Monarch for nothing

I'm writing this in a pub (where I write all my blog posts) and two women are sitting nearby, working out how to play Monopoly (Bristol edition). Alas, I am unequipped to leap over and show them the folly of their ways. If only I was more like Martin who turned up to this Tuesday's meeting with a bag full of Reiner Knizia games. I'm sure those would have made Hasbro's often mis-played and misunderstood critique of capitalism pale by comparison.

Or would it? More on that later.

At first, there were four of us: host Adam, Katy, Martin, and me. Ian was expected at 8.45, give or take five minutes, so we decided now was our only chance to play Azul. Katy hesitated for a moment, but when she realised she wasn't sitting to Martin's left, she agreed. It was Adam who had that particular honour.

I did my best to stop Katy and her early low scoring rounds suggested I was doing well, but before long we saw that she'd finished two whole colours for a whopping twenty points. But by the end of the game I had two columns, one completed colour. I'd spent the whole game building out slowly from the centre in a very satisfying way. It finished...

Andrew 90
Katy 72
Martin 65
Adam 65

(The women have put Monopoly back and have chosen Scrabble instead.)

Next, we needed a short game that could end instantly when Ian arrived, so we went with Push It. With this vaguely-defined end-game criteria, it made the game a tense affair, knowing that a slender lead could be lost forever in an instant. Well, exciting for everyone except me.

Adam 4
Katy 3
Martin 3
Andrew 0

Sound, with Ian among us, we tried one of the Reiner Knizia games that Martin had brought: King's Road.

"It's a simple area majority game," explained Martin. "Simple" was perhaps an understatement. Nothing about the game engaged me. The rules were almost too straightforward (although Katy still managed to misunderstand the role of the nobles until it was too late) and the board design was a banal fantasy map with areas called The Dark Tower or The Temple Ruins. It reminded me of the map in Bored Of The Rings, with its Intermittent Mountains.

The gameplay was shockingly one dimensional. I can imagine that, after several plays, new and cunning strategies emerge, but as I played I couldn't help thinking I was just doing the same thing over and over again.

Ian got a grip better than anyone else and concentrated all his resources in the North with its two high scoring areas (the evocatively named King's Castle and Dragon's Lair). It did the trick and, as he later summarised, he won by ignoring half the game.

Ian 51
Martin 48
Andrew 46
Adam 44
Katy 41

With that over, we indulged Adam's request and played Take It Easy. We played two rounds. Ian was first caller and, perhaps spurred on by King's Road and its flaccid nomenclature, chose fantasy locations. He was doing very well until we worked out, just after The Floating City Of Dave, that he was probably making them up.

I was also slightly unnerved by Adam and I making exactly the same moves and Martin making mirror image moves for the first six or seven tiles. Usually, doing the same thing that Adam and Martin are doing is a good thing but, of course, the moment I diverged I knew I was sunk.

Meanwhile Ian suffered from Caller's Curse, and ended that round in last while Katy had a 39-point lead on her nearest rival. In the second round Martin was caller and dazzled us all by calling Reiner Knizia games. He didn't get Caller's Curse, ending second for the round but Katy could not be caught.

Katy 334
Adam 314
Martin 290
Andrew 242
Ian 197

Finally, Knizia got a chance to redeem himself with a rousing game of Voodoo Prince. We played three rounds (Black was the trump suit each time) and I did shockingly. Out first in round one and then out last in rounds two and three.

The real battle was between Katy and Adam. It was Katy's first game, and she found it stressful. But in a good way. They were tied on 18 points at the end of round two with Martin lurking dangerously on 14. However, Katy went out first in the last round and, once Adam was confident there were enough points on the table to win, he went out too. It's a great game and the perfect way to erase the memory of King's Road.

Adam 25
Katy 23
Martin 23
Ian 22
Andrew 9

And so we were done. Big thanks to Adam for hosting when it looked like half-term had removed all our hosting options. Hope to see you all next week.