On the website. Games played: ASL, Web of Power, Settlers of Catan, Traumfabrik, Geschenkt.
Yehuda
Thursday, March 10, 2005
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
Monday, March 07, 2005
A Mad Game Club
There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and Steve and Dan were arranging a game of El Grande at it: Tim was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using him as a cushion, resting their elbows on him, and talking over his head. `Very uncomfortable for Tim,' thought Alice; `only, as he's asleep, I suppose he doesn't mind.'
The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: `No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice coming. `There's PLENTY of room. El Grande is a 3-5 player game!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.
`But we've already started,' Steve said in a petulant tone.
Alice looked at the board nearest them, but there was nothing on it but the castillo. `I don't see any caballeros on the board,' she remarked.
`There aren't any,' said Steve.
`Then it wasn't very civil of you to say you've started,' said Alice angrily.
`It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said Steve.
`I didn't know it was only YOUR game,' said Alice; `there's room for more than three.'
Dan opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID was, `Your turn to play a power card.'
`Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad they've begun playing.' And she lay down a 13 on the table.
`Do you mean to go first with that card?' said Steve.
`Exactly so,' said Alice.
`Then you should play what you mean,' Steve went on, laying down a 14.
`I do,' Alice hastily replied; then she looked at the card and gave a start. `At least--at least I played that card to go first--that's the same thing, you know.'
`Not the same thing a bit!' said Dan. `You might just as well say that "I win what I play" is the same thing as "I play what I win"!'
`You might just as well say,' added Tim, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that "I play when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I play"!'
`It IS the same thing with you,' said Dan, and here the conversation dropped, and the party played cards in silence and began placing caballeros, while Alice thought over all she could remember about winning at El Grande, which wasn't much.
Dan was the first to break the silence. `Who's winning?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken more caballeros out of his pocket, and was looking at them uneasily, shaking them every now and then, and holding them to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `I am. My caballeros are on the board, and all of yours are in the teapot.'
`Last place again!' sighed Dan. `I told you the teapot expansion wouldn't suit the game!' he added looking angrily at Steve.
`It was the BEST expansion,' Steve meekly replied, pouring the caballeros from the teapot into the Castillo.
`Yes, but some crumbs have got in as well,' Dan grumbled: `we will count those as mine.'
Steve took his caballeros and looked at them gloomily: then he dumped them all into the castillo, and looked at the teapot again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the BEST expansion, you know.'
Alice had been looking over the board with some curiosity. `What a funny map!' she remarked. `It tells what year our caballeros live in, and doesn't tell what countries they are in!'
`Why should it?' muttered Dan. `Does your watch tell you what country you live in?'
`Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: `but that's because it stays the same country for such a long time together.'
`Which is just the case with MY GAME,' said Dan.
Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. Dan's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. `I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could.
`Tim is asleep again,' said Dan, and he poured a few caballeros upon its nose.
Tim shook his head impatiently, and said, without opening his eyes, `Of course, of course; just what I was going to play myself.' And he lay down a 22.
`Have you won the game yet?' Dan said, turning to Alice again.
`No, we are only halfway through,' Alice replied: `how would I have won?'
`I haven't the slightest idea,' said Dan.
`Nor I,' said Steve.
A bright idea came into Alice's head. `Is that the reason so many games are put out here?' she asked.
`Yes, that's it,' said Dan with a sigh: `it's always the middle of an El Grande game, and we've no time to put them away between whiles.'
`Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.
`Exactly so,' said Dan: `as the caballeros get used up.'
`But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask.
`Suppose we change the subject,' Steve interrupted, yawning.
`I want a new turn,' interrupted Dan: `let's all move one place on.'
He moved on as he spoke, and Tim followed him: Steve moved into Tim's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took the position of Steve. Dan was the only one who got any advantage from the change: and Alice had a much worse position than before, as Steve had just recently thrown all of his caballeros into the bushes. Meanwhile, Dan was playing on a different board altogether.
Tim went on with his turn, moving his pieces onto and off of his spoon, for he was getting very sleepy; `and that's why all of the pieces in El Grande begin with an M--' he began.
