Session Report for Saturday, 09/16/2006

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11 Gamers, 8 Games

KevinLi -

There was a good turnout on this day. Karen and I showed up a little bit late, and by that time El Grande and Ra were already underway. When Ra was over, we joined a couple of players from that game and started Ticket to Ride, while Drew led the remaining players in playing Prince of Florence. Prairie Dog cleared off some extra table space for us, and we had three different boardgames going at the same time! By the time we finished the last game, it was about 6:30 or so. Apparently, PDC has extended their Saturday hours to 7pm. I think they used to close at 6.

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El Grande

(John, Steve, Chad, Scott)

KevinLi -

I haven't played this game yet, and I know almost nothing about it, but I just wanted to say that the Castillo thing looks pretty cool.

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Ra

(Drew, Chris, Robert, August)

We wanted something quick, but most of the really quick games don't appeal to me that much, so we figured we would go for Ra. It was Robert's first game of Ra, so it required a quick rules explanation. I believe Chris beat me by a couple of points to secure the win. -Drew-

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Ticket To Ride

(Chris, Robert, Karen, Kevin L.)

KevinLi -

At first, we were going to play Mississippi Queen, but it turned out that I had accidentally left the instructions at home. We ended up playing TTR instead. Robert had never played this before, and he seemed to enjoy it. With four of us, there wasn't much competition for routes. I ended up winning the game by completing seven tickets, including Chicago-LA and NY-LA. Chris and Karen completed about 4 each, and Robert completed six himself, although they were mostly east coast tickets. At the end of the game, there weren't many cards left in the ticket draw deck.

I'm interested in seeing the Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 expansion that is coming out soon. Larger train cards, a new bonus for completing the most tickets, and 35 new destination tickets.

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Princes of Florence

(Drew, August, Phillip)

August and Phillip had never played Princes, and I hadn't played for quite awhile. So, rather than give them a real detailed rules explanation (which I probably couldn't have anyway). I just gave them a basic idea of their goal and what they were trying to do and threw us in. I'm not sure August really cared for that decision, though. Sorry, August. However, I lost horribly and Philip ended up winning with August not far behind. I had never played Princes of Florence with only three people and its probably a good way to learn, but doesn't really lend itself to the full flavor of the game. -Drew-

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O Zoo Le Mio

(Drew, August, Phillip)

Once again, I had only played them game once, and I don't even own it (it was Kevin's copy). However, I believe the rules were pretty simple and I think everyone understood it right away. I believe I ended up squeaking a victory out, but it was a very tight game. -Drew-

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Ra

(John, Steve, Chad, Scott)

I really love this game, it seems so simple, yet there is so much to watch. This was the first game for Chad and John, I think. Steve played a great game and seemed to have the hot hand in drawing Ra tiles.

ScottK -

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Acquire

(Chris, Robert, Karen, Kevin L.)

KevinLi -

Robert brought Acquire, and we decided to play. Robert was the only one who had played before. This is an old but good investment game that uses a 10 x 12 grid to map out expanding hotel chains. As pieces are added to the board, hotel chains expand and can merge with one another. Players earn money by buying shares in hotel chains. As the chains grow in size, their shares increase in value. When hotel chains merge, the smaller chain's shares can be sold for cash or exchanged for shares in the larger firm. The biggest stockholders also receive a bonus payment, which is where a lot of the intrigue of this game comes in. You want to manipulate mergers so that you can grab the bonus whenever you can. At the end of the game, shares in the hotels are again cashed out and bonuses are awarded to the fat cats with the most shares in each company. Robert ended up winning this game, but Chris was not far behind. I enjoyed this game a lot and would definitely play this again.

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O Zoo Le Mio

(August, Scott, Steve)

This was the first time I played this. August did a good job of giving a brief description of the rules and we dug right in. The rules seem to be fairly simple and I think it is a good introduction to the blind bidding technique that several other games use. The animals and zoo theme would definitely appeal to my kids.

ScottK -

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-- KevinLi - 17 Sep 2006
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