bid there won that

Recent Gaming - July 11, 2009

2009-07-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

July 11, 2009

Most of these are games I acquired in a recent frenzy of trading...

Big City - I owned this at one time -- back in the day (ie, when it was first released). Being somewhat fun, but rather simple, it got traded away quickly. However, the reputation of Big City has grown over the years, so I traded for a used copy to see if I had, perhaps, missed something crucial the first time around. Interestingly, the person I acquired it from had also received it in a trade, so there is some possibility that I'm getting back my original copy I traded so long ago.

I'm happy to own it again. No, I still don't believe there are any Earth-shattering ideas here, but the toy element is strong. Building the city is fun! And it looks so cool.

Tribune - Another recent trade acquisition. This is a game I've been trying to get to play for two years. I'm glad I finally did. It's probably my favorite of the worker selection genre, which is, perhaps, faint praise since I'm not overly keen on the worker selection genre. Tribune has a not-inconsiderable number of rules, but I give Karl Heinz Schmiel credit -- they fit together quite nicely. Once you get going there isn't alot of diving back into the rulebook. The rules make sense in context of the overall experience. A winner.

Strozzi - Ra meets Medici. Someone cleverer than I said to imagine that you're bidding on Medici-like-stuff, but using Ra tiles, each player having tiles valued 1, 1, and 2. I can't think of a better way to describe it. It might be brilliant, but it just didn't excite me that much. It feels like the uninspired end of a trilogy that probably should have ended at Book 2.

Blox - This is one that I got to try at the recent Gathering of Friends (2009). A 2008 SdJ-nominee, Blox is a heavily abstract contest of tearing down and building up towers of, well, blocks. I want to say it's more enjoyable than original, but then I can't quite think of another game that feels like this. Blox feels like the kind of game that should have existed for awhile, but hasn't, I suppose.

Steam - Little brother of Age of Steam. AoS is the kind of game I enjoy playing, but am horrible at. It's a little heavier than I'm typically comfy with, but it's a fun experience, nonetheless. Steam (particularly the base game, which we played) is much simpler than Age of Steam, which suits me just fine. I'm still awful at it, but it's a step in the right direction for this gamer.

Dog - Partnership Parcheesi. I made my own set after watching it being played at Gathering 2009. It failed to excite, I'm sad to say. Especially after all the work I put into it.

Pants on Fire - Tried out someone else's copy since I haven't received my own yet. Hmph!

The Buzz (Week of June 28, 2009)

2009-07-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

(#) - Last week's position
MOVED UP
MOVED DOWN

1. Dominion (1)
2. Race for the Galaxy: Gathering Storm (2)
3. Pandemic (3)
4. Small World (4)
5. Le Havre (6)
6. Space Alert (5)
7. Stone Age (8)
8. Automobile (7)
9. Steam (9)
10. Battlestar Galactica (10)
11. Roll Through The Ages (14)
12. Finca (12)
13. Fits (11)
14. Snow Tails (13)
15. Ghost Stories (14)
16. Wasabi (17)
17. Finito! (18)
18. Monopoly Deal Card Game (19)
19. Red November (--)
20. Dixit (--)
21. Sorry Sliders! (25)
22. Chicago Express (15)
23. Sushizock im Gockelwok (23)
24. Powerboats (--)
25. Age of Conan (--)

Alcazar

2009-06-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

All that work I did on my copy of Big Boss, and now this:

Alcazar

Oh well. I still get to keep my copy. Grandfather clause and all that, you know.

Dominion Wins Spiel des Jahres 2009

2009-06-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

Remarkable!

I was rooting for Dominion, a game I believe to be the most important design of the last several years. I was convinced, however, that the jury would find FITS to be the more successful family game.

I'm quite delighted to be wrong.

Congratulations to Jay, Donald, Dale and Valerie!!!

The Buzz (Week of June 21, 2009)

2009-06-28T02:44:00.001-07:00

(#) - Last week's position
MOVED UP
MOVED DOWN

1. Dominion (1)
2. Race for the Galaxy: Gathering Storm (2)
3. Pandemic (4)
4. Small World (5)
5. Space Alert (3)
6. Le Havre (7)
7. Automobile (8)
8. Stone Age (6)
9. Steam (15)
10. Battlestar Galactica (9)
11. Fits (11)
12. Finca (12)
13. Snow Tails (10)
14. Ghost Stories (13)
15. Chicago Express (--)
16. Roll Through The Ages (14)
17. Wasabi (17)
18. Finito! (18)
19. Monopoly Deal: Card Game (--)
20. Start Player (--)
21. Metropolys (23)
22. Lost Cities: The Board Game (19)
23. Sushizock im Gockelwok (20)
24. Bombay (--)
25. Sorry Sliders (22)

Gaming With The Boy

2009-06-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Alexander, my son, doesn't typically like to play boardgames with just two players. Even though he is, what I would call, somewhat of a boardgamer, he prefers his boardgaming with multiplayers.

So I was quite delighted yesterday when he treated me to a triple feature.

Kingsburg: This is one of his favorites and he usually kicks my butt at it. Yesterday was no different. Try as I might, I can't seem to put together a winning strategy in this game. He won by a mile. We need to try out some of the new (free) expansions I've seen online.

FITS: I introduced him to this new Knizia, which I'm predicting will win this year's Spiel des Jahres. That saddens me, because in my heart of hearts, I'm rooting for Dominion. Still, it's hard to deny the appeal FITS will have to families, as opposed to Dominion. Even Alexander, who loves Dominion, said he liked FITS more. I was shocked to hear him admit that. Oh, I won five to zero!

Runebound: We have the original edition, with the singular expansion they created for it. I've thought about upgrading to the second edition, but we play it so rarely, it hardly makes sense. We had a great time and the replayability seems enormous, especially with only two players. I bet we didn't go through 1/4 of the market deck. We played a souped-up version, only requiring 5 XP to upgrade, instead of 6. I prevailed for the win, capturing three dragon runes.

The Buzz (Week of June 14, 2009)

2009-06-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

This is my attempt at a weekly Top 25 of gaming. These are the hot new games we're buying, playing and talking about. Did you see how I put new in bold italics? That's because I want this list to focus on new titles. So, while we might still be playing alot of Lost Cities and Caylus, they won't appear on this list.

Here is the first entry of THE BUZZ

1. Dominion
2. Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm
3. Space Alert
4. Pandemic
5. Small World
6. Stone Age
7. Le Havre
8. Automobile
9. Battlestar Galactica
10. Snow Tails
11. FITS
12. Finca
13. Ghost Stories
14. Roll Through The Ages
15. Steam
16. Dixit
17. Wasabi
18. Finito!
19. Keltis / Lost Cities the BG
20. Sushizock im Gockelwok
21. Masters Gallery
22. Sorry Sliders
23. Metropolys
24. Diamond's Club
25. Powerboats

Makin' Copies!

2009-06-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

As a fledgling game designer, I spend alot of time building prototypes. I've gotten quite good, with the help of modern publishing software, at cranking out decent looking games using sticky label paper and bits (board, pawns, dice, etc.) that I borrow from my large pile of thrift store acquisitions.

I've discovered that this "talent" is also useful for making copies of real boardgames -- not just prototypes. Of course, being a game designer, I feel it's important to always support my brethren by buying the actual game. That's assuming, naturally, that the actual game is still available.

By this I mean that I put my game-copying hat on only when I want an out-of-print (OOP) game and I don't care to spend a hundred or more dollars to obtain a copy on the second-hand market. By doing this, I'm not robbing the designer of income. I am robbing the second-hand sellers of income, I realize, but this doesn't keep me up at nights.

