July 12

Gaming on Saturday was a good time as always. Somewhat to my surprise, what I thought would be a small group of 4-5 players turned into seven players when Jason and Alex Ruvinsky and their short-term Spanish exchange student, Rodrigo, called to say they were coming by! Rodrigo turned out to be a very sharp guy and picked up on the games very well.

Unfortunately, Jason had to leave early but the rest of us continued with our first playing of Age of Steam. This is a deep and somewhat complex game and it took us a long time to finish. It wasn’t until the very end that we really figured it out. As you can see, the game was not very high scoring and two players actually ended up with negative scores! Despite the frustrating experience, it is definitely a game we should try again.

Here’s the tote. Eric’s notes follow.

Tote Board

• Coloretto Bob 32, Eric 30, Carol 20, Dan 23
• Wyatt Earp Bob 35, Eric 34, Carol 27, Dan 27
• Aladdin’s Dragons Rodrigo 7 (& 2 scrolls), Alex 7 (& no scrolls), Bob 6, Jason 4
• Titan: the Arena Bob 13, Alex 11, Eric 9, Rodrigo 3, Jason 0
• Age of Steam Dan 22, Bob 6, Rodrigo 3, Eric 1, Alex -1, Carol -6
• TransAmerica Eric 13, Dan 7, Bob 3, Carol 2
• Too Many Cooks Carol 20, Bob 15, Dan 15, Eric 2

Eric’s Notes

• 2:26 pm: Eric arrived at the Jones’ house around 1:30; Dan was already there. We played Coloretto. Bob won with 32, Eric had 30, Carol had 29 and, Dan had 23.
• 2:32 pm: Next game up was Wyatt Earp.
• 4:45 pm: Alex and Jason Ruvinsky and the Ruvinsky’s exchange student, Rodrigo, arrived during the game of Wyatt Earp. They started a game of Aladdin’s Dragons with Bob. (Yes, Bob was playing two games at once!)
• 5:33 pm: Bob won Wyatt Earp with 35, Eric had 34, Carol and Dan each had 27.
• 6:28 pm: We ordered dinner from Old Shanghai. Rodrigo won Aladdin’s Dragons with 7 treasures and 2 scrolls, Alex had 7 treasures and no scrolls, Bob had 6 treasures and, Jason had 4 treasures.
• 6:42 pm: Bob, Jason, Alex, Rodrigo and Eric started Titan: the Arena while Carol and Dan went to pick up dinner.
• 7:36 pm: Bob won with 13, Alex had 11, Eric had 9, Rodrigo had 3 and, Jason had 0.
• 8:06 pm: We took a break for dinner. Jason left.
• 12:54 am: We played Age of Steam. This was the first time playing this game for everyone except Eric. Dan won with 22, Bob had 6, Rodrigo had 3, Eric had 1, Alex had -1 and, Carol had -6.
• 1:45 am: Alex and Rodrigo left. We played Trans America. Eric won with 13, having finished first in all three rounds, Dan had 7, Bob had 3 and, Carol had 2.
• 1:48 am: Next came Too Many Cooks.
• 3:16 am: Carol won with 20, Bob and Dan both had 15, Eric had 2.

Babycon X

Babycon X was held over Memorial Day Weekend, May 23 to May 26, 2003, at the Jones house in Germantown, Maryland. We had a huge turnout, with 25 players and a host of children in attendance. Every year someone comes to Babycon for the first time and this year was no exception. John Weber, a coworker of mine and an active organizer in the Games Club of Maryland, came to play on Saturday and Sunday. John introduced our group to several new games, including Emerald and Traumfabrik. For that, we are very grateful.

Special thanks go out to Kimberly Stern and Royal and Stephanie White. They worked hard to produce Babycon X souvenirs, including t-shirts and scrapbooks filled with color photos of everyone who has attended Babycon, nicknames, quotes, favorite games, and a host of statistics from Babycons 1-9. Many people bought a t-shirt and each person attending was given a scrapbook.

