Monday 8th January 2007

This was the first Monday Night is Games Night of 2007!

I was joined by Vin, Greg and Andy. After we had gassed with Lisa for half an hour and noticed our matching haircuts (not Lisa's!) we settled down to play Masons.

We all like this game as it is quite straightforward to play yet a bit mentally challenging. It was a fairly close game, with each of us spending sometime in the lead. In the end though, Vin who assures us he did have a strategy, won convincingly with 93 points. Paul and Greg managed 84, whilst Andy limped at the rear with 59 points. Much childish laughter had occurred, particualrly when Vin had to place a Pink Palace.....

Masons is a fairly quick game so we decided to try Alhambra. Vin had not played this before but the rest of us had played twice. The silliness continued even though this is a much harder game. Once again I realised too late that amassing money in the early stages is more important than building lots. I did remember, however, about checking that you may score more for coming second with one building colour than for sharing the points with someone else who has the same number as you. This did affect my purchasing strategy and I felt it paid off in the end.

Final scores: Greg 118, Paul 102, Andy 96, Vin 62.

In an uncharacteristically petulant moment Vin declared that he will not play Alhambra again and that we all smelt of pooh.