Not so clover

It was a scarce night in terms of regulars - with many missing, we only made up a four at full count: Joe, Martin, Andy M and myself (Sam). Joe was first to arrive and we had a couple of games of the very brief and stupidly-named Pina Coladice. This is a Yahtzee-style dice-chucker where you get three rolls to claim territory on the board:

Each tile scores points, and you also get points for any tiles adjacent you occupy as well. The catch is that if you make any row/column/diagonal of four, you win instantly. I pulled this off twice, then Martin arrived and we had a couple of three-handers which he and Joe won. 

The notable takeaway for me was how much it encouraged us to cajole each other to, for example, 'stop Joe' when doing so would help one of us win. By now, Andy was here, and with four of us it seemed the perfect moment to go Bomb Busting.

We attempted the mission we'd failed last time. On this occasion I was assigned the rookie card, which meant if I made a mistake we'd be instantly blown into oblivion. Fortunately the guys cleared a risk-free path for me throughout, and I only had to take one gamble. Mission cleared! And for good measure, we did the next one as well, where the helpful equipment was hard to get hold of. It transpired that we didn't need it. Another bomb busted, despite some early-evening confusion over numbers.

Next up we tried the latest trick-taker with a twist: Prey. There are no trumps, it's a must-follow, and the goal is to win X number of tricks: how many that is is determined by dice rolls. The additional twist is that halfway through the twelve tricks everyone flips their cards upside-down, changing their value.

So more than one player can win a round, and hitting your target in any subsequent round wins you the game. Joe was victorious after he and Martin both hit their targets in round one and Joe and Andy (I think) were successful in round two. I bust out on both occasions. 

Next in our evening of tapas was Gambler x Gamble. I'd only played this once before, and Andy not at all, so Joe and Martin talked us through the intricacies, which are not many: it's largely a game of table-reading and trying to make sure our collective bid values match one of your payout cards. 

Andy and I did best here, maximising our 5-value payouts whilst on the other side of the table, Joe and Martin gnashed their teeth at the repeat failures of their 6 and 7 cards to do anything other than look flashy. I managed to get myself close to winning, but it wasn't as close as Andy, who hit the 15 coins mark to take his first victory of the evening. I don't know if there are second places. 

Andy had suggested Tiger & Dragon and I was more than amenable. After the numeracy shenanigans of Bomb Busters, we jumped the shark here as Joe, Andy and Martin all managed to take too many tiles at some point, quite an achievement for such a simple game. My idiocy didn't extend that far in Tiger & Dragon, but it was in the pipeline for later. 

Martin took round one with a 4 point haul, then I grabbed round two. I could have taken round three easily, but using a dragon for a single point. I gambled on a bigger win, and lost to Andy, who then won the next round as well to wrap up another triumph. The table seemed somewhat divided on this admittedly opaque game, but I love it. 

Andy - 10 points
Sam 6
Martin 4
Joe 0

We moved on to Gang of Dice! I can't remember why I took this photo, but obviously in context these numbers have incredible drama:

This was a two-horse race, as for half the game Martin and I didn't win a single round. Then, in the second half of the game, I continued not winning single rounds until on the last card I couldn't compete at all, having run out of dice entirely! Martin performed better, but it seemed like Joe and Andy shared the majority of wins. And it transpired that Joe won the bigger hauls, as his huge stack of chips attested, making even Andy's second place look feeble.

Joe 88
Andy 53
Martin 23
Sam 0

The four of us had played six games by now and it was late-ish, so we moved on to So Clover, where I had a cognitive catastrophe and gave four bad-to-awful clues, the worst of which was probably Honeydew for cabbage/size. The first attempt to solve it was a write-off, and the second came back with an ignominious 1. How embarrassing! 

I'm blaming Gang of Dice. Collectively we scored an unimpressive 17/24 and I felt responsible. We went again, and my clover got a redemptive six, though I was still traumatised enough to forget photography at this point. This was a slightly better haul overall, with 19/24 instead. I wish I could remember some of the clues, but that was it for the evening. 

