The weariness of long distance gamers

This week I arrived later than usual, at around 8pm to find Sam, Joe, Andy, Martin and Ian already online. I have no idea if they'd played a game or had spent the past half hour chatting, but before long Katy joined us and, as is traditional for a septet, we played 7 Wonders.

It was the usual affair, notable for being very red, with military cards built by everyone except Joe, who preferred science. But it was the quiet one who got back into winning ways, and with the least thinking time, too.

Ian 61

Joe 55

Katy 53

Martin 50

Andrew 49

Andy 47

Sam 43

Then we split into two groups. Joe, Martin and Katy chose Ninety Nine, which seems appropriate since Joe had been eating an ice cream earlier.

Ian, Sam, Andy and myself procrastinated at length over what to play. Without an admin account we couldn't do anything with playingcards.io and so in the end we chose Red7. 

Sam needed a rule refresher and we had to start twice after Ian had set up the game with an unwanted option still turned on.

The game certainly didn't outstay it's welcome, with Andy being the first to win two rounds in a healthy 2-0-0-0 win. He was nice enough to mumble something about playing Red7 a lot on yukata lately. 

After this Sam left for bed and we chose Downforce as our next game. It was the track with all those ramps again and the three of us sped round in more or less silence. It ended in Andy's favour again, although none of us actually bet on the winning car.

Andy $19m

Ian $13m

Andrew $8m

By now Ninety Nine had ended at almost the same time. Katy had, I believe, lead for most of the game, only to see a late revival from Joe.

Joe 177

Katy 169

Martin 155

And here marked the end of Ian's gaming since he was flaking and we couldn't tempt him with a game of For Sale (which BGA seemed to think was Joe's first ever go. How odd). 

Odder still, in the buying round, both zeros came out in round one, followed by some very generous rounds where players dumped their low cards knowing they'd get a good return. Martin won, despite having forgotten earlier that with only five players there's an extra round of bidding.

Martin 55

Andy 54

Andrew 49

Joe 44

Katy 41

And now Joe left so we remaining four played Hanabi. Peculiarly, while Downforce was played in silence, we played Hanabi with a steady stream of chatter. Or "cheating" as it could be called. Clues were applauded or given the Martin "that's what I would've done" seal of approval, indicating how prescient it was.

And we didn't discard any cards that would ruin our chances but, alas, time caught up with us. The draw deck was exhausted with little chance of a successful completion.

Andy, Martin, Katy, Andrew 20

And so we were off into the night. Or back into our kitchens with our empties. Thanks guys. 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.

Some games

With the worldwide insanity right now being crystallised in the most heinous ways in the US and UK, maybe it wasn't a huge surprise that only four of us were in the mood for gaming. Maybe other GNNers were morbidly fixated on the news, as I (Sam) had been for what seemed like the last two or three weeks. Even more than before. Anyway with the absentees too numerous to list already, we also lost Joe to a late drop-out and began as a four: Ian, Martin, Andy, and myself.

Martin was keen to play American Bookstore, and with an introduction that the game was so named as a revenge on a haughty bookstore paymaster, I was intrigued. Plus - it's a trick-taker, so there was that. However neither of these things rubbed Andy the right way, as he announced early on he wasn't keen, even with the smut-inviting sabotagey delights of playingcards.io as a sideline in entertainment. The game itself was interesting: four suits 0-15 11, standard trick-taking rules apply, and there's no trump suit. Like Poison, having the most cards won in a suit is good, and having any less than the most is bad. The extra twist here is that if you play a card that takes the collective value of all-played-cards to 15 or higher, you take all the cards, no matter the value or suit of what you played. This can be helpful, or sometimes a big pain in the ass. It also means players sometimes don't get to play in a trick! And it gets harder to predict what will happen as the cards run out...

Andy may have warmed to it. One thing that was easy to predict from early on was that he was going to rinse us - and he did.



Andy 40
Martin -2
Sam -3
Ian -19

From there, we headed into space for around four or five missions of The Crew. Even though it's only 24 hours later, I now can't remember very much about them at all! Except I think we took three turns to complete the first mission and did the second mission first time of asking? Second time? I'm not sure. Sorry.



