Lazy Susans in Spaaaace!

 I knocked on Joe’s front door at 8pm and while I waited, Sam sent me the results of the game they’d just finished which meant I was able to congratulate Joe on his victory at Oh My Brain as he opened the door.

Downstairs sat Sam, Martin and Adams T and H. Since there were six of use we began with Challengers. Sam wasn’t hugely keen and so he was given the seat where he didn’t need to move for each match. I started well, but a victory in round one is barely a victory at all when you consider the rich pickings later in the game. I didn’t win again, consistently losing as my bench overflowed. I slimmed down my deck in round five and then consistently lost due to running out of cards.

Martin decided to go big on pyrotechnicians who then never came out at the right time so their super power never triggered and Adam T used UFOs to draw extra cards and had two overpowered Stable Boys. These were the winning tactics, it turned out, as they both qualified for the final.

Martin 37

Adam T 37

Joe 30

Adam H 17

Sam 8

Andrew 3

Martin and Adam T faced off in the grand final while the rest of us packed away the rest of the game in a faint display of disinterest. Sorry about that but at least we didn’t start putting chairs up on the tables. In the end Martin won when he played a Villain and caused Adam T’s bench to fill up.

Then we split into two groups. Sam, Joe and Adam H chose Planet Unknown, whose huge box put me off slightly as I imagined a Feast For Odin style epic. By contrast Martin, Adam T and I went for the tiny-boxed Impulse. In between these two space-themed games sat a bowl of snacks that, if I recall right, Joe described as being “over-flavoured” and he wasn’t wrong. They were a shade of red that, if you saw it on a plant, you’d assume it was poisonous. And when we ate them, we went through a journey of saltiness, spiciness, overwhelming aftertaste and finally an almost automatic desire for just one more.

The reason for Planet Unknown’s large box was revealed when they set up – in the middle of the play area was a large circular receptacle for all of the pieces that the player would need to tessellate across their planet’s surface. And this rotated! Finally, a game that comes with its own lazy Susan.

I know nothing about the game, nor if you can turn the lazy susan as you wish or if there are rules guiding its use, but they seemed to have fun.

Adam 67

Joe 58

Sam 51

As for Impulse, it was very pacifist with no battles at all, even if Martin and I sabotaged each other. Not that we were picking on each other deliberately. It’s just that Adam T was always out of reach, sitting in his corner mining and trading for points.  Most of my points came from trading too. And then Martin went from 12 points to the game-winning target of 20 in a single turn and the game ended.

Martin 20

Andrew 9 (? I think)

Adam T 8 (ish)

Since Planet Unknown was still being explored we played Kingdoms, a very simple Knizia game that is as mean and cunning as you’d expect. Place tiles with values on the board and then put your castles next to them to score an entire row and column. But beware negative numbers, dragons that scare off positive numbers, mountains that split rows and columns in two and goldsmiths that double your score, for better or worse. Adam sighed that he wasn’t doing enough to hurt Martin, and he was right. I had a good round three to make myself look like a contender for a while.

Martin 183

Andrew 176

Adam T 169

After Planet Unknown had finished they played Art Robbery. Don’t know what happened except for the result

Adam H won!

Joe 2nd

Sam: most points but least alibis.

At this point everyone was together again but not for long as it was half past ten and I had to dash. Even the sight of Not That Movie could tempt me. I’ve no idea what happened but according to the late night messae from Sam, they didn’t do very well: just a score of 24.

Then the Adams left and Sam, Joe and Martin played So Clover twice: 16 out of 18 and 13 out of 18.

Thanks all. See you next Tuesday.

Fünf for all the Family

Tuesday rolled around again and despite the inevitable post-weekend (see Andrew's odysseyian previous post) drop in numbers from the regulars, the lesser-spotted GNNers were out in force, at one point bumping up the numbers to nine around my (Sam's) table!

First to arrive was Joe, and the embryonic hour of 6pm. Sadly he was just dropping off things I'd left at Novocon, so after a chat, he left again.

Then at the allotted hour of 7.30, Laura Izzard was first through the door, followed by Matt, Martin, and Ian. With Anja and Andy Mosse both running late, we cracked into our games. Or to clarify, Martin heaped disdain on me for buying another game (abetted by Stanley, and then even Ian joining in) before getting out the game he'd just bought. Whilst Stanley, Ian and Matt began contesting Love Letter at the other end of the table, he talked Laura and I through the rules.

The game in question was Blue Lagoon, Reiner Knizia's latest offering. Arriving into the eponymous lagoon as settlers, you discover there are eight islands, and over two rounds you score points for having a presence on each one, for making connections between them, for having majority presence and for collecting resources. If it sounds like rote gaming circa-2018 (or earlier) the implementation is very Knizian - on their turn, everyone simply places one piece on the board and watches in agony as all the things you want slip away from you. It's part race, part bunfight, part mental torture.

After one round, all pieces bar your five villages are removed, and a second round begins with placement having to spread from your villages. I won our first game (I didn't note down the scores) but I mentioned that now I knew how it all worked, I wouldn't win next time - which proved to be true.

