Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Simple goodness

I found a copy of Yummy in the back of a HomeGoods store a few years ago (yes! HomeGoods! I look for games EVERYWHERE. Never know what you might find...). It's a VERY simple game. It has little strategy, but enough that it isn't boring. At least that's what I think.

There is a large deck of numbered cards. 3 is the lowest, 7 is the highest. The entire deck is dealt out to the players, providing each player with his/her own draw pile. You begin each turn with a hand of three cards. You must play at least one, but can play up to all three is you wish.

The cards are played to a common area in the center of the table. There is space to play the 3's, a place for the 4's, etc. Whoever plays the third 3 to the table takes all three. Whoever plays the 4th four takes all four.... etc.

SO, as you play, you are trying to not make it too easy for the next player to finish a set, while holding cards that can allow you to pounce on a set when it gets to you. With only 3 cards in your hand at a time, planning ahead can be difficult.

When one person's cards are all used up, the game ends.

Your score is simple the number of cards you've claimed.

You don't want to play cards too quickly, since you will likely make it easier for opponents to finish sets. But you can't play too slowly, because someone else will finish the game before you've managed to claim very much.

Cathy, Jake, Chris, Danielle, and Erick played a 5-player version of Yummy.

Here are our scores:
CathyJakeChrisDanielleErick
167202117


Danielle wins!

I like this game for its simplicity, but I didn't feel a lot of enthusiasm from the rest of the crowd. I'm glad I own it (it seems hard to find!), but it probably won't come out in the Strategic Gaming Club very often.

Turn your brain inside out

Jake bought a copy of Fire and Ice. I had heard of it, and had seen it on display at The Old Game Store in Vermont a couple years ago. I knew it looked nifty, but had never played it. Jake bought it on a whim, and after just reading the directions, he knew it would be a hit.

And he was right.

On Monday, February 13, he and I both got to the game table early. After grabbing a bite to eat, Chris and Jake played a game of Fire and Ice. It's just a two-player game (well, there is a solitaire variant on the game, which is very clever). Here's what I wrote in my review of the game for funagain.com:



Fire and Ice is like Tic-Tac-Toe on crack. Instead of the traditional tic-tac-toe board, Fire and Ice is based on a Fano Plane. In tic-tac-toe, the middle square is more valuable than the rest, in a Fano Plane, no space is more valuable than any other. There are 7 ways to make 3 in-a-row, and no possible way to tie.

The entire board is a set of Fano Planes, each one of them being on a vertex of a larger Fano Plane.

(Does your brain hurt yet?)

In order to control one of the mini-boards, you simply need three-in-a-row (or 3-in-a-circle). In order to win the game, you need to control 3 of the mini-boards in a row (or in a circle). This all makes more sense when you have the board in front of you.

The BIG twist is that you never put your own pieces on the board. On your turn, you move one of your pieces (either to any place on the same island, or to a corresponding place on another island). The place that was vacated gets filled by one of your opponent's pieces.

We've been playing at a lot lately -- it has a great "OK, just one more game!" factor. The game plays fast, and it's tough to see who will win until close to the end.

This game has the simplest of rules, with the deepest of strategy. You'll find something strategically new every time you play.

The board is solid, with felt-lined bins which hold the elegant wooden playing pieces. It is a game that is suitable for display -- some people leave a chessboard out as decoration; Fire and Ice would make a gorgeous addition to any decor.



Did actually finish my game review with "...gorgeous addition to any decor."??!

Yipes.

Anyway, we got in a game before people started arriving. Jake was Fire, and Chris played as Ice.

Chris managed to eke out the win this time.

(We have played the game numerous times at random intervals since this time. We have both had intermittent success. It is NOT getting old by any stretch of the imagination. It is a WONDERFUL game.)

Space Party!

After Blokus, Eugene had to go. Jake and Matt drifted by to fill in the gap. Rachel still had the Gnumies on her mind from the last time she came by, and it's a game I like a lot. So, we brought Christine, Jake and Matt up to speed quickly, and dove right in.

The Gnumies has a little bit of a learning curve. Most of the game is straightforward, but there is a couple of quirky twists that add some nice complexity. You have to get through the game a time or two before you get the idea. It really is quite simple to play, but deciding what cards to play when can really bunch up your brain.

The most charming aspect of the game is the artwork. You will smile.

The most basic part of the game is collecting cards. Each time you get a card that is the same as one you already have, your score increases dramatically. SO, as the game proceeds, you are trying desperately to get more cards that match what you have, and your opponents are trying to prevent that. Balancing offense and defense is key.

Rachel, Chris, Christine, Jake, and Matt played a 5-player game of The Gnumies.

The game ended up this way:
RachelChrisChristineJakeMatt
86101748380


Chris wins!

The 1st Game Meeting of Feb. Starts with a Classic

I (Chris) got to the game table right before 1:00 pm on Monday, February 6th, and loaded it up with about 24 games. I perched behind the stack of games, and waited to snatch up anyone that I recognized that drifted by.

Once I pushed Blokus into the middle of the table, a bunch of regulars drifted out of the woodwork...