`Why with an M?' said Alice.
`Why not?' said Steve.
Alice was silent.
Tim had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by Dan, he woke up again with a little shriek, and continued his turn: `--that begins with an M, such as Caballeros, Castillos, Cats, Cantelopes, and Cabbage patches. Have you ever won El Grande with a cabbage patch? Very difficult thing.'
`Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, `I don't think--'
`Then you shouldn't talk,' said Dan.
This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; Tim fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put Tim into the teapot.
`At any rate I'll never play THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. `It's the stupidest game club I ever was at in all my life!'
(apologies to Lewis Carrol. From "Alice in Wonderland".)
The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: `No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice coming. `There's PLENTY of room. El Grande is a 3-5 player game!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.
`But we've already started,' Steve said in a petulant tone.
Alice looked at the board nearest them, but there was nothing on it but the castillo. `I don't see any caballeros on the board,' she remarked.
`There aren't any,' said Steve.
`Then it wasn't very civil of you to say you've started,' said Alice angrily.
`It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said Steve.
`I didn't know it was only YOUR game,' said Alice; `there's room for more than three.'
Dan opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID was, `Your turn to play a power card.'
`Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad they've begun playing.' And she lay down a 13 on the table.
`Do you mean to go first with that card?' said Steve.
`Exactly so,' said Alice.
`Then you should play what you mean,' Steve went on, laying down a 14.
`I do,' Alice hastily replied; then she looked at the card and gave a start. `At least--at least I played that card to go first--that's the same thing, you know.'
`Not the same thing a bit!' said Dan. `You might just as well say that "I win what I play" is the same thing as "I play what I win"!'
`You might just as well say,' added Tim, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that "I play when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I play"!'
`It IS the same thing with you,' said Dan, and here the conversation dropped, and the party played cards in silence and began placing caballeros, while Alice thought over all she could remember about winning at El Grande, which wasn't much.
Dan was the first to break the silence. `Who's winning?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken more caballeros out of his pocket, and was looking at them uneasily, shaking them every now and then, and holding them to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `I am. My caballeros are on the board, and all of yours are in the teapot.'
`Last place again!' sighed Dan. `I told you the teapot expansion wouldn't suit the game!' he added looking angrily at Steve.
`It was the BEST expansion,' Steve meekly replied, pouring the caballeros from the teapot into the Castillo.
`Yes, but some crumbs have got in as well,' Dan grumbled: `we will count those as mine.'
Steve took his caballeros and looked at them gloomily: then he dumped them all into the castillo, and looked at the teapot again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the BEST expansion, you know.'
Alice had been looking over the board with some curiosity. `What a funny map!' she remarked. `It tells what year our caballeros live in, and doesn't tell what countries they are in!'
`Why should it?' muttered Dan. `Does your watch tell you what country you live in?'
`Of course not,' Alice replied very readily: `but that's because it stays the same country for such a long time together.'
`Which is just the case with MY GAME,' said Dan.
Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. Dan's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. `I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could.
`Tim is asleep again,' said Dan, and he poured a few caballeros upon its nose.
Tim shook his head impatiently, and said, without opening his eyes, `Of course, of course; just what I was going to play myself.' And he lay down a 22.
`Have you won the game yet?' Dan said, turning to Alice again.
`No, we are only halfway through,' Alice replied: `how would I have won?'
`I haven't the slightest idea,' said Dan.
`Nor I,' said Steve.
A bright idea came into Alice's head. `Is that the reason so many games are put out here?' she asked.
`Yes, that's it,' said Dan with a sigh: `it's always the middle of an El Grande game, and we've no time to put them away between whiles.'
`Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.
`Exactly so,' said Dan: `as the caballeros get used up.'
`But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask.
`Suppose we change the subject,' Steve interrupted, yawning.
`I want a new turn,' interrupted Dan: `let's all move one place on.'
