Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Tuesday 1st August
In attendance:
Huw Morris
Michael Mol
Ian Jenkins
Rob ?
Adrian Barnard
Simon Long
Stephen Sykes
Janet Rintoul
Simon Mawdsley
Simon Canter
Ralph Grimble
Andrea ?
Wow! 12 people is a record, at least in the last couple of years.
Ian, Rob and Andrea joined us for the first time. Michael, Stephen and Janet are all regulars who have been unable to come down recently.
Ian wanted to play Taj Mahal, so that was one of the games, Simon M had brought Reef Encounter and Adrian had brought St. Petersburg. Rob and Andrea were expected, but hadn't arrived, so we set up with Adrian, Simon L, Stephen and Janet playing St. Petersburg; Simon M, Ralph and Simon C playing Reef Encounter and Huw, Ian, and Michael playing Taj Mahal. Just as we were about to start Rob and Andrea arrived. Rob joined the Taj Mahal group and Andrea the Reef Encounter.
Taj Mahal:
This was the first time Ian and Rob had played. Michael had played once. I had played a few times, but not recently, and I had to read the rulebook myself to remind me of how to actually play it. Taj Mahal is one of those games which is quite easy to pick up, but pretty difficult to play well, and I didn't need to offer much in the way of advice, as the others were quickly into the swing of it. Ian raced into an early lead, but Michael and I soon caught up. Midgame, Rob, who had been trailing horribly, put on a spurt and caught up as well. With the game 2/3rd gone, it was very tight, and anybody could have won. In the end, Ian raced away for the win, with Michael in second, and I was just behind in third. Rob had sadly been left behind again and was some way back. Nice one, Ian, that was pretty impressive for a first play. Despite being a first playing, we finished by 10pm. I hadn't remembered that Taj Mahal is so short.
Reef Encounter:
Nobody had played this before, although Simon M had at least read through the rules. Reef Encounter is a pretty complex game from what I can gather, and it took the group a while to get going. In the end, they called a halt to the game shortly after 11pm, when it became apparent that the game wasn't going to be finished in time. Afterwards, the impressions from the group were pretty positive. Simon M felt that 3 would be a better number of players than 4 because of the downtime, and that if all the players knew how to play, the game is easily completable in an evening. I know from past experience just how hard it is to play a game when nobody has played before - it always seems to take about twice as long as it should, as you constantly check the rules. Still, it's one I'd like to play myself sometime.
St. Petersburg:
All players had played this before, although in Stephen and Janet's case, not for a long time. Adrian won by a mile. St. Petersburg is fairly light and quick (by our standards) for a main game, and they were also done by 10pm.
Michael, Adrian and Simon L then had to depart. This left me, Ian, Rob, Stephen and Janet to finish off with a few rounds of Frank's Zoo.
Frank's Zoo: This was a new purchase of mine after I didn't see any big box games in Gameskeeper. It's a pretty silly but fun little card game. Ian dropped out after the first round, but the rest of us played another two rounds before we called a halt. All I can remember is that just about every round, Janet got stuck with one unplayable card in her hand and ended up losing every round!
So, a good evening, even if the pub was unusually noisy. Most nights, we're the only ones in that part of the bar by about 8:30. Tonight, it never really emptied, and there was one particularly loud group playing Yahtzee. Hopefully, we'll see the new guys again.
Huw Morris
Michael Mol
Ian Jenkins
Rob ?
Adrian Barnard
Simon Long
Stephen Sykes
Janet Rintoul
Simon Mawdsley
Simon Canter
Ralph Grimble
Andrea ?
Wow! 12 people is a record, at least in the last couple of years.
Ian, Rob and Andrea joined us for the first time. Michael, Stephen and Janet are all regulars who have been unable to come down recently.
Ian wanted to play Taj Mahal, so that was one of the games, Simon M had brought Reef Encounter and Adrian had brought St. Petersburg. Rob and Andrea were expected, but hadn't arrived, so we set up with Adrian, Simon L, Stephen and Janet playing St. Petersburg; Simon M, Ralph and Simon C playing Reef Encounter and Huw, Ian, and Michael playing Taj Mahal. Just as we were about to start Rob and Andrea arrived. Rob joined the Taj Mahal group and Andrea the Reef Encounter.
Taj Mahal:
This was the first time Ian and Rob had played. Michael had played once. I had played a few times, but not recently, and I had to read the rulebook myself to remind me of how to actually play it. Taj Mahal is one of those games which is quite easy to pick up, but pretty difficult to play well, and I didn't need to offer much in the way of advice, as the others were quickly into the swing of it. Ian raced into an early lead, but Michael and I soon caught up. Midgame, Rob, who had been trailing horribly, put on a spurt and caught up as well. With the game 2/3rd gone, it was very tight, and anybody could have won. In the end, Ian raced away for the win, with Michael in second, and I was just behind in third. Rob had sadly been left behind again and was some way back. Nice one, Ian, that was pretty impressive for a first play. Despite being a first playing, we finished by 10pm. I hadn't remembered that Taj Mahal is so short.
Reef Encounter:
Nobody had played this before, although Simon M had at least read through the rules. Reef Encounter is a pretty complex game from what I can gather, and it took the group a while to get going. In the end, they called a halt to the game shortly after 11pm, when it became apparent that the game wasn't going to be finished in time. Afterwards, the impressions from the group were pretty positive. Simon M felt that 3 would be a better number of players than 4 because of the downtime, and that if all the players knew how to play, the game is easily completable in an evening. I know from past experience just how hard it is to play a game when nobody has played before - it always seems to take about twice as long as it should, as you constantly check the rules. Still, it's one I'd like to play myself sometime.
St. Petersburg:
All players had played this before, although in Stephen and Janet's case, not for a long time. Adrian won by a mile. St. Petersburg is fairly light and quick (by our standards) for a main game, and they were also done by 10pm.
Michael, Adrian and Simon L then had to depart. This left me, Ian, Rob, Stephen and Janet to finish off with a few rounds of Frank's Zoo.
Frank's Zoo: This was a new purchase of mine after I didn't see any big box games in Gameskeeper. It's a pretty silly but fun little card game. Ian dropped out after the first round, but the rest of us played another two rounds before we called a halt. All I can remember is that just about every round, Janet got stuck with one unplayable card in her hand and ended up losing every round!
So, a good evening, even if the pub was unusually noisy. Most nights, we're the only ones in that part of the bar by about 8:30. Tonight, it never really emptied, and there was one particularly loud group playing Yahtzee. Hopefully, we'll see the new guys again.
# posted by Huw @ 8:11 am 
