King of the Arables

I got to Sam’s at 7.45, just as Katy arrived too. In Sam’s kitchen We found Ian, Martin, and Joe to make up today’s sextet.

We began with King Up, a very simple game in which each player has a card with six (of a possible thirteen) kings listed and all you have to do is try to push your kings up the board. If a king gets to the very top, then there is a vote, and if no one vetoes this king then all your kings score according to the level they reached. But players only have two vetoes, so be careful when you vote. In round one, almost everyone voted against the first king to get to the top.

All the kings have names, but to use those names gives away the fact that you have them on your card, so they were given whatever name occurred to us. King Ian, for example, became King Isobel the next time they moved.

In round two, King Beatrice was pushed to the top almost immediately and no one vetoed her so the round immediately scored. This was good for Katy who was the only one to have Beatrice on her card. And, despite Martin winning round one and Ian winning round three, it was pivotal in her victory.

Katy 69

Martin 68

Ian 60

Sam 59

Andrew 58

Joe 40

Then we split into two groups. Ian, Sam and I played Terra Nova. I’d played it recently but was a little rusty. This time we played with Side B characters with more powerful abilities, and Sam’s used his character’s ability to use less power to do a special action to its fullest extent.

Sam 73

Ian 52

Andrew 49

Katy, Joe and Martin played Mille Fiori. It was Katy’s first go and it must be her kind of game, since she did very well. Well enough that Martin was very worried about letting her have the finger” for fear of what she’d do with it.

Joe 207

Katy 206

Martin  158

Then we rearranged. Four people wanted to play Akropolis, and in the end Joe, Ian and Sam played while Katy had to make do with Spots, the dice rolling dog game. Martin used one action, “Dogpile” (roll two dice and a buried dice) a lot right at the start and it did well for him. I used it and went bust. Katy was slightly less obsessed with treats than in her last game. The further behind I fell, the more I had to push my luck, and that never works.

Martin 6

Katy 3

Andrew 0

And Akropolis ended …

Joe 137

Ian 123

Sam 120

Then we played So Clover. Katy wasn’t keen since she always struggles but it’s such a good game that we simply can’t resist. For some reason our clues were quite agricultural. Sam had “Coop” for “Chick/Cabin,” Ian had “Farm” for “Hen/Carrot,” Katy also had “Farm” for “Country/Melon” and I had “Arable” for “Right/Ground.”

We got a perfect score but it was close at times. Katy got a cruel decoy that had two words that were a decent match for her clues, especially “sewer/clean” for “Dredge” but Sam wasn’t keen on it and he noticed that “lake/clean” was a better fit. Also, hats off to Ian who clued “Brie” for “Lady/Cheese” because, apparently, Brie is also a woman’s name. 

36 out of 36.

Katy was so pleased, she took my humorous suggestion of a group photo seriously and instead had to be content with a solo shot of her and her clover.

I'm not sure if Joe and Ian knew quite how sinister they looked.

Then I left and they played a couple of rounds of Hit

Katy 134

Joe 55

Ian 29

Martin 9

Sam zero!

Ian 100

Martin 82

Joe 59

Sam 39

Katy 10

Thanks all. See you next week.