Game and Grill

So it was 11 when the first races were over and we had an hour before we were due to head to Pottstown for the Game and Grill at Adam and Andi's. After considering our options we decided to go with my joking suggestion of heading back to my place to pick up the "Beast" hat I'd made for Jill but forgotten.

Did I mention Don has a convertible? Top down and we headed back to North Wales for the hat. At my laughter when he locked the doors and set the alarm on the topless car, Don explained that his car's security system actually cuts off the engine unless it is started with the key. Okay, admittedly it makes sense. After my disclaimer about the chaos of my apartment (oh it was bad) we wrangled 2 hats (Beast and ball cap for me) and I dropped off my Nikkon since I'd finished the roll of film I was working on. Back in the car and on the road.

Beautiful day, beautiful drive, good music and great conversation. I had two sets of directions to the house: Andi's and Mapquest, I figured my bases were covered. Well, we did good until we got off 422. We tested the turning radius of the Audi a few times, cobbled together a direction hybrid, and did end up calling the house for a little help..hilarity ensued.

We ended up on Charlotte, which according to the directions we were to follow until it curved around past an abandoned building and then it would be Cherry, the street they live on. So we followed Charlotte around a curve and past an abandoned Rickles, but were still on Charlotte. We turned around and headed back into town and I called Andi, who passed me to Adam, who passed me back to Andi, who got something in her eye and passed me back to Adam. We finally figured out where we were, and he told us to go through the light, down two blocks and turn onto Cherry. We went through the light, down two blocks, and turned onto...South. So around the block we go, past South to where the road ends and on to Cherry where we park and see Dan. I'm still a little foggy on where the abandoned building was, but I have to say there was a lot of laughing in getting to the house.

Once hellos were said and games were situated I headed to the back yard to present Jill with her hat. She was living up to her title and kicking butt at a game involving movie titles. She also pointed out I was quite red in the chest. In fact, you can clearly see where the seat belt was. Moisturizer saved my face, Don was not so fortunate.

Andi was at the grill and after they finished the game lunch was ready. Very yummy all agreed. Don even tried my chocolate pumpkin muffins (which you can't taste the pumpkin in, no worries) and decided they were pretty good.

After munching away we moved on to playing a game Jill had found at the thrift store. Dan was the beast of that game and as such received the hat. An attempt was made at Dork Tower but we were thwarted by the wind. We then moved inside to play a Citadels.

Citadels is an interesting game where you choose a character each round and build districts. You have a choice of king, assassin, thief, merchant, bishop, warlord, and architect with each having their own abilities. The assassin goes first and chooses someone to kill, but as you don't know who is who until their turn the assassin is guessing about which player they took out. Jill killed me 3 times in a row. The third time I just went up to the bathroom muttering "if you didn't want me to play you could have just said something..." Trying to turn the tables I took assassin but ended up killing Don's architect. Her response?

Ah well. I honestly don't remember if Don, Rick or Dan was the beast of that game, as we got caught up in stretching and talking about playing Arkham Horror. Besides, Brianna (I think) had taken possession of the hat and looked much too cute in it to snatch it away. Plus she seemed to need any extra edge it might have given her to beat Adam at Fairy Tale.

Since we were waiting on more folks for that we decided to venture outside for a new game.

Rick wanted to play Bonanza, otherwise known as The Bean Game and the reason Jill is "The Beast" so we prepared to plant. Always a fun game of trading and selling, the surprise beast was Don, who was a great sport about taking the hat.

.

I attempted to shift the hat back to Jill with a game of Set, but Don caught on quickly and won. To insure a Jill victory I said, "Watch this" and dealt the deck as Jill annihilated us and took back the hat. Don wanted a rematch with her dealing once again and this resulted in his having the hat again (I think he just liked the hat).

After set Don, Jill and I played Timbuktu. I must admit that he looked ready to go on safari with the hat on, not across the desert! So now we played a game where you loaded up your camels with pepper, salt, coffee, water and gold then try to get across the desert with the most profitable goods (price being determined by how much makes it into Timbuku). It was fun, though I think had I been a little less sunburnt and a little more awake I wouldn't have faired quite as poorly. Don kept the hat.

As it neared on 9 o'clock we decided to head back home. The trip back was less eventful than the trip up, and a good bit quieter. Don was getting a migraine and I was just tired (and didn't want to make it worse by babbling). This resulted in him doing a lot of talking, which I found funny. Soon we were back in Philly, and I was in the car and headed home...where I passed out.

And did I win, you ask? Why no, not a single game, and that was just fine with me. I like games for the fun, I'm generally not that competitive.

Generally.