The Third of March

The 3rd of March 2026 was a Tuesday, so that means it was a time for games, and so convened at Anja and Steve’s. As well as the hosts, the expected gamers included Adam H, Martin, Paul (a visiting friend of Anja & Steve’s), Pete, and myself (Ian), and we also expected young Louie to join us for an early.

Whilst we waited for everyone to arrive or finish parental duties, we had a quick game of 6 Nimmt. It’s been a while since I’d played this once perennial game, so it was good to revisit. We were playing Adam’s Walking Dead themed copy, and I think somebody pondered that bullets were more thematic than the bullheads found on the classic design.

Regardless of theming I had started to slip into a typical death spiral. We ended the game early when others had arrived at the table at the scores were thus:

Adam 10

Paul 16

Martin 27

Anja 36

Ian 43

 

As our numbers had increased, we split into two groups. Martin enticed me, Pete and Steve to try out a new acquisition, Maya – so new that we had sprues to punch. On the other end of the table, Adam, Paul, Anja and Louie set up Cottage Garden. I didn’t really follow much of what happened in their game, but think it took longer to explain than Maya did.

Maya is designed by Gilbert & Benjamin, but if you’d said this was a Knizia I would have had no reason to doubt, as it did feel very much like a game from the prolific German designer. A tile laying game, it reminded me of Rebirth and Babylonia. The theme is that we’re cultivating various crops in the ancient Maya civilization, and the theme led to some interesting phrases being banded around, such as the chain of potato farms being referred to as both a “potato wall” and “the potato belt”.

I rather enjoyed it and put in a decent performance, but Martin proved victorious.

Martin 139

Ian 121

Pete 114

Steve 95 (ish, I forgot to get scores before we started packing away)

Cottage Garden was still ongoing, so we played a quick game of Jungo. I was first to shed my cards and won, with fortuitous timing as Cottage Garden was wrapping up. I can only apologise for my lack of notes, but the scores made it sound like a fairly close game for 2nd, 3rd and 4th, but Anja had a clear lead over the others.

Anja 51

Adam 43

Louie 41

Paul 40

 

As all gamers were present, we decided to mix things up and rotate groups slightly. Adam, Paul and Steve embarked on a 7 Wonders, whilst Anja, Martin, Pete and I tried the partnership version of Gazebo.

The partnership certainly added some interesting wrinkles. The game ends when one player has placed all their Gazebos, but the winner is decided by which pair has the fewest remaining once the game has ended. Players sit next to their partner and play continues in a clockwise fashion, and Martin demonstrated the value in setting up his partner, Anja, who getting her Gazebos down with alarming pace.

Pete and I couldn’t really keep up, and Anja had soon depleted her Gazebo stash. The scores were interesting, as whilst Anja had placed all 15 of her Gazebos, Martin had only placed 3. Pete and I had a more balanced split, as we had managed to play 5 each, but the victory was Anja and Martin’s

Anja / Martin – 12 Gazebos remaining.

Pete / Ian – 20 Gazebos remaining

7 Wonders had also drawn to a close. I had been too focused on the battle of Gazebos to pay heed, but the scores make it sound like a close run game.

Steve 52

Adam 50

Paul 48

After this we finished with a game of So Clover. Strictly speaking we had more players than the official player limit of 6, but Adam fashioned a makeshift clover on a notebook and away we went. Some clue highlights include “Halberd” for “Spicy” + “Axe”, “Longbottom” for “Wizard” + “Leaf”, but there was a bit of head scratching for “Spoor”. Fortunately, somebody had managed to remember that it was something to do with animal scent, which allowed us to eventually get to “Animal” + “Marker”.

It was all going extremely well, scoring 6 after 6, but alas we fell apart when trying to decipher Adam’s clues.

Strictly speaking though, as So Clover is only marketed as a 6 player game, you could actually claim this as a perfect 6 player victory…

And with that we stepped out into the night to make our various ways home (except for Anja and Steve who were already home, and Paul who was visiting.)

Isle of Games

 Isle of games? We all love games!

Sam picked me up at 7.30 on a clear Friday morning. We set off to distant shores for a couple of day’s board gaming with the old London crew. We picked up Chris along the way, noting with disappointment that he wasn't waiting for us at the window like an expectant puppy, and we sped off across the south of England to Portsmouth and, from there: the Isle of Wight!

