"Jedi" seems to be the hardest word

As England basked in a unusually warm winter, seven happy gamers congregated at Joe's house for the regular dose of cardboard-based entertainment. We were Joe, Andy, Adam, Sam, Martin, Ian and me.

We began as one big group with Just One, the word game where duplicate clues must be avoided. And we did pretty well at first in that regard, although some of our clues were a little obscure. Adam's clue for "Passion" was "Iniesta" while my clue for "Lamp" was "aldiss". With hindsight I suppose "tower" and "shipwreck" make a great definition for "lighthouse" but it took me a while. And it didn't even occur to me that Jedi would be a word at all, so I failed that particular word despite the obvious clues.

As the game went on, duplicates started appearing and well done to Andy for guessing "Mars" from the two remaining clues, "Attacks" and "Snickers".

We were "awesome" according to the scoring system.

Next we split into two and I faced the surprising situation that both games I suggested were chosen. Me, Adam and Andy went for Can't Stop, the dice game of pushing your luck (then again, aren't they all?) while the other four played Zendo, the game of questioning the Buddhist nature of things.

Zendo doesn't have a winner (expect maybe Martin this time, with Sam pretty sure he was last) and I know little about what happened but I think they had fun.

Can't Stop, meanwhile, was proving to be a very cagey game as they three of us proved time and time again that we could stop, actually. This cautious play lasted until the closing stages when Andy went on a rolling spree of mostly sevens and nines and then Adam, forced into relying on his unreliable luck with dice, had to really go for it to steal the eight column from Andy and take the win.

Adam 3
Andy 1
Andrew 1

During these two games we pretty much demolished three bags of crisps in about three minutes, including Martin's snack that looked like Wotsits but tasted different, causing a brief moment of confusion the first time you tried one.

We were pretty much completely out of sync so at some point we started playing Kingdomino and they played Byzanz. This was new to me and, if the brief snatches of conversation I heard are anything to go by, it revolves around trading in your merchants and "getting shit for one."

Ian 25 (plus 5)
Martin 25 (plus 3)
Joe 24
Sam 22

Kingdomino was fun, although I was often last to choose, meaning I didn't have to think too much. Just as well since my 7.5% cider had gone straight to my head.

Andy 37
Andrew 34
Adam 23

We then shot through a game of No Thanks, complete with the ubiquitous complaints about who shuffled these cards. It was yours truly and while I understand that the human mind is predisposed to find patterns that aren't there, I have to admit that there were more runs of numbers being revealed than was normal. I even shuffled the cards before putting them back so that the next game wouldn't have that problem.

Adam's single run of cards meant he strolled to a dominant win.

Adam 16
Andy 52
Andrew 90

The other half of the table played an Avenue-ish game called Railway Links. In this game dice are rolled and the players have to draw what they see on the dice.

Joe was quietly optimistic mid-game, based solely on the fact he wasn't cursing as much as the others were. Alas, the scores show his tranquillity did him no favours.

Sam 50
Martin 48
Ian 39
Joe 37

While this played out, we sped through a game of Qwixx which saw Adam's newfound love affair with dice continuing.

Adam 95
Andrew 60
Andy 44

And finally we were all together again. Ian took the opportunity to bow out and head home but the remainers had a rousing game of For Sale. I made no notes and, frankly, I remember little. I was drunk enough that, while I was writing down the scores, I asked what Ian got and had to be reminded that he'd already left. Cider followed by Soju. A potent combination.

Joe 53
Martin 47
Andy 46
Sam 40
Adam 40
Andrew 35

Thanks all. That's my last games night until late March as I'm off to Japan again. I'm genuinely sad to miss Katy's homecoming, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the blog posts.

Fully Flushed

I've got a feeling we've used this blog title before, but never mind.

It was Tuesday. It was Bristol. It was games. This week held the promise of new faces joining us: brand new people just passing through and an old regular popping in to remind us that he still existed.

It was Quentin, gracing GNN with his presence for the first time in years. After a brief bit of chat where we established that no one's life had changed a great deal, he was dealt into a game of Fuji Flush while we waited for the late comers to arrive.

There were five of us to start with: Joe the host, Quentin, Sam, Ian and me. Quentin got the first of four rules explanations that he'd receive tonight, and we were off.

Sam was appalled at his poor luck, as all but one of his cards were between 2 and 5. Towards the end of the game, the next new face arrived, Matt M. He was a friend of Joe's and, by happy chance, of Quentin as well. Quentin was distracted by this tiny school reunion and more occupied with finding out what Matt was doing these days, but he still managed to win the game.

