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11th Hour Addition
Goa was one of three Rio Grande Games which was added to
the WBC schedule at the very last minute. All three proved popular
additions to the summer's fare and drew well despite being shoe-horned
into the few remaining slots that could be found in the schedule.
BPA wishes to extend its thanks to Jay Tummelson and Jim
Doughan for sponsoring the events and to the Games Club of Maryland
members who took on double duty as GMs for these games sight
unseen. All will need new GMs in 2005 to return.
63 people played Goa, Rio Grande's late, new addition
to the WBC. Only ten players made the late sunday semi-finals,
so we played one table of four and two threes. The finals would
be a three-player affair. John Kerr, Perrianne Lurie, and Lee
Sensabaugh won their games and were the finalists.
The final was played Sunday afternoon. Lee bought the flag
for only $3 in Round 1, the cheapest it would ever be, but he
dug deeper to buy the red ship tile for $11. In the action rounds,
John missed getting his first colony, and both John and Lee bumped
down their cubes on the expedition tracks.
In Rounds 2 and 3, John got the flag for $4 and $5 respectively,
but Lee again grabbed two red tiles (the $4 one and the red spice)
for $8 and $5. He now had three red tiles! John bought a second
plantation, and he was the only player to have any.
Perrianne finally took the flag in Round 4 for $7. Lee spent
$10 for a 1-clove plantation and $8 for a 1-pepper. "Victory
points", he said. Perrianne pursued a balanced strategy
by being the first to advance all her cubes down to row 2.
We began the second half. In the first three rounds, John
and Perrianne exchanged the flag for $7, $9, and $8. Lee tried
for both Madras and Cochin and failed to get both on his first
tries! At this point, Perrianne continued to build a balanced
board, and she was able to get all four colonies easily. John
concentrated on the cards, ships and spices tracks. Lee bought
points and red tiles. He spent well for 1-point plantations and
purple point cards, but unfortunately he had bad fortune with
colonies, wasting two actions in failures.
The final round began with Lee buying the flag for $12. In
the action round, he tried for the Calicut colony with below-average
odds, and again he failed -- for the third time! It doomed him.
John spent $14 on the blue tile that let him fully stock three
colonies or plantations. He had purchased "Duty" earlier,
and he wanted to cash in six spices for four points. On his final
action he pondered whether he should claim the duty, or should
he, for four points, use an expedition card to help him bump
a cube down to a bottom row. It would cost him a point for the
expedition card, but he figured he'd be getting one back, and
maybe it would match up with one in his hand. He chose the latter
and blundered because he did not notice that Perrianne had already
claimed that expedition card, so he got no card and lost a point.
It cost him the game. When the scores were added, Perrianne
and John were tied in points. Perrianne had the most money, so
she claimed the victory.
Open Gaming saw its share of the
action also as Andy Maly (right) and Jeff Paull (center) put
Goa through its paces in their usual haunt at the foot
of the escalator.
Goa WBC 2004 Event Rules
1. The time limit has been extended to two hours. We will
terminate games and declare winners if necessary. You will not
be allowed to play if you don't know the game rules.
2. Your results from the two heats are not cumulative. We
use your best score if you play both heats.
3. A game winner has the best score, and we use cash on hand
to break ties. If there are still ties in the heats, then all
tied players are declared winners. In the semi-finals and finals,
there are no shared wins. The next tiebreaker after cash is the
highest sum of spices + ships + colonists. Next is a random draw.
4. Sixteen winners advance to the semi-finals. Fewer advance
if there are less than sixteen winners. If there are more than
sixteen winners, we use score, then cash on hand, then spices
+ ships + colonists to break ties (and then random draw if necessary).
5. Rio Grande rules are in effect. The FAQ posted at boardgamegeek.com
is also in effect.
6. You must discard down expedition cards after you draw,
not before. This is the Rio Grande rule and counters the game
designer's ruling.
7. FAQ: You may discard a just-purchased plantation if your
plantation display is full. You do not have to discard one from
your display.
8. FAQ: The only expedition card that can be played during
an action is the "player receives two colonists" card.
9. FAQ: Expedition cards marked with an "A" must
be played before you do the action.
10. FAQ: You may not bid money you do not have.
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Stan Hilinski [1st Year]
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