New Tichu Converts

I successfully taught Lisa's son and daughter how to play Tichu. The son is a gamer, the daughter is generally not. Tal and I, two experienced hands, played against the two of them. It was a slaughter, as in they slaughtered us.

I had two good hands out of about eight. The first hand was fine, but we didn't count it because they didn't have the rules down yet (one of them tried to use a standard straight as a bomb). On the six or so hands after that they gained on every hand, including making Tichus, until the score was something like 735 to 165 against us. I had nothing resembling a Tichu on any of the hands. Finally I had a good hand and called Grand Tichu (phoenix, 2 aces, 2 kings, a queen, a jack and a 7). I didn't make it, because the daughter had the dragon to get in, a sequence of five pairs, and then a triple to exit. So even though our team netted 105 of the points on that round, we still lost the round.

The good thing to come out of it was that they both loved the game, which is often helped by winning on your first play. The next day they in turn taught two of their friends how to play, and the scores were much closer.

Weekend Gamings

Last week, my mom came for her second visit to my apt in Raanana. While it rained, we played 500 Rummy, which she won handily, and Scrabble, which I won handily (she was leading for the first third or so). She was surprised that I didn't know the word ROE.

This weekend I joined a great many of my family for a bar mitzvah in Jerusalem. We played Bridge a number of times, which is no more than expected. I taught some of them how to play Nefarious. Just like the last Raanana game night, they wanted to play a second time after having gotten comfortable on the first playing. The same guy won both games. In the first game he had 4 minions on Invent; in the second game he had 3 on it. I'm not sure if concentrating your minions on Invent is the smart move, but it's hard to argue with success.

I then taught some of them how to play Tichu, and we played a few rounds; not enough to really grasp the strategies. One of the players was one of my brother's sons, and he didn't care for the game after two rounds and quit. He is a Bridge fan, and didn't seem to have any patience to learn another 4 player card game. One of the other players was one of his friends, who seemed to like it. He DOESN'T like Bridge, so he was happy to have another card game to play instead (he's also the guy who won both games of Nefarious). The last was my older brother, and after the few rounds of play he seemed somewhat intrigued. I think he will be willing to play again.

Shabbat Gaming

Tal and I ate lunch at Abraham and Sarah's. While waiting for Tal to arrive, I played my third game of Ticket To Ride (this one with the 1910 Expansion) with Abraham and Sarah. It's soooo light. It's ok and all, but I just don't see it as comparable to The Settlers of Catan. I can see it as a gateway game; I admit that Settlers has a few more rules, which can discourage newer players. But Settlers also has more depth and more involvement.

Maybe it's just a matter of what flavor you go for. Or maybe I haven't played it enough to appreciate its depth.

We only got about a third of the way into the game, and I enjoyed it well enough. Both Abraham and I were planning to complete our three short routes and then spend the rest of the game making random six routes to end the game. Oh yeah: the ability for one player to hasten the end of the game in a way that doesn't have to do with winning is another mechanic I don't care for.

After lunch we played Tichu. Tal and I scored 965 to Abraham and Sarah's 335, but shabbat was over so I decided to call it a draw. I pulled lots of bad hands but managed one tichu. I still don't know how Aaron called and made so many grand tichus against me at BGG.con.

Hi, I'm Yehuda

Random Strangers

It amazes me how the acts of random strangers determine so much of my life. On Tisha Ba'av (a day of public mourning for the destroyed temple of Jerusalem), I began to walk in the general direction of the two shuls that I knew, without any clear plan as to which one I would attend. I ran into a family getting into a car, obviously on their way to shul, so I asked them for a recommendation. Turns out that they were going to the Carleback shul (Kinor David), one of the two shuls. I rode with them, and that determined where I davened on Tisha Ba'av.

In shul, after I finished Maariv (Evening service) and waited for everyone else to finish, after which we would read Eicha (Lamentations), I quietly told the Rabbi that if he doesn't have enough readers for Eicha that I could read a chapter. He looked at me in a humoring way and thanked me for my offer but assured me that they had enough reader by now (of course). Two minutes later I saw him confer with someone, and he suddenly signaled to me that I should read chapter 2. Heh.

The person who read chapters 3 and 4 (out of a total of 5 chapters) was the guy who drove me to shul.

Friday Night

I spent my first shabbat in Raanana. Tal elected to stay home from shul, so I went on my own.

This time I met someone on the street and followed him to a shul, which turned out to be Lechu Neranena, the other shul I happened to know. I sat down to wait for Mincha (afternoon service). For some reason, I hoped that someone would notice that I was new to the shul and alone, and come over to welcome me. There are very few shuls that this would happen; I'm sad to say that this wasn't one of them.

On my left were a group of "talkers": 50-70 year old men, speaking in English and joking amongst themselves. They had all the copies of the weekly "Torah Tidbits", which I like to read for the advertisements. I went over and snagged one, hoping that this would engender conversation, but other than a quip about my requiring membership privileges to take a copy (a joke), I still didn't get a greeting.

A few minutes later the gabbai (shul organizer) asked if anyone wanted to lead Mincha. I waited a few moments to see if anyone had a chiyuv (obligation), but no one did. The gabbai asked again, and it was obvious that the "talkers" weren't going to volunteer, so I did. It took a few moments to get the gabbai's attention, but eventually I did and I lead Mincha for the shul. I figured that would be a honorable way of drawing attention to myself.

