Don't let the sun tile go down on me

Today, Joe's new (unfinished) games room held three gamers: Joe, Sam and I. This new room is right next to the front door and so is much more amenable to gamers entering and leaving surreptiously. Now Joe's house just needs a peephole in the front door and a secret knock and the speakeasy will be complete!

I got to Joe's at about 7.45 and Sam let me in while Joe was downstairs finishing supper. He came up after a while drinking champagne. "What's the occasion?" I asked. "It's my 25th wedding anniversary," said Joe, airily. Surprised, Sam and I asked if we should go, so he could celebrate it, but Joe reassured us that they'd only just remembered yesterday.

And what better way to celebrate marital bliss than a game of Luzon Rails, the Philippines based game of stocks and railway building.

Only Sam had played it before, coming last against the two Adams, and he explained the rules which were pretty clear and straightforward. We did the usual vague dalliance with cheap double entendres (extending my pink, get cracking on the brown track) and we were slightly distracted by the cries of delight from elsewhere in the house when England scored. Simply put, it was standard eurogaming fare.

Sam 94

Andrew 79

Joe 55

Joe said he wished he was better at train based share games while Sam admitted he had little Idea what he did right.

Next up was an old favourite: Ra. Only this time it was a super deluxe version with large shiny tiles, a huge cloth bag to hold them all and Joe’s very own green baize playing area. It took a while for me and Sam to remember the rules, especially Sam who said he hadn’t played in years.

Round one was notable for lots of disaster tiles threatening to ruin civilizations and monuments. At the end of round two, Joe pushed his luck and failed as the Ra track filled up. “It wasn’t worth that much,” he rationalised. The round three ended with me bailing out early and Sam and Joe still unfinished when that last Ra tile was pulled from the bag. This turned out to be very lucky indeed. For me, that is

Andrew 37

Joe 36

Sam 35

Then we played Fae, which involves tiny pastel-coloured wizards who like to congregate, moving from one area to the neighbouring one until they are in an area with no one in any adjacent area. Once they’re sure they’re alone, they perform a ritual and score points. It’s an abstract puzzle game and pleasant enough.

Joe 59

Sam 55

Andrew 54

Thanks for the evening, gentlemen, and sorry for the late posting. See everyone in a few days.