Set is a card game. Every card has an abstract picture. Cards are flipped over and players try to be the first and fastest to note and claim a "set": three cards that match exactly, or differ on all three cards, in four characteristics: color, shape, number, and fill. At the end of the game, the player who has collected the most sets "wins".
Anagrams is a tile game. Every tile has a letter. Tiles are flipped over and players try to be the first and fastest to note and claim words: either by anagramming the loose tiles in the center of the table, or by fitting a loose letter into a rearranged word currently claimed by a player. At the end of the game, the player who has collected the most words (or letters, or points on letters) "wins".
In both games, all players play simultaneously. As each tile or card is revealed, players quickly scan the field in hopes of being the one to announce a valid pattern. Each claim is a victory, a "win". The first to find the pattern and take it claims a victory, but the gain doesn't give the player any further advantage toward claiming the next match . The next set of tiles or cards is a fresh opportunity for every player; each round is unique. The game doesn't really end, except by the limit artificially imposed by the number of cards or tiles.
By the time the game is over, it doesn't seem to matter much who "won" the game in any conventional sense. I never count the sets at the end of a game of Set. I don't even know what scoring method to use for Anagrams.
Showing posts with label set. Show all posts
Showing posts with label set. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Friday, April 06, 2007
Why You Will Never Win a Game of Set
Played a game of Set yesterday at a picnic with my daughter and a random kid.
"Games Are Made By Machines"
The kid was confused that I had brought games to the picnic and that I like to play games. I'm an adult, after all.
I look forward to this sort of encounter.
I told him that I play games, run a game group, design games, write about games, and so on, and he refused to believe me.
"People don't make games," says he.
Blink. Blink.
"They don't? Who makes games?" I asked.
"Games are made by machines!" he triumphantly declares.
"Uh ... who designs the games so that the machines will make them? Who makes the machines?"
"No one designs games. The games are already there. Machines just make them!"
This is where we stand, ladies and gentleman. All games that ever will be created have been created, according to the masses. Forget the 25,000 new board games created in the last 40 years; every time a journalist writes about board games, he or she is referring to the games created more than 40 years ago - with the exception of the three or four blockbuster games since then (Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Scene It) or variations on the old ones (Monopoly: Lord of the Rings edition).
Why not describe all video games as simply Pong and Space Invaders, with a few exceptions?
Set
Set consists of an 81 card deck. Each card has 1, 2, or 3 items. The items on each card are either ovals, diamonds, or wavy. The items are either solid, lined, or empty. The items on the card are colored either purple, green or red.
12 cards are laid out. The first person to see a "set" calls out "Set!" and collects the three cards that make up the set. 3 more cards are laid out to replace them. The game ends when the deck is gone and no more sets remain.
A "set" consists of three cards where a) the number of items on each card are the same (1,1,1) or all different (1,2,3); b) the colors of the items on each card are the same (red, red, red) or all different (red, green, purple); c) the fillings on each card are the same or different; and d) the shapes on each card are the same or different.
The challenge is that the brain likes to pick up patterns that don't exist, and you constantly have to find real sets from the "close, but not a set" that pops into your head.
You Will Never Win This Game
It is conventional wisdom that some people get the game of Set and some don't, and that's the way it is.
You can train to get faster fingers in video games and Spit. You can train to have steadier fingers in Jenga. You can learn the patterns in Go and Chess so as to avoid repeating your mistakes. But you will never get better at Set if it doesn't click.
Why is this? Is it self-doubt? The challenge is just too overwhelming? Or is there no effective training technique for that part of the brain?
I think not.
I think you can train yourself if you try methodically enough. Maybe set out different types of sets in different arrangements. Then do the same thing with 4 cards, with 5 cards, and so on, upping the number each time. Or try playing the game with only the purple cards, or only the diamond cards, for a while.
But no one really wants to spend that kind of time, just to get good at a game. The funny thing is, is that the brain power you build getting good at Set will probably come to help you at future moments in your life.
What other games are reputed to be "impossible" for some people?
Game News
Ottawa Citizen talks up playing with your kids.
Speaking of which, Youthlinks is a Maine-based organization that encourages youth and adult interaction. They organize events, such as "Board Game Buddies", which gets kids playing with the elderly, for the benefit of both. Calendar of events.