Here are some of my creations (pictures coming soon, I hope):

Montage: Out of print word game from Prince Joli Kansil. Used an old Deluxe Scrabble board and the tiles from approximately three sets. I'm proud that my copy looks nicer than the original version.

Black Vienna: I changed it a little, and made the suspects games. So now you're not looking for the three criminals, but three games that were stolen from your collection. This was pretty easy to make since it's basically a cardgame. Just add a big handful of chips and you're on your way.

Comeback: I used to own this tiny little Reinhard Staupe cardgame. In fact, I might still own it. But it's so tiny, I lost it. I'm sure I packed it in with a larger game at one time. If I still own that larger game, maybe I'll see Comeback again someday. If I traded it, then someone got a bonus and never told me about it. However, this also being a small cardgame, it was easy to make a copy of. I even have a nice little wooden box for it, which is very classy.

Big Boss: I used Upwords tiles and a little cut-and-paste action to bring this Wolfgang Kramer back to life. It's not as impressive as the original, of course, but I'm willing to "trade looks for a certain morally casual attitude."

Dog: My latest creation. This is a four-player Ludo/Pachisi/Sorry "variant" (if that's the word) that has a neat partnership aspect. From my understanding, this game is in the public domain, even though Schmidt currently has a version out. I didn't feel like paying $30 for Partnership Pachisi, so I whipped up my own copy. If someone discovers that this game is not, in fact, public domain, please keep it to yourself.

Guess Who's Back?

2009-06-23T07:04:00.001-07:00

Hello.

My name is Stephen Glenn. This is my gaming blog, Bid There Won That.

I haven't posted here since December of 2006. Why, two-and-a-half years later, do I suddenly get the urge to start up again?

Blame Brian Bankler.

I've been enjoying his blog, The Tao of Gaming . What I've noticed is that Brian doesn't feel the need to make every entry an essay. If he only has a few things to say, he says them and moves on. This is inspiring! Now I don't feel the pressure of only updating a blog when I can fill up several screens with text.

So, in that spirit...

Settlers for Two

2006-12-05T23:51:00.000-08:00

My son, Alec, has been bugging me to play Settlers of Catan with him lately.
This usually means he has to beg his sister to play with us, since the box
says we are not allowed to play with two. Unfortunately, Valori is not as
big a fan of boardgames as Alec is, and she usually declines the invitation,
meaning we have to find another two player game, or just settle for the
Settlers Card Game.

(Yes, I said settle. The 'kartenspiel' is a good enough game, but it doesn't
come close to scratching the Settlers itch)

I had thought we might try some of the two-player variants suggested online.
Upon further reflection, we decided to just play straight Settlers with two
players. No rule changes at all.

And you know what? We quite enjoyed it. No, there wasn't as much trading,
obviously, but there wasn't as much urgency to trade, either, since your
turns came around quickly. Roads became long and loopy and the longest road
card was hard fought over. The race to be the first to fifteen roads
(without dog legs, of course) was frantic. Forcing dog legs was key, and
quite fun!

The game seemed to start a little slow, since there were fewer resources
floating about. I don't know if this was real or imagined. I may try doing
it again starting with three settlements each, and playing to 11 points. On
the other hand, there's something nice about using the rules right out of
the box for a successful two player game that is appealing.

Both of us agreed that we'd rather play two-player "real" Settlers than the
cardgame. That could bode unwell for all those expansions I've purchased :-(

Fairy Tale

2006-11-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

Finally!

If you read my blog with any sort of regularity, you know I'm a bit of a complainer. Of late, it's been the rare new game that has really impressed me. So, when I find one that makes me lean back and smile, I have to tell you about it.

Fairy Tale is actually a Japanese game designed by Satoshi Nakamura. It first came to my attention about a year ago. A friend of mine sent me a note telling me he thought Fairy Tale was similar to one of my prototypes, Jet Set. As intriguing as that sounded, I didn't get a chance to play Fairy Tale until today. All I can say in response to my friend -- I wish.

Don't get me wrong, I think Jet Set is a fine game. And, apparently, so did the 2002 Hippodice committee that named it as a finalist for that year. For one thing, Jet Set is a smaller game than Fairy Tale. Where Fairy Tale could take up to twenty minutes, Jet Set would be stretching it to make it to the ten minute mark. Jet Set has a public draft, where Fairy Tale has a more closed draft system. Finally, Jet Set has a two-step scoring process -the first step uses a multiplier, and the second step is basic majority. Fairy Tale has much more to consider.

The drafting mechanism is probably the coolest part of the game. Each player starts with five cards. You take one and pass the rest of the cards along. You do this, one card at a time until you're left with the five cards you chose. Then everyone takes their hand of five cards and chooses three of them. These three are played one at a time, simultaneously. Some effects come into play here, mostly dealing with cards being flipped (not scored) or unflipped (scored!) After everyone has gone through this process four times, they will have 12 cards before them. The ones that are still face down are out of the game and not considered for scoring purposes. Everything else is scored. I won't go into the scoring aspect, but it's very simple and offers a decent amount of depth.

Alec and I played five two-player games in a row (he won 4 of them - grr!) and we both really enjoyed it. It seems to work very well as a two-player game, but I look forward to playing it with more. It's also pretty tight. With most of our scores in the 40s/50s, none of our games ever had more than an 8 point difference. Of course, in my only victory, I beat Alec by one point. After he beat me soundly several times in a row he had the AUDACITY to offer me pointers ("I think you concentrate too hard on the STAR cards, Dad.") How dare he question my beatable strategy!

I am officially impressed.
5.04 out of 6.3 stars

The 40-Year-Old Geek

2006-10-30T07:10:00.001-08:00

What's wrong with me?

Last night I was in a coffee shop playing a board game. Not just any board game. Take a look at that photo to the right. That's a game called Nexus Ops. My 12-year-old son loves it, and why wouldn't he? It has little gummy armies fighting for control of a thin cardboard monolith. You roll lots of dice. There are fungoids and lava leapers and you go on secret missions. Perfectly understandable what a 12-year-old would see in this.

But I'm 40.

Nexus Ops is really just an excuse to play with toys. Surely, a man of my age should be playing something more mature like Bridge or Chess. Right?

As I sat at the table last night it occurred to me that I was at least 11 years older than everyone else at the table. I had to keep reminding myself -- I don't still live with my parents and I haven't for twenty years. I've kissed lots of girls (okay, nine). I've never seen an episode of Star Trek that didn't have Captain Kirk in it, and I've only seen that Holy Grail movie once. I can't stand They Might Be Giants and I could give two squirts for any sci-fi/fantasy show that isn't aired on a major network. I have my standards.

But when it comes to boardgames, you might as well just paint a 'G' on my chest and strap on the red cape. I even have a boardgame blog (don't tell anyone). I have to be honest, I felt really out of place last night, surrounded by twenty-somethings and blue hair and nose rings and nervous attempts at wit which were really just excuses to be loud. Of course, these infractions weren't occurring at our gaming tables, but I just wanted to give you an idea of the atmosphere of the coffee shop where we play. Hell, I don't think I would have been cool enough for this place when I was twenty-five. At forty, I wouldn't have been surprised if an archeologist grabbed me by the arm and shouted, "I found one! Dust him. Careful, his arm might snap off."

So, there I sat. While other, responsible adults were out doing responsible adult things (like reading bedtime stories, paying bills, snuggling with a loved one, getting drunk, surfing porn, considering plastic surgery, drowning kittens, planning terrorist attacks, etc.) I was pushing my fake little armies around fighting pretend battles.

