A series of unconnected events

Gamers gathered in Fishponds on a balmy April evening. Joe, Martin and I (Adam) arrived to find Steve and Anja engaged in emergency plumbing, so we introduced the kids to gambling with a quick game of Hot Streak. 

In Hot Streak players make two bets on which of four mascots will win each race or on a weird side bet (two mascots will be sprawled on the ground at the same time, one will fall off the track, etc). We got to see some of the cards to be used at the start of the game which seemed pretty good for Hurley (the hot dog). Then over each of three races we added one card of our own to spice up the race deck and the comedy began. 

In amongst the swerving and tumbling Hurley won every race, which left me confident as I'd backed him every time, but Joe's smart side-bets nudged him into second and Martin's risky play (you get extra reward for first place if you flip the betting slip to the "risky" side) galloped him to victory. 

Martin 62
Joe 59
Adam 57
Lennon 33
Louie 22

Steve and Anja (having defeated the toilet) arrived in time for a 7-player game of Just One. The game was a hive of cheating and treachery, notable for Louie and Lennon conspiring to put complimentary words into the mix. We only played 7 rounds, but somehow got a perfect score.

Anja took Lennon off to bed now and the rest of us turned to No Thanks. In spite of never knowing when it was his turn Steve put together a nice run and trounced us, not far from a positive score!

Steve -15
Adam -39
Louie -43
Martin -55
Joe -57

Anja returned and Louie reluctantly bade us goodnight as Whale Riders was set up. Molly the cat sulked on one end of the table (disappointed at the lack of real fish?) as the rest of us were distracted by Steve's choices of background music. Whale song gave way to Inuit throat singing and then on to whaling sea shanties - not really the vibe of the game at all. 

Joe was least distracted, managing to fulfill three contracts in one go and never really looking back. 

Joe 21
Adam 19 + more money
Martin 19
Steve 15
Anja 13

As we tried to decide on the next game Steve showed off his new glasses.

 

Bluffit was selected as a quickie which everyone had played before, but the rules seemed baffling to everyone, even Martin as he attempted to explain them. Everyone started with an identical hand from 1-10, then hidden bids and theft ensued as we competed for the previous hand's cards throughout the game.

Joe and Anja's bitter feud didn't work out for them. My strategy of only bluffing occasionally did.

Adam 65
Steve 50
Martin 49
Anja 42
Joe 35

We finished as ever with So Clover, notable for Anja's "Cruise" for Cocktail Demon and Joe's "78" for Attic Record. I was Portabelloed when Chameleon snuck into my "Camouflage" for Landscape Uniform and we only got 24/30. But we didn't mind because we'd all had a lovely evening.

My favourite things and my favourite people

 I arrived at Sam’s late and walked into the kitchen, my eyes fixed on the table that was already hosting a four-player game between Sam, Ian, Andy B and Martin. So focused was I on the games that I didn’t notice Sam’s new fitted kitchen until Katy pointed it out when she arrived about fifteen minutes later.

The main reason I seemed unable to take in my surroundings was a game of Jumbo. Despite having played before, I certainly struggled to remember anything resembling a strategy. Andy B won as he put down four of a kind that couldn’t be beaten and then his last two cards was a pair.

Katy arrived during the game and my eyes were opened to the existence of new cupboards. Katy also tried to remember a game with stones that I owned that was really relaxing. I couldn’t think of what it might be except Fishy Pete or Go and Katy seemed sure it wasn’t either of those. The mystery continues.

But putting mis or half remembered games to one side,  our next game was Baranoxx which is like 6nimmt but different. In this game, it is the colour of a cow head that determines where a card can be placed. If there are six cards in a row or six cow heads of a particular colour, then you have to pick up. 

It feels a lot like 6nimmt in that you find your carefully considered plans torn to shreds by grim luck. Martin, however, found himself on the wrong end of some events and complained that it wasn’t as strategic as 6nimmt. I, having picked up only one row, disagreed. I won my first attempt whereas Andy got hit by a nasty case of Explainer’s Curse.

