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.