He moved on as he spoke, and Tim followed him: Steve moved into Tim's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took the position of Steve. Dan was the only one who got any advantage from the change: and Alice had a much worse position than before, as Steve had just recently thrown all of his caballeros into the bushes. Meanwhile, Dan was playing on a different board altogether.
Tim went on with his turn, moving his pieces onto and off of his spoon, for he was getting very sleepy; `and that's why all of the pieces in El Grande begin with an M--' he began.
`Why with an M?' said Alice.
`Why not?' said Steve.
Alice was silent.
Tim had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by Dan, he woke up again with a little shriek, and continued his turn: `--that begins with an M, such as Caballeros, Castillos, Cats, Cantelopes, and Cabbage patches. Have you ever won El Grande with a cabbage patch? Very difficult thing.'
`Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, `I don't think--'
`Then you shouldn't talk,' said Dan.
This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; Tim fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put Tim into the teapot.
`At any rate I'll never play THERE again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. `It's the stupidest game club I ever was at in all my life!'
(apologies to Lewis Carrol. From "Alice in Wonderland".)
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Shabbat Conversation
The scene: Invited for lunch, the father (Sid) and his three sons have arrived. They are new in the neighborhood, and this is our first meeting. We are waiting for our wives to return from shul.
Me: And how long have you been in Israel?
Sid: five years.
(tick tock)
Me: And, um, where do you go to school?
Son 1: *so and so* school.
(...)
(...)
Me: And you?
Son 2: Also *so and so*.
(... tick tock ...)
Me: Hmmm.
(tick tock)
Me: And, uh, how about you? Where do you go?
Son 3: Uh, *such and such* school.
Me: Oh.
(...)
(...)
Me: Would you like to play a game?
Everyone: Sure! Great! What game!
Which got me going on my game collection, and games you can play, my game group, etc... I bring out two decks of cards, take out the 2-8 and two aces (my daughter also joins us) and we play two games of Pit. (Now I'm waiting for the purists to tell me that I can't play Pit by using two decks of cards since I have to buy the original game to support the industry/author/publisher.)
Which keeps us happy until the women get home. As we gather up to start lunch, I tell them that this is going on my blog.
Sid: Huh?
Me: Yes, I keep a blog with all my gaming on it. Also, I get to say that I won two games of Pit.
Sid: You're kidding. You would really write about this? Are you, like, obsessed with games?
Me: Uh, well, I just like to keep a gaming journal, for myself and the twenty-five people who read my blog every day.
My wife: Yes, he's an obsessive game geek. Didn't I tell you?
Me: That's it! You're going on the blog, too!
Yehuda
Me: And how long have you been in Israel?
Sid: five years.
(tick tock)
Me: And, um, where do you go to school?
Son 1: *so and so* school.
(...)
(...)
Me: And you?
Son 2: Also *so and so*.
(... tick tock ...)
Me: Hmmm.
(tick tock)
Me: And, uh, how about you? Where do you go?
Son 3: Uh, *such and such* school.
Me: Oh.
(...)
(...)
Me: Would you like to play a game?
Everyone: Sure! Great! What game!
Which got me going on my game collection, and games you can play, my game group, etc... I bring out two decks of cards, take out the 2-8 and two aces (my daughter also joins us) and we play two games of Pit. (Now I'm waiting for the purists to tell me that I can't play Pit by using two decks of cards since I have to buy the original game to support the industry/author/publisher.)
Which keeps us happy until the women get home. As we gather up to start lunch, I tell them that this is going on my blog.
Sid: Huh?
Me: Yes, I keep a blog with all my gaming on it. Also, I get to say that I won two games of Pit.
Sid: You're kidding. You would really write about this? Are you, like, obsessed with games?
Me: Uh, well, I just like to keep a gaming journal, for myself and the twenty-five people who read my blog every day.
My wife: Yes, he's an obsessive game geek. Didn't I tell you?
Me: That's it! You're going on the blog, too!
Yehuda
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Quick Post
A contingent of ASL players (4 including my son Eitan) will be gathering at my group next Wed. I guess this is not really the first crossover, as that happened when I got the head of the Jerusalem Go club to drop by. Anyway, if these guys come every week, I will have to re-evaluate my club as more than just a Euro game club ... which would be great!
