There is a unfortunate trend in modern society to try to "top ten" everything, from books, to songs, to stupid dog tricks. Although certainly fun, it also over-simplifies and narrows the qualities of things - a movie might be admired for its direction, while lacking somewhat in a script, or a book might have a fantastic set of characters, but lacks pacing - as examples.
As widespread and reductive the trend is, one thing that "top ten" and "best of" lists and articles force you to do is really sit down and evaluate what you really like about something. After listing to a number of Board Game Geek "GeekSpeak" podcasts over the past few weeks, I've decided to come up with my own answers to their "hook", as well as defining a few other favourites.
Derk and Aldie's "hook" is to ask an interviewee about their favourite game for two, three, four, five and six or more players. They usually say that for the six or more player category, that you can also specify a "party" game.
Understanding that preferences can change over time, here are my game favourites:
Favourite Game for Two
Hard question, since I play wargames, many of which are intended for two players. My favourite Euro for two at the moment is Lost Cities. My favourite wargame for two is a toss-up between Firepower, which is an all-time favourite, and the newcomer, Twilight Struggle, which is sort of a "weuro" (Euro-game mechanics with a wargame-like feel). Forced to choose, I would go with Firepower, just because with only three plays of Twilight Struggle under my belt, I can't really call it a favourite with conviction yet. I also enjoy Zero! for two, but I prefer it with four. Combat Commander: Europe was making a strong play for this category to displace Firepower, but after additional plays, the bloom is off the rose for me - I still enjoy it, just not as much as Firepower.
Favourite Game for Three
Three is a very difficult number for games, for balancing reasons - it's too easy for two to gang up on one. I actually don't own many games which work for three. Probably Tigris and Euphrates, even though it's not one of my favourite games in general, and Colossal Arena, which is a little light for my tastes. China is also good, but I'd rather play Tigris and Euphrates over China unless time was limited. In the wargame category, Doom is a lot of fun for three. I haven't really played many others which work for three - Axis and Allies: D-Day and Axis and Allies: Pacific being the principal ones, neither of which being stellar in my opinion. None of the answers feel satisfactory for me with three.
Favourite Game for Four
Another hard call but for the opposite reason of three-player games, because of the sheer volume of games which work well with this number. Probably Power Grid as the front runner, with Tikal and Princes of Florence coming in very close second and third respectively. A dark horse in this category is WildLife - with additional plays, it may creep up past Tikal and Princes of Florence to vie with Power Grid for first place. Louis XIV may do the same, once again, more plays would determine the eventual winner. I think a lot of people list El Grande in this category; I like and appreciate El Grande; it's just not something I jump at playing. In the wargames, my favourite four-player game is Zero!/Down in Flames series, pretty much hands down. I love that game. Duel of Ages is not exactly a pure wargame, but I enjoy it for four as well.
Favourite Game for Five
At the moment the clear winner for me in this player-category is Railroad Tycoon. It's unbalanced, somewhat random and has a number of other flaws, but I just love it, conceptually and during game play. I also like Ticket to Ride for this number, but it's a little light for me. I also like Draw Poker (I prefer draw poker to Stud variants) for five or more, but in the board games category, Railroad Tycoon wins out. I used to love Shogun (Milton Bradley version) and Axis and Allies in this category as wargames, but I played those to death in my teens. With additional plays the new Shogun (Dirk Henn) may also feature as a "waro" (a wargame with Euro-mechanics).
Favourite Game for Six
Until I play more six-player non-party games (doesn't happen often, really) it's probably Railroad Tycoon again. I'd like to be able to say Twilight Imperium, but having only played it three times, and only once with six, I can't really say for sure. Same with Civilization - I've never actually played it with six, but I imagine it would be terrific (if long). Bang! works well with this number, if a shorter game is needed. Firepower works well with almost any number, but I'd love to try it with six sometime, with each player controlling a squad. Duel of Ages is a lot of fun with six as well.
My favourite party game for six at the moment is Wits and Wagers, which is really quite good for almost any group of adults and I've played a lot. I've only played Times Up twice, but I really enjoyed it then, so additional plays of Times Up might bump Wits and Wagers out. Same with Werewolf, which I've only played on three evenings (with one or two plays each evening). I've heard Smarty Party mentioned a lot in this category, but I've never played. A close second in the party games category would be Things... which is a lot of fun with the right group of people.
