Bab alone

Some additional Thursday night gaming this week, as Ian and I (Sam) kicked things off with Zombie Kidz as we waited for Chris and Gareth to show up, the co-op game of rushing around locking gates before the undead overcome you. Whether it was fate, luck, our brilliance, or a bit of all three, we wrapped things up in ten minutes with an easy win. Chris arrived a quarter-way through it but didn't have long to wait.

After briefly catching up we set up Babylonia, knowing Gareth had played before. Because he was running late though we decided to begin, with me taking his opening move. I thought my second turn on Gareth's behalf was pretty good, but as he showed up then we reset to allow him autonomy, and he did something very different. 

It was an unusual game in that we didn't interfere with each other much at all in the early running, perhaps all hoping that the others would do so on our behalf. Instead everyone carved out a section of the board to themselves in a strange isolationist approach. 

Chris (white) and Ian (brown) did so the most effectively. Chris' final score of 153 beat Ian by a point! Gareth was back on 128 and my score wasn't worth speaking aloud. A dreadful effort on my part, especially considering I felt reasonably confident for the first half of the game. But excellent chaining from the others. 

I would extract some measure of revenge in our next Knizia: The Quest for El Dorado. I forgot to take photos at this point but my only strategy was gutting my deck of starting cards. Having a tiny set of cards (7), one of which allowed me to draw two more almost every time, meant I stormed off into a convincing win, although it should be noted that both Gareth and Ian were blocked in on two or three turns when they wanted to move - it could have been very different had this not happened...

Gareth had to head home so the three of us finished off with Thunder Road. 

The deliberately dumb racing game was as fun as previous visits, as we slammed into each other, shot each other off the track, and in one instance blew up our own car. Three cars each start on the finish line and the two ways to win are either last one standing (bully win) or first to the finish line (skill win) - but the finish line only appears the moment the first player is eliminated. Otherwise the modular tracks keep cycling down a never-ending road, presumably downhill considering the lack of petrol stations. 

I lost a car on the first turn when Chris shot me and I skidded off the track. Then Chris was victim to his own helicopter, then we realised Ian still had all three cars and began shooting at him and missing. 

If Ian eliminated Chris' last car, I was well-placed to reach the finish-line first. So he went for me and missed. I shot at Chris and missed. Chris shot at Ian and blasted his last car out of existence (I think - it was pretty hurly-burly at this stage). Then he eliminated me as well and didn't even need to reach the finish line as he blew the smoke from his muzzle. Bully win!

And that was that. Thanks chaps!

Hourglass Vigour

 Tuesday at 7.40 and Joe answered his front door and let me in. As I entered his kitchen I saw that he, Ian, Martin and Sam had set up to play Gang of Dice, which is like high score in that you have to roll dice and you score according to certain criteria, such as “bust if you roll three odds” or “all the same value.” The trick is that you get to chose how many dice to roll. So, if “three of a kind” will bust you, then you can choose to roll only two dice with absolute confidence. Of course, your maximum score will only be twelve while other more luck-pushy players will roll more dice.

If you lose a round, you lose those dice to the winner and you have to buy them back. Your final score is money plus remaining dice. Sam started well, despite never being quite sure what score everyone had. Ian kept rolling well and then seeing Joe roll even better. Martin did astonishingly badly, and ended so far behind everyone that I’m obliged to use the old vidiprinter method of spelling out the score in brackets in case anyone thinks there’s been a mistake.

Joe 68

Sam 56

Ian 29

Martin 9 (nine)

“I can’t believe Knizia’s found something else to do with dice,” exclaimed Martin who enjoyed it, despite his display of misfortune.

Then we set up for a quick game of Kites while we waited for Gareth to arrive. In this game there are six egg timers and five cards in your hand. All you do is play a card from you hand that will allow you to flip an egg timer or two. We just had to make our way through the deck of cards while making sure that no egg timer runs out, and they all run at different speeds. It was a neat game, building to a climax of nervous timer-flipping. Gareth knocked on the door midgame, sparking a second of panic as we debated whether one of us dared answer the door in the face of six impatient hourglasses. Joe made the dash and Sam took his go for him until he got back.

But right at the end, only a few cards from victory, Joe didn’t have an orange card and the final grain of sand trickled through the neck and into the lower ampule.

Then we were a sextet so we split into two. People with three-letter names played Thunder Road while people with six-letter names set up a game of San Francisco. I didn’t follow Thunder Road much, except for noting Sam’s exclamation of “Holy shit, Ian.” In the final reckoning, Ian didn’t make it to the end of the game and Sam was immobilised, so Joe won.

As for sunny San Fran, Martin went for skyscrapers and I loved workers and cable cars. Gareth held out for a particular foundation, always making sure he was able to pick up at a moment’s notice, but it never came out. The pivotal moment was when Martin picked up some cards just to stop Gareth from getting them, even though they didn’t help him. That certainly stopped Gareth but did it also allow me to sneak past Martin?

