For those of you not following my new blog, Blogging Without a Wire (which is all of you, apparently), my status is that I'm working 1 hour a day blogging small unimportant posts for one company. It pays me about what I'm making through ads on this site.
Which means, I'm well below income level, right now. I was hoping to already have a new position as a corporate blogger, but no luck so far. I was hoping I could do this before I had to take out my Keren Hishtalmut, but this seems inevitable at this point.
With my KH, and my pitzuim from my previous place of employment, if it ever arrives, I'll have another few months. Add my current salary, rental income, and blog income, and I have another month. If I get the Hebrew Apples to Apples done, and there is not too long a delay in getting paid, another two months, perhaps.
It's a tenuous life striking out as something new. Most "blogging" positions pay zero or maybe $5 plus theoretical ad revenue. I can't see how anyone can live on that.
I'm looking for work
I'm looking for an honest paid position, where I'm not only blogging, but working to develop a company's brand around the internet. Following threads, posting in forums, building a site and a company support policy, working with site design, working with customers.
These jobs are hard to find, because it's still a pretty new idea. But I'm willing to give it some more time.
The state of Web 2.0
Meanwhile, the higher paying blog positions require more extensive knowledge of Web 2.0. I'm researching a few thousand companies to see how they tick.
Some have open job positions (I've seen over 200 jobs available at Web 2.0 companies, so far, and I'm barely through 250 companies). Few have blogs.
Too many have sucky About pages, hidden About pages, or none at all. Some assume you know what they do before you use them, so don't bother to tell you. Some prefer to wax on with grandiose claims about the theory of the Internet and how they fit in - without ever telling you what they do. Of course, these turn out to be sites that do the same things as a dozen other sites.
And still: No Blacks or Latinos work on Web 2.0 sites. About 1 out of maybe 30 or 40 founders or managers are women.
Full details when I'm done. If you want my full research notes (or you want to fund my research) let me know.
Yehuda
Monday, August 13, 2007
Review: My Holden Tips (myholdemtips.com)
The following is a paid review.My Holdem Tips (MHT) is a community website devoted to the subject of My Texas Holdem poker. It differs from the previous poker sites I've reviewed in one important way: it's a web 2.0 site.
Previous poker sites I've reviewed contained articles and reviews by the site's owners. As a Web 2.0 site, MHT has all the familiar features you would expect from a community and social media site:
- User logins - Sign in to the site, comment and email content.
- User contributions - The content on the site was primed by the site builders, but the bulk consists of uploaded content from users.
- Ratings - User's content is tagged and rated by the users.
- Forum - User to user communication.
User content contributions include videos and articles.
Videos
Videos on the site are currently divided into 8 categories. The videos include instructional videos, clips from online poker play, and commercials and music videos featuring video content. Videos can be sorted using the same techniques Youtube uses: by rating, most popular, most commented, etc...
The videos contributed by MHT itself are simple and useful. The basic ones are incredibly basic ("a deck of cards contains 52 cards ...") but the more advanced ones cover Holdem topics well.
Since the videos are contributed by the user, there's no guarantee that they're useful, helpful, or even Texas Holdem related. From what I could see, so far most of them appear to have something to do with poker.
As a result, some are salacious, covering topics like strip poker and such. Some of these include actual nudity. So be warned. Others are poker humor, commercials, and so on.
Articles
The articles follow the same categories and format as the videos; there are currently somewhat less articles than videos.
Some of the "articles" are simply notes someone wrote, while others are complete articles about strategy and so on. Some of these articles are from competing poker sites, complete with links back to their sites. ;-)
Forums
The forums are really basic, allowing you to enter a subject and text with smileys. If you're logged in, your user name is automatically applied to your post. Otherwise, the user information in the forums is divorced from the user information of the site, and anyone can post using any user name. And there is no way to delete or correct anything you've written.
Right now, the forums are empty of content, except for two of my test messages.
Resources/Lessons
The Resources link on the navbar leads to a ten step lesson plan in Texas Holdem, integrating videos and articles from the site and instructions on how to slowly step up into serious poker play. These steps include creating accounts at other poker sites, so I didn't follow them through.
This content was all provided by MHT and looks pretty sensible.
Reviews
Ratings are one of MHT's weakest areas.
Only 21 poker sites are listed, and there doesn't appear to be any way of adding any more. Each site uses only numerical ratings along ten or so categories. I'm not sure where the sum total ranking number of a site comes from.
