Baby, You Were The Greatest!

It all started with a GeekMail from Brian Waters (Koldfoot) in late July, 2005 asking if I’d like to join him in writing a group blog. I was flattered and honored to be asked. O.k., in all honesty, it was a total ego-rush! Of all the posters on BGG, Brian liked my writing enough to ask me. I was still new to board gaming (less than 2 years) and my mind was in a constant whirl of board games, so it didn’t take me long to say “yes” to Brian’s offer. As did DW Tripp, Yehuda, Alex Rockwell, Shannon Appelcline and Grognads.

The first post was made on August first, starting something that, if not great, was damned good. The mix of personalities and tastes brought something to the table for everyone: game analysis, imaginative stories, war games and miniatures, feisty game store owner stories, interviews, and an occasional guest writer. If you didn’t like today’s post, come back tomorrow for something different.

Gone Gaming has offered a lot of excellent articles but one series of posts stands out in my mind from all the posts made in over two years, The Anniversary Tour. This was a fun and imaginative set of posts to celebrate the first year of Gone Gaming. By then, Alex Rockwell and Grognads had left, replaced by Joe Gola, and Melissa and Fraser. If you haven’t read them or you just feel the need for a pick-me-up on a particularly crappy day, you should travel back in time to July 31^st, 2006 where the series starts.

When I got a message from Melissa saying that Gone Gaming was closing its doors, I was shocked and saddened. I understand, though. With the writing burnout that some of us have had and no one willing to step up to fill in the spaces, the blog was slowly dying. Luckily for us faithful readers, Boardgame News is going to take in the last of the Gone Gaming writers. Still…it feels like your favorite, comfortable local shop has packed up and moved to a small corner of a big box store. The sense of cozy familiarity just doesn’t transfer.

I thank Brian for including me in his original line-up; it was a fantastic group of people to work with and I enjoyed every minute of my fifteen minutes of fame. I also want to wish all the present writers good luck in their new home; their voices will make a great site even better.

Many blogs come and go rather quickly but Gone Gaming entertained and informed many people for almost two and a half years and, in my opinion, that’s not too shabby. I think Brian’s dream was a success.
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Happy gaming to all and to all, a good night.

Mary

New Gamers: Don't Worry; That's Normal

Occasionally, I’ll see a post on BGG saying something like, “Help, I’m addicted!”, or “I can’t stop buying games”; or at the other end of the spectrum, “What’s wrong with me? I don’t feel like buying a new game”, “This hasn’t been a good year for new games” or “Just need a couple games to round out my collection”. The last one often includes a list of 15-20 games they own and induces fits of laughter from the knowledgeable. Actually, the last type of gamer is seriously deluded and will, hopefully, return to normal at some point in the future.

For the new gamer who has just discovered that there’s a smorgasbord of choices out there instead of the short-order menu at McDonald’s, these are just part of the normal life-cycle of the board game geek. Well, not that last one, of course. You should seek help from your local Board Game Psychiatrist.

I think most of us find that first year of geekdom to be excruciatingly expensive, with the whirlwind of new tastes and textures driving us ever onward. The dangerous GeekLists point out a constant stream of unheard-of games with unique ideas, wonderful themes and previously unimaginable mechanics. Area control, auction, hand management, trading, building, tile-laying, cooperative, action points, modular boards, pickup-and-deliver, variable player power. If you’re a true board game fanatic, how can you not want to try them all; to experience that which others are praising so highly; to immerse yourself in this world you’ve just discovered? Don’t worry; that’s normal.

Of course, your friends and family might disagree with me. Your game-buying spree (up to a dozen a month) will puzzle them, worry them, and possibly force them to call for outside help. They’ll ask you if you don’t have enough games now, could you stop talking about games, could you not read BGG by the hour, could you put together just one sentence without the word meeple in it? Don’t worry; that’s normal.

After a year of frantically trying to catch up with all that you’ve missed, you will have gained the valuable knowledge and experience to weed out the merely interesting from the totally awesome. In the second year of your geekdom, your game buying will drop off to a more manageable 4-6 games a month and you will have made some wonderful GeekBuddies to help you in your decision-making. Your friends and family will have learned to accept your…oddity. Of course, many of the games in your collection will remain barely touched or totally unplayed. Don’t worry; that’s normal.

By the third year, you will still be excited to read about the newest games coming out at Essen, but few of them will attract your serious interest. You will buy only 2 or 3 games a month and concentrate more on delving into the depths of some of the wonderful games you already own. You may have converted some of your friends and/or family to the addiction, so they’re off your back finally. Don’t worry; that’s normal.

By your fourth year, you are an accomplished gamer and it’s becoming harder to impress you with the new and shiny. You compare the newest releases to games you know, and find them wanting. You look for something different but all you see are shadows of the games you know. You rarely feel compelled to buy a new game; choosing to wait awhile and see if the game has staying power with other gamers. You’re starting to worry that there might be something wrong with you. Don’t. That’s normal.
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Mary

Some Old Sayings...For Board Gamers

- If a meeple falls in the forest, does it still score 2 points?
- A penny saved is a penny put aside for your next game order.
- Let a smile be your strategy.
- Don’t put off until tomorrow the game you can play today.
- Idle hands means it’s not your turn.
- Look before you leap or you’ll soon fall behind in VPs.
- Fish and visitors stink in three days but some games stink right away.
- He who lives in a glass house has a house-sized display case for his games.
- A fool and his money are soon out of the game.
- Don’t look a gift meeple in the mouth.
- A rolling stone will be chased by the cat and batted under the refrigerator before you can grab it and put it back on the table.
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O.k., that’s enough of that silly stuff. What’s been on my mind lately?

Quite unexpectedly I find myself curious about other types of war games besides the C&C system. I read the rules for Combat Commander: Europe and followed some threads on BGG. This left me interested but still hesitant. A lot of people are enjoying it very much but when I asked myself what I was really looking for, here’s what I came up with:

1. Freedom. I want the freedom to move whatever units I feel the need to move and attack wherever I feel the urge to attack.

2. Short. I think 2-2 ½ hours is a good length for me and my husband.

3. Rules. I need rules that make sense so that I can remember them instead of constantly looking things up. And preferably without dozens of steps/phases in each turn.

Everything else is up for grabs: minis or counters, hexes or point-to-point, card-driven or not.

Someone pointed out the video of Tide of Iron, which I watched and found interesting enough to follow up on the Geek. A day later, the rules were posted (thank you very much, Fantasy Flight) and I’m totally intrigued by this one. It sounds like it has everything I want and more. Tanks, troop transport, specialized units, three levels of elevation, squad building and transferring men between units. And rules that, for the most part, make sense. Yep, I’m very interested!

So what happens next? The release date gets postponed, of course! Oh, well; that gives me more time to devour the rules and make sure it’s what I really want. You know the old saying: Purchase in haste; repent at leisure.

Mary

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I hope you’re all having as nice a holiday season as I am. Whether it’s the fact that all of our favorite tv shows are reruns or my family is just feeling sorry for me, I don’t know but I’ve gotten to play more games in the last 2 weeks than I have in a long time.