Derk and Aldie also typically ask the following quesions:
Favourite Book
Hard question, for the reasons I listed at the beginning of this piece. The books I've probably read most often is the Narnia Chronicles, followed closely by "The Lord of the Ring". I'd have to say "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco.
Favourite Movie
My favourite movie is Blade Runner, for reasons which are too complex to go into here. Close runners up are Aliens, Apocalypse Now, Seven Samurai and Once Upon a Time in the West.
Favourite Word
I enjoy the sound and the meaning of "sibilance". Similarly I enjoy "serendipity" as well. Probably "sibilance".
Not on Derk and Aldie's list is favourite TV show...
Favourite TV Show
Another difficult choice. Almost a dead tie between DaVinci's Inquest, Band of Brothers, Deadwood and Firefly. Of those, probably Deadwood and Firefly and if I had to pick between them, Deadwood. Fantastic cast, direction, writing, acting... just fabulous. All of them are great. If Firefly had gone another season or two, it might have been Firefly. As it is, there isn't quite enough depth with just the 14 episodes.
I'll probably be shot if any fellow Browncoat reads that.
In any case, I'm burning up the last minutes of my lunch hour, so I'm going to finish playing favourites and turn it over to my fellow WAGSters for comment.
Showing posts with label Lost Cities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost Cities. Show all posts
Friday, March 30, 2007
Saturday, April 09, 2005
New
This week we celebrated the new.
We ate food we've never had before (Lamacun, which is turkish pizza which turns out to be both very cheap and pretty good).
We had snacks we've never eaten before (the latest sprite concoction, Dill Pickle Doritos).
We were introduced to Ian, Kozure and Tili's new baby boy
We played with people we've never had at WAGS before ("Agent Oral", a university friend, and "Jaywowzer", a new aquaintance I met through Boardgamegeek).
We played two new games (Witch Trial and Ra)
First off, I'd like to point out that Jaywowzer is a madman. And he is very dedicated to gaming. Despite a flight arriving in Toronto at 7:30pm, he made it to his hotel and found Kozure's place in less than 1:30 hours... we hadn't even made it through our first game! Nice that he came though, it was a pleasure meeting him and I look forward to having him come again!
On to the games... Witch Trial was first up. This is another Cheap Ass game from Kozure's seemingly endless collection of them. As with most of these games, the game is humourous and relies on players involvement to really work. In this case, you have the Salem witch trials as a theme. Players all play lawyers trying to get as rich as possible by trying or defending a series of suspects on various charges. It's a card game, with everyone managing a hand of cards representing suspects, charges, motions, evidence, etc. There is a series of face up cards on the table, and players must choose to either draw one, pair a suspect or charge from their hand with it's counterpart from the face up cards, or take a case to trial. A trial basically comes down to adding up the "suspicion level" of the accused with the "likelihood" of the charge to get a number from 1 to 12. Then players alternate adding evidence and motions to increase or decrease that number in their favour. Once all cards are played, the dice are rolled and the result is added to the total. If the result is over 12, the prosecution wins. We all got into it, making an effort to "present" our cases, reading the card texts and generally haming it up. Bluffing can be usefull, but the bulk of the strategy seemed to revolve around timing you cases such that no one is in a position to defend it properly (negotiation skills are also usefull if you want to make a plea bargain to split the settlement without getting a verdict). Also, since the defending lawyer always gets a minimum retainer whether he wins the case or not, it doesn't really hurt to do a lot of that, too (as long as you don't use up lots of otherwise good cards trying to defend a hopeless case). I won the game, but as with most first attempts at a game, it was entirely luck. It was pretty fun, and I think that the game mechanic is strong enough that this one would be fun for quite a few more plays (even moreso than unexploded cow, which I also liked).
Next up was Ra. Since this is only a 3-5 player game, we split out into two game groups (4 and 2). I played Ra with JayWowzer, Agent Oral and Luch, while shemp and kozure played "Lost cities".
