I arrived at Sam’s late and walked into the kitchen, my eyes fixed on the table that was already hosting a four-player game between Sam, Ian, Andy B and Martin. So focused was I on the games that I didn’t notice Sam’s new fitted kitchen until Katy pointed it out when she arrived about fifteen minutes later.
The main reason I seemed unable to take in my surroundings was a game of Jumbo. Despite having played before, I certainly struggled to remember anything resembling a strategy. Andy B won as he put down four of a kind that couldn’t be beaten and then his last two cards was a pair.
Katy arrived during the game and my eyes were opened to the existence of new cupboards. Katy also tried to remember a game with stones that I owned that was really relaxing. I couldn’t think of what it might be except Fishy Pete or Go and Katy seemed sure it wasn’t either of those. The mystery continues.
But putting mis or half remembered games to one side, our next game was Baranoxx which is like 6nimmt but different. In this game, it is the colour of a cow head that determines where a card can be placed. If there are six cards in a row or six cow heads of a particular colour, then you have to pick up.
It feels a lot like 6nimmt in that you find your carefully considered plans torn to shreds by grim luck. Martin, however, found himself on the wrong end of some events and complained that it wasn’t as strategic as 6nimmt. I, having picked up only one row, disagreed. I won my first attempt whereas Andy got hit by a nasty case of Explainer’s Curse.
Andrew 8
Sam 13
Ian 33
Martin 36
Katy 37
Andy 50
Next up was another six-player. It seems like there was no mood to split into smaller groups this evening. The next game was Bluffit, a game in which everyone has a deck of cards valued 1-10 and they use those to pick up cards on display in the middle. Play a card from your hand face down and then take the card from the middle. Couldn’t be simpler. But someone may suspect that the card they’ve put face down in front of them and they can challenge. The two players secretly compare and whoever wins takes the card. But the hidden cards are never revealed. At the end of the round, though, the hidden cards are shuffled and revealed as the next round’s cards to obtain.
It was quite tense,as you’d expect. No one was really sure what was going on, but in a good way. Interestingly, while big value cards were the source of a lot of challenges, Andy B was quietly building up a stack of cards by always picking middle value cards.
Andy 56
Ian 53
Katy 49
Andrew 48
Sam 47
Martin 36
At this point Andy left us and so, as a quintet, it made sense to continue with some communal gaming.
Next up was My Favourite Things. A trick-taker in the loosest sense of the word, it mixes Fun Facts with whist to curious effect. Each player gets six blank cards (1-5 and a dud) and a topic from the person next to them. They then fill in those blank cards with their top five of that topic plus one example that they can’t abide. Then, those cards go back to the person who suggested the topic.
The twist is, you can’t see what value each card has. Only the person who wrote on the cards knows which is which. So you might choose trees as a topic and think your friend would definitely put Oak as the strongest, only to discover after you’ve played it that actually oaks are just sort of middling to fine.
How well do we know each other? It varied. Ian and I stuck with Martin’s stereotype and over two rounds we gave him “Boardgames” and “Physicists” as topics, leading him to insist that there’s more to him than that. I gave Sam “Everton players since 1990” and he gave me “friends from Maidstone” leaning heavily on our lengthy friendship.
Part of the fun, though, is seeing disparate entities facing off in a trick-taking arena. Want to see Marie Curie battle against the colour green and Stevenage Railway Station? Now’s your chance.
Also worth noting is the entirely unnecessary starter player token which was real metal and heavier than my phone.
Katy 3
Sam 3
Martin 2
Andrew 1
Ian 1
It was a lot of fun and very silly. But after that, I set off home. I rely on Sam’s late night messages to let me know what I missed, including the fact that Ian won two games of 13 Leaves before I arrived.
Afterwards they played Llama Llama in which either Sam or Martin won - recollection is cloudy at this point. Then the by no traditional night cap of So Clover was brought out for two games, resulting in 20/24 and a collapse of England at the Ashes proportions: 13/24.
Thanks all. Hope to see you soon.
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