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.

Railing against the Dying of the Light (Railway)

Once upon a time we may have laughed off the future as the trifling concerns of others, but last night Joe and I (Sam) rolled up to the kerb outside Martin's house swapping mid-life medical worries, before going inside to eat chocolate and bombay mix. We were joined by the host, of course, along with Ian - now living south of the river - and Andy.

Although before Andy joined us, the quartet snuck in a round of Yokai Septet, the team trick-taker that debuted a couple of weeks back. Martin and I were paired against Ian and Joe, and we pretty much swept the board in the opening/finale:

Martin and Sam: Three tricks, four Sevens
Joe and Ian: Two tricks, no sevens

Whether they would have come back at us to win a full game, only an alternative universe can tell. In this one, Andy arrived, and we started the evening proper with some Cadbury's Fruit and Nut and a five-player assault on Mini Rails. Assault is the operative word, too, as despite the exceedingly light rule-set, every action carries ramifications. Build track and you might help someone else. Take a share and it may cost you points.

But building track and taking shares are the only actions you can do, so you want to be careful that the companies you have shares in pay their taxes: companies that don't count against you.

We all negotiated that particular challenge, avoiding penalties, but table-talk was prevalent as we tried to talk each other into screwing over someone else, rather than us. Joe - was he the only player to take two shares in the same company? - saw his investments in the grey track pay off big time:

Joe 15
Martin 14
Sam 11
Andy 8
Ian 6

Ian then suggested Powerships, but Martin seemed reticent. I seconded, but Martin still havered. We kept saying Powerships as a kind of social experiement, and it turned out Martin's uncertainty wasn't about the game itself but the challenge of setting up the board, which always foxes him. Fortunately Andy was there to pitch in and in no time at all we'd constructed the solar system. Now all we had to do was fly around it.

I began well, shooting off into an early lead. Martin assured everyone I would "fuck up at some point" though, and I agreed he was probably right. But as first Andy and then Ian slalomed involuntarily around the cosmos, I circled buoy one and two and headed for three, with only the green ship of Martin visible in my rear-view mirror.  He was still sure I'd make a mistake, but I, foolishly, had begun to feel confident.

On the last turn around buoy three I needlessly rolled my die, hoping to turn my 2 into a 1. I rolled a 3 instead and ended in a cul de sac of yellow arrows, floating in space. Martin shot around right behind me, straight into an arrow. There followed a period of confusion, as the arrow was supposed to push Martin back - but I was in the way. Did he move back at the start of his next turn? Or stay where he was and ignore the arrow? Much frantic BGG-ing ensued, which ultimately made no difference. Either way, I now had fucked up, and ceded ground to Martin who claimed the win.

1 Martin
2 Sam
3 Joe
4 Andy
5 Ian

Ian, as he foretold, came last. Joe and I noted how the winning spaceships seemed to be engaged in some kind of group hug/orgy. Andy missed the fun as he was still reading the Powerships forums.

I went to the loo and when I came back unwittingly was the winning vote on Abluxxen, once often-seen on the table in these parts. We all needed a refresher, and Joe in particular seemed bamboozled by it. It's like Fuji Flush in a way, but without the teamwork: play a single card or set of (matching) numbers to the table, get busted if someone else plays a card or set of a higher number. The key is to try and build big sets by getting shot of singletons to pick up cards that match your hand.

We only played a single round, at the end of which cards on the table score a point and cards in hand score minus points. I thought I was on the verge of a spectacular seven '4's, (having just played seven '8's) to put me on 14, when Ian ended the game by getting all his cards down!

Ian 17
Joe 9
Martin and Andy 4 each
Sam 0

We ended our evening as a quintet with current trick-taking favourite Voodoo Prince. I think I usually do ok at this game but last night I fell victim to a first round last-out having no trumps, and then when choosing trumps on the next round had four sets of high numbers and a bundle of blacks - too many to safely imbue with trump power. I tried to bluff that I was going for an early trick, but nobody fell for it - I won the early trick. It fell apart swiftly after that.

For the others things were much tighter though, and on our third and final round the scores between them were tight - anybody could have won. In the end Ian - who was first out in round one - picked up his second win in a row as Martin and Joe tied for second, with Andy hot on their tails. I did at least win the last round to add a bit of respectability...

Ian 27
Martin and Joe 22
Andy 21
Sam 15

Martin enticed Andy to stay for one last game, whilst the decrepit (me and Joe) and the long-distance traveller (Ian, now headed for Bishopsworth) hit the road. Whilst we reflected on the evening and the state of the world - Bishopsworth in particular - Martin was whupping Andy at Patchwork:

Martin 46
Andy 10

Until the next time...

Fun lovin' Kribbelners

This week saw the well-oiled machine of GNN execute a pin-point 180 degree turn as initial host, Adam, had to hand over the duties to Sam at the last minute. Well, at the last couple of hours or so, but you get the point.

This left Sam fretting as the change in venue sparked off a number of late cancellations. Did this mean he wasn't popular? But in the end the exodus wasn't as big as he'd first thought and eight of us were in attendance tonight.

We started as a four: me, Sam, Ian and Joe. We began with Animals On Board, joking that just setting the game up would set off the doorbell. It did, and it was Martin.

Animals was replaced by Abluxxen. Early on, Sam asked if a hand full of different numbers was bad. Martin confirmed that it was.

