Cakeblazers

After a last-minute change of venue, Katy and I (Sam) were first to arrive at Joe's, and our host set the tone for the evening with a lighthearted quip about masturbation. As we pondered what kind of day Joe might have had, Martin arrived and before long was setting up Accuse! the game that we all profess to be terrible at, but I definitely am. 

I was first to accuse, and got almost everything wrong. Katy followed me and missed out by just one factor. But of course with a murder, knowing where it took place can be critical and Martin's decision to go with the airport won him the game, and we all rued the fact we never challenged him when he said "Hairport".

Martin: Promoted

Joe: Passed over

Katy and Sam: Fired

Steve and Adam had arrived and although Steve briefly vanished again, we were now at our full capacity of six, so promptly split into two groups. Whilst Joe, Steve and Martin played Tajuto...

Katy was keen to try Trailblazers, and a freshly-shorn (but according to himself, grumpy) Adam was happy to give it a go. The game has three different 'settings' and we played twice, first on Adventurer mode and then Animal mode. 

On Adventurer mode, you're building two trails. They have to loop back to the campsite they started in to score, but the longer the better, because adventurers move along said trails, establishing campfires for points. I made it more complicated than it needed to be, panicking that I'd previously played it wrong - before later realising I hadn't - so we ended up with far too many campfires that we subsequently snuffed out. But it was fun anyway. 

Katy took a narrow win, as Adam's scheming fell apart on the final turn, possibly because we drafted our cards in the wrong order to be fair to him:

Katy 46

Sam 43

Adam 26

Tajuto was still going, with Martin complaining that all he'd achieved so far was an aneurysm. Steve went to the toilet and they marvelled at his collection of tiles (on the table, I mean). 

We Trailblazered again, this time forfeiting adventurers and campfires to just go animal mode: now, all your looped trails score points and distinct animals on the trails score escalating points, instead of the basic 2points-per-animal happening in Adventurer mode. Katy loved the animals. 

And I think they both preferred Animals mode, as creating numerous overlapping loops certainly had some agonising fun. Adam said he really liked it despite the fact there's some tangible luck-pushing in how far your trails go, and the fact we kept screwing up the card draft. But this time Katy completely mullered us, scoring so many points she needed to ask Martin to do the addition.

Katy 82

Adam 56

Sam 53

Tajuto finished at the time, with Martin and Steve celebrating their shared victory. I missed the fine beats of the drama here, but everyone seemed happily sated, even Joe.

Martin and Steve - 12 each

Joe - 6

We regrouped as a six and played Auf Teufel Comm Raus (or as my phone likes to call it, Said Refuel Comm Raid) the game of pulling coals from the devil's cauldron - obviously - until you are caught by the devil himself, and his 'disturbing' bellybutton  (-Martin). This was new to Steve, who requested a player aid and nobody seemed sure how serious he was. 

We seemed to get caught by the devil a lot, except when we didn't. Numerous busts would be had then suddenly someone - usually Katy or Adam - would pull out six hot coals in a row. Joe seemed to bust himself nearly every time, but despite a poor start, and serial lagger Martin constantly rinsing everyone for cash when they busted (-he made a deal with the devil) Joe recovered to sail off up the track courtesy of some preposterous bidding coming off, seeing off Adam at the death to claim the win as they both passed the 1600 finish-line:

1 Joe 1840

2 Adam 1710

3 Steve

4 Sam

5 Katy

6 Martin

At some point around the devil's bellybutton we also had cake, provided by Katy. Thanks Katy! Steve cut his slice into two, enjoying the fact he now had 'an extra slice' on everyone else. 

Post cauldron, Adam and Steve took their leave and the remaining four set up So Clover. Katy was even studiously gazing at her freshly-arranged cards when Martin swept all aside and announced we would play MLEM first. Katy's protests weren't strong enough to prevent her being assigned a cat, as we all suited up our catstronauts, ready for space travel. 

It was a first game for Joe, who may not have embraced the strategy but definitely embraced the sense of adventure, as time and again he sent his Deep Space x2 Cat onto the rocket, only to see it return one life down from multiple doomed missions.

