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Who's the more foolish? The fool or fool that plays after the fool?
United States
DURHAM
North Carolina
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September 29th:
We picked our way carefully to my house for today's game: we are having trees taken down right around the house and the crew is busy. Our game was punctuated by heavy thumps.
I'd thought I should go with a game that has tree felling in it, but Agricola: Farmers of the Moor is a bit too long and Tally Ho! just a 2-player. Fast Flowing Forest Fellers sounds like it should fit - but alas, I don't have that one.
Rick had to bail at the last minute and Mike had a place to be at 1 so I pulled out Alhambra for a reliably quick game. Everyone pulled great money on their initial hands - 19 was hit in 3 out of 4 and all of us had 5 or more cards! Yes, I was starting player with 5 cards and 25 in total. I got off to a slow start though, getting a couple of brown tiles and a purple but not much else, while J got a pair of white. After she got them, more white tiles came out and it seemed we were reluctant to grab them, pretty much knowing we'd be in 2nd place in that color. But they went - I deliberately avoided that color - and my purple was the only one out there till late in the round when both Tom and Mike acquired one. No green appeared until late on as well, but no one picked it up before first scoring round. I had a minimal setup but thought I had a decent wall, but both Mike and J eclipsed it, so I sat in 3rd, with J leading on 13. The middle round was long, I made some good moves to push forward, getting the lead in green and purple and solidifying in brown too. But I was challenged in green by Mike and purple by Tom. J maintained dominance in white and built a good wall. Mike too had an impressive wall and steadily increased it. The 2nd scoring round came late - there were less than a dozen tiles in the bag by then - but my position was strong in 3 colors and I jumped out in front. With little time left, the re was only really opportunity for slight maneuvers, but Mike capped his game by successfully joining his wall (and pretty much blocking himself from any more additions). A 21 long wall was impressive (8 longer than anyone else) but my still-strong position meant the winner was not in doubt. Mike and J were very close for 2nd, J getting it by a point. Tom, not really dominant anywhere without being weak particularly anywhere either, came last. Should I note that he dominated our May pair of games?
Me: 127
J: 95
Tom: 84
Mike: 94
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