Quentin 0 cards left
Andrew 1
Ian 1
Joe 2
Sam 2

Martin and his visiting friend, Kian, were expected shortly so the six of us played For Sale to fill the time. It began quietly, which was understandable given the presence of two newbies. A 29 went for only five coins and I got a 28 for two. We commented that Martin would never let us get away with such low prices.

Then we realised that our references to Martin (such as during Fuji Flush when we opened with all twos and someone said that Martin wouldn't stand for that) had made him sound a bit... intense. We tried to reassure Matt and Quentin how nice Martin was but my assertion that he was "very good with strangers" kind of backfired, making him sound like an angry dog we keep in the larder

As for the game, Joe was the only one who spent all his money and he immediately regretted it. However, he was pleased when his 20 card picked up a $14,000 cheque in the final round. But it was Ian, who had picked up that 29 for five coins, who won. By a comfortable margin.

Ian $53,000
Sam $48,000
Joe $46,000
Matt $42,000
Andrew $41,000
Quentin $38,000

Then Martin and Kian arrived. Since there were now eight, we split into two. The old-hands Joe, Ian, Sam and me chose a new game, Whistle Stop. Martin was in charge of the newcomers and they began with the classic Flamme Rouge.

Whistle Stop was described by Sam as Railways Of The World meets Tsuro. There's the delivery of cubes by train but also the placement of tiles with tracks that are open to all.

As well as delivering cubes for points, there are tiles where you can pick up shares in companies which could score you an end-of-game bonus. Finally, there are also special tiles that you can take for yourself as an exclusive action that no one else can have, unless they then buy that tile off you.

Despite the simple rules, the game is one of those where you can't plan your move until it is your turn. This lead to quite a lot of down-time as the four of us pondered our options for profit maximisation. In fact maybe a bit too much down-time. I was quite grateful of the distraction of Flamme Rouge. Like flicking back and forth between the Channel 4 coverage of the Tour De France and other channels, I maintained an interest in the race until its end.

One of Kian's cyclists had fallen behind by the middle of the game, while Quentin managed to put himself in pole position as they reached the final flat to the finish line. It looked for all the world to be a straight battle between him and Martin, but the final cards in Flamme Rouge always throw up surprises. Everyone got a rider across the line, but Matt managed to squeeze ahead of Martin right at the end.

1. Quentin
2. Matt
3. Martin
4. Kian

Whistle Stop was still some way off completion, so they started on a game of Qwixx. This dice game is far harder to follow for the distracted spectator, so all I know is the final scores.

Kian 63
Martin 59
Quentin 51
Matt 47

Luckily, Whistle Stop is also slowly chugging into the sidings at this point. It had been an interesting puzzle game, but a bit too long for what it is. I’d like to try it with three players, though.

Sam 120
Ian 113
Joe 110
Andrew 96

Sam tried to diminish his win by saying he’d already played once, against his son. “Did he win?” I asked. “Yes.”

Quentin and Matt decided to bow out now, having clearly had too much fun already, but Quentin promised not to leave it so long before his next appearance. Kian had a train to catch so we filled in the time with a couple more games of Fuji Flush. I ended the first game in double quick time.

Andrew 0
Ian 3
Joe 3
Sam 4
Kian 4
Martin 4

I had less luck in the next game, though. I saw my 16 card being slowly whittled away and then banished completely by all five of my opponents putting down 4s.

Sam 0
Andrew 3
Martin 3
Ian 3
Joe 3
Kian 3

Then Kian left, and there were just five of us left, still with enough energy for one last game. Without prompting, Martin threw a copy of Voodoo Prince onto the table. There were no dissenting voices and, once Joe had been appraised of the rules, we were underway.

In my first hand I had the 7 of the trump suit. Since a trick won with a 5 or a 7 counts double and since you only score points when you hit three tricks, I decided to hang on to this as a useful Get Out Of Jail Free kind of card. And lucky I did. In the final reckoning it was me against Ian and he two tricks to my one. He lead with a green and I trumped it, hitting three tricks and being able to score the number of tricks won by everyone else. I felt quite smug after that. Ian was gracious enough to say it was well played.

I remained in first place over the next three rounds. But did I have an advantage having the scores next to me? In the fourth round, I kept looking at my lead and decided to get out early (for six) and not risk being last in and scoring a maximum of two points.

Good thing, too, since that gave me a ten-point lead over second placed Joe. All I had to do was avoid scoring no points at all. Which I did. Joe, though, ended up being last out for two points and ended up falling from second to last. Ouch.

Andrew 39
Ian 36
Martin 32
Sam 31
Joe 28

And we were done. Thanks all, especially to our host Joe and to the newcomers for putting up any obscure in-jokes we might have said.