We started early this year, at 1PM on Friday, to get in another five hours of gaming. On Friday evening, we dined at a local Mexican restaurant, Mi Rancho, and returned for a packed weekend of gaming.

Since this was the tenth Babycon, we had several special events to commemorate the occasion. The biggest event was a huge Epic Duels tournament with eight teams of three players each. We also ran full group games throughout the weekend. More on all of this later.

As usual, each person started out with 15 unique Babycon Bucks one of which was antied at the start of every game. At the end of the weekend, those with the most Bucks were Paul Czarnota and myself, Alex Ruvinsky and Steve Bramer. See the Master Tote Board for full results.

Some weeks ago, Joe Bloch set up a Babycon group at Yahoo! We sent out invitations to join but I’m not sure they all got through. The group is a place to share information and Babycon news. If you haven’t yet, check it out here. We’ve posted many Babycon X pictures there in their full glory.

My thanks to everyone who attended. After the huge preparations for Babycon X, we’re making Babycon 11 a much more low-key, informal affair. We hope everyone can make it.


The most successful event of the weekend was the Epic Duels Team Tournament. Eight teams of three players each fought it out over two days in a single elimination tournament. At the start of each match, the teams were randomally assigned either to dark or light side (of the Force, of course) and were given some time to pick their characters. Battle was then joined in a fight to the death! The prize? Bragging rights, plus a custom made Yoda Trophy for each member of the winning team.

Special thanks go to Brady Severns whose unique contributions made this event especially unusual and interesting. Brady enlarged the Epic Duels boards to accommodate the 3" Star Wars action figures. Using the huge boards with the large figures added a great deal to the game. Also thanks to Jeff Spencer for bringing many of his Star Wars figures to round out the character ranks.

One testament to the success of the tournament, after numerous games over many hours, several people continued to play Epic Duels. Many players playtested Brady’s custom-made decks and figures which included Star Wars characters not included in the official game!

Haggle was the big game for the weekend, starting on Friday night after dinner and running until Sunday at noon. In Haggle, each player started with 10 randomly distributed “treasures”, plastic pieces (pineapples, trees, shells, fish) and glass stones of various colors. At the end of the game, the treasures were valued following a set of 25 rules. In addition to the ten treasures, each player started out with two of the rules. The goal of the game is to trade rules and treasures, figuring out the value of each treasure, and turn in the set of treasures worth the highest value.

While not everyone participated, many players engaged in active trading of both rules and treasures. Jeff Spencer, Zoe Spencer, and Rachel Jones worked together to gather as many rules as they could. Dan Korn began spreading false rules around to throw other players off the track.

In the end, Royal White turned in the highest valued set for the win.

Haggle Scores:

* Royal White - 74
* Alex Ruvinsky - 64
* Jason Ruvinsky - 61
* Rachel Jones - 49
* Dan Korn - 42
* Jeff Spencer - 36
* Marvin Gersho - 36
* Ken Cline - 35
* Zoe Spencer - 34
* Karen Bloch - 33
* Stephanie Ruvinsky - 32
* Brady Severns - 30
* Eric Haas - 28
* Glenn Bramer - 27
* Carol Jones - 8
* Bill Ruvinsky - 4