Christine, Rachel, Eugene, and Chris played a couple 4-player games of Blokus.

ChristineRachelEugeneChris
-14-16-9-8
-5-39-12-5
Grand totals
-19-55-21-13


Chris won the first game, and he and Christine tied for the second. That was enough to keep Chris in the lead overall! Except for Rachel's unusually flukey bad second game, it was all quality Blokus.

True, deep strategy

Another new game! Cabale is one I stumbled over, and was immediately attracted to the muted-colored wooden pieces and hexagonal shaped board. As a game collector, I was also pleased to find a game I had never seen before.

Each player has a large colored piece, a bunch of small colored pieces, and some small black barrier pieces.

Each player's turn consists of moving the big piece along a straight line as many places as desired, and then making a turn, and moving again as many places as desired. The originally vacated place gets filled with a big black piece, and the place where the turn happened gets filled with a small piece. The final score for each player is the sum total of points under that player's small pieces.

But wait! There's more! After the move, a player can jump over other players' pieces, checkers-style, and remove them from the board. Also, one of the little barricades can be placed, making an impervious wall (can't be jumped, can't be moved through).

You need to think far ahead during each move... Every time you take a turn, you are setting yourself up for your next one, and you have to be very conscious of that. Careful use of the walls and jumping can provide an advantage; careless jumping and placement can backfire.

Tommy, Jake and Chris played a 3-player version of Cabale.

Chris managed to block himself into a corner rather quickly. Tommy and Jake were all too happy to make sure he remained in his little corner, nicely trapped.

Chris sat back and watched Tommy back himself into a corner not too far away.

Jake had the run of the board, and did a few more moves, but it turned out to not be enough.

Score:
TommyJakeChris
726854


Tommy wins!

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Yeeps. We had been really good about keeping up with the gameplay blogging. But, we've been playing so much that there's no time to blog! AND, the more we play the more we build up our gameplay sessions, putting us further and further behind!

It's a snowball effect.

I am about to try to take some time to catch us up a bit. Some of these game session reports are a couple weeks old...

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Beautiful and Tricky


Jake, Tommy, and Chris played a couple games of the 3-player version of Ido.

Ido is a clever game, with elements of many others, but with an incredible twist -- the game board CHANGES, as players see fit.

Pieces can only step on places that are the same size as the piece they are moving -- as the grid changes, the pieces switch between being movable, and immovable.

As I've browsed around, I've read many bad reviews of this game, some of them suggesting that the rules are incomplete and difficult. This is just WRONG. On each turn, the current player has a choice of 3 moves -- (1) introduce a new piece onto a legal space, (2) shift the grid to change the board, or (3) move your current pieces a number equal to the number of pieces on the board.

Once you've played the game through a time or two, you get some of the flow. It is a wonderful abstract strategy game -- everyone starts with the same pieces, and the shifting of the board adds a strategy unlike any other game I've ever played.

It's a great game -- if you don't get that, you haven't tried hard enough. And honestly, you don't have to try that hard -- there's a lot of common sense in regards to the rules.

The first time I played (Me, Jay, and Don), we had a couple questions. As we were searching for a possible answer in the rules, we came up with a logical conclusion, and the rules always ended up supporting that result.

Let's see how the games went:

Game 1: Jake got a piece off the board first. Tommy quickly followed, with Chris right after. Tommy got his next piece off. Then Jake did.

Tommy got his third piece off -- Tommy wins!! Chris only had one piece off, Jake had 2.

Game 2: Chris got his first piece off first. Jake got a piece off quick after that, and Tommy Next. Chris got his next 2 pieces off before anyone else got one off. Chris wins! Jake and Tommy each only had one piece off.

Ta Yu


Chris also had recently purchased Ta Yu. It was played at game day, and makes a great 2 player game - that's really how it is designed. It is a beautiful game, wonderfully designed.

Tommy was hanging around, and Jake had work to do. So Chris and Tommy played a 2 player version of Ta Yu.

It's a great game of attack and defend. The game is perfectly balanced, perfectly designed, and perfectly devious -- you have little resources, and some great choices. 'Great' in every sense of the word -- each simple choice weighs heavily... promote my own cause, or thwart my opponent?! It's always a tough call. No matter how it comes out, those game is super-satisfying.

On person plays across the board in one direction, and the other plays a perpendicular direction. You multiply the outlets on each of your 'sides' to get a final score.

At the end of the game...

Chris had 2 on one side, 8 on the other. Final Score: 16.
Tommy had 6 on one side, 5 on the other. Final Score: 30.

Tommy wins!!

You can see how the balance matters on each side... Chris had 10 outlets total, Tommy had 11. But Tommy's better balance made his victory that much greater, almost DOUBLE Chris's score.

Ta Yu... if you can find it, and afford it -- it's wonderful.

TWENTY FIVE

Well, we have reached a sort of milestone...

25 different games played! Seriously. You can count them over there in the navigation bar on the left.

And this is just the beginning...

