49 auctions

 Tuesday games night began with message fro Sam containing a photo of a pile a Heck Meck tiles with the comment “Joe just beat me 15-0”

By the time I'd arrived, though the attendance had swelled to six of us. Joe and Sam were joined by Martin, Pete, Katy and myself.

Katy joined last and tried to remember if she'd met Pete before and she wondered whether or not to turn down the c*nt level. She discussed this out loud such that, whatever level she finally chose, Pete was prewarned about what to expect. 

Although, as it transpired, there were to be few opportunities for evil tonight, as the games tended towards the more party end of the scale. We began with Invaluable, an auction game in which players bid on cards of two colours and add it to their tableau to try and make continuous runs of the same colour for points. All cards were dealt out, and each one would be put up for auction by the end of the game.

“49 auctions?” asked Joe, incredulously. And he kept a rough count of how many auctions were remaining. “Only 25 auctions left,” he cheerily pointed out, mid game.

Martin and Katy were the last players who bought anything, with Martin bidding 3 every time, trying to push up the price. We began with only 12 tokens, so I wonder if we were too timid. The money from winning bids would go to the player auctioning the card and if the auctioneer bought their own card ("eating your own shit," we soon dubbed it) then the money would leave the game entirely.

In the final reckoning, my row of seven yellows scored me a bumper crop and I ended up winning.

Andrew 48

Sam 46

Katy 46

Martin 41

Paul 37

Joe 35

Interesting game, but that’s quite a slim game mechanic to stretch across 49 auctions.

Since there were six of us sitting around a circular table, it seemed to lend itself to a couple of team games. First was Team Trio, the game where you have to collect three of a kind by choosing from other peoples’ hands, asking “play your lowest card”. We split into teams of two, and every time someone completed a three-of-a-kind, the other two pairs were allowed to exchange cards, and Katy and I demonstrated some top level psychic connection as we kept swapping cards of the same value.

Martin & Joe 2

Katy & Andrew 1

Sam & Pete 0

We stayed sitting where we were for another team game: Team Play. Joe experience a little bit of a Mendela Effect when he seemed convinced that the cards in this game went up to 9, whereas they only reach 8. I was actually about to agree with Joe until Martin pointed out the truth of the matter.

So, with the fabric of the universe back in place, we began. It was close at first, with all three teams having three tricks each. Then Martin and Joe got three more tricks in their next turns.

I often got “style points” for completing missions that don’t rely on matching colours with cards in matching colours. But style points don’t have a value. Not even as a tie-breaker. Instead Katy and I went for high value missions, meaning that although Martin and Joe triggered the game end, we had more points at the final count.

Katy & Andrew 30

Joe & Martin 27

Sam & Pete 25

I had time for one more quick one and it was Captain Obvious. In this game, we use our wipe-clean board to write a sentence of random length containing a word chosen by a player from a card. Then our boards are passed to the left and our neighbours delete one word, replacing it with “blank”. The idea is to read out the sentence and hope the other players can’t guess what the missing word is. A point to the reader if no one can guess, but a point to the writer and the guesser if they get it right.

Martin 11

Joe 7

Katy 7

Sam 6

Pete 4

Andrew 3

And with that, I had my rucksack back on my back, despite talk of So Clover, and off into the night. Thanks all.

Bloops in Hoops

Six of us assembled at Joe's house last night, or seven if you include Sybil, who stalked the table alternating between demanding Adam H's chips and barking at the cat in the garden/harrumphing at life. As well as Adam and the hosts there was myself (Sam), Ian, Katy and Martin. As we discussed Joe's baize-like tablecloth, I took a photo that made Martin look much smaller than usual. 

And then we began the night by extorting half of Adam's tea from him and playing Team Play. I apologised to Martin in advance as I have no knack for this game at all and spent most of it hoping a 1 would come out. Adam was similarly bereft - he didn't complete his own goal the entire game - and Katy and Joe made the early running, completing 3 goal cards before Martin and I had even done one. 

