Mille Fruit Flies

 I arrived at Joe’s a little after eight, having already been told by WhatsApp about two games of Strike! (Ian won the first, Sam won the second) and then a score of 20 in Cross Clues.

There were six of us around the table once I’d sat down (Martin, Joe, Sam, Adam T, Ian and myself) with Katy expected at some vaguely defined time in the next forty minutes or so. We split into two groups: I had my first game of Mille Fiori with Joe and Martin. Adam, despite having brought a load of games, declared that he was in the mood for something new and so Sam and Ian introduced him to Gold West.

Gold West happened at the far end of the table so, apart from Sam killing three fruit flies (many of which danced around our drinks all night), I have little idea about the game. It was very close though.

Adam 97 + tie breaker

Sam 97

Ian 95

As for Mille Fiori, it was a smorgasbord of potential. Not so much a point salad, more a point kaleidoscope, and I had little idea about what to focus on. I was a permanent distant last and while I enjoyed it, I had little chance of challenging for first place against these experienced players.

Martin 204

Joe 198

Andrew 157

During this time Katy arrived and watched us finish off our respective games. Then the seven of us played Doodle Dash, a simple game of speed drawing according to a single-word clue randomly chosen from a card. Adam asked, just for clarification, exactly how many people here had an art background. But as it was, it was the non-artists who made the running in terms of grabbing the “first to finish” stick. Katy stated that, since she can’t draw, then it was the only option she had. Some of the “doodles” where hilarious, with Martin warning that one of his was “a little bit conceptual.”

One of Katy's offerings. Can't remember what it was meant to be

and, frankly, I have no way of guessing

Sam had the best drawings, but was only once quickest to finish (and then I couldn’t guess his drawing). Ian amazed us all by correctly guessing Martin’s “sandal” which looked more like a croissant to me. I just picked up points by waiting for the first two doodlers to fail, after which the guesser gets to see everyone’s drawings.

My rendition of "skipping". A success!

In the final round, Joe and Martin physically tussled for the “first to finish” stick, with Joe remarking afterwards that he’d actually been scratched. Joe’s nice white tabletop also didn’t do well, with ink smudges wherever we’d put our doodle-boards face down. Joe didn’t seem to bothered about it, while Sam went into full parent mode, wiping up as much of it as he could.

Two drawings, same word.

"Monorail"

Joe 10

Adam 7

Andrew 7

Sam 5

Martin 4

Katy 4

Ian 4

Then we split up again. Martin, Sam and Adam played Tiger and Dragon and, apparently, broke it. They played three rounds and the same strategy won each time. Then Adam left and Sam and Martin played Sea Salt and Paper.

Joe, Ian, Katy and myself played Break The Cube, a puzzle game in which you ask simple questions and try to guess what formation each player has secretly stacked their blocks in. We went around a few times, made a few guesses but began to forget what our initial clues had been.

“I suppose we should’ve used the pads,” said Joe, revealing the existence of some bespoke sheets of paper that we could’ve used to note down our information. We finish the game with no one guessing correctly.

At this point Ian and I left, while the remainers finished off with American Bookshop. Katy used to be so good at this…

Sam 21

Joe 20

Martin 17

Katy -20

Thanks all, it was a blast.

Games night of the living dead

 I arrived at 8, just in time to see the final stages of La Fiesta de los Muertos, the game of guessing identities according to clues based on clues based on clues. I was handed a card and asked to pair clue to personality as best I could. The scores (and this may as well be how I introduce everyone) were

Adam (H), Sam, Laura (hosting) 5

Joe, Ian, Katy 4

Me 3

Then we played 6nimmt (the zombie version). Once this would have been the big end-of-evening crescendo but, with so many of us leaving early these days, the only chance to play a large scale version is at the start of the evening.

It was a disaster. Maybe we weren’t drunk enough or maybe we've relied on Martin too much as an arranger/adjudicator but there were a few confusing moments when cards were played to the wrong row or in the wrong order. Katy told everyone that “it’s not so bad” when they picked up a row of five or ten points but then was appalled when she ended round one with 16 points. Joe spent most of round three trying to skim his cards across the table into the correct place, which never worked but he did go clear in that round so perhaps, in a way, it did.  He also tried to Faro Shuffle the entire deck in one go, threatening to give him hand cramps.

Finally, we stumbled to the end. Laura’s first ever game of 6nimmt was a brutal introduction.

Joe 11

Katy 27

Ian 32

Andrew 38

Adam 49

Sam 49

Laura 85

So we put that away with a firm resolve to not play it unless Martin was here, and decided on our next adventure. Katy was keen to continue the zombies theme with Hit Z Road, and she persuaded Laura, Joe and Ian into a jaunt across America. Sam, Adam and I revisited Gold West. This game hasn’t been seen since 2017 and, amazingly, the last time I played it, the other half of the table was hosting Hit Z Road as well!

Sam explained while Adam and I listened, but Adam clearly listened better as he sped off into an early lead. It was close, though, and at the end of round eight (out of twelve) I was in the lead by a single point. Adam went big on metal for cards, while Sam did a lot of looting, which is what you have to do if you don’t have the resources to build a settlement. I hoped for those end-of-game bonuses on having the most discs of each colour.

