Cities, Curses, and Churches

Last weekend I had the chance to participate at a friend’s “Game-a-thon”, a day of open gaming at his house where folks drop in when they can. I was able to stay for a few hours and had my choice of playing in a game of Shogun (the new version of Wallenstein) or playing several shorter games. I chose to play some shorter games, as I thought I would have more fun, and it would give me an opportunity to play with some folks I don’t get to play with as often.

First up was Saint Petersburg (Rio Grande Games). I enjoy this game immensely, although have been a tad burned out on it as I get to play it against the computer frequently using the freeware computer program (check out the WestPark Gamers web site to download it). The computer AI is not too bad, and I only win four player games about 1/3 of the time. I got lucky in the first Noble round, picking up the 18-cost noble that provided a steady income of 6 rubles and 3 victory points from then on out. Things continued to fall into place for me and I outpaced the rest of the group by about 20 or so points. The game ended very quickly with all the blue buildings coming out before people had very many nobles. I took advantage of the observatory to pick up a couple of extra nobles during the blue building rounds, and made sure to hold a noble upgrade or two in my hand even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to put them down until late in the game. All in all, I think my computer playing experience served me well, although I will also admit that I had some nice opportunities fall in my lap. If you haven’t played the game, I highly recommend it. It contains a strong “build-up” element requiring players to initially focus on income and then transition to victory points later in the game. At the same time it also offers a few distinct ways of obtaining victory points (focusing on buildings or nobles or a mixture of both). All this is combined in a quick-playing (roughly an hour) game that is simple to explain to new players (takes about 10minutes or less to get up and playing.) I highly recommend St. Petersburg to help casual boardgamers make the leap into the build-up or “snowball” style of boardgames.

The second game we played is a new one by Asmodee, Wicked Witches Way. It is a very lightweight game where players are all witches and are trying to win a race. The first player to finish the race earns a few bonus points while all the other witches gain points proportional to how close they are to the finish. However, winning the race is only part of the points, players can gain special cards that give bonus points at the end of the game (for having performed acrobatics during the race.) The game revolves around rolling a set of 9 dice in a cool little book-shaped box. Players examine the dice rolled which display various orange or black symbols. When a player is ready, they shut the box and then lay down their spell cards. Players have spell cards that match the symbols on the dice. The object is to play either one or more symbols that match the orange symbols showing on the dice or one or more symbols that match the black symbols on the dice. If a symbol appears as both an orange and a black, it should not be played. Once the book is shut (hiding the dice), players can take their time playing their cards. The book is then opened and players check their spell cards. Players move their witches forward one space for each correct symbol they match. If they make a mistake (by playing symbols that appeared as both orange and black, or a symbol that didn’t appear at all) then they don’t get to move. The player who closed the book gets to score their turn first, but if they make a mistake, they go back 2 spaces. To add some spice into the game, if a player manages to play ALL the correct orange or ALL the correct black dice, it is a “perfect spell” and a bonus is earned (as long as you are not the first-place witch). Matching all the orange dice gets you bonus 2 spaces on the track, and matching all the black dice lets you draw a special card for each die matched. These special cards give players one-time abilities such as replacing a card just before scoring them, earning additional time to reopen the book before having to lay down cards. These cards also contain the acrobatics bonus point cards, which earn a player points at the end of the game. As mentioned, the witch in first place does not get the bonus. At the end of each round, the witch(es) leading the race have a curse token placed next to them. They are then ineligible to earn any bonuses for matching all the orange or black dice. This is a handy little “hold back the leader” aspect of the game, but it is so strong that trying to always be in second place is often an important strategy.

Even though it was my first play of the game (we were all trying it for the first time), I managed to get out front and stay out front for most of the race. Unfortunately, that meant I earned very few of the perfect spell bonuses – especially the cool spell card ones for black dice. The race was a tight one with three of the four of us crossing the finish line in the last turn. Surprisingly, the only player to NOT finish the race had a stack of nice bonus point cards and won the game, presumably having performed very cool acrobatics on his broomstick along the way. Despite my loss, I enjoyed the game immensely and we clearly laughed much more at this game than any other played that day. It is a fun, lighthearted game fun for those who like games with quick-pattern matching and a tad bit of memorization. There is even room for a bit of strategy (like trying to mess with other player’s plans by closing the book early, etc…) I didn’t like the pick-on-the-leader aspect of the curse token. I felt it was too strong a penalty, but it was probably my own fault for remaining in the lead for so long… I fear it might lead to extreme “game-y” style of play where players purposely lose points in order to try to stay behind the leader and pick up extra black cards…

My third and final game (while the other players were still on their first game of Shogun…) was Pillars of the Earth (Mayfair Games). I had not played it before but had heard good things (as well as bad). I won’t describe the game in detail here, but I managed to take second place in my first play of the game (two of the other three players had played before). I would have taken first place, but the last turn I drew the “give all players one metal cube” event card and the first place player still had a need for another metal cube while I already had all I wanted. I made a mistake or two early in the game in buying too many masons early, but eventually did OK with purchases and pawn placement. We all started out very gold heavy and then three of us quickly ran low, while the fourth player had plenty of gold to spend, but never got a pawn drawn in the early rounds of bag-drawing. I have heard people complain about the vagrancies of the bag-drawing, but I think the whole idea of gold hoarding is designed to counter just sort a situation. If you save up some gold you can then pay when your pawn is drawn early to get some good things and/or craftsmen. If you have gold but aren’t drawn in the early pawn draws, then you can afford to spend gold to purchase one of the craftsmen available in the worker assignment phase. Sure, you may need to maneuver to go first in a round to get a chance at buying a craftsman, but that shouldn’t be too hard to recognize in advance in the mid-game. All in all, I felt the pawn-drawing mechanism was fairly balanced and didn’t need too many more tweaks. I felt the pawn-drawing pain in the last round, holding a “free pawn placement” card but not getting drawn until late in the round. However, it didn’t set me back much, as I mentioned before. I’m looking forward to trying this game again some day to work on further evaluations.

All in all, I had a good day of gaming, 3 games in about 4 hours. Meanwhile, my other friends managed to finish their game of Shogun in just under 4 hours. While I’d love to try a game of Shogun some time, I think I made the right choice.

Last 30 Days revisited

Back in October 2006 I discovered a feature on BoardGameGeek which showed you the games you had logged as played in the last 30 days, with the recommended image for each. I thought it was time to revisit this and see the differences.

My earlier entry was made not long after our month at Melbourne Museum and spring had not sprung weather wise. This thirty day period covers a hot summer, back to work for the parents, back to school and kindergarten for the girls and this year Daughter the Elder has homework and it is our preference that homework is done before games.

There are a lot less games played over the last thirty days than back in September/October last year. A lot of this due to weather and work/homework commitments.

So here are my play counts (face to face only) from the last 30 days.

Who’s The Ass - 14 plays.
The game de jour at lunchtime these days, at least when we don’t have four players. We played three to six players. The hands seem better although it is much more cutthroat with
three players, but it works well with any number. It has no defined finish, so we just play until our time is up.

Tichu - 5 plays.
As before when we have exactly four people at lunchtime games and a deck handy this is the game of choice. Last week we started an eight player tournament where all the players will playing with all the others as partners. It will mainly get played at Gamers@Dockers sessions on Thursday nights with possible fill in sessions at the monthly Eurogamesfest.

