This week, the evening started with Purple and the “Silent Black” sharing their ice creams, and, as people started joining the meeting, they began preparing for the evening’s “Feature Game“.  This was to be ClipCut Parks.  This is a variant on the the recent “Roll and Write” style games that have been so successful when played remotely.  Like Second Chance and Cartographers, this is a Tetris-style game, but this time, instead of pens, players use scissors.  The idea of the game is that players have a sheet of paper which they cut pieces off, matching the shape, colour and any special features on their park cards.

– Image by boardGOATS

The game comes with a pad of printed paper sheets, a deck of cards, one special red die, and four pairs of scissors.  Players start with two cards each, one paper sheet and a pair of scissors.  On their turn they roll the special die which tells everyone how many cuts they must make and and of what length.  Any pieces that are separated from their main sheet must be placed on one of that player’s pair of park cards, taking care to match any colours and symbols on the card.  When a player completes a park card, they get any bonuses associated with it and draw a new card from the deck.  Any pieces that cannot be placed, are screwed up and set aside to be used as a tie-breaker.  The first player to finish five parks is the winner

– Image by boardGOATS

Clearly deck of Park cards was going to be a problem when playing remotely, so a few minor modifications were made to make the game work in our current circumstances.  Each player had a print-out including a numbered array of cards and one of each of the four different sheets (also numbered).  They then used a six-sided die to choose which sheet they were going to use and which Park cards they were going to start with.  So, as people arrived, this was explained and players began rolling dice and cutting out their chosen sheet.

– Image by boardGOATS

Mulberry complained that the die that Blue had dropped round that morning appeared to be loaded as it kept giving her sixes, but otherwise, everyone had their starting pieces ready shortly after 8pm and were ready to start.  Once the rules had been explained, Pink began rolling the special red die and everyone else started scratching their heads.  Those with good spacial awareness are inevitably at an advantage in this game, and not cutting any fingers off helps too of course.

– Image by boardGOATS

Amidst the quiet concentration, there were a lot of distressed comments at unhelpful die rolls together with plenty of moaning and general complaining as people struggled to make optimum cuts to give pieces of a useable size and shape.  Everyone seemed to struggle to get recycling and wildlife symbols where they needed them.  It wasn’t long before people were calling out as they completed their first parks though, and then, people were finishing their second and third, while some others were still struggling to complete their first Parks.

– Image by Mulberry

Mulberry was quick to get her nose out in front, although others’ careful planning did help to reduce the deficit.  Pink, Green, Ivory and the Silent One were all close to finishing with some just one snip away when Mulberry called her fifth completed Park all too soon, and to the complete disbelief of some who were still a long way behind.  All in all, ClipCut Parks had a very different feel to the other games we’ve played, though it worked just as well.  Some people clearly felt they were just getting the hang of it when it ended, and in general, although everyone seemed happy to give it another go, the consensus was “some other time”.

– Image by boardGOATS

Lime had had a really rough day, so took his leave and Mulberry headed off too.  Everyone else was keen to play something else though, so since Second Chance had just missed out last time, we decided rectify that.  This is another Tetrissy game, but this time with colouring in.  It is very simple:  players start with a nine-by-nine grid and a starting shape which they draw on their grid.  Then, two cards from a deck are turned over and everyone draws one of the two shapes anywhere on their grid.  If they can’t use either shape, then another card is turned over, just for them, and if they can’t use that either, they are eliminated.

– Image by boardGOATS

This time, a lot of the small pieces came out early.  This made things difficult for everyone because these pieces are best used for filling in the gaps left by the larger pieces.  As a result, there was a lot of moaning and then Ivory was the first to need a second chance.  Sadly, it was unhelpful and after the bonus for finishing first, he was knocked out leaving him unable to improve on his nineteen points.  Burgundy and Pine soon followed and eventually the game boiled down to a battle between Purple and Blue.

– Image by boardGOATS

Avoiding elimination is obviously helpful, but it isn’t everything:  the winner is the the player with the fewest empty spaces.  Purple and Pine finished with what might normally be a winning score of ten, however, somehow, the pieces had aligned for Blue and she finished with the remarkably low score of three to take victory.

