You Are Invited To A Party...

Dear Princess Normal & Fat Pete,

I remember the first time I saw this friendly little face. It was at Fat Pete's flat in Elgin Terrace. He turned down the lights, looked at me very seriously and intoned:

"You are invted to a party. A Midnight Party. A jolly affair. You spend the evening in innocent revelries, unaware that in the basement, something ancient, something angry... something EVIL is plotting revenge..."

"And that something's name is.... HUGO."

And then Fat Pete produced the happy little plastic fellow in the picture. In fact, as I recall, he nearly stuck it up my nose.

Since then, I've bought this game a few times and usually given it away. It's because this is the BEST game I've ever played with kids. You can TOTALLY wind them up playing it, as Hugo the Ghost pursues the players around the board, devouring them as he goes.

ME: Look OUT! He's RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!
SMALL CHILD: Aieeeeeeee!!!

I used to play it with my nieces when they were little. They got so excited they would run screaming around the room, before returning to finish the game. Then I would pretend to be scared and they would chase me while waving Hugo at me.

It was SO MUCH FUN.

The key is to let the kid be Hugo. So then he's not so scary. The Nipper played it with us today and his Hugo was RELENTLESS in his pursuit. Basically we had one round where everyone was throwing Hugos. Hugo was like the Terminator, taking all of us out one after the other.

And every time Hugo caught one of us, Nipper let out a huge SLUUUUURP and then POOPED us out in the basement. He thought this was hilarious every time. There were shrieks, whoops, gasps and laughs.

Nipper also thought it was hilarious when I explained to him that, although he could seek safety in a room, he couldn't go into the room where the man was taking a bath, "because you might see his bum."

(That was another Fat Pete joke from the Elgin Terrace days).

So a worthwhile investment. And even though I'm giving it away straight away again, I'm delighted with the result. I think Nipper & his family are going to have a lot of fun with this game.

My Dear Fellow, I cannot thank you enough for bringing Hugo into my life.

In other news, Tiggy got taken for a long walk again today. In fact, he tired first - DRAGGING me back home when it started raining. He has been asleep ever since, the poor little guy. I include a picture of him in the extras, having fun digging holes in the sand.

S.