Bamboleo - 3 plays.
A very recent acquisition. When pulling it out of the box our initial thought was this will never work, but we were very wrong. An excellent dexterity game, hideously expensive in Australia.

Santiago - 2 plays.
I first played this about two years ago, liked it a lot, acquired a copy and never played it again. I recently took it off the shelves and took it into work so it was available for a lunchtime session or Gamers@Dockers. Three player with two newbies can be done in under an hour, not sure about four players though. Having played it again, I have also joined about ten games at SpielByWeb although I don’t log those ones. I am still not 100% sure about the open money at SBW, but I can understand the reasoning for their implementation.

Gang of Four - 2 plays.
This used to be the number one lunch time game, we had a day where we had four players and no Tichu deck so brought Gang of Four out of retirement.

Mü und Mehr - 22 plays.
Prior to Who’s The Ass arriving on the scene if we didn’t have four for Tichu then this was the standard default game for lunchtime at work. It has taken a back seat recently.

Kingdoms - 1 play.
I originally played this as Auf Heller und Pfennig at BGG when I thought I was signing up for a Tigris & Euphrate game. Having not read the rules it was a little confusing! I picked this copy up recently and have tried it two player so far. It is one that I think Daughter the Elder might like.

Lost Cities - 1 play.
We played this at Daughter the Elder’s suggestion, she says that this is her first victory against me.

Midgard - 1 play.
El Grande light perhaps? After one play I would classify it as a good short game, I think it only took about an hour. Mr Skeletor won, but he felt it was a hollow victory and he hadn’t enjoyed the journey there. That could have been the game or the people picking on him :-)

Indonesia - 1 play.
We had a four player game and nobody had played it more than once previously. It took us about four hours, although it didn’t feel like a long game, there was always stuff happening. I think you need that first game just to get an idea of what is going on and what other possibilities exist. We all liked it and would play it again.

MidEvil - 1 play.
A Beer & Pretzels game at best. The map tiles are too flimsy and the figures look nice but are a bit flimsy and why oh why do some of the player figures have to be exactly the same colour as the skellingtons? Most of the five players who were playing were happy to wrap it up as quickly as possible and go and play something else.

Power Grid – Central Europe - 1 play.
And this was the something else after MidEvil. My first play on this map, I didn’t suffer from the no nukes policy or gain advantage from the Vienna’s cheap garbage. Two people got hemmed in and the two of us on six cities were content to stall for a while to build up some cash. As usual with our Power Grid games, the final result required a cash count.

Age of Steam - 1 play.
Interesting the two player Scotland expansion doesn’t have an entry on BGG. I wonder why? The final game for the evening at this month’s Eurogamesfest. Being two player it is not a game to play by the seat of your pants, at least if you want to win.

Combat Commander: Europe - 1 play.
Chee-Yan and I arrived almost at the same time to Eurogamesfest and everyone else was playing something, so he offered one of his selection of two player wargames. It has been a long time since I played a wargame so I was happy to give it a go. We played one of the easier scenarios. My Germans managed to hold off his determined Russians hanging on to the majority of the objective hexes for the win. A squad level game, I’m still not entirely used to card driven wargames, but I enjoyed it.

Commands & Colors: Ancients - 1 play.
This was the next game out of Chee-Yan’s bag of games. Theoretically simpler than Combat Commander although I found that I could get by on my old wargaming memories in Combat Commander but for this game I think a bit of experience in the actual game is required to go well. That said I only lost 4-5, but I was not confident on what I was doing and I am sure Chee-Yan was being nice to me. Next is to get him to teach me some of those Columbia games I picked up!

Taluva - 1 play.
It’s got pretty pieces and tiles, but it is an abstract at heart. We got a five player game up with all newbies. Forget the mineshaft gap, the temple gap would seem to be all important in this game, if somebody gets a leading position, your only chance is that you have set yourself to be able to catchup, otherwise they have probably won. I imagine that more experience in the game would help alleviate that.


Mmm meeples taste like…

San Juan? - No Thanks!

I had the pleasure of spending a good portion of the past week, hanging out with old college buddies in sunny Puerto Rico. Not one to miss a gaming opportunity, I brought along a few games to show off.

San Juan – How could I pass this one up? Puerto Rico is too big to bring on a plane, and would have been a bit much to spring on my non-gaming friends.

No Thanks – This is my go-to game for non-gamers, its small size makes it nice and portable.

Bang! - I brought Bang! and its expansion, Dodge City as I thought the theme would work well with our group of five.


In the end, No Thanks was the big winner, being played at least seven or more times, stirring up much discussion. We got in one play of San Juan which went over “OK”, and Bang! never made it to the table.

I’ll start with San Juan, as I have less to say about it. While I find it a fun little game, I think it doesn’t do the great game of Puerto Rico justice. There is still a significant luck of the draw on how the cards are distributed. While an experienced player can sometimes overcome it, it is harder for newer players to know how to compensate. For example, I had no production buildings in hand, even after choosing the councilor phase twice (well the second time I got a second indigo plant). However, I did manage to get the aqueduct and market stall early in the game so was able to eventually sell both indigo plants on a regular basis. I find the aqueduct and market cards to be far too powerful. Players that get both, can always earn two good and sell them both, without having to even choose either role. This adds up over the course of the game, making it difficult for any player who does not have one. This is probably mitigated in a two player game, as more cards are available, but in a four player game one player is guaranteed to not have each card. In our game, I started behind due to a lack of production buildings but was able to catch up in the late game. One of the biggest surprises of the game for me was that the only other gamer present often hit minor bouts of analysis paralysis. I think it may have been BECAUSE he had played Puerto Rico before, and he was reading more into San Juan than was actually there. I realized after I had won, I perhaps should have tried to play so as to give someone else the win (and increase the chance it would be played again) but I rarely see these guys so it probably doesn’t matter in the long run.

No Thanks!, however, was fairly successful. After a minor amount of foot-dragging everyone started playing and caught on quick. It is always interesting to watch people learn the game and develop strategies for playing. As all these players were college chums, they are very smart (I went to a nerd college) and were quickly analyzing the relevant aspects of the game to try to develop a winning strategy.

The development of play went through stages that I now consider quite common in people learning the game. Initially, the playing chips were undervalued and everyone tended to let the cards load up on chips. A twenty five card might get ten chips on it and still be considered nearly equivalent to a fifteen. After just a single play, everyone saw the value of chips and began to plan out their needs for the whole game. A significant portion of good-natured threats to screw each other over was also present, preventing anyone from running an unwanted card (to all but one player) too many times around the table. One player was fascinated by the value of chips and was trying to assign value to them, hoping to be able to assign an optimal expected value for a given situation. If chips have a certain value, then a chip/card combination could be set that would always be a good decision – similar to betting tables for Video Poker or Blackjack that show the optimal decision for each situation. As everyone soon learns, however, in No Thanks! the value of a chip fluctuates during a game. At the start of the game, they are more valuable, as they can prevent one from taking a bad card later. At the end of the game, they simply have the negative one point value and that’s it. If nothing else, I was surprised at how quickly everyone developed from beginning players to very good strategists. What typically takes many plays to develop was found and adopted within just a few. By the end of the first night, everyone was balancing card and chip values fairly well, and the cards were almost always picked up off the table right when everyone else was “about to pick them up”. Even the endgame was vicious as we all kept track of our chip needs, devaluing them as the deck wore down. (One of the biggest faults I see in somewhat experienced players is how they fail to devalue chips in the last few rounds. Putting a chip on a 5 card is a totally valid move if there aren’t many cards left in the deck.)