Adam 103

Andrew 94

Sam 80

But Hit Z Road was still in it’s final stages. Katy had long since died, like a character in a TV series who has to die early on otherwise the zombies just won’t seem threatening. Pity. She’d even lined up her meeples in single file, with her at the back.

I left before they reached the ocean but apparently it ended

Ian

Laura

Joe… all made it

Katy… will be remembered fondly

Then they played Skylo twice

Adam 4

Ian 16

Sam 22

Katy 23

Joe 24

Laura 35

And

Joe 13

Ian 14

Adam 15

Sam 18

Katy 27

Laura 31

Thanks all. See you next week.

The Discovery of Fingers

... by Europeans

Today Sam hosted a number of gamers (Joe, me, Katy, Ian and, making his leaderboard debut of the season, Chris) this week and, as you may have guessed the first game we played was Timeline (The Discovery of Fingers was Joe’s alternative title for the card that illustrated The Invention of Sign Language.)

This was the choice of Sam’s son, Little Joe, as a quick game for him before he went to bed. Despite his young years, he managed to win the game with only sneaking a peek (apparently) at a couple of the dates. He probably thought he had to after the first round when his father gave him the wrong advice about where to put a card.

Little Joe 0
Andrew 1
Katy 1
Ian 2
Joe 2
Sam 2

With Joe off to bed and Sam’s other son back from Ju Jitsu, so Sam went and did the dad thing and put them both to bed. The rest of us (now with late arrival Chris) played For Sale. Chris was given a quick precis of the rules and we were away. Among the usual banter (“You know where you are with a one”) were some new comments (“You’ve no idea where you are with a fifteen”) and, just like last week, Joe dealt out the wrong number of cards in the first auction round and no one noticed until half way through.

In the final reckoning, Katy came top.

Katy 58
Chris 54
Ian 51
Andrew 44
Joe 43

Then, with Sam back, we split into two groups of three. Joe, Chris and I went for the point-salady Euro-goodness of Gold West, while Katy, Ian and Sam went for Martin Wallace’s least Wallace-like game, Hit Z Road.

The hum of simultaneous rules explanations filled the air. When Joe explained how you get points for chaining your camps in a group, I wanted to say “It’s a bit Kingdom Builder-y,” but instead it came out “It’s a bit Killdem Bingery” and Chris looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.

The game itself was fine. A bit odd on first play and not very intuitive, with the mancala-like method of activating your pieces on your go, and also there's a wide variety of options available to confuse a newbie. Joe sped off into a massive early lead, leaving Chris and I feeling like we’d just been suckered into a game chosen by Joe just so he could win. He kept insisting that’d it would all be much closer in the final count but Chris and I were sceptical. And, it turned out, we were wrong to be. To be exact, Chris was wrong to be sceptical. I was bang on the money.

The worst episode of Wacky Races ever

Chris 98 plus most camps
Joe 98
Andrew 79

On the other half of the table, with it’s nightmarish vision of America gone crazy (insert political joke here) Sam, Katy and Ian seemed to be having a whale of a time. I noticed that Katy was a hoarder, keeping a healthy stash of resources in front of her. Sam, meanwhile, looked far less prepared and before long, he was a lone survivor, making his way through the landscape twitching at every shadow.

He almost made it, too. In one round he was attacked by twelve zombies, and had killed off eleven when the last one got past his valiant defence and killed him. The cry of anguish at that last roll was genuine and heart breaking. It could’ve been one of those stories you tell your grandkids. Instead, it got him last place as Ian and Katy both survived.

Ian 20
Katy 16
Sam 0

We actually ended at about the same time, so we ended the evening with two six-player games. Verflixxt/That’s Life was first, with some questions about whether Katy’s copy had any bits missing since there seemed to be only six clover tiles and we thought maybe there should be eight. Still, it was the same for everyone.

We were still baffled by the illustrations and we came up with the theory that maybe they illustrated German proverbs, for example “It’s like when you get a package in the post and it’s a live dog.” As for the game, Chris did splendidly picking up more than his fair share of clover tiles.

Chris 25
Sam 15
Katy 6
Ian 0
Joe –2
Andrew –11

Next up was Fuji Flush and what a game it was. For a start, we began by all playing a “2” and pushing through together, which would never be allowed to happen if Martin was here. As we chuckled happily in our moment of solidarity, I wondered out loud why we even bothered dealing out six cards.

Dick points were spread out pretty evenly, and soon four of us were on one card. Katy managed to push through her 19 just before Sam’s 20, giving her the win.

Or did it? That night, in a fitful sleep beset by doubts, Katy realised that Sam’s 20 should’ve wiped out her 19 (or 5, see comments) but she’d forgotten to discard. No one else noticed. But her guilt was too overwhelming, so she emailed us the next morning to explain her mistake and give the win to Sam. What a nice gesture and I hope Katy didn’t feel too bad about her honest mistake. After all, as they say in Germany, Es ist wie wenn du ein Paket in der Post bekommst und es ist ein Live-Hund.

Sam 0
Katy 1
Ian 1
Andrew 1
Joe 2
Chris 3

Thanks for hosting, Sam. And thanks to me, Katy and Joe for bringing snacks which were pretty much hoovered up the moment they hit the table.

It’s the penultimate week of the season, so no shenanigans for the Division. Just cold, hard numbers. Ian hangs onto the lead, with Katy and Joe within striking distance and Martin still with an outside chance. Adam's hold on Points Ratio is a bit slim, too.