Andrew 8

Sam 13

Ian 33

Martin 36

Katy 37

Andy 50

Next up was another six-player. It seems like there was no mood to split into smaller groups this evening. The next game was Bluffit, a game in which everyone has a deck of cards valued 1-10 and they use those to pick up cards on display in the middle. Play a card from your hand face down and then take the card from the middle. Couldn’t be simpler. But someone may suspect that the card they’ve put face down in front of them and they can challenge. The two players secretly compare and whoever wins takes the card. But the hidden cards are never revealed. At the end of the round, though, the hidden cards are shuffled and revealed as the next round’s cards to obtain.

It was quite tense,as you’d expect. No one was really sure what was going on, but in a good way. Interestingly, while big value cards were the source of a lot of challenges, Andy B was quietly building up a stack of cards by always picking middle value cards.

Andy 56

Ian 53

Katy 49

Andrew 48

Sam 47

Martin 36

At this point Andy left us and so, as a quintet, it made sense to continue with some communal gaming.

Next up was My Favourite Things. A trick-taker in the loosest sense of the word, it mixes Fun Facts with whist to curious effect. Each player gets six blank cards (1-5 and a dud) and a topic from the person next to them. They then fill in those blank cards with their top five of that topic plus one example that they can’t abide. Then, those cards go back to the person who suggested the topic.

The twist is, you can’t see what value each card has. Only the person who wrote on the cards knows which is which. So you might choose trees as a topic and think your friend would definitely put Oak as the strongest, only to discover after you’ve played it that actually oaks are just sort of middling to fine.

How well do we know each other? It varied. Ian and I stuck with Martin’s stereotype and over two rounds we gave him “Boardgames” and “Physicists” as topics, leading him to insist that there’s more to him than that. I gave Sam “Everton players since 1990” and he gave me “friends from Maidstone” leaning heavily on our lengthy friendship.

Part of the fun, though, is seeing disparate entities facing off in a trick-taking arena. Want to see Marie Curie battle against the colour green and Stevenage Railway Station? Now’s your chance.

Also worth noting is the entirely unnecessary starter player token which was real metal and heavier than my phone.

Katy 3

Sam 3

Martin 2

Andrew 1

Ian 1

It was a lot of fun and very silly. But after that, I set off home. I rely on Sam’s late night messages to let me know what I missed, including the fact that Ian won two games of 13 Leaves before I arrived.

Afterwards they played Llama Llama in which either Sam or Martin won - recollection is cloudy at this point. Then the by no traditional night cap of So Clover was brought out for two games, resulting in 20/24 and a collapse of England at the Ashes proportions: 13/24.

Thanks all. Hope to see you soon.

ChameleAnja

Please welcome Pete to blogging duties! This is last week's report, 25th November) 

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Tuesday approached as it usually does, and Steve enquired if anyone would be up for Fishponds games.

He emphasised games based *in* Fishponds, and not based *on* Fishponds, so I (Pete) was relieved to find that plenty of other gamers weren't put off by this, and eventually by confirmation  that wellies were not required.

Joe, Martin, Sam, Adam and Katy began by playing Mü, only briefly pausing to debate whether the title was a cat-noise or a cow-noise.

Joe advises Martin was leading, but they called it early after two rounds with Sam feeling increasingly exhausted/unwell and kindly dropped home by Joe. Perhaps there will be a rematch this week? (and it might even be reported more promptly! 😆)

At the other end Steve, Anja, Louis and I deliberated a little more. I was tempted by Broom Service but we decided it would probably be a bit long. Steve suggested Magic Maze, but expressed concern that Anja would not take to a silent co-op. Anja was speechless. Whether this was indignation, practice or demonstration, we elected to play Chameleon instead.

For a rulebook of two A6 pages Steve & I found this surprisingly unintuitive at first, though he had the excuse of being without glasses and well and truly blocked into a corner by the throng of gamers.

Once these were obtained we got into it quickly- all but one player (the titular Chameleon) are let in on a secret word from a list, then all have to give a clue to it, before voting on who the Chameleon is. The Chameleon has to either conceal their identity fully, or has an out if they are caught but can guess the secret word (hence those in the know can't be too precise).

Pretty tough on the Chameleon if they are going first and have no clue whatsoever, but it seems with a bit of luck, vagueness and sowing doubt the Chameleons did pretty well. When I say Chameleons, I mostly mean Anja! Even when caught once she escaped.

