It was another night of the Princes of Florence. This game went by pretty fast. We nearly made the normal playing time. This is unheard of at our table. As in our last game, Owen lagged behind the rest of us in prestige points up through the middle of the game. I got a good lead at one point, but unfortunately couldn’t hold it until the all important end of the game. When it came around to the last round, Ben zoomed into the lead, with me in second place. Lastly, everyone revealed their Prestige Cards. You get extra Prestige Points if you fulfilled the goal on the card. Mike’s constructing of one last building on the final turn cost me three ending Prestige Points. This was enough to swing my game end placement from second to third. Owen, using three Prestige Cards, garnered an amazing 18 points that placed him in second place right ahead of me. Ben also shot ahead with his prestige card getting the maximum of eight points . Ben won again. Mike, who I thought was playing very well, came in an inexplicable last place.
Next up was a new game called Dice Town. During each round the players try to build a poker hand. The results of a player’s hand verses their opponents’ hands determines what parts of Dice Town you are able to take over and reap the benefits from.  For instance, if you have the most nines in your hand, you take over the gold mine and get a gold nugget for each nine you have. There is also a bank to rob, the salon girls to charm (allowing you to steal cards from other players), items you can take from the general store, and so on. If you happen to have the best hand you also get one or more land cards. Cards, money, and gold nuggets all earn you victory points.
In our game, one of most important aspects of the game was the Sheriff. If you have the most Kings in your hand, you become the Sheriff. Being the Sheriff allows you to settle ties. This may not seem like a big deal, but oh it is. If you are the sheriff and you have two nines and so do I. As sheriff you can rule that you win, taking the spoils from the town. This happens more often than you would think and I was on the losing end of that deal most of the night. Granted, when I was sheriff, I made out like a bandit.
Let’s talk about poor Owen. The poker dice rarely rolled well for him the entire game. And when they did, someone (many times me) would make an outlandish roll and steal his thunder. Owen was literally poor most of the game too–lacking in money. Money can be used to help keep or modify your poker dice rolls. This caused Owen no end of frustration.  Ben had a similar problem, but his money drought didn’t last as long as Owens.Â
Let’s talk about Mike the Sheriff. He kind of reminded me of Brian Dennehy in Silverado.  And it was a sweet deal for him. His wealth of cards, money, and gold nuggets grew and grew. I believe he blew the rest of us away as far as victory points were concerned and easily won the game.
Chaos Steve