Paul had moved there a couple of years ago and now we had the rare chance of taking eight bags of board games across the seas to a whole new island! GNN’s plan of world dominance is working perfectly!

We took the opportunity at Portsmouth to peruse the souvenir stand in the coffee shop and decided to buy Paul and Isle of Wight pencil. A shocking pink one. After all, we couldn’t come empty-handed.

Once over the Solent, which was so calm that you could’ve played Bandu on it, we weaved our way through some country roads to Paul’s home in Shanklin. The only downside of living here is that the name suggested the Smiths song “Frankly Mr Shankly” which, in turn, led Sam to periodically sing “and I’ll meet you at the cemetery gates” throughout the weekend.

As for games, our first (at 2.20pm) was a historical one. Not just because 7 Wonders is set in the Ancient world, but because we were using the last page of the book of scoresheets. Chris said that you couldn’t buy replacements any more since the iconography had changed, so he’d buy a new one and leave this copy on a high shelf somewhere to see out it’s old age in peace. We used our new pencil to mark down the final scores and Sam’s sciences (34 pts) won.

Sam 59

Paul 54

Chris 50

Andrew 47

Paul then tried to choose a game at random by giving Chris directions (“Light green bag, third game from the back”) but that didn’t really work. Instead, I suggested Railways of the World and so we got out the old eastern US map and got to work. Paul chose his baron based solely on the man’s beard. Sam leapt into an early lead as he picked up bonuses and kept his bond count low. I went the other way, being bond-heavy and even having to pay money back once at the end of a round instead of taking income like everyone else. It kind of kept me in the game, as Chris and I fought over second until my seven bonds dragged me back. Chris ended on two bonds and $74,000. 

Sam 64

Chris 56

Andrew 50

Paul 34

Then we played a quick couple of rounds of Cross Clues (20 points and then 24) before I went for a half hour nap and the other three played Planet Unknown. I came in for the final third of the game and became fascinated at how people moved their cubes up the bonus tracks. Sam and Chris rolled them upwards, Sam with his index finger and Chris sometimes using his thumb, while Paul picked his cubes up and moved them square by square. In the end, Sam was one square tile away from completing the planet, hence his comprehensive win.

Sam 75

Chris 58

Paul 50

Then Sam cooked our first lovely meal of the weekend while us three played Cascadia. According to my notes, we indulged in a lot of bad animal puns while playing but thankfully I didn’t write any down.

Chris 98

Paul 89

Andrew 77

Then we ate Sam’s chicken fajitas which were delicious but Sam berated himself over the lack of chilli.

For the evening’s main event, we chose Keyflower. As is usual, Sam and I were taken by the artwork on the little cottages with individual interiors that allowed you to almost make up a story about the occupants.

After a rules refresher from Chris, we got playing. The only setback was caused by the meeple bag and tiles bag both being black such that when Chris went to draw some tiles mid game, he found it half-full of meeples. Paul won, despite having the smallest village. Or maybe because of. I’m not sure.

Paul 48

Andrew 44

Sam 38

Chris 34

Then we played Push It to clear the eurogaming fog in the air. We played twice as teams and Chris and Sam beat Paul and I twice, 11-2 and 12-3.

Paul got the nickname “the hammer” as his forceful play would usually send either the jack or his puck whizzing down the end of the table, occasionally bouncing off my tin of beer with a comedy “boinggg.”

Sam started to make moves for bed until he heard that we were going to play So Clover and he quickly retook his seat at the table.

We did well, 22/24, but were stymied by a cruel decoy on Chris’ clover that had words that would fit perfectly with three possible clues.

Then, with Sam definitely going to bed, we played King Domino. In fact, we played it so quietly that Sam popped back in to make sure we were actually playing.

I got a mine-monopoly for a win.

Andrew 56

Chris 52

Paul 30

And so to sleep.

Saturday morning was clear and limpid. We were all up by 9am and Chris made a fried breakfast before we went for a walk towards the sea, popping into a few shops as we did. 

