Session Report April 17, 2007

***Sharon did this report since I was unable to attend***

Attendees: (8) Warren Madden, Sharon Madden, Adam Whitney, Eileen Tooke, Andy Manning, Andrew Bradley, Matt Asher, Jaimie Asher, Steve Walker, Joel Weeks, Troy Shady


Mykerinos
Troy proved to be the most successful archaeologist tonight digging up a score of 44 points. Hot on his excavation trail were Andrew with 41, Matt with 40, and Steve with 17.




Puerto Rico
Matt, Jaimie, Troy, Steve and Andrew set off for Puerto Rico, attempting to become the island's most successful and prosperous developer. Andrew successfully earned that title scoring 46 points, but Matt gave him a a little competition with a score of 40. Steve and Jaimie tied at 38 points and Troy was close behind with 33 points. Steve staked his claim on third place with 6 gold and 2 resources compared to Jaimie's 4 gold and 1 resource.



Union Pacific
Another of my favorite Alan Moon games, Union Pacific is a game of expanding railway companies and attaining stock majority to earn money/victory points. There are 10 railway companies available, and on their turn, players may do 1 of 2 actions: expand a rail line to increase its value or lay down stock cards to increase their ownership in a railway company or companies. When playing stock cards, players may either lay down 1 or 2 stock cards of different companies or as many cards as they like from one company. There is a Union Pacific railway company, which is a separate entity not represented on the board.
Instead, it pays dividends to shareholders in set amounts with each scoring. There are 4 random scorings, and with the exception on Union Pacific stock, only the first- and second-place shareholders will reap the dividend rewards -- everyone else is left out. Money earned from dividends represents victory points, and after the last scoring round, the player with the most money is the winner.
I think the key in this game is diversity in investing and playing the stock cards that will give you the most majorities -- all in a timely manner. Stock cards come up randomly, so you don't know exactly what will be available to you on your turn, but you'll have an idea of which stocks other players are collecting. Union Pacific stock is limited (20 cards in the game -- once they're got, they're gone), and because the payouts increase with each scoring, I think it's beneficial to collect UP cards early on, as Joel did. Of course, you never know exactly when scoring will occur, so timing is everything. Each time I play, there are several turns when I wish I could lay down 3 or 4 different stock cards instead of 1 or 2. It's always a fun game for me.
Tonight's biggest railroad stock market investor was Joel with $108.
Chugging along behind him were Adam with $92, Sharon with $85, Andy with $77, Warren with $75, and Eileen with $58.

Royal Turf (AKA Winner's Circle)
After making our millions from railroad investments, it was off to the races! Royal Turf is a horse-racing game played over 3 races. There are 7 different horses in each race, and players have 4 betting chips (valued at 2, 1, 1, and 0 -- a bluff bet) to place on the horses they hope will take the top 3 places. Movement for each horse is determined by a die roll, with each player trying to get their horses past the finish line the quickest, while trying to nix the others. Only the horses in the top 3 pay out in the Winner's Circle, and those betting on the horse in last place have to pay back £100 per bet. All other horses get nothing but a bucket of oats and the hopes of making it into the top 3 during the next race.
This is a cute little filler, but it's really tricky to figure out.
Certain horses are fairly steady in movement numbers, while others tend to be slower overall. But, the slow ones can get a second wind (aka that one really good die roll) and trot to the front of the pack, leaving everyone else eating their dust.
Adam and Eileen definitely had the inside scoop on the winning horses.
Adam cashed out with £2,450 and Eileen with £2,350. The rest of us will be mucking out stalls -- Warren came away with £1,200, Sharon with £1,000, Joel with £750 and Andy with £650.