Martin did most of the work for our team and while Ian completed his own goals his partner went for the public ones. I finally grabbed a 1 and got involved, but it was too little too late: 

Katy and Joe 35
Ian and Adam 30

Martin and Sam 29

We split into two groups, with Joe Adam and Ian setting up Thurn and Taxis and Martin cajoling Katy and I into a game of Greed. 

Greed is a pretty simple and pretty feisty card-drafting game: everyone is dealt twelve cards and adds one to their hand, then adds one from the eleven they were passed and so on. From round three, everyone also plays a card from their hand: loosely speaking Holdings raise money, Actions do a thing and Thugs are a sort of combination of both. Holdings and Thugs also have symbols on them, which are way of generating revenue, something Martin seemed to be rather intent on, judging by the proliferating cash on all his holdings:

I only had two the entire game, but went heavy on a good Thug combination that showered me with cash every time I played an action. Katy found herself cash-bereft with a hand that demanded payment to play cards, and was also a little unfortunate with timing. It ended with a somewhat fortuitous debut win, as Martin slightly undid himself by misreading an action card in the penultimate round:

Sam $170k

Martin $150k

Katy $125k

Thurn was still taxi-ing (sorry) with Adam describing current events as 'subjectively shite' so we broke out Misfits. 

We ended up playing twice, as the Thurn trio eyed our structures nervously, aware that any collapse might have catastrophic consequences for the post offices of Bavaria. I cheekily began the first game, even though Misfits doesn't actually have one of those 'last person to x' starter rules. 

Martin tried some ambitious things and they didn't come off, and in short order I was down to my cubes - and a win. We reset and Martin started, quickly degenerating the idea of a tower into something less imposing...

Which we collapsed and built again, slightly more impressively at first before realising there was precious little to do with it. More collapses followed.

I was laughing so much I'm still not sure how I took this picture of Katy and Ian.

But I picked up another win and as they hit the closing stages of Thurn we bashed out a quick game of Panda Panda. This is a super-simple card-drafter where you win two rounds to win the game. To win a round you need to have any of the possible winning hands (there are ten, varying from two specific cards to seven) at the start of your turn, at which point you call out 'Panda Panda' and delight in Martin's disdain. 

On a turn you can either pick up - from the deck, or the top of another player's discard pile - or discard to your own discards. If anyone discards an A (the most common card) everyone passes a card to their left, a kind of sabotage/lottery combo you can use to screw over someone who looks like they're about to panda but also stumble on something useful.

Luck over judgement for sure, but I won again just as Thurn and Taxis wrapped up with some dramatic scores: 

Adam 32

Joe 10

Ian 7

Joe would have won had he played his last turn differently, it transpired, pulling Adam back a couple of points and catapulting himself forwards. But just like Martin in Greed, he came away with regret instead. "It wouldn't have made any difference to me" Ian piped cheerily as he raised his mug of beer "Because I was last either way".

As they packed away, Adam pointed out I was now on four wins - one away from the perfect five. I realised I also won Expeditions at the weekend - had I done it already? I didn't think so because I was a critical part of coming last in Team Play since then: a team game, but still a competitive one. No matter - I'd just have to win the next game too. Unfortunately the next game was Things in Rings. 

Joe was the Knower who knew the rules of the three Venn circles. Ian, Martin and Adam were the Keen Deductionists. Katy and I were the bewildered Starers in Bafflement. Only a few cards in, Martin murmured that he'd worked one of the rules out already and Ian and Adam mumbled assent. I could only see words and string, though in hindsight the yellow rule ('contains an o') was gettable. But that's the thing about hindsight... Adam won this one as Joe revealed the other rules were 'useful' (context) and 'flammable' (attribute). Flammable is quite a broad concept, we've found (it's appeared before) as so many things can burn if you put your mind to it. Or even if you don't, as my perfect five went up in smoke (sad face).