What a goob.

Mille Bournes

2006-10-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

Mille Bournes is a game I played quite a bit of in my youth. Thinking back on it, it's hard to remember why we played this so much, as it was such a frustrating game.

Recently I was going through some old-school games with my kids, to see if they might enjoy the kinds of games I had enjoyed when I was young. I probably should have skipped Mille Bournes since I don't have any specific recollections of particularly enjoying it.

For those who have never played, Mille Bournes is a racing game with cards. Mille Bournes is French for 1000 miles, or something. The basic way to put distance between you and the starting gate is to play mileage cards. The first player whose mileage cards add up to or exceed 1000 wins the race. Points are calculated and several races are run until one player hits 5000 pts.

There are, of course, several ways to punish your opponents, and that's where all the hair-tearing "fun" comes in. First of all, you have to play a ROLL card in order to play mileage cards. Don't have a ROLL card in your hand? Good luck. You get to draw one card per turn, and if it's not a ROLL card, too bad. Several fun-filled turns can be exhausted trying to draw a ROLL card.

Oh, so you've finally drawn a ROLL card? Yea! Go ahead, play it. I dare ya. Because as soon as you play a ROLL card, someone can come along and play a HAZARD card on top of you. For instance: flat tire, accident, out of gas, etc. You get the idea. Of course, there are REMEDY cards you can play (spare tire, repair, gas, etc) but you have to either have the specific card in your hand or (and this is so much fun!) you have to draw it from the deck. Oh, and once you've drawn it from the deck, you then have to play a ROLL card. If you have one...and so on.

Naturally, once you finally play that ROLL card and can get back on your way, your opponent sticks it to you and you get to start all over again. Sound fun?

Well, guess what kiddies, it's not. It's just as frustrating as I remembered playing as a kid.

You have been warned.

Recent Gaming With the Kids

2006-10-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Been playing alot of games with the kids lately.

Shear Panic
-------------------
This is the game that blew everyone away last year at Essen. What can
I say -- it's a decent, mostly tactical little game, with incredible
bits. Certainly not worthy of the drum-banging folks were doing last
year. I think sometimes people are just in the mood to get excited
about something, and last year they picked Shear Panic.

Ex & Hopp
---------------
Played this two player with Alec. Pretty simple, and really made me
think of Balloon Cup. I hadn't played it in years, but it must have
subconsciously inspired me. Basically, if you made the cubes/cards in
Balloon Cup all one color, and the object of the game was to collect
the most cubes (vs. winning trophies), you'd have Ex & Hopp. Alec
kicked my butt.

Monopoly (Star Wars)
------------------------------

---
Yes, really. I don't think my kids had ever played Monopoly -- at
least they hadn't played it with me. I mostly chose it for nostalgia
value, having not played it in over a decade. But I remember really
loving it when I was a kid, so I figured my kids would love it too.
And you know what? They did. The interesting thing about Monopoly is
that it's REALLY easy to teach. For a game with so many rules, you can
really teach as you play. I suppose that's because your decisions are
frequently limited and/or obvious. Another thing was -- we played with
the rules in the box. No house rules -- and the game only lasted about
90 minutes. I was shocked. I remember this game taking hours and hours
when I was a boy. But that was when we filled up Free Parking with
every bonus known to man and made hundreds of side deals that
prolonged the game. When you play by the rules, the game really
doesn't take that long. After we finished I told them that there was a
Sponge Bob version available, at which point my daughter Valori BEGGED
for a copy. So...

Monopoly (Sponge Bob)
----------------------------------
Okay, so maybe I spoil my kids a little. But now, as a "single" Dad,
it's hard to say no. Especially when it involves a game of any kind. I
picked up a copy of this the next day and it was a smash success. Both
of my kids are now Monopoly lovers. Please don't call child services
on me.

Survive
----------
Okay, so I was in the mood for old school Parker Bros. games. A few
years ago I found an incomplete copy of this at a thrift store. About
a year later I found ANOTHER incomplete copy, this time in French, no
less. I combined the two to make one good copy, with some French
tiles. This is a recent favorite of the kids. I couldn't play it with
Valori when she was younger because she would get upset when the
sharks and monsters would eat her swimmers. These days she understands
it's eat or be eaten. Why don't they republish games like this? Seems
like kids would go nuts for them.

Parcheesi
---------------
Can you tell I was in an old school mood? I'm a big fan of games like
Sorry! and Parcheesi, because they're really just multi-player
backgammon. Actually, Parcheesi is a much better game than Sorry!, but
Sorry! will do in a pinch. It's just fun and there's always an
exciting finish. Valori won this time, beating me by one space. She
was delighted!

Risk
-------
I figured I'd give this a try with Alec, since he likes fighting
games. Valori opted out when she saw the map. I guess it looked too
complicated for her. I must say I've really raised a great little
Euro-gamer, because after awhile Alec started complaining about the
luck. So I asked him why he liked a game like Verflixxt that also had
alot of luck. He replied, "well that's a short game so it's okay." I
was so proud. He ended up forfeiting the game after I had him
surrounded in Europe. Heh. There are still some things a Dad can teach
his son -- even in a game with so much "luck"

Fluxx
--------
Boy, you can see I was really pulling out some doozies. Basically I
was cleaning out some space in the old garage and I found all my third
tier games. What the heck, right? Some games are so stupid they're
fun. I found that to be the case with Fluxx. Boy, this game is stupid.
But Alec really liked it and I think the fact that it was absurd is
how we extracted so much entertainment from it. It didn't hurt that he
won FOUR GAMES IN A ROW. For a game with almost no thinking required,
I was having a really unlucky run. Pretty silly stuff -- but if you're
going to play a silly game, I guess Fluxx will do.

Coming Soon - Top 100 Games 2006

2006-09-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

Last year I posted my top 100 games. You can find that blog here:

http://snoopslist.blogspot.com/

This year I'm going to make it a GeekList, instead of blogging it. If you want to check out a preliminary list, where I describe the games that dropped off the list since last year, go here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/16632

Blue Moon City

2006-09-11T00:57:00.000-07:00

I've played Blue Moon City about six times in the last two weeks. I do enjoy the game (obviously), but I do have a concern about player order. It seems to me that the first player has a significant advantage over the last player. The first player will always have as many moves as the last player, and possibly more. Given the nature of the game-ending conditions, this seems like A BAD THING. Also, the first spaces on the obelisk are cheaper, meaning the first player has the opportunity to snap them up first at a better price -- all else being equal.In my six games, the first player didn't always win, but I'd say it happened a majority of the time, with the last player having the worst odds. If players know about this issue, then they can possibly self-balance by not cooperating with the first player as much, but this tactic presumes that there *is* a balance issue, and one that's not at all obvious. You'd think Knizia would have addressed it somehow. We thought it might be interesting to offer more cards to start the game the further you were from start. Perhaps. 8 for the start player, 9 for second, 10 for third, and 11 for fourth. This idea is not tested, however.

Tempus

2006-09-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've played Tempus twice now, and I feel qualified to offer my opinion of the game.

Thumbs... up!

First things first - it's not the elusive "Civilization in two hours" that it claims to be. I don't know if such a game can exist or even needs to exist. An epic scope requires a healthy playing time and you just don't have that with Tempus. The game has a specific number of turns, and those turns move quickly and painlessly.

