I had a few gaming opportunities before and after lunch.
I taught R-Eco to a shabbat guest (15 year old girl). We played twice, and she loved it. The first time she lost after dumping some 10 cards to my none. The second time she won; she dumped 9 cards, but she earned 25 points in chips.
I taught her Mr. Jack. She liked it, too, but not as much as R-Eco. I survived as Jack until the eighth round in the first game; all of the suspects could not even be jumped on in the last round, so she couldn't even take a last minute wild guess. In the second game, I eliminated the last suspect in round 6, and caught Jack at the start of round 7.
After lunch, another lunch guest joined the two of us for two games of R-Eco. He's a game player, although his shelf of games is rather limited (it includes a few of my recommendations over the last few years, as his brother and father occasionally come to the group).
I taught him how to play Tigris and Euphrates after R-Eco. We played on a 2/3 board, with 7 temples; game over when only one treasure left or tiles run out. I tossed out 9 of each tile color (12 of red) before starting, in the hopes that that would give a fair chance of the tiles running out. In the end, that's indeed what happened, so I guessed I tossed about the right amount.
We had a fantastic game, with tons of conflicts and a central monument that swapped ownership (and sometimes had no owner) often. I gained an early lead, but near the end of the game he did some fantastic catching up, having control of both monuments on the board. I just barely survived at the end with the tiles running out, winning 10 points to 9. He loved the game, and so did I.
Then he asked a lot of questions about creating games, which I answered as best I could.
We also played a small, light game that I was sent to review (upcoming), called Last Step Game by Alexander Zerykier. It's a classic NIM game, with horizontal and diagonal chessboard movements. We played several games, which I won until he caught onto the basic strategy.
Yehuda
P.S. Gamesizing published an email interview he did of me.
Showing posts with label tigris and euphrates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tigris and euphrates. Show all posts
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Pictures of Sewage Backing Up Into Our Kitchen
You sickos. I'm not going to show you pictures of that. Maybe I'll hook up a smell-o-meter.
Suffice to say: it's not pleasant. It's not just the brownish water on the floor and the inability to use any of our water fixtures, it's also anything on the floor that can get ruined by being in prolonged contact with water. And we can't get any plumbers until tomorrow.
We had 18 for Friday night dinner, and I made three types of chicken two types of rice, meatballs, various side dishes, three flavors of iced tea. They brought the desserts. And your lives are all just a little incomplete not having tasted my incredible sweet and sour chicken.
Games:
In the afternoon, I went to the same neighbors, because they were all home, and they had wanted to play the evening before but dinner ended too late. We played Winner's Circle and Tigris and Euphrates.
Winner's Circle was well received, although it seemed to prove too difficult for the 81 year old grandfather to grasp (I could be wrong).
Tigris and Euphrates was also well received. Unless someone has had incredible early luck and is already essentially unbeatable, I never have a bad game of Tigris and Euphrates. And not only is it always fun, it is always interesting. You just sometimes have to avail yourself of the "throw out tiles and pick back up to 6" action once in a while. I ended up losing 14 to 7 to 3. I had 7. And I thought that I had been doing well.
Next to us, the 15 year old boy was playing with his friend a card game that involved flipping over cards and being the first one to slap the table on some condition.
Yehuda
Also: The Texarcana Gazette misquotes Rick Thornquist in a mainstream article talking about board games. I say "misquotes" only because I'm sure that Rick didn't say, "10 years ago, Germany created an award for best board game."
Suffice to say: it's not pleasant. It's not just the brownish water on the floor and the inability to use any of our water fixtures, it's also anything on the floor that can get ruined by being in prolonged contact with water. And we can't get any plumbers until tomorrow.
We had 18 for Friday night dinner, and I made three types of chicken two types of rice, meatballs, various side dishes, three flavors of iced tea. They brought the desserts. And your lives are all just a little incomplete not having tasted my incredible sweet and sour chicken.
