Monday 12th February 2007

Monday Night is Games Night! Tonight I was joined by Spencer, Jack and Greg, with Vin arriving later in the evening.

We played a couple of quick games whilst waiting for Vin to arrive. First up was my homemade copy of Die Mauer. This is a simple bluffing game in which players try to empty their hand of town wall segments by guessing which piece the master builder is attempting to construct. It's a really simple game; describing the rules makes it sound more complicated than it actually is.

Spencer won this, being the first to have built all his pieces, Jack was next with wall worth only 5 points left in his hand. Paul was next with 6 points worth and Greg brought up the rear with 26 points left. I don't think Greg enjoyed it!

As Vin had not yet arrived we turned our attentions to Guillotine. This is something of a favourite as it is always good fun and is easy to play. Spencer and Jack drew on 20 points, although as Jack had executed the King we felt he was the moral victor... sort of. Greg came next with 17 points and Paul was last with 16.

Vin arrived during Guillotine and so we decided to play Alhambra. This is a beautifully-produced Queen game. It's one of those which is easy to play but hard to play well. The aim is to build the palace of Alhambra by purchasing tiles. You can choose to purchase tiles or collect cash each turn. There are three scoring rounds during the game where poits are awarded for the length of your enclosing wall and having the most, or second most, or even third most, of each building type.

I've previously not done too well at this. This time I kept more of an eye on who was building what and managed to score for several building types. As a result I cam joint first with Greg (we both had 85 points), Spence was next with 80 and Vin and Jack drew for last place with 58 points.

Another fun evening with much wit, laughter, and some sarcasm!