Why rules are important

This fortnight’s gathering at Roll For The Soul saw Sam make his debut, along with other newcomers Katy, Gareth and two others who I didn’t speak to. They were very shy at first, perhaps put off by the bloodlust of Cube Quest, which is how the evening began. They played chess in a quite corner of the café.

Cube Quest is a great game if you want to meet random people at a café, as you may well find yourself asking permission to look under their table to find a knight or two. Stopping the cubes from flying too far from the table became an integral part of the game. Sam beat Gareth, and then I beat Katy.

After that, we were six (Adam and Hannah were also present) so we decided on Tsuro. I’d bought Tsuro of the Seas, but we decided to forego the dragons as unnecessary. We sped off around the table, with Katy unsure of which way round her ship should be facing. Of course, she didn’t win with that kind of navigating. In the end, Adam and I had no choice but to finish the game together, face to face, with no exit route.

Then Adam enticed the two newbies over for a game of Ticket To Ride. This meant there were now eleven (eleven!) of us, since Steve and Anja had arrived with Luther. Luther didn’t play much, but he did a great job of distracting Hannah.

Five people played Ticket To Ride while five of us played an interesting variation on Pandemic. First, there were five of us, instead of the regulation four. Plus, it had been a long time since we played it and we forgot one rule that allows the diseases to spread. As such, diseases stayed localised, and things never really got out of hand. Not so much a plague, more a coincidence that some people were getting ill at the same time.

This only dawned on us halfway through the game, since two early Epidemic cards had disguised the fact that we were playing a really easy version of the game. We decided to chalk this up as an introductory game, and ploughed on, trying to cure and eradicate all diseases. But we failed, with one disease left uncured by the time the cards ran out.

It was fun but a bit of a disappointment. For some reason, getting the rules wrong somehow ruins the game. Even though it looks exactly the same to any passer-by, it takes the heart of out the game. We weren’t fighting impossible odds, but going through the motions. Talking of passers-by, one of them said “Oh, Risk!” which is the second time someone’s said that. But to be fair, Pandemic does look a bit like Risk. Certainly, more than Ticket To Ride does.

I’d like to try and play it again soon so this doesn’t become my abiding memory of the game. Also, playing a co-op game needs lots of discussion but in a place of loud music this can become quite tiring.

On the other table, I’ve no idea how TtR was shaping up. Anja seemed to be winning but I didn’t stay for the end. In fact, I left after Pandemic, as Adam and Sam drew up a makeshift chess-board on a sheet of paper because the real one was being used. A morning text informed me that Adam had won.