Settlers of the Cam

Yesterday, James coxed the Champs VIIIs Head while I went to work. Afterwards, what was supposed to be a few minutes on Kestrel to let (big)James know what the boat's time was turned into dinner and a couple of games of Settlers of Catan.

Image from flikr

I was introduced to this excellent game by a friend during my third year at university. Simple in concept, it involves colonising an island by building roads, settlements and cities using resources gained according to your positions on the board and traded with other players. In concept it is quite non-violent, but it brings out the competitor and ruthless trader in even the most demure of character! I wasted many long hours playing it whilst at university but hadn't played since graduating, so I was pretty excited to get my hands on a set again, even though it was just the little travel version. I had at various times in the past, enthused about this game to my James, so was glad to have a chance to show him how much fun it is. Being a competitive sort by nature he loved it as much as I though he would.

(big) James was the winner of both our games last night but I always enjoy it whether I win or not. A rematch will certainly be required, however, and if one of us gets the expansion pack, we could introduce more of our friends to this game! It was even suggested that we could make our own version, Settlers of the Cam, where boaters endeavour to take over the river from the rowers or vice versa.

While scouring the internet for an image of the game I found that there seems to be a trend for creating edible versions of the game, using cupcakes! More images of the individual cakes here.