When Alcatraz escaped from me

Seven gamers, one table, countless craft ales. It was Tuesday night at Joe's and he was joined by Adam H, Sam, Martin, Ian, Katy and me. We began with a big communal game of Just One, this time with a twist - a bonus point if the guesser can guess what (if any) clues got rejected through duplication. Adam successfully did it when he worked out that the rejected clues for "bar" were "cheers".

I feel we should apologise for the clues in Sam's first round, which expected him to deduce "market" from a disparate bunch, including words like "Marrakesh", "bear", "dominion" and "albion." I should also apologise for blurting out the word as I tried to cajole Adam into writing something. "Come on, it's Alcatraz!" I exclaimed in frustration. Oops.

Finally, hats off to Katy for perhaps the least helpful clue possible. She tried to guide Adam towards the word "guard" with the clue "the". Apparently The Guard is the name of a film.

We scored 11, including the bonus point.

Then we split into two groups. Katy had brought her new purchase (from Sam) Hit Z Road and Joe, Ian and Martin were happy to join her. Adam, Sam and I chose Orbit. We set up using a genuine (I suppose. No way I could've checked it) map of the solar system at that moment, and we were off. It had been a while since we last played so I was glad of the player aid. Sam forgot to hand one to Ian, perhaps under the assumption that if he did, then Adam would win.

Most frustrating were the frequent occasions when Earth was in entirely the wrong part of the board for launching to any planet. Frustrating because I couldn't blame anyone's random set-up for this. Except maybe God.

Sam sped into an early lead while Adam languished in a distant last. We still thought he'd win, though. After all, he was India which was the space agency he had said he preferred. But Sam would not be caught. He picked up mission cards several times and when the final tally was counted, he laid out one successful mission after another for a fine victory.

Sam 50
Andrew 31 (wins tie breaker)
Adam 31

In Hit Z Road, it was its usual entertaining self and I actually made more notes for that game than for the one I was playing. The craziness began with Katy saying the game was a co-op, which wasn't a universally accepted opinion. Then the bidding went crazy cakes in the first round, with Martin putting in a full bid of ten for the right to go first.

At the end of round two Joe had to face off against some zombies. His two survivors against their six undead. Amazingly, he did it. Alas, neither he nor Martin make it to the end of the third round. Ian and Katy do, although they had no resources at all. They did have lots of survivors though and both made it through to the end, Ian had five survivors and Katy, who at one point had seven in her gang, ended with three.

Ian 19
Katy 7
Joe and Martin dead

Then they filled the time with a game of L. A. M. A. And it ended with a clean sweep for Ian.

Ian 0
Katy 27
Martin 33
Joe 50

At this point Ian left for home and the remaining six of us joined together for two more games. First was For Sale. After the bidding round, Sam declared he had a “right dog shit pile of cards,” although it can’t have been that bad. I got stung with a zero cheque having played a 17 card in that round.

Adam 60
Sam 46
Andrew 44
Katy 39
Joe 39
Martin 35

Finally we ended with 6nimmt, about which Katy said “usually I do well at this game.” But not this time and after round three she was in last. Luckily (for her, that is) I fell into a massive death spiral which lead to me picking up 42 points in round four and dropping from second place to last, crashing through the 66 point barrier and ending the game. Martin won by miles.

Martin 22
Adam 50
Joe 51
Sam 53
Jaty 64
Andrew 71

And that was it. Thanks for the evening, everyone. See you all soon!