Going Commando

On Friday Paul made one of this intermittent sorties from Croydon, so for Andrew and I the journey from the other direction to Chris' house was a comparative breeze, despite some heavy traffic. We entertained ourselves playing the A-Z game, which somehow led us to the idea of Heston Blumenthal serving a pint of offal as pudding or an Oswestry Trifle being 100% cream. It's a long story, but not one where you probably had to be there.

We arrived to find Chris and Paul finishing off a game of Cosmic Run. I didn't pick the story of the game, but I seem to recall Chris had won.

Chris then had to dash off to pick up his children, so Andrew and I introduced Paul to The Mind. We failed to beat the game, but picked up another admirer in the time it took for Chris to return.

After catching up and being plied with delicious food, we debated what to play before settling on The Oracle of Delphi. This was a game I'd played with Stanley the previous weekend so I had the rules fresh in my head - most of them anyway. What I didn't have fresh about my person was the entire contents of the game, as we discovered after setting up there was a bag of player pieces missing. At this point I was crestfallen, as it seemed Zeus had maybe set us one task too many. But I underestimated our boardgame commando stylings - Chris moved up several gears as he engaged the service of a printer to generate some more tasks, and ransacked other games for other ad hoc replacements.

That out the way, we moved on to the original twelve Zeus had set us, with the winner allowed into the hallowed porch of heaven, or something.

Chris's yellow ship - secretly a temple

I began at speed and was first to complete a task. In fact I think I was about three tasks ahead at one point, but my lack of forward planning meant I'd left myself with not much room for manoeuvre, as Zeus is more picky about certain tasks more than others; you can make any three coloured statues you like, as long as two of them are yellow and green...

And like a breakaway sprinter in Flamme Rouge, I found myself overhauled by everyone as statues and shrines were erected, offerings given, and monsters defeated. Paul played slow and steady, but like the tortoise, it seemed to be the right thing to do.

Paul - chores done
Andrew and Chris - one task left
Sam - three tasks left

Thanks to our early start, the night was still young, but rather than begin another odyssey we went for  the comparative soufflé of Cash N' Guns; new to everyone but Chris but straightforward to pick up. There are eight piles of cash (or other good stuff) and everyone has a gun. Everyone plays a card face down that represents a click or a bang, then the Godfather counts us in and we all point a gun at each other. Someone with a gun (or guns) pointing at them can choose to back out of the round - or they can take a risk and stay in. Cards are revealed and a click does no damage to the recipient. A bang however means you're out of the round - and three bangs means your out of the game!

Each player only has three bang cards and five clicks though, so there's some table-reading at play here. Being Godfather means you can tell one player to point their gun at someone else, but there's a cost to becoming Godfather, as when all the loot is shared out you can forego a share in order to become the new Godfather.

It was fast, fun and very silly.

Chris 206
Sam 197
Paul 127
Andrew 107

Next up was Space Base, the dice-chucking game of spaceship deployment. I persisted with my method of purchasing lots of low-value ships quickly - the idea being to maximise returns on other players turns - but it proved as ineffective as any other time I've used it. Chris's early-game business seemed to leave him never picking up cash on anyone else's turn, but whatever he was up to, it worked out for him. Regularly rolling the right numbers on his own turn helped as well, as he surged up the track leaving the rest of us languishing in the doldrums:

Chris 41
Sam 17
Paul 15
Andrew 10

Paul was eager to return to The Mind, so we did. It was a slightly drunken series of Minds, though, that included a hesitant level one where any misconceived idea of collective synchronicity went up in smoke as Paul banged down his 83. The rest of us had cards in the seventies, which felt thematically appropriate, somehow.

But our third attempt was a bit more valiant, as we crashed and burned at the giddy heights of level 7.

Our consciousnesses aligned, we sought to break them apart again with a fast-moving blast of poker. A fiver each in the pot, winner-take-all, and a mere ten minutes between each doubling up of the ante. Paul looked strong early on, ominously building a lead of chips by whittling off each of us. Chris was first out when his pocket queens were unluckily ousted by my pocket jacks - a third jack coming up on the turn saving my all-in bacon. With the antes upping, Andrew was out shortly afterward, and it was between myself and Paul.

I threatened briefly, but like the candle of youth, my brief surge flickered out as, chips fast-disappearing, I was forced to go all in on a shabby hand. Fortunately for me, Paul followed me in with an almost-equally-shabby one. Unfortunately for me, almost-as is not the same as worse-than, and he made a pair anyway...

Paul + £20
Everyone else - £5

Midnight wasn't too far off now so we made our aperitif Pairs, once a staple of games nights but lesser-spotted these days. This part of the evening is less twelve tasks and more twelve drinks though, and my recollection of the game is murky. I do recall going bust on blueberries, and the fact Andrew engineered himself into a winning position, but chose to twist a few times anyway. Successfully as it happens... kudos to him.

In the morning I noted the leftovers of the kind of party Martin Amis can only dream of, with Zeus's tasks discarded next to a boozy kitchen sink.

As I had to head off to Cheshire, Andrew and I wended our way home early-doors, coming up with twenty six words for the current weather (y was yucky). I enjoyed the puzzly sandbox of Delphi, the silliness of Cash and Guns and I always love The Mind. Great to revisit poker as well. Thanks all for a very fun evening! Hope to see you soon. Paul.