The Pits of Despair

Games night was at Hannah and Adam's last night, which proved a trial for a few of us; Hannah most of all, who had the unenviable task of settling an excited Arthur whilst rowdy gamers downstairs roared with various emotions. 

We began in the garden, where Adam encouraged us to wrestle Arthur on the trampoline. Arthur looked so full of beans we all demurred, and were then distracted by the cavernous pit of despair beneath the decking, which dropped a good fifteen feet or so to a dark and gloomy fate. After riffing on the pit of despair/slough of despond/wokingham of indifference etc, we stepped indoors for more cheery and colourful fare. Whilst Hannah began the uphill battle of Getting Arthur To Sleep, Adam H, Martin, Adam T, Katy, Gareth, Joe, and myself (Sam) sat around the table and tried to play Long Shot: The Dice Game. This is an allegedly simpler, shorter version of its predecessor Long Shot, but despite my boys and I previously blasting through it in a zippy 20 minutes, we found with seven of us the pace slowed considerably. 

The basics are simple, with 8 horses racing once around the track and the game ending when three of them cross the finish line. In each turn, two dice are rolled that determine which horse moves and how far. Each horse will also trigger another horse to move ('secondary movement') a single space, and players can manipulate these secondary movements as the game progresses. Then everyone takes a single action - betting on a horse (potential winnings), buying a horse (potential prize money) ticking off a helmet (additional betting opportunities) or jersey (additional secondary movements) or one of their numbers on a grid of concessions: when a row or column is filled on the concession grid you can grab a reward of cash, free bets, horse movements; even a horse. 

For a luck-pushing racing game, there was a lot of options, and the slightly fiddly nature of how one thing affected another caused much brow-furrowing puzzlement (everyone) and appalled harrumphing (Martin) especially as I inevitably got a rule wrong that deprived him of a horse. This was pit of despair #2, the befuddled atmosphere punctured only occasionally by Joe hopefully yelling "Come on, Scattershot!" and eventually ground to a relieved halt as Adam H claimed a win:

Adam H $106

Gareth $103
Katy $87
Joe $80
Sam $54
Adam T $40

Martin wouldn't even tell me what he scored, he was so disgusted (EDIT: he scored $95!). Whilst we'd been playing, Steve had arrived and listened to the slow-motion finish, and was now busting to play. I went off to cry in the bathroom while the next games were chosen: Joe, Katy, Martin and Adam T busted out the nightmare-avoidance fun of Sheepy Time whilst Adam H set up the more wakeful Railways of the World for the rest of us in the front room. 

This was new to Gareth, but he quickly picked up the simple-ish rules and the tactical nuances of controlling what parts of the board you can, snaffling up the areas around Florida and getting in Steve's way, as Adam and I contested things further up the coast. From early on Steve was finding himself cash-short and taking bonds, and suffering on the income track as result, going in sleeper-based circles into the Pit of Despair #3 as he seemed to build track more often than he delivered anything along it.

In the other room, it was a little more boisterous as the somnabulently-themed Sheepy Time was causing unthematic uproar.

uproar not pictured

Unbeknownst to us, this was also getting Arthur excited upstairs to find out what the hoo-ha was all about, possibly plunging Hannah into Pit of Despair #4 (-she was too polite to say) but whatever they were uproaring about, it ended with Adam T victorious. I didn't make a note of the scores so I'm not sure where anyone else landed, but they next broke out Scout:

...which Adam apparently won as well. Martin came into the front room asking "Has anyone not called Adam won a game tonight?" just as Front Room Adam was wrapping up victory on Railways of the World:

Adam 71

Sam 66

Gareth 59

Steve 39

Apparently not, although Gareth did briefly tie with one of them in Long Shot until a recount. 

Steve wondered what he was doing wrong in the Railways, and we debated how he could improve. Mainly I'd suggest he doesn't play any Adams, one of whom (Taylor) now headed off home, followed by Gareth and Steve, as the remaining five of us finished the evening with So Clover. Katy said she hated it because she always got things wrong, but in fairness she was the only person to get my (excellent, in my opinion) clue for MATCH THIEF (Cheater). Martin blamed her anyway, for not speaking up. Apart from that dent in our laterally wordy armour, it was an excellent effort: 28 out of 30. After an evening of highs and lows and many miniature dramas, it was time to end another chapter in the rich and varied tapestry of GNN. Until next time...