final push by building a lot of the tower wall on the castle. Gold is always a difficult resource to acquire, both in real life and in Caylus. Somehow I was able to grab and then harness enough of this resource to construct the buildings necessary to become the most prestigious master builder and take a surprising "triumph." Bob's win total: still Zero!
 |
| This was a pose. I did this originally at the end of the game with a bit more surprised look. |
Time to relive our childhoods. For some of us it was the first real playing of Chutes and Ladders, but for Heather this was a reunion with a special link between her and her father. Each night, her patient and oh so loving father would consent to playing it with her. After this session, Heather gained an increased appreciation for her father's love and patience. As most undoubtedly recall, this is not a complex game, but it is full of opportunities to keep the game going on for longer than any of the GK Rhino's expected. We were playing a Dora the Explorer edition. Technically, this is Hayden's game, but it's on the list for love of a childhood memory. After moving along the path, climbing ladders, and sliding down chutes for what seemed like hours, Jennifer finally moved to the finish and won the game. Bob's win total: surprisingly, still Zero! (after playing Chutes and Ladders for longer than we expected, however, we were all happy just to see someone win.)We got out our spy glasses, dectective notebooks, and our very suspicious attitudes as we set out to find Mr. Boddy's killer in Clue Master Detective. This spin on the classic: Clue, offers basic rules similarities and familiar rooms, weapons, and suspects. Ultimately, there's more of everything, including the use of a pair of dice to make movement from room to room quicker. A nice little addition are spy glasses scattered throughout the common area to allow a player who touches that square to peak at a random card from another player's hand. Ultimately the player with the best notes, a little craftiness, and just a bit of luck can make an accusation of who took out Mr. Boddy, in which location, and with what weapon to solve the case and win the game. Our session had a nice mix of luck, good sleuthing, some missteps, and some great craftiness by each of the players to keep everyone guessing. Jennifer ultimately put together all the Clues to solve the case and grab another weekend win. Bob's win total: Shockingly, still zero. O_o
Let's party: Cranium style! Here's a game made popular around the same time that Starbucks was going global and completing their takeover of every city block in America. In fact the two made a bit of a team for awhile as Cranium products found themselves prominently displayed on Starbucks' shelves. Cleverly combining creativity and logic into a single game, Cranium became a popular way to encourage groups to gather and laugh at one another. It had been a while since any of us had played this one. So we had to refresh on the meaning of symbols and the fine points of the rules. We played as couples again. This time, Jennifer's and my roaring start never really made much noise. We missed our first attempt to answer the card's question and were forced to head down the "slow" track. Bob and Heather decided to make up for their rather nonexistent play during Catch Phrase. Not only did they get on the fast track, but they often rolled from purple, allowing them to jump to the next brain. Just as we thought we were starting to catch up, they would zoom on. In the end either their ability to work together, a bit of luck, the calories now in Bob, or a combination of the three were just too much. Bob and Heather took a well deserved victory. Bob's win total: now one. Mission: somewhat less successful. (We are not surprised).
A theme got underway as we unpacked a spin-off of the last game, Cranium Hoopla. Here was an opportunity for everyone to get a win as Hoopla is played by the group against the clock. Faced with fifteen minutes, twelve cards, and the pressure that Bob had to hurry off to a hockey game, we got going. We started off well with each player able to get the team to guess a couple cards using one of four methods: alliteration, scribbling out a quick sketch, miming, or utilizing our understanding of what we learned in kindergarten regarding what is bigger and smaller than the item on our card. Unfortunately some of us were less prepared for the game style or the pressure and kept adding cards to the game. In the end, the buzzer sounded and we still had cards left. So instead of having winners, this game found a bunch of losers. Well, Bob's win total still remained one.
How about some more Cranium? This time in the form of a cute little card game called Cranium Zigity. As with all Cranium games, it offers multiple ways to play -- in this case the goal is to be the first person to rid themselves of their hand of cards. It was looking like an even race. Players used cards to add to other players' hands and each person had managed to whittle their numbers down. I was down to 1 card when I was offered a set I could not play and had to add some cards to my hand. In the end, the leading gamer was able to pull off another for his count. Bob's win total, now up to two. Mission becoming less and less successful. But what could we expect.
