Category Archives: Old News

Next Meeting – 22nd September 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 22nd September, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Notre Dame, which is a slightly older Euro-game, where players juggle the two main resources, influence and money, in an effort to translate them into victory points.  While working to score points players have to carefully manage the threat posed by the rat population and avoid the potentially crippling plague.

Notre Dame
– Image used with permission of BGG reviewer EndersGame

And speaking of the plague…

Jeff had been ill for a couple of days, so, convinced he was dying he went to the doctor.  The doctor ran a whole battery of tests and then him down and said, “I’m afraid you have bubonic plague.”

Jeff was shocked, but after a moment or two, he hopefully asked, “Doctor, can you do something?”

The doctor answered, “Well, you’ll have to stay in the hospital… and we’ll put you on a special diet of flounder, pizza, and pancakes.”

Jeff thought that didn’t sound so awful, but he was curious, “How is that diet going to cure me?”

The doctor replied, “Well, it isn’t, but those are the only foods we can slide under the door!”

Next Meeting – 8th September 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 8th September, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Mystery of the Abbey, which is a deduction style boardgame where players take the role of monks in a monastery trying to discover who killed Brother Adelmo.

Mystery of the Abbey
– Image by boardGOATS

And speaking of monks…

A young novice arrived at the monastery and was assigned to help the other monks copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.  After a while, he noticed that all the monks were copying from copies, rather than from the original manuscript. So, the young diligent novice went to see Abbot Jeffrey to question this and point out that if someone had made even a small error in the first copy, it would never have been picked up. In fact, he added that error would have been continued in all of the other subsequent copies.

Abbot Jeffrey said, “My son, we have been copying from copies for centuries, but you make a very valid point, I will look into it myself.”

So off he went down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where all the original manuscripts were held archived in a locked vault that hadn’t been opened for hundreds of years. Hours went by and nobody saw hide nor hair of the abbot.

The monks got a bit worried, so the young novice went down to look for Abbot Jeffrey and found him banging his head against the wall, wailing, “We missed the ‘R’, we missed the ‘R’…” His forehead was blooded and bruised and he was crying uncontrollably.

The young novice was horrified and asked the abbot, “Whatever’s wrong, father?”

With a choking voice, Abbot Jeffrey replied, “After all these years… the word was ‘Celebrate’!”

Next Meeting – 8th September 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 8th September, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Mystery of the Abbey, which is a deduction style boardgame where players take the role of monks in a monastery trying to discover who killed Brother Adelmo.

Mystery of the Abbey
– Image by BGG boardGOATS

And speaking of monks…

A young novice arrived at the monastery and was assigned to help the other monks copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.  After a while, he noticed that all the monks were copying from copies, rather than from the original manuscript. So, the young diligent novice went to see Abbot Jeffrey to question this and point out that if someone had made even a small error in the first copy, it would never have been picked up. In fact, he added that error would have been continued in all of the other subsequent copies.

Abbot Jeffrey said, “My son, we have been copying from copies for centuries, but you make a very valid point, I will look into it myself.”

So off he went down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where all the original manuscripts were held archived in a locked vault that hadn’t been opened for hundreds of years. Hours went by and nobody saw hide nor hair of the abbot.

The monks got a bit worried, so the young novice went down to look for Abbot Jeffrey and found him banging his head against the wall, wailing, “We missed the ‘R’, we missed the ‘R’…” His forehead was blooded and bruised and he was crying uncontrollably.

The young novice was horrified and asked the abbot, “Whatever’s wrong, father?”

With a choking voice, Abbot Jeffrey replied, “After all these years… the word was ‘Celebrate’!”

Next Meeting – 25th August 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 25th August, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale. As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

The “Feature Game” will be Eketorp, where players build Viking strongholds upon the Swedish island of Öland.  The winner will be the player who does Viking-type things best, including winning battles and pillaging.

Eketorp
– Image used with permission of BGG contributor cuazzel

And talking of Vikings…

A famous Viking explorer returned home from a voyage and found his name missing from the town register. His wife insisted on complaining to the local civic official, Jeff, who apologized profusely saying, “I must have taken Leif off my census…”

Next Meeting – 11th August 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 11th August, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Port Royal, which is a light card game where players are trying to earn as much as they can from the Caribbean Sea, but if they set their goals too high, they might take home nothing for the day.

