Tonight we played Manifest Destiny.

• Craig won with 31 points, followed by Tony (28) and Dave (27).

This was Craig's first time teaching Manifest Destiny, and so we didn't really get started until after 9pm, and we didn't finish up until around 2am. Given how close the scores were, Dave and Tony picked up on the strategy: pound on Craig, early and often.

Craig started with Pennsylvania, Dave started in Louisiana, and Tony started in Virginia. In the first turn, Tony played Spy to steal Craig's destiny card, and Dave used Supreme Court to cancel Craig's play of Congress. Careful card play and some good rolls for Breakthroughs (Turnpike and Mechanization) allowed Craig to recapture momentum and the lead. Eventually Craig was slowed down by hitting the token wall: all but two of his tokens were holding territories, breakthroughs or pioneers. This allowed Tony and Dave time to catch up on income and territories. Eventually there were a number of big payoffs in a single turn, following a Manifest Destiny play, allowing everyone to buy enough advances to kick into end game.

Attendees: Carrie Hafer and Craig Trader, and Tony and Dave Montuori.

Tonight we played Cineplexity, Puerto Rico, Ticket To Ride, TransAmerica, San Juan, and Set:

• Everyone joined into Cineplexity as people were eating and socializing.
• Dave won Puerto Rico with 55 points, followed by John (54), Craig (53), Tony (52), and Grayhawk (43).  At one point in the game, we exhausted all of the resources.  At the end, Tony built all of his buildings, and then we ran out of VPs.
• Blaise won Ticket To Ride with 104 points, followed by Rachel (94), and Monica (90).
• Carrie won TransAmerica, followed by Blaise, and Monica.
• John won San Juan with 38 points, followed by Grayhawk (33), Craig (33), and Tony (21).
• Carrie taught Monica how to play Set.

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Monica and Frank "Grayhawk" Huminski, Rachel and Jim “Blaise” Trigg, Dave, Sallie, and Tony Montuori, and John McMahon.

Tonight we played Puerto Rico.

• Craig won the first game with 62, followed by Dave (56), and Tony (45) .
• Craig won the second game with 55, followed by Dave (45), and Tony (38).

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, and Dave and Tony Montuori.

Next weekend (March 28-30) will see me at Enlightenment XI, a weekend-long convention devoted to Age of Renaissance and Manifest Destiny.

In order to get in the spirit of things, Carrie and I went over to Vienna to play a game of Manifest Destiny. In theory, I was going to play, and Carrie was going to watch and learn. When we got there, Bill Crenshaw (the game designer) and Greg Stripes (a former champion) badgered Carrie to play, so that there would be 4 players. Reluctantly, she agreed, and play commenced. I have played Manifest Destiny once, and Carrie had never played before, so neither of us knew the rules, much less the strategy. At the end of the game, Carrie had won, followed by Bill, myself, and Greg.

At this point Carrie announced that, having beaten the game designer and the reigning(?) champion, she was going to resign, undefeated, from playing Manifest Destiny.

Tonight we played Unexploded Cow and Cineplexity.

• We played Unexploded Cow twice -- many cows died.
• We played Cineplexity three times:  Craig won twice, and John won the third game.

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Dave, Sallie, and Tony Montuori, Dana Leader, and John McMahon.

Tonight we played Betrayal at House on the Hill and San Juan:

• In Betrayal at House on the Hill, John betrayed us to assist Dracula and his bride.  Tony and Dave were quickly turned, Dave killed Eric, and after a brave fight, Craig was overwhelmed and turned, allowing the dark forces to win.
• In San Juan, Fuzz buried us with production buildings (35), beating Tony's monumental architecture (33), Dave's crammed chapel (28), and Craig's pitiful plantation (17).

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Eric Kervina, Dave, Sallie, and Tony Montuori, and John McMahon.