With everyone playing in such an efficient manner, I was once again struck by the elegance of the game mechanics. Sure, there is a huge amount of luck involved due to the 9 cards removed from the game, but there are also some very nice balancing mechanics to prevent one player’s strategy from dominating. One good strategy is to take a reasonably high card early, and then hope for more to come up in the sequence, sending them around each time they appear to glean even more chips from one’s opponents. However, this strategy is self-limiting as players will eventually run out of chips – you can’t milk a dry cow. This can be even more significant, if players are valuing the chips differently. If you have only a few chips, it may just be worth it to take a fairly high valued card to be back in chip-flush territory again. This can be even more worthwhile if by taking the card you break another player’s sequence. Thus, if there are a few chip-scarce players around, sending a sequence-joining card around the table can be a risky proposition. I even came across a new strategy to consider. While the idea of “not running out of chips” is fairly straightforward, I did observer the power of having a single chip left. If you have no chips, you have to take whatever comes up. Having even a single chip, can mean you cycle a bad card one more time around, making sure that you aren’t forced to take a card several times in a row. While it may be obvious to some, I realized that the difference between one chip and no chips is significant enough to modify some of my choices as I get close to running out of chips. Being the great universal game that it is, No Thanks played an even larger role in our evening relaxations… since it comes with a small baggie of chips we conveniently used them in several games of poker.

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

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).
~~~~~~~
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!
~~~~~~~

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
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Home is where I stack my Games.

Mary

I've Located the Problem

Just after Christmas I received Hacienda, which Richard and I liked after the first half game. We’ve played it a couple of times now, enjoying it more each time but so far Richard has won each time with very good plays and strategies which have slipped by my sensors. This has finally helped me identify my biggest problem when playing strategy games.

Some games, especially when there are only 2 players, move very quickly from turn to turn which means I’m planning my next move while the other player is taking theirs, often barely noticing what they’ve done. I have my plan and I move ahead with blind confidence, not stopping to ask myself “What did they do, why did they do it and should I be trying to stop whatever it is?” Pilots call this Target Fixation. Your goal is the only thing in your sights, excluding everything else even danger. This is my problem. Alright, to be honest, it’s probably one of many; but this is one I should be able to overcome.

In theory, it should be easy to take 5 seconds to look over the board and assess my opponent’s position and possible strategy, the equivalent of stopping to think before opening your mouth in a conversation (which I’m also not good at). In reality, I feel the need to keep the game moving, not slow it down and drag it out.

I think this is partly because I feel that my target audience hates to sit still for too long playing my games. There are many games that my family enjoys but not all of them so I’m not trying to place the blame on my family, but I know there are times when they’d rather be doing something else.

Another reason for this habit is just that—habit. Years of playing roll and move games where you pick up the dice as soon as someone finishes and press on with your turn have drilled into me the need for speed. There was no need to make a long-term plan or pay particular attention to what another player had done on his turn.

The last thing to mention is that I see games as fun, not to be taken too seriously with every choice a chance for disaster. I like to win as much as anyone else does, but I don’t mind losing as long as I had a good time along the way.

This desire to keep the game moving at a steady clip has thus become a habit which persists even when I have other gamers to play with. It’s only with play-by-email (PBEM) games do I take the necessary time to make my decisions since I know no one is sitting right by their computer waiting impatiently for me to take my turn.

Is my target fixation/full speed ahead method of play a habit that can be broken (or maybe I should say “fixed”)? Can I teach myself to take the time to see the situation, and then let go of my pre-arranged plan in favor of a more sensible course of action? Will it make me a better player or do I have other issues that are even more dire? For the answers to these and other questions, tune in next time.
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Games

This week I got to play Hacienda three times, twice with 2 players and once with 3, and I have to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that this is exactly our type of game. The rules are simple and easy to understand but the play is rich with decisions and options for scoring and making money.

I’ve heard this compared to Through the Desert several times but I think it more closely reminds me of Magna Grecia, a game that is less well-known than Through the Desert. In both you want to reach as much of the board as possible to make money or points from their markets, and the bigger your hacienda/city, the more points you’ll make. Both boards start empty, for the most part, and you can start anywhere as long as you follow the rules for beginning your hacienda/city. There’s the same tough balancing act between building your area and increasing your supply/hand of cards which seems to appeal to us so much.

I like games where the winner isn’t clear until the final points are tallied and this qualifies in that respect. There are 5 ways to score points, which are scored in mid-game and at the end, which means there are many combinations of strategies to try. The obvious one, connecting to many markets, isn’t necessarily the strongest one. In the one game that Cori played, she had connected to only 4 markets compared to Richard’s 7 and my 6 but still came in a close second, 4 points behind me.

One thing I’d also like to mention is the start-up table in the rules which shows the different number of cards/pieces used for the different number of players. This is something I usually write down on a small piece of paper for quick reference but there it all was in an easy-to-use format which I wish more developers would do in the future.

All of this goodness AND my husband likes it. I could tell because he said, “Yeah, I could see playing this again.” Well, what more could I ask for?

Long-time gamers won’t find anything new or innovative in Hacienda but if you’re looking for a well-developed game that’s fun, easy to understand and has tight, balanced play, I recommend it.
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Until next time, I’ll be trading my sheep for pesos.

Mary

Today's Theme is Theme

The theme of a game is the basic concept which unites the mechanics and pieces of the game into a single representative whole. Many games do not require a theme to provide a logical reason for the moves such as Go, Checkers, Chess, Blokus and the GIPF series of games. Their rules are simple and their objective is clear but their options for play are so varied that it can take years to master (such as Go).

Why, then, do so many people demand that a game have a deep theme that immerses them in another place or time? There are many strategy/Euro-games that have simple rules with well-defined objectives which are basically abstract games but have had a theme added which adds flavor and fun to the game.

I have often heard that Through the Desert is “dry” and the theme is “pasted on”. Would the game then be better as a purely abstract game with no basis in reality? Could we place a wooden marker on most of the starred spaces on the board and declare that you win points for placing one of your pieces adjacent to it, then place randomly chosen chits of varying values on spots on the board stating that you can pick these up when you place one of your pieces on it? I don’t think it would be as popular as the oasis trees and the watering hole chits but the game play would be the same. If the theme is pasted on, it was done with a creative and colorful brush.

Let’s look at Torres, another game which has a pasted on theme. There are no beautifully crafted miniatures representing the King and Knights so the game takes on the appearance of being totally abstract. Do we need a logical reason why a group of blocks are to be built no higher than they are wide any more than we need to know why the Bishop in Chess can only move diagonally? No, but it does add something to the game play so why ignore a brilliant game simply because you cannot immerse yourself in the trials of your Knights?

Some games do require a theme, however thin, which will not just add to the atmosphere of the game but help to make sense of the rules themselves. Games like Reef Encounter, Vinci and Capitol need the theme to hold the rules together but does that theme immerse you in the time and place? I doubt it but I also doubt that the game would sell without it.