Now on to one of our favorite games. Dominion has a nice game play for strategy and luck along with a relatively short time requirement. The game is not named for dominance, as I first suspected when it was first introduced to our group. Rather, the idea is to grow a one's dominion or region of land. The game does have a downside. Many times, players find that the best strategy is to minimize action cards and simply fill their hands with cards representing purchasing power in the form of silver and gold. This time we had an interesting mix of action cards, and we all chose a different mix to gather our land. In the end, the run on mid sized land and two of the more favored action cards lead to such a quick game that Jennifer's strategy of buying land every chance she got paid off as she became the biggest land baron and won the game. Bob's win total: unchanged.
For our next game, we pulled out Dutch Blitz. This is a Skipbo style game that has everyone playing at the same time to cause a great deal of stress and twitchy muscles as everyone struggles to get their cards on the right piles before someone else takes their spot. After a test run to get those less experienced up to speed (ish), we jumped in. Heather and I made a valiant effort to keep up, and each of us won even won a segment. Bob employed some quick moves and even a little stacking to push Jennifer. In the end, no one could match Jennifer's quick mind or reflexes. Bob's win total: Really, no change?! Wow.
Now for the final game: The Big. Which is otherwise known as, El Grande. Ah, this is an old favorite of mine that was almost ruined for me by our drive to employ as many expansions as possible at once (some of which were not meant to be played together). That was a long time ago, and we have since seen the error of our ways. This was the unadulterated original (the expansions all stayed in the box). This is the one that got away. As we played the last round, it was clear that one player was going to take it away easily. I don't even remember all the details, but I do remember that I had a plan to play a specific sequence of cards, and got upstaged by the big man himself. Also, we all foolishly attempted to take the same region by placing all our caballeros that were hiding in el castillo into the same region. In effect, changing very little. So, Senor Bob was able to control that last round and win El Grande. Bob's win total: now Three.
It was a valiant effort, and the mission was somewhat successful. Bob ended with three wins. That's still more than either Heather or I gained. As it turns out, we have good weekends and bad weekends. After a weekend with zero wins, Jennifer claimed the most wins for this weekend with 5 of 10 total (and that includes the game that everyone lost, so really she grabbed 5 of 9 total wins). Great job, Honey! As for Heather and I, well, we're still hoping our weekends come along. With Jennifer's help, I came away with two wins and Heather added one with Bob's assist.
In the end, we're all still Chasing Bob.
Written by Greg Wendt
Monday, February 20, 2012
Career Choices (The First Weekend of February)
Our first game of the weekend was an old-fashioned board game: Careers. (Although we played a relatively new printing, Heather and Bob learned to play this game from an older South African printing that has instructions written in both English and Afrikaans and uses rand for money instead of dollars.) Players roll dice and move their markers around the perimeter of the board in an effort to fulfill their own personalized success formulas (by accumulating combinations of money, happiness, and fame). There are different career paths that can be chosen by entering internal tracks on the board, all of which have their own mix of fun and suspense. During this playing, Heather went to university to become a doctor and charged us large hospital bills; Greg became that rare breed of farmer who specializes in missions to the moon; Bob became famous in the arts but struggled with taxes, unemployment, and mood swings; and Jennifer dabbled in politics and exploration before topping off her happiness in the simple realm of farming for the win.
Our next game had some career options of a sort as well as we homesteaded, built, banked, mined, and fought in and around the town of Carson City. The initial board setup started with a huge clump of mountains in the middle; there barely seemed like enough room to grow the city on the side and mining was an obvious initial focus of the game. Bob started with the best mining plot, Greg became a leader in real estate around town, and Jennifer and Heather took turns banking for points early in the game. From there Jennifer, Heather, and Bob went into arms escalation and were using every trick they could think of to bring more guns and fighters to bear on a comic yet desperate series of skirmishes and squabbles across the county. When the dust cleared, Heather stood victorious as the most rootin' tootin' gunslinger in the West!
