| Vinci 110 mins | ||
| Player | Posn. | Points |
| Mike | 1 | 127 |
| Dave D | 2 | 125 |
| Steve H | 3 | 117 |
| Steve C | 4 | 107 |
This was the first playing for this since the beginning of the year. I have had it out of my bag for some time to make room for newer games, but I know it is popular and particularly one of Steve H 's favourites so I thought it was time to restore it. This is a short precis from memory.
Mountaineering was in favour at the beginning of the game with Mike taking a combination with Weapons, while Steve H chose a combination with Currency after I had passed that one in favour of Astronomy/Rebirth. I have been burnt with currency in the past when it comes time to decline, also there were 2 VP on the combination I chose whereas I would have lost 2 VP on the Mountaineering/Currency option. Mike and Steve H as expected surged ahead at the start, while Steve C (who had Medicine) and I moved steadily on behind. When we came to the first declines, Steve H was ahead, but when he declined he lost 6 points by taking the Field General/Slavery combination in position IV which was a big knock back when combined with the fact of losing the currency and Mountain VPs. Mike and I at this stage both picked up Mining/Port Building, but his Port building survived declining, while mine gave me an extra man. I was able to make a better transition having had Rebirth in my first Civilization and was able to move into the lead at this point.
With the third empires, Mike moved into a commanding lead with specialist Livestock Breeding, which as so often happens, he grabbed a turn before I could. I had Currency/Messages at the end and was almost able to catch up with Mike when he was attacked from all sides on the penultimate turn, but he was able to maintain the lead by declining and picking up the Civ in position I, which had 6 VPs on it.
We had some time at the end and Steve C had some games which none of us had played. The one picked was on the basis that it was quick to explain.
| Ricochet Robots 40 mins | ||
| Player | Posn. | Points |
| Steve C | 1 | 5 |
| Steve H | 2= | 3 |
| Dave D | 2= | 3 |
| Mike | 4 | 0 |
This is more a puzzle than a game, the idea being that a tile is turned up showing a colour and a symbol and the players then have to come up with the fewest number of moves to get the robot of that colour to that symbol, by bouncing it off barriers and other robots. When someone thinks they have an answer they declare it and then a sand time is turned giving the time for any one else to declare a smaller number of moves. When the timer runs out, whoever declared the lowest number has to demonstrate the route and if equal to or lower than what they declared, they win the token. If they are wrong they lose a token that they already have. The winner is the one with the most tokens at the end.
This is an interesting curiosity requiring an aptitude for spatial awareness, I think it is probably one I could become pretty good at with enough practice, but at the same time, I'm not sure that I would have the urge to play often enough to get that practice. I'm not sure how many times Steve C has played, but he won this time, although Steve H and I managed to grab a few tokens later on in the game. Mike started well, but then made mistakes resulting in the loss of the tokens he'd previously collected.
Note to Dave C, while we're on the subject of robots, we must play Robo Rally again sometime.
Until tomorrow
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