Afterwards, I sat down directly in the talkers section, but other than one or two yasher coach's ("well done"), still nothing. Well, I guessed the subtle way wasn't going to work.

So, after Maariv, I turned to the person next to me and said, "Hi, I'm Yehuda. I'm new here. Do you know any families with girls aged 17 to 19 or so for my daughter to meet?" [1] And thus began a conversation. He pointed to a family next to me, and it turns out that the boy next to me had a 17 year old sister. But his father was not home that shabbat. When asked if I have other children, I told about Saarya (my son) who is in yeshivah Yerucham, and the guy called to a man two seats away whose children also go to Yerucham. Yes, they knew Saarya.

I still had to bluntly ask if I and Tal could come for dinner that evening; but once I asked, the offer was generously extended. In truth, I had dinner enough for Tal and myself in our new home, but it was store-bought since I don't yet have a working stove/oven. Dinner was delicious and generous, and the family was very nice.

Next day I went back to the same shul (Lechu Neranena) and the gabbai came to me near the end of shul, told me he was impressed that I volunteered to lead Mincha, and that he had thought I was somebody's guest, not a new resident. He told me about all the shiurim (lectures) and kiddushes that followed services. I went to one and he introduced me to many of the other people; nearly all from the talkers section, all of whom stayed for the kiddush and the shiur (English gemara in Masechet Bava Metziah, a section from the Talmud). They all said hi, individually asking me about where I came from, where I moved to, what I did, where my kids were, etc. Suddenly, I felt welcome.

Between the 60 or so people, they downed at least three full bottles of single malt scotch, lots of kugel, herring, humus, and crackers. The beer came out during the shiur. There was a speech by the guy who sponsored the week's food and drink, thanking everyone for coming, and praising the community and the kiddush club for being just that: a community, a neighborhood, and a family.

The gabbai walked me back almost to my home, telling me about the various classes and a local mixed English and Hebrew kollel (learning community) that is open all week, every day. And that I was most welcome. And that he will be away next week, but would like to have me as a guest after that.

Games

I had Abraham and Sara over for lunch. A and S are former Jerusalem members now living in Raanana, just like me. They have a cute new baby.

After lunch we played a full game of Tichu. Tal and I started off well, eventually gaining a lead of 660 to 240. Our luck ran out, and Abraham's gumption rose. He called and made at least three Tichu's, and we ended up losing.

Tal then convinced A and S to play Mau, a card game I pretty much loathe [2]. Tal was the only one "in the know" against the three of us who weren't, and it wasn't quite as excruciating as most of my experiences playing the game. We even had some laughter. I won the first game. My new rule, though a tad annoying, also elicited laughs during the second game. However, that was enough Mau for A and S.

They left, so I didn't get a chance to teach them Team Hearts. Some other time.

[1] I added the last clause to assure him that I wasn't a creepy man who wanted to meet 17-19 year old girls.

[2] Though not as much as Fluxx ... ok, maybe as much.

Four Games and a Funeral

We had Abraham and Sara over for the weekend. At the same time, Nadine invited several local gamers for a gamers' lunch. So the weekend was filled with games.

Tichu

Friday night after dinner, Abraham and I played against Nadine and Sara. Sara had played two hands prior to tonight's game, and she was iffy on the game. She got into it tonight and enjoyed it.

I'm seen as a better Tichu player in these parts, so Nadine joked that her team would only need 500 points to win while we needed 1000. We took a commanding lead with me making two Tichus and a double down hand, starting us off at 540 to 60. Soon it was 810 to 90.

Then a strange thing happened. Nadine, who has probably only called Tichu two times ever, called Tichu three times straight. In the first two hands, she and Sara went double down both times, giving them +600 points. Now it was 810 to 690. Unfortunately, she missed her third Tichu (I had almost called it, but I was lacking one round's control). I then had an embarrassingly good hand, with all four aces, two kings, two queens, and the Dragon. In the final two rounds, we finished them off.

Antike

Emily and Eitan had never played this, and I was happy to teach them. Abraham and Bill joined us. Abraham has a history of aggression in this game that does not actually lead to his winning.

I ended up as Greece in the middle of the board and first player. I nearly always start with gold or marble, but this time I started with iron to see what would happen. Since it was a five player game, I was a little more concerned with space. Everyone diversified nicely over the next few rounds (Emily and Bill shadowed each other for a while).

This is another game at which I tend to do well, sometimes winning by three or four points. In this game I was sweating a lot harder. The Know-hows were shared by all the players and the others were keeping pace with me. At one point, I was one point behind. Oh no! Luckily, not for too long.

I pulled ahead by building a third temple and leaping two levels in sailing (for one point), which made my massive fleet now in range of several temples. I would have left conquering a temple for the final point I needed, but Abraham built too many ships too close to me, and I didn't trust him not to attack me. I took out most of his ships and one of his temples. After that I only needed one more point to win and I didn't care what the others did to my cities. I was one or two rounds from winning in either of several different paths. The others could have delayed me if they had made a concerted effort, but that would have left the field open at random to any of the other players and they still could not necessarily have gained two points before I got my last. Scores: 7 to 5, 5, 4, 4.

