|
Gold by Michael Schacht
Kendall arrives at Dicken’s house and hails his neighbour as she puts out refuse bins – well, it could have been Dicken. The man himself is on his lap-top as Kendall lets himself into the house, causing Dicken to check whether his door-bell is working or not – it was switched off!. Without further ado or confusion the pair make for Rob’s car, where Kendall elects to move the passenger seat forward before squeezing into the back seat. ‘New car, eh Robb?’ enquires Dicken. ‘No, it’s just the passenger seat moved forward…’ It could be a long evening (it was dark, already! – ed).
The party complete heads off towards Epsom town centre. Rob has taken on the character of the bus driver from the opening scenes of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. His little car hurtles through non-existent gaps in traffic, bounces off kerbs and then abruptly halts outside our destination; the British Legion Social Club, home to the Epsom Board Games Club. Squeezing into the last remaining space in the car park, it’s evident that hordes of members must now be present and hence the urgency of Rob’s driving.
The door is marked ‘Pull’ but won’t. As usual in such circumstances this results in Kendall pushing said door, then pulling the other door, then pushing the other door, before pulling the first door a tad harder. Kendall is no engineer. Great entrance. A sea of faces stare in bemusement. ‘Hi guys!’ - welcome to the Club.
There are three groups of tables drawn up with three or four gamers at each group. Two locals are propped at the bar. So whose are all those cars?? A few greetings and then Rob and Dicken put together another group of tables, whilst Kendall gets the beers in. ‘Speckled Hen?’ asks Rob. ‘Sorry’. ‘Is the Abbot on?’ from Dicken. ‘No’. ‘That’ll be three Green Kings then’ says Kendall brightly. At £2.30 a pint he has reason to be cheerful. At the last visit Dicken knocked over a full pint and barely checked his change when buying a replacement. There are no other gamers waiting to play, so the threesome sit down to a card game that Rob has brought along. ‘Watch out, this table’s a bit sticky?’ Must be the one Dicken abused last time.
Gold is the name, but Donkey is what sticks in the mind. The illustration is distinctly Shrek-like; ‘Are we there yet?’ There appears no relevance to the -2 Gold card being a donkey, but there you go. All other cards are points of Gold; 3 – 8 and in six different colours. Five cards are dealt face up at the start of each round and players can take the lowest card available, swap a -2 card for any other card or swap a higher value card for a lower. Cards are collected by colour. Three cards make a set and are immediately scored. At this point a player steals one card from any other player, but that card has to be a different colour to the ones the player has remaining in front of him and different to the set just scored.
Give or take a few organisational rules, that’s about it.
The game gets underway and as Rob has intimated it is entertaining and not a little mind-exercising - without being taxing. Rob scores, then Dicken, then Kendall, then Dicken again…. Stealing cards adds a little bit of tension, but awareness of who is doing best and no-brainer options keeps a lid on any hard feelings.
Half way though (ten minutes) and the party is joined by Dev. He’s looking to play whatever is decided next and is happy to watch meanwhile.
The game completes with a last round that starts to suffer from a touch of analysis-paralysis. Kendall feels that Rob is probably winning…. And so it proves. A win for Rob (62 Gold), Kendall (60), Dicken (55). Dev magically produces the club’s record-keeping sheet and the Ragnars give a rating of 7/10 for Gold.
The evening is yet young (Club starts at 7.00, which is an hour earlier than normal Ragnar Games-nights). Other games available to play are stacked nearby. Tigris and Euphrates, London, Evo, Year of the Dragon to name but a few old favourites. The group has been joined by James (friend from Peter’s games’ evenings) and so a 5-player game is required. There aren’t many to choose from and besides it’s going to be tricky if someone doesn’t have a fair grasp of the rules already. Fortunately James has played Last Will (brought along courtesy of and thanks to Andrew) and he is press-ganged into being the rules-meister for the evening.
Dicken’s turn to buy the beer. More Green King for Kendall and Dicken, but Rob has gone temperate.
Talking of which… it’s b***** chilly in the Club; goodness knows what it was like the previous evening when it was minus 5 degrees.
Last Will is out of Queen Games and typically is replete with components. Andrew helpfully breaks off from another table to help set-up and then it’s over to James. The game aim is to spend up a sum of money (in this case £100) as quickly as possible. Buying property and letting it decline in value, selling it at a loss, buying horses or keeping ‘ladies’ or dogs, having parties – you name it. Mechanics are relatively straight-forward. Players choose one ‘set’ made up of taking a number of cards, placing one or two top hats (in exchange for cards or actions from the board) and then a number (1-4) actions. Choice of the set also determines player order. Then it’s over to acquiring various cards (preferably understanding what they do), playing them to one’s array and then activating them once per turn. Dev keeps mentioning Race to the Galaxy – so presumably this bears some similarity.
It’s all good fun. There seems to be little interaction possible or probable. Time is spent calculating one’s own options whilst other player’s play out their turn. Kendall inadvertently loses £50 at game start – it might have gone un-noticed if he hadn’t spent an age searching for it in the gloom. Plenty of banter and the cards throw up opportunity for word-play ‘Dinner for dogs – dog’s dinner’ – Boom! Boom!
Kendall gets in more beer. The Abbot is back on.
The seventh turn marks the end of the game if it hasn’t already been reached. James, Dev and Kendall are all close to zero cash (and no remaining property) and the winning line. Kendall has played the housing market using an Estate Agent and Steward card. Dev has … er been doing something using combinations of cards on the opposite side of the table. James has been …. Er doing quite well. Rob meanwhile is complaining about cards he’d not been able to draw, so we know what he’s been doing (losing badly). Dicken is calmly soaking up the rules and card varieties ready to play the game ‘properly’ next time.
James sets down the marker – minus £4, Kendall equals that. Dicken can’t sell his last property in time and comes home with £12. Rob still has £33 and by all accounts has played ‘like a drain’. Dev creeps home with minus £6. Handshakes all round and then home.
The consensus is a 7/10 for Last Will and the components are very nice. Dev utilises his smart phone and comes up with a price of £30 from Games Guru – not bad for what you get.
A good night out. We will be back!
Return to top
|
