September 2018 Game Night

Gentlemen,

Last night we had Game Night at Casa Beej. Paul, Pete, and Tony joined me for "food" and "beer" plus "Catan."

Festivities began before 4:00 when 2 F-35As overflew Casa Beej to honor the game night. Sure, they continued to fly north over Michigan Stadium where a football game was about to begin, but that was a mere bonus.

Pete and Paul took my advice and arrived in my parking lot before I even got home from the game. Tony was delayed by game traffic and construction on Scio Church Road, but did make it by game start.

We celebrated with the theme of "how we ate and drank in our 20s." It was not a pretty sight.

We had 24 ounce tall boy beers of various sorts (Pete informed me that I apparently don't shop in the right stores if I think quarts and 40 ouncers are no longer made) plus some of the usual Labatt Blue Light small cans. Tony added a 4-pack of some fancy beer, completely blowing the theme. My bad for not issuing a warning but I figured if I issued a warning people might not show ...

Anyway, we also had Tacquitos with salsa and cheese dip, regular and "taco" flavored Doritos, chili cheese Fritos, chili-lemon peanuts, a sort of Slim Jim and beef jerky salad, Ding Dongs, and Ho Hos.

I know that sounds an awful lot like "Ito Night" but my original intention was to have Funyuns instead of the Fritos. Sadly Kroger had no Funyuns that day and reflexively I grabbed the Fritos, thus unintentionally making it look suspiciously like an Ito Night.

Pete nearly wept with joy at the sight of the Hostess snacks.

And we had the usual dietary needs provided for Paul and Tony was added to that list. Apparently we now have such a need for Pete, too.

We managed three games with the simple harbormaster variant.

Game one had a persistent shortage of rocks. Although Tony managed a highly urbanized empire through some suspicious accounting rules. Despite playing the monopoly card and gathering all of Catan's extant sheep where they belong, I  never did build a city and finally lost my longest road ploy. Ultimately, Pete emerged victorious with but a single city bolstered by both harbormaster and the longest road cards. Paul and Tony seemed mostly interested in offensive road building against each other. I think I actually drew a point card but it didn't help one bit. I don't think anyone else had a point card during the night.

Game two was pretty much a runaway victory by Paul--with a strong advisory role by Pete who seemed eager to end the misery we were experiencing with our scores well behind Paul. Paul had been about to pass the Poop to me, confident he'd have the victory when the turn rolled around to him. With gentle Pete guidance before I could grab the Poop, Paul built his port city, gaining the harbormaster card in the process and vaulting his empire ahead to 12 points. All built around two hexes well developed as cul-de-sacs. I think the rest of us each had 6 points. And Tony cruelly blocked my only avenue to attempt a longest road. Pete may have gotten revenge on me this game with a monopoly card, grabbing sheep from me as well as the rest of Catan. But as with my early 20s, that detail is a bit hazy to me this morning.

Game 3 was a more violent game as Paul got the largest army card. There were a lot more Development Cards purchased this game. As I closed on victory, robbers descended on me--including a couple own goals. Tony had the longest road and only Pete could challenge that. With 10 points including the harbormaster card and a roll of "4" giving me a city upgrade, the robber camped on my rock "4", making my path to a win seem unlikely absent a long slog and unlikely trade options. And then the robber went elsewhere, and in the round around to my turn, I think "4" was rolled three times. And no robber struck the large stack of cards in my hand. Nor did anyone have a monopoly card to play. Tony drew one but he couldn't play it until his turn rolled around again. But since I had enough cards to build 4 cities and the need to build but one, I got to 11.

We wrapped up gaming at midnight without trying to fit in a fourth game, and we watched Season 4 episode 4 of Game of Thrones. Perhaps because in my early 20s I did not drink coffee, it completely slipped my mind to offer it--and nobody requested it.

Thanks to those who came by. Much fun! And this morning I find I have zero headache or stomach cramps! This was a bad dietary lesson for me.

Next month will be at Casa Beej. November will be at Casa Joe's in South Lyon.

And as always, any additions or corrections to my Beej-Centric recap are welcome!

Beej