Gathering on

Still having trouble connecting to the 'geek, so again no hot links..

I walked into the hall around 11 and saw folks learning Breaking Away. This is a game I've wanted to try for years and I finally got the chance! I joined Paul, Chuck, Ray, Brian, Brian and Mark at the table for a couple laps around the Velodrome. Long and short, I really enjoyed it. I suspect the 21 riders in the race due to so many players upped the interest level.


Next I grabbed lunch and ran into Matthew. Earlier in the week I'd mentioned wanting to try 1960: Making of a President, and he reminded me and offered to teach. Now that's an offer I can't refuse. I played the bad guys and we went to work trying to influence states to win the election. I enjoyed the game, but it lacked the build up and tension of Twilight Struggle from my point of view. I'd gladly play again, but don't need to own it.

We had some more time, so I offered to teach a prototype I'd learned earlier in the week to Matt and Becky. Ron joined us and we had a blast. Suffice it to say there is still plenty of room in the civilization building genre for innovation and good new games.

Matthew had another obligation and Ron departed, so we got up to look for a next game. Ted and Travis were looking to play Toledo and asked if I knew it and could teach. I agreed, and after realizing they could fit two more sat down with Becky to play. Unfortunately, this time through the game dragged a bit, and I saw my concern with the players determining game ending condition resurface again. For the second game in a row I won when I was able to get my second pawn to the ending on the same turn that the apparent leader ended the game. I like the game in general, but the end game really detracts for me from the overall experience.


We went to dinner with Ted, Travis and a couple of the guys from Fantasy Flight. Upon returning Ted taught us Year of the Dragon, a game he really likes that none of the three of us had played. Doug also joined in and we embarked upon trying to survive the eight horrible months out of the twelve in front of us. It is a very clever game that I did quite poorly at. The play dragged a bit at our table, so I'd need to try again to really set my assessment, but my first impressions are quite good. Another Alea game that sits just a bit outside the mold, which to me is a good thing.

Next up I played the poker tournament. Around eighty players signed up for this no-cost, no limit hold-em format. As the starting time was 9:30 and they wanted it to end at a reasonable time the blinds shot upward at a startling rate. I was playing about even (nearly doubling my chips) at the first break an hour later and already about half the players had dropped. Still, it turned out my chip stack was only about 9x the big blind. After a poor play on the second hand after the break I was sitting on seven blinds. With a 10,A of hearts in the hole and two hearts showing on the board after the flop I raised 2 blinds and the player after me went all in. I decided to go for it, but the needed draw didn't come out. Still, I think it was the right decision due to both the pot odds and the need to have a big stack to keep going in a tournament like this.

As I wandered away from the poker tables Mark called on me to play Show Manager as the sixth they had sat down with ended up with another obligation. I gladly jumped in and joined Bob, Gary, Mark, Berna and Pat trying to put on the best shows. This whole group plays now, or has in the past played in their local game groups, so there was a lot of gabbing and storytelling through the game, Mark in particular being in fine form. Unusually, several of us ended up with the same final show, and the deck literally ran out of cards for some positions in that show, with not even wilds to grab to fill the slots. One player swept the board enough times in one turn to see every single card in order to prove it. Always a fun game, I like this version much better than Atlantic Star, and wish they'd reprint.


I wasn't quite ready to go to bed, but ran into Bryan who was checking out Pizza Box Baseball. I asked if I could sit down and we could learn the rules together. He agreed, and once we figured out the mis-collated rule book (another copy was there, we just picked up the wrong one) we were able to quickly begin playing the simplest level of the game. This game uses cards instead of dice, but in about half an hour we were able to play a full game. The outcomes look like real baseball scores (I won 5-4 with 12 hits and an error). My one disappointment would be that it doesn't seem to support having specific named players or pro-teams, instead opting for a more generic pitcher ranking and batter order approach. Still, probably a good light game for the baseball fan.

At that it was time for bed again.

Another Day at the Gathering

Unfortunately Boardgamegeek is not responsive for me right now, so no hot links to game titles in this post. You can quickly search any of these games there.

Blogging daily does help track the passage of time, but I've officially lost track of the number of days here. I can work it out, but instead let me just outline the next day I was here. We got up and to the game room by mid-morning and Becky and I (both wearing our Penguins sweatshirts as the playoffs are starting) found David who had about an hour and a half before an obligation. We decided to play Kingsburg which Becky told me she had liked better than I reported on our first play, so I wanted to give it a three player shake. I liked it better than the first time, but it still ran too long as was too repetitive in decision making for my tastes.