It was slightly surprising the game didn't end from our serial failures, so many times did we crash. But Martin's eighth catstronaut making it into the cosmos instead triggered the finale, and unsurprisingly, with so many cats in space, he took a convincing win. 

Martin 33

Sam 20

Katy 13

Joe 12

Then we did play So Clover! And it was a triumphant set of leaves, even if Martin did hiss at us to look at all the words again. We'd missed the fact that 'dead' went quite well with his clue of 'extinct' but having had the ambient tip-off, rounded off the evening with maximum points. Thanks all!

Fist ‘n’ Chips

 After it became clear there’d be no host and few attendees, this week’s Tuesday was moved to Friday. I arrived at Sam’s house and Katy answered the door, telling me I could help her “being alone,” which made no sense until I found out she was watching Ian, Joe, Martin and Sam playing L.A.M.A. Dice. 

While walking to Sam’s, I’d already been sent a pic and scores from the evening’s first game: The Number.

Joe 109

Ian 89

Sam 68

L.A.M.A. Dice ended with Sam blowing on a perilously balanced die that helped him do something (no idea what the rules are) and end the game. A game that, according to Joe, “could literally go on forever.”

Martin 9

Ian 21

Sam 23

Joe 24

I think that points are bad, but not entirely sure.

Then the six of us sat down for a nail-biting game of Heat, the racing game vaguely set in the 1970s where the tents reminded Joe of Filofaxes, Ian was distracted by the crowds of people that resembled disturbing AI-created blobs and the clouds made Sam think someone had spilt salt on the board. But enough about the artwork, what about the race?

Joe had a nightmare start, and soon fell behind after playing three stress cards for a totally random move and then drawing 1-1-1. I was the clear leader at the end of lap one, cleverly slipstreaming round a slow corner past Martin and onto a straight but I was soon caught up and was soon back in last with Joe overheating his engine dangerously to push himself into first!

Near end of lap one: me and Martin (green, obv) battle for first with Joe a distant last.

But the winner was decided at that same corner when Martin gambled on a boost which would probably leave him stuck in fourth over overheated but instead sent him into first, past that tricky slow corner and onto the straight. He crossed the finishing line while we all tip-toed around the hairpin bend.

Same corner, but lap two. Katy leads me and Ian while Sam, in 5th, is about to overheat

and Joe is back in sixth again. Martin is about to unleash his winning move.

1st Martin

2nd Ian (+1 turn)

3rd Katy (+1 turn)

4th Andrew (+1 turn)

5th Joe (+ 2 turns)

6th Sam (+2 turns)

While Martin commented on his stroke of luck, Sam showed Katy and Joe the crazy extra rules that could be added to the base game, including weather.

Then we set up Auf Teufel Komm Raus! The luck pushing game of avoiding the devil while taking coals from his cauldron. We remarked on how nice the poker chips were, but we just wish there were more of them. They’re also quite large and Katy sometimes struggled to keep her bids totally secret (hence the blog title, in case you were wondering).

She was upset with me on the very first turn when I pulled out enough coals that Martin’s big gamble paid off: she wanted me to continue until I went bust, just to spite Martin. But then when she was in the same position later, she didn’t make herself go bust, so I call shenanigans!

I was confused by people’s habit of raising their bets the more we went on, noting that taking coals at random doesn’t get easier the more you do it. Meanwhile, I like Joe’s method of nonchalantly pulling coals casually one after the other although I noticed whenever he paused, for whatever reason, he pulled a devil. Not that he cared, as he finished a round exactly on the winning total while Martin was left ruing his mid-game bet of 300 when he tried for his second audaciously lucky win of the evening.

Joe 1600

Sam 1420

Martin 1370

Andrew 1030

Katy 840

Ian 640

Since it was Friday, we ploughed on towards 11pm with Not That Movie, where imaginary films get annoying reviews and we have to put them all together. 

