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.

All's well that Gravwell

 It was almost like old times as I arrived at Sam’s at an almost-on-time 7.40. It was already full, and we had two more to arrive so we (Sam, Joe, Ian, Adam T, Gareth, Martin and me) played Cross Clues. Across the top we had Disgust which caused some interesting clues, such as “jizz” for Digust/Helmet. We ended with 22 out of 25, with all three mistakes linked to the word “Monkey” for some reason.

Adam H arrived with chips and Laura was expected at “around 8” so we split into two groups. The quartet (Joe, Martin, Gareth, Adam T) played Mille Fiori, a game so generous with its scoring that “points salad” seems inadequate (despite Martin clearly saying “broccoli for two points”) and is better described as a “point smorgasbord”. Despite the myriad of scoring opportunities, it ended very close. Joe maintained his 100% record in the game.

We played Gravwell, a game in which you don’t go backwards or forwards, you go towards or away from the nearest mass. Laura texted that she’d be there at 8.15 so we began without her: initially choosing her cards at random before Sam started playing for her. As such when she arrived she was already in the lead. The game was frustrating, but some of that could be down to lack of familiarity. For example, blue cards are useful at first but if all the ships are behind you, you need red cards to push yourselves away from them.

 

I found myself becalmed in a section of space as evidenced by two photos taken half an hour apart in which I clearly have barely moved. Adam H had similar problems, dawdling aimlessly at the far side of the board before he suddenly leapt into action, moving past all of us until he was so close to the finish that when Laura played her card (repel all objects three spaces) it pushed him onto the final square.

Adam

Laura

Ian

Andrew

Sam

 

Then we split into three groups of three. Martin, Gareth and Laura played Keltis at one end of the table. Ian, Adam H and I set up Flamme Rouge at the other end and Joe, Sam and Adam T squeezed a game of Ninety-nine into the gap in the middle.

It was lovely to play Flamme Rouge again, although we needed a rule refresher. It wasn't long before we were enjoying the thrill of the chase. Adam broke away first, causing Ian and I to send our sprinters after him.

It was very close at the end. Adam was approaching the final corner with Ian and I right on his tail. It all depended on who had the better cards in their hand.

I did. Although we all crossed the line, I went furthest. Adam claimed a victory of sorts, because he got two riders across the line. For the sake of completeness, these were the standings…

1 Andrew

2 Ian

3 Adam H 

4 Adam H

5 Ian

6 Andrew

As for Keltis, Martin won with Laura and Gareth both tying for second/last about twenty points behind.

Ninety nine ended with Adam T securing the win, despite him declaring at the start that he was terrible at the game. Sam finished one card away from completing his bid, but ninety-nine is a cruel game and he finished a distant last.

Then Laura, Adam T and Gareth left and the remaining six of us finished on So Clover. Let’s just say that the pressure to all be perfect was off fairly quickly after Sam’s success (Travolta=Grease+Fool) Martin was undone by a number of possible combinations and we failed to choose the right one at all. Joe also came a cropper as we failed to note that Couch links to Observer in that someone on a couch is probably observing something.

After that, I set off. My clover had already been dealt out but I was determined not to give in to temptation. So Sam did mine for me. And, just like when he was playing for Laura at the start of the evening, he did pretty well, getting a perfect score on mine.

Thanks all, see you next Tuesday.

Training Games

Tonight's games saw four players begin with two helpings of 7 Wonders, a game that was once considered medium length challenge and is now treated like a piece of light hearted fluff that fills ten minutes or so. I set up two games with Ian, Katy, Adam T and myself. In the first one, Ian won by being the quietest, I think. In the other one, Adam T finally clocked up a win. Unfortunately I’d set it up as a training game and Adam’s ELO score remained untouched.

Ian 59

Andrew 51

Katy 49

Adam 39

Adam 59

Ian 49

Ian 44

Katy 43

After this Martin and Andy B arrived and we split in two groups. Adam, Katy and Martin went off to play Ninety-nine while after some idle indecision, we remaining three chose Russian Railroads. It’s been a long time since this was seen at GNN and Ian got a rules explanation that I also listened to, trying to get back up to speed. 

