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Ben Bateson
United Kingdom
Ross-on-Wye
Owner of original 'crappy art' GtR and pleased about it.
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Bill, bless him, arrived with a mystery bag of games and said: "er...I don't really remember how to play any of these", in what is becoming a slightly bizarre Ross-on-Wye tradition (along with entertaining the dogs; saying 'harrow' in a
possibly-probably-offensive Chinese accent; failure to play Serenissima; and unhealthy consumption of pork scratchings). So we pulled out Fiji instead. Jules arrived just in time for the rules explanation, although part of the beauty of Fiji is that you can explain it as you go along. It was the usual frenetic madness, and - again as usual - Becky whupped our collective hides, ending with a perfect nine shrunken heads.
Our big game for the night was a long-overdue play of Puerto Rico. Bill, as the expert (translation: only player that had played before), took on the rules explanations while Jules wolfed down a vegetarian curry (with prawns...). Make sure to call them Colonists, not Slaves, to be politically correct. Part of the beauty of Puerto Rico is how easy it is to pick up the concept, and soon we were well underway and planning individual strategies. Jules quickly snapped up the tobacco concession, while Bill's early investment in corn allowed him to build an Office and a Factory which ensured plenty of income for the rest of the game. I was quite pleased to snap up two large purple buildings in the close, which was precipitated by Bill maxing out his town. Unsurprisingly, the expert won, but I pipped Becky by a point for second, which is about the best I could hope for. Need to examine the seating order next time we play...
With Jules taking his leave, we hoicked out a 3-player Caribbean. This is a game of which I'm particularly fond, although perhaps the bluff and second-guess elements are a bit too random for their own good. With the treasure appearing in a rather asymmetric fashion, two or three of the ships spent half the game out of play, and I thought I'd exploited an un-noticed treasure in the corner to pick up the winning points. No good, though, for Becky crept in to equal my score at the very last. With no tie-break in Caribbean, an honorable tie seemed a suitable way to finish the evening.
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Owner of original 'crappy art' GtR and pleased about it.
