board games & card games for all ages

Thursday 15th March 2007

A nice and easy 8 players at the shop this week .... makes splitting into two groups very simple to work out!

Players:

Darren, Dave F, Mark L, Mike, Nick, Rachel, Sue, Tim

Games Played:

Lost Cities

First in (surprise surprise) were Sue and I ...

Sue:    (69 + 35 + 61)    165
Nick:    (57 + 2 + 28)    87

Another opportunity for Sue to beat me at this one. One day I shall win it, but I have a sneaky feeling it won't be any time soon.

Castle

All of a sudden we were up to five players, and so we broke out this new game of Mike's:

Dave:    Emptied his hand
Nick:    3 cards left
Sue:    3 cards left
Mike:    3 cards left
Mark:    5 cards left

This is a fun little game. Dave and I seemed not to get picked on as much as the others (especially Mark!), and all of a sudden we realised that none of us were able to stop Dave. It was a new game to most of us, and I think when you know the cards better, you'll know which ones to keep back to prevent someone from winning. A good result for Dave, though.

Circus Flohcati 

Meanwhile, the other three gamers showed up, and disappeared upstairs for a quick filler while waiting for us to finish what we were doing ...

Tim:    80
Darren:    79
Rachel:    71

This looks like it was a really close game, with Tim just edging Darren out by a single point. Rachel in third was really not all that far behind either!

Portobello Market

We split into two groups of four, and the upstairs crowd took this excellent new game for another spin ...

Dave:    120
Sue:    108
Tim:    107
Rachel:    107

Big scores in this one, which makes me think everyone played their "district scoring" action tiles and grabbed a bunch of extra points before the game was over. Another very strong showing from Dave, followed by a pretty tight battle for second place, which Sue managed to hold onto by a single point!

Mare Nostrum (plus Mythology Expansion)

Meanwhile the downstairs crowd had a crack at this fun civilisation-building game.

Nick:    2 Heroes, 2 Wonders
Mark:    3 Heroes
Mike:    2 Heroes
Darren:    1 Hero, 1 Wonder

This was an enjoyable game, although I think further plays will see some different tactics, as people become more familiar with the cards and possible actions. No one really got into too many fights with each other, and my early expansion of my caravans increased my income enough to buy me the cards I needed for a (surprisingly quick) victory. Mark was only half a step behind, but Mike's decision to have no trading in the last round worked in my favour, as Mark needed to trade some duplicate resources away to beat me to the winning post.

Fagin's Gang

The upstairs game finished first, as expected, and the group stayed in London for some slightly more underhand dealings at the market ...

Rachel:    3 Urchins home
Dave:    2
Tim:    2
Sue:    1

This game provided a lot of laughs, groans and noise from upstairs, as the constables did their job and messed with everyone's plans. Rachel managed an excellent win, despite having one of her little guys returned to her hand by Sue, just as he was about to make the dash for home and get back to Fagin.

Portobello Market

This time, the downstairs crowd were waiting for the other game to finish, and so grabbed this one again, as it plays in about 30 minutes:

Nick:    93
Mark:    93
Mike:    84
Darren:    81

Another very close game of this potential Spiel des Jahres winner. Mark and I couldn't be separated, and - thanks to Mark's placing of the Lord - we both managed to stay a little ahead of the others. One thing about this game is how differently it plays every time ... something which I really enjoy, and something a little unusual (but in a good way) for a game with so few different actions you can take on your turn.

Pickomino

And finally, the six remaining gamers went to the barbecue to secure some worms ...

Darren:    6
Mark:    5
Sue:    5
Rachel:    3
Nick:    2
Dave:    0

Another fun dice-rolling game to end the night. This one provided a lot of laughs, as the lead changed hands many times before Rachel grabbed the last worm tile (to stop herself coming last!) and ended the game. Darren's three cheap tiles was just enough to give him the win.

And that was another Thursday night in the shop. Thanks to everyone who came along.