Yellow River Blues

This week's games night occurred in a whirl of domestic activity as Sam's son, Stanley, was preparing for a camping trip the next day. As such we (Sam, Martin, Ian, me and Sam's other son, Joe) played a game of Fuji Flush, sharing the table with piles of carefully chosen clothes and a check list.

The game itself was unaffected. We started with the traditional "all play twos" opening, which was followed by the just as traditional spoiling move, as Sam swept them all aside with a nine. We got our revenge, though, as we proceeded to play four threes, to beat his nine.

In the end, it was between me and Joe, both on one card. I was lucky enough to piggy-back onto a couple of sixes for a win. I commented that Fuji Flush was one of the few games I am actually good at, and since Martin asked to see the division, here it is.

A bit closer than I had imagined, but in terms of wins, I'm in a clear lead. Hooray!

Then the four grown ups played another short game in anticipation of two more gamers. We chose Knister, the dicey Take It Easy. Last time, the dice kept almost exclusively to values between five and nine. This time we had twos and twelves, with proper agonized groaning over where to put things.

Sam's son, Joe, had been a spectator for most of the game until the last roll of the dice. Sam handed them to his son and asked for a six. Joe rolled them and it was a six! Good for me, but pretty much life-changing for Sam, as that one roll netted him twenty or so points.

Sam 73
Martin 50
Andrew 42
Ian 24

During this game, Andy and newcomer Laura arrived. With Joe otherwise occupied with getting ready for bed and finding his brother's hat, the six of us sat down for the next game.

We chose Texas Showdown, and after a rules explanation for the debutants, we were off. Laura found herself perhaps thrown by the idea of not winning tricks and by the time she'd got used to it, she found herself on the wrong end of five tricks in round one.

Suffering a similar fate in round two was Martin, who was dealt a hand with the highest cards in five of the eight suits. I, on the other hand, went through round one and two without picking up a single trick. Meanwhile, Ian went clear in round three. Andy hit a bad patch in round three to ruin his chances, and Sam was quietly efficient throughout.

Andrew 2
Sam 5
Ian 6
Andy 7
Laura 10
Martin 10

At this point, we split into two groups. Sam and Laura were going to play Azul while Martin and I favoured Yellow And Yangtze, the new Knizia, not even released yet. Ian and Andy both claimed to be fine with either choice but when Y&Y was described as a game similar to Tigris And Euphrates, a game Andy doesn't care for at all, Ian graciously chose the heavier option.

Since Martin's pre-release copy didn't come with its own bag for drawing tiles, he had to use the one from the copy of Azul Martin had brought with him. With a genuine Azul draw bag on the table as well, we had to make sure we didn't pick up the wrong one.

Since I was concentrating on Y&Y, I didn't really follow Azul, apart from noting Sam's apology mid-game for "congregating the blues".

Andy 79
Sam 50
Laura 36

Then they played Heck Meck/Pickomino as a light game to end Laura's evening.

I noticed Sam's remarkable pile of tiles had been whittled away by the end of the game, but not enough for either of his opponents to stop him from winning.

Sam 12
Andy 7
Laura 2

After Laura had left, Sam and Andy filled the time until the end of Yellow And Yangtze with two games. The first was Letter Tycoon. Sam cautiously asked Andy if he liked word games and got the reply that it depends what they're like. Judging by the scores, Andy liked it enough to push Sam to the end.

Sam 54
Andy 53

Then they set up a game of Santorini which, I believe (but I may be wrong), that Sam won.

As for us, Martin had talked us through the rules and even started the game so us two could see what an opening move looked like.

It is, mostly, Tigris And Euphrates on a hexagonal grid as opposed to squares, but I found my limited experience no advantage over the total newbie Ian. He complained he had no idea what he was doing at a time when he owned two pagodas to my none. And shortly after, he stumbled upon the tactic of placing tiles to force wars between the three of us, just to change things around a bit.

Martin seemed to struggle with trying to not think about it like Tigris And Euphrates. But I think the basic similarities helped him more than hindered him.

It was close in the end. Martin said he was about to make a move to swing things decisively in his favour when warmaker Ian messed things up.

Martin 14
Ian 13
Andrew 9

Finally we all got together for a game of Voodoo Prince. Initially, we said we'd only play three rounds but halfway through we all decided to play the full five.

In round one, Sam went out second from last with a flurry of trump cards, leaving Andy with just one point for that round.

