Sacajawacky September

Game One: "Lionel's Double Crossing"
A fine example of where the term "Railroaded" came from. As the only member of the fearsome fivesome to have actually toiled on the steel snake it was fitting that I take home the win on this contest. See me gloat below! Players choose their choo-choo, pick up rolling stock and then try and drop it off for contracts. Six contracts delivered wins the game. A question arose as to how players were to get more money once theirs was expended. Hmm ... Didn't see that in the rules ...ah ... maybe next time. Poor Doc K didn't get a single delivery done. I guess he needs more "training"! Ha! Game Two: "Adlibs"
This game was a great grandaddy of the now infamous "Apples to Apples" game series (see earlier posts). Photos of odd people in strange situations are displayed and players match actual ad copy from cards they hold in their hands. Everyone votes for their favorite and points are awarded based on vote spread and ownership of the saying. Make sense? Yeah ...sort of. Fun enough that we played two rounds. I believe I won one and the other was ...uh one of the other guys! (This is a clear indication that Mr. Beam was a visitor) Another excuse for amnesiatic stupification may be the final offering of the evening..............











Game Three: "Hunch"
Below is the sad owner of this Chinese Checker variant, the sorrowful Dr. Kirby, hiding his embarrassment behind the pathetic container of this bad baby. He warned us even before we started that the stink potential of this one was extremely high. Would that the crew could have smelled it coming. It didn't totally peg the pong-o-meter but came close. Players struggle to move their marbles across the board at the whim of a color coded wheel, spun each turn and dictating whether a move forward, backward or movement at all will be allowed depending on a number from 1 to 10 picked at the outset. After being foiled of movement for several turns in a row one player began wheeling the spinner round and round in a desperate attempt to see if there was any possibilty of a certain marble moving at all. No! NO? Wha!? Huh? So ... you could play and play and play and never be allowed to move? Seems a bit fishy. But wait! The light shone forth!














Blame Game came to the mystic realization (see below) that there was nothing in the rules that said one player could not aid another player in their quest to win and thereby end this mad marbled marathon! YOU-REEK-AH!
And so it came to pass that everyone co-operated ala that other marble wonder "Yin-Yang" (see older posts) and an end came at long last. Mercifully! Below we see the relieved champion, his Michigan gold mini orbs rowed opposite him in the position of win. Congrats and may all his marbles be won and never lost!

Three on a Match

On a railroad train you should be careful not to assail the nostrils of fellow passengers with strong odors of any kind. An odor that may seem to you refreshing, may cause others who dislike it and are “poor travelers” to suffer really great distress. There is a combination of banana and the leather smell of a valise containing food, that is to many people an immediate emetic. The smell of a banana or an orange, is in fact to nearly all bad travelers the last straw. In America where there are “diners” on every Pullman train, the food odors are seldom encountered in parlor cars, but in Europe where railroad carriages are small, one fruit enthusiast can make his traveling companions more utterly wretched than perhaps he can imagine. The cigar which is smoldering has, on most women, the same effect. Certain perfumes that are particularly heavy, make others ill. To at least half of an average trainful of people, strong odors of one kind or another are disagreeable if not actually nauseating.


Sage advice from Emily Post


Another tip: While "Double Crossing" stick to the inside track until you've added a few cars. But, getting back to the issue of food on the train, what about cherry tomatoes? Mmmmm. And cocoa almonds? Passenger trains are a waste of money anyway. Boxcar me, baby! And pass the Beam, it's going to be a long night.

On the subject of long nights, let me just interject that the "September Trilogy" post below is evidence that the only way I can embed Game Night video from flickr herein is all by itself. And so it shall be. The unsuspecting should be made aware that the most truly pointless videos from this month as well as all videos from August (which were, every one, worth not a paper farthing) can and should be found on the World Renowned Game Night Flickr Set as follows: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23129636@N02/sets/72157603820898882/detail/?page=9

along with, as usual, the excruciatingly detailed versions of these pics. Readers who, for whatever reason, may wish to peruse the historic AHC Landlocked Film Festival Trek as well could do worse than to look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23129636@N02/sets/72157622210293160/detail/

Come all you rounders that want to hear

The story of a brave engineer.

Casey Jones was the rounder's name,

On a six eight wheeler, boys, he won his fame.

Snazzy hat, Colonel!

Advertising, as Don Draper points out, is all about suggestive text and salacious visuals. Naturally there was no stopping me on this one, my first Game Night win since Groundhog Day. So nice we had to play it twice and the Col. tops out with the fruit. Don't be bringing that stuff on the train now!

Twice, I said. Now what else comes in pairs? Melons, it seems, come threes.

And two it should have stayed because three was certainly a crowd this night. A crowd of stupid extensions of Chinese Checkers. The normally disciplined game kings dissolve into cursing and, yes, covert and blatant cheating. Never seen the like. After more than any of us could endure without recourse to weapons or smelly fruit the match was awarded to Dennis on account of his being more out of focus by that point than anyone else.

You know what they say about three on a match!

September Trilogy