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Gathering of Friends 2003
The 2003 Gathering of Friends, a very relaxing event at which 237 gamers congregated for a week (more or less, depending on arrival and departure times) to play loads of board games, is over. And it was great. I played almost 70 games spread over seven days.
A full report of the games I played is available. But, as with any weeklong event, the people really made it special. I know I'll forget some, but I had an absolute blast playing (in alphabetical order)...
Balloon Cup with Stephen Glenn. I wish I had defeated the designer (S. Glenn) at his own game, but no such luck. Although later in the week I extracted some measure of revenge when Stephen was playing Avalon with a woman I didn't recognize. I wandered by and said, "Oh, I like this game much better than Balloon Cup." The woman immediately agreed with me. It was a priceless moment -- and only got better when Stephen told me later that she spent most of the game explaining to him, apparently oblivious to the fact that he designed it, why she really did not like Balloon Cup.
(At one point during the week, Frank Weiss -- who works for a German game company -- said to Stephen Glenn something like, "Balloon Cup is even better than Lost Cities." When I heard that, my mission was clear: make sure Stephen didn't get a big head. And my comment to this woman was merely a part of that effort. So, really, I was just trying to help Stephen out a bit.)
Battle Cry with Randy Cox the Younger. I came, I saw, I conquered. 'Nuff said.
By Hook or Crook with Greg Aleknevicus, Bob Herried, Terry Moore and Anthony Jones. This was the only game I played with "Funagain Bob" apart from basketball. And, fortunately, he's less physical while playing board games than he is on the hardwood. But he's just as effective -- he sunk the winning shot for his team in basketball, and he won this game. Greg, who edits The Games Journal, is always fun to play with.
Carcassonne with Bruce Whitehill and Frank Weiss. It's always nice to be a part of history, and in this game I played the most useless farmer in the history of Carcassonne. Lucky for me, Rick Thornquist was on hand to document it.
Crokinole with Stephen Glenn as my partner. We cruised through the first round of the tournament (winning 105-10), but met the juggernaut that is Aaron Weissblum and Richard Harding in the second round (losing 165-15). It didn't help a bit that I pulled off one of the all-time great chokes in Crokinole history by bouncing four (four!) consecutive shots off of a peg and into the ditch.
Die Macher with Adam Smiles, James Davis, Stephen Glenn and Mark Edwards. We started setting up the board at 10:15 p.m. After a thorough rules explanation and several minor interruptions, the game actually began at 11:20 p.m. And we finished at about 2:45 a.m. So, although the game was fantastic, it actually was significantly shorter than I expected (3 hours, 25 minutes -- I was expecting at least 4 hours).
Dr. Nim with Randy Cox the Younger. This is a crazy plastic computer-like game from the 1960s, where you actually play against the computer. I stink at games like this, and I stunk at Dr. Nim.
Fresh Fish with Angela Gaalema and Stephen Glenn. Whew... what a brain-burner this game is, at least the first time you play it. But I left with my own copy, and I'll definitely be playing it again. If you enjoy truly challenging games, consider picking up Fresh Fish. It's published by Angela's company, Plenary Games.
Friendly Feud with Warren Madden, Rick Thornquist and Rodney Somerstein. Peter Sarrett of The Game Report did a fantastic job organizing and hosting the event, which was a multi-team version of Family Feud. We finished second after the first round, second after the second round, and fifth after the final round. The high score was 171, we finished with 152, and the 16th (last) place team ended with 118. Our team was a lot of fun. Warren works for the Weather Channel, and he knows Dave Schwartz!
Grand Prix F1 with Greg Schloesser, Nick Danger, Rick Thornquist, Dave Bernazzani, Jen Bernazzani, Mark Edwards and Stephen Glenn. Stephen won this game, which (in my opinion; others disagree) was much more notable for the group that played it with than it was for the actual gameplay. It's a clever little auto racing game, but playing with these seven opponents was hilarious. Mark broke one of Nick's dice boots (clear dice towers -- very cool), four of us ran out of gas and couldn't finish, and since I was in charge of the rules I'm certain that something big was missed.
Haste Worte tournament with teammates Dale Yu, Angela Gaalema and John Palagyi. Although we finished eighth, it was a lot of fun. Haste Worte (which translates to Hasty Words) is a fantastic party game in the same family as Scattergories.
Intrige with Mark Edwards, Craig Massey, Gee Barger and Brian Fealy. This was my first play of Intrige, and although Craig and Mark smoked me, it was a lot of fun. Hey, Gee -- just give me $10,000 more and I promise the job is yours. Really. Trust me.
King's Breakfast with Angela Gaalema, Stephen Glenn and Alan R. Moon. Learning a game from the designer is always nice. Alan taught us this light new card game about not eating more than the king, and Angela wound up winning. Alan... well, Alan wouldn't let us add up his score. And I don't think it was because he was so far in the lead that he wanted us to feel better.
Kohle, Kies & Knete with Mark Edwards, Gee Barger, Brian Fealy, Constantine von Hoffman and Becky Smiles. We actually played two consecutive games of KK&K; this was the group for the second. The first was normal -- lots of wheeling and dealing, trash talking, and the like. I came in fourth out of six. I also came in fourth out of six in the second game, but it was nothing like the first. Why? Because of Becky. Yeah, she looks innocent. But she is a vicious negotiator, trying to convince us that she only wanted to help her friend Constantine because he was obviously in last place. That might have been true, but she helped herself a lot more and wound up winning with $49. Second place had $41. Not particularly close. Someone please remind me to not play negotiation games with Becky again.
