Money, money, money

Tuesday evening, and as the clouds slid across the full moon in a school-exercise-book-blue sky, six eager gamers congregated at Joe’s place for their weekly fix. Tonight’s leaderboard games all had a strong money theme to them, hence the blog title.

But first, we were all suitably impressed by Joe’s very own bespoke GNN money, for use in games that can only manage cheap plastic tokens. Very nice they are too.

Apart from Joe, we included Ben, Ian, Martin, Adam, and myself. But at the start, Adam was absent and not expected for another half an hour. We banged out a game of Reiner Knizia’s Money: a set collecting game of foreign currency. This is a typically clever game of balancing risk and reward.

It’s hard to describe quickly, but for the most part, players are bidding for one group out of two sets of four cards/money in the middle of the table. They bid with cards/money in their hands, and the person who put down the highest value of money/cards shown gets first pick. But (and this is the clever bit) they might chose another set of cards used as a bid by another player, if those cards make a set in his hand.

This means that one the one hand, you’re trying to gauge how much to bid on a particular hand, but you also don’t want to give away certain cards and then again might be keen to get rid of other cards. It’s all very clever.

At the end, you score points for collecting over 100 of any denomination, or points for collecting all three 30s or 20s in a particular denomination. Ben and Joe managed to collect ALL cards of a certain currency. Well done them.

Joe 550
Ben 530
Martin 400
Andrew 370
Ian 200

Then Adam arrived, exactly when he said he would, and with six players and no Sam we got out I’m The Boss. This game of wheeler-dealering and annoying interruptions from the other players is a rarity on GNN, but always a noteworthy event when it happens. Joe kindly brought out his shuffling machine to help with recycling the discard pile, and very convenient it was, too. Mostly.

This time, amongst all the fraught negotiations, the most notable event was the infinite Wadsworths: where Adam played a card representing the Wadsworth family and no matter how many “Wadsworth on holiday” cards Ian played, Adam always seemed to have one more Wadsworth card left.

Also noteworthy is how long the random end of the game lasts. Usually, it is decided by the roll of a die once a game reaches a certain point, but for some reason the die didn’t want to play ball and the game kept going for several rounds longer than expected. Martin was appalled as he saw his strong position weakened as deals were made when he could barely participate. It helped me, though, as I was able to take advantage of the general lack of cards and wrap up a couple of last minute deals to push me out of what I suspect was a miserable last place. None of this could distract from genial Joe’s negotiation skills.

Joe $54m
Adam $49m
Ben $36m
Andrew $35m
Martin $29m
Ian $26m

Then we broke out a bit of Team Play, the only non-leaderboard game of the evening. No one swapped seats, so it was Ben and Ian versus Martin and Andrew versus Joe and Adam. Martin and I got off to a slow start thanks to my frustration over trying to get a full house. Before we knew it we were 7-7-5 mission cards behind. But then, thanks to a bit of luck (or because of some great TEAM PLAY!) Martin was able to clear two mission cards in one go and before we knew it, he triggered the end of the game.

Andrew & Martin 29
Joe & Adam 27
Ben & Ian 26

Then it was back to the leaderboard for a final game of For Sale. This canny game of bid then re-bid is always welcome at GNN, and the more (up to six) the merrier.

The bidding for houses was monopolized early on by Adam until he ran out of money. I saved money by ducking out of a bun-fight for middling cards by picking up a one card for nothing. And, as Joe says, you know where you are with a one, so it’s not such a bad deal.

In the end I won, although I must sort of apologise to Martin: it took me so long to count up my winnings that he thought he’d won.

Andrew 55,000
Martin 50,000
Ian 49,000
Ben 39,000
Adam 32,000
Joe 30,000

A satisfying end to an evening. It was still semi-early, but an offer of another game was turned down by three players with babies/buses to deal with. And so it ended there. Another glowing chapter in GNN history comes to a close.

