A French Connection

 This week we began our weekly meeting at eight o'clock with four of us eager to play No Thanks, which had recently debuted on BGA. Katy, Martin, Ian and I began with Katy unsure of the rules and Ian completely silent. Ian and I both had an uninterrupted run of cards by the end, while Katy and Martin ended with a more piecemeal selection.

Ian 9

Andrew 15

Martin 35

Katy 79

Katy insisted we play again, now that she remembered how to play. But her familiarity with the game didn't make a huge difference.

Ian 5

Martin 46

Andrew 57

Katy 67

It seemed like his enforced absence from our hilarious banter helped Ian focus. We'll, that's what I thought until he finally fixed his microphone and apologized for being so distracted.

Sam and Andy had joined us during the second game and then the six of us tried Paris Connection, another new game on BGA. 

This game involves building coloured railways, five links at a time, from Paris to other French cities, which score points for that particular railway line. Then, as railways become more valuable, you can swap the coloured trains in your reserve, which count as shares and, therefore, points. It's very easy and it quickly became a game of dick moves as we deliberately wasted our opponent's trains buy building links on non-scoring rural hexes. 

It was pretty swift and mean spirited. I did wonder if this was in the spirit of the game, considering that one of the end-game criteria is if someone reaches Marseille in the very south and we mostly built blocks of railways in the north. Still, it was fun. Not for Andy though, who said it wasn't his cup of tea.

Martin 103

Katy 78

Ian 75

Sam 71

Andrew 48

Andy 48

Rather than split up, we stayed as a sextet. After a little discussion we settled on Downforce with the odds betting rules variant on, which gives you bigger returns for betting on cards further back.

After a pretty orderly start, we managed to stop all the cars just before the first line which triggers the betting, effectively giving us a second starting grid. Nice. In the end, Katy almost overtook the winning driver, Martin, by betting on him throughout. Sam ended the game ruefully admitting that the three cars he'd bet on were the three left on the track after first, second and third had been decided.

Martin $28m

Katy $26m

Andy $25m

Ian $9m

Andrew -$2m

Sam -$5m

At this point Ian and Sam departed and the final four embarked on a game of Marrakech, the evil variant whereby you leave the carpet merchant pointing in the direction you want the next player to go. Katy was upset by how often I picked on her and I defended myself by pointing out that I couldn't really pick on anyone else.

It ended with my only win of the evening. Clearly this is a game of hidden strategies and not just roll-and-hope.

Andrew 51

Andy 39

Katy 38

Martin 28

And so we were done. Thanks all and see you next Tuesday.