The game ebbed and flowed, with Ian surprising us all by putting down a trick with three jokers in it. That was quickly abluxxed by Martin, if I remember right, which might have been the key move.

Martin 21
Sam 11
Joe 11
Andrew 5
Ian 5

By now, Adam, Katy and (after his cameo last week) Steve had arrived. The eight of us split into two groups of four. I pointed out Ponzi Scheme in Joe's bag, and a triumvirate of eager players volunteered themselves. I'd been keen to try it, so I happily joined them.

The other four went for The Networks. The game of schedule planning for a cable TV station. Or something. I understood very little since, from where I sat it was a long way away and upside down.

Ponzi Scheme, though, was much nearer. And the right way up. Unfortunately, I didn't understand it either. The rules are simple but the gameplay can be very opaque. Trying to work out a value for industry tiles in the trade round is a bit like licking your finger and holding it in the air. Not much to go on.

Joe stated he just wanted to stay solvent until the end, since that had never happened before. Katy bought industry tiles with glee, insisting I take a photo when she had three of three types.

Martin had loads of tiles and then, the next time I looked, he only had a few. Possibly due to the large number of "bear markets" that were triggered, meaning we have to lose a tile.

But Katy couldn't sustain that level of tile ownership and I felt less than inclined to try and extend my game any longer than necessary, so we ended up failing simultaneously. Martin won, despite Katy buying a tile off him to try and get Joe to win, but Martin's had a huge reserve of cash which got him four points. It was enough to give Martin another win.

Martin 8
Joe 4
Katy and Andrew BUST!

I found it all a bit dull. It was as if I was playing a game of Mornington Crescent, were people ostensibly follow some rules, and then there's a big reaction at something, the joke being that nothing has actually happened. That's exactly how it felt. Can't see me playing again. Pity, but there you go.

The Networks was still underway, so we brought out Polterfass. Clearly not my night for bluffing, mind-reading type games.

Surprising final round, though, with Katy and Martin poised to win. Katy, the customer, had 72. Martin, the barkeep, had 70. Katy only had to bid three and hope for a return, and then she'd win. But she bid zero, expecting Martin to be a mean bartender and not roll again, hoping to take advantage of Joe or my greed. She was half right. Martin didn't roll again, leaving eight pints to share. But Joe and I bid only one! No one went bust and Katy rued her choice. It was enough to give Martin another win.

Martin 76
Katy 72
Joe 50
Andrew 18

The Networks was still being played. In fact, by now, they were all standing up and checking the rule book. Serious stuff.

We went for Kribbeln, the game where Martin cocks a snook at Lady Fate and gets away with it. We all said his second Krib of 34 was a mistake, but then he pulled at 35 out of the bag in the later stages while the rest of us struggled in the high twenties and low thirties. It was enough to give Martin another win. (I should probably just have that sentence assigned to one of the F-keys on my keyboard. It would save a lot of time.)

Martin 25
Katy 19
Joe 17
Andrew 17

Finally, The Networks ended and we could clear the table (leaving behind one purple cube that no one could identify the source of). The game ended:

Adam 253
Sam 251
Steve 247
Ian 227

The eight of us played a rousing game of Pairs. Well, not really. My game slump continued, even in victory. I was on 14 points when I managed to fluke a first place, getting me eight points and pushing me past the 21-point mark. A huge anti-climax: I hadn’t even realised I was close to winning. The other notable event was Adam deciding to stick after he'd only been dealt one card (got him five points, though).

Andrew 22
Katy 15
Joe 14
Martin 13
Ian 11
Sam 11
Adam 10
Steve 8

Then the Eastonites left en masse, leaving the rest of us for one last game. Since I’d had such a poor evening, they let me choose the final game and I went for Unearth. But even then, I failed to get very far.

Sam 28
Joe 21
Katy 17
Andrew 16

Not a great night for me but I’ll write this off as an aberration. There’s always the weekend!

Clockwork. Orange.

Half-term in GNN-land is often a sparse affair and so it was this week, with five people gathered together for gaming fun. Martin was the host, joined by Ian, Andy, Katy and me.

We began the evening in festive mood, with Katy giving Martin an early birthday present: a game of Go, complete with slightly confusing 3M corporation branding. Not sure why the multinational giant was trying to say with this branding exercise but since Martin had always wanted a go set, he didn’t seem too bothered.

Our first game was Merchants of Amsterdam. This is a game of bidding and area control in three areas: a commodity track, areas of Amsterdam, and the world. Players take turns being the mayor and draw three cards and, in a Biblios-esque (Bilbiesque?) touch, assign them so that they (a) definitely get used by the mayor, (b) are discarded, and (c) are auctioned off amongst all players (including the mayor).

The price is set according to a clockwork dial that slowly winds down, and as it does, it points to a steadily decreasing price range. Unfortunately, it couldn't be positioned in a central position, giving me, Ian and Martin a definite advantage in that we could see Katy’s and Andy’s reactions.

But it’s not all about the auctions. Choosing the right card is important too, and I didn’t buy too much although I did cause a few “oohs” of surprise when I bought a “x3 commoditiy” card for 190,000 gilders. This was later eclipsed by Katy, who spent 320,000 on a card.