Ratings are purely user based. On the other hand, like the other sites I've reviewed, it is obvious that MHT makes affiliate money from directing people to pay sites, but there is no disclosure to that effect or how it affects the site.
Terms and Conditions
Speaking of which, the bottom page of every site contains a blanket copyright notice, while the terms and conditions of the site specify that uploaded content is still property of the uploader. By uploading, the site can use it in any way they want, so long as the use is related to the site, until you remove the content.
The terms and conditions claim to also set out the privacy terms of the site, but I couldn't find any such terms.
Conclusion
If you are interested in joining a Holdem community, as opposed to simply visiting yet another guy's slick poker site, My Holdem Tips looks pretty nice. The videos are useful and/or entertaining. The site is smooth and easy to navigate, and the web 2.0 aspects are nice. With more users, it could become a hopping site.
Yehuda
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Yinsh With Saarya
Puerto Rico
Rachel and I played what might be our last 2-player PR game before she goes, although who knows what may happen over the next ten days.
I headed to Tobacco, Sugar, and Discretionary Hold, while Rachel took corn, Commodity Exporters, and eventually Large Business. She was slightly ahead in building and shipping points, but I had her edged with money near the end, and I was blocking boats against her Commodity Exporters while shipping extra barrels in the Hold.
It came down to my getting two big buildings to her one, but when the dust settled, she still beat me 62 to 60. A close game and a nice one.
Yinsh
Saarya and I played a game of Yinsh after shabbat ended.
We began with the rings packed together, and they stayed that way during most of the game. I noticed that a certain point on the board is inviolate if there are three rows of disks ending with a ring leading out from it along the three axes. That formation determined a lot of our play.
I offered to swap rows early with Saarya, but he tried to wreck mine, first. Eventually, I got a row off,followed by another one very soon that he simply overlooked.
When you're up by two rings to zero, you only care about winning and don't mind letting your opponent get his rows off. I did some setting up while Saarya took off one row, and then set myself up for a winning row as he took off the second. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that I was one disk short. He cut across, and we were now equal.
I thought I was in good shape, nonetheless, as his moves were forced and his disks piled up on the side of the board, but Yinsh in the type of game where a row of disks is dangerous for both sides, regardless of the color.
He swept out with a great move, leaving himself two pivotal points which I couldn't block - but neither could he flip: he had disks in the right area, but the lines terminated at the end of the board. Unfortunately for me, I was in a similar position.
And he had just the right freedom he needed to move into position for the last jump, while I didn't, without flipping one of his tiles for him and thus giving the game to him.
An exciting game and a great comeback for Saarya. And none of you could follow this description at all without seeing the board, which sucks.
Game News
The NY Daily News reran an old David Barry column on board games.
Scott John Siegel is trying his hand at "off the grid" game design for Escapist magazine. Here is his first go, Magic Numbers, a simple bluffing dice game.
Oh yes. By the way, this lovely Brazilian Belizean woman loves to play board games.
Maybe you should, too?
Yehuda
Rachel and I played what might be our last 2-player PR game before she goes, although who knows what may happen over the next ten days.
I headed to Tobacco, Sugar, and Discretionary Hold, while Rachel took corn, Commodity Exporters, and eventually Large Business. She was slightly ahead in building and shipping points, but I had her edged with money near the end, and I was blocking boats against her Commodity Exporters while shipping extra barrels in the Hold.
It came down to my getting two big buildings to her one, but when the dust settled, she still beat me 62 to 60. A close game and a nice one.
Yinsh
Saarya and I played a game of Yinsh after shabbat ended.
We began with the rings packed together, and they stayed that way during most of the game. I noticed that a certain point on the board is inviolate if there are three rows of disks ending with a ring leading out from it along the three axes. That formation determined a lot of our play.
I offered to swap rows early with Saarya, but he tried to wreck mine, first. Eventually, I got a row off,followed by another one very soon that he simply overlooked.
When you're up by two rings to zero, you only care about winning and don't mind letting your opponent get his rows off. I did some setting up while Saarya took off one row, and then set myself up for a winning row as he took off the second. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that I was one disk short. He cut across, and we were now equal.
I thought I was in good shape, nonetheless, as his moves were forced and his disks piled up on the side of the board, but Yinsh in the type of game where a row of disks is dangerous for both sides, regardless of the color.
