Garden of Delights

Last night's GNN coincided with Adam H's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than by playing some games and swearing gaily at each other? As the insane heat of the last two days slowly subsided, we gathered in Mel and Ben's back garden: as well as the hosts there was the birthday boy, Ian, Katy and Martin. I (Sam) was last to arrive, coming from a school gala (Stan played bass on Ain't No Mountain High Enough!) drenched in sweat and trying not to sit too close to anyone as a result. In fact my first ten minutes were pretty much recovering from getting there, as we kicked things off with Just One.

As there were seven of us we abandoned the game's suggested 13-card structure (and the scoring, in fact) to deduct - or attempt to - two cards each. There were duplications ahoy, with sine appearing twice for wave, waffles for potato and so on. Katy and Martin both seemed to feel we should be able to read each other's minds and avoid these situations, showering the culprits with disdain when it occurred. Just One remains as fun as it's always been.

Then we split into two groups with Martin leading Adam and Ian on a sortie to Babylonia whilst Katy and I introduced Ben and Mel to Llamaland. But first we sang Adam happy birthday and were all treated to cookies and ice cream!

Katy ambitiously thought we'd get Llamaland and Whale Riders both played whilst Babylonia ran its course, but the former, even without objective cards, proved to be something of an epic. Mid-game Ben appeared to have manoeuvred himself into a strong position, with more llamas than anyone and a heap of coins to go with them. Katy took the tile I needed and I called her a dick.

"A dick, but not a cunt? Smash the patriarchy!" she cried.

I reassured her I was happy to insult her in whatever way felt appropriate.

The llama-ing, meantime, had passed peak-Ben as we hit the the last couple of rounds: he ran out of land and we caught him up in llamas. It was close, but on this occasion I was Llamafarmer Supremo:

Sam 71

Katy 70

Mel 68

Ben 64

At the other end of the table they'd completed Babylonia, with Adam threatening Martin's now-alarming run of consecutive victories without quite pulling it off.

Martin 162

Adam 151

Ian 122

And they'd also bashed through a three-player game of Overstocked. 

Locking furry swords with Katy at this point, I missed the ins and outs. Adam's first play of this had seen him finish with minus points. He did better this time, but has yet to properly channel his inner toy investor:

Martin 28

Ian 22

Adam 2

Not only that, they'd played Eggs of Ostrich so quickly I didn't even get a photo (Martin won that too, edging out Adam 12-11, with Ian back on 8points). I did manage to snap a picture of Mel and Ben's frog though, who was rustling about in the bushes, probably wondering what all the noise was about. 

It was suddenly dark, so we heaved the table inside, got confused counting chairs and then shook up the groups a bit. I was keen to play Kiitos, and Martin and Ben joined me. Katy cajoled the others into the Knizian delights of Whale Riding. 

Kiitos is a word game where you're trying to get your own word spelled. Whomever starts a round lays announces the word they'd like to spell and lays down the opening letter from their hand. If the next player can play the next letter, they must do so, and we keep spelling the word. If they can't, they can announce a new word as they lay the next letter (with the caveat that you can't announce a word and finish it on the same turn). 

If you can't see an option on how to proceed (eg in the above, you don't have an n for locating or an o for location, and you don't see a way to make a new word) you get the cards as minus points. If anyone's word gets completed, the cards are taken as plus points by the player who announced it. The game gets more interesting when you mix in the Super Kiitos (add a letter at either end of the word) and Squeeze (add a letter anywhere!) rules. We agreed it would be best with two, but I love the scoring system and how it suggests you can play defence: Ben won despite never getting a single positive point!

Ben -11

Sam -12

Martin 16

There was more talk at that end of the table, but I missed most of it, as I was cursing letters, or sometimes Ben, who was sat to my right. But whilst we were ruminating, Adam was getting a birthday victory under his belt in Whale Riders. It was tight, though:

Adam 22

Katy 21

Ian 19

Mel 18

Ian then bowed out, feeling the fatigue of an early morning catch up with him. Could the rest of us do one last game? We felt we could, and cracked into So Clover. Instantly cries of dismay echoed around the room as everyone felt they'd been dealt impossible word combos. I was looking at crap like quilt / Switzerland and soap / ray. It sounded like others had similar issues. "I used the write the first word that came into my head" Katy explained to Mel, "But now I write the second. Or sometimes even the third!" 

