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'Modern Art' by Reiner Knitzia and 'Machu Pichu' by Gunter Burkhardt.
Dicken and Kendall are talking in hushed tones when there is a 'Hello?' from the hall and the front door is pushed open. It's Michelle and Robin, tonight's guests.
'Do you always leave your door open?' asks Michelle.
'Oh, yes. This is a very neighbourly neighbourhood.' Kendall has barely time to wind up the drawbridge, before Dicken has introduced himself - as if to prove the point.
'I know that lady!' a voice cries from the top of the stairs. Clearly they have arrived at a madhouse.
Robin is bearing a gift - 'Machu Pichu'. The Ragnars can hardly believe it - the fabled lost rules of the Incas, hot off the inkjet. Herr Robin has finally completed the translation.
Something else catches the eagle eye of Dicken. 'Is that Kombucha tea you're drinking?' Robin confesses that it is, but that he is only trying it out. Dicken is beside himself. His sister-in-law runs a distillery in the cloud shrouded Yorkshire village of Haworth. Dicken himself has imbibed the wondrous tea for a period of six months. He even persuaded Kendall to try it once. 'Just the once' retorts Kendall and then gets Dicken to spill the beans on it’s mooted healing properties.
Tonight's first game is 'Modern Art' by Reiner. Spiller is yet to arrive, so an explanation of the rules seems a good idea. It also seems a good idea to let Michelle and Robin know that there might just be an embarrassing moment ahead. Apparently, Paul and Liz might be contemplating coming over tonight. Spiller has been deputed to head them off at the pass - via the telephone. Should he fail it will be necessary to wear beaming smiles and say things like, 'Oh good seven of us. We haven't played Dalmuti for ages!'. Michelle and Robin don't appear at all vexed by this - or maybe they're already accomplished actors.
They are not very experienced gamers. In fact Kendall invited them along on the basis that they had once played (once) 'Lord of the Rings' by Reiner. They had quite enjoyed it, but preferred the book. Kendall and Dicken don't bother to mention the designer of the game they are about to play.
Spiller arrives - without Paul and Liz. Dicken completes the telling of the rules, while Spiller whispers the trauma of his call to Liz. Michelle and Robin are still smiling, but clearly haven't a clue what Dicken has been on about. It is agreed to start; play turn 1; review the situation; continue or play turn 1 again if the wheels have come off.
Michelle is the youngest player and she starts. Robin immediately impresses by buying paintings at unheard of prices. Dicken can't shift enough of the stuff. Half way through turn 1 and the Ragnars are willing to be convinced that Robin has an impressive gift for long term strategy.
Spiller tells a joke. Something about Greece, venereal disease and a mix-up with Hermes. It's not funny. Robin liked last week's joke (see 'Le Grande Alchemiste' review). Dicken is emboldened to tell the 'best' web-site joke - never a good idea. He casts off on an embroidered rendering of the 'Martini' joke (see some other review - can't think which right now), throwing in the date of the invasion, a visit to 'Londinium' and other Romanesque embellishments. Then he forgets how to set up the punch line, stumbling over 'Martinum' and 'Martinus'. Spiller comes to the rescue; re-tells the whole joke, pulls the trigger only to find he's still firing blanks.
Fortunately, Michelle and Robin still appear to be enjoying themselves. Which is just as well, as the Ragnars are steadily munching their way through the nibbles which they (Michelle and Robin) kindly brought along.
The game is also going well. It's definitely a very good game and you can read all about it in an earlier review if you want more detail. To cut a long story short (always a good idea) Dicken wins, with Kendall second. Robin's long term strategy worked brilliantly in turn 3, but folded in turn 4.
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Tonight though, is all about 'Machu Pichu'.
Bought as a Christmas present for Spiller by Kendall, it has had the longest wait to be played of any game in the Ragnar collection (there are games that will never be played, but that's a different story). Kendall had tried e-mailing Piatnik, only to be told that no English translation existed. He'd even persuaded his former boss to ask her mother to translate the rules! Instead, Robin has come to the rescue.
Spiller reads. The poetry of the introduction is really quite impressive. The rest makes little immediate sense! Fortunately there are some useful illustrations in the original German rules that, together with some Ragnar gaming logic and Robin's over-view enables the puzzle to be un-puzzled.
Striking amongst the components are four square pillars, each of a different height. These are the Priests and they shuffle around at the top of a pyramid (slight historical inaccuracy ?) trying to collect Sun-stones, whilst not having the misfortune to fall off the pyramid and thereby incur Fire-stones (negative scores) and almost certainly severely twisted ankles. The said stones are of increasing values, which probably means players always have a chance of catching up or of being caught. Players are secretly allocated two priests each and tally their respective scores at the end of the game. He/she who scores most, wins.
Sandi has brought in a most impressive cheeseboard. Comment is made about the quality of cheese (Neufchatel) and Kendall is pleased to relate that his in-laws now live just down the road from this pleasant town in Normandy.
Some difficulties over the use of cards present themselves.
One set of cards is numbered 1-50. These are played to move the Priests; the highest number moving the tallest Priest etc. The card is positioned on the North, South, East or West side of the pyramid and the appropriate Priest will move 1 space away from that card. Some of the 25 squares on the top of the Pyramid contain a Sun symbol and if a Priest ends the turn on such a square then a Sun-stone is collected.
The other set of cards determine how the movement cards are placed on the pyramid. Sometimes face-up, sometimes face-down, sometimes a mix. The order of placing cards is important and so the first player rotates, getting the High-Priest marker as an indicator (the marker is our old friend the 'Robber Baron') .
The game begins, Kendall and Spiller having to team up. On the first turn no-one collects a Sun-stone (par for the course). On the second turn the second tallest Priest collects a Sun-stone and a couple of Priests plummet over the side (they go back to their start square next turn) - limping no doubt. The tallest Priest (number 4) is shuffling backwards and forwards near the edge and feeling a trifle silly.
Spiller hasn't got it. He keeps letting Kendall take the turns and then looking bemused. It turns out that Spiller thinks the highest number allows the player who played it to move a Priest of that player's choosing. Consequently when cards are turned over and Dicken breezily dances the Priests any which way, Spiller starts getting panic attacks and he could be over the side next.
It's proving difficult to get any sense of control over the two medium-sized Priests. And time is running out. There are only 8 turns to the game and also the possibility of an early finish if a Priest gets very lucky and manages to bob in and out of the middle square, where two Sun-stones at a time are collected.
Supposed to last 40 minutes, but completed in 30 despite frequent rule checks. Spiller and Kendall are buoyant, being the only ones to record a positive score at the end of the game. Robin, Michelle and Dicken are all short of a proton or two.
It could be a misreading of the rules. It could be that one turn requires each player to be the High Priest. However, Robin tells us it doesn't say that - and who are we to argue! Consensus is though that this is a clever game and will bear playing a few times more.
No time for coffee, but still time for Dicken to regale the company with more tales from the land of Kombucha. Apparently the mushrooms used in the making feel just like dolphins. 'Where do you get them from?' inquires Michelle with what seems genuine interest. Too much for Kendall and Spiller.
'From the sea'. 'Quite large animals'. 'Difficult to keep in a bowl'.
Goodnight, and thanks for the fish.
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