I was known as Mr Second, since I managed to score second place in a number of areas without really doing a great deal. This set me off to a good start, but others began to pick up pace and soon it was difficult to guess who was winning.

Come the final scoring, Ian stared at his stack of money, bemused. He’d spent most of the game bemoaning his fate and perhaps he was surprised at the amount he’d amassed. After a little while we’d worked his score out, and the final standings were:

Martin 1,410,000
Andrew 1,250,000
Ian 1,060,000
Katy 990,000
Andy 690,000

Andy didn’t seem terribly impressed with the game, saying there were too many things going on. I thought it was okay. They should’ve designed the board with the clockwork counter in mind, though.

Next up was Why First? Since I’d been in second all through Merchants of Amsterdam, I was quite optimistic. But this simple race game rewards those who come in second, but in the end the “winner” is the one who was second best at coming in second. As we entered the last round, I was in a good position on 6 points. Ian was first with 11, but Martin and Andy were poised with 5 and 4 respectively.

They started round five by going backwards, leaving me in a good position but, alas, it wasn’t to be. My last card pushed me too far up the track, giving me six points for coming in second. I was too good at coming in second.

1. Ian 11
2. Andrew 12
3. Martin 5
4. Andy 4
5. Katy 0

Next we had a three round game of Raj. This simple game of bidding on point-scoring tiles has caused many an anguished wail of despair since tied bids cancel each other out, leaving the next in line to take the spoils.

Katy started badly, saying she wasn’t enjoying it, and decided to go Dirk for the last round. She assured us that Dirk (our random imaginary friend) would score more than she did in the last two rounds (-1 and 2).

And he did. He got seven points and did better than Ian or I. And after all the amazement at how well Dirk played, we totted up the scores and it couldn’t have been closer.

Andy 39
Martin 39
Ian 20
Andrew 20
Katy 8

But, bearing in mind Raj’s rule that ties cancel out, then in a sense Katy won this game since the rest of our scores were tied. Except, of course, she didn’t. She came last.

Finally, Martin really pushed his birthday goodwill by choosing Abluxxen, not one of Katy’s favourites. She complained during the first round that she really didn’y understand the strategy, so Martin gave her some advice. She thought for a second, and then proceeded to play like a demon, winning 17 points in the first round to take a commanding lead.

She didn’t do that well again but, who knows, perhaps she might actually quite like the game now? It was close after round two, but Martin was a clear winner since he was the only one to post positive a score in the last round.

Martin 31
Ian 19
Katy 12
Andrew 8
Andy 2

And so, we were done. Not a great evening for Katy, but a good one for Martin. And who could wish for a better birthday present than that?

Seven Lords a-leaping

This week’s Tuesday happened at Sam’s house. Of course, it happened in lots of other places, too, but the most important bit happened at Sam’s

We began as a quintet: the host, Sam and then Martin, Katy, Andy and myself. While we waited for the final two of the group to arrive, we played Abluxxen. Katy said she’d hated the game the last time she played it, but she decided now that her work-life balance was better than it was back then, she was willing to give it another go.

Katy did enjoy it more this time, but that could be because (a) we only played one round, and (b) she came second. I couldn’t get my five threes down on the table without them being abluxxed back into my hand, and Sam started the game with seven out of his initial thirteen cards as singles.

Martin 12
Katy 9
Sam 8
Andrew 7
Andy 2

Then Sam’s family came back from wherever they’d been and Ian arrived. Stanley wanted to play a game, and so Midnight Party was brought to the table. Andy had to make a call, so the five of us circled around this oh-so-familiar corridor before dashing into doors in a sort of tabletop version of Musical Chairs. Notable events were four Hugos in a row, wiping out half the board and also Katy’s full lap that she had to do with Hugo chasing her after she carelessly wandered past the final empty room. And she did all this without swearing.

Ian 17
Andrew 28
Martin 38
Stanley 40
Katy 53

After this, we split into two. Joe was now in attendance with his usual touting of Lords Of Vegas. Sam suggested Lords of Waterdeep as an alternative, and when Andy said he hadn’t played either, he was recruited to Waterdeep, complete with the Skullport expansion. The left the almost impossible task of Martin and Katy playing a quiet game of Lords of Vegas together, with Ian and Joe making up the quartet.

In the front room, rules were explained and before long we were off, recruiting and questing and picking up skulls (minus points) for choosing the most powerful actions. Or, as Sam put it, “going dirty”.

Despite it being Andy’s first go, he took to it very quickly, and we all stuck together pretty close as we went around the scoretrack. Andy, however, cursed his indecision when he didn’t pick up a quest in the seventh round, thinking he couldn’t complete it, only to realise that he could’ve done after all.

My best move was probably taking a 40-point quest, with no intention of completing it, just so the others couldn’t get it. Sam collected and then returned skulls. He was disappointed that he had the plot quests that involved owning buildings, but he never built any buildings. “The complete opposite of building an engine” he said, and we all chuckled, fluent in gaming terminology.

Andy 158
Andrew 140
Sam 138

Meanwhile, in Vegas the big winner was Ian who must have done something good in a previous life as two mega-casinos dropped into his lap when another player rolled a bunch of dice to gain ownership of them. Add to this that each time Joe sprawled into a vacant lot, its real owner turned up later to claim it, and it must have been a typically cruel game.