Maybe I should re-advertise as welcoming Chess, Bridge, etc... players? Only, they will have to find a partner.
Yehuda
Maybe I should re-advertise as welcoming Chess, Bridge, etc... players? Only, they will have to find a partner.
Yehuda
Session report up / Hansa
Session report is up on the website http://www.jergames.com. If you read it you can briefly note our sadly disastrous attempt to play Hansa with 4 players. I thought it would be more interesting that way, but my companions were not happy, at all.
A shame. Maybe we are a picky group of players.
Yehuda
A shame. Maybe we are a picky group of players.
Yehuda
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
February Gaming at the JSGC
The following represents only those games played at the club, not other games that I personally played.
Amun Re x 2: A club staple.
Attika: I played this one, and I really did not enjoy it two player. I am looking forward to trying it multiplayer.
Cosmic Encounter: Mayfair. A hoot, although a new player had the audacity to compare this to "Munchkin on steroids".
Dvonn: Enjoyable little two player, if played a few times in a row. Still have little idea of what I'm doing, as there are a few too many libeties available for each move.
El Grande: Another club staple, that gets less play only because it is longer.
Geschenkt x 4: A club staple, quick and multiplayer.
Go: I wish it would become a club staple. Played on a 9x9 board, quick and endlessly fun.
Grave Robbers From Outer Space: don't ask.
Magic: the Gathering x 3: still fun, with the few members who know how to play. Endless fun with no preparation required when drafting random cards.
Oceania: also quick, with more than meets the eye, but not that much more.
Pente x 12: another quickie, still good for two players.
Puerto Rico + expansions: almost never played straight anymore, since some of my expansion buildings are (IOHO) better than the originals and/or official expansions.
Railroads of Catan: long and complicated, and fun. rules available on my site. I am thinking of making a quicker less brain intensive version for next time.
San Juan x 3: medium length for the half hour wait until an expected latecomer shows up, or while waiting for one group to end. A staple.
Taj Mahal: A great game, 3-5 players. A little tough to catch up when behind, however.
Tikal: Ditto, but from 2-4 players.
Torres: Ditto, but more cerebral.
Traumfabrik: Fun, but not earth shatteringly so. Works well as an intro game for non-gamers.
Web of Power: Played once, and really it. Must play again to get a firmer impression.
Amun Re x 2: A club staple.
Attika: I played this one, and I really did not enjoy it two player. I am looking forward to trying it multiplayer.
Cosmic Encounter: Mayfair. A hoot, although a new player had the audacity to compare this to "Munchkin on steroids".
Dvonn: Enjoyable little two player, if played a few times in a row. Still have little idea of what I'm doing, as there are a few too many libeties available for each move.
El Grande: Another club staple, that gets less play only because it is longer.
Geschenkt x 4: A club staple, quick and multiplayer.
Go: I wish it would become a club staple. Played on a 9x9 board, quick and endlessly fun.
Grave Robbers From Outer Space: don't ask.
Magic: the Gathering x 3: still fun, with the few members who know how to play. Endless fun with no preparation required when drafting random cards.
Oceania: also quick, with more than meets the eye, but not that much more.
Pente x 12: another quickie, still good for two players.
Puerto Rico + expansions: almost never played straight anymore, since some of my expansion buildings are (IOHO) better than the originals and/or official expansions.
Railroads of Catan: long and complicated, and fun. rules available on my site. I am thinking of making a quicker less brain intensive version for next time.
San Juan x 3: medium length for the half hour wait until an expected latecomer shows up, or while waiting for one group to end. A staple.
Taj Mahal: A great game, 3-5 players. A little tough to catch up when behind, however.
Tikal: Ditto, but from 2-4 players.
Torres: Ditto, but more cerebral.
Traumfabrik: Fun, but not earth shatteringly so. Works well as an intro game for non-gamers.
Web of Power: Played once, and really it. Must play again to get a firmer impression.
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