For the Boards!: Kresia

Showing posts with label Kresia. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Duwatabordz Wins Trivia Night!

Heavens, yes! The hope in the last post is no longer a hope but a reality. Duwatabordz places 3rd in last night's Trivia Night at Sprockets. Yay! It wouldn't have been possible without our fellow board gamers in a different trivia group, Albert and James. Thanks a lot for coming, bordz!!! You just made our 2nd trivia night awesome...and the next ones difficult??! Hopefully, no one would hope the same awesomeness in the coming trivia nights...@_@

Well, the awesomeness doesn't actually end there. The categories last night was varied and for some stroke of luck, it included a "50shades" category of which Charry and I have been acquainted with. Yay! Charry was awesome remembering things. And what about the boyfriend? He did well on the "Goodbye July" category. And there was that question about a song group, or was it band, that only Duwatabordz (the boyfriend) has the answer, "Uriah Heep". Our first time joiner, Banky, made a mark in the "Vintage Cartoon" category too. And the rest was in the trivia guru duo's hands, Albert and James.

But with awesomeness comes silliness (err, I don't know if I used the correct word :P)...

Aside from answering the questions, the team is given 3 special power. The actions are:

* Double - The ability to double the score.

* Block - The ability to stop other team from getting the score.

* Steal - The ability to steal other people's answer and get the same score if it is correct.

No verbal agreement within the team but it comes naturally that the only action that will most likely be of used to us are "Double" and "Steal". Don't do unto others if you don't want others do it unto you. Everything was great until the 2nd set when we received a "Block" from the leading team. It cost us 4 points. We were like "ooohhhhhs". Albert was screaming. And I was like..."..that was bad!" It really was bad. The feeling was strange and foreign. There was a standstill..then after a while, we were back on track.

We were always trailing the 3rd place. On the last set, more teams are blocking the team currently on the 3rd place including us. Speaking of my own view, I didn't really expect we would won. We nearly got nothing on the first category (Lyrics Trivia) of the last set. But we made a come back on the last 2 set, "Brands" and "Goodbye July". Still the comeback was not enough but plus the "Block" from the other teams to the previous set 3rd place team...(ooohhh....I don't know if that's really the case. Haha!)

Overall, it was a GREAT night. I don't mind if we wouldn't have that night again. What matters most is that we've been there! =)

James, July & James! (Jx3)

Banky, Charry and yours truly!

Spot It!
Albert's new favorite!

James!

In Action!

Albert...in action!

Yay!

The Team!

Our favorites!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Duwatabordz Joins Trivia Night!

I hope the title next time would be "Duwatabordz Wins Trivia Night!". Wew! I went their praying we wouldn't get zero. I even prepared by reading some pop culture events on Disney. Haha! We, or rather they, surpassed my expectations. We actually got 33 points. 10 points away from the 3rd place. Yahoo! Placing 2nd to the last with some points away from the other teams was more than I expected. :) Way to go, boardgamers! I hope I could contribute a little next time. Maybe, I should harness my "tag-an2x" ability considering the memory loss I am experiencing these days. Hehehe!

To those who haven't been to Trivia Nights...let me tell you a little about it. It started some time February 2010. It is an activity where participants are quizzed on a wide-range of genres. The trivia questions can come from subjects as academic as science, geography, history, literature, language, philosophy, politics, technology, and religion. It can also cover the fields of current events, music, film, people, pop culture, and fashion or maybe just about anything under the sun. If you're well-read, well-traveled and in tune with the current events world wide, this maybe a good place for you to test whether you've retained everything you've read so far.

The boyfriend (Migo) and I started joining this event since January last year. It was Albert who convinced Migo to join at first. And like I always said, being a supportive girlfriend, I joined as well. Since then we've attended CTN with different groups of friends. This is my first trivia night this year, and Migo's 3rd. Our CTN activities was put in a standstill due to Migo's abnormal work schedule. When our CTN activities stopped, boardgaming comes in.

