The first game was a brief first-to-11 game of Pairs while the early arrivals waited for those caught up in the Bristol Rovers traffic. Ian arrived halfway through the first round, so he was instantly dealt in and instantly went bust. I don’t think he’d even sat down.
I won in three rounds. Katy was no doubt baffled by the new design on the cards and she and Joe kept saying what fruit each card would’ve been had they been playing the original version..
Andrew 13
Ben 10
Sam 9
Ian 6
Joe 5
Katy 0
Once the others had arrived, we split into three groups. Andy, Sam and Martin decamped into the front room to play Yspahan. I’ll leave it to them to describe it in the comments. The score was
Andy 99
Sam 79
Martin 70
Katy, Ian, Joe and Chris chose Roll For The Galaxy. They sat at the far end of the table from me, Anja and Ben as we played Stone Age.
I didn’t really follow Roll For The Galaxy, but it seems to involve making a choice behind a screen and then complaining that no one else made the choice that would help you achieve what you wanted to do, such as exploring or shipping (hence the rather tenuous blog title). Early on, Chris was upset at his lack of planets, like a trainee Darth Vader who hadn’t been given any real responsibility.
The easy-to-follow player guide
At the other end of history, us cavemen were making fields and building huts out of gold, stone, clay, whatever was lying around, really. I went for fields early so food was never an issue. Anja began with an audacious one-meeple-on-gold move (it didn’t come off, though) and later went for card collecting. Ben built up his tribe.
Rather than give Anja and Ben enough time to pick up points with their cards/huge tribe I decided to burrow down through one of the piles of huts as quickly as possible and end the game, making sure my early good work was not undone.
Andrew 162
Anja 143
Ben 94
We finished at about the same time as the Rollers, and the noises coming from that end of the table were much more approving of the game’s qualities. Chris even managed to get his own planet, but a little too late.
Joe 40
Ian 38
Katy 31
Chris 29
A good win for Joe, although he did say that it helps a lot if you’ve played it before.
By this time, though, the guys in the front room had begun a game of Ra. Perhaps, after Andy’s recent record victory, Sam and Martin wanted to see Andy’s mastery of the game for themselves. Well, it wasn’t quite the whitewash as last time, but his run of form continues.
Andy 53
Sam 43
Martin 30
And while they played out that game, our groups joined forces (minus Ben and Anja, who both chose to bow out at this point) for a rousing game of Midnight Party. This game is a bit like Musical Chairs, except that you have to find a room, not a chair, and it isn’t the music that tells you when to run, it’s a ghost called Hugo.
The game consisted of the usual high jinks of stealing each others rooms and the inevitable self-Hugoing. Round two was especially brutal, with almost all the meeples being caught.
Chris –20
Ian –25
Andrew –34
Joe –44
Katy –48
Finally, we were all together. Just enough time for another game of Pairs. This time Martin’s fruit-themed copy, allowing us the chance to complain about being fucked by a blueberry.
Katy 22
Andy 15
Chris 14
Martin 12
Andrew 11
Ian 5
Sam 4
Joe 0
After that, I wended my home, but three hardy gamers weren’t done yet. Chris, Sam and Katy played two games of Bandu
1. Sam
2. Chris
3. Katy
The second game was a bit of an epic, with Sam apparently channelling the spirit of an alien architect.
1. Katy
2. Sam
3. Chris
As for the Division, at this early stage of the season, Katy is top in points, Matt has the best Points Ratio and Andy tops the medal table.