My daughter and husband and I played Carcassonne one night, an oldie but a goodie, and I got my little Meeple butt handed to me in a dust pan. I didn’t even get around the track and my husband was 1 point away from lapping me. I must be the worst Carc player in the whole Carc-playing world! I’m not kidding. A blind, 3-legged Chihuahua with diabetes and arthritis could show me a thing or two.

My husband and I played one adventure of BattleLore, the second one, which has no Lore extras in it, just so we could get used to the small changes that it has from Memoir ’44 and C & C: Ancients. The basic rules fall somewhere between the other two games and my initial impression of the non-lore game, it that I’d rather be playing Ancients. I miss the extra types of units, the commander capabilities and the ability to evade. Hopefully the Lore portion of the game will make up for the loss of the other ingredients.

My BGG Secret Santa was a right jolly old elf, sending me Yspahan, Gheos, Hey! That’s My Fish and No Thanks, the first three of which I was able to play in the last 2 weeks. Richard and I played Yspahan 3 times before the official 2-player variant was posted and so worked to find our own way to make the game tighter. What we came up with is close to the official variant but without the building rule which makes building one of your dice actions rather than an additional action. This makes it harder to build and keeps the buildings from being too strong. In our variation, we also found a way that could make it harder to build but using a different trick. The active player chooses their set of dice, then removes a set from play before the second player chooses. This simulates a 3rd person and keeps your opponent from taking the most obvious remaining action. I really liked the game but it’s too soon to say if it has staying power.

I also played Hey! That’s My Fish with 2 players and with 4. It’s a quick, fun, filler type game that I think will get played often. It requires enough thought to keep it from being a silly kid’s game and yet is easy enough for children to enjoy, or so I’ve read, since I don’t have any children to play with. Maybe I could rent one.

Gheos has had only one play—a 2-player game with Richard. I think I’m really going to like this one once the War and Migration mechanics become more familiar to me. Right now my brain has to take it step-by-step through the consequences of replacing a tile.

My daughter’s boyfriend came over on Christmas Eve and brought one of his games with him. Munchkin. Cori told me I’d played it before when one of her past boyfriends had brought it over but I didn’t remember it, my mind having wiped it from my memory in a protective act of self-preservation. Once I saw the cards and read a bit of the rules, it came back to me but we played it anyway. See what a kind and thoughtful person I am? We did manage to have fun with it, laughing and picking on each other, but I kept hoping someone would hurry up and win already. I finally won but anyone who’s played it knows that it was purely luck, no thinking required. I’d play it again but only if Cori’s NEXT boyfriend brings it over.

Christmas day, after opening gifts, eating, and playing Guitar Hero for a while, I managed to work “game” into the conversation as in, “Can we play a game now?” The enthusiasm was underwhelming. I asked my son, Chris, if there was something he’d played before that he’d like to try again and when he had no suggestions, he girlfriend, Lindsey, mentioned the game where you set sail. Ahhh, Corsari. No problem. We played twice, my husband winning the first game in 3 quick hands with no opposition, the poop.

I then took my courage in hand and suggested I teach them Ra. It went over very well; Lindsey had a great time and was smiling enthusiastically when I asked her if she liked it, and Chris seemed to like it (though he’s one of those hard-to-read people). Chris grumbles after every game because he wants to totally understand it right from the start and that’s not what many of the great games are about. I just tell him he should come over more often and play!

There are still a few more days left in the year and I hope we all get in a few more games before it ends. Remember, drinking and serious gaming do not go together so have a safe New Year’s Eve.

And a reminder to all you lovely, devoted readers to make your nominations for the BGIA awards. Just click the link above the award icon on the left.

Mary

Thanksgiving Weekend

Our Thanksgiving day was a little different this year because both of my kids spent the day with the families of the people they’re dating. Instead, my husband invited a co-worker and his wife, who were going to be alone for the holiday. Bo and Kathy are not gamers but they enjoy playing games so, of course, in the back of my mind were plans to introduce them to something more enjoyable than Bunco.

Luckily, the day was nice so while the men were keeping a wary eye on the turkey deep-frying in the driveway, I asked Kathy if she likes card games. When she said she did, I brought out Lost Cities.

I’m the first to admit that I’m not the greatest rules explainer; I almost always forget something until an instance comes up to prompt that memory cell in my brain. For this first-time gamer, I wanted to get it right so I kept to the theme—exploration expeditions. From experience, I also know that some rules don’t make it past the listener’s ears until they can see how they work while playing the game so I often point out options or how certain rules work during the first game. This worked very well and I’m pleased to say I didn’t mess up the rules at all. Kathy liked the game well enough that I’m adding a copy to my next game order for her.

After our turkey feast I set up Around the World in 80 Days, another very thematic game which is easy to play but seems to have a lot of rules to explain to a pair of brand new gamers. I was a little leery of starting them with this one but the truth is I’d rather take a chance on this than play the easier-to-explain Ticket to Ride.

Again, keeping to the theme and reinforcing rules as we took our first couple of turns worked very well. These are the first people I’ve introduced to strategy games that actually were impressed and a little surprised that there are games that let you make decisions. We had a lot of fun playing—imagine 2 long-married couples that know how to tease each other and laugh about it. Kathy would have liked to play again but she had to be to work at 4:30 for the After Thanksgiving Day Sale.

Just as they were leaving, another truck pulled into the driveway—our old friends from Omaha whom we hadn’t seen in about 7 years, Wade and Rosa with their 5-year-old, Leah. They were going to stay until Sunday and after 2 days of catching up and telling enough airplane and motorcycle stories to bore 2 wives to tears, I decided to show off my obsession on Saturday evening.

I again chose Around the World in 80 Days since it had had such a good reception on Thursday. The rules explanation went smoothly and they picked it up in no time although Wade is like me in that it doesn’t quite make sense until you’ve seen it through the first time. He was first to London but it took it him ~97 days. Rosa did well, arriving in 81 days with me right behind at 79 days. Poor Richard got shut out but would have reached London the next turn in 82 days.

We took a pie break (coconut cream, mmmm) and played a second time. This time Wade was a lot more careful but it still took him one more day than the next player, Rosa, who had 81 again. I took 78 days but the winner was decided 2 turns earlier when Richard reached London in 67 days!

