Everyone’s favourite globe trotting Germanic gerbil Tom “Maus” Carey reports back following our latest outing in Liverpool

If you’ve been on any of the socials you may have heard our lovely host Andy say “Hey come to coliv” about six hundred times. 27 of us (including two co event newbies!) answered that call and found our way to the Cross Keys in Liverpool, despite the entire front of the pub being covered in scaffolding. Some of them were around the night before, making the most of Liverpool’s large selection of pubs.

Andy got us started more promptly than last year and we were off. Three to a love hearts-adorned table, Lincoln style.  Neither of last year’s finalists were here this time so the favourite, according to last year’s league table and the man himself, was Dylan Taylor who survived a scare when Adrian Fletcher got the brilliant FILIGREE against him to win both games on a table with Adrian and Maus. 

It was lunchtime, and Andy had provided a decent spread of what passes for food in Liverpool for us to tuck in to. Partway through his mountain of food, Maus was called up to receive a little cake from our chair George and a badge from resident designer Beachy for being the first person to attend 100 of these events! That guy really needs to sort his life out.

The next round went underway, and emerging unbeaten after 4 games were Dylan, his chauffeur Matt O’C and the legendary Coral Heath, so those three would face off on the top table in the last round. Dylan emerged victorious there too, and with Tim Hebbes scoring more points for his five wins than Matt and Maus did, he was the other finalist. We had one last surprise – Dan Vanniasingham turned up from the past to host the final! Also hosting were Phil and Coral, and they did a bloody good job. Tim battled valiantly but early on conceded 18 points to Dylan’s DIAPASONS and went further behind when Dylan spotted SEAGOING. He did cancel that round out with COTTISED but then the game was over when his hail-Mary play of ZOOGLEAES was disallowed. Dylan got the conundrum LIVARUDIC to win the event with a commanding 74-40 final scoreline. Ggwp

Afterwards we all headed down to the Ship and Mitre pub for food and a huge selection of drinks, including a stout named Conundrum which was pretty good. The night went on and a good half the event were still around at midnight, learning Adam Latchford’s stupid fingers drinking game, trading a pint for sausage rolls and muffins from some lads and believing in Joe Henry. All in all a very fun night!

Good event, cheers Andy. Standings wise, Dylan’s win launched him to the top of the 2025 FOCAL table, with good results from Maus and Tim Hebbes push them into the podium places. Dan Byrom and Adrian Fletcher also join the top 8 with solid performances here. Special prizes went to Adrian for his spot of FILIGREE, Darren Godfrey with his play of AROMATICS (that got him 18 points against Maus on Beachy’s beautiful wooden board) and Stephen Read’s SHITLIST. Funny.

Next up, it’s CO:Oxford on Saturday 1st March. Wanna join us?

Cheers maus