Carcassonne: The City

Jake had some free time at the Math Center, and Chris had a day off of work, so gaming had to happen. Chris had some new ones to play.

Carcassonne: The City was the one itching at the both of us the most.

Chris and Jake played a 2 player version of Carcassonne:The City.

This is a new game. And it is a great one. If you like the Carcassonne series, after one play, I can safely say that it is my favorite. I have played the others plenty of times, including "The Castle" which is by my favorite game designer (Reiner Knizia), but the City is the best.

And it better be -- it's the most expensive.

But it's worth it. It has beautiful wooden pieces - as well as the expected beautiful map tiles that fit together gracefully.

Actually, one of the things I find awkward about "The Castle" is that you can put pieces that don't really properly match together. This is also true in "The City"... but for some reason it works better here.

As always, you must keep the roads going smoothly. But markets and fields can be pushed up against each other. It works fine here... I can't explain why I can accept it here but not elsewhere.

I think it has to do with how much else this game has to offer.

"The City" begins as all other Carcassonne games does -- placing pieces in the roads, fields, and markets (the names change, but the concept is the same), collecting points as they are completed, or being an investment for points at the end of the game. But as the game proceeds, players start placing wall pieces around the game area. These walls can be used to place guards who watch over special buildings for collections at the end, as well as allowing you to place towers for quick points.

We actually played a few things incorrectly as we went along. We were both learning the rules as we went, but even with the inconsistencies with the rules (and they were slight, and could eventually turn into viable alternatives), it was great. Just great. The score turned out to be super-close, and I would consider this an unofficial score -- because of our rule problems, and the fact that it was an impromptu game session.

Here's what the game looked like (numbers in parentheses indicate chronology):
JAKEChris
(1) 9 pt. Market(2) 3 pt. Road
(4) 8 pt. Road(3) 10 pt. Market
(7) 8 pt. Road(5) 6 pt. Market
(11) 24 pt. Market(6) 3 pt. Road
(14) 16 pt. Road(8) 8 pt. Road
(17) 7 pt. Tower(9) 18 pt. Market
(18) 8 pt. Tower(10) 1 pt. Road
(19) 6 pt. Market(12) 8 pt. Tower
(22) 10 pt. Road(13) 12 pt. Market
(23) 5 pt. Tower(15) 3 pt. Road
(25) 4 pt. Market(16) 3 pt. Road
(27) 2 pt. Tower(20) 12 pt. Market
(21) 9 pt. Tower
(24) 2 pt. Road
(26) 5 pt. Tower
(28) 4 pt. Tower
Endgame countingĂ‚…
(30) 1 pt. Road(29) 2 pt. Road
(31) 10 pt. Steward(32) 12 pt. Steward
(34) 7 pt. Guard(33) 8 pt. Steward
(35) 27 pt. Guard(37) 4 pt. Guard
(36) 6 pt. Guard(38) 9 pt. Guard
(39) 5 pt. Guard
(40) 17 pt. Guard
Totals
158164


Chris wins... but remember we were still learning, and didn't play the game fully kosher.

Simply put, though: It's a great game.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Words, words, words, words...

Rachel had to go, but Danielle was in the vicinity. I know she likes Quiddler, and Jake likes Quiddler, and I LOVE Quiddler, and we weren't letting Mario and Bob go anywhere... so Quiddler it is!

I amazed at how well to letter distribution works in Quiddler. Occasionally you are stuck with something like all consonants, but most of the time, you can spell SOMETHING. And it is really well balanced for play between people with different skill sets -- the two bonuses (or is the plural of bonus "boni"??) help a lot. The bonus for the longest word generally favors folks with a broader, more complex vocabulary. But the bonus for the MOST words is a boon for ANYONE -- you can get a bonus by playing four 2-letter words.

Jake, Mario, Bob, Chris, and Danielle played a 5-player game of Quiddler. Or at least PART of one... (Why does this always happen? Quiddler is NOT a long game, but we often get cut off in the middle!)

JAKEMARIOBOBCHRISDANIELLE
TAN = 10LAY = 9ERG = 13WERE = 29PUG = 16
AXE = 14(nothing) = 0ROAD = 11GO = 2LIKE = 15
JOG + PI = 21KOI = 6AGUE = 12SO + DRY = 19OH + ORB = 24
AN + QUEER = 22RED + JUG = 35WET + CLOTH = 36FIB + OWE = 30DAY + TINE = 23
SLIP + WIT = 23HITTER = 32JAYS + DOTH = 38CLEAR + JET = 37CLOTH + LOB = 28
Totals at this point...
9882110117106


We had to break up the game right about here, because the maintenance folks had to put the last of the tables away from the Welcome Back Bash. Chris was ahead, but I'm not sure it counts as a win, because we didn't finish.

And so ended close to 7 hours of gaming. It was a good day.

What the Fluxx?

I like Fluxx. I don't know why. It really is 93% to 99% luck. It is rare to be able to build a strategy. It goes against everything I believe in when it comes to enjoyable gaming.

But I do like it. Quite a bit. The picture here was stolen from boardgamegeek.com -- my box and deck is in MUCH worse shape.

