At Nadine's in the afternoon, I played PitchCar x 2, It's Alive, and Puerto Rico (other games played, in which I didn't participate, included Casino and Scrabble).
PitchCar
We played two games, using two different track layouts. I came in second in the first game; I was ahead nearly a lap at one point, but I crashed a few more times than one of my opps did, and he was just able to overcome me in the final stretch. I came in first in the second game.
My success is rather odd, as I don't typically win this game, but I played rather slow and steady, and that seemed to work.
It's Alive
We played a five player game (not my favorite) and Nadine taught it to two of the players. As usual in a five player game, there was a lot of auctioning and pieces went for face value. I pulled at least three of the Villagers and a few too many low cost cards, which hurt my income and progress. Nevertheless, I played with my new "keep my coins at exactly half of my board value" strategy, and I came in second with 45. The winner finished was the one who finished, and he had a score of 57. So it's not a perfect strategy.
Puerto Rico
Rachel, Nadine, and I played this. Even though we played on Nadine's set, and she only has the base set and official expansion, we proxied most of my usual custom buildings. I was third player.
Rachel on my left took the first trade good, coffee, so I took coffee, too. Nadine took tobacco soon after. I had a fairly early Factory, and access to a tobacco plantation, so I simply took tobacco soon after, giving me a full Factory. Nadine had the other early Factory. Rachel was the only one who had Harbor.
I ended with an equitable amount of shipping points, three of the big buildings, and an embarrassingly high score of 69 to their 49 and 52.
Showing posts with label pitchcar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pitchcar. Show all posts
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
PitchCar and Bowling
PitchCar
Nadine received PitchCar from her Secret Santa. Tal and I went to her house on the first night of Hanukkah to play it with her, her son Yona, and Yona's girlfriend. Tal and I had played PitchCar before, at Jack Reiver's house in York when we visited England.
Yona proved to be quite good at the game. Nadine could only play with a glove on, after hurting her fingernail the first time she tried to flick her car.
Surprisingly, it's possible to catch up if you're behind, if the leader makes a mistake and you make a good shot. But this is definitely a game where practice makes for better play. It's fun, like kinetic games are wont to be, but I still prefer Crokinole or billiards.
Bowling
Tal took Saarya and me bowling for Hanukkah.
Bowling is pretty close to a table stop sport, even though it's played on the floor. In any case, it's not a sport like Soccer or Track and Field. I actually took two college classes in Bowling (as I was not suited for most sports), and I used to bowl every week or two as a child. Back then, I lived pretty close to a bowling alley and games were only $1, which made it the equivalent cost of a couple of video games.
It takes me a number of practice rolls to regain some of my bowling skills. In this case, nearly half the game. But the era of practice rolls is long over.
The only thing electronic when I was growing up was the pin resetter. You kept score on paper. Today, the alley operator opens the lane for you with the specified number of players keyed in and an electronic screen overhead indicates whose turn it is and what the score is. And the lane shuts automatically when the game is over. No practice rolls allowed.
The screen has multiple animations for every type of roll. If you miss a lot of pins, for instance, an animation might show you a bowling pin from The Matrix, dodging your bowling balls as they shoot at him on the rooftop. Very cute; but can't I go anywhere without a television screen? Worse, mind-numbing trance music is playing at high volume the entire time.
The concession guy came over to me as we were just starting and tried to make me throw out my bottle of water that I had brought from home. Outside food and drink isn't permitted, see, because they run a concession stand that sells food and drinks. I argued that it's just water, and he argued that I still have to leave it outside.
So I asked to have three cups of tap water brought to us. He said that he can't bring me tap water; if I want to drink something, I have to buy something. So I asked to speak to a manager, turned around, and ignored him. I watched him go find the manager who told him not to bother me about it. Sheeyash.
Yehuda
Nadine received PitchCar from her Secret Santa. Tal and I went to her house on the first night of Hanukkah to play it with her, her son Yona, and Yona's girlfriend. Tal and I had played PitchCar before, at Jack Reiver's house in York when we visited England.
Yona proved to be quite good at the game. Nadine could only play with a glove on, after hurting her fingernail the first time she tried to flick her car.
Surprisingly, it's possible to catch up if you're behind, if the leader makes a mistake and you make a good shot. But this is definitely a game where practice makes for better play. It's fun, like kinetic games are wont to be, but I still prefer Crokinole or billiards.
Bowling
Tal took Saarya and me bowling for Hanukkah.
Bowling is pretty close to a table stop sport, even though it's played on the floor. In any case, it's not a sport like Soccer or Track and Field. I actually took two college classes in Bowling (as I was not suited for most sports), and I used to bowl every week or two as a child. Back then, I lived pretty close to a bowling alley and games were only $1, which made it the equivalent cost of a couple of video games.
It takes me a number of practice rolls to regain some of my bowling skills. In this case, nearly half the game. But the era of practice rolls is long over.
The only thing electronic when I was growing up was the pin resetter. You kept score on paper. Today, the alley operator opens the lane for you with the specified number of players keyed in and an electronic screen overhead indicates whose turn it is and what the score is. And the lane shuts automatically when the game is over. No practice rolls allowed.
The screen has multiple animations for every type of roll. If you miss a lot of pins, for instance, an animation might show you a bowling pin from The Matrix, dodging your bowling balls as they shoot at him on the rooftop. Very cute; but can't I go anywhere without a television screen? Worse, mind-numbing trance music is playing at high volume the entire time.
The concession guy came over to me as we were just starting and tried to make me throw out my bottle of water that I had brought from home. Outside food and drink isn't permitted, see, because they run a concession stand that sells food and drinks. I argued that it's just water, and he argued that I still have to leave it outside.
So I asked to have three cups of tap water brought to us. He said that he can't bring me tap water; if I want to drink something, I have to buy something. So I asked to speak to a manager, turned around, and ignored him. I watched him go find the manager who told him not to bother me about it. Sheeyash.
Yehuda
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