Ripping Yarns

So the bi-weekly Bracknell meet ups arrived again as had the promised new games. This week us board gamers had the new titles, Mr Jack, Thurn and Taxis and Alhambra to choose from. It would have been four with Mammut but that hadn't arrived yet.

I was really eager to give Mr Jack a try after reading so many good reviews and I quickly read the rules and took a mock turn before setting off to James' house. One good aspect of the game is that it is relatively rules light, although it takes a turn or two to get your head round what is happening (Like pretty much all games I guess). In our first bout I took the reins of the detective and James, Mr Jack. In the early turns Jack managed to stay in the light (witnessed) along with most of the supporting cast until the detective realised that it might be a great idea to whittle down the suspects. At this point Jack changed tack and went to the dark side (No Witnesses), thus giving him the ability to escape if he could manufacture the chance. The cat and mouse antics continued until the 7th turn when the detective, with only one option left, managed catch him and reveal his identity Scooby Doo style .

In our second game we fell foul of not noticing one of the characters special abilities, with me as Mr Jack, had wandered into Dr Watson's lamplight. When the call for witnesses was made neither of us noticed and an incorrect call was made. The error was noticed next round but it was too late. It was a bit blooming obvious who Mr Jack was now, so we started again.

This time, still playing Mr Jack, I started appallingly and by turn 3 I was down to 3 suspects and turn 4 down to 2. I changed my tactic and drove both unseen characters to the exits. The dilemma was enough to let my Miss Stealthy nip down a drain and out the unblocked exit. If Mr Jack had been any other character he wouldn't have had enough moves to escape and that would have been it!

Overall a very enjoyable experience, although James noted that the game played out in a similar fashion to chess with each player deep in thought or waiting, not wanting to distract the other.

On the following day Paul arrived without his usual funny observation of something that happened on the journey in. Not letting this get us down we proceeded to peruse the new games. Unfortunately Thurn and Taxis would need to be left for another day as I had contrived to buy the German version of the game and didn't want to hunt around for the English rules. I pressed forvMr Jack again as I could relate the rules quickly due to last nights gaming.

The first game Paul played detective and straight away seemed to have got the hang of it. Mr Jack was left clinging on until the 8th turn when he could do nothing to escape Sergent (sic) Goodleys draw. In the return fixture the detective managed to eliminate most of the suspects by mid game however Mr Jack had adroitly managed to escape being further whittled down, until 7th turn when Doctor Watson dobbed him in.

Then onto Alhambra where it seemed like Paul and I were in a battle to beat Dirk (The 3rd non player). There wasn't much in this until the third scoring round saw Dirk disappear into the distance with his Kew sized garden. Paul then employed Dirks help by giving him Towers, which I was ahead in. The subsequent tie meant that second place actually scored more and Paul cleaned up.

Paul - 122

Dirk - 102

Chris - 81

Beaten by a Non playing character. Balls. (We may need to look that rule of second place up, it seemed unfair but we played it consistently through the game and couldn't change).