I think it's the easiest game I own. There's nothing to learn -- EVERYTHING is written on the cards themselves. You just have to read a little, and you got it. AND, once you've played the game 4 or 5 times, you don't even have to read -- the game starts moving very quickly.

The Welcome Back Bash had broken up. Basically, the lobby of the student center was empty except for myself and Rachel. I was explaining Fluxx to her when Bob and Mario drifted by. We didn't know them, but we managed to somehow get them to sit down and play! Ah, the power of the games.

So, Bob, Mario, Rachel, and Chris played a 4-player version of Fluxx.

I'll spare you the painful details of the game and jump right to the end -- Mario had The Brain as one of his keepers, and no one had the TV. When he played "The Brain (No TV)", Mario claimed victory!

As we were near the end of the game, Jake came by. He watched the last few plays, and was ready to jump into the next one.

Now we had Jake, Bob, Mario, Rachel, and Chris playing a 5-player game of Fluxx. That's a good amount of players -- Fluxx is fun with more.

Early in the game, Jake played the dreaded "Hand Limit 0" rule card. This card makes everyone discard all the cards in their hand, effectively removing the tiny sliver of strategy you can have in the game. The "Hand Limit 0" rule card, when played effectively, can be a brutal one -- if you have that with the "Trash a New Rule" card, you can be cruel. That combination can cause everyone else at the table to discard all their cards, but then rescue yourself from its effects immediately. SO now, you might have a hand of 7 cards, while everyone else is left holding air.

Learning these combos is how you can succeed in the game on very rare occasions.

Thankfully, Bob got us out of this mess by playing his "Money (No Taxes)" goal while he had Money out, and Taxes was no where to be found. Bob wins!

Everyone stayed for another round... it ended fairly quickly. Jake had just the "Love" keeper down, and had the "All You Need is Love" goal. Jake wins!!

I don't know why, but I do like Fluxx.

Let's do the time warp...

OK, the chronology of the blog is going to be a little funky.

Jake just put in a couple things from 2/6, and I still have stuff to put in from the Welcome Back Bash (1/31/06), and an improvised gaming session that Thursday (2/2/06). So the Blog may have some interspersed game sessions, time-wise. This is due to us being busy with other things, and Blogger's intestinal disorders earlier in the week.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Lord of the Rings meets Stratego

People were starting to drift away. The Welcome Back Bash was over. But that's no reason to stop playing!

Rachel was hanging around, and since it was just her and me, I decided we needed to get in a rare two-player game. The week before, I had picked up a copy of Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. I hadn't played it yet, just messed with the pieces and read the rules a half dozen times. It's another by Reiner Knizia, basically my favorite game designer.

In this game, one player plays as the good side, one plays as the evil side. The game board is a map of Middle Earth. Each player has 9 pieces, kept secret from the other player.

The basic game mechanic is a lot like Stratego. I loved that game as a kid... I haven't played it a while - I wonder if it has stood the test of time.

Anyway, you move your pieces across the board. When one of your pieces encounters an opponent, each piece is revealed, and the strengths of the two pieces are compared. In this game, each player then plays a card - changing the power of the characters in battle. The most powerful piece wins, and the losing piece is removed from the board.

The good side wins if Frodo makes it to Mordor, or the evil side has less than three pieces left. The evil side wins if three evil characters make it into the shire, or if Frodo is killed.

Chris, playing as the evil side, managed to kill Rachel's Frodo. Evil wins! I mean, CHRIS wins!

We only got to play through once, and there is a lot of quirky, character-specific rules that we had to keep reminding ourselves of as we played. I think a few more plays are necessary to fully get the game dynamic. But it certainly seems to have potential. I want to play it some more...

New Game: Gnumies

Rachel was digging through the stack of games, and found "The Gnumies".

I'm pretty sure the name of the game is pronounced "new-mees", or possibly "num-mees". Rachel insists on calling it "The Gummies".

I really enjoy this game. It sounds a little complicated at first, sort of like "Beat the Buzzard" on crack. It took some explaining, but after a few minutes, play was decided.

In The Gnumies, each player has a set of cards used to bid on other cards. There are 11 of them - 10 numbered 10 to 100 in multiples of 10, one with an asterisk. Like Beat the Buzzard, the high card wins. Unlike Beat the Buzzard, only the winner of the bid loses his/her bid card. And unlike Beat The Buzzard, the cards come with little tie-breaker points on the bottom of each card.

The asterisk card can be played if you don't care for the card that was being bid on. If you play the asterisk card, you wait until the card bid upon is claimed, and you look at the next card in the stack. If you like it, keep it and lose your asterisk card. If you don't like it, give the card to someone else, and save your asterisk for another turn.

Single cards won are worth their face value. Pairs of cards, regardless of value, are worth 20. Three of a kind is worth 50, four of a kind: 100, and five of a kind: 150.

SO, once you get a card, you begin trying to hoard cards of the same value.

