Weekly summaries of our group's Wednesday night Catan games
The winter standings (in wins; point totals to come soon):
(1) *Steve: 4 (2) *Pat: 4 (3) *Kristen: 3 (4) *Scott: 2 (5) Kim: 2** (6) *Kathryn: 0 (7) Kevin: 0
*Denotes status as a regular
**Two point win
The core of our Catan principles was tested this Wednesday night. By extension, the core of our selves was tested.
9:57 pm EST: Steven's holding the paper-back rule book for Seafarer's by only a few of its 10 or so pages (Catan only halfway follows the gaming world's trend towards simpler rule books). His grip offers the manual (which we haven't yet memorized) two pathways to death: by amputation or by deposition into a garbage can that may or may not have been the source of the night's mysterious smell.
Ten minutes earlier, Steve had discovered "Longest Road" and "Largest Fleet" were two different specials (worth two victory points a piece). Logically, though incorrectly, he argued that largest fleet couldn't be a special since it didn't have a card like that of "Road", Largest Army, and Harbor Master. Why Mayfair didn't make a Largest Fleet placard is a mystery, but one I hope to crack using my newfound alliance with the company (change.org petition to come soon?). They are, after all, a manufacturer that includes extra water hexagons in their packaging. How could they forget about largest fleet? Will keep you posted.
Five minutes after Steve's soliloquy and my subsequent re-reading of the rules, we discovered that in Seafarer's, longest road doesn't actually exist, BUT connecting roads can count towards longest fleet (not sure if a minimum of five boats must be purchased before roads count; will have to re-check the rules and get back to you on that).
Anyway, Steve had longest road, but he also had connecting boats, meaning my own largest fleet wasn't actually legitimate. By the rules, Steve should have been the only one eligible for the two points. Following the old sports adage (whatever isn't stated before a contest isn't the rule, even if it actually is the rule) we kept Longest Road and Largest Fleet in play. After all that, P(h)at (Bastard) came from behind and stole the win... using largest fleet as his final move. Cheeky.
The Moment. The five minute or so argument was an important moment for us as a group. It nearly violated everything we stood for, but eventually reaffirmed who we were: athletes.
Though Catan combines general appeal and complex game play better than any other board game on the market, it's not as if it's transcended to the hotel rooms of NBA players. Last time I checked, Javaris Crittenton brought (unloaded) guns into the Washington Wizards locker room after a fight over a variation of spades (which we also love and which recently became the basis of a ten team tournament on Saturday), not Catan. Michael Jordan didn't accrue significant enough gambling debts to force him into early retirement (a rumor) by consistently failing to net 10 victory points. Maybe Wade Boggs wouldn't have consumed 64 beers on a cross country flight if there'd been more unprocessed forms of wheat and rye on board. The point is, our regular five is unique among Catan groups worldwide by the combination of our athletic-minded make-up and extreme dedication to the game.
That somewhat unusual mix of qualities leads to a very sports-based interpretation of the rules. More classic Catan players (I won't call them nerds, but I'll lead with the assumption that over 50 percent of their group can identify Gandalf and can't identify five college basketball teams in the top 15) revere the rules. As I stated in entry one, we don't. Our reverence begins and ends in sports. You can't respect both equally. Plus, the rules of sports are much more interpretive (and subject to change, like in NFL football), the action between their requirements much longer. A gaming rule is generally set in stone, and every movement is closely controlled by law.
That could also be why (lawyer) Kathryn tends to be slightly more stickler-ish than the rest (evidenced by her strict interpretation of yellow victory cards). Though she does have a college rugby career on her resume, you can't attend Princeton for four years and not tend towards the more classical board gamers (even as we're slowly transforming her into maybe the only negotiator between the two worlds). Kathryn, by the way, couldn't make Wednesday night's game because of a job interview the next day, an excuse we all deemed justifiable.
Thus, the longest road/largest fleet snafu wasn't sacrilege, as some might have judged it, but an adjustment. We'll play by the correct rule next time (only because we don't disagree with it), but we won't place an asterisk beside the most recent game. After all, if we're all playing by the same standards, it's up to the cleverest one to find their most vulnerable points, regardless of whether they are Teuber-approved (even if I still secretly believe he would relish our loose gameplay). That's my view, anyway, and it seems to be the one more or less shared by our Wednesday night crew.
Pat's weekend mission: Rumors of Pat road-tripping to Dick's Sporting Goods this weekend for a tackle box -- not for fishing --but to replace the one (which is a little small) we currently use to store all three versions of Catan. He also won the first game on Wednesday for a share of first place. Damn.
