Lose on rails

After  a detour due to a closed road and then trouble parking, I arrived at 8.10pm at Sam’s. I was surprised to find only three people waiting for me. Had the others got bored and left? Nope, it was just a low turnout, due to the extended bank holiday/half term, I suppose.

They’d already played Isle of Cats, which Sam won, and on my arrival they sat me down and began a game of High Score, Knizia’s reworking of his free print-and-play game Decathlon.

I was the early leader, but soon fall away. Joe had a late revival but steady Sam took the gold.

Sam 15

Joe 11

Katy 9

Andrew 7

Then Mel arrived, pushing up the number of attendees to a giddy five, and after a while of rejecting possible games due to having to relearn rules, we settled on Luzon Rails since we’d all played it.

Katy started in fine Katy-style, bidding high on pink shares because they were pink. Mel bought shares in red and green (three in total) early on and then didn’t feel the need to buy any more since they seemed to be doing very well. Joe, Sam and I shared ownership of three firms between us in the expectation that the other players would boost their value, with mixed results.

By round four it was intense enough that Sam and Katy both stood up. Once upon a time that meant an increase in concentration, but this time it was due to health issues (leg and back respectively). Such is life.

Katy ended the game in even finer Katy-style, bidding seven on a share even though she was told it’d only earn her six. Mel’s early eye for a bargain sealed the game for her.

Mel 37

Andrew 31

Joe 19

Katy 17

Sam 16

After this, Katy stayed true to her promise to go home early and the remaining four of us played Cross Clues.

As the words were dealt out Joe misread one of the clues as “Shropshire” which lead to a brief period of trying to work out what definition might suit phrases like “Shropshire laptop” (a paving slab?) or a “Shropshire ankle” (no idea but sounds painful).

Once we got started. Mel’s clues were next level, for example “Victorian” for “Ankle/surprise”. We slipped up on Joe’s clue for “Poos” which we thought was “Brown/surprise” and were so delighted that we didn’t realise that it was plural, which should’ve lead us to “brown/group”.

Disappointed at having run out of time and still got several wrong, we quickly set up again, persuading Mel to stay for one more. This time we were in much better form, speeding through the clues and finishing with a comfortable 25 out of 25.

With that, Mel and I left Joe and Sam to finish of the night. Joe beat Sam 21-20 on Wordpress

And then Joe won at Set & Match, 2-1.

Thanks all, have a lovely long weekend. Enjoy the Queen and I’ll see you next week.