Happy Talk

For the third week on a row, Joe hosted Games Night. There were six in attendance, which made me worry we might end up playing Quartermaster General again. But we didn't. We began with Kobayakawa, the simple betting game. I played a cunning game. At least I thought it was. Everyone else seemed to find it funny. I wouldn't look at a new card, because I didn't want to give other players information as to what cards had been discarded. As it was, it didn't work at all, as I lost every bet until the last round when I won! The winnings from that were enough to send me from last into first!

Andrew 9
Ian 5
Martin 5
Joe 5
Matt 4
Katy 4

So what next? Interestingly, I don't remember much talk about us splitting into two groups of three. Instead we (Joe, Martin, Matt, Ian, Katy and myself) decided that six players without Sam meant only one thing: I'm The Boss.

This game of luck-based negotiation is a rare sight at GNN due to Sam's lack of love for the game. It was new to Katy, Matt and Ian so they were easily swayed by us three experienced hands.

I hadn't played in a while, and I'd forgotten how emotionally exhausting it was. After successfully closing a deal, I couldn't bring myself to join in with the next, not because I had fewer cards, but because I needed a rest. In fact, at the end of the game Ian remarked that if that's what businessmen do all day, then fair play to them, they deserve their inflated wages and stupid bonuses.

Martin went through the whole game insisting he always comes last in I'm The Boss. He was right again! Katy won it by closing out a deal that got her $21m. This was enough to send her from last place into first! Another last minute dash for victory that paid off! (the scores below are in millions of dollars)

Katy 34
Ian 30
Matt 26
Joe 23
Andrew 22
Martin 19

After this, we all wanted something relaxing. Igloo Pop was suggested but even that was considered to fraught for our nerves. Joe suggested Mysterium, the co-op game of crime solving. Described by Joe as a cross between Dixit and Cluedo, it involved a ghost (Joe) giving out clues in the form of seven Dixit-esque cards. From these, we had to identify five suspects out of an initial eight, and five potential location and murder weapons. Once we'd done that, we then had to deduce the actual killer from three more cards. And we only had seven rounds in which to do it.

Some of the clues were hard to get. Joe kept giving Katy cards that had little in common, except for having a woman in them. But none of the locations had women in them. We got it eventually, and after the game ended and Joe could speak again, he pointed out a tiny painting in one room that had a woman in it.

Anyway, despite all that, we managed it. Victory for us all! It was the teacher in the cellar with a clock. A heinous crime. You have to really hate someone to kill them with a clock!

We followed this up with some more non-leaderboard shenanigans: Spyfall! Martin was initially skeptical, but we convinced him. Or rather we set up the game in front of him while we assured him of the lack of shouty arguing that he was expecting.

Instead it was all about cleverly worded questions, trying to disguise the nature of the location enough to confuse the spy. We played four rounds. Ian and I both won as spies, Joe was outed as a spy, and Ian failed to identify our secret location (a circus tent). Martin did enjoy it. We knew his conversion was complete when he began the game grumbling that he was bound to be the spy because he always is, and he ended the game saying that he’d wished he’d been a spy.

We ended the evening with Martin remarking on what a conversational bunch of games we'd played. A very convivial evening. On the division, I think Katy has this all wrapped up with one week until the end of the season.

I'm the Boss. And I'm Fired.

Various calendar-based shenanigans meant Games Night was moved to Monday this week, and while waiting for Sam (me) to turn up, Joe hosted Adam, Hannah, Quentin and Andrew in a warm-up game of No Thanks, which I believe Hannah won but it's several beers and fatigue levels later so I could be wrong. Put me right in the comments and I'll edit.

Anyway, that little appetiser out the way and we moved on to the main course, which tonight was the much-championed (by Joe) and much-derided (by me) I'm the Boss, the game of deal, counter-deal, and counter-counter-deal. In fairness to both of us our stances were exaggerated for blog-effect, but the truth of the matter was we were both right. The game does start out fun - if a little cagey - but turns in to a bit of a grind, especially the protracted end by which time we were all kind of praying for it to be over. My own plan of establishing a fantastic hand in order to dominate the last couple of deals were stymied by my lack of discipline. Adam had no such problems, and despite the repeated warnings of Andrew - "it's not Ticket to Ride, you know!" he hoarded cards, built a strong hand, and what do you know, dominated the last few rounds to clean up, taking first place ahead of canny Quentin.

