Oregon and on and on

 After a long queue at a late night pharmacy and google maps vague awareness of Easton’s backroads, I arrived at Steve and Anja’s house at almost half past eight. Around the table were Adam H, Louie, Anja, Martin (one team) and Katy, Ian, Sam (the other team, which at this point, now included me).

The game, Rankster, was already halfway through when I joined in and everyone was trying to guess who Ian thought would give the best wedding speech out of John Lennon, LeBron James, Julius Caesar. Ian chose Lennon, by the way. Caesar would be too dramatic and LeBron would contain too many bouncing balls. 

Steve arrived and he was put on the same team as Anja. Her selection of famous people included Hamlet and Steve immediately put this particular Prince of Denmark in last position because he knew that Anja hated Hamlet. To prove it, he told us about a time he took her to see Hamlet – a highly regarded production directed by Jonathan Miller – and afterwards her verdict was “If I’d wanted to see a man dithering about for three and a half hours, I’d have stayed at home.” A brutal judgement on both Shakespeare and Steve. (Plus, Steve was wrong. Anja put Hamlet second.)

Adam, Louie, Anja, Martin 7

Andrew, Katy, Ian, Sam 6

Then we split into three groups. Louie was allowed to stay up long enough to join Ian and Sam in Robot Quest Arena. They were at the far end of the room, and I know nothing about the game except that it is now Louie’s favourite.

Louie 28

Ian 21

Sam 17

Martin, Steve and Anja played London Bridge. At least, they tried to but a determinedly not-sleepy Lennon kept creeping in. Eventually, Anja had to abandon London Bridge so she could get him back to sleep, so Martin and Steve played it as a two-hander. This, apparently, made it quite speedy. And that’s all I know about this game too.

Martin 56

Steve 46

The reason for my general ignorance about the state of the other games was because Adam, Katy and I were playing Oregon. It was my suggestion, even though I had only the vaguest memory of the rules. “It’s like noughts and crosses,” I assured a skeptical Katy.

Long story short: it’s nothing like noughts and crosses, but frequent references to the rules by me and Adam guided us through the early stages. 

Despite the interruptions from Lennon using us as a shield to hide from his parents, and from me trying to find my phone (during this search Katy found Anja’s credit card), the game was fun. Coal mining was inevitably accompanied by a burst of “Workin’ in a Coal Mine” by Lee Dorsey. I don’t really remember but Adam must have sung it most often. Katy also did her fair share of mining, generously removing all of the 1 tiles from the pile!

Adam 80

Katy 67

Andrew 59

While we populated Oregon, Robot Quest Arena ended and Louie went to bed. Sam, Ian and Anja played Misfits and Sam won. 

Then they played Bag Of Chips. I think it’s mostly to do with condiments and fried food, but my notes tell me that, halfway through, Anja said “Do you see my point about Hamlet?” Don't know why.

Alas, I didn’t see how it ended. After an evening of sitting on a sofa that kept threatening to make me fall asleep, I gave up on the evening and set off home and so did poorly Adam. But that wasn’t the end for the rest of them. Goodness me, no. Thanks to Sam for the timely updates.

After Ian won Bag of Chips and then they played Just One. Sam discovered that his name upside-down is “Wes”

And he also sent a photo of the remaining clues from one round so I was able to guess.

I got it right (and so did Ian) but they didn’t do too well overall, with a score of “average.”

Thanks to Anja and Steve for hosting. Hope to see you all next week!