The Boogie Woogie Burgle Boys

As I approached Joe's house, I wondered what we might play tonight. Judging by the responses in the emails yesterday, there would be five of us. Hmm. Five. A tricky number.

However, when I arrived I found Joe's kitchen table already bedecked by a wide choice of games for five. Railways of the World was tempting. So was Santiago which is perhaps best with five. Joe also brought in Colosseum and I reminded him that the last time five played it, it was so long that someone left halfway through.

Instead we began with a game that Sam brought with him, Burglar Brothers. This simple but evil co-op game is proving to be a hit in recent times. We adopted our safe cracking personae and leapt into action.

Alas, our early endeavours were slowed down drastically by the high number of alarm tiles on the first floor. In fact, none of us could move until Sam used his special power to blow up a wall. As you can imagine, with all these alarms and explosions, the guard on the first floor soon sped up to six moves at a time. It became imperative that we get onto the next floor. Luckily, Ian's raven successfully slowed the guard down enough that we got out of a few tight spots.

When the first of us started exploring the first floor we were delighted to find the next safe right at the top of the stairs. Joe observed that this would explain why there was so much security on the ground floor.

Katy had to crack a key code by rolling a six. After one failure, she asked for a dice arena, thinking that would assure success this time. So Joe went to get one so she could roll in confidence. She got her six with her first try. Amazing scenes.

After about an hour, despite having thieves on every floor, we still couldn't find any safe except the one on the ground floor. And we were running out of stealth tokens. Sam was even reduced to hiding in the toilet for one turn.

Meanwhile, Joe managed to crack open the one safe we did find and inside he found... a cursed goblet. He instantly lost a stealth token and now none of us had any left.

In the end, soon after we decided to give up on the other safes and make our escape with this cursed goblet, I get caught. I had to duck into an unrevealed tile to avoid an oncoming guard and the tile turned out to be another alarm.

Failure.

Despite the baptism by fire that this game offered up, we all enjoyed it. Next time is bound to be kinder, right?

After this, we decided to have a night of short games. My suggestion of For Sale was accepted and we watched as Ian showed us what professional For Sale might look like. He picked up high cards for free or half price through phase one. Meanwhile, in phase two, I somewhat waste my 30 card by placing it too confidently, causing everyone else to reassess their choices. Katy did badly again and Sam had to swiftly mop up a minor spillage.

Ian 62
Andrew 54
Joe 52
Sam 46
Katy 42

Next up was Polterfass. How odd to play this game without Martin. Sam shot into an early lead and then played a canny game for a win.

To be honest, the battle for second was more interesting. Katy was in hot pursuit of Sam, ("I benefited from a shafting," she said after a round when she picked up points despite her expectations) until Joe edged past her into second. Katy fought back, only to be pushed back into third by Ian on the final round.

Sam 75
Ian 64
Katy 60
Joe 52
Andrew 27

After this was Perudo. We used mats from Skull and Roses to deaden the sound of dice against Joe's wooden kitchen table. We are nothing if not resourceful. Katy, with three dice while others floundered with one, won with a bit of luck, rolling lots of aces or the number that the other player bid. As Ian discovered, there was no point trying to bluff her when she already had all the dice.

Katy wins!
Ian second
Sam third
Joe fourth
Andrew fifth

Then Sam left and, for some reason (sleep, perhaps), we collectively decided that half past ten wasn't that late and launched into a game of Exploding Kittens. This piece of potential Kickstarter crap turned out to be a rather fun if slightly random card game of survival. I'm afraid I can't remember much about it, except for the sense of potential betrayal every time a bomb card is returned to the pack. This is the game's defining feature for me: being able to put the card back in the deck in such a way that it targets a player (in secret) with a bomb was the main source of tension. Unless someone had a shuffle card.

Katy wins
Ian second
Joe third
Andrew last

And then back out into the streets of Bristol. Thanks for hosting, Joe, and thanks to the guests for entertaining. See you next week!