The perils of inter-railing across Europe twice in one evening

Our usual Tuesday night shenanigans were re-arranged for Monday due to prior commitments and with Joe unable to make it, there were three of us clustered around Sam’s kitchen table like moths around some board games. Ticket to Ride was chosen, since Adam was attracted to the box’s newness.

The game progressed unremarkably, with Adam making good progress, including picking up the 21-point rail link, and looking good for the win. Sam chose to pick up extra routes mid-game: a decision that was to prove costly. Then we realised that Adam was down to a handful of carriages, and the game would end soon. This left Sam in an appalling position, with a number of unfinished projects. I, however, was still confident of a solid second place.

Then came the revelation. Sam’s terrible score was no surprise, but only hours after the golfer McIlroy collapsed in the last few holes of the US Masters, similarly Adam had made important errors in calculating his final moves. First, he was missing a link for one of his routes, which knocked him back. And the longest route was snatched away from him by me by one link. Add on to this the scores from unused stations, and my victory looks almost comfortable.

Andrew 104
Adam 89
Sam 28

Since this game had been finished quickly, a second game was suggested. Adam and Sam were keen to erase the memory of past mistakes, and so they played a much tighter game. Meanwhile, I went for a crazy, romantic attempt at getting two of the longest short routes and the Edinburgh to Athens trip as well. In the end, I didn’t even get across the English Channel. Or, in fact, as far as the Benelux countries. In a game full of complaining over unwelcome cards, Sam fretted about Adam’s in-depth knowledge of the longest routes, but still managed to fulfil all his commitments this time.

Adam 125
Sam 106
Andrew 60

A game of Galaxy Truckers had also been suggested at the start of the evening and since it was still only 9.45, a shortened version (rounds two and three only) became the last game of the evening. Sam is an old hand at this, and cruised to an easy win, while I was amazed that my ramshackle ship made it to the end of the game at all. Adam was slightly undone by building a ship bristling with double engines and lasers, but a lack of batteries to power them. As such, he drifted further and further behind in round three.

Sam 74
Adam 57
Andrew 30

So, despite the early promise, it wasn’t the evening I had hoped for. I had rashly said I would write up the notes for the blog after I’d taken first place in the opening game. And now I have to write about me coming last twice.

The leaderboard...

	Played	Points	Ratio
Sam	5	20	4
Andrew	5	19	3.8
Adam	3	13	4.3
Joe	2	8	4