Meanwhile Stanley had won Love Letter, after successfully outing Ian's hidden cards four times:

Stanley 3
Matt 2
Ian 0

And with Anja now present, they began explaining Heck Meck to her. At our end of the table, meanwhile, Andy had also arrived, and as Blue Lagoon was already on the table, we set it up again for four. Little Joe turned up to watch for a bit, as people briefly outnumbered seats.

With Martin now familiar with the games' overlapping scoring criteria, it was a tougher proposition. He scored the bonus for being on all eight islands in the first round, collected a big resource bonus and then in the second harvested up lots of statues. The game played quite staccato though; lots of rapid turns occasionally broken by a long, cognitive-heavy one. I'd say it was close, but it wasn't:

Martin 192
Laura 127
Sam 126
Andy 124

Martin was flush with new love for another Reinerssance masterpiece, and we all liked it, albeit it hurt my brain. I struggle judging the need to further your own advances (in multiple criteria) with the overlapping/competing need to stop others (also multiple criteria!) is hard. From one angle, it's very very simple, but from another - it's not.

Meanwhile Heck Meck was continuing, with Anja rolling a spectacular set of worms:

Laura made moves to go, but the three dads present showed their paternal understanding by harassing her into playing one more game - Face Cards, the game that needs almost no introduction - make pairs of faces, and hope somebody spots your pair in the melee. Andy took the win despite our failure to see his Coati/Parking Meter combination.

Andy 12
Martin 8
Sam 7
Laura 5

And I forgot to take photos. Laura bid her adieus and disappeared into the night - the next time we see her she'll be with (actual) child, so good luck Laura!

Stanley also disappeared around this time, off to bed, as Heck Meck finally concluded:

Matt 15
Stanley 8
Ian 5
Anja 1

As Ian brought in a collection of games to choose from, he tripped over Andy's growing pile of rubbish on the floor, which he announced he'd left there on purpose. He gazed at the mess with a glow of pride, before I tidied it away. Now a pair of trios. Ian found himself explaining Istanbul to one, whilst Martin explained Kingdoms, my birthday present to him (also a Knizia) to the other.

Kingdoms was not massively dissimilar to Blue Lagoon, only slightly simpler, and slightly screwier. Tiles are played on a 6x6 grid, and you can pick up and place a points tile (there are positive and negative) or place one of your castles, which will score for both the row and column it's on. As soon as someone places a castle, of course, everyone else tries to put negative tiles next to it.

Mix in the mountains (block rows and columns) the gold (doubles everything) and the dragon (cancels the good stuff) and you have a game brimming with evil - so evil that you start with fifty points, just to give everyone the opportunity to lose them all in the first round. Andy made a great start, but Martin overhauled him. I played badly and got what I deserved:

Martin 249
Andy 239
Sam 212

Fun. Whilst that was going on, Matt won Istabul:

Matt 5 gems
Ian and Anja 3 gems each (Ian second on tie-breaker)

And they'd also played NMBR9, which Anja didn't like at all. Ian did, though:

Ian 86
Matt 79
Anja 49

Considering how brief Kingdoms was, I've probably got the timeline of events all muddled up, but whatever had gone on previously, Anja certainly left at this point because we found ourselves a quintet, and began playing Five Cucumbers - or to give it it's German title, Fünf Gurken. Tricks are played (there's only one suit) and you must either match or beat the previous card, or lay your lowest card. The winner of the final trick picks up cucumbers, which are bad - collect five, and you lose the game.

The youngest player starts, but that took some time to establish, as Matt discovered he was younger than he realised, and Ian didn't even know what year we were living in. After that bombshell, Andy took an instant dislike to Fünf Gurken, openly scathing of the choice of vegetable and the fact there was only one. He critiqued the wooden cucumbers, which he claimed didn't resemble a cucumber - more on that later - and mimicked Martin and I throughout the game as we hissed at our cards. If it was a strategy, it paid dividends, as he ended with the fewest cucumbers. But unfortunately for Matt, we all won apart from him:

Matt: Five cucumbers.

or are they?

He actually ended with six cucumbers, which - by now we'd all conceded the cucumbers did have a scrotal quality to them - I said in a way, made him the winner. We speculated as to how much fun (or fünf ) one could have with six ball sacs; needlework, say, or artisan baking. Ian suggesting skiing. Martin and I got the giggles and I'm ashamed to say it was all rather immature. Especially considering we'd just played a game about not wanting five cucumbers.

Anyway, the witching hour was now upon us, so Martin and Ian put on their coats for the walk home. Andy said he wasn't going anywhere though, and Matt was tempted to stay as well, so we played Dice Heist - rob museums, collect artwork, gems and artifacts!

But owing to ancient heist-related traditions, only score paintings if you have the most combined value of them. Also if you have two gems, the second one is worth twice as much as the first! Matt and I celebrated our shared victory:

Matt and Sam - 27
Andy - 15

But we weren't done yet, with Ganz Schon Clever next to hit the table.

To be honest, I don't remember a huge amount about it now, except I recall Matt had to police my crossings off because I was pretty haphazard at this point and kept cheating. But I somehow managed to add up the scores correctly, to my surprise. We checked with a calculator.

Sam 236
Matt 228
Andy 200

With Tuesday now behind us and Wednesday begun, we bade each other good night, the end of a doozy of an evening: the return of Laura and Matt, some very feisty games, and a protracted schoolboy riff on dark green scrotums. What more can one ask of a Tuesday night?