Root’s Revival

 At around 8 o'clock I arrived at Sam's to find Ian, Sam, Martin and Adam T playing a game apparently based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, except instead of themes of redemption and charity, it was a trick taking game. 

In this crazy game players have three areas in front of them (past, present and future) which they can play to whenever they please, following suit as in a typical trick taking game, except that they are resolved in chronological order. This means a win in the past makes you leader in the present which may well change which cards are powerful and which aren't.

It looked nuts. And, from the same author as Maskmen, it clearly was. In a shortened version of the game, Ian leapt into the lead right at the end.

Ian 10

Martin 9

Sam 7

Adam 6

Then Steve arrived and we split into two groups of three. Adam slyly suggested Root and Sam was amenable even if "I doubt we'll find a third." Steve at this point was still in the living room taking about grown up things to Sally but he indicated his assent without actually coming into the kitchen.

Ian, Martin and I chose Azul, with Martin keen to see if we'd finish it before the end of Steve's rules refresher. We didn't, mostly because we played a slow thinky game. Martin started out well, perhaps because of his penchant for the starting player tile. I got bogged down with a board that I struggled to finish, so I started taking the starting player tile in the hope that it would improve my position. It didn't, but when Ian took the tile in the final round it seemed like the winning move.

Except when he came to count up his score for the round, we discovered he had two black tiles on one row. We moved one black tile to its proper place and put the other in the rack of negative tiles along the bottom, quickly adjusting his score as we did so. Not ideal but, as we said at the time, no one had noticed. And if we had, then Ian would've had other options he could've chosen. In the end it was a win for Ian but, as Martin said, a win with an asterisk.

Ian 64

Martin 62

Andrew 48

Root was still ongoing and we entered what could be called a period of overlapping games. We began a game of Spy Communication, they finished Root, we began a second game of Spy Communication, they played Full Throttle. Eventually we synced up again and ended on So Clover.

Root ended with a decisive win for Adam. Perhaps we should have seen that coming right at the start when Martin commented on how long it will last and Adam airily said "oh, not really." Steve was close to becoming dominant, which maybe I understood once but now haven’t the foggiest, and Sam was probably about to pounce on a game winning move too. And all in under ninety minutes.

Adam (Marquis de Cat) 32

Sam (the Vagabond) 20

Steve 14 (Eyrie Dynasties) 14

Spy Communication was so simple that for most of the first game I was sure we were playing it wrong. In this game we guided our spies around Europe using little counters as stepping stones, visiting cities to complete certain bonus cards. Sounds simple, but those stepping stones are in short supply and if you want to travel down a pathway already claimed by an opponent, you have to pay double. I squeaked a win by triggering the game end by completing seven (low scoring) cards.

Andrew 30 (won tie breaker based on turn order)

Ian 30

Martin 29

We finished our first game using the beginner's side and then decided to try the on advanced side, where cards are more expensive unless you have none in which case the next card is free and Martin used this to excellent effect, but Ian won with some high scoring cards. The only asterisks on this victory were to disguise the swearwords I was trying to suppress.

Ian 31

Martin 28

Andrew 22

Full Throttle sped by without catching my attention apart from constant amazement at red's lack of movement. Black won, with orange second and yellow completing almost and entire lap to finish third. Sam’s trust in red was sorely misplaced.

Adam 23

Steve 21

Sam 7

Finally, So Clover was tough. Not a single six among us. Our successes included guessing Vampire/Shed were linked to “Coffin” and Prison/Delivery was “Convicts.” I was kicking myself as I clued Roof/Distribution with "Satellite" when I later realised that "Santa" would've been better. Ian had to cope with us pyschoanalysing him when one of his clues was "treat" and we had to guess which of the available words Ian might consider to be a treat.

We scored 23.

And with that we were done. A lovely evening.

Tout toot

I arrived at 8.05, after several aborted attempts at parallel parking in a hurry and eventually leaving my car with its rear wheels on double yellow lines, keen to get to Sam's for this week's games night.

I walked in to witness the curious situation of seven gamers around a table making toot toot noises. On closer inspection I saw they were passing little trains to each other, carrying little coloured cubes. The game was called Rail Pass and I had no idea what was going on so I just poured myself a drink and waited for them to finish. Luckily, it didn't take long. It seems that there's a timer involved and a strict five minute limit to do whatever it was that they were trying to do.

And they did! They all looked pleased with themselves and a little bit tired as well. All that tooting, I suppose.

Martin, Joe, Ian, Katy & Laura (a team) Sam and Gareth: smashed it.

Next we split into two groups. Brian Boru continues to fascinate, despite the twenty minute rules explanation. Martin felt he could probably get that down to fifteen, while Laura expressed surprise that her experience of the rules explanation hadn't actually lasted forty-five minutes. Joe, Gareth, Katy and Martin chose this game.

At my end of the table was The Game of 49, as requested by Laura. It was my first game but there are very few rules so we were up and running before too long. It's very simple. Probably invented by someone who had been playing noughts and crosses one day and suddenly wished there was more gambling involved.

It was fun in a cruel kind of way. Ian played strategically, passing whenever it looked like some kind of bidding war was about to break out. Therefore he was always cash rich and as the three of us ran out of money, he was able to buy three tiles for the minimum bid, unopposed. When a winning tile was revealed neither Sam, Laura nor me had enough money to outbid him.

Ian: wins

Brian Boru was still underway with Joe married twice and Katy giving all the high cards to Gareth, much to Martin's dismay. So we considered what we could play and it was while I was looking for Texas Showdown that I noticed Wibbell, the tiny word game compendium. I remember enjoying a game called Phrasell so I suggested this instead. In this game one player is a judge and they draw one card from the deck. Then they come up with a topic based on the two letters on that card. Then two more cards are drawn and everyone else has to invent a four word sentence using those four letters based on that theme.

