Recent Gaming - July 11, 2009

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)

(#) - 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

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

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)

(#) - 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

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)

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!

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?

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

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

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