The 4th annual Iron Man Blogging Competition has begun! Nineteen participants this year. I’m gonna predict the winner blogs for 150 days. Here’s my totally unfounded forecast on how the top four will shake out: Finley (1st), Torbox, Beefy, Tim (4th). (Hey Peter, what odds wouldja give me on that?)

What better way to begin IMBC 2008 than with an image dump? Here are some shots from my board game spree the past few days (hover for descriptions):

We played a lot of new games this weekend. Streetcar, Red Dragon Inn, Elfenland, Blokus. I mentioned Streetcar in my last post; we’ve since played three more games (Kris, an occasional boardgamer from south Richland, joined us for one). Now that we have a much firmer grip on the rules I’m even more fond of it. The only thing that really needs improvement is how the tiles slip around on the board. A quarter-inch plywood board with balsa strips glued on in a (slightly expanded) grid would make play much easier. Best New Orleans trolley game I’ve ever played.

Justin recommended Red Dragon Inn. I probably would’ve picked it up, but Jones beat me to it. The premise for this one is that you’re a party of adventurers (of the “elves & wizards” milieu) carousing at a tavern. The rounds are pretty straightforward: Draw, take an action, buy someone a drink, drink. Try to stay conscious, try not to go broke. Of course, on top of that you have cards that let you act out of turn or participate in gambling sub-games. The whole thing plays like a combination of Lunch Money and a very basic version of Magic: The Gathering. Tons of fun with four players (we roped in Damien on Warhammer Sunday), but surprisingly less great with three (and not really worth playing with two).

I can’t say much about Elfenland as we’ve only played one game. It has some superficial similarities to Ticket to Ride, but requires a lot more planning. And it’s a little abashing to play… Just try to retain your dignity as you mutter “I take the troll wagon to Rivinia, then ride a unicorn through these woods so I can use my elfcycle here and here.”

Finally, Blokus. Blokus is awesome. The rules are incredibly simple: Start in a corner and place your pieces so they only touch at the corners; try to get as many of your pieces on the board as possible. Easy, huh? There’s not much I can compare it to, though I guess it’s a little like Go. I love the feeling you get when you “infect” another player’s territory.

I also pre-ordered Bohnanza (the German bean-farming game) and Jones bought Mwahahaha!, but we haven’t played those yet.

Jones and I saw 21 tonight. It was pretty mediocre. I kind of hated the main character. Kevin Spacey was good, but that’s a given, right? The whole thing was just too simple. Dialogue kinda sucked too. Worth a DVD rental, not quite worth the price of a movie ticket.

Re: TotD (Fonts): Hate Comic Sans, Verdana’s cool, Arial: Meh.

Okay, time for bed. I was only up so late cuz I had to clean some lab equipment (not doable during business hours). Gotta get up in four hours to grab part two of the report series I started running on Sunday.