Gaming With Grandma - 27

My Mum (Grandma) visited today for her regular Saturday morning catch-up and gaming session. The third member of our gaming group, my 6 year old daughter Maddie, was out with Deb visiting a school fete. That left me, 18 month old Georgia and Grandma alone at home. Georgie soon went down for a nap which left Grandma and I ready to game.

Our first game was Scrabble. Mum's been practicing Scrabble with a neighbour of hers and I've seen her game improve since doing so. However, I keep telling her she often throws away her blanks and S's for too few points.

Mum went first after drawing an A to my T.

Turn 1 [Mum] DENT 10, [Me] RA(N)CH 20
Turn 2 [Mum] (H)EW 9, [Me] B(RANCH) 13
Turn 3 [Mum] (B)IN 10, [Me] ZOOS/(HEW)S 34
Turn 4 [Mum] H(I) 5, [Me] (W)AVY 26
Turn 5 [Mum] (BIN)D 7, [Me] (H)I/I(N) 14
Turn 6 [Mum] G(Y)M 18, [Me] OILE(D) 7
Turn 7 [Mum] (M)IX 12, [Me] TRA(IN) 5
Turn 8 [Mum] SE(X)ES 39, [Me] N(O)N 3
Turn 9 [Mum] (O)PT 15, [Me] AL(L) 5
Turn 10 [Mum] (T)INT 12, [Me] FORD/F(ALL) 15
Turn 11 [Mum] KI(D) 13, [Me] (BRANCH)ES 15
Turn 12 [Mum] (N)AVE 14, [Me] (FORD)ED 22
Turn 13 [Mum] BA(D) 6, [Me] (A)WE 12
Turn 14 [Mum] (E)GG, [Me] QUI(E)T 28
Turn 15 [Mum] (T)AR 3, [Me] (Q)Is 33
Turn 16 [Mum] (R)AFT 21, [Me] (G)ONE 6
Turn 17 [Mum] (T)ROUt 4, [Me] PU(N) 6
Turn 18 [Mum] JI(N) 11, [Me] (E)LM 8
Turn 19 [Mum] LOC(K) 11, [Me] (J)A(P)E 15
Turn 20 [Mum] (S)O 1, [Me] Y(A) 15
Turn 21 [Mum] (O)R 2,

Mum ended the game by playing her last tile. I was left with an E and a U for minus 2 points from my final score.

Probably the most obscure words I played were QIS (plural form of a Chinese 'life force'), JAPE (to mock) and YA (you). Mum got the highest scoring word with SEXES for 39 points. However, I felt she threw away a blank on TROUT for only 4 points.

Final scores were me on 300 points and Mum on 232 points. I averaged exactly 15 points per turn which I'm fairly happy with. Anytime I score in the 300's is also very satisfying.

As we had some time left before Mum had to leave, I suggested Lost Cities. I haven't played Lost Cities since the 23rd of September 2006 so it was certainly overdue for a play. We always play 3 rounds as suggested in the rules. It turned out to be a very exciting and close game.

Round 1: Mum 27 - Me 72

Round 2: Mum 120 - Me 70

At the end of round 2 Mum was sitting on 147 points and I was on 142 points. The 3rd round would decide it.

Round 3: Mum 17 - Me 22

Total: Mum 164 - Me 164.

Yep, our points were tied! I carefully checked the rules to see if there was a tiebreak but there wasn't. We were both happy to call it a draw.