Jew News
Schools in the UK are shying away from teaching about The Holocaust because the material is "sensitive".
If you don't read Renegade Rebbetzin, you should. Her latest post about the seder and its mishaps is a good intro.
Yehuda
"Games Are Made By Machines"
The kid was confused that I had brought games to the picnic and that I like to play games. I'm an adult, after all.
I look forward to this sort of encounter.
I told him that I play games, run a game group, design games, write about games, and so on, and he refused to believe me.
"People don't make games," says he.
Blink. Blink.
"They don't? Who makes games?" I asked.
"Games are made by machines!" he triumphantly declares.
"Uh ... who designs the games so that the machines will make them? Who makes the machines?"
"No one designs games. The games are already there. Machines just make them!"
This is where we stand, ladies and gentleman. All games that ever will be created have been created, according to the masses. Forget the 25,000 new board games created in the last 40 years; every time a journalist writes about board games, he or she is referring to the games created more than 40 years ago - with the exception of the three or four blockbuster games since then (Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Scene It) or variations on the old ones (Monopoly: Lord of the Rings edition).
Why not describe all video games as simply Pong and Space Invaders, with a few exceptions?
Set
Set consists of an 81 card deck. Each card has 1, 2, or 3 items. The items on each card are either ovals, diamonds, or wavy. The items are either solid, lined, or empty. The items on the card are colored either purple, green or red.
12 cards are laid out. The first person to see a "set" calls out "Set!" and collects the three cards that make up the set. 3 more cards are laid out to replace them. The game ends when the deck is gone and no more sets remain.
A "set" consists of three cards where a) the number of items on each card are the same (1,1,1) or all different (1,2,3); b) the colors of the items on each card are the same (red, red, red) or all different (red, green, purple); c) the fillings on each card are the same or different; and d) the shapes on each card are the same or different.
The challenge is that the brain likes to pick up patterns that don't exist, and you constantly have to find real sets from the "close, but not a set" that pops into your head.
You Will Never Win This Game
It is conventional wisdom that some people get the game of Set and some don't, and that's the way it is.
You can train to get faster fingers in video games and Spit. You can train to have steadier fingers in Jenga. You can learn the patterns in Go and Chess so as to avoid repeating your mistakes. But you will never get better at Set if it doesn't click.
Why is this? Is it self-doubt? The challenge is just too overwhelming? Or is there no effective training technique for that part of the brain?
I think not.
I think you can train yourself if you try methodically enough. Maybe set out different types of sets in different arrangements. Then do the same thing with 4 cards, with 5 cards, and so on, upping the number each time. Or try playing the game with only the purple cards, or only the diamond cards, for a while.
But no one really wants to spend that kind of time, just to get good at a game. The funny thing is, is that the brain power you build getting good at Set will probably come to help you at future moments in your life.
What other games are reputed to be "impossible" for some people?
Game News
Ottawa Citizen talks up playing with your kids.
Speaking of which, Youthlinks is a Maine-based organization that encourages youth and adult interaction. They organize events, such as "Board Game Buddies", which gets kids playing with the elderly, for the benefit of both. Calendar of events.
Jew News
Schools in the UK are shying away from teaching about The Holocaust because the material is "sensitive".
If you don't read Renegade Rebbetzin, you should. Her latest post about the seder and its mishaps is a good intro.
Yehuda
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Weekend Gaming
My Mantra: It Can't Be Done
We dropped a barfing dog off at my daughter's mechina program on the way to the SPNI field school at Ein Gedi at which we would be staying for the weekend.
Check in wasn't until 3:00 pm, so those of us who arrived early hiked up and around some of the famous trails of Ein Gedi. Our trail up was Nahal David, named after King David, as this was the very trail he hid among while hiding from Saul.
I'm getting older; I admit it. I'm only thirty-seven, but I'm not as dexterous, energetic, and aerobic as I once was. And of course, the less I exercise, the harder I find it to start again.
One thing I know, however, is that I can get over the hump and then keep going for a long time. I simply have to expect that my first few hours of activity look like this:
+ Walk a bit
+ Sit and rest
+ Walk a bit less
+ Sit and rest
+ Walk a bit less
+ Sit and rest
+ Want to go back
+ Walk a bit more
After which I can pretty much walk for several hours straight.
