First Full Game of Settlers in the Office

So Mat saw the board when he entered unexpectedly...and the three of us played it. It was a wood-barren board, and I went first, so I picked a 3/11/6 wood/wood/wheat corner. After Tony and Mat placed their settlements, I ran out of luck. The only viable choice for me was on a 4/8 ore with 3:1 port. Doh. That pretty much doomed me, I think.

And the game begins. First, we find it funny that Mat called the development cards "devvy cards." Next, Tony was buying development cards like crazy (for a total of about 6 or 7 in the game), so Mat called him a "devvy baron"...heh. In any case, I was pretty much boxed in for expanding territories. And there is one spot that I had my eyes on for a while, only to be taken by Mat after (a) he used a road building card to get there and (b) I traded a wheat with him so that he could build the settlement there. Doh. Tony got the largest army for sure. But then Mat made a peculiar move...one where he offered to give Tony 5 cards for his "eternal goodwill"...heh. Well, obviously Mat was trying to avoid the 7, but what we didn't know is that in the next turn, he built a road to get the longest road card, upgraded a settlement to a city, then revealed his VP card to claim the victory. That was quite an interesting game, I think (though I was really never in the running). Tony had two VP cards, so he ended up with 8 points. I had lots of wheat and ore to give me 3 cities and a total of 6 points. I think we may be doing this in our office again...