Fist ‘n’ Chips

 After it became clear there’d be no host and few attendees, this week’s Tuesday was moved to Friday. I arrived at Sam’s house and Katy answered the door, telling me I could help her “being alone,” which made no sense until I found out she was watching Ian, Joe, Martin and Sam playing L.A.M.A. Dice. 

While walking to Sam’s, I’d already been sent a pic and scores from the evening’s first game: The Number.

Joe 109

Ian 89

Sam 68

L.A.M.A. Dice ended with Sam blowing on a perilously balanced die that helped him do something (no idea what the rules are) and end the game. A game that, according to Joe, “could literally go on forever.”

Martin 9

Ian 21

Sam 23

Joe 24

I think that points are bad, but not entirely sure.

Then the six of us sat down for a nail-biting game of Heat, the racing game vaguely set in the 1970s where the tents reminded Joe of Filofaxes, Ian was distracted by the crowds of people that resembled disturbing AI-created blobs and the clouds made Sam think someone had spilt salt on the board. But enough about the artwork, what about the race?

Joe had a nightmare start, and soon fell behind after playing three stress cards for a totally random move and then drawing 1-1-1. I was the clear leader at the end of lap one, cleverly slipstreaming round a slow corner past Martin and onto a straight but I was soon caught up and was soon back in last with Joe overheating his engine dangerously to push himself into first!

Near end of lap one: me and Martin (green, obv) battle for first with Joe a distant last.

But the winner was decided at that same corner when Martin gambled on a boost which would probably leave him stuck in fourth over overheated but instead sent him into first, past that tricky slow corner and onto the straight. He crossed the finishing line while we all tip-toed around the hairpin bend.

Same corner, but lap two. Katy leads me and Ian while Sam, in 5th, is about to overheat

and Joe is back in sixth again. Martin is about to unleash his winning move.

1st Martin

2nd Ian (+1 turn)

3rd Katy (+1 turn)

4th Andrew (+1 turn)

5th Joe (+ 2 turns)

6th Sam (+2 turns)

While Martin commented on his stroke of luck, Sam showed Katy and Joe the crazy extra rules that could be added to the base game, including weather.

Then we set up Auf Teufel Komm Raus! The luck pushing game of avoiding the devil while taking coals from his cauldron. We remarked on how nice the poker chips were, but we just wish there were more of them. They’re also quite large and Katy sometimes struggled to keep her bids totally secret (hence the blog title, in case you were wondering).

She was upset with me on the very first turn when I pulled out enough coals that Martin’s big gamble paid off: she wanted me to continue until I went bust, just to spite Martin. But then when she was in the same position later, she didn’t make herself go bust, so I call shenanigans!

I was confused by people’s habit of raising their bets the more we went on, noting that taking coals at random doesn’t get easier the more you do it. Meanwhile, I like Joe’s method of nonchalantly pulling coals casually one after the other although I noticed whenever he paused, for whatever reason, he pulled a devil. Not that he cared, as he finished a round exactly on the winning total while Martin was left ruing his mid-game bet of 300 when he tried for his second audaciously lucky win of the evening.

Joe 1600

Sam 1420

Martin 1370

Andrew 1030

Katy 840

Ian 640

Since it was Friday, we ploughed on towards 11pm with Not That Movie, where imaginary films get annoying reviews and we have to put them all together. 

Katy’s promise of making the first film that we guess perfectly was made real today as we all chose Time Of The Condor as a sequel spy story that wasn’t for kids. But I think we all wish that instead she would make Parallel Brothers, a sports movie starring puppets.

27 points, which I think Joe said was “Blockbuster”

Finally we finished with good old So Clover. There was no slow excitement at the chance of another perfect score after we messed by Ian’s and Martin’s clovers. We got the rest right, and Katy declared that she’s getting the hang of it. We struggled with Joe’s clue of “Crib” at the end. We got it right, but using the wrong reasoning, which is fine in So Clover. And in life, now I come to think about it.

So we left at about half past eleven. Thanks for hosting Sam. Sorry for being so loud that you had to close the doors in the house, but it was a lot of fun. And Tuesday is only a few days away...