Games Played July 1, 2006

One key to happiness – GAMES

Only had time for three games, again, but we had fun.

We started with Bohnanza, one of the games all seven of us enjoy. Natalia and Joel like this game so much, and they almost always surprise us with their play. It looked like a fairly close game all around, and no one could be certain who would be the winner. After counting our gold, Natalia actually won by quite a bit. We’ve played this game 12 times this year, and Natalia has won three times. I’m the only one who hasn’t won it this year. Results: Natalia first, Joel second, Mason and me (tied) third, Dan fourth, Sue and Katrina (tied) last.

We had played Carcassonne only four times this year, and decided this would be a good day for it. Joel had almost lapped me on the score board, before I had even scored. I had a very slow start. However, I managed to grab some worthwhile fields, and added my pig in one of them, plus I cornered the market in wheat tokens. Before the final scoring, I was far behind everyone, but with the fields and wheat bonus, I came in fourth, much to everyone’s surprise. This was our fifth game of Carcassonne this year, and Joel has now won three of them. In fact, he set a scoring record today of 204 points. Results: Joel first, Katrina second, Dan third, me fourth, Sue fifth, and Mason last (very surprising for him).

I always enjoy playing Mississippi Queen, and we hadn’t had it out for quite a while, so I brought it to the table. Mason and Dan took off like rockets, leaving the rest of us in the dust (or in the water, in this case). I soon passed Sue and Katrina, and managed to pick up one Southern belle in the process. I then built up steam and blew past Dan and Mason, but had to slow to get that last passenger on the last tile, just before reaching the finish. It looked like I had the game wrapped up, and we were talking about my third game win of the year, when suddenly Mason noted that at the end of the previous turn, he had been slightly ahead of me, which gave him the first move in the next turn, and that was all he needed to win the game. I don’t know whether he had realized it beforehand, but it certainly surprised me. Sue had been left way behind for over half the game, and it was looking very bad for her, but she came storming on at the end, and Dan barely edged her out at the dock on the last turn. Results: Mason first, me second, Katrina third, Dan fourth, Sue last.

This must have been “kids” day – the game winners were the three youngest in the family!

Because we had scarfed down three different stir-fry dishes that Sue and I prepared for lunch, just before starting the games, we were all slowing down a bit. The weather was great, so we adjourned outside for three games of Bocce. We play with a regular Bocce set, but not with a regular playing field. We just go back and forth on our front lawn, with the high scorer of each round tossing the target ball for the next round. Katrina or Sue keeps score, and Mason measures for the closest balls, and we just have fun. What added to the fun today was the sudden appearance of a little kitten, probably out on his own for the first time. We don’t know where he came from but he certainly had fun chasing our Bocce balls all over the yard, and even climbed our maple tree. We spent some time and energy keeping the neighbor’s cat away from him, and eventually that cat went home and sulked, while watching us. After we quit playing, the kitten came up on the porch and let everyone pet it, especially Natalia and Joel. We assume he finally went home. He had no collar, so we had no idea where he lived.

We had a great time gaming together, as always. Summertime brings lots of other activity opportunities to all of us. Mason went camping with some friends recently, and Dan is going biking at Winter Park this week, but fortunately we have generally been able to get together at least for an afternoon most weekends. Now, I need to go over the rules for Australia and bring it out for the first time. I don’t know whether to expect us to like it, or not, but I’m eager to try it.

--- Gerald … near Denver, Colorado
aka gamesgrandpa -- A grandpa who is a mile high on gaming