Katy’s promise of making the first film that we guess perfectly was made real today as we all chose Time Of The Condor as a sequel spy story that wasn’t for kids. But I think we all wish that instead she would make Parallel Brothers, a sports movie starring puppets.

27 points, which I think Joe said was “Blockbuster”

Finally we finished with good old So Clover. There was no slow excitement at the chance of another perfect score after we messed by Ian’s and Martin’s clovers. We got the rest right, and Katy declared that she’s getting the hang of it. We struggled with Joe’s clue of “Crib” at the end. We got it right, but using the wrong reasoning, which is fine in So Clover. And in life, now I come to think about it.

So we left at about half past eleven. Thanks for hosting Sam. Sorry for being so loud that you had to close the doors in the house, but it was a lot of fun. And Tuesday is only a few days away...

Old dragon drawers

I arrived at about 8.15, I think, and found five players: Joe, Laura, Sam, Mel and Martin trying out a new Oink game, Scout. But as I entered, they put it away and got out something more substantial for six: Auf Teufel Komm Raus. This game of luck pushing and devil dodging involves betting on how many points someone will be able to pull out of a furnace without taking a devil tile by mistake.

It is as cruel as luck can be. If round one was generous, then round three was devious, leaving Martin with just 20 points. Mel lead for most of the game, despite pulling mostly only devils. In round six, Laura was in joint last and needed to do something spectacular. She managed to fulfill her bet but did so by pulling 8 tiles, slowly edging towards her target. "It's like crawling a marathon," she exclaimed when it was all over. Then Joe scored 225 with only three tiles. I know it was random but it seemed like he was making a point.

In the final round, Joe bet low, only needing 100 to finish the game. Martin needed to reach his bet and he pulled one low tile after another, just as Laura had, only somehow worse. After 10 tiles he still hasn't reached his target so he pulled another tile. A devil. So cruel. 

Joe 1600

Mel 1480

Sam 1440

Andrew 1410

Laura 480

Martin 430

Next up was Ethnos, another six player game. This game was as quiet as Teufel was rowdy, but that was mostly due to the spicy peanuts that Joe offered. Instead, Sybil the dog kept us, shall we say, entertained with a constant stream of disapproving noises.

Round one ended in the most sudden way possible - all three dragons came out one after the other. Sam insisted he shuffled them properly after putting them in the deck separately.

At the end of round two the scores were Sam 39, Martin 36, Mel 31, Andrew 28, Joe 27, Laura 22.

I mention this because Laura suddenly embarked upon a rousing comeback that almost got her the win. She got a band of four trolls which meant she won any ties for area control. And there were a lot. She sped past almost everyone and came to a rest just short of triumph. Amazing scenes.

Sam 79

Laura 78

Martin 61

Mel 53

Andrew 46

Joe 37

This game also gave us the blog title as Joe referred to people who drew dragon cards as "dragon drawers" which we thought sounded like a nickname for someone. A mother in law from the 1970s, perhaps.

Then Laura and Mel left and we ended with So Clover. Dreams of another perfect score were shot down early as Martin's clue of "boom" seemed to fit equally well with "gas", "war", and "bang." It took us two attempts for us to get it right.

Another notable clue was "sweater" for "wool/oasis" It was Joe's clue and we thought was a lovely poetic name for a sweater: a wool oasis. The guess was right but Joe explained that sweater linked to oasis in that it was somewhere that you would sweat. 

Score 22 out of 24.

Then I left and the remaining three played Letter Press. A late night text told me the score…

Martin 24

Sam 22

Joe 16

Thanks all. See you next Tuesday.

The Comeback King

The rain hung in the air as a fine mist this Tuesday evening, the kind of rain that doesn't get you wet unless you move. I joined the gamers at Joe's place a few minutes late and found them (Joe, Sam, Ian and Martin) playing Destination X, the game of geography and deduction. Joe was the spy hiding in a country and the other three whittled away the options by asking him about this country's biggest export (nutmeg), major industry (food) etc. They got it down to Grenada or Eritrea, and then guessed right.

