Today's game was bounded by meetings ending at noon and meetings beginning at 1, so we had to play quick. Bill got out to an early lead and his numbers just kept on rolling. It was garbage. 4, 9, 4, 4, 9, 9, 10, 5, 5, 6. It sucked. He had double wood on 5, and the wood port. Because of his lead, and because we were trying to make decisions quickly, it was easy to just pass dice then to decide if trading with him was an OK thing to do. Needless to say, he was on an island.
Bill, however, did not have an 8. On the first turn of the game, Ap, who went last, passed the dice when his turn was over. Zalman asked him if he was done. He said yes. Right when Zalman rolled the dice Ap said, "Wait!". So the roll did not count. It was an 8. Ap moved a boat. Zalman rolled again. It was a 4. On an 8, Ap, Crispy, and Zalman got a brick. Zalman and Crispy also got a wheat. Because of Ap's wait, they did not get anything. On a 4, Bill got brick. 8, then, refused to roll for about 20 minutes. Because of this, nobody had any brick except Bill, and he ran away with it. Obvisouly, Ap blew the game. By the way, it took Ap about 10 turns to build on the place where he moved that boat. Way to go Ap. You jinxed the 8.
Current Standings:
Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 5 / 3
Crispy: 1 / 2
Zalman: 1 / 2
AP: 5 / 4
Kongo: 0 / 4
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
1:2 Port
Kongo attempted to lock up the blown game early, and managed to secure it in the end. Initially, all players were able to build a 3rd settlement. After that, Bill got the first city and 3 development cards, making him the most dangerous. AP and Crispy were in bad shape, mainly due to a robber on their only wheat source (4). Kongo extended his settlements to an 8 and 3 of wheat, giving him a good position in the game other than his lack of stone. Kongo managed to build a city, and Bill’s numbers (6,9,3,11,10,12) basically stopped rolling.
At this point, Kongo began announcing to AP and Crispy after every roll “what do you need?” He made every trade with no consideration of winning the game. AP asked for wheat to build development cards, Kongo would trade it to him for anything. Kongo also asked “don’t you want anything else?” a number of times, and made several unsolicited 1:2 trades to both AP and Crispy. Eventually, this allowed AP and Crispy to become powerful, while Kongo slowly built the longest road. Kongo finally ran out of settlements, and at the end he had the longest road and a total of 11 points. One highlight was Kongo trading AP a wheat so he could buy a development card, and one turn later AP using it to steal all of Kongo’s wheat.
Using 4:1 trades, Bill built two new roads and finally a settlement. He also collected a ton of development cards, mostly soldiers. AP and Crispy both had a shot at winning late and tried to compete for the longest road. They were unable to out-build Kongo, and finished with 10 points each. Bill won on the last roll (a 6) by building his 4th city and flipping two victory points.
If Crispy or AP had won, Kongo had long ago blown the game. In the end, he still gets the honor, due to player outrage. AP noted “He (Bill) has 4 development cards face down, and you listened to him and robbed ME????”. Crispy added “This game would have been over long ago if you hadn’t done all those crazy trades. You just wasted 30 minutes of my life.” And finally, he managed to run out of settlements with 11 points on the board for probably the 4th time in a row.
Current Standings:Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 4 / 3
Crispy: 1 / 2
Zalman: 1 / 2
AP: 5 / 3
Kongo: 0 / 4
At this point, Kongo began announcing to AP and Crispy after every roll “what do you need?” He made every trade with no consideration of winning the game. AP asked for wheat to build development cards, Kongo would trade it to him for anything. Kongo also asked “don’t you want anything else?” a number of times, and made several unsolicited 1:2 trades to both AP and Crispy. Eventually, this allowed AP and Crispy to become powerful, while Kongo slowly built the longest road. Kongo finally ran out of settlements, and at the end he had the longest road and a total of 11 points. One highlight was Kongo trading AP a wheat so he could buy a development card, and one turn later AP using it to steal all of Kongo’s wheat.
Using 4:1 trades, Bill built two new roads and finally a settlement. He also collected a ton of development cards, mostly soldiers. AP and Crispy both had a shot at winning late and tried to compete for the longest road. They were unable to out-build Kongo, and finished with 10 points each. Bill won on the last roll (a 6) by building his 4th city and flipping two victory points.
