February 2020 Game Night

We had game night this last Saturday and set records! The venue was at Casa Joe's in South Lyon.

We had a logistics hand-off as Paul took my game and dice tower in case I couldn't make it. Sadly, I forgot the Game of Thrones disc. So let me double what Joe texted to me when I confessed I'd forgotten:

Joe had a feast of pizza (Hawaiian and some dreck with mushrooms that other people apparently like--enjoy it because you will never see it at Casa Beej), chicken wings, bread sticks, salad (wha?), carrots (seriously, is kale next?), potato chips with dips including hummus, chocolate chip cookies, and peanut M & Ms. Dave brought liquor-filled chocolates (we ARE his Valentines!).

And Joe had the thin mints that Paul craves as his special dietary needs.

The usual Labatt Blue Light and Pepsi were available. And Joe had Baileys as well, which he and Paul consumed. No umbrellas.

The records set were seven players. For the second game. Since this confronted a loophole in our extra guest protocals where the winner sits out the next game, Joe sat out game 2 in order to go buy more beer.

We welcomed Steve and Joe's son Cullen to Game Night.

The second record was fewest games played--just two! The first took 2.5 hours and the second 2.25. We blamed the horrible resource distribution that made the night two wars of attrition. I wanted to go for game three at midnight despite being awake since 6:30 a.m.



But it was over. Nobody was with me. What happened to the Game Night I know?

This time I took notes about who was what color after last month's Game Night CSI as I had to reconstruct who had what color by trying to recall where people sat in relation to me.

I had white. Dave was blue. Joe red. Pete Green. Paul brown. And Cullen orange. In game two Steve was red as Joe stepped out.

We think Joe enjoyed his game two nap. I guess watching Catan isn't as scintillating as playing it. Which does not bode well for a blog on it, I suppose. I guess my 401k rather than monetizing this site will need to be the backbone of my golden years coke and hookers spree.

We played with the harbormaster variant, meaning 11 points was required to win.

Game 1

Cullen placed first so I got the second slot. Cullen's joy at winning first placement was watered down considerably when he learned he'd be last on second settlement placement. New players are fun to watch.

This was a painful game for me. I had no rocks and hoped early roads would let me expand and then trade for rocks. That did not work out. My 4 that gave me a road each time (and two later on) did not come up at all early in the game when I needed them! Then they came up constantly when I couldn't use them. Paul quickly cut off my access to the sea by the desert. My hope of expanding was thwarted. I barely made it to 4 sites and had one more open to me, meaning I needed 4 cities, a settlement, and two more points somehow to win. It did not happen.

Dave almost had a hat trick by getting both the largest army and longest road. I don't think this was a first, but it is very rare. Kudos Dave! I think he took the longest road from Paul. But I'm hazy on that. Dave won with three cities and a settlement plus the two bonus cards. Joe had 5 points, experiencing a Paul block at the other end of Paul's road. Pete had 8 honest points. Paul had 5 points. Cullen had 8 points, including the harbormaster card. And I had 6 points.

Game 2

People were unhappy with this map, too. The only good rock hex was surrounded by fairly crappy sheep. Buzz kill. I think I placed first this game, planting on bricks and wheat. But I was fairly hemmed in and again tried to play without rocks at the start. That worked out just as well as it did the first game.

A lot more development cards were purchased this game. I had a late purchase of a monopoly card and year of plenty but could only play the former for a lot of wheat. But it was too little and too late. This game Pete battled with Dave over the longest road and Pete won that struggle after some changes of possession. My attempt to get the largest army never got off the ground. And early hopes of getting to the coast failed as I could not expand in the face of rival empires. Foiled again.

Cullen pulled a rarity in Game Night by winning at his first night playing. And let me tell you, Joe violated all the parent rules with his frequent threats to pull a 300 winter survival test on his son. Harsh, dude. And worse--ineffective.

Cullen had the largest army plus a victory point card--the only one of the game--to reach 11. I had 6 points and no building site options. Dave had 9 points, including the harbormaster card. Steve had 5. Pete had 8, including the longest road. Paul had 9.

So we wrapped up at about 12:15, and had no booooobs to restore our ability to drive home.

Much fun and thanks to Joe for hosting (curse you) and for all who attended. Dave has volunteered to host in March and would like to have a Seafarers of Catan game night in Dexter. It has been a while and that sounds like a nice change of pace! More information on that will follow.

Next time we'll try to get in at least three games.

And let's finish with another meme:

I think as host Joe has special responsibility to comment to correct gaps in my memory or blatant misrepresentations (as if I'd do that). But all players should feel free to offer their perspective. And anybody who didn't play can toss in their worthless 2 cents, for that matter.

See you next month! April at Casa Beej, by God.