We played again, but this time trying the co-operative game. I demanded to be the Knower because I wasn't enjoying feeling stupid, and Martin said it can be even harder. I explained at least I would know why I was stupid, and Katy and I teamed up to respond to guesses as new cards appeared. Our rules were one syllable, often has spots or stripes, and you expect to find it at a school. 

The school was our flammable: there are a billion things at a school so we leant into the word 'expect' and tried to stick to that cognitive connection. The team worked out single syllable very quickly and Ian pointed out that underwear, skunk and kite (stripes/spots) all had a wind element. But shirt put paid to that theory - kind of a shame. However Joe spotted the reoccurring stripes and they figured out the last circle not by definition but by noticing a kind of logical pattern. It came down to the last card in the end - goggles - that Joe put in 'None' for no connection. It could have gone in 'expect to find at a school' - as Ian pointed out, there are goggles in a science lab - but Katy and I allowed it, reasoning that they looked more like pilots goggles: the rules do say if you're unsure you can use the images as a steer. So: a victory for everyone!

It was So Clover time. And what a clovering it was as we began with a couple of solid sixes and got excited about the prospect of a hall-of-famer. Then we hit Martin's clover and struggled with the amount of possibilities for Laughtrack, ultimately failing after two guesses to spot syrup/comedy and that glasses might go in a dresser. Martin was so disappointed he openly canvassed for more failures and had to be reminded that it's co-operative game. Maybe he was pleased when stumbled on the last clover - Joe's - as we were convinced that tea must go with his clue of 'scald', particularly as he has scalded his own hands numerous times. But it didn't. 

Still, 31/36 is not to be scoffed at. Some nice clues. We called it there and all - except Joe and Sybil - made our way out into the Bristol rain. Until next week!

The Wife of Brian

As I approached Joe’s house at 8.00, I heard a voice calling my name. It was Katy, cycling along, just arriving for the second time that evening, having just gone to search for a cable she’d left behind at Adam’s house. Another eight o’clock arrival was Steve. The three of us joined Martin, Sam, Ian, Laura and Joe who’d played one game: Fly. Martin hated it and Ian won. This brought up the issue of Joe’s perfect five – he’d been on the brink of winning his fifth game in a row since the middle of December and appeared to have lost his chance. But because the game is meant for four players, max, and they played it as a quintet, it was declared void. Joe had one more shot at immortality.

The eight of us split into two groups. Joe, Martin, Laura and Sam chose Brian Boru, the ancient Celtic game of area control and flirting. Steve, Ian, Katy and I chose (after some deliberation and Katy’s observation that we were the worst people at deciding what to plat) Whale Riders. This was my first game, despite it being a regular at GNN for some months now. I got a rules explanation from Ian and Katy and was soon foraging for treasures in the waves like an expert. Sort of. I soon spent all my money and had to spend one action completing a single contract just for the cash. Katy kept picking up whatever was free and was still able to complete a couple of contracts. I dawdled at the back, picking up leftovers while Steve was first to dash home, sparking debate about which end of the row of pearls he should buy from. Katy said it was obvious – the cheap end – but Steve was unhappy about making the better tiles cheaper for other people. Doesn’t matter, said Katy definitively. Argument done.

Katy 16 + cash

Steve 16

Andrew 15

Ian 13

Brian Boru was still in its early stages, so the four of us played Team Play. Steve got a rules explanation from his team mate Ian. I was paired up with Katy who shocked me by putting discarded cards straight at the bottom of the draw pile instead of making a discard pile. As for the game, Ian and Steve started strong, but then Katy and I drew level before S&I hit eight tricks and triggered the end of the game.

Steve and Ian 25

Katy and Andrew 25

We looked for a tie breaker and I said it might be fewest completed cards wins. This would have given Katy and me the win, but no matter how often Katy read the rules, she couldn’t find it.

With Brian still midgame, we played Spicy. I was all excited when I played my last card and Steve didn’t challenge me, but that was because he was putting down his own last card. Katy challenged and was wrong, handing Steve three points on top of the ten point bonus for clearing your hand. Three points that she came to regret. If she’d just let him put the card down, she would’ve won! Fine margins, and all that.