Finally, at about noon, we played our first game. After a little discussion I said I was leaning towards Imhotep and so it was brought to the table. Paul played a cagey game, relying on the Burial Chamber and picking up cards such that he didn’t score at all until round 5. Chris won the obelisk, I tried to boss the pyramid and Sam relied on end-of-game scoring cards.

Chris 42

Paul 41

Andrew 35

Sam 34

Chris was delighted at his win at this game - his bette noir of board games. A then, after that, they went for a quick walk while I made pizza. On their return, Paul suggested playing Push It, but this time using an old magnetic football pitch that once belonged to Sam but Paul found it while moving house. The fact that it had borders seemed to dissuade Paul from his hammerish ways and he played a more measured game, posting a last minute comeback that was just a little too late.

Sam 12

Chris 9

Paul 8

Then, while the pizza was cooking, we played Cross Clues but did really badly: monkey and cow were both in play, as were plate, tomato and orange.

After pizza the table was slowly moved away from the wall to allow us enough space for a game of Xia: Legends of a Drift System. Sam set up the table and side table, requesting that no one ask him any questions while he did, so Paul and Chris did the washing up.

Paul (and I) got a rules explanation. Then, in the game Sam went exploration crazy while I just traded. I played a very chilled game, so that when I got a mission to kill an outlaw I rejected it for being out of character.

Chris was an early leader and the first to get a tier 2 ship. But Sam was close behind him, especially after he rolled a 20 and got another fame point. 

Paul turned rogue, after he was caught trying to transport prisoners across a planet border. Sam was out exploring when he was caught in a gravitational anomaly that dragged him into a star. 

While Paul chased after a non-player ship, Chris became an archaeologist, rolled a 20 and then reached 12 points, our target for this game. Sam needed to get two fame points to match Chris so he went on a crowd pleasing journey across as many borders as possible hoping to roll a 20. Which he did! But he picked up so much damage that the next scratch on his ship killed him. 

Paul went crazy with his last turn. Attacking me (but my shield, useless until then, repelled him) and then attacked Sam too. Finally he also tried a border crossing technique in search of the elusive 20, which he got but only slightly before his ship disintegrated.

Chris 12

Sam 10

Paul 8

Andrew 5

We ended at 5.15, a little under 3 hours of play. It's always a satisfying feeling after finishing a big game even if, as in this case, we lowered the winning score from 20 down to 15 and then 12. Still, a lot of fun.

Paul started prepping his chicken for the evening meal so Sam, Chris and I played Bandu. I thought I was being mean with my choices for Chris but clearly not being mean enough.

Chris

Sam and Andrew out in the same round

Then while Paul's curry was cooking, we played Fun Facts. We learned that we all have similar ideas about how grown up we feel (between 60-75) and that Sam and Chris hardly ever carry cash.

As Paul cooked, I took a shower and after a quick chat about politics, we sat down to eat. It was lovely although Chris bit on the only chilli in the mix and needed a moment to recover.

Next up was another epic: Northgard. Chris insisted on using the miniatures, not the cubes. "It needs the plastic vikings," he asserted. Paul quickly made three enclosed spaces and ran off into an early lead. It actually started very peacefully until Sam got his third big building and I was able to defeat him with the last card in my hand.

After that it was a ding-dong battle between me and Sam with Chris lurking nearby, hoping we'd weaken ourselves enough that he could pounce.

We made it all the way to round seven. REM on the stereo sang "The time to rise has been engaged," which seemed appropriate. Paul passed first, clearly the points leader. 

I get my third building off Chris but in the end only Sam has cards left in his hand. He attacks Chris first, but fails. Then me, but again fails. Finally, in an audacious tactic that even Napoleon would have loved, he took one solitary viking and sent it against my least defended building (only two vikings) needing some luck with the dice.

He didn't get it and I hung on for a win. Phew, another epic.

But, for the record the points were

Paul 84

Chris 64

Andrew 47

Sam 37

Finally we thought we'd wind down with Decrypto. Surely after two epics, this would last a more manageable length of time.

How wrong we were as it went all the way into round eight. Chris and I definitely got one of their words and were good at selecting another, but two of theirs eluded us. They, too, struggled to pin down our words. 

At one point Chris scared me by reading the wrong numbers when he announced his guess but he quickly corrected himself.

Finally in round eight, Sam and Paul had their second miscommunication and Chris and I were weary winners.