As we were walking away from the table Greg grabbed me to play a new prototype with Doug and the game designer Peter. We really enjoyed it and I'd love to say a lot more, but as it looked like Peter was on track to be lined up for a publisher in the next day or two I'll save my comments for when I can put in a bit of meat.

I tracked down Becky and convinced her to try a game I'd played six months ago, Galaxy Trucker. This game has an element where all the players are frantically grabbing tiles from the center of the table to build ships simultaneously, competing against each other to be first to complete it. After that, you fly them through a series of gauntlets indicated by various cards and watch as they can either gain goods to sell, or be damaged or destroyed en route. Much like Roborally a lot of the fun can come from inadvertent misfortune to the players. Bob joined us , even though he doesn't love the game, because we accidentally each asked him separately if he wanted to play. Tami also jumped in and wanted to try. We played the game as described in the rules for new players, and I confirmed I really like it, while Becky and Bob confirmed it wasn't their thing. C'est la vie.


Becky and I went for dinner at the Mexican place across the street. Good food at a good price, and came back to see a game of Pandemic that Mark and Gary were in just wrapping up. The two of them were interested in playing again, so Becky and I sat down. We had four roles, but were missing dispatcher (the one role I'd played before). We seeded the deck with five epidemic cards and quickly went about containing diseases. We cured blue, but couldn't quite eradicate it, while red was cured and eradicated two turns later. After curing black and trying to stamp down yellow a bit we realized we were getting very close to losing due to drawing all the cards! Some good collective thinking got all the needed cards into Becky's hand and she won the game for us on her turn. If her turn had gone to completion we would have lost. I'm now one and one at this game and have enjoyed both plays a great deal. The first likely new buy from the Gathering for me.


After Pandemic I misremembered how much time we had until the Loopin' Louie tournament so we asked for something short. Mark suggested Lexio and Tori joined Becky and me to play. Lexio is a beautifully produced card type game played with thick black tiles. Much like Gang of Four, Tichu and other similar games, your goal is to empty your hand of tiles first. Tori had a rough time of it and the game ended fairly quickly, with Mark the beneficiary and winner from his one big hand. The picture below is of a horrible losing hand for me. I played one five tile hand but failed to keep the lead so the five tiles shown had to be split in a desperate attempt to reduce my losses.


By the time we stopped playing Lexio we were again left with about 45 minutes until the tournament. We spent a few minutes watching a big group play Tales of the Arabian Nights, and then were recruited by Kori to help play test a very simple accusation style party game John is designing. We ended up being eight, with Jake, Dave, Kori, John, Gina, Becky and Elizabeth all intently trying to decide where we stood in the order of things. We had time for four rounds, so offered some general ideas but mostly just gave John a chance to see what happened as the game scales up.

Next was the Loopin' Louie tournament, which was very well attended this year. I believe there were between 60 and 70 players, but unfortunately only 8 sets of Loopin' Louie to be used. That meant that at any point in time abouthalf the players were waiting their next turn to play. I didn't start at a table and didn't do well my first two times up, so it was starting to become a long hour as I waited in line. Then my game picked up as I won two in a row and thus was able to play five games in the hour, about par for the course. This year a lot of players won two games, but four wins were necessary to guarantee a spot at the final table.

Becky wanted to try Agricola with occupations and minor improvements, and after a long search for a table to play, and other players, we ended up finding Rodney who had never tried three player. The game goes quicker with that few, and the distribution of resources into the game is much different. This time I also had cards with a lot of synergy and was able to plant a field by the first harvest that would produce for the rest of the game and get a baker, second field and oven by the second harvest so that I never had to worry about where my food was coming from. With that critical infrastructure out of the way I just rolled forward to post my best score yet of 44. I also made a final turn gaffe in not grabbing an extra family member. If I hadn't already pre-ordered the game this would be my number one buy of the Gathering.


Becky went to bed and I wandered a bit, ending up back at Peter's prototype where he, Ralph and I had an extended discussion (that various others took part in at times as well) about one very particular piece of his game. It was really just exploring final development ideas to take the game as close to perfection as possible, and is the sort of design I feel I thrive on. As already laid out the game works wonderfully, but I think the changes we developed will really bring things to completion. I think he'll be trying them today so we will see how it goes.

At that point it was late so I begged off the continuing discussion and went to bed.

