Nothing if not annoying

 On a cold Valentine’s night three hardy gamers (Martin, Ian and me (Adam)) converged on Anja, Steve and Louie's house as if we had nothing better to do. Anja was busy applying for a new job, so five of us played Wandering Towers, the game of wizards who can't walk backwards and Towers that can fly.

 It was new to Louie and the rest of us were rusty, so Martin explained the rules and we began: racing toward the Raven Tower, trapping each other under flying masonry and cursing our lost meeples. Somehow the Raven Tower was always behind Martin when it came to his turn (well done Ian!) and somehow Martin always managed to land a tower right on me.

 The finish was close - Louie was first to get his third wizard into the Raven Tower, but hadn't filled all his potions yet. I dunked wizard 3 but had drunk two of my potions, then Steve declined the opportunity to hand me the win (by dropping a tower on Ian) so Ian took the honours by one potion.

Ian wins

Everyone else doesn't

The can of stout isn't included with the game

 Next we played Hit, as Louie’s last game of the evening. Martin managed to pick up a 1, a 2 and a 3 before going bust and showing remarkable swearing restraint, Louie’s cards were repeatedly stolen, leading to a short burst of lying under the table, and Ian never really picked any cards up. I pushed my luck slowly and steadily while Steve saved his luck up for the last couple of rounds, snatching a set of 9’s from his own child in the last round for the win.

Steve 101
Adam 80
Martin 57
Ian 52
Louie 45

 

 At this point Louie was replaced by Anja and we set out to ride whales up and down the ice coast, picking up kelp, cockles, bottles and blubber in Reiner Knizia's Whale Riders. Sadly I didn't get any photos of this lovely game.

 Steve complained more than normal about how we kept taking stuff that was obviously meant for him, while Martin and Ian raced ahead and Anja looked baffled (an enjoyable confusion I think). I steadily completed contracts, noting that I was nothing if not efficient, Steve’s reply provided the title of the blog. 

 Then Martin and Ian hit the end and started spending big money – Martin’s eight gold for four pearls looked foolhardy until he completed another contract and suddenly had the money to buy two more pearls and end the game. But the pearl-chasers lost out to the contract-makers:

Adam 23 pearls (+7 gold)
Steve 23 pearls (+3 gold)
Martin 22 pearls
Ian 21 pearls
Anja 12 pearls  

 Finally we went for a “quick” game of Rapido, the game of falling down some steps in Rio. Climbing up some steps in Rio? Who knows?

 The game involves rolling some slightly odd dice and hoping for a double (instant points!) or a high number (made from combining the two dice) which can be placed on a points podium. If your dice don’t get knocked off the podium by an equal or higher number by the time the turn gets back to you, you score those points. The fly in the ointment is the X on each dice which busts you, ending your turn and knocking you back down a step.

Anja, out in front, earlier

 Anja raced to 12 points before the rest of us had our climbing boots on but then got bogged down. My initial tactic of “If you're on zero the X's don't hurt!” made for going bust a lot. Steve rolled 31 and then went bust four turns in a row. When he finally rolled a 76 (the best roll possible) he had to put it right at the bottom of the podium and only got one point for it. 😁

 In the end Ian couldn’t win it with doubles so cowardly and steady won the day as I carefully edged over the line with a string of 2- and 3-point scores.

Adam 21
Ian 17
Anja 15
Steve 13
Martin 10

The top of the steps! Or the bottom?

And with that we all departed, pondering absent friends, light polution, minor injuries and the new Huddersfield manager.

The Dirty Pipe Slapstick Squadron

 I arrived at Sam’s at 7.40 and, once I’d recovered from the surprise of seeing Andy B for the first time in a year (?) we all sat down (me, Andy, Sam, Martin, and Joe) for a quick game of Rapido. It’s such a simple game that Martin explained the rules to Andy while we were playing so that when it came to his turn, he would have no excuse for doing badly. Except for bad luck, of course.