Ian, Martin, Sam successfully sought.
Joe finally found

Now we were a five (the Familiar Five, you might say) so we broke out Ethnos. Always on the sidelines, itching to come on, tonight it finally got its moment of glory before everyone forgot the rules.

I needed a rule refresher, but that didn't stop me from scoring low in round one. Everyone else had a go on the giants and scored big for the bands of trolls, minotaurs, dwarfs in front of them. Martin went big on trolls in round one to win any ties while Sam pulled off a mega move by chaining together a load of centurions allowing him to place four tokens in a single go.

In round two, I went big on trolls but my best move was to draw the third dragon from the draw deck, instantly ending the round just before Joe or Sam could've unleashed their game changing mega move. Ha.

In round three Sam collected a hand of ten remarkably dissimilar cards, such that his best move after all that was to play a pair. Ian's lack of fingernails meant he had difficulty picking the cards up from the table. In the final reckoning, Martin won, as was obvious from the end of round one, and I was pleased with my comeback.

Martin 92
Andrew 76
Sam 58
Joe 56
Ian 56

Next up was Druids, a trick taking game that made its debut recently and its not immediately obvious strategy made it rather intriguing, even if the artwork is less than appealing.

A druid miming being stuck in a glass box

We played a full five-round game after giving Joe a rules explanation. Sam cursed his unfamiliarity with the rules when he lost in round one having forgotten you can lead with a special card and pretty much guarantee not winning a trick.

Despite being a newcomer, Joe was given little mercy and the game ended on a hand where either Sam or Joe were about to pick up their fifth suit and therefore lose three points. "Who will be kicked in the balls?" asked Martin, rhetorically. At least I assume he was being rhetorical.

It was Joe who was kicked in the balls.

Andrew 46
Ian 39
Martin 28
Sam 13
Joe 9

Joe wasn't sure what to make of it. I think he thought it was tense but without a great deal of control. I'm not sure because I made a dash for the toilet at this point and, when I came back, Auf Teufel Komm Raus was set up on the table. It's a rare sight which is a shame for such a fun luck-pushing game where you pull coals from a cauldron, adding up the total until you reach your bid, hoping a little red imp doesn't appear to ruin everything.

Joe began poorly and did little to improve. He relied a lot on making a deal with the devil by being in last by himself and getting fifty points whenever one of us went bust. I even took a photo mid game to show how little progress he'd made compared to the rest of us.

But to mock Joe is to tempt fate and halfway through the game, Joe stopped timidly picking out the coals one at a time and instead he pulled them out without even thinking about it. And it seemed to work, since he started to make his way up the score track. Still in last, but more on that later.

Ian looked like The Man Most Likely To... after a bid of 200 paid off handsomely but he fell short of the game-ending score of 1,600. In the following round, we all did so badly that we started falling back down the score track so we decided that the next round would be the last.

At this point, Joe was still in last and, as such, had a deal with the devil. The rest of us all went bust, giving Joe 200 points, and then finally it was up to Joe to try and make his absurdly high bid. He plucked coals out so quickly that you would almost think they were actually hot. He got within a hair's breadth of success when he paused. Would this break the mojo? Would the next coal have an imp? He reached for another coal.

Success! Joe's completed bid meant that we all made ours too, but with bonuses and all, Joe got 820 points in the final round to see him take a narrow victory.

Joe 1480
Martin 1450
Ian 1370
Andrew 1220
Sam 1040

From last to first in a single round. Astonishing. It made my Ethnos comeback look tame in comparison.

Finally went chose Zero Down to finish. Three rounds and then home to bed. I admit, the winning strategy for Zero Down eludes me although I'm sure that Martin's mid-game tactic of putting down a card for all to see (it was a blue 1), saying "no" and then picking up it up again probably isn't an optimal strategy.

Joe seemed to have a plan though as he went clear in round one and then only had eight points when someone knocked for the second time in round two. In round three, Ian amazed us by how quickly he got clear, leaving the rest of us with a pile of points to our name. It made Ian's score more respectable, but couldn't dislodge Joe from his pole position.

