Qualified for the Job

This article ran in the New York Times last September, so I'm a bit late in posting about it. I'm just sharing it because it provokes an interesting dilemma in the challenge of having work done by experts or 'the elite' vs. doing it through the application of common sense. the article is here, with original headline: In Tiny Courts of N.Y., Abuses of Law and Power - New York Times

The superficial view is simple. Judges should be qualified and know the basic tenets of the constitution and laws they are (ostensibly) using to guide their decisions in cases. With that said, I strongly believe in the discretion of the judiciary. I also see that there is a benefit served by having a system that is not solely controlled by one group of people in society. In this case the danger is that as law (and its interpretation)becomes increasingly complex it can function to serve the class of lawyers more than the function of preserving order in society.

It will be interesting to see what New York does to address this situation.

Gathering - Last Day and Wrap-up

Well, this is the wrap up report for the Gathering 2007 as I saw it. As the day was Easter Sunday, we spent time earlier in the day with family, and thus only a few games.

Prototype - I only got to play one game with Freideman Friese this year. I find his style matches my tastes well and this was no exception. Always a fun time. Becky and Christine joined us for this play.


Factory Fun - With less than an hour until the big dinner Ken Drake joined Becky and I for this quick game. We played with my previously unpunched set and were still done in about thirty minutes. Excellent again and I'm glad I bought a copy.

Dinner - This was our fourth year to attend and the first we've stayed for the dinner on Sunday night. Alan throws one last hurrah for the ninety or so guests who stay to the bitter end. The drinks were flowing, the meal was excellent and the company, as always was wonderful. I'm glad we stayed, but I suspect in future years it'll be tough to justify the extra day off. Perhaps in two years if something special happens for the twentieth anniversary.

Santy Anno - After the dinner I decided to hang out for one last game. Sheila wanted to pull this one out and I agreed. It wasn't until it was on the table that I realized I had played this several times last year as a prototype and greatly enjoyed it. This time we played a seated version, not quite the frenetic pace that it has when running around, but a nice way to finish out the Gathering.

I was to bed by 10:30.

Last Thoughts:

There were a number of people who couldn't make it this year that were greatly missed. I'm sure I'll miss some names, but Andrea Meyer, Mik Svellov, Alfonso Smith, Alan Newman, Dave and Jen B. Some folks who I regarded as pillars of the Gathering so it was sad to not see them.

Some folks regarded the stock as having no new standout games, but overall I was quite happy with what I played. I really managed to avoid any stinkers and most were quite solid. I didn't come across any new favorites, but that is ok. There is enough grist to feed my gaming mill for another year here.

Nine days really is quite a long time. Alan floated the idea of going even longer and a small percentage of the folks thought they could or would even do that. It is a nice length for playing both prototypes and published titles however.

It was a mistake not to bring prototypes. There were a lot of new publishers there this year, and no good reason why the stuff I was previously showing couldn't have been pulled out for more plays. When packing I felt like my lack of design work in the past year meant I shouldn't bring titles. I won't make that mistake again.

Everyone is wondering what the next big thing will be. I had a number of conversations about Magic, how Settlers arrived in the U.S. and the popularity of Puerto Rico. What sort of game play will be the next breakthrough? Tied into this question is where it will come from, a big company (they tend to be trying to consolidate profits by publishing 'sequel' game play), or an upstart (it is getting ever cheaper to publish and get your title out there worldwide).

Well, that is it. I hope some of you will stay tuned as I return to my regular schedule of random stuff. For the rest, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll try to do it again next year.

Gathering Report - Day 8

The ending Saturday of the Gathering is always a big day, and this will be a correspondingly long post. Enjoy the ride, because we are almost to the end.

The day starts promptly at ten with the flea market. At this event any attendees who wish to sell games from their personal collection may do so for one hour. This is a great way for some folks to get money for old stuff, others to fill in their collection and to generally browse some very obscure titles. I rarely buy much, this year just a replacement copy of the game Shadowlord that I remember playing as a kid.

Walk the Dogs - Ken and Gail were looking for a third to play this very quick game from Simply Fun before the Liar's Dice tournament started. The particular set we pulled out had a pure white (like the poodle) figure in the shape of a Schnauzer. We dubbed it a Schnoodle and declared it could count with either set. Gail won the game with several bones. A mindless diversion, and would be fun with kids who are learning how to plan ahead.

Liar's Dice Tournament - I don't do a lot of tournaments generally, but this was my third of the year. My table consisted of Charles, Jeff, Ed, Campbell and me. We played twice with the first game winner sitting out of the second game. Both winners could advance, but I was neither. I did ok, but would have to play this game more often than once a year to start doing better as my head to head game was poor when I got to that point.

