Thirdfloorgamers.com » Session Reports http://thirdfloorgamers.com Good Times, Great Games! Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:32:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Finish line!!!! http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/06/15/finish-line/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/06/15/finish-line/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:28:47 +0000 Max L. http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=1396 The last game club.  The date steadily approached, getting rid of our excitement for the end of the year.  Because the end of the year means THE END OF GAME CLUB.  Well…until next year at least.  But its a long way!  But the gamers and their leader, Mr. Matera, were determined to go out with a bang!  The last game club was as exciting as any!  We had tons of fun!  There were 2 steady games of pitchcar running, and the remaining players were engrossed in a fearsome game of Pandemic (Very fun game!).  In Pandemic, players work together to trump the game board with pure strategy.  Outbreaks of mass sickness and disease are ravaging the world, and we need YOU (the players) to stop it.  It is an awesome game, for anyone who would like to play it or buy it.  We all had tons of fun with Pandemic and Pitchcar, but we weren’t done yet!  What could be the final touch, the last game, the icing on the cake?  None other than WEREWOLF!!!!!  Yes that’s right, we had an astonishing game of lynch-and-eat, but this time with more new roles.  Some examples of the new roles we payed with are; the cursed.  The cursed is like a normal villager but turns into a werewolf upon being eaten.  Uh-oh!  Also, another new role was the vampires!!  Vampires are on their own team, and they are much like werewolves, except they cannot be killed by werewolves.  We also played with the amulet of protection, an amulet that gets passed around each night, that will protect you if you get attacked that night you hold it.  It was an extremely fun game, and the villagers won it out in the end.  Sadly, that was the end of game club.  Sullenly, one by one, the members walked out the door, never to see a game in the room of Mr. Matera again, until after a long summer when the school year starts again.  But we had fun!  And I know everyone is excited for another awesome time at the club next year!  See you all then!

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/06/15/finish-line/feed/ 3 Photo Finish! http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/04/24/photo-finish/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/04/24/photo-finish/#comments Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:16:46 +0000 Mr. Matera http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=1320 Our first Friday night races took place last week. It was a great time we had 20 people come out to the tracks to take part in the races. We had two tables running Formula D and one table running Snow Tails. I happened to be in one of the Snow Tails game. Both of which ended up being a photo finish. In one game there was Andy P, Elias B, and Rebecca B. all racing their sleds toward the finish line. Elias B, won that race with Andy hot on his trail ready to cross the finish-line next turn.

In my game there were five competitors: Max L, Minhal, Josh, Julian, and myself. Minhal got an early lead but Max and I were able to control our sleds and caught up to here in the final stretch. In fact I took the lead in the second to last round. Then I came across the finish-line with one extra move left. Next player up Minhal, with here banged up sled, lays down a card that evens out here dogs. Giving her a bonus which puts her one space ahead of me crossing the finish-line. Snatching victory right from my fingers. It was a great game and one I will not soon forget. I really enjoyed playing this one for the first time with these racers. We all had good laughs and a great time. I think I would like to have another race night one of these nights. I will have to see what you guys think.

For the Formula D races there were two winners. On one track it was Michael, Julia, Karlie, and Max H. In this race Karlie got off to a bad start, as it turns out she has a lead foot, she crashed through the first few turns, utterly destroying her car. It was a good race and I think all had fun who played. I was excited to hear that Julia, a fast and ferocious driver pulled in the victory on that track. As for the other Formula D players there was Brandon, Philip, Mark, and Chad. Philip’s car seemed to be held together by tape by the end of the race but he did finish. I was excited to see Brandon do as well as he did as it was his first time behind the wheel of a fast beast of a car like these. Philip’s amazing taped together car was the one who crossed the finish line first. Nice work!

No matter what racing game you took part in I think it is safe to say all had a good time. After the racing games were done people pulled out some filler games, Loopen Louie, Fantasy, and a new game we are testing called the Resistance. It was a good time and we all had some great laughs. Thanks for coming and having a great time at Game Club. I am still working on making this the best that USM has to offer. Lets keep working to make that true.

