WBC, Day 5...

First off, after coffee (of course!) was the semi-finals of Santa Fe Rails. I was seated at a table with Kevin W. from Buffalo, Laurel Stokes (the wife of the "no table talk" guy), and Andy Lewis. A tough bunch, it would seem! Kevin, and I jumped out as the early leaders, but neither of us could stop the game early, as Andy Lewis kept buying branch lines. By drawing a lot of "7" cards, Laurel pulled up with the leaders. We laid a lot of track, and most cities were connected -- something that doesn't often happen at a table with 4 experienced SFR players. I drew both Bismarcks, and there were already 2 tracks heading there, with another track coming back east from Spokane. I didn't play "white" quickly enough, and the track never made it, "cheating" me out of 10 points. I also should have convinced Laurel to take the blue track through Salt Lake to Las Vegas, instead of Sacramento -- she and I owned Las Vegas, and there was NO way I was letting it go to Sacramento, which she and Andy owned. So, my 2 errors cost me 16 points in the end. As it was, after a recount, Kevin had 155, Laurel had 152, I had 144, and Andy had 120. I'm glad Kevin won (if I couldn't!), and Kevin went on to win the finals -- meaning Western New York guys have won this tourney 3 out of the 6 years it's been going!

I walked around for a while and checked out the open gaming tent that had been set up. 3 guys were learning Traders of Carthage, including Steve (?), one of Ron Wuerth's friends, and a fun guy to game with. Not to mention Steve has the rules to about 1,000 games in his head! I was invited to join them, so I did. The game was fun, as you picked up 4 different commodities and tried to deliver them to Carthage, avoiding pirates. Actually, the game play for this card-game was pretty deep. It took me a few turns to figure out what best to do, and in the end I finished 2nd with the scores at 14-13-10-8.

Off to the last Pacific Typhoon heat -- if I don't win this one, no advancing for me, a former champion, 3 years in a row. Well, guess what? 39 points won the game. I had 11. Grrr... Maybe I have to practice more. Wait, I practice all the time...

Hanging my head in shame, I ambled off to the Alhambra semi-finals. I felt like I had a decent shot here to advance, since, for some reason, Alhambra has always been a game I've done well in, luck factor and all. The semis were a 5-player affair, and Nate Hoam of the Cabbies jumped out to an early (~4 or 5 point) lead. After the 2nd scoring round, it was obvious that it was a 2-man game between Nate and me. A white tower for 13 came up, and I had the exact amount -- that would put me into the tower lead and, most likely, win the game for me. Nate was sitting to my right, and he bought it out from under me, preventing my lead in towers! Excellent move on his part, as this proved to be the swing that gave Nate the win, 92-84. An excellent game that went right down to the wire. Oh yeah, another 2nd...

Of course, after that disappointment, I went back out to the open gaming tent and ran into a bunch of Western NY guys. We decided to play, wait for it, Alhambra! LOL! I should have said no, but I wanted to do something. I ended up in, guess what place? 2nd, that's right. The scores were: Grant-92, Rob-86, Bob Titran-72, Bill O'Neal-63, Dave W.-51, Bill Place-46. Another Alhambra game, another 2nd to a guy that scored 92...

I stayed out in the tent and started reading the rules to Iwo Jima: Rage Against the Marines, the game in the special issue of Operations Magazine. Several people came by to chat about it, and Jim Winslow asked if I'd like to try a game. We went for it, muddling our way through the rules, with me taking the Japanese and Jim taking the Marines. By the time the game ended, we had the rules down, and we both saw the mistakes we had made. Jim won (2nd for me again!), and I really want to try this one again, soon.

As I was packing up the game, Bob Wicks and a friend came by asking if I'd like to play Race for the Galaxy. As I love this game, but couldn't enter any heats (conflicts), I readily agreed. They grabbed a fourth, and we were off. Now, I'm not one to whine about my luck, but this was ridiculous -- I didn't see a resource producing planet for the first FIVE hands, sticking me squarely behind the 8-ball. So, I played a development heavy game, and though I finished 4th, my 23 points was only 6 behind the winner's 29. At least it wasn't another 2nd, LOL!

11:00 PM saw me headed back to Ballroom B for Liar's Dice. I sat at a table with Forrest Speck and his son John. 6 of us "lied" it out, and soon enough the only 3 left were Forrest, John, and me. Soon I got booted, and Forrest had a 3 dice to 1 advantage over his son -- but John played great, and ended up winning. A fun game that plays better when the alcohol levels rise. OK, maybe I should be happy with 2nds, as I seem to be slipping...

Late at night. Much beer consumed. Another "friendly" game of Pacific Typhoon begins... 6 of us fight it out. The final scores are 35-25-23-18-15-11. I had 18. Steve Cuyler wins, but whines through the whole game, something negatively commented on by the other players. Steve is an excellent player, but the constant complaining about his cards has gotten real old. Stopped being fun about 1/2 way through, though, mercifully, the game was reasonably quick -- I just wanted to head to bed. It was too late for this...