Some Games I Like But You Don't

There's a class of games which I have an inexplicable affection for where that affection is rarely shared by my geekbuddies. They have the following characteristics:

• Euro-games, which are...
  
• high in luck
• short in play time
• low complexity
• usually highly tactical.

To me, these games offer all players a chance whilst allowing cunning players to slightly improve their chances. If the best player doesn't win, so what? That's often the case even in a game into which more effort is invested. Here are some examples:

Africa - Knizia seems to able to produce work at all levels of complexity and quality. In Africa the continent is covered with discoveries which the explorers will make. Whoever manages to organise those discoveries into the most points wins. You're mostly at the mercy oof the tokens you turn over, but there are sometimes chances to score a few more points, and it's those chances you need to take to improve your chance of winning.

Celtica - Kramer and Kiesling's much maligned light offering does have charm other than the artwork. It's mostly a game of avoiding Viking encampments by managing your hand well enough that someone else has to take the heat before you do. It's a case of holding your breath longer than anyone else, but there are subtle choices you can make which improve your chances.

Tsuro - At first glance this seems to be an extremely chaotic game, and with increasing numbers of players there is increasing player chaos. However, with a bit of experience you realise that there are things you can do. In one three player game I laid my tiles such that other players had few chances too enter my side of the board, and furthermore I had an escape route back to some empty space - i.e. I was building two tracks at once. With more players you just need to play so that the other players are confined to a smaller space than you are and then hoope for the best.

Castle Merchants - I only played this once but I liked thinking about how I could build terrain to suit my cards and goals. The use of the blocking tiles might well be where the game is won or lost, but I need more experience.

Dragon Parade - With other players competing to control the dragon this can be a chaotic game. You need to examine the cards in your card, compare them too what other players are doing, and place your bets according to where you think the dragon is most likely to end up. Sometimes you win.

These games don't count because I classify them as abstract Euros (and hence are not so high in luck): Through the Desert, Alexandros, Trias, Cartagena.

These don't count because they're more strategic: Rheinlander, St Petersburg.

These don't count because they're longer and more complex: Tikal, Reef Encounter.

I think this class of game doesn't get much love because they're chaotic. Killer Bunnies is denounced as being a crap shooot, but (hang on, maybe you haven't played it... players win bunny cards during the game, at the end one of them is chosen as the winning bunny, like in a lottery) the player who accumulated the most bunnies gave himself the best chance and was most likely to win. If you played well is it really such a big deal that you didn't win?

I Went to Fraser's Bed Room And All I Got Was Bitter And a Nasty Little Rash

Actually, all I got was two games of solitaire Einfach Genial, but that's not half as interesting as UK Squeeze's clever line.

I tried to get onto BrettSpielWelt last night for the first time in well over a year, and completely failed due to their server being down. Melissa's Aussie Games Night in Lupus Landing was a bit of a flop since nobody could log on. BSW was working well enough for me to think it might be useful, but not well enough to say ES IS NICHT GUT - GEHEN SIE AUS - SCHNELL SCHNELL. So I tried again this evening because Java applications should not defeat me, and it works. In that incomprehensible way that BSW does. I followed Melissa's instructions to get to Lupus Landing and... what next. Some nice German person offered hilfe, I think, but I said "don't try to sell me that shit I'm just here to play games". I Googled for some help, and it didn't. I clicked on everything I could see and found Fraser's house. I went in... no Fraser. I found Melissa's very nice little house (dude, leave the domestic decoration to her!) and went in... no Melissa. They might be hiding in 7ofAnn's house for all I know... but more likely Fraser is at a RL game group and Melissa is putting the infamous Otto and Biggie to bed.

But eventually I found a house where an Einfach Genial board was set up and was able to play solitaire. At the time, I should have been putting my own kid to bed, but instead he was surfing the web downloading Weird Al songs. But still, I played a couple of games.

I didn't do very well. But at least I can mostly work BSW now. This internet thing might catch on.