If Crispy or AP had won, Kongo had long ago blown the game. In the end, he still gets the honor, due to player outrage. AP noted “He (Bill) has 4 development cards face down, and you listened to him and robbed ME????”. Crispy added “This game would have been over long ago if you hadn’t done all those crazy trades. You just wasted 30 minutes of my life.” And finally, he managed to run out of settlements with 11 points on the board for probably the 4th time in a row.
Current Standings:Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 4 / 3
Crispy: 1 / 2
Zalman: 1 / 2
AP: 5 / 3
Kongo: 0 / 4
Monday, July 7, 2008
Everybody blew the game
Well, Zalman finally broke through today and won a game. But he couldn't have done it without everyone else blowing the game for him. Crispy, back from an unannounced vacation, got the best placement. Ap had solid numbers and good rolls. Bill was hopeless. Frankly, I don't know what he was doing.
Anyway, everyone who lost shares in the credit for blowing the game. First off, Zalman's whole strategy depended on him getting the brick port. Early on in the game Crispy could have built on a 9 of sheep and make building on the brick port impossible, but instead chose to build in another direction. Zalman was eventually able to build on the brick port, and then built on the 9 of sheep to get an extra VP and seal the game.
Sheep was hard to come by because only Crispy had a good number on a sheep. Zalman got a sheep from him in a trade and was holding on to it. He only had 2 cards, a wood and a sheep, and both resources he could only obtain through trade. Bill rolled a 7 and knew that Zalman had a sheep, but Zalman pleaded with Bill not to rob him, so instead, Bill robbed Ap. If Bill robbed either of Zalman's cards, he would have had a lot of trouble building on the brick port.
Ap was getting cards like crazy. At one point, he had 17 cards, 8 points, and needed only 3 roads for the longest roads. But he rolled a 7, lost half his cards, and couldn't put us away.
They all blew the game. And with 2 settlements, 2 cites, and a crap load of development cards, Zalman won the game.
Current Standings:Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 3 / 3
Crispy: 1 / 2
Zalman: 1 / 2
AP: 5 / 3
Kongo: 0 / 3
Note: it is possible for multiple people to blow the same game
Anyway, everyone who lost shares in the credit for blowing the game. First off, Zalman's whole strategy depended on him getting the brick port. Early on in the game Crispy could have built on a 9 of sheep and make building on the brick port impossible, but instead chose to build in another direction. Zalman was eventually able to build on the brick port, and then built on the 9 of sheep to get an extra VP and seal the game.
Sheep was hard to come by because only Crispy had a good number on a sheep. Zalman got a sheep from him in a trade and was holding on to it. He only had 2 cards, a wood and a sheep, and both resources he could only obtain through trade. Bill rolled a 7 and knew that Zalman had a sheep, but Zalman pleaded with Bill not to rob him, so instead, Bill robbed Ap. If Bill robbed either of Zalman's cards, he would have had a lot of trouble building on the brick port.
Ap was getting cards like crazy. At one point, he had 17 cards, 8 points, and needed only 3 roads for the longest roads. But he rolled a 7, lost half his cards, and couldn't put us away.
They all blew the game. And with 2 settlements, 2 cites, and a crap load of development cards, Zalman won the game.
Current Standings:Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 3 / 3
Crispy: 1 / 2
Zalman: 1 / 2
AP: 5 / 3
Kongo: 0 / 3
Note: it is possible for multiple people to blow the same game
Thursday, July 3, 2008
7/3 A three player game
Today we only had 3 as Crispy is still apparently on vacation, and Kong bailed to have lunch in a grocery store 15 miles away. Needless to say, he gets credit for blowing today's game.
Because there was only 3 of us, we made the board smaller, getting rid of the expansion tiles. Ap placed first, Bill second, me third. There were two good spots, and I got hosed. None of us went on brick to begin with and the start of the game was slow. Bill was the only person to expand to brick and because of this, he was a dangerous trading partner. The number 8 rolled literally 3 times the entire game. I had an 8 of sheep. Twice when 8 rolled, my 8 of sheep was robbed. Fantastic.
Also, since Bill had the only brick, he had the longest road. However, 11 rolled like crazy and Ap got a lot of sheep on that number. There came a time where Ap had 10 points and a bunch of cards in his hand. He needed only 2 boats to get longest road. Instead, he traded in a bunch of stone to build a settlement. I, of course, waited until he passed the dice and Bill rolled before pointing out his mistake. Now if one of us won, Gary would be off the hook for blowing the game. It took 4-5 turns, but Ap was finally able to win by getting enough cards for the longest road. The pirate shop was blocking him on one side and it took him forever to realize he could go another way. When we asked him what took so long, he said, "I wanted to build this way, but the robber was in the way." He pointed when he said this. In doing so, he hit his tall cup of water with no lid, and spilled it all over his development cards and his shorts. Now vlau really needs to get new cards. Bill and I immediately exclaimed, "YES!" It was great. Almost worth him winning. Again.
