Match Report 12th September 2011

Where did everybody go?

With the return to school and university it was no great surprise that our numbers halved but thanks to our faithful core group, Crispin, Ben, Daniella and obviously my wife Gwen, we managed 5 Monday night.

As people arrived Gwen and I were finishing off the latest of our duels at Gobblet (an abstract two player wooden game I picked up at the local Hospice in the Weald charity shop for £1, full price when new around £25). A game that typically takes us 5 to 10 mins and over the last week we have played 20+ times, over breakfast, dinner and coffee. I had a clear lead in these encounters, which is very unusual since Gwen has something like an 80% victory record against me at 2-player games and sad to say I think the tide might be turning on this game too!

Alhambra (Age 8+, Players 2-6, 60 min playing time)

With everybody comfortable we started the evening with a game of

Family Camping Holiday In England

Friday saw us heading up to Rutland for the Bank Holiday weekend to meet our nephew and his family for a few days camping - in the pouring rain!

It was no surprise that both he and I took quite a few games with us and that given the weather we played many of them. More details on these a little later. However it struck us that there were some important points to note from the weekend that might be of interest to other families and parents with young children.

1. That the two 7 year old boys had each bought only one cuddly toy with them so improvised endlessly (when it stopped raining) with sticks, logs, trees, etc (found around the camp site) and their imaginations in re-creating Star Wars speeders, light sabres characters and situations. It is amazing to see how much fun children can have when

Match Report 17th August 2011

Our biggest crowd yet and 11 games in one evening!

Although we continue to miss some of our regulars, away on holiday or studying for re-takes, we had a record turn out with 12 people (13 if you count a little friend who is staying with us and played two very quick games at the beginning of the evening). We welcomed Chris and Sinead for their first visit plus Daniella, Leonie, Crispin, Effie, Liza, Ben, Claire, Brian and obviously the lovely Gwen.

Other things of note were that we had four family groups (parent and child or husband and wife) and again the majority were ladies not men, 8 to 4.

With so many people and two of the number professing to being very tired (one because of a health issue and the other youthful excess) picking the right games that would work for everybody was always going to be a challenge.

We even prepared an extra table in case we split into three games, but in the end although we played 7 different games, 2 of them twice and 1 three times we managed to keep it all around one table – cosy!

The evening started with the early arrivals being lured into a couple of quick games of Pinguin Party with one of our great nephews before he headed off to bed. A simple card game with some really vibrant and amusing images of penguins where players seek to get rid of all their cards as they all collaborate in building a penguin pyramid, something penguins obviously specialise in!

As more people arrived they were convinced, doubtfully at first, to play

Match Report 9th May 2011

3 light games and a lot of laughter

With Crispin, Natalie and Daniella (and then Ben joining us half way through the evening) we had what turned out to be one of the funniest evenings we have had in a long time, getting three games in, two of which we had not played for many months. I only hope that my efforts to record the events do the evening and the participant’s justice.

Bohnanza (Age 12+, 2-7 players, 45 min playing time)

We started the evening with one of the group’s favourites Bohnanza . A game that requires every player to be vocal and creative in proposing trades that seek to maximise the cards they have available and so generate the richest harvest of beans. This is not a game for the hesitant or quiet, or at least not with

Match Report 28th February 2011

The night we failed with Dominion

Monday night saw another good turn out with Ben, Daniella, Matt, Ian, Crispin and Malcolm joining us. Gwen working in the background was sadly not able to join us and Natalie had similar problems having hoped to be with us but found herself deluged with work at the last minute.

Straw (Age 6+, 2-6 players 30 minutes playing time)
Having not played Straw for a while we gave this a run out to start the evening and get us limbered up for more serious fare. Ben and Ian joined us midway through the game and so not surprisingly finished well down the rankings. On this occasion the laurels went to Crispin with a deft and almost unnoticed demonstration of how not to

Match Report 25th October 2010

Well the group was small, but the munchies where huge! This week saw the return of Natalie and Liza (enjoying the brief respite from their educational studies) joined by Daniella and Crispin. Pauline had planned to join us but sadly was laid low with a cold, Malcolm was visiting relatives, Alex was touring Florida, Ben was watching one of the boats in their flotilla explode (hmmm – thankfully everybody got off safely) and Ian was cramming more homework in preparation for yet more exams.

Dixit (Age 8+, 3-6 players, 30 min playing time)

Fresh (well actually exhausted) back from the Spiel at Essen I suggested we start with one of the new games Dixit. This years winner of the coveted Spiel des Jahres award, described in brief here. This game (despite being simple and non confrontational) seems to create very strong reactions with people either loving or hating it a “Marmite game” as Ian put it. With Daniela falling in the camp of those that really like this game then it come as no surprise that she triumphed in this game, although without her oft heard cry of ‘ I don’t really understand this game’!