It was possibly not the ideal choice for an already exhausted Ian, but he quickly showed his tactical nous with some astute moves. I, on the other hand, made the same mistake that I used to do: forgetting about the engineers. 

Andy 320

Ian 222

Andrew 190

As for the other group, once they’d worked out which Google Hangout that Katy had gone to, played Ninety-Nine, which I kept an eye on long enough to see Adam T get off to a slow start and also note that Sam had arrived and was watching them play too.

Martin 374

Katy 233

Adam 154

After this they played Yokai. Technically, they played twice, but Martin quit the game that he set up and the result showed that he’d lost and everyone else had won even though Yokai is a co-op game. The second attempt ended in a shared defeat for all.

Then Steve and Anja arrived while Sam bowed out. The five of them now played For Sale.

Martin 57

Katy 57

Steve 53

Anja 45

Adam 42

Finally, the weary Russian Railroaders joined up with the rest and they ended on 6nimmt, in which Ian crashed out in two rounds, picking up an impressive forty cards in the process. In the closing stages, it was very close with the standings at Anja 59, Andy 58, Steve 56, Martin 55 with two cards left. It ended

Andy 58

Anja 56

Martin 55

Steve 55

Katy 36

Andrew 27

Ian –22

And that was all for this week. See you all soon.

Crews Control

Arriving, as is usual by now, late I was able to listen to Adam, Andy, Ian, Martin, Joe and Katy curse their way through a jolly game of For Sale while I made myself supper. Bidding was a feisty affair with Katy observing halfway through the that surely no one had any money left. Except somehow they did.

Adam 49

Ian 44

Joe 43

Katy 41

Martin 37

Andy 36

With me joining the throng there was talk of the traditional blast through 7wonders but the shiny newness of Die Crew on Board Game Arena was too much temptation. All seven of us wanted to play so we set up two games. It was Adam's first experience of the game so Joe offered to host the three player game to ease him in. I, having experienced a bit of a meltdown last time I played was happy to join them "in the kiddie pool," as I called it, which Joe stoutly refuted as a fair description.

So while Joe, Adam and I still sat on the launch pad in mission one, Andy, Ian, Katy and Martin were already heading towards the heliosphere in mission 36. 

The earliest missions were, as you'd expect, pretty easy and Adam had no difficulty, notwithstanding a brief hitch with the launch needing two attempts. We got to mission 8 before deciding to play Ninety Nine for a change, assuming the other four would still be deep in space.

But they popped into our Hangout after only a couple of hands saying that space had outstayed its welcome after they struggled only as far as mission 38. This left us with a choice to curtail our game and join them or carry on. 

We decided to keep going, just for a few more hands, giving Joe the chance to come back after his poor opening left him 54-64-4 behind to two novices.

The others went to playing cards dot io and played Merchants of Dunhuang. I know nothing about this apart from Joe pronouncing the name as rudely as possible (Dung Wang).

Meanwhile, in 99 Joe won big on a hand and sped off into the lead. Meanwhile, Adam fell behind and tried to catch up by playing an open hand. While you might think showing everyone your cards makes for a hopeless situation, Joe and I struggled with the extra cognitive load of all that information. Adam didn't succeed in his plan, though.

We stopped after a prearranged six hands and decided on a quiet game of 7 Wonders because you don't have to play it with seven. Adam went big on war and blue buildings and strolled to a win.

Adam 56

Joe 46

Andrew 42

We decided that we didn't have the energy to rejoin our Dung Wanging friends, so bade them goodbye on Discord. We got similar messages in reply, so perhaps they were finishing off too. You might think that two games, one of which was unfinished, but I enjoyed the laid back nature of the evening. Cheers everyone.

Quadruple ‘A’ gaming

 “Who would have thought, six months ago, that we’d still be doing games nights online?” Martin asked as we logged onto our rather choppy Discord server. Certainly, we’ve come a long way. Tonight we were six in number: Martin, Katy, Adam H, Adam T, Andy and myself (“Too many ‘A’s,” complained Katy.

First we played 7 Wonders, as it’s somehow now almost a reflex action. Martin found himself unable to change his mind over his choice of card and asked Adam H to wait until he’d sorted it out. Adam did so, despite it ruining his “average thinking time” statistic. Andy went big on military and won. Adam T found some solace in the fact that he at least beat Martin.