Interestingly, it was really hard to call who'd won until we counted up, and as I found last time we played it, Hannah's early lead counted against her as people were reluctant to do business with the perceived chip leader, and I don't think I was alone in believing Joe was doing much better than he actually was. But overall, it did feel a bit of damp squib and I don't think anyone will be in a massive hurry to play it again.

Adam 50

Quent 49

Hannah 43

Sam 40

Joe 32

Andrew 24

Hannah had a date with a waste disposal unit so had to leave, and having forgotten her keys Adam soon followed her, keeping his ratio intact. It was left to the four of us to ponder over the intracacies of Reiner Knizia's Poison, still a bit of a mystery after several plays. So I'm not claiming total credit for my win, but win I did, though it was closer than it looks as Quentin and I entered the last round only a point apart:

Sam 14

Quent 22

Joe 34

Andrew 37

So possibly the last of I'm the Boss, but Poison remains a favourite. And Jonny already knows it!

The leaderboard...

	Played	Points	Ratio
Adam	10	55	5.5
Joe	11	42.5	3.86
Sam	9	38	4.22
Andrew	11	30.5	2.8
Quentin	4	17.5	4.37
Jonny	4	15.5	3.9
Steve	4	15	3.75
Hannah	1	4.5	4.5
Matilda	1	1.5	1.5

Seven Up

A return to the regular Tuesday evening schedule was greeted by a bumper turnout. As well as this season’s regulars (me, Adam, Sam and Joe) Quentin, Hannah and Steve were able to attend. With so many players to accommodate, new potential games were considered. Quentin had brought Sherlock Holmes, and he tried the soft sell by telling us that it really wasn’t that good.

In the end, Quentin’s reverse psychology didn’t work and we chose I’m The Boss!, a game of wheeler dealing and backstabbing. The rules were explained by Joe, and we began tentatively but before long people were forcing their way into share deals by sending others away on sudden holidays. There was still a lot of confusion, though, and it wasn’t always clear who was needed for which deal. This is probably due to our inexperience. Nevertheless, we all ploughed merrily on until the end, where Hannah came out a clear winner, 4,000,000 points ahead of her nearest rival, Joe.

Hannah 35m
Joe 31m
Adam 30m
Andrew 26m
Quentin 19m
Sam 19m
Steve 10m

It had a mixed reception, with Sam not enjoying it that much, and Steve baffled for most of the game. I thought it had potential, and Joe’s wife laughed when she found out we were playing it, since apparently Joe’s been trying to get someone to play it for weeks.

Since it was only half past nine, another game was suggested. Seven Wonders was chosen. With seven players each player would only get to see each hand once, so any hopes of seeing a good card a second time around were futile.

Joe played an interesting game, building no natural resources at all. This meant he couldn’t finish his Statue of Zeus, but he made up for it with a wide selection of blue buildings. I didn’t bother with the military at all, hoping the minus six points I got for being a hippy would be balanced out elsewhere. As the third round began, so the lack of resources around the table began to tell, as several players struggled to build anything at all. As the points were totted up, it was Steve who’d won, again proving that diversification is a winning strategy as he picked up points in each category, while not winning any outright. Hannah came second by the slimmest of margins – and she too didn’t win any category.

Steve 55
Hannah 54
Sam 50
Andrew 47
Adam 46
Joe 40
Quentin 36

A great night for Hannah, as she came first and second on a night with seven players, and therefore she picked up lots of points and she glides into first place with her points ratio which I think is the highest we’ve seen. Not such a great night for Quentin.

And at least the Leaderboard is looking a bit fuller now.

The leaderboard...

	Played	Points	Ratio
Sam	10	44.5	4.45
Andrew	10	40.5	4.05
Adam	8	36.5	4.56
Joe	7	31.5	4.5
Hannah	2	13	6.5
Steve	2	8	4
Quentin	2	4	2