To keep me going, I use a mantra for inspiration. It goes as follows; you might want to try this yourself:
"I can't do it. It's impossible. I'm too tired. I'll never make it. This is pointless. It can't be done. I hate this. I'm a total failure. ..."
And so on, for until I get over the hump. Later on, when my companion needs a rest, while I am ready for tireless walking, the mantra is:
"What's your problem? You want to rest already? I'm not tired, I could keep walking for another few hours. What great air! I feel great. ..."
Which pretty much makes me an all-around pain-in-the-ass.
It was this persevering attitude that allowed me to cross-hike the Appalachian trail, however. A subject for another post.
Modern Parlor Games are Victorian Parlor Games
I didn't feel like hanging out with the grownups Saturday morning, so I went to find the children at play.
I'd been telling these kids that I play games, teach game, have lots of games, and so on. This was generally met by skepticism and funny looks by the kids. So mostly this morning, I simply watched to see what they were doing.
It turns out that the games they play today are simply repeats of the same games we've been playing for more than two hundred years.
They played "Broken Telephone", which wasn't called that before the twentieth century, of course, but was played under a different name. Broken Telephone is where a message is passed around a circle to see how garbled it becomes when it gets back to its originator.
They played "Hide the Ring", where one group either passes or pretends to pass an object between them, and then the second group has to guess who really has it.
They played "Red-Light-Green-Light", although they called it something different in Hebrew, and the current name I give the game is also not its original name. One person counts to three and spins around, trying to catch the others sneaking up on him or her. When caught, the caught players must step back three steps.
And so on.
Which doesn't mean that I was no use, at all. I would occasionally suggest some variants to the games. For instance, for Broken Telephone I suggested passing multiple messages simultaneously, in one or opposite directions, to make things a little more challenging. Just one example.
The Real Gaming Begins
Rachel went on another hike on Saturday afternoon, which allowed me to ply my trade.
Actually, I was on my way to rest and read the newspaper, when I passed the same group of children desperately in need of my help. For crying out loud, they were playing War.
I offered, and they accepted. I said, "Wait right here, and Dr Games will return in a moment." I returned with my box of brought games.
One of the girls recognized Apples to Apples, so we played a game of that. Since there were only four players at any one time, I added a random card from the deck on each round. The deck almost won, too.
We tired of that. One of the other girls recognized the game Set, and I sent them along to play with that, asking them to return when they were done. They returned about ten minutes later asking to play something else.
I brought out For Sale and we played first a five-player and then a six-player game of that. They loved it, and asked for another game.
So we played several rounds of Pit, which they also loved. We continued with Pit until Nadine came over to play Puerto Rico with Rachel and me.
Each game, I suggested that they can play on their own, but they wanted me to play with them. All-in-all, I think I finally convinced them that I was serious about games. It was a fun afternoon.
Puerto Rico
I reintroduced Harbor to the game, as in our previous few games nobody had bought the replacement building I usually place there, Large Business. Unfortunately, Harbor proved as unbalancing as it always has been. Nadine overlooked buying it in favor of Factory, and as a result was unable to use her Factory successfully before the shipping points ran out.
I was playing third, and I had a pretty good start. Rachel and my Harbors fed off each other, but I also had coffee in front of Rachel and a few early victory points for third position. So I ended with an easy victory.
Aside from the games, it was a lovely weekend, with nice company, fresh air, and nice accommodations and food. Nadine played a major role in organizing the trip, and we were all grateful to her.
Yehuda
P.S. Jack has a few preliminary sketches up for It's Alive.
We dropped a barfing dog off at my daughter's mechina program on the way to the SPNI field school at Ein Gedi at which we would be staying for the weekend.
Check in wasn't until 3:00 pm, so those of us who arrived early hiked up and around some of the famous trails of Ein Gedi. Our trail up was Nahal David, named after King David, as this was the very trail he hid among while hiding from Saul.
I'm getting older; I admit it. I'm only thirty-seven, but I'm not as dexterous, energetic, and aerobic as I once was. And of course, the less I exercise, the harder I find it to start again.
