When Saboteurs are Sabotees, and Vice is Versa

The bar-mitzvah was another lovely chance to keep acquainted with all my cousins, and especially for my own children to stay acquainted with their cousins and second-cousins.

But enough of that. What did we game?

Saboteur

I taught this to my brother and his two kids. We played four player in the evening; I wanted to see how well the game holds up with 4 players as compared to 8. It holds up pretty well, actually.

Like other games, this is more of a toy than a game. It's not going to "build patterns" in your life or make you a deeper person. It is just one way of passing time and the stories that result thereof. Which means that it's fun, but not too deep.

We played two rounds, and they were both kind of odd. In the first game, my brother misunderstood when I said that the game ends when the treasure is found or when the deck and cards run out. He thought it goes until the deck and cards run out.

So after we got the treasure and I said that the round is over, he lamented that if he knew the game was going to end right then he would have played one of his cave-ins the round before. While I can't figure out exactly what the point would be of continuing the game after the treasure has been found, I can understand people getting confused about processes and rules on their first play.

Gamely moving on to the second round, one of my brother's sons was the saboteur (we'll call him A) while the other one wasn't (we'll call him Y). In this game, A, the saboteur, misunderstood the saboteur's role and thought that it was his job to place the card to get to the treasure first. Meanwhile, Y, a dwarf, was convinced that the best way to receive the most gold was to be the one to place the card to get to the treasure first (which is true).

So A spent his time placing cards that helped the dwarves, and Y spent his time destroying routes until he could pick the cards that would enable him to get the treasure first. Needless to say, with both player playing the opposite roles of what they should have been playing, my brother and I were thoroughly confused by the end of the round.

For Sale

The next day I taught my first-cousin-once-removed's to play For Sale. We played five player and we all scored about the same in each game. They liked the game, and they took it with them and played it for the rest of the day when they weren't playing basketball.


Rachel and I had hoped to get to a game of Puerto Rico but we ended up just taking a lovely walk about the little yishuv (Nir Galim), past the cows and so on.

I read the rules for Netrunner and I'm quite impressed with the work that went into creating theme for the game. In fact, the game itself looks really good. If this is what I can expect from CCG's, then I am even more impressed with the creation of Magic than I was before.

The nominations for the BGIA are now closed. I will be creating a nominations list soon.

Yehuda

Weekend Coming

Nadine returned from the US, picking up her own Secret Santa gift and bringing me a number of items that I had ordered, including:

* A starter box of Netrunner
* The ten box starter deck of Middle Earth CCG (seemed pretty cheap at $36)
* Oxford A to Z of Word Games (looks amazing)
* Polyominoes
* some other books and Hanukkah presents for the kids

I'm going to my cousin's son's Bar Mitzvah this weekend, and I'm bringing: Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Saboteur, Set, Netrunner (just to read the rules), For Sale, two decks of cards, and Tichu. That should cover most combinations of sizes, ages, and relatives in groups.

Welcome NPR readers, and all have a happy weekend. Stay tuned for my fives and tens of the game group, and I'll see you on the other side of shabbat.

Yehuda

December Gaming at the JSGC

As usual, this list includes only those games played at the Jerusalem club, and does not include other games that I may have played outside the club. Most of the game we played this month were really good ones.

Information about these, and other games, is on Boardgamegeek. Click on the game to go to Funagain or Amazon for further information or to purchase the game.

24/7: This is the latest game from Sunriver games. While easy to learn and play, and enjoyable enough, it is better suited for children. Adults will find the last third of the game anticlimactic, and most decisions not too difficult.

Carcassonne: A classic game for new players, I found the scoring less interesting than the Hunters and Gatherers version and the graphics somewhat confusing. Still a very good game. Hunters and Gatherers is recommended.

Children of Fire: the Boardgame: An excellent game. Reminds me of a cleaner version of Ys. Although the game could potentially continue indefinitely, I suspect that it usually won't. Some rules problems, and I didn't like the special ability of one of the cards.

Cosmic Encounter: The Mayfair and EON version of this game are absolute classics. I haven't played the Avalon Hill versions currently available, but I know that they are much less. Still hoping for a reprinting.

Elfenland: This won game of the year at one point, and will probably be liked by many people. We found it to be mediocre. Would play or not. Whatever.

For Sale: One of those instant hit games with non-players, not really my cup of tea, but I'll happily suggest it to get people going. Very quick game for 3 to 6 players.

Keythedral: I didn't get to play this, but heard some great things.

(Lo) Ra: Ra is a nice game. We place with a home-brewed Jewish version of the game (I can send you the files, if you like). A good auction game, but rather dry.

Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation: An amazing game for its length, like Stratego in mechanics, but feels like the Lord of the Rings squished into ten minutes.

Lost Cities: Supposedly the best two player couples game, I'm not yet sold on it. Willing to play, and willing to change my mind if I discover any more depth.

Magic: the Gathering x 4: An absolute classic gamer's game of cards.

Modern Art: Another dry auction game by the same author as Ra, but a better one. Still not my favorite, however.

Power Grid x 2: A gamer's game, fairly long and fiddly, with much math at the end. But very very good spot on tactics and strategy and game-play. Liked by most, but don't play with six players.

Prototype: I throw these out once in a while to work through game designs.

Puerto Rico: The best game, period. Still. Except for Go. And Bridge. Especially with my variant buildings.

Quo Vadis x 2: A nice little negotiation game, very tense with five players.

Saboteur: Big bonus points for being playable with 3 to 10 players, and quick to boot. Fun, but fairly simplistic.

Santiago: An absolutely excellent game of mechanics and tactics. A tad too much math for some at the end.

Settlers of Catan: The best game for introducing new players, and still a much loved and enjoyable game. This is the game to start with.

Tichu x 4: When I don't have the brains for Bridge, I will happily play Tichu. A very good four-player partnership card game.

Tigris and Euphrates: A fantastic gamer's game, heavy and epic in under 2 hours.

Wildlife: Seems like a great game with one really bad mechanic that doesn't break the game. Thinking about what to do about it.

Yinsh: A great new abstract game for two. Like Othello on steroids.

Yehuda

What's Making a Comeback?

Board games in 2006:

Evanston Review
NBC
Rochester Insider
Raising Kids
Tidewater Parent

Only they also were in 2005:

Arizona Republic
Business Week
Shift

2004

BBC News
Bristol Press
DePauw news

2003

Daily Wildcat
New York Times

2002

Associated Press

2001

Time

2000

Owing Mills Times
Post Gazette

Etc... I didn't want to pay to access the articles in Google's news archive that stretch back through the nineties.

Want to know what else just in the last month is making a comeback according to Google news?

• A cappella
• A few familiar faces from the Superman mythos
• A veteran in Houston
• African food
• Agatha Christie plays
• Agriculture in the Yakima Valley
• AIDS
• Alan Smith
• Amare Stoudemire
• An old tactic used by criminals (rear-ending a car)
• Andrea Eriksson
• Annie
• Apoca-lit
• Aprons
• Arizona Wildcats
• Armadillos
• Atlantans
• Axel Schulz
• B-Boying
• B*witched
• Bappi the music director
• Barbie
• Bears
• Beavers
• Bedbugs
• Bharatiya Janata Party
• Big band music
• Bike baskets
• Board games
• Bobby Bare
• Boutique hotels
• Brady Fire Company
• British National Party
• Cabbage Patch Dolls
• Calvinism
• Capelle
• Captain Burhan Ajui and striker Bobby Gonzalez
• Carnival-themed parties
• Celebrex
• Centrists
• Charlie West
• Chen Yanqing
• Chestnuts
• Christmas
• Christmas bonuses
• Classic chick flicks
• Cocktails
• Colored lights
• Comedy King Govinda
• Condos
• Conservatives
• Consumption
• Cool cufflinks, skinny ties, and hipster belts
• 'Cooney'
• Coppernob
• Couches
• Crèches
• Crime
• Cuba's cherished film industry
• Cupcakes
• Curtis Sumpter
• David Davies
• Democratic Labor Party
• Dennis Rodman
• Diesel
• Disability insurance
• Diseases like malaria and dengue
• Dolphins softball team
• Downtown Greenville
• Dry stone walling
• Dsching, Dsching, Dschinghis Khan
• Duran Duran
• Educational computer games
• Eggs
• Electric football
• Electric trigger race car tracks
• Electric vehicles
• Enhanced Versatile Discs
• Fiddle Fest
• Fine fountain pens
• Fish in Lake Michigan
• Fishers
• Fixed rate loans
• Fondues
• Ford's politics of compromise
• Foreign films
• Former Ganguly protege Zaheer Khan
• Former President Daniel arap Moi and Nicholas Biwott
• Frazier Farms
• Fruitcake
• Fur
• Giant pandas
• Glasgow's tag of being Britain's most violent city
• God
• Golden Crust
• Gordon "Grubby" Clark
• Guest rooms
• Guns N’Roses
• Hats
• Hobby of driving radio controlled (RC) cars
• Holiday sweaters
• Home births
• Homes in the ancient style
• Horror
• Houghton’s popular New Year’s Eve party
• Indian team players
• Jason Donovan
• Jayashree
• Josh Towers
• Katrina
• Kellen Winslow
• Kavita Paudwal
• Kevin Zammit
• Kit Branch
• Kits
• Latin
• Launceston's Waverley Woollen Mill
• Laughter
• Layering and fur trimming
• Leather
• Lee Hodges
• Lee Jackson
• Linoleum
• Live Christmas trees and thieves
• Local farming
  