Andy 62

Andrew 53

Adam H 51

Katy 50

Adam T 47

Martin 40

Then three of the ‘A’s left for one Google Hangout to play Kingdom Builder while Katy, Martin and Adam T set up on another Hangout for a game of Ninety Nine. This game ended

Martin 310

Adam T 228

Katy 43

In Kingdom Builder, Adam and I make the same mistake. Adam made it first, when I was distracted by sorting out my drinks which is why I didn’t learn from his failure. But while Adam was able to bounce back, I lay moribund and spent the last third of the game building as quickly as I could to keep things moving on.

Adam H 66

Andy 55

Andrew 34

With Ninety Nine unfinished, Andy suggested we play Lucky Numbers, a simple tile placing game in which the numbers in the grid have to increase in value from left to right and top to bottom. Easy to pick up and enjoyable enough that we played two on the bounce. Adam won both times.

With Ninety Nine still unfinished, we had a choice: another game of Lucky Numbers or a return to Rallyman GT. We went for Rallyman GT, only to have Martin pop into our Hangout asking if we’d finished before we’d even got to the first corner. Seeing as how we were a whole lap away from finishing, he went off and the three of them played Kingdom Builder. This was, apparently, Katy’s first go at the game since the old Roll For The Soul days.

Martin 70

Adam T 47

Katy 43

As for Rallyman GT, I think we all span off and it started to rain (immediately after Adam crashed. Coincidence? I think not), requiring that we all make a pit stop to change tires.

After I spin off, I have some catching up to do.

1st Andy

2nd Andrew

3rd Adam

I left after this game, but the remaining five stayed around for a game of For Sale…

Andy 59 

Katy 56 

Martin 53 

Adam H 48 

Adam T 38

After this, the three worst placed players left and the two top players battled it out in a game of Chakra…

Katy 14

Andy 8

The weariness of long distance gamers

This week I arrived later than usual, at around 8pm to find Sam, Joe, Andy, Martin and Ian already online. I have no idea if they'd played a game or had spent the past half hour chatting, but before long Katy joined us and, as is traditional for a septet, we played 7 Wonders.

It was the usual affair, notable for being very red, with military cards built by everyone except Joe, who preferred science. But it was the quiet one who got back into winning ways, and with the least thinking time, too.

Ian 61

Joe 55

Katy 53

Martin 50

Andrew 49

Andy 47

Sam 43

Then we split into two groups. Joe, Martin and Katy chose Ninety Nine, which seems appropriate since Joe had been eating an ice cream earlier.

Ian, Sam, Andy and myself procrastinated at length over what to play. Without an admin account we couldn't do anything with playingcards.io and so in the end we chose Red7. 

Sam needed a rule refresher and we had to start twice after Ian had set up the game with an unwanted option still turned on.

The game certainly didn't outstay it's welcome, with Andy being the first to win two rounds in a healthy 2-0-0-0 win. He was nice enough to mumble something about playing Red7 a lot on yukata lately. 

After this Sam left for bed and we chose Downforce as our next game. It was the track with all those ramps again and the three of us sped round in more or less silence. It ended in Andy's favour again, although none of us actually bet on the winning car.

Andy $19m

Ian $13m

Andrew $8m

By now Ninety Nine had ended at almost the same time. Katy had, I believe, lead for most of the game, only to see a late revival from Joe.

Joe 177

Katy 169

Martin 155

And here marked the end of Ian's gaming since he was flaking and we couldn't tempt him with a game of For Sale (which BGA seemed to think was Joe's first ever go. How odd). 

Odder still, in the buying round, both zeros came out in round one, followed by some very generous rounds where players dumped their low cards knowing they'd get a good return. Martin won, despite having forgotten earlier that with only five players there's an extra round of bidding.

Martin 55

Andy 54

Andrew 49

Joe 44

Katy 41

And now Joe left so we remaining four played Hanabi. Peculiarly, while Downforce was played in silence, we played Hanabi with a steady stream of chatter. Or "cheating" as it could be called. Clues were applauded or given the Martin "that's what I would've done" seal of approval, indicating how prescient it was.

And we didn't discard any cards that would ruin our chances but, alas, time caught up with us. The draw deck was exhausted with little chance of a successful completion.

