Virtual Games Night - 1 April 2020

After our successful test session last week, we had a full-on international games night this week using Zoom to chat whilst we played.  David, Kieron and James started with the quick and fun push-your-luck dice game Can't Stop, which dates back to 1980.  When Stuart and Adrian joined us we had a couple of games of 7 Wonders - which plays even more quickly when the implementation is highlighting which cards you can build for free, or which require spending and from whom.  And we finished with a game of Puerto Rico - which we have played about once every three years over the last decade or so, but I suspect we will play a bit more often now.  The plan for next week is to try Roll for the Galaxy.

We're learning how to use the Board Game Arena website - we had to expel non-Rival players who had joined before we reduced the numbers, and Kieron accidentally ended up playing Can't Stop (very slowly) with a completely different group at one point.  But apart with some oddities that David and James encountered playing Caylus at the weekend, the implementation of the games is extremely good, with lots of additional help provided.  It is inevitably a very busy site and took a while to log in, and we had some delays but nothing that messed up anyone's turn or the game itself.  Three of the Rivals are now Premium members (~£4 a month) which unlocks a wider range of games and guarantees you can log in even when the site is busy.

Puerto Rico - 17 May 2017

A welcome return for Puerto Rico (still number 12 on Boardgamegeek) for James, Adrian, Stu and David.  Two rounds of exceptionally well timed production and sales set David up for what proved to be an unstoppable victory.  At some point we'll play it regularly enough to try out the expansion pack with a new set of buildings that has been sat in the box, unplayed, for about 15 years...  Final scores: David 45; Adrian 40; Stu 37; James 32.

Puerto Rico - 5 November

Stu, James, Adrian and David for a game of Puerto Rico which had last been on the table a long time before - with Andy providing trenchant commentary.  This really is a great game, fully justifying of its continued high rank on Boardgamegeek.  The slickness of the design proven in this game by all of the various 'ending the game' conditions being fulfilled in the same round.  For this game the tactics that we variously employed were pretty asymmetric, with the James' corn-only-no-production-building option proving surprisingly and comprehensively victorious.  Final scores: James 69; Adrian 57; Stu 49; David 48.

Puerto Rico - 12th May 2012

The old firm met for another great game of PR.  We could not remember what game knocked it off the top spot - not to worry.  As it has been such a long time since we played, we all went for different tactics.  James went for quality products but struggled to get enough on the boats.  Deej went for a balanced game, but went all out for the city cards after managing to play the markets really well.  Kieron grew loads of corn and shipped it out by the barrow load!  Adrian went for quarries and took an early lead but did not get going on the production.  Predictably, the large purple card bonuses won through for Deej (just) after Kieron ran him close with a huge haul of 44 points in cash alone.  Final scores: Deej 57, Kieron 54, Adrian 44 (+6), James 43 (+2)

Puerto Rico - 29 April 2009

A return of a classic game, especially pleasing as games nights these days are often attended by more than the 5 player maximum for Puerto Rico.

The Rivals employed a range of contrasting strategies with duplicate tactics being enforced by the fact that most of the buildings come in pairs. Thus James and Adrian started on the Construction Hut gambit, allowing them, plus Stu to acquire 2 Quarries (with Deej and Kieron only getting one apiece). Stu and Kieron were able to gain Factories. Deej maintained a tobacco monopoly for most of the game. Adrian had no Warehouses but was the only one to enjoy the use of an imaginary ship (via his very own Wharf).

Each of the players acquired a large building, and the bonus points we acquired from them (7 for everyone except Kieron who got 6) showed that they were much of a muchness.

The final scores were close: Kieron winning on 51; Adrian on 48; Stu on 47; Deej on 45; and James, who finished the game by his acquisition of a 12th building, last on 43. Our post-mortem on tactics suggested that Haciendas were not much cop; Hospices and Factories were however dead good.

So, a Smith victory then. But this, Kieron's second win in a row, was a 'Lucky Win' (see tag). Once again Stu helped spoon him onto the winner's podium by a crucial error of judgement which, had he noticed, would have allowed a different move and a joint victory for him and Adrian. Kieron's win then, not so much 'standing on the shoulders of giants' as 'getting a leg up on the back of a distracted fellow schoolteacher'. It can't continue like this...
:-)