He swept out with a great move, leaving himself two pivotal points which I couldn't block - but neither could he flip: he had disks in the right area, but the lines terminated at the end of the board. Unfortunately for me, I was in a similar position.
And he had just the right freedom he needed to move into position for the last jump, while I didn't, without flipping one of his tiles for him and thus giving the game to him.
An exciting game and a great comeback for Saarya. And none of you could follow this description at all without seeing the board, which sucks.
Game News
The NY Daily News reran an old David Barry column on board games.
Scott John Siegel is trying his hand at "off the grid" game design for Escapist magazine. Here is his first go, Magic Numbers, a simple bluffing dice game.
Oh yes. By the way, this lovely Maybe you should, too?
Yehuda
Friday, August 10, 2007
Electronic Arts Buys Rights to Hasbro Games
You'll soon be seeing Hasbro games done up fine and fancy on your video systems. Electronic Arts has reached an agreement with Hasbro to produce Monopoly, Scrabble, et al.
These are the games that were shrinking in popularity due to the onset of computer games, right? Being able to play them on your computer makes them better? Will you at least be able to play these over the Internet with other players?
Rahala is a trivia game covering 4000 years of Arab history.
New Yorker magazine has its own board game, too.
By the way, my last post came about as I'm in the middle of doing some extensive research into Web 2.0 companies. One other curious fact I've learned (I've studied more than 200 Web 2.0 companies, so far): almost no women anywhere are managing or founding these companies, and not a single black person. Lots of white males, Jews, Asians, and Europeans. If this trend continues, expect a longer blog post about it.
These are the games that were shrinking in popularity due to the onset of computer games, right? Being able to play them on your computer makes them better? Will you at least be able to play these over the Internet with other players?
Rahala is a trivia game covering 4000 years of Arab history.
New Yorker magazine has its own board game, too.
By the way, my last post came about as I'm in the middle of doing some extensive research into Web 2.0 companies. One other curious fact I've learned (I've studied more than 200 Web 2.0 companies, so far): almost no women anywhere are managing or founding these companies, and not a single black person. Lots of white males, Jews, Asians, and Europeans. If this trend continues, expect a longer blog post about it.
How to Create a Web 2.0 Brand Name
1. Choose one of the following:
A. Misspelled word OR two misspelled words
B. misCapitalize
C. Funny name
D. Punned Phrase OR joined phrase
A. Misspelled word(s)
a. Drop a letter from the word. Dropping an "e" is popular, e.g. Flickr. Or a vowel before a letter which sounds like itself, phonetically, such as "l" or "r", e.g. Vowl.
b. Double a letter, such as "r". Grrls.
c. Change a vowel sound into the appropriate number. Gr8!
d. Add an extraneous letter in front: iTomato, jDiapers, eSnoring, xFiles.
e. For two misspelled words, misspell one or both and concaten8.
B. misCapitalize
E.g. tUnes. MissPell. grbagE.
C. Funny name
Choose a color and an animal, e.g. Blue Octopus. Red Shellfish. Turquoise Tomato. Or try an alcoholic drink (or something that sounds like one), e.g. Blue Martini, Purple Jamaica.
D. Phrases
SingShot. PhoneHomey. SecludedSound. TVGlide. Human Textuality. BlahBlahBlah.
For best results, try to get a "hip" word into the name, like "click", "dot", "web", "share", "connect", etc...
Yehuda
A. Misspelled word OR two misspelled words
B. misCapitalize
C. Funny name
D. Punned Phrase OR joined phrase
A. Misspelled word(s)
a. Drop a letter from the word. Dropping an "e" is popular, e.g. Flickr. Or a vowel before a letter which sounds like itself, phonetically, such as "l" or "r", e.g. Vowl.
b. Double a letter, such as "r". Grrls.
c. Change a vowel sound into the appropriate number. Gr8!
d. Add an extraneous letter in front: iTomato, jDiapers, eSnoring, xFiles.
e. For two misspelled words, misspell one or both and concaten8.
B. misCapitalize
E.g. tUnes. MissPell. grbagE.
C. Funny name
Choose a color and an animal, e.g. Blue Octopus. Red Shellfish. Turquoise Tomato. Or try an alcoholic drink (or something that sounds like one), e.g. Blue Martini, Purple Jamaica.
