The Balance Of Trade

I arrived at Joe’s at the tail end of a game of Zero Down. It’s been a while since I’d seen it. So long, in fact, that I didn’t recognise it. I recognised everyone sitting around the table, though. Sam, Martin, Ian, Adam T, and Joe.

Martin 7

Ian 9

Joe 19

Adam 34

Sam 45

After this, Martin and Adam were keen on Impulse and I happily joined in, which Martin was relieved about since Impulse is not an easy game to teach. Adam sped off into an early lead, trading cards for big points. But it was too big a lead and he made himself a target. I happened to have a cruiser in striking distance and so, goaded by Martin and with Adam within easy reach of a win, I set off to vanquish him. I’m not a big fan of player elimination, but I didn’t have a huge amount of choice.

We went into battle and our initial card from our hand totalled up to the same amount. It was all o
n the draw of a card each from the deck. Adam drew a 1, I drew a 2. I won, and Adam rued his decision to hold back a card that would’ve tipped the war in his favour.

But then Martin went from 9 to 18 points in a single move, just two away from victory. I needed ten points, and I was certain of six. I had to rely on lucky draws from the deck for a tradeable card for those extra few points but, unlike Joe, I am not known for my lucky draws and I came up short.

Martin 20

Andrew 16

Adam out

Sheepy Time was coming to an end so we quickly sped through a game of Whale Riders: The Card Game.

Andrew 61

Martin 61

Adam 59

As for Sheepy Time, Ian won. Not bad for someone who, early on, noted that he was twenty points behind everyone else. A check of the rules told us that, officially, there are no second or third places.

Ian won

Sam and Joe lost

Now Adam made sort of going home noises, but was tempted to stay on for a game of So Clover. Adam impressed by writing “Dragula”, leading us to match “Camp” and “Myth”. Joe lowered the tone when he matched Shower with Golden. We were going okay until we slipped up on Ian’s clover, thinking Spartacus clued the word “alliance,” but it was just meant to be “old”

Score 34 out of 36

With Adam still making moves to go home, we tempted him with a rousing finale of Stinker. We all gave ourselves a rule-stretching 23 letter tiles and got cracking. Sam began with six ‘A’s in his pile of letters. Highlights were:

Real reason for world war two – Goebbels stole a razor (Martin)

Substitute for under pants - toasted gonads (Adam)

First thing to do on Jupiter – Radiate Smugnity (ian)

Title of a new Bond Film – Time to Strangle (Joe)

How to avoid the draft into the army – Run, dig a hole, scream (Sam)

My answer to "The road to Hell is paved with..."

By the end, our misspelling was very creative with Sam using a B on its back as an M and I had an A pointing right as a D.

Ian and Martin won with three cards each.

Adam and I left at this point while the other played High Score (but surely every game could be called High Score) using a collapsible dice arena.

Martin 13

Joe 12

Sam 11

Ian 6

And finally they played Cross Clues and got 19 out of 25.

Thanks all. See you next week.