We're all on the spectrum

Games at Sam's was the order of the day and seven of us gathered around his kitchen table for our weekly fix. Sam, Joe, Martin, Adam T, Ian, debutante Mark and myself.

I began with a slight faux pas, asking with disappointment who brought Karate Tomate with them, only to be told that Martin had brought it to sell to Mark. Luckily, my air of derision wasn't enough to ruin the deal.

We began with the exciting new game of Wavelength. So exciting, indeed, that I forgot to take a photo of it. The premise is basic. It is a team game and one player chooses a card with two opposing categories on it (ie, healthy/unhealthy) . They then spin a wheel that randomises where the "target" is in a semi circular area. Only they can see it, then they cover this semi circle and have to think of a word that will cause their team-mates to correctly guess where the target is, assuming that healthy and unhealthy represent the two extremes at either end of the spectrum.

Sam began with an excellent example of how the game can pan out. His categories were Ordinary / Extraordinary and he chose to say "radish". A fascinating clue and one that had Adam and Joe discussing how ordinary a radish may or may not be. As I recall the slight spiciness of radishes prompted them to conclude that it was somewhat extraordinary. But Sam had been trying to push them towards Ordinary.

It went on thusly with Joe's choice of "burger" for the categories "sandwich / not a sandwich" caused possibly more controversy than me saying "the Royal family" for "replaceable / irreplaceable."

Martin, Mark, Andrew, Ian 10
Adam, Sam, Joe 4 or something

Then we split into two groups, desiring something more substantial. Babylonia made another appearance, this time with Martin, Mark, Adam and Joe participating.

I know almost nothing about it apart from Martin's little home improvement job on the racks meant to hold up the tokens. He'd added little plastic feet so they were now high enough and the tokens didn't just flop out uselessly. His care and attention to the game was reflected in the result, with Mark posting a strong score for his first game.

Martin 185
Mark 163
Joe 134
Adam 132

Ian, Sam and I fell back on an old faithful: Quantum. We chose a small map and began with remarkably similar fleets of dice; 5-4-3, 5-4-3, 5-4-2.

It was a feisty game, with Sam's fleet whittled away to a single die at one point. I was able to engineer two turns where I got two advance cards at once, but even that wasn't enough to stop a stirling comeback from Sam, who put his last cube down by attacking us and getting his Dominance up to six.

Somehow red won this battle!

Sam no cubes left
Andrew and Ian, one cube left

While Quantum was finishing, the Babylonians whipped off a quick truncated game of L.A.M.A. which culminated in an astonishing final round that saw Joe and Adam pick up card after card after Martin and Mark had folded, only to play them and Joe ended up with exactly the same cards as he’d started with.

Martin 1
Joe 6
Adam 15
Mark 18

At this point was a brief reshuffle. Martin, Sam, Ian and Mark played Senators which kind of passed me by apart from Mark’s late surge up the scoretrack with a move that got him four senators just before the final war ended the game.

Martin 12
Sam 10
Mark 7
Ian 7

Joe, Adam and myself played 99, a trick taking game where you nominate how many tricks you’re going to win. However, to signify your bid, you have to use cards from your hand which, of course, changes how strong your hand is. Cunning.

It was a cakewalk for Joe who, despite his familiarity with the game, started the game only making a note of his scores and forgetting about ours. I came second only because of Adam’s bravado and optimistic bids flying back in his face and gifting points to his opponents.

Joe 160
Andrew 89
Adam 67

By now it was 10.30 and we were graced with perhaps the latest arrival at a games night as Katy came from a pub round the corner to join us in our closing stages. Adama and Mark went home at this point since neither live in Bristol and had a bit of a trek home. So the six of us played Wavelength again. The five who’d played before should perhaps have taken the time to explain the rules to Katy instead of just starting and assuming she’d pick it up as she went along. She did fine until it was her turn to give a clue. She saw the category (Stationary/Mobile) and then chose the word, before randomising the target. Meaning it was kind of a hopeless task. There was also a moment where things could’ve taken a bad turn when Sam’s category was “Rough / smooth” and Martin advised him not to say “my balls.” Instead, he said “my chin” which lead to a little touching to try and gauge it’s roughness. Very glad he didn’t say “my balls.”

Katy, Andrew, Sam 10
Ian, Martin, Joe not 10

Now that Katy knew what to do we allowed her another try with all of us guessing and, all credit to her, she got it bang on. Between “traditionally feminine” and “traditionally masculine” she said “football” and we got it spot on: perhaps the only four-pointer of the evening. And I remembered just in time to take a photo as it was being put away.

Then we set off into the unsettled evening weather. Thanks all for a great evening.