Ian 44
Katy 23 (plus cash)
Joe 23
Martin 16

Then, while we were finishing off Lords of Waterdeep, they squeezed in a quick game of Imperium, one of the games from the Knizia compendium. I didn’t really get it, but Joe understood it well enough to win the final two big-scoring rounds and end the game in a comfortable first.

Joe 26
Martin 20
Katy 16
Ian 15

At this point Katy and I bowed out, leaving the remaining five to bang out a couple of games of Pairs.

Ian 22
Sam 21
Joe 10
Andy 8
Martin 4

Andy 24
Joe 20
Ian 18
Martin 11
Sam 7

On the Division, Martin ends my bafflingly long stay at the top, and Sam loses his points ratio lead to Adam.

Choosing the best of two strategies

Tonight we arranged ourselves around Joe’s kitchen table. We were five in number, which is perfect for a game of A Fake Artist In New York, except I’d forgotten it and left it at home. Instead, we (Joe, Martin, Sam, Matt and myself) pondered what to play, idly casting an eye over a pile of games but never really approaching a decision. We almost thought about never choosing a game, and just spending a relaxing evening discussing them.

But then the deadlock was broken when Joe brought in Blockers. This underrated abstract game got my instant seal of approval, and debutante Martin was willing to give it a go. He was given a walkthrough of the rules, but asked that Joe not read out the section marked “Strategy”, wanting to work it out for himself. You win the game by having the fewest distinct areas on the board, and having captured the least number of opponents squares.

So we played and blocked and from a very early stage, we got in each other’s way: everyone seemed to try to take control of the middle area. There was a lot of cursing at bad luck, in a very Take It Easy kind of way, as each time we picked up a new tile, it was never quite what we wanted.

It was Matt who really impressed, though, joining up his disparate red nations in a long column that stretched from one edge of the board to the next. It was to prove to be decisive move and one that left him in a strong position for the rest of the game.

Matt 4
Martin 5, wins on a tie breaker
Joe 5
Andrew 6
Sam 8

Finally, after the game had ended, Martin looked at the strategy guide in the rules. We discovered that it recommended one of two strategies: either focusing on having fewest areas or capturing the least tiles. In other words, it just told us what we already knew. It dressed it up a bit by talking about a “Balanced” strategy or the “Edge” strategy, but nothing seemed very deep. Not exactly a discussion on the Sicilian Defence.

It was during Blockers that we decided to play five short games this evening, each chosen by a different player. Joe had chosen Blockers and, since Matt won it, he was given the next choice. He went for Skull and Roses.

It was an odd game. Or maybe all games of Skull and Roses are odd. Joe was an early loser, and was quickly down to one tile that everyone knew was a rose. That didn’t stop him from winning a round with just that one tile.

Meanwhile, Matt, Sam and I all lost a round or two while Matt and Sam won a round. It was then that we suspected that Martin was the only player left to have a skull. This put him in a position of considerable power, if only he’d fully believed it himself. After several rounds of him stopping people from winning, he foolishly played a rose, allowing Matt to guess he’d done that and so he won the game.

Matt 2
Sam 1 (more tiles remaining)
Joe 1
Martin 0 (more tiles remaining)
Andrew 0

Matt had already chosen a game, so Sam was given the choice. He went for High Society, the game of bidding just the right amount or be damned to a cruel last place for your greed.

I think this was the first time we’d played with Martin, who certainly seemed appalled at some of the high bids made for the cards early on. Time after time he’d pass on a bidding round for a mediocre card that was already $20m+ in value. He managed to get the 10 card, though. Matt, meanwhile, was looking good with his x2 card until he picked up a ½ card to go with it. Cautious Sam, with his 7 card and a x2 won it. I found myself in last place, having misjudged the last bidding round. Oh wells.

Sam 14
Matt 12
Martin 10
Joe 8
Andrew BUST! (with 11, for the record)

Since Matt and Sam had already chosen, it was now Martin’s choice. He went for Abluxxen: a swift three round game. However, he didn’t reckon with a tipsy Joe needing a rule refresher on every turn. After the first round of confused gameplay, Joe actually found himself in the lead.

We decided to limit the game to two rounds for the sake of time. Martin must’ve mentally rolled his sleeves up, determined not to let a drunken ingenue take first place, and he did it with some style, finishing with a four of a kind just before I was about to put down a five of a kind.

Martin 26
Joe 17
Matt 13
Andrew 11
Sam 6

Finally, it was my choice and I suggested No Thanks! Sam went for what now seems to be called The Endersby Strategy of picking up low value cards (just like Blockers, this is one of two strategies available: Endersby and Non-Endersby. Although the Non-Endersby Strategy does tend to be quite varied).

We were slightly distracted by the large jar of old school sweets that Joe had on a shelf in the kitchen, and he got it down so we could relive the joys of sherbert lollipops and love hearts (Martin’s first love heart said “Grow Up” which made us all wonder how it knew we were playing board games). Sam, however, did not appreciate the synthetic taste of a Fruit Salad sweet, having to spit it out after only a few seconds chewing.

I went for the middling cards but couldn’t get my two chains to join up and Martin picked up an early 33, deciding he wanted to control the top end, but then let a 34 card go round once too often and Matt picked it up. This sealed both their fates. Joe, though, got a streak of luck and ended with a negative score, to go with the one he got five years ago that he likes to mention every now and again.

