Lunch session: Ra

Ra Chris* Rob I, Rob G, Craig

I finally won this stinking game. I've probably played Ra 10 or 15 times and previous to today I only managed a tie for the win. The first round I started with middle numbers (12-7-3 I think) and I invoked almost every time. I managed to get some monuments, get a few Niles, avoid the 5 point penalty for no civilization and I got a couple of pharoahs and avoided the 2 point penalty. I don't believe I scored any points the first round, but I had a good foundation built because I most purchased tiles that I didn't have to discard. I got several more monuments in the second round (including the 8th different one) and took the lead in pharoahs. I also secured some good tiles for the final round. In the final round I got a few more monuments (getting 3 or one of them for 5 points) and managed to have the high chip total (tied with Rob I) for 5 bonus points. The monuments carried me to victory.

I'm not sure why I did so much better than I typically do. Perhaps I was a little more patient during the bidding phase. Maybe I was the benefactor of sitting to the left of a new player. In any case, I'm excited to play again and see if my success was just a fluke.