********** Braking News ****************

Snow Tails gets an award from Mr. Matera. I would like to honor this game and the designers with the award for the best new game piece of the year. The Big Paw! This game piece rules! I think we should use it in every game we play. It has no impact on the game, while at the same time having the most profound impact on the game. It is given to a player who is taking to long on there turn. They can’t pass it on until someone else takes longer then they did to play. Simply beautiful. I try to teach the game club member that it is important to plan your turn out a head of time. So that the game can move fast. However some students still take a considerable amount of time. This “Big Paw” is simply great!

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/04/24/photo-finish/feed/ 8 Great Night… Filled with Laughs! http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/04/20/great-night-filled-with-laughs/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/04/20/great-night-filled-with-laughs/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:55:39 +0000 Mr. Matera http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=1282 Tonight we had a blast. It was a small game night but that was not going to stop us from having a great time. There was only four of us but we were able to get through four games. The first one was To court the King, second we played Bohnanza, and lastly we played Pillage and Plunder (pictured left).

We had J Hood, Isa, Minhal and myself playing. The first game of Court the King was a rousing game where J Hood took and early dice lead. This helped him pull out the victory in the end. In the last round Isa scored 6, ones. Then it was Minhal’s turn. She rolled and got 7, sixes. On her last die she said something that made it to our quote board, so check it out! This put me away cause the best I could have done was tie her. Then it was Julian’s (J Hood) turn. He had 10 dice to work with. He rolled them all and through his good cards and massive amounts of dice he received 10, fours. It was a great game.

The next game was Bohnanza. It is a great card game. You are trying to become the riches bean farmer.  You have two fields at the start of the game to plant your beans in. We all got busy planting our beans. It was a great time. In no time at all we had amassed a fortune. Some of us bought an extra third field, while others (me) did not. The game is funny with all sorts of pictures on the beans. Example: black bean has boxing gloves on and has a big black eye.

In the end there could only be one master bean farmer. I had 21 gold at the end. Isa had 19 gold, Minhal had 17 gold (I think) and J Hood had only 16 gold (I think). It was a close and fun game for all involved. We will have to teach the others in the club about this great game.

After that Minhal had to leave and it was down to just the three of us for the last 15 minutes. We took out one of Zach’s favorate games to play. It was Isa’s fist time on Pillage and Plunder. This is a fun stacking game where you are trying to get the most barrals stacked up on the ship. We were working as a team to see just how many we could stack up. In our first game we reached 10. It took us along time to get back to ten. We kept loosing due to my crazy placements. I would try to put them on the ends. Then we all (mainly me) tried harder. We made it up to 15! Yeah us. Then in the last round we played just to see who would win between us a knock out round. If you were the one who tips it over your out and the remaining two keep playing to see who wins. It was down to Isa and myself. She was a strong competitor but turns out no match for me.

Thanks for playing. I had a great night guys. One of my favs this year. Lots of laughs and good times with good people.

Take care,

Mr. Matera

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/04/20/great-night-filled-with-laughs/feed/ 9 Hidden Treasure #2 http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/03/04/hidden-treasure-2/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/03/04/hidden-treasure-2/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:39:53 +0000 Mr. Matera http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=1118 Welcome back all you treasure hunters. I am sending you a little different mission this time. This time you are looking for a word printed in a color somewhere on the site (see example below). The first three students to find it will get gold rewards.

SAMPLE

Good luck to all the hunters. I hope to have a quick race. This time I will give out more cash the faster it gets found. So for example if someone finds it today they would get much more gold then the person that finds it in 10 days.

If you’re new at this I will tell you how this works. You don’t want to post the answer here. You want to message me on Thirdfloorgamers.com the answer. In this case you want to tell me the page it was found on and the word/letter that was colored. Good luck!

I will post who found it here and  how much gold they received here in this post.

Happy hunting!

Mr. Matera

People who found it & their treasure amounts!