However, even without the epic scope, there is enough theme to keep me in the moment. Your civilization rises throughout the ages, giving you bonus abilities if you can manage to "keep up with the Joneses." Fortunately, the game never allows you to get too far behind Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and sometimes you can even spring ahead of them. The progression track has a very bouncy feel that I like. To be honest, though, I never paid too much attention to the progression because of this. If I was able to progress ahead of my fellow players, all fine and good, but I haven't made it a high priority in either game I've played so far. Except, of course, for that last progression (Aviation) which is a +3 doozy!

The only thing that really concerns me is a potential turn-order problem. In my first game, I was the last one in a four player game to place my pieces and got hosed. It was unbelievable. Before anyone had placed their pieces, I had picked out three spots that I thought would be good. Bam, Bam, Bam -- it gets to my turn and ALL THREE of those spots are gone, in the order I would have taken them. So now I can either snuggle in between two other players or live behind the lake with all the nasty mountains. I chose the lake and spent the game puttering around in my hole until I discovered ship-building 2/3 of the game later. The one time I tried to stick my neck out of my shell I got swatted. I didn't win one fight the entire game. I felt like I was playing catch-up the entire time.

In my second game, I still placed rather late in the turn order, but I used an aggressive strategy to help my position early in the game. I still made a few key mistakes, mostly involving city placement, but I ended up coming in second so I feel like I'm getting a better handle on the game.

I understand the folks who are underwhelmed by the game. There aren't really a whole lot of new ideas in the game. Some have accused it of being a game where, "you push a bunch of pieces around and then score at the end." Yes, that's true, but if you're having fun making the decisions about where you're pushing those pieces, isn't that the point?

Double or Nothing - August 5, 2006

2006-08-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how disappointed I was with this new offering from Knizia and Uberplay. My research before buying had indicated that it belonged in the press-your-luck genre of games. When I read someone comparing it to Diamant (a real crowd-pleaser in my home) I knew I had to check it out.

Hmm. Yes, you do have to press your luck. But the system is so abstract that it's difficult to care. The game has a unique deck of cards that create "lines of suits" across the table. A line is only complete if it is represented in every card placed on the table thus far. Look at the picture for an example. Going from right to left, notice that the diamond suit is the only one with a continuous line. Spades and hearts crapped out after the first card, and clubs died after the third. The object of the game is to take the points you're offered (the total value of all the suit icons represented in all the current complete lines) or take your chance and draw a card. In the above example, if the player doesn't take his six points (six diamonds showing), he can take a chance and draw another card. If a diamond doesn't show up, he's toast.

Once a player is out, he's out until all players either crap out or score. This involves turning your player token from IN to OUT (something we all habitually forgot to do). The last player standing has a mildly interesting dilemma. He must draw two cards. If he scores, he gets double. If he busts, he gets nothing. Double. Or Nothing. Get it?

I dunno, it just didn't grab me. One core problem is that the deck is SO non-standard that it's difficult to calculate your odds at any given time. The best you can say during any draw is that your odds of success are at least 25%. Unless you study the wildly irregular deck, it's really difficult to calculate your outs.

Double or Nothing is an example of a game that works perfectly, but doesn't inspire or impress. This felt like a game that Knizia designed in the margins of his notebook while working on some other game.

Rum & Pirates - August 5, 2006

2006-08-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

Rum & Pirates wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms at the 2006 Gathering of Friends. The incredible buzz surrounding a new Alea game is usually something to behold during that magical week in April. Unfortunately, Rum & Pirates didn't appeal to a majority of the attendees. In fact, after looking at the board I wasn't especially excited about playing, particularly when I heard about how much die-rolling was involved. Take a look at that board and be honest -- doesn't it look like your typical roll-and-move nightmare?

I'm here to tell you I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Okay, I admit the game does not have the depth of, say, Puerto Rico, Princes of Florence, or even Taj Mahal. And yes, it does have alot of dice rolling. ALOT. But you know what? All of the players thoroughly enjoyed it. We laughed thoughout and really had a pleasant time.

I think the issue is that Alea isn't especially known for this kind of game. I have to admit that it puzzles me. To me, the Alea brand typically represented games for gamers. Putting Rum & Pirates in Alea clothing is kinda like showing Seinfeld on The History Channel. Not something you'd expect.

The play of R&P comes in two parts. There's the boardplay, and then there's fighting for bunk space, which occurs off the board. On the board are several (and I do mean several) different ways to score points. Most of them involve rolling a die, but all of them involve using your limited supply of pirates to move. The more you move, the more pirates you must use, and the fewer you will have to fight for bunk space. Once a player decides to move his remaining pirates off the board, he places them next to the ship to wait for the second half of the phase. This phase is called the wrangling phase and thematically what you're doing is scuffling around trying to find the best place to sleep. In the bunk is best, on the hammock is second best, and the mast is reserved for the player who comes in third. Everyone else sleeps on the floor, I guess. Without going into how the wrangling phase works (it's unusual but simple), you want to have more pirates than your opponents, and you want to place them later in the phase.

The game lasts five rounds -- boardplay + wrangling = 1 round. Once you're done you tally up your points and the best man wins.

I recommend Rum & Pirates for anyone who wants a good family game that promises a rollicking good time. Oh, be forewarned though -- this game is better the more pirates you have at the table. I tried a two-player game with my son and the game felt rather flat. This game needs lots of energy for it to perform at its best.

Arr!

Die Macher - August 5, 2006

2006-08-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Four of us sat down to play Die Macher. There was Kevin, Dave, Jim and me. I was the only one who had played it (twice before) but we all had read the rules ahead of time so everything went fairly smoothly. We finished our game in just over three hours. Pretty impressive for three newbies and a veteran.

And, as it should have been, the veteran won. But it didn't come easily. In fact, I thought I was out of it coming out of the fifth election. I had put all my hopes and dreams into the fourth election, which I won by a landslide. Unfortunately, my wad was pretty well shot after that. I performed fairly well in election #6, but not enough to overcome the others. Kevin slaughtered all of us in election #7, and actually made up alot of ground. But not enough, as he eventually realized.

My main competition after election #4 was Jim. His very respectable strategy was to make strong showings in all of the elections, without necessarily winning them. Where the rest of us had peaks and valleys, Jim maintained a strong position consistently. It would have won him the game. Except for the National Opinion Board.

Doing well in the regional elections allows you to manipulate the National Opinion Board, and having a strong correlation with the National Opinion Board at the game can give you huge bonus points. This is where playing with newbies paid off for me. Not because I did anything particularly clever, but because both Jim and Dave let me carry the National Opinion. Jim neglected it, and Dave unwittingly pushed it in my favor. My narrow victory came at the expense of the others' inexperience. Hey, I'll take a win in Die Macher anytime, though.

Final Scores:
325 Stephen
318 Jim (see? very close)
263 Dave
246 Kevin

I can honestly say that this was one of the most satisfying games that I've played in a long time, and not just because I won (I didn't expect to win at all.) The game just has such seamless mechanics. It really isn't that complex -- there are just ALOT of simple things you need to do each turn. I highly recommend this and look forward to it hitting the table again soon.

July Game Day 2006

2006-08-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

July Game Day - July 1, 2006

Location: Duane & Steve's Place

At the Table: Alec, Brad, Dave, Duane, Jake, Jim, Ken W, Kenney, Kent, Kevin, Lisa, Snoop, Steve, Valerie

On the Table: Alibi, Attika, Blokus, Bridges of Shangri-La, Carcassonne, Category 5, Citadels, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects, Giganten, Kill Dr. Lucky, Power Grid, Princes of Florence, Puerto Rico, Santiago, Settlers of the Stone Age, St. Petersburg (x2), Ticket to Ride: Marklin, Torres

Another spectacular get-together. Thanks to Duane and Steve for hosting. It was Casa Tortilla-- I think everyone had their own bag! First of all, I'd like to welcome Brad back after a long absence. And I'd like to welcome Kent to his first monthly meeting. Hmm. Ken, Kenny, Kent... One of you is going to have to get a cool nickname. Like 'Snoop'.