Ra was excellent. I really enjoyed this one, and I'm really sad it's out of print. This is an auction game set in Egypt. Each player is trying to build the most impressive dynasty by accumulating the most pharoahs, the best civilizations, the most temples, etc. Over the course of three "epochs" (rounds), players take turns either drawing from the pile of tiles to add to the board, or to call an auction to see who gets to keep the tiles which have been drawn so far. There is a clever mechanism for the auctions, though: The players start the game with three "sun" markers with number on them (2-16, no two are the same). and a value 1 sun tile is placed on the board. Whenever an auction occurs, players can choose to offer up one of their numbered tiles for the lot, and the highest bid takes them. There are three tricks, though! 1) Because of the unique scoring mechanism, the same face up tiles will be worth differently to different players 2) disaster tiles can turn up which actually destroys existing tiles if you win the auction, and this can make an otherwise desirable lot much less attractive if you hold the type of tiles which will be destroyed, and 3) one you've won an auction, you have to trade in your sun tile and take the one present on the table. The sun tiles you take are the ones you'll use to bid in the auctions on the next epoch, so you have to carefully consider the tile you'll be aquiring as part of the auction when bidding. There are two other ways an auction can happen... if the board fills up or if a player draws a tile and gets a "Ra" tile, an auction is immediately called on whatever is on the table. Each "Epoch" ends once all players have used up their bids or once a preset number of "Ra" tiles turns up. This can lead to some real tension as players try to turn up the tiles they need to complete their sets, but debate whether they should just bite the bullet and bid on what's there so that the round doesn't end before they get the chance to aquire anything. the scoring seems a little finisky at first, there are a lot of case like "you get this many points if you have the most pharoahs, and you loose this many if you have the least" or "you get one point for each river tile, so long as you have at least one flood, otherwise they are wortless". Plus, some items are scored every round, others only at the end of the game. Some tiles are thrown out at the end of the round, others go to the end. Still, a logic quickly emerges and it soon becomes pretty smooth. A cheat sheet which Jaywowzer printed out from Boargamegeek really helped visually organizing the sets, their scoring, etc.
All in all, I found the game moved quickly, had a nice balance of randomness and looked great. I'd put it right up there with my favorites, if i could get my hands on a copy!
for the record, JayWowzer creamed us on the first go around, and in the second game (with Kozure and Shemp in, but with Agent Oral out playing Lost cities with Tili), Kozure beat me by a nose through a consistent lead in the pharoahs in each epoch. JayWowzer played chicken with Ra and lost on a couple of occasions in the second game, accounting for his loss.
Ratings:
Witch Trial : 7
Ra: 9
We ate food we've never had before (Lamacun, which is turkish pizza which turns out to be both very cheap and pretty good).
We had snacks we've never eaten before (the latest sprite concoction, Dill Pickle Doritos).
We were introduced to Ian, Kozure and Tili's new baby boy
We played with people we've never had at WAGS before ("Agent Oral", a university friend, and "Jaywowzer", a new aquaintance I met through Boardgamegeek).
We played two new games (Witch Trial and Ra)
First off, I'd like to point out that Jaywowzer is a madman. And he is very dedicated to gaming. Despite a flight arriving in Toronto at 7:30pm, he made it to his hotel and found Kozure's place in less than 1:30 hours... we hadn't even made it through our first game! Nice that he came though, it was a pleasure meeting him and I look forward to having him come again!
On to the games... Witch Trial was first up. This is another Cheap Ass game from Kozure's seemingly endless collection of them. As with most of these games, the game is humourous and relies on players involvement to really work. In this case, you have the Salem witch trials as a theme. Players all play lawyers trying to get as rich as possible by trying or defending a series of suspects on various charges. It's a card game, with everyone managing a hand of cards representing suspects, charges, motions, evidence, etc. There is a series of face up cards on the table, and players must choose to either draw one, pair a suspect or charge from their hand with it's counterpart from the face up cards, or take a case to trial. A trial basically comes down to adding up the "suspicion level" of the accused with the "likelihood" of the charge to get a number from 1 to 12. Then players alternate adding evidence and motions to increase or decrease that number in their favour. Once all cards are played, the dice are rolled and the result is added to the total. If the result is over 12, the prosecution wins. We all got into it, making an effort to "present" our cases, reading the card texts and generally haming it up. Bluffing can be usefull, but the bulk of the strategy seemed to revolve around timing you cases such that no one is in a position to defend it properly (negotiation skills are also usefull if you want to make a plea bargain to split the settlement without getting a verdict). Also, since the defending lawyer always gets a minimum retainer whether he wins the case or not, it doesn't really hurt to do a lot of that, too (as long as you don't use up lots of otherwise good cards trying to defend a hopeless case). I won the game, but as with most first attempts at a game, it was entirely luck. It was pretty fun, and I think that the game mechanic is strong enough that this one would be fun for quite a few more plays (even moreso than unexploded cow, which I also liked).
Next up was Ra. Since this is only a 3-5 player game, we split out into two game groups (4 and 2). I played Ra with JayWowzer, Agent Oral and Luch, while shemp and kozure played "Lost cities".
