Today was the first Saturday of the month, making it a Madison Board Gamers' all-day gaming event. Laura and I are going to dinner later at Mike and Yolanda's, but I had time for a few games this afternoon. Our first game was The Penguin Ultimatum, which I taught to Brett, Mike (different Mike) and Sky. Mike made some high-scoring moves, while Brett and Sky concentrated on having a little influence everywhere, while I tried to come in last and claim the performers, which in the end made the difference in this close game. I enjoyed it more this time than I had in the past, perhaps it grows on me the more I play it.

Next, we played my prototype Ultra-Violets, joined by Blake as Sky went off to other games. Blake picked this up quickly, while Mike was having a hard time, mostly due to my poor explanations of the card distributions per deck (next time, show one whole deck when explaining the game...) I've found it's a hard game to explain, since all the parts are interconnected and there's no real good place to start, else you're always asking "Why do we need this?" The mechanics seemed to work well, no one went for the "all president, cause the pests" strategy, and it took about eight rounds, which is what I was hoping for. Blake made a killing with Red Doubles, finishing around 80 points, with Brett close behind, while Mike and I lagged behind, with poor timing of buying the grow lights influincing our scores the most. We then played a prototype of Brett's involving Bears and poop, which was very abstract and has promise.

It was time for dinner, so Laura and I headed over to Mike and Yolanda's, joined by Kristin and Roger. The theme for the evening was the Philipines, Yolanda's family lineage, so the food was prepared as close as possible while accounting for all our allergies. We found the Philipines on the map, and ate Adobo Chicken, green beans, dinner rolls and two types of fruit salad, with a wonderful sherbert punch to drink, all very tasty and keeping us coming back for seconds.

Mike nominated us to bring some entertainment, so we pulled out a few games that worked well with 6 players. First up was King Me, which worked much better with 6 than before with 3. After a quick overview of the rules, it was a tense game whenever a noble was up for vote. The first round, we voted almost everyone off the board before a King was chosen. Luckily my secret nobles were at the bottom of the pile this time, so I scored some points. Next round, everyone decided to try and put their favorites at the bottom, and the 4th level was almost empty. We were a little more judicious in our vetos, so a King was chosen about mid-game, so many people were able to score. The final round was a quick one, with a King chosen after the fourth nomination. We'll pull this one out as a closer more often than an opener, since it seems to work better with more people.

Our next game was Once Upon a Time, where we told the story of a married, cursed woman being married (again) to a King, going on vacation, being stolen by a Giant, killing the Giant then returning home to an usurper, who relented the throne once the King gave up his wife to her original husband. Roger was quite the story-teller, keeping us in awe that we all forgot to interrupt him and just let him finish the story for the win.

We finished the night with Carcassonne, using the Inns and Cathedral expansion tiles but not their extra abilities, making the game much simpler. Everyone scattered trying to make castles and road, while the farmer competition became fierce between Laura and Roger. They ended up with a tie after everything was tallied. Mike and Yolanda generously gave us more rolls and Adobo chicken, and we headed back home.