We took a long time to figure our linking words - so long, in fact, that Ben migrated from the room. In the circumstances, though, we did pretty well, getting everyone's clues with just a few initial missteps. Martin was apoplectic that we didn't get assassination / region from his clue of Dallas first time, however, going into a sweary rant about Kennedy like a history teacher berating a bunch of talented but stubbornly unapplied pupils. I was more disappointed we didn't see the pet / cemetary link sooner.

So Clover: 22/30 - not bad considering our initial chagrin. And with that, another delightful, if foul-mouthed, chapter in GNN history felt the whispered breath of the curtains falling. The visitors stepped out into the night to feel the blessed relief of an air that didn't feel like hot cardboard on your skin, and we made our various ways home. Until next time!

Eight gamers gaming

Another week of GNN. Except this was Christmas week, and previously this involved some kind of cake and a quiz by Sam but this year, all of that was passed over in favour of online gaming.

There were eight of us: Katy, Ian, myself, Sam, Martin, Andy, Steve and Anja. Once technical difficulties were ironed out we tried Fuji Flush and we were reminded how difficult it can be to explain rules online. Sat around a real table, Fuji Flush is pretty easy to understand but somehow the same can’t be said for staring at a screen. Steve professed to be confused and, as is usual when Steve insists he’s baffled, he won. The next couple of minutes were spent with people hitting the deal and recall buttons and generally behaving in a way that would get you thrown out of Vegas.

Then we split into two groups. Steve, Anja, Andy and I chose Thurn and Taxis since Steve and Anja were familiar with it and no one wanted to put them through more rules explanation. I was happy to play, having only recently played it myself. Andy is also familiar with it, mentioning that he’d played about 200 games of it on Yucata. As we began, I didn’t fancy my chances.

The other four of Katy, Martin, Ian and Sam played American Bookshop and Katy won by a country mile.

Katy 31

Sam 3

Martin 3

Ian –5

Then they played Marrakech on BGA and I can attest that it works well as a spectator sport. All the information is available meaning that you can play along with them. And I did enjoy imagining what kind of fruity language Martin came out with when he landed on Ian’s huge carpet and had to play him nine coins.

Sam 50

Ian 40

Katy 39

Martin 28

Then Sam left and the remaining three played Eggs of Ostrich while we finished off T&T.

Martin 14

Ian 9

Katy 7

Meanwhile, in Germany, I was feeling much better about my position after a 6-link route that allowed me to put down six houses. I’d been somewhat helped by Steve and Anja both having to abandon routes, which could explain their joint last place. 

Andy 28

Andrew 17

Steve 7

Anja 7

After this point, Andy left and the six of us finished off with a game of For Sale, with Steve initially daunted by some 200+ ELO ratings among us but we reassured him it was largely meaningless. Recently, a six-coin opening bid has become a classic move but this time Ian showed the power of a four-coin bid as a means of making people commit to a bun fight for treasures or pick up some trash for free.

In the end, the results more or less reflected our ELO ratings after all. And Steve and Anja tied again.

Andrew 52

Ian 47

Martin 46

Anja 40

Steve 40

Katy 27

And with that, we were done. Happy Christmas everyone. See you all soon.

Beyond Salvaging

 This week GNN saw a mere four members online (Katy, Martin, Ian and I). But while we were mere in numbers we were far from mere in enthusiasm. Notwithstanding being a bit tired and me being late.
When I'd arrived they'd already played Eggs Of Ostrich with Katy winning (K 19, I 12, M 9).

Next was the online debut of Senators, the auction-heavy card game of Roman political intrigue. Katy got a rules refresher which I needed as well. The game worked pretty well on playingcards.io and Katy was impressed enough with how professional it was, and she asked “Is it difficult to do this?” “Martin answered “Not really,” and then Katy clarified “Is it difficult for a normal person to do this.”

The one awkward part was how to blind bid whenever there was a war: everyone bids, highest gets a senator but everyone pays. Martin suggested a compromise: we all flipped over our coins in our player area and then, on a signal, dragged them onto the playing area. If you wanted to bid zero, you would just say so. It seemed to work well, especially for me when my opponents said they weren’t bidding while I dragged my two coins onto the board. What a cheap Senator!

Andrew 10
Ian 8
Martin 8
Katy 7

Next up was Salvage - a brand new game, not even on Board Game Geek. It’s a trick taker in which you have to avoid winning tricks with flaming boats in them. Doing so means you lose points. However, you have a chance to collect oil barrels to offset the damage. (There’s a story behind all this, I think, but it's pretty tenuous) But anyway, there are 15 oil barrels in total and the players are expected to share them nicely without the 15th barrel being taken. If that happens, then everyone loses points according to how many oil barrels they took. Greed is bad, you see.