Port Royal
– Image used with permission of BGG contributor punkin312

And speaking of sailors…

It was a dark, stormy, night at sea and Jeff was on his first assignment on-board ship – guard duty.  The Captain stepped out taking his dog for a walk and Jeff, slightly nervous snapped to attention, made a near-perfect salute, and snapped out, “Good Evening, sir!”

The Captain, who was out for some relaxation, returned the salute and said, “Good evening Seaman, nice night, isn’t it?”  Well it wasn’t a nice night, but Jeff wasn’t going to disagree with the Captain, so Jeff saluted again and replied “Yes sir!”.

The Captain continued, “You know there’s something about a stormy night that I find soothing, it’s really relaxing. Don’t you agree?”  Jeff didn’t agree, but then he was just a seaman, so without hesitation, he responded, “Yes sir!”

Then the Captain, pointing at the dog said, “This is a Golden Retriever, the best type of dog to train.” The Seaman glanced at the dog, saluted yet again and said, ” Yes sir!”  The Captain continued, “I got this dog for my wife.” Without thinking, Jeff replied, “Good trade, sir!”

Next Meeting – 28th July 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 28th July, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Last Will, which is basically the boardgame equivalent of the film “Brewster’s Millions”;  the idea is that in his last will, a rich gentleman stated that all of his millions would go to the nephew who could enjoy money the most.  In order to find out who that would be, each player starts with a large amount of money and whoever spends it first is the rightful heir, and winner.

Last Will
– Image by BGG contributor cnidius

And speaking of wills…

Jeff’s latest girlfriend, Jill, was a trainee lawyer specialising in wills and probate.  One day, an elderly reclusive gentleman called the office and asked the receptionist about having a will prepared.  In the usual way, the receptionist suggested they made an appointment at a convenient time for the gentleman to come into the office.

The elderly gent replied, “You must understand, I’ve lived alone all my life, I rarely see anyone, and I don’t like to go out. Would it be possible for the lawyer to come to my house?”

The receptionist checked with Jill who agreed and she went to the gentleman’s home for the meeting to discuss her estate and the will.  Jill’s first question was, “Would you please tell me what you have in assets and how you’d like them to be distributed in the event of your passing?”

The elderly gentleman answered, “Besides the furniture and accessories you see here, I have £400,000 in savings.”

“OK,” said Jill, “So how would you like the £400,000 to be distributed?”

The gentleman replied, “Well, as I’ve told you, I’ve lived a reclusive life, people have hardly ever noticed me, so I’d like them to notice when I leave. I’d like to provide £350,000 for my funeral.”

Jill remarked, “Well, for £350,000 you will be able to have a funeral that will certainly be noticed and will leave a lasting impression on anyone who may not have taken much note of you!”  She continued, “But tell me, what would you like to do with the remaining £50,000?”

The gentleman hesitated and eventually answered, “As you know, I’ve never married, I’ve lived alone almost my entire life, and in fact I’ve never slept with a woman.  Before I die, I’d like you to use the £50,000 to arrange for a woman to sleep with me.”  Jill was aghast, but there was something about the man that indicated he was in earnest.

“This is a very unusual request,” Jill said thinking quickly, “But I’ll see what I can do to arrange it and get back to you.”

That evening, Jill was at telling her boyfriend, Jeff, about the eccentric recluse and his weird request.  After thinking about how much he could do with £50,000, Jeff persuaded Jill to agree to provide the service herself.

Jeff said, “For safety, I’ll drive you over tomorrow morning, and wait in the car until you’re finished.”  The next morning, he duly drove Jill to the recluse’s house and waited while she went inside.  He waited for over an hour, but Jill didn’t come out, so he tooted the car horn.

After a moment or two, the upstairs bedroom window opened, Jill stuck her head out and yelled, “Pick me up tomorrow – he’s going to let the state bury him!”

Next Meeting – 14th July 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 14th July, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Colt Express, which has just won the coveted Spiel des Jahres award.  This is a game that takes place in an amazing 3D train in which the bandits can move from one car to another, run along the roof, punch the other bandits, shoot them and rob the passengers.

Colt Express
– Image by BGG contributor lacxox

And speaking of train robbers…

Jeff was doing really well on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”. Surprisingly, he’d somehow got to £125,000 with all his lifelines, when Chris Tarrant asked the question.

