Tuesday 2nd August - Mississippi Queen/6 Day Race

queen3
Originally uploaded by coljen.

We were playing at Steve’s this week and it was Richard’s choice of game. He chose Mississippi Queen to start and if we had enough time, 6 Day Race. We had a guest appearance of Jo this week, Jo has played a few times with us before, mainly at weekend sessions but it was good to see him again. I have played Mississippi Queen once before. This is a brief description from BGG.

In this light, fun family game, players race their paddleboats down the Mississippi, picking up passengers along the way. But onboard coal supplies are limited, so each ship's acceleration and maneuvers must be carefully planned. Perhaps most interestingly, the twists and turns of the river are unknown at the start of the game, and are only revealed as ships progress downstream.

You have to pick up two passengers during your progress down the river and you must be at speed one to dock at the landing stage to pick up. Garry made a good start and made a beeline for the first landing stage. The rest of us went to the left of the island to go the next one. Fortunately for us the next tile laid went to the left, Garry was on the wrong side of the river so got a bit left behind. He did get his passenger though. The pushing rule can be cruel, as you end up in completely the wrong place. Ideal for nasty players to stuff you!! Jo made the decision to go full steam ahead and got a large lead right on the leading edge of the front tile, he rolled the dice for the next tile, rolled straight on, turned it over and there was a dirty great island slap bang in front of him, doh!! Needless to say this allowed the rest of us to catch up somewhat.
Richard had gauged his coal consumption perfectly and had picked up his two passengers and was making for the end of the river. I had slowed to pick up passengers and Garry had overtaken me. Jo had used all his coal and had to go round in a circle to even get his first passenger. As the boats pass down the river all the tiles are removed when everyone has passed through them. I was the last one off of the previous tile which it got removed, this completely stuffed Jo who had run out of river and promptly sank. So a close and fun game.

Final Scores
Richard 1st, Garry 2nd, Colin 3rd, Steve 4th, Jo sunk!

6 Day Race
Next up was 6 Day Race, this is a bicycle racing game from 1988. I was the only one who hadn’t played this one before. This from BGG.

A bicycle race game. When it is your turn to play, a player can play any card in his hand and move his rider forward the corresponding number of spaces. If he lands on a unoccupied space, his move ends there. If he lands on a space occupied by one other rider, he doubles his move. If he lands on a space occupied by two other riders, he triples his move. And so on.

Nice mechanism, I didn’t really know what I was doing so I decided to stay well with the group and not play any fancy tactics. There is a space about half way round where you can ditch your remaining cards and pick up a new hand of cards. Is this a good move I asked? Yes, said Jo, no said Garry, it depends on what your cards are said Richard. Thanks chaps. I ditched and picked up some nice 4s and 5s. Garry won the first sprint, and I managed to win the second sprint and play a five which landed me on a space with two cyclists so I bounced 10. I just went for it then and the rest couldn’t catch me. Appropriately my piece was yellow so I already had the yellow jersey.

Final Scores
Colin 15, Garry 14, Steve 7, Richard 3, Jo 3

As a final note, Jo reckons he is the ideal guest, he comes last and he brings cakes. Nice one Jo!!