The next morning before they left, Rosa asked where I got my games. I wrote down a couple of online addresses and included the BGG site, of course.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend even if we hadn’t gotten to play any games but the success of AtWi80D was just whipped cream on the pumpkin pie.
~~~~~~~
Mary

From The Hooey Gazette

Sunday police arrested Harvey Simpson*, who has legally changed his name to El Grande, for shoplifting tools from a local hardware store. Simpson was detained by a store employee who noticed that a laser level he’d hidden in his pants had been accidentally turned on, producing a red dot on the front of his jeans. When police arrived, they found a set of wrenches, a Makita cordless drill and a DeWalt hand sander hidden in his clothing along with an assortment of flashlights, measuring tapes and a T-square which was in his sleeve and caused him to keep his arm at a right angle.

This reporter interviewed “El Grande” and was told that he planned to hock the tools in order to afford more Euro-games, whatever those are. Simpson will plead temporary insanity due to an addiction to these games. He hoped that bail wouldn’t be any higher than 3 Talents.

*The name is fictional because this is, of course, all hooey.

Speaking of Hand Management...

as I was last time if you were paying attention, I’ve been playing San Juan with my husband lately. This is a perfect example of the tension and tough decisions that a hand management card game should offer. It has a large variety of buildings, each with their own ability to help you, combined with the need to discard some of those wonderful buildings as payment to build. This means that every time you play, you’re going to be faced with a unique challenge.

I find this game discloses the greedy nature in myself as I want to build almost all the buildings in my hand and am loathe to use any of them for building payment. This leaves my brain spinning in place in the early game while I bite my lip trying to say goodbye to a beloved building in favor of another building.

If you’ve played this game a lot, which I have not, you may have what you consider to be a perfect strategy, your perfect combination of buildings, but acquiring those cards isn’t a simple matter. This is also part of the fun of a good hand-management game since you inevitably must deal with whatever you are given and make your decisions accordingly.

In the last game I played, I was dealt good cards for mid-game play but they’re tough ones to build at the beginning—4, 5, and 6 card buildings. I had to pass on 2 consecutive building rounds, once because I had nothing I could build and the second time because it would have meant using every other card in my hand (and they were very nice cards which I had grown attached to J ). My formidable opponent, on the other hand, had 1 and 2 card buildings and I began to feel that I was in some serious trouble.

I finally made the sacrifice and said goodbye to a couple of my lovelies in order to build a tobacco production building but I was still 2 buildings behind. With the help of his buildings, I was never able to build when Richard couldn’t so stayed 2 buildings behind him the whole game. I thought I was doomed but in the end I won by one point.

This demonstrates another characteristic of a very good hand management game (or any game for that matter), the ability for anyone to win even if it looks like they’re behind. This is probably one of the biggest flaws in games like Monopoly and Risk, the inability to catch up and feel that you have a chance to win.

All of this brain-twisting goodness is wrapped up in a game that is simple to set up and teach, and plays in 45-60 minutes. If you’re looking for other good choices that fit into this niche that uses cards for more multiple purposes, try Oltremare or FrachtExpress (or its alternate version, Hellrail--Third Perdition).
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To game, perchance to laugh.

Mary

Cleopatra vs. Blue Moon City

I recently got to play both Cleopatra (2nd play) and Blue Moon City (1st play) in the same day. Blue Moon City I totally enjoyed; Cleopatra, I can do without. Why? The card play.

Your task in both games is to accumulate cards so you can build something but not all card management is created equal. In Blue Moon City, your choices can be so many and varied that your sense of tension is almost constant. This is due to the special actions that the cards can be used for instead of using them to build. I never felt that I had no good choices since cards let you change the color of other cards, move your token farther to get where you want to be, move a dragon somewhere convenient, use 2 brown cards as wild. Just because I have a hand of red but I’m not near the red buildings, doesn’t mean I’m stuck. Even near the end of the game when un-built buildings were spaced far apart, I wasn’t waiting for just the one right card as there were several ways I could manage the cards and my movement.

Cleopatra, on the other hand, feels stifling. There is so little control over the cards, both in what you get and what you can do with what you get. Everything you can build requires an architect so if you can’t get one you’re stuck. A couple of buildings require marble and lapis and again if you can’t acquire the necessary card(s), you have no where to go, no choices. There’s no trading, no discarding cards to draw new ones although you can go over your hand limit when you choose which pile of cards to take and hope something you need is in there, face down. Any special action card you play has the same risks—no guarantee of success and at least one corruption token. I understand that this game doesn’t quite qualify as a hand management game but rather a test of efficiency--build with the least amount of corruption--but to me, it lacks tension and fun. Towards the end of the game, I was just hoping someone would build the last thing just to get it over with.

I love card games and games that use cards to control your actions. When they’re done well, they should give you tough decisions and make you squirm when you have to choose. They should always give you an option, “an out”, somewhere to go besides sitting and waiting for that special card. Maybe I’m comparing apples and oranges but no game should make you feel like the end is dragging on so that you say a little prayer to the Goddess of Gaming to PLEASE, make it end!
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I like to watch old movies while I’m busy around the house and one day I had on “It Happened One Night”. It’s funny how your mind goes leaping around from place to place and the next thing I knew I had linked the last word of the movie title with the first word of a game title. Go fig. Here’s the result of some movie-game title combinations.

It Happened One Nacht Der Magier
The African Queen’s Necklace
It’s a Wonderful Lifeboat
Dirty Dancing Dice
Hey! That’s My Fish Called Wanda
~~~~~~~
Home is where I stack my Games.

Mary

Special Guest Blogger--R.E.D.

