Why rules are important

This fortnight’s gathering at Roll For The Soul saw Sam make his debut, along with other newcomers Katy, Gareth and two others who I didn’t speak to. They were very shy at first, perhaps put off by the bloodlust of Cube Quest, which is how the evening began. They played chess in a quite corner of the café.

Cube Quest is a great game if you want to meet random people at a café, as you may well find yourself asking permission to look under their table to find a knight or two. Stopping the cubes from flying too far from the table became an integral part of the game. Sam beat Gareth, and then I beat Katy.

After that, we were six (Adam and Hannah were also present) so we decided on Tsuro. I’d bought Tsuro of the Seas, but we decided to forego the dragons as unnecessary. We sped off around the table, with Katy unsure of which way round her ship should be facing. Of course, she didn’t win with that kind of navigating. In the end, Adam and I had no choice but to finish the game together, face to face, with no exit route.

Then Adam enticed the two newbies over for a game of Ticket To Ride. This meant there were now eleven (eleven!) of us, since Steve and Anja had arrived with Luther. Luther didn’t play much, but he did a great job of distracting Hannah.

Five people played Ticket To Ride while five of us played an interesting variation on Pandemic. First, there were five of us, instead of the regulation four. Plus, it had been a long time since we played it and we forgot one rule that allows the diseases to spread. As such, diseases stayed localised, and things never really got out of hand. Not so much a plague, more a coincidence that some people were getting ill at the same time.

This only dawned on us halfway through the game, since two early Epidemic cards had disguised the fact that we were playing a really easy version of the game. We decided to chalk this up as an introductory game, and ploughed on, trying to cure and eradicate all diseases. But we failed, with one disease left uncured by the time the cards ran out.

It was fun but a bit of a disappointment. For some reason, getting the rules wrong somehow ruins the game. Even though it looks exactly the same to any passer-by, it takes the heart of out the game. We weren’t fighting impossible odds, but going through the motions. Talking of passers-by, one of them said “Oh, Risk!” which is the second time someone’s said that. But to be fair, Pandemic does look a bit like Risk. Certainly, more than Ticket To Ride does.

I’d like to try and play it again soon so this doesn’t become my abiding memory of the game. Also, playing a co-op game needs lots of discussion but in a place of loud music this can become quite tiring.

On the other table, I’ve no idea how TtR was shaping up. Anja seemed to be winning but I didn’t stay for the end. In fact, I left after Pandemic, as Adam and Sam drew up a makeshift chess-board on a sheet of paper because the real one was being used. A morning text informed me that Adam had won.

Coming out of the cupboard

This evening, a non-GNN games night was arranged at Roll For The Soul, a café that sounds like it’s already a gaming heaven, but the “Roll” but actually refers to bicycles, not dice. I don’t think we have any games about bicycles, but they didn’t seem to mind.

By the time I arrived, the first game had already begun. Hannah, Adam and two women (who I assumed were Sustrans-types but were, in fact, real people who had come out of curiosity) had started with Galaxy Truckers. They had, however, paused for food so Adam and I had two games of speed chess. It was the first time I’d played the game for years, and Adam won both times.

By then, food had been eaten and another attendee had arrived: Tim. He and I played a game of Agricola: All Creatures. I taught him the rules, and he seemed to get the hang of it awfully quickly, and it ended in a draw: 36 all. Adam, of course, pointed out there is a tie-breaker, and technically speaking Tim won, but he only did that because Adam does not rejoice in shared victories.

Galaxy Trucker had finished by then, with Hannah victorious, and the two newcomers set off with, hopefully, a new appreciation for Eurogames. A man arrived, whose name escapes me, and the five of us sat down to play Ticket To Ride.

Before long, Judith arrived, and she took over from the unnamed man. Whereas previously, he had been simply picking up cards (not, in itself, a bad idea: Adam and Tim had been doing the same) she began building tracks.

I was the first to build and, on a whim, I also build a long but unnecessary six-link railway for 15 points. This turned out to be my best move, as the region around the alps soon became full and I had to send my long track around the south of the map and up to Moscow via Turkey. Not very efficient, but it was all I had left.

The game progressed, and we noticed people looking in the window at us, so we arranged the box so people could see the name of the game. And, during Ticket To Ride, people from the café came up to watch us and said “Oh, it’s a bit like Settlers/Risk” and I had to bite my tongue to not snap back “It’s nothing like Settlers/Risk!”

Near the end of the game, Judith discovered that unfinished route cards counted against any final score and so in a fit of sheer joie de vivre, she stocked up on extra route cards to try and counter the impact. In the end, she did finish in the black. By nine points. She still finished in last. I came fourth, one point behind Hannah and, amazingly, Adam and Tim came joint first. Adam was forced to go home rejoicing in a shared victory, whether he liked it or not!

By now, with our double-checking the scores and putting things away, the café was closing, with chairs already up on tables. We sallied forth into the central Bristol evening, having played a board game or two in full view of people, and the world didn’t come to an end! We must try it again sometime.