Joe –2
Sam 21
Andrew 27
Matt 28
Martin 58

What an evening! Martin convinced us to play one more game of Go Stop before we left and while we finished the whiskey kindly supplied by Joe. We did, but we forgot that Matt is Kryptonite to Go Stop. Just like the last time he played, he ended the game by getting the highest showing card. Thank goodness it wasn’t leaderboard.

Which now looks like this. With Andy and Ian away, Martin stretches his lead at the top to what is surely an unassailable position with only one week left.

Red Hot Chilli Popper

Games was at Joe's tonight, and as well as the host there was Andy Bates, Andy Morgan, Katy, Ian, Martin and myself (Sam). As Andy M was arriving later than the rest of us we kicked off with Kakerlakenpoker, the game of insect bluff. Andy (B) professed not to like it, and as we serially made correct rejections, the insects piled up fast.

Joe was best at spotting bluffs, and two (or three?) in a row from Andy amounted to Kakerlakensuicide, as he apparently deliberately torpedoed himself in order to end his misery. Following this drama, Martin refused to let me tot up the scores going by remaining cards, insisting "There's only one loser!" and pushing all the remainders into a pile. Whilst Joe, Katy and I protested Andy B backed him up, reading from the rule book. When have we ever paid attention to the rules at GNN?

Breathless stuff, and the evening was only starting. Martin - in bullish mood, it seemed - scoffed at Joe's suggestion of playing Scoville, the game of chilli farming, pronouncing it as "Kickstarter crap". Joe went ahead anyway, with Ian and Katy abetting him, whilst Martin, Andy and I used a deck of 6Nimmt cards to play The Game, which was a co-operative effort to get all the cards out in a series of rows - two ascending and two descending. Very like Hanabi, in fact, except this time you can see your own cards and cannot share information. You can however ask people to leave a row alone for your next turn, and also play a card that takes a row ten spaces backward if it is ten places 'behind' the current number. Andy M walked in just in time to see us get a perfect score.

The four of us elected to play Basari. This was new to me, but I must admit I liked it a lot - getting distracted enough not to take a photo. I liked  it most of all when I sailed into what I naively thought was an impregnable lead, only to be pegged back by Andy M as my card choices in the last round were kakerlakencacken:

Andy M 62
Sam 60
Martin 59
Andy B 45

With the other three gamers poised over their embryonic chillies, we moved swiftly on to Abluxxen and I got some really shitty hands with loads of singles. I probably could have played them better but in the wide world of games, I was never anywhere near Martin, who sailed to victory (despite scoring negative points at one stage!) after trouncing us all in the opening round:

Martin 47
Andy B 39
Andy M 37
Sam 33

By now Scoville had finally come to an end, with Joe refusing to admit that it was Kickstarter crap, but we could see from the look on his face that he was lying. As Ian admitted later in the car "I nearly liked it". Katy went further and said she did like it, but she didn't seem that convincing, considering the scores:

Katy 93
Ian 70
Joe 65

There was a reference card in the game that reminded me of the indecipherable Developments and Wonders in Olympos, where most of the game was spent checking the rulebook to establish what they did.

We were now all in one group again, so although Andy M retired to his adjacent house, there was plenty of time for a game of 6Nimmt, which Katy insisted upon. I was sure I could remember her swearing at the game like a docker at an art student, but apparently she likes it. Who knew?

Well we'll remember next time, as she sailed serenely to a convincing win as the rest of us swore like a bunch of dockers at a cafeteria sit-in over bursaries. Ian's recent good form returned to it's disastrous early days, and Andy pretty much replicated it:

Katy 29
Sam 47
Joe 59
Martin 66
Andy B 80
Ian 81

A nice bunch of games - with the possible exception of Scoville; more in the comments I hope - and plenty of time to get lost in Easton on the way home. See you Friday!

What a klunker!

In a comment recently, Adam compared the new non-Tuesday games division to the Champions' League. However, given that the big hitters are usually absent, a more apt analogy would be to the Johnson's Paint Trophy: something for the lesser gamers to aim for.

The evening began early with Sam, Stanley and Ian fighting it out over That's Life, and it's only right that the player with the most life ahead of him should end the winner.

Stanley 12
Sam 11
Ian -4

After that, it was Stanley's bed time. Meanwhile, three more gamers arrived in the shape of Martin, Andy and myself. We pondered on what to play, before agreeing on Klunker, a new game that Martin brought with him. In this card game (has to be a card game if Martin bought a copy) you have to collect sets of four of a type of jewellery. Once you have four they instantly turn into money. But if you receive less money if you have any unfinished sets. You collect cards by being dealt them or by buying from other players. Martin noted that it was basically a card management game with three hands of cards.

It's not very intuitive. You'd be hard pushed to come up with a winning strategy on a first play. I think it needs a few plays before it's secrets come out. I can't say I had much fun, though, spending the last two rounds with a hand that contains one of everything isn't a good way to build sets. Sam got off to a flier, being dealt a set of four at the start. Any hope Ian had of winning was doomed when Andy bought some jewellery just to stop Ian from picking it up and scoring seven points.

