In attendance: (14)
Bob Aarhus
Rick Bynaker
John Downing
Mike Gibbs
Sallie Gibbs
Doug Hoylman
Jeff Kahan
John Kerr
Christin Kim
Mark Mitchell
Jon Riley
Gretchen Verrey
Patrick Wamsley
Michelle Zentis


Folks were milling about for a while but gaming finally commenced in the 
Living Room around 1:20pm.  We started off with a fun game of Hart an der 
Grenze with 6 players.  Jeff turned out to be the best smuggler with 224 
points at the end.  This was followed by Mike at 209, Michelle and Jon 
both at 187 with Rick and Doug bringing up the rear at 155 and 151.

Next was a 4-player game of Wasabi.  Jeff won with 37 points with 
Michelle's 35 points as a close 2nd.  Sallie and Mike were 3rd and 4th 
with 31 and 20.

Players at the table kept dwindling, next up was a 3-player Le Havre.  
I've seen some very close games of this but today's session was anything 
but!  Michelle had a commanding lead of 222 with Christin scoring 144 and 
Bob 115.

Finally we closed off the room with a 5-player game of Pillars of the 
Earth (with the expansion).  This was a fairly close game.  John K. took 
the lead with 52 points followed by Jeff at 48, Rick and Christin tied at 
47 and Bob coming in last with 40 points.


A couple games were played downstairs but not many.  Mark, Doug, Patrick 
and Rick played 10 Days in Asia.  I made the 10 Day journey first for the 
win.

Then I taught Jeff how to play Silverton.  There's a lot of luck-of-the-draw 
in this game and I managed to get some productive mines early on.  We closed 
out quickly when I reached $6,360.  Jeff had $2,855 and Patrick $2,240.


The Game Room accomodated some big games for most of the day.  Things 
started off light with a 6-player game of Diamant.  Lots of calamities.  
Doug eeked out a win with 15 points with Bob's 14 points a close 2nd 
place.  Rick had 12 points just ahead of Patrick's 11.  And Jon and 
Christin pushed their luck a little too far walking away with no loot at 
all.

Things got a little more serious when Battlestar Galactica hit the table.  
I think there must have been some rules issues but according to what was 
recorded the Cylon's won.  Mike, Jon and Mark were Cylons and Doug was the 
Cylon Sympathizer.  Gretchen and Sallie lost as the Humans.

Another big learning experience for just about everyone was Mecanisburgo.  
I have no idea but somehow I won this game with 85 points.  John K. was in 
second with 77.  Then John D. 58, Gretchen 30 and Jeff at 28.  Jon R. fell 
on his sword trying for an instant win and ended up with a negative 12.

We closed out the table (and the evening) with some Tichu until the sun 
came up.  This was one of the closest games I've ever played.  John K. and 
I teamed up against Gretchen and Jeff.  The first 8 hands kept the scores 
within 150 points of each other.  Then John and I were able to take the 
lead with a 1-2 making it 700 to 400.  Jeff and Gretchen were not deterred 
and came back in the next 2 hands collecting 270 points to our 30 points.  
Then there were two hands of a slugfest of points.  On round 14 we jumped 
ahead again with a 1-2 AND a broken Tichu.  This was almost in the bag at 
915 to 685.  But a clever Grand Tichu/Tichu on the last 2 rounds put Jeff 
and Gretchen on top for the win at 1055 to 1045.  A real nail biter that 
came down to points taken on the very last round.

Thanks to everyone who attended.

Our next session will be January 31st starting at 1pm. 

Rick