1.
We had 12
players in total, including newcomers Chris knight and Karen Skull. A total of 9 games were played. On table 1 a
group of 5 players started with “BOHANZA”,
a card game about planting your crops in fields and then harvesting
them. Essentially a trading game as you need to obtain cards from other players
to increase the yield from your fields, but they will want a good deal in
return so you had better make it sweet. Played in 3 rounds the game is quite
quick but the result is not clear until the final count has been made. A good
little filler, in which Rob was victorious in a close finish.
2.
Table 2
saw 4 players engaged in “ON THE
UNDERGROUND”, a game in which players have pieces of track in their own 2
colours and in turns they build the London Underground network on the
game board by extending the lines by 2 pieces of track. After extension a large
piece representing the ‘Passenger’ will travel on the lines to either 1 or 2 of
the 4 Destination cards currently on view and for each colour used on the
journey the players will score a victory point. Now the quirk is that the
‘Passenger’ is lazy and will visit the nearest station adjacent to where they
currently stand, using as few line changes as possible. If the line is
incomplete he/she will walk between unconnected stations, but only via the
shortest walk. So players have to view the 4 Destination cards and construct their
lines to ensure that the Passenger will use their colours when travelling.
You try to construct a decent network such that even on other player’s turn the
Passenger will travel along your lines. Play continues until
there are less than 4 destination cards left and the one with the most victory
points is the winner. A highly interactive game in which you sometimes have to
give points to your opponents in order to score some yourself. Careful study of
the fixed Underground map is needed to build the best lines. In a close finish
Roger was victorious by just a single point !
3.
On the
next table 3 newcomer Karen was introduced to “FINCA”, in which players collect fruit in various combinations to
satisfy the requirements of 1 or more of the 10 markets currently open. To
deliver the fruit they need to have the use of a donkey, who can carry a
maximum of 6 pieces of fruit. To gain fruit and donkeys the active player moves
one of their the pieces around the blades of a windmill ( that being what a
Finca is) and they collect pieces of fruit in accordance with how many pieces
in total are standing on the blade they arrive at, and add a donkey to their
collection when they pass certain squares. When they deliver to a market they
collect the tile representing it as victory points, but they lose the use of
their donkey which is returned to the pool. Player interaction is high as
anyone can deliver to any market if they have the right combination. There are
scoring bonus tiles available if a player can complete a ‘set’ of 1-6
deliveries, and a further bonus tiles worth 5 points is allocated when an area
is emptied of markets. In a close game where fortunes fluctuated the final
scores were 56 points for each of the 3 players so the tie-breaker came into
play. Mike had 10 fruits left, Karen 11 and Maria had 12, so Maria was declared
the winner. A lovely colourful game that plays differently every time and is
great fun to play.
4.
Back on
table 1 they played “MANILA” in
which players invest in punts which transport various commodities up the river
from the harbour to Manila. By successful delivery players gain money and the
share price of the delivered commodity rises. However players can gamble that
ships will not arrive safely and they gain money by investing in that outcome.
A twist is that there are pirates available for hire and at certain points in a
game round they may board a ship bound for Manila for free, rather than paying
the transportation costs. In the later stages of a round the pirates can take
control of a punt, chucking the other players off and gaining the money and share
prices rises solely for themselves. Another highly interactive game which
always gives pleasure. Alistair bemoaned his luck in that every punt he
invested in failed to deliver, and the victor was Robert, for his second win of
the evening.
5. Table
2 played “MONTEGO BAY” to introduce
newcomer Chris Knight to the game. This family game about gaining barrels to
load onto ships in the harbour of Montego Bay which will eventually sail and
earn them victory points. The way in which your player pieces move around the
harbour to gain the barrels leads to much fun as you can sometimes force your opponents
out of a lucrative warehouse into one in which they spoil any barrels already
loaded! Another close game, with Geoff coming out on top.
6.
On Table 3 Mike introduced Karen to the dice game “HECK MECK”, a game about
gaining dominoes that contain a variable number of worms. Players place any
gains in front of them but they can be stolen by other players if they roll the
exact value of the tile, so the lead is constantly changing. A ‘push-your-luck’
game that caused lots of laughs and Mike encouraged Karen and Maria to take
gambles, which of course failed. Several times players failed to score in a
round so they lost one of the tiles they had collected so this led to a low
scoring game, in which Karen came out the winner with 4 worms to Mike’s 3 worms
and Maria, a miserable 1 ! Well done Karen, and welcome to the winners
enclosure!!
7. Mike
then explained the simple card game “TEACHERS
PET”, a quick card game about bidding cards simultaneously to try and win
Positive cards or NOT to win negative cards. A simple enough aim but the way the
cards are played causes much hilarity, with surprising results. As the owner of
the game Mike won the first game so it was decided to play another game and
this time Karen came out on top .
8. Table
3 finished with the classic card game “COLORETTO”.
In this game there are cards in 6 colours and players collect cards with the
aim of getting 3 ‘good’ suits and none of the others. They score positive
points for the good cards and negative points for the others. The way in which
cards are obtained is clever and yet the game plays quickly. With his prior
knowledge of the game Mike was the winner .
Games played and Winners
were:
Bonhanza
Robert Piesse;
On
the Ungerground Roger Skull;
Finca
Maria Skull;
Manila
Robert Piesse;
Montego
Bay Geoff Williams;
Heck
Meck Karen Skull;
Teachers
Pet game 1 – Mike Oakes;
Teachers
Pet game 2 – Karen Skull;
Coloretto
Mike Oakes.
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