Friday 23 October 2009

For several years Carl and I have been keen on playing Mü again and Andrew and Anna own this but have never played it. Moira was interested in seeing what the fuss was about.

For those that don't know Mü is a trick taking game primarily for 5 players where you bid for the right to name trumps by revealing cards. The highest bidder names the top half of the trump suit and the 2nd highest bidder names the bottom half - e.g. trumps can be the Green suit followed by the Blue suit or all the 6s followed by all the Greens. The highest bidder chooses a partner from one of the other three players while the second highest bidder and the other two players form the opposition.


Carl explained the rules. I was the first and only unsuccessful Chief (6s/Green), which pushed me down to -1. Anna was the next Chief (Black/Blue), Carl was the third Chief (Green/Yellow) finally Anna again (7s/Blue). The two part trump suits were difficult to get used to, especially when one half was a number, and I think we all reneged at least once!


My score suggests that not only was I no good at picking trumps, I was also no good at winning tricks either (though Andrew accidentally trumped me illegally at one point).

Anna 210
Moira 112
Carl 93
Andrew 92
Ian 3

Anna and Andrew then taught Carl and I Tichu. Tichu is a climbing game played in partnerships, with lots of bells and whistles. You play higher ranking card(s) than the previous person or pass, once three players pass the last person to play wins those cards and leads. The aim is to run out of cards first, though some of the scoring comes from the cards you win. Carl and I were keener on calling Tichu than our teachers, though I failed to make it once.

Ian and Anna 790
Carl and Andrew 410

We terminated the game early so Anna and Andrew could make a run for the bus.



At the other table Anne and John Rees taught John Bingham Brass. This was Travis's second game. Anne said afterwards that she thought there were more empty building spaces at the end of the game than she had seen in recent 4 player games. The second half of the game was characterized by a lack iron and coal. Travis built 62 points worth of railways (compared to Anne and John R who built 20 each). John B built two ship building yards. Travis was the victim of over building by Anne and John B (though he said we would have preferred to have built over John R), while Anne took two of the building sites he was counting on in the last turn. He was "royally screwed".

Anne 133
John R 128
John B 118
Travis 109