When the going gets turf

 This week GNN returned to Joe’s studio as a venue. When Joe let me in, we tried to remember the last time there’d been a games night here. Something to do with a birthday and going for pizza, maybe just after the lockdown.

But enough reminiscing - in Joe’s studio were Pete, Adam H, Ian and Martin mid-way through a game of Abluxxen. Joe ate while he played and I sat down to watch. I discovered,as I did, that I couldn’t remember the rules. Everyone seemed to have a lot of cards in their hands, but as the game neared its end, everyone started shedding. Martin played eight 3s and then seven 6s in two rounds. This was pivotal as the game ended soon after.

Martin 12

Adam9

Joe 4

Ian -1

Pete -2

Then we split into two groups. Joe, Ian and Adam played Azul while Martin, Pete and I played Samurai. This Knizia game appeared on GNN some years back (quick check, oh my god, 11 years ago) and it’s simple strategy found some favour. Now Martin has a copy, it’s back on the table.

The two games, side by side, meant the room was pervaded by thoughtful silences and frustrated sighing. Samurai, in particular, saw some hefty pauses for thoughts. My best move involved me putting down two tiles and clearing out the Edo area, picking up a rice bale and the other two removed from the board because of tied results. 

Before long, the struggle was to try to place your pieces without leaving an opportunity for another player to finish surrounding a piece and pick it up.

1= Pete

1= Andrew 

2. Martin 

I enjoyed it and Martin seemed happy with his acquisition, although he blamed his last place on the fact that his best tiles didn't come out until the end. 

Across the table, Azul went into a rare sixth round. After Martin commented he'd never seen that before, he was assured that this was Azul “on another level”. They didn't specify if this level was higher or lower.

Adam 91

Joe 80

Ian 78

Next was talk of another couple of 3 player games before Winner's Circle/Royal Turf but I was keen for a big 6-player finale before I left so Winner's Circle (the tiny Japanese edition) was brought out. In this game a die is rolled and that tells us which category we can use when moving a horse of our choice.

In order to best appreciate the die-rolling aspect, the dice arena or, if you will, dice stadium Das Exclusive was brought to the table and so we were given the rare treat of playing with a dice arena larger than the game itself. 

We played by the original Royal Turf rules, in which the horses are drawn randomly but each colour has certain characteristics. White, for example, starts in pole position and has one side that's  got one category that's over powered while the others are dismal, while Orange (starts at the back) was balanced on all categories. 

It didn't work quite as well as Winner's Circle style random horses since the horses at the back couldn’t move until the horses at the front did, giving those horses are distinct advantage.

After round one, I was in the lead with £550 from what I thought were some shrewd decisions. Then, after the discussion about how slanted the game seemed to be in favour of those at the head of the pack, the contrarian in me wanted to win by choosing a different path. In the third and final round, I chose horses further back and foud myself struggling to keep them out of last, while the usual suspects sped off to a quick win.

Pete won in the kind of rags-to-riches story that Hollywood would love. After round one, he’d done so badly that he was, technically, $100 pounds in debt.

In the final round, though, he demonstrated almost psychic form-reading abilities. He bet on the top three and pushed himself into first.

Pete $2000

Martin $1800

Joe $1450

Ian $1200

Adam $1150

Andrew $1150

He even magnanimously agreed to pay off the $100 he owed after round one - after he’d worked out he would still be in first.

At this point, I set off, happy and satisfied for another week.

Thanks all.