When we arrived, with the game already set up on the table, Sam admitted that his solo experience had been a bit longer ago than he’d thought, and he was a bit rusty of the rules. Of which, there are plenty. Every option on the board seems to have its own caveats, and it never seemed to gel with us. The main aim of the game is to complete sagas, but they come in multiple sections. This means that everyone can help in a saga and share the points, but it also means they hang around for far longer than they should.
Er... Wut?
Sorry to say, it didn’t seem like much fun and we abandoned the game after a few rounds in favour of something more knockabout and entertaining.
And our idea of knockabout and entertaining was Macao! It’s usually played by only Sam and myself, so to have a third player was a real treat. Ian shot off into an early lead by repeatedly exploiting his cabin boy for prestige points (it really was a different world back then). He also had both the Helmsman and the Captain for a very nautical tableau that worked together well. Sam picked up an early -3 tile for a full tableau but was able to put together a chain of city quarters for an end game boost. I made good use of a +1 point for each ware tile delivered: I only delivered six tiles in the whole game, but they netted me 36 points.
Sam 80
Andrew 71
Ian 62
Finally, we ended on Take It Easy. Today’s categories were Discworld novels (Ian), sitcoms (Sam) and ZX Spectrum games.
It has been said that if you were at a banquet with the Queen and you spilt your soup, she would also spill hers in order to distract any embarrassment from you. I wonder if can use a similar excuse to explain my third round performance, except that instead of deliberately spilling my soup, I picked up the bowl and flung the contents into my own face.
You see, in round two, Sam had a nightmare. He realised he’d left no rows open for nines just as one nine after another was called. He scored a mere 61 points. But in round three, I fell foul to every piece of bad luck and lack of concentration possible. By the end, I was relying on the 9-8-7 tile to bail me out, but it never came. My only scoring rows were ones, twos and threes as I picked up an earth-shattering 21 points. I fell from first to last.
Need a 9-8-7!
Need a stiff drink.
Ian 399
Sam 329
Andrew 289
The next morning, I tried to work out what the highest possible score with those tiles were, and got as high as 151, making Ian’s score of 143 in round three look very impressive.
Anyway, it was nice to be back and, despite Noggin’s cognitive load, a lot of fun.
Lovely Macao!
ReplyDeleteYes I am terribly sorry about Noggin. There's a moment when I learn games that all the rules fall into place and the endorphin rush (or whatever it is) of that moment can blind you to the fact the game is, just possibly, not that great. I can sense the devotion and attention to detail in Noggin, but can also sense the lack of streamlining. The Sagas in particular feel over-cooked.
Take It Easy is always fun. A good night, thank you!
(Oh and I worked out I've played about nine new games since that one as well. That's a lot of rules under the bridge)
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