At first, the main recipient of bad luck was Martin who was the last one to score any points at all. Then, mid-game, a run of misfortune meant we all started moving backwards. But eventually it was between me and Sam for the win. Sam edged forward onto space 18 and then rolled a double three to take the win.

Sam, then Andrew, Joe, Martin, Andy

During this game, Katy and Laura arrived. We checked if Laura and Andy had actually met, and they had. We still think of Laura as a newbie even though, as she pointed out: she’s been coming to games nights for years – some of us found this hard to believe.

Andy had to leave in about fifty minutes, so we began to think about what to play. Time pressures didn’t make things easier and before long, Andy had to leave in forty-five minutes and we still hadn’t chosen. Finally, we decided on Diamant. Laura hadn’t played so she got a rules explanation and we set off into five temples.

Since there were seven of us, a lot of jewels got left behind on cards such that Martin, Sam and Laura all left early and got three jewels each. That seemed like a good move until an artefact came out. Katy nabbed that one which also looked like a good move until Andy stayed in til the end and got a 17-jewel card all to himself.

The rest of the game followed suit: paying out generously. Sam went out early saying "I've got a feeling" and then the rest of us died in a fire. Laura picked up 17 jewels in artefacts and then Katy got 20 jewels. Martin, however, had to keep pushing his luck as he fell further behind. We had to explain to Laura that it wasn’t usually like this. There was one temple that behaved as expected: giving us three traps and then a single jewel.

We finished in good time so that Andy wasn’t late for his appointment although I suspect he could’ve left halfway through the game and still won.

Andy 44

Katy 40

Laura 28

Andrew 24

Joe 21

Sam 20

Martin 3

Then we split into two groups of three. Sam, Laura and I played Quantum. I asked Laura if she was okay with something a bit fighty and she said it was fine since she was from Yorkshire. Andy stuck around to watch Martin, Joe and Katy play the first few rounds of Mille Fiori to see if he could work out the rules. Katy must’ve felt nervous as they set up because she seemed unable to finish her sentences (“I think I might need a quick…”)

As for Quantum (or Yorkshire In Space, as it will now be called) Sam explained the rules to Laura and then, sheepishly, made her first move for her. Then it was gloves off. Sam and I were both down to one die at one point or another and Laura managed to win the game when she won two battles to put her aggression up to six and place her last cube.

Laura 0 cubes left

Sam 1

Andrew 2

As for Mille Fiori, it ended

Joe 215

Martin 180

Katy 166

Laura left after this (high on victory, no doubt) and the rest of us played High Society. I bought two cards early on but then I lost track of what other people had paid. I put to 20,000 francs for a late x2 card thinking that my 31,000 in my hand would be enough to avoid elimination. It wasn’t and I was out, finishing behind Katy and Martin who both had a x2 each and nothing to multiply with it.

My multiplier had a picture of a woman laughing at her drink

Sam 9

Joe 8

Martin 0

Katy 0

Andrew OUT!

We finished with So Clover. Katy was first to complete while Joe fretted long enough for their to be a toilet break. Alas, Katy’s intuitive approach to clue-giving came undone as we struggled him “humbug”. Thinking it might be a reference to A Christmas Carol we went with “Candy/grave” when it should’ve been “candy/mud”. The other clovers were all cleared, I think, with some great clues. Martin's four clues were Dirty, Pipe, Slapstick and Squadron which at least saved me the bother of thinking of a blog title. I loved Sam’s clue of “candle” for the words “cake/dynamite” and Joe’s “sideboards” for “moustache/travel” because if a moustache could travel, it would become… 

Joe seemed touched that we got his clover correct on our first attempt. As if he’d finally found people who understood him. 

27 out of 30

Crazy times. Thanks all. See you next week.

Zimbabwe Mojo

Recently Joe, Martin and I were talking about our enthused/misguided/terrible shared habit of constantly bringing new games on Tuesdays, and how it might not hurt to slow down and give things more time. With that in mind, I have - massive hypocrisy alert - been playing (new game) The Great Zimbabwe a lot at home, with a view to bringing it the next few Tuesdays running. If not more. Adam T and Joe joined me for an exploratory outing this week (see Andrew's previous post) but maybe it's worth explaining the basics here in case anyone else's curiosity is piqued enough to give it a go. 