D. Phrases
SingShot. PhoneHomey. SecludedSound. TVGlide. Human Textuality. BlahBlahBlah.
For best results, try to get a "hip" word into the name, like "click", "dot", "web", "share", "connect", etc...
Yehuda
July Board and Card Game Patents
The patent train is leaving the station. All aboard!
Quoit board - The game of Quoits isn't popular enough, according to this patent's claim, because the board is too heavy. Here's a plastic board.
Method of playing a card game - 3 card poker game with two rounds, one communal, and one individual vs the dealer.
Board Game - The game of Sevinpold, not terribly well-thought of by BGGers. The designers claim that the game combines luck and skill, and allows you to win with some lucky tosses no matter how far behind you are.
Game board - A design patent for a board of six 4x4 diamonds arranged in a hexagon.
Method of playing a poker-type wagering game with multiple betting options - Each player gets three cards as individual hands. They can toss one for free, and a second losing part of the bet after the first common card is flipped up.
Board game - A design patent for a board game called Compassion. The board looks a lot like the Trivial Pursuit board.
Slotted game board and gaming table - A games table that includes slots in the table surface to hold cards or dominoes.
Card game - A shedding game. Discard a card that is a multiple or divisor of the top card in the discard pile. There must be more to the game because I can't imagine how this could work.
Golf board game - From the description, an intentionally dumb board game that doesn't require the players to have to think, allowing more time for socializing.
Casino game with multiple playing modes and wagering options - A convoluted poker game called "Showdown Poker".
Game board - Math based game on a board that looks a lot like a Mancala board.
A light month.
Yehuda
Quoit board - The game of Quoits isn't popular enough, according to this patent's claim, because the board is too heavy. Here's a plastic board.
Method of playing a card game - 3 card poker game with two rounds, one communal, and one individual vs the dealer.
Board Game - The game of Sevinpold, not terribly well-thought of by BGGers. The designers claim that the game combines luck and skill, and allows you to win with some lucky tosses no matter how far behind you are.
Game board - A design patent for a board of six 4x4 diamonds arranged in a hexagon.
Method of playing a poker-type wagering game with multiple betting options - Each player gets three cards as individual hands. They can toss one for free, and a second losing part of the bet after the first common card is flipped up.
Board game - A design patent for a board game called Compassion. The board looks a lot like the Trivial Pursuit board.
Slotted game board and gaming table - A games table that includes slots in the table surface to hold cards or dominoes.
Card game - A shedding game. Discard a card that is a multiple or divisor of the top card in the discard pile. There must be more to the game because I can't imagine how this could work.
Golf board game - From the description, an intentionally dumb board game that doesn't require the players to have to think, allowing more time for socializing.
Casino game with multiple playing modes and wagering options - A convoluted poker game called "Showdown Poker".
Game board - Math based game on a board that looks a lot like a Mancala board.
A light month.
Yehuda
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Analyzing My Top Ten Games / 50% Off Rio Grande Games at Amazon
John Dextraze wrote to me as follows:
A summary of my top ten board games:
10. Santiago
09. The Princes of Florence (Only $21.57 at Amazon right now, by the way; see more deals below)
08. Anagrams (link is to Scrabble set; just toss out the board)
07. El Grande
06. Tigris & Euphrates
05. Pente
04. Age of Steam
03. Cosmic Encounter (OOP, try searching eBay for Eon or Mayfair editions)
02. Puerto Rico
01. Go
A summary of my top ten important aspects in a game:
10. Not offensive
09. Limited decisions each turn
08. Heavy, without dragging
07. Multiple strategic goals
06. Randomness without luck
05. Interaction without much negotiation
04. Much depth
03. Extensibility
02. The game experience
01. Replayability for a lifetime
First Notes
I think the first thing you have to note is that my important aspects refer to "games", while my favorites list refers only to "board games".
When I made my favorites list for board games only, that was deliberate. In so doing, I left off a number of games that would have knocked off many of my lower ranked games. I would add games such as Magic: the Gathering, Bridge, some sort of generic RPG such as 1st edition D&D, 8-Ball Billiards, Air Hockey, and even Ultimate Flying Disc.
It all depends on how I set my list restrictions. Allowing only board games, I had to pick some games which are sub-optimal, because I haven't yet found ten perfect board games.
Common Matches for all the Games
All of the games fulfill criteria 10, in that they, and the companies that produce them, are not offensive to me.
