King of Vegas

 I arrived at 8, interrupting a little game of Mhing between Adam H, Katy, Martin and Joe. Since we were just a fivesome today, Lords of Vegas with its expansion was suggested. It received general agreement, so before too long we were dazzled by the bright street lights along The Strip and also dazzled by Joe’s plan for a green-baize version of the board, complete with recessed area along The Strip to be used as a dice arena.

The game started quite amicably, with players happily swapping lots in order to concentrate their resources in a particular block. Before long, two things were apparent. It was me versus Martin in one area, Joe versus Katy in another and Adam had a corner of the board all to himself.

Purples where the early winners, much to Katy’s delight. Martin went big on brown casinos since there were fewest revealed and, when they refused to pay out, he said “Joe, you’ve done it again,” referring to the last game when browns where mostly clustered after the Game Over card in the deck. I had two casinos on The Strip but they rarely paid out, while Joe was last to score at all.

Then things got feisty. Adam sprawled and made a 5-tile casino and then Joe got a 4-tile and a 3-tile casino in one turn. Martin took over Joe’s 3-tile casino and I took over Adam’s 5-tile casino which Adam took over again but only after it paid out. Then, towards the end (which comes quickly in a five-player game) I join my casinos to Martin’s to form a 7-tile casino which I then re-roll. Amazingly, Joe’s lone die beat everything and he was suddenly sitting pretty.

The then-leader Katy with her high-rise casinos got a little nervous and, after saying earlier that she didn’t want to lose to Adam or Martin but was fine with losing to Joe, suddenly found her words coming back to haunt her. Neither Martin nor I got the chance to re-roll Joe’s (by now) 8-tiler since Martin pulled the Game Over card from the deck.

Joe 36

Katy 29

Martin 23

Adam 20

Andrew 10

That was a new record low score for me but, in my defence, I don’t feel like I had many turns at all. And if something goes wrong in a five player game then you have a hell of a wait before you can do anything about it. Still, it was fun to watch.

After winning on Lords of Vegas, Joe put on his cowboy hat in celebration.

Then we player Verflixxt. I picked up an early +6 but then got nothing but negatives, with a last-minute clover saving my blushes. Katy picked up two clovers and was never seemed like being caught.

Katy 21

Adam 16

Joe 11

Andrew -8

Martin -9

My last game of the evening was Whale Riders, not the card game. I dawdled at the back and was only just at the turning point when Martin started buying pearls at the finish line. Katy discarded three contracts, saying they were bullshit, and then somehow picked up three more she couldn’t do and spent another turn discarding them too.

Martin 22

Adam 17

Joe 16

Andrew 15

Katy 9

With that, Katy and I left. I don’t know what the remaining players played. But thanks for the evening, chaps. See you next week.