Gathering Day 4

As expected the first half of this day was spent out in the glorious weather (70 to 80 degrees) at the Columbus Zoo. It was great for this Vermonter to get out and soak in the rays while seeing all the wild animals, although I did get a bit too much sun. It was 4:15 by the time I reached the game room.

Marty was between games so we agreed to play something and I suggested Through the Ages. He eagerly agreed, and we recruited Eric to join us. Our game proved that this doesn't need to be a protracted affair as we finished set up a bit after 4:30 and completed the game just before 7:00, for a bit under 2-1/2 hours of play time. The stars were in alignment for me and I had by far my best score ever. Definitely a keeper, and having demonstrated that it can be played quickly I'm even more eager to keep getting it to the table.


Next I stuck around and played the prototype Valerie is developing again. This time it was Valerie, Marty and Dale at the table. Afterwards we had a good discussion, including other published designers sitting in to offer their advice and lessons learned stories. This is the sort of input that makes the Gathering such an useful resource for all these developers and publishers.

After that lengthy review Becky and I ran into Mark and we went off searching for Stone Age, but instead found the one copy of Toledo present was unused and I knew Dale was looking to play. I went back and grabbed Dale and we were off playing this game. Becky and I were definitely advantaged by playing our second time, although Mark looked for a moment like he would be able to win (he ended the game), I was able to make a sword and deliver it in my last turn to snatch away the victory. It is a solid game, but I am concerned that players have too much control over game end, plus limited options to catch up in points, which could lead to a king-maker situation if a 3rd party ends the game.


Becky went off to bed and Mark and I had an expedition to find other players and then a game to play. We eventually sat down with Dave and Tory, but Dave had to run off after the first turn and Gary sat in on his position. The game we played was Stone Age, and the play reinforced my opinion of the game as a solid medium weight family game. I'd take it off a prize table and gladly play it, but not sure I like it enough to buy it.


As I was wandering around deciding whether to play another game or head to bed I was offered with a chance to play one more prototype by Greg, Stefan and Matt. The prototype demonstrated that there are still new directions to take civilization style games and was quite fun to play. It is a recent design and it will be interesting to see if it finds publication in its current form, and how quickly.

That is it for my part day of gaming, tomorrow it is back to the full grind!

Gathering Day 3

Today it was just me at the convention as Becky is off visiting family. Tomorrow I'll have a short day of gaming as we are to meet for the early afternoon to go to the zoo. Sounds like fun!

Despite the late night, I awoke fairly early and finished up my blog post. Then off to the game room where i ran into Brian, Mary and Frank and we settled in to learn Stone Age from Brian. This game has been compared to Pillars of the Earth, and I would do so favorably. It is at heart a worker placement and dice game, so that keeps it firmly in the family camp where skill takes you a distance but the dice may determine the final standing. I enjoyed it an definitely will play again.


I wandered off and found Dale who was interested in trying out Oregon. Ted joined us to teach the rules. An interesting placement game followed where you pair up cards to place cowboy meeples and buildings into spaces on the board according to matching regions, to gain points. The whole thing had a fairly abstract feel at some level, but was engaging and attractive. My only down point was the challenge of visualizing your various options, but the mechanisms of the game did allow for some interesting 'combo' moves. I probably won't seek it out, but will play again if someone asks. I liked it better than the current BGG rating.

After that Dale and Valerie headed off for lunch with some planning of the game show later this week, so I grabbed a burger in the game room and spent some time watching Stephen demo one of his prototypes. It was a nice simple game, so I picked up all the rules and was able to comment on what I'd observed afterwards, even not having played. It sounded like there was interest if a couple wrinkles are ironed out, so I'm hopeful that works out for him.

Then I ran into Matthew and we decided to play Agricola (second playing for both of us). Dan and Ed joined in and we went to work. It was my first game with occupations and minor improvements, but my cards really didn't inspire me that much. Through the course of the game I played one occupation and one major improvement and the only minor improvements I used were the ones that pass to the next player. I ended up winning (final tallies were 34,33,32 with one low score) so you can definitely play a strong game without relying on the cards. Still, it reinforced my prior experience.


As we were wrapping up Nataline wandered by and cajoled Dan, Ed and me to stick around and play Euchre next. We did so, and ended up playing two games. Dan and I started slow in the first game but then the cards went hot. I ended up going alone twice in four hands in the first game (making the bid once and all five tricks the second time). Apparently this made me not a nice person in Nataline's eyes, but I think we've agreed to get along anyway.