There is a bad card called the Wullawaki. I just call it "The Zapper", because it "zaps" a card you've already collected for each one you get. Because it's bad to win the card, the winner gets to KEEP the bid card used, all the OTHER PLAYERS have to THROW THEIRS AWAY.

There is one "Wild" card that can be won. It is equal to the value of the lowest card you have. As noted above, any pair is worth 20 points, so that wild card will b worth AT LEAST that... maybe more, I you have a big set of low cards. This one is weird -- the LOWEST card played wins it.

Once everyone has used all bid cards, the round is over, and points are calculated.

Rachel, Heather, Selena, and Chris played a four-player game of The Gnumies.

Here's how the scores came up:
HeatherChrisRachelSelena
1501479283


Heather wins! It's only her second game, and she's already won.

Still the best


Jake drifted by to see how the Welcome Back Bash was going, and as he was there, Rachel expressed her yearning for more gaming. When that happens, and there is four of us around, we turn to Blokus. It's amazing how replayable that game is. I can't foresee ever getting sick of it. And I (Chris) find no end of enjoyment making up names trying to describe strategies of play.

"The Wing" is the best of them all. You can't stop The Wing. Go out a little ways towards the middle, and use the "W" shaped piece to branch out in 2 directions. It's the best. If you're really good, you can branch one of those for a Double Wing. That is for professionals only.

In a previous game, Danielle invented the Circulatory System, where you send a solid line towards the middle ("the artery"), have a large clump when you get there ("the heart"), and then as many spindly tentacles off that as you can ("the capillaries"). It's rather effective.

There's "The Swamp", where you hoard your corner, and flood it with your own pieces, not heading towards the middle, and hope the others beat each other up. It's a tough strategy to maintain - you can get trapped in - but it can allow you to get your larger pieces on the board, which is always nice. Your camping out often goes unnoticed by the other players...

"The Snake", "The Dash", "The Switchback", "The Sneak".... these are all great strategies.

I'm absolutely positive my sports-style voiceovers are tremendously annoying. Don't care. It's like making sentences out of the words you play in Quiddler - has to happen.

But I digress... how did the game go?! Well, the four-player game was played by Rachel, Jake, Selena, and Chris. The scores went like this:
ChrisJakeRachelSelena
-8-13-18-32


Chris wins!

Jake had to go, but we managed to rope Heather into playing. She was hanging out at the table next door, and this was her first game play. Blokus is a great one to start with, we got her up to speed in seconds, and gaming got underway...

It ended like this:
ChrisSelenaRachelHeather
+10-18-21-42


Obviously, Heather got blasted pretty early on. But, remember, it was her first game. Apparently, we don't go easy on the newbies. I actually don't think there was vicious intent, the rest of us have just played a bit more, and are more aware of the rest of the board and its possibilities.

And yes, that is no typo, Chris managed to place all of his pieces for a big win.

Blokus is wonderful.

Time to Tut


Rachel's next pick was Tutankhamen. This is a clever little game. You make a path consisting of Egyptian treasures. On your turn, you move as many spaces along the path as you wish, picking up treasure as you go. You have to balance jumping way ahead to collect sets of treasures, with hanging back so you don't skip over potential goodies. The rules seem tricky at first, like most games, but once you get the hang of it, it's great brain-busting fun.

The 3-player game of Tutankhamen starred Selena, Rachel, and Chris.

When an entire set is collected, the person with the most, and second most, of that set gets to give away coins in tribute. The first to get rid of the 26 coins is the winner!

Here's how we got rid of our coins...


SELENARACHELCHRIS
1 (stolen piece)1 (scarab)1 (scarab)
2 (1/2 bird)1 (stolen piece)1 (scarab)
6 (jackal)2 (1/2 bird)2 (cat)
8 (mask)2 (1/2 bird)2 (cat)
4 (1/2 mask)6 (jackal)4 (bird)
6 (jackal)8 (mask)3 (1/2 jackal)
8 (mask)
4 (bird)
WINNER!6 coins left1 coin left



Selena did a great job of positioning herself in an unstoppable situation at the end.

It really was a close game, but indisputably... Selena wins!

ACK! Entry clobbered.

The last post was referring to a post that a couldn't see in our dashboard, but could see on the actual website. When I mad the post below, it ERASED the previous post. Dagnabit.

Well, luckily, I had the page open in another window, and could do some cutting and pasting. Which I shall do in the next post.

Blogger problems

Over the past week, Blogger has been thwarting my attempts to enter information, ESPECIALLY pictures. It doesn't even recognize the last post, so I can't add pictures to it. Like this one...



HEY! Looks like it's fixed.

I'd better get typing... there's stuff from two weeks ago to be blogged.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Trick-taking aggression


Rachel drifted by, and she tends to get excited over the games. She a game-playing badger! She wants to know all about all the games. I finally managed to get her focused on Rage for a few seconds, and we decided to play. They say you can play it with 2 people, but you really need 3 to make it worth while. Selena was at the Campus Life table right next to us, so we sat her down and the learning began.

Rage is a trick-taking game, much like Spades or Hearts. But, unlike those games, you have a limited number of cards in your hand. The first round starts with 10 cards, then 9, then 8,.... all the way down to having only one card.

