Patting Myself on My Back

Ok, I'm pretty proud of this. I didn't think that the fourth player in a relatively balanced Samurai game could win, but I did it. And, surprisingly, I won with two totem majorites, AND the most total totems, which I didn't think was at all possible going last in a four player game. Of course, I don't really know what everyone's skill level were (including mine,really) so I have no idea if it was truly balanced. Anyway, the thing that I thought was cool, and I'm assuming pretty oddball, is the way I ended the game (due to Samurai's ending condition of when only one of the Totem type gets cleared from the board).

After using the 0 tile and a late-drawn boat to take the lead in the second totem set, I played a my late-drawn Ronin not to capture a totem for me, but get rid of the final totem off the board, to ensure that the game ended. In fact, the Ronin gave a totem to two other players. Last-drawn Ronins are cool when you win, but I imagine they suck when you are losing...

In addition, I've taken my 3rd first-place crown in the Game Design Showdown with The Great Lakes Fish Out! I wonder if there's any coincidence that the three times I've won, I've had the chance to spend 3 to 4 hours constantly editing the rules, trying to streamline them and make them understandable. Most likely.