The 25 Valuation Rules for Haggle

1. The Crystal Gem has the highest value and is twice the value of the Pink Gem.
2. The Pink Gem is worth 4 points which is also the value of the Pink Clamshell plus the Rose Shell.
3. The value of each Blue Sea treasure is one quarter the value of the Crystal Gem.
4. The value of the Blue Gem is twice the value of each Rose Sea treasure and one third the value of each Stone.
5. The value of each Stone is equal to the value of each Green Island treasure plus the value of each Pink Sea treasure.
6. The value of the Green Gem is half the value of each Crystal Island treasure.
7. The value of each Yellow Island treasure equals the value of the Blue Shell minus the value of the Blue Gem.
8. Each set of a Green Tree and a Green Pineapple will cost you six points.
9. Each set of all four color Gems is worth bonus points equal to the value of each Stone.
10. If all your Gems are one color, you receive a bonus worth the value of the Crystal Gem.
11. The pineapple with the red dot on the bottom is worth fifteen bonus points.
12. The value of the Blue Stone is six points, which is also the value of the Crystal Tree plus the value of the Pink Gem.
13. Each set of four of any one color Gem is worth seven bonus points.
14. The difference between the number of Fish and Starfish will cost you one point per piece.
15. Having no Gems or no Stones will cost you points equal to five times the value of each Green Island treasure.
16. Having the number of Fish equal to the value of the Blue Gem in each of the three Sea treasure colors is worth ten bonus points.
17. Having more than three Crystal Gems will cost you twenty-four points, which is also the value of the Pink Starfish multiplied by the value of the Crystal Gem.
18. Having at least one of each Sea treasure is worth a bonus of twenty points.
19. Each set of a Yellow Pineapple and a Yellow Tree is worth six points.
20. Having the most Pineapples (no ties) is worth the value of two Crystal Gems.
21. Each complete set of Pink Sea treasures will cost you four points.
22. Each complete set of Blue Sea treasures is worth three bonus points.
23. Each complete set of Rose Sea treasures is worth one bonus point.
24. You lose five points for each treasure you turn in beyond fifteen treasures.
25. The value of the Blue Stone is six points, which is also the value of the Crystal Tree plus the Pink Gem.

Tote Board
Acquire Steve, Joe, Glenn, Ken
Adel Verpflichtet Bob, Ken, Rachel J, Jason, John
Adel Verpflichtet Brady, Marvin, Bob, Jason, Zoe
Epic Duels Alex, Kimberly
Epic Duels Alex, Kimberly
Epic Duels Stephanie W, Brady
Epic Duels Stephanie W, Brady
Epic Duels Marvin, Ken
Epic Duels Marvin, Ken
Amun-Re Jeff, Glenn, Eric, Bob, Carol
Amun-Re Dan K, Eric, Bill, John
Babel Marvin, Royal
Battle Cry Brady, Glenn
Bohnanza Paul, Joe, Karen, Dan K, Brady, Rachel S, Kimberly
Carcassonne Paul, Brady, Zoe, Kimberly
Cartagena Paul, Rachel J, Brady, Rachel S, Zoe, Kimberly
Cartagena Alex, Rachel J, Dan K, Stephanie R
Cartagena Paul, Bill, Jason
Cartagena Paul, Bill
Cave Troll Carol, Jeff, Kimberly
Chess Paul, Bill
Citadels Dan K, Karen, Paul, Eric, Bill, John
Daytona 500 Glenn, Steve, Eric, Jason
Delta V Dan K, Ken
Delta V Dan K, Bob, Rachel S, Jeff
Dragon Delta Jeff, Joe, Rachel J, Zoe

March 29

Saturday’s gaming event went well. The Joneses had a great time and hope everyone else did as well. We welcomed Jason’s friend, Paul, to his first gaming event. Also attending were Dan K and Rachel S, Kimberly, and the Ruvinsky clan. We missed Eric for the first time in a long while.

Below are the results. When everyone had arrived, we played Epic Duels to teach the Ruvinsky’s the rules before Babycon. The dark side team was beset early on but nearly pulled off the win with a mid-game rally. Unfortunately, the light side’s tactics of constant retreat (followed by some healing) was too effective. Also, the fact that they had all Jedi may have helped.

The tally (winner is listed in bold):

• Zèrtz Stephanie, Alex
• Titan: the Arena Stephanie 11, Bob 11, Rachel Jones 5, Alex 2, Carol 2 Stephanie won by the tie-breaker rule.
• Epic Duels Rachel J (Obi Wan), Stephanie (Luke), Alex (Mace Windu), Kimberly (Yoda), Jason (Anakin) vs Carol (Darth Vader), Bob (Darth Maul), Bill (the Emperor), Paul (Count Dooku), Dan (Jango Fett)
• Settlers Rachel S 10, Bob 9, Dan 8, Jason 8, Paul 7
• Vino Carol 33, Kimberly 31, Alex 31
• Pizarro & Co. Bob 49, Dan 41, Kimberly 29, Alex 29, Carol 26
• Chinatown Bob 123, Dan 115, Kimberly 112, Alex 98, Carol 86
• Lost Cities Alex 151, Dan 126

