Dad crushing us in Roborally!

Gaming in the Glass City

Dad came down sick, and Grayson and i drove out for a visit. I am creating this on my new PDA phone {!}. Picked up Roborally, Serenissima, and a few packs of the new Rocketmen CCG.

We played two games of RR, Dad won the first, would have won the second but I blew him up on the last leg!

Played a game of Through The Desert, was quite fun w/three players.

Tab is grand opening his new Old Navy store soon, too busy to post for a few weeks.

Great to have Dad out of the hospital, laughing and enjoying some time w/his grandson...

Random Catan tips

I have been doing pretty well in Settlers of Catan Online (current rating, 1771 with 22 wins in 49 three-player games, or 44.9% wins). I enjoy the game for a number of reasons, one of which being is pretty fast: most games end in 20-25 minutes. Not surprisingly for those who know me, I also enjoy being able to track my progress, and rank.

Lately I have been thinking of some "best practices" for playing Settlers, online or f-t-f. I have a document that I pour tips into when they come to me. Here's a sample:

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Catan Strategy tip #4 from Phuntomx:

When placing your City or Settlement, if all things are equal, make sure to place them on a number shared by your opponent. It would be VERY unlikely that your opponent would ever place the thief on a number that he shares with you. Sharing a resource location with at least 1 other player significantly reduced the odds by which you will have the thief placed on you, and great increases the odds that when he does, you will be able to remove it.

Also, be wary of the 6 and 8 locations, as these often attract the thief, as they are rolled 14% of the time. Five's and nines come up 11% of the time, still quite frequently, and are somewhat less likely to draw your opponents thief.

Catan Strategy tip #6 from Phuntomx:

When playing for the Longest Road, do not settle for simply having a tie in length, or even 1 extra link. If the game is on the line, make sure to add 2 or even 3 extra links in the chain, to prevent your opponent from playing a “road building card”, and stealing your 2-point advantage in one more. Also, it’s rare, but be aware of the 13-road limit, and if you are in a race with an opponent, make sure you get to 13 first so he doesn’t steal it from you.

Also, remember that it is extremely difficult to win a game of Settlers without having the Longest Road, or Largest Army. Very few games will be (or even can be) won without one of this. Decide in the first few turns which one you will go for, and build your strategy around it.

New players will almost always go for the longest road immediately, so use this to your advantage as well, by demanding favorable trading terms with them (when they are asking for Brick and Wood every single turn it can give you a clue). Also, cut their two initial Settlements in half immediately. This usually reduces their chance of having the longest road by 50% or so, and they will not always go right after the Largest Army, usually choosing to continue to find a path to the longest road. Sometimes this makes sense based on their setup, but often new players are playing other new players, and have not experienced as many Army wins are not as fearful of it as they should be. Use this to your advantage, especially at the lower rankings (i.e. below 1600).

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There is a lot more to say about Settlers in terms of tactics, but I feel that I'm starting to reach the cap of what I can learn about the game. There are fewer tactics to explore, and many of them are begining to be flushed out. Against a well positioned player who does not make any mistakes, it often comes down to the dice, in my opinion.

Still waiting for Tab's feedback on when he 'never loses' (see July 25th post) in Settlers!?

St. Petersburg, clever game for around $20

Saint Petersburg

Added Saint Petersburg to my collection a week ago - and I'm glad I did! This card driven game, has excellent graphics, clever gameplay. It appears to be a fine light-middle weight game that I could convince my wife to play, yet would have enough bite for my more serious friends.

Will be attempting to play on BSW soon, and hopefully will find a way to play it with the gang in the near future.

Northampton Picnic Post Mortem

Well! As it turns out, had a great time with the friends in Northampton this weekend. Played some basketball (Kevin injured his ankle, but managed to shoot my lights out despite the hobbling). No gaming by me there, but others were playing Scrabble and some card games. We enjoyed the food, visiting old friends, and the Sunday meeting as well. We had a fine lunch with Al and Pat, and two evenings with Kevin and Marci.

Saturday night's gaming was at Kevins, and of course we played Power Grid. Jared, Angie, Marci, Kevin and I played a 5-player game, and I won by $1 over Marci! That makes me 1-4, Jared 2-3 and Kevin 1-4.

I tried not to forget the 15-point endgame power requirements, and went out of my way to buy plants giving me enough power on the final turn. Jared bid me up to 50 on a 35-point coal plant, capable of powering 7. I almost lost the game because of this (and probably should have), as coal was to turn out to be rediculously expensive in future turns. I had to pay 19 for the three coal needed for this, almost enough to fund another station.

Kevin and Jared were caught short! Jared's desired plant never came available, and Kevin was stuck at 12 (3x4 size plants). He needed a 7 to come up to get to 15, and mine was the only one that showed. Marci had enough power, but I think not enough stations, Marci had enough of both, but was $1 short in the tiebreaker.

I was pretty much without competition in my station expansion. We played the German side of the board, and I had the Eastern side locked up. Kevin and Angie did well stuffed in the Western corner, blocked by Marci and Jared in phase 1. They still managed to stay in the race due to clever purchases, and had no trouble going from 5-6 stations to 11-12 stations when Phase 2 began. This tells me that location battles are probably not as serious of an issue as they appear, as starting up in highcost areas without competition is basically the same as waiting until Phase 2, and building lower connection cost sides on the 2nd part of the grid.

Very interesting game - I won (barely) and probably should have lost - Kevin and Jared fell victem to plants that came availble (none did). Angie and Marci did great for their first play!