Castle Panic

I didn't play this, so I can't tell you about it. However I head Nadine enjoying herself. She apparently likes cooperative games. Castle Panic can be played as straight cooperative, cooperative with a single winner, or one against the rest, so it offers some flexibility with regards to taste.

Trias

Played after shabbat with Abraham and Sara. This is a game that Abraham and I like, but the others don't so much.

Abraham appeared to be pulling away rather sharply with the intermediary points. It was hard, but I managed to cut some of his islands off from him. Although I could see that Sara and I were on larger islands near the end, I feared that it wouldn't be enough to catch him.

In the end, however, we all ended up with 30 points. Abraham won on the tie, for having used less dinosaurs.

The Funeral

I'm pretty sure that there were several hundred people there, and by several I don't mean 2 or 3, more like 6 or 7. We packed the hesped hall, out into the parking lot,. People stood outside around the sides of the building trying to hear through the windows.

The hespeds didn't start until 10:15 or so, and several Rabbis, friends, and relatives spoke. Frankly, I think three hespeds is sufficient, and could have done without a few of them. The most important were the first - a young Rabbi who knew RivkA well (forgot his name) - and her brother, father, and husband. Moshe (the husband) spoke with a mix of anger, grief, shock, and loss. You had to have had a hard heart not to have been shedding tears by the end. He could have gone on for some time, too.

Near the very end, someone - I think responsible for the funeral hall, but possibly a member of another funeral party - accosted us to tell us that we're taking too long and have to leave. Apparently another funeral was scheduled for 10:30, and it was now already 11:20. As it was late, crowded, and threatening to rain, I didn't stay for the actual burial.

I must have seen 1/3 of the people I've ever met from my twenty years in Israel at that funeral. From every walk of life, from every disparate circle, from current friends and acquaintances to people I haven't seen in ten years. And we couldn't really socialize. It was like a room full of random Facebook friends.

Weekend Gaming

Nadine hosted gamers for shabbat lunch, and we played some games afterward.

Tichu

I expressed interest in a complete game of Tichu, rather than some mid-length board game.

I played with Tal for the first half, and then Nadine became my partner for the second half. Our opponents were Abraham and Adam; Adam was somewhat less skilled in the game.

Tal left when we were up 495 to 5. Two rounds after Nadine joined us, we were tied 550 to 550. However, Nadine and I once again took the lead and kept it until the end.

Twice Adam called Tichu and then I called Tichu right after. Both times, I made my call (and obviously he didn't). Abraham called and made one Grand Tichu, but then I did the same on the next round. On the last round, with the score 570 to 930 (us), Abraham bid one more Grand Tichu. I bid Tichu right after, and again I made mine.

I had some pretty good hands.

Stone Age

Meanwhile, Emily, Eitan, Sara, and Shani played Stone Age. Either Eitan was convinced he was winning, or Sara managed to convince everyone that he was winning. But in fact, Sara ended up winning by over 30 points.

After this game, Adam, Abraham, Sara, Eitan, and Emily went off to Abraham's house to continue playing.

Elvish Dogs Game

I didn't actually play this, but one of my friends from Sweden had it sitting on her shelf. It's a Hungry Hungry Hippos clone.

Weekend Gaming: Tichu

We had a farewell lunch to our good friends Bill and Shirley, who are leaving the country for an indefinite period of time. We expect them back soon: either July, or September, or 6 months from now at the very least.

The Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club gave them a copy of Rummikub: Israeli game, actually fun, language-independent, and also easy enough for any non-gamers they run into.

We split into two groups to play. Bill, Abraham, Sarah, and Nadine played Dungeon Lords. They started at around 4:00 and were still going when I left at 7:30. It's an epic game.

Meanwhile, Shirley, Tal (my daughter), Toby (her boyfriend), and I played Rummikub. I think she enjoyed it, although the game gets kind of thought-intensive near the end. Most players are usually one turn away from winning when the game ends.

After Rummikub, I taught Shirley and Toby how to play Tichu. Tal , who has played many times, insisted on being my partner, which left the teams a tad unfair. However, Tal is unskilled in the art of calling Tichu (she never does ... or had never done so until today). Shirley is Chinese and grew up in China, and so found Tichu's ad copy amusing. She says that the symbols on the backs of the decks are random gibberish words.

Both Shirley and Toby were overwhelmed by the initial explanation, but within a few hands, they were up to speed. Things swung our way to start with, and stayed our way throughout the game. At one point we were up around 600 points; that gap eventually narrowed to within 250.

Toby was the first, other than me, to venture a bid of Tichu. Unfortunately, it took him until the third time that he called Tichu before he actually made a bid of Tichu. As a result, they were down to nearly -200 at one point. Tal utterly failed to bid of Tichu early on which she should have, and then finally ventured to bid, but not make, Tichu later in the game.

With all of the failed Tichus, the game took quite a lot of time. Tal and I cycled up and down in the 600s for several hands, by which point Toby and Shirley had climbed to the 300s. We finally made it to 775 to 525. I then made a Tichu, and we made enough in the last two hands. In the very last hand, we only made it because Tal just managed to go out before Toby, and so didn't lose all of her accumulated trick points to Shirley.

