Girls, girls, girls

Three of them! At a games night! Tonight Joe found he was babysitting his own kids while his wife was away, and so he decided that a game of Long Shot with his charming offspring along with his charming off-centre friends would be an ideal evening.

Long Shot is a horse racing game, in which ten horses race around a track spurred on by dice and action cards. We bet on them, and buy them, and hope that our choices earn us money in the end because in this game: prizes makes places.

There were six of us around the table. Me, Will, Bea, Martha, Matilda and Joe. Dice were rolled and horses slowly edge their way around the oval track. It was a lot of fun, and the interaction between cards and dice is nicely done. Obviously you end up supporting your own horse, but the ability to bet means you inevitably end up helping your opponents.

The dice were not kind to Matilda who found herself on the receiving end of having to give away a card four times. Although once she did convince her youngest sister to take a card that she herself chose, which is strictly against the rules of the game, even if it follows the rules of sibling rivalry.

It went on for quite a while, and I started to suffer a case of the Pax Porfirianas, in which I had a card which would have been sensible to play, but also would have extended the game, so I didn't. Quite a lot of the delay was caused by the Berger clan who, like a genteel Marx Brothers, caused havoc by accidentally throwing mini-cornettos across the room, inventing new things that the action cards say, and generally needing encouragement to concentrate on the game by their father.

Towards the end the youngest sister went to get ready for bed because she was getting bored, so Sam (who'd turned up mid-game) took over her place. For someone who didn't know the rules, and whose horse was a long way back, I'd say he coped quite well.

In the end, it was horse number eight that came in first. It belonged to Bea, who also had the foresight to bet on it heavily. I spread my bets across the leaders, plus my horse made its fifty dollar bonus by coming in third. This gave us first and second respectively. Will tried his best by spoiling other people's races, and Matilda had a hand of cards that got her money, but didn't move her horse. Not sure what Joe was doing. Maybe he was distracted by something.

Bea 390
Andrew 350
Will 270
Matilda 265
Martha/Sam 205
Joe 155

After this, the young section of the group went to bed and the four of us set up something a little more mature and thoughtful. The Downfall of Pompeii! What could be more fun that throwing your opponents into a volcano while darting between streams of lava?

Joe explained the rules to Will, and he picked them up pretty sharpish. He even encouraged us to chuck his meeples into the volcano, if he thought it was the most sensible move for us.

Sam 9
Will 8 (wins second on tie-breaker)
Andrew 8
Joe 7

After this, with neither Adam nor Steve present, we broke out the High Society, like recovering alcoholics having a swift one while no one was watching. It may be a love or hate thing, but Reiner Knizia's cunningly structured game of bidding and hoping on the next card is a tiny classic. Will took the first game by a country mile.

Will 22
Sam 11
Andrew 7.5
Joe BUST!

After this, Sam had to go home and Will, Joe and I played one last game. Once again, Will played like a master. Towards the end, he was left with one card and was cursing his luck, so we thought he was left with a mere one million or something. In the end, he had the $25m card left, which mean that first-placed Joe suddenly crashed out of the game.

Will 12 (wins on tie breaker)
Andrew 12
Joe BUST!

Was Long Shot leaderboard? Anyway, it's Joe's turn to suffer an evening of last places, which hits him hard. Will makes an impressive entrance.

						Points
Steve	1	1	2	2	4	10
Andrew	2	3	2	1	3	11
Hannah	4	1	1	2	3	11
Anja	4	2	1	2	2	11
Sam	2	1	4	4	1	12
Adam	2	2	3	2	4	13
Will	1	1	2	5	5	14
Joe	3	4	4	3	1	15
Jon	3	5	1	5	5	19
Quentin	1	5	5	5	5	21