Game Day 01/13/2007

Game #1

Call My Bluff

Gamers abhor standing around. So a quick filler game was brought to the table. I like this game. Especially when there are abnormal rolls. For example, on four dice, I rolled all stars. So I put the bid on 4 stars even though the odds said that it was likely that there was another one out there. I was called and it turned out that there were 6 out there. The picture shows another unlikely occurrence. Everyone rolled a five or a star! When it was stated that 5 of the six dice were fives, someone naturally called it. And lost!

Game #2

Imperial

Next up on the table was Imperial. This time we finally used the advanced start rules where there is a once around process where you buy shares in a country. I definitely like that version better. But this game still needs another tweak. You should be able to buy shares in a country when that country is done with its turn. It just takes too long for the investor marker to make its way around to you. I had money in my pocket that was just not utilized. Especially when Adam ended the game just before I was able to improve the multiplier in my country.

Game #3a

Lost Valley

Next up on the table was Lost Valley. And I definitely wanted to play it. It has been a while since I last played it. This time, I decided to buy a boat and a sieve and run along the river while exploring for river-gold. Sadly, I didn’t find that much of it. I was able to get ten chips for a total of 12 gold. And at that point I had a decision to make. I could end the game, but it was likely that Curt had more gold than I did. I would be playing for second place. So I decided against that and decided to start mining some mountain-gold. My river exploration had turned up a nice pile of it at the end of the river.

Game #3b

But the game turned into a version that I really hate. And that is the fact that you cannot complete getting victory points in one operation. You must first open up a mine. And then spend actions to mine the gold. However, other people can take advantage of the work that you did to mine the gold on their turn. Due to the load of supplies that I was carrying, I could not open a mine and then mine for gold immediately. If I opened the mine, then Curt and Adam could mine out all of the gold before I would be able to get some.

It turned into a Mexican standoff. Unfortunately, Curt was in the lead at this point and I needed Curt to open up the mine first. It was in Curt’s best interest to just wait. But eventually he succumbed and went off to start a mine. Adam chased after him and I was able to start another one myself.

And at the end of the game, the score was close. I had scored 18 gold and Curt and Adam scored 17!

Accident #1
Accident #2

When John and I drove home, we came across an accident that had still not cleared after 6 hours! Apparently the rain had caused an 18-wheeler to run up the side of an overpass.