In round two, we were all on two tricks at one point. The final two players in were Ian and Martin. Ian played a 13 purple and a relieved Martin out down a 14 purple to win the that all important third trick.

However, in the next round, Martin crashed out early when we let him win a trick with a seven card, netting him two tricks for the price of one. At the end of that round Sam had a commanding lead, which may be why he was out first in round four.

In round five, Sam, me and Martin had a chance of winning but Sam smartly cashed out late enough to consolidate his lead.

Sam 41
Andrew 40
Martin 38
Ian 28
Andy 22

And so, on the same evening when we'd assured the newcomer that we almost never stay up until half past eleven, we ended bang on 11.30. But it was all worth it. Thanks to everyone. It was a pleasure.

Time (is on our side, yes it is)

Sam and I met up for an Easter gaming occasion which was originally going to be a grand event, with plenty of attendees but then got shifted from Friday evening to Saturday, leaving us on our twosome. It was also the first Finn-less games night, and it was quite sad as I kept checking my chair before I sat down and then remembered I didn't have to do that anymore.

We started at four o’clock and first we played Riverboat, from the same designer as Heaven and Ale, Michael Keisling. And it feels pretty similar to, with its hexagons and its multiple paths to victory. According to BGG, it has a ninety minute playing time, so maybe there’s a huge section in the middle we missed because Sam and I sped through two games as well as the rules explanation in the same amount of time.

The game has a nice balance between wanting to keep your (limited number of) workers on your play area so you can build up larger and higher scoring chains of crops while, on the other hand, needing workers off the play area to react to stuff that your opponent might do. Getting first choice in a particular phase is key, and so is getting a scoring card that you can maximise.

After two games, sharing one victory each, we set off for food. The chippy was shut and we felt too old for the Lazy Dog so we ended up in the Royal Oak. It was very nice. I still owe Sam for my share, though. We did pretty well on yesterday’s Guardian cryptic crossword, too.

Once back at Sam's, it was still early and we felt that we had at least a couple of epics ahead of us. We set off to Macao first, zipping through its early stages. We slowed down a bit in the latter half of the game, but still made a mockery of the game's official playing time.

And Sam made a mockery of me. We had somehow swapped tactics this game, with me picking up difficult to achieve but useful cards and Sam choosing office cards. However, Sam's cube-hoarding and focus on city quarters/deliveries set himself up for a 100+ final score. I luckily bought up those parts of the city that cut his chain of city quarters in half, otherwise the thirty-point margin of victory would've been even greater.

After this we played Flipships. It was enormous fun and we saved the Earth from destruction, as you may have noticed when you woke up this morning.

Then Sam and I set off on a trip through time. T.I.M.E. Stories, with its intriguing clean, white box. It's a co-op game, where you are time agents going back in time to sort stuff out, basically. Except, you can't possibly do it in your first time, because you're bound to waste too much time chasing the wrong leads and talking to the wrong people. It's a game that encourages replays (yes, I know they all do) but, like the film Groundhog Day, you experience the same stuff again so you can avoid certain people and get straight to that important bit.

a clean, enigmatic board before we begin

This is where we begin

But even that first try, despite being doomed to failure, was fascinating. Once we'd got over the rule book which doesn't make much sense until you start playing. Then it starts to click and you can get into character. Sam was Maria, a narcissist with a tempting cleavage, while I was Vasil la Fouine, cocaine addict.

Five doses of cocaine!

I asked if this game was age restricted. Apparently, it's 14+. Seems a bit low to me.

The first adventure is set in a mental asylum in 1921 and as we travelled from one beautifully illustrated location to the next, picking up clues here and there, I really got into it. As someone showed us the entrance to a secret passage, we had the option to follow him into it or beat him up and enter it ourselves. I leant over to Sam and, with a mad gleam in my eye, whispered “Let's beat him up!”

We did. I'm pretty sure that was the right thing to do.

But we ran out of time at that point. We put the game away (first time we've had to check BGG for advice on how to put a board game back in its box) and discussed what to play as a finisher.

Sam suggested Santorini as a quick-to-teach, quick-to-play option. It's basically Torres, but without all the dull stuff. Just towers and workers. We played twice and Sam won both times. It was good. And although I wasn't cocaine addict, I did become the goddess Athena for the second game.

A great evening with some exciting new games. Need to get back to 1921 soon, though. That time anomaly isn't going to mend itself.