Cartagena is a fun, quick game in which the players' career choice has already been made: the players control convicted pirates racing down a secret tunnel to escape their island prison. The only angst is in hoping to have the right cards to play at the right time. Players took turns moving and skipping their escaping pirate prisoners down the tunnel toward the rendezvous sloop. Bob kept his pirates huddled just inside the entrance of the tunnel as long as he could, then played a game of long-distance leap frog to advance to victory.
The takeaway for the weekend? One should have fun no matter what career choice is made!
Written by Bob
Our next game had some career options of a sort as well as we homesteaded, built, banked, mined, and fought in and around the town of Carson City. The initial board setup started with a huge clump of mountains in the middle; there barely seemed like enough room to grow the city on the side and mining was an obvious initial focus of the game. Bob started with the best mining plot, Greg became a leader in real estate around town, and Jennifer and Heather took turns banking for points early in the game. From there Jennifer, Heather, and Bob went into arms escalation and were using every trick they could think of to bring more guns and fighters to bear on a comic yet desperate series of skirmishes and squabbles across the county. When the dust cleared, Heather stood victorious as the most rootin' tootin' gunslinger in the West!
Cartagena is a fun, quick game in which the players' career choice has already been made: the players control convicted pirates racing down a secret tunnel to escape their island prison. The only angst is in hoping to have the right cards to play at the right time. Players took turns moving and skipping their escaping pirate prisoners down the tunnel toward the rendezvous sloop. Bob kept his pirates huddled just inside the entrance of the tunnel as long as he could, then played a game of long-distance leap frog to advance to victory.
The takeaway for the weekend? One should have fun no matter what career choice is made!
Written by Bob
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Wishing for ABL!
With about one month done in our quest to finish 100 games in 366 days, we are cruising right along! We've already finished all the A games and almost all the B games. That's 15 games in 27 days. At this rate, we'll be done before half the year is over. Fantastic! There's hope for me to play one of my favorites, "What Were You Thinking", before my birthday. From the title, it could be surmised that it was not a big scoring weekend for me. We started out believing it would be Heather's weekend for the following reasons: Greg was super sick (running a fever and started on antibiotics on Sunday), Bob was nursing several hockey injuries, and I was exhausted from a week of late nights and caring for Hayden extra during Greg's illness. It seemed more than logical that this was Heather's weekend to score big points!
Okay, let's get to the games. We started out with Bohnanza, or the Bean Game as we fondly call it. I love this game, and figured I could pull off a large number of coins with my plan to rule the crops with soy beans, black-eyed beans, and several large batches of stink beans! Unfortunately for me, Bob, Heather, and Greg all got more coins than I did by planting lots of the ordinary beans. Bob did very well with wax, chili, and the very elite cocoa beans and won the game with 25 coins!
We then spent more than a few minutes learning a new game, Canasta Caliente. This was a brand new game for Greg and I, but only a little different for Bob and Heather. Because of this, a boys versus girls team plan seemed fair. Although I enjoyed the game a lot, Heather and I could not seem to add up many points with any of our cards. Getting a canasta was very difficult for us! We did have one round that helped Heather and I believe there was a shadow of a chance for us. The next round the boys finished us off... beating us by over 1,000 points! Ugh. Loss number 2 for the girls.
Alright! On to Carcassonne. Surely I can win one of those games, right? I'll just work on a big farm, get myself in lots of cities, and bing, bang, boom, I get a big W by my name. If only it was that easy...
[Until Jennifer has a chance to finish writing this post, we'll just say that the only W's that Jennifer managed to get in Carcassonne, Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, and Carcassonne: The Castle were wishing, wondering, and weeping.]
Written by Jennifer
Okay, let's get to the games. We started out with Bohnanza, or the Bean Game as we fondly call it. I love this game, and figured I could pull off a large number of coins with my plan to rule the crops with soy beans, black-eyed beans, and several large batches of stink beans! Unfortunately for me, Bob, Heather, and Greg all got more coins than I did by planting lots of the ordinary beans. Bob did very well with wax, chili, and the very elite cocoa beans and won the game with 25 coins!