As far as criteria 3, I've only tried to extend four of the games (Princes of Florence and the top three). But it wouldn't be that difficult to do for the other six. Add special effects for different locations, player powers, or missions. I just haven't played these games enough to bother, yet.
For criteria 2, only my top three games have the game experience extending beyond the confines of the game. You'll find that that's true for most board games, simply because the game experience is hard to find in them. Board games tend to exist only in the box, starting when they're taken out of the box, and ending when they're put back in the box. The game experience is more common in RPGs, CCGs, and some other games, such as Bridge.
And, of course, I feel that all of these games are replayable for a lifetime. I haven't got bored of them, yet, anyway, and I've played them all between 10 and 1000 times.
Which leave me to examine criteria 9,8,7,6,5, and 4 for each game.
Santiago
Santiago has limited decisions each turn (9).
It is not that heavy, but definitely not light (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: spend a lot or save a lot, join fields or isolate your fields (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but little luck (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's pretty deep, especially as the game goes on (4).
The Princes of Florence
Princes of Florence has limited decisions each turn (9).
It is pretty heavy, but doesn't drag (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: heavy Jesters, heavy building, a mixture, or something unusual (7).
The only randomness is the card picks where you can choose one card out of five to keep, and the turn order (6).
Like other auction games, there is interaction without negotiation (5).
It's very deep (4).
Princes is one of the games for which I create an expansion (3).
Anagrams
Anagrams has a number of decisions each turn, but being a contest of speed, you can't utilize all your time trying to find all the possible decisions (9).
It's a light game, but a brain-burner (8).
Strategies include looking to form short words with the open tiles, holding in reserve words for which you're waiting for tiles, and protecting vs stealing words (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but no luck at all (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's pretty deep in a verbal manner (4).
El Grande
El Grande has limited decisions each turn, although the Intrigues give a few more decisions than most. Nevertheless, most of those decisions are easily pruned (9).
It is heavy, and can drag a bit, depending on who you play with (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: first place in some, or second place in many, and how much to use the castillo (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but little luck (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's pretty deep (4).
Tigris & Euphrates
Tigris & Euphrates has limited decisions each turn; although the board is wide open, most choices are easily pruned (9).
It is very heavy, but doesn't drag (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: isolate or expand, which colors, what types of conflicts, and so on (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but little luck, although it is possible to get hammered with some really bad draws for the strategy you're pursuing (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's extremely deep (4).
Pente
Pente has limited decisions each turn, because most plays will obviously lose quickly (9).
It is fairly light play, but heavy thinking is required (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: Five in a row, five captures, aggressive vs cautious (7).
It has neither randomness nor luck, but the game often diverges well after the first few series of moves (6).
It has interaction without negotiation (5).
It's very deep as your experience with the game grows (4).
Age of Steam
Age of Steam has limited decisions each turn (9).
It is very heavy, but doesn't drag (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: short or long routes, which roles to concentrate on, how to grow your networks, etc. (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but little luck (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's very deep, as are many god rail games (4).
Cosmic Encounter
Cosmic Encounter is the game that breaks its own rules, so I would expect it to break these, too.
It generally has limited decisions each turn (9).
It's pretty light, but good planning and negotiation can go a long way (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: choosing your allies and enemies, overt or covert wins, single or joint wins (7).
It's got a lot of luck, but so many random cards are drawn, that a lot of the luck can cancel out (6).
It's got negotiation; it's the only negotiation game I can handle, because it's just so funny (5).
It's not at all deep (4).
So yeah, it violates a lot of the rules, but CE has so many rules and so many exceptions, that it's always a blast to play, especially for a rules lawyer and variant maker like me. The game is extensible, we've added and changed many rules, and thousands of powers, cards, and other expansions have been added to the game.
And every game gives you the game experience, with great stories that carry over well after the game is put back into the box.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has limited decisions each turn (9).
It is deep but doesn't feel heavy (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: shipping vs building, high score vs low score, and which goods to produce. (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but very little luck (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's very deep, especially as you gain experience in the game (4).
I've added many expansions to the game. And I spend time before and after games, discussing the game, how the game will be played, and how the game was played. It's an experience.
Go
Go has limited decisions each turn, despite a wide open board, because most moves can be pruned after not much thought (9).
It is very light play, but very deep thinking (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: aggressive vs defensive, single territory, multiple territories, and many others that I can't begin to understand, let alone describe (7).
