Saturday 19 February 2011

We started the afternoon with Andrew R, Andrew H, Anna, Carl, Jarratt, Anne and I. On one table Andrew R, Anna and Anne make some films in Traumfabrik. Anna won with over 100 points and Andrew lost. He says that there are several rule difference between Traumfabrik and Hollywood Blockbuster. In particular he says the rule in Hollywood Blockbuster for choosing tiles at the party involves counting the number of stars on actor and guest start tiles, also he says that Hollywood Blockbuster has different end game awards. This interested me but I couldn't find any references to this on BGG.

Meanwhile on the other table Carl and I took on Jarratt and Andrew H at Tichu. As is often the case we started cautiously without a Tichu call on the first hand (and A&J slapped us 80-20). After that Carl got his confidence back and called Tichu the next two hands, with a 50% success rate that put us back in front. The lead swapped back and forth and either side could have won. The game climaxed with a pair of Tichu 1-2s in the last two hands.

Hnd C & I A & J
1.    20    80  
2.   235    65  Carl's Tichu
3.   185   115  Carl failed to make Tichu
4.   220   180 
5.   220   480  Andrew's Tichu and 1-2
6.   280   520
7.   425   575  Carl's Tichu
8.   425   475  Carl and Jarratt failed Tichu but we scores all the points
9.   565   435  Carl's Tichu and Andrew failed
10.  570   530
11.  760   540  Carl's Tichu
12.  760   840  Jarratt's Tichu and 1-2
13. 1060   840  Carl's Tichu and 1-2

Overall Carl called Tichu 7 times in 13 hands and only failed twice. On the other hand I was way too cautious to call Tichu; while Andrew and Jarratt were more balanced calling twice each. The joke of the game was that whenever Carl called Tichu it meant that I had the stronger hand, this turned out to save our bacon at least once!

While we continued to play Tichu the others played a hand of Coloretto which Andrew Rae won before he hurried back to his family. Andrew P took his place and won a couple of games of Attika against Anna and Anne, with shrine to shrine victories.

Anna and Anne who had been jealous of our game of Tichu challenged Andrew and Jarratt to a game. The boys started off with a rush with 3 successful Tichus. After a couple of quite hands both Anna and Andrew called Tichu and both failed. Finally Anna and Anne started their come back.

Hnd A & J A & A
1.   165    35  Jarratt's Tichu  
2.   360    40  Jarratt's Tichu
3.   505    95  Andrew's Tichu
4.   575   125
5.   655   145
6.   600   100  Andrew & Anna both failed Tichu
7.   600   400  Anna's Tichu and 1-2

The game was abandoned because Jarratt had to go and cook dinner, amid protests from the others!

On the dining table I tried to teach Havoc to Jim, Margot and Carl. Unfortunately this turned out to be one of my less successful teaching efforts and Carl in particular ended up with the wrong idea of how to play a battle. I obviously need to brush up on my teaching technique. Andrew P beat me on the tie-break.

Andrew P  30
Ian       30
Margot    26
Jim       22
Carl       9

After Jarratt left, Anna and Andrew H taught Anne Glory to Rome. Anne played a military strategy but was weak in other areas.

During the dinner break Jim, Andrew H, Carl and I learnt my new game of The Bottle Imp and played one hand. I'd now like to try a full game of this odd trick taking game.

After dinner Andrew and Anna taught Carl Glory to Rome. But I was busy teaching Jim and Margo On the Underground. Which was draw between Jim and Anne.

Jim    48
Anne   48
Ian    41
Margot 38

By 10 pm everyone had gone home and after we tidied up Anne and I played a final game. Jaipur is our current two player game of choice. I won 2 out of 3 rounds.

Ian  54 57 86
Anne 89 49 72

Overall it was a pretty successful day even though I only played in 4 of the 11 games.