Getting back into orbit

 I arrived at Sam’s to find Ian, Sam, Martin and Adam H having just finished their second game of Strike! This dice rolling arena game has been a firm favourite for the past few weeks, but I’ve yet to have a single game.

Joe also arrived shortly after me and, with all six expected participants, we began a game of Swat. This was new to Adam, and he was given a rules refresher. Five of us sat around with one hand face down on the table like a nervous seance while the sixth one dealt out the cards. When we were happy with what we’d seen, we’d slap the cardboard rectangle and make our claim. At one point me, Joe and Martin swatted just as a negative card was revealed and suddenly we were all very gentlemanly in our insistence that we can’t have been the quickest. I got zero in round one and never recovered. Joe was in the lead from round one and never looked back.

Joe 73

Martin 59

Ian 53

Adam 48

Sam 45

Andrew 31

Then Katy texted to say she’d be here at nine o’clock, which meant we had enough time for a game of So Clover. But what a vexatious game it was. After Joe went clear, we failed on Sam’s with a difficult decoy. Martin went clear despite using “formicarium” as a clue and then I failed miserably with a difficult clover, unwittingly two of my clues, “stink” and “fishy” overlapped, and on top of that a third clue “Pi” was a reference to Life of Pi (Circus/Raft) but only made sense if you’d got the other three clues first. Katy arrived mid-game and she was the first to mention the film. Ian and Adam also failed, despite Adam’s lovely clue of “Tarot” for “essence/forecast”.

24 out of 36

Then Katy arrived and we split into two groups. Ian, Adam and I went for Orbit while Martin, Joe, Sam and Katy played Gambler x Gamble! It seemed to go by very fast, with Joe reaching 14 coins in double quick time. Then the next time I looked, they were all in a position to come first, with Joe winning thanks to his instant win 4 gambler paying out.

Then they played Tiger & Dragon.

Martin 10

Joe 6

Katy 3

Sam 0

And Trendy

Sam 38

Katy 36

Joe 35

Martin 35

And finished off with three more games of Strike, with Katy, Joe and Martin winning one game each.

As for Orbit, I was Japan, Ian was China and Adam chose Russia (although he rejected their black pieces for his usual yellow). I was a bit rusty (like my spaceships, lol) on the rules but it was fine once we got going. 

As always, start with the planets in the astronomically correct place

I stayed entirely inside the asteroid belt for the whole game while Ian and Adam zipped around the solar system willy nilly. Adam quickly levelled up his feul and points statistics to great effect, while Ian slipped back to third after some drawing unlucky mission cards.

Adam 47

Andrew 23

Ian 21

And then, we were done. For once, with no work tomorrow, I stayed until the end. Orbit might have been a brave choice at nine in the evening, but I was in the mood for something more Euro-y so I was happy. Maybe one day I’ll play Strike.

Everything’s better with chips

I arrived bright and early this week, but still late enough to miss two games of Strike. Martin ended the second one in fine style with twice as many dice as he started.

Laura was expected soon, so we split into two groups. Adam H, Sam and Katy played the excitingly-titled Little Town which Martin said was “quite good, considering it’s a worker placement game.” Joe (hosting), Martin and myself played a short game of Narabi.

It’s an odd game, a co-op in which we have to arrange the numbered stones in front of us in ascending or descending order. Each of us had four cards in front of us and each card had a rule restricting how it could move on the back that only we could read but couldn’t discuss with the other players. If the game was supposed to evoke a sense of zen calm, then it succeeded. Maybe I was just tired, but it seemed to drift past quite serenely. We completed it after using only half the number of turns allotted to us.

Then Laura arrived and we changed from tranquil teamwork to mind-reading rivals in Gambler x Gamble! This Japanese game is hard to find, or at least it was until Joe picked it up this week for £12. Laura was introduced to the game but maybe Joe should’ve listening in too. At one point, when making a secret bid, he put his card face up and declared “Zero” which was either an audacious bluff or he’d forgotten the rules.

