I had another boardgame packed day yesterday. I played six games, with one of them being new. My play level in the different games ranged from good to poor.
In one of the games where I played poorly, one of my opponents seemed to be suspicious of my intentions. He made a comment at the end that implied I might have been colluding with the person who won the game. This player was the type of person who kibbitzes and expresses a bit of frustration when opponents play differently from how he thinks they should play. Kibbitzing is pretty common in games, but the frustration aspect is unusual at Prezcon where I have found people to be cool and laid back. The game in which this occurred is one that I am not an expert, but I do occasionally win. I also don't play the game outside Prezcon so my level of play varies greatly. It is interesting that this player appears to project his own expertise (real or otherwise) on all of his opponents and appears to become suspicious if people play differently from what he perceives is the best way. A lot of this is speculation on my part because I don't know what is going on in another person's mind.
Weird things can happen in games. A friend of mine told me a story of another opponent who refuses to play with my friend this opponent perceived an unusual play by my friend as something against the rules (the play was legal, and my friend is very good at this game). This opponent has actually gone so far as to withdraw from a tournament rather than play against my friend. People can take some of these games too seriously.
Here are the games I played yesterday.
San Juan: a quick, card driven version of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is one of my favorites (it is like consulting), so this game was fun.
Texas Glory: I lost this game as the Texians (Texans). This is an asymmetrical game about the Texas Revolution. I think I played pretty well, and I was playing against one of the top players in the tournament.
Settlers of Catan: I didn't do great in this game, but I have another chance to play today.
Castles of Burgundy: I didn't do great in this game either. I made a very poor decision at the beginning and I started losing concentration later in the game. I have another chance to play today.
Azul: I won my first game of Azul. It was quite the turnaround from my previous Azul game on Monday. I get to play in the semifinals tonight. We will see how it goes.
Mysterium: I finally got a chance to play this cooperative, "Clue by pictures" game. I am not a fan co-op games, but the company of friends made it fun. This was a great way to close the night. We "won" the game, despite many jokes about us new players on how individuals can win (the answer is, "we all win together, or we all lose together. There are no individual winners!"). The premise of the game is that a ghost of a murder victim is trying to communicate with psychics (the players) about the identity, location, and weapon of the murderer. The catch is that the ghost can only communicate in pictures. The play involves trying to link pictures provided by the "ghost" with pictures representing the murder suspects, possible locations, and possible murder weapons. Oftentimes, the pictures the ghost is choosing from are difficult to link to what is on the board. It makes the process to identify the murderer difficult (being a psychic is hard!). Mysterium is good game where people can play, and not take it too seriously.
Lots more games today, including History of the World!
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