"To change the mood a little I've been posing down the pub
On seeing my reflection I'm looking slightly rough
I fancy this, I fancy that, I wanna be so flash
I give a little muscle and I spend a little cash
But all I get is bitter and a nasty little rash
And by the time I'm sober I've forgotten what I've had
And everybody tells me that it's cool to be a cat; it's cool for cats"

Why I Log On-Line Plays

Towards the end of last year my monthly Games Played numbers went up from 40-50 games per month to more like 60. Over December and January, when I had leave, they were over 100. The reason was that I started playing Scrabble on-line (on Facebook) and started logging those on-line plays. I never used to log on-line plays, despite the fact that I learnt Cartagena at BrettSpielWelt from a German speaker, and played Diamant on-line before I ever saw a real copy. I thought it was cheating. However since I've been running the extended stats and wondering exactly why I bother to keep those numbers, I've changed my mind.

Consider the potential restrictions one might place on oneself for logging plays:
* Only face-to-face
* Only against human opponents
* No restriction at all.

I've been logging solitaire plays of Runebound and Roads and Boats for a long time, as to me those games lose very little by not having opponents. So the face-to-face thing doesn't worry me much. In particular, I have had situations where Scrabblette and I have played Scrabble on-line while we're both in the same house. Not logging that play would be discriminating only on whether I could get her to a physical board or not. My Games Played log is definitely not a record of my ability to organise people to get to the same place at the same time. If it was, my regular Scrabble opponents in London, Beijing and Townsville wouldn't contribute to my statistics at all.

I figure the best thing I want the Games Played log to be is a record of how many times I have played a game. Now I find games against computer opponents to often be very different to games against a real person, because against a computer opponent I can't bank on their fallibility. Playing Hex on-line I often think "I hope if I go here he won't see that counter-move", and that's often the case, whereas Hexy just hammers me every time. I enjoy taking the chance my opponent won't see something, and am pleasantly surprised when they do. To me, the games I play are not just about making the best move, they are also about making the best move AGAINST THAT OPPONENT. Consequently, I don't log plays against AIs.

Still though, there is something to be said for that too. If I play 100 times against an AI I'll probably defeat a complete newbie, so plays against AIs definitely give you some of the skills of the game. I think if I was just a bit more friendless I would do that.

Pelican Sheep Station

Scrabblette and I spent the last week at Pelican Sheep Station near Goulburn, New South Wales. As even Australians don't know where Goulburn is, it's near Canberra. Goulburn is quite a decent little town - secondhand book stores, internet cafe, all the mod cons. Unlike Canberra.

I clocked up 69 plays while we were there - many children's games and party games, but also a decent number of capital games. I was badly beaten at Goa, Attika, Rheinlander and St Petersburg, but won at Alexandros, On the Underground, Through the Desert, and Unpublished Prototype. In addition I played Crokinole for the first time, and for the fifth time, and with any luck my board will arrive home with CyberKev.

My favourite new game was Crokinole, my favourite old game was Alexandros, my least favourite new game was Dungeon Twister and my least favourite old game was Balloon Cup.

Trades!

As mentioned in earlier posts, I've been doing a big clean-up of the game collection. You guys are noticeably NOT volunteering to trade my dross away from me. However, anything half decent is being snapped up, and I've completed some trades this month.

Nexus Ops for Africa - Nexus Ops is a very sweet game- nice bits, very good mechanic for encouraging war without turtling or complete player destruction, and easy enough to play. However even that much player confrontation doesn't really work for me, and I couldn't see myself getting much play out of it. On the other hand, Africa is a decent mid-weight Euro that I quite like, and I've already played 3 times. I think I liked the 2 player games better than 4 players, as with 2 players I expect the screwage (e.g. the kid dumped an antelope where I was about to put a camp for 5 points), and with 4 players I feel picked on.

China for Java - I like Tikal and Torres a lot, and am very interested in trying out the rest of the Mask series. I bought China because I wanted Web of Power, and it turns out that I wanted the theme more than I wanted the game. I'd much rather control Frankreich than Wu. China will be missed by people other than me, but if I can get Web of Power I may be forgiven.

