2658: The Party
Is it possible to have a hangover from gaming... wait, I know the answer to that X/ I've been too UGH to do anything until this evening, and I still haven't done as much as I should have.
A first in a while: I ran out of lead [well, graphite] for my pencil when I sat down to draw! And, since we rearranged everything so the "home" for my art box is on the dining area bookshelf behind the table, I couldn't get to it because they were playing PR at the time. I had even rounded up all my stray pencils so they were kept in the art box, too, so it was kind of a hassle scrounging up the one odd pencil I kept somewhere else--and even then, THAT one was empty =( I basically had to use the two tiny bits of lead left in each pencil to try to fudge it. I normally lose pencils before I run out of lead, that's the weird part. It's cheaper to just buy new ones, almost, so I have quite a few and have never refilled them.
I don't even like what I drew, in the end. *shakes fist* Web graphics are hard to design. What I would like to use would reflect oddly on my part--a male character on the front page for "juliemiyamoto.com"? Uh... right. [Maybe I'll do it anyway, though.]
Anyway, seven is a really awkward number of players to have here, since the better games we know and love only take up to six, and we only have room for the one table and chairs for six. [Casa del Fawx-Rone is mildly more sustainable for 7+ than we are.] I would have loved to finish Advanced Civilization and try to amend for my early n00b mistake*, but that just wasn't happening, because Chris wanted in on PG--another downfall for "takes longer to set up than play" board games--and it was too far into the game to pull him in even though it took up to eight. Total props for any game that includes Egypt as an entity, though. *wink wink nudge nudge*
*'n00b' usually has this negative connotation, but really, total beginners aren't going to be familiar with the easily-made mistakes that experts are going to know to avoid.
When I reflect on recent games of PG, there is a definite sense that, much like the turn order, the winner is determined round by round and hinges heavily on what everyone else does. I've put a regular emphasis on maximizing endgame capacity for minimum cost while most efficiently utilizing during-game cap, but this time I spent too much time on endgame compared to during-game. In Fawx's win, I at least came in second, which was me being a little too(?) conservative in my strategy, though I ended up losing due to not having my ideal 18+ cap as I usually fear. In Thomas's win, though, I had the best cap--unfortunately I was in dead last for pretty much all of Steps 2 and 3 due to not being able to connect, but I would have won had the game gone another round, or had there been the usual four players instead of five.
Maybe.
I haven't figured out "the" winning strategy, because there is too much luck involved and too much variation between maps, whereas in PR, if I lose, it's either from being Governor, or from just not paying attention to who's doing what [the latter out of disinterest]. I'm not too sore about losing when it meant Jon lost, though, and at least I got a win in on Mah-Jongg, however weak.
When I was in jr.-to-high school, my brother and I discovered Clue, a series of Encyclopedia Brown-style mystery books aimed at children and based on the board game of the same [similar] name. Most of the mysteries were kind of crap [as were some of EB's, out of fairness], but that's the main reason for the choice of names here. I remember some of the mysteries but not all, and not a lot worth retelling, because a lot of them required that kind of third-person omniscient-but-not-really knowledge... like, "Ivy saw someone with a red hat steal the beans from Lima, and Zack heard someone listening to Rockapella when she stole their Seoul in South Korea" and such piecemeal information.
Still, they were humorous enough [in that "little things please little minds" sense] that I liked them even if they were kind of crap. So:On his birthday, Mr. Boddy's grandmummy sent him a beautiful card with a nice crisp $100 bill in it! He was delighted, for now he could afford to buy a safe to keep it in. His delight was cut short by the arrival of his birthday party guests: Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Prof. Plum, Col. Mustard, and Mr. Green. His maid, Mrs. White, saw them inside as Mr. Boddy left his grandmummy's card and $100 bill in the Study.
Unfortunately, as it happened, Mrs. White had left the oven on in order to answer the door, and a small fire broke out in the Kitchen at the same time. Worried, Mr. Boddy rushed to the Kitchen to put out the fire before it could ruin his party. Luckily, he had a fire extinguisher on hand, and the crisis was averted.
When he returned to greet his guests, they were all in the Study. He was about to proudly show off his grandmummy's present to them when he saw that her card with the money it it was missing! Aghast at the very idea of being robbed by one of his friends, he asked all of them what had happened while he was away.
Mr. Green: Miss Scarlet took the money! I saw her sticky hands!
Miss Scarlet: That's nonsense! All I took was a book to read, then I put it back when Mr. Boddy returned.
Mrs. Peacock: Yes, but I saw you put it between pages 41 and 42 of that book before you put it back!
Col. Mustard: But you had a book, too, Mrs. Peacock! I bet you took it and are accusing Miss Scarlet!
Mrs. White: If you think I'm going to check every book in this Study looking for that money, you're mistaken! It's in one of their greedy pockets!
Prof. Plum: What's going on now? I had a book just a second ago...
Who stole Mr. Boddy's money? [Picky version: Who MOST LIKELY stole Mr. Boddy's money on account of lying about it, rather than simply providing an inaccurate but well-intentioned testimony?]