Eight games a week

Tuesday rolled around again and it was sans Endersby chez Joes'. Whilst Andrew was at home nursing his leg, I joined Ian, Katy, Martin, and Matt (2) with the host at the table. Matt (1) and Andy were late withdrawals.

After we got over our shock that Ian had forgotten his beer ("You don't bring any games" Martin cried "That's the one thing you have to remember!") we cracked into things with Fuji Flush. I had a bunch of twos and threes and every time I got rid of one, I picked another up. There was a lot of teamwork going on around the table and - as ever - plenty of dick points, delivered with great relish. With the game quite far progressed both Katy and I still had plenty of cards. We both made a late surge for it, but were beaten to the punch by Joe.

Joe - no cards
Katy/Ian/Martin/Sam - 1 card
Matt - 2 cards

Those of us broken by the experience consoled ourselves with the beautiful view out of Joe's window:

We then split into two groups of three, with Martin leading the Hit Z Road faction and me suggesting Raiders of the North Sea. Matt and Ian were amenable, so while Martin talked Joe through the rules of the zombie apocalypse, I explained Raiders.

Raiders has a simple worker-placement thing going on, but with a couple of twists. One is that every time you place a viking (taking the action of a location), you also displace one from the board - taking the second action too. Another is that the vikings have a hierarchy - black, grey, white - and this has a bearing on placement too. You're basically building a crew and gathering what you need to go off and raid - but each member of your crew gives you a little ongoing bonus, and a potential action to play as well. Some of these - not many - involving stealing from your fellow competitors, but while Matt and Ian got into a tit-for-tat of nicking provisions off each other, I was left relatively unscathed.

All the same, it looked to be Matt's game as the final furlong came into view. Ian was ready to raid and end it - however he was stymied by both Matt and I stealing provisions from him. I really wanted to raid and end the game myself, but didn't have the viking to do so. However, with the finale postponed, I hit upon a new strategy: killing off my crew. Vikings love a noble death, and the more you lose in battle the more points you score at the end - so there's a balance to be struck between short-term loss and long-term gain. I managed to kill off my whole crew just before Ian finally wrapped things up - I''d love to say I planned it to perfection, but I didn't. I just got lucky. Nice game though.

Sam 62
Matt 56
Ian 53

While we'd been raiding the North Sea, Martin had been the sole survivor in Hit Z Road, with Joe biting the dust somewhere around Colorado - not helped by rolls like this one:

...and Katy falling at the final hurdle, eaten by the living dead with a marvellous view of the Pacific.

Martin - survives!
Katy - dead last (second)
Joe - dead first (last)

Matt now left, leaving Ian and I to witness the end of Jump Drive, which Joe likes to describe as the snack version of Race for the Galaxy: it follows a very similar path of card selection and using other cards to pay, but with a simpler interface - and a much quicker playtime.

I suggested maybe it was the Boy Band version of RftG, but for whatever reason Joe did not approve. Either way, the ending was very dramatic, with Joe scoring more in his final round than Katy managed in the entire game. He and Martin both finished with the same score, with the latter winning on a tie-breaker!

Martin 91 (wins on tie-break)
Joe 91
Katy 38

After all that competition, it was time for a light-hearted semi-co-operative game where nobody falsely accuses anyone of being something they're not. But instead we played Insider.

I think I'm right in saying Ian was the Insider in the first two games and was correctly accused both times. Oddly we had to guess Board Game in one of them, and failed miserably. Ian gave himself away but justified it by saying we were all being really dense, which was a fair comment considering the context.

Then - drama! - Martin appeared to be the Insider and we all at one point were convinced. "You were asking all the pertinent questions" I said. "That's just because I'm clever!" Martin protested. Remembering his bewilderment at having to lie in Ultimate Werewolf (and subsequent hatred of the game) I was having doubts now. Joe, too, had a hunch that Katy might be letting Martin take the heat. We subsequently accused Katy of being the Insider, and she was!

Phew. All that co-operation was exhausting, so we went back to our default mo of trying to screw each other over - in Perudo. Joe tried to hide 20 dice under the cup lid again, but still couldn't manage it. Maybe he was distracted by the cup lid conundrum, because he was out rather quickly, following Ian. Joe's tactic seemed to be going for high bids, so I - to his left - kept dudo-ing him.Then he made what he described as a premature dudo, and was gone!

Martin fell next, when he found to his chagrin I had 3 aces. It was left to Katy and I, and I managed to dudo her away:

1 Sam
2 Katy
3 Martin
4 Joe
5 Ian

With the shadows lengthening over Europe, and an early start looming for Ian, he stole away before the clock struck eleven. The rest of us kept playing. Next to the table was Qwixx, the dice-roller that gives Joe a chance to bring out Das Exclusive.