I was searching blogs when I happened upon one written by a young Meeple and he was kind enough to give me permission to publish his first entry here at Gone Gaming. I hope you enjoy this peek into his life as much as I did.
~~~~~

My name is Reginald Eugene Daniel but my friends and family call me Red. My father’s a farmer and I help him a lot by keeping watch over his fields. Not much happens around here usually but it’s a good place to watch what’s going on in the city and surrounding area.

Last week someone finally bought the farm near us. His name is Beauregard Lionel Ulysses Eddrick (we just call him Blue) and he wanted us to share our field with him. Pop got so mad he turned maroon! It didn’t take long for him to call our cousin, Richard Elliot David, to come and help me guard the field. We managed to keep that old Blue from stealing our farm and being able to sell to the surrounding cities. It wasn’t all hard work, though. We went down to the river and made mud balls to throw at Blue. Now that was fun!

My mom’s second cousin once removed on her father’s side is one of the city guards. He says the city is growing so big that they might have to increase the number of guards. Boy, I’d sure like to do that. They get to wear a cool looking uniform and the girls just fall all over them. But Pop says he needs me here on the farm.

When I feel down about that or just feel like talking, I sometimes go and visit the priest in the nearby monastery, Father Gregory. He’s a real nice guy and very helpful even if he is old and his skin is kinda green. He’s very easy to talk to and I even told him about this girl I met who tends the pigs in the field across the road. Her name is Yolanda Eileen something. Her shape is wonderfully flat and she has blonde hair. She’s beautiful.

The most interesting thing that’s ever happened to me was the day I met a thief on the road. We talked for a long time about what it’s like to be a thief and I felt so sorry for him that I shared my lunch with him. I thought he could probably use it since he didn’t look too healthy. His skin was kinda gray looking and there was a big bump on his head. He said thank you very politely and then rode off towards the city. I think about him once in a while and hope he’s doing o.k.

Well, I better get to bed so I’ll be ready for another day of guarding the field. I hope I dream about Yolanda. I wonder what our kids would look like.

The Anniversary Tour--South Dakota

It felt like a dream, all my Gone Gaming friends in my home, discussing and playing games, laughing and teasing each other like kids on a sugar high. Although you’re all probably familiar with DW’s acerbic wit, Joe’s wonderful sense of humor and Yehuda’s wild imagination, you’d probably be surprised to hear how delightfully silly Shannon can be. We were all wiping tears from our eyes and gasping for breath when he pulled a green wig from his satchel and did a brilliant impersonation of Friedemann Friese. DW was a little late because he'd flown home to check on his goat--the sole survivor of our visit to Idaho--and then drove his Harley to North Dakota, where he called for directions. "South Dakota, DW," I told him. " Doesn't that two-wheeled beast do right turns?"




Fraser, again displaying his amazing sense of balance, Brian (Koldfoot), Shannon, myself, Joe Gola, DW and Yehuda at Mt. Rushmore.




Anyway, we started off the day’s activities with a trip to Mt. Rushmore which turned out to be more exciting than you’d imagine. The crowd of tourists were less than impressed when DW tried to ride his motorcycle through the Avenue of Flags. You’ve never seen so many angry tourists at one time and their language was more colorful than all the flags on display put together. After explaining to park security that he was from Idaho, they let him go and gave us a stern warning to keep an eye on him.





The Avenue of Flags, minus DW and his Harley.






In the gift shop we were not surprised to find copies of South Dakota Monopoly, which we all purchased. Just kidding. Only Yehuda bought one.

To start off the day’s gaming, I wanted something we could all play together which leaves pretty slim pickings since I don’t have any party games. I suggested Charades using game titles and since no one threw a giant hissy-fit tantrum, we broke into 2 groups, each with the sole purpose of driving the other team crazy.

We drew Go pieces to determine the teams. The black team DW, Brian, Shannon and Joe vs. the white team Fraser, Melissa, Yehuda and yours truly. A couple of rules were established—only English titles were allowed and no expansions. The teams each came up with 5 titles, one for each player and an extra in case of any disputes about the qualifications of a title.

Since this was all my idea, I volunteered to go first. I reached into the pile of folded paper and pulled out… Conquest of the Empire. My brain froze. Con. Quest. Empire.

“Are you ready?” asked Joe, keeper of the time.

“Uuhh,” I hesitated. Empire. Conquest. “Sure.” After signaling that this was a 4-word title and I was going for the 1st word, I proceeded to hack and slash at a make-believe opponent ending with my foot proudly placed on my opponent’s make-believe chest.

“Fight.” “Sword.” “Slash.” “Triumph.” O.k., now we’re getting close. Work with it, guys, and I did that “come on” finger waggle. “Victory.” “Conquer.” Ah-hah! Pointing at Fraser and then doing the so-so see-saw movement with my hand, I manage to draw “conquest” from my brilliant teammates who then filled in “of the” all by themselves.

Empire. Oh, boy. First syllable—draw an “M” in the air. “M. Empire! Conquest of the Empire!” Oh, yeah. Time to do a little happy dance!

First up for the black team was Joe who read his chosen title, then open and closed his mouth a couple of times like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. Joe Gola, speechless. It was a moment to cherish.

Finally, he signaled he was ready. Two words, first word: and he commenced to tie something around his waist. "No, wait," he signed, hands waving in the air. He then put something over his head and across his chest from left shoulder to right hip. A sash. Yes.

Second word, first syllable, small word—and he takes some imaginary item and clutches it to his chest. Me. My. Yes, my is right.

Second word, second syllable, sounds like—standing on his toes, palm on his head then rising straight up. Grow? Stretch? No. Now he bends his knees, reaches his hand out in front of him, palm down and about 2 feet off of the floor. The next moment, he’s stretched on his toes with his hand stretched way over his head. Ah-hah…tall! Sounds like tall…fall, wall, hall. Hall!

Sash My-hall...Taj Mahal. We were so impressed that there was congratulations and applause from both teams.

Fraser’s turn now. He reads the title and his eyes pop open with amazement. “Crikey, you guys are vicious!” Snickers and full-scale guffaws emanate from The Beastie Boys on the other side of the room.

After a few head-scratching moments, Fraser says he’s ready to give it a go. Two words, first word, sounds like—he points towards the ceiling, drawing a large square with his finger. A whole in the roof? No. His fingers rain down something from the ceiling and then he shields his eyes. Ohhh, a skylight. Yes! Sounds like skylight—twilight, of course. Twilight Struggle? No. Twilight Imperium? Yes! Well done, Fraser. High fives all around.

A quick game of rock-paper-scissors awarded the next turn to DW who almost choked on his tongue when he read his title. “I’m not doing this! This is bullshit! Who came up with this?” as he uncrumples the paper to show us. Fingers point in all directions, smiles on every face.

“That’s a legitimate clue, DW. If you don’t do it, you forfeit the game,” Yehuda tells him. Unanimous agreement from the remaining white team members. “Come on, DW,” adds Melissa, “don’t spoil the fun.”

“YOUR fun,” he grumbles, but his mind finally begins to think of a plan. Two words, the whole thing at once—he squares his shoulders, tips his nose high into the air, and with a sharp twist of his head averts his gaze from all of us. Amidst the laughter, Brian manages to say, “Euro-snoot!” Hand signals signify that they’re on the right track so ideas are flung faster than DW can keep track of. Snooty. Arrogant. Blue-nose” Cocky. Snob. No, no, DW signals. This obviously isn’t working. Time to try something desperate.