Minhal: 150 (found it within 2 hours of posting) WOW!
Zach: 75
Max L: 50

And we are done. Nice work guys

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/03/04/hidden-treasure-2/feed/ 20 5th grade game night!!! http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/15/5th-grade-game-night/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/15/5th-grade-game-night/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:02:02 +0000 Max L. http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=974 Today was a very special day in the game club community.  This is because today game club allowed 5th graders to participate in the fun and excitement of gaming!  Many came to test out the club and decide if they would come in 6th grade.  6th graders taught the 5th graders how to play the games, and we all had a blast!  There were 5 tables set up, three with castle panic and two with revolution.  One of the castle panic tables ended up being unused though.  I was at a table playing castle panic!  I was playing with Aaron, Andy, Dylan, Chris, and a 5th grader.  In castle panic the goal is to defend your castle with the other players and work together to defeat the oncoming monsters, without getting your castle destroyed.  Our game was super exciting!  At the beginning we were doing pretty well, and we kept the monsters at bay.  But slowly, agonizingly, our defenses began to crumble.  Walls were broken down, towers demolished, as we struggled to keep our fort.  This continued until we had only 1 tower left!!  The monsters were still pouring in, faster than ever!  Soon it was clear that we were going to lose.  Two monsters had entered the castle ring, directly next to our sole remaining tower!!  1 more turn, and it was all over.  It was my turn.  My face was doused in sweat, and I racked my nervous brain for a solution.  The fate of the castle rested in my hands! (not to be dramatic!)  I had three cards, and the ability to draw one to replenish my hand.  The 5th grader next to me had a scavenge card, but it was useless because the deck had just been reshuffled, and there was nothing in the discard pile.  Slowly, apprehensive of my own doom, and that of my fellows, I flipped over the top card which was….A BARBARIAN!!!!!  I was saved!  What followed was probably the biggest stroke of luck ever to occur in game club! (again, not to be dramatic!)  I played my barbarian card, and it was thrown in the discard pile.  Then I traded the 5th grader for his scavenge card, played it, and recovered the barbarian!  I then used it again for a second kill!  Thus forth, the two threatening monsters in the castle ring were slaughtered!  We were saved!  But the game wasn’t over yet!  Our monster pile seemed endless, and we still had only 1 remaining tower!  But we were in luck!  Our cards favored us, and we successfully came back, killing all the monsters in our path!  And finally, the pile was reduced to zero!! we had won!!  With a truckload of luck, and some masterful planning by everyone, we had overcome the monsters and defended our castle!! Woohoo!

After this, we played a second game which was entirely uneventful.  Before we could really get into the game, we had to stop and pack up.  Was game club over?  NO!  It was time for, the one, the only, WEREWOLF!!!!!  With our massive amount of people, we gathered in to collect our roles and start the chaos!  it was another great time!  First, it seemed as if the werewolves were going to win, as villagers were killed left and right.  (I was the first to die! Boohoo!)  But eventually the werewolves were found and voted out of town!  Soon there was only 1 elusive wolf left to find!  He killed a few more innocents, when finally, he was rooted out from the crowd, and killed!  The villagers prevailed!  Then game club was over, but everyone had a blast, just like always!

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/15/5th-grade-game-night/feed/ 32 My New Favorite Game http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/08/my-new-favorite-game/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/08/my-new-favorite-game/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:51:05 +0000 samdoug http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=960 Last Thursday I learned a completely new game called “Chicago Express” ( I think). This is a first for me because I don’t learn new games very often. For the past 3 out of four times I’ve been to the “Third Floor” I have played Stone Age which was my favorite game. Chicago Express was a blast. It is a completely economical game. You buy stocks in train stations and use their money to buy more railroads for them to travel. The whole point of the game is to get to Chicago because then you can buy black trains and get a free dividends phase.  There is a map which contains three terrains which are: Mountains, Trees, and Plains. Plains are the easiest and cost the least amount of $. You can put as many trains on plains that you want ( hey that rhymes!). Trees are tough. You can only put one train on a tree square ( or is it a hexagon?) at a time. Mountains cost the most. You can only put one train on a mountain hexagon at a time. In this game I started out being the only person with green ( a smart choice). Mr. Matera and a fifth grader had red (good choice). Julian had blue ( bad choice). And a different fifth grader had yellow( very bad choice). For a while I was working silently cutting around the action through the plains minding my own business while Mr. Matera and red was busting down the trees to get to Chicago. Mr. Matera joined aliences with me. He bought a stock in green and ditched red. I got to Chicago second behind red. Red got their dividends phase and got some extra mola. When I got their I had a plan that others would not see. I would buy the first black railroads and own it all to myself so I wouldn’t have to share any of the profit. I immediately went to Chicago with black so I could get another free dividends phase. With nobody else collecting I earned about $35 on that one turn. When the game ended Mr. Matera was in first with $177 I was in second with $79 a fifth grader came in third with $63 Julian came in fourth with $25 and the other fifth grader came in last with $18. I love economic games. I love strategy games. Can it possibly get any better? I think not. This game is officially “Da Bomb”

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/08/my-new-favorite-game/feed/ 14 Heroes of the club!! http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/05/heroes-of-the-club/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/05/heroes-of-the-club/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:24:41 +0000 Max L. http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=941 What if…..

