Cat on the Table

We - Joe, Martin and myself - arrived at Steve and Anja's a little late, but just in time to catch up with Pete at the front door. He wasn't sure if he was in the right place, an affliction that also seemed to clasp hold of Joe as he'd initially driven past the house and turned right, headed for who knows where. Eventually Louie let as all in and we were treated to the sight of Steve in marigolds.

Then Adam arrived. He went into the kitchen and then arrived again, causing speculation about how many times he might continue to show up. "Imagine if Adam T was here" Ian ruminated, pondering how many Adams we might end up with. Steve finished disposing of the dead bodies and joined us at the table, where Martin flourished his new card game, Llama Llama, and I flourished - sort of, the box is bigger - my new edition of Magical Athlete. With little ado we split into two groups: myself, Louie, Adam and Steve racing the aforementioned athletes and everyone else Llama-ing. I unfortunately missed the explanation because we were preoccupied with magic. 

Louie's first racer was the Skipper, who is always next to go if someone - including themselves - rolls a 1. And boy, did we roll a lot of 1's. Adam - to Louie's right - had about 3 turns the entire race, but did pretty well anyway thanks to his Suckerfish grabbing the backsides of other racers. We flipped the board for race 2, where the previously-simple track now has setbacks and booster spots. Adam took the win here, leaving Steve's Big Baby for dust. Then Louie won race 3 thanks to a surprisingly fast Zeppelin and we were set for a grand finale. Grand for most, anyway. Anja arrived in time to watch me roll four 4's in a row, each time landing on the go back 4 space. My special ability was copying a previous winner - I copied the skipper, but everyone decided that rolling 1s was now passé. Adam won the race...

...and the game!

Adam 12

Steve and Louie 10 each

Sam 7

Llama Llama had finished too. I had remembered to bring a notebook for a change and happily scrawled everything down. But I forgot to bring my notebook to the studio this morning, so who knows what it all says. Pretty sure Martin won, though. We had a quick reshuffle with Ian joining myself, Adam and Steve for Monkey Palace. Joe bravely took on teaching Silos (previously Municipium) to Martin, Pete and Anja. Louie went to bed. 

Adam schooled us at Monkey Palace. He shrugged off being last in turn order and developed an engine that saw him generating several arches early on. And he seemed more capable than any of us at spotting where they might go - I think we all accepted his advice at one stage or another. It seemed genuinely helpful, too, but our contributions to the palace rarely matched Adam's, who would launch each turn with an impressively pre-fabricated element that seamlessly slotted into place. 

On the other side of the table, Silos sounded as dickish as advertised. Judging by the expletives being directed his way, Martin seemed to be doing well. Joe called him a bastard and at one point Anja lamented "Why me?" - although it transpired she was his closest competitor in the end. Maybe that was why. Monkey Tennis Palace wrapped up with no-one too surprised at the victor:

Adam 5million

Steve and Sam 30 each

Ian 26

My very last turn hauled me in 12 points, thankfully. Torture and rage was continuing in Silos at this point, so we bashed out a quick play of Vegas Strip. 

Despite appearances, this is not a Vegas-esque boisterous dice-chucker, but more a canny table-reading situation, with temporary alliances in each round and some insider knowledge on (one of) which casinos are rigged - winner takes all - and which (one of) casinos are secure, in which case everyone but the winner gets their investments. Ian had played it at the weekend and found it somewhat inscrutable, but was game for another go. Adam and Steve both found the vague greys closer to charcoal though, and one round took us half an hour. As the entire game (three rounds) is only meant to be 40 minutes, we packed up at this point. Ian won this, as his and Adam's teamwork eclipsed mine and Steve's: their scores were in the 40s and ours considerably less, and Steve's promise of showing me 'How clever I am' was, as yet, unfulfilled. 

We also stopped because Silos finished now too, with Martin earning the victory-triggering fifth medal, Anja poised on 4, Joe with a couple (I think - see notebook tragedy above) and Pete entirely bereft of medals. The jury seemed to be out on the game, with Martin alleging that the new theme (aliens instead of Romans) and the new aesthetics (bonkers instead of beige) were both wrong steps for him. 

Anja had to temporarily corral Lennon bedwards, so whilst we were polishing off Vegas Strip, the remaining Silos trio played TowerBrix, where they collaborate on a construction with each player having a rule the tower must obey in order to succeed. They seemed to succeed until Joe revealed his second card at which point he was barraged with insults. "Joe fucked it up" Martin clarified to me. 