Crap.
Standings
Bill: 3 / 1.5
Crispy: 1 / 1
Zalman: 0 / 1.5
AP: 5 / 2
Kongo: 0 / 3
Because there was only 3 of us, we made the board smaller, getting rid of the expansion tiles. Ap placed first, Bill second, me third. There were two good spots, and I got hosed. None of us went on brick to begin with and the start of the game was slow. Bill was the only person to expand to brick and because of this, he was a dangerous trading partner. The number 8 rolled literally 3 times the entire game. I had an 8 of sheep. Twice when 8 rolled, my 8 of sheep was robbed. Fantastic.
Also, since Bill had the only brick, he had the longest road. However, 11 rolled like crazy and Ap got a lot of sheep on that number. There came a time where Ap had 10 points and a bunch of cards in his hand. He needed only 2 boats to get longest road. Instead, he traded in a bunch of stone to build a settlement. I, of course, waited until he passed the dice and Bill rolled before pointing out his mistake. Now if one of us won, Gary would be off the hook for blowing the game. It took 4-5 turns, but Ap was finally able to win by getting enough cards for the longest road. The pirate shop was blocking him on one side and it took him forever to realize he could go another way. When we asked him what took so long, he said, "I wanted to build this way, but the robber was in the way." He pointed when he said this. In doing so, he hit his tall cup of water with no lid, and spilled it all over his development cards and his shorts. Now vlau really needs to get new cards. Bill and I immediately exclaimed, "YES!" It was great. Almost worth him winning. Again.
Crap.
Standings
Bill: 3 / 1.5
Crispy: 1 / 1
Zalman: 0 / 1.5
AP: 5 / 2
Kongo: 0 / 3
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
7/2 Was it blackmail?
Today's game almost didn't happen. Kongo refused to play and didn't give a reason why he couldn't. So after about an hour of trying to get his reasoning out of him, AP informed us that Kongo will play. How he was able to break the Kongo Iron Curtain, and get him to play, I have no idea. Does Ap have material to blackmail Kongo? Did he use it to get him to play today? I don't know. If you ask either Kongo or Ap about it, you are bound to get "no response"
Anyway, back to today's game. Kongo had longest road, 5 settlements, and 1 city. Where have I heard that before? Today, admittedly, I sucked. I was the weakest player and the best part of the game was when Kongo traded me 4 cards, for 1, so I could cut off Bill from ever building on an island. That trade immediately made Kongo more dangerous than Bill, because Bill's master plan had be thwarted. Even after the trade of which Kongo netted -3 cards, he still had 10 cards in his hand. Ap then rolled a 7, Kongo lost half, and Ap robbed Kongo because he was most dangerous. So Kongo went from 13 cards to 4, in 3 turns. Robbed to death.
For the 4th game in a row, Bill took a robber off Ap, and his number rolled immediately following. This is really uncanny. 6 rolled 3 times in a row and Ap for 6 wood. Needless to say, I think you can figure out who won. Yes, Ap again. He had 4 cities and 3 settlements. An abundance of cards. He did quite well. About 2/3 of the way through the game, with Ap and Gary in the lead, they made a trade with each other that helped them both out. Bill and I couldn't believe that they would trade with the other and proclaimed whoever lost the game, between the 2 of them, would have blown the game. Ap won. Gary blew the game.
Current Standings:Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 3 / 1.5
Crispy: 1 / 1
Zalman: 0 / 1.5
AP: 4 / 2
Kongo: 0 / 2
Anyway, back to today's game. Kongo had longest road, 5 settlements, and 1 city. Where have I heard that before? Today, admittedly, I sucked. I was the weakest player and the best part of the game was when Kongo traded me 4 cards, for 1, so I could cut off Bill from ever building on an island. That trade immediately made Kongo more dangerous than Bill, because Bill's master plan had be thwarted. Even after the trade of which Kongo netted -3 cards, he still had 10 cards in his hand. Ap then rolled a 7, Kongo lost half, and Ap robbed Kongo because he was most dangerous. So Kongo went from 13 cards to 4, in 3 turns. Robbed to death.
