The third Superbowl party, and quite a large crowd this year. We had more people watching the game, since the Seahawks were playing, and a few SOs came over specifically to watch the game. Also this year we had our own football tournament (Deansbowl?) based on Pizza Box Football, a rather play guessing and simple dice rolling game. We played the Backyard Brawl version, which gave each player 3 possessions each half: own 25; halfway; opponent's 25.

Most people managed to make it over early, and after the obligatory reference to my mistakes on the schedule and George looking like Father Christmas by each person as he arrived we got going. Doug and Eric gave us a brief explanation of the rules we got started, with Morgan being the guinea pig and facing off against Doug in the first/demo game. Also in the first round was Graham against George, Jacob against Carey, and myself against Jonathan.

Jacob against Carey



Graham against George



Jonathan had said he would be a little late in arriving, so when he appeared we got started. Things went badly for me immediately as he drove all the way from his 25 to score a touchdown, and quickly closed me down on my possessions from my 25 and halfway. On his possession from my 25 he had to settle for a field goal to make it 10-0. I had been rolling rubbish dice, even though I was guessing exactly the plays he was going to choose. On my last possession from his 25 I managed to score a TD, but couldn't roll 6 on 3 dice, so missed the PAT. 10-6 at the half.

The second half was a whole different story, as my dice warmed up and his chilled completely. Not only did I score TDs on all 3 of my possessions I even managed to force a fumble, and then rolled boxcars which counted as a return for a TD! Final score was 34-10 for me, what a comeback!

In the other games Carey (managing to overcome Jacob only after double overtime!), Doug and Graham all won.

While we were getting through the first round Julie (out of the picture to the left), Eric, Laurent and Chris played Transamerica.



Onto the quarter-finals, which saw me up against Graham. He lead 14-3 at the half, managing to guess my plays correctly most times. No second half comeback this time, as the final score was 17-3, with defense really dominating the second half.

In the other games Chris walked all over Eric, who appeared incapable of rolling 2 on 3 dice, and suffered fumble after interception after fumble. Doug managed to pip Matthew with a field goal on his last drive. (Great report on Doug's game sessions blog.) Carey continued his winning ways against Laurent.

During all this excitement Rita, Justin, Jonathan and Julie (left to right) played some E&T.



That left semis as Graham v.Chris and Doug vs. Carey

In the first game, Chris took 14-0 lead, but Graham brought it back to 14-7 at the half with a good drive. Graham opened the 2nd half with another good drive, scoring a TD, but Chris responded with his own TD, 21-14 for Chris. Graham's next drive stalled, as did Chris'. In his last drive Graham had 1st & goal from the 1, went back 3, went forward 3, incomplete, and in his 4th play Chris played conservative run defense and Graham rolled 7 for no gain. Chris went for the field goal on his 1st down, and scored for a 24-14 win.




The other game was fairly close, 14-10 to Carey when I tuned in. Doug got to the 7 yard line, but on 4th chose to go for the field goal. This was successful, making it 14-13, with Carey having 2 possessions to Doug's 1. Carey then scored a field goal, leaving Doug needing a TD in his final drive. However, he managed to fumble the ball, and Carey recovered, kicking a field goal on his final possession to make the score 19-14.



While all this semi-final action was going on I played San Juan with Laurent/Jacob. I even managed to win 23-25-34.



On the living room coffee table George, Morgan, KC and Eric played KC's Metro 2.



And so to the final, Carey against Chris. For this game we played the Smashmouth full game. This introduces kickoffs, punts and returns, but with 30 plays per quarter rather than the time counting rules of the full game.

The referee had an issue with the toss, as he couldn't figure out which was the head, but eventually it was figured out and Carey elected to receive. Chris was first to score, and later followed a 29 yard run by a TD by the end of 12 plays. After the kickoff, Carey returned 22, then had another 22 yard play to take him beyond half. but had settle for a field goal from 33 to at least get points on the board 14-3. Chris started on the 26, but couldn't do anything and had to punt. Carey took over at his 35. On the first play the QB fumbled, and lost the ball on his 30. This led to another TD. Carey continued to have dice problems - pips appeared to be missing! This allowed Chris to score another TD on a grinding drive to make it 28-3. From the kick off Carey threw another interception! This led to a field goal, which ended the half 31-3.

The 2nd half didn't start any better for Carey as Chris returned the kick off 40 yards. However, he had to settle for a field goal. Carey and Chris swapped punts, a few times. By this time Carey was about to be picked up by his wife and had to call the game. As the score was way out of reach anyway it wasn't a big deal. So big congrats to Chris for winning the first DeansBowl tournament. Big commiserations to Carey, he just couldn't roll dice to save his life.



While this was going on Julie, Jenna, Rita, Ann, Josh and another (?) played Havoc.



Dave taught George, Doug, KC and Laurent his prototype. (From what Doug said it seemed to be pretty good.)



While I was recording the details of the final Morgan, Tim, Jonathan, Eric and I played Railroad Tycoon, although we didn't get time to finish before kick off, and we never did get back to it.



At this point the game came on, so there was a break as a lot of people chose to watch the game. Of course the kids decided that now was a good time to try World of Warcraft. Doug was kind enough to give up seeing most of the first quarter to teach them, so big grats to him for doing that.

Graham, Justin, Josh, Ann, Matthew, Jacob (behind rules) and Colin (off picture to right) learn WoW from Doug.



The football was worth watching. Most were rooting for the Seahawks, so Laurent and I had to give them something to shout against, so we cheered on the Steelers. MelDoug's wife, and Jodie, Eric's wife, had arrived specifically to watch the game, and it was great to see them over.

Mel, George, Morgan (standing), Eric (on ground), Jodie, julie and Laurent watch the game in the family room.



There was still some gaming going on, with Dave, KC, Rita, Tim, Carrie and Jonathan (I think) playing in the living room while watching the football there. Carrie, Brandon, Jenna and Ken played Wyatt Earp for a while.



At half-time I had most of the food ready, although I had forgotten to put the lasagna in early enough, so it was full-time food. Still, we had Thai chicken salad, chili, Rita's most excellent cornbread and various chips and dips.

In the second half of the football I played Too many cooks with Brandon, Graham and Jenna, but had lapsed into 'forget to take pictures' mode. Both televisions still had the football going, with large groups in both locations. I think most of the Seahawks fans had congregated in the family room with the Steelers in the living room, as the cheers seemed to be coming at different times.

After the game, most people drifted off leaving KC and Rita and their team. One of their favorite programs, Grey's Anatomy, was coming on, so I settled in with Rita to watch as I had never seen it before, and she filled in bits about the characters for me. I was more than happy to just veg out for a while, because my head was thumping by this time. I even took a couple of Motrin, which shows how bad it was as I normally avoid all drugs if at all possible. And GA was good, but it's on a bit late, 10pm normally, so we may have to record it. Very much in the LA Law type line, which I quite enjoy.

After the show KC and Rita departed with their team, and it was pretty much straight to bed as I was totally pooped. It was a great day, and I was overjoyed to see so many people come over. I really enjoyed the football tournament, and I'd certainly like to do it again next year, but I'll see what others say. It was just great to see people and to be able to provide a place where they could play games, watch football or just hang. I should have been watching the clock a little better to get the food organized for half-time a bit better, but what the hey, nobody lynched me for it. Although KC and Rita did come through just as the chili was finished off. Sorry guys!

I hope to see everyone next year!