October 11, 2008

Diamant
Originally uploaded by Eric E Haas

• Web of Power - Eric 55, Dave 50, Bob 48, Carol 42, Noreen 27
• Witch’s Brew - Dave 22, Bob 18, Carol 15, Eric 14, Noreen 13
• Bohnanza - Dave 16, Carol 15, Bob 14, Noreen 13, Eric 9
• Diamant - Carol 18, Noreen 12, Jason 9, Christina 9, Dave 8, Bob 7, Eric 2
• Settlers of Catan (with Seafarers expansion) - Dave, Jason, Christina, Paul
• Bob’s Prototype - Carol 71, Eric 68, Bob 62, Noreen 56
• Bob’s Prototype - Carol 70, Bob 65, Eric 64, Noreen 64
• Ingenious - Eric 13, Bob 12, Carol 10, Noreen 8
• Pow-Wow - Jason, Eric, Bob, Dave, Christina, Carol, Noreen, Paul
• Crokinole - Bob 140, Ben 30
• Drive - Dave, Carol, Noreen
• Power Grid (German Map) - Jason 15, Paul 14, Eric 12, Bob 12, Christina 11
• Cash N Guns - Carol $120,000, Dave $105,000, Eric $70,000, Ben $55,000, Bob $45,000

More pictures of the night’s gaming.

August 23, 2008

• Top Secret Spies - Dave 55, Eric 40, Carol 36, Noreen 35, Bob 34
• Agricola - Bob 39, Carol 35, Dave 34, Eric 31, Noreen 27
  • Dave took 5 begging cards in a single round, costing him 15 points.
• Cheeky Monkey - Noreen 43, Bob 20, Dave 20, Carol 13, Eric 3
• Big Points - Bob 24, Jason 23, Eric 20, Dave 17, Bill 16
• On the Underground - Stephanie 47, Eric 47, Bill 46, Bob 42
  • Stepanie tied for the win, despite having run out of track several turns before the end of the game.
• Dominion - Dave 48, Carol 41, Jason 41
• Dominion - Dave 40, Jason 30, Noreen 22
• Aquarius - Stephanie, Bob, Bill, Eric
• Show Manager - Jason 54, Bob 38, Dave 38, Carol 37, Eric 27, Noreen 26
• Pow Wow - Noreen, Eric, Dave, Jason, Bob, Alex, Carol
  • Noreen won without taking a single buzzard.
• Category 5 - Eric 13, Dave 31, Bob 34, Carol 38, Alex 51, Noreen 68, Jason 70

Babycon XV

Babycon XV
Originally uploaded by Eric E Haas


More photos from Babycon XV available here.

March 8, 2008

6 Nimmt!
Originally uploaded by Eric E Haas

We had eleven gamers in attendance, including the return of Dave Fogel and Gwen Alviani who have been in England for the past two and a half years! The full tally was Bob and Carol Jones, Dave and Noreen Fair, Dave and Gwen, Erik Light, Eric Haas, and Bill, Stephanie and Jason Ruvinsky.

Mid-afternoon, while we were playing two long, bit-intensive games, the power went out. Being gamers and not knowing the meaning of the word “quit”, we gathered what candles and flashlights we had and spent about 90 minutes playing under darkened conditions. Both games finished with only slight delays. Nevertheless, we were relieved when the lights came back up.

Thanks to everyone for coming. I’m hoping to get in one additional gaming session before Babycon.

