I played some volleyball today, but only Nima was there out of the people I know. The other people we were able to play with were really good, and I could tell that I was the worst player there. They were really nice about it and I could tell they were trying to balance the teams so that we could get some good volleys going. I had fun despite being the worst, and learned a little about how to play as well. After playing Nima got some beer and nachos for us to share, and I greatly appreciated him getting that for us. I locked myself out of the house today and didn’t have anything to eat, or my wallet, or my phone. I did have my computer, so I was able to get some work done. I wasn’t able to get as much of the game worked on as I’d like.
I really liked this book as Perrin and Loial got back into the mix. I really like Loial and Perrin. Those two and Matt are my favorite characters in the series. I very much enjoyed the black tower coming up in this book, and much of the action taking place. It still seems to be setting up for bigger things, and I’m still not certain what those bigger things are.
This book didn’t have too many tips or how to’s about bootstrapping. It mainly said that it is a good idea. I admit that I shouldn’t expect much out of a 41 minute listen, but I still expected more than was delivered.
We went to the Creamery in Palo Alto for dinner, and I got the crispy buffalo chicken sandwich. I was joined by Riley, Steph, Tina, Candice, and Brian. We chatted about all sorts of stuff, most of it drama and board games. The milkshakes that Steph and Tina got were really tasty, and they were both kind enough to share a good bit of them with me. Milkshakes with Oreo are amazing, but so bad for any diet.
Brian, Tina, and I played some Suburbia, and it was the craziest game of it I’ve played so far. We got off to an odd start, with me making an industrial loop off the bottom. Brain went for a concentrated business district and was doing really well with it. Tina got into the Mints and Community Parks. I ended up getting a power plant and taking off in income, Brian did the same with his business district. Brian then got a PR firm and doubled it to get a feedback loop of passing lines to increase reputation. I got a Stadium and put many greens around it, then put it in the recycling plant into the center of my industrial loop. Those two combined for a super powerful combination of income and reputation, and I was able to keep almost maxed out on both. Brian lost traction on the income as his doubled PR firm really went insane. He was ahead by a lot before taking the bonuses into account, but I took all the bonuses and got a total score of 139, the highest score I’ve seen so far.
Tina and Mark played Race for the Galaxy with me, and as expected Tina won with me in a distant second. She is quite the veteran and the only way I could expect to beat her at it is to have a really lucky draw. She ended with a moderate score of 69, but since I was playing a rushed military strategy that wasn’t too strange. I ended up with 44 points and Mark had 39. I also had 2 prestige coming from every produce, which essentially put a block on her produce, so she went alien for the win.
I played factory fun with Tina, Jeff, Mark, and another guy I don’t really know. Mark I don’t know well either; he is one of the guys from the Stanford board games group. The game went really well for me and I got a score of 102, the highest I’ve made. The score board only goes up to 105, so I feel really good about the score. The guy I didn’t know decided to give up after he couldn’t place a machine and lost track of where he started before that turn. I did the same on my first play through of the game.
This was a really good game, but it was a little too complicated and we didn’t interact much. The game could have been different if we fought each other, and I had considered attacking Tina to stall the game. We all went the merchant route and Tina beat me, with Jeff in 3rd.
This morning I woke up to do some chores before Steph got up and got going. Then we headed to the farmer’s market on Cal Ave. The Bolani guy said he had missed us and called us the ‘pumpkin people’ which I like. Steph got some other stuff there, but I think I’m going to keep to Milk Pail mainly.
It's an Exciting World 