Steve 23

Katy 22

Andrew 15

Ian 0

Brian Boru finally came to a close with everyone married and Laura sighing as the final round began. Nothing to do with the game but it was, she explained, after her bedtime. It ended with a win for Martin and the end of the road for Joe's perfect five.

Martin 36

San 31

Joe 29

Laura 21

After this we split up again. Laura set off home and Joe, Ian and Martin played Ra and Katy, Steve, Sam and I played Full Throttle. This is a very basic betting game in which a player lays out seven cards from a deck and moves the motor bikes on the circuit accordingly. Then, they take a card from the deck that corresponds to the colour they think will win. Or at least top three. It's like a very pared down Downforce. Despite the simple game mechanic, Steve always overthought his choice of cards, weighing up what was available with what was already in his hand.

It was kind of boring at first. Yellow sped off into an early lead. Then orange caught up. But as the race continued and we reached the end of the penultimate lap, the pack had become much more tightly packed. "Almost as if it were all random," I pondered out loud. In the end blue became a surprise winner. A surprise to everyone except Katy who had four blue cards in her hand.

Katy 26

Steve 18

Andrew 16

Sam 9

Ra, meanwhile, ended on a knife edge with the final tiles to be played being 10, 11, 12 and 13 and everyone on equal pharoahs. At the end Martin pushed his luck. As the last player he wanted to load up the auction track before the final Ra tile came out. He daren’t go too far but in the end his margin of win was greater than he’d expected.

Martin 56

Joe 48

Ian 30

At this point I left, despite Sam trying to persuade me with the promise of So Clover. But I was a little tired so I passed and bade them all farewell. Sam later texted me that they scored 29 points. He also told me they finished Art Robbery.

Joe 23

Sam 21

Katy 14

Martin 9

Ian BUST

Thanks for another special evening. See you all soon.

A Doggy Dog World

 Late again for games, I was about to knock on Joe’s front door when I heard laughter coming from nearby. Checking my surroundings, I noticed that the set of stone steps leading down to a little below-pavement quadrant was no longer blocked and that the quadrant now hosted some welcoming doors that lead  inside. I followed the sound of happiness into Joe’s new open-plan kitchen/lounge area. An impressive new gaming arena with a surprising lack of games which were still in Joe’s studio.

But we had enough games to be getting on with. When I arrived, Sam, Joe and Katy had already played Spicy, which Joe had won, with Sam in second. I also soon learn that we are to be welcoming a couple of newcomers from Sam’s work, Dan and Mikey.

Before they arrived, we played a game of Take The A Chord, since to leave it any longer meant we’d have to learn the game from scratch. We pretty much had to do so, anyway, as the finer details of key changes and improvising eluded us at first. Eventually we got into it, and I won by getting three tricks in each round. Mr Consistency, they call me. 

Andrew 90

Sam 75

Katy 65

Joe 30

Then Mikey arrived and, after introductions, we all played Troika. Joe tried to play mean (“It’s a doggy dog world,” he said, unless I heard wrong) while Katy insisted you had to think for yourself. Joe won this argument, but only after a tie-breaker.

Joe 3

Katy 2

Sam 1

Andrew 0

Mikey -1

Then while we waiting for Dan to arrive we grilled Mikey on his board gaming knowledge. I hope we didn’t seem too interrogatorial, but he acquitted himself well as he name checked a few GNN favourites. 

When Dan arrived the six of us split into teams for Team Play. It’s a pretty rule-light game so Dan and Mikey were up to speed before too long. In fact, Mikey was able to complete a task in his first turn and then so did Dan. As the game wore on, me and Dan were in a comfortable lead and I thought Mikey and Katy were in second with four-task lightweights Joe and Sam in last place. 

But we were in first because, after starting with some high-scoring tasks, I decided to dash to eight tasks by getting a few two-pointers out of the way. When we counted up, my hunch was right, but it was much closer than I’d imagined as Sam and Joe ended with only five tricks but each one was a peach.

