Gulf Games: The Games

I don't track which games I play any more.  It got to be more effort than it was worth, and it also ended up being a meta game of sorts.  I'd check to see what I "had" to play because I hadn't played it in an while.  So basically I'm not sure exactly what I played at Gulf Games.  I'll comment on a few things.

7 Wonders
Build an ancient wonder of the world using a hand of cards that you pass to your neighbor after choosing one card.  Competition with your neighbors means you sometimes want to keep them from having a card you would otherwise pass.  I like games that present you with a dilemma like this.  Unfortunately, this game is "temporarily out of print" so impossible to find.  I will buy it ASAP (have reserved a copy from Game Surplus).

F something
New 2F game.  Breweries want your goods (water, hops, barley).  You produce some to start, your production changes as you add cards to your 2x3 board.  Supply and demand sort of happens at the breweries.  Turn order favors those who made the least money.  Boring.  I'm not sure if I played it or if it played me.    I won't give it another chance.

Zombie Dice
Fun push-your-luck dice game that I wish had a slightly different theme, but I'll be buying it anyway.

Auf Achse
Of course I played this.

Knot Five
Outstanding deduction game designed by James Miller as the "game of the day" at the Gathering a few years ago.  Won't ever be published, but someone had done a nice ArtsCow version.  If I was any better at this type of game I'd consider doing the same thing.

Tichu
I played two or three games of this, and won each time.  One incredible steamroller win that lasted five hands and included a 1-2 Tichu on two separate occasions.  Plus a blown Grand on the second-to-last hand that would have worked if I hadn't passed my partner a 6...which created a bomb.

Lemming Mafia
Really fun game where you're the mafia attempting to get some lemmings to go in the water first, even if you have to put concrete boots on them, drive them in cars toward the water, etc.  Plus you are betting on who you think will be last alive, and asking the Don for favors (discarding special objective cards that are no longer possible because some other mafioso at your table sent the "wrong" lemming to sleep with the fishes).  Lots of laughs.  My first pick from the prize table, to the delight of my son.

What else?
I know I played more than this.  I was something like fourth place on the friendliest person chart so I must have played more than this.  Even though I can't remember everything right now, I had a blast, so I'm not worried about it.  I won't start logging games again.

Gulf Games: The Trip

We traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee last week, to participate in Gulf Games 27.  Theresa and I have participated in Gulf Games almost every year since 2001, when the two of us traveled to Nashville for our first Gulf Games.

Our trip down was relaxed.  We drove two lane roads south of Kalamazoo through Indiana, staying off the freeway until we reached Indianapolis.  This was slow, but fun.  We always enjoy back road travel, even though we ended up spending extra time driving through small towns, stuck behind slow trucks, and sitting at traffic lights.  You see houses, stores, schools, and many other things that are so different from the franchise chains at every freeway overpass.

My goal was to reach Franklin, Kentucky (almost to the Tennessee line), but we ended up stopping at midnight in Bowling Green, about 25 miles from Tennessee.  We stayed at a nice hotel for $40, using a rest area coupon.

Thursday morning we spent over an hour shopping in Bowling Green.  We found lots of clearance clothing and other things.  This was fun, even though we could have been on the road to Gulf Games.  But, the games aren't important.  Getting away from home is.

As we worked our way through Tennessee, we found the factory store for Lodge Cast Iron cookware.  That was a fun detour.  We picked up a couple of pans at a great price.  Then we looked some products that aren't legal in Michigan at the Tennessee-Alabama Fireworks outlet.

We didn't end up in the game room in Chattanooga until after 3 on Thursday.  We could have been there before 11.  That's OK.  We had a fun, relaxing trip.