Chris and Andrew, tapping your phone line

Sam and Paul, tapping their feet

Another post midnight finish for the four of us.

Sunday began for most at about 9am although Chris had been up with a stomach ache for some time. Too much rich food and port, he said.

With an eye on our 11.30 departure time, we played only a couple of games. First was Alhambra. Among the money dealt to Paul at the start of the game were several '1's, giving him flexibility when buying tiles. Chris seemed to poo-pooh flexibility as he quickly built a wall around his small Alhambra, giving him a lot of early points for a long wall but few options for expansion.

Paul 120

Andrew 101

Sam 95

Chris 83

We packed up the car and had 40 minutes left so we ended with a game of So Clover. And what an amazing experience it was. All I can say is that So Clover is not a morning game. We all did badly, and we even managed to get every single guess wrong on Paul's clover and then only one right on our second guess. 

Everything is wrong

9/24

Shocking. We could blame the looming deadline but I don't think we'd have done much better with more time.

And with that we set off into the storm and back to home. Thanks for the weekend, Paul, and thanks to everyone for the memories. It was special.

Steppin' Out

Anja, Steve and Louie were our genial hosts at Stepney Walk this week (-Lennon was tucked up in bed) and we assembled at the slightly later time of 8pm - or just after, in my case. I walked in to find everyone perusing Louie's Star Wars cross-section book. As fascinating as the inside of a AT-AT is though, there were games to be played. Louie's pumpkin clock was ticking so Joe gathered the hosts along with Adam H and Gareth to play Kakerlaken Poker, whilst Martin introduced Ian and I to Wibbell creator Bez's A Game about selecting seven cards, speedily searching for synergies. Once you know the title, you kind of know the game, except how you get them: each of us begin with a stack of seven cards and one in our hand. Simultaneously, we can take (one at a time) cards from a shared tableau of nine, but must replace the cards we take from the top one of our stack. As soon as anyone's stack runs out, they count down from seven and that's the end of the game: the cards score as it says in the title, synergising - or not - with each other to harvest points. 

My card-in-hand I started with rewarded me for having creatures with eyes, so that was my main focus, and fortunately there was always a card with at least one eye on out there. I raced to the end and Ian and Martin ran out of time: which means they were forced to take what was left of their unknown stack as their hand. 

Sam 23
Ian 15
Martin 13

The whole game took about two minutes, so we cracked into one of my UKGE purchases from last week, Alpha Beasts Attack. This is a co-op word game where you must attempt to use as many letters as you can each round, with limited communication. If you can't, each unused letter becomes a scar, and if you receive x number of scars you lose. Winning involves cashing in your defeated monsters (ie used letters) in sets to reveal scavenge cards, which might be helpful tools, or brains. X number of brains wins you the game. I forgot to take photos, but this was me learning the game at the weekend...

We finished triumphantly - after a very tricky penultimate round, and an injection of beerspill from excited poker players - around the same time as Kakerlaken ended, with Steve, to Louie's delight, the unfortunate loser. I think there were some insults exchanged, although I can't now recall them specifically. With a quick reshuffle, Gareth and Joe joined Martin and I to investigate Inside Job, whilst everyone else played 7 Wonders.

Inside Job is a trick-taker where, not unlike The Crew, players have missions to complete. They're easier here than in the The Crew, but unlike the space/sea co-operative fundertaking, here one player is the Insider, on a secret mission to undermine the actual missions of the other agents. 

Suspicious

Standard trick-taking rules apply - except to the Insider, who can lie and pretend that they "can't" follow suit and were forced to do something terribly unhelpful instead. Whomever wins a trick gets an Intel token. If the Insider gets five intel tokens, they instantly win. If the agents complete x number of missions, they win. If neither happen, there's some ill feeling and accusations to decide things. 

Poor Gareth had to play his debut game as the Insider, retaining rules, forging strategy and feigning innocence all at the same time, and we figured it out when he not unreasonably just tried to win as many tricks as he could as quickly as possible. We played a second game and eventually realised it was Gareth again. Then on a third attempt it was a little more hazy, but I think we all suspected Joe to the point of near-certainty. Suspicion, however, doesn't guarantee victory: Joe grabbed his fifth intel to take an Insider win. 