Vegas Strip was now mercifully back in its box and we now had an open table waiting to be covered with what my autocorrect likes to call Maples. Adam left - just the once - and Martin pointed out that TowerBrix plays six, so we all doffed our metaphorical hardhats and got stuck in. Steve and Martin however found that they could not agree on the construction at all, and kept moving something only for the other to cry "No!" in indignation. Rarely, they would come to terms on something, only for someone else to say "That doesn't work for me". Thank God actual architects don't work this way. 

Around now two more people joined us at the table. Anja was happy to watch the unfolding bickering, whereas Molly felt it had all gotten a bit out of hand and we just needed to chill the hell out. 

At one point we pretty much gave up our chances of success, before someone - I forget who, possibly Pete - built again from the ground up and we stumbled into something we all agreed on. Hurray! 

But with time ticking away, Joe had '15 minutes' to play one last game. We spent the first five of them making the same joke about a number of games that we couldn't play in this time - a quick Wallenstein? etc - before finally settling on Flip 7. Steve announced - I'm not sure if it was because of the game - that he was now going to bed, so our hosts were now effectively Anja and Molly. 

I don't think Pete had played before, but he was treated to a succession of unlikely bustings, notably on a pair of threes, as others - at first Ian and Anja - sped off into three figures. Martin heroically began busting too and went from in contention to in dudgeon remarkably fast. I had a mid-game surge and collapsed, and  in the penultimate round Joe flipped seven to make Anja - now poised on 197 - conceivably catchable. But it didn't happen - he busted in the ultimate round and Anja won convincingly, something like 227 points. Nobody else broke the 200 and Pete and Martin were back in the 70's (points, not years). 

That was that. Molly barely moved as we packed up and said our goodbyes... until next time. 

It's the trick that kills you

Steve and Anja were our hosts last night, with Louie sadly unwell enough to join but Lennon pitching in to open proceedings with a nine-player crack at Flip 7. Weirdly, this was suggested by Martin, even though he has regularly disdained the game. As is our established preference we took out the Freeze cards, although in hindsight they might have helped Ian and Lennon, who both imploded with incredible regularity. In fact I'm not sure Ian ever got past three cards. Adam did though. He almost needed an occasional table for his cards at one stage. 

Adam 202

Anja 152

Sam 146

Steve and Martin 89 each

Katy 66

Joe 54

Ian and Lennon - DNS

We split into two groups. Joe joining the Dalton-Dales for a gambol around the pyramid in Camel Up...

...whilst Martin explained the rules of Skull Queen to Adam and Katy (Ian and I had played before).

Both games took quite a while, even though we only played four rounds of Skull Queen as opposed to the one-round-per-player. The game is somewhat like contract whist in that you're predicting trick wins, but you're predicting for each suit rather than overall, and incorrect predictions can end up giving you zero points if your prediction pirates plunge off the plank. 

Martin dicked Katy over on her very first trick, rationalising that it was 'the best way to learn'. Katy frowned. To my left Joe was enjoying the racing/betting experience of camels who are capable of flea-like springing onto each other's backs, apparently having never played before. We were sure it did the rounds on GNN about ten years ago, but maybe Joe was playing Brass or Agricola. 

There was no Explainer's Curse for Steve as he ungulated his way to a convincing victory:

Steve 46

Anja 29

Joe 26

Lennon 22

And we wrapped up around the same time:

Sam 96

Adam 81

Martin 76

Katy 75

Ian 69

The double-movement cards (5 pushes the loser down twice, 8 up twice) played a significant role in prompting pirates into the pointless sea. Now there was some chat and bedtime duties so the remainder of us played The Gang. 

We made a poor start, although it was a close-run thing with first Jacks and 10s and then sixes and eights (I think?) the wrong way around. Down 0-2 to the incoming cops things looked bleak. But we rallied, aided by a Muscle card, and pulled off a slightly curious win: in the final round all but Joe had their strongest hand in the table cards. This drama didn't quite captivate Steve though, who chose reading his book over being dealt in for the finale. Steve! It's games night!

Everyone bar Lennon was back at the table now and we split into two fours, with Joe leading Anja, Martin and Adam in a game of TRND, which unfortunately I know nothing about, and the rest of us playing a hugely dickish session of Misfits. 

In game one, Ian defied gravity, physics, expectations and the fabric of reality as he pulled off three or four insane moves, earning him the title Prince of Darkness. Both he and Steve started new towers with horrible foundation blocks that we managed to build upon regardless. 

Ian took the win, but as TRND was ongoing we began again. There were rules arguments as Katy attempted to executive-decision Ian's opening gambit - upside-down cloud - back to him. There was a group decision that the cloud rolling didn't equate it falling. Then it fell anyway. 

