Gaming With Grandma - 16

Another Saturday morning gaming session with my mother and daughter. Highlight today was being joined by my wife for a three player game of Scrabble.

First up, Maddie, Grandma and I played Maddie's choice of Hide & Seek by Ravensburger. This is a children's memory game where players roll a die to guess which item is below that particular coloured wooden disc. I came first with 13, Grandma was 2nd with 11 and Maddie was 3rd on 6. Maddie normally does quite well on memory games but she appeared a little distracted during this game as her younger sister, Georgia, was toddling around the table making funny noises.

Maddie chose the next game as well. Gulo Gulo has been a favourite in our household since I bought it back around Xmas 2005. I'm always amazed at the dexterity Maddie displays with her tiny fingers, nimbly plucking out the smooth wooden eggs with ease. She's a bit of a showoff as well; she'll often select the most difficult coloured egg to demonstrate how good she is. With skill like that Grandma and I find it difficult to compete. Maddie went on to take the win.

After that we were joined by my wife, Deb. We agreed to play a three player game of Scrabble with her, Grandma and myself.

Turn 1 [Mum] MAIL 12, [Deb] B(A)BY 17, [Me] (L)ENT 8

Turn 2 [Mum] (Y)E(N) 8, [Deb] (T)OYS 7, [Me] (Y)ET 12

Turn 3 [Mum] (T)AN 3, [Deb] O(N)CE 21, [Me] CURVE(S) 19

Turn 4 [Mum] JUN(E) 19, [Deb] SPI(C)E 9, [Me] TOIL(S) 10

Turn 5 [Mum] GO(T) 6, [Deb] ROGu(E) 7, [Me] DU(O) 8

Turn 6 [Mum] RI(D) 4, [Deb] N(I)T 6, [Me] (O)H/H(E) 20

Turn 7 [Mum] A(R)E 9, [Deb] E(G)O 4, [Me] oXID(E) 36

Turn 8 [Mum] PIAN(O) 8, [Deb] (P)RAM 16, [Me] (oXIDE)S/S(O) 15

Turn 9 [Mum] FOR(M) 17, [Deb] HEI(R) 14, [Me] (O)WL 10

Turn 10 [Mum] WAD(E) 16, [Deb] NO(W) 18, [Me] SEL(F) 33

Turn 11 [Mum] (F)AT 6, [Deb] (T)AKE 18, [Me] Pass

Turn 12 [Mum] (A)VID 8, [Deb] QUA(K)E 18

Deb caused the game to end by playing QUAKE and using up the last of her letters. I was left with IGRZ for minus 14 and Mum was left with LT for minus 2, thus Deb got to add 16 points to her final score. Mum played JUNE on turn 4 and I only picked up on it being an unintentional phoney after she'd selected her replacement tiles so we let it stand.

Final scores were Deb on 171, me on 157 and Mum on 114. It was certainly a different feeling playing Scrabble with three players. There's an extra player to factor into your planning stage and I found Deb, who always went prior to me, often grabbed the spot I'd been planning on using. It was still an enjoyable game though.

After that Grandma and Maddie played Hive against each other. I taught Maddie to play Hive about a year ago and she quickly learned how each piece moved and had started to pick up the elements of game strategy. Grandma has played only a couple of games in the last year or so. I watched and advised on rules questions. Grandma won the first game and Maddie won the second.