Things learned at GOF 4

We had a lot of fun at our last Gathering of Friends, and in letting time pass a bit I've had a chance to reflect on what went really well at our event, and what could be improved...

What went well
I've written before about diversity in the types of gamers, and it continues to be a strong point in these events. There are several reasons, perhaps most of all that new players are required to keep the boardgame culture going! People move away, get married, get new jobs, and otherwise become too busy to attend, and recruiting new folks is necessary to account for attrition.

Another reason to have a variety of gamer types in some of your events is to make sure that families are included. They form the support group, and nothing really gets done on a regular basis if they're not included. It is also good because friends find opportunities to socialize differently than their normal routine.

The tournament format is certainly different for most of us. I like it because it gives each game more meaning, and players tend to take it a little more seriously. For those who have been honing their skills in certain games for years, they can then match them with comparable players to benchmark their progress. Those not as competitive will find that their games are of better quality, and they will learn strategies that they would not perhaps get to see in a single session once a year or more.

Different game types, from 2-player abstract, to word games, to dexterity, to those with the heaviest German game mechanics, all make for a fun time. It forces players away from their favorites, and yet rewards those with well-rounded experience. It also gives a chance for players to actually play their favorites, as not everyone wants to play Power Grid or Puerto Rico all the time. Many of our newer gamers have really no depth of gaming experiences to draw on, so even many of the classic two-player games are new for them.

What could be improved?
The tournament scoring was way too much for our group. I put a lot of thought into the points system, and tried to make an incentive to play for 2nd when first was not possible. I also made a big deal about each player scoring their own day, with an individual score sheet for everyone to record their progress, and also to serve as a record of the event. Most thought the scoresheets were cool, but only 1 or 2 people took the time to actually record their games in any detail.

I received feedback that it would have been much simpler to just give everyone a point for a win, and then build a playoff for the top 4-5 players at the end of the event. Would be much simpler, and accomplish the same thing. I'll ditch the individual score sheet next time.

continued...

Caylus online

Played first game of Caylus online, using Brettspielwelt (BSW). Impressions?

Like PR, Settlers, Carcassone, and other online incarnations of famous boardgames, there are a few benefits to playing with the computer. Low setup time (effectively zero except for match-making), no bumped tables disrupting the pieces, quick and accurate scoring, and limited table talk are the main ones I can think of.

Another huge benefit, of course is time. Generally online games cut the play time down by 2/3rds or so, based on my experience. I can play a 3-player game of Settlers in about 20 minutes, when it's typically an hour face-to-face (ftf) unless you are really hurrying.

Since my first game of Caylus took about 2.5 hours, and we expect that to come down to about 1/2 hour per player, my online expectations were for about 45 minutes for a 4-player game.

Well, I lost my first game online (pretty handily too), and it took just over 60 minutes to play a 3-player game. Wow. This means there is only a reduction of about 1/3rd off of play time online, making Caylus perhaps one of the longest boardgames online (I have not played Power Grid online, but suspect it is also just as long).

On Friday (what you would expect to be a big BSW night) I was looking to join a Caylus game, and one did not start in the hour I was waiting (alt-tabbing to Firefox every couple of minutes). With such a LONNNNG play-time, you could get in 3-games of Settlers, 1.5 games of PR, 20 games of Lost Cities, etc.

My concern about Caylus then, continues to be time.

Some things I enjoyed about my game online, and new discoveries?

There are several strategies that were employed that were fascinating to watch. The winning player owned almost all of the grey buildings, for example. He purchased half of them (it seemed) with favors which he had received from clever hosting of tournaments, and timely castle builds for favors as well. He generated so many victory points from this, along with his 1 cube of "rent" from the 2-blue+1-pink and 2-grey+1blue buildings, that his lead was insurmountable. He also demolished money generating buildings, to prevent us from easy picks.

Caylus arrives: First Impressions

Updated, 7:00pm (added a new paragraph, and a few sentences to clarify my opinion a bit).

Caylus finally arrived, and Doug was kind enough to host an evening of it last Friday. Kevin, Caleb, Doug and myself spent around 45 minutes learning the rules from Kevin, and about 2.5 hours playing our first game. My initial thoughts?

Length: It was longish. The game says "60-150" minutes on the side of the box, which equates to about 30 minutes per player (it can be played with 2-5). Two hours for a 4-player game doesn't sound like much, but it is actually somewhat long for a German game. I can't help but compare Caylus to Puerto Rico for many reasons, and PR played by 4 experienced players should not be longer than 90 minutes. Granted, it was a learning game for us, so we probably took significantly longer than necessary to make our moves.

However, there are many more options in each turn than their are in PR. Over half the time in PR, your moves are obvious, as you can eliminate choices very easily, and narrow down your role picks to 2 or 3 within a few seconds. Then, by examining your opponents positions, you can usually make your choice from there.

