Thoughts about G.i.D.'05

A few days before our Gathering in Dayton 2005, I posted a list of things I was looking forward to. How did it pan out?

Seeing Tab's Settlers record fall - did not happen. Tab crushed us in two 4-player games. It really wasn't close in either one. He has a real feel for the game, no doubt about it. One unusual aspect that I believe he benefited from was the "tournament start". Every player began with 1 Settlement and 1 City, and a 3rd road. Negotiation was minimized somewhat, and with excellent starting locations, and a balanced board, no one really struggled to get resources. Tab went right for development cards both games, and won with the largest army both games as well...

Revenge in Serenissima. We never seemed to be in the right cycle for a tough long game (2+ hours), so this never hit the table. I did scan the rules a bit with Tab one night, but I came away thinking we needed to print some play aides, and he needed to do a trial run to teach it to us as it's been years since I've played. One concern for me is the weird bonuses for exclusive use of ports and such - the game has little margin for error, and it seems that if you get behind, it may be extremely tough to catch the leader. I may need to set up a demo game solo, before taking on Taber...

Delighting them with... Through the Desert? Dad forgot to bring it, Mom brought my copy of Empire Builder (yuck) that I left there a month ago. Roborally? Kids did enjoy it, we only had one small game with adults. Should have left it for Tab to try with the kids again. E&T? I loved it, Bob found it interesting, Dad is still trying to figure it out. Tab? Not sure - he was so tired by then, I wonder if he even remembers our game... Nexus Ops? Needed one more play, with everyone awake. I think everyone enjoyed it, not sure if the group will be clamoring for it next time, as there are so many other good titles out there.

One monster game. Nope. Never made it. We talked about it, but never had the strength to break one out. Sigh.

The kids. Did great really. Grayson had most of his fun riding bikes, as did the twins. Austen did very well, playing China (twice), Roborally, Carcassone, Edel Stein & Reich, and Cartagena. Kim and Tab did tease him about "playing by mail" on his Cartagena game, as he could not sit still long enough during his downtime, and kept wandering in to watch the Muppet Show DVD that I had brought... I look forward to more playing with the younglings.

LPH: Our Laughs Per Hour meter shot the highest during... Pass the Pigs and Foosball. Translation? Keep the games on the simple side, and short. Odds are good we are never going to get enough sleep and have enough time with the diversity of our Dayton group to get a Monster Game in.