DEVIN

“A big, beautiful board in a stylish, rock ’n’ roll inspired setting.  What a place to be.  Passing the watchful eyes of Colonel Kilgore, I knew this wasn’t going to be a quick operation.  Had to be prepared to stick it out in unfavourable conditions, which is what the first half of the game felt like.  Besides all defenders (led by Jason) constantly rolling sixes, I didn’t have much off the draw, except Japan!  Of course, Japan can take care of itself, so it remained unfortified yet undaunted throughout the majority of the game until my enemies became desperate.  I escaped some notice and kept myself spread out across the northern hemisphere, but the key to me not being targeted by card-seeking sharks hungry to add to their hands was the existence of my one guy in Japan, who was always in the backs of their minds and kept the wolves at bay.  Eventually, an opportunistic elimination presented itself and from there the march inexorably proceeded (though painfully slow at times, given the restrictive advance rules and the clear mistake on not allowing card turn-ins to get under five cards not including the one picked up at the end of the turn, which could have had a devastating impact on the game) on to the victory circle for the first time in years.  None of us who were there at the time could eliminate that phantom who unexpectedly resurfaced this day.  There was nobody as legendary and enigmatic in the history of this endeavour, and it was a shock and treat to welcome him backer a decade later!  The mystique was non-existent for Jason, though, who cut through all the noise and took care of business.  Again, nobody chose triangular pieces but myself, and the superior stability helped on this mountainous, unsullied big board.  A board where the wangs rise or droop depending on your perspective.  I am happy, I got fairly lucky (except where rules were concerned), but I was able to take advantage of that luck and spin it into a win that has been far too long in coming.”

“Tough crowd.  A guy who has never lost; a guy who hasn’t lost in years — two?; a guy who rolls a lot of sixes, it seems, at least at crucial times; and last, but not least (‘cause he ended in first place) a guy with a shit ton of lifetime wins.  But I got a pretty good draw with everything within arms’ reach on a big, very interesting, beautiful, yet confusing board.  Played it well enough, with some decent loaner dice, but it was a mighty grind on the attempt on Silver, ending one roll shy of the cards.  Then the Question arose: rule consultations, poor memories, uncertainty — it didn’t feel right.  How have we always played it?  We played on.  Pink prevailed eventually.  All were happy there was a game, some more than others, of course.  I can’t dwell on what might have been, though.  I’ve squandered good fortune before, so who’s to say I couldn’t have done it again… *Note on the board and card deck:  No Ukraine?  At least where you’d expect it.  Ron should have been here to express outrage.  That’d been fun.”

“Been a long time. Some things never change… Marty.”

““Just roll sixes.” — Ross — Probably.”