Psychic Failures

I was a little uneasy at arriving early at Joe’s this Tuesday, so I was glad when Ian cycled up at about the same time. And I needn’t have worried at all since Joe had already started the evening with a little Martini to keep him company. The bigger Martin(i) would be along soon, after Katy and Sam arrived, each with their own comments about the fine weather. Finally Adam H got here and, with no word from a potential Anja, we started gaming.

Since Katy wanted something gentle, we began with Take It Easy. Joe’s and Sam’s copies were used to allow all seven of us to compete, and Joe was caller. Today’s theme was Steely Dan songs, with Steely Dan on the stereo. For the atmos, you know. There was the usual agony and elation (mostly agony) and it ended with Adam winning a pretty close game.

Adam 209

Martin 190

Joe 184

Andrew 182

Katy 178

Sam 158

Ian 150

Then we split into two. Katy was still in the market for gentle games and was tempted to join Martin and Joe in a game of Renature. Because she likes animals.

Ian, Sam, Adam and I chose Ra over Hansa Teutonica (on the toss of a coin) and set out Joe’s luxurious version, complete with underwhelming round counter, which is about the size of a scrabble tile and really could have been omitted.

In round one, Ian was last player standing but lost out when the Ra track ended before he could sweep up everything available. Adam was in the same position in round two but he had four chances to pull Ra tiles, so he was fine. In round three, Adam was out first saying he thought he’d be last. I said he was crazy, thanks to this buildings, but turns out he was right. I had a good round two and pretty much had the same tiles in front of me at the end of the game, too.

Andrew 44

Sam 26

Ian 25

Adam 19

I went to the toilet and came back to find Misfit already out of its box. It was a typically crazy game. Adam began with a vertical column and it got worse from that. Ian had the first collapse, clearing the structure from the table entirely.

Sam got a text just as he was placing a piece and almost ruined his turn. Then Ian got the yips just as he was adding to an already impossible structure and then Adam had a tap-in to win the game. Sam, too, finished that round. Still not sure if that’s a tie.

Adam wins!

Renature also ended at this point, with Katy ruefully pondering if sitting "cuntside" of Martin was actually a benefit.

Joe 93

Martin 79

Katy 59

And with that, I was done. Still tired from my new job, I bailed early at only 9.30. Still had a great time though.

I’ll hand over to Sam to continue the blog…

*

We were still going strong when Andrew left and at Martin's insistence, played Cabanga. Luckily for all of us - especially Martin - Cabanga was good fun, a Nimmt-esque game of shedding cards as quickly as you can without getting 'Cabanga-ed' when others dump cards on you. I'd explain the rules but I'd forgotten I was meant to be finishing the blog (sorry Andrew/everyone) but it was fun and funny.

Ian won on the first round with zero points, followed by me, Joe, Adam and Katy. Martin was last with a whopping 22 - points are bad. Then Adam left and we played Psychic Pizza Deliverers Go To The Ghost Town. The rules are short and sweet but I forgot them anyway. Martin delivered a pizza and won!

I think we played Cabanga again - Joe won - before polishing off the night with the classic closer of So Clover, bringing in a reasonable but not amazing 16/24

Fun! Thanks all. And sorry for late reportage.