Anyway, I had trouble getting my head around it, although I did enjoy Katy losing to Martin, Ian and I playing 1, 2 and 3 red cards (all on fire) and she had the 4. This happened three times. How we laughed. Especially me, since I had nothing else to laugh about.

Martin 14
Katy 13
Ian 11
Andrew -1

Next up was another playingcard game - Krass Kareirt. This game of playing increasingly high hands without actually rearranging your cards. It works well on the internet.

Martin 2

Katy 2

Andrew 1

Ian 0

At this point Ian retired to bed and we three pondered our next move. We went back to BGA because otherwise we're just wasting our money. We chose Can't Stop (which appears to have some kind of desert island theme to it) which I usually do well at since I'm usually able to stop. According to the end of game statistics, I went bust only once. Martin, on the other hand, had only one successful roll in the first half of the game.

Andrew 3

Katy 2
Martin 1

And that was that. Off to dream our dreams of success and derring-do. 

Kingdom Rebuilt (in beta)

I logged on to Discord around twenty minutes late, with a game of For Sale in full swing with Martin, Ian, Andy, Adam H and Katy. I let them chat in the background while I sorted out my candles and alcohol.

Martin won, having spent on average only 1 for his cards. And having spent least thinking time, he pointed out.

Martin 61

Andy 55

Adam H 48

Ian 45

Katy 43

After this it was almost 8, and we were expecting more arrivals. But time waits for no game, especially when that game is Kingdom Builder in beta on BGA. Me, Ian, Adam H and Martin swiftly leave choppy old Discord for the sanctuary of a Google Hangout, only to be followed by Steve who’d just arrived and didn’t quite understand the exclusive nature of our little enclave. He is dismissed back to another Google Hangout where he, Anja, Adam T, Andy and Katy played 7 Wonders twice with Steve winning both times. In fact, everyone replicated their standings twice.

Steve 59

Adam T 58

Anja 48

Katy 41

Andy 31

Steve 61

Adam T 57

Anja 55

Katy 54

Andy 37

Kingdom Builder was a quiet game. Banter was at a minimum, as you’d expect in such a clash of the Titans. If Titans used barns and paddocks to gain territory. I don’t think they did. The beta program worked fine except for when we drew a grass card and it told us we “must build on a Grass.”

When Adam played his final house, I still had ten left. Never stood a chance. Good to play KB again, though.

Martin 63

Adam H 61

Andrew 38

Ian 31

We change Google hangouts, but I’m too busy pouring myself another drink and Katy, Martin Ian and Adam T zip off for a game of American Bookshop. This game is notable for the mid-game update posted by Martin with a quote from Katy “If I was allowed to touch you, Adam, I’d touch you and not in a nice way.” It was notable enough that Joe texted us about it when he got the notification from Discord.

Meanwhile, we (Steve, Anja, Adam H, Andy and me) played Rallyman GT, which was new to most of us so we got a rules explanation from Andy B. I led at first but was swiftly overtaken by everyone. Anja was first to spin off the track so at least I was no longer in last. There was a lot of downtime, and I worried how long this would go on for as we turned the third corner after about half an hour. By the end, Andy crossed the finishing line and then he estimated another ten minutes before we all end. I span out, and got frustrated. I creep across the line in fourth. And I showed such promise.

Andy 25

Adam 18

Steve 15

Andrew 12

Anja 10

In the time we took to play that, American Bookshop finished. Not sure who won, nor if Adam T ever got touched or not.

They then banged off a triplet of Eggs of Ostrich once Ian had left (Adam T 10, Katy 8 Martin 4 and then Adam T 15, Martin 12, Katy 4 then finally Martin 13, Katy 11, Adam 9) before they joined us for 7 Wonders. I got a phone call and decided to bow out, as did Martin and Katy. The remaining players played twice.

Adam T 53

Adam H 45

Andy 41

Adam H 66

Andy 54

Adam T 42

Well done to all. See you next week.

Big Farmer Conspiracy

This week we began our games night as a quartet. Martin, Ian, Adam H and myself began with Kingdomino, hoping to squeeze in a game before the imminent arrival of the other three gamers who were no doubt frantically eating food or completing domestic tasks before arriving.

The game was pretty straightforward. Martin had a moment of blindness when, mid-game, he picked up a tile he couldn't place. The lack of bonuses was to prove costly. Not as costly as Adam's enormous forest that scored no points at all.