Also, there are a few special cards: there's a couple Jokers, a card that changes trump, a card that eliminates trump, a card that gives the trick-taker +5 points, and card that gives the trick taker -5 points. So, there's some interesting twists and turns as the game goes on.

After the cards are dealt and the initial trump is revealed, players bid on how many tricks each player thinks he/she can win. You have to get it exactly... if you get your bid exactly, you get 10 points, if you are over or under, you lose 5 points. You also get one point for any trick taken, whether or not you made your bid.

Here's how the game went:
cards in handRACHELSELENACHRIS
10-2-3-1
912-46
84-4-2
78-413
6121212
511-43
4-5-211
3-511-3
2-3-510
1-51011
TOTALS FOR THE GAME
27760


Rachel was winning for most of the time, but had some bad luck at the end...

Chris wins!

Back on the Path


Sean had a little more time, and another good game to learn in a minute or two is Tsuro. It also is another Asian-looking game, simply to learn, and the basic dynamics is the laying of tiles and creating paths, so it seemed a natural to follow Ta Yu.

Sean picked it up as quick as he adapted to Ta Yu, and we got down to business.

Sean managed to back himself into a corner... this is a bad situation in Ta Yu -- staying in the center of the board as much as possible is a better idea. But sometimes you just can't help but be squeezed to the edge.

Sean left the board first -- Chris wins!

Go with the flow...


The first game we played at the Welcome Back Bash was Ta Yu. I (Chris) had bought this game the day before (Monday) on the way into work. I had seen it at a small game shop called "Hero Town" the day before that, and did some research -- I found that it was a highly rated game, and rather hard to find. I decided that the $60 price tag was palatable (it was helped by the fact that I had a $10 gift certificate).

Ta Yu is a simple tile-laying game, with tons of strategy. It takes about a minute to explain the rules of the game, but the gameplay proceeds with endless variety. The first thing that will grab you will be the elegant beauty of the game... long, sinewy dragons surround the border, and the thick, mah-jongg-like tiles are engraved with simple lines that represent channels of water.

The game is really designed for two players -- it can easily be played with two teams of two. You can play the game with three players -- player 3 being one intended to simply thwart the progress of the other two, which would probably introduce a strange dynamic. There is enough frustration in the two player game -- a thwarting player would probably make ones head explode.

Sean stopped by, so Chris and Sean played the two player game of Ta Yu.

One player plays in a sort of "North-South" direction, and the other plays the "East-West" direction. Each player is trying to divert streams of water in his/her directions. There is a good blend of directly (and desperately) trying to wrangle the streams in your own direction while trying to redirect the streams away from your opponents directions. There is a good blend of offense and defense.

Once there is no place for a player to lay down a tile, the game ends, and scoring begins. The person playing North-South counts the number of outlets on the North side and multiplies that by the number of outlets on the South side. The other player does the same for East and West. There are 3 spots on each side that count as two outlets.

Sean had 6 on one side and 4 on the other -- 6 x 4 = 24
Chris had 8 on one side and 8 on the other -- 8 x 8 = 64.

Chris wins!

Ta Yu -- simple, beautiful, strategic, fun. Possibly the most expensive game I've bought -- so far as I can tell, after just one game: worth every penny.

Welcome Back Bash - Spring 2006


We set up a table for the college's Welcome Back Bash. We loaded the table up with dozens of the most colorful and intriguing games.

We were just one of a couple dozen tables, and we started out on a table sort of tucked back in the corner. With some coaxing from Campus Life and the Chess Club (the tabl next door), we moved the table more towards the hub. Actually, we ended up right to the free subs and sodas -- a good place to be.

A couple people drifted by, and then folks started sitting down to play.

The welcome back bash started at 11:00, and finished up around 3:00. The gamers left at around 6:15, when maintenance had to put our table away.

It was a good day.

Must... play... the... word card game...



Just when I thought the game day would be over, Danielle and Igor came over, with Matt in tow.


A game of Quiddler was demanded, and I easily obliged.



We played a 4-player game of Quiddler, with Matt, Danielle, Chris, and Igor.

And, as always, we recorded the results.

MattDanielleChrisIgor
(nothing) = 0DO = 5RAY = 11AIM = 9
GOAL = 13PI + EX = 32ID = 0LENT = 13
HEAR = 9CELL = 24ONE + ERR = 21JOG + ON = 28
MINOR = 17BAD + JUT = 35CLUTTER = 37PUG + ASH = 28
ERGO + OAF = 20MY + FINE = 20THAW + HOSE = 35THEY + TURN = 32
FINER + JUG = 43THEM + QUART = 29IVY + OTTER = 24RAIN + QUOTE = 40
HERE + IN + QUIZ = 58DO + SAME + EGG = 33RAT + THRONES = 41YAWNS + HAZE = 49
MAN + LAW + SOON = 39THY + THY + THE + SON = 57JINX + NEE + ERR = 53CUE + QUIET + MAT
The totals for this game of Quiddler
199235222249


Igor wins!!