Games Presented in alphabetical order (for your protection):
Winners in [ ].

ALIBI
-------
[Kevin] 38
Kenny 21
Lisa 9

I think Kevin brings this because he knows he's the only one who has a shot at winning. The last time I played I felt like a blind man with sunglasses in a dark room. In this game you're supposed to be deducing *something*. What, I have no idea. One day I'll have to break out my home-made copy of Black Vienna -- the only deduction game that I've enjoyed to date (and that includes Sleuth, by my hero, Sid Sackson)

ATTIKA
---------
[Jim]
Brad
Duane
Snoop

This is another one that is available to us at BSW. It has its roots in the connection family of games, but can also be won by playing all of your tiles to the board. Of course, once I remarked how unlikely a connection win would be in a four-player game, Jim did just that. I think this game will have some replay value, but I'm not sure how much. Once all players have the hang of things, it seems to be just a game of putting out little fires until eventually one comes along that just can't be contained. Right now it's a 6 for me and it could go up or down.

BLOKUS
---------
[Ken W] -12
Kevin -14
David -20
Kenny -27

Just to show you how far removed I am from the zeitgeist of American gaming -- this game bores the pants off me, but many people love it. It's not entirely unpleasant and, like Ubongo, I can play it every now and then. (But at least Ubongo has a pulse!)

BRIDGES OF SHANGRI-LA
------------------------------
[Duane] 20
Snoop 19
Brad 19
Jim 18

This is a Colovini, multi-player abstract, ostensibly about students travelling from village to village gaining wisdom in order to become masters. To say that it received a cool reception would be a great understatement. Some of the bits are *still* thawing out. Table talk consisted of remarks about how much people were not enjoying the game. I thought it was okay, but not stellar. There are better multi-player abstracts out there. This one has trade pile written all over it.

CARCASSONNE
------------------
[Alec] 90
Snoop 77
Valerie 70

This game is like an old shoe. Not particularly impressive, but very comfortable.

CATEGORY 5
---------------
[Alec] 47
Jim 54
Kenny 55
Snoop 55
Dave 61
Steve 66
Ken 67
Kevin 67
Duane 92

This game's getting rather old-shoey as well. Don't get me wrong, I used to LOVE it, but I don't get especially excited about playing it anymore. Still, it has its place as a fine closer when there are alot of people who have refused to go home.

CITADELS
------------
[Kent] 33
Steve 25
Alec 22
Lisa 22
Jake 16

The Faidutti classic. I wasn't in this one, so I can't tell the story of how Jake came in last place.

CLEOPATRA AND THE SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS
--------------------------------------------------------
[Jim] 45
Kent 38
Dave 34
Duane 42
Brad 33

This is the game the fellas were playing when I walked in. Everyone playing seemed to really love it. I don't think it will ever be regarded as one of DOW's better games. It has some fabulous bits, but they exist purely for show and don't add anything to the gameplay. They scream, "Pay No Attention to That Game Behind the Curtain." The face-up/face-down card deck element is very nice, though. I look forward to seeing it in a game I enjoy.

GIGANTEN
------------
[Snoop] $119,500
Brad $118,000
Duane $88,000
Jim $98,500

Since I'm the one who usually writes these session reports, they tend to become little essays on the games I dislike. Okay, I didn't entirely dislike Giganten, but there wasn't a whole lot to love, either. Although it was a satisfying win, I felt like I came by it not entirely through skill, but by little gifts I received along the way. For instance, a die rolling in my favor, or someone bowing out of an auction when they could have (unknowingly) won it for one more dollar. Sure, luck plays a part in many of the games I enjoy, but here I felt like I got way more than my fair share. The game's fault? I'm not sure.

KILL DR. LUCKY
-------------------
[David] The Killer
Kent
Valerie

One of the all-time greats!

POWER GRID
---------------
[Jake]
Steve
Kent
Kenny
Lisa
Ken

Kent, Steve, and Jake were all within $10 of each other.

PRINCES OF FLORENCE
---------------------------
[Duane] 61
David 50
Kevin 49
Brad 40

A wonderful game. Even better than Kill Dr. Lucky. I'm disappointed I didn't get a chance to play this one.

PUERTO RICO
----------------
[Kenny] 53
Ken 47
Lisa 40
Kevin 32
Steve 29

The notes say that this was only Kenny's 2nd time playing, and Ken's first. I'm taking partial credit for Kenny's win since I advised him to go with the corn strategy. Actually, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to play this one as well.

SANTIAGO
-------------
[Kevin] 175
Brad 169
Duane 157
David 159

I can't say anything about this one. A report, please?

SETTLERS OF THE STONE AGE
-----------------------------------
[Jim] 10
Alec 6
Snoop 6

This was part of my promise to Alec that I would try to get one game of Settlers in with him. I played this one several years ago when it first came out, and I don't own it (which I guess should tell you something). Still, I had more fun playing it than I remember it being, which is good. Jim trounced us by marching through Europe uncontested and gaining lots of valuable prizes. I went for an Australia strategy, but then I remembered that I wasn't playing Risk. Shit.

and now presenting the TSG FLAVOR OF THE MONTH...
ST. PETERSBURG (1)
------------------------
[Ken] 74
David 67
Kenny 64
Kevin 58

Just to show you that I *can* be wrong on occasion, St. Petersburg was a game that I had absolutely no interest in for years. I played it when it first came out and considered it dull and vastly overrated. Fast forward a few years, and now I sorta get it. I guess there's an argument to suggest that I have a reason for liking it, since it's available at BSW. Also, it should be noted that the Aristocrat strategy failed to win either game on Saturday.

ST. PETERSBURG (2)
------------------------
[Steve] 118
Duane 95
Ken W 90
Snoop 73

It's well-documented that the Mistress of Ceremonies is an *extremely* powerful card. Maybe too powerful. Guess who got *both* of them? (Hint: It won't me)

TICKET TO RIDE: MARKIN
------------------------------
[Lisa] 166
Jim 164
Alec 156
David 142

Alec was not harmed during the playing of this game, but I believe he was threatened a few times.

TORRES
----------
[Jake] 293
Kenny 192
Kevin 191
Kent 184

Jake had the best stacks.

Damn, looking back on it, I missed out on Torres, Power Grid, Princes of Florence, *and* Puerto Rico. What the hell?!?!

See y'all next month, ya hear?

Game Day June 3

2006-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

June Game Day - June 3, 2006

Location: Jake & Lisa's Place

At the Table: Alec, Dave, Duane, Elise, Jake, Jim, Ken W, Kenney, Kevin, Lisa, Snoop, Steve, Terri, Tom, Valerie

On the Table: Age of Steam (x2), Balderdash, Bang, Ca$h & Gun$ (x2), Caylus, Dragons Gold, Hart an der Grenze (x2), Igor, In a Pickle, Julius Caesar (prototype), Musketierre, Nicht die Bohne, Nottingham, Ubongo, Verflixxt, You Must Be An Idiot

Holy cow, what a day! This may have been the best game day yet. Fifteen gamers showed up and played nineteen games (sixteen different ones). Personally, I didn't play one stinker. Some may have been better than others, and of course prototypes don't count, but for the most part I enjoyed every minute of my time at Jake and Lisa's pad -- even with an aching hole in my mouth.
Games, not drugs!