Andrew 81

Martin 77

Adam H 64

Ian 51

Then Joe, Andy and Adam T logged on and, as is now compulsory when there are seven of us, we played 7 Wonders. Adam T luxuriated in his work monitor which was large enough to see everyone's boards, although he found his peaty cider disappointing.

Was there a lack of things to do in round two? Joe sighed that he may as well finish his wonder, and Adam T, Adam H, and Andy also had their wonders done and dusted early on. I had Halikanassos which involves building as late as possible. It didn't go well.  My neighbor Joe built a massive army simply because he couldn't build much else.

Martin was delighted with his first place, saying that he never wins. He was not enthusiastic about a suggestion of a rematch, saying the game isn't good enough to play twice in a row.

Martin 61

Andy 59

Adam T 54

Joe 47

Adam H 46

Ian 37

Andrew 34

Then we split into two groups. Martin, Adam T and Joe went off to play 99.

Martin 389

Joe 237

Adam T 165

The rest of us chose Carcassonne, with inns and cathedrals. I played my big farmer on my first turn not knowing about it's special powers when deciding majorities. I declined the opportunity to start again figuring may as well go there as anywhere, but found myself constantly trying to  to connect it to the more lucrative areas in the south.

Ian and Adam got into an early fight over a city but then decided to share the points just so they could get their meeples back. How genteel.

Andy 94

Adam 88

Ian 86

Andrew 83

As the others waited for us to finish, they played a quick Eggs of Ostrich which Adam T “won handsomely.”

Then we played 6nimmt and it was a bit of a classic. Lady Luck appeared to desert everyone evenly and it wasn’t until round four that one of us passed the game end trigger. No one went clear in round one, and Joe had an attack of indecision, as he repeatedly chose and rechose his card, causing “Joe picked another card” to scroll up the text commentary box multiple times.

As we progressed, Adam T’s bookcase seemed to be getting bigger. Adam surmised that this was because he was slouching back in his chair more. Meanwhile, at the end of the game, the cards 101, 102, 103 and 104 were all successfully played. Talk about hanging on by the skin of your teeth.

Adam H 38

Martin 24

Ian 18

Andy 9

Joe 8

Andrew 2

Adam T -8

Then everyone left except got me, Martin and Andy so we played out a quick game of Coloretto.

Martin 33

Andy 29

Andrew 26

And with that we were done. Thanks all. See you next week.

More Technical Difficulties

The lockdown continues in one form or another, and so seven housebound gamers joined together for battle at a distance. No Joe or Sam, so our numbers contained Martin, Ian, Andrew, Adam H and Katy at first and then Adam T and Andy B a little later on.

We began with For Sale, where a bid of six is now called “the classic six,” thanks to its frequent use as an opening bid or raise. Katy was very pleased with her “joint second” or, as everyone else called it, “third.”

Martin 56
Ian 52+ tie breaker
Katy 52
Adam 51
Andrew 40

Then we waited for the other Adam and Andy B and while we did we sorted out those who hadn’t reciprocated friendship on the GNN group. This was mostly Katy who only had eight friends. How cold. Then Adam T arrived and we saw Andy B wink in and out of existence for a while until he joined us for a game of 7 Wonders.

Katy quickly found her internet connection was a little dodgy and she frequently ended up offline and had to reboot her machine. While we waited patiently, I quipped that it would be quicker to actually build the seventh wonder.

Adam H 57
Andrew 54
Katy 47 + cash
Martin 47
Andy 36
Ian 33
Adam T 29

Then we split into two. Martin, Adam T, Katy and I played American Bookshop, the cunning trick taker from Japan. It was my first game and I enjoyed it, even if I never quite understood what to play and when. Katy scored positively in every round and won by a mile. Adam never recovered from his -11 round, and I picked up -14 in one round myself.

Katy 27
Martin 1
Andrew -2
Adam -5

Then others played Downforce, which I kept an eye on. They played the variant with powers or something. Anyway, Ian bought three cars while Adam H only had one. And guess what it finished first, by a mile. And at the end of the game we discovered that everyone had always bet on it.

Adam $24m
Andy $23m
Ian $8m

After this they played Red 7 which went on for a surprisingly long time (also with powers, I think). The length of effort barely reflected in the scores.

Ian 2
Adam 1
Andy 0

We had finished American Bookstore and Adam T had left us, so the three of us played Eggs of Ostrich. This game was notable for Katy and I playing an identical game in round three. Amazingly, this ended badly for both of us because on the final card Katy thought she had no choice about what to play and so blurted out that she’d passed. I could see a winning move, but I had to pass as well otherwise I’d burst a bag. Our passing gave all the eggs to Martin who took them gratefully and used them to steal the win right at the end.