I'm not sure what happened in 7 Wonders except Adam was slightly forlorn at the end, and Ian quietly triumphant. Louie went to bed, possibly in disgust. 

Ian 58

Steve 53

Anja /Team Adam and Louie 50 each

The time was pushing toward ten and I had to leave relatively early to get Stan to school for a madcap overnight dash to France. So whilst Gareth departed - also bound for bed - and the others set up Mille Fiori, Ian, Adam and I played a slightly protracted game of So Clover, all of us pondering at length and muttering resentful aspersions at our word combos. At the other end of the table, it was slightly more boisterous...

But So Clover was fun in it's own thinky, uncompromising way. Adam suggested Ian and I play a two-hander whilst he struggled on with his clues, but we were happy doodling on our clovers.  

"Is that a dog?" Adam said, peering over at Ian's drawings.

"It's batman" said Ian.

As it turned out, Adam's time spent proved worthwhile when it was the only six we got (mine and Ian's clovers were 4s). I didn't take any pics here but I do remember his clue of Sensed for Silence/Bouquet. Not a high-fiving score, but a reasonable one. 

I had to rush off at this point, but I'm told Mille Fiori ended with some colossal scores!

Steve 265

Martin 229

Joe 215

Anja 196

Incredible stuff. Sorry I wasn't there to see the glassblown madness. Thanks all, especially our hosts, and see you next week!

Dominant Maroon

On Saturday afternoon Ian and I wended our way down the M4 to Chris' house in Chippenham. The plan was to play Dominant Species: Marine during the day, and then some other stuff in the evening. So with a little ado and catching up, I began setting up the game and explaining it to Ian - who'd not played before - and Chris, who'd only played the significantly-different big sister Dominant Species. 

In DS: Marine, we are competing animal types way back at the dawn of multi-celled life, climbing from the primeval ooze to spread our species across the world, by mostly sea but also (high-scoring) land. There's about 12 actions to choose from initially, but each action you take narrows down your subsequent options, until you choose to retrieve all your pawns and start afresh. The actions are numerous, then, but broadly do three things: advance your own cause, screw with someone else's, or both. This is a GMT game, and although the theme isn't the expected warfare, it's a combinatorial experience. 

My fishes (blue) started well, but Chris' cephalopods (orange) 

are proliferating at a dangerous rate while Ian's reptiles look on

In the original Dominant Species, all pawns are placed and then activated in order. Marine foregoes that somewhat phase-heavy approach by simply activating them when-placed, and simplifying both the scoring system and the board interface: instead of constantly recalculating dominance across the board, players choose a single tile to score as and when they want/are able to. It's not a simple game but, apart from one or two pauses when pawn options dynamically change, it cracks along really quickly. We didn't play the short version, but still finished in under two hours.

I'd led for much of the game but in the finale - when every tile gets scored - both Ian's purples and Chris' oranges caught up, and in the latter case, overtook me for a debut win. 

Chris 107 

Ian/Sam 102 each

I enjoyed this. It's nasty, swingy and tactical, with all the actions making easy sense, with only the special pawns needing more than a glance at the explanations. 

Next up was So Clover. We started out as a three, scoring a bang average 12/18, and didn't improve with four when Jacquie joined us (15/24) initially, only to pull out a storming 24/24 on our third attempt as minds synchronised. 

Jacquie dropped out and Ashton stepped in for Push It, which I took a kind-of win in, leading when we abandoned the game in favour of a delicious tea, a dish entirely driven by Chris winning a cheap bottle of white wine in a pub quiz. Chris actually described it as 'bleach' but it seemed to go well with the chicken. 

After stuffing our faces I managed to win another game - Spicy. 

While we were playing Aiden arrived and watched the duplicity play out as we fibbed, half-fibbed and occasionally told the truth on the way to the frantic conclusion.

Sam 35

Ian 31

Chris 23

Then Ian and I cracked our bottles of wine open. Well - I did. Ian was struggling with the cork and as he wrenched it out, the bottle smacked down on the counter-top and smashed. As wine poured everywhere, nobody was quite sure what to do and Paul arrived on the scene to see the carnage, fortunately not turning around and leaving directly. I did what you're meant to do when accidents happen these days - I took a photo of the scene. 