I was doing my Classic Boris and bowing out of any responsibility at this point, barring some wafflingly vague recollection a bit later, but the others headed off into the night to play Red7, which Martin won by some distance apparently! If you don't remember Red7 it's the one where the rules keep changing all the time depending on what card you play.

Maybe next week the world will be different.

Revolution nmbr 9

As England baked under a midsummer heatwave, Joe's call to host this week's event was met with a bumper response. Ten of us (Sam, Andy, Matt W, Matt K (previously known as Matt and Matt2 respectively), Martin, Katy, Ian, Adam, Chris and myself) arrived for an evening's entertainment that spilled out of Joe's kitchen and into the garden.

The first game to be done and dusted was Nmbr 9, a new game with Take It Easy tones in that everyone has the same options, which quickly diverge among the players.

Adam 95
Ian 79
Sam 61
Chris 50

I was one of the four lucky enough to start outside. Me, Martin, Joe and Matt K played Montage, a crossword game without any letters. Instead, colours stand for a group of letters.

The aim of the game is to give clues (maximum five words) to words whose letters fit the coloured counters on the board. It's a team game and you hope that your partner gets the clue (indicated by knocking on the table) before both - and it must be both - of your opponents do. The board is divided into nine sectors and the winning team is the one that gets a majority of its pieces in four sectors.

All of this takes place under the watchful eye of an hourglass. Everything in a turn: choosing the position, thinking of a clue, giving the clue, solving the clue, must happen before the sand runs out. Obviously, planning ahead is key.

I paired up with Matt and Joe was with Martin. Up against two giant intellects meant Matt and I were the underdogs. When Joe gave the clue "Prince's reign" and Martin got it with "purple" I thought we were in trouble. However, they were perfectly happy to go route-one with the clue "Number two" from Martin, meaning "poo" which Joe got without even looking at the board.

Martin & Joe 4
Matt & Andrew 1

Inside, Adam, Ian, Chris and Sam were flying the flag for chunky Eurogame with Raiders Of The North Sea. While Matt1 and Katy waited for Andy to arrive, at which point they threw themselves into Flamme Rouge. I know nothing other than the result.

Early days with Flamme Rouge and Raiders...

1. Andy
2. Matt
3. Katy

They followed this with Nmbr 9.

Matt 86
Andy 61
Katy 56

Meanwhile, us outside moved onto Movable Type, continuing the recent trend for word games. Joe sold it to us by saying "It has a fun aspect."

Sheer folly!

This time, there are four rounds of trying to make the highest scoring word using the five cards in your hand and three open cards that anyone can use. The better you do, the more cards you can take from the array of all cards that were used that round. Then, in the fifth and final round, those cards would be used to make the highest scoring word you can manage.

A ha ha!

Martin 20 (he won with Mashable)
Joe 19 (ticketing)
Andrew 17 (fleshy)
Matt K 16 (jilted) (I think. Can’t read my writing)

Apart from the marauding Vikings in the North Sea, the rest of us had finished our games at the same time, so we had a quick reshuffle. Katy, Joe and Martin brought a card table outside and played Cobras.

Cobras in the long grass

Joe was first to hit the game ending score, but then fell back due to negative cobras on his card at the end of the round. This allowed a delighted Katy ("We've screwed Joe!") to grab a win.

Katy 113
Joe 105
Martin 75

An unimpressed cat

Meanwhile, Andy, me and the two Matts played Escape From The Aliens In Outer Space. This is a game of hidden identities and escaping and/or attacking. I didn't have much of an clue how to play, and the game for me may as well have been called Have A Nice Stroll Through A Spaceship.

My unhelpful notes during Escape...

The two Matts were more clued in. Alien Matt W killed Human Matt K early on, just because Matt K made a noise near him. This meant the last human, Andy, had to escape. He managed to get to an escape pod, but it malfunctioned. Rather than try to walk across to another escape pod, he played a card the allowed him to mutate into an alien and the game ended in a draw.

