West Denver Gamers, November 16, 2006

One key to happiness – GAMES

Had a good time at West Denver Gamers last Thursday. Only three of us were available; we hope the crowd will expand after the Thanksgiving holiday.

I had never played Puerto Rico, as it is not likely to be popular with our family game group. Because it is such a popular game with the BGG crowd, I was interested in learning what it was all about. Iain brought it and willingly taught Reed and me how to play. We had both read the rules and other info found on BGG, so we knew the basics. It didn’t take long to confirm our information and start the game. I have to agree that it is an excellent design. I now know why it is a hit with so many people. Too bad it couldn’t be expanded to accommodate 7 players; I might be able to convince the family to give it a try in that case. I didn’t do well in this first game, but Reed did very well. I knew I needed to have at least one large purple building before the end of the game, but I never managed to buy one, which is reflected in my score. We hope to play again next week, to get a better feel for it. Results: Iain 47; Reed 45; me 36.

Reed had to leave after that game, so Iain and I played a 2-hand game of Through the Desert. Iain, not surprisingly, is an excellent game player, and TtD is a game he likes to play. I had played one game of TtD with two players, online. All my other games have been with 5 or 6 players, and I had forgotten to think “larger” with fewer players. Still, I felt reasonably good to lose by only 5 points.

We had time for a short game, and I had brought Station Master, which was new to Iain. I enjoy this game very much, but had never played with just 2 players. I am used to having five or six or seven trains to deal with all through the game, and having just two trains at a time threw me for a while. Iain got off to a very fast start. I believe he had over 50 points when I was still in the single digits; I was beginning to feel embarrassed. I gradually gained on Iain, connecting some negative-point cars to the trains where he had more passengers. At some point, late in the game, I managed to catch Iain, primarily by reducing his score, while maintaining mine. By the end of the game, I had pulled out the win, with a fair difference in score, so I didn’t lose every game of the evening.

We hope to see more folks at the next meeting, but with the Christmas holiday season coming up quickly, people may not have as much time to devote to game meetings for the next month.

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