We then spent more than a few minutes learning a new game, Canasta Caliente. This was a brand new game for Greg and I, but only a little different for Bob and Heather. Because of this, a boys versus girls team plan seemed fair. Although I enjoyed the game a lot, Heather and I could not seem to add up many points with any of our cards. Getting a canasta was very difficult for us! We did have one round that helped Heather and I believe there was a shadow of a chance for us. The next round the boys finished us off... beating us by over 1,000 points! Ugh. Loss number 2 for the girls.
Alright! On to Carcassonne. Surely I can win one of those games, right? I'll just work on a big farm, get myself in lots of cities, and bing, bang, boom, I get a big W by my name. If only it was that easy...
[Until Jennifer has a chance to finish writing this post, we'll just say that the only W's that Jennifer managed to get in Carcassonne, Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, and Carcassonne: The Castle were wishing, wondering, and weeping.]
Written by Jennifer
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Games & Gastronamy
Welcome to the first installment in a series of my posts called, “Games & Gastronomy”!
As a self-prescribed foodie, I am always as interested in the food accompanying our game nights as much as the games themselves! Jennifer and I usually pair up to provide delicious delicacies, Greg keeps our mugs and glasses full of comforting liquids, Bob eats whatever is put in front of him to avoid low blood sugar, and Kia roves the floor looking for tidbits that may have dropped for her snacking pleasure.
Since food is such an important part of our gatherings and since this was my weekend to blog the festivities, I thought it only appropriate that I seek to provide complimentary pairings between our games and gastronomy.
Boggle/Alphabet Soup
The only appropriate pairing that I found for a game of mixed letters was, of course, homemade Alphabet Soup. Most of us had only had the Campbell’s Soup variety but this version was significantly healthier and do to my heavy hand, it had a generous dose of pasta letters as well. While slurping various phrases, we assessed the Boggle competition ahead of us. Knowing that Bob is the “master of words”, each person dug deep hoping to find an expert linguist within them. The battle started out rather even but as each round continued, Greg and I found ourselves fighting for ABL (Anything But Last). The competition was close but Bob eventually prevailed with the top score.
Birds and Animals/Tofurkey & Stripple Paninis
Attempting to find a food pairing with a game named “Birds” and “Animals” automatically leads one down a carnivorous path. So, to honor our highly developed vegetarian stomachs, I had to be a bit creative. Thankfully, the fake meat industry is alive and well and I was able to make a yummy grilled sandwich of tofurkey, stripples, smoked gouda, and cherry preserves to accompany our Adventist version of “Go Fish”. After reminiscing about the many Sabbath afternoons we spent playing this game with our siblings (while our moms and dads participated in “lay activities”), the fishing began in earnest. An early favorite in the bird game, the Common Merganser, was coveted by all but Jennifer came through with the win. Later, while we were complaining that the animal pictures on the cards were not as we remembered as kids, Bob snagged the Musk Ox and took the last win of the fishing series.
Bible Brainstorm/Manna
For our last Bible game in the “B” section, I decided that we HAD to have Manna. Unfortunately that decision made it clear to everyone (including me) that Heather should only cook……and NOT bake. Let’s just say that the anemic, flattened chunks of dough that resulted from my baking attempt were not even close in resembling that "fine, flaked-like thing" found in Exodus. We did managed to consume all the chunks, however, in an attempt to fuel the synapses between our brains and mouths. Bible Brainstorm was a Cranium-type game that combined charades, pictionary, trivia, and a word scramble. The Thaynes prevailed over the Wendts due to their difficulties encountered in the drawing department. How does one draw "The Glory of God" anyway??!!
Blink
I did not plan on us getting through so many games this evening so I didn't prepare a pairing for Blink. In fact, I don't even remember playing the game. I must have blinked and missed it. Sorry.
Written by Heather
Blink
I did not plan on us getting through so many games this evening so I didn't prepare a pairing for Blink. In fact, I don't even remember playing the game. I must have blinked and missed it. Sorry.
Written by Heather
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Eight Percent
Several games went back in the closet tonight. As I (Greg) slid the boxes to the back of a shelf, I felt a small sense of loss knowing that it would be a long time until we would get to see those games again. Then again, I thought, we put down another eight percent of our 100 games in just one weekend! At this pace, maybe we will see those games again this year.