Not a bad game. Would probably have been more fun if I'd known what was going on.

Still playing Raiders...

On the card table, Cobras had been replaced by Eggs of Ostrich.

Martin 15
Katy 10
Joe 9

The four of us played Andy's print and play (and laminate) version of Red7. After a rules explanation, I played a card that immediately knocked newcomer Matt K out. A very steep learning curve. But he came back well, and we ended after three rounds. We had to, since the light had faded so much that most of round three was played under the light from my mobile phone.

Really quite dark now

Matt K 39
Andy 12
Matt W 0
Andrew 0

By now Raiders of the North Sea had ended. Everyone else had gone through multiple games and rules explanations, but the pure of heart on one half of Joe's kitchen table had gone through an epic. A game, after which, they all stood around proudly and talked about what they'd just done.

Nearing the end of the game

Ian 43
Adam 39
Sam 36
Chris 31

And they even managed to squeeze in a game of Nmbr 9. Ian quickly said he’d got off to a bad start. I couldn’t tell how he knew this so I took a photograph, hoping that one day I’d look back and understand what he’d meant.

He was right, though.

Adam 72
Chris 67
Sam 61 (“Again!”)
Ian 52

Finally, we were all together and all inside. So we went for a rule-stretching 11-player game of 6nimmt. We could only manage two rounds before time caught up with us. Short, but agonising, as the quotes I jotted down demonstrate:

“Joseph, you wanker!” me, probably.

“It’s like golf!” Ian

“My dreams were ruined years ago.” Sam

“I’m going to get boned and not in a good way.” Katy

It ended like so:

Adam 10
Matt K 12
Matt W 14
Chris 14
Sam 19
Ian 28
Katy 35
Andy 39
Joe 39
Martin 43
Andrew 52

Thanks all. A bit of a classic.

Form is Temporary

Tuesday. Andrew was away in Japan, and Joe had been enticed to play Bridge. Matt, Steve and Anja were also absent. But there were still seven of us gathered around Hannah and Adam's kitchen table - briefly, whilst we discussed this Friday's NSPCC day. Then we split into two groups - Katy and Adam were keen to try Atlantis and I was keen to play it again. The others - Hannah, Ian, Andy and Martin - eschewed Martin's overtures to play Witness, and plumped for Ra. I hope to hear the high spots in the comments, as due to the vagaries of gaming fate I never saw what they got up to in the kitchen...

After a quick conflab with BGG on the set-up, the Atlantis group were off. It's not a heavy game, but occasionally it can take a little while to work out your best move. Or what appears to be your best move. Adam's ingrained habit of keeping the rules handy was not negated by the fact they were in German. Worryingly, he took a long time over his early moves. Then equally worryingly, he sped up.

Save yourselves!

Adam's tactic was to race off for the mainland (see previous post for more on this) - Katy's was to lag and pick up points. Mine was somewhere in-between. But somehow Adam raced off with a phenomenal amount of points - even my ending the game and giving them both a 7pt water gap to cross didn't dent his score - it was a trouncing:

Adam 35
Sam 14
Katy 8

Katy announced she didn't like the game, and added that she didn't like losing. Especially to Adam.

In the other room Ra had already finished with Andy the victor:

Andy 39
Ian 33
Martin 30
Hannah 29

Tidy gamers

They had finished just before us, in fact, and never a group to stand on ceremony, they were out of the blocks on another game already: Basari. So we played Pickonimo. I've been playing this a fair bit recently - it was a hit with my brother and sister-in-law at the weekend - but I'm not sure that experience was truly brought to bear. It feels like a game of luck.

Sam 13
Adam 6
Katy 2

Katy clarified that she didn't like losing to me, either.

In the other room they were still playing Basari (I think; it's all a bit hazy now) so we started on
Red7.  For anyone unfamiliar with Red7, it's a card game where you can either play a card to the table in front of you or play a card to the centre, which changes the game's rules. Or you can do both - although I get the impression you want to avoid playing two cards if possible. Either way, at the end of your turn you need to be in the lead, according to the current rules. Katy scored a whopping 25 points in the first round, and though none of us reached the official 35 points to 'officially' win, it was enough for our agreed three-round game.