I hate to hear “it’s a good game but the theme is pasted on” as if that’s a bad thing and detracts from the game play itself. For myself, I don’t care if I’m playing the part of a King, a merchant, a pirate or a disgruntled postal worker; it’s how the game plays that counts. The next time you think that a game’s theme isn’t rich enough or doesn’t make you want to speak with a funny accent, think what it would be like with no theme at all.
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Games

A couple weeks ago I saw someone on BGG asking if there are any gamers in the Rapid City area so I contacted Jeremy Likens and planned a game night with him and Mike on a day when both Richard and Cori would be home, Dec. 4th. Late in the morning of that day I received a phone call from Mike who told me he and Teresa wouldn’t be able to come because he’d just become a father that morning. How’s that for a good reason to miss a game night? Congratulations to Mike and Teresa, and welcome to the gaming world, Brin.

Jeremy had requested several games that he’d like to try so the four of us sat down to Stephenson’s Rocket. I’d only played it a couple of times and that was a while ago so we were on pretty even footing as to strategy. Jeremy started with the Blue line and collecting city tokens, Cori quickly moved the Green to merge with Orange, Richard concentrated on Purple’s southward movement taking over any lines in the way, and I took the Yellow in the southeast and the Grey in the north. Being the first game for Jeremy and Cori, we really didn’t concentrate on the veto very much, which I’m sure is not a good idea in a cutthroat game, so we all pretty much did as we wanted most of the time, feeling out how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. As the game progressed, Purple ate up everything in it’s path and earning Richard and I money for 1st and 2nd place stations, respectively. Blue also did well, meandering to cities so Jeremy could earn money for his goods tokens, and picking off the Yellow and Grey lines in the process. When the final merger saw Blue gobble up Purple, the majority of the shares fell to me. Jeremy’s majority in most of the goods was not enough to give him the win and my majority of shares fell short of what I needed to beat Richard who had made considerable money from his stations during the game.

As we were finishing up SR, Cori’s friend, Melissa, showed up so when the game was over, we sent Richard for pizza while the 4 of us played Through the Desert, another game Jeremy had wanted to try. The only Euro-game Melissa has played is Settlers but TtD is an easy game to teach and play so there were very few questions or misunderstandings. Everyone played well and there was plenty of nastiness, which I don’t often see with the new players I’ve taught. The game end was close but I just can’t remember if Cori won or I did.

We were just setting up Taj Mahal when my son, Chris, arrived after a fun day of snow-boarding and with a bump on his head. Ah, the joys of winter sports. So we dealt in another hand and I proceeded with the rules explanation, which I thought I did pretty well. Keep in mind that the only game of TM I’ve played is an online one where the interface makes sure the rules are followed so you take it for granted. We spent a lot of time going over nuances of the rules and re-explaining how the different items work but in the end we all agreed that this was a game we’d like to play again. The scores were very close, especially since 4 of the players had never played before. I squeaked in the win with 35, Jeremy close on my heels with 33, Cori right behind him with 31, followed closely by Melissa with 29 and Chris with 27.
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Until next time remember: only the mediocre are always at their best.

Mary

The Teacher Gets and "F"

Friday my son, Chris, and his girlfriend, Jessica, came over and after a game of Ingenious, I brought out Hansa to teach them. Jessica doesn’t really enjoy games and has said a couple of times that she likes Trivial Pursuit, a game I find dead boring and a waste of way too much time, so my goal has been to find simple yet challenging games that she will enjoy playing. She liked Ingenious enough to request it on this night but it isn’t a game that I want to play and play and play, hence the shot at Hansa.

Once I’d laid out the pieces and started explaining the relationship between buying goods/selling goods and the markets I realized that it doesn’t actually sound that simple and this thought was echoed by Jessica who said, “You said this was going to be simple.”

“I know it sounds complicated now but it’ll be clearer when you see how it works,” I replied with my fingers crossed.

Now I know from experience that just because you gave all the rules, doesn’t mean they all sank in, especially with non-gamers, because there’s nothing to relate the rules to until you’ve seen it in action. My solution for this is to point out how the game works while it’s in progress.

“If you move there, you can pick up the good for free since you have the majority of markets.”

“If you move there, you can sell those goods which means Richard loses his good—it’s out of the game.”

“You can only sell goods where you have a market so it’s good to have them spread out around the board.”

This is how the teacher’s mind is focused: help Jessica “get it” so she enjoys it and won’t mind playing again. Add to this the fact that Chris has a tendency to analyze each move to within an inch of its life so we were doing a lot of talking and laughing and maybe you’ll understand why, in the middle of the game on Jessica’s turn, I look over and see that she has NINE gold to spend this turn. Danger, danger, Will Robinson! Now I finally look at the big picture and do an assessment of the board and realize that she has the majority in 5 cities while Chris has 2 and Richard and I have 1 each. We’ve been buying goods from her the whole round and she’s going to kill us if we can’t get some markets out there. Unfortunately, she has 4 or 5 markets in a couple of cities which is hard to beat and at this point the board has a scattering of chits, mostly 1 and 2 barrel which isn’t very helpful because it’s going to cost me all my gold just to pick one up. Can you say, “Deep doo-doo”?

Desperation set in and I found myself spending a pair of goods with 2 and 3 barrels on them to build markets (oh, the pain, the pain) and even skipping a couple of turns since the only thing I could do was pick up a 1 goods chit which I would have to buy from Jessica. In the end it was just too late and we had let Jessica get the upper hand. The final scores were Me-30, Richard-35, Chris-38 and Jessica with an impressive 50.

On the plus side, I don’t think it will be too hard to convince Jessica to play it again. Then the teacher will stay home and the gamer will sit in her place.
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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in America—a day we gather with our family and friends, taking time from our hectic lives to relax and remember all that we have to be thankful for. We watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with it’s giant balloons in the shapes of cartoon characters; singers and dancers, marching bands and finally Santa Claus. We eat turkey and stuffing, yams and cranberry sauce, potatoes and gravy and maybe that green bean casserole with the crunchy deep-fried onions on the top, and finish up with a piece of pumpkin pie. We watch football games, and talk and laugh with the ones we love.

Both of my children will be here, which is an unusual occurrence, along with Jessica and her father and Chris’ little dog, Bart—a Pomeranian-Dachshund mix who loves playing with our Corgi, Tucker. The cats will be in hiding, wondering why all these people have invaded their quiet and why that little dog keeps showing up and wanting to play with them. Whether we play a game or not isn’t important. It’s the time together, sharing the day, that’s important.

I wish you all a wonderful, noisy, laughing, loving Thanksgiving.
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Mary

Deal 'Em

I love playing cards. One of my earliest memories is playing Rummy with men in my grandmother’s tavern—and sharing my Popsicles with her dog. Kids can get away with things that adults wouldn’t dream of.

Later I learned Euchre (I’m originally from Illinois) and Canasta (double deck with a widow hand). I haven’t played either of these games in a very long time and doubt I’d care to play Euchre now but I’d still be willing to play a no-holds-barred, vicious, teeth-baring game of Canasta.

After I married into the Air Force, I learned to play Pinochle (double deck, no passing). I was never really good at it since I am not a card-counter and am lucky to keep track of either trump OR aces; trying for both causes the blue screen of death in my brain. Sad, I know, but I always enjoyed myself.

As my kids got old enough to play cards, we found Wizard, which is a great trick-taking game that we all enjoyed. The luck in it lessens with each hand because each hand is dealt with 1 more card than the last. The addition of the Wizards and Jesters gives you a touch of control that is more fun than simply playing Oh Hell.