Sam 16
Martin 11
Andy 9
Ian 7
Andrew 6

Next we considered more five player options. Ra, Colossal Arena and Taj Mahal were all brought to the table, but Condottiere was choice de soir. I was glad that this tiny game was getting some proper attention, and not stuck on the end of an evening in the mistaken belief that small box equals quick game.

Andy said he thought he hadn't played it before, and Ian needed a refresher, so Martin went through the rules for them, helpfully pointing out the differences between this version and the original version.

During the game, Andy realised he had played it before, and the fact he'd forgotten about it tells you all you need to know about how much he enjoyed playing it again.

Condottiere is a tough game to play when dealt a shitty hand. The best you can hope for is that the other players cancel each other out and maybe you'll pick up some cheap territories. Luckily for me, I got a hand in the third round with a key card (that allows me to end a battle when I chose) and two adjacent territories on the board. When my chance came I took it, using my key to finish a battle with me in the lead. I got my third adjacent regions, ending the game in my favour.

But what about the rest of the placings? Martin was convinced that he was joint second, and he greeted the news that he was third (because he had no adjacent territories) with a hearty bout of well-chosen expletives. But a rule is a rule, even if it hasn't been used since its invention, over three years ago.

Andrew 3 adjacent cubes
Sam 3 cubes, two adjacent
Ian 3 cubes, two adjacent
Martin 3 cubes
Andy 2 cubes

Finally we chose Abluxxen as our fun way to end the evening. Our third card game of the evening! Are we indulging Martin too much? He needs to play more worker placement games – something a bit more point-salady. Do we still have Ora et Labora? Anyway, I have a pretty decent record on this Roll For The Soul favourite, and I maintained that tonight. I lead from the start and took the win. Sam was second up until the last round, when a hefty negative score knocked him back two places. Harsh, and not terribly fair: that's Abluxxen.

Andrew 41
Martin 37
Andy 25
Sam 23
Ian 20

Finally, here's a Division. Since the number of games played is so lop-sided, it's a bit silly. Nevertheless, Sam is top on everything except points ratio, which goes to Adam.

Cries against humanity

Tuesday. Adam and Hannah hosted. Martin, Sam, Ian, Anja and Steve arrived. Chipsticks and salted popcorn were eaten. Games were played.

We began with Hannah putting the baby to bed and Steve and Anja on the way. The five of us chose to play Abluxxen, the tricky game of trick-taking and spoiling other people’s plans. Sam and Adam were both new to the game, but they seemed to pick it up okay. I was concentrating on building up an nice hand of a six of a kind (of fives), hoping to cash out with that.

Then Sam and Martin battled it out with six of a kind in threes and fours. I thought “If I play my fives now, I can screw them over and win with my next turn,” and it almost worked, except that Martin also had a six of a kind of sevens, forcing me to take my fives back into my hand. And then, Ian finished the game (just the one round) by his remaining cards in one go. Damn him!

Ian 15
Adam 8
Andrew 0
Sam -5
Martin -8

Then, with Hannah, Anja and Steve in attendance, we split into two groups of four. The guinea-pig-intolerant Anja went into the other room with Sam, Steve and Adam to play Concordia. And, for once, they rejected any use of modern apparatus such as tables and chairs, and instead preferred to lounge on the floor, just like the decadent Romans did in the olden days.

In the other room, we went super space-age hyper-tectonic. Or something. Impulse was brought to the table. It was new to Hannah, but Martin Ian and myself had all played it before. She got an explanation of the rules, and she admitted that not much of it sunk in. And at first, that appeared to be the case, with her becalmed on one or no points for much of the game. But then she made a late sprint up the score chart.

Ian found himself in a lot of trouble. At one point, he was down to one solitary ship, and in serious danger of going out of the game. He was able to build more ships, and he then consolidated them together in a fierce three-ship fleet. Unfortunately, it was too big to actually move, and he spent the rest of the game picking up points by trading and mining.

By now, though, Martin had made a mockery of the game by finding a way to clock up points by flying round in circles! It was enough to get him six points and leave him teetering on the point of victory with 19 points. We tried to stop him, but he only needed on more ship on the central core (or whatever it’s called) for the win.

Martin 20
Hannah 13
Ian 11
Andrew 11

Phew, we all thought, after that space epic. Concordia was still about half an hour from completion, so we embarked on a jolly game of Hana-bi to fill the time. Being a co-operative game, it wasn’t leaderboard, and considering how much we bent the rules (mostly to prevent me from throwing away a useful card) that was just as well. Finally, we ran out of cards which signalled the end of the game and our final turns couldn’t complete the firework display. Close, though.

Everyone: 22 out of 25

When we went into the other room, we found the scores of Concordia being totted up. Steve, in his own inimitable way (of professing bemusement while “accidentally” putting together a winning strategy) took first place. Sam was hit by Explainer’s Curse. Or by his reliance on the Saturnalia card bonus. One or the other.

Steve 112
Adam 89
Anja 81
Sam 74

Then Anja and Steve had to go, and Sam was on the verge of calling it a night too. We managed to coax him into a swift game of Cards Against Humanity, a simple card game which is best described as Dirty Dixit that can be played by as many people as you want.. I made the hilarious quip that it's the only game who's number of players is wider than the age-range.

The basic theme of the game is that one central card suggests a sentence (such as “My first sexual experience was with a _______”) and the players have to supply the funniest answers from the cards in their hand which have phrases on them like “rusty cheeseboard,” “paranoid mountaineer,” etc.

