Gamers At Dockers, December 28, 2006

Player: Melissa, Fraser, Anna, Ben

After spending several minutes discussing what we should play next, we finally convinced Ben that 1000 points of Tichu should take 45 minutes or so and not the two hours he was afraid of.

The first question was, who should partner who. The age-old solution arose: Great girls vs stinky boys.

First hand played, we set the mood for the night. Melissa went out first, then Anna. The boys never had a chance.

Scores:
Girls Boys
200 0

For hand 2, we upped the ante a little. Melissa called Tichu on a real "this hand cannot lose" hand (and with her first bomb of the evening). Anna ran with it, and once again the boys never stood a chance.

Scores:
Girls Boys
200 0
500 0

It was about now that the other players in the room noticed what was going on (we were using a handy whiteboard for scoring) and the sledging began. Apparently that put Melissa off her game, because while Anna made her Tichu (this hand featured Melissa's bomb, interference from Fraser's bomb and help from Melissa's OTHER bomb), Melissa was only third to go out.

Scores:
Girls Boys
200 0
500 0
680 20

Melissa felt the need to improve on her performance in the next hand, bidding and making a small Tichu. Anna was third to go out by a whisker, and the boys - well, let's look at the scoreboard shall we?

Scores:
Girls Boys
200 0
500 0
680 20
795 5

On to the next hand, a relatively peaceful one with no Tichu calls. Clearly the boys had read the rules their luck improving by this point - although I seem to remember a couple of bombs making it in to play again.

Scores:
Girls Boys
200 0
500 0
680 20
795 5
990 10

By now, the whole room was involved in the sledging, with several questions about how high Anna and Melissa might actually go. Anna even generously offered to bid a Grand Tichu (and prolong the game) but was fairly unanimously howled down, especially from her partner. Luckily she didn't, as I think one of the boys went out first for a final scoreboard tally of

Scores:
Girls Boys
200 0
500 0
680 20
795 5
990 10
1045 55

This was the point at which the boys claimed they were "trending well" (and were howled down with derision).

All that stuff people say about women being more gracious than men, and not lording it over others in defeat?

It's rubbish.

Girls rule.

Bunch of nay-sayers, we were so trending upwards! Just look at those last thee score lines for the boys.
5 -> 10 - doubled our score.
10 -> 55 - more than quadrupled our score.

The trend analysis clearly shows that there was a Grand Tichu One-Two with our name on it coming up next hand