"Your purples are still fine," the doctor insisted

Tonight was the first night of a fresh new season, and we opened with a double-header. We played Poison, which explains the return of the old “Your purples are fine” joke, but if that weren’t enough, that was preceded by Ticket To Ride which was also accompanied by the same joke whenever someone built a piece of purple-coloured track. You would think that, as time went on, this joke would wear thin. In fact, the opposite occurred, as we found it increasingly hilarious the longer we played.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Five players gathered around the table this Tuesday evening: myself, Sam, Joe, Adam and Jonny. First on the table was Ticket To Ride. This simple yet tense game of railway building across Europe was new to Jonny, but he quickly picked up the basics and charged into the game.

At the beginning, only Jonny and I were building railways. The other players were hoarding cards until they were almost holding a third of the pack in their hands, as if they were about to play the world’s most awesome hand in Rummy. At one point Adam had to put down his cards and massage his thumb because he was getting cramp.

I, meanwhile, was confidently picking off my short routes, until I noticed Jonny encroaching on the area where my long route would cross. I didn't have enough cards, so could only watch while he proceeded to cut off my major route. But I wasn’t hugely worried, since I could use my stations to fill in the gaps.

As it was, I made a schoolboy error, in that I didn’t keep an eye on Adam’s rolling stock. Before I knew it he’d reached the end of his supplies so there was only one turn left before the end of the game. Placing another station would be futile, and I couldn’t build, so I just picked up cards in my last go. In retrospect, I should’ve gone all cavalier and picked up some routes, hoping I’d get something I’d already done, and damn the consequences. But I didn’t.

Joe also made the same mistake, so the two of us were unable to finish our longest route. Sam and Jonny were able to complete all their routes, but you can’t compete against a man who has so many cards he can barely hold them. Adam finished all his routes, and then got the eight-link tunnel for the extra 21 points, before claiming the longest route as a final ten-point insult to anyone who may have doubted him.

Adam 131
Jonny 111
Sam 99
Joe 62
Andrew 51

After this, Poison was suggested as a way to round off the evening. Usually, Adam is quite bad at this game, but this time he played a confident and assured game. Jonny, again, was a newcomer but, once again, found his feet very fast.

Poison is a tense, but fun game. It seems to be full of opportunities to foil your opponents. Most of the game was carried out in a grim silence, as sums and potential sums were carried out in people’s heads before they put down their cards.

I started badly, and slowly worked my way back into third, while Joe started well but dropped back to fourth. Sam started and ended badly, while Jonny fluctuated, before finally ending in second. But no one could touch confident Adam, who didn’t incur any points at all for the last three rounds.

Adam 9
Jonny 29
Andrew 30
Joe 31
Sam 43

A strong start from Adam, as expected, but Jonny has come flying out of the traps to launch himself into second. A far cry from his previous season’s performance. The rest of us shared whatever crumbs we could grab.

Perhaps the only sober note of the evening was the news that Sam’s boy had had another nightmare. Again, on a Tuesday. It’s as if our weak puns and in-jokes are drifting up through the floorboards into his sleep and making him dream about the type of person he will become. The poor lad.

In the meantime, here’s the first leaderboard of the season.

The leaderboard...

	Played	Points	Ratio
Adam	2	12	6
Jonny	2	10	5
Joe	2	6	3
Andrew	2	6	3
Sam	2	6	3