It was a lot of fun, and we laughed a lot at the thought of Sean Penn helping the victims of an earthquake in Haiti with hot cheese. If your card is chosen as the funniest, you win a point. It was a close thing, with Ian coming out victorious in this game of depraved imagination. Well done!

Ian 4
Andrew 3
Martin 3
Hannah 3
Sam 3
Adam 2

That was the penultimate week of the season! Hope to see you all next week for the grand finale! Adam and Ian push their way to the top of the form table! Can they stay there? Don’t touch that dial!

						Points
Adam	3	2	2	1	1	9
Ian	1	3	1	3	3	11
Martin	2	1	5	1	2	11
Chris	1	2	1	3	5	12
Andrew	2	3	3	2	3	13
Joe	6	1	3	1	2	13
Matt	4	1	4	3	2	14
Hannah	2	2	3	4	5	16
Sam	2	4	4	5	2	17
Steve	1	1	5	5	5	17
Paul	2	2	5	5	5	19
Katie	3	3	5	5	5	21
Anja	3	5	5	5	5	23
Jim	4	5	5	5	5	24

Carrara’s Advice Service

This Tuesday saw yours truly at the helm of GNN Towers, experiencing that exhilarating anxiety just before everyone is due to arrive and you’re unsure if there’s time to go to the toilet or not.

There were three of us tonight: myself, Ian and Martin. Martin arrived with a requested selection of games, cheekily slipping Palaces of Carrara into the line-up, hoping to bring it out of retirement.

First, I asked for Port Royal. This card game, quick but deep, is a great way to start a games evening. I went for +1 gold ship bonuses early on, but they never paid back their investment, and I watched as Ian and Martin fought for supremacy. And I ended up watching for longer than I thought, as both players found themselves becalmed on eleven points, unable to make the winning move due to going bust with ships. I was even able to raise my pitiful score from five up to something more respectable.

But Ian was able to close the game, having slowly built up cash reserves every time someone went bust, when he was able to grab a 2-point victory card, he did, leaving Martin with no response.

Ian 13
Martin 11
Andrew 8

After this, Palace of Carrara made a glorious return to the table (complete with Italian soundtrack). Martin explained the rules to Ian, but there would be no Explainer’s Curse tonight. No beginner’s luck, either. Just a slow, steady progress until you suddenly realise that Martin was about to end the game. He actually kept the game going two more rounds than he needed to, just so he could accumulate more points.

Martin 80
Andrew 49
Ian 42

Ian said he hadn’t played with much of a plan, so I suppose I should be disappointed that he came so close to me, with all my experience. But oh wells.

After this, it was still only nine o’clock. I considered something meaty to take up the rest of the evening, like Castles of Burgundy, but in the end we chose Abluxxen, a short trick taking game. Since it had foxes in it, we listened to Fox Confessor brings The Flood.

It was mostly between me and Martin, as Ian had a nightmare first round (no points at all) and couldn’t catch up. Highlight was Martin’s seven sevens which no doubt helped him win the round, but it wasn’t enough to win the game.

Andrew 44
Martin 42
Ian 13

So, with everyone having won one game, we considered a decider match. And then we thought about Hanabi. Wouldn’t that be lovely: everyone wins, and we end with a lovely co-op game about fireworks.

Ian was a newcomer, but Hanabi doesn’t need much explaining. I put on some Japanese music (mostly music from different film soundtracks) and we set off, our logical minds loosened by some soju (a Korean wine) which, despite being described as “mild” on the bottle, was 16.8%.

Things were going smoothly, but we were running out of time. As we got desperate, mistakes were made. Plus, we had some poor luck with the cards, starting with mostly fours, and having to patiently wait for the ones to come out. In the end we scored 17 out of 25. As firework displays go, it was no Bristol Harbour Festival closing ceremony, but it would do as a finale for us.

						Points
Andrew	1	2	3	2	2	10
Sam	1	3	1	3	2	10
Martin	2	1	2	4	1	10
Ian	3	3	1	3	1	11
Matt	1	4	1	1	5	12
Joe	3	3	3	3	2	14

Arthur baby is better than none

Just a brief note from tonight’s Roll For The Soul event. I didn’t take any photos and I came last three times, so there’s no need to linger on the details. Plus, there are several names that I’ve forgotten. Ah, well. I remember the most important bit: Adam and Hannah arrived, with little baby Arthur.

The first game was 6nimmt – a game that I remain baffled by, and I came crashing out in a distant last. Adam, on his return to the world of GNN scraped a win by one solitary point from Katie. Meanwhile, Katie’s husband sat in for one round and, although he didn’t understand the rules and was pretty much playing cards at random, he still did better than me.

We split into two groups: Martin, Andy, Katie and someone else whose name slips my memory, played Abluxxen. Meanwhile, Adam and Hannah were keen to try GNN favourite Port Royal, so we began a three-player game.

After I explained the rules we began playing a dummy round so Hannah and Adam could see how it worked. Then Mel arrived, and we dealt her in. So the dummy round continued for a little while longer and then we decided that, since Adam and Hannah (and Arthur, too) had to go soon, maybe this should be the actual game. Mel was given a card at random to even out the disadvantage of starting late, and we continued.