I must take my hat off to Chris and Jacquie, who weren't even slightly fazed. I guess running a childminding business has it's upsides. Anyway after Chris and Ian went at the scene with plentiful kitchen towels, the five gamers kicked off the evening session with Raj. We played five rounds with an escalating winner's bonus in each one, but it felt like they were mostly taken by Aiden. 

Chris kept kind-of pace with him, but Paul was serially stiffed by unlucky ties and Ian and I harpooned each other's bids with metronomic frequency, almost always playing our 14s and 15s at identical times. With five players, there's a lot of ties, and Aiden seemed to be taking advantage. Until the final round, where Chris rode some luck, did some canny bidding, and took the whopping 15pt winner's bonus to snag victory from the jaws of second-place...

Chris 81

Aiden 78

Ian 37

Paul 27

Sam 19

A lot of laughter in Raj. Rather less in what followed - the lesser-spotted Istanbul - but it was pleasurable in it's own fashion, with all of us concocting semi-formed plans and then seeing them slowly come together. But in Aiden's case, it wasn't so slow - he rocketed past everyone to claim a win so fast I missed it, having gone for a wee. I think Paul Ian and I were all 'just about' to get another gem, but it would only have got us squabbling for scraps...

Aiden 5 gems

Chris 4

Paul 3 + most cash

Sam 3 

Ian 2

Then Ian went to the shop for replacement wine and we played Push It again. Although going clockwise is less tactically compelling than the official furthest-away rule, it does at least keep things moving at a humorously hectic rate. At one point Paul couldn't even see the puck, as it was lodged behind Ian's crisps! What larks. You can keep your class A drugs, city folk!

Ian returned so we wrapped things up with Chris the kind-of winner on this occasion. 

Chris 7

Sam and Paul 6 each

Aiden 4

If Ian and I hadn't seen Istanbul in a while it was even longer - or felt it - since we last encountered Port Royal, the card-flipping, luck-pushing, symbol-collecting game of first-to-twelve points. I remembered being terribly bad at it, but hadn't recalled how complex it was. I mean - it's not complex, but in my head it was simpler than this, with cards doing various things and flipping to become money and objectives and repelling and all sorts. I think I enjoyed it, but it was only near the end I understood what was going on. Chris took the laurels here...

Chris 12

Paul 10

Ian 8 + most cash

Aiden 8

Sam 7

Then we played 7 Wonders! It was remarkable how setting up the physical version takes the same length of time as playing the digital one, but 7 Wonders remains a Speedy Classic I think, and it was nice to be handling cards again rather than gazing bleary-eyed at pixels. Aiden took the win, mainly thanks to his large army. It was a curious, fairly low-scoring play, with everyone resource-rich and so cash-laden that the bank ran out of money...

Aiden 55

Ian and Sam 47 each

Paul 46

Chris 44

We had time for one more game and Ian suggested Texas Showdown - new to Chris and Aiden, but very easy to explain. Harder though to get one's head around the best moves, and death spirals were had by both Chris and Ian. Aiden and I had good rounds and bad ones, but Paul's canny play saw him picking up minimal tricks - a one, a two, a zero - and he claimed a comprehensive win as Chris and Ian fell over the finish line...

Paul 5

Aiden 8

Sam 9

Chris and Ian 13 each

We'd played a lot by now - it was approaching midnight - eaten our own bodyweights in crisps and Maltesers, been exceedingly rude to each other and probably drunk a fair bit too so we finished our marathon session of a smorgasboard of gaming delights there. Wonderful stuff - thanks to our hosts and everyone for making it fun. 

Active Pile On

 Just like that, we're back in the room. After what seems like at least a decade, the Olde London mob of GNN assembled at Chris' house last night - along with the host there was Paul and myself (Sam) with Andrew coming later. There was a slight hesitancy as one might expect, particularly as I had brought the boys along. Suddenly we were all in a situation we weren't used to - a crowd. 

Luckily Chris' house is enormous and the children scampered off to do God knows what after we'd all hugged and kissed and eaten pizza. 

Chris and Paul had already been gaming with Ashton, trying out Paul's charity shop find of the day before, Space Lines. I think they played twice and Ashton won both times. But now with three of us, we had the luxury of starting an epic six-hour gaming session, and we did so with Project L. 