It's a funny beast this one, where everyone gets to take the two white dice and on your turn you can combine one of them with one of the coloured dice. All the while you're crossing off numbers on a score pad - and potentially locking off certain colours. I'd played it years ago with Joe and forgotten how sweet it is. There's a tactical element, but also quite a bit of luck.

Sam 61

Martin 36

Joe 24

Katy 15

We finished off with Rolling America, another notepad-assisted experience where you roll dice and assign numbers. Your numeric map of America swiftly takes shape, then just as swiftly falls apart, as numbers can only go next to a matching number or one numerically adjacent. In a game where points are bad, Katy and I picked up a joint win:

Katy/Sam 10
Martin 11
Joe 12

And with no less than eight games played we finally called it a night and weaved our ways home. Thanks all!

Octocon Fun!

Friday 28th Oct

The annual GNN-and-friends away-weekend, this year dubbed Octocon for reasons relating to the phases of the Earth orbiting the sun, began last Friday, and finished on Monday just gone. And it's taken me all week to write it up! Just in time for the next GNN-related outing, which I'm sure we'll get to hear about much more swiftly.

I (Joe) picked up Katy at 4pm friday on the dot, and with a car loaded with games (mostly mine - Katy's collection of three games fit snugly in a single hand (without a bag)), set off towards Ilfracombe, to meet up with Hannah, Adam and Arthur; Anja, Steve and Louie; and Jon. 

We all arrived within half an hour of each other, our home for the weekend a pleasing top floor apartment in a converted cinema. Next door was the Masonic temple.

Our home for the weekend.

And just at the bottom of the road was Lidl. But more important than either of these was the entrance to the tunnel beach, visible from the windows.

Whilst Steve and Anja settled Louie, we five played the inaugural game of the weekend - Pairs.

I went bust in 4 of the 6 rounds, reaching a final score of 10pts. Katy raced to the win with Adam in second.

Katy 21

Adam 18

Hannah 12

Joe 10

Jon 9

With Steve and Anja now in attendance, we thought we'd have a quick 7 player game while Jon's jacket potatoes finished cooking. Incan Gold seemed like the perfect choice.

We played my recently acquired version, the new edition of the original game Diamant (confused?). Katy said she preferred the treasure from the original, whilst I think these new shiny rubies and diamonds are more . . . treasury. No one can argue with the new stay/go cards though - no ambiguity here, and consequently no gimmes for players who play the wrong card. The chests for storing your treasure are more robust than the tents, and don't look like chocolate wrappers, something that has often disturbed Sam in the past. Seemingly the only downside to this new edition is the absence of zombie ladies. They have been replaced with boring old spiky logs on ropes. Poor show. But a fun game with or without zombie ladies, and one which I won. Note the mid-pack, all separated by a single point, and then Steve. Sorry Steve.

Joe 26

Adam 19

Katy 18

Anja 17

Hannah 16

Jon 15

Steve 5

After dinner, the mooting of which games to play began in earnest, except there was really only one choice - tonight we would finally get to play Captain Sonar! Except Hannah bowed out, so we had 6 rather than the optimum 8 players. This meant captains took 1st mate duties too. I suggested we might try starting turn by turn, but by the time we'd been through the rules we thought it might be best to just go for it. Katy and I were radio operators on each sub, Jon and Steve captain/1st mate, and Adam and Anja engineers. A few rule clarifications were necessary, but I must have overlooked the rule which said do not put Anja and Steve on the same team. My job as radio operator (radiographer as Katy kept calling it - that's a different board game I think) was relatively simple, and I kept out of the way while my captain and engineer came to blows over the correct etiquette for imparting information between them. Meanwhile our opponents merrily hunted us down and blew us out of the water. We might have been able to limp away had it not been for my helpful advice earlier, involving leaving a blaze in the engine room to blow itself out rather tackle it (metaphorically), which meant we were already compromised.

There was much discussion afterwards, and Jon as the other captain seemed particularly proud of his teams coordination - Adam won extra points for his submariners beard. I want to play again with the full 8 now - and would have no hesitation in suggesting we hit the ground running with the simultaneous game. But it will be a rare evening where we get 8 players and only 8 players. Here's hoping.

