Only four people are able to make it tonight, James, Chris, Josh, and me. This might be a good time to play some of those 4 player games that rarely make it to the table…or not.

James was the first one to arrive so I took the opportunity to teach him "Lost Cities". I explained to James that it is often common for a first time player to get a negative score. Well, I guess I taught him well enough because he did just fine. We were only able to get two hands in before Chris and Josh showed up and I was just able to squeak by with a win 96 to 78. James actually out scored me on the second hand.

Time for one of those four player games to come out. Chris has been asking to play "Manhattan" for some time now, so out it came. I think one of the reasons that Chris likes this game so much is because he does so well at it. He jumped out to an early lead and maintained it throughout the entire game. There was quite a bit of back and forth among some of the neighborhoods, but the infighting seemed to mainly occur between Josh and me. Once in a while Chris and James would be involved but never to the same extent. Chris, as always, managed to build the "Empire Chris Building" and continued to score points for the tallest building every round. It must be a good strategy because, once again, Chris chalked up a win with 52 points. Josh came in second with 43, barely edging out my 41 points. Finally, James captured 34 points.

OK. Time for another new game! I just bought "Taj Mahal" so out it came. I tried this game back in March and fell in love with it. So, as soon as Rio Grande published it in English I had to have it. I was not disappointed. After a brief rules explanation, we were off and running. Chris grasped the idea of multiple commodities in a hurry and went after them racking up the points along the way. James also understood the game fairly quickly and gave Chris a run for his money. In the end, however, Chris was victorious with 58 points. James managed a respectable 40 points and Josh had 32. I came in last with only 28 points, less than half of Chris' score. However, I still thoroughly enjoyed the game, which, I feel, is testament to its quality of gameplay.

Game Night was over as we called it a night early. "Lost Cities" is elegant in its simplicity and destined to become a classic, "Manhattan", at least in the eyes of the Kitchen Table Gamers, already is, and "Taj Mahal" is sure to earn its way into my Top Ten as I continue to play it. Even if I do stink at it!

Because of personal commitments and such we were all unable to get together for over a month, but now it was, once again, Game Night. There were going to be seven of us tonight, including someone new, James. Also showing up tonight were Chris, Jeff, John, Bruce, Dave, and, of course, me.

James, Jeff, and Chris were the first to show so I got out a four player game that plays quickly and can be stopped as soon as more people arrived, "Piratenbillards". This was Chris' second time playing and he had improved quite a bit from his first outing. He and I managed to tie at 12 points each. It was the first time for both James and Jeff, although James fared a bit better than Jeff with 6 points. Jeff seemed unable to get a ball to travel forward (or any direction that he intended for that matter) and was only able to come up with 2 points.

John and Bruce arrived while the "Piratenbillard" game was going on. So, we finished it up and put it away. I had just bought another game that would fit six and really wanted to see how it would go over with the group; "Rette Sich wer Kann" hit the table. As expected, it ended up going over very well with everyone. Chris' favorite ploy was to plead for Blue (there is no Blue in the game!) John's created an interesting tactic of knocking the captain's staff to the table as soon as he received it so that on his turn there was no negotiation. The number of sailors was dwindling as the boats approached the islands. In the end John, James, and Chris all managed 19 points. The win was awarded to John because the Purple boat (his color) reached an island first. Jeff, me, and Bruce were awarded 15, 14 and 9 points respectively.

Dave arrived while "Rette Sich wer Kann" was finishing up, so I now needed to come up with a seven player game. No problem, another new one came out: "Ohne Furcht und Adel". After a brief rules explanation, the game was underway. Chris ran into a string of bad luck early on when he was assassinated 3 turns in a row, robbed, and finally assassinated again. In spite of this, he was able to get back into the game and although he didn't win, he did end up with a respectable score. Bruce was the first to achieve seven buildings (we played a slightly abbreviated version, choosing to stop at seven rather than eight buildings). As a result he snagged a win with 27 points. Jeff came in second with 25 points followed by James at 23 points. John and Chris tied with 20 points and Dave managed 18 points. I, alas, came in last with a mere 14 points.

At this point, Bruce decided to take off leaving 6 of us for a game of "Nicht die Bohne". 3 hands later and Dave emerged with a victory with 140 points. I was next with 126 point followed closely by Chris with 121 points. Jeff was also in triple digits with 105 points. John and James trailed with a distant 50 and 36 points.