Next up for the day was the 'welcome party' that Alan hosts annually. A chance to get a free drink or two and have a light fare dinner buffet. I had a great time, discussing everything from how Stephen's prototypes were going, to discussing the finer points of definition for deduction, induction, heuristics and which relevant to different game and life situations with Kori. It seems that Kori and I have one of these deep metaphysical discussions every year, and while on some level they don't lead to anything specific, I really enjoy them. This year a bonus was that food was good and plentiful, so I made it dinner.

After dinner it was back down to the game room. I hadn't stuck around as long as some at the welcome party so free game players were harder to find. Then Cedric and Thomas showed up and wanted to demo a prototype of a game currently in development. Curt joined us and Cedric explained the rules. It is a cooperative game with some great elements of teamwork. The art was under development but looked great, and they said it was aiming for release by end of year. I enjoy cooperative games so I'll be on the lookout for it in six months.

Looking for my next game I ran into Matt, Dominic and Eric sitting down to play Kingsburg. Eric was teaching and so I joined in for what looked like a fun and quick dice game. Play consists of rolling your dice, and then splitting or grouping them to petition various advisers (as well as King and Queen) for the resources you need to build your empire. It is a neat idea in concept, but the play was way to slow for me. I also had horrible luck. Bad enough that I suspect the wooden dice in the game may not be 'fair' as can happen when the wood isn't evenly dense. I rolled my three dice 15 times and never got higher than 12, and was 10 or under on all but 4 rolls. I'll need to give the game another chance with more emphasis on playing fast, but my first play was underwhelming.


Again, I was off looking for games to play, and ended up selecting Pandemic with Dan. Eric and Marty joined us and we were off trying to save the world from disease. At first things seemed to be going well, and we eradicated the red disease. Blue was getting a little built up, but we thought things were under control. Then we got two epidemics in short order. Quickly we saw our progress crumble as outbreaks spread into Europe. We had all the research we needed for cures but it was too late. An outbreak in Milan cascaded throughout Europe and the game was over for us. As cooperative games go, this one is quick, simple and fun. You still need everyone to participate and it runs the risk of one player dominating as can always happen, but I was impressed with how such a simple system could yield so many decisions.

It was about midnight and Marty began talking about heading to bed. Then Scott showed up asking if he wanted to play Euphrat & Tigris. Once Marty decided he could stay up for that, Zack and I also joined in. My caveat was that I'd play if Marty would have me, as I've made some pretty boneheaded plays in prior years playing this game that really hurt him without helping me. This time I did make a play that hurt him, and may not have handled it perfectly, but ended up with a good score and second place, so I feel a bit better about my overall skill with this game. That is a good thing as I really like it and don't play nearly as often as I ought to. The whole game not quite an hour start to finish, and then I headed off to bed.


Tomorrow, the zoo, pizza party and more gaming.

Gathering Day 2

The second day for me at the Gathering began fairly early. Becky and I arrived at the game room about 9 A.M. and while there were a few groups going, things were quieter than the night before.

Deciding we should jump right into games, we found Scott who had a few minutes before he was to be part of teaching 18xx (I think they ended up with two games of 18FL going). So, we agreed a game to fill the small gap in time was appropriate. Out came Cheeky Monkey and we set about the not so serious business of drawing animals out of a bag. Overall it was an entertaining little press your luck game. Not a lot of extraneous stuff going on which I liked. On the other hand it didn't catch me as something I'd be likely to come back to.

Next up, we ran into Charlie and suggested Agricola. He was game, but hadn't played in a few months, so he recruited Travis in to help cover the rules. Becky and I had to go meet family for lunch/dinner and it was our first game, so we decided to play the simpler family version to get a taste for the basic system without the occupation and minor improvement cards. Much as been said about this game recently so I won't go into any details, check the game link above for that. Personally, the game is definitely a keeper, one I'm glad I jumped into pre-order from Zeb. It has a lot of choices available, and an element of conflict in who takes which actions, and in which order. Even without the cards that would keep it fresh for a long time. Could easily be the best of the newly learned games of the Gathering for me, so living up to reputation. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph my game winning farm, but the flock of sheep and boar was impressive.

Becky and headed off then for dinner with her family. It is worth noting that a great thing about so much time at an event like this is that you don't mind taking half a day away from things. In this case a chance to see relatives, some of whom we hadn't seen in a couple years. She stayed with her family for a couple days, so I was on my own in the evening.