• LSD
• Lufthansa Airlines
• LVMH-owned brand
• Madhuri Dixit
• Managed storage services
• Mark Delaney
• Markita Lilly
• Martin Ebner
• Medical marijuana
• Mercury glass baubles
• "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year"
• Metal
• Michael Barrymore
• Mike Nardi
• Molik
• Monitored telematics
• Monopoly
• Mortgage insurance
• Movie musicals
• Much of the opposition that ultimately killed Kyoto's chances in the US
• Muizenberg
• Music instruction
• Mustaches
• Mustang
• New Orleans
• Nicholas Sprenger
• Old bugs
• Old- school mockery
• Once-struggling "mom and pop" drugstores
• Panto
• Parasitic malware
• Park Chu-young
• Pauline Hanson
• PCP
• Penny Hardaway
• Petroleum spas of Naftalan
• Pin-up art
• Pioneer MF
• Pit latrines
• Platform shoes
• Pole School
• Political decisions by judges that was the norm during the Kanu era
• Poly-extruded trees, "fashion colored" trees, and icicle lights
• Popular '50s and '60s materials
• Premium audio
• Pria Kataria Puri
• Prime-time comedy
• Puppets such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• Railroad freight service
• Rare hairy-eared dwarf lemurs
• Real TV news
• Realists
• Red
• Red lipstick
• Reformists
• Regional insults
• Renuka Shahane
• Retro toys
• Right Said Fred
• Robyn Loau
• Rocky Balboa (and Sylvester Stallone)
• Room Divider Screens
• Rubik's cube
• Rustling
• Rye whiskey
• Safford
• Sam & Max
• Sammy Sosa
• Santa red and white hats with pompoms
• Sartorial classics
• Scotland's expertise on the snooker table
• Scott Styris
• Seve Ballesteros
• Shrek
• Shopping carts
• Shpetim Hoti
• Singing
• Single-sex education
• Smokin’ Joe Frazier
• Socialists and progressive forces
• Solar Power
• Sourav Ganguly
• South Beauregard
• Space food sticks
• Spam (email)
  
• Sparkle
• SRK
• Stock prices of drug start-ups
• Sumo wrestling
• Sunshine
• Tag Team wrestling
• TAFTA
• Takeo Spikes
• Taunton river
• Telemarketers
• The 1982 World's Fair logo
• The '80s
• The Alliance Financial Mazda sports racer
• The art of syrup making
• The current deployment of French troops in Africa
  
• The establishment
• The feel-good factor
• The formula for the old Spalding ball
• The 'Fortress Carrow' element
• The name: "Deutz engine"
• The nearly forgotten $2 bill
• The notion of using psychedelic drugs as part of therapy
• The Pala
• The spiritual
• The Taliban
• The Thunderbirds
• The term: "A medical home"
• The unbridled revelry of pagan times
• The U.S.
• The white jersey for best young rider
• The word: "prudent"
• Thomas the Tank Engine
• Tickle Me Elmo 10-year anniversary doll
• Tories
• Toyota
• Traditional colors and styles
• Traditional industries
• Traditional remedies
• Traditional toys
• Trams
• Transformers
• Tulip Joshi
• Tulsa AA Maintenance Hub
• Ukuleles
• UPS
• Upside-down trees
• U.S. cities
• Veils
• Victorian clothing
• Vinod Khanna
• Vinyl
• Vinyl singles
• VVS Laxman
• Wheat
• White paint on cars
• White wine
• Whooping cranes
• Wild animals
• Wild turkeys
• With-profits annuities
• WrestlingTalk
• Yellow gold
• Yes tweeds, blouses, skirts, and sensible shoes

News. Fear it.

Yehuda

Session Report, in which we play and review Wildlife

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up here. Games played: Prototype, Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation, Wildlife, Puerto Rico.

I give our first impressions on Wildlife, and hope that the one exceedingly bad game mechanic in it will be cleared up when I look on the Geek in a few minutes.

To end the year, one more in the annals of Chess lunacy: A Chess player was banned for cheating. He was receiving advice from his friends running a chess computer during the match via a bluetooth earpiece. I don't know why so much commentary seems focus on the bluetooth aspect of it, rather than the simple cheating aspect. Unless they are going to come up with some scare stories about how bluetooth makes it easier/encourages people to cheat.