A fun, funny, and long game.

Tichu: A Great Four-Player Card Game

Tichu is a ladder, shedding, trick-taking, partnership card game for exactly four players. While the specific rules and packaging of Tichu are new, the play is based on dozens of older card games such as Big Two, President, Zheng Fen, etc...

Deck

The deck contains 56 gold-backed cards. 52 are what we would consider a standard deck of cards (with funny suits), and the remaining four cards - Mah Jong (a small bird), Dog, Phoenix, and Dragon - all have special properties.

The box comes with an additional 52 black-backed card deck, a duplicate of the standard deck of cards with the funny suits. It is only used for games of five or more players. The game for five or more players (or for two or three players) is nothing like the game for four players.

Rules

You sit opposite your partner. Each player is dealt 14 cards.

After looking at the first 8, a player may call "Grand Tichu" if no one has already done so. This is a 200 point bonus if he (alone, not his partner) is the first to get rid of all of his cards, or a 200 point loss if he isn't.

After looking at all 14 cards, a player passes one card each to each other player, and receives in turn one card from each other player.

The player with the Mah Jong leads the first trick, but does not have to lead the Mah Jong.

When you lead, you may lead any one of the following:

- any single card
- any pair
- any three of a kind
- any two pairs, if both pairs are from sequential numbers (e.g. two 4s and two 5s, but not two 4s and two 6s). Similarly, you can lead any three or more sequential pairs.
- any full house
- any straight of five or more cards. Suits on the cards don't matter.

After a lead, the player on the left must play a card or set of cards exactly like the player before him or pass. The set must be higher in value. E.g. if the leader starts with a pair of 4s, the next player can play a pair of 7s. He cannot play a single 7, or a triple 7, only a pair.

As long as other players continue to play higher cards onto the pile, a player may continue to play higher cards on his turn. Passing does not prevent you from playing again if the turn comes back around to you.

Once three players have passed in succession, the fourth player (the last player to play) gathers all the cards in the pile and puts them face down next to him. He then leads the next trick.

Any time before playing his first card, a player can call "Tichu" if no one has called Grand Tichu or Tichu before him. This is a 100 point bonus if he (alone, not his partner) is the first to get rid of all of his cards, or a 100 point loss if he isn't.

Bombs: A four of a kind, or a straight flush of five or more cards (this is the only time that suit matters), is a bomb. A bomb may be played at any time and beats anything played before it, unless a higher bomb is played. A straight flush bomb is considered higher than a four of a kind bomb.

In the original rules, after a bomb the previous leader leads again, but I find the game works better if the bomb player now leads the next trick.

The four special cards:

- Mah Jong: The player with the Mah Jong starts the first trick. In addition, the Mah Jong counts as a "1" for creating a straight. In addition, when playing the Mah Jong, you name any card (other than a special card). After announcing the card, and as long as no on has yet played that card, the first player who has a legal opportunity to play that card must do so, even if it means breaking up a straight or having to play a bomb. Typically, you name the card you passed to your LHO.

- Dog: This card can only be played alone and as you lead. It is discarded, and the lead passes to your partner.

- Phoenix: This card is a wild card (joker) which can be used in place of any other regular card, except that it cannot be use to make a bomb. If played as a single card, it is 1/2 higher than the previously played card, and can even be 1/2 higher than an ace. So it beats any other single card played except a Dragon. It is, however, worth -25 points in final scoring.

- Dragon: This card can only be played as a single card, and beats any other single card. It can only be beaten by a bomb. It is worth 25 points in final scoring. however, when you win a trick with the Dragon, you give the entire trick, including the Dragon, to an opponent of your choice. You then lead, as usual.

Hand end and scoring: Once three players are out of cards, the hand is over. The player who still has cards remaining gives all of these cards to his opponents. He also gives all cards he collected during the game to the player who was first out of cards.

Points are counted: If both players in a partnership went out before either of their opponents, the partnership scores 200 points and forgoes the usual scoring. Otherwise, kings and tens are ten points each, fives are five points each. Tichu or Grand Tichu win or loss is counted independantly of any other scoring.

After the hand, deal again. Play continues until one team has reached 1000 points.

Reactions

Tichu is really a lovely game. It's not an intense brain burner like Bridge, but it still has a lot of opportunities for strategic play and thought. The four special cards, the passing, and the partnership really make the game. Without these, it would be much duller.

After experience with the game, most hands see Tichu being called. Going out first is the primary consideration (unless your partner called Tichu), and is far more important a consideration in nearly all instances than who has collected which points.

I'm a sucker for most partnership games, really. The passing opportunity, while not as flexible and informative as you get with Team Hearts, is still an opportunity to make important decisions and partnership agreements.

I generally hate ladder games because they typically have this rule that the player who lost the last game has to give their best cards to the player who won the last game, or variations thereof. And, without the special cards and partnerships, you tend to have little control of the play, and you end up just following leads.

Tichu for 2-3, or 5 or more players, is just such a game, and I hate it just as much as I hate President. Thank goodness that's not the case with the four player version.

For some reason that I don't entirely fathom, Tichu has a stellar reputation on Board Game Geek, where it is esteemed higher than any other card game (other than Race For The Galaxy). That's stretching it, as Bridge is the far superior game; it's just that Bridge requires time and investment to become good at it; Tichu is not hard to become good at, yet still remains enjoyable and challenging, albeit at a lower level.

