Second week in a row, and we took a step back to play the first side of the board again.

Steve started off taking tools like the truckload, and Kevin started his usual hoarding of resources.

I made early mistakes, and tried to make up for them with "instant" action type card plays.

I secured the "revolver" tool so I could defeat any guardian at the cost of 1 measly explore token.

2 rounds in, my strategy came into view to blitz the research track.

Long story short, I made it, pole position at the top, killing 3 guardians, and it was enough to secure the win.

Dan: 59

Kevin: 57

Steve: 46

Boom!

Well that was humbling. After a couple wins in a row, I felt out of sync from the get go.

Kenan convinced us to play the back side of the board, the Snake Temple.  This makes everything harder, for everybody.

At the end, I concocted a strategy to blitz up the research track to the top spot, where I knew nobody else could get, but I committed 3 different blunders.

Twice I forgot to use cards/plays that would have given me resources and or more cards.  And both of these blunders caused me to miscalculate and fall short by ONE tablet, in order to make my strategy work.

Sad.

Final score: Kevin 59, Steve 47, Dan 44.

Brutal.

The night was great though, had a fun time.

At first I could NOT stop sweating.  A couple hours before I had done 6 rounds of 3:00 @ 6:45 mile pace, then 2:30 "rest".

In high 80 degree weather.

I took a cold shower for 10 minutes, and then I used fans to cool myself off.

All seemed well.

However, when I got to PBC I started to sweat profusely.

Edith brought me water, but it was ugly there for awhile.

Luckily I brought my own game and got a little sweat on that, instead of their copy.

Met Edith's husband, and the real treat came at the end with Kenan bringing out the board game his grandfather made in the 30's. It's called Mr. Ree.  He sold the rights for $200.  Then, someone used this concept to create the game Clue!

It was an awesome story, and a fun sit down with some regulars, Kenan, and Edith.

Loved this little game! PBC was packed as always and we set in our corner by the front window.

Unique and feel-good little game where you build a little seaside "town" in the form of little streets.

Each card allows you to gain points based on the cards placed on either side - and you have to keep a sharp eye on the artwork on each card.

Example: some cards give you points based on the number of seagulls, or benches, or chimneys on either side.  You have to look at the cute artwork for that.

Then there are 3 shared goals (i.e. I won the award for the longest street...because I really just built ONE long street.

Another goal was for the most completed streets.  And there was one other.  Steve won both of those.

Then you have private goals you get along the way.  For example, extra points for 6+ benches on a street, etc.

In the end, Steve had 135 points, I ended with 126, Kevin ended up with about 115 or so.

I was close to winning this had Kevin stolen 10 of Steve's points at the end by stealing one of the shared goals.

Oh well!

Fun time.  It's a game that's hard to gauge how well you are doing as the game goes on, you're kinda just focused on your how town and how you can maximize the points.

Had fun conversation with Kenan and Edith at the end of the night. Kenan told us how he was actually brought into court as an expert witness to demonstrate how a drug dealers score sheets for a dice game, were not "ledgers" used for selling drugs.

We talked about if there were any competitive people that show up - and if there are common disagreements that have to be defused or not.

Also looking forward to playing a game with both of them one day soon!

Love this game, and the developers turned it into a fun campaign where you are forced to replace hero's with new ones that you have unlocked.

One must carefully use the powers of the hero's to skillfully take out the "line" of creatures descending on your campsite.

Plus, after each game, you've got to remove ONE hero, and use it's "boon" that is used between quests to make things better for the company.

Hero's can also die,. and if you don't have enough heroes in your company to fulfill the necessary 4 slots, you lose.

I believe I lost the first run (or I grossly missed some rules and started over).  Second time was a charm, I got through it all.

You can keep going by implementing harder rules, but I'm done and it was time to move on.

Great solo journey, picking away at this over the weeks while it sat on the table. :)

It's the first time playing this awesome game "HEAT: Pedal To The Metal".  

Since PBC wasn't an option due to moving into a permanent location, we pivoted to Bink's workplace, Tifa Chocolate and Gelato.

Kevin couldn't make it, so it was Me vs. Steve.  Mano a Mano!

I love the mechanic of this game. 

The icons are a bit off kilter, but make sense after reading the rules.  It's been a complaint for sure.

Anyway, it's a hand management game.  Based on what gear you are in, determines how many cards from your hand you can play.

Going too fast around corners forces you to spend "heat" cards from your engine.  If those heat cards are over gone, and you need to draw one, you spin out.

Huge setback that is hard to recover from.

In addition, there are "stress" cards that simulate a driver getting stressed out.  This introduces speed variation into your hand, which cause spinouts, slowdowns, and you just never know which one!

Several people came up during our 2 games and thought it was cool.

Even cooler, I won both games. :)

I've either got the perfect set of characters, or I have really figured this game out.

The first few locations are a bit tough in each realm, but I'm able to gain momentum, get the right skills in the slots, buy the right items, and from then on I feel I am handling anything that can be thrown at me.

Using the Bounty Hunter and Druid are huge.  The Witch is even bigger and maybe the most powerful hero I've played with.  Being able to see what is coming without "revealing" them is huge!

Fun game, but I'll definitely be ready to put it up after beating it - if I beat it. :)