Ra was excellent. I really enjoyed this one, and I'm really sad it's out of print. This is an auction game set in Egypt. Each player is trying to build the most impressive dynasty by accumulating the most pharoahs, the best civilizations, the most temples, etc. Over the course of three "epochs" (rounds), players take turns either drawing from the pile of tiles to add to the board, or to call an auction to see who gets to keep the tiles which have been drawn so far. There is a clever mechanism for the auctions, though: The players start the game with three "sun" markers with number on them (2-16, no two are the same). and a value 1 sun tile is placed on the board. Whenever an auction occurs, players can choose to offer up one of their numbered tiles for the lot, and the highest bid takes them. There are three tricks, though! 1) Because of the unique scoring mechanism, the same face up tiles will be worth differently to different players 2) disaster tiles can turn up which actually destroys existing tiles if you win the auction, and this can make an otherwise desirable lot much less attractive if you hold the type of tiles which will be destroyed, and 3) one you've won an auction, you have to trade in your sun tile and take the one present on the table. The sun tiles you take are the ones you'll use to bid in the auctions on the next epoch, so you have to carefully consider the tile you'll be aquiring as part of the auction when bidding. There are two other ways an auction can happen... if the board fills up or if a player draws a tile and gets a "Ra" tile, an auction is immediately called on whatever is on the table. Each "Epoch" ends once all players have used up their bids or once a preset number of "Ra" tiles turns up. This can lead to some real tension as players try to turn up the tiles they need to complete their sets, but debate whether they should just bite the bullet and bid on what's there so that the round doesn't end before they get the chance to aquire anything. the scoring seems a little finisky at first, there are a lot of case like "you get this many points if you have the most pharoahs, and you loose this many if you have the least" or "you get one point for each river tile, so long as you have at least one flood, otherwise they are wortless". Plus, some items are scored every round, others only at the end of the game. Some tiles are thrown out at the end of the round, others go to the end. Still, a logic quickly emerges and it soon becomes pretty smooth. A cheat sheet which Jaywowzer printed out from Boargamegeek really helped visually organizing the sets, their scoring, etc.
All in all, I found the game moved quickly, had a nice balance of randomness and looked great. I'd put it right up there with my favorites, if i could get my hands on a copy!
for the record, JayWowzer creamed us on the first go around, and in the second game (with Kozure and Shemp in, but with Agent Oral out playing Lost cities with Tili), Kozure beat me by a nose through a consistent lead in the pharoahs in each epoch. JayWowzer played chicken with Ra and lost on a couple of occasions in the second game, accounting for his loss.
Ratings:
Witch Trial : 7
Ra: 9
Monday, May 17, 2004
Extra-WAGSal Affairs
As the members of the group are aware, I am lucky enough to have a spouse who is quite happy to join in board games from time to time - she goes by Tigerlily Bumbleroot on this blog. The WAGS group being composed of roughly five members, with one provisional member at the moment, lends itself more to five or six player games. Unfortunately, games designed for four to six players seldom scale down to two players well (notable exceptions being Duel of Ages). Seeking games which better suited a one-on-one enviroment, I've bought a few games which I feel are worthy of note even though they're played outside the usual WAGS night.
Hera and Zeus was one of my first two-player purchases. It's a self contained, non-collectible card game which takes a mythological competition between the chief of the Greek gods, Zeus, and his wife, Hera, as its theme.
The object of the game is to conceal the mortal lover of your opponent (Argus, in the case of Hera, and Io, in the case of Zeus) from being recovered while struggling to get back your own. Along the way, players use a wide array of mythological creatures and personalities to probe for weaknesses and try to locate the hidden mortal. While the cards are differentiated between the two "sides", the game is "symmetrical" in the sense that both sides have the exact same number of indentically powered cards (with different names). This is quite different from a asymmetrical game, in which one side typically has strength in some areas but weaknesses in others. The game plays in about a half an hour to forty-five minutes, and there is a large amount of strategy to the game play. Combat exists, in a sense, but is abstracted, which is a bonus for Tigerlily, who doesn't find much interest in combat-themed games.
This game has a good amount of strategy and a fair deal of bluffing, but a few game mechanics allow for a largely random game-winning option (the infamous Pegasus strike). I don't find this such a "broken" mechanic as some people seem to think, as there are ways to avoid being caught with the mortal in your hand, and appropriate strategy can protect the mortal on the board.
