Take it from the top

 I arrived at Joe's at eight o'clock and watched the tail end of a game called Regicide. It must have been co-operative since when Joe died at the hands of a Queen, the game ended.

Now, with my arrival, we were a fivesome: Joe, Sam, Adam H, Ian and myself. And we cracked open the 15th anniversary edition of Ticket To Ride. And it was huge. A great big map that was 1:1000 scale or something absurd like that, and separate tins for our new super sized plastic trains.

This old favourite had been absent for so long that we needed a rules refresher. Adam's technique of taking two cards from the top of the deck until he had about one third of all cards in play was very familiar, though. Sam starts off in bold fashion with an early tunnel which, unfortunately, takes two attempts to complete. Is it a coincidence that people mostly stuck to their half of the board? Any attempt at building in Russia for me (sat next to Spain) would’ve meant practically walking across the room.

Halfway through the game, Adam started building tracks and then people started to panic, convinced that his masterplan was swinging into action. Then Joe’s cat did a stinky poo in the litter tray. I don't know if that put Adam off, but he was siting nearest. 

In the end, we were all very close apart from me, because I’d forgotten I needed to get to Sevastopol. That cost me eight points, but I wouldn’t have been anywhere near the leading pack anyway. Sam overcame his initial tunnel trouble to take the win.

Sam 121

Adam 115

Ian 110

Joe 103

Andrew 63

After this we played Colorful, which is like Wavelength except far simpler and all the answers have to be colours. Joe began in typically cryptic mode when his clue for “Long” was “Whale’s penis,” trying to prompt us to chose Blue. But I was trying to remember what colour a whale’s penis actually was. That round ended in failure.

In round two, Sam used his extensive knowledge of Marvel characters to say “Vision” was a clue for “red,” except I had no idea what Vision is, let alone what they wear. Another failure. Finally, in round three we got it right. Well done us.

Finally, with the time just after ten, we started a game of Ra. Joe’s deluxe edition, which he is inordinately proud of even if he is considering exchanging the tile bag for a fez. He also brought out some snacks that he called “bread squirts” which did not endear us, even if it was accurate.

Round two was extremely short while the third epoch went on for a long time. Ian had a great final epoch, picking up civilisations and pharaohs in a bumper final round.

Ian 47

Joe 42

Sam 28

Adam 22

Andrew 20

A great evening. Thanks all. See you soon.