After returning to the game room I was standing around chatting with some folks and Eric came by looking for a fourth to play a game. I jumped in sight unseen and it turns out that the game was none other than Game X, the prototype Valerie Putnam is developing. Doug, Eric, Sean and I played the game twice in a row, and followed up with some discussion of the game play. I think (and hope!) it resulted in useful feedback for Eric to let Valerie know.

At that point, I had gabbed quite a bit and traveled and so Sean and I ended up back out for a good dinner. It was a great meal, and rewarding to get to know another attendee while having an interesting discussion on the development of games. We also ended up discussing the interesting and sometimes warped ways in which information and expectations evolve for games on the internet.

Returning to the gaming room I wandered into Jake, Kori and David again. They were looking to play a couple 'light card game' types experiences. So, we proceeded to march up and down the walls lined with games until something caught our eye.

First thing to catch our attention was the multi-colored Big Points. This game, which seems to share a heritage with Tutankhamen, involves moving any pawn you wish to the next disk matching its color, and then picking up one of the adjacent disks. The order of arrival of the pawns on the steps at the end determines the value of the color disks. In the first game I tried a one color strategy and ignored the white disks (which are worth one point each for other color you have) and lost. Kori wanted a second play, as we now knew what were were doing, and I was able to grab two white disks, all the other colors and three of the most valuable color for the win. It was a deceptively brain-burning game for the simple box and colorful components. I enjoyed, but wasn't overwhelmed. In the picture below Jake's emoting has more to do with keeping his hands out of the photo than intense excitement at the game play.


Having only fulfilled half of our intention of 'a couple light games' we kept wandering. Somewhere in track we picked up Satish, and then a bit farther around the room our expedition came across a copy of Saboteur. We decided to give that a try based upon Satish's comment that he had played before and could help teach. After a couple of sentences he added a 'mind you, everything I'm telling you might be wrong.' Jake read the rules. The game is about mining your way to a hidden gold treasure, except some of the other players are saboteurs. You can slow down other players by playing broken equipment on them, and then they can't add to the mine until the play the corresponding repair card, Mille Bornes style.

The first hand nobody realized how many maps there were and the two Saboteurs were fairly quickly flushed out. Despite this, the miners didn't seem to draw the right cards to actually build to their destination and so the saboteurs won. Second and third rounds the miners one. In the end, I like the idea of the game a lot more than the execution. With 5 players at least, it is a huge impact on the outcome whether there are one or two saboteurs in play, but that is based just on card draw. Likewise your ability to overcome a broken piece is totally dependent on drawing the right card (although your friends should help). Just wasn't my thing, I'd need to be talked into a second chance for this one.


Somehow a crowd had gathered and was up to eight people. Discussions of party games emerged and it wasn't really in line for my interests at that point, so I wandered off. After saying hi to Sheila and James who had just arrived, I was walking by at the right moment for Mark and Brian to bring me in as a third for Race for the Galaxy. We played twice, and I enjoyed both games, although I was clearly outclassed. The first game I barely had 55% of the winning score although the second game was at least a bit more respectable.

As we were playing our second game Tom Lehmann came by and asked if we'd play his expansion prototype. We agreed, and so after we finished he joined as a fourth, explained the new elements and we were off. My game with the expansion was much closer, although I suspect that was partly because while I was playing at the same level it brought the experienced guys down a peg. After we finished up the game Tom showed us the prototypes of all the stuff that will be in the first expansion. This was just playtest parts, not pre-production or anything so I don't know what it looks like, only what meat it contains. What I can say is that I think it is quite an impressive game expansion and I expect will do quite well.

While Tom was going through this discussion, Eric and Chris had wandered back over and wanted a go, so we played again five player. This time I tried a strategy that pushed the game to a quick conclusion, but not quick enough as my final score was pretty poor. All in all a sobering set of games of Race.

It was getting quite late so I intended to head to bed, but instead I ended up chatting a few moments with Nat who had just flown in, and then heading over to hear what all the shouting nearby was about. Turns out a heated game of Battling Tops was underway. In a true Gathering moment, this little gem from 40 years ago was not only being played by a vocal group urging on their tops, but a small crowd had formed to encourage the little fighters to go at it. All we really needed was someone keeping book and taking bets. After staying up far to long to watch the battle to final conclusion, it was off to bed. Tomorrow I hope to try some of the other new mid-weight games I've been seeing around.

Back in the Saddle

Well, it has been a year. It was never my intention when starting this blog that it would become mostly a once a year Gathering update, but that is fine for now.