The bottom line: It's cheap and it's a great game. It's light and fun. It's easy to learn and appealing to casual gamers, especially those who already play games like Hearts or President. Definitely add it to your game collection.

History

According to Larry Levy:

Tichu was derived from a Chinese game that has been around for at least 30 years and possibly much more than that. But I haven't been able to find any source that estimates how old it might be.

The source game is called Zheng Shangyou, which can be translated as "struggling upstream". The Western world was made aware of it in 1979, during a visit to China by some British Go players. Zheng Shangyou is a climbing game, so players must play a card combination of the same type as the leader, but higher ranked. However, points aren't scored by winning cards, but only for going out first. It can be played solo or with partners. There are a number of other differences, but it would certainly be recognizable to any Tichu player.

There is a related Chinese game called Zheng Fen, which has point scoring cards identical to Tichu's. Interestingly, the types of card combinations that can be made in this game seem very similar to the ones in the commercial game Gang of Four (which has yet another way of scoring points, namely the number of cards left in your hand).

As far as I can tell, Tichu designer Urs Hostettler took a number of concepts from several Chinese games and possibly added a few of his own to come up with Tichu. So he deserves credit for creating the game that we know and love. But the games it was derived from have been played for quite a while--I just don't know how far back they go. (source)

All the symbols and quips on the box and in the rules are jokes to add color; it isn't played by 642 million Chinese every day, for instance.

Back in the Saddle

There is a nasty and vicious rumor going around that I am competent, self-sufficient, and able to take care of myself culinarily, though my wife is away for the next nine months. This a bald-faced lie. I am a wallowing and helpless male who can only survive with a steady influx of neighborly brownies.

I have been trying to combat this terrible rumor, without much success; no brownies yet. I got invited out for five of the six holiday meals, though.

I'm back. Did you miss me?

That Dog Story

I think I repeated the dog story at least fifty times over the last three days. Sometimes I would tell the story to one person in a room, only to tell it again when the next person walked in. And then again when the next person walked in. And then again ...

Which can get quite boring, after a while. Eventually I began adding little details to keep it interesting. The dog was found at El Al's VIP lounge smoking cigars and ordering canapes. The dog had to be subdued while carrying two M16s and an ammunition belt. Etc...

We will be attempting to send the dog to Toronto again when Eitan comes back for a few weeks and then returns. Only this time, we are going to try to get her sent in the cabin, if that is at all possible. El Al lost her the first time and didn't do anything to find her. Not only do I not trust them to do it again, I don't want to subject the dog to any more trauma than is necessary.

It's Alive

Thursday night at the Kummer's house I brought over It's Alive. I introduced it to various kids and sundry and the Tal played it out with them. It was a hit; they played for around three hours. Two of the kids asked where they could buy it.

I'm actually rather amazed at how well the game works both as an introductory game for non-Eurogamers, and as a deeper game for hardcore gamers. Call it a blessing.

Larry Levy was kind enough to review It's Alive on Board Game News.

Tichu

Friday lunch was at Nadine's, along with Adam from the group, and a bunch of students from Pardes (where Nadine works) who have been known to play President with her. I suggested that Tichu might be a step up from that game. I like Tichu; I loathe President.

Adam gave them the full explanation before we began, which was a bit much for them. But they picked it up as we began playing.

Game News

Andrew Bub, aka GamerDad, has had a heart attack. His family is looking for donations via Paypal for some expensive surgery.

The Charleston Daily Mail covers the Appalachian gamers club.

Boardgames.meetup.com and the Arlington Heights Boardgames Meetup got a little writeup in the PioneerLocal.

MeeplePeople, the Eurogamer's accessory online store, has in a bunch of new products and is holding some content contests with prizes.

TimeWellSpent.org, probably my favorite online board game store, is trying out Dutch Auctions for some of their stock. Prices keep falling until the item is out of stock. Too bad they don't have an affiliate program :-( . If you buy from them, tell them I sent you. Maybe they'll start one.

Among the many local stories of board game inventors, this one is about a roll-and-move board game called Mercenary and the guy who's been trying to get it published for 16 years. The accompanying TV news clip uses every overused board game pun in the book in an attempt to be clever.

OgreCave managed to deduce that Gleemax's new online engine will be the same one that powers Game Table Online. Gleemax is Wizard of the Coast's foray into online gaming.

Next week's Learning With Games looks like an interesting convention on serious game use.

You can download Ludo for your Ipod.

The Nintendo Wii is getting extensive workout in this old age home.

Yehuda

Shedding Card Games

There are a great many card games where the object is to get rid of your cards. These games are called "shedding" card games.

Shedding card games come in various shapes and sizes, and originate from a diverse range of cultures.

Patience

In Patience games, you rid your cards by placing them on stacks in immediately ascending or descending numerical order.

You probably know the ubiquitous solitaire game Klondike that comes with every Windows box. There are four stacks, one in each suit, going up from ace to king.

Spit is a patience game where there are no turns, and the object is to move your cards as physically quickly as possible. There is one stack for each player, and cards can go either up or down; suit doesn't matter.