“For £250,000 which of the following was one of the Great train robbers.”  Chris paused, “Take your time, was it Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ronnie Biggs, Ronnie Corbett or Ronnie Wood?”

Jeff replied quickly, “I’ll take the money Chris.”

Chris Tarrant looked surprised, “Are you sure, Jeff?” he asked, “You’ve still got all three 3 lifelines intact, why don’t you phone a friend first?”

Without hesitating, Jeff replied, “I’m sure Chris, I’ll take the money.”

Chris shrugged and went on, “OK audience, give Jeff a big round of applause.”  As the clapping stopped Chris added, “But before you go Jeff, I’m sure you’d like to know the answer.”

Jeff replied, “Oh, I know the answer…”

“You know the answer?” interrupted Chris Tarrant somewhat aghast, “You’ve just turned down a quarter of a million quid, are you mad?”

Jeff responded as he began to leave, “Oh, I may be mad Chris, but I’m no grass…”

Next Meeting – 30th June 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 30th June, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Batavia, which is a game about merchants visiting the trading posts of the five East India companies all over Asia.

Batavia
– Image by BGG contributor LanaDove

And speaking of traders…

A successful trader parked his brand new Porsche in front of the office ready to show it off to his colleagues.  As he prepared to get out a juggernaut went past, too close and completely tore off the driver’s side.  The trader immediately grabbed his mobile and dialled 999.  It wasn’t more than 5 minutes before a policeman pulled up, but before the policeman had a chance to ask any questions, the trader started screaming how his car, which he just picked up that day, was completely ruined and would never be the same again. After the trader finally finished his rant, the policeman shook his head in disbelief.

“I can’t believe how materialistic you traders are,” he said.  “You’re so focused on your possessions you don’t notice anything else.”

“How can you say that?” asked the trader.

The policeman replied, “Didn’t you realise that your arm is missing from your elbow down? It was looks like it was torn off when the truck hit you.”

The trader looked down in absolute horror.  “$%#*@!” he screamed, “Where’s my Rolex?!?!?!”

Next Meeting – 16th June 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 16th June, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Evolution, which is a game where players adapt their species in a dynamic ecosystem where food is scarce and predators lurk to ultimately out-evolve other players’ dinosaurs to win the most food… and the game.

Evolution
– Image used with permission of BGG contributor henk.rolleman

And speaking of evolution…

One day, Jeff was discussing evolution with two other engineers, when one of them brought up the question of who designed the human body.  Jim insisted that the human body must have been designed by an electrical engineer because of the perfection of the nerves and synapses.
John disagreed, and exclaimed that it had to have been a mechanical engineer who designed the human body as the system of levers and pulleys is ingenious.

“No,” Jeff said, “You’re both wrong,” and the others waited for Jeff’s usual pearls of wisdom.  “The human body was designed by an architect. Who else but an architect would have put a toxic waste line through a recreation area?”

Next Meeting – 2nd June 2015

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 2nd June, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Bania, which was reviewed in the latest edition of the SpielBox magazine.  This is a game of resource management and tile laying, with elephants…

Bania
– Image used with permission of BGG contributor henk.rolleman

And speaking of elephants…

One day, Jeff’s young cousin Joe asked him, “How do you put an elephant in the fridge?” Jeff replied, “I don’t know, how DO you put an elephant in the fridge?”

Joe replied, “You open the door and put it in, silly!”

“Oh.” said Jeff said, only to find that Joe hadn’t finished.  Joe went on, “How do you put a giraffe in the fridge?”  Jeff thought he’d got it now, and responded, “I know this one, you open the door and put it in.”

Joe shook his head, “No, you open the door, take the elephant out, and THEN you put it in.”

There was a moment’s pause while both Jeff and Joe thought about it, then Joe asked another question, “If all the animals except one went to the lions birthday party, which one was it that didn’t go?”  Jeff was totally confused by this one, “The lion?” he answered.

“No!  Why wouldn’t the lion go to his own birthday party?  It’s the giraffe of course, because he’s still in the fridge.” Before Jeff could comment, Joe went on, “If there is a river full of crocodiles and you wanted to cross it, how would you?”  By this time, Jeff was struggling with Joe’s stream of questions, but as the dutiful uncle, he replied “You’d walk over the bridge.”

Joe was quick to correct him, “Nah, you would swim across, because all the crocodiles are at the lions birthday party…”