Games:
In the afternoon, I went to the same neighbors, because they were all home, and they had wanted to play the evening before but dinner ended too late. We played Winner's Circle and Tigris and Euphrates.
Winner's Circle was well received, although it seemed to prove too difficult for the 81 year old grandfather to grasp (I could be wrong).
Tigris and Euphrates was also well received. Unless someone has had incredible early luck and is already essentially unbeatable, I never have a bad game of Tigris and Euphrates. And not only is it always fun, it is always interesting. You just sometimes have to avail yourself of the "throw out tiles and pick back up to 6" action once in a while. I ended up losing 14 to 7 to 3. I had 7. And I thought that I had been doing well.
Next to us, the 15 year old boy was playing with his friend a card game that involved flipping over cards and being the first one to slap the table on some condition.
Yehuda
Also: The Texarcana Gazette misquotes Rick Thornquist in a mainstream article talking about board games. I say "misquotes" only because I'm sure that Rick didn't say, "10 years ago, Germany created an award for best board game."
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
A T&E Game in Machon Lev
Saarya is in sleepaway yeshiva, and only comes home once every three weeks. It wasn't too bad around the holidays and all that, when he came home often enough. Now that we are at a normal schedule, it is really a long time. It is like early empty nest syndrome. He's not old enough, yet!
And it's ridiculous, seeing as I live only twenty minutes away from his dorm. Last week I repeated an offer that I made to him earlier in the year to come visit him on Tuesday evenings, if he could spare time away from his studies. I finally got a chance to try it, last night.
In the very scant free time that they have, Saarya had taught his friends Settlers of Catan and The Menorah Game. We made some time tonight and I brought along two games: Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation and Tigris & Euphrates. I wasn't sure if we would be two player or more.
He asked me to pick up some pizzas on the way, and we ended up being four players with a number of spectators.
T&E is a game that Israelis seem to like a lot, even when they have little gaming experience. I introduced the game to the two boys sitting down with us, one to my left and one across the table. After every sentence, Saarya translated into Hebrew since my Hebrew is still poor and one of the boy's (to my left) English was poor.
I usually explain T&E with a very brief thematic description, after which I simply refer to everything by their colors. I note that we all have four color leaders (and their names), that there are four color tiles (and their types), and four color points. Then I say that the object is to gain points in all colors, and that our score is the color of which we have the least.
Next I say that on your turn, you have two actions of four types: place/move leader (gains no points, but leaders establish kingdoms), place tile (points to leader or king if in a kingdom, blue on rivers, others elsewhere), place disaster (usually to break kingdoms), toss and draw tiles.
After that I say that there are only four more things to know:
1. Internal conflict by placing a leader; only placing a leader can cause an internal conflict. IC's are always in red. Count red tiles around the leader, attacker adds, defended adds. Ties to the defender. Loser leaves, winner gains a red point. Repeat: IC's are always fought in red, with red tiles surrounding leaders.
2. External conflicts by placing a tile joining kingdoms; only placing a tile can cause an external conflict. Tile placed to join two kingdoms (not groups of tiles, only kingdoms) scores no points. There may be up to 4 EC's and you choose how to fight them. [I lay this out as I demonstrate]. Let's choose green first. Add all green tiles in entire kingdom, not just next to leader. Attacker tosses, defender tosses. Loser removes leader and all colored tiles in entire kingdom, winner gains point in color for all items removed. Onto the next conflict ... look there in no longer a connection and therefore there is no longer a conflict, see? So order of resolution is important. [I leave out some details, such as red external conflicts, can't join three kingdoms, and that leaders can't be placed to join kingdoms]
3. Green leader in a kingdom that has two treasures takes one. That's the only way to get treasures. You don't act to take treasures, you simply have to be there if it happens. Treasure is a wild point.
4. If you form a square, you can make a monument. At the end of your turn, whenever your leader is in a kingdom with a monument that share's its color, you get a point in that color. [I leave out that you lose the support of the tiles for external monuments, and that leaders may be removed from the board when a monument is made, and other exceptions like that.]