This time we did away with the game’s tiny plastic chips in favour of Joe’s genuine poker chips. This gave rise to someone uttering the title for this blog post. It was also ironic because, apart from some chocolatey biscuits that Katy handed round, no one brought any snacks at all.

As for Gambler x Gamble!, I won again. It was my turn and I needed any of my three gamblers, 2, 3 or 6, to pay out and then I’d hit the winning score of 15. Meanwhile, Martin had the instawin 4 card in front of him, so I needed to be careful. I can’t actually remember what I did, but it was brilliant and I ended up with 17 points for the win.

As for Little Town, all I know is that whenever I looked over, Adam seemed to picking up the last cubes of a particular resource.

Sam 56

Adam 51

Katy 49

Next we played Schrille Stille, a game “like no other,” promised Joe. It was six-player so Joe and Sam teamed up for this crazy game of music industry mayhem. In the game, we have to influence and also predict the Top 14 of a chart full of fictional artists, with each of us representing a record label. Our votes were given using a large cardboard CD which looked more like a rotary dial on an old telephone. Little wooden disks would be put into the little round holes and then those disks would be dropped into a contraption which could then release everyone’s disks for one particular artist at a time.

It’s all very clever from an engineering perspective, although at one point it did feel like every rule came with its own bespoke piece of equipment. And with six people voting for artists to rise or fall, it was hard to feel like you had any influence in the game. After round one, for example, I was miles in the lead and no one was more surprised than me.

But, like Stock, Aitken and Waterman all rolled into one, my star fell as quickly as it had risen. By round three, Martin was level with me and I scored only two points in the final round as Martin went past the 50 point mark that we’d set as the finishing line.

Laura had to leave mid-game so Sam left his partnership with Joe to take over her ailing record label and he oversaw a swift increase in revenue, taking it from last to second in the final round. Adam didn’t seem to like it and I’m inclined to agree. I had fun, but it was more of an activity than a game.

Martin 52

Laura/Sam 41

Joe/Sam 40

Katy 40

Andrew 37

Adam 32

Next we played So Clover as a nice warm down for those of us eyeing the clock. Sam and I went clear, with my clover being solved so quickly that I was actually a little disappointed. Martin also went clear, albeit after he was obliged to give us a clue. Katy took issue with “fireman,” insisting it should be “firefighter” and she even erased it until Martin objected, saying there was a reason for specifying gender. This led us to the word “big” as one of the correct answers, which I don’t think we’d have otherwise got.

The fastest ever clover?

I think we were wrong on Katy’s but then we somehow navigated Adam’s clover with the clue “Colonel” written on it. Eventually we settled for “Mustard/Pigeon” although we couldn’t think of a reason for Pigeon. Adam admitted afterwards that he couldn’t think of a clue for both words, so he just clued “Mustard” and hoped for the best.

Finally was Joe’s clover in which we got three tiles wrong. This was all the more appalling because we’d had it correct earlier on. The problem clue was “Sam” which we initially paired with “Root/Bike” because he likes the game Root and he rides a bike. But then someone noticed “screen/right” and that worked too because he’s a screenwriter. So we rearranged the tiles and sat back, anticipating congratulations, only to receive opprobrium instead. We went back to our earlier guess and finally got it right.

At first, everyone but Joe and Martin were making moves to leave, but in the end Katy was tempted by one last game of Piece o' Cake. Best decision she made all evening.

Katy 44

Martin 33

Joe 31

Thanks all for a special evening. Same time next week.

Gamers x Games!

 I walked into Steve and Anja’s house a little after eight to find myself immediately thrown into the opening round of 6nimmt. I’d been dealt in and, if I’d remained absence, would’ve gone Dirk until my arrival.  Before then, they (Anja, Adam H, Luther, Sam, Joe, Martin and Ian) had played Strike, which Adam had won.

As for 6nimmt, I thought I’d done okay in round one until I added up my points and found myself ten points adrift in last place, while Joe was the early leader. At the end of the second round (of three) the scores we surprisingly close, with a cluster of players behind new leader Adam on 24, 26, 29, 30, 30, 31, 32.