February 22

• 2:27 pm: Eric arrived at the Jones’ house around 1:30. Bob, Carol, Rachel J and Eric started a game of Daytona 500. Some of the Ruvinskys arrived during the first round so, we called the game after one round. Eric had $560,000, Rachel J had $520,000, Bob had $370,000 and Carol had $240,000. Afterwards, we split into two groups of 4. Bill, Rachel J, Rachel R and Alyssa played Big City. Alex, Carol, Bob and Eric played Attila.
• 2:46 pm: While Bob was explaining the rules to Big City, the rest of the Ruvinskys arrived. Jason joined in Big City.
• 3:01 pm: Steffie joined in the game of Attila.
• 4:18 pm: Alex won Attila with 78, Bob had 76, Steffie had 54, Eric had 47 and Carol had 42.
• 4:33 pm: Steffie and Eric played Lost Cities; Steffie won with 51 and Eric had 1. Bill won Big City with 85, Jason 44, Rachel J had 43 and, Alyssa had 14. Rachel R dropped out of the game early.
• 4:39 pm: Dan K arrived. The Ruvinskys left.
• 5:01 pm: Dan and Bob played a couple of games of Brawl. Then Bob, Dan, Carol and Eric played Taj Mahal.
• 6:16 pm: We took a break so Carol could order pizzas from Domino’s.
• 6:38 pm: Rachel S arrived.
• 7:04 pm: Carol was in the lead for most of the game but, Bob managed to pull ahead right near the end. Bob won with 48, Carol had 46, Eric had 34 and Dan had 28.
• 7:48 pm: We ate dinner and talked about steak houses. Dan tried unsuccessfully to juggle. Then Bob, Carol, Rachel J, Dan, Rachel S and Eric decided to play Bohnanza.
• 9:46 pm: Bob won with 14, Rachel J, Dan, Rachel S and Eric were tied at 11, Carol had 10.
• 10:11 pm: Rachel S left. Bob brought out La Città.
• 1:53 am: Carol won with 36 and 3 gold, Dan had 36 and 2 gold, Eric had 28 and Bob had 15.
• 2:59 am: We talked about religion and morality until 3 and then we said goodnight.

January 18

Photos of this session.

• 2:31 pm: Eric arrived at the Jones’ around 2:15. Royal and Kimberly were already there. Bob, Royal, Kimberly, Rachel J and Eric decided to play the new version of Fluxx.
• 2:44 pm: Rachel J won.
• 2:54 pm: Glenn and Beth arrived just as we were finishing Fluxx. We decided to play Corruption since it can be played with seven.
• 4:36 pm: Beth won with $2.5 million, Glenn came in second with $2.3 million, Eric had $2.0 million.
• 5:14 pm: We split into two groups of four. Glenn, Kimberly, Rachel and Eric played Edison & Co, while Bob, Royal, Carol and Beth played Attila.
• 5:24 pm: Dan K and Rachel S showed up just as we were starting. Dan joined in the game of Attila.
• 6:00 pm: Glenn won Edison & Co with 74, Rachel J had 59, Eric had 49 and Kimberly had 34.
• 6:25 pm: Kimberly, Glenn and Eric started a game of Quo Vadis.
• 6:56 pm: Eric won with 34, Glenn had 29 and Kimberly had 18.
• 7:00 pm: Bob won Attila with 40, Royal had 30, Beth had 29, Carol 27 and, Dan 26.
• 7:47 pm: We took a break for dinner and discussed The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. About 7:45, we went back downstairs to game.
• 8:04 pm: We started a 10 player Epic Duels. Royal, Rachel, Bob, Beth and Glenn played the good characters, while Rachel S, Dan K, Carol, Kimberly and Eric played evil. Glenn played Luke, Carol played Darth Vader, Rachel J played Yoda, Dan played Darth Maul, Royal played Mace Windu, Kimberly played Count Dooku, Bob played Anakin, Rachel S played Jengo Fett, Beth played Obi Wan and, Eric played the Emperor.
• 9:09 pm: Rachel S had to leave; Dan K took over her charcters.
• 10:05 pm: Yoda killed Darth Vader. Carol took over Jengo Fett.
• 10:16 pm: Jengo Fett killed Luke.
• 10:33 pm: Darth Maul killed Yoda.
• 10:50 pm: Anakin killed Jengo Fett.
• 10:56 pm: Count Dooku killed Obi Wan.
• 11:07 pm: Mace Windu killed Darth Maul.
• 11:29 pm: Anakin killed Count Dooku.
• 11:43 pm: The Emperor killed Anakin.
• 11:58 pm: Mace killed the Emperor; the good side won.
• 12:16 am: Dan, Glenn, Beth and Royal left. Kimberly, Carol, Rachel J, Bob and Eric decided to play Pizarro & Co.
• 1:31 am: Kimberly won with 42, Carol, Bob and Eric tied at 37 and Rachel J had 27.
• 1:57 am: The five of us then played Where’s Bob’s Hat?.
• 3:04 am: Carol won with 51, Eric had 8, Kimberly had -8, Bob had -38 and Rachel J had -44.