The rules have already been explained but suffice to say that Chris won it convincingly, and then Paul won our second game convincingly (I was third both times), and if there's a gigantic void of theme and the merest smidgen of Hey I Wanted That interaction, it's also enormously satisfying just putting all these bits into place. Especially when you do one of those delicious Master Actions and pull off a zinger of a move. Or you can just build a tetronomic totem like Chris did. 

We then played 7 Wonders. Without the computer to move cards around for you and tell you what everything does, it wasn't quite the super-breezy ten minutes the online implementation is, but it was still pretty speedy and nice to be in the room. Paul suggested we could slide the tablecloth back and forth if we wanted to relive the BGA version, but we ended up focusing our energies on the game in the end, and I picked up a rare win.

Then Andrew arrived! We were now pushing the legal limits and feeling marginally bandity about it all, and felt like something silly, plumping for Cubitos, with it's seemingly simple dice-rolling system that still tied us all in knots - me especially, as I'd explained the rules wrong previously, had a correction from Joe, reread the rules, but still got confused, and ended with the worse case of rules sweats I've had in a while as I fretted over draw piles, active piles, discard piles and roll piles. I mean, that's at least one pile too many isn't it? 

Basically you roll shitloads of dice though: it's a deckbuilder in cube form. We all played cautiously except Paul, who kept going bust and was miles behind the rest of us, only to suddenly spring forward like a geometric hunting dog. As before, the sedate opening changes and before you know it everyone suddenly speeds up - my previous experiences and the fact I got a Rollosaurus meant I was first over the line.

Sam wins.

Others: DNF

Chris was keen to try out The Secret Adventures of the Old Hellfire Club and I was certainly amenable, although it meant a brief rules-read, we were off!

This is a Very Silly game. Mechanically-speaking, all you're doing is playing cards of suits on your turn and hoping nobody plays a lower card of the same suit - pushing your luck or banking them after a minimum of two. You get coins for high cards and coins for having the most of a suit at the end. But heaped on top of this basic-math, risk-reward thing is the story you're telling. Players are drunken patrons of the titular Victorian-age club and are retelling the great adventure they undertook to (for example, as we did) save the world from a scourge of invading aliens. The cards represent story elements, such as Person, Place, Weapon, Insult, Motive, and as you play the cards you integrate them into your retelling. But the higher cards are more fabulously boastful, exaggerating things, and the lower ones rather more run of the mill. At one point I recalled how we set our man o' war with all hands against the invaders, only for Paul to play a lower card, reminding me it was actually an Amazonian blowpipe. In that instance, my turn's over and Paul banks his card instead, and the turn moves on. 

I can imagine sitting next to us as we played this could be very irritating if you were, say, reading a book, or engaged in everyday conversation. Particularly with Chris and I releasing long-dormant acting aspirations, but I found it enormous fun and probably the highlight of the evening. It's perhaps the most group-dependent game I've ever encountered but there were some golden moments in it, like when we encountered Karl Marx outside Whitechapel and charged the aliens with art fraud. Discovering Andrew  was a Fart-catcher (5 Insult) will always stay with me. 

Although as he pointed out, isn't Disillusionment with Life (8 Peril) more of an everyday occurrence than an 8?

Andrew had time for one more game and it was High Society. This is still my (second) favourite Knizia, a miniature work of genius. Everyone was in with a shout right up until the end - except for Chris, who wasn't. My skin was saved though when Andrew took the last card...

Sam 15

Paul/Andrew 13 each

Chris - BUST

We tried to tempt Andrew to stay by setting up Raj, but he was resolute and returned to whence he had came (the A350) while Chris took us to the fackin' cleaners in Raj world: with no Martin to bid high against me on the mid-range stuff, I kept overpaying for everything and my last-round recovery wasn't enough to catch him. 

Chris 64

Sam 54

Paul 20

The witching hour was approaching so we blasted through Mountain Goats: a dice-chucking, point-collecting, goat-removing evening-ender!

....but it didn't actually end the evening because Paul was eager to play Project L again, so we did! This time I fared a bit better. You gotta take those Master Actions!

Marvellous stuff, well worth the trip while the place is open!