Coming out of the cupboard

This evening, a non-GNN games night was arranged at Roll For The Soul, a café that sounds like it’s already a gaming heaven, but the “Roll” but actually refers to bicycles, not dice. I don’t think we have any games about bicycles, but they didn’t seem to mind.

By the time I arrived, the first game had already begun. Hannah, Adam and two women (who I assumed were Sustrans-types but were, in fact, real people who had come out of curiosity) had started with Galaxy Truckers. They had, however, paused for food so Adam and I had two games of speed chess. It was the first time I’d played the game for years, and Adam won both times.

By then, food had been eaten and another attendee had arrived: Tim. He and I played a game of Agricola: All Creatures. I taught him the rules, and he seemed to get the hang of it awfully quickly, and it ended in a draw: 36 all. Adam, of course, pointed out there is a tie-breaker, and technically speaking Tim won, but he only did that because Adam does not rejoice in shared victories.

Galaxy Trucker had finished by then, with Hannah victorious, and the two newcomers set off with, hopefully, a new appreciation for Eurogames. A man arrived, whose name escapes me, and the five of us sat down to play Ticket To Ride.

Before long, Judith arrived, and she took over from the unnamed man. Whereas previously, he had been simply picking up cards (not, in itself, a bad idea: Adam and Tim had been doing the same) she began building tracks.

I was the first to build and, on a whim, I also build a long but unnecessary six-link railway for 15 points. This turned out to be my best move, as the region around the alps soon became full and I had to send my long track around the south of the map and up to Moscow via Turkey. Not very efficient, but it was all I had left.

The game progressed, and we noticed people looking in the window at us, so we arranged the box so people could see the name of the game. And, during Ticket To Ride, people from the café came up to watch us and said “Oh, it’s a bit like Settlers/Risk” and I had to bite my tongue to not snap back “It’s nothing like Settlers/Risk!”

Near the end of the game, Judith discovered that unfinished route cards counted against any final score and so in a fit of sheer joie de vivre, she stocked up on extra route cards to try and counter the impact. In the end, she did finish in the black. By nine points. She still finished in last. I came fourth, one point behind Hannah and, amazingly, Adam and Tim came joint first. Adam was forced to go home rejoicing in a shared victory, whether he liked it or not!

By now, with our double-checking the scores and putting things away, the café was closing, with chairs already up on tables. We sallied forth into the central Bristol evening, having played a board game or two in full view of people, and the world didn’t come to an end! We must try it again sometime.