Loopin' Louie tournament. I was eliminated in the first round, losing to the eventual champion Greg Daigle. But it was most notable, from my perspective, because I was yelled at by tournament director Dale Yu for trying to sneak in a practice round.
New England with Nick Danger, Warren Madden and Mark Edwards. It was a great pleasure to defeat Mark in this game on a tiebreaker -- we both finished with 32 points, but I had more gold remaining (14-10). New England was the best of the new games I played, and this particular playing of it was wonderful, with plenty of tension right down to the very end.
Nodwick the Card Game with Paul McRae, Frank Branham and Gee Barger. I love this game, which involves putting henchmen back together. If you're not familiar with the Nodwick comic books, they're well worth reading. And this game, designed by Frank, captures the spirit of the comic very well.
Phoenix with Ron Magin. Ron is the principal behind Cafe Games, which imports EuroGames, Warfrog and other companies' products to the U.S. Phoenix is a beautiful abstract game for two players, almost (but not quite) a two-player solitaire game. After we finished the game, we talked about politics for a while -- just long enough to figure out that we probably shouldn't talk about politics. Especially not at 5 a.m. -- which was a late night, not an early morning.
Traumfabrik with Larry Levy, Greg Daigle and Alfonzo Smith. This set had great English-language pasteups, making an already great game even more enjoyable. Larry's low-quality, high-quantity policy worked out well, as he made too many movies for those of us who actually cared about the art to catch up. Although I did manage to win the award for the worst film.
Venice Connection with Gee Barger, Craig Massey and Mark Edwards. We went to Outback for dinner, and our table had 16 coasters on it, so Gee quickly marked up a set of tiles for Venice Connection. We played a quasi-tournament, and I lost to Craig but defeated Mark. Our waitress seemed a bit perplexed when she asked, "Are you writing on the coasters?" We also created a quick little bidding/bluffing game something along the lines of Raj.
Zendo with Dan Blum, Derk Solko, Tim Isakson and Frank Branham. This deduction game is played with the pieces from the Icehouse set. Derk and Tim, Zendo veterans, came up with fairly easy "rules" that we solved in a reasonable amount of time. My rule (one more yellow pip than there are green pips) was too difficult, and so was Dan's (which I can't remember). Frank's was easy (an odd number of ungrounded pyramids) but, knowing Frank, we all thought it would be twisted and so we didn't figure it out.
Games I'm Playing
Since the Gathering, I've kept on a good streak of game playing. My parents, my little sister and my brother-in-law are all visiting from Texas for a wedding. Beth and I played Royal Turf with Kevin and Lisa on Thursday night; Kevin won handily. Then we split into teams (Lisa and I vs. Beth and Kevin) for Crokinole -- and the fact that I had played it 10 times or so at the Gathering was definitely the deciding factor as Lisa and I won 105-0.
Mom and Dad came over Friday night and we played Blokus (a beautiful abstract game, enjoyed by all and won by me with Beth just one point behind) and Too Many Cooks (a clever trick-taking card game, also roundly enjoyed; won by Beth).
Board Games Survivor Island - Amazon Edition
This week in the Board Games Survivor Island game, El Grande was eliminated. Four games remain as we enter the final weeks.
Games I Can See While Sitting At My Computer
None -- but only because they're all out in the living room while my family's in town.
Boardgame Top Picks List of the Week
These are the Top 5 New Games I Played at the Gathering 2003, listed in alphabetical order.
From Pat Premo:
Boardgames Poll of the Week
Which of these, my favorite new games from The Gathering of Friends 2003, most interests you?
Last Week's Poll Results
What color do you prefer to use when you play a board game?
It's never too late to add your vote!
About Something Else Site of the Week
Rumors are flying about the fifth Harry Potter book, and About.com's Guide to Parenting of Adolescents, Denise Witmer, has the scoop.
Green Bay Packers Notes of the Week
Draft day is here, and I hope that the Packers brain trust doesn't select a quarterback in the first round. Even if Rex Grossman is available, quarterbacks are too much of a crap shoot to warrant a first-round pick, in my opinion. Sports Illustrated writer Don Banks helped convince me with this analysis. And his colleague Peter King thinks that some potential sleeper QBs will be available on day 2 of the draft.
Prediction: The Packers do not draft a quarterback until at least the fourth round.
Other Off-Topic Thoughts of the Week
It's not at all off-topic, but I wanted to include it here. The second part of the auction of Sid Sackson's magnificent game collection is scheduled for Saturday, May 3, 2003, at the North River Auction Hall in Keyport, New Jersey. If you go to the auction, please track me down and say hello.
What's That You Say?
Talk back to SMG in the About Board Games Forum.
--Erik Arneson
26 April 2003
About Board Games Forum Post of the Week
I watched the NBC Rodeo special on Saturday where Shivers was unsuccessful in his attempt to ride Little Yellow Jacket for a $1,000,0000 and was wondering if there are any Bull Riding or Rodeo games out there? I believe there might be some "party" type games, but I would like to see "real" cowboy's rated and "real" bulls rated so we could have some all-time great matchups. I had heard that a bull named Bodacious was the most famous one of all -- was he ever ridden? Perhaps even "real" bucking broncos rated? Any help on this one?
Post your response in the About Board Games Forum.
Vote now!