Second word, two syllables, first syllable--he turns his back to everyone and mimes a man urinating. By now his team is nearly useless with laughter but a red-faced DW finishes his make-believe business and flushes. He then points at the imaginary facility. John. Toilet. Yes, now shorten it, says DW’s hands. Toi? Yes. Second syllable—he curls his index finger and drinks from an invisible cup then points at the contents. Coffee. No. Tea. Yes. Toi-tea. And a light dawns in everyone’s eyes and the whole team yells, “Hoity Toity” and breaks into cheers, both for their brilliance and DW’s.

Yehuda demonstrated his gentlemanly side by insisting that Melissa take the next turn, which turned out to be lucky for her since she got an easy one while Yehuda…well, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Melissa read her title, thought for a moment and a sly smile slid across her face. “Right! I’m ready.” Two words, second word, sounds like—she took a finger and outlined her pocket, then stuck her hand in it and pointed to it with her other hand. Pocket. Yes. Sounds like…socket, locket, rocket. Yes, rocket! “Stephenson’s Rocket,” Fraser said, jumping up from his seat and giving his wife a hug. Oh, yeah. Record time, 18 seconds. It was our good luck that Fraser’s waiting for this one to be reprinted so it was pretty much in the front of his mind.

Next up was Brian who read his title and declared it was illegal. “This isn’t English!”

“But it’s the English title,” we argued.

“This isn’t an English word, it’s not any language; it’s a made up word!”

We relented, DVONN was discarded and he drew another paper from the dwindling pile. “I changed my mind. I’ll do the first one; I love the first one; sorry I said anything.”

Nope. No way. You wanted it, you got it.

Two words, first word—Brian points to Fraser and Melissa then draws a house in the air, a roof and two walls. Their house, Australia? Yes! Make it longer, though, he signs. Australian? Right! Now the tough part. Second word, four syllables, first syllable—he points to all the guys on the black team, towards Yehuda and Fraser all while nodding his head “yes”. Then he points to Melissa and me and shakes his head “no”. Boy. Man. Ah! Almost. Men! Second syllable—small word. A. Yes. Men-a. “Menopause—Australian Menopause!” Joe yells. Oh, get real! Who would play a game called Australian Menopause? Melissa and I exchange a look and yell, “We would!” while laughing at the men. “Minotaur,” guesses Shannon. No.

Brian is thinking furiously while all this is going on, I can tell by the glassy look in his eyes. An idea! Third and fourth syllables—twelve fingers are displayed (not all at once, of course) and he sits in a chair looking bored but watching some action going on which we can’t see. Twelve, h reiterates. Don’t you get it? Suddenly DW realizes what Brian is doing. Jury! Men-a-jury. They threw this weird sounding word around a few times before Joe and Shannon both heard it at the same time. Australian Menagerie. They finally got it but it took a while, which hurt their total time score especially considering Melissa’s quick turn. One last player to go for each team.

Yehuda drew from the last 2 pieces of paper for our side. An eyebrow went up and a happy grin lit his face. “Ready!” he said. Two words, first word, three syllables, first syllable—and he quickly points to the black team, Fraser and himself while nodding his head “yes”. Men! Menopause! Laughter ensues. Shhh, we’re wasting time. Second syllable—small word. A. Yes. Menagerie again? No. But he points towards the black team, specifically Shannon. Minotaur? Exactly! Minotaur Lords? Yes!

Well, that was a very lucky break for us and now we’re ahead by quite a bit with only Shannon to go for the black team. He’s going to have to pull off an incredible feat in order to give his team the win.

Shannon takes the last remaining piece of paper from their pile, reads it and actually laughs! Oh-oh, what’s going on in his ingenious mind?

Two words, whole title at once—and with a big grin on his face, he holds up one finger in front of him. That’s all. My team and I do a mental head slap as the black team yells Die Macher and Puerto Rico, knowing one of them had to be the right answer. Puerto Rico! The number one most popular game on the Geek. Why we didn’t see that coming, I don’t know but there it is. Shannon got his title in 5 seconds to win the game for his team.

From the laughter and discussion of the game afterwards, I’d say everyone had a good time. By the way, the last clue, the one we didn’t have to use, was Advanced Civilization. Ewwww.

We then split up to play various games with different combinations of people. I got to play Trias with Fraser, Melissa and Shannon and let me warn you that the soft-spoken Melissa is a devious dino dunker. She’d sooner send your little guys swimming than look at them. She managed to win by a fair amount.

I played Das Ende Der Triumvirats with Yehuda and Brian. Crassus Yehudus won with a Competence Victory, Caesar Brianus had been elected Consul once and Pompeius Marius seems to have spent way too much time lying around eating peeled grapes or something.

My dream of playing Command & Colors with DW came true, too. We played the Lake Trasimenus scenario with me as the Carthaginians through the luck of the draw. Good thing, too, because I barely managed the win even though they start with a stronger position. This was a great experience and I think I learned a few things from a master wargamer.

Finally, I got to play Torres with Joe, Shannon and Brian. This was a very close game, hard-fought to the very end. Shannon won with me behind him by 2 points. Joe and Brian finished 2 and 3 points behind me, respectively. I play Torres a lot online and do very well but this is different since I don’t have all the time in the world to walk through all of my options. But we all took our time planning our moves while trying to ignore the rowdy game of Hacienda in the other room.



Two tired kitties after a long day with strangers.



It was a wonderful day and I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, maybe one thing. I think my cat, Bess, liked Shannon better than she likes me.

You Might Be A Gamer If...

This was originally posted on my personal blog but I had no fresh ideas this week so I’ve updated this with a couple of new lines.

If the emergency kit in your car’s trunk includes a game for any situation, you might be a gamer.

If your idea of a Square Dance is four people moving around a Formula De board on your kitchen table, you might be a gamer.

If you’ve ever spent more money in a week on games than on groceries, you might be a gamer.

If it’s extremely important to figure out what game the Peanuts gang are playing, you might be a gamer.

If your wife asks you to take out the trash and you grab the Monopoly game, you might be a gamer.

If someone asks you “Have you heard the news?”, and you immediately think that the new game you’ve been waiting for has finally been released, you might be a gamer.

If you knock out a wall in your home to improve access to the game table, you might be a gamer.

If you take a German language course just so you can read the original rules, you might be a gamer.

If your idea of an innovative thinker is the guy who decided to make game pawns that look like little wooden people, you might be a gamer.

If you ever returned that thoughtful gift from your mom and took the money to your local game store to buy a new game, you might be a gamer.

If the first thought you have when you wake up to a blizzard is that it’s Game Time, you might be a gamer.

If receiving your income tax return means finally placing that big game order, you might be a gamer.

If you’ve ever been awakened in the middle of the night by a horrible dream involving cardboard and a large glass of soda, you might be a gamer.

If your favorite designer isn’t interested in fabric color and texture, you might be a gamer.

If your dog gets excited by the sight of the UPS truck coming up the street, you might be a gamer.

If you bought your house mainly for the “game room” you could create, you might be a gamer.

If you carry a picture of your game collection in your wallet, you might be a gamer.

If you buy small Ziploc bags by the case, you might be a gamer.

If you have game rules lying on the back of your toilet instead of the Reader’s Digest, you might be a gamer.

If your dream vacation includes a small bag of clothes and a large empty suitcase, you might be a gamer.

If you have to rearrange some part of your living space to make room for your games, you might be a gamer.

If you’ve ever turned down a date simply because it was on Game Night, you might be a gamer.

If your 3-year-old knows what a DVONN is, you might be a gamer.

If you want your epitaph to read “He/she played a good game”, you might be a gamer.
~~~~~~~~
SLOW
Gamer Crossing