The hour was late and Game Night was over. "Piratenbillard" is a fun game that is great at testing patience, "Rette Sich wer Kann" is a great way to bring out the nastiness of any game group, "Ohne Furcht und Adel" was as big a hit as I expected it to be and I'm sure it will see repeated playings, and "Nicht die Bohne" is still a great, mind bending, opener or closer. I just need to figure out how to win some of these games!

Six players slated for games tonight John, Matt, Mike, Jack, Jeff, and, of course, me! To top it off, we have several new games in the queue too.

While we waited for the arrival of Mike and Jack, the rest of us looked for something light to start off. Without waiting for an answer (or protests) I brought out "Esels Rennen". I just bought it the week before and wanted to give it a go. It's a game of donkey racing with a mechanic similar to "Honey Bears" in that players are free to move any color donkey they want. The object is to try to get the donkeys to cross the finish line in the order specified on a card drawn at the beginning of the game. This card is kept secret from the other players, so they aren't sure if they are helping or hurting you when they move donkeys. The unique mechanism of this game is that the board has different colored arrows on each space of the board. On your turn you may choose any donkey you want and move him one space forward. If he lands on an arrow that is not his color then the donkey of that color moves one space in the direction of the arrow. If that donkey, in turn, lands on an arrow that is not his color then that color donkey moves, and so on. So, moving one donkey will set off a chain reaction of sorts, until a donkey ends up landing on its own color arrow. The game ends once 3 donkeys have crossed the finish line. Points are then awarded for how those three donkeys placed. Players compare that to their cards and sum those points for their score. Matt won with 8 points just squeaking by John's 7 points. Jeff was close with 5 points and I was left in the dust with 0.

It turned out to be a cute game, and not a bad opener or filler. However, the consensus is that it feels like you have very little control over the movement of the donkeys as the chain often goes too deep to develop any kind of strategy.

Mike and Jack showed up just as the donkeys were in their home stretch. As soon as we finished another new game came out, "Plague and Pestilence". This is a nice family oriented card game about the Black Plague. It's broken into two phases, the first phase is building up the population of your city and building improvements (Aquaduct, City Walls, etc.). Then, once the Death Ship surfaces in the draw deck, you set out killing off each other's populations. As bizarre as this sounds, the game is actually fairly light and quite fun. There is quite a bit of luck involved as each turn you must roll two dice (that have the '1' pips replaced with skulls) and compare it against a chart that says how many people move into/die off in your city. You then get to play cards against other players to destroy their improvements (which protect your city against certain cards) or people. I turned out to be a horrible protectorate as I allowed my people to be the first to die out. John went out next followed soon after by Jack and Mike. The final showdown came down to Matt and Jeff. In the end Matt was the sole survivor with a mere 5 population points left.

So, after "Plague and Pestilence" was over we began looking for our next game. After talking about several games, I found out that no one had ever played "Pit". I took that as my cue to show the rest of them the finer points of this wild, raucous trading game. I knew that a game like this could last quite a while and we were hoping to play a few others before the night was over, so we agreed to play to only 200 points instead of the customary 500. The game devolved into the typical cries of "TWO, TWO…THREE, THREE!!" It became evident pretty early on that Jack had a penchant for collecting both the Bull and the Bear. Sure, a few others collected one or the other occasionally (including Yours Truly), but Jack excelled at it. After only six hands Matt walked away with a win and 215 points, Mike was close behind (a mere "corner" away) with 140 points. John and Jeff were also both in the black with 60 and 50 points respectively. I got tagged with the Bear twice, so ended with -40 points. Jack, however, was able to collect the Bull and the Bear four times for -80 points.

The group was wound up quite nicely after "Pit", so I thought I would keep the momentum going. I brought out "Kohle, Kies, und Knete". Well, it turned out to be a great choice because the negotiating and bargaining was just as intense as "Pit" was. At one point, Mike attempted to steal the deal from John with an "I'm the Boss" card, to which John responded with his own, Mike responded with another, and so did John. Mike played his third "I'm the Boss" card and…so did John. When the smoke cleared six "I'm the Boss" cards lay on the table and John still had control. This was indicative of how the whole game went. I was unfortunate to lose my family member about halfway through the game and was never able to recover. I wish I could claim that's the reason I lost, but in one of the most amazing deals I've ever seen in this game, Matt managed to cut himself into a deal without having a family member either. In that particular deal, the negotiating was fast and furious. Mike was the Boss and Matt took the ensuing chaos to horn in the deal with a "I'll do it for only 3 million!" Mike agreed restated the deal and closed it. Once it was closed, we examined it to verify that every family that was supposed to be represented was. They were all there, so the deal was legitimate. I just wish I could have done that a couple dozen times. John got the win with 91 million, followed by Jack with 47 million. Matt had 28 million and Jeff, 22 million. Mike and I tied for last place with 18 million each.

