Session Report June 21: Slow Train from Ann Arbor

TransAmerica (Collin, Beth, Bill, Karen, Dana) - Karen
TransAmerica (Collin, Beth, Bill, Karen, Dana) - Collin
TransAmerica (Collin, Beth, Bill, Karen, Dana) - Bill

Thanks, Collin, for submitting this fine report, as Pete tried to recover from a busy few days in Ann Arbor...

It was Wednesday night, and Pete was still on his way back from Ann Arbor. Bill was balancing the checkbook and Karen was playing a game of get-Elisa-to-bed. Dana was in the twilight zone of the internet with a flaked out router. Beth was at her monthly Keno group with the ladies of the neighborhood, and Collin was sitting at his computer, wondering if a game was ever going to get going. Finally at about 10 o'clock we were ready to begin. Beth got home, Elisa was in bed, Dana figured out he really wasn't connected to the internet, and Bill figured, "Eh, maybe the
checkbook will balance itself if I wait long enough"

What to do with 5 tired gamers with only an hour to go? Why the house rules variant of Transamerica, of course! Beth, Bill, Collin, Dana, and Karen got down to business. The first round of the first game was truly nasty. With everyone starting
on the green west coast cities, Karen lucked out with everyone building close to her cities and she went out early. Way early. Collin had to lay 11 track sections to complete his track. This allowed Karen to take a commanding lead and win game 1 handily.

Game 2 started out a bit more even, and lasted longer. There were enough rounds for each color group to be used as the starting point. This game had an unusual round where Karen, in an attempt to get to Boston, builds through Washington and New York, completing both Dana and Collin's cities during her turn. In the end, Collin won in a close game.

Game 3 was also close, with Bill, Collin, and Dana battling it out near the top at the beginning of the third round. However, Karen had to build all the way to Duluth when Bill went out, and had to build this massively long track to get there. This gave Bill the narrow win over Collin.

Fun, fast games! See you next week!