Mary

X-Play Reviews a Board Game

(For those who don’t know about X-Play on G4 TV, they review video games and most likely do not spend their money on card board unless it temporarily encloses something electronic.)

-Announcer’s voice: And now, 2 people who think macaroni and cheese is finger food, here’s Adam Sizzler and Morgan Wedd.

Adam: Hello and welcome to X-Play. Today we’re doing something a little different. The powers that be…

Morgan: That’s the high muckety-mucks who pay us and have threatened to trade us to a local morning show in South Dakota if we don’t do this review…

A: Yeah, them. They’ve asked us to review a board game. Now for you youngsters with calluses on your thumbs, and eyes that fear the light of day, a board game is an ancient form of entertainment where people gather around a table full of cardboard, paper, and wood, metal or plastic in direct competition with each other to reconfigure these items in some way which results in earning points or money. My guess is that you should have at least one these board game things around in case the electricity goes out and you forgot to buy extra batteries for your handheld game.

M: Right, batteries. I knew there was something I was supposed to buy before I go home tonight.

A: The game we’re reviewing is Settlers of Catan and since it’s a multi-player game, we tied a couple of interns to chairs and sat down to try it out. When you open the box you find some wooden pieces that look like sticks and houses, a deck of cards, a pair of dice and a bunch of cardboard hexagons in several colors which represent different types of land that produce different commodities. There’s also a rule book which you have to READ! That’s right, there’s no in-game tutorial to show you how it works.

M: That’s when it’s nice to have interns to force to do your work while you go out to lunch in a nice restaurant.

A: You’d think with all our technology, they could include a DVD showing how to play the game so people aren’t forced to wade through pages of rules. Anyway, when we came back from lunch, the interns had set up the game and figured out how to play.

The idea of the game is that you’re a poor but hard-working settler trying to expand your colony by gathering the necessary commodities to build settlements and roads or to upgrade your settlements to cities with electricity for TVs, computers and game consoles. You can also buy cards with special abilities.

So on your turn you roll the dice, collect commodities if you’ve got more luck that a bad guy in a Clint Eastwood movie, and then you can trade your commodities with other players, the native inhabitants (who are shrewd negotiators) or take it to a port to trade overseas. Finally, you can build if you’ve managed to accumulate the necessary goods.

M: You don’t get to shoot anything or blow anything up, which I think is a big drawback. I thought it would be more fun if you could bomb someone’s road when you roll a 7!

A: That would be fun, Morgan, but a roll of 7 sends the Robber to steal commodities like a Robin Hood who has a disturbing attraction to sheep. Turns keep going around the table until someone gets 10 points. Points are earned for each settlement and city, the longest road and the most knights (which are cards you can buy). It wasn’t too bad, actually, if you like just sitting around using your brain and talking to people. Morgan, did you know interns have names?!

M: Someone told me that once but I didn’t believe them.

A: To sum up, I wouldn’t mind having this around for when my parents come to visit but for myself, I’d rather play Ratchet and Clank Go On Vacation. I give it 3 sheered sheep out of 5.

Does anyone know where I can buy a portable generator?
~~~~~~~~

Until next time, I’ll be the Blue player.

Mary

Join Me On Tranquility Island

Supper is finished and cleared away, the heat of the day slowly slides into the cool of the evening and the tension of another busy day passes from our thoughts. We take a small box out to the back porch and sit at a wrought-iron bistro table, the dog lying at our feet. The sounds of the world are distant and muffled except for an occasional bird calling to its mate. Even the usual South Dakota wind is at rest.

The lid slides quietly off of the box and I pull out the beautiful pieces to set before us. A cat pushes his way through the pet door, stretches and takes a moment to survey the territory before ambling down the steps to take up a watchful position on the patio.

Click, click, click. The pieces make a pleasant, comforting sound when they bump. A blue jay swoops in for a drink at the bird bath so we stop to watch both the bird and the cat. But peace reigns for this moment and the bird flies off to continue his bird life.

Soon the phone may ring or the dog may find something to bark at but for this short while, the back yard is our island where the world does not interfere.
~~~~~~~
Until next time, may you all have a tranquil island to enjoy.

Mary

Adaptations For Two Players

The few games I’ve been playing lately are 2-player games, just me and hubby, which led me to think of the different ways that games handle 2 players.

Reduce the playing area. Very few games simply shrink the playing area to force interaction between players. La Citta and Samurai are the only games in my collection that use this technique although Attika, with its build-the-board tile-laying style, starts out with fewer tiles to accomplish the same thing. No other adjustments are needed to retain the feel of the game.

Adjust the number of pieces. Many games use a different number of pieces for each player depending on the number of players but the purpose can differ: Torres gives each player more blocks to build castles which forces the 2 players to interact, while Hansa reduces the number of goods tokens to shorten game play to a reasonable player-to-time ratio.

Adjust playing area & pieces. Through the Desert combines a smaller board area with fewer pieces to keep the 2-player game tight and competitive. Medieval Merchants combines a truncated playing area for 2 players with a reduction in earnings and costs depending on the number of players.

Shadow player. Alhambra uses a 3rd player in the 2-player variant to add competition to this area-control game while Kardinal und Konig (Web of Power and China) has a 2-player variant which adds a shadow player that the 2 players fight to control.

Play 2 colors. When all else fails, each player can control 2 sets of game pieces to simulate a 4-player game. In some cases, the scores are added together to determine a winner and in others the winner is determined by comparing each player’s lower score.

No change. Often no change is needed for 2 players to enjoy a game but a more forceful style of play is required as in Magna Grecia and Tigris & Euphrates. On the other hand, maybe even these great games could benefit from a smaller playing area which would ensure confrontation between players.

It’s interesting to see the different ways that games accommodate the number of players; most of the time it works but sometimes it doesn’t. When a game plays as well with two as it does with four or five, for me, it’s like finding the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks.
~~~~~~~~

Until next time, keep the flies out of the butter.

Mary

Life: The Game

Games come with a wide variety of themes ranging from the ridiculous to the brilliant, from pure fantasy to the historical but I can see many aspects of gaming in our day to day lives.

Love is a game. In the search for your perfect mate, you’ll be trying to find the best balance between unwanted traits and must-have traits. He loves football, which you can’t stand, but he also loves cats. She spends too much money on clothes but she loves camping. The love game also involves some hidden information, slight bluffing and tense timing.

Travel is a game. First you must decide your mode of transportation: walk, bike, drive a car, take a bus or hail a taxi are your most likely options. In each case you’ll be forced to find the shortest, fastest route and one you can afford. For some people, the choice of routes are limited but in all cases the player must still deal with all of the other players who are likewise “traveling”. Any bad move you make could result in your elimination from the game.

Career/Job is a game. Actually, these are two distinctly different games.

Career is a game of advancement as you gather the necessary items to move to the next level. The version you’ve chosen to play will decide which items you will be required to find or tasks you’ll be required to perform. There is a unique one-sided co-operation element to this game where you decide the amount of co-operation you wish to offer and the gamer playing the “Boss” will decide if it is enough to satisfy his hidden requirements.

Job is more of a roll & move game where you will often be drawing a face-down card. Some of these cards have good events but many will have bad. How you respond to these unforeseen events will determine how well you do. Many people have tried different versions of this game before deciding on one that they enjoy playing while others have traded their copy of Job for a copy of Career. A few have gone on to be designers of some version of Job.

Politics is a game. This is a vicious, very confrontational game of negotiation, bribery, co-operation, and secret voting as well as open voting all wrapped up in an area-majority game. The toughest part of this game is determining the winner as often the winners and losers aren’t even the ones playing the game.

Raising children is a game. This is a role-playing/memory game with you on one side and all the sub-players on the other. Your job is to make up the rules as you go along and remember them throughout the entire game. The rules may change with each new player but it’s up to you to convince the sub-players that they make sense. You win when all the sub-players leave the game and go on to play games of their own.
~~~~~~~
Until next time, keep your chits in order.