Our weekend started with some farming smack talk and four very determined gamers as we rolled out one of our favorite and more challenging platforms for competition, Agricola. We paired this game with one of it's well designed expansions, Farmers of the Moor. Utilizing a combination of the "Komplex" deck and the "Advanced" deck, we set out to play. About fifteen minutes of card reading later, and after a quick reminder of the details of the rules, we began spreading out on our acreage. Based on our game play, we can conclude that many hands make light work. Another way to put it is, "have lots of babies, 'cause they make cheap labor." (I think the game's theme predates laws against that.) You still have to feed them and make sure they have a warm bedroom to sleep in, but it's still good to have the workers. It is one of the closer games we've played in a while. When all the points were tallied up, we found that there were only two points separating the winner from the two who tied for "number 1 loser." Somehow, I managed my farm and family the best and edged out a close one for the coveted win. Bob came in a close one point behind. The girls, with all their horses and other pastured critters, were close enough that one or two changes in any turn and the game would certainly have declared a different master farmer.
We exchanged our overalls and pitchforks for togas in the Roman forum as our list dictated Alea Iacta Est was our next challenge (see picture above). We rolled our dice and moved our... well... dice. Nothing more fancy, but when one starts with eight of them in hand, there is a rich feeling to the options available. This was the girls' game. They worked their patricians and provinces into a perfect support system and left the boys in the Latrina pondering where we went wrong. Heather ultimately gained the most popularity in Rome to solidify her victory. Jennifer gave her a run for her money, losing by just one point.
Trading our equipment and clothing once again, we became city planners in Alhambra. While I'm not sure what kind of clothing the architects of these town squares would have worn, I'm sure it wasn't the garb of farmers or Romans. The game got off to a roaring start, or rather, everyone just got greedy, grabbing for money on their turns. Of course, that doesn't last long as eventually pockets get very warm with a pile of money burning a whole in them. Thus the purchase of buildings and arranging them around the fountain got underway as well. Surprisingly, Jennifer found a way to come up just one point short, again. She was getting a little worried about this plan to play through 100 games if she was going to continue to be a point or two away from winning every game. I was awarded the win here, too. Not a bad weekend already. Having a fast start and a nice long city wall made the difference.
And now, for something completely different, we played Apples to Apples. Bob and Heather smoked us. Those lucky card players seemed to have a great card for every turn. In the end, Bob collected the most green cards and just edged Heather for the win. Yet another game having a difference of just one point between the winner and second place.
It had already been a great weekend of friends, food, and fun playing games. The fact that we got into the B's on our list just took it to another level. Good old Backgammon was next and we all had to brush up a bit on the rules. Jennifer had never played before, but picked up the game and some basic strategy quickly. After some practice, we played as couples. We (Jennifer and Greg) were able to make a good enough run to win.
We had to take a break at this point. No more games until morning. So we went our separate ways to rest and prepare ourselves for another day of battle.
"A ha, HA, ha, ha, ha, ha, HA." This is an attempt to quote Heather, who used the nearly canned sounding chortles in an attempt to avoid real laughter while reading the definitions offered her in Balderdash. Here is a little of what she was up against:
-- Wheeple: A poor attempt to whistle loudly. (the correct answer for a particular round)
-- Bayocks: The back section of a rhinoceros, near the tail. (Not the correct answer, but laugh inducing)
-- Tankle: The retirement party for a circus clown. (Also not the correct answer, but good for a few guffaws)
...And on they went. Somehow Bob pulled out a victory from third place to the finish-line. It was a masterful takeover. I had been in first for much of the game, with Jennifer right on my tail. But Bob would not be denied.
Bananas! Jennifer and I had never played Bananagrams before. After whetting our appetite with Bob and Heather, we just had to have our own game. So we are now the proud owners of a copy ourselves. Which reminds me, we need to return their copy as we needed to play some more after the party disbanded for the weekend. It's a thoroughly stress-filled joy ride. We played this one tournament style. After one practice round we set out on our race. The first game was over quickly with Bob handily beating all of us. This did, however, eliminate Heather (as she had the most tiles left). I was out next. Then came the final round. It was Jennifer versus Bob in a winner take all, no holds-barred, mano a mano, knock-down drag-out, word to the end game. Bob seemed to be leading for much of the game, but now Jennifer was coming on. The game was long and grueling. Each player had too many of the letters they didn't need and not enough of those important ones. Somehow, in the end, Jennifer placed her last two tiles and declared an end to the game. We had our banana champion.