I enjoy this game, and given its theme of spousal conflict, it seems ideal for a gamer to play with his or her significant other as a fun way of fighting the war of the sexes on an epic level. Released by Kosmos, Hera and Zeus has decent artwork (Tigerlily likes it more than I do) and well produced cards and rules. None of the rules have to be modified to play the game correctly, but a quick trip to the online site can assist in clearing up some minor interpretation questions.
Rating: 7
Lord of the Rings: Confrontation was my second purchase of a two-player game. Knowing Tigerlily's love for Tolkein, I thought she would enjoy a two-player board game which abstracts the War of the Ring and Frodo's quest to destroy the Ring of Power. Produced by Fantasy Flight Games and featuring artwork by the same acclaimed Tolkein artist who did production artwork for the movie adaption of Lord of the Rings, John Howe, LoTR: Controntation is a handsome looking game.
Played on a small gameboard which has an abstract representation of Middle Earth, the game uses a mechanic familiar to players of Stratego - each piece has a strength rated from one to nine, which determines its power in combat. This strength is hidden from the other player by having the pieces constructed in such a way that the characters are only viewable from one side. If this was all this game was, it would be only a LotR-themed Stratego. However the designer takes the game a few steps further by introducing special powers for each character, as well as giving each player cards which can modify the strength number or cause other effects when played as a part of combat. The "good" forces must attempt to spirit Frodo into Mordor through a combination of strategy, bluff and good luck. The "evil" forces must capture Frodo or move a number of their characters into the Shire.
This game is a classical example of an asymmetrical game, quite different from "Hera and Zeus" above. At first glance, the good forces are weak and ill-matched - the evil forces seem almost insurmountable. Careful gameplay and a liberal dose of skillful bluffing can even the odds. After several plays, I find the sides fairly evenly matched, although some players claim one side or the other has a distinct advantage. Reiner Knizia has perfectly captured the theme and mood of the conflict with very simple powers and mechanics. Playable in about twenty to forty minutes, the game is suitable for many replays and is a delight to look at. A steal at its usual MSRP of around $30 CDN, this game is a worthy addition to any two-player game collection.
Rating: 8
Lost Cities is my most recent two-player purchase. Having bought and enjoyed LotR: Confrontation and Hera and Zeus, I was intrigued by reviews of Lost Cities being as good or better. Fortunately, I was not disappointed. Lost Cities is a super simple game, themed around making voyages to fabled lost cities in Iceland (or Northern Scotland?), Central America, Atlantis, Egypt and the Himalayas. Strangely, the cities and locations are never explicitly named, so most of the time they are referred to by their colours: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and White. Players take turns playing a card to either invest in a expedition, or advance it. You can set out without investment, but for lesser return. After embarking on a expedition, no further investment can be made in it, so the gameplay becomes a very careful balance of bluff, risk management and a healthy dollop of "screwing your opponent". Scoring comes once the entire deck has been played through, and a quick addition/subtraction plus a multiplication factor for investment (and a bonus for an eight-card expedition) scores each journey. The highest score takes the round.
Of the three games mentioned here, Tigerlily seems to like this one best. It requires no understanding of any specific language and only rudimentary math skills, but the strategy is quite deep. A round can be played in 10-15 minutes, and to balance out luck factors, a combined score total over three or more rounds is recommended. The cards are well illustrated and the quality of both the cards and the small three panel board (largely needed only as a placeholder) make this an attractive game which is also fun to play. One thing I like about this game is that, much like Eucre or Hearts, once you've gotten the rhythm, the correct play is almost reflexive - it doesn't tax your mind overmuch. It's a lovely way to help your mind relax while sparring with an opponent. This Kosmos game feels like a classic - it's one that will be around after other fads have come and gone. It's as close to perfect within the context of what it tries to be as is possible - and that's the hallmark of a fine game.
Rating: 9
Hera and Zeus was one of my first two-player purchases. It's a self contained, non-collectible card game which takes a mythological competition between the chief of the Greek gods, Zeus, and his wife, Hera, as its theme.
The object of the game is to conceal the mortal lover of your opponent (Argus, in the case of Hera, and Io, in the case of Zeus) from being recovered while struggling to get back your own. Along the way, players use a wide array of mythological creatures and personalities to probe for weaknesses and try to locate the hidden mortal. While the cards are differentiated between the two "sides", the game is "symmetrical" in the sense that both sides have the exact same number of indentically powered cards (with different names). This is quite different from a asymmetrical game, in which one side typically has strength in some areas but weaknesses in others. The game plays in about a half an hour to forty-five minutes, and there is a large amount of strategy to the game play. Combat exists, in a sense, but is abstracted, which is a bonus for Tigerlily, who doesn't find much interest in combat-themed games.