• Escalation! - Carol 12, Dave Fair 23, Erik 27, Eric 28, Noreen 30, Bob 32
• Agricola - Dave Fair 47, Noreen 39, Carol 39, Eric 19
• Pillars of the Earth - Bob 45, Gwen 44, Dave 37, Erik 34
• 6 Nimmt! - Jason 20, Bill 25, Bob 29, Dave Fair 31, Dave Fogel 43, Eric 58, Gwen 69, Stephanie 75
• Show Manager - Jason 63, Bob 55, Stephanie 29, Bill 27, Carol 27, Noreen 21
• Race for the Galaxy - Dave Fair 62, Eric 35, Dave Fogel 27, Gwen 22
• Can’t Stop - Gwen 3, Dave Fogel 2, Dave Fair 1, Eric 1
• In the Year of the Dragon - Bob 93, Eric 92, Noreen 83, Carol 81, Dave Fair 80
• Clash of the Gladiators - Dave Fair 19, Noreen 17, Carol 13, Eric 9, Bob 9

January 12, 2008

6 nimmt!
Originally uploaded by Eric E Haas

More photos from the January 12 gaming session are available here.

December 8, 2007

Bob must have suffered a bunch of humiliating defeats, because he’s still dragging his feet with the gaming report for December 8.

November 17, 2007

Wooden Ships and Iron Men
Originally uploaded by Eric E Haas

Seven of us gathered together for a game of Wooden Ships and Iron Men. The French fleet (Dave Fair, Scott Fox, Liz Percival, and Eric Haas) was trying to land troop ships in order to fortify a small island possession. The British fleet (Bob Jones, Scott Percival, and Erik Light) was trying to blockade the island and prevent the French from landing their troops.

Despite superiority of numbers on the French side, the British were ultimately victorious, the average crews of the French were no match for the elite crews of the British. Eric’s photos are available here.

After WS&IM, several of us stayed to play other games.

• Wooden Ships & Iron Men - British: Bob, Scott P, and Erik, French: Dave, Scott F, Liz, and Eric.
• Race for the Galaxy - Dave 45, Bob 38, Eric 30, Scott F 23
• Agricola - Dave 40, Carol 28, Eric 25, Bob 19

October 6, 2007

Railroad Tycoon
Originally uploaded by Eric E Haas

More photos.

A couple of Saturdays back, we had pretty much the entire group of regulars come out for some long overdue gaming. Attending were Bob, Carol and Ben Jones, Eric Haas, Dave, Corwin and Noreen Fair, Erik Light, Stephanie, Bill, Rachel and Jason Ruvinsky, and Dan Korn. We also had a few non-playing kids.

Here’s the Tote (winner listed first):


• Circus Flohcati - Dave 57, Bob 50, Carol 49, Eric 44, Noreen 34
  
  • Bob: Dave most successfully pushed his luck.


• Coyote - Eric, Erik, Bob, Carol, Noreen, Dave
  
  • Bob: It’s always fun wearing headbands and sticking cards into said headbands.


• Zooloretto - Bob 24, Eric 23, Erik 22, Carol 17, Dave 17


• Michigan Rummy - Stephanie, Bill


• MarraCash - Eric 4775, Carol 4550, Bob 3225, Erik 2675
  
  • Bob: It’s been a long time since this gem made it to the table. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the first thing about strategy and got crushed along with Erik who had never played before.


• Settlers of Catan - Dave 10, Stephanie 7, Noreen 7, Bill 5


• Fairy Tale - Dan 47, Carol 45, Bob 45, Eric 36, Erik 35
  
  • Bob: This Japanese card game using the “Anaconda” mechanic is underrated.
  • Eric: When I first played this, I didn’t care for it all that much, but now that I’ve played it a few more times, I’ve come to appreciate it much more.


• Diamant - Jason 36, Bob 34, Dan 32, Bill 30, Eric 30


• Cariboo - Corwin, Rebecca K, Ben


• Cariboo - Corwin, Rebecca K, Ben


• 3-D Labyrinth - Corwin and Rebecca tied, Ben


• 3-D Labyrinth - Corwin and Ben tied, Rebecca


• Bohnanza - Rachel R 10, Stephanie 9, Dan 9, Bill 9
  
  • Bob: Obviously, a very close game.