On the positive side of gaming, here's a nice article about Child's Play, who donates video games to hospital and so on.

In my continuing efforts to keep my readers aware of what's going on in the world of board gaming, I present to you the Intelligent Design vs. Evolution Board Game, produced by The Way of the Master. This organization is apparently an effort by Ray Comfort of Living Waters, an evangelical ministry, and Kirk Cameron, former child-star of the sitcom Growing Pains.

From the game description:

At last, a board game that reveals the insanity of perhaps the greatest hoax of our times -- the unscientific "theory of evolution."

"Intelligent Design vs Evolution" is unique in that the playing pieces are small rubber brains and each team plays for "brain" cards. Each player uses his or her brains to get more brains, and the team with the most brains wins.

Meanwhile, the next "next Monopoly" is a game called Portrayal, which is kind of a Pictionary, except that all players have to replicate an image based on another player's 90 second description. It includes a 10-sided die; that's really why I mention it.

Yehuda

Top Ten Predictions About Board Games For 2007

1. "The next Monopoly"

Someone will invent a board game related to their work, neighborhood, or some global issue. This person will claim that they showed it to their friends and children, who all loved it. They will have produced 2,000 copies, of which 500 are in stores in their local neighborhood. They will express hope that their game could be the next "Monopoly" or "Trivial Pursuit". A local television station will cover them, right after an expose on a scandal about old people being scammed and right before a quip from the anchorman and then the local weather.

2. "Old classics become digital"

Someone will quip "forget about those old board games collecting dust in your grandmother's closets" and how today's children want to play digital games. Some old classic still not on video (such as Connect Four or Aggravation) will be ported to video amid hooplah. It will fail, because bad board games are only fun to play with people; they're simply bad when you play them alone.

3."Death of board games"

Marketers will predict that board games are a thing of the past and that today's kids want music accessories, video games, and so on.

4. "The real next Monopoly"

There will be 100 new versions of Monopoly. 90 of them will have exactly three articles in some local papers about how much money was raised to pay Hasbro for the license to produce it with the official graphics, and how much businesses had to pay to get on it. 8 of them will be projects by kids or companies using the alternate production companies, like On Board or USAopoly. The remaining 2 will be talked about in 5000 newspapers because Hasbro does something unusual for them, like include RFID chips, allow people to trade money over the Internet or using an XBOX, or come with shiny new gold specks.

5. "How do they live with themselves?"

Someone will produce a game that many other people will consider in bad taste. While 499 other people also will have done this, this one will get Boing Boinged and then Dugg and then receive national attention because a Christian/ Muslim/ Jewish/ Republican/ Womens/ African sub-continent group will insist on boycotting it. Sales will soar as a result for a few months.

6. "Is that like Monopoly?"

99.9% of the population still won't know what Settlers of Catan is. Many great board games will be released for the 0.1% who know what Setters of Catan is.

7. "Look at my teeth"

A Hollywood has-been will put his/her name behind a board game that is essentially another type of trivia/party game.

8. "What a loser"

A fake board game will be created making fun of a celebrity after he or she is revealed to be a bigot or idiot in some way. Several Flash games will also be created in this vein.

9. "Somebody will get rich!"

Someone will create a board game that is supposed to be instructive about finances in some way and retails for over $400. The lesson to be learned from this is that the way to financial success is to create overpriced board games.

10. "Your grandmother's board games"

Board games will surprise all the newspapers who predicted their demise by doing better than expected around the holiday season, prompting many facile articles about old classics such as Sorry, Candyland, and Chutes and Ladders.

Yehuda

Oh wait, that was 2006 ...

Comment Moderation

By the way, I turned on comment moderation because I was getting blasted with comment spam. I got hit with thirty a few days ago, and another thirty yesterday. I turned on moderation and was able to intercept another ten or so before it stopped.

I will leave the moderation on for a few weeks to see if the spam dies down and then remove it if it does.

Which only proves that someone has perfected the art of automating their way through Blogger's captcha system. And not because they think anyone is likely to click on their link in a blog post, but because it increases their Google ranking or something.

I would like to try describing this problem to someone from the sixteenth century. They would probably kill themselves in despair as to what a pathetic future lies in store for them.

The Gazette from Canada looks like a long but ordinary mainstream article on board games until you find a quote from Scott Alden in the middle. Scott is, according to the article, "one of the brains behind www.

boardgamegeeks.com" (spelling and formatting copied from the original)

Scott goes on to mention Eurogames, Tigris and Euphrates, and Settlers of Catan. Way to go, Scott.

Yehuda

Update: Do you have what it takes to be a board game designer for Hasbro? This seven year-old girl does.