When my son, Chris, was in high school, Richard and I taught him and his friend, Eric, how to play Pinochle. Now what I need to know is how is it that 2 kids with no clue can come up with great hands time after time and beat the snot out of 2 veteran adults? They would bid something outrageous, not really understanding what they were doing, and manage to make the bid each time. It was really quite embarrassing. Still, we all had a good time and that’s what counts, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

When I found my way to the Internet, I found very nice free downloadable programs of card games from around the world at Thanos card games. Here I discovered Mizerka, King, Preference and Madrasso, among others. Of these, I taught my daughter and husband to play Mizerka since it’s for 3 players and it’s getting almost impossible for me to find 4 card players these days. This has some elements that were new to us so it stands out as a very good trick-taking game. Nastiness, tough decisions, and “oh, shit” moments included.

Then I found the Board Game Geek and lots of card games, some just variations of older games like the Mystery Rummy series or Corsari, which we like very much. Some are totally new ideas for us like Crazy Chicken (Drive), 6 Nimmt (Category 5) and Coloretto, which have all been hits with us. These are all lighter games that you can play with your children or with non-gamer friends and have a good time. I love Crazy Chicken, although I rarely win, and my husband is partial to Corsari, which he wins only occasionally. Why are we attracted to the very games that we don’t seem to have a knack for? That seems dumb to me but I still can’t fight the feeling.

Some are trick-taking games that I may get to play occasionally because they don’t require 4 players--David & Goliath and Sticheln—and require only basic knowledge of trick-taking games to have fun. Others are trick-taking games that I’ll be very lucky to get to play like Mu, and Victory and Honor because they require a higher degree of trick-taking experience but I’m happy to have them in my collection in the hopes that some day…ah, some day…

There’s also climbing card games where the “trick” keeps going around the table, getting stronger with each player, until everyone passes. The last player that played to the trick, wins it. Again, this was a totally new concept for us and Gang of Four became a favorite even with 3 players and a dummy hand. A couple nights ago we gave Frank’s Zoo an inaugural playing with 6 players and I can see this one getting played when we want something light and fun. It’s not as easy to look at your hand and form a plan until you’ve played enough to know what beats what in this strange hierarchy but that isn’t necessary if you’re looking for something fun.

These are just the games I own; there are many others, each a little different with its own twist on the rules. If you like card games, there’s something here for everyone. And give the dog a lick of your Popsicle; it won’t hurt him.
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Games

Ta-Yu
I finally got to try Ta-Yu as a partnership game. I and my son, Chris, teamed up against Richard and Chris’ girlfriend, Jessica. Chris had played before but Jessica was playing for the first time.

This is not a rowdy, quick game at any time; it’s a head-to-head competition and the play was appropriately slow and calculating. We were drawing our tiles ahead of our turn in order to have time to plan our move but there was still plenty of down time whenever the board took an unexpected turn.

Amidst all this silent pondering, we managed to get in a few chuckles and a good laugh or two. At one point I declared that a certain tile looks like boobies in a sports bra—well, it does! So during one of the long, indecisive pauses waiting for Chris to make a move, I asked him if he wanted my boobies. It’s a good thing no one was drinking anything at the time.

In the end, it was a very close game, the final score decided by the last tile played by Jessica who was sitting to my left. After much thinking and weighing of choices, she decided to block our access to a 2-point space but also gave us one connection. This turned out to be a very good move because Chris’s next play would have given us the two-pointer and a single connection. The final score was 40 (5 x 8) to 49 (7 x 7). If Jessica hadn’t blocked Chris, the score would have been 50-49. I consider that a very close game.
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Christmas Wish Lists

I see the Christmas Lists are starting at the Geek, and none too soon. As for myself, I don’t put games on my Wish List since I buy so many during the year. I usually find one or two to buy before Christmas, though, to have something new to play with friends and family during the holiday season. This year I’m thinking of either Apples to Apples or Squint—something fun for a bunch of people. My Wish List usually includes music CDs, DVDs, books, my favorite perfume and PS2 games. Yeah, I’m a PS2 junkie as well as a board game addict! “I Love Katamari” is my #1 choice this year, followed closely by the third Sly Cooper. Of course, if anyone insists on buying me a board game, I’ll graciously accept!
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Until next time, let your actions be controlled by knowledge.

Mary

Warning: This Blog May Cause Choking

I was watching T.V. last night when I saw a commercial for one of the many types of drugs that are now available to make our lives better, happier and healthier. This one began by telling you that there were no sexual side-effects. Whew, that's a load off my mind! But at the end we are informed that it may cause seizures. Well, as long as it doesn’t cause sexual side-effects, no worries. Do these people even HEAR what they’re telling us?

This led me to thinking of the many silly product warnings that I’ve read about such as the warning on a can of spray paint which passes on the useful hint: do not spray in face. How about the baby stroller that has the mind-boggling caution: remove child before folding? My favorite is the chainsaw warning which many men will appreciate: do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals.

This, in turn, led me to wonder what dangers lurk in our game boxes? I know that people who love strategy games tend to be quite intelligent and not prone to doing incredibly stupid things, but could there possibly be some people out there who must be told the obvious? Some games may need a precautionary warning to prevent injury to the user or damage to the game itself, or to keep disillusionment to a minimum, which can also be the basis for frivolous lawsuits.

BLOKUS—pieces have sharp corners that could cause injury when thrown with great force..

SEA SIM—no fish were harmed in the making of this game.

PLUNDER—do not play with the boats in the bathtub.

THROUGH THE DESERT—the camels are not edible.

WALLENSTEIN—do not remove the ledges from the tower; pieces are supposed to get caught in there.

MAHARAJA—do not hit glass pieces with a hammer.

TRIAS—very small pieces which can cause breathing problems if inserted in the nose.

ROBORALLY—robots are not battery operated.

SHADOWS OVER CAMELOT—be careful when handling Excalibur; you’ll poke your eye out!

MEMOIR ’44, AXIS & ALLIES, war games of all sorts—parental guidance advised. Teenagers may become violent and go on a shooting spree, killing their family, friends and neighbors.

FORMULA DE and other race car games—do not play this game on the street.

MONKEYS ON THE MOON—NASA has found no evidence to prove that monkeys ever existed on the moon.

QUEEN’S NECKLACE—trying to pawn the necklace and rings will make you look like an ass.

Well, it was just a thought.
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Contest Winners

My thanks to everyone who took the time to try my Name & Number Contest and for the compliments you gave me in your emails. Here is what was in the jar:

2 towers from Die Magier von Pangea
1 ship from Hansa
2 temples from Magna Grecia
15 fish from SeaSim (Ocean)
14 pieces (6 men & 8 ships) from Hellas
1 YINSH ring
3 trees from O Zoo le Mio
3 planes from World in War: Combined Arms 1939-1945
8 coins from Kontor
8 red camels from Desert Oasis (Oasis)
43 pieces (40 cubes & 3 dice) from Carolus Magnus
1 airplane from Screaming Eagles
2 place holders from Can’t Stop
30 Phoenix pieces
6 blue dinos from Trias
1 round, short piece from Quarto
4 knights from Torres
13 trains from Union Pacific
2 towers from Meridian
3 pieces (2 pieces & the crown) from Rosenkonig

Total of 162 pieces

The closest guess for total number of pieces was from Mr. Johnson. If you’re reading, I need to know your BGG name.