Dan and Andrew 26

Joe and Sam 25

Katy and Mikey 19

And with that Katy and I dashed off home, leaving the others to… chat I suppose. Thanks all. See you next Tuesday!

Wonderful rumbles

This week saw a rare sojourn to Katy's house, squeezing in a table-testing six players (Katy, Joe, Sam, Adam H, Adam T, and myself). Katy had worked out who was sitting where based on ease of getting up for the toilet and amount of discomfort her husband might feel in squeezing past them. Adam, apparently, would cause the least. We were also surprised to learn that it was Sam's first visit to Katy's place. "Welcome," she said, half an hour after he'd arrived.

But as for the games, I arrived at 8, at the same time as Adam H and found people in the dining area, chatting. Apparently they hadn't played anything. Amazing. But with a full attendance, we soon leapt into a rousing game of Team Play. I was matched up with Adam H, which is always a bit of a mixed blessing. A greater chance that you'll win, but only if he wins as well. Adam T teamed up Sam and finally Joe and Katy were the third team.

I started slow and was last to finish a trick, while Sam whipped off two tricks in one turn for an early lead. Katy got stuck with a target of Three pairs, all even or all odd and she wasn't encouraged when Joe admitted he hadn't been paying attention to what she'd been picking up for the past few rounds.

But Adam and I turned it around and triggered the game end with our eighth trick and had already scored enough to win.

Andrew and Adam H 25

Sam and Adam T 24

Katy and Joe 19

Next we split into two groups. Adam, Adam and Joe played It's A Wonderful Life, which is nothing to do with the classic film starring James Stewart. It's set in a"non specific near future," according to rules explainer Adam T. And it seemed a bit 7Wonders-ish, judging from what little I understood of it.

Sam, Katy and I played Rumble Nation. This, according to Sam, consists of rolling dice, placing cubes accordingly and then resolving fights. "It's like a three act game with the middle act taken out," Sam added.

Players are not completely at the mercy of luck, and there is a little strategy involved in that a victory in one area has a knock-on effect in the neighboring provinces. I used this to good effect when my initial win set off further victories across the board like toppling dominoes.

Andrew 42

Sam 34

Katy 32

Midway through this, Rob came down and pottered about a bit, before making sure we were playing two different games, so confusing was our banter.

When Rumble Nation ended, It's A Wonderful Life was still midway through so we played Hit Z Road. It's a fun game of zombie apocalypse mayhem that always seems to go on too long. 

My band of survivors was wiped out in the penultimate round which at least allowed me to go to the toilet. Katy died in the final round, killed by the last zombie, while Sam made it to the coast with load's of resources and fourteen points. An impressive performance.

Sam, Gulf Coast Highway

Katy and Andrew, Road To Hell

It’s A Wonderful Life had ended before Hit Z Road, and they patiently waited for us to finish. Except that Adam T left, and I went soon after. The Wonderful Life scores were…

Adam T 61

Adam H 57

Joe 29

I later learnt by text that Sam and Katy won Durian and then Sam won Push It. Thanks all, and special thanks to Rob for putting up with six gamers blocking the way into the back garden. See you all soon.

Shaken, not spelt

Has it really been a year since the venerable Andy B graced us on a Tuesday? That’s what we thought, but were too lazy to check. Nevertheless, it’s been a long time since he was here. Long enough that we’ve acquired a new regular member – Adam T, although it turned out the two knew each other from Eastbourne. It’s a small gaming world.

I got to Joe’s studio at six and found Joe and Ian eating supper. We were dealing out Coloretto when the aforementioned Andy B arrived, and so he was dealt in too. The game required a bit of rules refreshing for all concerned, since none of us were up to speed, but once we got going, it was plain sailing. Except for Joe.

Andy 36
Ian 35
Andrew 34
Joe 24

During this, Adam T and Sam arrived and since we weren’t expecting anyone else for a while, we all sat around the big table for a game of Team Play. I paired up with Andy and we soon got stuck with two difficult mission cards (is that what you call them?) while the others sped off without us. Sam and Adam were first to hit seven tricks (not really tricks, you know what I mean) and then Joe and Ian had a late surge to bring them back into contention.