November 23

Photos of this session.

• 2:18 pm: Bob, Dan K, Carol and Eric played Corsairs while Alex (as White) and Rachel (as Black) played LOTR: The Confrontation.
• 2:24 pm: Rachel won LOTR.
• 3:10 pm: Dan won with 43, Bob 23, Eric 13, and Carol 11.
• 3:13 pm: Rachel and Alex started another game of LOTR.
• 3:21 pm: Alex played black and won. Next the six of us played Medici.
• 4:58 pm: Carol won with 104, Rachel 97, Bob 80, Eric 78, Dan 58, Alex 52.
• 5:30 pm: Bob and Alex played a game of LOTR. Bob played white trying to demonstrate that white doesn’t always lose. He lost, although just barely.
• Bob loses with white.
• 5:33 pm: The rest of the Ruvinskys arrived while Bob and Alex were playing. We all went upstairs to watch the extended version of Lord of the Rings.
• 7:57 pm: About 7:30, the first disk was done and we took a break for dinner.
• 8:07 pm: After dinner, we started the second disk.
• 10:18 pm: The movie was over about 10:15.
• 11:02 pm: Jason and Bill played a game of Gravitation, which Jason won.
• 11:12 pm: Bill and Rebecca Ruvinsky went home. Carol, Bob, Alex, Rachel, Jason and Eric then played Draco & Co.
• 12:26 am: Carol won with 19, Bob had 17, Alex had 16, Jason had 11, Rachel and Eric each had 9.
• 12:38 am: Carol, Bob, Alex, Jason and I played Web of Power.
• 1:30 am: Bob won with 41, Carol 36, Alex 32, Eric and Jason had 29 each.
• 2:24 am: Bob, Jason, Alex and Eric then played Löwenherz.
• 3:50 am: Eric won with 40, Bob 38, Alex 34, Jason 26.

November 16

• 4:18 pm: Eric arrived at the White’s house around 3:45. Eric played a game of Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation with Bob. Eric played the dark forces and had two characters in the Shire when Bob got Frodo to Mordor and won. Royal got home shortly after we finished.
• 4:38 pm: Royal, Bob, Carol and Eric started a game of Dragon Land.
• 5:32 pm: Bob won with 50. Royal and Eric had 42 each while Carol had 41.
• 5:48 pm: After the game, we took a break for dinner.
• 6:52 pm: After dinner, Bob, Royal, Carol, Rachel and Eric played Carcassone: Hunters and Gatherers.
• 8:35 pm: Bob won with 85, Carol had 69, Rachel 46, Royal 45, Eric 33.
• 10:54 pm: We called it a night after H&G.