So: in The Great Zimbabwe, each player is a leader of a competing tribe in ancient Africa. However, we're not at war with each other, but trading instead; and we measure our progress by building monuments to our Gods. Which Gods vary - in each game there are many to choose from, but we're monotheistic and once you've chosen a God to worship (and gained the ongoing power they grant you) there's no conversions here. The Gods vary wildly in their powers, and some are stronger than others. But that strength is recognised in your victory point requirement: at the beginning of the game, you need 20 points to win (or at least come close) but every advantage you get in the game pushes the Victory point requirement up. Only the 'easygoing' God Elanga reduces it (by two); however, Elanga grants you no special power at all.

Red's requirement is still on 20, but green and yellow have 

probably started worshipping or something 

The main goal is to raise those monuments, then, but for that you need to pay craftsmen for their ritual goods: a potter, an ivory carver, a throne builder and so on. Someone needs to 'build' these craftsmen in order that players may play them, and doing so also pushes up your victory point requirement - but on the other hand, now you'll be getting loads of cows (basically cash) which is good, because cows pay for things: craftsmen being one, and turn order another. 

bidding plaques in foreground

Turn order is almost an irrelevance in the opening rounds, but becomes increasingly critical as craftsmen are built and paid, and monuments raised. When you raise a monument you need as many different ritual goods as the monument's current level, and each craftsman can only access so many resources per turn, so you can find yourself unable to raise at all if you're last to go. So turn order is decided by bidding, using a curious system of dumping cows on the tribal 'plaques' (see pic above) before bidding is resolved and all cows on plaques are returned to the matching tribe. Say I'm first to bid in that pic (Yellow): if I'm flush with cows, to coin a phrase, I might bid four cows, placing 1-2-3 on yellow-green-red and then the fourth on my own plaque again as the bid 'wraps around'. Green bids next, and starts to the right of where I placed my last cow. It's hard to explain, but easily followed once you've done a round or two. 

wooden crosses mark off used resources in each round

Then the real business starts, although it's surprisingly simple in principle: you have one turn in each round and can take one action with it. The actions are: start a new monument anywhere on the board (exception: not next to any other monument, including diagonals); build a craftsman, placing the craftsman tile somewhere on the board within reach of the resource they need (and ideally close to your own in-progress monuments) or raise a monument.

Raising is where The Great Zimbabwe's juice is, but also where it gets a bit thinky. There is a universal rule-of-three for transportation at play: from resources to craftsmen; from craftsmen to monuments. This includes diagonals, however, and the extremely handy water: no matter how big the water, it counts as a single space. Even if you're further away than you'd like from a craftsman, you can use another monument as a transport 'hub', paying a cow for the privilege, as everyone combines their monuments into a kind of proto-post office, powered by cattle and reluctance.

But each available resource can only be used once per round, which is why turn order can be so important. Having a barn full of cows is no good if you're not using them to score points. 

Taking a God doesn't cost an action: you can do it on any turn you like but, as mentioned above, you're stuck with that God for the rest of the game. Similarly there are a few Specialist cards you can take for their abilities, but each one pushes up your victory point requirement: some rather considerably. 

After everyone's had a turn, players collect all payments to their craftsmen and income equal to their tallest monument, and then bidding begins again for the next round. 

three craftsmen, a specialist and a God (walk into a bar)

The rules aren't complicated: I'd say we've all played games of a similar weight (or heavier) but Zimbabwe's dense thicket of thinking is more about how everything interconnects on the board, with transportation being as critical as income being (almost) as critical as point-scoring. Both Adam and I went an expansionist route, worshipping our Gods and building multiple craftsmen, getting cows galore from Joe who was comparatively reserved on his spending. We should have spotted that we were basically - rules fudge notwithstanding - carving out a path for his easy victory, as I foolishly built the fourth distinct craftsman he needed to put the maximum-height fifth level on his monument for a win. If we'd played correctly he wouldn't have had the cows to do so, but if we'd strategised better we could have forced him to start a new monument (1 point!) instead. 