For our final romp through our game weekend, we learned and played Bible Blurt! We weren't sure what to expect here as none of us had played Blurt! (at least to my knowledge). The game plays basically the way you might expect. You literally blurt out answers until someone manages to get it right. Each of us took our turn being the reader of questions for the other three to blurt out possible answers to. After quite a few funny bouts of probable and sometimes improbable blurts, Heather found herself in a challenge position with Bob to trade places on the board. She won the challenge and it was smooth sailing to victory after that.
Wow, what a run of games. Eight percent of our collection gone, just like that. We decided we needed a little break from gaming, so we took an opportunity to watch one of Greg's favorite movies: How to Train Your Dragon. Fun accents, different story concept, few inconsistencies, and an ability to stay true to the theme while not being too serious all make this an easy watch. It was a nice way finish our weekend.
-Greg
Our weekend started with some farming smack talk and four very determined gamers as we rolled out one of our favorite and more challenging platforms for competition, Agricola. We paired this game with one of it's well designed expansions, Farmers of the Moor. Utilizing a combination of the "Komplex" deck and the "Advanced" deck, we set out to play. About fifteen minutes of card reading later, and after a quick reminder of the details of the rules, we began spreading out on our acreage. Based on our game play, we can conclude that many hands make light work. Another way to put it is, "have lots of babies, 'cause they make cheap labor." (I think the game's theme predates laws against that.) You still have to feed them and make sure they have a warm bedroom to sleep in, but it's still good to have the workers. It is one of the closer games we've played in a while. When all the points were tallied up, we found that there were only two points separating the winner from the two who tied for "number 1 loser." Somehow, I managed my farm and family the best and edged out a close one for the coveted win. Bob came in a close one point behind. The girls, with all their horses and other pastured critters, were close enough that one or two changes in any turn and the game would certainly have declared a different master farmer.
 |
| Three happy gamers |
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| Kia is less interested in the game and more interested in the snuggle |
 |
| Apples to Apples (or Pineapple to Orange?) |
It had already been a great weekend of friends, food, and fun playing games. The fact that we got into the B's on our list just took it to another level. Good old Backgammon was next and we all had to brush up a bit on the rules. Jennifer had never played before, but picked up the game and some basic strategy quickly. After some practice, we played as couples. We (Jennifer and Greg) were able to make a good enough run to win.
We had to take a break at this point. No more games until morning. So we went our separate ways to rest and prepare ourselves for another day of battle.
"A ha, HA, ha, ha, ha, ha, HA." This is an attempt to quote Heather, who used the nearly canned sounding chortles in an attempt to avoid real laughter while reading the definitions offered her in Balderdash. Here is a little of what she was up against:
-- Wheeple: A poor attempt to whistle loudly. (the correct answer for a particular round)
-- Bayocks: The back section of a rhinoceros, near the tail. (Not the correct answer, but laugh inducing)
-- Tankle: The retirement party for a circus clown. (Also not the correct answer, but good for a few guffaws)
...And on they went. Somehow Bob pulled out a victory from third place to the finish-line. It was a masterful takeover. I had been in first for much of the game, with Jennifer right on my tail. But Bob would not be denied.
 |
| Hayden attempts to provide a little distraction for the battling players. |
For our final romp through our game weekend, we learned and played Bible Blurt! We weren't sure what to expect here as none of us had played Blurt! (at least to my knowledge). The game plays basically the way you might expect. You literally blurt out answers until someone manages to get it right. Each of us took our turn being the reader of questions for the other three to blurt out possible answers to. After quite a few funny bouts of probable and sometimes improbable blurts, Heather found herself in a challenge position with Bob to trade places on the board. She won the challenge and it was smooth sailing to victory after that.