Joe 27
Sam 38
Andrew 39
Martin 43
Ian 46

And with that, we were done. Off into the evening (maybe it was still raining, I was too drunk for it to register) to recharge our batteries for the first of two games weekends on Friday.

We don't need no regulation

Six gamers converged at Joe's table this evening; along with the host there was Stuart, Martin, Ian, Andy, and myself (Sam). Martin plonked Auf Teufel Komm Rass on the table so without further ado - apart from the mystery of the unheard door knocker (people were talking!) we started picking coal from the cauldron.

Ian began badly and slipped into sixth position whilst others surged ahead. I can't remember who now; my default was usually not-quite-last-place. Joe seemed to be doing rather well throughout, even taking a big hit in one round didn't throw him out of his stride. Ian's tactic - or by-product - of being last and getting paid worked out rather well, as he timed a run up the score track to near-perfection. The game's main drama (outside of Ian's struggle with numeracy) was Martin announcing in the final round he was going for something like 370, which is what he needed to end the game. He blew up, as Joe took the win with Andy claiming a noble second:

Joe 1610
Andy 1430
Ian 1180
Sam 1060
Stuart 840
Martin 450

A crazy game of swings and roundabouts. We stayed as a six for our next game - Flamme Rouge, with the additional water-stops and bidding for a breakaway at the start. Andy and I won that so placed our sprinters miles ahead of everyone else - but lost cards from our deck in order to do so.

We stayed ahead for about half (me) or three-quarters (Andy) of the track before the peloton arrived, breathing heavily down our necks. At this point both Andy and I had decks drowning in exhaustion cards, but we managed to stay competitive until the final furlong. But what an absolute bastard that last furlong was, as Martin surged into joint lead with Andy as my sprinter finally lagged.

With the finish line in sight I was sure I had a '9' somewhere in my deck, which would be enough to hopefully claim a win, assuming neither Andy nor Martin had the same. But the nine didn't show and my sprinter could only feebly cycle by Andy before being overtaken by both Ian and Stuart, who surged past Martin for a one-two finish! Back in the doldrums somewhat, Joe said he had no idea what he was doing. In the end, I felt the same.

1 Stuart
2 Ian
3 Martin
4 Sam
5 Andy
6 Joe

As if wanting to dissipate the tension, Sybil now embarked on what sounded like a protracted air guitar solo, using her throat for audio. Suitably inspired by this all-mates-here show of solidarity, we broke out Team Play with Joe and Martin, Ian and Stuart, and Andy and myself teaming up in pairs. The game was notable for how many times the objective cards got rejected, usually accompanied by some foul-mouthed disdain, or failing that more noise from Sybil under the table.

I thought Martin and Joe were running away with it as they seemed to be cashing in objective cards every round, but as it turned out Ian and Stuart scored the same, and Andy and I had the larger points haul:

Andy and Sam 21
Stuart and Ian/Joe and Martin 19

Next up was Perudo. New to Stuart but less confusing than Dead Man's Chest to explain, after a brief run-down of the rules we were away. Everyone got shafted whenever they called dudo at the start; it seemed there was always enough to meet the call. I began reverting to aces whenever I could, which Martin referred to as the "wanker's call". Joe still insists that all the dice can fit under the cap, which proved to be true. Sort of.

Ian and Stuart were first out in the fairly balanced six-way war of attrition , before I made what I thought were reasonable bids only to find the law of the dudo had been repealed. Andy went out on his own palafico round, leaving just Martin (one die) and Joe (two) in a face-off. Martin called one six. Joe called two. Martin called dudo, and Joe revealed his two sixes! Martin was harpooned by his own gun.

1 Joe
2 Martin
3 Andy
4 Sam
5 Stuart
6 Ian

For Sale was next. Martin again took the rules of explainer to newbie Stuart, although I added the unwritten rule that I always come last. The game began with high drama when Joe paid a lot of coins for a 28 (I think; it's a bit murky now).

