The Adams and Jo(e)s Show

This week's games night began at the earlier time of 7pm. I arrived a little late but by no means the last. In Joe's kitchen, the host was joined by Adam H, Adam T, Ian and Katy with Jo to follow. 

We chatted about the endless possibilities facing us tonight and Katy made an early pitch for Lords Of Vegas. Joe's battered and much loved copy was brought to the table. Adam T, meanwhile, had Ahoy as an option. He described it as Root Lite, which is a tough sell in these parts. Jo, having only played it two-player, was keen and Adam H decided that an asymmetric pirate game was preferable to the whims of a handful of dice.

As we set up, I was surprised that everyone’s knowledge of the game had moved on since I last played. For a start, building up was allowed (despite it not being a five player game) and the offsetting rule (where you can choose to reduce your winnings/losses in gambling) is no longer a thing. Apparently that rule was introduced by the publishers and wasn’t part of the original vision.

So, we began playing and in her very first turn Katy was able to build a 2-tile casino. Except that she built two adjacent 1-tile casinos. Had LoV strategy changed that much?

Lady Luck spent the evening tweaking our expectations and messing with our minds. Joe needed money so he contemplated gambling, except he’d need a 1-1 or 6-6 to win enough money. Instead he decided to reorganise a 2-tile casino. He rolled 1-1. In fact, the casinos were relatively generous tonight, and Katy even cleaned me out completely when she rolled double six in my casino.

This game was all about the silver casinos. Or lack thereof, as they stubbornly refused to pay out apart from twice at the very start of the game. Otherwise, the pivotal moments came with the reorganisation of existing casinos. Towards the end, a deal between Joe and Ian gave Ian enough money to reorganise a 6-tile casino. As it happened, Joe had a single die involved and it ended up winning!

And so did he.

Joe 32

Ian 26

Andrew 23 (but we don’t do tie-breakers for third place, said Katy)

Katy 23 (no money left)

After this, Ahoy was still in full flow so we, not having had enough dice for one evening, got out Kribbeln. Surely Joe’s luck couldn’t hold out.

Well, it did. The game was full of amazing scrapes that don’t seem amazing unless you were there and by the end, Joe was so far ahead with an astonishing 30 points, eclipsing Katy's very respectable 28 points.

Joe 30

Katy 28

Ian 17

Andrew 17

But Joe did specifically ask that I mention that it was the highest score on Kribbeln to date. I also pointed out to Joe that, when writing, people put a bar through the number 7 to better distinguish it from the number 1. But he wrote his in such a way that made them look like 9s.

Ahoy ended by now. I felt sad that I’d missed most of the epic undertaking, but Vegas is pretty distracting.

Jo 34

Adam H 30

Adam T 24

And then Katy and I left while Joe went to get the So Clover.

Thanks guys. A beautiful evening.