With only a little time left, I thought I would teach them something quick. I just picked up "Corruption" and it seemed to fit the bill. Reporters and Hitmen were making frequent appearances, even the District Attorney cancelled some of the bidding. I was holding on to the lead for most of the game. However, as is par for me, I lost it on the last turn. John closed a nice deal at the end of the game to take the lead with 2.3 million. I came in second with 1.9 million. Matt and Jack tied with 1.7 million, followed by Mike with 1.4 million and Jeff with 1.1 million.

Thus endeth Game Night. "Esels Rennen" sounded better than it played, "Plague and Pestilence" is a fun, if mindless, game, "Pit" is always a good time, as is "Kohle, Kies und Knete", and "Corruption" makes a nice opener or closer. Well, I have to go now. I need to call Matt to get some negotiating lessons.

In spite of a lot of illness going around we managed to get five players tonight: Jeff, Dave, John, Josh, and me.

Josh told me ahead of time that he would be a little late, so we started up a four player game right away. The game was "Formel Fun". Having just bought it I was anxious to give it a try. The game is a remake of "Devil Take the Hindmost" and involves playing cards to race cars around a track. The track has spaces numbered 1 through 10 (three times.) If you can play a card that has the same number as the space you are currently occupying, you get to move that many spaces (i.e. if your car is on a space marked "10" and you play the "10" card you move 10 spaces.) If you play a card with a different number than the space you are currently on you get to move your car 3 spaces. There are also cards that allow you to move a set number of spaces regardless of the space you occupy. There are also special "Turbo" cards that can be played in conjunction with another card to move an extra 5 spaces. The caveat to the Turbo card is that, although you played 2 cards (the regular card and the Turbo card), you are only allowed to replenish one card to your hand. Thus, every time you play a Turbo card, you must continue with a depleted hand.

So, after briefly explaining the rules, the race was underway. Most of us had spread ourselves out with the exception of Jeff. Jeff somehow managed to keep all three of his cars together (unintentionally.) Whether that was a good idea or not, I'm not sure, however, Jeff was the first person knocked out of the race. John and I were able to keep our cars up toward the front of the pack for the next several races causing Dave to be the next casualty. That left John and I; he had all three cars left and I had two. I finally succumbed to the pressure, but not until I had taken one of John's cars out. So, John finished the last race with two surviving cars.

While we were finishing up "Formel Fun," Josh showed up. Instead of just sitting around and watching the race, after his last car was removed from the track Jeff taught Josh how to play "Mole Hill." This nifty little Reiner Knizia title consists of two plays back to back with players switching the roles of "farmer" and "mole." Only the mole can score and the farmer's sole purpose is to try and prevent him from scoring too much. This game had Josh cleaning up as the mole and beating Jeff 15 to 9.

They both finished just as the "Formel Fun" game was also finishing, allowing all five of us to sit down to one game. This time it would be a game that I borrowed from my good friend Greg Schloesser of the Westbank Gamers, "Cheops." This is a tile placing game about collecting treasures (Scarabs) from a pyramid shaped board. There are approximately 20 Scarabs in each of five different colors. The values of the treasures can change throughout the game when a player decides to collect a Scarab and place it on a tally marker instead of adding to his own collection. This tally marker controls the value of that color Scarab (there is a marker for each color) when the game ends. There is also a restriction on how tiles can be placed preventing like tiles to be placed next to each other.

Shortly after starting the game, the left side of the pyramid became unplayable because of tile placement. We were all now focusing on the center and right side of the board. John and Dave each invested deeply into only a few colors, while the rest of us were collecting many different ones. Very few Scarabs were added to the tally markers, with everyone opting to collect them instead. In the end some treasures were played on the tally markers, but not enough to stop John from walking away with a win and 170 points. Dave followed with 140 points, Josh had 120, I had 110, and Jeff pulled in 95 points.