It has no luck, but the game often diverges well after the first few series of moves (6).
It has interaction without negotiation (5).
It's incredibly deep, especially as your experience grows (4).
Games are played on different sized boards and with or without handicaps. There are many variants available to try. The game requires much study before and after the game, and has a language and culture all its own.
Thoughts
So do they match? I think fairly well. For Cosmic Encounter, the humor and rules lawyering in the game adds a lot, but it's a very specific exception.
As to the lack of luck in Pente and Go, they are also exceptions, being abstract games played on large boards that look very different each time they're played. Other abstracts are also strong contenders, such as Yinsh and Dvonn (Dvonn almost made the list; Dvonn's setup phase feels very random).
Deals
While looking up the games on Amazon, I noticed some pretty good deals on a few Rio Grande Games (all around 50% off):
The Princes of Florence - $21.57
Yinsh - $17.79
Carcassonne - The City - $26.97
Elfenland - $22.60
Frank's Zoo - $6.45
The Traders of Genoa - $21.57
Around the World in 80 Days - $20.49
Pick Picknic - $9.45
Paris Paris - $20.99
Evergreen - $16.90
Adam & Eva - $18.69
Igloo Pop - $17.79
If you buy one of these games, you'll be happy, Amazon will be happy, and I'll be happy. What a deal.
Yehuda
Your favorite games vs your top 10 important aspects of a game do not seem to correspond to each other in any great depth.He asked me to make the comparison. And so I will.
A summary of my top ten board games:
10. Santiago
09. The Princes of Florence (Only $21.57 at Amazon right now, by the way; see more deals below)
08. Anagrams (link is to Scrabble set; just toss out the board)
07. El Grande
06. Tigris & Euphrates
05. Pente
04. Age of Steam
03. Cosmic Encounter (OOP, try searching eBay for Eon or Mayfair editions)
02. Puerto Rico
01. Go
A summary of my top ten important aspects in a game:
10. Not offensive
09. Limited decisions each turn
08. Heavy, without dragging
07. Multiple strategic goals
06. Randomness without luck
05. Interaction without much negotiation
04. Much depth
03. Extensibility
02. The game experience
01. Replayability for a lifetime
First Notes
I think the first thing you have to note is that my important aspects refer to "games", while my favorites list refers only to "board games".
When I made my favorites list for board games only, that was deliberate. In so doing, I left off a number of games that would have knocked off many of my lower ranked games. I would add games such as Magic: the Gathering, Bridge, some sort of generic RPG such as 1st edition D&D, 8-Ball Billiards, Air Hockey, and even Ultimate Flying Disc.
It all depends on how I set my list restrictions. Allowing only board games, I had to pick some games which are sub-optimal, because I haven't yet found ten perfect board games.
Common Matches for all the Games
All of the games fulfill criteria 10, in that they, and the companies that produce them, are not offensive to me.
As far as criteria 3, I've only tried to extend four of the games (Princes of Florence and the top three). But it wouldn't be that difficult to do for the other six. Add special effects for different locations, player powers, or missions. I just haven't played these games enough to bother, yet.
For criteria 2, only my top three games have the game experience extending beyond the confines of the game. You'll find that that's true for most board games, simply because the game experience is hard to find in them. Board games tend to exist only in the box, starting when they're taken out of the box, and ending when they're put back in the box. The game experience is more common in RPGs, CCGs, and some other games, such as Bridge.
And, of course, I feel that all of these games are replayable for a lifetime. I haven't got bored of them, yet, anyway, and I've played them all between 10 and 1000 times.
Which leave me to examine criteria 9,8,7,6,5, and 4 for each game.
Santiago
Santiago has limited decisions each turn (9).
It is not that heavy, but definitely not light (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: spend a lot or save a lot, join fields or isolate your fields (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but little luck (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's pretty deep, especially as the game goes on (4).
The Princes of Florence
Princes of Florence has limited decisions each turn (9).
It is pretty heavy, but doesn't drag (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: heavy Jesters, heavy building, a mixture, or something unusual (7).
The only randomness is the card picks where you can choose one card out of five to keep, and the turn order (6).
Like other auction games, there is interaction without negotiation (5).
It's very deep (4).
Princes is one of the games for which I create an expansion (3).
Anagrams
Anagrams has a number of decisions each turn, but being a contest of speed, you can't utilize all your time trying to find all the possible decisions (9).
