Monday 19th March 2007

Monday night is games night! Lisa and I were joined by Greg and Spencer. To start with we had a quick game of Fluxx. This has really grown on me now that my brain has adjusted to it! Lisa has liked it since she first played. As it was I won this game with death by chocolate - still my favourite goal I think.

We then brought out Hey! That's My Fish! which we haven't played for awhile. I thought I'd done fairly well slicing off an expanse of ice for myself - but I hadn't oticed that I had mainly single fish floes! Oops....

In the end Greg won with 32 fish and Spencer was second with 26. They had something of an epic struggle to control a large ice floe which ended u;p with them sharing it fairly evenly. I managed third with 22 fish and Lisa, who fell fowl of Greg and Spence's penguin-empire-building, managed only 19. Still, we all agreed it had been a good game and that the scores were fairly close.

We all fancied something a little more involved next and Greg suggested Masons. It had been awhile since we had played this so Lisa did a quick rules refresher.... which was really useful. As we played I realised that I would score heavily for joining up the little cities that were starting and creating a large, central city. Everyone was surprised when I did this, as it denied usd all lots of scoring opportunities. But when I managed to score nearly 40 points off the 2 cards I played they realised why it had been a good tactic. It was quite an intense game after this. My lead dwindeled and Lisa overtook me and soon became uncatchable. She later admitted that she kept getting useful cards. I missed scoring rounds twice to enable me to swap my rather useless cards. On one memorable occassion the cards I discarded were replaced by identical ones! Lisa played really well and in the end was the clear winner with 115 points. I managed second, mainly due to my early high scoring, with 109. Spencer was next with 96 and Greg limped in with 79 points - he had had awful cards for most of the game.

As it was only 10pm we decided to have a quick game of Carcassonne. This lasted exactly 28 minutes! Greg and I spent lots of meeples contesting a big field... a contest which i finally won and which gave me the points to win the game with 65 points. Due to scoring nearly all the monasteries Lisa came second with 60 points. Greg lost out on scoring for the big field and this left him in third place with 47. Close behind was Spencer with 44 who didn't really get to place any high scoring farmers or build any monasteries. He did have a magnificent city though! A good game.

Another good evening of fun, frivolous conversation and enjoyable gaming.

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.

Monday 6th November 2006

Monday was once again games night. I was joined by Jack, Greg and Vin (who arrived after our first two games of Hey! That's My Fish which Lisa played with us).

To be honest I can't really remember much of the evening. However, this is due to my current neurological problems rather than it being a forgettable evening. On the contrary I do remember that I had a really good time and enjoyed myself.

I do remember (sort of) playing Hey! That's My Fish. Lisa won the two games she played (Lisa 29, Paul 28, Greg 21, Jack, 20: Lisa 34, Greg 23, Paul 21 and Jack 18). Despite a poor showing in the first two games Jack confidently won the third (once Lisa left us and was replaced by Vin). Score was Jack 29, Greg 22, Paul and Vin 20 each. Vin and Greg had not played this before but both enjoyed the quickness and elegant simplicity of the game.

We then played Masons. I don't remember this much except that I was behind for much of the game but finished in 2nd place. Sadly, I can't remember how this happened. This is a game I enjoy but I have not yet found a good approach to it. Greg won 147, Paul 137, Jack 133 and Vin 121.

We rounded off the evening with a game of Niagara. Apart from teasing Vin who was weighing his options for .... a lengthy period of time, I don't remember this at all...which is sad as it was only the second time I have played it. Greg won with one jewel of each colour, Paul had 6, Jack and Vin had 4 each.

A fun evening was had by all and we hope to be joined again by Andy and Spencer next week.