Challengers Accepted

 7.50 on a rainy Tuesday evening and six gamers were grouped around a kitchen table: Joe (host), Sam, Martin, Gareth, Ian and myself. “I have to play San Francisco,” insisted Martin, sounding like some cardboard junkie desperate for a fix. But it was because he’d written a review of the game and needed some photos of it mid-play.

Since there were an even number of us Joe suggested we begin with Challengers. In this game everyone plays two-player games against each other in a tournament format and the idea of each game is to “capture the flag” and you do that by playing cards from your deck. If you have a number of equal or higher value then you take the flag, and any defeated cards go onto your “bench”. The trouble is, if you run out of cards or fill up your bench, then you lose.

There are more rules than that, but it’s basically a simple game which, at first, I thought was too simple. You have no control over what card to play (just take it off the top of your deck) so I felt like I was just watching us play rather than playing. Then I realised that as your deck built up then your choices about what to take and what to discard between rounds is kind of pivotal.

So anyway, we had three playing areas that we rotated around according to our “fixture list” except for Joe who found that all of his games were played at the same end of the same pitch. Sam started well, but then discovered he’d picked up two “C” cards which had got mixed into the “A” deck and so his deck was pretty over powered. After this had been rectified, he fell into a run of defeats. Ian took a long time between changing seats, prompting Sam to suggest he was engaging in psychological games. I actually thought there should be more ritual between games. Maybe slamming our decks of cards on the table before we start in a Sumo-esque display of strength.

Anyway, after the tournament ended the scores were Gareth 32, Joe 31, Martin 18, Ian 17, Andrew 16, Sam 3 so Joe and Gareth went head-to-head in a final. It was pretty thematic at first: the Heroin card beat the Villain and then a werewolf beat another werewolf. Then a horse and dog teamed up to beat a werwolf and I stopped making notes after that. 

Gareth won! After Joe over-filled his bench

Then we split into two groups of three. Martin got his wish to play San Fran, with Gareth and I in tow, while Sam, Ian and Joe played Pan Am - a very nice looking game with a map of the world that has the north pole in the middle.

And Sam hated his beer so Joe took it and replaced it with a gin and tonic. Clearly getting into the whole air hostess thing.

Gareth and I got a rules refresher for San Francisco and off we sped. I apparently, kept taking the pile that Gareth needed (not a bad strategy) but I think we all had moments like that. I resented them leaving two grey foundations in play until I was in a position to take one but Gareth and then Martin took them.

Still, it was nice to play again and Martin got his photos done.

Martin 13

Gareth 8

Andrew 8

Pan Am was still in full flow so we played Spots. I played safe, taking turns to bank cards when I completed them. Gareth had terrible luck, constantly rolling fours when they were no use to him and then when he needed one - just one - he burnt through his entire stack of treats but never rolled a four. Cruel.

Martin 6

Andrew 4

Gareth 0

I had to head off now, and as I left the Pan Am game was just entering its final stage and Sam and Joe were feeling threatened by Ian's enormous stack. But it ended…

Sam 16

Ian 14

Joe 12

Martin and Gareth played Strike while Pan Am ended and then the five of them ended with So Clover.

26/30

But perhaps most important, as relayed by Sam the following day, was that Joe read out a dream he’d written in an exercise book when he was 15 years old. Just as he was reading about Clint Eastwood doing the hovering and someone was taking their knickers off when his children and all their friends came into the kitchen.

Thanks everyone. Enormous fun as always.