Mille Furious

I arrived at Laura's house at 8 and watched the final stages of Phantom Ink. Sam and Gareth were trying to get a message from their spirit Joe while Adam(H), Laura and Katy were paired up with ghostly Martin. As I watched, Gareth and Sam studied the list of half-finished words in front of them and decided to go for it. They spelt out "Burrito" letter by letter and the knocks from beyond the veil told them that they had got it right.

Sam, Gareth and Joe, dearly departed

Laura, Katy, Adam and Martin, hardly missed

Then we split into two. Laura was keen to play one of her birthday presents and so Mille Fiori was chosen. Katy, Gareth and I made up the rest of the quartet. Sam, Joe, Adam and Martin played the mystery card game Kuzooka.

Well, it was a mystery to me, anyway. It seemed to be a bit like The Crew but with extra animals. By which I mean that it was a co-op game where you had to play cards from your hand but couldn't communicate.

As for Mille Fiori, I began by mentioning my brilliant win at the previous game whenever possible but it looked like a case of hubris as I started very slowly. Laura stole my extra move in the market and I fell into last.

But then I put together a three-move turn and shot up the score track. This was followed by another couple of high scoring rounds for me and before long Katy started comparing me to Martin. In fact, the second half of the game was very kind to me. Not so kind to Gareth who coined the phrase now adorning the top of this blog post to describe his feelings about the game.

Andrew 226

Katy 190

Gareth 181

Laura 175

The other four had finished Kuzooka (I don't know how well they did) and were playing a quick game of Dicycle Race. I saw the end and watched Adam go from last place to joint first with his final set of dice rolls. Does this mean he likes dice games now?

1= Martin

1= Adam

Then I think Joe was third and Sam fourth?

Then we were all together. What to play next? Someone suggested 6nimmt and Gareth mentioned he'd never played it. Of course, once he'd said this, this decision was made for us and the zombie themed version was brought to the table.

The game progressed as you might imagine. Martin began by talking about how he was going to write a strategy guide and post it on BGG and, as if to validate his credentials, he went clear in round one. The new boy Gareth had a nightmare baptism, and was in last. 

But in round two Gareth did better and Sam got stung, picking up 25 points with his final two cards. Laura did badly, following up her first round triumph (3) with a disaster (33). Martin, too, picked up points this round leaving Joe in first with a mere 13 points.

Round three saw Gareth in another death spiral as he picked up row after row, ensuring the end of the game. Martin didn't do too well either, allowing Sam to quip "I'm really looking forward to your strategy guide."

In the final count, the winner was clear: 

Joe 19

Adam 28

Sam 33

Katy 33

Martin 42

Andrew 51

Laura 69

Gareth 81

A fine win for Joe, all the more impressive when you consider that he got distracted by the slideshow on Laura's fridge door and then went into a monologue about the feasibility of supermarkets delivering straight to your fridge (through a door in the back, obviously).

After that, I set off home but Laura's birthday carried on for the others.

As I later learnt, Sam won at Cascadia.

Sam 96

Adam 91

Laura 89

And the other four played Gang of Dice

And So Clover.

But I don't know the scores. Anyway, thanks for hosting and for the cake, Laura. See everyone next week.