Spring game photos

I've been gaming, and photographing, but not posting so much over the last month, so I thought I'd do a little catch-up with a sampling of the things my wife and I have been playing.

Pinot grigio, Anchor Steam, and Traders of Carthage

Traders of Carthage
I've mentioned this obscure favorite a few times and actually posted about this game, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to include my photographic effort to incorporate the juxtaposition of the drinks, the game, and my lovely opponent across the table.

24/7 in the backyard

24/7: The Game
Another obscure little game that we enjoy is 24/7, which a friend described as "Scrabble with numbers."  Not far from the truth, in fact, which might give me a bit of an advantage as a mathematician against my literary wife...sometimes...

Kathy's three metropolises in Cities and Knights of Catan

Cities and Knights of Catan
A friend of our 17-year-old's stayed over for a weekend, and we played Cities and Knights of Catan, the excellent expansion to the neo-classic Settlers of Catan.  Kathy pulled away for a commanding victory with all three metropolises, an achievement none of us had ever seen in a game.

Qwirkle Cubes final tally - and aesthetically pleasing finish, too

Qwirkle Cubes
A charming little instantiation of the Speil des Jahres winner Qwirkle is this dice-rolling variation.  As the score tally indicates, Kathy beat me in this one as well.

Kathy's Temple of Artemis, long on military and guild points

7 Wonders
As memory serves, we played to a dead tie in 7 Wonders, with me scoring heavily in sciences and civic buildings but Kathy matching me with military and guilds.

Kathy with her ten railroad shares and $196 for the win.
Note how far the green NYCRR marker is ahead
of all the other railroads on the income track.

Chicago Express
We played our first-ever two-player session of what is currently my very favorite game, Chicago Express.  Just as I did at the 2012 PrezCon final, I consistently under-valued the stock shares as they came up for auction, which is why Kathy ended up with all the New York Central shares and made a ridiculous amount of income from them.  As much as I love this game, I still do not have the hang of it.

Tremendously convoluted routes in the west as we continually interfered with each others' tickets

Ticket to Ride
To round out the railroad theme, this evening we played the ever-popular Ticket to Ride.  Today's session was by far the most cut-throat, competitive game of TtR that either of us has ever played.  Very early on, we realized that we'd selected routes that overlapped each other, and more than a few times one of us would cry "oh, no!" when the other claimed a route that undermined our plans.  I was way too cautious, and Kathy won by the overwhelming score of 115 to 75.

We don't exactly keep score in terms of who beat whom how many times, but it occurs to me that of the seven games photographed here, Kathy won four, I won two, and we tied one.  I'm glad I don't keep track...