Last year Trivia Nights are held in:

Tuesday = Joker's Arms (somewhere North..Banilad)

Wednesday = Alejandro's (near Cebu Doctor's Hospital)

Thursday = Vuudu (Crossroads, Banilad)

This year, the places change but the schedule are the same.

Tuesday = Sprocket's Cafe (near Parklane Hotel Cebu. We were here last night!)
Wednesday = Alejandro's (near Cebu Baseline)
Thursday = Emerald Isle (Talamban)

Migo talked about making this our Tuesday Night habit. Hmmm! Personally, it's good but I'm concerned about the expense. I know we can have some agreement soon. Where CTN's are held is not the same as where we held our weekly boardgame night. The most we spend on our Wednesday's Board Game Night is just around a hundred pesos. Hmmm...

The score board!

More Info on Cebu Trivia Nights:
http://theglamarazzi.com/2011/03/30/cebu-trivia-night-turns/
http://theglamarazzi.com/tag/cebu-trivia-night/
http://www.everythingcebu.com/cebu-entertainment-sports-centers/cebu-trivia-nights/

For the boreds on Wednesday night... You can join our board game session! :) Naa ra mi pirmi sa Pan de Manila sa eBloc, IT Park! From 7 PM - 11 PM, usahay malapas! :P Dili ra mi malain if mu-try mu ug duwa... Ehehe! The more, the merrier! :D

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Losing Airlines Bragging Rights

As much as I try not to, still end up a mediocre in gaming. Hmmm! But hey, where's the fun in always winning?! (Awkay! I'm contradicting myself.) I don't usually flaunt my defeat. Just for once, I'll give myself this chance.

Last Wednesday's session, if my memory is right, I experience my first ever "Airlines" defeat. Technically, I've lost to Migo in 2s. But he never did in a 5 player game. What struck(hurt) me most is that the person who defeated me is Banks, who just started playing with us last week. OMG! I might not play "Airlines" again with him. Once is enough. Haha! Just kidding.

The defeat made me questioned my tactics. And I actually couldn't wait to play it again. Losing is like a drug that empowers me. The more I lose, the more I hungered to win. Because I lose, I was forced to evaluate the odds in that game which I usually never do otherwise. It's much painful losing when you don't know the reason why you did.

I think I lose because...

Banks is the only person who uses the "TT" technique(T3). Grace is also known for this and she wasn't in the game. If she were there, the odds might have been different. They would cancel each other, I think. :P Also, aside from T3 Banks strives to hold majority stocks on an airline company too. T3 combined with majority technique is a sure win.

Also Banks is having communication with other players. When he noticed that someone is also having the majority stocks like him, he offers alliance.

So what is this "TT" technique(T3) about?

Airlines Europe is a stock game, with players earning points for the stock they hold in particular airline companies when one of the randomly determined scorings takes place. On a player's turn, that player either expands an airline and claims a stock, plays stock onto the board and receives dividend, invests in a special airline called Air ABACUS or gets a certain amount of money from the bank. A player scores only for stock in play, but the value of an airline is determined by the value of the route licences that airline owns – thus, you're torn in terms of what to play when.

- Board Game Geek

T3 aims to invest in all airplane companies but does not necessarily contribute in expanding the companies.

IF T3 and majority combination is a good combination tactic, why am I not using it?

I don't know how to use T3 effectively. I just don't feel safe relying the odds to other players. In almost all games, I always try to be self-sufficient. That's why alliance technique will not work on me too. I don't trust that others will keep their words. Haha!

Unlike Banks, when I noticed that someone holds a majority stocks, I stop expanding that airline until I'm sure I can be the sole majority holder.

Bottomline:

I play selfishly. Hahaha!

Hmmmm....might be changing things on the coming sessions...

Thanks Banks for the lessons! :)

Monday, June 11, 2012

When the Boyfriend becomes a Gamer

You might have heard how couples end up fighting because of games (can be online, card or anything). Most girls rant how the game becomes a priority. Saturday chill with boyfriend becomes a lonely Saturday at home watching chick flick because the boyfriend is either playing his beloved game or sleeping because he just spent the night with it. So-so!