One thing I know, however, is that I can get over the hump and then keep going for a long time. I simply have to expect that my first few hours of activity look like this:
+ Walk a bit
+ Sit and rest
+ Walk a bit less
+ Sit and rest
+ Walk a bit less
+ Sit and rest
+ Want to go back
+ Walk a bit more
After which I can pretty much walk for several hours straight.
To keep me going, I use a mantra for inspiration. It goes as follows; you might want to try this yourself:
"I can't do it. It's impossible. I'm too tired. I'll never make it. This is pointless. It can't be done. I hate this. I'm a total failure. ..."
And so on, for until I get over the hump. Later on, when my companion needs a rest, while I am ready for tireless walking, the mantra is:
"What's your problem? You want to rest already? I'm not tired, I could keep walking for another few hours. What great air! I feel great. ..."
Which pretty much makes me an all-around pain-in-the-ass.
It was this persevering attitude that allowed me to cross-hike the Appalachian trail, however. A subject for another post.
Modern Parlor Games are Victorian Parlor Games
I didn't feel like hanging out with the grownups Saturday morning, so I went to find the children at play.
I'd been telling these kids that I play games, teach game, have lots of games, and so on. This was generally met by skepticism and funny looks by the kids. So mostly this morning, I simply watched to see what they were doing.
It turns out that the games they play today are simply repeats of the same games we've been playing for more than two hundred years.
They played "Broken Telephone", which wasn't called that before the twentieth century, of course, but was played under a different name. Broken Telephone is where a message is passed around a circle to see how garbled it becomes when it gets back to its originator.
They played "Hide the Ring", where one group either passes or pretends to pass an object between them, and then the second group has to guess who really has it.
They played "Red-Light-Green-Light", although they called it something different in Hebrew, and the current name I give the game is also not its original name. One person counts to three and spins around, trying to catch the others sneaking up on him or her. When caught, the caught players must step back three steps.
And so on.
Which doesn't mean that I was no use, at all. I would occasionally suggest some variants to the games. For instance, for Broken Telephone I suggested passing multiple messages simultaneously, in one or opposite directions, to make things a little more challenging. Just one example.
The Real Gaming Begins
Rachel went on another hike on Saturday afternoon, which allowed me to ply my trade.
Actually, I was on my way to rest and read the newspaper, when I passed the same group of children desperately in need of my help. For crying out loud, they were playing War.
I offered, and they accepted. I said, "Wait right here, and Dr Games will return in a moment." I returned with my box of brought games.
One of the girls recognized Apples to Apples, so we played a game of that. Since there were only four players at any one time, I added a random card from the deck on each round. The deck almost won, too.
We tired of that. One of the other girls recognized the game Set, and I sent them along to play with that, asking them to return when they were done. They returned about ten minutes later asking to play something else.
I brought out For Sale and we played first a five-player and then a six-player game of that. They loved it, and asked for another game.
So we played several rounds of Pit, which they also loved. We continued with Pit until Nadine came over to play Puerto Rico with Rachel and me.
Each game, I suggested that they can play on their own, but they wanted me to play with them. All-in-all, I think I finally convinced them that I was serious about games. It was a fun afternoon.
Puerto Rico
I reintroduced Harbor to the game, as in our previous few games nobody had bought the replacement building I usually place there, Large Business. Unfortunately, Harbor proved as unbalancing as it always has been. Nadine overlooked buying it in favor of Factory, and as a result was unable to use her Factory successfully before the shipping points ran out.
I was playing third, and I had a pretty good start. Rachel and my Harbors fed off each other, but I also had coffee in front of Rachel and a few early victory points for third position. So I ended with an easy victory.
Aside from the games, it was a lovely weekend, with nice company, fresh air, and nice accommodations and food. Nadine played a major role in organizing the trip, and we were all grateful to her.
Yehuda
P.S. Jack has a few preliminary sketches up for It's Alive.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Weekend Gaming
Dinner: We ate out at a friend's house. She had other guests including one named Rebbecca. Our mutual friend had been trying to put us together (as it turns out, we had met before) because Rebbecca also plays games with her family all the time. She had brought a little game to show me when she had heard that I was coming. It turned out to be the Norwegian version of Pass the Pigs.
Rebbecca and my friend both come from Norway near the Oslo region.
