Session Report March 13, 2007

*** Thanks to Sharon for the pictures and Report since I was watching Matthew play baseball ***

Attendees: (12) Andy Manning, Chris McKeraghan, Jeremy Ebersole, Troy Shader, Cheryl Fisher, Sharon Madden, Warren Madden, Andrew Bradley, Matt Asher, Jaimie Asher, Steve Walker, Danielle Banks

It was another great evening of fun and games at the Madden house! We had twelve people for this session, and at one time, there were three games going, which I believe is a record number of games being played simultaneously with this group. (Editors note: It ties the record...we had three tables on Feb 20th, Feb 6th, and Jan 30th but who's counting..).

Merchant of Venus


In this classic Avalon Hill game, players are space travelers exploring clusters of stars and nebulae to discover the remains of ancient civilizations. Each civilization produces commodities that players purchase and trade with other civilizations for income. Money is used to improve spaceships, purchase equipment, and acquire deeds to factories and space ports, making trading more profitable to the owner.


At the end of the game, the winner is the space traveler with the highest total of cash and deeds.
This is an oldie, but goodie that I really enjoy playing. Because we had a couple of new players, we stuck to the basic game with no variants. I've yet to find a good strategy for generating income quickly, but I came across several fares to the galactic base that kept me in the game. The Niks (Chris) were able to deliver psychotic sculpture to the Nillis early in the game, which generated a big payout. The Niks also purchased several factories and spaceports throughout the game, which generated a good amount of income and gravitated them to victory with 1992 points. Drifting behind them were the Whynoms (Warren) with 1561 points, the Humans (Troy) with 1502, the Qossuth (Sharon) with 1381, the Dell (Jeremy) with 1005, and the Eeeps (Andy) with 330.

San Juan



After conquering Puerto Rico, players are now exploring it's capital city of San Juan. The game is is played with a deck of 110 cards that include production buildings (42) and violet buildings (68). The violet buildings either count toward victory points at game end or have special functions used during the different phases of the game. The cards have multiple uses -- (1) a building when laid face up in the player's area, (2) money to purchase goods or buildings, or (3) goods placed in production buildings.

The game is played over several rounds. Starting with the first player, or governor, players choose a role for that round -- producer, trader, builder, councilor or prospector. All players take the action of the chosen role, but the player who picked the role always gets a special privilege, such as a reduction in building costs during the builder phase or producing an additional good during the production phase. In San Juan, there are no colonists for hire, players do not ship goods, and trades cannot be blocked. Game end is triggered when one player builds 12 buildings, and the winner is the player with the most victory points.

The explorer earning the most wealth and fame in the new world was Andrew with 33 points, followed closely by Matt with 31, Steve with 26 and Jaimie with 21.

The Reef

This is a cute two-player game where players breed specific varieties of fish to enhance the reef. From the 60 cards laid face down on the table, players locate coral cards for the parent fish to meet and find the right parents to produce the desired offspring with the aid of reef boats and worms. But, sharks also inhabit these tropical waters and chase away fish and boats (swim away, swim away!). The first player to breed 5 sets of offspring is the winner.

Danielle was able to impress Neptune the fastest with her 5 colorful varieties of fish, but Neptune was also impressed by Cheryl's efforts.


Ticket to Ride

By building the longest track, Steve chugged his way to a victory with 115 points, followed by Andrew with 111, Cheryl with 99 and Danielle with 60.



Queen's Necklace

In Queen's Necklace, players enroll in a three-year apprenticeship program to assume the role as the King's jeweler. Jewelers must decide how to spend their 10 ducats efficiently each turn, using them to acquire lovely gems (diamonds, emeralds, rubies or amber) or buy favors of court followers. The jeweler who sells the most precious gems and builds the largest fortune wins the game.

Andrew earned the coveted title of King's Jeweler and a place at the Court with a total of 250 points, followed by gem apprentices Cheryl with 150 and Danielle with 140.