Tonight we played TransAmerica and Vegas Showdown.

• Jim won Vegas Showdown with 53, followed by Craig (50), John (40), Sallie (39), and Shaune (36).
• Sallie won TransAmerica with 7, followed by John (8), Dave (16), and Craig (20).  We scored this using tournament rules (one round per player, total all rounds, low score wins).

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Dana Leader, Dave, Sallie, and Tony Montuori, Shaune Lee, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Most folks escape the DC area for the holiday, but with nothing else planned but sit around watching the grass grow and the mosquitoes breed, we've decided to host a one-day gaming, jewelry, and movie extravaganza. So come, play games, watch movies, make jewelry (or just see how someone else does it), relax and enjoy yourselves!
Feel free to show up anytime after Noon, and stay as long as you like.  We'll either have things to grill, or order out for pizza.

Tonight we played Puerto Rico.

• Shaune won Puerto Rico with 47, followed by Dave (42), Craig (39), and Tony (33).

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

Tonight we talked a lot and played Cineplexity.

Attendees:  Craig Trader, Carrie Hafer, Dana Leader, Dave Montuori, and Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg.

Tonight we played Puerto Rico, Ricochet Robots, Pandemic, and Race for the Galaxy.

• Carrie and John played Ricochet Robots.
• Brian won Puerto Rico with 51, followed by Dave (50), Shaune (40), Tony (39), and Craig (32).
• Brian, Dave, and Shaune played Pandemic, with one loss and one win.
• Craig won Race for the Galaxy with 32 (on a tie-breaker), followed by John (32) and Tony (24).

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Brian Carpenter, Shaune Lee, Dave and Tony Montuori, and John McMahon.

This year the World Boardgaming Championships will be held in Lancaster, PA, on August 5-10, 2008. I will be going again this year, with the intent to participate in these tournaments:

1. Power Grid (PGD)
2. Puerto Rico (PRO)
3. Vegas Showdown (VSD)
4. Empire Builder (EPB)
5. Manifest Destiny (MFD)
6. Race for the Galaxy (RFG)
7. Ticket To Ride (TTR)
8. RoboRally (RRY)

There's some scheduling overlap between these tournaments, so if I'm good/lucky enough to get to the semi-finals/finals, I might have to drop one in favor of another.  Last year I wasn't that lucky, but I've improved with Power Grid (some) and Puerto Rico (significantly), and stand a strong chance of being competitive.

One consequence of this is that I need to play these games frequently over the next two months, particularly the more strategic games.  I also need to play a wider variety of opponents, so that I can cope with different strategies.  Towards that end, I'm going to try to schedule some all-day-Saturday gaming sessions before August.

Tonight we played Puerto Rico.

• Craig won Puerto Rico with 64, followed by Jim (55), Tony (52), Dave (51), and Shaune (44).  Craig was using the Frosted Flakes strategy (ship corn and sugar).  Tony and Jim had the factories, Craig and Jim had harbors and wharves.  In the next-to-last Mayor phase, there were exactly enough colonists to fill the colony ship.  The game ended due to (1) running out of colonists, and (2) running out of VP chits.

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Shaune Lee, Sallie, Dave, and Tony Montuori.