Josh wasn't feeling well and decided to call it a night. That left four of us and there was still time left in the evening for another big board game, so John suggested "Settlers of Catan." It had been a while since we played it, so everyone agreed. A quick rules refresher (especially about those ports!) and we were off. The Robber was making visits between John and Dave all through the game, as they seemed to be the obvious leaders. I couldn't get a brick to save my soul and was quickly left in the dust. Dave managed to accumulate 9 points and then stalled. Try as he might, he just couldn't get that one extra point he needed. At long last, John upgraded one of his settlements to a city and then displayed two improvement cards to leapfrog over Dave and win the game with 10 points to Dave's 9. Jeff was only able to collect 6 points and I came in last with a mere 5 points!

Another great Game Night ends. "Formel Fun" is a good game, although it suffers from the problem of getting knocked out early and just sitting around, "Mole Hill" is a terrific two player strategy game, "Cheops" is a good, solid tile placement game, and "Settlers of Catan" will never grow old. My kingdom for a brick!

Tonight was to be a strange night indeed. Four players, John, Bruce, Jeff and myself, and only two games, "Vino" and "Res Publica".

Jeff brought along "Vino", a game that several of us have wanted to try. Knowing that it was a longer game, we decided to jump right in, rather than start off with our usual light opener. Jeff did the honors of explaining the rules and away we went. We were all buying our wines, getting a foothold in the different regions, when Jeff noticed a strategy I was following. He offered some friendly advice (something we tend to do in our group when playing a new game), "It doesn't seem to be a good idea to corner the market on one type of wine." Great! Now he tells me! I then proceeded to over-compensate by spreading myself among too many types of wine. "Uh…that's probably not real good either." OK. I tend to be a little slow in settling on a strategy in many of these games, sometimes taking 2 or 3 playings before I get the hang of it. So, the advice was appreciated, however, it did appear that it was too late for me for this game. I was never able to dig myself out of the debt I had incurred during these two escapades. My grapes withered on the vine as I only managed to bring in $19. John was able to find his footing early (as per usual) and won with $29. Bruce was next with $26 and third was Jeff with $25.

There's a lot that I want to like about this game, I enjoy the moveable market price and the way the vineyards are bought and lost when selling wine. The board is beautiful and the bits are nice (although some of the regions are too close in color and who thought that round wooden balls was a good idea for keeping track of anything??!!) However, something is missing here. The game seems overly dry and mechanical. Although I like the theme, I'm not sure it really adds to the game. Maybe it was because it was my first time playing too. I often found myself at a loss of what I was supposed to do next. Also, I'm sure the 3+ hours it took us to play affected my opinion.

After our marathon "Vino" session, Bruce had to leave. With 3 players left, Jeff brought out another one of his new games he'd been wanting to try, "Res Publica". As he was going through the rules I had a feeling that I was going to like this one. I was very enthralled by the prospect of the one sided trading i.e. only asking for what you need OR only telling what you are willing to trade, not both. Indeed, something must have clicked with me in this game. I won with 39 points. John came in second with 32 and then Jeff with 29 points.

Well, that was all we had time tonight. Hopefully, "Vino" will get better with age (Jeff assures me that it does), and I am quite anxious to try "Res Publica" again. At least it didn't have little bits that rolled off the edge of the table!

We should have a great Game Night tonight since there will be six in attendance: Jack, Bruce, Jeff, Chris, Jeff P., and me. I'll have to scour my game collection and see what we can put on the table tonight.

We were waiting for Jeff P. and Chris to show up so I brought out "Buried Treasure". It's a quick, light game and we should be finishing it up about the time everyone arrives. Well, as I was explaining it Jeff P. arrived. I forfeited my seat and explained it to the rest of them. By the end of the first round Bruce had established a 1 point lead over Jack leaving everyone else several points behind. During the second round Bruce cemented his lead with a 10 point lead over Jack and 20 points over the rest of the group. When the final tally was in, after the third round, Bruce had held onto his lead and won with 46 points. Jack was next with 28 points followed by Jeff P. and Jeff B. with 20 and 17 points respectively.