Presented in alphabetical order (for your protection):
Winners in [ ].

Age of Steam #1 (aka Age of Scream, aka Age of Death Spiral)
Players:
40 [Kevin]
27 Duane
17 Ken
16 Valerie
14 Steve
0 Lisa (bankrupt)

Wailing and gnashing of teeth seemed to be par for the course for this session. If I'm not mistaken, it was a table full of newbies, which is probably not the best way to go. Kevin and Duane, devotees of Railroad Tycoon, appeared to have a better handle on things than the rest. Much bellyaching was heard before this one would finally draw to a close.

Age of Steam #2 (aka What was all the fuss about?)
Players:
73 [Jake]
63 Jim
45 Snoop
43 Kevin

Despite the deafening warning cries from the huddled masses, four manly men set out to tame the steamy beast. No problem. None of us suffered the financial death spiral. It's so easy to make money in this game, isn't it? We snorted. We chortled. We clapped our hands. It was all a big party for us and I believe we finished in less than 90 minutes. We all agreed that we should make Age of Steam junction a regular stop. I beat Kevin. Whoo whooooo!

Balderdash
Players:
1st [Kevin]
2nd Duane
3rd Steve
4th Snoop
5th Kenny
6th Lisa

Balderdash is a great game, but I prefer BEYOND Balderdash with its separate categories (dates, names, movie titles, acronyms, etc..). In the games I've played, you voted simultaneously and you could NOT vote on your own pick. I don't know if the official rules changed, or if I've just been playing wrong all my life. Anyway, I came in 4th. They can all suck my murfles (which are not undigested peanuts found in fecal matter).

Bang!
Players:
1st [Jim]
2nd David
3rd Ken
4th Jake
5th Alec

Did this one officially end? Last I saw Jim and David were locked in some seemingly unending battle. I don't know much about the game, other than the fact that I don't remember being infatuated with it.

Ca$h & Gun$ #1
Players:
85 [Jake]
80 Terry
70 Alec
60 Tom
60 Snoop
25 Jim (dead)

This was great fun! This is basically a game version of the final scene in Resevoir Dogs, a four-way Mexican standoff taking place after a bank hold-up. Great movie. Great game. It comes with six foam pistols which really add to the theme. It's SO funny when everyone has a gun pointed at everyone else's head. Yes, I let my 12-year-old son play this. There's even an expansion (which we didn't get to try) which allows one of the players to secretly be a cop, which makes it even MORE like Resevoir Dogs. The makers of this game were obviously fans of the film. This was so good, we immediately had to play it a second time.

Ca$h & Gun$ #2
Players:
70 [Kenny]
65 Terry
60 Tom
55 Alec
55 Dave
40 Jim (alive)

Jake and I gave up our seats so Dave and Kenny could experience some gun-toting fun. Once again, poor Terry came just 5 points out of first place. I would have played this again, but we agreed to move on to something else. Unfortunately, Tom and Terry had to leave early and it was their copy, so no one else got to enjoy this. I know several people who will be putting this game on our next Adam Spielt order. I'm gonna make my own copy in the meantime...

Caylus
Players:
75 [Steve]
67 Dave
66 Duane
56 Kenny

THE gamer's game of 2006 made its way to our table. I didn't get a report. Maybe one of the players can chime in.

Dragon's Gold
Players:
59 [Ken]
57 Lisa
38 Alec
34 Valerie

Several years ago, Eurogames/Descartes came out with a series of blue box games that all tried to out-do each other in averageness (Democrazy, Castle, Draco & Co, Fantasy Business, and this). Draco was the only one even remotely interesting (don't you love my unbiased reporting?) Like many toys, some games are more fun when you try to break them. This is one of those games.

Hart an der Grenze #1
Players:
274 [Jake]
217 Jim
199 Alec
177 Snoop
166 Tom
155 Dave

This is the game that (IMO) should have been nominated for Spiel des Jahres 2006. I'm not saying it should win -- I'll go with the majority and be happy with a Thurn und Taxis win. HadG is a game in which players are attempting to smuggle illegal contraband across the border. Hmm. a Kosmos game with a Mexican theme? They didn't like the Pinata theme, but they're okay with this? Not fair. As much as I liked the negotiation/bluffing aspect of the game, I'd be happier if it were a little less ... busy. I've got cards in my hand, in my suitcase, behind my suitcase, under my suitcase ...whew. Still, a solid, fun game that didn't deserve the lackluster response it got at the Gathering.

Hart an der Grenze #2
Players:
154 [Ken]
140 Kevin
137 Alec
90 Lisa

Second verse, same as the first?

Igor
Players:
8 [Steve]
4 Valerie
3 Ken

I know nothing about this one. A report, please?

In a Pickle
Players:
1 Jake
2 Duane
4 David
1 Kevin
6 Lisa
2 Steve

I don't know anything about this game. Not sure who won, either. The game log sheet says Lisa had the most points, but David was ranked first. Huh?

Julius Caesar
Players:
10 [Snoop]
4 Lisa
4 Jim
2 Jake

A prototype cardgame of mine. Thank you for playtesting. As always, your comments were insightful and helpful.

Musketierre
Players:
105 [Snoop]
103 Jim
83 Alec
75 Elise

I've owned this cardgame for years but hadn't played it until today. All of the players work together as Musketeers (did you know there were four of them? I didn't) fighting against the Cardinal Guard. Each "trick" the group will either defeat the Guard or not. If you defeat them, the strongest player gets a bonus. If you don't defeat them, the weakest player gets a penalty. A clever, old-school German game that's not without a few issues. The way the scoring is set up to punish the weak, threre's almost no way to overcome a bad hand of cards. If you happen to have a bunch of low numbers, you're toast. Conversely, if you get a hand of 9s and 10s, you're sitting pretty. Interesting, but just missing the mark on brilliant. My initial suggestion would be to lengthen the game. As it stands, the victor is the first one to 100 points. Someone with a hot streak of luck could win in three or four hands. If you like the game (and I do), then it shouldn't be a problem to double that to 200 points to at least try and let the luck even out. At any rate, it's a keeper and one I'll happily play anytime.

Nicht die Bohne
Players:
186 [Alec]
128 Val
125 Jake
123 Ken
88 Jim
54 Snoop

The 'other' bean game. It's really an exercise in sticking it to your opponents. There's not a great deal of control, but it's fun - and there's beans! I will admit, toward the end of the game I was getting punchy (I blame Jim) and started playing cards at random. My "luck" in the game took a nosedive at that point, so it's not like the game is decision-free.

Nottingham
Players:
100 [Jake]
85 Jim
70 Snoop

This is the newest cardgame from Bohnanza-guy, Uwe Rosenberg. If I had to give you the concept in three words or less, I'd say it was ' Rummy Meets Carcassone.' You begin the game with a tiny little hand of three cards. You get more cards by turning over the top card in the deck and deciding to (a) add it to your hand, or (b) perform the action on the card. The actions are mostly variations on taking a card from another player and giving them the card you drew. You can play melds of three cards or perform special melds of five or more cards (for more points!) I don't think there are any earth-shattering ideas in the game, but it feels very comfortable.

Ubongo
Players:
7 [Duane]
? Steve
? Kevin
? Ken

I didn't see any other notes on scoring. I guess their brains were so scrambled after playing that they forgot. This game makes me want to hurt cute, fluffy animals.

Verflixxt!
Players:
1st [Alec]
2nd David
3rd Tom
4th Kenney

Hmm, this isn't the first time Alec has won this game. What is his die-rolling secret?