Katy 25
Adam 23
Sam 16

Basari had finished by now. I have no idea what this game does other than accrue a large amount of numbers on the score sheet. Looking at the bottom, it seems (unless points are bad) that Hannah won:

Hannah 65
Ian 64
Andy 40
Martin 39

...and they were now playing Love Letter. We just couldn't get our tables to co-align. I missed all of this and kept forgetting to take photos, but Ian's good form in the game was brought to bear on the final standings:

Ian 2 cubes
Martin/Hannah 1 cube
Andy 0 cubes

Hannah came into the front room and said she didn't like Love Letter. Adam said he didn't either. Eastonites eh? Don't let them turn you, Martin. We hoped to finally play a game with all of us, but before that could happen the kitchen group needed to finish their game of Dobble. Martin took the honours:

Martin 20
Andy 14
Hannah 13
Ian 8

Despite the relatively early hour, Hannah was threatening to go to bed and I was threatening to leave; my foot had started playing up and I was keen to lie down. However, who can resist Martin at his most bonhomie-ish? Like a cross between Oliver Reed and someone who plays a lot of board games, he cajoled us into our seats for a game of Pairs. His reward from the gaming gods -possibly tired also - was serial punishment, as he took hit after hit and ended on zero points. Adam took a miserable score on the last round just to ensure he didn't finish last.

At the other end of the scorecard it was close between myself, Hannah and Katy. As we entered what would prove to be the final round any one of us could have won it - but as Katy and I both went bust, Hannah did. Somebody (Andy?) went bust on a pair of peaches.

Hannah 23
Katy 17
Sam 16
Ian 13
Andy 10
Adam 5
Martin 0

It was only half ten but we'd played a lot of games, so we drew the curtains on yet another episode of GNN.

I don't have access to Andrew's underground spreadsheet vault, but as a blast from the past here is a one-off form table - for last night only!

						Points
Hannah	1	3	2	1	4	11
Ian	4	4	1	2	2	13
Andy	5	2	3	3	1	14
Katy	2	1	3	3	5	14
Sam	3	3	1	2	5	14
Adam	6	2	2	1	5	16
Martin	7	1	2	4	3	16

It's only Rockleycon but I like it

Friday

Andrew and I (Sam) arrived at Rockley cottage in mid-Somerset first, and sniffed around the place finding it to our liking. Talking later with Chris and Paul, we realised we’ve been doing these weekends away almost every year since before the Millennium. Once upon a time we camped and played cards, but when Chris stumbled on Settlers and El Grande, there was a sea change toward a place with a roof and a table. This year we found ourselves in the village of Edington, and after pondering the finality and intractability of the passage of time, we broke out Castles of Mad King Ludwig and started building rooms.

Chris and Paul were new to this game of haphazard construction but picked up the rules very quickly – it’s such an intuitive game. Paul was last to be Master Builder, but shrugging off this economic hobbling and swiftly began accruing a shedload of money. He sped off up the scoretrack, never to be caught, though Andrew gave it a decent go. Chris was sidetracked by a bonus card for getting all types of rooms, a bit of a red herring bonus if his (and previous) experiences are anything to go by.

Paul 123
Andrew 109
Sam 97
Chris 89

After all that building we were pretty hungry. I started making a chorizo stew whilst the other three played the longest game of Red7 in the history of games of Red7. I cooked stew and rice and we ate it as the game went on hold.

They continued afterwards, promising the game was nearly over for several rounds whilst I entertained myself – and occasionally the others – playing Sausage and Mash with Agatha Christie.

Eventually Chris ended the game with his first victory of the weekend:

Chris 44
Paul 31
Andrew 29

Keyflower was next on the menu. This Chris’ current favourite and he was keen to show it off to Andrew and I, having played it in Bracknell and Reading Boardgame Social. He’s explained it better elsewhere on the blog, but essentially each player is building a village by bidding for hexagons to add to their existing settlement.

