Game Night - Capitol and Alibi

Made it to the CalTech Game Night last night for about two hours and got two games in. Ted and Rebecca had also purchased the reprint of Ra which hit the table twice, but the timing didn't work out so I wasn't able to get in on either playing. First game up was Capitol. This is basically an area majority game which is famous for having one of the worst scoring tracks ever designed. I am TERRIBLE at this game. I've played three times or so before this, and not only do I always finish last, but I finish WAY in last. I did much better this time, finishing round 1 in 3rd, moving up each round from there, and managing to pull out a win! I think my main problem with this game is how there is such a heavy bias against moving first. First one to build in an area is in many ways at a disadvantage because of the way the building rules and the tiebreakers work. At least in a game like Power Grid that also severely punishes turn order, there are some tradeoffs and a greater level of control in determining said order. Anyway, Capitol is a solid game and I'm happy to play it a few times a year but it will never be one of my favorites.

After that we played Alibi which was new to the group. This is a very light and random piece of filler, it looks like a deduction game at first glance but it really isn't. There are suspect cards with various attributes (fat/thin, striped/polkadot/solid shirt, etc.), and you play down characteristic cards. If when you play down a card, any of the suspects have five cards showing that match them, you accuse them. Accusing gets you a point, and having played a card that matches the accused gets you a point per card. There are some other special cards that do funky little things too but it comes down to randomness and timing. The tabletalk was the best part of this one, lots of funny jokes about the suspects. I think I finished 3rd out of 4 on this one.