Tap the Magic Dragon

This week's games night saw four of us regulars (Sam the host, Ian, Joe and myself) waiting for Adam T and Martin to arrive. With their eta still unclear (Adam had emailed to say ten minutes but no one saw it until hours later) we broke out Rollet, the panic-enducing table top action game. Sam and myself teamed up together against Joe and Ian. I made few notes but, then again, I didn't have much time.

Sam and Andrew 5
Ian and Joe 1

Then Stanley replaced his father and we started another game. We started it, but never actually finished it: the first point was an epic to rival Viking poetry. We battled and made last ditch defensive moves or threw everything we had in the hope of a goal, but for about two minutes we struggled to get anywhere.

Finally, Stanley got the vital touch and sent the ball into the goal and, at this point, we called it a game. Frankly, we were exhausted. Plus, Martin and Adam were now here.

Stanley and Andrew 1
Ian and Joe 0

Now we were six (Stanley chose to just watch the next game), and we all played a game of Frank's Zoo. As we got settled, Sam told us that he and his son were developing a game. Then, midway through the rules explanation, he interrupted to mention that, just like Frank's Zoo, the game they were designing was also based on animals eating each other and that chameleons were wild in their game, too. Must have been some weird deja vu when he was listening to Adam describe how to play.

The game was perhaps not best with six. We each had a limited hand size and I couldn't see any kind of winning strategy. Mind you, I was very tired. Joe and Ian got the hang of it much quicker and both went out in the style of a seasoned Tichu player, by putting down cards they knew couldn't be beaten.

1st Joe
2nd Ian
3rd Adam
4th Sam
5th Andrew
6th Martin

Now we split into two groups of three. Sam, Martin and Adam battled it out in Pax Porfiriana Pamir while Ian and I were introduced by Joe to the arcane delights of Res Arcana.

I had sneered at this game from a distance several times recently but now had it spread out in front of me. The iconography was easy to understand, at least, so even my sleep deprived mind could cope with it, but when Joe suggested we look for "synergy" in our hands of cards I admit I think I blacked out for a second or two.

The game itself, once it was going, was fine. I built, it seems, too many cards and never seemed to have much in the way of essences coming in like Joe and Ian did. I did, though, have options for drawing new cards and reactivating used ("tapped") cards, which helped a lot. I also sang "Tap the magic dragon" to the tune of "Puff the magic dragon." A joke I was so happy with I believe I did it twice.

Ian had a Dragon's Lair (complete with reminiscing about the gorgeous but unplayable 1980's arcade game) and a dragon to go with it, which he used to rack up points. Joe bought a Catacombs of the Dead and then filled it with even more death. It ended closer than I was expecting, and with a different winner, too.

Ian 11 plus he had more essences left over
Joe 11
Andrew 9

We had, somehow, managed to make Res Arcana last as long as a game of Pax Porfiriana Pamir since we finished at the same time.

Pax had begun (with metal coins!) mostly concerned with Russian and Afghan forces on the map and Adam stating "I'm not enjoying this."

Then, the next time I looked over, Adam had a large pile of cash in front of him while Martin looked distraught. I am also quite sure that, at one point, the map had no forces on it at all. Is that common? I've no idea.

The game went until the final dominance check.

Martin 11
Sam 6
Adam 4

So, since we were all together again, and with Ian and Adam making noises about an imminent exit, we chose Stinker! as our next game.

It's the game that throws up more laughs than can reasonably be noted. Adam scored early with his philosophical saying "Dis shit bites." During a round about something a mad scientist might do, I wrote down Joe's "Orbit a shit light" but omitted to write down the winner. Joe, by the way, managed to get the word "shit" into most of his answers. Sam's insult of "funp bungs" is also worth noting, if only for its unpronouncability. But Ian magnificently sailed to a null result, despite always coming up with something relevant but somehow never quite good enough...

Something about church slogans

Martin 53
Sam 29
Joe 28
Adam 26
Andrew 15
Ian 0

Once we were back down to a quartet, we played Yokai (妖怪 which means ghost. Doesn't seem to fit the game but oh well). This cooperative game is a bit Hana Bi and a bit Colour Wheel. There's a 4x4 grid of cards and each player looks at two cards and may move one (not necessarily the ones they just checked). The idea is to rearrange the cards so that the four colours are all orthogonally adjacent. To help us are clue cards that we can place on top of a card to tell the other players what colour a card might be.

It is a sweet little game. We cleared it pretty easily and scored 15 points which is Glorious, according to the score track. Highest is Legendary. I'd like to see that goal achieved one day.

After this, there was still time for one last game. We chose Heul Doch Mau Mau. Sam and Joe got a rules explanation and we were off. I got lucky with early sixes and sevens while Martin had to play two weeping onions in a row. "Give me the damn tissue," he growled, disgusted at his fate. And then, later, we all played weeping onions on the same round.

At the end, my luck continued. When the game was done and we counted up our weeping onions, I had four in my hand that cancelled out only one 4-card. All the rest of my hand scored.

Andrew 101
Joe 76
Sam 63
Martin 59

And then we were finally done. Thanks to all for yet another evening of exciting mental battles.