Katy/Jon/Adam 0 damage

Joe/Steve/Anja 4 damage

The night was relatively young but we had all had a long drive, so we finished off with a few games of Rhino Hero, which we kept calling Super Rhino - he eventually got called much worse things due to his superpower seeming to be creeping around buildings looking through windows. I can't say the scores need recording in their entirety, but here you go:

Katy 2 cards left

Adam 3

Joe 4

Steve 4

Anja bust (knocked over a bit of the building)

Jon bust (ditto)

game 2

Adam 1 card left

Anja 2

Steve 3

Joe 3

Katy bust

Jon bust

We then played For Sale:

Anja 49

Katy 45

Jon 42

Adam 41

Joe 36

Steve 34

And went to bed. Apologies for the lack of pictures - my phone was charging.

Saturday 29th October

Mornings start early when you have young children, and we were most of us up and about around 8am. Among the tea and coffee, toast and cereal and episodes of Peppa Pig, that unsettling feeling of 'when are we going to play a game'  crept in, and before long, Jon and I sat down to Paperback. This is a recent favourite of mine; having played and loved the iPad implementation, I tracked down a copy for sale, and it was a big hit with Charlotte and Bea during our break in Polruan at the beginning of this half term. It's essentially Dominion with the added fun of making words. Which, if you like making words, is a lot of fun.

Jon took to it like a pro, but my experience with the game won out, and I won. But I can't remember the scores.

Before the weekend began, I had promised Katy that I would swim in the sea, and so we all set off for the Tunnels Beach, leaving Adam to cook and listen to Test Match Special. Swimming happened. Here are the photos to prove it. The sea was much warmer than recent dips in Henleaze lake, but I was immediately very cold on emerging, and headed for home, leaving the rest of the gang to enjoy the sea air.

pic by Katy - the tunnel to the beach

In the tunnel

Great photo by Steve

Back at the pad, and warmed up, Adam and I talked cooking and crossword until the others returned. Anja and Steve treated us to a smorgasboard of cheeses, salads and crusty rolls, aided by their own and Jon's extremely fine homemade chutneys and pickled beetroot. "But . . . games", I hear you mutter. "Where are the games?"

Qwixx proved a decent dice-chucking filler over the course of the weekend, and in its inaugural outing we had an unusual 3 way tie for the win:

Jon 43

Anja 43

Joe 43

Adam 38

Anja took Louie off to see a friend, Arthur and Hannah had a lie down, and Katy took herself for a stroll (NOT a hike). We men settled down to the first big proper game of the weekend - Scythe, which Jon had brought. 

We had all played before, either with Sam or Jon, so we were up and running fairly swiftly. It was my second game, and I'm still getting to grips with it. Both of my games I have pushed for my upgrade star, and it seems to me it's one that inevitably takes most of the game to complete - I feel I should have had other irons in the fire whilst that was going on. I did focus on keeping my popularity on the up, and combat was eschewed by all for most of the game. But Jon was consistently dropping stars, and inevitably we began to bump up against each other on the board. My paltry power did me no favours in the ensuing clashes, and I lost an important hex to Jon. Adam then chanced his luck with a double fight against Jon, but made a tactical error. He dropped a lot of power on the first fight and won, leaving the second battle Jon's for the taking - and Jon only needed one combat star to end the game. And so it was. I was convinced I was staring at fourth place, but the tie-breaker gave me the silver. However, a look at the scores reveals the sad truth - we were all very much in Jon's shadow.

Jon 63

Joe 37 (most pieces on board)

Steve 37

Adam 36

Steve wanted to play Scythe again straight away! But I had agreed to go with Katy to check out the state of the sea at high tide in prep for Sunday's swim, so the others packed it away while I nipped out.

Katy's pics of Ilfracombe

Damien Hirst statue.

On our return, we found Carcassonne with the kids in full swing. But the game had slowed down, and Jon offered to double up on a game of Qwixx with Katy and me. It was a different story to the earlier three-way tie:

Jon 73

Joe 70

Katy 56

When it finally finished the scores for Carcassonne were:
Adam & Arthur ~90
Jon ~70
Steve & Louie ~65

We all settled down for supper, Hannah and Adams delicious lasagne, and a particularly lovely looking salad.

And they made a crumble with custard too. It was all very tasty. Young 'uns were bathed and bedded, and we debated the evenings games in various ways. Anja suggested first, second and third preferences on post-its, Adam countered with 'push the one you want to play towards the centre of the table'. Katy picked up Castles of Mad King Ludwig and took it over to the coffee table, which settled the matter for Jon and Adam, who joined her. I know nothing of the shenanigans, but the scores were:

Jon 124

Adam 123

Katy 115

Ludwiggers

Meanwhile I introduced Steve, Anja and Hannah to Isle of Skye. I really enjoy this, and am always intrigued by the way the scoring tiles interact, as well as the consistent agony of how to price your tiles. I can't remember precisely what went on, because we were also drinking, but in the end, Hannah won handily:

Hannah 54

Steve 49

Joe 43

Anja 35

Not the most fascinating pic

We played a quick game of Qwixx while Ludwig was played - in fact I think we played it whilst they scored Ludwig. I will refrain from Martin-esque comment on the significance of that.