However as well as using meeples to bid for the card, you can also elect not to bid on your turn but to use the action on the hexagon instead. The winning bidder gets to keep all the meeples that have used that hexagon’s action, and it’s this delicate balance of getting stuff versus losing meeples at the game’s heart. It’s also a multiple-paths-to-victory game, and a bit of a head-scratcher. There’s plenty to mull over, but we played it with reasonable pace and I pulled off a surprise debut win:

Sam 64
Chris 63
Andrew 60
Paul 56

Next up was Take It Easy. Everyone loves this game for its thematic possibilities that have evolved from our original rhyming-couplets convention, combined with its ability to drive you crazy. Paul began with an unbeatable calling theme of James Bond gadgets, which he sustained brilliantly over the 21 tiles placed. Andrew followed this with a wistful take on things he missed from his childhood, and I did animated characters. I can’t remember what Chris’ one was. The scores felt almost secondary, but it was Chris again with a convincing win:

Chris 649
Sam 587
Andrew 583
Paul 550

By now it was nearly ten and we’d been playing (or learning rules) for the last six hours. When I suggested Alien Frontiers I didn’t expect two newbies to bite, but Paul and Chris were keen – or at least amenable. Rules-wise it’s pretty simple next to something like Keyflower though, so going through the rules only took ten minutes and we were away. I can’t remember much about it to be honest – toward the end my eyes were starting to feel a bit furry but with some luck from the dice I did enough to pull off a win:

Sam 9
Andrew 7
Chris 6
Paul 4

I was ready for bed, but those crazy guys tempted me to stay up for one last game: Kakerlaken Poker. I think everyone has played this by now and there are fairly diverse opinions on it. I think it’s great, personally, though I usually do really badly. Maybe something about my sleepy state made me more aware of when Andrew was lying.

Sam: Fewest cards
Paul: No pairs
Chris: One pair
Andrew: Loser with three of a kind!

A very enjoyable start to the weekend came to an end and we reeled off into bed. I recall it being funny anyway. It’s Saturday now and my main recollection is thinking “Shit, I hope Chris doesn’t bid on that hexagon for making gold” in Keyflower. But the others assure me it wasn’t all like that.


Saturday

Andrew here. The day began with Sam and I driving through the rain (perfect weather for board games) to the neighbouring village Bratton in a hopeful search for real coffee. In fact, they did stock it and Sam came out of the shop with a packet of filter coffee and freshly baked croissants, ruefully saying “Village shops aren’t the same as they used to be.”

Once we were back, we struggled with the cryptic crossword. Paul rose from his bed and we decided that the best way to get Chris to join us was if he heard the noise of happy gamers vigourously enjoying themselves. However, the best we could come up with this early was That’s Life.

Andrew 26
Sam 18
Paul 1

It was Paul’s first game, which goes some way to explain his score. Our plan worked, though, and Chris came down halfway through the game. Once a coffee was put down in front of him he was persuaded to join us in another game of That’s Life.

Andrew 24
Sam 17
Paul 13
Chris 12

After this, we cleared the table for the first of our big epic games of the day: Colonial. A huge epic of a game, taking in a vast swathe of history that lasts centuries. And that’s just reading the rules!

Ho ho.

Sam talked us through the rules, and we looked perplexed and puzzled. There were rebellions and war, diplomacy, and even the chance to abolish slavery. And that was just while reading the rules! (Oh, that joke never gets old)

But seriously, we decided to play a shortened version (up to eight prestige points instead of ten) but we explored as much of the game's options as possible. Sam got hit by a rebellion (thanks to me) and a war (thanks to Paul) but, thanks to never having got into debt, Sam was able to end the game the moment he got eight prestige points.

Sam 8
Andrew 6 and some debt
Chris 6 and more debt
Paul 4

But it was very much a training game. Paul deliberately did odd things, just to see what happened, and Chris deliberately had terrible luck when rolling dice just to entertain us. In fact, his fortune with the dice was so bad that when he finally succeeded in exploring Australia we all applauded.