Then Martin overpaid for the 26 (or something) before I paid top dollar for a 29. Andy was frugal with his cash, but that couldn't save him when Martin moved into action, defying the group-think of the moment. Three times in the bidding-for-checks round he picked up high value checks very cheaply. His guffaws of disbelief even blotted out Sybil momentarily, and it was a very convincing win:

Martin 54
Ian 49
Stuart 47
Andy/Sam 42
Joe 29

Not sure what happened to Joe, but he definitely broke a rule.

I nipped to the loo thinking I would probably head home now, but I came back to find some curious pieces on the table courtesy of Stuart, who had brought Die Mauer with him - The Wall. This is a simple game of table-reading and memory, as everyone tries to be the first to get rid of their pieces (a tower, a gate, and a few walls of varying length). Each player takes turns being the Master Builder, and chooses a piece to reveal in their hand. All the other players also choose a piece, and hope (or work out) that they are choosing the same piece as the Master Builder. If no-one guesses right, the Master Builder may place their piece on the growing wall on the table. If other players do, they get to place their pieces instead - with the caveat that the added pieces must meet building regulations: towers and gates can't go next to each other, or other towers/gates.

On top of that, the Master Builder can also reveal an empty hand in order to place any piece they like - unless someone else does the same, in which case they can give the Master Builder one of their pieces! (If more than two people have an empty hand, nothing happens)

It's a real mind-meld trying to guess what's going to be offered up, especially at the start.

As the game goes on, the more pieces down on the table and, in theory, your precise memory helps you narrow things down. When one person has gotten rid of all their pieces the round ends, and all other players score points (which are bad) for what they have left. I was appalling at it, but it was fun. Martin was very good:

Martin: all pieces down!
Joe/Stuart 5
Ian 7
Andy 16
Sam 19

I'd like to play again, if for no other reason than it looks rather lovely on the table.

As always, Azul ways

Tuesday. The most frequent blog writers being unavailable I asked the question "Who is
blogging tonight?" and thus it fell to me, Ian, to cast some words to page to record the
events in perpetuity. They say pictures are worth a thousand words, but as I didn't take any
this will have to do.

Seven of us convened at Hannah and Adam's. After some discussion regarding Christmas
travel plans we split into two groups. Katy, Adam and Joe were to play Yokohama. Hannah,
Andy, Martin and I opted for Flamme Rouge, with the Peloton expansion that Andy had
picked up earlier in the day.

The Peloton expansion seems to add a couple of new terrain types - cobblestones and a
refreshment area. Cobblestones act in a similar way to mountains as they prevents slip
streaming. Unlike mountains they don't have a speed penalty, but they create a possible
choke point as they are only one space wide in places. The refreshment areas acts in a
similar way to a downhill section, every card being worth four in speed.
Despite Martin attempting an early break away, it was ultimately Hannah who crossed the
line first and claimed victory.

Hannah Wins
Martin, Ian and Andy do not.

We then played Squirrel Or Die. Hannah received this game as part of the secret Santa last
week. It's a realistic approximation of the struggles a squirrel faces in it’s existence.
Essentially, there are a series of cards that either have FOOD or DEATH on them. We
spend the first half of the game placing the cards face down in a grid, trying to remember
where we placed the FOOD or DEATH. The second half we pick up the cards and receive
either FOOD or DEATH. Pick up three DEATH cards and your squirrel dies.
Of course, I forgot what card I placed where almost instantly, and so picked up cards semi-
randomly.

One by one we squirrels succumbed to the DEATH cards. In this game, as in the
Christopher Lambert-starring film Highlander, there can be only one (winner). And that
winner was Hannah.

Hannah wins
Martin, Ian and Andy do not.

Yokohama was still in full swing, so we four set up Azul. Whilst the game was being set up
Katy responded to a sentence I can't quite recall with the innocuous phrase "As always!" I
queried if this was some sort of pun based on "Azul ways". I can't recall if Katy claimed this
as a witty intentional pun or not, but either way it gave me a blog title.

