Rambling on the Rails to Pirate's Cove.

This entry will be a bit more free form than most. Rambling, so as to entertain Easy, who was absent. (Punk.)

(It's a busy time of year, that's my excuse, and I am sticking to it.)

How'd it go Wednesday? Anything interesting?

The standard sort of interesting. Game-playing, Kickass Chilli (thanks to Ogami).


We played two games of Ticket to Ride. Ogami won the first with four players
(Tilli played) and Kozure won the second with three players.

Then we played Pirate's Cove. Shemp won the first game. I think we played a second game of Pirate's cove, but I can't remember for certain, or who won.

Actually, I am certain we played a second game. The first game of Pirate's Cove we played, Shemp and Kozure actually tied for points, which by the rules is resolved by a final player-vs-player battle. Shemp won, but it was a big fight. It was a three player game, so we had two legendary pirates on the go. Kozure and Shemp both teamed up to defeat Blackbeard, and then fought. And then there was a tie, and another Kozure-Shemp throwdown. Epic.

The second game of Pirates Cove, Tilli played. The winner of the second Pirate's Cove game was either Kozure or Ogami, but Kozure still can't remember who won, but knows it wasn't him. I know it wasn't Shemp or Tilli. Must have been Ogami, then. I think that matches up with my recollection. There was a battle with the Flying Dutchman, who was also hanging around on the first game. Of Pirate's Cove, not Ticket To Ride. The Flying Dutchman in Ticket to Ride would just be wierd. Since I am dictator, I decree that Ogami won the last game last week.

If we can't even keep track of winning, so much for being able to keep track of winning, showing, and placing. Maybe we can start that with the New Year. We could resolve to...

HMMM - this is a little light on analysis. That's the problem with waiting nearly a week to Blogue.

Ticket to Ride (actually, both games) have relatively simple mechanics which lend themselves to a finite set of tactics that can be mastered. Strategy is almost beside the point in TTR, I think, due to the randomness of the tickets that you can recieve. Both are fun enough to play with anyone at any point, but neither seems particularily DEEP. Maybe that's why I am having some difficulty writing about them.


Look. Hey, look. Here's the thing. Both games are prime for what Kozure calls "Meta Gaming". Playing the players. Trying to guess what others will do. Trying to conceal your intentions. The players are all trying to pull off a con (a confidence game), with brightly coloured, well designed pieces. It's a more elaborate poker.

Fun. Interesting. You can do some math on the game. Resistant to commentary.


Apologies to Kozure for the liberal cut and paste theft from his email.

I am such a punk.