• For Sale - Bill 68, Dan 61, Rachel R 59


• For Sale - Bill 67, Rachel R 64, Dan 46, Stephanie 44


• Railroad Tycoon - Noreen 68, Dave 67, Eric 52, Jason 47, Bob 46, Carol 32
  
  • Bob: I love Railroad Tycoon, yet I can’t win at it. In fact, I find it an incredibly frustrating experience almost every time. But I keep coming back for more. On this occasion, Noreen effectively shut me down by shipping “my” cubes and taking bonuses I was going after. She ended up ahead of Dave because she had the least stock while he had sold 23 shares, thus severely impacting his score.


• Metro - Dan 83, Bill 74, Stephanie 56


• Puerto Rico - Dave 55, Jason 51, Bob 48, Carol 44, Eric 36
  
  • Bob: The first playing of PR in a long time. I thought I had this wrapped up, but Jason’s large buildings and Dave’s wharf put them ahead.

It was good having most of the group together. Hope to see everyone again soon.

Bob

Babycon XIV

Photos from Babycon XIV.

February 24, 2007

Hey everyone. Just time for a short (and late) report from last Saturday’s gaming. Aside from non-playing kids and teens, attending were Bob and Carol Jones, Dave and Noreen Fair, Erik and Jenny Light, Dan Korn and Rachel Silber, Laura and Eric Reinhold, and Bill, Stephanie, and Jason Ruvinsky. Thanks to everyone who brought food and snacks.

The tote is below (winner listed first):

• 6 Nimmt - Dave 51, Dan 55, Noreen 64, Carol 72, Bob 73
• Ticket to Ride 1910 - Dan 151, Noreen 139, Laura 134, Carol 56 (ouch)
• Pillars of the Earth - Dave 50, Bob 48, Erik 46, Eric 45.
  • Bob: A good close game of what’s been described as “Caylus lite”. I made a last minute jump but it wasn’t quite enough to catch Dave.
• Quo Vadis - Bill 23, Dan 15, Bob 14, Carol 13, Stephanie 12
  • Bob: Bill just outclassed the rest of us.
• Settlers of Catan: China - Laura 7, Noreen 6, Dave 6, Eric 3
• High Society - Bob 13, Stephanie 12, Bill 12, Carol 9, Dan least money.
  • Bob: Really close game. The only way I could win is if Dan had the least money. Fortunately, he did.
• Einfach Genial - Rachel S. (all 18s), Carol, Noreen, Stephanie
• Big City - Dan, Bill, Bob, Dave
  • Bob: I had spots for two churches reserved. I put one down and was about to place the second when Bill opened up a church spot for Dan and Dan built, taking the last church and the game.
• Railroad Tycoon - Dave 66, Bob 59, Carol 58, Jason 50, Noreen 45
  • Bob: Incredibly close game. I had myself one point above Dave for the final score but, unnoticed until the end, Dave had the longest route and was able to grab the 8 point Tycoon card, giving him a win by 7 points. I maintain my apparently miraculous ability to finish second place in this game.
• Dragonland - Bob 43, Carol 41, Jason 41, Dave 24

My apologies to Jenny for the timing not working right to get her into a game (she was watching the uber-cute Jennifer). Next time the Lights attend, my main goal will be to get Jenny into a game. Promise.

Bob

January 13, 2007

Hey everyone! Here’s the tally from last Saturday’s gaming. We had a full house with Bob, Carol, Rachel and Ben Jones, Dave, Noreen, Andrew and Corwin Fair, Dan, Zachary, Rebecca Korn and Rachel Silber, Eric Haas, Erik, Jenny and Jennifer Light, and Bill, Stephanie, Jason, Alex, Rachel and Rebecca Ruvinsky. It’s been a while since we’ve had such a big group and I really enjoyed it. I am especially glad that Jenny and Jennifer have left Chicago and joined Erik in Rockville. Jennifer is really, really cute and really, really likes pinball. :-) I hope we’ll see more of them.