There was a lot of shenanigans and complaints that the TRND players kept 'using the table' but Steve overcame all obstacles to claim the win: this 'despite Katy' my notes say. TRND finished with Martin the victor; not sure the word 'convincing' does the margin justice:

Martin 85

Adam 36

Anja 9

Joe 4

Joe's final hand was one card away from a huge points haul: close, but no red chair. We did briefly flirt with the idea of one last game, but that crushing disappointment for the Berge turned out to be the night's last act. We trundled out into the night, sated. See you in a couple of weeks!

Flip off

Tonight was my first games night for a while, and I was keen to get back around the table after a stressful day which included an interview for my own job. I managed to crowbar board games into one of my answers so we'll see how that turns out. 

Assembled at Joe’s house was Sam, Ian, Adam T, Joe, Martin and newcomer Jo, making their introduction to the group thanks to Martin.

The seven of us sat and pondered our options: A jovial seven player game, or “a real game.” In the end we chose Flip 7. “It's the greatest card game in the world,” insisted Joe. “If you like pairs,” countered Adam, “prepare to be disappointed.”

It is basically Pairs but with numbers instead of fruit (1 to 12 cards of value 1 to 12) and a few special cards to spice things up: you can give a Freeze card to an opponent to stop them in their tracks, or there’s the Take Three card that you can give away or use on yourself.

Despite the photo, pointing at opponents isn't an integral part of the game

As for the game, I scored sensibly on every round whereas Ian, for whatever reason, scored nothing at all. Martin came painfully close to winning the whole game (we set a target of 100 points) with only his second hand, going bust with a hand that could have scored 110 if he’d survived. Jo, on the first card of their first game in their first games night, went bust immediately. “Welcome to Games Night!” said Martin. If that weren’t enough, Jo crashed out early again with a pair of fours. But Adam took the win, with only three scoring hands in the five rounds that we played. Nice work.

Adam 101

Andrew 88

Joe 80

Martin 39

Jo 24

Ian 0

As the game ended, with the verdict of the game decidedly split, we rearranged ourselves into two groups. Four of us (Joe, Jo, Martin and Sam) played Ride the Rails. Ian, Adam and I played Impusle. This was Ian’s first game in ages. In fact, the three of us last played each other on 25 September 2019. Amazingly, we even chose the same colours.

I built a lot: actually having every available ship on the board at one point, but I was stymied by the complete lack of move commands, meaning my deadly fleet mostly floated menacingly just out of reach.

Adam built a little points engine of Draw, Mine and Trade and then Ian attacked Adam, until Adam only had one ship left. With this lone cruiser, Adam retaliated and won - allowing himself to re-establish his fleet on the board.

I reach 14 points and, with my mega-fleet, should be in a winning position but I am stranded in space, picking up peanuts for my lone ship on the Sector Core. Ian attacked me while Adam got his factory working again and was able to go from last to first.

Adam 20

Andrew 16

Ian 15

Ride the Rails was still underway. I had listened in only long enough to hear Martin persuade Joe to join him by investing in yellow while Jo and Sam teamed up with orange shares.

We played Misfits, but I was already flagging after a stressful day. Ian began the game in a feisty mood, placing a triangle painting upwards on the table. After that, gravity did the rest. None of us escaped with at least one collapse and by the time Ride The Rails had ended, we were nowhere near finding a winner.

Scores on Ride The Rails

Jo 285

Martin 259

Sam 252

Joe 219

At this point I left, too tired to continue.

*Sam takes over narration

Joe and I were both mildly bamboozled by Ride the Rails' impressive opacity, but I think everyone enjoyed it. Now down to a six in Andrew's absence, we broke out some silly card games Jo had brought, the first of which was the wonderfully named Galaxy Cat Extension. 

Here we simply take turns to flip cards, before assigning them to anyone (including yourself) around the table, with goal to have matching cat cards making cats, and maybe some cat bodies in-between them if you're really lucky. And luck plays a definite part, as outside of Short Cats and Buddha Cats in the mix, that's pretty much the entire game. There was a lot of giving of unwanted feline gifts until the final count-up (I think when the deck ran out) at which point I found myself galaxy-bound:

Sam 16

Joe 6

Adam 4

Ian 3

Martin and Jo: both zero

Next up was the even sillier, although it may not seem immediately possible, Wanted Wombats. We also take turns to flip cards here, but now only for our own benefit. The deck is made up of £1k, £3k, £5k and £10k cards and before you flip you announce what you predict you'll get. If you're wrong, your turn is instantly over. If you're right, you can either bank it or push your luck with another card, and so on. 