I don’t want any of that struggle so when the boyfriend told me he wanted to buy board games, I immediately object. But he was persistent. I got tired of the constant ramblings so I agreed.

I didn’t want to compete with his time, or make the board games get in the way of our perfect relationship so I choose to become a gamer.

It was hard considering it’s my first time playing board games. Learning the rules in each new game was a constant struggle. But seeing him smile at my efforts was what I needed to keep me moving forward.

It’s been 9 months since I’ve become a gamer because my boyfriend becomes one. I don’t have any regrets. And if ever, he’d like to learn another hobby or anything, I surely won’t have 2nd thoughts of doing what I did again.

The Boyfriend’s Collection.

For the boreds on Wednesday night...

You can join our board game session! :)

Pan de Manila, eBloc, IT Park!

7 PM - 12 AM!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Hello Civ!

Last Saturday, we had a no-invitation board game session at the Kesners. And despite earlier hesitations of playing Civilization, Migo still force me to play it. :|

I was actually excited for that session because it's been a while since I played 7 wonders. But because it took us almost 5 hours to play a game of Civilization, I lost the chance. Huwaaaaaaaaaaah!

It's always my trouble learning new(super strategic or has lots of rules) games. Understanding and grasping the rules is always an extra effort. But I can always do it when I'm on the mood, but I was not in the mood for learning that time. But I didn't have a choice.

I was still grumpy on the first few rounds. Whining why I have to play it. So-so! Then slowly, I begun to understand and enjoy what I'm doing. Later, without me knowing it, I'm on the edge of winning. And like always, seeing the opportunity to beat others engulf me in flames of desire. And I know, I just have to win it by hook or by crook.

Of course, it wasn't easy. When others realized that I'm that close to the crown, they turned their target unto me. Boooooo! But of course, I didn't let myself to be an easy target. It helps that the first building that I have was barracks so I equipped all of my cities with that. Then wade my way into getting the updated version. I bought many units(for fighting). Put researched cards that could protect my empire. :P And then...when I can already afford Level IV cards, I didn't have second thoughts on buying the research card that has the ability to nuke other players' non-capital city. Ahaha! And with that, I started a reign of terror. :P It's only for a little while though. I lost the card to Karl. I tried to nuke his non-capital city but then he has a card that can cancel it. Tsk! Well at least, I tried. Lesson learned though. Next time...oooppps. There's no next time because I just told myself never play that game again. Hahaha! Well, for others who might, when you have a nuke card and decide to nuke someone make sure that someone doesn't have the ability to dodge it. :P

The game was really fun. I wish it wasn't that time consuming. For now, my decision is firm not to play it again. But who knows...

And...who won???

Of course, still me! Despite their cruelty. I can't believe Charry(..and I thought we're BGBB*) destroyed my 2 barracks rendering me a -8 defense against Karl who planned to attack my capital city so that I can't put the last card that would bring me the crown. Grrrrrr!

When Karl attacked I didn't really thought I would still win. I might have underestimated my survival power. Ahahaha!

And to end it all...

It really was a sweet triumph. And because I will not play it again...I will be undefeated until I'll change my mind. Hahahahaha!

* BGBB = Board Game Best Buddy

For the boreds on Wednesday night... You can join our board game session! :) Naa ra mi pirmi sa Pan de Manila sa eBloc, IT Park! From 7 PM - 11 PM, usahay malapas! :P Dili ra mi malain if mu-try mu ug duwa... Ehehe! The more, the merrier! :D

Friday, June 8, 2012

Race to the Alien Frontiers

Amongst the current collection, there are 2 games I like playing but cannot play on a regular basis. These games are usually Migo and I's pick on our private game sessions. :D Read on to know the reasons why we can't play this on a regular basis on board game weekends or night.

Versus

These games both need extra effort to learn and to play. And if we're to bring them to our sessions, it will took most of our time. We don't want that.

