Once again, there was a strong showing (about 10?). All kinds of light games were played, but a good deeper one was played too. I played R-eco with Tommie, Denise, and Joseph who very surreptitiously stole Marty's spot. Great recycling-themed card game for 3-4 (5 is too many, too chaotic). While we were doing this, there were some card games being played at the "other table".
Then we moved on to the Biggie of the night: Power Grid. We played with 6 players, all of them either newbs or VERY rusty from lack of experience (like me). The game surprisingly only took us about 2hrs to play. For those who don't know, in this game you are trying to establish your little "energy empire": players represent energy companies that are competing to supply electricity to different cities accross Germany. It's not THAT old, but it's one of those TRUE gems in euro gaming that will be around forever.
So we were all pretty much hanging in there in the same peloton for most of the game, until the very last round where Denise, a Power Grid newb, purchased AND powered like 4 new cities in one go as she triggered the end game. Note to the others on the table: beware of the player who goes after all the windmills, saving lots of money that can be used to build houses, then goes on to buy a couple of highly efficient nuclear plants that will cover the player until the end game.... This strategy is just a ticking bomb because of all the money saved from not buying resources. We'll never let it happen again!!!!! Well-played. :)
I made 2 very obvious mistakes... not that they would have given me the victory, but would have saved me from being tied for last. We were going at a pretty good clip to try to finish before the coffee shop closed after all....( yeah yeah, excuses excuses....)
After the store closed, I felt bad that JD drove 1 hr to get to Coffee Culture only to play one game, so the gracious person that I am, I sacrificed myself by inviting him over to my place to play some MORE games. So we got home, and broke out his new copy of Cleopatra and the Society of Architects. I was able to convince my lovely wife (by bribing her with cooking dinner, being a good husband, bathing the dog, etc... the things we do for gaming) to join us in a 3 player game of this. Cool light-medium weight game, with cool theme and mechanics that go well with it. It's not a buy for me (mainly because I have TOO many games), but it's very fun. Players are essentially architects racing to build monuments for Cleopatra. They can "cheat" by using some "evil" powers, but this scores corruption points for the player... and if you have the most corruption markers at the end of the game, you lose (cough... like JD,.... cough). Interesting mechanic that works well in a short quick game like this. I would think it would be a terrible idea in a longer/deeper game. Then we (JD, and I) played a quick game of Knights, yet another dice game where you influence stuff that gives you stuff, to help you claim stuff. As a dice-lover, this game was 'ok'. I think I'll stick with Airships, To Court the King, etc, but I won't turn down a game either.
Next week you ask? I'll probably host on Tuesday. Stay tuned kids...
6 comments:
well at least I got into a game of R-Eco after you played. We actually played a 3-player game twice. Then we moved on to Ingenious at my table. I really like that game.
oh, and I forgot to say...I'm still astounded that y'all finished Power Grid so quickly. With 6 players, I would have expected that to go much longer.
I wish Mark would have some snacks or something available when we are gaming. I love the smoothies there, but I need something more than that. I do find it somewhat ironic that almost nobody seems to drink coffee at the coffee house.
Marty,
Well Denise, did shock us all ending the game a turn or two earlier than we expected by buying 3 or more cities on the last turn.
Its just a silly shopping game anyway. -just kidding
After 45 minutes to get through two turns and 1:15 left to finish the game, I declared that there was no way we would finish the game. Had Robert and I not been distracted by game maintenance and trying to rush to finish the game, we would have each bought another city possibly leaving the game a 5 way tie for 2nd place, or even changing the whole game end. woulda coulda shoulda...There's always next time.
You know, when I started this, the first genre that I had to develop a taste for were auction games. It wasn't until I played Ra that I really started to like the genre.
Power Grid was the same way for me.... economic games were an acquired taste. The game came out when I got into the hobby, so I was a newb back then, and didn't really enjoy them. After a couple games of it, and Acquire, and Indonesia, they started to grow on me.
I know the secret to the quick powergrid game... His name is Mike. You can either say he's good at keeping games on task or that he's pushy. He's a good guy, but I go with the latter description. I felt rushed the first time I played and learned Caylus with him. He's very excited to get to his next turn to complete his master strategy of victory. Anyway I appreciate that Mike has been teaching me so many games.
Well, for the sake of time, we had to rush things. The game will definitively go over 2 hrs with 6 players if all really work hard at optimizing their moves. The secret is to be planning ahead, and almost be ready when your turn comes up.
I'd rather finish the game rushed (and with a few mistakes because of that), than not finish it though.
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