– Image by boardGOATS

Pink was keen to play Crafty Badger, a recent arrival delivered from the US by Mulberry.  It has a very cute badger, but was ruled out for several reasons.  Firstly, the game is a memory game suitable for anyone above the age of three, but it wouldn’t play terribly well over Microsoft Teams.  Secondly, even with Ivory taking his leave, there were six players and the game only played four.  So, instead, we decided to play For Sale.

– Image by boardGOATS

For Sale is a fairly simple game that we’ve played a lot this year, initially in real life, but more recently, online through Board Game Arena.  The idea is that players first buy property cards through auction, then sell them trying to make as much profit as possible.  The cards are numbered one to thirty, with the higher the number the more desirable the property.  Once the properties have all been auctioned, fixed value cheques are revealed and players choose which property they are going to sell—the cheques are handed out with the largest going to the most desirable, and everyone trying to avoid the worthless void.

– Image by boardGOATS

Players who pass during the auction stage, take the lowest available card and get half their bid returned, while the player who wins the auction pays their full bid.  Until last time, we have played by the more recent, Überplay rules where the returned money is rounded down.  Last time, however, we played using the original Ravensburger/Schmid, rules where the money returned was rounded up.  This gave everyone a little bit more money to spend and made passing early a little bit more lucrative.

– Image by boardGOATS

Burgundy usually does really well in For Sale, but last time we played it, he had a really bad time which we partly blamed on this change to the rules. So this time, to give everyone else a chance again, we decided to stick with the new rules.  Despite this, normal service was resumed and although he ran out of money during the buying phase, Burgundy managed to pick up some very desirable properties including the most valuable, the space station.

– Image by boardGOATS

The game isn’t only about buying; timing when selling is very important too.  So, the fact that Burgundy managed to take the largest cheque in three of the five rounds was partly the result of having good properties but also the result of playing them at the right time.  Either way, winning more than half the selling rounds was the main reason he ultimately finished with fifty-four points, four more than Black who took second place ahead of Pink in third.

– Image by boardGOATS from boardgamearena.com

The night was still young and there was time for our now almost inevitable couple of rounds of 6 Nimmt!.  We now almost exclusively play with the crazy “Professional Variant”, which adds a whole new level of madness:  players simultaneously chose a card to play, then starting with the card with the lowest face value they add them to one of the four rows.  What makes this variant special is that the card is added to either end of the rows, whichever gives the smallest difference.

– Image by boardGOATS

This adds a new layer of complexity, and, importantly, means that cards with low numbers are much more useful and can even be used to stymie others.  It also means that rows with the highest value cards are no-longer “dead” and can eventually get picked up when someone’s plans go awry.  Some say the game is pure luck, but there is definitely more to it than that, and with the “Professional Variant”, even more so.  The fact that some players generally do well and others generally do not so well, is proof of this.

– Image by boardGOATS

Although he always claims it’s not the case, Pine is one who usually does well at 6 Nimmt!; while wins are definitely hard to come by, it is rare that he isn’t in the top three.  Purple, on the other hand, is often a bit of a card magnet.  This time she was first to pick up, and second.  In fact she was only saved from three in a row by Blue who had a bit of a nightmare too this time.  Inevitably perhaps, Purple triggered the end of a tough game in which Black ran out the winner with just seventeen.

– Image by boardGOATS from boardgamearena.com

Once is rarely enough with 6 Nimmt!, and a rematch is so east to set up on Board Game Arena.  This time, Black went from hero to zero, easily winning the race to the bottom and finishing with a spectacular minus fourteen.  Blue and Pink went the other way, with Pink remaining almost unscathed, finishing with sixty-one and Blue taking second place.  There was a little bit of chatter, but everyone was tired, so it was a (relatively) early finish.

– Image by boardGOATS from boardgamearena.com

Learning Outcome:  All public parks should have wildlife and recycling facilities.