Andy, Martin, Katy, Andrew 20

And so we were off into the night. Or back into our kitchens with our empties. Thanks guys. See you next week.

Big Farmer Conspiracy

This week we began our games night as a quartet. Martin, Ian, Adam H and myself began with Kingdomino, hoping to squeeze in a game before the imminent arrival of the other three gamers who were no doubt frantically eating food or completing domestic tasks before arriving.

The game was pretty straightforward. Martin had a moment of blindness when, mid-game, he picked up a tile he couldn't place. The lack of bonuses was to prove costly. Not as costly as Adam's enormous forest that scored no points at all.

Andrew 81

Martin 77

Adam H 64

Ian 51

Then Joe, Andy and Adam T logged on and, as is now compulsory when there are seven of us, we played 7 Wonders. Adam T luxuriated in his work monitor which was large enough to see everyone's boards, although he found his peaty cider disappointing.

Was there a lack of things to do in round two? Joe sighed that he may as well finish his wonder, and Adam T, Adam H, and Andy also had their wonders done and dusted early on. I had Halikanassos which involves building as late as possible. It didn't go well.  My neighbor Joe built a massive army simply because he couldn't build much else.

Martin was delighted with his first place, saying that he never wins. He was not enthusiastic about a suggestion of a rematch, saying the game isn't good enough to play twice in a row.

Martin 61

Andy 59

Adam T 54

Joe 47

Adam H 46

Ian 37

Andrew 34

Then we split into two groups. Martin, Adam T and Joe went off to play 99.

Martin 389

Joe 237

Adam T 165

The rest of us chose Carcassonne, with inns and cathedrals. I played my big farmer on my first turn not knowing about it's special powers when deciding majorities. I declined the opportunity to start again figuring may as well go there as anywhere, but found myself constantly trying to  to connect it to the more lucrative areas in the south.

Ian and Adam got into an early fight over a city but then decided to share the points just so they could get their meeples back. How genteel.

Andy 94

Adam 88

Ian 86

Andrew 83

As the others waited for us to finish, they played a quick Eggs of Ostrich which Adam T “won handsomely.”

Then we played 6nimmt and it was a bit of a classic. Lady Luck appeared to desert everyone evenly and it wasn’t until round four that one of us passed the game end trigger. No one went clear in round one, and Joe had an attack of indecision, as he repeatedly chose and rechose his card, causing “Joe picked another card” to scroll up the text commentary box multiple times.

As we progressed, Adam T’s bookcase seemed to be getting bigger. Adam surmised that this was because he was slouching back in his chair more. Meanwhile, at the end of the game, the cards 101, 102, 103 and 104 were all successfully played. Talk about hanging on by the skin of your teeth.

Adam H 38

Martin 24

Ian 18

Andy 9

Joe 8

Andrew 2

Adam T -8

Then everyone left except got me, Martin and Andy so we played out a quick game of Coloretto.

Martin 33

Andy 29

Andrew 26

And with that we were done. Thanks all. See you next week.

We're all on the spectrum

Games at Sam's was the order of the day and seven of us gathered around his kitchen table for our weekly fix. Sam, Joe, Martin, Adam T, Ian, debutante Mark and myself.

I began with a slight faux pas, asking with disappointment who brought Karate Tomate with them, only to be told that Martin had brought it to sell to Mark. Luckily, my air of derision wasn't enough to ruin the deal.

We began with the exciting new game of Wavelength. So exciting, indeed, that I forgot to take a photo of it. The premise is basic. It is a team game and one player chooses a card with two opposing categories on it (ie, healthy/unhealthy) . They then spin a wheel that randomises where the "target" is in a semi circular area. Only they can see it, then they cover this semi circle and have to think of a word that will cause their team-mates to correctly guess where the target is, assuming that healthy and unhealthy represent the two extremes at either end of the spectrum.

Sam began with an excellent example of how the game can pan out. His categories were Ordinary / Extraordinary and he chose to say "radish". A fascinating clue and one that had Adam and Joe discussing how ordinary a radish may or may not be. As I recall the slight spiciness of radishes prompted them to conclude that it was somewhat extraordinary. But Sam had been trying to push them towards Ordinary.