From being unsure if it would work, I enjoyed this, I think having that bit more structure makes it a bit less fragile than more freeform similar games like Spyfall and something else I've forgotten. I even escaped once, mainly because I could frame Steve as his chosen word turned out to be suspiciously similar to mine...

We elected to wrap up at the same time as the others, with Anja leading on 3, myself on 2 and Louie and Steve tied on 0.

Thinking about it, I don't believe we successfully captured a single Chameleon- interesting! Would be good to go a few more rounds and see how common that is, and how it would turn out with everyone getting a go.

While Joe was gone and with Sam and Louie departed for the evening the rest of us all played Martin's Bluffit.

This prompted Steve to enquire just how many games Martin owns that consist largely of decks of cards with numbers on them. It certainly seems to be a rich design space - I suspect it would take us quite some time to play through them all. Guesses in the comments? 😜

In this one we were starting with identical hands to bid for a row of cards in the middle, or perhaps to secretly compare with another player to try and steal their claim. And then repeating again to compete for the cards we'd just bid with.

I can't remember if Joe returned in time to witness a dramatic finale with Martin stealing a card to sneak ahead of Anja, only to discover that Steve was still slightly ahead.

We then split again to create a Doppelkniziatisch.

Martin, Joe and Anja made coloured glass in Mille Fiori, which I don't know and only caught a few glimpses of. It appeared Martin had the corner of the board nearest him tiled / glazed / whatevered pretty much entirely green. This appears to have been quite successful:

Martin 225

Anja 204

Joe 192

Meanwhile Adam, Katy, Steve and I launched cats into space by rolling dice in M:LEM, while Molly investigated the box for spaceship potential.

We didn't necessarily get that far into space- Katy definitely dominated the first planet; other cats did make it further, but none to deep space.

I think I got the ship closest, but then I was following a previously trodden path in a new game; take risks early on while figuring out how it works, then take more risks to try and catch up. I was relieved that cats lost to space return to your pool of possible recruits, though feeling thematically a little perplexed. I was glad Molly was much more interested in the box than the fate of spacefaring cats.

Adam's cats fared much better, and I think he surprised us (well, at least Katy and I) a little with how fast he had all his cats successfully disembarked to triggered the game end. However, Steve had again scored slightly higher.

Steve 26

Adam 22

Katy 21

Pete 12

Despite some muttering about heading home we elected to sneak one round of So Clover! We flew out of the blocks with Joe's clover solved correctly in about 30 seconds. The group did a good job with mine as well, but from a start of 12/12 we then came a bit unstuck, despite a willing feline helper.

Birdshit for pigeon/award was inspired, and I very much liked Rapunzel for hair/building. Boxing/landscape was indeed a tricky one though..

I don't think the overall score was that bad that we should have deliberately forgotten it, but it seems possible- can anyone dredge it up from their memory?

Thanks again all and especially our hosts for another great evening of gaming 🙂

Something borrowed

After a few weeks away, Adam T arrived at my house (Sam's) early enough last night for a catch-up and a best-of-three face off over Toy Battle. I won the first, but he took the next two as Katy ducked out of the rain in time to witness the finale, and remarked that if she hadn't played it already, she'd like to.

Ian and Martin followed, and we had a one-round blast of Jam (or JamSumo) whilst we waited for Joe. This was notable for the serial yipping of Martin and I and the slightly less tentative blasting habits of Ian. Joe came in time to see Katy take the laurels, with Adam T's jam all full of unwanted pips.

Katy 0

Martin 3

Ian 4

Sam 9

Adam T 18

Martin waved one of his new games, Bluffit, around saying it would be good for five (or just good, I can't remember now) and everyone was amenable. In this game, everyone has a hand of cards numbered 1-10 and we are bidding with them for one of a bunch of cards on the table, each taking one of the face-up cards for ourselves. 

The catch is that the bids are face-down, so it can be a bit of a gamble: and if you think you've got a higher bid than someone else, you can take the face-up card they took from them instead. This triggers a Love Letter style secret comparison of values (challenger wins ties) and whoever loses gets nothing that round. After ten rounds, all your previously-won cards are now both your score and your bidding hand:  there's an eleventh round where whatever you get with your last bid will become points. 

Both Adam and Martin forewent easy points in favour of stealing from someone - or trying to. Katy was in feisty mode and when Big T said he'd been up since six she pooh-poohed the concept of sympathy in favour of scathing indifference. I tried an extravagant last round bluff and failed. Martin was best Bluffiter.