We played some games we haven’t played in a while as well as a few newer games. I was especially happy to get Merchants of Amsterdam and Vino to the table. Of the newer stuff, Show Manager and Ave Caesar are two really fun games I wish I owned.

Thanks to Carol for making tacos and everyone for contributing to the food bank.

The tote is below (winner listed first):

• Sudoku Card Game - Dave 4, Bob 2
• Gemblo - Carol 6, Bob 7, Noreen 7, Erik 8, Dave 14, Ben 19
• Show Manager - Dave 52, Bob 45, Carol 44, Eric 32, Noreen 26, Erik 23
  
• Can’t Stop - Noreen, Erik, Carol, Bob, Dave, Eric
• Princes of Florence - Dave 56, Eric 53, Dan 46, Noreen 44, Rachel S 40
  
• Pyramids of the Jaguar - Bob, Carol
• Pyramids of the Jaguar - Carol, Bob
• Ave Caeser - Bob 15, Alex 10, Jason 13, Bill 12, Stephanie 12
  
• Bohnanza - Dan 14, Dave 14, Eric 10 Carol 8, Noreen 7, Rachel S 3
• Leonardo da Vinci - Carol 52, Dan 49, Dave 48, Eric 29, Noreen 18
  
• Merchants of Amsterdam - Stephanie 1180, Jason 1120, Bob 920, Alex 870, Bill 750
  
• Vino - Jason 30, Bob 20+, Carol 20, Eric 18, Dave 15

I will post pictures when I have some. Hope to see you all again soon.


Bob

November 18, 2006

Sorry for the delay in reporting. It’s been a busy couple of weeks.

On Saturday, Nov. 18, we had a good group over for gaming. Attending were Bob, Carol and Rachel Jones, Dave, Noreen and Andrew Fair, Eric Haas, Erik Light in his first appearance with the local group, Scott Percival, and Stephanie, Rebecca and Bill Ruvinsky. As usual, it was a lot of fun.

Tote below (winner listed first).

• Verflixxt - Carol, Bob, Dave, Erik, Noreen
• Streetcar - Eric, Erik, Noreen, Carol
• Blue Moon City - Dave 4, Rachel 3, Bob 3, Andrew 2
  • Bob: BMC is unquestionably my favorite of the newer games. The mechanics are a lot of fun with loads of tactical play and some strategic decisions as well.
• Silk Road - Noreen 34, Dave 30, Carol 29, Erik, 28, Eric 25, Bob 21
• Three Dragon Ante - Erik 111, Eric 95, Carol 91, Rachel 4, Dave -3, Bob -5
• Das Störrische Muli - Erik, Bob, Dave, Eric
• Leonardo da Vinci - Scott 67, Dave 50, Carol 36, Eric 25
• Thurn & Taxis - Bob 23, Erik 19, Rachel 14, Noreen 11
• Cash N Guns - Rebecca $105,000, Bill $100,000, Rachel $85,000, Stephanie $70,000, Bob DOA
• Ticket to Ride 1910 - Stephanie 122, Carol 118, Noreen 107, Bill 104, Dave 91
• Rheinländer - Rachel 31, Eric 29, Erik 29, Scott 22, Bob 16
  • Bob: Holy cow, was I piled on. Everyone hammered me in this game.
• Tichu - Carol/Rachel 1050, Scott/Noreen 800
• Kanaloa - Eric 14, Dave 11, Erik 9, Bob 7
• Great Wall of China - Dave 40, Erik 38, Bob 33, Eric 30
• Metromania - Bob 26, Eric 16, Noreen 11, Dave 2
  • Bob: The first game I’ve won while being about 70% asleep. Really, I was swaying in my chair.

Eric’s pictures taken that day are here.

Hope to see everyone again soon.

September 6, 2006

Attending were Bob and Carol Jones, Paul Czarnota, Dave and Noreen Fair, Scott Percival and Eric Haas. Carol made some excellent beef barbecue for dinner.