I don't have a lot of the details of the "Buried Treasure" game because, while that was going on, Chris arrived. Rather than sit around waiting, I roped Chris into a game of "Domination", the Milton Bradley incarnation of Sid Sackson's Spiel des Jahres "Focus". I just acquired this game recently (thanks Steve!) and had only played it one other time. Chris is what I would call a "deep thinker" in the games we play, sometimes seeing a strategy immediately before anyone else. I was anxious to show him this game and jumped at the chance when the opportunity presented itself. The tide of the game swung back and forth with each of us alternately going on the offensive and being forced into defensive postures. When the game finally concluded I emerged victorious, but barely. It was a hard fought game and one that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

With the conclusion of "Buried Treasure" and "Domination" we searched about for a game to accommodate six players. We arrived at "Air Baron". It has been a very long time since we've played this Avalon Hill game of competing airlines and everyone seemed up for it. A quick refreshing of the rules and the game was underway. Bruce grabbed onto the West Coast early in the game and seemed to be the guy to beat. Jack had taken a strong hold of the Southwest and Central hubs, I concentrated on the Great Lakes areas, and Chris managed to take the Southeast. Jeff B. and Jeff P. weren't really getting established in any one area with Jeff P. mainly playing the spoiler and grabbing spokes here and there to make it more difficult for the rest of us. This strategy didn't pay off for either of them though. Jeff B. ended the game with only $10! Worse than that, however, Jeff P. had a mere $1 at the end of the game! In spite of how well Bruce had dominated the West Coast, Jack ended up winning with $298, followed by Bruce with $226. I came in third with $180 and then Chris had $161. Interesting to note is that only two Jumbo Jets got deployed during the game.

With the ending of "Air Baron", Jeff P. left for the evening, leaving us with five players. Now, when I'm presented with five players, I never hesitate. I brought out "Modern Art". Say what you will about this game, I love it! Plus, we had a great opportunity here: of the five of us, only Chris and I had ever played before. I am always looking for people to teach this game to. The funny thing about the game this time around though, was that, although we were teaching everyone "Modern Art" for the first time, they had all played other games with Chris and I before. The result was that when we were helping them through this game, giving strategy hints and advice here and there, they only believed us about half the time. With Chris it was probably even less than that! At any rate, experience really does seem to pay off in this game, as Chris and I came in second and first respectively. I won with $405, next was Chris with $384. Bruce had $288, and Jack eked out Jeff B. with $234 to Jeff's $233. Everyone enjoyed it and agreed it would be better with more playing, a request I am only too happy to fulfill.

So, another Game Night closes. "Buried Treasure" proves to be good, light fun, "Domination" is a game I hope to play many more times, "Air Baron" still seems to me to be an oft overlooked game, and "Modern Art" is still a solid 10 in my book. A lofty perch I reserve only for those games that I feel have real staying power.

After a couple of last minute call offs, there are only four of us tonight: John, Jeff, Bruce, and me. No matter, we can have fun with just the four of us anyway.

While we were waiting for Bruce, I thought I would teach "Button Men" to John and Jeff. I only had a couple of buttons to choose from, so Jeff chose "Kith" and John took "Clare". The whole point of going through this was just to teach them how "Button Men" played so we didn't bother to keep score. Bruce showed up after John and Jeff managed three games of it; enough to get a flavor of it. We'll have to try it again in the future to see how it fares with the rest of the group.

Jeff brought along a few games, so we let him dig into his bag and pull something out. Out came "Cape Horn". None of us had ever tried it and it seemed like a good choice. We all got of to a fairly good start and no one seemed to be attacking anyone else. John and Bruce were able to collect many of the tiles they needed, while I had a slightly more difficult time. Jeff was taking the tack of hugging the coast, which set him up for the only truly nasty play in the game. John played a couple of tiles on Jeff that caught him in an infinite loop. It really wasn't that he was out to get Jeff so much as it was that the tiles wouldn't have affected anyone else. As the game entered its final moves John captured the win with a replaced tile move and a double move that got him the third nautical station. If he hadn't taken it that turn, Bruce would've won on his next turn as he had the tile that would have allowed him to snag the third station. I also was close to a win as I was rapidly approaching the finish line. Jeff, however, never even rounded the cape, having been caught in the whirlpool John set up for him.

After "Cape Horn" Bruce brought out a game that he brought from home, Avalon Hill's "Naval War". We had all heard of it, but had never had a chance to play it. Bruce explained the rules, dealt the cards, and off we went. John had acquired a very nice setup with the Bismarck as his capital ship. It was indeed a tough one to sink, but a concentrated effort of all involved sent it to the bottom of the sea. One of Jeff 's ships managed to catch fire and he battled it for a good portion of the game. When all was said and done, Bruce won with 35 points, I came in second with 17 barely beating John's 16 points. Jeff was never able to overcome the devastation the fire had on his navy's morale as he didn't score a single point.