Martin 61

Katy 55

Ian 43

Sam 42

Joe 41

Adam 36

As things concluded we got a phone call and a - related - late addition! Adam H could suddenly join us after all. Martin proffered another recent addition in boat-moving cube-flicking Cairo, and Katy and Ian joined him. We decided Adam H would probably rather join the non-flicking group and went to peruse the Alcove of Joy, settling on Istanbul. With impeccable timing, Adam H arrived just as I finished teaching the rules to Big T. Fortunately most of it was fresh in his memory, and it was more fun - I think - than the story these baffled expressions tell. 

Cairo has a lowly rating on our favourite website, but you wouldn't have guessed it from the shrieking and laughter. In comparison our fun was slightly more inscrutable, as we ducked and dived around the titular city and struck deals with the governor and smuggler. Big T pointed out that as all the smuggler is doing is trading the same goods with you as you get at the markets, you could argue he's just another trader, maybe trying to shake off an unmerited reputation. Meantime in the other ancient city, Martin had triumphed by replicating Katy's score in Bluffit. Katy had got Ian's Bluffit score and, perhaps wanting to be different, Ian scored half of Adam's:

Martin 55

Katy 43

Ian 18

They broke out Biblios. I missed most of this action but I did hear some shit-eating going on, and it wasn't making Katy grin.

Ian at one point seemed on the verge of fury, but he clearly recovered from whatever had enraged him - sitting with Katy and Martin, it could have been anything - to snag a tied second place. Katy was now Ms Doctor Biblios:

Katy 5

Martin and Ian 4

Was there a tie-breaker? I'm not sure. They began playing Farm Hand, and the air continued to be thick with insults and the uproarious guffawing of Martin, who loves a trick-taker anyway, so if you add manure he's only going to like it more.

As Istanbul got tense, with Adam and I poised on 4 gems and Joe and Big T on three. Adam couldn't remember if he'd bought a bit of jewellery or not. Joe - who was very tired - and I thought he had, and Adam admitted he'd been drinking before he came here. Who to trust? The exhausted guy, the drunk guy, or the one who remembers everything incorrectly, if at all? Speaking of which I don't actually recall what we decided now. I went to the Black Market, had an extremely spawny roll and ended the game:

Sam 5 gems

Adam H 4 gems

Adam T 3 gems, lots of cash

Joe 3 gems, not much cash at all

Farm Hand ended around the same time, with Martin back on top:

Martin 11

Katy 8

Ian 0

Big T was mumbling about leaving so we tempted him to stay with chocolate - which he turned down - and Wriggle Roulette. It was Katy's turn to be angry now, about not being offered chocolate. Sorry Katy. 

This was as stupidly fun as previous plays, with people accidentally busting themselves - too many eels/snakes - or cashing out when there were still eels to be had. Adam H ended the game with 26 eels, but Martin and I stayed in and pushed our luck. I banked at 27, with Martin back on 22. One by one, he kept drawing eels, despite being as I pointed out "the least deserving person in the room". 

Martin 28

Sam 27

Adam H 26

Ian 17

Adam T 11

Katy and Joe 7 each

We now did lose Adam T, and with Other Adam also ruminating on his bedtime quickly set up So Clover. This was a near-triumph, with Adam H's clover semi-portobelloed when the word alcohol appeared on the red herring card. With one of his clues as 'drink' we plumped for it (it was mouth instead). 

Adam and Joe now went home but, fortified by whisky, the remaining trio played Martin's third new game of the night: Jungo. This is a Scout-esque card-shedder where first to empty their hand wins a round, and winning two rounds win you the game. 

As with Scout, you can't rearrange your hand at all and can play escalating sets - although only matching numbers, no runs. If you can't or don't want to play, you can draw from the deck and either discard or slot it anywhere into your hand. If you do play, you can either discard the set (or single) you just beat, or add that to your hand. There's a fair bit of luck in what good stuff/crap you begin with, but enough manipulation involved that it's not devoid of decisions. 

I won the first game in two rounds, and then Ian took the second in the same manner if I recall correctly. We downed the last of our whiskies and called it a night. A nice mix of old and new games, one borrowed (JamSumo) and all the players supplying the blue.