I think Azul has been documented before on this blog by better writers than I, so I won't
describe the tricksy wall-tiling game, but it was a close outcome. I steadily scored points throughout, but Martin scored more points from bonuses at the end and won. Final scores
were:

Martin 78
Ian 76
Andy 62
Hannah 45

By this point Yokohama had finished. Despite Katy's certainty that Adam would win it proved
not to be the case, but there was a notion bandied about that Adam had let Katy win to
ensure that she would play again. Joe didn't seem convinced by this idea, and described
Katy's performance as a "masterclass". However they came about, the final scores were:

Katy - 144
Adam - 122
Joe - 89

Hannah retired for the evening, and the rest of us joined together for a final game, a bit like
how those robot lions in Voltron join together to form a giant robot for a climactic battle. And
that game was Auf Teufel Komm Raus. Some disastrous bids saw Katy and Myself lose all
our money in the very first round.

Alas; my notes for this game are even more scant than for the previous games of the
evening so detail is entirely lacking, but I do recall Katy, after going bust, turning over coals
to see how many devil's remained, despite Martin still waiting for his turn, leading to a cry of
"No Katy!"

The game ended early, with Andy's break for victory falling just short, but we decided it was
close enough, and late enough, for it to be a victory.

Andy - 1580
Ian - 1480
Martin - 950
Joe - 950
Adam - 650
Katy - 650

And thus ended the final Tuesday Games Night before Christmas 2017.
Thanks to Hannah and Adam for hosting this evening. As it's the last Tuesday games I'll
make this year I'd like to say thanks to everyone for the all the fun over the past year. Let's
do it again next year!

It must be LoV

Tuesday evenings are our weekly helping of jollity and humour, but it's also a chance to show off our tactical nous and this week saw a number of devilish moves that any strategist would be proud of.

At the start, there were six of us. Joe the host, Sam, Martin, Katy, Matt and me. Ian was expected later. The presence of Matt W prompted a little discussion about what happened to the other two Matts and some other fleeting visitors, and we considered the possibility that perhaps we aren't as much fun to be with as we think we are.

But we pushed such negativity aside and set up a six player game to occupy us until Ian arrived. We chose Auf Teuful Komm Raus as a jolly push-your-luck game.

Instead it was luck that pushed us around. Devil after devil came out in round one, much to everyone's surprise. We had to keep assuring Matt (playing his first game) that it really wasn't like this usually. Round one ended with five of us occupying the lowest space on the score track. A shocking situation. The one player who wasn't stoney broke was Matt, whose inexperience actually helped, since he didn't bid absurdly high.

Early Devils

We slowly dragged ourselves up the score track, with a bit of luck and a lot of advice to people who looked as if they might be about to stick too soon. Only Joe stayed mired in the lower reaches of the score track. His propensity for bidding as high as possible and then drawing a ten tile followed by a devil was remarkable enough for me to write it down in my notes.

Joe did enough to regain a little respectability but at the business end of the scoring, it was the dark horse, Matt, who stole the win from a confident Martin in the final round.

Matt 1640
Martin 1620
Sam 1540
Joe 1380
Andrew 1150
Katy 910

Ian still hadn't arrived, so we started a game of Funf Gürken, with the agreement that we just stop when Ian gets here.

This trick-taking game is all about not winning the final trick. Sam played it well, and was able to poison the well in the final hand by playing a 1 card. This doubled the penalty for Katy who won that hand, leaving her with Veir Gürken, only one off being eliminated.

Ian arrived during the next round so we finished up. Matt lost that round, just for the record, picking up two gherkins.

Now we were seven, we split into two groups. Sam, Martin and Joe were keen to play The Quest For Eldorado. On the other side of the table, since it was Ian, Katy and I, Lords of Vegas was suggested. A bit late to start, but certainly possible. Matt joined us on Sunset Strip. Matt had played before, but not for a while. I gave him a brief rules refresher, sure that once he had begun, it would all come flooding back.

Katy's early tactic was to get lots of one-tile casinos in order to push herself up the score track. But, as the cards came out, the four of us were very close early on. Interestingly (if you were playing, otherwise probably not) three Strip cards came out very early on. The first was drawn before anyone had actually built on the Strip!