I wouldn't argue it's a breezy game, and heavy ponderers might find it too thinky thanks to how things overlap on the board. But I certainly feel it's worthy of prolonged investigation, and will continue bringing in the hope that might happen!*

*no pressure obvs x

When we're sixty-four

 I arrived at Joe’s at 8.05pm and found Joe, Laura, Sam, Martin, and Adam T sitting around talking with Laura explaining a scene where she struggled to explain the rules to a new game to people who insist on chatting about, you know, normal things.

First we played Rapido, a dice rolling game by Reiner Knizia. In this, players roll two asymetrically numbered dice to make the highest possible number (i.e, a one and a three would count as 31) while avoiding Xs. Once (if) you have a score you’re happy with, put those dice beside a number, between 1 and 5 and if they’re still ther when it’s your turn again then you score those points. However if someone scores equal or higher than you and places their dice on a lower scoring space, then you’ll be bumped off and won’t score anything.

We began slowly, rolling 6 and 4 a lot and bumping each other off. Then Sam scored a point, but then went bust with his next turn and lost that point. After about five minutes, no one had moved. I rolled 2,2 twice and got two points as a bonus for rolling a double and leapt into the lead. Sam rolled 7,6 which was the highest possible score. Then Laura also rolled 7,6! Then, on his next turn, Sam rolled 7,6 again and bumped off Laura.

In the end, I rolled 7,5 and put my dice on the 5-point spot. If I was still there at the end, I’d win. Everyone tried to stop me, but to no avail.

Andrew 21

Sam 12

Laura 9

Joe 8

Martin 6

Adam 0

Then we split into two groups of three. Sam, Joe and Adam played The Great Zimbabwe, which many people was too long to start so late but Sam insisted they’d get it done by half past ten. 

Laura, Martin and I played Longboard. In this game we are all owners of a surfboard-shaping business and we have to make the longest surfboards with the most stickers on it. Once a surfboard is four cards long it is "shaped" (always said in an American accent) and will score bonus points.

Laura started well, but that was because she hadn’t understood the rules – she’d been following them purely by accident. Once she knew them, she played a lot slower. But slower isn’t necessarily worse, and in the end it couldn’t have been closer.

Martin 46, wins on tie-breaker

Laura 46

Andrew 39

We thought The Great Zimbabwe was still hours from completion so we chose our next game: Mille Fiori or “Mille Fiori (In The Glittering Lagoon)” to give it its full name. We ignored the shipping area at first while Laura and I pushed our ships along the scoring track at the bottom. Martin picked up  bonuses and extra points on the key track and also got more bonuses for that area with oreos, broccoli and fish. Don’t know what it’s called. The market, I guess. 

But despite Martin’s bonuses, Laura kept on his tail and even edged into the lead at one point. Then Martin executed his final move, chained together three “extra turn” bonuses and finished with a healthy lead.

Martin 192

Laura 178

Andrew 142

To our surprise, The Great Zimbabwe came to an end mid-Mille Fiori. I knew little about the game, except for overhearing snippets about trading with cows or having the right God. Apparently it ended when Adam and Sam made the resources that Joe needed to win the game. So he did.

They went on to play Capital Lux 2 Pocket.

Adam 77

Joe 60

Sam 47

And Martin, Laura and I played Sea Salt and Paper. I had a better idea of what to do, but I’m still not sure about when to call a winning hand. Twice I sat on a hand with more than seven points hoping to get more with my next card, only to hear someone else call “stop” or “last chance.” In round two, Laura picked up 5 shells and in the last round we played, I actually had the 2 anchors plus anchor bonus card for 13 points.

