Field of Games

Field of Games, August 2021 (photo credits: all Lola II in this post)

There has been a lot going on and I'm a long way behind in the news reporting department. Key events: 

• Vaccination continues, but the centre is only open for three days a week. The customers we're getting are mostly the 18-year-olds who generally have beautiful deltoid muscle definition.
• The most dangerous thing I've done this year is go to a gig in a basement without air conditioning and people dancing without masks. I kept away from anyone else for the next few days and was glad that my lateral flow status remained negative.
• Filled in the fiendish Attendance Allowance form with mum, seemingly designed to be impossible to complete by the people it is supposed to help. It took us two sessions and more than seven hours.
• Decided to get a dog. Yes, I'll just slip that one in here. 
• Joined the 'Borrow My Doggy' website community and arranged to walk with a lovely lady who owns a husky, King. Over the course of the walk and our chat it became clear that not only would a husky be a totally inappropriate breed for me, it was also a pretty poor choice for her.
• Investigated the options for rehoming a dog from the Dogs Trust before discovering the fostering option available by applying to Guide Dogs. A friend is already in this scheme, so went for a walk with him and dog in training, Morgan, and found out lots more about it. My application is under way.
• Field of Games is an event that I found out about from one of the doctors I used to work with. It combines camping and board games, two hobbies that I enjoy, so I persuaded Lola II and Mr M to sign up for it with me for last year. What with one thing and another it took place a couple of weeks ago, and Lola II helpfully made notes and took photos for me. So here's my report.

I got to the field first and had just finished putting up  my tent when Lola II and Mr M arrived. Once the tents were up we wandered round the small campsite and saw that there were three larger tents containing tables, and people were already playing games. We wondered where to start. We had a look at what was going on in the games tents - I don't think I've ever seen such complicated board games. Most had a board with at least four different sections and multiple games pieces representing people, goods, money and much more. There were a couple of cars parked nearby with the boot open and full of games, as well as big bags containing more games belonging to people in the tents.

Everyone was really friendly, though. One chap in particular was very helpful, and one of the car boots was his, so he suggested a couple of the simpler games for us to get started with. At that point all the tables in the tents were occupied, so we sat at a picnic table outside and assumed our roles. I was generally the one who read the rules out, and Mr M interpreted them and generally identified how things ought to be done. As ever, Lola II was responsible for morale.

Deep Sea Adventure

The first game we tried involved us diving from a submarine to retrieve treasure and trying to get back to the submarine before we ran out of air. It didn't go well on the first round and we were surprised by the low scores we were getting when throwing the two dice. It wasn't until the second round that we realised the dice only contained one, two or three spots so six was the maximum roll. We played three rounds, with everyone suffocating each time. Thumbs down for this one.

Azul

Not a good start, but then we tried the other game that had been suggested, Azul, which involved selecting different ceramic tile designs and winning points for various arrangements of these tiles. This was actually my favourite game of the weekend, and I would have liked to have another go at it later but there were so many other games to try that we never got round to it.

After lunch (local pub, two portions of fish and chips between three of us plus a jam sponge for Mr M) we returned to the fray and were lured into playing a game with one of the more experienced gamers - actually his son, although he stuck around to show us how to play. It is called 'Quacks of Quedlinberg' and involved cards, rubies, rats' tails, droplets, more cards, victory points, a long spiral track and another track around the board perimeter, and I didn't get on with it at all. Every so often there was an extra rule announcement that made no sense - "this round your rubies are worth double or allow you to win two potion points" - and combined with the fact that the son was cheating shamelessly and continued to do so even after he'd been asked not to, I was quite glad when it was over. I got a telling off from Lola II for being so grumpy.

Lola II and Mr M were in charge of catering that evening, and produced a delicious nacho dish followed by the obligatory chocolate. I don't think we played any more games that day, but it had been a great introduction and we'd met some nice people already, so I was looking forward to more of the same. And the weather had been kind - there had been occasional showers but not for long, and some sun but not too hot either.

Chakras

On Saturday a different person let us borrow a game called Chakras that involved collecting gems, aligning them on your chakras and meditating to replenish your energy. We were joined by another stranger, a grown up this time, who knew the game from playing it online, so we had a bit of a struggle with the rules and scoring because online it was done automatically. It wasn't bad, though. The fabric bag that contained the gems was torn, so I got out my sewing kit and  mended it, which felt like a useful contribution and thanks for the loan of the game. 

Apotheca

Lunch was at a local airfield. Mr M was enjoying the whole thing enormously, so when we came back from lunch he joined a hugely complicated game that lasted 3½ hours while Lola II and I tried another recommendation where the aim appeared to be to create a potion to satisfy three mystical apothecaries (who comes up with these ideas?) We played twice, and each time it seemed strangely unsatisfactory, although I couldn't say whether that was the fault of the game or our interpretation of the rules.

Then Lola II and I were invited to join in a game called 'Word Slam' with some of the other people, including children, and it wasn't bad and resembled Pictionary but using word cards instead of drawing pictures. Mr M came to join us at this point, and was playing with a card that said 'starfish' but halfway through he'd converted it in his head to 'octopus', so that was confusing. We got as far as guessing 'moonfish' but never quite made it to the finish line.

Bites

Supper was my responsibility on Saturday night, and was a chilli that I'd made at home and frozen and which had been thawing gradually over the past 24 hours, with boil-in-the-bag rice and, of course, chocolate to finish. And fruit. We're not complete heathens. This time we returned to the fray for an evening session, and joined another player who introduced us to 'Bites' which was all about ants eating picnic leftovers, and had the virtue of being quite short while also having lots of different ways to play. Then we played the classic game, Rummicub, which resembles the card game Gin Rummy, and then Lola II and I were ready for bed. Not Mr M, though, who was up for another game, retiring half frozen at 12.45 a.m.

On the last day we started with 'Bunny Kingdom', with a complicated board containing representations of forest, plain, mountain or farm with pieces representing castles, cards containing rewards or instructions, and each player represented by increasing numbers of rabbits on the board who amassed treasure in the form of carrots, wood and fish and other items while moving a game piece to record the score. We were joined by another stranger for this one, and at last I'd found something that I could win, although I was probably helped by the luck of the draw as well. Lola II had the same look that I'd had during the Quacks game, so I don't think she enjoyed this one very much.

Mr M stayed on to play another long duration game while Lola II and I headed off for lunch at a cafe, which was observing Covid ventilation rules by keeping all the doors open. This meant it was so cold that I kept my coat and hat on, and while the food was good I wouldn't choose to go there again. The poor waitresses were allowed to wear only the branded T shirts, and looked frozen. While we were gone Mr M finished the game, took the tent down and started another game, so Lola II and I took down the other tent and tried yet another game.

This one, called 'Santorini', contrasted with all the other games in its simplicity - a five-by-five board without any other decoration, two player markers each, four different components of a tower, and only one significant rule: move your player one square and build part of a tower in an adjacent square. You can climb up one layer or descend any number of layers, and you win if you can get one of your markers up to level three. It was impressive how this developed into a chess-like strategy game, and in fact it could easily be reproduced without the sophistication of the actual board and plastic pieces.

That was it for the games, and although Lola II and I enjoyed it a lot, Mr M enjoyed it even more. When I was back home I got in touch with the doctor who'd told me about it, and he told me about more venues and options, and I am even thinking of going back to my local games shop and am only hesitating because of all the other things I cram into my spare time, and is there really space for this too?