The fate of the world…

Rested solely in the hands of one individual….

 

 

What if…..

It was a life or death competition…..

between several individuals……

 

 

Many die….

But only one comes out alive….

The individual who survives the struggle….

This individual is……

YOU.

 

 

 

Or at least when your playing heros of the World!!!!  This is the game that I played with my fellows at game club today.  Heros of the world is an awesome game like risk (for those who have played it).  I was playing with my friends, Phillip, Ethan, Elias, and Michael.  I will skip the rules to the game, because most of the club members have played it, due to the massive tournament that was had on it.

Our game was a very exciting one!  As the game started out, it was clear what each persons goal was.  Ethan set his sights on China, Phillip on the Medeterranian, Myself aiming for the Middle east, and Elias and michael spreading themselves out through the territories.  Our endeavors were all mostly successful, and we each controlled our selected plain.  The game moved slowly, and the victory points inched along the outer ring of the board.  But we were still having a blast, as the struggle for dominance continued.  After a while of playing, we moved into the modern epoch (Snack break)!  After the snack break, Ethan unfortunately had to leave the club, so we wiped him out from the board and continued on  (rumor has it that his troops rebelled from a vain king, and were scattered across the lands.  After this the roaming people either starved to death or were hit by the black plague that was going around.  Poor Ethan).  The modern epoch was where things started to get interesting.  I went for Europe, but kept an iron fist held on the middle east.  Phillip tried to spread out on the unclaimed territories, but he didn’t do very well.  Africa, india, and the middle east were a gigantic mosh pit for every player to reside in.  Most of the other areas were left untouched until the end of the game.  Michael, Elias and I were determined to gang up on Phillip and take him out (poor Phillip) and he used his troops in attempt to defend himself.  He was almost wiped out by our attacks, but claimed a few territories along the way.  Meanwhile, I stacked my forces in Europe and Middle East, which I was losing my grip on.  Elias was getting points left and right, and could always claim some points in every place because of his calvary surplus.  Michael, took what he could get, and did very well.  He usually ended up second to Elias when territories were claimed.  I was in last for quite a bit, but finally, Middle East and Europe were scored, and I shot ahead in points.  Soon after this, the game came to a close.  Elias came in first, myself in second, Michael in third, and Phillip in last.  I packed up and left just then, because I had to leave a good ten minuits early.  It was a great game though, and a great night, and we all had a blast!

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/02/05/heroes-of-the-club/feed/ 9 G.C.A.S.A http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/01/20/g-c-a-s-a/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/01/20/g-c-a-s-a/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:37:44 +0000 kearney http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=775 Some people think that it might be a secret society, or something else that is secret. Well, they would be wrong. G.C.A.S.A. is the Game Club of Adastra and Stone Age. Today in game club we played both of these games. In Adastra there was Mr. Matera, Andrew, Max L. Phillip, and I. In Stone Age there was Oliver, Sam D., Elias, and Josh. In our game it was clear that Mr. Matera was the best player. He quickly built a couple of star ships and got ahead on points. Since Adastra is a very quick game, it only took Mr. Matera a few turns to get the best of us. Mr. Matera, annihilated the competition, winning by fifteen points, with me second, Andrew third, and Max L and Phillip close behind. In the other game, it was clear that Josh was winning in the beginning. Eventually Josh got out far ahead. I do not know who won that game, although it was Sam or Josh. While Stone Age was finishing up, we played for sale. It is a quick game with to phases, buying houses and selling them for a profit. Eventually Max and Andrew tied for first, with Philip third, me fourth, and Mr. Matera last (that must have been a first.) It was a fun night, and hopefully the predecessor of more to follow.

