Café International (26th)
Elfenland (5th)
Grab (26th)
Heimlich & Co (26th)
Klunker (5th)
Nanuuk! (26th)
Outpost (19th)
Overthrone (12th)
Rheinländer (12th)
Robin Hood (5th & 12th)
Zirkus Flohcati (12th)
Everyone must be on holiday, only four players tonight - including Dan and me!
While fresh in our minds, we kicked off with another round of Elfenland and, strangely enough, I seem to be on a winning streak with this game at last. Better stop now while I'm on top... Result: TC, SO, MH, DH.
Then on to Klunker, a card game we have only played once before at the club. Result: TC, DH+SO, MH.
After the mistakes in the rules last week, we had another go at Robin Hood, trying to get it more correct but, although we had some success, we still got some part of the rules wrong - about sets of three cards being secure from theft, but not fourth and fifth cards. Crikey, no wonder Robin took to a life of crime! Result: MH, DH, TC, SO.
This was the day after Alex, Dan and I had got back from Cornwall, where we had gone to see the solar eclipse - or not to see it as it turned out - we had a great time, though.
After the low turnout last week we had nine this week. Chris had brought along two of his nieces that I hadn't met before, helping to swell the ranks.
The first six to arrive kicked off with another try at Robin Hood, and this time I think we got all the rules right (including a small correction as we were playing)! It generally went down well, although Chris seemed to have some trouble playing any scoring melds - so much so that he asked for and got a round of applause when he finally got one. Perhaps it was because he was checking the Maid Marian card for signs of a cleavage... Result: DH, CN, TC, CD, SC, SN.
The late arrivals kicked off with Zirkus Flohcati, the clubs second most played game and, although Geoff came second, he managed to knock me off top spot in the stats. Drat! Result: NC, GC, SO.
They then followed up with a game of Rheinländer, fast rising in popularity itself. Result: SO, GC, NC.
The groups then reorganised and I'm afraid I only seem to have got details of what my group played. Chris had been keen to try out Overthrone for the past couple of weeks, so we gave that a go. This is a new card game and, although I can't remember much of the details, the main idea is to have the king card in front of you so that you can get to play last each round and exploit the cards that your opponents have laid. The main way to get the king card is to play a rebellion card and kidnap him, so the game seems to be mainly about getting these cards and playing them at the right time. There may be more strategy than that, I'll have to play again to form a firmer opinion. Soggy did rather badly at the game but was keen to point out that he felt this wasn't his fault, and that he would have won but for the way Chris explained the rules. Good job the rest of us didn't listen to him... Result: CD, TC, DH, SO, NC.
I was away on holiday myself this week, but I'm told that a game of Outpost took up the whole evening. Result: MH, GL, CD, BH, SO.
Six turned up today, three adults and three children.
We kicked off with two games of Heimlich & Co, it being one of the few games we had brought which could handle six players. It is also one of those games where anyone can win - so I was pleased to win both times. The second time surprised me as I went to the toilet between games and, on returning, found that the others had decided I had the blue piece (which was correct and made me feel rather paranoid). So whenever no-one knew which piece to move onto the negative space, they would move the blue piece, saying "Let's get Trev", or some such. I had to double-bluff enough to allow me to move the blue piece onto good spaces, but in a way that made it look like I was trying to shield something else. I was more surprised than anyone when blue came in second, and then even more surprised when it turned out that the colour that had finished first was a 'spare' belonging to no-one - so promoting me to first! If you understood all that drivel, you obviously know the game pretty well. If not, and you like bluffing and deception, get a copy. Result 1: TC, SO, DH, GL, JO+MO. Result 2: TC, SO, JO, MO, GL, DH.
Garry had brought in his new copy of Grab, which was rather annoying, considering that I have been after a copy since I had heard of it and have had no luck with anyone who supplies me with games. This is yet another game from Reiner Knizia and consists of a pack of cards with various scoring combinations, positive and negative. Sometimes a single card is worth points, sometimes you have to get two matching, sometimes the more the merrier and sometimes you have to have more than anyone else. The dealer turns over cards one at a time, fairly quickly, until someone claims the currently turned cards by slamming their hand down in the centre of the table onto the 'grab mat' (a piece of card). This person then becomes dealer. As soon as a player has collected three batches of cards, they can claim no more and, at the end of the deck, points are totalled to see who has won the hand. First player to win two hands wins the game. So it's quite a hectic, jumpy affair, with other players taking batches just as you were planning to claim it yourself and with the ever present threat of the deck running out before you have claimed even one batch. Great fun, even if I didn't do too well at it. Result: JO, SO, GL, TC, DH, MO.
We then split into two groups of three, and I agreed to take on the two younger children at Café International. As usually seems to happen with this game, Dan won by a decisive margin, although I did manage to just beat the complete beginner. Result: DH, TC, MO.
Meanwhile, the others played Nanuuk. Result: SO, JO, GL.