It's like playing a Mondrian painting.


It's been a long day of gaming! I think this was our longest game day yet... Only Jay and I (Chris) remained. We were just sitting there talking when Don from Campus Life came over and asked to play a game. You don't have to tell us twice -- that's why we're here!

I had bought a game called Ido that morning on the way into work. I had gone over the directions, and messed with the pieces, but hadn't played it yet. I was obviously itching to play my new game!

Ido is an interesting game -- in its roots, it is as simple as Parcheesi or Sorry!, you have pieces in your color. You need to move your pieces from a start place to an end place before your opponent can. But that is where any similarities end.

The main board is an irregular grid -- it's not like a chessboard, some squares are smaller than others. And it has a second part -- there is a grid that sits on the board; it looks a little like a square stove burner.

During your turn, you have 3 options: introduce a new piece onto the board, move your piece(s) on the board, or shift the grid, changing the pattern of squares on the board.

You have 2 kinds of playing pieces -- a short cube (think of it as a 1 x 1 x 1 sized cube), and a taller piece (think of that as a 1 x 1 x 2 solid rectangle). The short cube can only move onto 1 x 1 squares. The tall piece can only move onto 1 x 2 squares. As the grid shifts, the size (and shape!) of the possible places to move on the board changes.

If you choose to introduce a new piece, it must start on a legal space -- depending on how the board is a arranged you may not even b able to move a new piece onto the board.

If you choose to move your pieces on the board, you have to follow the legal spaces described above. You get to move a number of spaces equal to the number of pieces you have on the board. If you have 3 pieces on the board, you can move three spaces -- and you can divide those moves however you wish (you can move one piece 3 spaces, OR one piece can move 2 spaces and another piece 1 space, OR you can move all three pieces 1 space each).

If you choose to move the grid, you can shift it one space in any direction, as long as that small grid stays within the confines of the main board. Shifting it may push pieces off the board -- a piece getting pushed off gets returned to its owner and must need to be reintroduced. If the piece gets pushed off into the exit area of a player, that piece instead counts as one that has successfully finished its course through the board.

It all sounds a little strange at first, but the gameplay makes sense once you begin to actually play the game.

Don, Jay, and Chris played a 3-player game of Ido.

We chose to play a short game -- the winner is the one who gets 3 of his/her 6 pieces off the exit wins. You can play a longer game by requiring a greater number of pieces off the board.

Don will be known as "The Annihilator" in Ido -- his first move consisted of knocking a piece from both Chris and Jay of the board. He went on to eliminate 5 pieces from the board throughout the game. In comparison, Chris eliminated one piece, and Jay didn't EVER knock a piece off the board.

Chris got a piece off first, but Don and Jay swiftly managed to do the same. After a bit of a struggle, Chris got a second piece off the board, and he was feeling pretty confident. He was blindly try to push to board top allow him to get off the board, and in shifting the board made it so Jay had 2 of his pieces within 2 spaces of the exit. Since he had 4 pieces on the board, he got them both of in a single turn.

Jay wins!!

I like Ido -- can't wait to play it again.

Return to the path


Manny had to run, but Christine came by to join the fun.

We decided to show her Tsuro, which we had played earlier. Christine couldn't stay long, an Tsuro is easy to learn and quick to play.

Tsuro is playable by 2 to 8 players, but it seems to me that the more players you have, the more un and challenging it is. With just 2 players, you may not encounter each other in the entire game. With more players, interaction is guaranteed.

We played a 3-player version with Jay, Christine, and Chris.

Jay was eliminated first.

Chris and Christine managed to continue to battle it out for a bunch more tiles, but Chris fell off the board first.

Christine wins!

A good time-killer


Manny found Fluxx in the pile of games, and wanted to know more about it, so I agreed to show them how to play. Danielle had to go, so it was just Chris, Manny, and Jay left for a 3-player game of Fluxx.

Fluxx is a goofy little game. It's mostly luck, and the playing of the game really is the fun... winning happens kind of surprisingly, haphazardly, and without warning.

Here's a quick rundown of the game -- the game starts with a rule: on your turn you draw one card and play one card. There are cards that change the rules -- making more cards to be drawn or more cards to be played. The cards you play are of 4 types: Rules cards (described above), Action cards (that may let you take extra turns or steal cards from opponents), Keeper cards (which are just odd nouns -- examples: The Eye, War, Taxes, Peace, A Toaster, Milk, A Rocket), and Goal cards (this tells how someone wins -- an example of a Goal Card is "Toast: Whoever has Bread and the Toaster wins!").

Most people who first experience the game feel it's complicated, but once or twice through, and you get the hang of it. All the instructions are written on the cards, which is a handy reminder.

The game can be over in a couple turns, or go on for 20 minutes. This game lasted somewhere in the middle...

Chris had the Rocket and the Moon when he managed to play the "Rocket to the Moon" Goal card. Chris wins!

Block US!



After Cathy left, Danielle was there to fill in the spot. And, it was time to bring out an old standard: Blokus.