Lunch: Invited out again. When we got there, their child was putting away Wonders of the World Monopoly (a Hebrew translation of the English version). This was the same family whose mother had asked me to teach her the rules to Rat-a-Tat Cat, but them hopelessly forgot them again. Non-gamers; what can you do?
Afternoon: When I got home I found one of the single mom's over with her daughter in tow. I wrote about her previously. This time I remember her name: Dvira. Dvira talks about me to her mom and has wanted to come back and play again since her last visit. We were both happy to reacquaint. She is about 7 years old.
We played The Menorah Game with her mom before her mom went off with Rachel to Rachel's torah class. Then we played three games one on one, and two more after Tal came in and joined us. Dvira didn't win any, but she definitely got better after each game. After that I introduced her to Settlers of Catan. It was a great game, tightly contested. We were all sitting at about 6 or 7 points. I got Largest Army which brought me to 8 points, but then Dvira built a settlement and after a round or two stole Longest Road from Tal to clinch the victory. She was quite excited.
We may see her at the game night, although she can only stay until 8 o'clock.
The Set system: On the way over to lunch I was thinking about how to transform the Set game into a system of games using a pack of playing cards. I thought about a little math game that plays without the picture cards. The black cards are face value, the red cards are face value plus ten. Cards are slowly flipped over. The first player to call an equation that uses cards on the table gets them. Equations can be formed using at least one of +, -, *, /, and an =.
Some variants: You can add the jacks and play that when there is an even number of jacks on the table the black cards are plus ten and the red cards are regular. You can also play that players keep their pile face open, and the top card of each player's pile can also be used (and is taken by the player forming the equation).
Yehuda
Rebbecca and my friend both come from Norway near the Oslo region.
Lunch: Invited out again. When we got there, their child was putting away Wonders of the World Monopoly (a Hebrew translation of the English version). This was the same family whose mother had asked me to teach her the rules to Rat-a-Tat Cat, but them hopelessly forgot them again. Non-gamers; what can you do?
Afternoon: When I got home I found one of the single mom's over with her daughter in tow. I wrote about her previously. This time I remember her name: Dvira. Dvira talks about me to her mom and has wanted to come back and play again since her last visit. We were both happy to reacquaint. She is about 7 years old.
We played The Menorah Game with her mom before her mom went off with Rachel to Rachel's torah class. Then we played three games one on one, and two more after Tal came in and joined us. Dvira didn't win any, but she definitely got better after each game. After that I introduced her to Settlers of Catan. It was a great game, tightly contested. We were all sitting at about 6 or 7 points. I got Largest Army which brought me to 8 points, but then Dvira built a settlement and after a round or two stole Longest Road from Tal to clinch the victory. She was quite excited.
We may see her at the game night, although she can only stay until 8 o'clock.
The Set system: On the way over to lunch I was thinking about how to transform the Set game into a system of games using a pack of playing cards. I thought about a little math game that plays without the picture cards. The black cards are face value, the red cards are face value plus ten. Cards are slowly flipped over. The first player to call an equation that uses cards on the table gets them. Equations can be formed using at least one of +, -, *, /, and an =.
Some variants: You can add the jacks and play that when there is an even number of jacks on the table the black cards are plus ten and the red cards are regular. You can also play that players keep their pile face open, and the top card of each player's pile can also be used (and is taken by the player forming the equation).
Yehuda
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Weekend Gaming
My daughter taught her cousin and friends how to play Apples to Apples. I joined for a while, but it tends to get repetitive. OK, it was amusing that one of them was tipsy and couldn't stop giggling. They, on the other hand, can play this for hours without getting bored.
She also played Set. I looked on during the first game. Unlike some, I can actually keep my mouth closed while others are playing Set. This wasn't good enough, because my daughter could still tell by my eyes when I found a Set, and this bothered her. I was impressed with her friend's Set finding ability, so I joined the second game and won by a small margin. This was the closest game I'd played in a long time.
Am I bragging? No, not really. Set hits people in a particular area of the brain, and you have it or you don't. There's plenty of other things where I don't; this one I do. Actually, you can probably learn to get better at it if you really care. I'm sure there are plenty of others who could beat me.
Parents who can play well and refuse to "play badly" need to choose the right games to play with their children, so that the kids have a chance of winning once in a while. As the kids improve, the games improve.
