Robo Rally Recap

Attendance:  Dan, Greg, Kim, Mark, Scott M, Scott Mc
Games Played: Robo Rally, Niagara 

Robo Rally was the first game of the night.  Scott Mc picked the map tonight, "Maelstrom", little did he know this would mean death to one player, himself!  If you don't know the map, it is completely full of conveyor belts - fast and slow lined up in a whirlpool fashion, pushers, and on board lasers.  This was my first play with pushers, they add a neat addition to the game.  The pushers work when you land on the square with one.  At the end of the register  it will push you 1 space if it is "hot" on the current register. These pushers were 2,4 and 1,3,5.  So for example on an even register only the 2,4 pushers would activate, and on an odd register the 1,3,5 register would activate.

The players were constantly moved by the conveyors, there was a lot more damage from lasers than normal.  We had multiple people end up with registers locked because they were taking so much damage.  A few of us also used the conveyors to our advantage by powering down on a conveyor, getting repaired, and having the conveyors move you to the target.

Scott Mc of course had to start the first set of registers running right into a pit, he blames the conveyor belts.  Dan and Scott M got tangled early on the conveyor belts with Dan getting the losing end and ended up off the board. Mark was the first one to the 1st flag with everyone right behind him, and then the conveyors would operate and that statement wasn't true anymore.  I cannot stress how much the conveyors messed with everyone all night.  Scott Mc was the next one to the 1st Flag, but then he and Scott M tangled and Scott M ended pushed off the board.... but with Scott Mc's next register he moved off the board also.   We had never seen a Robo Rally game so brutal. Kim was the next one to the 1st Flag, and while Scott Mc was working his way to the 2nd flag he fell in the pit AGAIN!  Scott Mc died in Robo Rally!  

After Scott Mc died, the board seemed more open.  Greg was stuck at the top, Dan, Mark, Greg all had powered down rounds.  Mark was first to the 2nd flag, and was clearly in the lead with Kim closing the gap.  Dan was able to get to the 1st flag around the same time that Kim go to the 2nd flag.  Greg finally got the cards he needed and made a dash for the 1st flag and succeeded!

The race for the 2nd flag between Dan & Greg, and the dash for the 3rd flag by Kim and Mark was going strong.  We all saw if the player just got XYZ cards they could win the game this turn, but that didn't work out.  Both Mark and Kim tried to stay off the conveyors as they moved to the 3rd flag, but with bad cards and bad luck they were both struggling to get to the 3rd flag.

Dan was next to the 2nd flag, with Greg following and getting the 2nd flag also.  Mark finally had the moons and cards align for him and he was able to win the game! 

This map was very challenging but also a lot of fun.  With 6 players it felt crowed a lot and a lot of damage was taken by all the players.  The final standing were as follows:

1. Mark

2. Kim

3. Dan

4. Greg

5. Scott

6. Scott

Since I am the one writing the recap I think it would be fun to not tell which Scott got 5th place.  Is it Scott Mc who got to the 1st flag but died??  Or is it Scott M who didn't make it to the 1st flag, but lived through the carnage....   I will let you decide.