Tote Board (winner listed first):

• Coyote - Dave, Scott, Noreen, Bob, Eric, Paul, Carol
  • Fun game of putting cards on your forehead and guessing the total. Plays like a combination of Liar’s Dice and Indian Poker.
• Bolide - Scott, Noreen, Paul, Eric, Bob, Dave, Carol
  • Bob: A mathematical car racing game with little luck. Clever maneuvering system marred by difficulty of actually figuring it out. Some of the group really liked it, others not so much.
• Crokinole - Bob, Paul
• Crokinole - Paul, Bob
• Railroad Tycoon - Scott 65, Bob 56, Paul 56, Carol 55, Dave 50, Eric 35
  • Bob: Excellent game of RRT. Very close and hard fought. Paul did an excellent job in his first playing of this great game.
• Crokinole - Paul, Eric
• Rum & Pirates - Paul 76, Eric 71, Bob 66, Dave 64, Carol 51
• Thurn & Taxis - Bob 46, Paul 40, Dave 37, Eric 35
  • Bob: SDJ winner of 2006. Good, middle-weight game similar in feel to Web of Power and Ticket to Ride.

Thanks to everyone for coming!

Bob

July 22, 2006

Hey everyone! Just before we started gaming on Saturday we received a couple of e-mails from some of the folk who’ve been gaming with us at Borders on Monday nights. Since we were low on attendance from the regulars, we decided to invite them to join us. Attending were Bob and Carol Jones, Dave and Noreen Fair, Eric Haas, Bill and Jason Ruvinsky, and newcomers Lance Slifka and Melinda and Ruben Carbonell. We played a ton of games, ate some fantastic pies made by Melinda (who is a student pastry chef) and had a great time.

Check out Eric’s pictures.


The tote is below, winner listed first.

Tote Board

• Crokinole - Bob, Lance
• Crokinole - Dave/Eric, Bob/Lance
• Show Manager - Bob 49, Lance 42, Carol 35, Eric 35, Noreen 32, Dave 28
• 6 Nimmt - Lance 28, Noreen 39, Melinda 46, Carol 53, Ruben 53, Dave 58, Bob 67, Eric 76
• Thurn & Taxis - Ruben 26, Dave 21, Bob 20, Lance 16
  • Bob: This year’s winner of the German Game of the Year. Fun, middle weight game with beautiful components. Similar in feel to Web of Power. Looking forward to playing this one again.
• Ticket to Ride: Märklin - Melinda 151, Noreen 132, Eric 125, Carol 112
• Blokus Trigon - Ruben 0, Noreen 11, Eric 15, Carol 17
• Cronberg - Melinda 28, Lance 28, Dave 24, Bob 22
  • Bob: First time playing this quick little tile laying game. Lots of opportunities for tactical play.
• Wits & Wagers - Bob/Ruben 165, Dave/Noreen 150, Eric/Carol 130, Melinda/Lance 95
• Formula Dé - Melinda, Lance, Ruben, Noreen, Cary, Eric, Dave
  • Bob: Dave had a huge lead for most of this two lap race. Unfortunately, his widow spent the night scraping his remains off the wall of one of the turns.
• Marco Polo - Bill 16, Carol 15, Jason 10, Bob 8
• Streetcar - Bob, Jason, Carol, Bill
  • Bob: Nastiest game of Streetcar ever. No one had a clean route, mainly because we put rude turns on other player’s tracks. Bill left the depot first and was the last to arrive due to a disastrous reading of the board.
• Tichu - Bob/Noreen 1020, Dave/Jason 880
  • Bob: An awesome comeback by Dave and Jason wasn’t enough to secure the victory.

We hope to see you at our next session in late August or early September!

Bob

P.S. - I forgot to mention Cary Abend who gamed with us again for the first time in a long while. And he brought Nathan. My apologies to Cary.