Andrew 24

Laura 18

Martin 14

Adam and Laura went home at this point so the four of us played two dismal games of So Clover. During the first game, we fell foul of a mean decoy on Martin’s clover. With clues like “Imprisoned” and “Numbers” we thought a card with “Cage” and “Pie” (i.e, pi) was definitely right but instead
it should’ve been “Nightmare” and “paintbrush” as in “painting by numbers.”

Then in round two we managed to fail on Joe’s clover, getting three out of four wrong. And even on our second go, we didn’t get much closer. We obsessed over thinking that pigeons fly in a v-shape while overlooking that ducks certainly do. But then, the “duck” tile was being used for “Police/Barrack” = “Precinct.”

The only high point was everyone’s guess of “Bang/hook” for my clue of “Trigger” which is really clever and caused a lot of mirth but was unfortunately also wrong.

At this point, we finished, thouroughly defeated by So Clover. I had no work the next day so I was able to stay until the end for a change, but maybe an early night would have been better for my self-esteem.

How I felt after So Clover

Thanks all. See you next week.

My mud is dry

Unfortunately Steve's plans to host came a cropper thanks to a migraine - hope you're ok today Steve - and after a flurry of emailing, we relocated to my (Sam's) house. Adam T was first to arrive, just in time to witness an argument about putting shoes away. "Am I... early?" he said, backing toward the door. If our arguments about screen time ever clash with games night, nobody will ever look at me the same way again. 

Adam had brought Terracotta Army, his 40th birthday present from us. I was intrigued to try it, but the game length of two hours had others - not unreasonably - havering. Adam H and Ian had materialised out of the fog, and Martin and Gareth shortly after. There was an unusual amount of chat over what games we should play, but when Laura arrived we settled into a four for Terracotta Army - Adam T, Martin, Laura and I - whilst Ian, Adam H and Gareth played Azul. 

Azul needs no introduction - well, except to Gareth, who'd not played before - but Terracotta Army does, and it's not a simple one. Adam took a very patient half an hour to lay everything out before us, surfing a philosophical wave over Martin's exclamations and Laura at one point announcing "That's it. No more rules." Hats off to him. At 8.30, we dived in and started getting our hands muddy: to build the terracotta army - as we were - you need clay, or mud as Laura preferred to call it. But at the end of each round your clay dries out, so you need to strike while the oven is hot. 

This rotating wheel is the nub of it: on a turn, you place one of your tiny workers (or big dudes, if you've upgraded like Martin did) on one segment of the wheel and take the three actions it offers, from inside to out. Gather wet clay (-wet as an adjective), wet clay that's dried out (-wet as a verb), make terracotta warriors, make specialist warriors, or get the battle/mud-based insights of experts who'll help you both now and every time you activate them before the end of the game. 

And here is where the battle itself plays out - not of bloodshed, but of spatial area control. Over five rounds five different criteria are scored, for example one quadrant, or one type of warrior (there are four) as well as the row and column the inspectors (those red dudes in the corner) are currently inspecting. The inspectors move at the end of the round, but quite possibly during it as well, so a well-placed warrior can suddenly be worth jack-shit if the inspectors don't witness their resplendent stylings. Laura - yellow - was first in there, building an archer. But it swiftly built up.    

You'll notice a distinct lack of mauve. For whatever reason - let's not delve too deeply - I didn't build at all in the first round, leaving me with a 20 point deficit early on I was never to recover from. Laura even asked me where my score marker was, and I was forced to point out it wasn't on the board yet. The shame!

Meanwhile, in the glass world

As well as the round-by-round scoring, the four warrior groups will also score at the end of the game for each grouping (two or more) multiplied by the number of players in it, with bonuses for having majorities. You can force tied groups into your control by having a specialist facing your warrior (other specialists do other things, like score points for the warriors around them, or score points for their row/column, or even just take up a lot of room, which is what the horses do). 