We can never say enough about Blokus. Elegantly designed, simple to learn, infinitely replayable. I generally don't like games that have 0% luck. I prefer games that are mostly skill, but games like Chess, Checkers, or Go, where you just have a set of pieces and a definite set of rules I find to be just frustrating. Blokus somehow breaks the mold in abstract strategy games. It's just fun.

Jay, Danielle, Chris, and Manny played a couple 4-player games of Blokus.

Here's the scores:
JayDanielleChrisManny
-35-12-3-45
-9-8-5-35
THE TOTALS FOR THE GAMES
-44-20-8-80


Chris had a couple good games. Game number 2 was rather close, though, at least among the top three players.

Quid----


Manny was itching for a game of Quiddler, and since he won the last game (and we love Quiddler), we granted him his wish.

We started with 5 players, but Scott had to leave after the first hand, so really, we played a 4-player game of Quiddler with Cathy, Chris, Manny, and Jay.

As it turns out, Cathy had to go meet her kids after school, so we didn't even get to finish the game. We managed to get up to a 7-card hand (the 'official' game increases each hand until it gets to 10 cards).

Here's what happened during the short Quiddler game:
CathyChrisMannyJay
CLOY = 16SKIN = 18(nothing) = 0(nothing) = 0
(nothing) = 0GUM = 13DO + SO = 22RINK = 20
PIE = 0THEY = 11VEGAN = 36RUT = 5
SOLEMN = 30QUEER + IVY = 35HEAR + AM = 23ZING + AT = 32
THE + KOI = 19ICY + GAZE = 38DID + RUST = 27GAY + WAR = 25
TOTALS FOR THE GAME
6511510882


Chris wins, but it wasn't a full game, so I'm not sure if it counts...

The Game of the Path


As we finished Pig Pile, Manny and Scott came by. Manny, a game day regular, was late becuase he thought we weren't starting until 2:30 (we start at 1:00!)... better late than never!

I (Chris) had recently bought a game called Tsuro. Scott had really just come by to watch, but I convinced hit to join us in this simple, clever game.

Manny, Jay, Scott, Cathy, and Chris played a 5-player game of Tsuro.

Tsuro is played on a 6x6 board. The board starts empty, and tiles are laid on the board to make paths. The game can be played with as few as 2 or as much as 8 players. The goal is simple -- make the paths on the board so your playing piece is the last one on the board.

You can only place a tile next to your own piece, but, as the board gets filled and players mover around the board, one player's tile will affect other paths. Also, if two players' paths get connected so that they collide, they are BOTH knocked out of the game.

It's a simple game, and can be played in about 10 minutes. It has a sort of Zen flow to it, and is one of the most beautifully crafted games I've seen. The playing pieces looked like carved stone, and the board has a beautiful dragon-like design. The tiles are muted, soothing, natural colors. When the board is complete, the sweeping paths draw your eyes around the board.

Here's how the game went:

Scott was the first to be eliminated, stuck at an edge with no useful tiles for escape.

Chris connected two paths so that Jay and Cathy crashed into each other.

Chris managed to back himself into a corner, forcing HIMSELF off the board.

Manny wins!! And is looking pretty proud of that...

Piles o' Swine


I've been dying to get in a game of Pig Pile for a while. It's an easy one to pick up, and doesn't require too much brain power. It has some similar elements to Spite and Malice, so I figured it would be a good next game to play.

Chris, Cathy, and Jay played a 3-player game of Pig Pile.

Pig Pile is a sort of silly game where you play cards to a discard pile -- you need to play cards equal to or greater than the previous card played. If you are unable to do this you have to pick up the ENTIRE discard pile. The game would go on forever if that was all there is to it, but anytime 3 of the same card is played, the discard pile is wiped away and removed from the game. So the cards involved get reduced throughout the game.


Each player has 3 cards face up on top of 3 cards face down in front of him/her. Once a player has played all cards from his/her hand, that player can then start on the piles on the table. The first player to have no cards left is the winner.

Cathy was the first to get rid of cards from her hand, but the cards on the table were not cooperating. Jay was close to winning, but his last card was unplayable, and he had to pick up the discard pile. Chris and Cathy were furiusly try to get rid of their piles, but Jay was able to play all of the cards from his hand, and was left with just a "Hog Wild" card which could be played anytime, securing his win.

It's S&M for short!



I (Chris) got to the table right around 1:00, and started setting up some games. Cathy came over a few minutes after, at right around the same time that Cheryl, a new player in the club, stoped by.

Chris, Cathy, and Cheryl played a 3-player game of Spite and Malice.

Cathy and I know the game well, and quickly got Cheryl up to speed. She picked it up pretty quickly... and quickly juped into the lead, having a couple really good turns.

It turned out that Cheryl only had 15 minutes to play before her class. She was one card away from winning, and she had to go!


Luckily, Jay was drifting by right around this time, and he filled in the gap. AND he on the game on the next turn.

I'm not sure if this officially counts as a win for Jay, since he only sat in for the very end.

I think we'll call this a warm-up practice game.