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...

Smurf’s up

I arrived only fractionally late, at 7.35 to find Ian, Sam and Martin sitting around Sam’s kitchen table: we were already at this week’s expected attendance, with only a vague chance of a Joe later on who was stranded in Clifton. Before I’d even sat down, Sam began with a rules explanation for Heat, which is basically Flamme Rouge on four wheels. Although technically you’re in control of four wheels in Flamme Rouge, too, but you know what I mean. This game has one car instead of two bikes.

It uses the same card-drafting mechanism as FR to get you around a track, along with a familiar slipstreaming option. But there are more random elements, especially in the form of “stress” cards which allow you to reveal cards in your deck until you draw a movement card. This could see you going too fast around a corner or stall on a wide open straight.

We played the basic game on the Italia circuit. It was pretty tight at the start until I struggled round a corner and got left behind on lap one. Ian was in the lead in lap two but with a severely overheated engine that limited his options. 

I clawed my way back into third, but the last lap was all about Sam and Martin. We used the kind of language that I’m sure all Formula 1 drivers would recognise (“Oh shit, I’m going really fast,” and “Corners are annoying”). Both Sam and Martin went past the finish line on the same turn, so it was a matter of who passed the furthest and after playing a stress card Martin revealed a 3, which pushed him past Sam for the win.

Martin

Sam

Andrew

Ian

Next we played Cat In A Box, the quantum trick-taking game. In this, all the cards in your hand (values 1-8 in a four player game) have no colour until your nominate a colour when you play it.  Other than that, it’s a pretty standard trick-taker where you predict the number of tricks you’re going to win. Oh, until a little bit of area control comes into play during the scoring phase. This rule was so unexpected that we actually laughed. We’re so invested in board game culture that we found the rules of a game amusing. I think we crossed a line there.

As for the game, I got a bit lucky, with a healthy supply of 8s and 7s, meaning I was able to predict the maximum 3 tricks each time. Martin fared less well, though. Apart from the very first hand, he didn’t win again until round four. Ian was my closest rival, notwithstanding my mid-game score summary as 11-11 when it was actually 13-10 in my favour.

Andrew 19

Ian 14

Martin 8

Sam 6

An interesting game. No green player pieces, but two shades of blue…

Last (for me) was Block Party, the 3D Pictionary of limited means. All you have is a selection of coloured cubes to communicate on of the objects listed on your card. It’s really satisfying when you guess right or someone guesses yours. On the round with “fewest cubes” I thought my sandwich (white cube, yellow cube, white cube) was a definite winner until Martin’s minimalist Smurf (a blue cube and a neighboring white cube at a rakish angle) was correctly guessed by Ian.

Spot the difference...

It was a lot of fun. Sam’s rough pyramid of brown cubes with orange cubes underneath was definitely a volcano, I thought, but it turned out to be poo. Meanwhile, my egg was mistaken for a snowman. The only downside was the number of times a card had to be replaced because it had recently been played and written up on the blog. We played twice.

An aubergine

Sam & Martin 6

Ian and Andrew 5

And then, 

Martin 7

Ian 7

Sam 5

Andrew 4

I set off home, although I was sorely tempted for a quick So Clover. Instead the three of them played it twice, scoring 18 out of 18 and then 16.

Thanks all for the evening. See you all soon.