I think we were on round two when Katy arrived and Azul crossed the finish line. By golly, it was a close thing:

Adam H 56
Ian 54
Gareth 50

They debated what to play next before settling on First Rat, the rodent space race game of constructing unlikely rockets from piles of shite. I tried to chip in with the rules explanation, particularly when I heard the classic "What is cheese for?" which could be a generic kitchen query, or a philosophical poser. Or in this case, neither. 

Meantime familiarity was speeding things up on the Terracotta Army board - for the others, anyway. I discovered that the more I understood, the slower I went, and I had to take two do-overs after engineering myself into positions I couldn't actually afford, because I'd spent my money getting there. "Sam!" Martin harrumphed. But look at this thing!

Laura was occasionally stumped too, at one point lamenting that she needed to wet her mud. Her early lead had evaporated now, and Adam and Martin were jostling about alongside her. At the other end of the table, First Rat was approaching an end. 

I think I'm right in saying this was a debut win for Gareth, was it? Even if not, it was an impressive showing, especially against Ian, who I believe has won every time he's played this game?

Gareth 92
Ian 65
Adam H 63
Katy 42

Katy said she didn't know what the hell was going on. I was relieved not to be the only one in this state of mind, as we polished off the final round whilst the others shucked on their coats and headed for the hills. Adam, who was impressively unruffled throughout, felt confident of the win. He was correct! But it was a close-run thing...

The end-game scoring takes a wee while, and with the most warriors in the biggest group, I was hopeful of just maybe catching the peloton up. I should have known better...

Adam 165

Martin 160

Laura 145

Sam 135

Martin felt that the scores had a wide margin for error, considering the various ways the game generated them, but Adam demurred. I was still cursing my lack of action in the first round as we packed away, and then convinced Adam to stay by thrusting flapjacks upon him. We had a mini-panic over what the four of us might play before our time ran out, and eventually settled on Spicy. 

I took no photos - it's hard to pause in this game - but got away with a number of challenges, most of them on Martin, by lucking out - questioning the suit when the number was correct, and vice versa. And in doing so, I had a microcosm of revenge for my earlier humbling:

Sam 34

Martin and Laura 24

Adam 6

And that was that! 

Challenge Accepted

Knowing that Adam T finishes work well before 7.30, I (Sam) told him he was welcome to arrive early, and after consuming his own tea at the Lazy Dog, he was treated to my family eating the last of theirs. Adam's presence may have played a part in the boys not arguing over who wipes the table too: good work, Mr T. 

Martin joined us a little after seven, just as we were setting up the first game of the night: Akropolis!

It's a super-simple game, although not so simple that I couldn't get a rule wrong, as we discovered this morning. Martin may thus contest the results, but basically your cities score in different ways: residences like to be together, markets apart, temples surrounded etc. But each district only scores if you have matching plazas, who don't care where they go. Martin was indifferent to its charms; I rather like it myself for it's breezy play and weight of decisions. But liking it and being any good at it are two different things. 

Adam: 131

Martin: 129

Sam: never mind

By the time we were totting up, Joe had joined us and, with Ian and Adam H hot on his heels - sadly we lost Andrew and Laura to 'fatigue' and 'pyjamas' - it was time for a six-player crack at Challengers, the fun deck-builder and possibly-less-fun card-flipper du jour. 

Unbeknownst to me, Ian had been burnt on Sunday when his cards serially came out in non-combo-ing order, and having suffered a similar fate last Tuesday, he had my sympathy when history repeated and he took a battering over the first four rounds. I did better this time; enough in fact to cockily assume I was in the final, only to crestfallenly discover Joe had outscored me, at which point I hated Challengers again. Ian won his last two rounds, like Lazarus rising from a hardback chair, but Adam T was the man to beat, and he and Joe faced off over the final. With almost no power on my phone, I was like a disorganised journo intern, racing back and forth from charger to the table to try and record momentous events. 

Adam wins!

Joe runner-up

Sam third on points, if that means anything

Adam H

Ian

Martin

Then we broke into threes. There was talk of Pan Am again, but with four of us keen to play, it somehow never reached the table. Martin was pushing for Longboards, or Bonerz as it has been somewhat immaturely renamed (see pics). Having coaxed Joe and Ian into Reiner's phallic surfing bonanza, the Adams and I were left to peruse the alcove and settled on Ahoy. 