It took me 5 games to finally understood Race for the Galaxy but when I did, the feeling was just amazing. Before that happens, I almost quit playing because I can't win RFTG. Haha! And if you've read all my post, so you probably know how I hate losing. :P

For Alien Frontiers, I learned on the first game but slooowly. It took me some minutes to organize my moves and execute my plan. Thanks to my playmates for being very understanding and patient.

The 2 have the same premise...space, resource management and gathering victory points. It needs an amount of strategy and brain power to win. For RFTG, you can plan your strategy on the long term. For AL, you need short term strategy or tactics. You manipulate cards in RFTG, dice for AL. I'm not a fan of dice so I don't really like playing AL at first.

If there's a grade in gaming, these games are for intermediate players. Ticket to Ride, Carcassone and Survive are for beginners.

Even if I already played this game number of times, I can't really say that I'm good at this and that I know what I'm going to do always...these games are just too mind boggling. So if you want to test if you're already an intermediate player, try playing these games. If you won't find them exciting, then maybe you still need a little push. Hehe!

For the boreds on Wednesday night... You can join our board game session! :) Naa ra mi pirmi sa Pan de Manila sa eBloc, IT Park! From 7 PM - 11 PM, usahay malapas! :P Dili ra mi malain if mu-try mu ug duwa... Ehehe! The more, the merrier! :D

Games available for play!

From top shelf, left.
1. Robo Rally
2. Last Night on Earth
3. Survive
4. Ticket to Ride
5. Airlines
6. Carcassone
7. Alien Frontiers
8. Wits and Wagers
9. Pandemic
10. Race for the Galaxy
11. Citadels
12. Forbidden Island
13. Bohnanza
14. The Resistance
15. Quarriors
16. No Thanks
17. Spot It
18. Uno
19. MAD

For the boreds on Wednesday night... You can join our board game session! :) Naa ra mi pirmi sa Pan de Manila sa eBloc, IT Park! From 7 PM - 11 PM, usahay malapas! :P Dili ra mi malain if mu-try mu ug duwa... Ehehe! The more, the merrier! :D

Friday, May 11, 2012

Surviving 'Survive'

Currently 'Survive' is on top of the list of my favorite games. I was actually considering replacing "Ticket to Ride USA" as my all-time favorite.

This game is about survival, as the name suggests. :P There is an island, Atlantis. Your task is to take your people out of the island before it completely disappeared. Taking your people out of the island is not that easy because you have to compete with other people who want to survive as well. And of course, there are perils. There are hungry sharks who won't stop at nothing to eat your people. Whales who are too eager to destroy your boats to make you vulnerable to sharks. Serpents who can destroy both your boats and people. And the one you should be most afraid of, the heartless players in the game who would do just about anything to survive without you.

This game is not for the faint at heart and vengeful people because if you take everything here seriously then you might end up hating your friend for killing 3 of your VIPs (people with 4,5,6 points) even if there are other moves than that.

This is how the board looks at the start of the game.
The colored ones are the people (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue).
Guarding the 4 nearby islands where your people can go to survive is a serpent.
There is a serpent at the center of the island too.
There are 8 boats.

Aside from the game play, I love how attractive the components are. When everything is set up like the above picture, it can surely catch anyone's attention.

Setup
1. Make 'Atlantis'. There are 3 kinds of tiles that would comprise the island. You have the freedom on how to form your island as long as it follows the outline on the board.

Each people of survive has a point.
The accumulative points will determine the winner of the game.

2. Put people. There are 4 players of the game. Each of them will have 10 people and will take turns in placing their people on the island. The 10 people has a point each (see above picture). There are 1 people with points 4,5 and 6. 2 with points 3 and 2. 3 with 1 point.

Note: No 2 people can occupy the same tile.

3. Put boats. Each player will be given 2 boats. You will place the boats on the island. Anyone can use the boat you place. You don't own the boat.

How to play

When all the pieces are setup like the above picture, the player who puts their people first will start his/her turn. Usually, the person who wins the previous game will get to be the first player.