It went on thusly with Joe's choice of "burger" for the categories "sandwich / not a sandwich" caused possibly more controversy than me saying "the Royal family" for "replaceable / irreplaceable."

Martin, Mark, Andrew, Ian 10
Adam, Sam, Joe 4 or something

Then we split into two groups, desiring something more substantial. Babylonia made another appearance, this time with Martin, Mark, Adam and Joe participating.

I know almost nothing about it apart from Martin's little home improvement job on the racks meant to hold up the tokens. He'd added little plastic feet so they were now high enough and the tokens didn't just flop out uselessly. His care and attention to the game was reflected in the result, with Mark posting a strong score for his first game.

Martin 185
Mark 163
Joe 134
Adam 132

Ian, Sam and I fell back on an old faithful: Quantum. We chose a small map and began with remarkably similar fleets of dice; 5-4-3, 5-4-3, 5-4-2.

It was a feisty game, with Sam's fleet whittled away to a single die at one point. I was able to engineer two turns where I got two advance cards at once, but even that wasn't enough to stop a stirling comeback from Sam, who put his last cube down by attacking us and getting his Dominance up to six.

Somehow red won this battle!

Sam no cubes left
Andrew and Ian, one cube left

While Quantum was finishing, the Babylonians whipped off a quick truncated game of L.A.M.A. which culminated in an astonishing final round that saw Joe and Adam pick up card after card after Martin and Mark had folded, only to play them and Joe ended up with exactly the same cards as he’d started with.

Martin 1
Joe 6
Adam 15
Mark 18

At this point was a brief reshuffle. Martin, Sam, Ian and Mark played Senators which kind of passed me by apart from Mark’s late surge up the scoretrack with a move that got him four senators just before the final war ended the game.

Martin 12
Sam 10
Mark 7
Ian 7

Joe, Adam and myself played 99, a trick taking game where you nominate how many tricks you’re going to win. However, to signify your bid, you have to use cards from your hand which, of course, changes how strong your hand is. Cunning.

It was a cakewalk for Joe who, despite his familiarity with the game, started the game only making a note of his scores and forgetting about ours. I came second only because of Adam’s bravado and optimistic bids flying back in his face and gifting points to his opponents.

Joe 160
Andrew 89
Adam 67

By now it was 10.30 and we were graced with perhaps the latest arrival at a games night as Katy came from a pub round the corner to join us in our closing stages. Adama and Mark went home at this point since neither live in Bristol and had a bit of a trek home. So the six of us played Wavelength again. The five who’d played before should perhaps have taken the time to explain the rules to Katy instead of just starting and assuming she’d pick it up as she went along. She did fine until it was her turn to give a clue. She saw the category (Stationary/Mobile) and then chose the word, before randomising the target. Meaning it was kind of a hopeless task. There was also a moment where things could’ve taken a bad turn when Sam’s category was “Rough / smooth” and Martin advised him not to say “my balls.” Instead, he said “my chin” which lead to a little touching to try and gauge it’s roughness. Very glad he didn’t say “my balls.”

Katy, Andrew, Sam 10
Ian, Martin, Joe not 10

Now that Katy knew what to do we allowed her another try with all of us guessing and, all credit to her, she got it bang on. Between “traditionally feminine” and “traditionally masculine” she said “football” and we got it spot on: perhaps the only four-pointer of the evening. And I remembered just in time to take a photo as it was being put away.

Then we set off into the unsettled evening weather. Thanks all for a great evening.

Camembert!

This week's games began with a little subterfuge and some secret emails as all but one of Tuesday's attendees arrived at Joe's house a few minutes early to sign Martin's birthday card (Joe took the cover for the game Poison, replacing the title with the word Martin) and admire the cake and present we bought him.

We (Joe, Sam, Ian, Katy, Adam T and me) hit upon the jolly wheeze of hiding the cake in the box for Fauna. Our plan was to tell him that we'd decided to play it, and then amaze him when we revealed the cake inside. A brilliant plan, although we did worry that Martin would see through it, since Fauna doesn't actually play seven.

When he arrived we told him our decision, to general disinterest, and then we suggested that he should open the box. This peculiar request and the expectant grins on our faces must have tipped him off but he still had the decency to act a little surprised when he saw the cake.