In Cheat (also known by a more common name which is rude), you place your cards face down and announce how many you placed, but may lie about them. One stack, always ascending, but multiple cards may be played on each turn.

Additional games in this group include the proprietary games Flinch and Skip-Bo, descendants of a game called Spite and Malice. In these games, if you can't play, you place a card in a discard pile that will come back to haunt you.

Uno and similar games, such as Crazy Eights and Taki also use this mechanic, but introduce special cards that break the rules, allowing you to play multiple cards or out of order. These games also have a single stack, where cards either ascend or descend, or change suit.

Ladder / Climbing

Ladder or Climbing games also require players to play cards in numerically higher order, and not necessarily immediately numerically higher. However, in addition to single cards, pairs, sets of pairs, and other combinations can sometimes be played. When no one can play further, often the last player to play collects the played cards and starts again.

In Karma (also more often known by a rude name), each player gets 3 face down cards, 3 face up cards, and has to play cards onto the central pile in ascending order, although not necessarily the immediately numerically higher card. Various cards have special abilities that discard the stack or require a lower instead of a higher card.

Tichu is a Chinese variant climbing game, very popular among the gaming cognoscenti right now, mostly because it is a partnership game. Like most ladder games, the first card or cards played can be a single card, pair, multiple pairs, a full house, or a straight, and subsequent plays have to be of the same type, but higher.

Another game in this genre is Tien Len, which counts as its descendants proprietary games such as The Great Dalmuti and Frank's Zoo, as well as President (yet another game with an alternative rude name).

Melding

Melding games require you to be the first one out by combining sets of cards from your hands, either cards of the same number or straights of three of more numbers. The first one out may be the winner, or may simply get a bonus while the melds played count to your points.

Nearly all Rummy games, such as Rummikub, Gin Rummy, 500 Rummy, Tripoley, and so on, are melding games. In these games, you pick a card, try to form melds, and then (usually) discard.

Simple melding games include Old Maid, where you need only pairs, and Go Fish, where you need only fours of a kind.

Miscellaneous

Of course, there are always a few oddball games.

Mao is a game where the rules are kept secret during the game. Each player tries to play a card, and the person who knows the secret rule can penalize the player if they play (or do) something wrong. It's very silly.

Durak is a Russian game where you play cards by attacking the player on your left. Other people can add to the attacking cards, and you can either defend yourself by playing higher cards or pass the attack on to the next player by adding attacking cards. It's a bit of a free-for-all; cheating is explicitly permitted in the game.

Information about all of the games can be found on Pagat, Wikipedia, or Boardgamegeek.

Yehuda

Didn't We Agree That It Was Next Week?

Have you ever extensively prepared for dinner guests only to be informed at the last minute that you had gotten the week wrong?

If anyone in Jerusalem is hungry tomorrow night (or the next or the next), stop by for some food.

Tichu

Instead, Friday night dinner was just myself, Rachel, Saarya, and Tal. Since it was a winter evening, which meant an early dinner, we also finished early. I tentatively proposed to Rachel that we all play Tichu. She usually only plays Puerto Rico, which Saarya and Tal don't play, but she has occasionally played Bridge.

To my surprise, she agreed to try it, seeing as it was quick, she was in a good mood, and it would include all present in a mutual activity. Saarya had played once before, and Tal had played President and was certainly capable of playing this.

I only asked Rachel to play one hand to see if she liked it. After one hand, which was mainly working out the rules and kinks, she asked to play again. After that one, she said that she was finally getting it. We ended up playing four hands in total.

Tal liked it, and Rachel did, too. Not crazily, but enough that, at the end of game night if there is not enough time for Puerto Rico, she may be willing to be roped into a hand or two of this.

On the flip side, I think I've pretty much "got" the game at this point. While I foresee that I will continue to enjoy it, as I still do Hearts and so on, I don't know how much more "game" there is for me to learn about this game.

There's still no partnership card game like Bridge.

Zertz

The next day before lunch I tried Tal out on Zertz. She took to Yinsh, didn't take to Dvonn, and, like me, was not particularly intrigued by Gipf.

After two games, both of which I won fairly easily, she's not too keen on playing it again, and I'm still interested in learning more. My victories were, in both cases, more a result of her not seeing what I was planning than in any deep play that would ensure me a victory. I need to play some better players to see how deep the game really goes.

Game News

A year and a half ago bradley's almanac covered this game in a blog post, but for some reason it only showed up in RSS today. The game is What Shall I Be?, the exciting game of careers for girls, and it's quite instructive. There was a boy's version, too.

An article in Reuters about Go on the Internet. I'm not sure why that's new news.

And lastly, I want to share with you this advertisement from our local Jerusalem Anglo mailing list:

For Sale - Ideal for anarchist or revolutionary

Bedframe and several matresses for sale.

The frame is metal in good condition unfortunately,
but the paint has peeled off and there are some
encouraging signs of rust. There is a choice of three
mattresses, a spring mattress which sags in the middle
and two foam mattresses with somewhat torn covers.

This bed is ideal for an anarchist or revolutionary or
any anti-establishment sorts. A couple of nights of
sleeping in this bed will ensure a completely
different outlook on life, leading to greater world
peace.

I am willing to sell for a nominal fee, or will barter
for any books written by Marx or Engels, or anything
published by the Free Democratic Republic of North
Korea.