Patrician (Age 8+, 2-5 players, 50 min playing time)

Moving on we gave another run out to Patrician, a more tactical game described here. On this occasion Natalie triumphed which heralded time for the munchies. With an apple cake prepared by Daniela and cup cakes prepared by Natalie we were spoiled for choice and this distraction may have contributed to Crispin failing to win through on any of the games.

Bohnanza (Age 8+, 2-7 players, 45 min playing time)

Lastly we came to the ever popular Bohnanza (described in more detail here). This game was marked by much complaining on my part against the restrictive practices of the ladies who seemed to be picking on me, refusing to trade and then accusing me of sharp practice, as if! With the female dominance and Crispin distracted by the food it was no surprise that Natalie and Daniela tied for first place in this game.

So whilst the group was small we had extra munchies and managed to get three games in and a really great evening.

Match Report 5th July

With the continued renovation work going on at our place the group was kindly invited to meet at Pauline’s with the added benefits that this is the home of possibly the best munchies in the UK and a unique and very cute beastie.

Apologies had been received from no less than 5 people on this occasion, Malcolm visiting his sister, Alex in Marseille, Julia working hard with American clients who seem to think it unreasonable to work in line with our time zone, Joe having finished exams is already hard at work on the coursework for next year’s exams and Josh travelling back south. Attendees were Ian (now the Black Knight), Helene, Crispin (Now Brother Crispin member of a new order of monks, the Crisponians - more on this and the Black Knight later).

Sushizock im Gockelwok (Age 8+, 2-5 players, 20 min playing time)

We managed three games on this particular outing. Starting with Sushizock im Gockelwok as Natalie and Daniella had not yet arrived. This simple game explained in previous posts saw the big plus numbers captured early and in my case a balancing pile of low negative numbers, things were set fair and then it all went wrong.

Ian - launched three (others may have been involved but in the session with my counsellor I could only remember his dubious activities) unprovoked chopstick raids, not only on my pile of plus tiles leaving me with none and then to add insult to injury he took one of my minus one tiles leaving me with no alternative but to take the remaining minus four tile. The net result of this

Match Report 21st June 2010

Well in the midst of chaos (to call Ian’s efforts decorating, given the that he is knocking down walls, boarding lofts, putting in loft ladders, covering our artex ceilings with plaster board, wallpapering and painting would be to significantly undersell his talents and the level of work he is putting in, more like house renovation - see inset photo of our bedroom) somehow we found time to play a few games and had a bumper turnout to boot, with many comings and goings but 8 yes that was 8 people at the high water mark of the evening.

Our team for the evening were our old favourites Pauline, Daniela, Natalie, joined once again by Ian and Helene joining us for her first evening, plus obviously myself. Malcolm sent his apologies being called away to a committee meeting. Again for the mathematically minded you will spot that makes only six. To find out who the remaining two were you will have to read till the end (ish).

As an aside Daniela commented on her arrival on the reason for the two very large white containers at the foot of our drive. My initial answer of we wanted something different from the standard lions and griffins met with a very sceptical response. Thankfully this was asked outside the hearing of Gwen who has been asking me to move them for a few weeks now. So having a guest commenting on these eyesores would have vindicated her frustration at the slow rate of progress I am making on this particular element of the renovation project.

Bohnanza (Age 12+, 2-7 players, 45+ min playing time)
Our initial game of the evening was Bohnanza played at a very sedate pace and with a much more open trading system than normal (i.e. most of us had our hands face up so we could explain to Helene how the game worked and how we played the various options presented to us). This game was notable for my

Match Report 24th May 2010

Well let me start with a huge thank you to everybody who came last night for another really fun evening and in particular to Natalie and Crispin for bringing along some delicious munchies - THANK YOU.

Apologies were received from Joe (facing a mountain of exams this week , for which Good Luck) and Daniela (fighting the absurdities of the current education system). The latest news from Ben was that he was weathering a Force 9 storm through the night following a day in Force 8’s! His job certainly swings from the sublime to the ridiculous; hopefully this note will find him in calmer and sunnier waters. Alex is starting his Scottish placement this week. If I have missed other members of the group then apologies.


This week saw the arrival of two new faces. Gwen’s brother, Ian, who will be staying with us while he trains to be a Dive Master, after which he hopes to be heading off to much sunnier climes and Malcolm who having battled with renovating a bathroom all day found time to put down his tools and join us for something a little different. Along with these two newbie’s we had our old favourite Crispin and the slightly younger members Pauline and Natalie.

1st Game - Bohnanza

So with the newbies bringing our number to six (in a dinning room that felt like a furniture store/depot (Ian is also decorating for us between his studies) we thought to start with Bohnanza and duly set about planting our bean fields. With the normal heavy amount of trading between players resulting in such bizarre phrases as I will swap you a ‘stinky’ for a ‘black eye’ (hopefully the attached images give a sense of how this might arise). At the half way point our newbie’s were showing clear signs of having grasped the game with Malcolm profiting from holding off trading with the active player to then benefit from donations (at no cost to himself) of unwanted cards!!