Technical Difficulties

After last week's blogger-less games night, which is lost to history without a written record, six gamers (Joe, Ian, Adam H, Katy, Martin and myself) sat at their computers to do virtual battle once more.

But for much longer? Katy told us that she and Joe had played a real game, face to face, recently. Is this the first sign of life beyond the lockdown?

We were waiting for Andy who was expected in fifteen minutes so we tried talking for a bit. But as the time approached, we regretted not playing a quick game. We decided that he wouldn't mind watching for a while so we banged out a quick game of 7 Wonders.

Joe struggled with money but that might have been because he only had three resources and two of them were wood. Martin had lots of resources but still found himself unable to build much.

Adam 65
Joe 51
Ian 49
Martin 48
Katy 43
Andrew 39

Bang on cue, Andy arrived and we split into two groups. Adam, Martin and Joe played Race For The Galaxy. I did keep an eye on it but I understood nothing.

Martin 68
Joe 23
Adam 18

Andy, Katy, Ian and I chose Colt Express as an amusing slice of gaming. But it was short lived. At the start of the second round, after an eventful opener where Ian punched and shot Katy, Andy suddenly vanished. We waited for him to reconnect and then Sam arrived. We chatted and waited and after fifteen minutes we quit the game after we found out we couldn't start a new one until Colt Express was finished.

By this time, Martin popped in to make sure I'd got the details of his impressive win. Andy returned and we split into two new groups. Sam, Martin, Andy and Ian played American Bookshop. I know little else about it.

We played Tichu. Eventually.

First, Adam set up a table but didn't password protect it and a bunch of strangers sat there. Abandoning that, Joe made a new table but left a timer on. Again we changed tables (and Joe changed the web browser) and finally we got our own password protected timer-free table.

We began with Joe calling Grand Tichu immediately, reminding his partner Katy that this meant she should give his best card. He would have done it too except for three bombs at the table; his, mine Adam's.

Joe made amends in the next round, completing a Tichu, but then Adam successfully did a Grand Tichu with a 1-2 finish, netting us 400 points. Joe then completed another Tichu and then suggested we finish at 500 points. With the score at 495 - 205 Adam and I readily agreed. Joe called Tichu and Katy admitted that she wanted to call Tichu but now had to lose, a concept she was unfamiliar with. Joe mentioned if they go out 1-2 with the Tichu, then they'd win. But I had meant to call Tichu but had forgotten to press the right button. So I had a good hand and was able to take the win, ending on a bomb, for style.

I had the dragon, phoenix, three queens and a bomb. Possibly should've called Tichu

Andrew and Adam 570
Joe and Katy 130

American Bookshop had ended too, so while I was on a toilet break, Sam and Joe bade us farewell. When I came back, we remaining six chose For Sale as a quick six-player hit. Katy seemed reluctant, apparently believing this to be her gaming nemesis but this time she did better than she was expecting.

Andrew 52
Ian 49
Martin 46
Adam 43
Katy 41
Andy 34

A second game was agreed upon, and Katy’s gradual improvement continued.

Martin 50
Andrew 49
Adam 47
Katy 42
Andy 40
Ian 38

Finally we chose Perudo as our nightcap. Martin was keen to go to bed and went out quickly. He didn’t go, though, preferring to watch until the end. And what an end it was! The final two were Adam (5 dice) versus Katy (2 dice) and I’m still not sure what happened but Adam got himself into a death spiral. All the more astonishing after playing such a perfect game. Admittedly he pretty much threw away one die: when it was 2 dice each, Adam bid 3 twos. In other words, If Katy had no twos or aces, she could dudo with confidence. Which she did. A schoolboy error from Adam.

Katy 2 dice left
Adam
Andy
Andrew
Martin

And so that was that. Good nights were spoken and connections broken. See you next week!