As for naming the 20 games, there were actually 4 people who got them all and many who got 18 or 19. Well done! The first to email me was Chad Krizan, who wins the 15 GG. Since everyone doesn’t read this blog at the same time, or have time to sit down immediately to puzzle out the answer, I’m giving 5 GG to the other three people with the 20 correct game names: Katie Harris, Morgan Dontanville and Kevin O’Brien.
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Games

Sunday I finally got to try Ta Yu with 3 players, one playing the bad guy who tries to thwart the efforts of the other 2. Richard, Chris (my son), and I thoroughly enjoyed the twist that the 3-player variant puts on the game.

We played twice so I got to taste the roles of both the bad guy and the good guy. It’s fun being the bad guy but I also felt the pressure to fight being the kingmaker. If both players are pretty much in an equal position and the piece you choose can harm either one, you must now choose which player to slow down. After the first game, Chris complained of his lack of choices so for the second game we played with one piece in hand, which I like better since you have some choice without being bogged down with TOO many options.

I’d like to get a chance to play the 4-player partnership game but I’m worried that it would be quite slow, though that can be just the thing you’re looking for if you’re in a chatty mood. Just for the record, I haven’t won a game of Ta Yu yet which means, of course, that we’ll just have to keep playing it!
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Until next time, remember: chance favors the prepared mind.

Mary

Antidote for a Hectic Life

Our world has changed very much in the last 30 years. For many people it’s hard to find the time in our busy days to do all that we HAVE to do, let alone the extra time to do what we’d LIKE to do. The technology, that 30 years ago would have sounded like science fiction right out of an Asimov story, hasn’t given us more time to relax; rather it seems to push us faster, and enables us to draw away from the community and into ourselves.

I love most of today's technology: computers that are small enough to carry around with you, phones the size of a deck of cards that go wherever you go, the Internet which lets me talk to all of you in whatever part of the world you live, cars that tell you where to go and can call for help, right down to the convenience of buying a movie from the comfort of your easy chair with a push of a button and then recording it to watch over and over.

But all of these conveniences cost money which means we have to work more. Some people work 2 jobs, some put in longer hours, and many families have to have more than one “bread winner”. There's now less time for our families so when we do have time for the ones we love, we pull deep into our own little world, hiding in our castles. We put up fences, both physical and metaphorical.

Front porches where neighbors used to sit and talk have disappeared, replaced by garages that push their noses towards the street. The family room hides in the back of the house where no one can see, as if to distance itself from the world out there. The children who used to run through the front yards are now holed up in their bedrooms or the family room playing video games which can be delivered right to their front door. Adults push themselves to do the household chores, then collapse in front of the TV.

Many people find ways to stay connected to people and still take a break from their hurried lives. Some help in their community, others join local sports teams or a rock band, some have a humorous flair and do stand-up on the weekends. For us, the gaming community, the answer lies in board games.

The games take us out of ourselves and back into society, whether it’s meeting at a game convention, the local brick and mortar, or in our own kitchens. Playing face-to-face games can take us back to that simpler time when interacting with other people was more than just saying, "Have a nice day".

Gaming with our families can show our children that we're more than just the ruling force in their lives. It teaches them to think for themselves and that their actions have consequences. And there’s nothing like beating Mom or Dad or Uncle Dan, fair and square, at a game to boost a child’s self-confidence. Games can be the catalyst for communication and laughter, creating fond memories that will remain with us for the rest of our lives. They can slow down the pace and let us breathe.

Technology offers us another way to play games by letting us meet to play and chat at an online site which, in the process, lets us learn about people and ways of life that are different from our own. It’s not as good as face-to-face, hearing the laughter and watching facial expressions, but the camaraderie is still there as is the humor and conversation, the heart of playing games.

So if the world has left you feeling listless and irritable, sit down and choose a color.

*Possible side effects: laughter, renewed energy and an overall feeling of happiness.

**Some studies have shown that playing games may reduce hair loss.
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Games

This week I got to play Rheinlander for the 3rd time and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys area control games. You create your kingdoms (duchies) along the banks of a winding river, expanding in either direction or across the river, merging areas to make them bigger, or reinforcing your color inside someone else’s kingdom to overtake it from within. This game has the feel of Carolus Magnus with its merging, growing provinces but with more variety in your choices since you can expand areas in 3 directions (4 directions in a couple of places along the river where it connects back to back).

I also like the touch of hand-management in Rheinlander since you have the choice of playing a piece to the numbered area on the card, using any numbered card as a wild card to reinforce one of your knights, or holding a card that could be useful later in the game either to join 2 areas or convert a knight to your color if you have control of the Archbishop. In the last game I played, all four players held a card or 2 for almost half the game waiting for just the right time to use it.

My opinion is that the luck factor in Rheinlander is less than Euphrat & Tigris’ tile draw and equal to Carolus Magnus’ dice roll because any card can be used to reinforce somewhere so isn’t useless, and the deck gets reshuffled regularly (sometimes after playing only 2 cards if that sneaky Jester finds himself at the top of the new deck) so the numbers you need for attacking can come around again and again. If your kingdom (duchy) isn’t large enough to defend itself, it’s more a matter of the choices you made than the luck of the draw. Keep in mind, this is just my opinion and that I love area control games.
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Until next time, may your men control the Castillo.

Mary

Techniques to Recruit The Non-gamer in Your Home

1-Withholding sustenance. "Supper will be served after a quick game of ______." Note that this only works if you are the chef. This can also backfire when the target non-gamer has access to the checkbook and the car keys.

2-Hide the TV remote. This is a good choice if your target is a couch potato. Better yet, secretly unplug the TV and say it's broken. If TV isn't your only technological competition, you could put in a supply of candles and flashlight batteries and throw the main circuit breaker.

Note that the last suggestion only applies to people who live in secluded areas otherwise the target non-gamer might look out the window and marvel at the lights in all the other houses.

3-The Trade. In exchange for a specified amount of time playing a game with you, you promise to do a chore of equal duration such as wash the dishes, vacuum, or watch that horrid movie you promised yourself you'd NEVER watch again.

4-The Gift Exchange. "Instead of buying me that Makita 18 volt, cordless drill with an extra battery and carrying case, how about spending the day playing games with me?" This is a desperate measure since you're giving up the chance for a nice present on your birthday or other gift-related holiday in exchange for playing games. This technique is not recommended unless you already own all the power tools, kitchen gadgets and useless crap that you want at this time.

5-Pouting/Moping combination. This is often effective but takes time, especially for women since men will immediately assume it's just "that time of the month". You must use a delicate balance of heavy sighs, sitting motionless with a faraway look in your eyes, and wandering around the house aimlessly with an occassional stop at your game collection to touch a game or two, wistfully.

6-The Demonstration. If you have a few friends that would agree to gather at your house to play, this is a great chance to demonstrate what fun games are, what stimulating conversation can ensue, how much those friends can eat.

7-The Solo Demonstration. If you have no friends, you can still use the demonstration technique. Set up a game and play by yourself, laughing loudly, congratulating yourself on brilliant moves and jokingly berating yourself for stupid moves.

Note: This should only be attempted if you already have a history of odd behavior, otherwise you could find yourself in a very small room in need of a game where hand mobility is not required.