This game prompted a lot of laughter, as it seemed 90% of the experience was going 'Oh shit' or variants thereof. If I recall correctly someone actually called a £10k (there are only two in the deck) and Jo rallied from their explainer's curse in Galaxy Cat Extension to take a win here. We played again and almost-namesake Joe took the win. At some point my son Joe was texting me as well and it got a bit confusing. 

Then Adam T departed as well and as a quintet we busted out way through For Sale. I'm not sure how but I took a win here - not like me - and then I departed as well. Not sure if the others played anything at the end?

Punnet of the Apes

Louie was our genial host last night, welcoming a bunch of old-ish farts with offers of drinks and glasses. Was this the handing of the GNN baton to future generations? Will the blog still be going in 100 years, written by Louie's children? Quite possibly. Last Tuesday's monkey-dominated evening still fresh in some of our minds, Ian and Martin had brought their simian-themed games with them again - and while they didn't dominate, they both made an appearance. But we kicked off with Rainbow. 

We quickly discovered that Rainbow isn't great with six. But at least it only takes ten minutes. 

Ian 30
Martin and Sam 27 each
Joe and Louie 26 each
Adam 23

Anja was still upstairs so we busted out, with a jaded sigh from Martin, the greatest card game in the world. "I'll try not to finish with zero this time" he said. He ended second-last, as Adam took Martin's traditional role of perennially busting. Joe and Ian were rewarded for their bravado, and though nobody hit the official 200 point finish line, Ian secured a win as we wrapped up when Anja materialised. 

We split into two anthropomorphic groups: Ian and Adam talked Louie through the joys of building a Monkey Palace, whilst Martin introduced Joe and Anja to Ape Town. 

Ape Town was as tense as Charlton Heston's jaw muscles, as we tried to grab juicy instant points and control of neighbourhoods. In comparison, the building of the palace beside us seemed pleasant and almost collaborative. 

I nudged myself into a chunky lead courtesy of some lemur action, then stagnated for a bit as everyone caught me up and I ran out of cash. But lemurs came to my aid once more as the board filled up, the neighbourhoods closed out, and the finale loomed. 

While we approached it, Monkey Palace wrapped up with a win for Adam. Explainer's curse?

Adam 38

Louie 29

Ian 24

Louie, threatened with the fart apocalypse after several bowls of chilli peanuts had been consumed, exited for bed, and Ian and Adam went at it in Misfits. They constructed some kind of mad thing, that kept collapsing. Looking at it you can see why. 

 

Meantime Ape Town was a close-run thing. Joe and Martin had strong finishes but I just about held on. 

Sam 76

Martin and Joe 70 each

Anja 56

Ian and Adam abandoned their Misfits game here, seemingly convinced it would never end. Apparently Joe managed to knock it over as well, despite not playing, but I didn't witness this as I was having a wee. We split into two groups: the Misfits duo teaming up with Martin to play Rebirth whilst Joe and I introduced Anja to rainbow while we waited for Steve to arrive home. 

Anja picked up a debut win in Rainbow:

Anja 46

Sam 44

Joe 41

While Joe reminisced about the show Rainbow, which prompted both some dubious impressions and the theme tune staying in my head for the rest of the night. Meantime Steve returned, and after a brief catch-up we played Sunrise Lane. 

I've serially finished last in Sunrise Lane, I think, every time I've played it, and I confidently announced I could keep this streak going. Something about the dovetailing of situational cards v situational opportunities seems to escape me. Steve was confounded by the hard-to-determine colour scheme on the board, and the fact the player pieces contain two different iterations of 'shit-brown'. Subsequently we referred to Steve - well, his colour - as babyshit. Oh, what larks. Rebirth continued, with Martin haranguing Adam at reasonable volume. 

The game finished with the Creeping Custard victorious, despite being unable to play his beloved yellow - Rebirth had a kind of jaundiced brown instead. Not sure who played that. 

Adam 181

Martin 168

Ian 163

They bashed out another Rainbow while they waited for us to finish, and Martin exacted some small measure of revenge:

Martin 37

Adam 35

Ian 28

And in Sunrise Lane, for whatever planetary reason things finally gelled for me, probably not hindered by the fact the game was new to Steve and Anja, and Joe had of course been the doomed Explainer. 

Sam 91

Joe 83

Babyshit 81

Anja 69

Adam could not be convinced to stay, and rode off home while the remaining six of us played So Clover. It was near-perfect, but my clover let us down with some interchangeable words. 

And after a brief tour of the house renovation updates (lovely parquet flooring! game table plans!!) we left our hosts, tumbled into the car and weaved off home. Thanks all, it was opposably-thumbed. 

We all Shrove Tuesdays

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