Thurn and Taxis for Ticket to Ride: Marklin - Thurn and Taxis is a beautiful beautiful game, but I could never make any sense of the strategy, and that bugged me. In fact I never came better than third in a game, until I played 2 player when I actually won. So I traded it to the guy I beat... so he can lose at it? On the other hand Ticket to Ride is a game of which my opinion varies from "brilliant" to "boring". It's sort of a good connection game, but it's sort of boring when people block your routes... I can't make up my mind. But the big issue is that Scrabblette likes it. Scrabblette particularly likes the U.S. map (which is why we own TransAmerica as well as TransEuropa), so I will also have to get the base game, and I'll probably get Switzerland as well while I'm at it. I got Marklin as a stop-gap, and because I like the model trains and the 4+ engines.

We're Going Gaming For a Week

But only one week. I think all of these will fit in the car. Visible: Bamboleo, Roads and Boats, Carrom, Dancing Egg Game, BattleLore: Call to Arms, Balloon Cup, Army of Frogs, Tzaar, Die Dolmengotter, Super Scrabble, Primordial Soup.

A Word So Weird It Must Be An Australian Animal

"It's OK! I've overstood! It's a Wordy Rappinghood!"

The other day Scrabblette was waching me play Scrabble on-line and saw me play JABIRU and asked "what's that?" This is the only word ever Scrabblette has not been able to tell me the etymology of. It's a type of stork. That suggested to me that many Scrabble players may not know some types of animals that are native to Australia, so I've compiled a list of some of them. I've checked these against SOWPODS, use them in a TWL game at your peril.

ANEMONE
BILBY
BITTERN
BOOBOOK
BROLGA
BUDGERIGAR
BUDGIE
CASSOWARY
CORELLA
CORVID
COUCAL
CRAKE
CUTTLEBONE
CUTTLEFISH
DRONGO
DUGONG
DUNNART
ECHIDNA
EMU
FROGFISH
FROGMOUTH
GALAH
GALLINULE
GOANNA
GOATFISH
GREBE
GURNARD
HEELER
JABIRU
JACANA
JUMBUCK
KANGAROO
KOALA
MOORHEN
NANNYGAI
NIGHTJAR
NUMBAT
PADEMELON
PARDALOTE
PIPIT
PIPPY
PITTA
PLATYPUS
POTOROO
QUOKKA
QUOLL
ROSELLA
ROUGHY
SKUA
STINGAREE
THYLACINE
WALLABY
WOMBAT
ZEBRAFISH

NANNYGAI's a pretty good one, isn't it? Your opponent is sure to challenge! By the way if anyone knows where my Tom Toom Club CD is, could they please tell me?

The Great Game Reorganisation Continues

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm doing a sort-of-major shake-up of the game collection. The point is that I have many more games than I play, and I only want to have a few more games than I play. It occurred to me that if I did get rid of some of the games that I did play and didn't like very much that would be a good thing, but my optimism maintains its stratospheric heights, and a lot of games are staying in case they get better with experience and I get an opponent who likes them, and all that sort of stuff.

The first obvious result has been the reorganisation of the games shelves. I now have one set of shelves for kids and party games, one set of shelves for word and abstract games, and one set of shelves for proper good games. Of course I love the word and abstract games as well, but it's harder to find opponents for them. I'll take photos one day, but if I do it this evening the light won't be good and the photos will be grainy.

I also revised my ratings on BGG. Mostly it was minor, but I did promote a whole lot of 9s to 10s.

Attika - my purchases of Attika, Taluva and Funny Friends last year really made me take notice of Marcel-Andre Casasola-Merkla as a designer. Attika is a very nice combination of (sort of) economic engine and connection game. It plays very nicely with 2 to 4 players.

Domaine - I previously had this at a 10, but I tired of it a little but now I'm hungry to play again. It's bordering on too aggressive for me, but I know that being attacked is a sign of weakness and the game is all about managing your weakness to hold together your domaines long enough to win the game. I much prefer the simple card purchase system over the Lowenherz auction, and I like the geometrical challenge of getting the limited number of fences into the right places.