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/01/20/g-c-a-s-a/feed/ 8 Intergalactic economy! http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/01/20/intergalactic-economy/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/01/20/intergalactic-economy/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:24:21 +0000 Max L. http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=762 In today’s game club we played an awesome game called Ad Astra!  This game is where players compete to control the most of deep space, and earn the most victory points!  The game has a very unique form, and this is how it is played.  In Ad Astra, there are six resources;  water, wheat, gold, energy, red rock, and small metal [red rock and small metal are not the real names for those resources, but the real names are extremely long and nobody bothers to memorize them :) ].  These different resources can be used to build extra spaceships for flying around the galaxy, colonies to put on planets, terraformers, and factories to put on planets.  To obtain resources, you have to play a producer card.  Producer cards have resources on them, and you must chose one of the two.  Everybody then produces the chosen material.  Well, everybody who has a colony on a planet producing that resource.  You need to put a colony on a planet with a resource to make the resource.  Having a spaceship on a planet gives you one of that resource, as well as having a colony on it.  Having a terraformer does nothing except earn you points, and upgrading your colony to a factory will earn you two of that resource when that producer card has been played.  Every person playing starts out with a home planet, a spaceship, and one of each resource.  Each home planet is in the home galaxy, in the center of the game board.  There are many other galaxies to be explored, too!  One of the resources, cannot build anything.  This resource is energy.  Energy is what you use to fly around the universe in your spaceship.  To fly from deep space (any position in where you are not on a planet in a galaxy) to a galaxy does not cost you any energy.  Flying from a galaxy back to deep space costs one energy.  Flying from planet to planet in one galaxy is also one energy.  However, flying from a planet in one galaxy to a planet in another galaxy is two energy!  Energy is a very valuble resource, and it is suggested that you use it wisely when playing.  The game is won when the first person gets to, or over, 50 points.  To gain points, a scoring round must appear.  The player of the scoring card chooses what will be scored, out of the two options on the card.  These options vary with different scoring cards.  You can be scored on the amount of terraformers you have, the amount of colonies you have, the amount of spaceships you have, or the amount of different galaxies that you have something of yours present in.  You earn points for each of the objects that you have, and the person who has the most earns an additional 3 points!  How the cards are played is the most unique part of the game.  Off to the side of the game board, a board numbered 1 through 15 should be present.  Players take turns placing one of their cards on that board, in any of the number slots.  Once all of the slots are filled up, each card is flipped up in number order, and the effects of the card take place.  It will be a producer card, a scoring round, a building phase, a trade phase, or a movement phase.  In building phases, each player may build a colony, spaceship, terraformer, or factory, on a planet, using the resources required (note:  Factories may only be placed after a colony is present on that planet).  The owner of that card may build as much as he/she would like, but others are restricted to one building/spaceship.  A trade phase is simply a phase where players can trade resources with each other, and bargain over deals.  However, players may only trade with the owner of the card.  The owner may also trade to the bank, but at a 2:1 ratio.  A movement phase is where players have the opportunity to move around galaxies.  You may make one movement, either into deep space from a galaxy, or to the galaxy that the owner of the card chooses, from anywhere.  These are all the rules of gameplay.  But there is one final twist!  In some galaxies, there exist alien planets, that do not produce a resource.  Placing colonies on them though earn you instant points.  Also, if you choose to fly to an alien planet, you receive an alien card.  Each one has special effects that can be used to your advantage during the game.

Although slightly complicated, Ad Astra is an extremely fun and exciting game, that can be played over and over again, with new outcomes every time!  This game is one of game clubs many awesome games, and I hope everyone who plays it enjoys it as much as I did!

]]> http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/01/20/intergalactic-economy/feed/ 4 First game club of 2010 http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/01/12/first-game-club-of-2010/ http://thirdfloorgamers.com/2010/01/12/first-game-club-of-2010/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:04:44 +0000 Sam W. http://thirdfloorgamers.com/?p=744 On Friday Jan. 8 we had our first  game club of 2010 where everyone played Formula D which I thought was one of the best games ever.

We had three separate tables playing and they were all good games. At my table we played two game two games, the first was with me, Brandon S., Sasha, Julian, and Mark. In that game we all pretty much crashed on the second turn and had to start a new game this time with one of the 7th graders in this game we did much better and almost all of us got to the 6th or 7th turn (some of the last) but then I crashed and didn’t get to see the rest of the game. I did see The 7th Graders game wich included Mr. Matera, he ended up winning and dedicated his last 2 rolls to me and Mark ( we had both gotten out earlier in my game)  So all in all it was a good start to a great year of game clubs.

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