Joe 61

Steve 59

Anja 56

Hannah 51

Qwixx remained on the table for a 5 player game whilst Katy and I stepped out for a breath of unfresh air, and Jon added to his burgeoning roster of wins:

Jon 72

Hannah 64

Steve 57

Anja 56

Adam 35

After that, Hannah called it a night. Did we even moot Captain Sonar at this point? I think we didn't, it was getting on. But we somehow decided on Dream Home and Thurn & Taxis as the next games on the table.

Thurn & Taxis finished:

Adam 30
Anja 22

Dream Home is a new acquisition of mine, and I'd played a couple of games with my girls in the days before Octocon. I nearly didn't bring it with me, as it's pretty light fare - Ticket to Ride with less strategy kind of light. But it's pretty charming, and was the perfect weight for the time of night and gently fuzzed brains available.

Each player starts with an empty house, and over 12 rounds kits out their home with rooms, scoring points for a two card kitchen, a three card sitting room and so on. At the end there are bonuses for functionality - a bathroom on each floor and a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom - and for a complete roof. There are a few unique rooms, including a games room with real games which we all fought over (except we had nowhere to put it), a sauna and a pantry.

Jon won (again!), but there was a tie for second, and Dream Home has a very cute tie-breaker. You scour the rooms of your home for hidden children (does that sound weird?).  Steve had more children secreted in his home than Katy (yeah ok, it's weird):

Jon 44

Steve 37 (more hostages)

Katy 37

Joe 34

Katy's dream roof

After that it was approaching midnight. Adam had vowed not to set foot out of the house, and he and Jon played a couple of games of Patchwork whilst the other four of us took the air again.

Jon 19

Adam 2 

Jon 12

Adam 2

We returned, everybody was pooped and we all went to bed after a very lovely evening.

Sunday 30th October

The clocks went back during the night, and because this means nothing to small children, we were all up bright and early with an extra hour of gaming to look forward to! In the event, I can't say we made the most of that opportunity - games were not even mooted until lunch had come and gone - but it's quality not quantity that counts (that's patent nonsense, I realise). I had promised brunch, which we decided should be called lunch because everyone was already eating breakfast. Steve, Anja and Louie had to head back to Bristol, so after a round of jolly farewells, the others set off to get some air (fresh this time) while I prepped Shakshuka - a favourite recipe from the Ottolenghi book Plenty, involving stewed peppers, tomatoes and eggs. And spices.

Brupper was served at 12 noon on the dot, and our minds turned to games. But also swimming in the sea. 

Hannah and Adam settled Arthur for an afternoon nap, and then they and Jon debated what big afternoon game to tackle. Waggledance won out, and whilst they got cracking, Katy and I played Patchwork. 

It was Katy's first game, but Jon is a master of rules explanation, and she seemed set to wipe the floor with me, getting a fime button economy going from the outset.

However, one of Jon's bits of advice was 'don't bother going after the 7 button bonus tile - take it if you can, but it's rarely a game winner'. I thought this was sensible advice, but in the closing stages the opportunity arose for me to complete a 7x7 square and take the bonus, and I took it. And I won by a point. 

Joe 15

Katy 14

Katy and I left the Waggledancers to it and hit the sea. We chose a different beach, one that had been closed for a wedding the day before, and clambered into the fairly calm waves over a very rocky shoreline. I suggested swimming out and round the rocks to the beach we had swum from on Saturday; Katy was sensibly more cautious. We had been in the sea for about 10 minutes when the swell picked up considerably, and we looked back at the rocky shore to see quite large waves crashing on to it. We wondered how to get back without being dashed on the rocks, and a Radio Four news report began playing in my head, worrier that I am. 

We headed in, and after a few big waves with a nasty undertow, the swell subsided again and we clambered out. A little scratched and bruised, and cold, but essentially safe.

These photos by Hannah are from the previous day, just because there were to many to post at the start. And also so that you can't see the fuss I was making about some little lapping waves.

Steve looks vexed by our idiocy.

When we returned, Waggle Dance was in full swing, but paused while Arthur was settled. Katy had a bath and a nap, while Jon explained the precarious tension with the current gamestate to me. I didn't properly understand. As the game resumed I chewed away at Saturday's crossword, which was pretty chewy, and the final scores were:

Hannah 7 (fewest dice)

Adam 7

Jon 6

Katy returned from her nap and began prepping curry for the evening, and while Hannah kept Arthur entertained, Jon, Adam and I played Isle of Skye. This means that only Katy didn't play IoS this weekend, and didn't on the subsequent Tuesday fixture either, opting for Scythe. Isle of Scythe. Hmmm.