Reminder to self: Pay next CC bill by mail, since I apparently can't change my addy online X(
A first in a while: I ran out of lead [well, graphite] for my pencil when I sat down to draw! And, since we rearranged everything so the "home" for my art box is on the dining area bookshelf behind the table, I couldn't get to it because they were playing PR at the time. I had even rounded up all my stray pencils so they were kept in the art box, too, so it was kind of a hassle scrounging up the one odd pencil I kept somewhere else--and even then, THAT one was empty =( I basically had to use the two tiny bits of lead left in each pencil to try to fudge it. I normally lose pencils before I run out of lead, that's the weird part. It's cheaper to just buy new ones, almost, so I have quite a few and have never refilled them.
I don't even like what I drew, in the end. *shakes fist* Web graphics are hard to design. What I would like to use would reflect oddly on my part--a male character on the front page for "juliemiyamoto.com"? Uh... right. [Maybe I'll do it anyway, though.]
Anyway, seven is a really awkward number of players to have here, since the better games we know and love only take up to six, and we only have room for the one table and chairs for six. [Casa del Fawx-Rone is mildly more sustainable for 7+ than we are.] I would have loved to finish Advanced Civilization and try to amend for my early n00b mistake*, but that just wasn't happening, because Chris wanted in on PG--another downfall for "takes longer to set up than play" board games--and it was too far into the game to pull him in even though it took up to eight. Total props for any game that includes Egypt as an entity, though. *wink wink nudge nudge*
*'n00b' usually has this negative connotation, but really, total beginners aren't going to be familiar with the easily-made mistakes that experts are going to know to avoid.
When I reflect on recent games of PG, there is a definite sense that, much like the turn order, the winner is determined round by round and hinges heavily on what everyone else does. I've put a regular emphasis on maximizing endgame capacity for minimum cost while most efficiently utilizing during-game cap, but this time I spent too much time on endgame compared to during-game. In Fawx's win, I at least came in second, which was me being a little too(?) conservative in my strategy, though I ended up losing due to not having my ideal 18+ cap as I usually fear. In Thomas's win, though, I had the best cap--unfortunately I was in dead last for pretty much all of Steps 2 and 3 due to not being able to connect, but I would have won had the game gone another round, or had there been the usual four players instead of five.
Maybe.
I haven't figured out "the" winning strategy, because there is too much luck involved and too much variation between maps, whereas in PR, if I lose, it's either from being Governor, or from just not paying attention to who's doing what [the latter out of disinterest]. I'm not too sore about losing when it meant Jon lost, though, and at least I got a win in on Mah-Jongg, however weak.
When I was in jr.-to-high school, my brother and I discovered Clue, a series of Encyclopedia Brown-style mystery books aimed at children and based on the board game of the same [similar] name. Most of the mysteries were kind of crap [as were some of EB's, out of fairness], but that's the main reason for the choice of names here. I remember some of the mysteries but not all, and not a lot worth retelling, because a lot of them required that kind of third-person omniscient-but-not-really knowledge... like, "Ivy saw someone with a red hat steal the beans from Lima, and Zack heard someone listening to Rockapella when she stole their Seoul in South Korea" and such piecemeal information.
Still, they were humorous enough [in that "little things please little minds" sense] that I liked them even if they were kind of crap. So:On his birthday, Mr. Boddy's grandmummy sent him a beautiful card with a nice crisp $100 bill in it! He was delighted, for now he could afford to buy a safe to keep it in. His delight was cut short by the arrival of his birthday party guests: Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Prof. Plum, Col. Mustard, and Mr. Green. His maid, Mrs. White, saw them inside as Mr. Boddy left his grandmummy's card and $100 bill in the Study.
Unfortunately, as it happened, Mrs. White had left the oven on in order to answer the door, and a small fire broke out in the Kitchen at the same time. Worried, Mr. Boddy rushed to the Kitchen to put out the fire before it could ruin his party. Luckily, he had a fire extinguisher on hand, and the crisis was averted.
When he returned to greet his guests, they were all in the Study. He was about to proudly show off his grandmummy's present to them when he saw that her card with the money it it was missing! Aghast at the very idea of being robbed by one of his friends, he asked all of them what had happened while he was away.
Mr. Green: Miss Scarlet took the money! I saw her sticky hands!
Miss Scarlet: That's nonsense! All I took was a book to read, then I put it back when Mr. Boddy returned.
Mrs. Peacock: Yes, but I saw you put it between pages 41 and 42 of that book before you put it back!
Col. Mustard: But you had a book, too, Mrs. Peacock! I bet you took it and are accusing Miss Scarlet!
Mrs. White: If you think I'm going to check every book in this Study looking for that money, you're mistaken! It's in one of their greedy pockets!
Prof. Plum: What's going on now? I had a book just a second ago...
Who stole Mr. Boddy's money? [Picky version: Who MOST LIKELY stole Mr. Boddy's money on account of lying about it, rather than simply providing an inaccurate but well-intentioned testimony?]
Reminder to self: Pay next CC bill by mail, since I apparently can't change my addy online X(