Our first game of the morning was The Downfall of Pompeii. Maddie sat this one out so it was just Grandma and I. In the first half of the game we placed our people into the buildings of Pompeii. Of the six Omen cards drawn, Grandma drew 4 to my 2 which meant I had 4 people in the volcano to her 2 going into the second part of the game.
In a 2-player game the second AD79 card is shuffled in with the last 15 cards in the draw deck. That means it can appear any time from the 16th last card to the very last card of the deck. The variability in the timing of the appearance of this card determines how many people can be placed in the city before Mt Vesuvius erupts and they all start fleeing.
A view of Pompeii after the second AD79 card is drawn. I'm black and Grandma is red.
I was falling behind Grandma in placing people into the city but had managed to get three people into the number 3 building and was just about to play a 3 building card which would allow me to place another person plus an extra three relatives on my next turn. Alas, Grandma drew the second AD79 card and I was unable to get those extra 4 people on to the board. It turned out the second AD79 card was the 13th card from the bottom of the deck and therefore this was an unusual game where both of us did not have as many people on the board as we normally do.
At this point Grandma had 15 people on the board to my 13. As there were less people on the board there were less deaths from lava tile placement. At the end each of us only lost 1 person each to lava. Try as I might I just could not draw the right lava tiles to kill or block off exits to hinder Grandma. She went on to win the game 14 to 12.
The final board where you can see the people who have safely exited the city
Our second game of the morning was a first play of Flip Flap Flop which my wife picked up at a garage sale for a couple of bucks a year or so ago. This is a card game made in Holland and published by Jumbo. It's a kids game for 2-4 players and contains 48 illustrated cards depicting a cartoon character. There are 8 sets of 6 similar cards with each face having minor differences. The object of the game is to have the most cards when the last card has been played. Each turn players reveal the top card of their deck face up on the table. The first player to spot three of the same cards yells out "Flip Flap Flop!" and takes the three cards as points face down in a pile in front of them. A player can also yell out "Flip Flap!" if they see two matching cards but then they must place those cards face up in front of them and those cards may be stolen later in the game by another player if they see the third matching card of the set on the table. An incorrect call will mean the player must still play a card on their following turn but they aren't allowed to claim any cards.
Minor differences of some of the cards
We played two games of which I won both. I was expecting more from this game. I guess I was expecting something like Set but it's more like an advanced version of Snap. Overall, it was a big Flip Flap FLOP!
Our final game of the morning was an old family favourite - Gulo Gulo. I was the first to reach the pile of tiles containing Gulo Junior. Unfortunately I fluffed a pick at a green egg which was the 3rd tile of the five tile stack and set off the alarm. Grandma was too far behind to get to the remaining stack on her turn which left Maddie 'Nimble-Fingers' in a prime position to win the game. And win the game she did finding Gulo Junior on the last tile with an easy pick of a purple egg.
Our final game of the morning was an old family favourite - Gulo Gulo. I was the first to reach the pile of tiles containing Gulo Junior. Unfortunately I fluffed a pick at a green egg which was the 3rd tile of the five tile stack and set off the alarm. Grandma was too far behind to get to the remaining stack on her turn which left Maddie 'Nimble-Fingers' in a prime position to win the game. And win the game she did finding Gulo Junior on the last tile with an easy pick of a purple egg.
Gulo Junior! Where are you!?!
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