Perhaps the pivotal moment was when Katy remodelled her two-tile casino (with a six die) into a silver, thus joining my silver three tile casino (with no six dice) to Matt's two tile silver casino (also with no sixes). Thus she had control of a seven tile casino. Albeit one where she only had one die. She needed it to pay out before Matt reorganised.

Katy's audacious move

It didn't. And that seven-tile casino became a major point of contention between Matt and I with Katy always hopeful at every reorganisation. Always hopeful, but always disappointed. Matt had major analysis paralysis when thinking about whether to add a neighbouring one-tile casino to the melee before a re-roll or after. In the end, it became a nine-tile casino under Matt's control. Katy's lone die never posed a serious threat to the issue of ownership.

So, since I had shared the management of a large casino with Matt, we had pushed ahead, the two of us trading blows while Katy and Ian remained stuck.

Eldorado ended much closer than the previous game. Sam had clearly learnt from his last game when he slowed down in the middle of the board. He arrived first with Martin hot on his heels and Joe not far behind.

1. Sam
2. Martin
3. Joe

Since we were still knee deep in Vegas, they began a game of Azul. I know little about this game, except for Martin complimenting himself when he said “I made some really good piles.”

But it was, once again, Sam who made best use of Martin’s piles. His victory was large enough that Martin and Joe discussed where they went wrong. They decided it was when Martin tried to stop Joe and, instead of trying to stop Sam, Joe turned on Martin. This left Sam largely unaffected and able to do whatever he wanted to do. It looks like he wanted to humiliate his two opponents.

Sam 75
Martin 46
Joe 38

In Lords of Vegas, their was also a certain amount of spoiling tactics. Katy tried to sabotage me, with the logic that I wouldn’t be able to respond until three more cards had been turned over. Ian, by rights, should’ve been doing the same to Katy, but he had other plans.

Ian and his plans

He built up a healthy and unchallenged five-tile purple casino in one corner in only one turn and then he fought over a six-tile brown casino with Matt in the other corner. Suddenly, his fortunes turned. The brown casino paid out twice and then the Strip paid out for the final time. This sent Ian from grim third into a slim first place right at the end, despite Matt’s ownership of the nine-tile silver casino on the strip. Ian’s huge reserve of cash was the tie-breaker. An astonishing comeback.

Ian 32 + $64m
Matt 32 + $29m
Andrew 29
Katy 16

Katy’s distant last place was due to her green casino not paying out at all. In fact, once the game had ended, I looked through the remaining cards to find a lot of greens and a fair few silvers, too. The results could’ve been very different.

Now we were all together again and in the mood for a seven-player game to cap off the night. We chose a three-round game of Take It Easy. Thanks to Joe’s two copies of the basic game, all seven players were easily accommodated.

Sam began, choosing sitcoms as his topic for calling out the numbers. This showed his age as the younger (relatively speaking) players claimed no knowledge of sitcoms like “Robin’s Nest”. At the end of this first round, Sam found himself in a healthy first place. I languished in last, with less than half of Sam’s 205 points.

Martin took the second round with the topic “sub atomic particles”. I think it was during this round that the phrase “I’m still intact” was devised to describe a player mat where no lines had been broken. A very useful phrase, and one that was well used for the rest of the game.

I had a better second round, lifting myself out of last place. But it was a brief respite. Joe hosted the third round, with the topic of “Cartoonists”. There was a recurring theme of people needing a tile that had already been played. The English Language needs a word for this feeling.

What is Martin trying to say?

I had a terrible last round, leaving me nailed to the bottom of the results. Back in fourth, we had a rare example of a tie in Take It Easy. But Sam, on the other hand, had built upon his early lead.

Sam 622
Ian 483
Katy 473
Matt 429
Martin 429
Joe 403
Andrew 376

And so we were done. All that was left was for everyone to make Katy nervous because we’d all sorted out our Secret Santas and she hadn’t.

See you all next week for the Christmas Special!