You Must Be An Idiot!
Players:
28 [Terri]
22 David
21 Tom
15 Kenney
11 Alec

Hey, they played this? Cool!

==

Outstanding day, boys and girls. Thanks for the fun, and a special thanks to Jake and Lisa for having us! Next month we'll be at Duane & Steve's and in August we'll be at my place. Probably my brother's again.

Spiel des Huh?

2006-05-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

In 1996 the Spiel des Jahres nominees included El Grande (winner), Get the Goods, Mu & Mehr and Carabande.

One year later, Bohnanza, Expedition, Lowenherz and the Settlers of Catan Card Game were in the hunt.

Elfenland (winner), Basari, Caesar & Cleopatra, Durch die Wuste, Euphrat & Tigris, Gipf and Die Macher were all in the race in 1998. My god, look at those titles! Only as I'm sitting here typing this do I realize that three of my top ten games of all time were released and nominated for Spiel des Jahres '98. Whew!

Let's look at the list for 2006:

• Aqua Romana (Queen Games)
• Blue Moon City (Kosmos)
• Just 4 Fun (Kosmos)
• Seeräuber (Queen Games)
• Thurn und Taxis (Hans im Glück)

I've heard of Aqua Romana, but it hasn't delivered enough buzz to inspire me to play it. That's not a knock against the game. I don't know anything about it.

I avoided Blue Moon City because I wasn't exactly knocked out by the cardgame bearing the same name. I've recently learned that the games are alike in title only, so I'll be needing to give BMC a try. Besides, Chris Farrell gives it high praise, and that's good enough for me. Chris is one of the few voices in the game community who could have convinced me to give Beowulf a second chance. I haven't done so, yet, but I haven't sold it away, either.

Just 4 Fun? Horrible, horrible name. Unfortunately, that's all I know about it.

Seerauber? Never heard of it. Of course, that's not meant to be an indictment against it. I guess I'm just not getting around.

Finally, there's Thurn und Taxis, the little game that could. Living under the shadow of Caylus all these months can't have been easy, but if all goes as planned, it should have the last laugh. I didn't find it to be particularly compelling, but I'm having a bad year.

So, where is all of this leading? I suppose I have to admit that, for the first time since I became a Eurogamer back in 1996, I could really care less who wins the Spiel des Jahres this year.

And it bothers me that I don't care.

It's not the jury's fault. 2005 was not a great year. It pains me to say this, but they're just not making them like they used to. We're seeing alot of recycled mechanics and systems. The fresh ideas that turned me on only ten short years ago have become stale and tired. I have to ask you Eurogames, "What have you done for me lately?"

I have many friends who have huge game collections. Due to the understandable desire to play the latest and newest titles, many quality games get precious little table time before the next new batch comes along. Sometimes we kiddingly suggest how nice it would be if the game companies would stop printing games for a year or two so we could catch up. To those friends, I would suggest that it's happening now. The games that are coming out today are not the ones we'll be talking about tomorrow. We're in a holding pattern, churning out the same basic games until some worthy design team can make us gasp and exclaim, "Wow, I didn't know a game could do that!"

You can't blame the game companies. They have to publish something. They can't just say, "Well, we couldn't find any monumental advances in game design, so we're going to take the year off." They have to publish what they think will make money, and their only indicators are what has sold well in the past. So you end up getting expansions, rethemed Knizias, or the latest Frankenstein's monster (Carcassonne meets Settlers meets Bohnanza...).

So who do we blame?

I think we have to start with the designers. Naturally, I will include myself, although in the scheme of things I'm still learning to crawl. Without naming names or going into details, I've found myself scratching my head when reading the rules to many new games. In many cases I've felt like the designer has settled for something much less than he or she had the ability to deliver. I think to myself, "Wow, if I had designed this, I wouldn't be very excited about showing it to a publisher."

But these games get sold and published. Every time I see one I'm tempted to pull out my bottom shelf prototypes. These are prototypes that work properly, are more-than-slightly derivative, and have absolutely no zing!

zing (n): That undefinable (!) quality in a new game that makes your heart pump just a little bit faster.

You know zing when you feel it. It makes you sit up in your chair and smile. It makes you excited about playing a game a second time, even before you've played it once. You know it's going to be that good. Zing has balls enough to say, "Look I know you've already got three hundred games in your closet, but there ain't nothing like me!"

Yes, as a new designer, I've designed many a zing-free game. And some might argue that I've even got one or two published.

Getting back to the topic at hand, how many of these current SdJ nominees have that zing? Well, given that I've only played one of them, I can't fairly say. I can tell you that my hopes are not high.

I hope I'm wrong.

Rapture

2006-05-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

Everett and I finally got a chance to play this last night. I must tell you it was one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I have had in quite a long time. We both enjoyed it. The game did have a few swings, but I think the U.S. (me) only had the lead one time. Toward the end of the game I realized that I had no shot of winning unless I made a mad dash to control Europe. Naturally, this meant I had to forsake the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the U.S.S.R. (Everett) played a well-timed OPEC card that sealed my fate. How ironic that I was seriously considering shutting down the OPEC option just a turn earlier. Ah well. It was great fun.

For those unaware, Twilight Struggle is a card-driven game based on the Cold War, 1945-1989. However, to say that Twilight Struggle is a wargame is kinda like saying Def Leppard was a heavy metal band. It walks the walk, but it doesn't exactly talk the talk, if you know what i mean. Really, it's an area influence game. Some have criticized it for being chrome-laden and fiddly. Perhaps, but I'm usually pretty sensitive about both of those characteristics, yet I didn't feel the game was overly burdened with either. As is typical with this type of game, the theme is injected rather artificially via cards. Read a card and feel the theme wash over you. Maybe not? Okay fine, but it was still a fun time. And it made both of us wish we had paid attention more in history class. Fortunately, the rules contain a brief history explaining the background of each card in the game. Nice touch, and something I'll be reading. Someday. Maybe.

Many have complained about the overriding luck in the game, and I'd be lying if I told you a bad hand couldn't severely punish you. However, as a lover of cardgames, I find this to be perfectly acceptable. I typically don't judge a game based on how likely it is that the best player will win. I judge it based on much fun I have wrestling with my fate.

I should mention that one of the reasons I love this game so much is because I secretly wish I had the stuff to be a wargamer. I'll admit it -- I just don't have the patience for the thick rulebooks and I certainly don't have the time to commit to such games. I do enjoy a game of Titan every now and then, but Titan has the advantage of not being tied to an historic theme, meaning that designers didn't have to crowbar a multitide of specific details to create a simulation. Anyway, while playing Twilight Struggle I sorta felt like I was playing a real wargame, even though in my heart I knew I wasn't. As simple as the game is (for a real wargamer) it ranks up there with the most complex games I've ever had the opportunity to play. I have played Hannibal and We The People (two other card-driven wargames) but I never was able to grasp the totality of those games. That wasn't the case with Twilight Struggle. It only took a turn or two before I was able to really see the game and not only comprehend its objectives, but formulate strategies on how to reach them.

Where In The Welt?

2006-05-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

Do you know Brett Spiel Welt?

www.brettspielwelt.de

Otherwise known in the gaming community as BSW, it's the single greatest community for realtime online Eurogaming. The site is in German but you can find all you need to know in English at:

http://www.brettspielwelt.info/

My user name is 'Snoop'. If you're signed on between 11 pm and midnight (EST), chances are decent I'll be milling around. Look me up.

Oh, and if you play in the Welt, leave a comment here with your user name.

