Sumatra enchanted evening

 I arrived at Sam's just as Sam, Joe and Ian were in the final stages of a game of Llama Land. I watched them voice their regrets at previous decisions and lack of future opportunities. Joe even said he thought the game was designed specifically so he couldn't do anything. But despite all this, once they'd finished, they all said and they liked it and would happily play it again.

Sam 62

Ian 57

Joe 56

Next, to fill the time before Katy arrived, we played Schnipp & Weg. This game of flicking dexterity is simpler than its brethren, Flick Fleet, Cube Quest etc. Despite the simplicity, we still overcomplicated matters by missing simple shots at crucial moments.

We paired up, Joe and Ian against Sam and I. I started brilliantly, taking out most of the opposing counters and for the rest of the game I sent my shots skimming harmlessly off the board. Joe, despite his reputation for the yips, did well, clearing one round single handedly.

Ian and Joe won

Then Katy arrived, back at games night for the first time in a month. She found herself recruited into a new game: Sumatra. It's from Reiner Knizia and we were keen to play it before Martin did, hoping a head start would improve our chances when we finally play against him.

The devilish detail here is knowing when to abandon a particular area and move onto the next. This means you leave stuff behind but you also get first choice of whatever tiles are drawn for the new area.

It was fun. Joe confused backpacks and volcanoes (understandable considering our earlier conversation about how bad our eyesight was getting), Katy went big on crafts while I ignored people almost completely. I did, however, score in every other category. It was very close.

Katy 45

Andrew 44

Sam 43

Ian 43

Joe 42

Then we broke out an old favourite: Bandu - the dexterity game whose name you have to say in an Australian accent. It had been at Sam's brother's house for two years so it at least deserved a welcome home.

I went unconventional right from the start, laying down curved surfaces because I'd noticed they were all the same height and could work as a potential surface.

Everyone else built upwards, trying to keep as much of the base as free as possible. All except Ian whose sculpture was even shorter than mine. But too many curves, it seems and he was out first. Katy fell next and then Joe. He nudged the table while picking up a piece off the floor, sending mine and Sam's structures toppling. We quickly rebuilt them and continued, though. 

Sam ran out as the eventual winner. Once my building fell down he then started showboating, adding new pieces to his creation at breakneck speed until, after four, it finally crumbled to his foundations.

Sam

Andrew

Katy

Joe

Ian

And with that, Ian and I left. According to Sam's texts, Joe Katy and Sam played Ninety Nine, which Katy won. Then they played Cross Clues and scored an astonishing 6 (six) points. I asked Sam what the words were, unable to imagine what they could be. 

He texted back...

Costume trailer chocolate spider fast 

And...

Shark mushroom goat tall blue

I can see their problem. Combinations like "fast mushroom" and "blue chocolate" don't suggest any obvious solutions to me either. Suggestions in the comments please.

But anyway, thanks for the evening. See you all soon.

Breaking the fours, breaking the fours

 I arrived at 8.10 having already missed two games of Spicy.

Joe 29

Adam H 27

Sam 10

Adam T 10

Sam 27

Joe 25

Adam H 20

Adam T 7

With my feet snugly under the table, we now numbered seven since Martin and Gareth had arrived. We split into two groups of three and four. Sam, Adam H and myself played Llama Land while Joe, Martin, Gareth and Adam T chose Mille Fiore which is a Reiner Knizia game, albeit one that's somewhat over produced with shiny plastic ships and diamond shaped tiles.

Llama Land resembled NMBR9 inasmuch as your tessellating pieces while slowly building upwards. Collect items to complete sets and score points, but this means putting a Llama on your land, making further upward building a bit tricky.

It was okay. It felt as if someone had once played NMBR9 and wished it had more potatoes. Adam took to it like a duck to water and won by miles. Sam was hit by explainer’s curse.

Adam 137

Andrew 92

Sam 88

While Mille Fiore continued, we three played out two rounds of Take It Easy. Sam’s category was animals and after it, I was in a slender lead. But then I was caller. I chose snacks (including “pouring hundreds and thousands into your mouth”) but my mojo had gone (breaking the line of fours was the least of my issues) and I didn’t even break three figures.

Adam 314

Sam 309

Andrew 274

On Mille Fiore, it all looked very complicated. People were berating Joe for insisting that he had no idea what was going on while building up a healthy lead. In between people asking “Is this Nick Lowe?” to the music, Martin likened it to being “stuck inside a pinball machine” and Adam T had a late surge to finish in a respectable rather than disastrous fourth.

Joe 183

Martin 163

Gareth 160

Adam T 145

During this time, Joe’s wife Charlotte interrupted us to offer fruit cake which was a keen to finish off soon. “Cake Rubble” she called it, as most was in moist chunks, but it was still very tasty and made a change from chipsticks.

Now we split up and reshuffled again. Well, Sam and Gareth swapped seats. Adam H, Gareth and I went for that game of skill and technique, Kribbeln. Sam, Martin, Joe and Adam T played Scout.

Adam played Kribbeln almost as annoyingly as he’d played Llama Land and Take It Easy. On his first Krib (goal: just roll a high score) he got 24. And then on the following Kribs (goal: score higher than the previous Krib) he rolled 25, 26 and 27. Gareth recovered from a slow start to finish comfortably in second.

Adam H 20

Gareth 15

Andrew 10

As for Scout, apart from Adam T’s opening move of playing four 9s, I didn’t follow it.

Martin 27

Joe 26

Sam 22

Adam T 16

And with that, Adam T and Gareth left. The remaining five got out good old So Clover. The first two words I got were “Toy” and “Outlet” and I blurted out how easy it was. I found other words harder, but I’m relieved that I hadn’t jinxed myself and my clover was correctly solved. So was everyone else’s except Sam’s who was unlucky enough to have Shell and Painting among the possible answers for his clue of “Oil”.

There was a brief interval as Charlotte made another intervention, this tiem to tell us about the remarkably pretty full moon currently visible. We went up to Joe’s living room, cautiously avoiding hitting the coffee table with our shins since the light was out, and admired it’s bronze hue.

Back in So Clover, I must tip my hat to Martin who had to distinguish between “trophy” and “award”. To do so, he chose “Wife” as his clue for “trophy” especially since it also went with the other word next to “trophy”: “screw”.

With that, we were done. Off into the sultry night, under a fat orange moon that was so pretty that even a total stranger in the street told me I needed to see it. Thanks all. Next week, eh?