Thick as Thebes

 Joe’s house on a sultry June evening. Elsewhere around the country, football fans dutifully sat around televisions to watch England play Slovenia. But since the national team had already qualified and their style of play didn’t exactly amaze and delight, seven of us convened for a game or two. Sam, Adam T, Ian were at Joe’s before me. I carefully picked my way down Joe’s exterior staircase to his kitchen and Sam remarked that, like him, I’ve started making little noises at even the slightest physical exertion. Both myself and (after ten minutes or so) Katy were back after a period away from gaming. 

We began with just fine, as Joe got out his home-made version of The Gang. This is a game of poker (Texas hold ‘em) where the players have to bid on what position their hand will finish. Each player bids four times: after they receive their two cards, then after the three-card flop, the after the turn and finally after the river when all five communal cards have been revealed. It’s co-operative in that, in order to win, we all have to be correct.

We began with five and then dealt in Martin who arrived just as we started. The first round was, technically, a success. The strongest hand was the one showing, so the cards we had to ourselves were irrelevant. It got more difficult after that, especially with non-poker-playing Ian admitting he didn’t know how likely certain hands were supposed to be. We had success in round four, but thanks to some luck as Martin and I finished with identical hands.

Katy arrived mid-game in sunglasses, looking like she’d stepped off a yacht. But it was actually a bicycle, and she apologised as she got ready, admitting she might have blocked Joe’s garden path when she locked it up.

We split into two. Katy, Martin and I went down the heavyweight route, with Thebes – a game of digging up ancient artefacts in the early 20th century, which Katy insisted she was going to give back. During Martin’s rules explanation he said “To get an artefact, you have to go to the site just like you would if - ” and I thought he was going to say “… you were doing a real dig,” but instead he said “… you were picking up a book of knowledge,” referencing an earlier rule. My suspension of disbelief was ruined.

Joe, Ian, Adam and Sam went for shorter games, beginning with Sunrise Lane. This is a game of area control mixed with card management, and it is very short. Over much quicker than the forty-five minutes they were expecting.

Joe 68

Adam 63

Ian 63

Sam 59

The sound of distant cheering reminded us of the match, but no one seemed too upset about missing the spectacle. Towards the end of the evening, Martin did check his phone and told us it was 0-0. The cheering must have been for a disallowed goal.

Back in 1901, Katy, Martin and I were zipping back and forth across Europe, trying to gain enough knowledge to make our archaeological digs worthwhile. One book of knowledge allows you to draw one tile for a bag, and this is where most of your points will come from. Except the bags are about half-full of worthless tiles – dirt. Martin must have thought he’d be okay with nine books of knowledge, but then proceeded to pull out one dirt tile after another. All nine tiles were duds. Even Katy felt sorry for him by the end.

The other half of the table played Knarr. I know nothing about except the scores.

Sam 42

Joe 39

Adam 39

Ian 29

Then they play Rafter 5, a fun balancing game with a nautical theme. Ian was first to place his last chest and then Sam did too before Adam triggered yet another collapse. That triggered the end of the game. Not sure who won.

On our side of the table we were also drawing to a close. Christmas in 1903 means that we were all trying to work out if we could do anything useful in those last few weeks. It was very close… but first and second.

Martin 79

Katy 77

Andrew 49

Then we rearranged seats and I joined a game of Sunrise Lane against Martin, Sam, and Ian. It was a very quick learn and soon I was on my way. There was a lot of shuffling as we rinsed the deck pretty quickly, especially Ian who often drew two cards and then discarded down to five on his turn.

It was fun. Nicely dickish, you might say. I built big in the big-building areas while the others splurged across the area-control areas. Martin cruelly built between two of Sam's conurbations, ruining his chance of a big bonus. Might have been Martin's best move.

Martin 88

Sam 81

Andrew 78

Ian 53

Katy, Joe and Adam played a game that I totally forgot to note the name of. Afterwards, I tried to look it up, but searching for a board game based on travel by air and has a map of the world gives some pretty broad results.

I don’t even know the score since, after Sunrise Lane, I set off home, squeezing past Katy’s bike as I did.

Via WhatsApp, I later learnt that Ian lost at Rafter 5 and then they played So Clover twice scoring 21/30 and then 27/30. Close, but no clover.

Thanks everybody. Great to be back!