My Top 100 List

2006-05-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

If you want to know more about the games I love, you can find my personal top 100 list here:

http://snoopslist.blogspot.com/

Know Thy Gaming Self

2006-05-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

I'm finding that the more I get to play games regularly, the more I'm finding out which kind of games I really enjoy playing -- as opposed to the kind of games I *feel* like I *should* enjoy playing.

Case in Point: Struggle of Empires
I was really looking forward to playing this one. I read the rules no less than four times just to make sure I had a decent handle on how to play and how to teach. However, I still ended up having to read the rules to the other players, which is NEVER an ideal way to learn/teach a game. I think it must boil down to the fact that some games have just too many rules. Struggle of Empires is one of those games for me. Notwithstanding the fact that I sucked at it and found myself in a huge hole with at LEAST 90 minutes left to play -- the game just wasn't that much fun for me. There was just too much to think about. As much as I recognize the fine design of the game, it made me feel REALLY inadequate as a gamer, and that's not fun when that feeling lasts for 3+ hours. Having written this I'm kinda nervous about how I'll feel about Friedrich. Hmm. Anyway, this one is hitting the trade pile.

Case in Point: Il Principe
Here was another one that sounded REALLY clever when I read the rules, but became a tedious mess in practice. As Valerie very astutely observed, "there were just too many moving parts." I could not have said it better myself. All the mechanics were so tightly connected and there were about a buttzillion different ways to score. I felt like I was spinning plates on the Ed Sullivan show. Plus, my play area was too busy -- I needed room for my tiles, my cards (those on the table *and* those in my hand) plus the fact that some cards were face up and some were face down -- whew. All a whirlwind of activity that felt more like work than play. Trade pile.

Case in Point: Tichu
Now here's a game I love and that I really need to play more often. Yes, it's a bit rules heavy for a cardgame, but once you've got those rules down there's a wide range of options you can apply to each hand. This is the kind of game I could play at least once a week.

May 6 Game Day

2006-05-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

MAY 6 GAME DAY

Greetings,

A big honkin' group of gamers showed up at my brother's place on Saturday. Let's get started, shall we?

On the table: All Wound Up, Covert Action, Domaine, Il Principe, Pickomino, Samurai, Struggle of Empires, Tichu, Ticket to Ride: Marklin, Traumfabrik, Vegas Showdown

At the table: Alec, Duane, Everett, Jake, Jim, Ken, Lisa, Snoop, Steve, Valerie

[Note: I'm recovering from a nasty cold, so these descriptions are going to be short and sweet.]

In Alphabetical Order [for your protection]:

Winner in [ ]

ALL WOUND UP

Players: [Steve], Alec, Everett, Valerie

This was going on in the other room while the *men* were playing a REAL game (Struggle of Empires). All I know is that there were some wind up figures waddling across the board. My only real thoughts were: "I can't believe it's taking so long."

PROTOTYPE

Players: Snoop, Jim, Steve, Duane, [Alec], Jake

A prototype from Jacob Davenport. I don't want to post a description online because it is still in development.

DOMAINE

Players: Ken, Lisa, [Duane], Steve

This is the streamlined version of Lowenherz from Klaus Teuber. I've played Lowenherz several times and love it, but I cannot honestly recall whether I've played Domaine. Lowenherz is more cut-throat, and Domaine removes some of that tension. Still, everyone seemed to like it well enough.

IL PRINCIPE

Players: Snoop, Val, [Jake], Jim, Alec

What a disappointment. You can read my comments elsewhere on this forum so I won't repeat them. I will mention that my sister came into the room when we were starting this game and she had a friggin' parrot with her. That would have been fine except that the damn bird swooped down onto the board just as we were getting started and everything scattered. Thank goodness we weren't in the middle of our game, else it would have been impossible to reassemble. Sheesh.

PICKOMINO

Players: Everett, [Steve], Valerie, Alec

Dice-rolling filler from Knizia. Has a Can't Stop element to it. I'd rather play Can't Stop.

SAMURAI

Players: [Jim], Alec, Snoop, Jake

I taught this classic to Jake, since it was on his to-try list. Its brilliance did not disappoint. This is a wonderful game that scales beautifully for 2,3 or 4 players. One of my all time favorites.

STRUGGLE OF EMPIRES

Players: [Duane], Jake, Snoop, Jim, Ken

The BIG game of the day. I had been looking forward to this for so long, but it ended up being just a bit too much for me to handle (not the game's fault). You can read my other comments elsewhere on this forum.

TICHU

Players: Jim & Lisa vs. [Jake & Snoop]

Ah, now we're talking. Unfortunately, our opponents didn't have a very good time, as the final score was 1025 - 75. You can read my further comments elsewhere on this forum.

TICKET TO RIDE: MARKLIN

Players: [Alec], Steve, Valerie

The third rendition of Ticket To Ride. Alec has told me that this is his favorite version -- which makes sense since he is undefeated at it (2-0). So far I prefer the original.

TRAUMFABRIK

Players: Lisa, Jim, Duane, Everett, [Snoop]

Traumfabrik is affectionately known as the *fourth* game in Knizia's bidding trilogy (Medici, Ra, Modern Art). Much the same as Rheinlander is the *fourth* game in his tile-laying trilogy (E&T, Through the Desert, Samurai). At any rate, Traumfabrik is one of Knizia's best themed games -- you're trying to score points by producing the best films. The bidding evolution is very cyclical -- the winning bid is evenly distributed between the other players. In other words, if you win an auction now, it may be awhile before you win another. I paid a heavy price early in the game but it helped me snag the Best Picture vote two turns in a row. It also won for best Comedy, which pretty much sealed the deal for me. Lisa came close, though.

VEGAS SHOWDOWN

Players: [Alec], Jake, Val, Ken, Steve

Vegas Showdown is AH's attempt to Euro-ize their games. As I see it, Vegas Showdown is an attempted middle ground between Knizia's AMUN RE (which I don't like) and Kramer's PRINCES OF FLORENCE (which I do). I can't say I found it all that exciting, but it's nice that AH is moving in this direction. I was SHOCKED that Alec won the game so handily. He's a decent little gamer, but I would have thought Vegas Showdown would have been too conceptually abstract to maintain his interest. A proud papa, I am.

They Must Be Idiots

2006-05-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

I just found out that You Must Be An Idiot! was submitted to Mensa for their Mensa Select Awards. You may have seen the sticker on some board/card games. Every year five games are chosen as Mensa Select Games. The bad news is that YMBAI was *not* selected to receive a Mensa Select Award. The good news is that at least one of the judges (Wei-Hwa Huang) rated the game the best of the competition, giving it 27 points out of a possible 30. While I am disappointed with the overall result, I have to admit that it's hard to imagine a group of Mensans enjoying YMBAI. Supposedly they know EVERYTHING, so it could be tough to pretend to be an idiot. Ah well.

Oh, I forgot... Wits and Wagers, designed by my good friend, Dominic Crapuchettes, was chosen to win a Mensa Select Award. The part of me that isn't jealous (hmmph!) is very happy for Dominic!

Blame Mr. Winky

2006-05-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hello.

This blog is Ed Rozmiarek's fault. He e-mailed me asking if "Diary of a Mad Gamer" was dead already. Ya see, DOAMG was going to kick off with reports from the 2006 Gathering of Friends. When I could not get an internet connection in my room all week, the idea kinda fizzled, along with my motivation to create a regular gaming blog. See, by nature, I'm really lazy.

Anyway, I do post somewhat regularly to a few forums here and there. I'll repost the best of those posts here, as well as session reports from my local gaming group -- the Tidewater Strategy Group. You can find us on the web here:

www.tidewaterstrategygroup.org