For the 4th game in a row, Bill took a robber off Ap, and his number rolled immediately following. This is really uncanny. 6 rolled 3 times in a row and Ap for 6 wood. Needless to say, I think you can figure out who won. Yes, Ap again. He had 4 cities and 3 settlements. An abundance of cards. He did quite well. About 2/3 of the way through the game, with Ap and Gary in the lead, they made a trade with each other that helped them both out. Bill and I couldn't believe that they would trade with the other and proclaimed whoever lost the game, between the 2 of them, would have blown the game. Ap won. Gary blew the game.
Current Standings:Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 3 / 1.5
Crispy: 1 / 1
Zalman: 0 / 1.5
AP: 4 / 2
Kongo: 0 / 2
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
7/1 -- Something smells
Today we were lucky enough to be joined at lunch by Kongo's stinky fish. It was a classic Kongo game. He built just 1 city. He also had 4 settlements and longest road. In summary, he had no plan on where he was going. Again, I looked strong, but I was robbed to death. I swear, I'm getting robbed way more than I have in the past. Like it's some kind of conspiracy. Anyway, again, FOR THE THIRD GAME IN A ROW, Bill robbed me instead of Ap, and Ap's numbers rolled like crazy immediately following that decision. However, in this game, Ap could not pull away and looked pretty pathetic. But he sneaks up on you like a snake.
Bill had the best numbers and in the end, we couldn't stop him. I finished in second place, again. Is it a coincidence that since vlau left I haven't won? It's like nobody trades with me, always robs me, and then they think I'm the most dangerous. It's unbelievable. I need vlau here to bounce ideas off of and to make dumb trades with. This sucks
Ap gets "blowing the game" because he refused to get the game from Bill's office so that Bill did not have to return to his office after his 11am meeting. Ap being the closest to Bill, it should have been his responsibility. Ap's office was not on the way to Bill's meeting. Instead I walked up a flight of stairs and over the length of the entire building to meet Bill on the way to his meeting, to get the game. Man, if Crispy was in, I don't think Ap should have been allowed to play. What do you think?
::APshrug::
That's right, no response!!
Current Standings:
Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 3 / 1.5
Crispy: 1 / 1
Zalman: 0 / 1.5
AP: 3 / 2
Kongo: 0 / 1
Bill had the best numbers and in the end, we couldn't stop him. I finished in second place, again. Is it a coincidence that since vlau left I haven't won? It's like nobody trades with me, always robs me, and then they think I'm the most dangerous. It's unbelievable. I need vlau here to bounce ideas off of and to make dumb trades with. This sucks
Ap gets "blowing the game" because he refused to get the game from Bill's office so that Bill did not have to return to his office after his 11am meeting. Ap being the closest to Bill, it should have been his responsibility. Ap's office was not on the way to Bill's meeting. Instead I walked up a flight of stairs and over the length of the entire building to meet Bill on the way to his meeting, to get the game. Man, if Crispy was in, I don't think Ap should have been allowed to play. What do you think?
::APshrug::
That's right, no response!!
Current Standings:
Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 3 / 1.5
Crispy: 1 / 1
Zalman: 0 / 1.5
AP: 3 / 2
Kongo: 0 / 1
quick recap of 6/27 and 6/30 games
Ap won both of these games. In both games I was playing pretty well and looking strong, but not running away with it by any means. However, in both games, there was a crucial part in the middle where Bill decided to rob me, instead of Ap. And then Ap's numbers rolled like crazy for two turns. So then Bill feels like he made a mistake and robs Ap. The only thing is, it was too late in both games! Ap was past the point of anyone catching up to him. You would think Bill would have learned his lesson from the first game, but noooooooooooooooooooooo! He didn't. Thanks Bill. Bill gets 1 blown game from 6/27. Crispy gets the blown game from 6/30 because he was away and didn't tell me he was going to be away. I thought he was just camping for the weekend. We had to invite Kongo.
Current Standings:
Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 2 / 1.5
Crispy: 1 / 1
Zalman: 0 / 1.5
AP: 3 / 1
Kongo: 0 / 1
Current Standings:
Standings (Wins / Blown Games):
Bill: 2 / 1.5
Crispy: 1 / 1
Zalman: 0 / 1.5
AP: 3 / 1
Kongo: 0 / 1
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