Lucky Sevens

Tonight’s games night was hosted by Katy since none of the big-hitters were available. Thus we were faced with the prospect of a games night with people who only dabble in games-buying. Luckily, we had enough games of quality to be sure of a good night.

We were Katy, Ben, Ian and myself, with the vague promise of Matt turning up later on. We began with Decathlon, the dice-based sports-themed multi-mini game by Knizia. We chose it because we could easily stop it if Matt arrived.

But first was the small matter of snacks. I brought the Cheese Puffs that Ben had brought to previous games night for the past two weeks. This time, instead of being passed over, they were the first to be decanted: into a lovely piece of kitchenware.

As for Decathlon, we got three events in and, although Katy was enjoying it, it was clear that Matt wasn’t going to arrive and I (and Ian ) were keen for something more substantial. Especially since Ben had brought Lords of Vegas with him. So we ended after the shot putt. I’d taken notes of the results, but I’ve lost them now. I was probably ahead, but we can’t call it leaderboard.

Instead we geared up for a proper game: Lords Of Vegas! A game that needs no introduction. We gambled. We hustled. Katy sped off into an early lead with a purple casino that kept paying out. Hardly any greens had come out, so that was the focus for most early building.

In the mid-game, there was a lot of sprawling, and redecorating in order to take over neighbouring casinos. It was tough, but since everybody knew the lay of the land, it was expected. Everyone, it seemed, gave advice on how to screw over everyone else.

Mid-game, I was lagging in last with Ben in third, Katy in second and Ian out in front thanks to a five-tile silver casino that he built without any sprawls. It just fell into his lap. There was loads of reorganising as people gambled on holding onto a casino just long enough for it to pay out before it was re-reorganised.

I put my all into two big casinos, one of which was a five-tile green casino. The other three tussled for control of several others and I wished I had just one dice involved, just to have an outside chance of taking over.

We gambled a lot, too. Sometimes risking the future of an entire turn on the roll of some dice. Ian's was a popular casino and, after initially off-setting everything, he started to rake in the money as we rolled seven after seven. I worked hard to remind everyone that they weren't gambling one dollar, it was one million dollars!

At the end of the game, I was behind by a country mile and built an expensive three-tile casino on the strip just because my green casino (not on the strip) wasn't paying out at all.

Ian 49
Katy 44
Ben 20 (plus cash)
Andrew 20

I checked the last unused quarter of the deck and there were three green cards in there. Talk about backing the wrong horse.

With that, we were done. Thanks for hosting, Katy, and for the lovely gin.

On the Division, she rises back to the top.