On a turn, the following can be done in order:

1. Make at most 3 moves.
The moves can either be: Move a people to a tile, boat or to the sea. Move a boat. Move a swimmer.

Note: A swimmer is a people who is in the sea space. When your people become a swimmer, it cannot go back to the island anymore. You can only swim until you reach the safe corners. A swimmer can only have 1 move per turn.

2. Open a tile. The order of tile opening is as follows, open the sand(cream-colored) tile first, then the forest(green) then the mountain(gray).

3. Roll the dice. There are 3 components in the dice: whale, shark and serpent. When you roll a whale, you can move it at most 4 spaces. Shark for at most 2 spaces. Serpent for 1 space. You can only move the components if they exist in the board already.

That's it. I think I've blabber most already or at least the meat of the game. It's not complicated right?! Actually, this is just the base game. There are lots of game plays that we haven't played yet. There are components like the squid and dolphin too. We haven't played that yet. I will post about it when we played it soon.

Strategies

There are lots of ways on how to win the game. But it's not guaranteed to work every time. Well for this, you just have to explore on your own when your playing already. I'd be rubbing you off the fun if I tell you about it too.

I hope this post makes you interested to play "Survive"! BTW, I don't mind answering suggestions, comments and violent reactions. :)

Hope to hear from you! =)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For the boreds on Wednesday night... You can join our board game session! :) Naa ra mi pirmi sa Pan de Manila sa eBloc, IT Park! From 7 PM - 11 PM, usahay malapas! :P Dili ra mi malain if mu-try mu ug duwa... Ehehe! The more, the merrier! :D

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Board Game Night VI

Migo warned me about bringing light(card & no bulky container) games for our session last night. I don't feel like bring too much stuffs so I just brought Citadels, No Thanks and Bohnanza.

They were all card games. No thanks was 1st played last session. The girls were really enjoying how fast the game is. For the first time, the record was broken. I wasn't crowned the Empress. Melinda got the crown. Grace also broke the lowest score of 5 to 3, of which I hold the title. Last night, I was hoping I could snatched the crown from Melinda. We all are. But Melinda proved to be a brave Empress. After 2 games, she managed to kept the crown. Well, there's always a next time, right girls?!

We didn't have the chance to play Citadels. Though I'm a little sad, we couldn't play everything, part of me seems happy for I'm still the Citadel's Empress. And for the record, I have yet to lose playing it. :D

Bohnanza was our new game for the night. I was a little hesitant to teach them how to play it because I only played it twice. It doesn't even count because the rules are not the same for 2 and more people. And didn't I mentioned I hate reading manuals?! The things I learned about the earlier games all came from Migo. He's always the one who learns the game first. But I don't have a choice. Playing Bohnanza twice was quite enjoyable and challenging so I couldn't make a pass by waiting for him to join our session and teach us.

I'm glad we played it, not because I was crowned the Empress again, but because I feel that they are enjoying it as much as I do. Sharing the same feelings of enjoyment towards a game is always intoxicating. I love it when we like the same thing. The clamor for dominance makes our board game nights more exciting! :)

Who will wear the crown next session?

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For the boreds on Wednesday night...

You can join our board game session! :)

Naa ra mi pirmi sa Pan de Manila sa eBloc, IT Park!

From 7 PM - 11 PM, usahay malapas! :P

Dili ra mi malain if mu-try mu ug duwa...

Ehehe!

The more, the merrier! :D

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Board Game Night II

Missing Grace!
She took the picture because she grumbled that
the 4 of us shared farms and she's not part of it.

And Grace is in the house!

Elgie busy explaining the rules to Grace.

It was a holy Wednesday. Since there was no work the next day, it's OK to stay late. And late it was.

There were 4 games of Carcassone and 3 for Ticket to Ride. It was the first time Carcassone was played, due to unfamiliarity there were aberrations during the game. Following are some aberrations:

1. A player keep changing the placement of her tiles even if the next player is already in play. (Wanna guess who this is?!)

