Greenbank rangers

 This week, with a lack of available venues, five of us converted on the Greenbank pub in Easton for the week's bout of games. This meant I took the train, which gave the whole thing a sort of games weekend vibe. I got off at Easton, and found that Katy was on the same train. She'd even got on at the same station as me but, for whatever reason,  we hadn't seen each other on the platform.

And so we arrived together at the pub where we found Joe, Martin and Ian already playing a game. I didn’t recognise it nor take a note if its name but I do know that Ian won again soon after we sat down.

The first game the five of us played among the hubbub of a busy pub was Bomb Busters. Martin asked if anyone needed a rule refresher and I admitted I’d never played the game at all. I was quickly brought up to speed and thrown in at Chapter 17. This meant that the “captain” had to lie about whatever clues they were giving regarding the value of their wires. 

Since I was the newbie, Martin suggested I rethink my first guess since it was a number that could be a red wire and thus end the game. I did so and we were safe. Until the very next turn, when Katy confidently chose a wire, and Ian revealed it to be red. Game done after three turns. “Did you enjoy it?” Joe asked me.

We played again and this time we were a little more circumspect and we were able to complete the chapter, with Martin having both red wires.

Then I noticed that there was a couple in the corner also playing games. I was impressed that this pub had such a pro-gaming clientele until Martin explained that they’d leant them a copy of So Clover. And they were playing the competitive variant. Amazing.

In a far corner of the pub, the strains of folk music could be heard. “Is that live?” Joe asked and, confused by the background chatter, I asked if he’d said “Is that Laibach?” which would have been a remarkable change of style for Slovenia’s greatest band. But the music was live. Every Tuesday, apparently.

After a lengthy break to cue at the bar for drinks, we got out The Gang, competitive poker. It didn’t end well. We did so badly at our second attempt that the hands were almost perfectly ranked in the opposite order that we’d bid. When we’d finished (ie gave up) Joe expressed confusion after how successful they’d been last time. Martin bemused me by saying there was a competitive variant of The Gang. But surely that would just be Texas Hold 'Em, wouldn't it? 

Finally (for me) we played Mamma Mia! It had been a while since I’d played this game and I had a brief rules refresher. It was a harsh game - bombastic pizzas (needs 15 ingredient cards to complete the pizza) were surprisingly successful which meant the table was often swept clean of any available ingredients. In round one, Ian, Joe and Martin didn’t make any pizzas at all, while Katy managed two.

But right at the end, I came good - I was the last to play cards and so, of course, I put down some ingredients and a pizza. It turned out that this was to be the winning move as my final pizza could be completed and I took a last-minute win!

Andrew 5

Katy 4

Martin 3

Ian 2

Joe 1

And with that, I was out the door, retracing my steps through Easton’s backstreets, and arriving at the station with minutes to spare before my train home.

Thanks all. It was a blast.