Without a wordle

 When I arrived at Joe’s kitchen, a group of gamers (Joe, Ian, Martin, Gareth, Sam, Adam H) were in the final stages of a very tricky Cross Clues. The 5x5 grid was full of gaps and a look at the words along the edges explained why: Box and Chest were next to each other and, just for good measure, Wood was on the other axis.

16/25 with a regret that they hadn’t changed one of box or chest before they'd started.

Laura was expected in ten minutes so we simply re-dealt ourselves a new game and started again. We did much better this time with only a couple of mistakes. Ian clued “crown” which we immediately selected King and Hat, but it should’ve been King and Cauliflower. And Laura came in mid-game, was given a card and she clued “spur” before she’d even sat down and we got it wrong. But Ian made amends with a nice clue of Italy for Ma and Ankle.

23 out of 25

Next the eight of us split into two groups. Sam swiftly attracted three gamers when he casually asked if anyone fancied an apocalyptic death race. Sam, almost as swiftly, had to explain that wasn't the actual name of the game but it might as well be. Him, Laura, Ian and Adam set up for Thunder Road.

Meanwhile, Hooky got back onto the table with Me and Martin joined by newbies Gareth and Joe. Martin explained the rules while Joe provided the pens, although Martin asked for his brown crayon to be replaced. “It’s not a precision tool,” he maintained.

Hooky was played mostly in silence. The pauses were so long that when Gareth didn’t realise it was his turn, no one noticed for a good few minutes.

By means of contrast, the other end of the table was alive with action, as they spoke about shrapnel, mud, slams and airstrikes. Sam was eliminated before the game ended and Adam asked where the finish line was. In the end, Laura yelled “What is wrong with these dice?!” and Sam declared “we’re all equal losers.” It must’ve been carnage.

On the other hand, Hooky trundled towards a conclusion. Martin started thinking about how he’d redesign the player pads, since it is quite faffy to track each discovery in several different places.

Sam, Laura, Ian and Adam embarked on another race, this time the Quest for El Dorado. Adam got a rules refresher and then they set off across the jungle. I don’t remember much except for it being very close mid-game. Finally I heard whoops of victory and learnt that Laura had won, with Adam then Sam following. Only Ian couldn’t end, despite being closest to the finish in the last turn.

“Joint second?” Sam suggested to Adam. “Take it up with the judge,” he retorted.

1. Laura

2. Adam

3. Sam

4. Ian

By now we’d finished Hooky, with another lengthy bout of concentration for our final guesses, the only noise coming from Joe who complained that he'd run out of letters. But we got to the end, dazed and confused.

Martin 48

Andrew 25

Joe 25

Gareth 19

Next we played High Score, since it was a dice roller with little cognitive load. It was new to Gareth and we rolled them bones with the usual crazy examples of luck (or lack of) that you’d expect. In the end Martin won by the “most golds” tie-breaker.

Martin 12 (2 golds)

Joe 12 (1 gold)

Andrew 10

Gareth 9

Then, just to fill time while El Dorado ended, we dug out The Mind. Such hilarity as we stumbled through one round after another. Round 5, at least, was us back to our brilliant best and we got through that in fine style. Lost in round 6, though.

With that, Adam, me and Laura went and the remainers played So Clover and, according to Sam’s late night message, got 28 out of 30.

After this, Sam and Gareth left with the hardy final gamers about to commence a game of Sea Salt and Paper. No news of any results, though.

Thanks all. Next week, yeah?