2. The resulting maps were gross. There were many blank tiles.

3. A game takes too long. Usually, a game of Carcassone can be done in 30 minutes.

Despite the aberrations , the night is still hilariously fun. Everybody wants to win but not as much as some people do. In gaming, it is always a surprise what people do just to get there.

And of course, Ticket to Ride!

See score board here.

The Quest is ON!

Score board, score board on the wall, who's the EMPRESS of us all?!
- Idea by CCB, Published by KMCR

Yesterday on Skype, the girls are putting their mind together to make the sessions more fun and exciting with rankings. After a long tirade of suggestions and violent reactions, a standard scoring is achieved.

From the average per session per game a rank will be laid out. From the strongest to the weakest, the titles are as follows: Empress, Queen, Princess, Duchess and Countess represented by color coding on the score board.
See below for the current rankings of the previous sessions.

"Everybody should desire for the crown with all efforts at all cost!" says one. With that, expect a combat mood for the sessions to come.

Weeeeeee! Can't wait! :D

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

An Interview with Grace

I can't remember the first time I talked to Grace about board gaming. She's a college classmate, a member of Chooks and a dear friend. To be able to play board games with friends is a long-term goal but I'm taking it slow. There's a notion about board games so I know my task would be arduous. So I was super happy when she agree to attend our 5th board game session last Mar 4. Officially, she's the 3rd friend I invited and successfully attend a board gaming session. Hehe! The first is Charry, then Judith. As for the opposite...well, I don't wanna recall failures. Hahaha!

She had her first session with us on a Sunday and has played 6 games. The highest number of games to be played first time in a session. Following are the games she had done playing:

1. Ticket to Ride USA 2. Ticket to Ride EU

3. Last Night on Earth 4. Payday

5. Clue 6. Pictureka

With Charry's help, I come up with this questionnaire for board gamers. Grace is the first one to answer it. See below for her answers.

-----------------------------------------------

1. What is the first game you've played with us?

ticket to ride (US)?

2. How was the experience?

lingaw...like dli ko nahan maundang :))

3. What made you try board gaming?

curious?gusto makabalo,was invited? :))

4.Did you played other board games before? What are they?

Boardgame ba nang scrabble?

5. What is your favorite game played here? Why was it your favorite?

Payday?ky murag mag anticipate ka if swertehon ka ba

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How about you? What's your answer on the questions above. Drop us a mail. :)

Monday, April 2, 2012

An RFTG+AL Session (BG-VI)

We had our 6th board game session last March, 24 at Migo's residence. I don't know if it was fortunate or unfortunate that only 1 player showed up, Victor.

I wasn't up to gaming because I got tired of an earlier activity. I begged not to participate but Migo won't let me. I had no choice but to drag myself out of bed.

Migo asked Victor what he would like to play. He picked RFTG (Race for the Galaxy). Migo said it was a nice pick so that Victor's memories of the game will be recovered. He forgot the rules the last time he played with Migo and PJ.

As for me, I have developed a liking to RFTG already. It's no longer a problem playing it. Still, the confidence of being able to teach others about it is low. It took me about 5 games just to understand what I'm doing...a lot more to finally able to build my strategy...and a lot, lot more to be able to win. So you see, it'd be pretty hard to let others warm up to RFTG yet. I still lack the skills to convince them that it's worth the headache. Haha!

The first game was challenging. It was a comeback game for Victor. He won with a score of 52 with Earth's Lost Colony as the starting world and using Blue strategy. Migo came in second scoring 45 with Alpha Centauri as starting world. With a point less than Migo, I came in last with New Sparta as the starting world.

I don't want to accept my defeat so we had another match. I won at 35 points. Victor came in second with 31 points. Migo at 27 points. Later, I was in awe when I realized that I was using Victor's starting planet and his strategy from the 1st game. Because I win, I taunted Migo for losing. Migo wanted another match.

We reached 5 rounds of RFTG. Each round, we decided to use different starting world. Following are the details of each.