Alfred Wallace: Gathering of One, Day One

The biggest benefit of doing one’s own unofficial, totally unaffiliated Gathering satellite event:  If life intervenes, and you have to postpone the kickoff date, you’re not inconveniencing anyone else.

After a school-oriented delay, the 2007 Gathering of One started off with a bang.  The big game shop in Springfield, MetaGames, is trying to get a game night started on Wednesdays, and I made an appearance, bringing a few games along.

First up was Ingenious, a favorite multiplayer abstract of mine.  We had an interesting group—along with me (Alfred), we also had Al and an Alan.  We tried to find an Albert to make a fourth, but settled for an Adam instead.  We played every-A-name-for-himself, rather than as partnerships.  I suppose I prefer the partnership version somewhat, but I don’t feel that strongly about it.  It was mostly a pretty wide-open game—not much blocking.  I suspect it was due to the relative inexperience around the table.  The scores were extremely tight.  Alan won, one point ahead of Adam and I (Adam beat me on tiebreakers), and Al one point behind the two of us. 

Ingenious is one of my favorites.  It’s a very “cleanâ€? game, mechanically, easy to teach, plays well with two-to-four, and looks great.  While I’m not colorblind myself, it’s one of the games where the anti-colorblindness technique—different shapes for each color—looks particularly good, in my opinion.  It’s a game I enjoy bringing out.  The game ran a little long, as Alan (the game store owner) was called away a few times, but it still went smoothly.

The second game was one I’ve wanted to play for a while, but never had the chance:  Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix.  It’s a racing game and auction game in one!  The idea, basically, is that you’re investing in cars, and if you own the winning car you get $$$$$.  Second place gets $$$$, on down to $/2 for sixth place.  You have a hand of cards, each of which moves one or more cars (basically).  Thus, you usually have to help other cars finish as well as your own throughout the game.  There are three races; whoever has the most money at the end wins.

We had to call it after two races, as Alan and Al had to go.  (Adam was replaced by Mike, Alan’s brother.) Al ran away with it; he had just one car in both races.  (You can have up to two.) He waited to buy a car until the very end, which he was obliged to buy for $10,000.  He won the first race with it, and finished second in the other one.  The result:  Bookoo money for very little outlay.  Which is usually a good thing to have happen, in games as in life.

The game struck me, and the others, as being a quite clever twist on racing games.  Doubtless with more experience we’d bid in a somewhat more sound fashion, but I’d also be curious to see what would happen if we adopted the variant where you didn’t have to own a car, thus avoiding the Al Effect.  (Any car is worth ten grand, as sixth place pays out thirty grand.) I think the bidding would be a little more involved that way—we’ll see, since I’m going to try to get this one to the table again soon.

In other gaming news:  Anyone up for some Amun-Re?  If so, hie thee to Spielbyweb and track down the Amun-Re game “Gathering of One 2007,â€? put in bgn for the password, and we’re good to go.

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