Gaming With Grandma - 20

My Mum (Grandma to our kids) came over for a visit this morning. First game we played today was The Downfall of Pompeii. Maddie (5 yrs old) really wanted to try it so we made it a 3-player game. This was only my 2nd game of Pompeii and my first 3-player game.

During the first half of the game we placed our playing pieces (people) throughout the city of Pompeii. I played black, Grandma red and Maddie was yellow. Both Grandma and myself showed Maddie how to place her people and also explained the relative rule which comes into effect when Vesuvius starts to seethe. Maddie picked it up pretty quick.

By the time the second Vesuvius card had been drawn both Maddie and Grandma had 18 people in the city and I had 17. Then came the fun part of the game when the lava starts to flow. Looking back on the game I realise we forgot the rule to only start moving people when the 6th lava tile was down. As we started moving people immediately the first lava tile hit the city I guess that meant more people escaped than should have.

It was still fun. The final score was Maddie and I tied for 1st with 12 people (we also tied on the count back of people in the volcano) and Grandma 2nd with 9 people. I would have won the game when Maddie had only 9 people out as I had the opportunity near the end to block the only means of escape for her last 3 people but relented when I saw the effect it would have had on her (ie, potential waterworks).

Maddie then went off for a little while. That left my Mum and I. Mum suggested we play Pass the Pigs. The first game I won 100 to nil. The second game Mum won 100 to nil. We decided to make it the best of three and were both more cautious with banking our points. Mum won 100 to 61.

After that we played the Labyrinth Card Game. My wife, Deb, joined in and co-played with Maddie. Final scores were me 1st on 8, Deb/Maddie 2nd on 6 and Grandma 3rd on 1.