Sam and Adam 32
Ian and Joe 32
Andy and Andrew 29

We were trying to find a tie-breaker, but Martin told us there weren’t any. However, for the rest of the evening, we kept finding Team Play cards around Ian’s chair making us suspect that they’d completed more tricks than they’d counted up.

As well as Martin, Katy and Adam H were also here. It seemed like the perfect moment to bring out Sam’s birthday cake to celebrate his half century. For some reason, our rendition of Happy Birthday was an octave or two lower than normal. I suppose as we age, we find the baritone range more natural.

Happy birthday!

We split into two groups. Andy, Adam H, Martin and Joe played Babylonia (back after its one-week absence) and the remaining five played Letter Jam, the surprisingly stressful co-operative card game. This time, we went for six-letter words: a step up from the usual five-letter standard game. I think I’ve played it three times and failed to get my word each time and this was no exception. At least this time I wasn’t alone in my failure. Adam failed to get “HOLING” despite getting all the letters, since he convinced himself that the G and H should go next to each other. Katy, meanwhile, blamed her dyslexia for her mistake. She’d successfully got SHAKE but couldn’t work out where the N would go. “Shaken,” we prompted. She looked suitably crestfallen.

With only Sam and Ian getting there words, we scored a mere two strawberries.

Babylonia ended

Martin 162
Adam 124
Joe 108
Andy 99

At this point a spate of reorganisation was achieved, with the nine of us forming into three groups of three. Ian, Joe and Martin played Ra and it was notable for Martin’s many pharaohs, Joe’s many monuments and Ian’s very long Nile. Joe was confident that he’d won until the final count.

Ian 64
Martin 54
Joe 50

Followed by Eggs of Ostrich…

Joe 10
Martin 10
Ian 8

Then Ian went home, mumbling something about getting back at “a sensible hour” so Martin and Joe broke out the Res Arcana.

Martin 15
Joe 4

Meanwhile, Andy, Adam and Sam tried the new game Crown of Emara, with it’s two (TWO) rondels and it’s pretty typical medieval-type Eurogame setting. I didn’t check if you could turn wood into sheep but it looked like that kind of game.

Andy 78
Adam 72
Sam 62

Sam insisted that he won a victory of sorts since he ended as Marquis, the highest ranked noble.

Adam H, Katy and me broke out Lords of Vegas since it was the only game that we all had some kind of enthusiasm for. We began with a lot of plots in seedy back streets and a lot of brown cards coming out early on.

Seedy back streets

I started well and stayed well. Katy built up then lost all but one of her casinos, but towards the end she started to close the gap on me. I was nervous that her strong presence on the strip would be my downfall but happily the game over card came out and saved me.

Andrew 73
Katy 60
Adam 26

Adam said that halfway through the game he’d remember that he had issues with the advantage of being first player and during the game he started searching for rules variants to counter this. Katy pointed out that she went third.

At this point Adam T and I set off, leaving the rest of them to go crazy with 6nimmt. No idea how that ended, though.

Thanks everyone.

The six o'clock special

Six o'clock in Joe's studio. That's when the evening began, although when I arrived at 6.20, Joe was out getting pizza and Ian, Sam and Adam T didn't seem to have begun a game yet. After some polite chat, we began team Push It, me and Adam against Sam and Ian. It was a whitewash, with Sam and Ian picking up the maximum four points in one round as they glided towards victory.

Sam and Ian 11
Adam and Andrew 1

Joe returned with pepperoni pizza and Adam H arrived too. We split into two groups of three. Adam T, Sam and I went for Kodachi, card game based on the combat section of Ninjato. Adam H, Joe and Ian played Kribbeln, using Das Exclusive as the dice arena for that extra touch of class.

