Challenge Accepted

Knowing that Adam T finishes work well before 7.30, I (Sam) told him he was welcome to arrive early, and after consuming his own tea at the Lazy Dog, he was treated to my family eating the last of theirs. Adam's presence may have played a part in the boys not arguing over who wipes the table too: good work, Mr T. 

Martin joined us a little after seven, just as we were setting up the first game of the night: Akropolis!

It's a super-simple game, although not so simple that I couldn't get a rule wrong, as we discovered this morning. Martin may thus contest the results, but basically your cities score in different ways: residences like to be together, markets apart, temples surrounded etc. But each district only scores if you have matching plazas, who don't care where they go. Martin was indifferent to its charms; I rather like it myself for it's breezy play and weight of decisions. But liking it and being any good at it are two different things. 

Adam: 131

Martin: 129

Sam: never mind

By the time we were totting up, Joe had joined us and, with Ian and Adam H hot on his heels - sadly we lost Andrew and Laura to 'fatigue' and 'pyjamas' - it was time for a six-player crack at Challengers, the fun deck-builder and possibly-less-fun card-flipper du jour. 

Unbeknownst to me, Ian had been burnt on Sunday when his cards serially came out in non-combo-ing order, and having suffered a similar fate last Tuesday, he had my sympathy when history repeated and he took a battering over the first four rounds. I did better this time; enough in fact to cockily assume I was in the final, only to crestfallenly discover Joe had outscored me, at which point I hated Challengers again. Ian won his last two rounds, like Lazarus rising from a hardback chair, but Adam T was the man to beat, and he and Joe faced off over the final. With almost no power on my phone, I was like a disorganised journo intern, racing back and forth from charger to the table to try and record momentous events. 

Adam wins!

Joe runner-up

Sam third on points, if that means anything

Adam H

Ian

Martin

Then we broke into threes. There was talk of Pan Am again, but with four of us keen to play, it somehow never reached the table. Martin was pushing for Longboards, or Bonerz as it has been somewhat immaturely renamed (see pics). Having coaxed Joe and Ian into Reiner's phallic surfing bonanza, the Adams and I were left to peruse the alcove and settled on Ahoy. 

Last seen at the GNN Christmas shindig, Ahoy's mechanically-specific charms are how it interweaves two types of game into one: as Adam T and I battled (well, I hid) across the water for dominance, the Creeping Custard played a game of pick up and deliver: the aforementioned weaving is his deliveries increase the value of the territories we were fighting over, and he gets to wager each delivery on which of us he thinks will score that territory at the end of the game - getting bonus points if he's right. 

Adam T immediately loaded cannons and, not long after that, recruited crew who made coming anywhere near him a high-risk manoeuvre. I basically kept my distance, using my deck of Plans to run interference when I could. For a couple of rounds we scored equally, but Adam's visible strength and bonus half-turn each round was swinging things his way. Between us, that is. We were so busy circling each other, like boxers in a pond, that we neglected to stop Adam H running away with the game. Meantime Bonerz had subsided, to coin a phrase, and Martin had triumphed. I'll leave it at that. 

Martin 43
Ian 39
Joe 27

They were now playing Spots, but ten minutes in, still hadn't managed to claim a single dog. I think they tried a variant where the action cards keep changing, but found it made the pace a bit stodgy. I didn't actually see who won, in the end, but someone must have done because when Ahoy finished they were playing Sea Salt & Paper.

No such stodginess at our end of the table, however, as Ahoy wrapped up with Adam's smuggler easing to a win of non-sneaky margins:

Adam H 37
Adam T 25
Sam 20

The others graciously packed up Sea Salt & Paper (Joe was winning/won/delete as appropriate) so we could play So Clover as a six. Even for a game as marvellously bamboozling as So Clover, this felt like a high watermark of despair as almost everyone around the table complained that their combos were impossible (full transparency: my 'terrible' pairing was OCEAN/RAY and manta never occurred to me). Despite our misgivings, however, we did rather well. Martin's heehaw clue was nice, and I was quite pleased with Ahoy for ROOT/GATE. Joe's random card stumped us, as shirt/tail went rather well his office and surveillance clues, but despite these red herrings, it was overall a very respectable 30/36. 

I would have been up for a nightcap of the meeple variety, but with the hour approaching eleven and the night air chilly, we called it there.