board games & card games for all ages

board games & card games for all ages

Thursday 23rd November 2006

An almost-full house this week with 17 gamers all crammed into the shop.

Players:

Alex, Andrew, Andy, Darren, David, Jo, Jon, Kev, Mark H, Mitch, Neil, Nick, Roj, Sam, Stewart, Sue, Tim

Games Played:

Hey! That's my Fish!

We were tidying away the demo games to make some room, and decided that it was just as quick to "play" this one back into the box!

Nick:    27 (17 tiles)
Darren:    27 (16 tiles)
Andy:    26
Alex:    13

We were all pretty sure Darren had won the game, and were quite surprised that it was as close as it was. We had to consult the (Dutch) rules to see what the tie-breaker was, and luckily I could translate it ... and would you believe it was in my favour!

Experiment

All of a sudden we were six players, and I decided to introduce everyone to this fun little card game.

Darren:    15
Alex:    14
Andy:    12
David:    8
Sue:    7 (4 tasks)
Nick    7 (3 tasks)

This was a pretty close one (between three of us!). Sue & I gambled a couple of times and ended up with broken flasks, and then we all fell foul of an explosion (but I was just about to finish a tricky task!). A good win for Darren, who just pipped Andy & Alex to the post.

Space Dealer

Meanwhile, another game designed to last around 30 minutes was taking place upstairs ...

Mitch:    26
Roj:    23
Andrew:    17
Jon:    17

I don't know a lot about how this one played. I know the game ended inside the scheduled 30 minutes, as Mitch managed to complete all of his deliveries. I can't remember what the tie-breaker is, but Jon was marked in 4th place, so there must be one!

Mission: Red Planet

All of a sudden, we were up 16 players and split into three large groups. The first group tried this new game of Andy's:

Darren:    48
Neil:    42
David:    24
Andy:    20
Alex:    15  

Now this one I really know nothing about. I don't even know what the points stand for! There seems to be a fairly large spread between first and last place, and the game was enjoyed by everyone. Another good win for Darren, who was having a bit of a good night!

Imperial

Meanwhile upstairs, the group of six players decided to lend some cash to six European powers, and then see who did the best with it!

(Points + Cash)

Stewart:    (76 + 2)    78
Sam:    (76 + 0)    76
Roj:    (59 + 6)    65
Nick:    (56 + 6)    62
Andrew:    (58 + 2)    60
Kev:    (49 + 2)    51

Another great game of this new one, although this was the first time I'd played with the full complement of players. Stewart had also played before, but it was new to the rest. Kev and I struggled to get going with Germany and Russia, although I lent Italy a load of money just before they ended the game, which boosted me above him. Stewart played a really good game starting as Austria/Hungary, but grabbing control of Italy from Roj (who took it from Sam) just before the game ended.

Princes of Florence

The third "large" game of the evening involved the remaining five players.

Mark:    66
Mitch:    52
Jo:    49
Jon:    40
Sue:    39

Another game I don't know much about. A good win for Mark, who managed to complete two works in one round, giving him the edge.

Fiji

The Red Planet guys were the first to finish, and off to Fiji they went, searching for shrunken heads!

Alex:    12
Andy:    8
Darren:    8
David:    5
Neil:    2

A good win for Alex in this bizarre blind-bidding game. Andy was the only one who'd played before, but that obviously doesn't help too much!

Wings of War

With Fiji over and the other two big games still going strong, the same group went dog-fighting. A sixth was added to this group with the late arrival of Tim.

Andy:    Winner
Alex:    Last to die
Neil:    3rd
Darren    4th
Tim:    5th
David:    Flew off the table

Another game with very little information, sadly. That's what happens when I play upstairs and everyone else is downstairs! A good win for Andy in his final battle against Alex.

Saboteur

All of a sudden it seemed to be shopping time! Finally, once the dust had settled and a bunch of people had wandered off, we were left with 9 of us willing to brave the dangers of gold mining.

Andrew:    9
Nick:    6
Andy:    4
Alex:    3
Mitch:    3
Tim:    3
David:    1
Jon:    1
Sue:    0

Only one dwarf hadn't played this game before, and it was the one who got 9 gold! Andrew and I were both Saboteurs in the first two rounds, although he chose to go straight in the last round, while I remained treacherous, but sadly the Saboteurs in the last round couldn't stop the good guys from finding the treasure!

And that was everything for another week. Thanks to everyone for coming along once again.