June 24, 2006

Sorry for the delay in the report. Busy last week.

On Saturday, June 24, a mere six of us gathered to play games. Attending were Bob, Carol and Rachel Jones, Dave and Noreen Fair, and Scott Percival. The tote is below (winner listed first).

Tote Board

• Crokinole - Bob and Scott, Dave and Carol. (This was the inaugural game on our brand new Crokinole board! Bob and Scott teamed up against Dave and Carol. Fun game.)
• Dance of the Eggs - Scott 3, Bob 3, Carol 2, Rachel 2, Noreen 0, Dave dropped. (Wacky game with rubber eggs. You roll a die and then have to perform an action such as bouncing an egg to see who catches it, holding an egg under your chin, snatching the die, etc. When someone drops an egg, the game is over. Whoever has the most eggs wins.)
• Gemblo - Dave 0, Scott 10, Noreen 11, Rachel 13, Bob 13, Carol 16. (Blokus with hexagonal pieces suitable for up to six players. A beautiful game and fun to play.)
• Cleopatra and the Society of Architects - Carol 53, Scott 45, Dave 44, Noreen 43, Bob 60 but disqualified from winning. (Lavish, overproduced game with amazing Egyptian bits. Players collect cards to build monuments in Egypt. Mixture of familiar mechanics works well. Looking forward to trying this again.)
• Crokinole - Bob and Scott, Dave and Rachel
• Crokinole - Dave and Rachel, Bob and Scott
• Crokinole - Bob and Scott, Dave and Rachel
• Lord of the Rings - Sauron, Dave, Noreen, Scott, Carol, Bob (In a very close game, Sauron corrupted the ringbearer (and pretty much everyone else) and won against the free peoples of Middle Earth.)
• Wiz War - Bob, Scott, Noreen, Carol, Dave
• Fossil - Carol 123, Bob 85, Dave 73, Noreen 52, Scott 47 (Carol destroyed us. Enough said.)
• Die Sieben Siegel - Scott 10, Bob 15, Dave 17, Noreen 22, Carol 31

All in all, a fun day of gaming.

Hope to see you soon!

Bob

Babycon XIII

Photos from Babycon XIII.

April 29, 2006

We had the smallest group in quite some time for gaming on Saturday. Scott Percival couldn’t make it so it was Bob and Carol and Dave and Noreen for most of the day. Jason and Alex Ruvinsky joined us for one late night game of Elfenland. It was still a very fun time. The Tote Board is below (winner first).

• Can’t Stop - Noreen, Dave, Bob, Carol. (Noreen showed us how she won the Can’t Stop tournament at the Gathering of Friends. Good, quick filler, dice game with some tough decisionmaking.)
• Ticket to Ride: Marklin - Noreen 174, Dave 160, Carol 156, Bob 141 (The newest Ticket to Ride game did not disappoint. Passengers who travel from city to city collecting victory points add quite a bit of tension to a normally laid-back game.)
• Silberzwerg - Dave 509, Noreen 485, Bob 441, Carol 389 (One of my recent acquisitions, this is a good set collection game of dwarves digging for gems to fulfill contracts. Lots of backstabby goodness! Everyone enjoyed it.)
• Tichu - Dave and Carol 945, Bob and Noreen 55 (Tichu is an ancient, highly popular card game with lots of strategy. This was an absolute disaster of a game. Dave got good hand after good hand. A complete slaughter.)
• Elfenland - Bob 18 (5 cards), Carol 18 (3 cards), Alex 18 (a card), Dave 17, Noreen 16, Jason 16 (Great game. We played with the “home village” variant which added another level of strategy. I won on the tie-breaker.)

Not a lot of games played but three of the five were new to me and four out of five were new to Carol. Looking forward to playing some of these again at Babycon.

