Billabong Boardgamers - 27th June, 2000
Present: David, Craig, Torben, Doug, Janet, Ben
Torben (who doesn't have a surname!) writes::
6 BILLION
David, Torben
This was my first game of 6 Billion, which I played against David, who is the designer of the game. I got "earth" as my hidden agenda and got Uranus and Neptune on discovery cards, which I revealed to get free colonies on these planets. I ended with having the majority in these as well as a shared majority on Earth, but the fact that I through most of the game had more colonies than David meant that he controlled the neutral player most of the time, which cost me the unshared majority on Earth. This, getting the lead on the discovery track, plus gaining good points by "helping" the neutral player and me through action cards made David win in the end. Just before the last turn, I was leading in the Asteroid belt, which was Davids hidden agenda, but by exploiting the control of turn order his lead on the discovery track gave him, David overtook me in the last minute. Davids discovery cards game him extra points for the "smiley" and "leaf" tracks, which made his lead there even more important.
David: 70
Torben: 61
Doug Adams writes:
MEDICI
Ben, Craig, Doug, Janet
At Janet's request we bought out this old favorite. A tight game until the end of the second round where Doug and Craig edged away due to reaching bonus levels. Ben and Janet were bidding high for things they were interested in, but Janet came back late in the last round. Craig ended up with NO cards on his ship in the last round, but just held on to take the win.
Craig: 119
Doug: 107
Janet: 90
Ben: 81
Doug's rating: 8
WIPE OUT!
Ben, Craig, Doug, Janet
The same four lined up for our second game or Richard Vickery's prototype surfing game. While not going into details re the mechanics, I can say this game is very good. A fine blend of theme/mechanics. Hope Richard doesn't want the playtest kit back!
We had a pow-wow after the game to discuss it, but apart from a couple of cosmetic changes to how components are presented (naming stunts, etc), the game could not be faulted.
Scores:
Craig: 9/9 = 18
Ben: 10/5 = 15
Janet: 8/8 = 16
Doug: 8/9 = 17
Doug's rating: 8
RAGE
David, Craig, Janet, Doug, Torben
I picked this small trick-taking game up from Funagain, after having seen it on their "top 5 sellers" list for months. It's a chaotic trick taking game, played over ten rounds. The first round each player has a hand of ten cards, and this is decreased by one each round until the final (tenth) round is played with just one card!
Players examine their hands and bid on the number of tricks they think they will take. Tricks are played out and a ten point bonus is paid to players who match their bid. If you don't make your bid, five points are docked. Players earn one point per trick taken.
That all sounds pretty straightforwards, but the catch here is there are twelve special cards that can be played (or led) if a player is void in the led suit. The specials come in five flavours:
- player who wins trick earns five points
- player who wins trick loses five points
- hand immediately becomes no trumps
- hand immediately changes trumps
- Joker - this card can be any coloured suit/number the player declares (powerful!)
This created a very chaotic, albeit enjoyable, game. I much prefer these types of trick-taking games to the rather heavy Mu or Was Sticht (although they are excellent games).
Round by round scores:
Craig: -7 / 4 / -5 / 5 / 17 / 29 / 39 / 50 / 60 - 71
David: -4 / -8 / -5 / 7 / 28 / 23 / 33 / 43 / 53 - 63
Janet: 8 / 19 / 22 / 33 / 23 / 33 / 30 / 40 / 50 - 60
Doug: -3 / -2 / 9 / 26 / 37 / 45 / 56 / 51 / 48 - 58
Torben: -4 / -9 / 1 / 13 / 20 / 15 / 26 / 18 / 28 - 38