Thank you.

Yehuda

Weekend Gaming

My guests were not the gaming type, but that doesn't mean I couldn't sneak in a little.

First of all, I wanted to try playing Tichu with Tal, only to discover that it is from 3 to 10 players (and other than the 6 player variant of the standard game, the other versions look awful). One would think that you could play two player Tichu similar to the way you play Honeymoon Bridge.

So we played 24/7. One thing about the game: There's little setup, it's easy to teach, and it plays quickly.

We later tried to play El Caballero. It is a game that I've never been able to finish before because something always comes up. Another player arrives, or so on. This time I realized why. It's really not any better than Carcassone. In fact, Carcassonne is better. And the later versions of Carcassonne are probably even better yet. Oh well. Anyone want to trade Carcassonne the City for El Caballero?

It's also a member of the "the box is 2.5 times bigger than it ought to be" club.

Another of my Menorah game has been claimed. I'm pleased. I'm just hoping someone can convince someone to finally invest in making a proper version. I promise all people who purchase the mock-up version a discount on the real thing, if it ever sees print.

Links:

A blog called More Than a Living uses the idea of changing and creating variants for board games as an important skill for applying to the rest of our lives in Same Board, Different Game. One reason why electronic games are not going to be as good as physical analog games, at least until they become infinitely malleable.

CIVIO is a rummy game whose cards reflect issues of civil rights, supreme court decisions, and related concepts.

Sandy Antunes in his weekly column on RPG.net talks about how parents need to teach games and not just throw them at their kids, and also gives a rummy variant for Apples to Apples.

Yehuda

Jerusalem Touring and Gaming with Chris Brooks

Sorry, Chris has all the pictures, which you'll probably eventually see on his blog.

Our weekend plans were:

- Tour old city on Friday morning
- Go to lunch after the tour
- Go back to my house and game a little, if time permitted
- Synagogue
- Dinner
- Game
- Chris sleeps over and then heads to the airport on Saturday morning

Not everything went according to plan, but it was still a great time.

Tour Start and Guide

I arrived at 9:05 and met the tour guide I had picked out for them. I thought I might be late, but it turns out that Chris and co had traffic and the usual navigation problems crossing Jerusalem and didn't arrive until 9:45.

The tour guide, Ellie, turned out to be a nice guy and a competent tour guide, easily navigating through centuries of history and geological and political facts.

Arab Market

Since 2000, I haven't been to any predominantly Arab areas, anywhere, least of all the Arab market in the old city. I have heard too many stories about tourists or Jews getting attacked. It turns out that Jews and certainly tourists still walk through there regularly, especially residents of other parts of the old city. The market is almost on the border of the Jewish (and Armenian) quarter(s).

I first thought that maybe I should take off my kippah, but after a short time I realized that it wasn't necessary.

The market is packed to overflowing with beautiful clothing and wares, and most of them are reasonably priced. Of course, any price that they start off with is literally fifteen or twenty times the price they are willing to accept, with the exception of basics such as spices or food.

Chris will tell you all about it, I'm sure.

My Bad

One of the things that I forgot when I accepted his invitation to accompany them on the tour were the numerous things that I wouldn't be able to do, that they can do. Such as: eating anywhere they want, or going into churches.

When they went into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, for instance, I sat outside. And again when they stopped for lunch. I think they felt a little bad for me, and I felt a little bad for them having to feel bad for me, and in the latter case, for the manager of the restaurant who I wasn't trying to insult.

Chess, Backgammon, and Thirty-One

During lunch, I wandered around a little bit. One thing they sell all over the market in great amounts are these awesomely beautiful Chess and Backgammon boards. One was so beautiful that I had to take pictures of it (on Chris's camera). Of course, the owner wanted to sell it to me. He started at $700, and was down to $200 when I left him desperately trying to get me to at least agree to a starting point for negotiation.

By the way, they play at least five different games on a Backgammon board. I observed two fellows playing "Thirty-One". The rules are similar to Backgammon, with the following changes. You start will all of your pieces on your first space (1 or 24). You move similar to Backgammon, including doubles. You cannot take off any pieces; a single opponent's piece blocks a space. One would think that this would make for less strategic play, but the ability to impede your opponent's movement is greater.

Big Yellow Taxi

There is, of course, so much to see in the Old City, and they were enjoying the tour so much, that they decided to continue with the tour for longer than planned. That left two problems.

One was that I had to get home before shabbat; it was already 2:30 and shabbat started at 4:30. And two, they only had use of the parking garage until 3:00 and had to move their car.

Chris decided to take us to the car while the others continued with the guide. He dropped me and his luggage off at my house and then returned to the tour.

Rather than walk to the car, we decided to take a quick taxi ride over to the car, i.e. from the Golden gate to Jaffa gate. About two minutes.

Unfortunately, we had to refuse the first taxi who wanted to take us for 40 NIS; not only a ridiculously high fee, but illegal not to use the meter. He agreed reluctantly to drop to 35 NIS and started yelling at me when I went to another cab.

Then, according to Chris, he turned to him and said "You're a Christian and he's a Jew; what are you doing together?" Lovely. Of course, he thought I was a tourist because I have an American accent.

The cab fair, on the meter, was 16 NIS.

