9/2/06

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9-2-06
Gaming at WVU Tech
Top Race and I'm The Boss
Players - Kelly, Hugh, Brandon, Shelley, and Charlie

Working at a college is great for finding smart, young adults to play games. Getting any to sit down long enough to actually play some games is the challenge. Luckily, I managed to find 2 couples (Kelly/Hugh and
Shelley/Brandon) that were looking for something to do on a Friday night. First up was the requisite tour of the game room for Hugh. He was signifacantly impressed. His first question was, "Where did you buy all of these games?" My answer, "Ebay, Goodwill, conventions, and anywhere else I see a game."
First Game - I'm the Boss
I have had this game for a year and it was still in shrink. I think Shelley just wanted to open the box. Anyway, I think it is a great choice for this group. They can all take a joke and do not hold grudges. I was a little concerned about the couples issue. Sometimes it is hard for couples to cut their significant other out of a deal, even if it makes perfect sense to do so. I take a few minutes to explain the game and off we go. The G investor is the 6th investor and is not dealt to anyone at the start. Hugh (W investor) and I (L) get in on several early deals but the others all make some money. Every time someone attempts to use a G family member they go on a flight and no one can recruit the investor without a stop card coming out. Group think gone amuck. Somewhere around the 7th or 8th deal Shelley starts becoming more demanding in her deals and repeatedly mentions that Hugh has been in on a lot of deals. Also, Brandon starts mis-calculating (on purpose) the totals for the deals. I explain that he is supposed to annouce the correct amounts. He doesn't believe me so we have to double check his multiplication and addition for the rest of the game.
Also, Hugh finally gets the G investor and by deal 9, my investor is stolen. I have a hand full of I'm the boss cards and no investors. I want everyone to quit making deals and draw cards but they don't. So on deal 11 I bite the bullet and start using I'm the boss and trying to make every deal and spread the wealth. Basically, I use 2 I'm the Boss cards, make an even deal, Hugh draws cards, Kelly tries to make a deal, I use 2 more Boss cards make an even deal, Hugh draws cards, Kelly draws, Brandon draws, Shelley draws, I draw, Hugh tries to make a deal, I use 2 more Boss cards and make another even deal. Then the game ends. I missed out on the deal when my investor was stolen and the next 2. That really hurt me. Shelley reminding everyone that Hugh was ahead, really hurt him because we believed her. Anyway it was a good game and we had lots of fun.
Final scores Brandon 49, Shelley 47, Kelly 46, Me 42, Hugh 39.

Second Game - Top Race
I made the decision not to use the betting rules. We did play 3 races.
I do not remember much about the first race except Hugh broke even, I made 40,000, Kelly and Brandon made a little more and Shelly made 190,000. Yes, we let her get her car for 10,000 and she won the race.
In the 2nd race, I was ahead at the last choke point and broke down. I was last when I got back on the track. I kept pushing the purple car
(Brandon) hoping someone would play the breakdown card. No luck. I broke even that race. Shelley had 2 cars and made some money. Brandon won but paid a lot for his car. At that point Shelley was way ahead and Brandon was second. The rest of us were well behind. The third race I had 4 10s (Red,Blue,Green,White) the red/blue spurt/breakdown card a wild5/blue2, a 654321 with red on top and a couple white or green cards. I wanted to buy the White car but won the red one trying to bid the price up. I had hopes of sending the blue car (Brandon) to the front and use the spurt card to pull Red up. That plan fell apart as almost everyone moved red and kept it ahead of blue. It was an open race as we flew through the first 2 turns. Hugh got both cars (yellow and white) at the front on the straight leading to the last choke point. That was the end of him. After some struggles, I think I won, Hugh got second, Shelley third, Kelly, Hugh, and Brandon was last. We had a great time playing and I recommend all of the similar race games by Kramer. The final totals are lost but Shelley won easily. Brandon was probably second.