8-Ask for Advice. This is a variation of #6 which takes less acting ability but more mental agility. While playing a solo game, ask your target non-gamer their opinion of a strategy you're thinking of or a rule clarification. If you can keep the discussion going, this will draw them unwittingly into a game and before you can say, "Meeples Rule!", you'll be congratulating them on a game well-played.

9-Blackmail. This is a last resort and should not be used lightly. "I know what you did with the body" is subtle yet effective in getting their attention, while at the same time reminding them that Junior would be emotionally scarred if he knew the truth about his long-lived hamster.

10-Begging. Let's not even go there; it's too undignified for a Gamer.
~~~~~~~
Games

I recently got Architekton and have played it 10 or 12 times, mostly trying to figure it out. Not that it's a difficult game, in fact it's extremely easy; but in trying to figure out why there doesn't seem to be much of a game here. There seems to be very little strategy required beyond the obvious--forcing your opponent to pay when he hasn't enough points--and a great deal of luck in the draw of the tiles is required for that.

You can try to squeeze your opponent by playing on both sides of him in hopes of forcing him to
remove houses, but the luck can turn this tactic against you and leave you with nothing but a split force. You can try the end run but this becomes boring as you play on your side of the board and he plays on his, trading points back and forth. Again, luck must be your partner.

The last few turns don't even require luck as you're usually playing to protect any buildings that have only 2 tiles adjacent to them. If you do get lucky, you could score another house. The final plays, rather than being full of tension, are anticlimactic.

Luck can also favor the beginning player if he's able to place 2 "clean" houses on the first turn, so we tried a variant where the first player can only play 1 tile, which helped with that problem but I still find the game to be not much more entertaining than playing a good game of solitaire.

It's not a totally mindless game, since you always have to check the available tiles for your best move and take into account what you're leaving for your opponent, it just doesn't feel like much of a competition because you're at the mercy of the tiles.
~~~~~~~
Miscellaneous

The leaves are starting to turn yellow on the walnut trees and the nights are dropping into the 50's here in the foothills of the Black Hills. You know what that means...we've wasted a summer and have a lot of work to do before winter gets here. Those home improvements that kept getting put off and the cords of wood to cut, split and stack are higher on the list of things to do than playing games. Damn, I hate when life interferes with having fun!

Until next time, remember: Half of being clever is making certain you're not being stupid.

Mary

The Game Psychiatrist

Dr. Meepolous: Hi, Mary. How are you today?

Mary: Not so good, Doctor. I'm feeling anxious and very impatient. I can't sit still and can't concentrate on anything.

Dr.: First you should sit down and try to relax. Take a deep breath. - - - - O.k., you move first.

M: What!? I came here to talk through my problems and you want me to play DVONN?

Dr.: Yes, I have it all set up. It'll help you to relax and focus. {And I get to play games while doing my job. }

M: Alright, you're the doctor.

Dr.: Now, why do you think you're having these feelings of anxiousness and impatience?

M: It's the new games, Doc, the ones that haven't been released yet. I HATE waiting--never been good at it.

Dr.: But don't you have plenty of games you could play?

M: Yes, but....I don't know, it's the thrill you get from something new and different. A new game is like getting a new car: the smell, the feel, checking out the accessories. Taking it out for a test drive and seeing what she can do. It's just so exhilarating.

Dr.: Hmmm, yes. {Nice move. I could be in trouble here}

M: Since this is all confidential, I gotta tell you: I blame Rick Thornquist.

Dr.: What? Why would you blame that nice man for your problems?

M: Sure, he sounds like a nice man but I think he's got a bit of a sadistic side, too. He's always got the latest news on what's coming out and sometimes he even tells you how they play, but you have to WAIT! It's sadistic, I tell you. I wouldn't hear about most of these games till people had them in their homes, enjoying them, if it weren't for that man. Now I'm drooling and I don't even get to kick the tires.

Dr: {I need to get her outta here before the game is over--she's killing me.} Would you rather he quit his job so you wouldn't have these games to look forward to?

M: No, I guess not. It's a good kind of anticipation, like waiting for Christmas.

Dr.: Would you rather someone else do his job?

M: No, he does a great job. I....well, I trust him.

Dr.: O.k., then. Do you feel better now that we've talked this through?

M: I do, actually. I think the DVONN game helped, too. Let's just stack these babies up, shall we? - - - - - - Whoa, Doc! You need to practice!

Dr.: How did you do that? You weren't even paying attention!

M: Yeah, I know. That's why I came in here, remember? Thanks, Doc. See ya later.

Dr.: {Great. Now I feel irritable.}

(For my friend, Richard Fawkes, who suggested I needed to take another trip to the psychiatrist.)
~~~~~~~

Games

This week Mike brought RoboRally again, by request from me, and this time Richard got to play, too. I could tell that he really liked it because he actually said so! Usually I ask him, "What do you think of this game?" and the reply is often, "It's o.k.". So to hear him gush over a game ("I like that one. How much does it cost?") is a sure sign that it was a hit. And I don't think the fact that he squeaked out a win had anything to do with it!

We also played Vinci, which is popular with us. I've only played 3 games or so of Vinci which might explain the bone-head decision I made with my first civilization, which included Mountaineering that let me conquer mountain regions for 1 less and also score mountains, and Currency which let me score +1 for every province including mountains. I took the bait and gobbled up the northeast corner of the board while somehow ignoring the fact that the points would not continue into its decline. The result was a nice lead with the first civilization, but a steady decline during the next civilization. I have to admit that I'm the hard-headed type and have to learn from my mistakes, but I DO learn so I won't overlook that point in future.

A new game also hit the table, Rheinlander. I bought it thinking it would be the same depth as Kardinal und Konig (China), but after the first play, I'd have to say there are more decisions to be made and more ways to manipulate the lay of the land (so to speak). We were still discussing the ways the rules fit together and the options it gives you after the game had been put away. You know this is usually a good sign.

~~~~~~~

Detour

A choice was made,
A road was taken;
All other roads
Must be forsaken.

Every day our lives are built
On decisions too numerous to name;
And whether for good or ill,
That life will never be the same.
If you don't reach your destination,
You have no one else to blame.
~~~~~~~

Until next time, may your roads be the longest ones.

Mary

The Yellow Brick Score Track

I assume I got into this hobby like many other people did--looking for a little harmless fun. I didn't know the power of what I was dealing with; I didn't know the allure would be so overpowering.

It was an innocent purchase--Lost Cities, to fill that "Christmas game" slot one year. After reading the rules, which is my job in our family, I thought, "Hmmm, doesn't sound like much", but after one play I realized that there was more here than meets the eye. This simple set of rules could lead to some difficult choices; there's luck here but maybe I can do something about it.

Carcassonne was next, so different from my idea of what a game was; then Puerto Rico, an eye-opening game with so many important choices. I had taken that first step on the Yellow Brick Score Track and could not turn around, pulled toward the Emerald City of Games.

At first I placed this new breed of games along side the mundane games from other years--Risk, Yahtzee, The Farming Game, Aggravation, Rack-o, Crack the Case, Perquackey and Boggle--but I soon outgrew that space. Using my female powers of Organization and Rearranging, I freed two shelves in a small closet to house my quickly-growing collection, the tangible proof of my obsession.

A few months later, I was well on my way down the Track and the closet was full; I needed a stool to reach the top games. A new bookshelf was added to the library, filled with games from all genres (Except war games. Those would come a little later). They ran the gamut from fluffy, fun games to the heavy-thinking gamer games; there were games for just 2, games that are best with 3 or 4, and one game that acomodates up to 10 (6 Nimmt). I made some games you could print for free and mocked up some others because I couldn't find them.

Through this period of trial and error, I learned the types of games--the mechanics, complexity, depth of play and amount of interaction--that appeal to me and, more importantly, to my family. I still buy a lot of games, but now I do it with a better understanding of what to look for and what to side-step. My biggest problem now is that I've nearly filled the bookshelf so it's time to don my superhero cape once more and find some way to make room for future additions to my collection.

I'm still traveling the Yellow Brick Score Track with my gamer friends. I don't know if it's possible to reach the Emerald City of Games, but I do know that once you set foot on the first brick on the track, there is very little chance you'll ever turn back.
~~~~~~~
Games

