I arrived at Sam's only a little late but still late enough for Sam to beat Joe at a game of Aspen and for the two of them to start a game of Cross Clues with Ian, Katy and Martin. I got there just in time to be given the last free card.
We clued each other adequately enough, with Martin having to explain an absurdly optimistic clue referencing Kim Joy who is a celebrity chef who’s made a board game. General blank looks all round.
20 out of 25
Then we set up Triangulation, a team game based around giving clues to certain things: pop culture, places, people etc. You have to give three clues but the opposing team gets to guess first, using two of those clues. Pete was expected to join us soon but, since it was a team game, he could just join in once he arrived. And when he did, he made quite the entrance, dropping his metal water bottle loudly onto the floor.
Not to be outdone in the attention-seeking game, Sam then went outside, across his floorboard-free decking, balancing on joists several feet above the ground, just to pick up a couple of cans of gin and tonic.
Sam wondered aloud what kind of thing might be allowed - does the moon count as a proper noun? My favourite clue was Ian’s “Washington” “Compass” “Flight” which should have made us think of West Wing, but didn’t. Seemed so obvious after the reveal.
Then we split into two. Martin and I were early recruits for President Maker, but seemed to have enormous trouble getting extra candidates as everyone hedged their bets, waiting to see what else was on offer.
In the end, Dewan was the other game, with Ian, Katy and Joe. Sam, Pete, Martin and I chose President Maker, but Sam had to do Explaining duties on Dewan.
Once Ian, Joe and Katy were happy to continue, Martin talked us through the intricacies of the Korean electoral system as represented by five bits of cardboard and some cubes. In this game players can “rally” which means they can increase their popularity in an area, especially if no one else goes there.
Then you can play a card which allows you to move cubes, with the proviso that you may collect bombs - too many of those will damage your popularity with the voters.
Finally, all these cubes translate into tiles that go into a black cloth bag. And, once for each area, we draw tiles to see who gets the most votes. It was Sam by a country mile, and he couldn’t help but laugh as he pulled out yellow tile after yellow tile, somehow avoiding all of the many purple tiles in the bag.
As we began the fifth and final area, Sam’s lead was so great that Martin observed his only way of winning was if all his tiles came out, and none of Sam’s. But Sam then drew two of his own and any sense of excitement was done. Except for Sam, who kept getting votes and very nearly broke the scoreboard.
1st Sam (Progressive)
2nd Andrew (Centrist)
3rd Pete (Independent)
4th Martin (Conservative)
Dewan finished without me paying it much attention, except for Joe’s disdain for the dividers in the game’s box as he tried to put it away.
Joe 43
Katy 40
Ian 16
Katy left and the six of us played Triangulation again. I can’t honestly say we were any better than the first time.
We saw some painfully obscure references where no one got the answer despite seeing all three clues (Pete’s “rise” “Of” “Pandemic” was a cryptic allusion to Cthulu, and my “Calvin” “Chuck” “Eighty Eight” did not lead anyone to Back To The Future although Ian mentioned it in passing while they deliberated) but equally we experienced some almost telepathic correct guesses after one word. Martin was aghast when “Material” lead almost everyone to agree on Madonna.
Pete, Sam, Andrew win
Ian, Joe, Martin don’t
Then Joe gave me a lift home. Only 10:10pm. Days of near-midnight finishes seem so long ago…
But the evening continued, as Sam reports.
* * *
After Andrew left we had time for a couple more games.
First up was Catan: On The Road, which dumps the original's spatial element whilst keeping the resources, trading, and first-to-x-win condition, which in this case is 7 points. We'd all played before but that didn't stop me getting confused about the harvest phase. Ian briefly flirted with winning, but then Martin stole his big road and I took the biggest army. Then Martin built a metropolis and won. Something like that, anyway. Martin and I have conferred today and found our memories somewhat erratic.
Then it was time for the green plastic. We did very well, rolling 4 sixes straight out the gate in pretty short order. There were some nice clues in there, with Martins tip for waiter/garbage being perhaps the most lateral. We were so pleased, and Martin had so much beer left, that we played again. The second game was so bad nobody took any pictures, but here is the first:
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