Attacking each other's ships brought another game to mind, "Family Business". Jeff had never played and wanted to give it a go. I took my customary "Purple Gang", John grabbed the "Moran Gang", Bruce, the "Capone Mob" and Jeff took "Murder, Inc." Well, no one was shy in this game. Cards were flying, contracts were carried out and my Purple Gang was the first to take a dirt nap. John lasted a little bit longer, but soon was swimming with the fishes. It came down to Bruce and Jeff each with only one mobster left. Bruce was ultimately successful by playing the dreaded "Hit" card on Jeff's lone mobster.

After "Family Business", Jeff had another request for a game that he hadn't played: "Detroit/Cleveland Grand Prix". Now, this game doesn't hit our table very often and that's a shame, because it really is a very enjoyable game. Player's need to keep in mind that it really isn't about racing. It's a card game that uses a racetrack to keep score. If you want something that feels more like racing then "Formula Dé" would be the way to go, but for a fun, light game, "Detroit/Cleveland Grand Prix" has a lot to offer. Anyway, it was getting a little late, but we thought we would still have time for a game. Well, the game took a little longer than I recalled and we were only able to get to races in (instead of the recommended three races.) When the dust cleared John won with $410,000. Bruce was second with $390,000, followed by me with $280,000 and Jeff with $250,000.

So, another game night comes to an end. We'll will be trying "Button Men" again soon with more players to see what it's really like, "Cape Horn" turned out to be a rather enjoyable, light game, "Naval War" is definitely showing it's age, "Family Business" never fails to satisfy with the right crowd and "Detroit/Cleveland Grand Prix" is still a fun game in spite of its critics.

Six players again tonight: me, John, Jeff, Dave, Chris and a new person also named John. Having two people with the same name always presents a problem when writing up these recaps, so John (the new John) suggested we call him Jack. It's kind of an inside joke going back to when he was a youngster, but it works for our purposes. So, Jack it is!

Jack is relatively new to this whole boardgame scene, so we thought we would indoctrinate him into our group the best way we knew how: by making him "Mr. X" in a game of "Scotland Yard". He told us he was a little uncomfortable with being the center of attention. Therefore, being the kind and concerned people we are, we forced him into being "Mr. X".

Jack grasped his role in the game immediately, although we had to hound him to where the cool black visor, and was able to elude us for quite a while. It wasn't long before we homed in on his whereabouts and cornered him. He only had a few options available, we took a guess at where he was going and Jeff was able to nab him on turn 17. Now, I say "we", but I really mean "they". Somehow I was the designated cutoff person should Mr. X slip through the net. As a result, I was not really involved in the capture. In fact, I was at least a half a board away when Jeff finally grabbed him. Everyone made sure I was aware of this fact. Several times. All night long.

After "Scotland Yard", we decided to play something a little meatier. We chose what is rapidly becoming a favorite of ours, "Union Pacific". A customary re-reading of the rules and the game was underway. Everyone was happily buying stock and placing trains waiting for the first dividend card to show…and waiting…and waiting. It took quite a while before it came up. It must have been in the last possible position in the deck. Only one person picked up a share of Union Pacific stock before the first dividend card came up, but then it was a mad scramble. Jeff and I tied for the most shares of UP with 5 each. John, Jack and Dave were also tied with 3 each. Chris was trying a different strategy and only had his initial share of UP stock. His plan was to buy a lot of stock in the other companies instead of getting bogged down in the UP stock race. John's strategy, on the other hand, was not necessarily to dominate in any particular railroad, but rather be content with second place in many railroads. Apparently John's strategy was a bit more sound than Chris' because he ended up winning with $103 million. I came in a distant second with $89 million, then Jeff with $85 million followed by Jack with $80 million and Dave with $76 million. Chris ended up in last place with only $61 million. I think there is sound reasoning to Chris' approach and maybe it just didn't work out this time. It will be interesting to see if he is willing to try it again.

The hour was getting late, so we opted for our perennial closer, "Liar's Dice". Alas, the dice gods were not with me this night as I was the first one out. After a bit of an interval, Dave was next, followed in rapid succession by Jeff and John. The final showdown was between Chris and Jack, each with only 1 die left. Chris placed a bid, Jack called him on it and won. Such is life.

Once again, Game Night is over. "Scotland Yard" is a great opener. It kick starts the brain cells without overtaxing them, "Union Pacific" is hitting the table a lot these days, and I hope it continues too, as I enjoy it very much, and, of course, "Liar's Dice". No game table should be without it.