Mary

Games in Rhyme

He travels all over Europe
Rarely leaving a clue.
Will you be able to catch him
Or will he catch you?
~~~~

Fifteen islands
Placed in a ring.
He who rules the castles
Will capture the win.

To rule the castles,
You can’t play nice;
You must control Paladins
By rolling the dice.
~~~~

It’s just you and me,
Under a tree,
Watching the river flow.
It merges then turns,
We’ll soon learn
To whose side it will go.
~~~~

Quietly choose a character,
Don’t even blink.
To win, it helps to know
How your enemies think.

Build your city in yellow
Green, red, purple and blue;
The faster you build,
The better you’ll do.
~~~~

Lay your tile wherever you wish
But the roads are required to match.
If you can capture Bonus tiles,
It’s likely you’ll score a good catch.
~~~~

Your brave Knights guard the castles,
Tall and wide.
If need arises, they walk through to
The other side.
When the King visits a castle,
He gives rewards
To any Knight that he meets on the
Floor that he guards.
~~~~

I’m in a race,
I know the place
That I’m supposed to go.
How I get there,
I do not care;
A card will let me know.

You may curse
If I reverse
And go into a spin.
But have fun,
Everyone,
Even if you don’t win.
~~~~

Poetry it’s not but I hope you have fun with these rhymes. How many games can you name? Look for the answers tomorrow in the comments section.

And lastly, a quick reminder that we’re looking for guest bloggers on Sundays so all of you clever gamers with something worth saying who’d like to get your message to millions of gamers….uh, thousands of…several gamers, send your articles to gonegaming@gmail.com.

Until then, may all your camels find water.
Mary

Conversations in Gaming

-What do ya wanta play?

-I don’t care. Whatever you wanna play.

-Wanta race?

-Nah.

-How about a card game?

-Not really. I want something a little heavier.

-Blokus?

-No, I’m not in the mood for an abstract.

-Carcassonne: The City then?

-Perfect. You know me so well.
_____

-What do you get if you cross Carcassonne with Daytona 500?

-I don’t know.

-Meeples that can only make left turns.

-I’m guessing you just made that up.

-No, it’s been handed down in my family for generations! Of course, I just made that up. How about this: What do you get if you cross Monkeys on the Moon with Command & Colors: Ancients?

-Ummm…ancient monkeys who ride elephants?

-Nope. Romans who like to monkey around.
_____

-The weather forecast for tomorrow says “almost balmy”. What do you think that means?

-Haven’t a clue but obviously there’s some technical data that determines a cut-off for balmy.

-Well, whatever it is, it sounds better than “nearly frigid.”

-We’re still talking about the weather, right?

-Depends on who wins this game.
_____

-Did you know you’re looking awfully cute today?

-Am I?

-Uh-huh.

-I think you’re trying to distract me from the game.

-Would I do that? I know you have a mind like a steel trap. Of course, a few of the teeth are missing.

-Good thing for you or I’d totally annihilate you instead of just kicking your butt. How’s that for a play?

-Oh, that wasn’t very nice.

-I know. Am I still cute?

-The cute is getting a little fuzzy around the edges, dear.
____

-What’s on TV tonight?

-Well, you have a choice: stupid crap, boring crap, asinine crap, reality crap or plain ole crappy crap.

-So then…another game?

-Oh, yeah.
~~~~~~~~~
Until next time, may your “Q” always triple score.

Mary

Miss Manners: Online Play

I was playing an online game with a stranger the other day and although I tried to strike up a conversation, I received no reply. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I consider this bad manners. I enjoy the chit-chat of online gaming as much as I do the game itself otherwise it feels like playing against an AI.

The regular group of gamers that I play with talk about everything from the weather in their corner of the world to the newest games they’re looking forward to. We throw trash-talk at each other and make sure to congratulate the winner. It’s as close to face-to-face gaming with friends as you can get and turns even a crappy game into something special.

Another thing that I think is rude is joining a game which is specifically set up for a certain group. Some online sites don’t allow passworded games or invites, so the best you can do is put in a comment that it’s for so-and-so group or such-and-such friends and the next thing you know you have a stranger where John Doe should have been. Is it so hard to read the comment? Do you just see an open game and join without regard to the wishes of the person who created it? If there are no open games for you to join without stepping on virtual toes, you should create one of your own; it’ll be filled up in no time.

Lastly, I’ve heard of people who register on a site with 2 different names and use both in games cooperatively in order to raise their standings. I’m sure it doesn’t happen often since most gamers play for the fun of it rather than the prestige and have too much honor to think that any rankings gained through such subterfuge is worth anything. But there will always be a few who find a way to cheat and think it’s alright to do so no matter how little value is placed on their gains. These people are the most pathetic, lowly, contemptible, worthless, under-handed, miserable, cowardly waste of gamer life on the web. If that’s the only way they can win, they should sell all of their games in favor of a stack of jigsaw puzzles and an Exacto knife.
~~~~~~~~
Until next time, I’m trusting you to keep the vampire population down.

Mary

One Is The Loneliest Number

So you’re sitting around the house all alone or at least you feel alone since no one wants to play a game with you. What can you do to pass the time? You could read a book or watch the boob tube but you really need a gaming fix.

Do you dig into that pile of downloaded rules? I know this is a favorite pastime for may board game addicts. There’s nothing like a good set of rules to make you yearn to get your hands on the game, one way or the other.

Do you visit the Geek? This can be a dangerous choice as it may tempt you with an appetizing new game which then leads you to an online store to see if anyone has it in stock. Choose this option at your own risk. The reverse is also true: dropping by an online store to see what’s new, then checking the Geek only to find this is an Excellent game for you which you simply MUST have.

Do you game online? There are many gamers who rely on BrettSpielWelt for their game fix. There’s a large selection of games from which to choose, from the old, familiar and comfortable to the new and exciting unknown.

Do you pull out a game to play by yourself? This is a very good choice if you have a brand new game that you haven’t played yet. New games need that initial imprinting just like a newborn; touch the pieces, understand the rules and talk yourself through any questionable areas. There are a few games that actually play pretty well solo. For me, Memoir ’44 works since my memory skills are so poor that I forget which cards my “opponent” is holding. If you want some more suggestions, here’s one of my favorite GeekLists that I wrote almost a year ago.

Do you turn on the game console of choice? Oh, come on, I know some of you have Xboxes, Game Cubes and PS2s. You can admit it, I won’t tell anyone. I have a PS2 and wouldn’t part with it any more than I’d part with my favorite board games. My all-time favorites are Ratchet and Clank, Katamari Damacy and Half-life. They may not be as stimulating to the brain but they’re excellent for improving your hand-eye coordination.

Do you stand in front of your collection reliving past glories and envisioning future ones? Or deciding the ONE game you absolutely MUST play the next time you get a chance? Or do you only see that gaping whole in your Alea big box collection and dream of filling it in? Which leads you to the next choice.

Do you search eBay with wild hope in your heart yearning to grasp and hold an elusive Holy Grail? Oh, look! Chinatown in “excellent” condition! All you need to do is sell your year-old car and replace it with a beat up Rambler, and you can win this bid.

Do you tell yourself now is a good time to start that print-and-play project you’ve been putting off? I know how you hate to do all that cutting but keep your eye on the prize: a brand new game to play and it didn’t cost you a thing. Well… all that ink and the other various supplies… Maybe later.

Do you blog? Head to the net and check out what’s new on the gaming blogs. With a wide variety of opinions and ideas, there should be something new to read which will satisfy the gaming centers of your brain. Maybe you have your own blog so you decide to add your thoughts about the game you finally got to try, or you just feel like bitching because nobody wants to play a game.

So tell me what you do to assuage your gaming demon when he raises his head and screams to be fed.
~~~~~~~~
Bolide

I recently got Bolide, a racing game from Italy, and after a couple of 2-player, a 3-player and a 4-player game, I’m very happy with it. You can read my initial thoughts and a quick summary of the play on the game at my blog, Meeple Monologues, since I’m too lazy to reproduce it here.

