WBC 2010 Day 6 Summary

Woke up very early (9am) to get to my Vegas Showdown heat. I think my team game must be cursed, as I once again finished third. This game featured someone buying the theatre on me when I had the only fancy lounge. He tried to build it for 12 points and we had to stop him and show the pre-req chart. He told me after the game if he'd known the rule he wouldn't have bought it and I would have won handily. At any rate, a second fancy lounge was sold on the same turn, leaving 2 left. They both came up at the same time when he didn't have 33 bucks on hand. I bought one for 33 and needed someone else to spite the other one. No one stepped forward (second place paid 42 for a space-age sports book instead) and he managed to buy the other one the next turn for 25. (Even though it was clear he'd pay all his money for it no one was willing to place a high bid just to bump him up.) There was a small but non-zero chance the game would end the turn he bought the fancy lounge (4 flips at 2-2-2 piles, so we needed 3 of a kind with some string pulling shenanigans) but it wasn't to be and he got the theatre placed and won as a result. I suspect the guy who finished second would have won if he'd spited the second fancy lounge.

And as a side note, early on I paid 12 for a high rollers room with 2 table games to go. The guy who bought the first table games paid a combined 46 (I think) for the next two table games to ensure I could never place it.

I ended up not filling either hotel or casino at game end but still came 3rd thanks to a large number of triangles.

Having spited me for choosing a team game the fates decided to smile on me for the rest of the day. I proceeded to play Tigris and Euphrates, Ra!, Race For The Galaxy, Le Havre, and Agricola and won them all. (Well, 2 games of Race of which I won one which is good enough to qualify for the playoffs.)

Tigris featured a game against 2 former champions and someone who made the finals against one of them. I've played Tigris maybe 5 times ever and have no real idea of strategy besides just getting colours I don't have. I ended up camping 3 different monuments for most of the game and scoring 8-9-9-11.

Tigris I at least have a rough idea of how to win... Ra! I have no concept. I don't know that I'd ever won a game of Ra! before in person in my life. I played the aggressive Ra!ing strategy and people kept buying the terrible lots I put up. I only failed in the Can't Stop phase once over the three epochs!

More details to come later, maybe. I also remembered I played Lost Cities against Eric Brossius on Wednesday and lost a pretty close and fun match.