Hare and Tortoise - It's a serious math nerd game and I'm a serious math nerd. Sometimes it's just frustrating as described in my session report, but I realise now that I should have been using a different strategy and it was my own fault for losing.

Rheinlander - This is now my only 10 I don't own, and I've never even won it - CyberKev has beaten me every time. I really can't grok the scoring system. But I love the way the duchies can expand and threaten each other and sometimes the card you desperately need really does show up. And it's all over in 45 minutes! My plan is for this to be my first purchase of the new year.

St Petersburg - Yes, it's a very strange game, but once you get past the shooting-yourself-in-the-foot stage it's brilliantly tactical. I love the art work, I love the theme, and I love economic engines. That Michael Tummelhofer sure is a smart guy.

Tigris and Euphrates - another sort-of aggressive game, but you just have to realise that the empires are not mine and yours, they are mine and ours. It's a sharing game! I love the connection / disconnection aspects, and the possibility of really great moves.

Tikal - A very thinky game, with connection aspects and the potential for great moves again. Hey, I'm seeing a theme here! It involves a lot of counting, but that's something that sort of comes naturally to me, and my plotting and planning keeps me engaged for the entire game.

Torres - Another game with connection aspects and the potential for great moves. I love the way someone tries to escape onto a really tall tower all by themselves, and maybe with the right action card and a cunning plan you can catch them and take their stuff. The components are stunning, and sometimes I just scatter them on my bed and roll around naked. Oh hang on, no, that's a different game.

Game Room Stocktake

I just did a stocktake using my collection checklist as found at:

http://friendless.servegame.org/stats/checklist_Friendless.html

If you're on the stats you have one too. Sadly, I found all of the games I thought I owned and seven more. There goes the Friendless metric. *Sigh*.

Yes, Agricola Really Is That Good

I spent this evening at CyberKev's house playing the print'n'play version of Agricola. This version is a combination of Melissa's translation and (someone I forget)'s paste-up art, all printed on cyberkev's printer. In case you think that's illegal or immoral or something, cyberkev and I both have preordered it - Zev is getting money out of us anyway! So, onto the game.

Agricola combines the good bits of Puerto Rico, Caylus and Roads and Boats, which is pretty clever because I didn't even realise Caylus HAD any good bits. The good bits of Caylus were that you could put a token on a building to do stuff. In Agricola that bit is translated to "you have a person who goes and does some work". The bad bits of Caylus were building ownership, bailiff / provost backstabbery bullshit and stupid theme about building a cathedral or castle or something that only served to interfere with the rest of your plans. Agricola has none of that crap.

I found the selection of actions to be much more like Puerto Rico (and hence San Juan) where you're just hoping that the other player won't take the action (role) you want to take. Even better, if the scum does take it, there's often a second-best alternative. In our 5 player game the number of available actions seemed to be just enough so that even if you got an action you didn't really want you didn't feel like you were completely doomed, you just had to change plan. That way I remained engaged with the game instead of wishing I was somewhere else.

The similarity with Roads and Boats is in the extremely simple yet effective economic system. In Agricola it's simple - two animals produce a baby, a field produces a fixed amount of produce like a Roads and Boats mine, more family members can do more work. The costs of things were such that I managed to usually buy the things I wanted without wasting turns saving up. The balance of the economic system was pretty sweet in the way that Puerto Rico and Power Grid's fuel system have done before.

We played the family game. As I was first player I started with some wood but was left at the mercy of the other players to show me a strategy to implement with it. I started sheep farming, built some pens and stables, got some more sheep, branched out into boars, had a baby. I felt like I hadn't achieved much but then I built a huge pen which took up most of my land. As the game closed down I tried to maximise points and put in a vege patch and a wheat field. I ended on 29 points due to having no unused fields, and the two winners only had 31. I felt like that was a creditable performance. Furthermore, the game only took 3 hours in a group where even Klunker seems to take an hour.

I'm so excited about this game that when my copy arrives I'll probably play with myself for days... My prediction is that Agricola will reach at least #2 on BGG.