Andrew 12

Martin 11

Gareth 9.5

Then we played Spot while Thunder Road ended. Gareth built up a huge pile of bones that gave him extra rolls of dice. In fact he had so many that when I discarded a bone, I put it in his pile since I thought it was the supply. However, he wasted 11 of those 12 bones trying to get a one so he could instantly win the game. With one bone left, he stopped, unwilling to go bust. But the next turn, he picked up loads more bones and then easily rolled a one the next chance he got.

Gareth 6

Martin 3

Andrew 3

Then we were all together so we rearranged our seats and began again. Gareth, Sam and I played Mille Fiori at speed while Ian, Joe and Martin played Ra. Martin seemed distraught for most of the game, convinced that Joe was going to slaughter them all. It was close but Joe won again.

Joe 50

Martin 47

Ian 30

Me, Sam and Gareth banged out a speedy game of Milli Fiori. Sam sped into an early lead, hitting 69 points after round 2 while Gareth and I languished in the 20s. But before long we had caught him up. My final move strung together three “take another turn” options for enough points to get me into second.

Gareth 197

Andrew 192

Sam 183

Then we banged out a quick Not That Movie: five rounds, but only one perfect. 32 points, I think. No idea if that’s good or not.

With that, I left them to their final game: So Clover. And what a game it was. Ian’s clover had, I’m told, so many interchangeable words that it only scored one point!

Thanks all. See you next week.

Without a wordle

 When I arrived at Joe’s kitchen, a group of gamers (Joe, Ian, Martin, Gareth, Sam, Adam H) were in the final stages of a very tricky Cross Clues. The 5x5 grid was full of gaps and a look at the words along the edges explained why: Box and Chest were next to each other and, just for good measure, Wood was on the other axis.

16/25 with a regret that they hadn’t changed one of box or chest before they'd started.

Laura was expected in ten minutes so we simply re-dealt ourselves a new game and started again. We did much better this time with only a couple of mistakes. Ian clued “crown” which we immediately selected King and Hat, but it should’ve been King and Cauliflower. And Laura came in mid-game, was given a card and she clued “spur” before she’d even sat down and we got it wrong. But Ian made amends with a nice clue of Italy for Ma and Ankle.

23 out of 25

Next the eight of us split into two groups. Sam swiftly attracted three gamers when he casually asked if anyone fancied an apocalyptic death race. Sam, almost as swiftly, had to explain that wasn't the actual name of the game but it might as well be. Him, Laura, Ian and Adam set up for Thunder Road.

Meanwhile, Hooky got back onto the table with Me and Martin joined by newbies Gareth and Joe. Martin explained the rules while Joe provided the pens, although Martin asked for his brown crayon to be replaced. “It’s not a precision tool,” he maintained.

Hooky was played mostly in silence. The pauses were so long that when Gareth didn’t realise it was his turn, no one noticed for a good few minutes.

By means of contrast, the other end of the table was alive with action, as they spoke about shrapnel, mud, slams and airstrikes. Sam was eliminated before the game ended and Adam asked where the finish line was. In the end, Laura yelled “What is wrong with these dice?!” and Sam declared “we’re all equal losers.” It must’ve been carnage.

On the other hand, Hooky trundled towards a conclusion. Martin started thinking about how he’d redesign the player pads, since it is quite faffy to track each discovery in several different places.

Sam, Laura, Ian and Adam embarked on another race, this time the Quest for El Dorado. Adam got a rules refresher and then they set off across the jungle. I don’t remember much except for it being very close mid-game. Finally I heard whoops of victory and learnt that Laura had won, with Adam then Sam following. Only Ian couldn’t end, despite being closest to the finish in the last turn.

“Joint second?” Sam suggested to Adam. “Take it up with the judge,” he retorted.

1. Laura

2. Adam

3. Sam

4. Ian

By now we’d finished Hooky, with another lengthy bout of concentration for our final guesses, the only noise coming from Joe who complained that he'd run out of letters. But we got to the end, dazed and confused.

Martin 48

Andrew 25

Joe 25

Gareth 19

Next we played High Score, since it was a dice roller with little cognitive load. It was new to Gareth and we rolled them bones with the usual crazy examples of luck (or lack of) that you’d expect. In the end Martin won by the “most golds” tie-breaker.

Martin 12 (2 golds)

Joe 12 (1 gold)

Andrew 10

Gareth 9

Then, just to fill time while El Dorado ended, we dug out The Mind. Such hilarity as we stumbled through one round after another. Round 5, at least, was us back to our brilliant best and we got through that in fine style. Lost in round 6, though.

With that, Adam, me and Laura went and the remainers played So Clover and, according to Sam’s late night message, got 28 out of 30.

After this, Sam and Gareth left with the hardy final gamers about to commence a game of Sea Salt and Paper. No news of any results, though.

Thanks all. Next week, yeah?