I did quite well for the first few rounds, but Jon and Adam both jumped ahead in the final reckoning, and the final scores were:

Jon 71

Adam 62

Joe 58

Curry continued to be made, with some discussion over the-rice to-naan ratio;. With Arthur happily imbibing episodes of something CBeebies-ish on the tablet, we four played TeamPlay. Hannah thought it would be funny if she and Adam were on the same team; Adam was willing to give it a go. As it turned out, they pipped Jon and I for the win - it was a great game. We also inaugurated a fun way of revealing the scores. One team plays a score card, then the next team plays score cards until they're in the lead, then the first team play more score cards etc etc. It was nail-biting! And that's from someone who could have drowned earlier the same day. 

Hannah and Adam 29

Jon and Joe 27

The Bombay Mix was so fine it had to be eaten with a spoon.

We stopped for Katy's curry, and delicious it was too. Jon and I had pledged to leave no naan behind, so we went back for seconds and thirds. And there was still an untouched pan full of curry on the hob. Katy cooked for 12.  We all enjoyed the benefit of the clocks going back - it was only 6pm, and the lovely evening of games stretched ahead. 

Hannah tactfully suggested Adam could bath Arthur alone if he liked; and while he did, we four played Dream Home again. Jon won. Again. And no need to go searching for hidden children.

Jon 42

Hannah 38

Joe 37

Katy 33

Adam joined us, and we somehow alighted on Colosseum as the big five player to play next. It's apt that we played it since Jon and I had both brought it - this may be the only game that was in evidence twice for the whole weekend - and it's also a GNN favourite that has been long absent.

Only Katy hadn't played, and whilst it's not complex there are phases, and lots of bits. Jon did some more expert explaining, and we settled into putting on fabulously camp shows in ancient Rome.

For the first three, perhaps four rounds, Katy stormed ahead of us all. Adam had pointed out the pitfall of this (that the last place player gets to take one of your tiles), but equally, Jon pointed out that this meant +3 points for each winner podium accrued. As we who have played before know, in Colosseum, you're only as good as your last show - meaning the show you put on in the final round. And everybody (except me) had a little something up their sleeve. Katy looked on in dismay as first Jon, then Hannah, then Adam leaped ahead of her on the scoreboard. I did the decent thing and languished in fifth place, despite my three star performers.

Adam 89

Hannah 82

Jon 81

Katy 71

Joe 61

many Gandalfs

Caesar's in town. And he's brought a friend.

Colosseum remains a firm favourite of mine, but it is long with five, and I was dismayed (more dismay) to see how time had flown whilst we fiddled while Rome burned. We discussed Lords of Vegas, which Jon had been keen to try for several years, but felt a five player game would be too long, so we decided to introduce him to Midnight Party instead.

It's reputation may have been overplayed, as it wasn't the raucous scene that's lead to it's being banned in several households, but then we were playing with five and the knowledge that a small child was sleeping close by. We played three rounds, and Jon showed us all how to escape from ghosts. I accrued what may be an all time losing score, over seven times the winner and double the next worst score. Ahem.

Jon -10

Hannah -24

Adam -29

Katy -33

Joe -71

Octocon was drawing to a close. Hannah and Adam bowed out, but those of us without present children struggled on. Katy was still using the words 'Lords' and 'Vegas' quite a lot, and it may not have been much later than 9.30pm, (the current benchmark for how late LoV can be broken out) - but it would have been a learning game for Jon, and that tipped the balance. We settled into a gentle game of Land Unter. Or Turn the Tide, as less cultured folk like to call it.

I can't remember much about the game, and it's not one that provides a big narrative apart from the threat of drowning sheep, but Katy beat us both, and boy did she let us know iot. No I'm kidding, she was magnanimous. Actually I can't remember either way; but I feel sure the event wouldn't have gone unremarked.

Katy 10

Joe 2

Jon 1

More scintillating photography!

And yet more...

Were we ready to call it quits? Nearly, and if one person had but the other two had kept playing we'd have gone out with a real whimper - but we were all up for a quick and very silly game of Kakerlaken Salat. This is part of the same family as Kakerlaken Poker, but the similarity is only cosmetic. It's more like Dobble in terms of gameplay, with players trying to rid themsleves of a stack of cards. When you place a card you must name the vegetable in question. Except if it's a repeat of the one underneath you have to name another. And if you play a cockroach card, it forbids the naming of a certain vegetable. So of the four vegetables you may find only one is nameable, and if you hesitate, or name an illegal vegtable, you have to take the stack of cards. It's fun and very silly, and the perfect end to a spiffing weekend of games.