Dinner

Chris returned at 6:00, in time for dinner. He missed a rolicking good time at my synagogue, too bad.

The others also stepped in for a few hellos, and then they were off. Also over for dinner were three of my kids (all except for Ariella) and Nadine and two of her kids. We had a nice dinner, and then Adam came over at 8:00 as we were winding up.

Games

Chris delivered the game I had shipped to him: Tichu, San Juan (for Josh), Saboteur, Lost Cities, Children of Fire, and Wildlife. I am going to try to save some of them for Hanukkah.

He also delivered a new copy of Sunriver's newest game, 24/7. But first, I wanted to inflict him with my game another time, using my new reprinting.

This was a good thing, because it got him out of playing Puerto Rico with Rachel and Nadine; the last time he was here was also the last time he had played Puerto Rico, and on that occasion he was toasted soundly. So he owes me a favor.

The Menorah Game

We played this, and it confirmed the rather odd thing I had discovered about the game: it is best with three players. It's still good with four and two, but best with three.

Saarya played with us. I took the game, and then Chris requested that we play another one. Saarya narrowly won that one, followed by Chris, with me in third. Since KC had the copy of the game I had given them last time, I was happy to give Chris a copy for himself, with the promise that he would play it occasionally.

24/7

We played without the printed rules (which Chris had forgotten), and therefore without the theme which appeared to be completely irrelevant to the game.

Essentially, there are forty tiles, four of each numbered 1 to 10. There is a 7x7 board, with a center square and 8 locations marked "x2". Each time it is your turn, you place a tile and pick a tile. You may not place a tile such that any line of tiles formed with that one totals more than 24.

You score for placing a tile which does any of the following:

- the entire line of tiles adds to 7 (e.g. a 3 placed next to a 4, and no other tiles extend the line) [2 points]
- the entire line of tiles adds to 24 [4 points]. After doing that, you cap the ends with some stones to show that other tiles can't be placed.
- forms a run of 3 or more [the length of the run]
- forms a kind of 3 or 4 [5 or 6 points]
- is the 7th tile in a line [6 points]
- forms both a 7 and a 24 [12 points, total]

If the tile you placed was also on a "x2" you double your bonus. Game continues until no one can play a tile.

The game is a nice game, even easier than Havoc. It is not a brain burner, although you have to look each and every direction that tiles might score. The odds are great that on most of your turns you can score something, and creating a sum of 24 is not difficult.

I liked it enough to want to see if there was more depth to the game. The first game we played resulted in long walls of locations where we couldn't play anything, so there wasn't much to think about most of the time, at least for me.

To tell the truth, my first thought was "Oh, I could play this with Rummikub tiles." And my second was "I wonder if you could award special bonus points for the way the markers are placed on the board after a line of 24 is made."

Since the Puerto Rico game was ending, and we were going to be four people, we didn't play again. After my first play, I gave it a 7.

I played again the next day with daughter Tal, 13, and she liked it. I also liked it better the next day as a two-player game. You have more control and the (very slight) possibility of setting up moves. I upped my rating to 7.5 . It scores higher for kids, and is a good means of drilling simple math skills.

I'm not sure, but it might also be a little better to play with less tiles in hand, as I felt it was too easy to score points.

One definite problem: the box is way too big, by a factor of 2.5 or so, like El Grande's box. Chris says that they should have fixed that before going to production.

Puerto Rico

Rachel won by at least ten points over the next player. No surprise.

Tichu

Since we had 4 (Chris, Adam, Nadine, and me), and Adam and Nadine like Bridge, Chris taught us Tichu, which I had bought solely on it's reputation.

I have to say that I was nervous about it. It plays with a mechanic that other game that I don't like use, such as The Great Dalmuti, President, and so on. On each trick, one person leads an X, and everyone else has to play a higher X until someone can't. The last person to play takes the trick and leads again. First one out of cards wins. If that's the whole game, I wasn't going to like it.

I was very happily surprised that instead enough kinks were thrown into the game to make it into a very good game. For one thing, there are several wild cards that do various things. Second, it's a partnership game, which is always more fun. Thirdly, the game goes until only one person is left with cards. Fourth, even after you've taken a trick, there is the possibility you will lose the collected points.

All in all, there are many subtle strategy points, and I liked it.

One thing that bemused Chris: Like Hearts, you pass cards to other players, although in this case it's only one card to each other player. Nevertheless, Adam and I immediately started working on passing signals, which is pretty hard when you only have one card to pass. But we stuck to it, anyway. Chris thought we were aliens.

We played four hands, and Adam and I were ahead, so it must work. :-) I called and make Tichu on the last hand.

Saturday

Saturday morning, Chris decided to go to Bethlehem while we were in synagogue, and he returned at lunch time. Even though he was supposed to leave, he stayed around and ate a bit with us before taking off.

Another lovely visit, and I hope to be able to reciprocate by visiting him in Oregon, some day.

Apples to Apples

Later that night, Ariella, Tal, Yoav (Ariella's boyfriend) and I played Apples to Apples. It was pretty fun. I had managed to collect Powerful, Patriotic, Idiotic, and Corrupt, which made me all set to declare my presidency, but then I acquired Thoughtful (or something like that) so I had to give that up.

Yehuda