November 22, 2003

Well, we managed to gather enough people for a fun gaming session on Saturday. Attending were the Jones’s (minus Rachel who was at a slumber party), Dan K and Rachel S, Eric, and first-timers Cary (husband) and Jo (wife). We were very happy that Cary and Jo were finally able to join us.

Below is the tally of games and some comments. Winner listed in bold.
Tote Board

• Crokinole - Eric, Bob
• Kahuna - Bob, Eric
• Crokinole - Eric, Dan (taking over for Rachel J who had to leave)
• MarraCash - Bob 4975, Rachel S 3775, Eric 3150, Dan 3100
• Samurai - Dan, Eric, Rachel S, Bob
• Epic Duels - Cary (Count Dooku), Dan (Emperor), Rachel S (Darth Maul), Bob (Darth Vader) vs Jo (Obi Wan), Carol (Anakin), and Eric playing Yoda and Mace Windu
• Buried Treasure - Carol, Dan, Bob, Eric
• Crokinole - Dan and Eric vs Carol and Bob

Yes, Eric bought a Crokinole board. For those of you who may not have heard of such a thing, Crokinole is a game of flicking wooden discs similar to Carrom and Shuffleboard. The object is to get more of your disks near the center of the board. Click here for some pictures. I have long known of Crokinole but never played it, thinking it more akin to bumper pool than a strategy game. I was right that it is more physical than anything, but it is loads of fun. We obviously enjoyed it as we played three games. Maybe we’ll have a tournament at Babycon 11.

MarraCash, one of Eric’s recent acquisitions, is a fun bidding/placement game where you’re buying shops in a bazaar hoping to attract tourists to buy goods. The game has simple mechanics but very deep strategy. Looking forward to playing it again.

Eric’s Notes

• 4:51 pm: Eric arrived at Bob’s around 2:30. Bob and Eric played a game of Crokinole. Eric won. Then we played Kahuna. Dan arrived while we were playing. Bob won. Rachel J and Eric played a game of Crokinole. Rachel had to leave before the end of the game and Dan took over for her. Eric won again. Rachel S arrived and the four of us decided to play MarraCash.
• 5:56 pm: Bob won with 4975, Rachel had 3775, Eric had 3150, Dan had 3100.
• 6:12 pm: Next we played Samurai.
• 6:56 pm: Cary and Jo arrived while we were playing Samurai.
• 7:38 pm: Dan and Eric tied.
• 8:21 pm: Carol came home and the seven of us played Star Wars: Epic Duels. Carol (Anakin), Jo (Obi Wan) and, Eric (Mace and Yoda) played the good team. Bob (Vader), Rachel S (Maul), Dan (the Emperor) and, Cary (Count Dooku) were the evil team.
• 10:41 pm: The Emperor and Darth Vader played a bunch of special cards on Yoda and got him down to one hit point in the first few turns. Mace attacked Darth Vader with Battlemind and then was killed. Yoda moved next to Darth Vader and used Force Lift. Obi-Wan finished off Vader before he could recover. Rachel S left after Darth Maul was killed.
• 11:00 pm: Clone troopers whittled away at Dooku who was finally killed by Padme.
• 11:08 pm: The game came down to Padme versus the Emperor and a battledroid.
• 11:13 pm: The Emperor killed Padme and the dark side won.
• 11:21 pm: Cary and Jo left after Epic Duels.
• 11:33 pm: We decided to play Buried Treasure.
• 12:06 am: Carol won with 35, Bob and Dan each had 27 and, Eric had 18.
• 12:40 am: We played a four player game of Crokinole: Dan and Eric played against Bob and Carol. Dan and Eric won.