I then review: you gain points by placing tiles into kingdoms where you have the leader or the king, or by fighting an IC for a single red point, or by fighting an EC for a number of points in the color fought, or by taking a treasure with a green leader, or by being in a kingdom with a monument.
Game ends when only two treasures remain or we are out of tiles. And don't forget to use your disaster tiles, but you only have two!
That usually gets everyone started. During the first few turns I will explain some strategies as we go: Red tiles supporting leaders. Tiles the color of your leaders supporting your leaders. Black and Green leader special abilities. Kingdoms are not "owned" by any player. How a treasure is acquired. How a thin kingdom is vulnerable to disasters. Remember to get points in all colors. Don't shy away from conflicts you can win because you always draw back up to six tiles. And so on.
My LHO started first, and it seemed like we were all doing ok, but gradually my opposite opponent seemed to get more and more confused. Eventually you could see that his brain had hit swapping limit. With a rueful grin he asked if one of the spectators could take over. And that was the one who understood my English. My LHO who hadn't actually got the game and did quite well.
Treasures were taken fast and furious, and kingdoms stretched long distances without any disasters. In a very unusual situation, a player had a choice between the treasure in the lower left corner and the upper right corner. I felt I was doing pretty well, with a score of six, when Saarya decided to end the game by taking the last treasures. Doing so gave me three black cubes, however, which pushed me to seven. Saarya had four, my LHO had five, and my opposite opponent had three (which included two treasures).
I packed up and wished him well, leaving him LotR:tC. Perhaps he will have a chance to play a quick 2-player some evening. Happily, this is one of his shabbats with me.
Yehuda
And it's ridiculous, seeing as I live only twenty minutes away from his dorm. Last week I repeated an offer that I made to him earlier in the year to come visit him on Tuesday evenings, if he could spare time away from his studies. I finally got a chance to try it, last night.
In the very scant free time that they have, Saarya had taught his friends Settlers of Catan and The Menorah Game. We made some time tonight and I brought along two games: Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation and Tigris & Euphrates. I wasn't sure if we would be two player or more.
He asked me to pick up some pizzas on the way, and we ended up being four players with a number of spectators.
T&E is a game that Israelis seem to like a lot, even when they have little gaming experience. I introduced the game to the two boys sitting down with us, one to my left and one across the table. After every sentence, Saarya translated into Hebrew since my Hebrew is still poor and one of the boy's (to my left) English was poor.
I usually explain T&E with a very brief thematic description, after which I simply refer to everything by their colors. I note that we all have four color leaders (and their names), that there are four color tiles (and their types), and four color points. Then I say that the object is to gain points in all colors, and that our score is the color of which we have the least.
Next I say that on your turn, you have two actions of four types: place/move leader (gains no points, but leaders establish kingdoms), place tile (points to leader or king if in a kingdom, blue on rivers, others elsewhere), place disaster (usually to break kingdoms), toss and draw tiles.
After that I say that there are only four more things to know:
1. Internal conflict by placing a leader; only placing a leader can cause an internal conflict. IC's are always in red. Count red tiles around the leader, attacker adds, defended adds. Ties to the defender. Loser leaves, winner gains a red point. Repeat: IC's are always fought in red, with red tiles surrounding leaders.
2. External conflicts by placing a tile joining kingdoms; only placing a tile can cause an external conflict. Tile placed to join two kingdoms (not groups of tiles, only kingdoms) scores no points. There may be up to 4 EC's and you choose how to fight them. [I lay this out as I demonstrate]. Let's choose green first. Add all green tiles in entire kingdom, not just next to leader. Attacker tosses, defender tosses. Loser removes leader and all colored tiles in entire kingdom, winner gains point in color for all items removed. Onto the next conflict ... look there in no longer a connection and therefore there is no longer a conflict, see? So order of resolution is important. [I leave out some details, such as red external conflicts, can't join three kingdoms, and that leaders can't be placed to join kingdoms]
3. Green leader in a kingdom that has two treasures takes one. That's the only way to get treasures. You don't act to take treasures, you simply have to be there if it happens. Treasure is a wild point.
4. If you form a square, you can make a monument. At the end of your turn, whenever your leader is in a kingdom with a monument that share's its color, you get a point in that color. [I leave out that you lose the support of the tiles for external monuments, and that leaders may be removed from the board when a monument is made, and other exceptions like that.]
I then review: you gain points by placing tiles into kingdoms where you have the leader or the king, or by fighting an IC for a single red point, or by fighting an EC for a number of points in the color fought, or by taking a treasure with a green leader, or by being in a kingdom with a monument.
Game ends when only two treasures remain or we are out of tiles. And don't forget to use your disaster tiles, but you only have two!
That usually gets everyone started. During the first few turns I will explain some strategies as we go: Red tiles supporting leaders. Tiles the color of your leaders supporting your leaders. Black and Green leader special abilities. Kingdoms are not "owned" by any player. How a treasure is acquired. How a thin kingdom is vulnerable to disasters. Remember to get points in all colors. Don't shy away from conflicts you can win because you always draw back up to six tiles. And so on.
My LHO started first, and it seemed like we were all doing ok, but gradually my opposite opponent seemed to get more and more confused. Eventually you could see that his brain had hit swapping limit. With a rueful grin he asked if one of the spectators could take over. And that was the one who understood my English. My LHO who hadn't actually got the game and did quite well.
Treasures were taken fast and furious, and kingdoms stretched long distances without any disasters. In a very unusual situation, a player had a choice between the treasure in the lower left corner and the upper right corner. I felt I was doing pretty well, with a score of six, when Saarya decided to end the game by taking the last treasures. Doing so gave me three black cubes, however, which pushed me to seven. Saarya had four, my LHO had five, and my opposite opponent had three (which included two treasures).
I packed up and wished him well, leaving him LotR:tC. Perhaps he will have a chance to play a quick 2-player some evening. Happily, this is one of his shabbats with me.
Yehuda
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Hannukah
Owing to my my wife being in England and my children being at their other houses, I found myself all alone, tonight.
I wandered the slick streets of Jerusalem, head bowed against the pouring rain, shivering in the cold. My feet skidded on the wet rainy surface and I fell upon the hard pavement, exhausted, my body strewn across a puddle. There I was. Lying in the dirty water, alone. Unloved. How long could I go on like this? *sniff* *HONK*
Actually, I called my brother David and went to deliver the Menorah game to them, and they invited me for dinner. Au 'natureaument, I played some games.
They had bought Travel Blokus, which is the two player version of regular Blokus. The board size was 14x14, which I seem to recall suggesting as a good way of converting the regular board to play as a two player game some time ago on BGG ... hmmm ... well what do you know, here it is. I'm such a genius.
Another game they bought was a version of Blink/Speed by Foxmind games. I can't remember what it was called; something short that starts with an "S", but not Speed. And it doesn't seem to be listed as a Foxmind game on BGG. Strange.
However, what we ended up playing was a game of Tigris and Euphrates. I played with Pini (17 year old) and Ariel (11? yo) (gosh, I don't know the ages of my nephews; I'm a bad uncle. In any case, they were old enough that I wasn't afraid of beating them). They had only played a few times. I thought I would make mincemeat out of them, but they both happily collected points for some turns while I spent the time trying to establish position.
I then had some phenomenally bad luck conflicts (you know, the ones where your opponent HAS the four tiles that they need ... several times). I still managed to establish the kingdom later on, and then won, owing to them a) not using their disaster tiles early enough, and b) not ending the game when I had clear control of both monuments on the board. Turns out, with regards to this last one, that they were both shy in a color and didn't think that they would be able to win if the game ended too soon. True, but when I control the monuments, there is no way you are going to catch up unless you kick me out of them.
After that we played two games of the Menorah game. Another one of their friends had joined us by then, and Pini had swapped out for one of his other brothers, so we were four. I won both of these games, too, but they were certainly not easy. Damn fun game, if I say so myself.
I finally got home to light my own candles and make some more food for the rest of the week.
Yehuda
I wandered the slick streets of Jerusalem, head bowed against the pouring rain, shivering in the cold. My feet skidded on the wet rainy surface and I fell upon the hard pavement, exhausted, my body strewn across a puddle. There I was. Lying in the dirty water, alone. Unloved. How long could I go on like this? *sniff* *HONK*
Actually, I called my brother David and went to deliver the Menorah game to them, and they invited me for dinner. Au 'natureaument, I played some games.
They had bought Travel Blokus, which is the two player version of regular Blokus. The board size was 14x14, which I seem to recall suggesting as a good way of converting the regular board to play as a two player game some time ago on BGG ... hmmm ... well what do you know, here it is. I'm such a genius.
Another game they bought was a version of Blink/Speed by Foxmind games. I can't remember what it was called; something short that starts with an "S", but not Speed. And it doesn't seem to be listed as a Foxmind game on BGG. Strange.
However, what we ended up playing was a game of Tigris and Euphrates. I played with Pini (17 year old) and Ariel (11? yo) (gosh, I don't know the ages of my nephews; I'm a bad uncle. In any case, they were old enough that I wasn't afraid of beating them). They had only played a few times. I thought I would make mincemeat out of them, but they both happily collected points for some turns while I spent the time trying to establish position.
I then had some phenomenally bad luck conflicts (you know, the ones where your opponent HAS the four tiles that they need ... several times). I still managed to establish the kingdom later on, and then won, owing to them a) not using their disaster tiles early enough, and b) not ending the game when I had clear control of both monuments on the board. Turns out, with regards to this last one, that they were both shy in a color and didn't think that they would be able to win if the game ended too soon. True, but when I control the monuments, there is no way you are going to catch up unless you kick me out of them.
After that we played two games of the Menorah game. Another one of their friends had joined us by then, and Pini had swapped out for one of his other brothers, so we were four. I won both of these games, too, but they were certainly not easy. Damn fun game, if I say so myself.
I finally got home to light my own candles and make some more food for the rest of the week.
Yehuda
Friday, May 13, 2005
When Smart People Play Dumb
I do it too. At least, I like to think so, because I can't otherwise understand how such an intelligent person such as myself just can't beat my brother at 9 Men's Morris, a pathetically simple game. I also expect never to win at wargames, such as Battle Cry, mostly because I am too impatient to care.
My wife is getting her PhD; she can often beat me at Puerto Rico and Scrabble, and just as often lose. She can read deep difficult English sentences in philosophy and literature that make my head swim. I can read difficult rules and technical manuals that make her head swim. Playing dumb ... or lack of interest? (I refer you to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.)
I played T&E with someone who played dumb last game. No matter how many times I explained the game - top to bottom, bottom to top, how to score points, how to score points more efficiently, how to take treasures, how to "get your leaders into a kingdom", and that this is not "your kingdom", she refused to understand.
I think T&E is a showpiece for this type of problem. It is not really that hard:
- If you place a leader into a kingdom with another leader of the same color, you cause an internal conflict. Internal conflict strength is the number of red tiles surrounding your leader plus red tiles from your hand. Loser removes his leader. Winner gains 1 red point.
- If you place a tile that merges two kingdoms, the tile placed scores no points. If there are now two leaders of the same color in the new kingdom, there is an external conflict. There may be up to four external conflicts. Strength is all tiles of the color of your leader from the previous kingdom plus tiles of that color from your hand. Loser removes leader and all tiles of that color from the previous kingdom (exception: red). Winner gains 1 point of that color for all removed items. After resolving one conflict, the kingdom may be separated, and the remaining conflicts may no longer exist. Otherwise, resolve the next conflict.
- After resolving all conflicts, if any, if a green leader is in a kingdom with more than one treasure he takes all but one.
- If you place 4 tiles that form a square, you can flip them to form a monument that shares at least one color with the flipped tiles. At the end of any player's turn, if he has one or more leaders in the kingdom that match one of the colors of the monument, he gains 1 point of that color. This may happen multiple times for multiple leaders and/or monuments. Check at the end of each player's turn.
That's the rules, give or take some minor items. Certainly no harder than Dvonn or Backgammon. But the phenomenon of not understanding this game is just amazing.
"How do I get my leader into that kingdom?" "How do I get all those points?" "How can I get the treasure?" Of course, that's not the question, the question is not "How does one get a treasure?" but "How can I get that treasure?" Sort of like, "How can I do that checkmate thingie?" I try to answer the first question, and then I try to give some help for the second question, but ... but, the answer is: experience. Try it and see. Just please don't throw your hands up and say you can't figure this game out because you can't figure out how to get that treasure.
Yehuda
My wife is getting her PhD; she can often beat me at Puerto Rico and Scrabble, and just as often lose. She can read deep difficult English sentences in philosophy and literature that make my head swim. I can read difficult rules and technical manuals that make her head swim. Playing dumb ... or lack of interest? (I refer you to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.)
I played T&E with someone who played dumb last game. No matter how many times I explained the game - top to bottom, bottom to top, how to score points, how to score points more efficiently, how to take treasures, how to "get your leaders into a kingdom", and that this is not "your kingdom", she refused to understand.
I think T&E is a showpiece for this type of problem. It is not really that hard:
- If you place a leader into a kingdom with another leader of the same color, you cause an internal conflict. Internal conflict strength is the number of red tiles surrounding your leader plus red tiles from your hand. Loser removes his leader. Winner gains 1 red point.
- If you place a tile that merges two kingdoms, the tile placed scores no points. If there are now two leaders of the same color in the new kingdom, there is an external conflict. There may be up to four external conflicts. Strength is all tiles of the color of your leader from the previous kingdom plus tiles of that color from your hand. Loser removes leader and all tiles of that color from the previous kingdom (exception: red). Winner gains 1 point of that color for all removed items. After resolving one conflict, the kingdom may be separated, and the remaining conflicts may no longer exist. Otherwise, resolve the next conflict.
- After resolving all conflicts, if any, if a green leader is in a kingdom with more than one treasure he takes all but one.
- If you place 4 tiles that form a square, you can flip them to form a monument that shares at least one color with the flipped tiles. At the end of any player's turn, if he has one or more leaders in the kingdom that match one of the colors of the monument, he gains 1 point of that color. This may happen multiple times for multiple leaders and/or monuments. Check at the end of each player's turn.
That's the rules, give or take some minor items. Certainly no harder than Dvonn or Backgammon. But the phenomenon of not understanding this game is just amazing.
"How do I get my leader into that kingdom?" "How do I get all those points?" "How can I get the treasure?" Of course, that's not the question, the question is not "How does one get a treasure?" but "How can I get that treasure?" Sort of like, "How can I do that checkmate thingie?" I try to answer the first question, and then I try to give some help for the second question, but ... but, the answer is: experience. Try it and see. Just please don't throw your hands up and say you can't figure this game out because you can't figure out how to get that treasure.
Yehuda
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Weekend Gaming
Passover is over. I spent the last day in Beit Shemesh with my parents, where I also lived for five years. I left behind a few gaming seeds, including the Elkins, whom I mentioned before, and the Ehrmans. Eli Ehrman, the father, formerly ran the 2am computer gaming company, and is also a former D&D player. His family now has Settlers, Puerto Rico, and some other games. One is Junta, which looks like a long Diplomacy type game with Steve Jackson sort of humor (but comes from West End games, 1984). I don't think any of them have actually played it.
We were invited for lunch. They always have something like 15 to 20 for meals on shabbat, and today was no exception. They are also all extremely bright. Yet, when I walked in, I found two teenage boys playing ... War. I guess even brightness needs to take a break once in a while.
They invited me to play Bridge, but, unfortunately, most of them don't know any bidding conventions. I don't know. I guess I acted kind of snobbishly, but I told them that playing Bridge without conventions was like playing Hearts. I kind of scuttled it, and convinced them to try Pit, which I quickly formed out of a deck of cards. They were happily yelling at the top of their lungs a minute later, for which the Bracha, the mother, thanked me from the kitchen (with humor and good grace). I told them to try the silent version next time for a change of pace.
Anyway, I always bring a new game with me, and this time I brought Tigris and Euphrates, which I can't get my game group to play, for some reason. Luckily, Saarya likes it, as do I. We played after lunch, and it went over pretty well. Saarya won 6/7 to my 6/6, with the other players at 4. Eli asked his children if they thought it was worth buying, and the ones who played said yes, so rah! The Ehrmans will hopefully spread the games to others, and thus the infection spreads until it overcomes all of humanity.
Yehuda
We were invited for lunch. They always have something like 15 to 20 for meals on shabbat, and today was no exception. They are also all extremely bright. Yet, when I walked in, I found two teenage boys playing ... War. I guess even brightness needs to take a break once in a while.
They invited me to play Bridge, but, unfortunately, most of them don't know any bidding conventions. I don't know. I guess I acted kind of snobbishly, but I told them that playing Bridge without conventions was like playing Hearts. I kind of scuttled it, and convinced them to try Pit, which I quickly formed out of a deck of cards. They were happily yelling at the top of their lungs a minute later, for which the Bracha, the mother, thanked me from the kitchen (with humor and good grace). I told them to try the silent version next time for a change of pace.
Anyway, I always bring a new game with me, and this time I brought Tigris and Euphrates, which I can't get my game group to play, for some reason. Luckily, Saarya likes it, as do I. We played after lunch, and it went over pretty well. Saarya won 6/7 to my 6/6, with the other players at 4. Eli asked his children if they thought it was worth buying, and the ones who played said yes, so rah! The Ehrmans will hopefully spread the games to others, and thus the infection spreads until it overcomes all of humanity.
Yehuda
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Vacation
Well, the vacation was nice, but not really relaxing.
The first day was a drive up, followed by a short hike, lost in the woods, running away from a bunch of cows and bulls (who weren't chasing us, except in the mind of my daughter), a Bar-B-Q and some late night games.
When the other family arrived, they played some hands of Gin while I played Anagrams with David, the father, the Scrabble expert. He has a voluminous knowledge of short words, but I am quicker on the draw and more creative. Both of us have certain letters we are waiting for in order to steal a word or two. It was a tough match, but I gained a good lead, and only lost most of it by the end.
Later at night I introduced their 19 year old son Yoni to Tigris and Euphrates, which I can't seem to break out at the game night (I thought that they liked it when we first played, but I think it may be too dry for them). Anyway, I played with Saarya and Yoni an enjoyable game. Yoni really liked it, and we thought he was going to win after he put down a monument and nobody seemed to be in a position to challenge him. I lost huge when I challenged Saarya twice in my turn, once to an external conflict and once to an internal one. Out of the six tiles he had he could only beat me if he had exactly 3 black tiles and 3 red tiles. Guess what? ... Saarya ended up winning 8 to 7 to 6 (me). I was about to go to 8 myself.
Late at night, my daughter played Pop, some sort of pencil and paper game that works with both Hebrew and English letters. Players alternate placing "p"s and "peh" (Hebrew version of "p") in various places and then placing "o"s and "vav"s (Hebrew version of "o") between places making the word "pop" in Hebrew or English. I don't know the rest of the rules, but I will try to find out.
The next day, Monday, we split up into various groups, water hiking, horseback riding, winery, and a great dinner at night. Too tired for games.
The last day, Tuesday, was a bust, since no one was willing to commit to anything except what they didn't want to do, leaving everyone hanging until the day was basically over. I started a Scrabble game at one point which I was losing at by about 40 points, but never finished it.
This week is the rest of cleaning and then cooking for Passover, so probably not much in the way of games. Next week is game day, however, if all goes well.
Happy Passover, to one and all, and may your life be meaningful and peaceful.
Yehuda
The first day was a drive up, followed by a short hike, lost in the woods, running away from a bunch of cows and bulls (who weren't chasing us, except in the mind of my daughter), a Bar-B-Q and some late night games.
When the other family arrived, they played some hands of Gin while I played Anagrams with David, the father, the Scrabble expert. He has a voluminous knowledge of short words, but I am quicker on the draw and more creative. Both of us have certain letters we are waiting for in order to steal a word or two. It was a tough match, but I gained a good lead, and only lost most of it by the end.
Later at night I introduced their 19 year old son Yoni to Tigris and Euphrates, which I can't seem to break out at the game night (I thought that they liked it when we first played, but I think it may be too dry for them). Anyway, I played with Saarya and Yoni an enjoyable game. Yoni really liked it, and we thought he was going to win after he put down a monument and nobody seemed to be in a position to challenge him. I lost huge when I challenged Saarya twice in my turn, once to an external conflict and once to an internal one. Out of the six tiles he had he could only beat me if he had exactly 3 black tiles and 3 red tiles. Guess what? ... Saarya ended up winning 8 to 7 to 6 (me). I was about to go to 8 myself.
Late at night, my daughter played Pop, some sort of pencil and paper game that works with both Hebrew and English letters. Players alternate placing "p"s and "peh" (Hebrew version of "p") in various places and then placing "o"s and "vav"s (Hebrew version of "o") between places making the word "pop" in Hebrew or English. I don't know the rest of the rules, but I will try to find out.
The next day, Monday, we split up into various groups, water hiking, horseback riding, winery, and a great dinner at night. Too tired for games.
The last day, Tuesday, was a bust, since no one was willing to commit to anything except what they didn't want to do, leaving everyone hanging until the day was basically over. I started a Scrabble game at one point which I was losing at by about 40 points, but never finished it.
This week is the rest of cleaning and then cooking for Passover, so probably not much in the way of games. Next week is game day, however, if all goes well.
Happy Passover, to one and all, and may your life be meaningful and peaceful.
Yehuda
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
I Sing the Gaming Electric
I got in a game of Tigris and Euphrates the other night. It has been a long time since I played this game. I think that is because I always win when playing against my son, lose when playing against my friend, and the other members of the gaming group don't seem much interested in it.
It is not much of a surprise that the more games you have, the less you play any one of them. Unfortunately, at the last game session, our few players couldn't agree on a single game to play and we had to split into two two-player games. When we only had one game, we could all agree on it.
And we don't have that many games compared to many club. Maybe forty games, with about fifteen in high rotation. Some groups publish games that they will be playing ahead of time. The Trivalley Gamers is going through the letters of the alphabet, one per week, and they are not the first to do that. If I had many more games, I could probably do that.
But maybe I need less games, not more. Maybe we should concentrate on getting more out of the games we have. OK, some games just flop, but others have a depth that still needs to be explored. Like Tigris and Euphrates.
Ah well. Almost any game is ok for me. I wish everyone else felt the same.
Yehuda
It is not much of a surprise that the more games you have, the less you play any one of them. Unfortunately, at the last game session, our few players couldn't agree on a single game to play and we had to split into two two-player games. When we only had one game, we could all agree on it.
And we don't have that many games compared to many club. Maybe forty games, with about fifteen in high rotation. Some groups publish games that they will be playing ahead of time. The Trivalley Gamers is going through the letters of the alphabet, one per week, and they are not the first to do that. If I had many more games, I could probably do that.
But maybe I need less games, not more. Maybe we should concentrate on getting more out of the games we have. OK, some games just flop, but others have a depth that still needs to be explored. Like Tigris and Euphrates.
Ah well. Almost any game is ok for me. I wish everyone else felt the same.
Yehuda
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