Hottest Games Night on record

If Tuesday games nights are the moral boosting night out to help us past the first half of the week, then surely Thursdays are an act of impatience - a demanding that the weekend starts now. And as Ian, Sam and I began at six o'clock this evening with a glass of red wine, we reminded ourselves that we all had work the next day.

Sam's family were away and so he'd arranged an early start with the promise of a chip supper. After a brief text discussion, Scythe was chosen as our opening attraction and it was all set up ready for us to begin when we arrived.

It's been a while since this puzzley strategy game had been seen and there were a few rules to be refreshed but otherwise it was smooth sailing. Sam had a special ability that allowed him to go straight to the factory hex in the middle and he used it frequently. I was first to fight, trying to stop Sam from encroaching on the third of the board that I considered rightfully mine.

We paused at 7 while Ian and I went for chips and Sam phoned his family. Sam and Ian wanted small cod and chips but my order of large chips and a pickled egg seemed to confuse the chippy who slowly repeated "large chips and pickled egg," then turned to Ian to confirm his order of small cod and chips twice before ending on an unsure "... and large chips with a pickled egg." I started to think I had said something wrong but I stuck to my guns and we got there in the end. Before long we were sitting outside on Sam's decking, eating our meals.

Once back inside, Ian planted flags everywhere and quickly got his workers out. He had plenty of territory but few stars. I had little territory but more stars while Sam had both. He needed one last star to end the game and decided to attack me to get it. I managed to survive one onslaught but in doing so, I used up most of my power so it was a formality for him to beat me in battle next turn and finish the game.

Sam 84
Ian 56
Andrew 42

As if that weren't enough fiestiness, our next game was Quantum. My initial roll of 1, 3, 5 was almost perfect for a map of sevens, eights and nines with no ten planets. But Sam got off to a flier, with his Curious ability allowing him one extra action as long as it was a move. I added a fourth ship to my fleet which, because I was Arrogant, gave me an extra action. Despite all of this and Ian's heroics in trying to take down Sam in battle, Sam was able to put down his last cube first.

Sam 0 cubes left
Andrew 1
Ian 2

Another win for Sam. What could stop him? We chose Knit Wit as our next (and, as it turned out, final) game of the evening.

We played twice. In the first round, I cottoned on to the jolly wheeze that a lot of the adjectives could apply to seas, and so my replies were mostly bodies of water. According to me, the Dead Sea is Whimsical and the Irish Sea is Friendly. But I ended up with "a poo in the sea," such was my desire to keep the theme going. Maybe I shouldn't have been so restrictive. But I still won.

Andrew 21
Sam 20
Ian 17

In round two, a bit of earlier banter about "my granddad's cock" came back to haunt us when Sam and I both used it for Secret and Hard. Then Sam clashed again, this time with Ian as they both put Everest for Hard. He still won, though.

Sam 17
Ian 16
Andrew 14

At this point, Ian's bus was looming and rather than wait for the next, he called it a night. Suddenly faced with the prospect of an early night, I took it. We finished up at an all too sensible 9.50pm. But we had done a lot and, besides, the second hottest day on record is enough to take the wind out of anyone's sails. But thanks for hosting, Sam. And for attending, Ian.