Olympic Board Games 2016

The Olympic Games Rio 2016 just happened, and a group of friends and I had the idea to organize our own Olympic Board Games 2016.

The participants of the games would be:

• Camila
•  Cesar
•  Marcelo (myself)
•  Roberta

We sat together to decide which games we would play and in which order.

Here is the schedule that we came up with for three weekends:

1. First Weekend
   • Star Munchkin
2. Second Weekend
   • Ubongo
   • Rummikub
   • Smallworld
3. Third Weekend
   • Scrabble
   • Munchkin

The score would be calculated accordingly to the Olympic Games:

• ????First place gets a Gold medal
• ????Second place gets a Silver medal
• ????Third place gets a Bronze medal.

The lack of medals in the Emoji keyboard made us get to a different arrangement, though. ????

In case of tied scores, two medals of the same type would be given following the same Olympic rule.

The winner is entitled to choose a Funko Pop Vinyl as the competition’s prize.

First Weekend

After our opening ceremony eating hot dogs, we played the first game: Star Munchkin.

In a 2 hour and 17 minutes match with plenty of highs and lows and, as always, lots of arguments about rules, we finish with the following result:

1.  Marcelo ????
2.  Cesar ????
3.  Roberta ????

The night ended with  Cesar accidentally dropping some frozen dessert in  Roberta’s hair. ????

Second Weekend

We ate some snacks to warm up and started playing Ubongo.

The game was competitive.

In each turn we had completely different results.

It was hard to guess who would be the winner.

When we finish it,  Cesar and I had the same number of gems of the same color for all combinations.

That was crazy.

It was the first time we had a score like that.????????

So it was a tie for the Gold, with  Camila in third:

1.  Marcelo ????
2.  Cesar ????
3.  Camila ????

A quick stop for some yummy chicken tacos and we went straight into the next game: Rummikub.

 Cesar is well known for winning around 99% of the matches he plays in Rummikub.

We decided that we would play three games and calculate the points as usually  Cesar makes massive amounts of points and can reach the winning point in one or two matches.

Everyone was expecting  Cesar to get the Gold medal, but to the players’ surprise, he finished only in the third position.

 I was happy as I was able to get my third gold in the Olympic Board Games 2016 and  Roberta that usually doesn’t go too well playing Rummikub came in second for the Silver.

Olympic Games have a different atmosphere, so the unexpected is always around. ????

1.  Marcelo ????
2.  Roberta ????
3.  Cesar ????

The last game of the night was Smallworld.

Nine rounds and plenty of races going into decline.

After a lot of exclamation – mainly from me – about how many coins the players were getting, I was pretty sure that  Roberta would take the Gold.

But it ended up being that  I had 78 coins.  Roberta and  Cesar had ‘only’ 76. ???? Ops.

1.  Marcelo ????
2.  Cesar ????
3.  Roberta ????

And like that, we finish our second weekend of board games.

 Camila is behind, but she promises to level her game up in the next weekend.

Third Weekend

To celebrate our last day in the Olympics, we started the night with a Brazilian-style pizza and Guarana Antartica – a soft drink that tastes like sugar but is loved by most of Brazilians.

The first game of the night was Scrabble.

Everyone was tense and as the final of the match approached, we struggled to form new words and keep punctuating high.

I wasn’t in my best form and was using easy words.

Turn after turn I was feeling that  Roberta and  Camila were doing much better than me.

 Cesar is definitely better with numbers than with letters.

His performance was the opposite as his usual in Rummikub. ????

When I used my last tile, I was surprised that everyone else had still so many letters to be used, and that meant that surprisingly I was in the race for the Gold medal

We then summed the points and, I have to be honest, it took two people and four counts to reach the correct value.

To my surprise,  I ended up as a winner by 42 points, thanks for that last letter I played.

1.  Marcelo ????
2.  Camila ????
3.  Cesar ????

For the last game of the Olympic Board Games, we went for the classic Munchkin.

Not only because we enjoy it, but mostly because it has a historical value for the group.

It is the game where we fight, help each other and stab ourselves in the back all at the same time.

We spend a lot of the time discussing rules and establishing some of our own.

All for the sake of fun.

As in the traditional Marathon, Munchkin is the game we spend the most time playing.

This last match lasted around three hours and fifty minutes.

Not a record for us, but long enough to make everyone feel exhausted at the end of it.

After almost winning the game and being attacked by everyone,  I tied in second place with  Cesar, which was in the last position almost the whole match.

 Cesar managed to go from level 1 to 9 in just four turns.

With a setback of rules and some well-played cards,  Camila finally achieved her first Gold medal in the competition, and now she likes to call herself the Munchkin Queen. ????

1.  Camila ????
2.  Marcelo ????
3.  Cesar ????

The Olympic Board Games Wrap-up

 I was really lucky in this first Olympic Board Games and finished the overall score in first, followed by  Cesar,  Camila and  Roberta.

Here is the final score:

The prize I chose for my outstanding performance ???? is… the Iron Throne Pop Vinyl.

It definitely suits as a prize for the winner, doesn’t it?

It was three fun weekends, and we all enjoyed it.

Now tell me if you also make different arrangements to bring new ways to play amongst your friends and how it goes.

What did you do at the Olympics?