In Caylus, there can potentially be more than a dozen potential plays each turn, and with up to six pawns to place on the board in the placement phase, there are many more things to consider. One might argue that many choices work out to be of equal value. But when fighting against equally skilled opponents, searching for the tiniest advantage can really slow the game down, and I don't see how this can really be cut down much. One play is not enough to judge entirely, for sure. But the length of the game could be a concern.

Components. Beautiful board, nice wooden bits, well illustrated manual, box and buildings. Nothing new or original in terms of construction, we've see the pawns in Power Grid, Settlers, Tikal, etc. and the building tiles are the same type of cardboard seen in Alhambra or Carcassone. But still a pleasure, and the board would look great framed and on a wall (my personal standard for excellence in map art).

Theme. Winner here, the medieval theme fits the mechanics well, and seems to have a universal feel. The individual buildings seem somewhat generic, despite the differences in power and value. Illustrations on the tiles were fine, but did not stand out to me. Perhaps if the names of the buildings were on the cards, it would make communication after and before the game a little easier. As a "construction game", they seem to be always popular, and the different roles the buildings and actions play into this nicely, as one builds strength over time.

Balance. Yes, was extremely well balanced, as all choices are open to all players, and the ability to bid for play position (although an extremely artificially game mechanism) made the game very very agonizing, in a good way. I get the feeling after the first play that there will be perhaps dozens of games that will need to be played before the best strategies are worked out, and like PR, they may never be! Game lends itself immensely to expansions, as well...

Interaction. Some debate could be made that the game can be played in a vacuum, as it is impossible to plan your moves in advance (except perhaps when working towards a high-priced prestige building towards the end of the game). With no hidden information, you can simply "play the board", examine what each opponent can do, and select an action that limits their ability and maximizes yours. There is no need for communication between players, no negotiation mechanism.

Pushing the "thief" or "provost" around to block other players actions could be discussed and debate among players, but it is questionable whether this constitutes table talk. The lack of interaction between the players is the same in Puerto Rico, and it didn't bother me, so it's hard to criticize the game here. Perhaps in a 90-minute game of PR, the interaction is less of an issue.

To play a 2+ hour game of Caylus, with no need to communicate with other players...? Power Grid and Princes of Florence handles this through competitive auctions. Settlers through Trading. Mare Nostrum through trading and negotiation.

Fun. Yes, it was fun taking the turns, activating the buildings, moving the provost, and trying to make different strategies work out. I decided up front to sacrifice my early game chances by cornering the market on a couple of hot buildings, made myself cash poor and vulnerable for several turns. By passing, other players cut down my number of actions due to expense, and I had to spend valuable turns generating a money strategy. Once I did this however, I was able to control the board more, landing the valuable "1-1" space that kept my costs down, and keeping it. I was also able to move to first place in turn order late in the game and controlled the tempo from there, landing the 25-point prestige building and winning by a large margin.

Kevin chose to pursue a strategy based on favors in the early and middle stages, and converted to a "big-prestige" building late. Doug attempted to use cash to buy his VP's, and Caleb appeared to be trying to corner gold for a while. It was a great time discussing all the strategies during the post mortem, and I look forward to playing a few of them myself next time.

Agonizing decisions are generally always a fun part of any game - and Caylus delivered a lot of those. My only concern is that with a 2-hour time frame to play, will it drag on too long for players in last place? Will the lack of interaction during this time make the game feel too much like solitaire? Does this matter? (It doesn't in PR). More plays (which I definitely hope to get in) will tell the story for sure.

I can definitely see why Caylus is currently ranked in the top 3 games in the world right now.

Caylus: In stock

Yep - Fairplay has it, Boulder games... there may be a few others.

Kevin was kind enough to call and order two copies for us (along with Through the Desert and Hansa), word is traveling fast on the Geek and elsewhere. Get your order in for the number three ranked game in the world!

Current top 10 game ranks (according to the 'Geek):

1. Puerto Rico 8.52
2. Euphrat and Tigris 8.28
3. Caylus 8.27
4. Power Grid 8.13
5. Princes of Florence 8.08
6. El Grande 8.05
7. Die Macher 7.97
8. Ra 7.94
9. Age of Steam 7.91
10. Wallenstein 7.90

How many of the top 10 have you played? (I'll have 5 of 10 when Caylus arrives, and 20 of the top 50... all great games)

Remember "Searching for Bobby Fischer"?

Remember the movie, "Searching for Bobby Fischer"?

Chessbase.com linked to an article in the Courier, about Josh Waitzkin, the real-life chess prodigy that many compared to Bobby Fischer. Apparenlty, the 29-year old Josh has not played chess for the last five years, saying "I quit, cold turkey. For two years before that I hadn't been so happy playing the game. It had been a life's work for me between six and 22. A large reason I moved away from chess was because my relationship to the game was a very personal one - it was about internal cultivation, and I was really thrust into the spotlight in a huge way for the last seven years or so of my chess career because of the film. I'm not complaining about it but, slowly and surely, everything became about the glory and about the results, and that really wasn't what I loved about chess."