We all woke early on Monday, packed up and scooted without so much as a single die or meeple hitting the table (we did nearly finish the crossword with a little help from Google for the difficult last few clues). But as Katy and I discussed on the drive home, there are always more games to be played, and three evenings of gaming just leaves you wanting more. Thank you to all involved, it was huge fun, and I'm already looking forward to next years con. Septicon? Decepticon.

It’s the hope that hurts the most

First Tuesday of the season, and seven hungry gamers were hunched around Joe’s kitchen table, keen for gaming sustenance. Apart from the host, Joe, it was an all-male affair with Martin, Andy, Sam, Ian, Matt and myself making up the numbers.

While waiting for Andy, we began with Go Stop (or Ghost Op, as some of us thought Martin said when he suggested it, perhaps expecting a Tom Clancy style strategy Black Ops game with a supernatural theme).

This card game resists any attempt at working out how to put it on the leaderboard. Adding up the scores doesn’t make any sense because this is a game where winning with a one (as Matt did) is far more impressive than winning with a high card. We will have to leave it as non-leaderboard.

Any way, we played three rounds, and we scored (winning scores in bold):

Sam 0, 0, 0
Ian 3,0, 0
Martin 9, 7, 0
Joe 0,0, 0
Matt 0, 5, 1
Andrew 5,0,0

Sam's tactic of going Dirk in rounds two and three badly went wrong as both times he shuffled his cards, played them without looking at them, only to discover his only scoring Stop card still in his hand when the bets had been placed.

Then Andy arrived and we split into a group of four (playing Africa) and a group of three (playing Darjeeling). Africa is a new game to GNN, and Joe explained the rules to me, Martin and Ian while Sam explained Darjeeling to Matt and Andy.

Africa is all about exploration. You might find animals, jewels, nomads or monuments. Each one can be used in a different way to score points either when you find them, or later in the game if you find yourself next to them and can move them to a more suitable place on the board. With all of Africa to explore, you’d imagine it would be quite a solitary game, but in fact we spent most of the game in a group, moving from one area of the board to another like herding animals. How apt.

As you’d expect from a Knizia, it’s a bit thinky and strategic, but it also seems a lot more luck based than usual. It got a rather guarded appraisal of “I’d play it again” from us. Maybe we were missing something.

Joe 69
Martin 65
Ian 56
Andrew 52

Over in India (confusingly, set up on the table to the east of Africa) I noticed that new boy Matt had a huge lead halfway through the game, and he did enough to hang on despite a late push up the score chart.

Matt 96
Sam 94
Andy83

However, at this point we got stuck in a bit of rut of games that never seemed to end at the same time. Sam, Andy and Matt played Koryo, a card game. I know nothing about it.

Andy19
Sam 15
Matt 14

We played Die Dolmengötter, a game with a singularly uninteresting board. I noticed that the borders had a bit of grass on it, showing that they had made an effort to make it look nice. Joe said it looked like pubic hair. I’ll let the reader decide.

First impressions were not helped by some very ordinary game pieces. But once we got going, it had a certain charm. Place your stones by moving your men around stone circles. If you have a majority, you can place a scoring tile of your choice (face down) on top of the stack. If you draw then you can put a tile at the bottom of the stack. The further up a tile is in the stack, the more its value is multiplied for points.

Four stages of indecision

Quite clever and cunning. Joe clocked up his second win of the evening.

Joe 70
Andrew 60
Martin 58
Ian 55

On the other half of the table, Sam was teaching Matt and Andy the joys of Bullfrogs. It ended:

Sam 57
Andy 52
Matt 46

While those frogs battled it out, we played a couple of games of Qwixx: a dice game which showed Das Exclusive off to its fullest potential. Finally, a game where its stadium-like dimensions are a bonus, not a hindrance.

We scored:

Martin 78
Andrew 69
Ian 56
Joe 49

And then...

Ian 64
Andrew 60
Martin 57
Joe 54

By now we had all ended at the same time, so we decided to finish with the closest thing to Ghost Op that we had: Midnight Party! Or Fuck Off, Hugo as Martin dubbed it after some bad luck with the die. It was a very close game. Clearly, we’re all getting the hang of it. Still, it gave us enough anguish as we Self-Hugoed our own pieces and Martin uttered the line (immortalised in this blog post) to describe the very special cruelty that this game demonstrates.

Sam -18
Andy -22
Ian -24
Joe -25
Martin -25
Andrew -28
Matt -28

And that was that. We set out into the warm summer rain, invigorated and alive.

The Division currently looks like this: