Fully Flushed

I've got a feeling we've used this blog title before, but never mind.

It was Tuesday. It was Bristol. It was games. This week held the promise of new faces joining us: brand new people just passing through and an old regular popping in to remind us that he still existed.

It was Quentin, gracing GNN with his presence for the first time in years. After a brief bit of chat where we established that no one's life had changed a great deal, he was dealt into a game of Fuji Flush while we waited for the late comers to arrive.

There were five of us to start with: Joe the host, Quentin, Sam, Ian and me. Quentin got the first of four rules explanations that he'd receive tonight, and we were off.

Sam was appalled at his poor luck, as all but one of his cards were between 2 and 5. Towards the end of the game, the next new face arrived, Matt M. He was a friend of Joe's and, by happy chance, of Quentin as well. Quentin was distracted by this tiny school reunion and more occupied with finding out what Matt was doing these days, but he still managed to win the game.

Quentin 0 cards left
Andrew 1
Ian 1
Joe 2
Sam 2

Martin and his visiting friend, Kian, were expected shortly so the six of us played For Sale to fill the time. It began quietly, which was understandable given the presence of two newbies. A 29 went for only five coins and I got a 28 for two. We commented that Martin would never let us get away with such low prices.

Then we realised that our references to Martin (such as during Fuji Flush when we opened with all twos and someone said that Martin wouldn't stand for that) had made him sound a bit... intense. We tried to reassure Matt and Quentin how nice Martin was but my assertion that he was "very good with strangers" kind of backfired, making him sound like an angry dog we keep in the larder

As for the game, Joe was the only one who spent all his money and he immediately regretted it. However, he was pleased when his 20 card picked up a $14,000 cheque in the final round. But it was Ian, who had picked up that 29 for five coins, who won. By a comfortable margin.

Ian $53,000
Sam $48,000
Joe $46,000
Matt $42,000
Andrew $41,000
Quentin $38,000

Then Martin and Kian arrived. Since there were now eight, we split into two. The old-hands Joe, Ian, Sam and me chose a new game, Whistle Stop. Martin was in charge of the newcomers and they began with the classic Flamme Rouge.

Whistle Stop was described by Sam as Railways Of The World meets Tsuro. There's the delivery of cubes by train but also the placement of tiles with tracks that are open to all.

As well as delivering cubes for points, there are tiles where you can pick up shares in companies which could score you an end-of-game bonus. Finally, there are also special tiles that you can take for yourself as an exclusive action that no one else can have, unless they then buy that tile off you.

Despite the simple rules, the game is one of those where you can't plan your move until it is your turn. This lead to quite a lot of down-time as the four of us pondered our options for profit maximisation. In fact maybe a bit too much down-time. I was quite grateful of the distraction of Flamme Rouge. Like flicking back and forth between the Channel 4 coverage of the Tour De France and other channels, I maintained an interest in the race until its end.

One of Kian's cyclists had fallen behind by the middle of the game, while Quentin managed to put himself in pole position as they reached the final flat to the finish line. It looked for all the world to be a straight battle between him and Martin, but the final cards in Flamme Rouge always throw up surprises. Everyone got a rider across the line, but Matt managed to squeeze ahead of Martin right at the end.

1. Quentin
2. Matt
3. Martin
4. Kian

Whistle Stop was still some way off completion, so they started on a game of Qwixx. This dice game is far harder to follow for the distracted spectator, so all I know is the final scores.

Kian 63
Martin 59
Quentin 51
Matt 47

Luckily, Whistle Stop is also slowly chugging into the sidings at this point. It had been an interesting puzzle game, but a bit too long for what it is. I’d like to try it with three players, though.

Sam 120
Ian 113
Joe 110
Andrew 96

Sam tried to diminish his win by saying he’d already played once, against his son. “Did he win?” I asked. “Yes.”

Quentin and Matt decided to bow out now, having clearly had too much fun already, but Quentin promised not to leave it so long before his next appearance. Kian had a train to catch so we filled in the time with a couple more games of Fuji Flush. I ended the first game in double quick time.

Andrew 0
Ian 3
Joe 3
Sam 4
Kian 4
Martin 4

I had less luck in the next game, though. I saw my 16 card being slowly whittled away and then banished completely by all five of my opponents putting down 4s.

Sam 0
Andrew 3
Martin 3
Ian 3
Joe 3
Kian 3

Then Kian left, and there were just five of us left, still with enough energy for one last game. Without prompting, Martin threw a copy of Voodoo Prince onto the table. There were no dissenting voices and, once Joe had been appraised of the rules, we were underway.

In my first hand I had the 7 of the trump suit. Since a trick won with a 5 or a 7 counts double and since you only score points when you hit three tricks, I decided to hang on to this as a useful Get Out Of Jail Free kind of card. And lucky I did. In the final reckoning it was me against Ian and he two tricks to my one. He lead with a green and I trumped it, hitting three tricks and being able to score the number of tricks won by everyone else. I felt quite smug after that. Ian was gracious enough to say it was well played.

I remained in first place over the next three rounds. But did I have an advantage having the scores next to me? In the fourth round, I kept looking at my lead and decided to get out early (for six) and not risk being last in and scoring a maximum of two points.

Good thing, too, since that gave me a ten-point lead over second placed Joe. All I had to do was avoid scoring no points at all. Which I did. Joe, though, ended up being last out for two points and ended up falling from second to last. Ouch.

Andrew 39
Ian 36
Martin 32
Sam 31
Joe 28

And we were done. Thanks all, especially to our host Joe and to the newcomers for putting up any obscure in-jokes we might have said.