Wednesday 24th January 2007

Lisa and I played cribbage. Lisa played well. I didn't. She won. The end.

Almost...

I seem to lack the ability to construct good hands at this game. Sometimes I was dealt fairly poor hands and Lisa admitted that she did have several amazingly good ones. But still....I feel I'm doing something wrong.

Its still a good game though.

Thursday 18th January 2007

Lisa and I spent part of the evening playing Cribbage. Lisa easily won both games. She was fortunate in that she received many high-scoring combinations of cards and she then played them very well to score even more points during the game. A demonstration by a talented player which I would have been grateful to observe had it not been me getting trounced! Mope, mope, mope.

Monday 15th January 2007

Monday night is games night! I was joined by Greg, Andy (who made it last week), Spencer (freed from fatherhood for the evening) and Jack (all sorted after the festivities).

To start with Lisa joined us in a quick game of Diamant, joining which Spencer arrived and laughed at our misfortune (or ineptitude, I'm not sure which). Despite getting off to a good start Lisa could only manage third place with 13 jewels, behind Jack's 19 and Andy's 17. We'll quickly gloss over the fact that Greg and I scored nothing..... One of the mines yielded no jewels at all before collapsing.

Lisa then retired to the study to do some work. The gang then had a go at Jack's prototytpe 'Codename: Monster' (although we quite liked referring to it as "It's Alive!" - possibly with more exclamation marks!). As this game is in the early stages of production I won't go into too much detail. Each player is a graverobber attempting to construct an entire body from parts. There is also molney which can be used to purchase body parts. The mechanics of the game worked well and it was great fun. We all made suggestions for the final artwork etc and all the feedback was positive.... apart from how annoying the Village Uprisings can be (I suppose they are unless you're selling pitchforks and flaming torches).

Not too surprisingly Jack won both games! Final scores were:
Game one: Jack, 54, Paul 48, Greg 40, Spencer and Andy 25.
Game two: Jack 61, Spencer 44, Paul and Andy 41 and Greg 37.

A promising game for the future.

We then moved on to Falling; a card game I had picked up at Steer's recent mad giveaway. What can I say.... this game was utter chaos...on a biblical scale! I don't even know how to describe it! One player is the dealer, the others are falling to the ground and fighting. The aim is to be the last one to hit the ground. You play cards to delay your own fall and speed up that of your opponents. It is frenetic, mad and rapid.

We had six goes at this in very little time.

Game one: Spencer dealt. Andy hit the ground first (ie lost!) followed by Paul, Jack and Greg.
Game two: Spencer dealt. Paul hit the ground first, followed by Jack, Andy and Greg.
Game three: Greg dealt. Spencer hit the ground first, followed by Andy, Paul and Jack.
Game four: Jack dealt. Andy hit the ground first, followed by Paul, Spencer and Greg.
Game five: Greg dealt. Paul hit the ground first, followed by Spencer, Jack and Andy.
Game six: Andy dealt. Greg hit the ground first, followed by Paul, Jack and Spencer.

Mad game but great fun.

And that was it. Sadly, this was Andy's last Monday nigth as he is moving with his family ot the wilds of Lincolnshire. He will be greatly missed and is always welcome on a Monday (lisa and I have offered him use of the guest room).

After everyone had left, I suggested that Lisa and I play Cribbage, curled up in front of the fire eating liqeur chocolates (I knew she would find this hard to refuse!). Sadly, she agreed and whooped me royally. She got two very high scoring crib hands which helped her immensely. I realised she is better at discarding than I am...yet. Maybe next time...

Sunday 14th January 2007

In a desperate bid to maintain some dignity and self-respect, Lisa suggested taht we play Cribbage whilst Eleanor enjoyed her afternoon nap. She failed on both counts as I won 2 games in a row. Go me! To be fair, I was hugely fortunate with the cards I was dealt.

After having dinner and before heading for a bath, Eleanor declared her wish to play 'Two By Two'. She won both games, although we had all matched our animals in the first game, but Ellie was the first to find a raincloud. In the second game she reached this stage whilst Lisa and I both had an animal left. Beaten by a 2 year old..... again ..... 2 days running!

Saturday 13th January 2007

Lisa, Eleanor and I played Ellies' Shopping List game, which she received as a Christmas present. It is fun, quick and simple. It is beautifully produced to Orchard Toys' usual high standard.

Ellie was the first to obtain all eight items in her shopping trolley. Lisa and I had managed to find only 6 items each. Beaten by a 2 year old....

A little later the three of us turned our attention to 'Two by Two'; a Noah's Ark game in which you have to remember where animals are and match them up before placing them in a cardboard boat. Ellie loves it and she is now quite good at remembering where tiles are. This may explain how she won, whilst Lisa and I still had 2 animals each left to match.

Ellie wanted to play again after her storming victory and, being indulgent parents, we.... indulged her! This time Paul won. Ellie was the first to match all her animals but failed to find a raincloud which is needed to make the Ark sail away. Lisa was again left with 2 animals.

Eleanor retired to bed a bit later and Paul and Lisa had another go at Cribbage. Paul demonstrated that he has got the hang of this by winning 2 games. Life is sweet....

Friday 12th January 2007

Lisa decided that she should teach me to play Cribbage. She did. It was fun. We each won one game (first to 61 points). The end.

Worthy of note: you can score 1 point 'for his nob'! What kind of sick game is this !?!