It was a good game. At least I enjoyed it but then, I do like a game with a bit of a narrative to it. It felt weighty, with its nicely illustrated map and its themes of empires rising and falling. Not sure when we’ll get the chance to play it again, though. It certainly needs some sort of player guide, too.

Then we had lunch of sliced meats, cheeses, potato omelette, burningly hot quiche and dips. This was all to get us in the mood for Amerigo, another epic to stretch us to our limits.

It was new to Paul and Chris, and neither Sam nor I had played in a while so the game was dotted with confusion of the rules. I can’t honestly say it was a madcap bag of laughs, except when someone put a healthy handful of cubes into the top of the tower and only three dribbled out of the end. This happened more than once. Oh, how we laughed.

I exploited a new scoring rule that Sam and I were previously unaware of, scoring well for settlements on completed islands. It was enough to nab me the win.

Andrew 211
Sam 185
Chris 172
Paul 168

Then we went for a walk down to the local farm shop where I bought some local micro-brewed beer (as if we didn’t have enough alcohol already) and then we set off for a brief walk through some of Edington’s finest footpaths.

As we wandered past farms, we imaged the knowledgeable conversations we could have with the farmers thanks to our expertise in Agricola.

“You know, if you fence that field in, you could keep twice as many horses in there.” And “I see you’ve got a stone farmhouse. What other improvement did you get when you built that?”

Then, as it was threatening to rain again, we returned to the cottage, took turns having showers and our next game was another AP-laden Eurogame: Castles of Burgundy. In my notes for this evening, I wrote that CoB is “the fun game of having a plan and then forgetting it by the time it gets to your turn.” Sam went crazy on bonuses for shipping, and got a comfortable win. I came last, behind two newcomers to the game.

Sam 199
Chris 184
Paul 165
Andrew 163

After an excellent curry made by Chris, we decided to play something that was a bit more fun: Incan Gold! Chris was the big winner here, staying on in the first temple by himself, and getting a 9, an 11 and a 17 all to himself. A just reward for his cooking skills.

Chris 68
Andrew 54
Sam 31
Paul 6

By now, the cryptic crossword had bothered Sam and I so much that we even texted Joe, who kindly lend a hand to a particularly annoying clue. As for the games, we chose Raj as a similarly light yet tense way to pass the time. Sam won the first two rounds, but after Chris commented on how well Sam was doing, his game collapsed and he fell back into third.

Andrew 58
Chris 47
Sam 39
Paul 33

Following this, we chose 7 Wonders. A perennial favourite that we’ll still be playing in the old person’s home where we will surely end up. I went for sciences, but it wasn’t enough to beat Chris’ smorgasbord of decent scores across many categories.

Chris 61
Andrew 55
Sam 52
Paul 44

The evening was progressing nicely. We had no appetite for a big game, so we ploughed on with more simple yet tortuous games. No Thanks was given a couple of turns.

Andrew 16
Sam 32
Paul 39
Chris 75

Sam 23
Andrew 32
Paul 48
Chris 63

And then Kakerlaken Poker was dragged out again, with Paul trying to pass off most of his cards with the joyous cry of “It’s a kakerlaken!” It didn’t work.

Sam 1 pair
Andrew 2 pairs
Chris 3 pairs
Paul 4 of a kind

At five to ten Paul had a hankering for a game of Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and since our bedtimes were flexible, we were amenable. I got shitty bonuses, made all the more annoying by me throwing away a bonus card that scored money and I ended with over 50,000 marks.

Sam 120
Paul 102
Andrew 98
Chris 85

And we ended with Timeline, the general interest edition. I can’t remember much about this at all.

Paul 0 cards left
Chris 0 cards left
Andrew 1 card left
Sam 1 card left

Finally we went to bed. Just as I was putting my head down, I got a text! Sam had just realised an answer on the cryptic crossword.