It's a light game, but a brain-burner (8).
Strategies include looking to form short words with the open tiles, holding in reserve words for which you're waiting for tiles, and protecting vs stealing words (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but no luck at all (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's pretty deep in a verbal manner (4).
El Grande
El Grande has limited decisions each turn, although the Intrigues give a few more decisions than most. Nevertheless, most of those decisions are easily pruned (9).
It is heavy, and can drag a bit, depending on who you play with (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: first place in some, or second place in many, and how much to use the castillo (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but little luck (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's pretty deep (4).
Tigris & Euphrates
Tigris & Euphrates has limited decisions each turn; although the board is wide open, most choices are easily pruned (9).
It is very heavy, but doesn't drag (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: isolate or expand, which colors, what types of conflicts, and so on (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but little luck, although it is possible to get hammered with some really bad draws for the strategy you're pursuing (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's extremely deep (4).
Pente
Pente has limited decisions each turn, because most plays will obviously lose quickly (9).
It is fairly light play, but heavy thinking is required (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: Five in a row, five captures, aggressive vs cautious (7).
It has neither randomness nor luck, but the game often diverges well after the first few series of moves (6).
It has interaction without negotiation (5).
It's very deep as your experience with the game grows (4).
Age of Steam
Age of Steam has limited decisions each turn (9).
It is very heavy, but doesn't drag (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: short or long routes, which roles to concentrate on, how to grow your networks, etc. (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but little luck (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's very deep, as are many god rail games (4).
Cosmic Encounter
Cosmic Encounter is the game that breaks its own rules, so I would expect it to break these, too.
It generally has limited decisions each turn (9).
It's pretty light, but good planning and negotiation can go a long way (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: choosing your allies and enemies, overt or covert wins, single or joint wins (7).
It's got a lot of luck, but so many random cards are drawn, that a lot of the luck can cancel out (6).
It's got negotiation; it's the only negotiation game I can handle, because it's just so funny (5).
It's not at all deep (4).
So yeah, it violates a lot of the rules, but CE has so many rules and so many exceptions, that it's always a blast to play, especially for a rules lawyer and variant maker like me. The game is extensible, we've added and changed many rules, and thousands of powers, cards, and other expansions have been added to the game.
And every game gives you the game experience, with great stories that carry over well after the game is put back into the box.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has limited decisions each turn (9).
It is deep but doesn't feel heavy (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: shipping vs building, high score vs low score, and which goods to produce. (7).
It is an excellent example of a game with randomness but very little luck (6),
as well as interaction without negotiation (5).
It's very deep, especially as you gain experience in the game (4).
I've added many expansions to the game. And I spend time before and after games, discussing the game, how the game will be played, and how the game was played. It's an experience.
Go
Go has limited decisions each turn, despite a wide open board, because most moves can be pruned after not much thought (9).
It is very light play, but very deep thinking (8).
There are multiple strategic goals: aggressive vs defensive, single territory, multiple territories, and many others that I can't begin to understand, let alone describe (7).
It has no luck, but the game often diverges well after the first few series of moves (6).
It has interaction without negotiation (5).
It's incredibly deep, especially as your experience grows (4).
Games are played on different sized boards and with or without handicaps. There are many variants available to try. The game requires much study before and after the game, and has a language and culture all its own.
Thoughts
So do they match? I think fairly well. For Cosmic Encounter, the humor and rules lawyering in the game adds a lot, but it's a very specific exception.
As to the lack of luck in Pente and Go, they are also exceptions, being abstract games played on large boards that look very different each time they're played. Other abstracts are also strong contenders, such as Yinsh and Dvonn (Dvonn almost made the list; Dvonn's setup phase feels very random).
Deals
While looking up the games on Amazon, I noticed some pretty good deals on a few Rio Grande Games (all around 50% off):
The Princes of Florence - $21.57
Yinsh - $17.79
Carcassonne - The City - $26.97
Elfenland - $22.60
Frank's Zoo - $6.45
The Traders of Genoa - $21.57
Around the World in 80 Days - $20.49
Pick Picknic - $9.45
Paris Paris - $20.99
Evergreen - $16.90
Adam & Eva - $18.69
Igloo Pop - $17.79
If you buy one of these games, you'll be happy, Amazon will be happy, and I'll be happy. What a deal.
Yehuda
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