This game has a good amount of strategy and a fair deal of bluffing, but a few game mechanics allow for a largely random game-winning option (the infamous Pegasus strike). I don't find this such a "broken" mechanic as some people seem to think, as there are ways to avoid being caught with the mortal in your hand, and appropriate strategy can protect the mortal on the board.
I enjoy this game, and given its theme of spousal conflict, it seems ideal for a gamer to play with his or her significant other as a fun way of fighting the war of the sexes on an epic level. Released by Kosmos, Hera and Zeus has decent artwork (Tigerlily likes it more than I do) and well produced cards and rules. None of the rules have to be modified to play the game correctly, but a quick trip to the online site can assist in clearing up some minor interpretation questions.
Rating: 7
Lord of the Rings: Confrontation was my second purchase of a two-player game. Knowing Tigerlily's love for Tolkein, I thought she would enjoy a two-player board game which abstracts the War of the Ring and Frodo's quest to destroy the Ring of Power. Produced by Fantasy Flight Games and featuring artwork by the same acclaimed Tolkein artist who did production artwork for the movie adaption of Lord of the Rings, John Howe, LoTR: Controntation is a handsome looking game.
Played on a small gameboard which has an abstract representation of Middle Earth, the game uses a mechanic familiar to players of Stratego - each piece has a strength rated from one to nine, which determines its power in combat. This strength is hidden from the other player by having the pieces constructed in such a way that the characters are only viewable from one side. If this was all this game was, it would be only a LotR-themed Stratego. However the designer takes the game a few steps further by introducing special powers for each character, as well as giving each player cards which can modify the strength number or cause other effects when played as a part of combat. The "good" forces must attempt to spirit Frodo into Mordor through a combination of strategy, bluff and good luck. The "evil" forces must capture Frodo or move a number of their characters into the Shire.
This game is a classical example of an asymmetrical game, quite different from "Hera and Zeus" above. At first glance, the good forces are weak and ill-matched - the evil forces seem almost insurmountable. Careful gameplay and a liberal dose of skillful bluffing can even the odds. After several plays, I find the sides fairly evenly matched, although some players claim one side or the other has a distinct advantage. Reiner Knizia has perfectly captured the theme and mood of the conflict with very simple powers and mechanics. Playable in about twenty to forty minutes, the game is suitable for many replays and is a delight to look at. A steal at its usual MSRP of around $30 CDN, this game is a worthy addition to any two-player game collection.
Rating: 8
Lost Cities is my most recent two-player purchase. Having bought and enjoyed LotR: Confrontation and Hera and Zeus, I was intrigued by reviews of Lost Cities being as good or better. Fortunately, I was not disappointed. Lost Cities is a super simple game, themed around making voyages to fabled lost cities in Iceland (or Northern Scotland?), Central America, Atlantis, Egypt and the Himalayas. Strangely, the cities and locations are never explicitly named, so most of the time they are referred to by their colours: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and White. Players take turns playing a card to either invest in a expedition, or advance it. You can set out without investment, but for lesser return. After embarking on a expedition, no further investment can be made in it, so the gameplay becomes a very careful balance of bluff, risk management and a healthy dollop of "screwing your opponent". Scoring comes once the entire deck has been played through, and a quick addition/subtraction plus a multiplication factor for investment (and a bonus for an eight-card expedition) scores each journey. The highest score takes the round.
Of the three games mentioned here, Tigerlily seems to like this one best. It requires no understanding of any specific language and only rudimentary math skills, but the strategy is quite deep. A round can be played in 10-15 minutes, and to balance out luck factors, a combined score total over three or more rounds is recommended. The cards are well illustrated and the quality of both the cards and the small three panel board (largely needed only as a placeholder) make this an attractive game which is also fun to play. One thing I like about this game is that, much like Eucre or Hearts, once you've gotten the rhythm, the correct play is almost reflexive - it doesn't tax your mind overmuch. It's a lovely way to help your mind relax while sparring with an opponent. This Kosmos game feels like a classic - it's one that will be around after other fads have come and gone. It's as close to perfect within the context of what it tries to be as is possible - and that's the hallmark of a fine game.
Rating: 9
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