Sunday

Early morning, while listening to an old pirate radio broadcast I’d found on the internet, Chris and I played Biblios. It was close, and I entered the auction round with barely any money at all. I managed to win, though, thanks to Chris not pushing me on an auction for an “adjust two dice down” card. If he’d taken it instead of me, the result would have been very different and I’d be alive today.

Andrew 8
Chris 5

Sam and Paul came down from upstairs, and they blearily looked at the quiz in yesterday’s Guardian, unable to face the cryptic again. Instead we went for a light breakfast followed by a light-to-medium game of Istanbul. My recent form on this game has been nothing short of shocking, but when I got a “Use Sultan's Palace twice” bonus card my strategy was already decided for me, and it worked.

Andrew 5
Sam 4
Paul 3 + cash
Chris 3

With time pressing, we finished what was left in the fridge while playing Tsuro. And what an exciting game it was as we all ducked and weaved, trying to find a quiet corner to see out the game while the other players pick each other off. Paul and I were face to face on one square. I couldn't kill him and survive, so I put down a tile that sent us both around the board... to the same square somewhere else! Amazing scenes. But then we were stuck and both died on Paul's next turn, leaving Sam alone on the board.

1. Sam
2= Paul
2= Andrew
3. Chris

Our last game was Verflixxt! Or That's Life. We played it through twice using all the tiles. The first game ended as

Sam 31
Andrew 15
Paul 6
Chris 2

Then in the second game, Paul requested that all the clovers be right at the end. So we put the guards on the largest minus numbers instead of on the guards (otherwise it would have been impossible to play). Chris quickly sped off, hoping to get to the clover tiles first. It looked like a good idea at first, but he couldn't quite get enough clovers to make it work.

Paul 20
Andrew 13
Sam 12
Chris -8

And with that, games were packed away and cars were loaded up.

Chris departed for home and while Paul was having a shower, Sam and I tried a lightning fast game of Trivial Pursuit (house rule: roll two dice, may move either value or the combined value) and Sam was winning six cheeses to four when Paul came down and it was time to end the weekend once and for all.

Good show, chaps. A great occasion. I'm already looking forward to the next.

Under mountain problems

Wednesday saw the East Berks collective meeting up in order to get their game on. Lords of Waterdeep with the Under Mountain expansion had been pencilled in from last time we met but first I wanted to try out Red 7, a recent purchase, which was new to us if not to the good folks of Bristol.

The rules are simple but trying to explain them not so much but eventually we got there after playing an open round which I won collecting 3 points. They were to be the only points I managed. James found an early pattern for victory and drummed up 15 points in no time. My luck had deserted me. On one hand I wasn’t even able to lay a single card after Paul laid Red 7 before me and my hand reflected a sea of violet cards. Then Paul made a stunning comeback and reached 20 points in successive hands. It was at this point, with one eye on the clock, we drew the game to a close. Waterdeep was beckoning.

Paul 20

James 15

Chris 3

We decided to play the Under Mountain board and card set alone rather than combining the two expansions. Under Mountain seems to add another level of interaction where nicking stuff off each other is heftier with the use of certain intrigue cards. It was with one of those cards that Paul suffered a dilemma. I was striding round the board bedazzled by completing the huge 40 point quests whereas James set about completing a lot of smaller quests and building an impressive pile of lord bonuses. In round 7 he claimed to have a card that removed a lot of cubes from a players tavern with James being a the likely recipient having accrued a sizable collection. In the end the gentleman side of Paul won over and he declined to play it much to the relief of James.

 

Contemplating

In round 8 we were all neck and neck and looking over at James’s huge pile of completed quests I concluded that Paul and I were probably playing for the runner up spot. One of the problems with playing 40 point cards is in the balancing act that you complete fewer of them. You need to be a fair bit in front to counteract the lord bonuses.

However, this was not to be. James had taken a new Lord card which gave him bonuses for every Under Mountain quest and building he had completed. Not, as he had first thought, for every quest and building. Therefore I won on a technicality.

Chris 175

James 169

Paul 165

We finished up with a round of No Thanks.

Paul successfully completing a large chain made him the stand out winner.

Paul 43

Chris 82

James 83