In the final round, Luther said his heart was beating fast. It was his first game at 6nimmt, I think, and we made sure to explain that the cards were mean to everyone, not just him. We needn’t have worried. While Ian collapsed, Luther went clear and he and I grabbed an unlikely win.

Luther 32

Andrew 32

Joe 34

Anja 37

Martin 42

Sam 43

Adam 45

Ian 64

Then we split into two groups. Sam, Anja, Adam and the newly arrived Steve played Tiger and Dragon, a Japanese game I still know nothing about apart from it having nice pieces.

Martin, Ian, Joe and I played a new Japanese game, Gambler x Gamble! In this simple yet cunning game, one player plays a numbered tile face up and the other three play theirs face down. Then all the numbers are revealed and added up. The trick is to guess/influence/predict that this total matches one of the gambler cards in front of you. If so, then that gambler pays out. More gamblers can be bought in order to increase your opportunities of winning and they can also be flipped to super mode, where they can win you more. First to 15 coins wins.

Easy, except if no gambler pays out, then that’s a Gambler’s Fumble and the chip leader(s) have to pay half of their money, rounded up, into a special fund which may be redistributed later. This means you don’t want to be in the lead for too long.

I won with a piece of deduction that I’m rather proud of. I wanted my 6 to pay out, Joe had a 9 and Martin’s and Ian’s highest was both 5. I began with a face up 2 and the other three put theirs face down. I was sure Joe would go high, trying to hit his nine, while Ian and Martin would do the opposite. I guessed Joe would play a 3 and the other two both zeroes. Therefore I paid a coin to adjust the total up by one.

I was right! My six gambler paid out, and I hit 15 coins for the win! I was so excited that I forgot to note down the other players scores.

While they finished off T&D, we sped through a game of Trendy, which is basically the game Whale Riders: The Card Game was based on (and was, itself, based on something else). Midway through the game, Martin put down a 3 card when Anja, across the room and still playing T&D, said “three”. We were surprised at such psychic ability and, keen to see if it continued, I put down a card: a 4. “Five,” said Adam. The moment was ruined.

We played twice

Martin 31

Andrew 28

Ian 16

Joe 14

And then

Joe 43

Andrew 42

Martin 34

Ian 32

As for Tiger And Dragon, Sam won one game and Adam won twice.

Then we reshuffled a little. Steve explained that their games collection is loosely divided into two groups: games that Steve usually wins and games that Anja usually wins. Amazingly, Thurn and Taxis was brought out at this late hour (almost ten o’clock) and Anja, Sam, Joe and Adam sat down to play. I preferred something lighter, so I joined Martin, Steve and Ian for a game of Piece o' Cake.

In this game an 11-segment pie/cake or various flavours is split into four by one player. The others take turns choosing a piece and then the splitting player takes what’s last.  Each flavour has a value that you’ll score if you have the most or join most of that flavour. Otherwise you can “eat” you cake/pie immediately and score a point per blob of cream on the slice.

The start of the game was postponed after Martin spilled a little beer on the game. Despite being a small amount of liquid, it somehow managed to get on every single piece.

Ian went big on Chocolate cake, with it’s 11-point value. He collected four early on, which seems like a loss since they had three blobs of cream each and could’ve been eaten for 12 points, but it certainly rendered everyone else’s chocolate cake valueless. I, on the other hand, went for lower scoring pieces and ate the rest. It was lovely.

Andrew 35

Steve 34

Martin 32

Ian 24

I left at this point, and Martin, Steve and Ian played Strike three times. Martin won twice but, when he emailed me, he couldn’t remember who won the third. Then they played High Score

Martin 17

Ian 13

Steve 11

As for late night game of Thurn and Taxis, I got a message from Sam at half past eleven with a photo and the scores.

Adam 26

Joe 15

Sam 11

Anja 3

Thanks for hosting Steve and Anja. See you all next week.