A Curate's Egg

Last night was my first Tuesday night games after a fortnight's absence - that's three nights in a single sentence! Ok, four.

Photos will be in short supply I'm afraid, as I didn't take any - maybe Sam can slot some in. But I'll add a cartoon called True Humility, by George Du Maurier, originally published in Punch in 1895.

Bishop: "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones"; Curate: "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!"

This cartoon was sooooo funny in 1895 that it gave rise to the expression 'A Curate's Egg' used to describe something that is both good and bad. What passes for hysterical may have substantially changed in the intervening century, but the euphemism is going strong.

Five of us were ranged around my kitchen table; I was joined by Sam, Ian, Martin and finally Andy B. On my request, Sam had brought Space Base, which I was keen to try - In an email earlier that day, Martin had ladled luke-warm praise on it by quoting mediocre comments from BGG, but I for one was unperturbed. While we waited for Andy, we decided to roll out a quick Knister...

This is the roll-and-write game of a 5 x 5 grid of squares which you fill in with numbers from a pair of dice, hoping to form decent poker hands. My first game, and I liked it. That agonising Take It Easy feeling of needing (and failing to achieve) just the right number to pull off a big score, but without the triple-figure addition and GNN standard bingo-calling. In fact Andy arrived just as we were about to start, so we all played, and Andy took us to the cleaners. Points are good.

Andy 65
Sam 47
Joe 41
Ian 39
Martin 34

We decided that Space Base with 5 players was worth a shot, and Sam began setting up. Almost at once my doorbell rang - the latest in a line of interruptions that included Sybil farting, Sybil scratching to be let out and Sybil scratching to be let in. By the time I rejoined the table I felt I'd missed some valuable part of the explanation - or perhaps it was the riot of primary colour on the table - either way I was discombobulated. Everyone reassured me that I'd missed nothing, we got underway and I gradually regained my composure.

It's been called Machi Koro in space, and I can see the similarities. Everyone starts with similar bases numbered 1 to 12, and on your turn you're rolling a pair of dice (the second game in a row we'd played where was the main mechanism, as Martin noted), and activating ships in those bases. Or adding the two dice together and activating that one base. Most starting ships give you money, or income, and you use this to buy better ships, from an offer a little like that in Splendor; three rows of increasingly expensive and powerful ships. There's even one, as Sam mentioned, that lets you instantly win the game once you've activated it a few times. As you replace ships on your bases, you gain abilities that can be activated on the other players' rolls. Unless you're Ian, who was dogged by rolls that he couldn't use.

taken earlier

There were a few instances of confusion with the iconography, and the rulebook stayed in play for most of the game - Martin was appalled by the size of it for such a simple game, and also by the typos. Meanwhile Andy had spotted and exploited an interesting strategy - chaining powers that let him activate the ship next highest up. With his 8 to 11 bays stocked with these, any roll from 7 upwards would allow him to activate his 12 bay. Now all he needed was a 12 ship worth all that effort. And right on queue, the ship Sam had mentioned that lets you instantly win the game popped up. And Andy duly bought it. This essentially put a three round timer on the game, and we all began scrabbling for as many points as possible. There was a slim chance that Andy wouldn't get the roll he needed, but he got it.

We all agreed that the sweet spot would be three players, and it was to long and overpowered with five. Sam and I both liked it, not sure about Ian and Andy. Martin said he enjoyed the company, so parts of it were excellent; like the Curate's Egg. Points are good.

Andy WIN
Martin 31
Sam 27
Joe 20
Ian 6

We packed Space Base off to Uranus, and decided on a game of Texas Showdown next - another that's been detailed elsewhere on the blog recently, but was new to me. I love card games, and this one had a similar feeling to Voodoo Prince - good with five, tricks are bad and all that jazz.
During the game I decided to make nuts. Walnuts dry-roasted in a pan, then doused with salt water and dusted with smoked paprika once they've dried. I'll make them again, but next time I'll pop them in a hot oven to crisp up again after the water, and I won't add as much salt - Ian found them too salty, having run out of beer. Like a trusty Saint Bernard Sam produced a bottle of San Miguel from his bag to quench Ian's thirst, and we got back to finishing Texas Showdown. Points are bad.

Martin 8
Sam/Andy 9
Joe 10
Ian 12

artist's impression of my nuts

Everyone graciously agreed to try out a recent acquisition of mine, a little card game by Wolfgang Kramer and friends called Fat Fish. No one had ever heard of it, and we felt afterwards there may be a reason for that. Players lay cards to a single row in the offer of three - following some faintly convoluted rules. If a row has five cards you have to take it, a la 6 Nimmt, and score one of each colour from it - any duplicate colours score you minus points. There's a fiasco card that nets -5 to the latest player to not be able to follow the rules regarding card placement - an addition which strikes me as an act of desperation on the part of the designers: "The game's too confusing. We could simplify it, or... we could add a card that penalises players for being confused!" Trouble was it wasn't quite confusing enough to make it funny, and by the time the fiasco card was with me, everyone had worked out how to play.

It was "Not an instant classic", as Martin pointed out. It would be better with three, but far too chaotic with five, and not enough agency for players to feel in control. I'd like to play again with three, but for now, we stopped after a single round. Points are good and bad. Like the Curate's Egg.

Andy 29
Joe 21
Sam 16
Martin 6
Ian 4

Sam decided to make that his last game of the evening, having a very early start to London the next day - we remaining four cast about for a final bit of fun, and settled on Krass Kariert.
It was Andy's inaugural play, and we all enjoyed it. Making pairs, runs and triples is satisfying, particularly with the puzzle of not being allowed to reorder your hand. Of Martin's recent card game acquisitions it's probably my favourite - though I didn't warm to it as instantly as Zero Down, it's got a bit more depth.
In this game there are no points, just lives. And Ian ran out of lives before the rest of us.

Ian 0
Martin 1
Andy/Joe 2

We called it a night, and it was a most enjoyable one. Not a Curate's Egg at all - wholly excellent.