I'm back in Columbus, and enjoying another round. We flew in yesterday (United, Skybus didn't serve our area so we were spared the torture of finding alternate travel after they suddenly closed up shop). Unfortunately, due to the Skybus thing there are a fair number of folks who will need to drive. I already know some who were supposed to fly up Saturday morning arrived late Saturday night after 10+ unexpected hours on the road.

Otherwise, it is as thought the Gathering never ended. I arrived mid-afternoon Saturday and already there were 50 or so gamers at it. Heading over to drop our few games brought with us at a likely spot on a side table we happened right by Dan, Kory, Jake and David, so stopped to chat and ultimately play some games with them.

And so we were off!

First game of the Gathering for us was Speed Zendo. It is somewhat prototype, so I'll skip the tentative rules but if you know Zendo, it is the same concept but without turns. At the table were Becky, David, Dan, Jake and Kory at various times. We played several rounds, 5 or 6 and it was a good way to get my head into the gaming mode, even if my performance was horrible. Becky was very silent for most of it, but managed the rule for our final round with one guess after listening carefully to the responses thus far.


Next up was Felix, also known as Cat in the Sack. Dan had wandered off, but the rest of us stayed for this one. Jake was kind enough to read us the rules aloud, and then go back and explain what he'd read as we had caught only about 50% of what it actually meant the first time. This is a fairly simple game of progressive bid and bluff to collect sets of cards for points. You are bidding points and some cards are bad as well as good. The later you passed out the more chips you'd get to bid in future rounds. Also, as the set of cards was seeded by the players each round, you would need to judge whether another player had put in a good card or was just bluffing with his raise. All in all a simple and entertaining little game I don't need to own but would gladly play again.


Most of that group headed off for dinner, so Becky and I spent some time wandering the room saying hello to many others we haven't seen for a year. Then we ran into Dan Blum and decided there was time for something straightforward before dinner. We settled on Race for the Galaxy. Dan won handily, but it was good to play again, as Becky has only played a couple times and needed the refresher. Then it was off with Dan for some good Chinese food.

Back in the game room the three of us met up with Mario and Dan poked around for something new to try. He found a copy of the new Kosmos game Toledo with enough translation to figure the rules. This is a game in the same nature as Caylus in that you are taking actions along a path and building that path as you go. (Can we give credit to This Game is Bonkers for that mechanism?) It has an interesting dueling system, some neat decisions and a much less intense or long play time as either Caylus or Caylus Magna Carta. I want to try again, but after one play it looks like it goes on my recommended list.


Becky decided it was time for bed and Dan headed off for other games so Mario and I cast about for a choice. Agricola was available, but we wanted a couple more and didn't find a teacher quickly. Instead we decided to pull out Trapper and learn it from the rules inside. I read the rules while Mario recruited Richard and helped set up. This is a simple but interesting resource management, path selection and set collection game. You move trappers around the board of tiles using your hand of cards and collecting tiles as you go. The tile sets are good for points and there are bonus points that reward completing them more quickly when possible. Poor Richard had some trouble at the outset catching the strategy, but it came down to a quite close game for Mario and me, with him edging me out with a play to grab the last tile I needed. Another game I'd like to give another try before coming down with a firm rating.


We chatted with Rodney a bit and then decided we were up for one more light game. Dancing Dice it was. A fair amount of calling around the game room and we filled the table to six. With me were Mario, Rodney, Nick, Tyler and Maryl. After a good explanation and some sample rolls we started dancing. Well, really just rolling dice for sets and arranging them behind the screen. It was good entertaining fun. Again a filler I enjoyed, nothing I need to own, but one I'd gladly play again if asked. The game came down to Rodney and me dancing head to head, but he proved lighter of foot.


At that point I was about ready to head off to bed, but ran into Frank Branham who had just driven up from Georgia due to the Skybus fiasco. He always brings good (read interesting and off the beaten path) stuff. When I wandered over he was excitedly showing Henning his complete copy of Grade Up to Elite Cow. It is the first game I've seen which has a designated place on the player mat (actually a little plastic tray) for indicating your semen supplies. He also had an awesome looking complete prototype for his Battle Beyond Space design. I'll need to talk to him more to see what I can say about that. This is another nascent game I hope to be able to own some day. Finally we pulled out his copy of Bobbin' Bumblebees, a remake/clone of Loopin Louie. It was lightweight but decent. I'd agree with Frank, perhaps the closest substitute so far, but not the same. Frank, Henning, Dan and I played a handful of rounds and then I finally headed for bed.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you again tomorrow.