The rain heading to Tampa delayed us a bit, but we still got there a little before 6PM. There were already some people playing board games, so obviously the 7PM start isn't absolute. Not that I expected it to be.
Chris was already there when Blain and I arrived. Since the other gamers already were already in game, most seemingly at the limit of players anyway, we got into TransAmerica to start. Chris had recently purchased the expansion that gives each player 3 tracks of their own. It was interesting, but I didn't see any blocks that couldn't be sidestepped within a single turn. That's probably just because we're not used to using them effectively yet though. In any case, I lost the game terribly. Chris won 3 rounds in a row and Blain ended with somewhere around 6 points.
The second game we played was Stonehenge. We played the "Chariots..." racing game which was quite fun. None of us knew the game, so we spent some time reading and discussing the rules before the game really got going. I was in the lead for more than half of the game, with Chris close behind. Blain was spending a lot of his energy setting up blocks along the outside (fast) lane. Since Blain could go over his blocks with no penalty, he went from last in the group to the front of the pack in one quick turn. It was quite a surprise to me because I had such a huge lead that I just wasn't expecting him. At the end of the game I had a slight lead on Blain, but Chris through a pair of blocks across the finish line. I was ONE energy point away from winning the game. Once again, Blain had placed one of his own blocks close to the finish line, which he was able to jump over freely and take the win. That was a very good game. Definitely one of my favorites in the Stonehenge set.
We finished the night playing Blue Moon City. Blain was new to the game, but he was unfortunately drawn to go first. Chris took a quick lead on the Crystal Tower getting 2 blocks into the bottom row. While Blain and Chris were going back and forth helping each other gather crystals, I was struggling to get any crystals. Blain rarely got any dragon scales, so that set him back a bit. There were at least two scale counts where he got no crystals. As Chris was about to finish his requirement in the Crystal Tower, Blain claimed the two 10-spots, forcing Chris to go back out for more Crystals. Unfortunately at that point, there was only one good spot for picking up Crystals left and I had started rebuilding the space. Chris came in to contribute to it, which forced me to leave because I knew that the game was over as soon as construction was finished on that building - by anyone. Chris only needed a few more crystals to end the game. Of course, since that was the best spot for Crystals there wasn't much else I could do. I went and completed one other building but didn't have enough Crystals to do much. Chris won the game (his first time ever - congrats!) and Blain got second place.
That was it. Rather than stay for another short game (because it was about 10:40 at that point) we decided to leave. I had homework to do and the other guys were ready to head out anyway, so we said good night. I didn't win but still had a very good night out with friends.