Bob

March 25, 2006

Last Saturday night, ten stoic, steely-eyed, poker-faced players gathered around a table for a No Limit Texas Hold Em tournament. At the same time, ten amateurs convened at our house in Germantown for the same thing! The buy-in was $10 and the top three spots paid off $10, $30 and $60, respectively. We raised the blinds every 20 minutes.

Playing were Bob and Carol Jones, Glenn and Beth Bramer, Dave and Noreen Fair, Dan Korn, Kevin Bealer, Bill Ruvinsky, and last minute addition, Jason Ruvinsky.

Thanks to Dave for providing the chips and cards, setting up and running the game. Per Dave’s idea we doubled everyone’s initial amount of chips while keeping the blinds low in order to give everyone more playing time. It seemed to work quite well as the first player out got to play for nearly two hours before busting. The game ran about four hours before a winner emerged.

There were a few highlights that bear mentioning. Glenn was the initial chip leader having taken most of Bob’s stack after Bob drew a straight on the Flop only to lose to the flush Glenn made on the River. Bob recovered when he managed to deal a similarly devastating blow to Glenn. Carol took over and was chip leader for most of the evening. Carol was a veritable killing machine knocking out four of the first six players - Bill, Jason, Beth and Glenn. By the end of the night, Dave had knocked out four himself - Noreen, Dan, Bob and Kevin. The only other person to knock someone out was Kevin who took out Carol.

The tally is as follows.

• 10 - Bill
• 09 - Noreen
• 08 - Jason
• 07 - Beth
• 06 - Dan
• 05 - Glenn
• 04 - Bob
• 03 - Carol $10
• 02 - Kevin $30
• 01 - Dave $60

Dave was the big winner and played a good game throughout. A couple of times he was down to a handful of chips but he stuck around and at the end held all the chips. He did get a couple of very lucky breaks that were really the highlight of the evening. The first was taking out Dan.

Dan versus Dave:

Dan had Q-4 offsuit
Dave had Q-8 offsuit
Pre-flop Dave was 68% to win heads up against Dan.

The Flop was Q-7-4 giving Dan two pair, Dave one pair with no possibility of a flush.
Post-flop, Dave was a 26% underdog.

Carol bet, Dan raised all in and Dave called, leaving himself with three low denomination chips if he lost. Carol folded.

The Turn was no help. After the turn, Dave was a 17% underdog.

The River was an 8, giving Dave a higher two pair and knocking Dan out of the game.


The second highlight was the last hand of the night when Dave went head to head against Kevin.

Dave versus Kevin:

Dave had about 65% of the chips in play. Kevin had about 35%.

Kevin had K-3 offsuit
Dave had 7-7

Kevin moved all-in pre-flop. Dave called.
Dave was a 71% favorite pre-flop.

The Flop was A-10-10
Dave is still a 69% favorite.

The turn was another A, putting two pair on the board, and counterfeiting Dave’s sevens. Now both players had two pair (Aces and Tens) while Kevin had a King kicker! Kevin is now the favorite. Dave is a 91% underdog. Only a seven can save him.

The River was a 7. Dave won with a full house.

Thanks to everyone who came out. It was a great time. I hope to do it again soon.

Bob

March 18, 2006

We had a full house on Saturday and played a lot of good games, including some classics. Attending were Bob and Carol Jones, Scott Percival, Dave and Noreen Fair, Eric Haas, Dan Korn, Bill, Stephanie and Jason Ruvinsky and assorted kids. Dave and Stephanie did particularly well. Thanks to everyone who attended.

Eric has posted his pictures here.

The tote board is below (winner listed first).