But enough birthday jollities. We needed to play some games. We started with a big communal game of Just One, using our excellent Bonus Point variant - if the guesser can guess what any duplicate clues might be they score a point. We got a couple bonus points, with Katy guessing that two of us wrote Ogre for Shrek, and Joe guessed that Dummy had been eliminated from the clues for Comforter.

Katy stretched the rules when her clue for Baby was to write the word Human in really small letters. "Human," said Martin as he read it, "really small human..." and this lead him to the correct answer. Effective but not strictly kosher.

Everyone: 11 points

Now we split into groups. Martin had previously mentioned that he would like to play Tigris and Euphrates and Adam had brought T&E: the card game. Martin said he'd never played it and Joe, thinking that might level the playing field against T&E expert Martin, agreed to join them.

Sam, Ian, Katy and I played Rise Of Tribes. This simple but combative game is all about achieving criteria on cards in order to score points. Hit 15 points and it's an instawin.

It was interesting, with quite a bit of downtime between goes, but entertaining to watch other players move sabre toothed tigers around (with sound effects, if you were Katy).

Katy and Sam found themselves stepping on each other's toes in one half of the board, I sprawled leisurely down the middle of the map and Ian built point scoring villages in the west.

It was a ding dong battle, with the lead changing several times and as we neared the end, choices over actions became confounded with the desire to not allow someone else a chance at victory. Sam found himself in such a position where his best move would wipe Katy off the map and, therefore, give me the win. In the end, he went for a more risky, less destructive strategy and drew cards that he hoped might score points (see also, Ticket To Ride and Orbit). It didn't work and I won that turn anyway. All that remained was to put the pieces back in the snugly fitting foam inlay. Which turned out to be quite a challenge.

Andrew 15
Katy 13
Sam 12
Ian 9

As for Tigris and Euphrates The Card Game, Joe got off to a bad start when, during the rules explanation, he pointed to a stack of something and said "Are these catastrophies?" only to be informed that, actually, those were treasures. That's the sort of thing that a Pharaoh should know.

At the end (after a brief pause for cake) Adam insisted it was all luck while Martin commented that it was just like the board game version.

Martin 6
Joe 4
Adam 3

While waiting for us to finish they played 99. I know nothing about this game and the in-game banter was impenetrable, but Martin won again.

Martin 117
Joe 54
Adam 7

Now we were all together, there was a little reshuffling. Martin, Joe, Adam and Katy chose Clash of the Gladiators; a massive punch up in an arena with dice arenas, one of which was particularly bouncy. .

Was Martin really invested in the game when he asked rhetorically "Why do we need to fight?" Katy soon found herself relying on the success of wildlife as she called out "Come on, bear!" Adam was good enough to say that the game was very silly... while he stood over their blood stained corpses.

Adam 17
Joe 15
Martin 13
Katy 8

Ian Sam and I played Cartographers, a roll and write game with cards and occasional opportunities to write on an opponents paper. There was an Isle Of Skye style scoring system, where two different criteria scored each round. Sam got hit by explainer's curse while Ian won after winning from the start.

Ian 56
Andrew 46
Sam 39

It was fun, like a meaner Avenue.

Then Ian left and Sam and I knocked out a quick Flick Fleet in which I (the evil empire) beat Sam.

When 99 ended, Adam left and the five of us banged out a game of Stinker. A game we all know and love, although apparently Katy didn’t know you had to say “Stinker” when you had an answer. Tsk.

Highlights (one from each player) were...

Worst possible gift: God’s rectum (Andrew, but only after Sam said no one deserved it)
How to win a sword fight without a sword: Hide in sofa (Martin)
Best meal to cook when meeting in-laws: Coq au Arse (Joe)
An elevator pitch for a movie: Yes it’s great n stuff (Katy)
Something you don’t want to hear your spouse say: Eating shit later (Sam)

Such was the fun we were having, that we went around the table three times!

Best meal for the in-laws: a noble second place for Martin

Joe 39
Katy 35
Martin 33
Andrew 30
Sam 28

This amount of fun is almost decadent and both Katy and I walked home with our joy tinged with a hint of regret that neither of us would get to our respective beds before midnight. But still, a fun evening. Thanks all.