Bridge or Tram! Bridge or Tram!

I arrived this week at apparently the perfect time, just as they were about to decide which game I'd want to play but now I was there, I could do it myself. How convenient. My choice was clear. Bridge or Tram. Adam (H), for whatever reason, encouraged everyone to chant “Bridge or Tram” in an attempt at unsettling me. And it did. Especially after it went on for too long. Luckily Katy was more helpful and pointed out that “Bridge” involved playing against Adam, Martin and Katy whereas “Tram” was the less dickish group of Sam, Ian and Laura. I chose Tram.

But before I get too far into the details, a quick recap of the games played before I arrived. The group got 20 out of 25 in Cross Clues and then they played Fuji Flush.

Laura 0 cards left

Martin 1

Adam, Ian, Katy 2 each

Sam 3

So, “Tram” was Lisbon Tram 28 in which you pick up passengers and put them down at point scoring destinations, using cards to move around/get fares etc. It comes with its own bell which you can ring at certain moments in the game. Ian, Laura and I started out as total newbies, picking up passengers as our cards allowed but Sam - who’d played it before - swiftly went after the bonuses: extra move, bigger tram, etc. He’d got two before he’d even thought about slowing down enough to pick up any passengers.

Sam also triggered the end of the game just as Laura and I had one last drop-off set up. How frustrating. In a fun way.

Sam 12

Ian 11

Andrew 10

Laura 9

“Bridge” was Bridges of Shangri-la which looked totally baffling and was something about students migrating and blowing up bridges.

Adam 21

Martin 19

Katy 18

Then the three of them played In White and Black to fill the time until Lisbon Tram 28 had finished. Adam looked unconvinced throughout and it ended

Martin 14

Adam -2

Katy -8

Then there was a shuffling of chairs. Martin, Laura and Sam recommenced their Quirky Circuits odyssey while Ian, Adam, Katy and I struggled to chose a game (Flamme Rouge? Downforce? Tinners’ Trail?) before choosing The Quest For Eldorado since it was the right length and Ian felt semi-confident about explaining the rules. Luckily Adam soon found an English version on-line, so we didn’t have to squint at the German or the icons and make an educated guess about their meaning.

Adam went straight for the big cards, buying up the most powerful ones and hanging around volcanoes. I did the opposite: carried along by a series of fortuitous hands, I zipped through the first three zones with barely a moment’s pause. My luck continued as I passed through the “discard three cards” tile with three cards that I was totally fine about losing. By then I had only seven cards in my deck, so the few bought cards I had were popping up regularly. Katy had the opposite effect. She’d barely discarded anything and had a monster deck that frequently left her stranded. She wasted two turns moving sideways along one rank, trying to find a way through.

Ian was in second for most of the game and helped me by blocking off the quickest way through while he waited for the right hand before he could proceed. Adam, impatient to put his speed machine into action, could only wait. In the final hex, I was two spaces from victory and had a nail biting wait to see if the others could get to Eldorado one turn before me. Luckily Adam fell short and Ian’s astonishing collection of “pick up more cards” cards meant he had almost his entire deck in his hand at the end but couldn’t close the deal. I won, and with all those barrier things in front of me, I won the tie-breaker.

Ian, red, and Katy, blue, make Adam's life difficult.

Andrew, first to Eldorado

Adam, also arrived but lost tie-breaker

Ian, nearly there

Katy, some way back

Quirky Circuits was a pretty vocal affair. Sam began by saying he felt that “In ten minutes time, Martin will be angry with me” but then a few minutes later he had his arms aloft, declaring “I’m in the right!”

One of the circuits seemed to provoke a remarkable response, with Martin saying “I did not expect that to happen” while Laura, satisfied, simply said “smashed it.” It all ended with fistbumps and Laura being referred to as “Maestro”.

I think they completed three circuits, but not sure since once El Dorado was packed away, I was out of the door and heading home. A later text from Sam told me that they (minus Laura) had played Texas Showdown.

Martin 0+2+2

Ian 2+1+2

Adam 5+1+1

Katy 2+1+5

Sam 3+7+2

Thanks all. See you next Tuesday. No, wait… See you at the games weekend! Excitement!