• Survive - Scott 19, Dave 16, Carol 11, Bob 6 (A great Parker Brothers game from 1981. I just got my copy and am very happy to have it. This is a much nastier game than the British version, Escape from Atlantis.)
• Vegas Showdown - Dave 58, Bob 50, Scott 50, Dan 49, Eric 47 (This new Avalon Hill game is a LOT of fun. Accurately described as “Princes of Florence lite”, players build their casinos and hotels after a series of auctions. Very good, even though we played incorrectly.)
• Lost Cities - Stephanie, Jason
• Die Sieben Siegel - Stephanie 6, Jason 20, Carol 28 (Everyone who’s played it has enjoyed this quick trick-taking game.)
• El Grande - Eric 96, Bob 86, Bill 77, Jason 65, Dave 59 (A very hard fought game that was much closer than the scores indicate. Well-played by Eric for the win.)
• Medici - Noreen 108, Dan 91, Stephanie 87, Carol 74, Scott 73
• Poison - Stephanie -13, Dan -19, Noreen -31, Scott -31
• King of the Beasts - Dave 6, Carol 2, Scott 2, Bob 2 (Yet another fun, quick little Reiner Knizia design with great artwork.)
• Santiago - Bill 107, Carol 78, Eric 77, Jason 67, Scott 64
• Tikal - Stephanie 131, Dave 103, Bob 85, Noreen 82 (Another hard-fought game won handily by Stephanie.)
• Railroad Tycoon - Jason 64, Noreen 63, Bob 57, Dave 53, Carol 51, Eric 45 (The closest game we’ve ever had. In the end, Jason didn’t have others screwing with him and so was able to mount a major comeback for the win.)
• Through the Desert - Dave 64, Eric 60, Bob 5, Jason 54

February 11, 2006

Last Saturday, fifteen brave souls ventured out into the impending threat of the snowstorm to join us at our house for some gaming. In addition to the Jones family, no less brave for not having to venture into the storm, were Dan Korn and Rachel Silber, Dave and Noreen Fair, Bill, Stephanie, Jason and Alex Ruvinsky, and Scott Percival. The remainder (children) of the Korn, Fair and Ruvinsky families also attended, mostly occupying themselves by playing X-Box and running about with lightsabers.

We started a bit after 1PM and ended around 5AM. Carol made excellent tacos for dinner and won three games out of the seven she played, including both games of Railroad Tycoon! The Fairs managed to escape at 5:30AM even though nearly 10 inches of snow had fallen while Alex and Jason couldn't get their car out of the parking spot and so had to crash on our couches until later on Sunday.

The tote board is below (winner listed first):

• The Bottle Imp - Bob, Carol, Dave
  • Bob: Played only one round out of three before others arrived. Great trick-taking game with a lot of strategy. Especially good for three.
• Poison - Rachel S, Noreen, Dan, Carol, Bob, Dave
• Railroad Tycoon - Carol 52, Bob 50, Dave 42, Noreen 37, Dan 33, Rachel S 32
• Acquire - Carol $33600, Bob $30200, Dan $22900, Noreen $22300, Dave $17500, Rachel S$14100
  • Bob: We haven’t played Acquire in a long time. Very few mergers meant that most players were cash poor for most of the game.
• Die Sieben Siegel - Alex (tied), Jason (tied), Scott
• 6 Nimmt - Alex 17, Bill 31, Scott 37, Stephanie&nsp;39, Dave 58, Noreen 67
• San Juan - Bob 28, Dave 24, Alex 22
  • Bob: The card game of Puerto Rico features a lot of choices and plays very quickly. One of my favorite card games. Alex put more cards in the Chapel than I’ve ever seen in one game.
• Through the Desert - Dave 79, Scott 77, Alex 75, Noreen 48
• Attila - Dan 97, Carol 95, Jason 91, Bob 86
• Streetcar - Jason, Bill, Stephanie, Carol, Noreen
  • Bob: Clearly a game in which you must pay attention to detail. A couple of sloppy mistakes (by her and others) caused some difficulties for Carol.
• The Bottle Imp - Alex 148, Dave 90, Bob 63
• Railroad Tycoon - Carol 64, Jason 51, Dave 47, Alex 45, Bob 44, Noreen 43

Thanks to everyone for coming. It was a good time.

Bob