Eventually, if they are not spoiled and have not given up playing games because they don't always win, they will start beating you, even at the harder games. This usually happens somewhere in their teens. It's partly due to their having grown up, maybe a little due to you slowing down. But it's fine and good.
Of course, then you have to move to games where you have a chance of winning once in a while.
Yehuda
She also played Set. I looked on during the first game. Unlike some, I can actually keep my mouth closed while others are playing Set. This wasn't good enough, because my daughter could still tell by my eyes when I found a Set, and this bothered her. I was impressed with her friend's Set finding ability, so I joined the second game and won by a small margin. This was the closest game I'd played in a long time.
Am I bragging? No, not really. Set hits people in a particular area of the brain, and you have it or you don't. There's plenty of other things where I don't; this one I do. Actually, you can probably learn to get better at it if you really care. I'm sure there are plenty of others who could beat me.
Parents who can play well and refuse to "play badly" need to choose the right games to play with their children, so that the kids have a chance of winning once in a while. As the kids improve, the games improve.
Eventually, if they are not spoiled and have not given up playing games because they don't always win, they will start beating you, even at the harder games. This usually happens somewhere in their teens. It's partly due to their having grown up, maybe a little due to you slowing down. But it's fine and good.
Of course, then you have to move to games where you have a chance of winning once in a while.
Yehuda
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Weekend Gaming
Fri night we were invited to a friend: single mom with a boy my son's age.
I considered bringing Traumfabrik, which this friend had played and seemed to enjoy, but I was sure that we wouldn't be the only guests, and Traumfabrik is limited to five people.
So I brought Set. I was also ready to play Zendo, which can be played with any items you have lying around (such as knife, spoon, and fork). I would have like to have tried it, since I haven't really had a chance yet, but as it turns out I only ended up playing Set with her son. It's still hard to convince normal people to play games.
Set is a problematic game in that you really, really need two people with equal abilities, or it gets embarrassing. Her son was not bad, but not good enough to make a challenge, so I just sat there without calling Set while waiting for him to find the sets. I guess you can try to get better at the game, but it basically hits one space in your brain, and if you happen to be good at that sort of thing, there you go.
Otherwise, two games of PR with Rachel. In the first one, I bought buildings badly, played badly - my brain stopped working. Rachel also played very well, and she won by something like 63 to 54. In the second game, I started off with a poor play (Builder/Small Indigo - there was no Small Market), and of course she took Mayor, and then I took Settler anyway, taking a corn. I thought I was already toast, but this time I played exceptionally in the zone, always taking Mayor before she built, Builder before she could buy it. Basically, the game was as confrontational as you could get in a non-confrontational game. Final scores were high, with me winning 69 to 64.
The "official" Tel Aviv group by Gilad seems to have burnt out temporarily; they haven't had any sessions for a while. Hopefully they will get back on track.
Yehuda
I considered bringing Traumfabrik, which this friend had played and seemed to enjoy, but I was sure that we wouldn't be the only guests, and Traumfabrik is limited to five people.
So I brought Set. I was also ready to play Zendo, which can be played with any items you have lying around (such as knife, spoon, and fork). I would have like to have tried it, since I haven't really had a chance yet, but as it turns out I only ended up playing Set with her son. It's still hard to convince normal people to play games.
Set is a problematic game in that you really, really need two people with equal abilities, or it gets embarrassing. Her son was not bad, but not good enough to make a challenge, so I just sat there without calling Set while waiting for him to find the sets. I guess you can try to get better at the game, but it basically hits one space in your brain, and if you happen to be good at that sort of thing, there you go.
Otherwise, two games of PR with Rachel. In the first one, I bought buildings badly, played badly - my brain stopped working. Rachel also played very well, and she won by something like 63 to 54. In the second game, I started off with a poor play (Builder/Small Indigo - there was no Small Market), and of course she took Mayor, and then I took Settler anyway, taking a corn. I thought I was already toast, but this time I played exceptionally in the zone, always taking Mayor before she built, Builder before she could buy it. Basically, the game was as confrontational as you could get in a non-confrontational game. Final scores were high, with me winning 69 to 64.
The "official" Tel Aviv group by Gilad seems to have burnt out temporarily; they haven't had any sessions for a while. Hopefully they will get back on track.
Yehuda
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