Last seen at the GNN Christmas shindig, Ahoy's mechanically-specific charms are how it interweaves two types of game into one: as Adam T and I battled (well, I hid) across the water for dominance, the Creeping Custard played a game of pick up and deliver: the aforementioned weaving is his deliveries increase the value of the territories we were fighting over, and he gets to wager each delivery on which of us he thinks will score that territory at the end of the game - getting bonus points if he's right. 

Adam T immediately loaded cannons and, not long after that, recruited crew who made coming anywhere near him a high-risk manoeuvre. I basically kept my distance, using my deck of Plans to run interference when I could. For a couple of rounds we scored equally, but Adam's visible strength and bonus half-turn each round was swinging things his way. Between us, that is. We were so busy circling each other, like boxers in a pond, that we neglected to stop Adam H running away with the game. Meantime Bonerz had subsided, to coin a phrase, and Martin had triumphed. I'll leave it at that. 

Martin 43
Ian 39
Joe 27

They were now playing Spots, but ten minutes in, still hadn't managed to claim a single dog. I think they tried a variant where the action cards keep changing, but found it made the pace a bit stodgy. I didn't actually see who won, in the end, but someone must have done because when Ahoy finished they were playing Sea Salt & Paper.

No such stodginess at our end of the table, however, as Ahoy wrapped up with Adam's smuggler easing to a win of non-sneaky margins:

Adam H 37
Adam T 25
Sam 20

The others graciously packed up Sea Salt & Paper (Joe was winning/won/delete as appropriate) so we could play So Clover as a six. Even for a game as marvellously bamboozling as So Clover, this felt like a high watermark of despair as almost everyone around the table complained that their combos were impossible (full transparency: my 'terrible' pairing was OCEAN/RAY and manta never occurred to me). Despite our misgivings, however, we did rather well. Martin's heehaw clue was nice, and I was quite pleased with Ahoy for ROOT/GATE. Joe's random card stumped us, as shirt/tail went rather well his office and surveillance clues, but despite these red herrings, it was overall a very respectable 30/36. 

I would have been up for a nightcap of the meeple variety, but with the hour approaching eleven and the night air chilly, we called it there. 

Happy Ian Day

 Yes, it’s that one day of the year when Ian is happy. At least for the duration of our group visit to the History of Video Games in Bristol’s very exclusive Galleries shopping centre (so exclusive that they’re tearing it down soon to keep out the hoi polloi). A very exciting occasion. So exciting that I actually arrived for the thing a full 24 hours early. I had somehow convinced myself that Saturday was the 15th (despite almost everyone saying to me “It’s Friday the 13th” the day before) and I went to the History of Video Games somewhat late for the 2pm meeting time. I couldn’t see anyone outside so I assumed they’d already gone in. I asked at the reception if they had a ticket for me since my friends had already gone in. They didn’t know what I was talking about but they kindly allowed me to go in and look for Ian et al. Of course, they weren’t there.

Back outside I, confused, called Katy. “Where are you?” I asked. “At home,” she replied.

Then the penny dropped. Oh how we laughed. At me.

Anyway, I then did some window shopping, got indecisive about some rucksacks on sale and went home.

Next day, I was there nice and early and Katy was waiting at the door. We relived yesterday’s confusion while we waited. Ian and Adam H arrived together and we decided to go in because Sam, Adam T, Laura and Martin had all said they’d be late (alas Sam and Adam T never made it at all) and there was no one else.

“I can see Joe!” cried Adam, just in time.

How could we forget Joe? We went in and began our exciting journey back in time.

First Adam and I played Mario Kart 64. Adam won by miles after I (in 2nd) managed to catch up my own green turtle shell which wiped me out and I ended in 8th. Then Adam, I, Ian and Katy played a four-player game which left us squinting at the screen trying to work out what we were seeing. I won this time.