Josh was the audio commentary on the most recent Chessmaster PC/XBOX game release, and I really enjoyed his tutorials inside the game, Grayson and I both played through them all.

Fascinating article, check it out here.

Polgar sez Blitz Chess = ESPN

Susan Polgar has again appeared on the cover of a major news publication, this time on New York Newsday. Her subject? How Blitz Chess can put chess on ESPN and on the public eye. A quote:

"In America, people want action," she said in her accented English. "And they want it now. But chess, if it's promoted in the right way, can be exciting."

Susan is currently the #1 ranked female player in the U.S., and is one of the top players in the world. Here thoughts on the likelyhood of chess being a TV sport are quite interesting. Check them out here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the way, we average around 5 hits a day here at BSC, and we've had quite a few visits recently from someone in Mountain View, California recently, as well as one from Lima, Peru! Thanks for viewing and reading our humble site! (gotta love Google Analytics)

St. Pete: PC

Okay, here's a PC conversion of the excellent boardgame, Saint Petersburg. The Westpark Gamers (a group based out of Munich, Germany) has written this title, and even gone to the trouble to produce a English-language patch.

Westpark Gamers St. Petersburg for the PC

I've played it so much on Brettspielwelt that I don't really need the english patch, but haven't got it to work anyway (not sure what folder to extract it too).

San Juan for PC / Game Art blog

CORRECTED

I love San Juan the card game, and I would play it anytime I am asked. I would recommend always as an option for three players, especially.

I went through a phase last year when I played probably 100 games or so on the computer version of this card game. Unfortunately, there are a few bugs in the game (notably the Poor House does not seem to work). I had posted that these were fixed, but I guess not. Still, game does play well, and AI is very good.

However! There's hope, check out this page: JSANJUAN.

There is a new San Juan site, where a Andre Wichmann has created a San Juan for Java, that appears to be the real deal. I have not been able to get it work on my system yet...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lastly, if you have not already seen Mike Doyle's blog, call Mike Doyle's Art Play, you need to check it out. Mike has an excellent blog, focused on his interest in art in games. He a graphic designer by trade, and has made good use of the computer to do some ideas around "republishing" of some games that you will be familiar with. Check out his take on Settlers of Catan.

Diversity in Gaming groups

GOF4 was a demonstration of diversity in gaming gatherings. For example:

* Three different congregations, separated by 80+ miles
* Range of ages, 40+ years (?)
* 47% girls (9 ladies, 10 guys)
* 14 different games played
* Long time serious gamers (Dave, Kevin, Doug, Mike S., Trudy), newbies (Mary, Rosanne, Nikki, Kate, Mike J.), and recent Euro-gamers (Al, Pat, Kim, Ben, Jared, Kyle, Marci, Caleb)
* 2-player abstract, dexterity, cards, city-building/trading, auction/building, area control and train games were all represented

There is no doubt in my mind that the diversity of the players and the games is a key to sustainment of boardgaming as a regular event at get-togethers. The more that you can involve wives, parents, kids, for example, the more the whole family can participate and encourage more play.

German-style games encourages diversity of players, by providing a few key elements:

Most German-style games have building, trading, or auctioning as key elements
Most German-style games are not conflict simulations
Most German-style games do not include elimination of players from play as a goal
Almost all German-style games include excellent quality components (often wood, and usually colorful)

Almost all German-style games can be completed in about 90 minutes
German style games generally have all players involved all the time
Just my thoughts - why do you think these types of games are so successful at our events?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd also like to get your thoughts on a number of other topics, which we can talk about soon. Included in this list are: When shall we have our next event? How do we simplify the scorekeeping? Did we have too many folks, or too few, or just right? Was our event too long? etc. etc.!

Thank you: GOF4

Here are a few additional photos from Saturday's Gathering of Friends 4:Clarks Summit.

Also, I really wanted to say thank you to these folks:

Kevin and Marci: Thank you for helping to make our Gathering a success by helping to spark attendence from Northampton! Thank you too for helping newcomers with a few of the games (Lost Cities, Alhambra, Pente come to mind). Your assistance certainly reduced our stress, and made for a wonderful time. Thanks for encouraging me to play too, Kevin!

Caleb/Doug: Thank you for teaching Power Grid, Puerto Rico, Ticket to Ride and Settlers to all the players! At least 5 or 6 of the friends in your games had never played before, and several of them had never attended an event like this. And you accomodated a great diversity in ages too (Grayson is only 7 and really enjoyed both games!). Big pat on the back for your excellent teaching.

Trudy/Nikki/Rosanne/Pat/Mary/Kate/Kim: Thank you for playing with us, we enjoyed getting the sisters involved in our Gathering, and are very happy that you had so much fun!

Grayson: Good job son, I am glad you had fun, and you were a good sport too -

Tammy: Wonderful job again dear, we all had so much fun and there's no way we'd have as much fun as we did without your excellent hostessing!