Martin 33
Katy 31
Andrew 24

Then the two groups joined together and since we played 7 Wonders with seven, it was only right and proper that we play 6nimmt with six. Ian went clear in round one, and I think that was the only time anyone managed that in what was a pretty brutal game. Martin got into a death spiral which not only triggered the end of the game, but then continued no afterwards thus giving him a shockingly low score.

Adam's turn. Hmm... which row would you choose?

Ian 60
Katy 54
Andy 24
Andrew 23
Adam H 0
Martin -27

And so we were done. I’m sure Katy’s aging tablet breathed a sigh of relief when she finally shut it down. In the meantime we’ll come back and do this all again next week.

Shaken, not spelt

Has it really been a year since the venerable Andy B graced us on a Tuesday? That’s what we thought, but were too lazy to check. Nevertheless, it’s been a long time since he was here. Long enough that we’ve acquired a new regular member – Adam T, although it turned out the two knew each other from Eastbourne. It’s a small gaming world.

I got to Joe’s studio at six and found Joe and Ian eating supper. We were dealing out Coloretto when the aforementioned Andy B arrived, and so he was dealt in too. The game required a bit of rules refreshing for all concerned, since none of us were up to speed, but once we got going, it was plain sailing. Except for Joe.

Andy 36
Ian 35
Andrew 34
Joe 24

During this, Adam T and Sam arrived and since we weren’t expecting anyone else for a while, we all sat around the big table for a game of Team Play. I paired up with Andy and we soon got stuck with two difficult mission cards (is that what you call them?) while the others sped off without us. Sam and Adam were first to hit seven tricks (not really tricks, you know what I mean) and then Joe and Ian had a late surge to bring them back into contention.

Sam and Adam 32
Ian and Joe 32
Andy and Andrew 29

We were trying to find a tie-breaker, but Martin told us there weren’t any. However, for the rest of the evening, we kept finding Team Play cards around Ian’s chair making us suspect that they’d completed more tricks than they’d counted up.

As well as Martin, Katy and Adam H were also here. It seemed like the perfect moment to bring out Sam’s birthday cake to celebrate his half century. For some reason, our rendition of Happy Birthday was an octave or two lower than normal. I suppose as we age, we find the baritone range more natural.

Happy birthday!

We split into two groups. Andy, Adam H, Martin and Joe played Babylonia (back after its one-week absence) and the remaining five played Letter Jam, the surprisingly stressful co-operative card game. This time, we went for six-letter words: a step up from the usual five-letter standard game. I think I’ve played it three times and failed to get my word each time and this was no exception. At least this time I wasn’t alone in my failure. Adam failed to get “HOLING” despite getting all the letters, since he convinced himself that the G and H should go next to each other. Katy, meanwhile, blamed her dyslexia for her mistake. She’d successfully got SHAKE but couldn’t work out where the N would go. “Shaken,” we prompted. She looked suitably crestfallen.

With only Sam and Ian getting there words, we scored a mere two strawberries.

Babylonia ended

Martin 162
Adam 124
Joe 108
Andy 99

At this point a spate of reorganisation was achieved, with the nine of us forming into three groups of three. Ian, Joe and Martin played Ra and it was notable for Martin’s many pharaohs, Joe’s many monuments and Ian’s very long Nile. Joe was confident that he’d won until the final count.

Ian 64
Martin 54
Joe 50

Followed by Eggs of Ostrich…

Joe 10
Martin 10
Ian 8

Then Ian went home, mumbling something about getting back at “a sensible hour” so Martin and Joe broke out the Res Arcana.

Martin 15
Joe 4

Meanwhile, Andy, Adam and Sam tried the new game Crown of Emara, with it’s two (TWO) rondels and it’s pretty typical medieval-type Eurogame setting. I didn’t check if you could turn wood into sheep but it looked like that kind of game.

Andy 78
Adam 72
Sam 62

Sam insisted that he won a victory of sorts since he ended as Marquis, the highest ranked noble.

Adam H, Katy and me broke out Lords of Vegas since it was the only game that we all had some kind of enthusiasm for. We began with a lot of plots in seedy back streets and a lot of brown cards coming out early on.

Seedy back streets

I started well and stayed well. Katy built up then lost all but one of her casinos, but towards the end she started to close the gap on me. I was nervous that her strong presence on the strip would be my downfall but happily the game over card came out and saved me.