Mark Johnson, on his Boardgames To Go podcast (Episode 51), had a totally different view of it after his initial playing and I can understand that. To him, it was something-old-made-new-again; it’s a physics lesson that someone made into a game. To me, my husband and 2 gaming friends, it was something new and unique that was both fun and thought-provoking. Maybe when we've played it enough that the mechanics become formulaic, it'll cease to be fun.

Mark did admit that he may have been in the wrong frame of mind when he played it and I think he’s probably right. You can’t picture this as a physics homework project that has a solvable, absolute move. One of the 4 players I played with took way too long on some of his moves, staring at the board and picturing his next moves 3 or 4 turns into the future. This slowed the game down to teeth-grinding speed and left the fun part back on the starting line. At some point, you just have to say, “This does what I want it to do, puts me where I want to be for the next move and after that, we’ll just have to see.” A game should be fun to play which may mean leaving something to chance or, in this case, intuition.
~~~~~~~~
Until next time, may your Alhambra have many Towers and Gardens.

Mary

The Game Psychiatrist--The Substitute

Dr: Hello, you must be Mary.

M: Hi, where’s Dr. Meepolous?

Dr: He had to be away for the week. I’m Dr. Boardbent. How are you doing today, Mary?

M: Well, Doctor, I think I’m losing my love for gaming.

Dr: Uh-huh, that’s good. Dr. Meepolous will be very happy to hear that.

M: ?? You don’t understand; I’m here because that’s a BAD thing. For the last 3 years, gaming has been a big part of my life. What will I do if I lose interest in it?

Dr: You will spend all that wasted money on something worthwhile. Gambling is a terrible addiction which takes your money and leaves you with nothing.

M: !! Gambling! I don’t gamble, I play board games! Are you sure Dr. Meepolous isn’t in the other room? Maybe this is just a test of some sort. Maybe I’m on TV!

Dr: Oh, board games. Yes. I see. Well, you could read a book or take a class in painting.

M: Doc, I hate to say this, but you’re really beginning to piss me off. Have you ever played any Euro-games?

Dr: Euro-games….hmmm…I played Monopoly once as a child and I used to play Risk in college.

M: That’s it?! THAT’S your idea of board games?! Oh, for the love of Knizia!! (heavy sigh) O.k., Doc, there are other games now; games that don’t take hours and hours to play and leave you feeling like the 9th puppy of an 8-teat dog. (Starting to pace the floor) These games give you decisions to make, get your brain working, give you strategic choices.

Dr: Risk has all those things, Mary.

M: You’re just messing with me, aren’t you? And how many games of Risk did you lose because the dice were siding with the other guy just when you REALLY needed them to come up with a lot of happy little pips on them?

Dr: Mm-hmmm. I see your point.

M: Here’s what I’m going to do for you, Doc, I’m going to bring in a couple of my games to show you. Are you going to be here tomorrow?

Dr: Yes. I have a free hour at 2:00.

M: Great. I’ll see you then.

{M to self: I can’t believe Dr. Meepolous had THAT guy sub for him.}

{Dr. to self: That was TOO easy. I hope she brings in Torres; I’ll play that with any number of players.}
~~~~~~~~
Flandern 1302—A Stagnant Game

I’ve played Flandern 1302 twice, once with 3 players and once with 4, the maximum number of players, and both times I’ve been less than impressed with it; it was, in a word, flat. I was left with the feeling that there should be a good game there but I couldn’t find it.

The board is set up with 6 areas depicting cities, each with 13 spaces to place your tiles in trying to get the majority in the city. Each player has the same hand of cards which include one card for each city that lets you build in that city, a card that lets you build in any city but doesn’t let that tile count until you play in that city again and remove the “under construction” marker, a card that lets you pick up your played cards, and three one-time-use “influence” cards which can give you the chance to play first.

Each player has a set of tiles that match the color of one of the cities but there are also tiles which match the remaining 2 cities. The gray tiles represent another guild vying for superiority in the cities and can be played by anyone. The church tiles can also be played by anyone and add points to the city’s worth when it’s scored.

All players choose a card (or cards, if you want to use your influence to go first) and they are revealed at the same time. The player who plays first is the one who played the most cards but most often all players will choose only 1 card so the start player goes first. If you chose a city card, you can place one of your tiles, one from the neutral guild, or one of the church tiles on that city. The only rules for placement of tiles is that it must be adjacent to a tile already placed and it cannot touch another tile of that color along an edge.

That’s the basics of the game. A city is scored when no more tiles can be added to it.

I can be tenacious when something bugs me so I’ve spent some time trying to figure out why this game doesn’t appeal to me or the other gamers I’ve played it with. My conclusion is that I like a game to have “movement”, the ability to change the board or expand it in some way. My favorite games have that: Magna Grecia, Through the Desert, Torres, Trias, Hacienda, Hansa.

So now I have an answer and my brain proceeds to apply it to this stagnant game. Instead of simply placing a tile on a city, let’s offer you the choice of moving a tile to another city. Now you can change the board and it forces another choice on you: where to put the piece to do you no harm and maybe screwing up someone else in the process. That could work.

The influence cards that let you go first are nice but going first isn’t important very often, at least that was the feeling I got. What if playing the influence card let you take a second turn in the city you chose? Now you can remove a piece from a city and replace it with another. Or you can place 2 tiles in a city in one turn and complete it for scoring. Now THAT’S what I call influence!

Would these changes make the game more appealing to us? I don’t know and it may be a while before I can convince the others to give it a try. There are so many very good games that I rarely get to play, do I even care to waste the time fiddling with this one? And would these changes now make the game even slower since you have more decisions to make? If someone decides to give this a try, I’d love to know what you think.
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Sites

For all of you who like to play games online, there’s a new PBEM site called MaBi Web which offers Hansa and Richelieu. I’ve played several games of Hansa and I’m very impressed with the graphics and implementation of the game. It’s easy to use and has all the features you want in an online game including letting you start your turn over again—almost a requirement in a game where you can play your turn in so many ways. The site is still in Beta testing so there may still be a bug or two but MaBi is very nice and quickly replies to any questions or problems.

I also want to let you know that I have started my own personal blog where I plan to talk about my gaming as well as other things that pop into my head. Come and visit me at Meeple Monologues.
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Until next time, keep your penguins on the ice.

Mary