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Sunday's game was the glorious Puerto Rico. Ah, what a beauty. I actually didn't play this one, but had a great time teaching it to Dave, Doug, Jared and Angie. It was Kevin's 3rd play (over a 2 year period I believe), and his copy of the game. Since I've played it f-t-f probably 5-6 times, and a few more on Brettspielwelt, I voltunteered to teach.

Glad I did, as everyone seemed to love the game, and was riveted for the 100 minutes or so that the game went. As of right now, I don't know how the game turned out, but it looked like Dave was in the lead with the corn/shipper strategy. He had the warf, and was cranking out points due to some excellent timing and seat position. Poor Kevin was in third place, and seemed to be ahead in $ or behind at the wrong time. He did pick up the games first 10-point building, but then sat for 3 rounds with no cash.

Update:

Dave did end up winning, with 54 points. Kevin finished second with 45, and Jared third with 44. Angie was fourth and Doug ended up 5th.

Some intersting notes about the game - Dave won his first play of PR, and his first Euro! He did very well, and it seemed that Linda had almost as much fun as he did watching and encouraging him throughout the match.

Kevin stayed close, but could not overcome Dave's incredible shipping machine. He did well with his 10-point building, as the game played on so he could purchase some large factories. Had the timing of the game gone a little differently, and the players ganged up on Dave to prevent his Captain pulls, Kevin would have won for sure.

Jared pulled really close to Kevin, and did very well for his first play. Heard he wants to play again soon... Angie though it a bit complicated, and Doug stated he like Power Grid much more. It was his first play, and in retrospect he got really hosed by his choice of plantations. Sitting to the left of Dave, he never got to ship corn, as Dave always beat him to the punch. Several times he lost out on the Craftsman due to shortages, and several times he was cut out of shipping. No small warehouse either (which Dave had).

I think a few new PR converts were made (Jared for sure), and Doug will come around if he gets to play it again.

my Northampton picnic games list

Bringing five games to the Northampton picnic tommorow. Here they are:

1. Through the Desert
2. Cartagena
3. San Juan
4. Settlers of Catan (+5-6 player expansion)
5. Chess (with clock)

Figuring Kevin will bring Power Grid, and there will be Pinochle, and probably some Scrabble, I decided to shoot for the lighter fare.

Settlers should draw a small crowd, and there will be many there who have played before (Al, Kevin, Doug, Mike, and others). It takes up some space (there will likely be picnic tables), so it will barely fit. It's about 90-120 minutes (longer with 5-6), if everyone plays quickly, which could be a downside.

Cartagena I've written about before, excellent quick game. I seem to enjoy it the most, it has a good look about it, and is easy to finish in 45 minutes. Very easy to play, but the clever will catch on quick and have the best chance of winning.

San Juan, excellent card game based on the boardgame Puerto Rico (currently #1 in the world according to the Geek, and I agree). San Juan is simpler, but maintains some of the interesting mechanisms of the board game, mostly the changing of roles, and primary and secondary abilities. Have played this dozens on times on the PC, and it is really addicting. Should be able to hook the more serious types into playing this one, and it won't take more than 60 minutes.

Through the Desert is a beauty. It's also go-like (meaning it's has some features of the ancient game of go), easy to understand, and has some depth to it. The clever will win every game, but you feel like you are in it to the end.

Chess I will try to play as Speed Chess. I have a clock, and will play 5 minutes a side, with 2 second countdown. There is a lot of noise banging on the clock, and this will draw opponents for sure. Also, Grayson plays this version very well (beat Kevin, me, my dad, my brother for example), and seeing a 7-year old in front of the board with a clock will be a great attraction! I'm sure many will be shocked when he beats 'em. (For fun, if I have time, I'll play some Chess960).

I'll write about the results sometime next week - are there any games that you'd take to a large picnic that I didn't choose?

Polgar defeats 1,112, sets 4 records

Who beats 1,112 people in 15 hours at Chess?

Susan Polgar wins and sets four world records:

• Most Simultaneous Games Played: official record against 326 players: 309 wins, 14 draws and 3 losses = 96.93% in 16 hours and 30 minutes (the previous record was 321 games, with 294 wins, 26 draws, 1 loss = 95.64%, by IM Andrew Martin, England).
• Most games won: 309 (Andrew Martin: 294)
• Highest percentage: 96.93% (Andrew Martin: 95.64%)
• 1,131 Consecutive Games Played: Overall statistics which included 551 opponents: 1,112 wins, 16 draws and 3 losses = 99.03% (previous record: 1102 games by WGM Anna-Maria Botsari, Greece)

Thanks to Chessbase.com for photos and information on this amazing event.

The WallStreetJournal has another excellent article on Susan, here.

Susan Polgar attempts simul record

A chess "simul" is a multiple players simultaneous match, played generally as an exibition to promote a players prowess or the game itself. I played in a 'simul' against one of the best players in the city of Toledo, back in 1991. He was the president of the Toledo Chess Club, and conducted the simul as a form of a membership drive. Held at a local library, there were about 20-25 players. My good friend, Mark Hamilton (now deceased) and I were eliminated pretty quickly. Only one player managed a draw, a 10 year-old boy. (We suspected that he may have been let to draw, as his estatic parents immediately asked about how to join the club, and lessons with the president. Mission accomplished?)

Anyway, Susan Polgar, a very interesting lady in the world of chess, is attempting the world record in simultaneous chess on Aug. 1-2. She will play 350 opponents in a 24 hour period. Check out the link on Chessbase, here. Susan at points (and currently?) is the number one ranked female chess player in the world, and she and her sisters are GrandMasters, and have played with Bobby Fischer as children (he stayed for a while with their family while on the run from the American's, amoung others).

Checkers at Cracker Barrel