Wow, what a run of games. Eight percent of our collection gone, just like that. We decided we needed a little break from gaming, so we took an opportunity to watch one of Greg's favorite movies: How to Train Your Dragon. Fun accents, different story concept, few inconsistencies, and an ability to stay true to the theme while not being too serious all make this an easy watch. It was a nice way finish our weekend.
-Greg
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Opening Day (Travel and Money)
Our year of gaming commenced on January 2 after Heather and Bob returned from New Years weekend frivolities out of town.
At the top of the list, Games 1 and 2 were a newly received gift and a related predecessor, those being 10 Days in Europe and 10 Days in the USA, respectively. We dove in with our planes, ships, and automobiles while touching up on our geography of eastern Europe. We have not had any refresher courses in geography since grade school, so the first benefit of gaming that we discovered this year is improved geographic knowledge.
Jennifer was the best student in the class as she scooted around Europe and became the first game winner of the year. I (Bob) enjoyed the game play element of having different ships designed for different bodies of water (the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic); however, such enjoyment did not bring me any closer to winning.
Back in the USA, the land where everyone owns a car, or four, Heather deftly won by sightseeing around the Northwestern states, with the rest of the Rhinos nearly completing their trips as well. The second benefit of gaming we discovered this year is knowing one's whereabouts.
Game 3, Acquire, an oldie and goodie, was a definite switch in style with money and stocks. The Rhinos got off to a good start with seven small corporations on the board. In general, ownership of corporations throughout the game was contested by two individuals at a time, so that any given corporation rarely had three stockholders. Bob managed to position himself so that he was involved in the most mergers, often as the majority stockholder. Heather masterfully dominated the largest corporation on the board, and although she was not involved in many mergers and was often strapped for cash, managed to land in the middle of the pack. Greg and Jennifer fought valiantly for corporate power and payoffs, yet the tiles they drew didn't always leave them with the options they wanted. The third benefit of gaming we discovered this year is location, location, location.
-Bob
At the top of the list, Games 1 and 2 were a newly received gift and a related predecessor, those being 10 Days in Europe and 10 Days in the USA, respectively. We dove in with our planes, ships, and automobiles while touching up on our geography of eastern Europe. We have not had any refresher courses in geography since grade school, so the first benefit of gaming that we discovered this year is improved geographic knowledge.
 |
| A memento from our travels |
Jennifer was the best student in the class as she scooted around Europe and became the first game winner of the year. I (Bob) enjoyed the game play element of having different ships designed for different bodies of water (the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic); however, such enjoyment did not bring me any closer to winning.
Back in the USA, the land where everyone owns a car, or four, Heather deftly won by sightseeing around the Northwestern states, with the rest of the Rhinos nearly completing their trips as well. The second benefit of gaming we discovered this year is knowing one's whereabouts.
Game 3, Acquire, an oldie and goodie, was a definite switch in style with money and stocks. The Rhinos got off to a good start with seven small corporations on the board. In general, ownership of corporations throughout the game was contested by two individuals at a time, so that any given corporation rarely had three stockholders. Bob managed to position himself so that he was involved in the most mergers, often as the majority stockholder. Heather masterfully dominated the largest corporation on the board, and although she was not involved in many mergers and was often strapped for cash, managed to land in the middle of the pack. Greg and Jennifer fought valiantly for corporate power and payoffs, yet the tiles they drew didn't always leave them with the options they wanted. The third benefit of gaming we discovered this year is location, location, location.
-Bob
Introduction of an Idea
To say that the Wendts and Thaynes love board games......is a gross understatement! To say that we love to play board games together......goes completely without saying! Over the past 6 years we have logged hundreds of hours together playing various Euro games, strategy games, card games, and "frou frou" (party) games. Delicious food, ample drink, an adorable little boy, and two fluffy pets have always accompanied our happy times. As you can imagine, we have collected an abundance of game specimens over the years! It occurred to us in late 2011 that there were many great selections on each of our shelves that just never got played. Thus we decided that in 2012 we would play ALL the games that we owned. That turned out to be exactly 100 games and we agreed to play them in alphabetical order.
This blog is an account of our Year of 100 Games.
This blog is an account of our Year of 100 Games.
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