Joe, Martin and Katy play Mario Kart 64

I should point out that I made no notes today and wasn’t going to blog at all but I have a little time and want to share my reminiscing. So from now on, I’ll discuss things game by game.

Defender

This came out in 1981 so I would’ve been about ten when I first saw it. It was in a laundromat near Letchworth train station. The growl it makes when you add a credit scared me when I was a child and I was shockingly bad at it. I was slightly better this time and, after a few attempts, I scraped onto the high score table. Joe got into the 7000s thanks to his experience on a “pixel perfect” version on the BBC model B.

Ridge Racer

What a game. A launch title on the PlayStation, I played it to death on my machine so I guess I should’ve done better but replacing X and O buttons with two foot pedals caused me problems. I think Adam said it was his favourite game of the afternoon, though.

Time Crisis

I didn’t play it. What was I thinking?

Dance Dance Revolution

What a workout. I last played this in the foyer of the Barbican in London with a friend and, despite not being good at it, we got a crowd. No such level of attention for me this time, but Adam said I was much better than Katy.

Pinball

I loved playing these again, while they worked. My previous knowledge of pinball consisted of the Star Wars one which was in the Hogshead pub in Maidstone when I was a student. I liked the Mario one until I saw Adam clock up over 9 million on it.

Tetris

Didn’t play it. Martin tried it, but stopped when he saw it told him where his pieces would fall.

PES 2008

Ian showed his prowess by beating first Adam then Martin, 2-0 then 3-0 I think. They both had players sent off. I guess Ian knows the button combo for “leave trailing leg to be clipped by defender then go down”.

Crazy Taxi

Amazing! I couldn’t stop playing it after I tried it. My best score was $1,200 and a D grade but what fun I had. Joe and Katy played it and I’m pretty sure they loved it too. I have to dig my Dreamcast out and play it at home. Good job I’ve still got Sam’s colour portable, because it won’t work on my normal TV.

Guitar Hero

Martin, Katy, Laura and someone else (Ian? Adam? Don’t recall) played it. Most memorable was Laura, on her first game, clocking up a 76 combo “and then you stopped playing!” said an astonished Martin. 

Japanese rhythm game

I don’t remember its name. At first it didn’t work and I could only take solace that my Japanese was good enough that I could read the error message enough to know it was trying to connect to the router. Anyway, then a member of staff turned it off and on again and I could try it. I was a pretty typical rhythm game - hit buttons in time to music - but it was insanely loud. I felt a little self-conscious playing it, convinced I was ruining things for other people.

But after an afternoon of D grades, I was quite pleased with my B. Nice to get a dose of helium-voiced hyper-pop.

Donkey Kong

On the NES! I cleared three screens and lost interest when it put me back on the first screen again. Nice game, though.

PacMan

Dodgy joystick kind of ruined it for me. Plus, I used to have a How To Win At Pac Man game and all I could remember was (a) the four ghost have four characters: hunter ghost (red), random (hmm, yellow?), coward (pink, maybe) and the other one. But it didn't help. Also there's a spot to the bottom left of the ghost's home where, if you leave PacMan there, the ghosts can't find you. I tried it and it worked for about thirty seconds but then I got bored and kept playing.

There were other games, of course. I remember Katy trying to get a four player game of Ninja Mutant Teenage Turtles and there was indeed a multi-player game at one point. 

Katy v Joe in Turtle mode

Adam v Laura in Virtua Fighter 2

A most determined gamer

It was a bit full-on. I had a headache for quite a lot of the time (eased by Crazy Taxi, oddly enough) and Joe and Martin retreated to the board game section for a spell (to play a game Martin had brought with him!). I noticed they had the board game version of PacMan.

Finally, we were escorted out because the Galleries closes at 5pm but the museum closes at 6pm! Like I said - exclusive. We were able to walk through a deserted shopping mall like it was Dawn of the Dead.

At this point I left for home while the others went for pizza. Thanks all, it was a blast. Literally. A ha ha.