Adam H 20
Joe 18
Ian 15

As for the three of us, Kodachi was clipping along at a fair old rate until we found ourselves stuck in a rut. In order to finish the game, certain cards needed to be played but these needed to be bought and, for whatever reason, we never seemed to have the resources when they were available. To add to this, Adam found himself with an increasingly middling hand, full of cards that scored points but weren’t much use in a fight. This all meant that the game outstayed its welcome which is a shame since it started brightly.

Sam 74
Andrew 62
Adam 48

During Kodachi Martin, Steve and Katy arrived and so the five of them set up the card table while we three stayed on the big table - something wrong there. But anyway, they played a game whose name I didn’t write down which seemed to involve grabbing sticks from the table according to the criterion on a card. According to Katy, the winning order was...

Katy
Martin
Steve
Adam
Ian
Joe

It was loud and chaotic, and was followed by a game of Happy Salmon which was also loud and chaotic. Katy won that, and then they played Silent Happy Salmon. Not sure who won that.

Then they played Team Play. Still as a group of six, and still on the tiny card table. Kodachi had ended by now and we played Memoarrr just as a filler. Adam T said he wasn’t keen on memory games, but not liking them is clearly not the same as being bad at them. Early on, Adam and I teamed up to leave Sam with a blue walrus card, which he consistently failed to find a match for.

Adam T 7
Andrew 6
Sam 2

Team Play ended

Team Play, but Martin and Joe still seem to 

be playing Happy Salmon

Katy & Adam 31
Joe and Martin 30
Steve and Ian 28

Now there was a chance to reshuffle the groups, and Andy M called to see if there was a game going on, so he was soon on his way. Sam, Martin, Adam T and I set up Babylonia. The other five then six (still on the card table) considered I’m The Boss, but Joe got the rules sweats halfway through explaining them so instead went for Incan Gold/Diamant. I was lucky enough to witness Steve pushing his luck beyond all reasonable boundaries and also watch Joe and Andy go further into a dungeon together, not daring to be the first out.

Steve 61
Joe 39
Andy M 34
Katy 26
Adam H 24
Ian 18

Babylonia went all Martin’s way as he got a continent all to himself, picking up a load of early cities. At the end of the game, Adam mused that there were two strategies: either play your own game and let Martin win or try and stop Martin and let someone else win.

Martin 153
Sam 105
Adam 102
Andrew 71

Then Katy beat Adam T in paper, rock,scissors and insisted I write it down. Adam T then left. Not because he lost at paper, rock, scissors: he was leaving anyway.

Now the groups changed again. Ian, Joe, Steve and I played Ra. During it, I experienced a strange kind of better’s fallacy whereby I called Ra to trigger an auction with every intention of paying 7 for it. But when the only competing bid for it was a 2, it somehow seemed like a waste of a 7, and I let it pass. With that kind of clinical thinking, no wonder I did so badly. Steve did well on his debut, picking up monuments and Niles, but no one could stop Pharaoh Joe from taking top spot.

Joe 31
Steve 28
Ian 24
Andrew 17

On the card table, Martin, Andy and Sam played Sissi: Die Bohnenkaiserin. I’m sure that Martin likes German games only so he can say the titles in a theatrical German accent. And because he wins them.

Martin 27
Andy M 24
Sam 23

Adam and Katy played a head-to-head game of Yokohama. They started setting up at about 9.30 and the first points were scored at 10.10.

They were done by 11 o’clock when Katy claimed victory while admitting Adam might have won.

Katy 108
Adam 105 (or 109)

Lastly, the other six of us joined together for a final game: Wavelength. This time we weren’t quite as in tune as previously but when the chips were down, and we needed them to fail and us to pick up a point to keep the game alive, Joe got the only perfect score of the game: cluing “sloth” to “stationary/mobile”.

Andy felt he needed photographic evidence to prove

that such a game actually existed

Joe, Ian, Martin 12 (estimated)
Sam, Andy, Andrew 8 (I think)

And so we were done. We picked up our crisps packets and beer cans as if we were obeying the country code and left Joe’s studio almost as we found it. Thanks all. It was a good one.