Andrew 73
Katy 60
Adam 26

Adam said that halfway through the game he’d remember that he had issues with the advantage of being first player and during the game he started searching for rules variants to counter this. Katy pointed out that she went third.

At this point Adam T and I set off, leaving the rest of them to go crazy with 6nimmt. No idea how that ended, though.

Thanks everyone.

Rome burned, onions wept

Seven gamers and Joe's kitchen table came together this week in a resounding crash of bonhomie and rivalry. Joe, Sam, Martin, Ian, Adam T, Katy and me were all seated by 7.30 and we began with all of us collaborating in a game of Belratti.

This Dixit-ish game of detecting conscious choices from random chance is a firm favourite but are we getting to good? Since discussing our choices is not allowed, Sam hit upon a method of giving his cards a percentage according to how good a match they were for one of the two targets. This was quickly adopted by all of us except Katy who refused to reduce her art to a mere number.

We did well but, also, we got lucky. We linked wasp to a clapperboard because they had stripes, only for Adam to tell us that the real link was B-Movie. Too smart for us. And despite a lengthy discussion as to what was better matched to mouth: bread or cigarette, we got it wrong. Bread should have gone with the other topic - tiger. Tiger bread, you see. Well done, Martin. Sorry we didn't get it.

Us 21
Belratti 6

Then we split into two groups. The Was Sticht gang (Joe, Ian, Adam and me) regrouped for another attempt at the wily trick taker while Katy, Martin and Sam sat around the card table for a feisty game of Senators.

Was Sticht started hesitantly, with Ian having to have two attempts at explaining who won which trick during the opening matrix stage. Then the game was remarkable for a large number of no trumps, and for round three when I dealt out no green cards at all in the first half of the matrix.

The game was much smoother this time, with Joe cleverly choosing his cards according to one of the criteria ("no tricks", "no green cards," etc) he needed to complete.

But I won again! Is this the game for me? It was close, though.

Andrew 3 plus 16 on the tiebreaker
Joe 3 plus 13
Ian 2
Adam 1

While we finished that, the card table gang finished Senators and two other games too. From what I can gather, Martin was in the lead and then saw a sudden collapse in support, followed by the third war ending the game in dramatic fashion.

Katy 11
Sam 10
Martin 9

They followed this up with Heul Doch Mau Mau. I don't know what variant they were playing but when Martin said "balls!" in frustration, Katy replied "hairy or shaved?" I didn't note Martin's answer but judging by the final score, his frustration can't have lasted long.

Martin 114
Katy 85
Sam 83

They also managed to squeeze in one round of the word game Handsome. Sam won.

Sam 3
Katy 1
Martin 1

Then there was a period of reshuffling, with four crossword wizards (Sam, Adam, Joe and Martin) going head to head over a game of Montage. Although Sam did apologize beforehand that anyone paired with him would lose.

I tried to listen in to make notes but the only clue I heard was "Donkey" and its answer was "Ass". But I'm sure the rest of the clues were brilliant.

Joe and Martin won!
Sam and Adam didn't.

The rest of us played Downfall of Pompeii, which needed a little rule refresher but was otherwise smooth sailing. We were a little surprised when the rules told us that the owner of the game should set everything up but, since Joe was already playing Montage, we struggled on without him.

It was a memorable game Katy who got one Omen card after another, allowing her to throw her opponents into the volcano. She ended with no meeples left to put on the board when, luckily, Vesuvius erupted. I wonder if I got the Relative Rule wrong but it was wrong for all of us, so never mind.

It was enormous fun pushing lava into the path of our opponents so they died a fiery death. Kathy's early advantage lead to her victor.

Katy 7
Ian 6
Andrew 5

Around this time Adam left and the remaining three bashed out a quick game of Eggs Of Ostrich to fill the time until Pompeii was covered in lava.

Martin 11
Joe 6
Sam 3

Then the six of us played Stinker. Winning entries that I managed to write down were...

Why is a good man hard to find? Polio Death (Ian)
What's under the Pope's hat? Courgettes (Joe)
The name of a fairy tale? Alana and the Bum (Martin)
How to tell someone they have bad breath? Smell toilet to compare. (Katy)

Don't recall the category for this one.

Martin 32
Joe 27
Katy 25
Sam 24
Andrew 11
Ian 9

Then Sam and Ian left, while the final four played on past the eleventh hour with a rousing game of Krass Kariert, the card game of no winners, just losers. We all lost one life in the four rounds that we played and so we called it a draw and went home rejoicing in our shared non-defeat.