Dec 9 RussCon Report
A large turnout this week: 21 of us. Special thanks to Dawn for bringing delicious homemade cheese artichoke dip, and good bread to go with it! This artichoke dip ruled! And Daniel made a late night soda run above and beyond the call of duty.
There were lots of new games played tonight, also!
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Game Results:
Samurai 4 Ken 3 ChrisW 1 JonathanB -1 William -3 Samurai 4 Ken 3 ChrisW 1 JonathanB -1 Alfred -3 Bohnanza 3 Daniel 2 JonathanR 0 JP -2 Monopoly 5 JeffF 4 Harry 2 Jonobie 0 RussW -2 Marty -4 WizWar 5 Harry 4 Daniel 2 Alfred 0 JonathanR -2 William -4 MedievalMerchant 5 Doug 4 Brady 2 Steve 0 KevinH -2 James -4 Gunfight 6 JeffF 5 Ken 3 Jonobie 1 Marty -1 Harry -3 Alfred -5 Survive 4 Daniel 2 JP 2 Clayton -1 JonathanR -3 Bohnanza 4 William 3 JonathanB 1 JonathanC -1 Dawn -3 Wizard 6 Jonobie 5 JeffF 3 Brady 1 Alfred -3 Steve -3 Marty -3 MedievalMerchant 5 Ken 4 RussW 2 James 0 Harry -2 Doug -4 Samurai 4 Daniel 3 William 1 JonathanR -1 Clayton -3 Bohnanza 5 JeffF 4 Jonobie 1 Steve 1 Alfred -3 Marty -3 Medici 5 RussW 4 James 2 Doug 0 Harry -2 Brady -4 QuoVadis 5 Daniel 4 William 2 JonathanR 0 Alfred -2 Marty -4 Bohnanza 4 RussW 3 James 1 Brady -1 Doug -3 Euphrates 3 JP 2 Steve 0 JonathanB -2
Remember that we have 3 Jonathans, so record the last initial. (I'm pretty sure it was JonathanR in the WizWar game, right?) And write neatly: the first Medieval Merchant game was somewhat unclear: did Kevin score 37 or 57, which makes a difference for 1st or 2nd place? I'm guessing 37. And Brady was a player in that game right? It looks sort of like "Bumpy" or something... (Hmm, there could be a nickname in that... no wait, he already has the nickname Grady...)
You may notice Monopoly on the list of games played and be thinking "What the @#$%!?" Devil Jeff suggested we try an auction variant of Monopoly: when you land on an unowned property, it goes up for auction (1830-style: bids go clockwise until everyone passes). This introduces more skill into the game, and actually made it rather fun and interesting. Auction fever caused some properties to go for outrageous values, e.g. if memory serves, Mediterranean (or Baltic?) (list price $60) went for $390, over 6 times list value. I believe on average people paid about twice the list value. Very curious.
Bohnanza is proving to be quite popular. Check out this weird bean game!
There were some new German games. Medieval Merchant was pretty cool, kind of a cross between El Grande and various train games like Trainsport Austria. The only downside was that no one seemed to have fully read and grokked the rules, so the first game was played quite wrongly from what I understand.
Samurai was a neat-looking game I didn't get to play, but I want to. It's described as similar to Durch Die Wueste (the wonderful pastel camel game) and Euphrat & Tigris. Indeed, someone averred that Reiner Knizia regards it as part of a trilogy of games with DDW and E&T.
Gunfight is the James Ernest (of Cheapass fame) design that William found in Games magazine a few weeks ago, using an ordinary deck of cards.
Wizard was some sort of trick-based card game.
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Evening's Soundtrack:
Clockwork Orange (Wendy Carlos's Complete Original Score)
Deepest Purple (The Very Best of Deep Purple)
Green Day, Dookie
King Crimson, Red
The Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed
Kudos to those who detected the colorful theme without looking at the CD covers.
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Rank ratings: 0.8889 JeffF (4 games played) 0.8667 Ken (4) 0.8125 Daniel (5) 0.5000 KevinH (1) 0.4667 RussW (4) 0.3889 Jonobie (4) 0.3333 ChrisW (2) 0.2857 JP (3) -0.0476 Harry (5) -0.0588 William (5) -0.0667 James (4) -0.2000 Doug (4) -0.2500 Brady (4) -0.2667 Steve (4) -0.2727 JonathanB (4) -0.3333 JonathanC (1) -0.3750 JonathanR (5) -0.6400 Alfred (6) -0.6667 Clayton (2) -0.6818 Marty (5) -1.0000 Dawn (1) Win ratings: 0.8718 JeffF (4) 0.8649 Ken (4) 0.8629 Daniel (5) 0.5897 RussW (4) 0.5556 JP (3) 0.1905 Jonobie (4) 0.1034 Doug (4) 0.0213 Harry (5) -0.0909 William (5) -1.0000 KevinH (1) -1.0000 ChrisW (2) -1.0000 James (4) -1.0000 Brady (4) -1.0000 Steve (4) -1.0000 JonathanB (4) -1.0000 JonathanC (1) -1.0000 JonathanR (5) -1.0000 Alfred (6) -1.0000 Clayton (2) -1.0000 Marty (5) -1.0000 Dawn (1)
Impressive: JeffF is indisputably the Devil again! And Ken is again Vice-Devil. Daniel is Vice-Vice-Devil. Congratulations, boys.
Alfred wins the Dedicated Award. Dawn pulled off the rare and dangerous Reverse Brady Maneuver.
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Cultural News:
Fans of autobiographical comics or chess should check out:
http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/chess/chess.html
And here's some go humor for you:
Q: How many go players does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: One, but only if the ladder works!
Q: How many go beginnners does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Trick question. They can't do it because they don't see the ladder.
Q: How many go players does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None. If the bulb is dead, they play elsewhere.
Non-go-players are invited to shake their heads in bewilderment.
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I'm singing in the rain
Russ