Fjordes is a new game at my house and I have to tell you, my husband and I really like it. I know I shouldn't because it has that whole luck-of-the-draw/can't-place-ANOTHER-damned-piece thing going, but I can't help myself. It's like eating potato chips--you know there's better things in the kitchen you could choose like fruit, yogurt or those frozen pork eggrolls (come on, there's veggies in them!) but you're drawn to the greasy, salty chips.

I've tried to figure out why I enjoy this game so much and I just don't know. Maybe I'm too stupid to be terribly annoyed with its quirks, or I'm so brilliant I can see past them to the clever game underneath. I know I have an unnatural attraction to map-building so that may account for some of it. I also like the 'Go' half of the game, deciding on the perfect spot for that first field piece but, unlike 'Go', you don't have to see several moves ahead. In any case, the more we play it, the better it gets.

The last game we played (3 rounds), we didn't have as many pieces that had to be set aside. In fact, one round was played without one unuseable piece being drawn. Were we lucky or can more careful planning of tile placement create a more accessible board? It also seems that I had more chances to make useful plays rather than being forced into just one position. Again, was it luck or does a bit of planning pay off?

Finally, let's not ignore the fact that it plays quickly and my husband will play it without too much whining on my part. No matter what the reason, Fjordes is sitting on the kitchen table, ready at a moment's notice to entertain us for 40 minutes or so.
~~~~~~~
Miscellaneous Ramblings

The back porch rebuilding is going well. Yesterday we tore down the old one and got the framework for the new one up. Today, the decking, stairs and railing are on the agenda. How nice to have a porch that doesn't creak and wobble. Tucker, our Corgi, isn't too thrilled right now, though, since he can't get out the back door.

Now for something on the serious side of life: last Thursday, 4 days before the official beginning of the Sturgis Rally, the first motorcyclist was killed. Most years see the death of 4 or 5, sometimes as many as 10, and it's often due to inexperience, especially as they ride through the twisting canyons of the Black Hills. But not this time. A Colorado man was sitting at an intersection waiting to turn onto a state road when he was rear-ended by a drunk driver in a pickup truck.

My heart always goes out to the friends and family who waved good-bye with wishes for a great vacation. When the phone rings, are they expecting to hear from their loved one only to hear the voice of an unknown police officer?

Don't drive when you've been drinking. I don't care how well you handle alcohol, or that you think you're not drunk--you're fine. It's just not worth the risk you take. And it's not worth a few years in prison for manslaughter.
~~~~~~~

So until next time, safe gaming to everyone.

The Addict

I'm a Game Addict. I love playing games, reading about games, buying games and teaching games to someone new to the hobby. I love the tough decisions I'm pressed to make--should I buy Pirate's Cove, or Attika?; if my game order is less than $30, what else should I buy?; where the heck am I going to put the newest games I just got?

My family (husband, Richard; son, Chris; daughter, Corissa) are not addicts. They're normal people who like to play games. So what's the difference between them and an Addict? They'll play a game when I ask (usually) and most of the time enjoy themselves but when the game is over, they're quite content to turn on the t.v. or grab a book and push gaming to the back of their minds.

The Addict, on the other hand, is still thinking about the game, flying high on the rush. The Addict wants to set it up again and try another tactic. The Addict wants to know what else she can get them to play--right now!

The poor Addict is in a constant state of agitation, thinking of the last game, the next game, the PBEM game they're in, the new game that the slow UPS man is supposed to be delivering today, the yet-to-be-released game they can't wait to get their hands on, the game they really want to play but 1) no one else likes it, or 2) they can't find enough players to play. Games, Games, Games!

The Addict reads an article in National Geographic about a tribe of superstitious natives in South America and thinks, "that would make a good game theme".

The Addict screws up that new recipe because she's thinking about which game to buy next.

The Addict can't fall asleep at night because meeples are marching behind her eyelids.

The Addict enjoys reading the rules for a new game, setting it up and going for a solo run.

The Addict has more game-related bookmarks on her computer than anything else.

The Addict needs a fix...so let's give a cheer for all the patient friends and families that help them through their days!
~~~~~~~

On the Table

I got to play Robo Rally for the first time on Thursday. My friend, Mike, the only other Game Addict within 200 miles, and his wife, Teresa, stopped by with his just-bought copy. We punched pieces and stuck stickers and set up the beginner game. I chose the 'bot that I like to call Screwball since that seems to fit me so well. The first programmed turn was unrealistically nice to me and I ended on the flag with Mike and Teresa on my tail. After that it was what I imagine is a typical game of "Crap, that wasn't what I planned!", "O.k., what happens if I start my turn on the corner of the conveyor belt?", and "What the heck do I do with a hand full of turns!?" There was a only a couple of times that someone got bogged down in the planning stage; most of the time it moved along at a good speed. We had a great time, laughing and messing with each other's plans (sometimes on purpose!) and I can't wait to play it again. And, for the record, I managed to win by one turn.

A game that's getting a lot of play is Attika. It's still new here as it took me forever to decide to try it, but it's the type of game that connects with us so I think it'll remain a favorite for a long time. It has enough luck to make the game different each time you play but with the ability to deal with bad luck thrown at you; card management, which I feel keeps you in check when you feel like splurging, or keeps things in balance when you do; important decisions to be made and yet it doesn't bog down the game; and I especially like the unique building placement arrangement which is the heart of the game. Richard and I are pretty evenly balanced in this game so they've all been very close and no one has managed to connect temples yet, except when we both leaned down to pick up the dropped piece!
~~~~~~~

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Monday is the official start of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally which fills the Black Hills with the roar of Harleys. Now, I can take or leave it, but the man of the house has been a motorcycle geek all of his life and has taken a week off of work so he can go to the races, wander the stalls, check out the sights (oh, boy, the sights!) and drool over the bikes. Hopefully, he'll leave some time for me and playing games. Or at least get the back porch rebuilt!

It occurred to me this morning that some of you may have spoken with my daughter, Cori. Really. She works for a G.E. call center handling service contracts for stores such as Circuit City and Good Guys, to name the two that I hear about most. So if your dish washer, wide-screen t.v., or clothes dryer breaks and you're feeling a little hostile when you call for service, remember that you might be talking to my daughter (and I'll hear about it!)

I tried to think of a great tag line like Tom Vasel's "Real men play board games", which I love, but all I could come up with was "Exercise your mind with board games", or "Gamers do it with Meeples". My husband suggested "Meeples of the world unite". Well, I'll keep working on it. Until next time, keep your dinos out of the water.

Mary