The Adam Family

A balmy Bristol evening in late May, and what better way to spend it than cloistered around the Table Of Joe, doors thrown open wide, saying things like "you can activate as many energy nodes as you like, but you can only take your own bonus". So that's what we did: as well as the host, there was Martin, Katy, myself (Sam) and the two Adams.

How to distinguish them - in their absence - was the dominant early part of the conversation, but this was later succeeded by how to stop them, as both embarked on a winning spree that made up almost the entire evening.

However - before we even got to that point, Martin introduced Joe, Ian, Katy, Adam T and myself to Reiner Knizia's Spiel des Jahres-nominated L.A.M.A. Apparently it stands for (in German) something like 'avoid minus points', and with good reason. Like Fuji Flush, you're trying to get rid of your cards, by playing them in ascending order (-you can also play a matching value in LAMA) and if you can't go, you can pick up a card. But unlike Fuji Flush, you can also choose to stop playing when you still have cards in your hand (accepting their number value as minus points) while the other players keep going. In fact, even one player can keep going, if they have cards that don't jump anything on the number line. The numbers go from 1-6 and then the LAMA card links the 6 back to the 1 - but being left with a LAMA card in your hand is bad, as it scores a lot of points:

Adam T 1
Katy/Joe 2
Sam 5
Ian/Martin 8

After one round, Adam H had arrived and so we split into two groups. While Joe, Martin and Adam T set up Res Arcana, the rest of us introduced Adam to Sol: Last Days of a Star. I made sure to mention that motherships move before I explained anything else, and Ian mentioned it again right at the end of the explanation. Despite that though, we all kept forgetting to move our mothership. Even worse was that I forgot that activating stations triggers card draws, but I'm pinning this on having to say things like transmit towers convert energy into momentum within earshot of Joe's family.

Adam picked things up with no issue and we cleared up the activation gaffe pretty quickly. It was a game of elusive patterns as we circled the sun like a quartet of wary boxers, each hoping to... well, here the analogy breaks down. I sped into an early lead but with Ian and Adam hot on my tail. Katy languished on the momentum track ("Again!") and we sped through the instability deck like boxers intent on solar collapse.

On the other side of the table, meanwhile, a more combative battle was playing out, with Martin complaining that Joe was 'sapping his death'. Joe grinned happily. Whatever they were doing to each other, Adam invoked some kind of Darwinian strategy and emerged a convincing victor.

Adam wins.

And they enjoyed it so much, they played again. This time:

Martin wins.

They even snuck in a quick game of Good Little Tricks, and Adam T reclaimed the current-winner status, whilst previous incumbent Martin sank to a sweary third:

Adam T 0
Joe 9
Martin 18

Unfortunately I took no photos of any of these incredible events - we were in a combustive game - endgame, by now - of Sol. Adam (H) had surged ahead of me on the scoretrack, and I needed one more turn to activate my transmit tower for a piddling three points - enough to reclaim the lead. With only four cards left in the deck, however, Katy triggered three of them: and one was the last solar flare, instantly ending the game!

Adam 19
Sam 18
Ian/Katy 12

Whew. What drama! After the death of a star we needed something less portentuous. The groups cross-pollinated with Ian, Martin and Joe going for Ra, while the rest of us perused Joe's game collection. Adam T suggested Castles of Burgundy, but at 9.20 already we felt it might be a little late to start that one. Katy proposed Can't Stop and the murmurs of approval had enough weight to carry.

While we hurled dice on our side of the table - occasionally going bust - Joe was weaving some kind of magic in Ra. By the end of the second epoch he had a collection of buildings so colossal Martin and Ian must have felt like throwing in the towel. And despite his collection of low bidding tiles, he only added more in the third epoch, ending a high-scoring game like some kind of Egyptian contractor with a connection in the council office.

Joe 71
Martin 48
Ian 42

Meanwhile we'd squeezed in two games: belying his reputation as a zero-sum Euro-gamer, Adam H won Can't Stop with time and dice to spare. Katy and Adam found they couldn't stop. I stopped too often, except for when I shouldn't have.

Adam H 3
Katy 2
Adam T 1
Sam 0

We also played a quick game of Winston, the sausage-dog building competition featuring a wooden bone and wooden poo. To be frank, I think that description is as good as Winston gets, despite my phone's insistence on naming the game Einstein.

Adam H 20 (+6 for the bone!)
Adam T 16
Sam 15 (-6 for the poo!)
Katy 0

With the hour fairly late, Adam T and Ian now made their excuses and hit the road. The five remainers decided to return to LAMA, which - now we knew the rules - came into its own a little more. Joe and Adam found themselves locked into a stand-off as they both warily picked up cards, hoping the other wasn't about to quit and leave them with a bunch of non-ascending numbers.

The tension was palpable, and very Knizia-ry. And Adam H's winning run finally came to and end as Joe got rid of all his cards, allowing him to return a ten-point chit to the supply!

Joe 7
Katy 15
Sam 25
Martin 27
Adam H 51

I now made my way home as well, with the final four still keen to play another game. I'm not sure what it was, but no doubt they'll let us know in the comments...