Everyone had a moment of genius. Laura was poetic on “Iberian”: Easterly winds yowl in. I went crude on “Sad”: A wasted inky condom. I liked Sam’s neat encapsulation of “Nick Frost”: Portly oddball eats cornettos. Biggest laugh perhaps went for Ian’s topical response to “Kings and Queens”: His Majesty’s a nonce. In the end, I was a surprise (to me, at least) winner.

Andrew 16

Laura 12

Ian 11

Sam 10

And Brian Boru was winding up too.

Martin 40

Joe 38

Gareth 35

Katy 24

Martin was pleased to remain unbeaten, while Katy decided she didn’t like it anymore.

Laura and Gareth left at this point and so the six of us played Full Throttle. This simple game on betting on a race you can only marginally influence is fun in its own way. In this race, orange barely moved for the first two-thirds, then leapt into action only to be stymied by a road block up ahead when all they could draw were orange one cards. 

Black looked like a contender after almost completing a lap in on turn, but it was mostly green blue or yellow who were battling for first and blue won. And so did Martin.

Martin 21

Andrew 18

Ian 16

Katy 16

Joe 12

Sam 11

Sam pointed out that, after winning his first game of Full Throttle by miles, he’s come last every time since then. I get the feeling we’re going to keep playing until that jinx is broken. Fine by me, though. It might be random, but it’s fun random.

And then I left, while the rest saw out the evening with a couple of games of Cross Clues. Thanks all. See you next week.

The Wife of Brian

As I approached Joe’s house at 8.00, I heard a voice calling my name. It was Katy, cycling along, just arriving for the second time that evening, having just gone to search for a cable she’d left behind at Adam’s house. Another eight o’clock arrival was Steve. The three of us joined Martin, Sam, Ian, Laura and Joe who’d played one game: Fly. Martin hated it and Ian won. This brought up the issue of Joe’s perfect five – he’d been on the brink of winning his fifth game in a row since the middle of December and appeared to have lost his chance. But because the game is meant for four players, max, and they played it as a quintet, it was declared void. Joe had one more shot at immortality.

The eight of us split into two groups. Joe, Martin, Laura and Sam chose Brian Boru, the ancient Celtic game of area control and flirting. Steve, Ian, Katy and I chose (after some deliberation and Katy’s observation that we were the worst people at deciding what to plat) Whale Riders. This was my first game, despite it being a regular at GNN for some months now. I got a rules explanation from Ian and Katy and was soon foraging for treasures in the waves like an expert. Sort of. I soon spent all my money and had to spend one action completing a single contract just for the cash. Katy kept picking up whatever was free and was still able to complete a couple of contracts. I dawdled at the back, picking up leftovers while Steve was first to dash home, sparking debate about which end of the row of pearls he should buy from. Katy said it was obvious – the cheap end – but Steve was unhappy about making the better tiles cheaper for other people. Doesn’t matter, said Katy definitively. Argument done.

Katy 16 + cash

Steve 16

Andrew 15

Ian 13

Brian Boru was still in its early stages, so the four of us played Team Play. Steve got a rules explanation from his team mate Ian. I was paired up with Katy who shocked me by putting discarded cards straight at the bottom of the draw pile instead of making a discard pile. As for the game, Ian and Steve started strong, but then Katy and I drew level before S&I hit eight tricks and triggered the end of the game.

Steve and Ian 25

Katy and Andrew 25

We looked for a tie breaker and I said it might be fewest completed cards wins. This would have given Katy and me the win, but no matter how often Katy read the rules, she couldn’t find it.

With Brian still midgame, we played Spicy. I was all excited when I played my last card and Steve didn’t challenge me, but that was because he was putting down his own last card. Katy challenged and was wrong, handing Steve three points on top of the ten point bonus for clearing your hand. Three points that she came to regret. If she’d just let him put the card down, she would’ve won! Fine margins, and all that.

Steve 23

Katy 22

Andrew 15

Ian 0

Brian Boru finally came to a close with everyone married and Laura sighing as the final round began. Nothing to do with the game but it was, she explained, after her bedtime. It ended with a win for Martin and the end of the road for Joe's perfect five.

Martin 36

San 31

Joe 29

Laura 21

After this we split up again. Laura set off home and Joe, Ian and Martin played Ra and Katy, Steve, Sam and I played Full Throttle. This is a very basic betting game in which a player lays out seven cards from a deck and moves the motor bikes on the circuit accordingly. Then, they take a card from the deck that corresponds to the colour they think will win. Or at least top three. It's like a very pared down Downforce. Despite the simple game mechanic, Steve always overthought his choice of cards, weighing up what was available with what was already in his hand.

It was kind of boring at first. Yellow sped off into an early lead. Then orange caught up. But as the race continued and we reached the end of the penultimate lap, the pack had become much more tightly packed. "Almost as if it were all random," I pondered out loud. In the end blue became a surprise winner. A surprise to everyone except Katy who had four blue cards in her hand.

Katy 26

Steve 18

Andrew 16

Sam 9

Ra, meanwhile, ended on a knife edge with the final tiles to be played being 10, 11, 12 and 13 and everyone on equal pharoahs. At the end Martin pushed his luck. As the last player he wanted to load up the auction track before the final Ra tile came out. He daren’t go too far but in the end his margin of win was greater than he’d expected.

Martin 56

Joe 48

Ian 30

At this point I left, despite Sam trying to persuade me with the promise of So Clover. But I was a little tired so I passed and bade them all farewell. Sam later texted me that they scored 29 points. He also told me they finished Art Robbery.

Joe 23

Sam 21

Katy 14

Martin 9

Ian BUST

Thanks for another special evening. See you all soon.