It all seemed to be going smoothly, with Arthur being passed from mother to father as and when necessary. I got a bad case of explainer’s curse, and came last wqith just 7 points. Mel had 9, Adam 11, but Hannah just stole it by nabbing her 12th point on the last turn.

As for Abluxxen, I don’t know who won, but I know Martin didn’t after he complained about a terrible last round. Katie didn’t like it, finding it too stressful, but the other players seemed to find it more enjoyable.

Finally, Adam and Hannah left because it was bed time (ostensibly their child’s, but possibly theirs too. I didn’t ask) so the six remaining gamers played a game of Fauna, the RFTS smash hit of guessing stuff about obscure animals, pronounced "Fa-oona" by Mel, which caused some confusion to Katie who wondered if she'd been pronouncing that word wrong her whole life.

I didn’t badly, thinking that because I’d never heard of a dogfish (except in comics when I was six) that it probably wasn’t that big. I also didn’t know anything about the Macaw. Martin won in the end, thanks to his knowledge of bandicoots. This species cropped up fairly recently, and it does occur to me that if you play the “easy” animals (on one side of the deck), then the “difficult” animals (on the other side of the deck), followed by the “easy” ones, then you’ll get the same ones cropping up again. Still, it was fun, and it took us neatly up to ten o’clock.

Snatch-22

Despite being only two days since the GNN weekend, Sam and I threw ourselves headlong into the board game maelstrom once again, this time at Joe’s house, not a cottage in a village. There were five of us: myself, Sam, Joe, Martin and Ian. And since five is considered perfect for a number of lengthy, strategic games we spent some time wondering what we should play. But instead, we went for several short games that really put the emphasis on fun.

First up was Abluxxen, a German trick-taking game which is based on you placing runs of a certain number (ie, four sixes) to ruin the chances of anyone else who put down a run of the same length but of a smaller value (ie, four threes). If you do this, they either take their cards back into their hands, or draw the same amount of new cards. The first to get rid of all the cards in their hands ends the round, and then scores are counted up.

Maybe it was beginner’s luck, or maybe it was because it seemed like a simple version of President, but I did well, scoring well in the first two rounds and doing enough to stay ahead in the third and final round.

However, modesty prevents me from describing the frequent (and often unintentional) double entendres caused by the terminology of the game. Stealing cards from an opponent was called a “snatch” which prompted all kinds of merriment that falls firmly in the “You Had To Be There” category.

Andrew 30
Martin 21
Ian 16
Sam 16
Joe 8

After this we perused the games cupboard. I vetoed Take It Easy, since I’d had quite a lot of that recently. We debated the ethics of playing 7 Wonders when Gonz wasn’t there to join in. In the end, Joe suggested Igloo Pop. I was doubtful at first, but once he explained it was a game about guessing how many items were in a tiny plastic igloo by shaking them, I was an instant convert.

Only one of these igloos has eight Eskimos in it, though

Each of us picked up an igloo, shook it next to our ear and (if we thought we knew how many were in it) we put the igloo on a card with the corresponding value on it, with our counter stuck in its door.

What was the right tactic? Quickly guessing so you can claim more igloos than the others, or take your time over each one. You’ll have fewer igloos, but feel more certain about your chances (perhaps). I went for option two, which seemed to work okay. Sam seemed confused about the nature of the game, referring to the Eskimos as "astronauts."

Martin 29
Andrew 21
Joe 17
Ian 16
Sam 14

After this we tried another new game: Port Royal. This one is a simple game of building up victory points by buying cards. But each time, you can reveal as many cards as you want (unless you go bust). More cards is better for you, but also better for your opponents, since they can buy whatever is left over from you.

It’s a simple mechanic, and it certainly had people invested in the actions of other players, yelling at them not to turn over another card in case they went bust and all of the cards on display would be discarded. First to 12 VPs triggers the end of the game.

Joe and Ian had an early lead, having completed an expedition (5 VPs each), but I kept buying victory points whenever I could afford them, and built up my points that way. And it worked. Sam never got started, having seen his early fortune cut in half by a tax inspector, and never managed to recover.

Andrew 13
Joe 11
Ian 9
Martin 9
Sam 4

Finally, with the big hand past ten and the little hand on four, we chose our last game. I suggested Skull and Roses, and was very happy to see it accepted. It’s been a while since this game of bluff (and very little else) was played, and it’s odd that such a perfect filler - or nightcap - should be so often overlooked. It was quickly explained to Ian and we were off. Turns out that Ian is something of a natural as he (and Joe, too) ruined Martin’s predictions with their skulls.

1. Joe
2. Andrew
3. Ian
4. Sam
5. Martin

On the form table, Gonz remains safe at the top of the pile while I climb to second. Sam is tonight’s big loser, dropping to the bottom of the table.

						Points
Gonz	1	3	1	1	3	9
Andrew	2	1	2	1	3	9
Joe	1	2	3	4	2	12
Martin	5	3	1	2	1	12
Matt	2	2	1	5	5	15
Ian	3	3	4	3	3	16
Will	2	4	2	3	5	16
Sam	4	4	5	3	4	20

But on the monthly division, Sam is top of the pile: his early good form is enough to carry him through today's drop in form. Plus, he (and I) have played more games than anyone else. But that’s life: play more, win more.