Prize Table - Alan moon spends a huge amount of time at the Gathering just making sure things run smoothly. On Saturday that includes a great deal of time organizing the prize table, which this year must have had close to a thousand games on it. Despite all this, he is always glad to pause for a moment and address the needs of any guest. This, quite simply, is the core of what makes this such a great event. The portion of the prize table seen here is most of the smaller stuff, the piles of big box games are out of picture to the left.

Wikinger - I had been hoping to play this new Hans Im Glueck game for most of the week and finally had a chance after Becky came down and was able to teach us rules from her earlier play. Greg and Dominic joined the two of us as we attempted to build up and protect our islands. There are basic and advanced versions of the game and we played the latter, which includes an auction for turn order, stricter rules for distributing your men and bonus tiles to work towards. Overall I enjoyed this game quite a bit and found that there are just enough decisions to keep it weighty for me. I also like clever purchase/auction systems which this has in the way you buy islands/ships and men.

Mykerinos - The same group stuck together to try Mykerinos, another new to me game. This is a simple area influence game where the influence you purchase also gives you special actions you can use on future turns. I got two Sir Browns on the first turn which let me take a dominating position in the part of the Museum I wanted, but then made the mistake of trying to build him as my big collection. He is just too valuable to everyone and so I ended up in a fight for control with all three other players. This is a good simple influence game, but a little less filling for me that Wikinger was. I'd gladly play, but don't need to own a copy myself.


Die Baumeister Von Arkadia - Greg had to step aside for prototype activities so we were joined by Kory to test out this new title. We ended up describing it to curious passers-by as "Tetris Stock Market" although that does give this clever game a bit short shrift. As you play building pieces and workers you collect colored seals and get to place additional pieces on the castle at the center of the board, and the total value of the castle when seen from above dictates the value if you sell the seals. You only get a few actions during the game to sell, so timing the castle (market) correctly is key. I enjoyed this a great deal and may well pick up a copy. The rules are simple, but I can see there is quite a bit of depth to the play as well.

Now it was time to gather for the closing ceremonies, centered around getting prize table picks. This is the one time you can expect to see almost everyone in attendance. The only folks missing are the dozen or so who need to leave early and designate others to take picks for them. We were sitting in the middle of the room, so this is about half of the crowd pictured above.

Golden Geeks - After chiding them for not making it to BGG.con there was a little awards ceremony run by Aldie and Derk. This is the first time I've ever seen an award winner cross-examined by the host, but that is Derk for you. William Attia, Jason Matthews and Alan Moon got awards. Both William and Jason got two medals, but in a bid to retain good favor Derk and Aldie declared a last minute rules change that "The winner is the one with the most medals _who does not tie_" and designated that to Alan. We don't think he won much, but he seemed happy with the ruling.

With that the prize table picks commenced. This whole ceremony takes quite some time because there is simply no way to call 325 people up twice and let them make decisions without it extending the time. Still, the total time for picks was about 90 minutes, so not too bad. At times there were twenty to thirty active individuals making choices at the front of the room and walking off holding up their games. One thing you can do to pass the time is make a list of games you might want and try to check off copies as they are taken. It both gives you something to do and helps you know whether to look for a title when you get to the front of the room.

With that in mind, here is some of my initial list, just to give a context of the scope of this activity. The numbers in parenthesis are how many copies were present before the ceremony began: Notre Dame (4), Wikinger (3), Battlelore (5), Imperial (4), Ypsahan (9), Pillars of the Earth (11, some German), Space Dealer (7), Hermagor (4), Fortress America (2), Zooloretto (2). Obviously I could go on. There was also a table of smaller card games and the like that was designated as a three for one pick. If you chose items from the table you got three instead of just the one normal pick. Finally, everyone in attendance got a copy of the Spielbox magazine with Thurn und Taxis expansion rules.

Prize Table Picks - I got a far earlier pick than usual and decided to grab Wikinger. I liked it quite a bit on my one play (despite losing horribly) and it will be a bit before it is out and available in English. Becky also got a good pick and grabbed one of the English copies of Pillars of the Earth. As round two of picking is in reverse order we were done to grabbing stuff off the three for one table by the time our next picks came, you can see the full list above.

The World Cup Tournament Football Game - This is an annual Saturday evening tradition at the Gathering run by the Pedlows. Becky and I played last year when Chris Kovac won the big game but Becky led on points with 14. This year we had at our table Robin, Lorna, Richard, Steven, Chris, Linda, Becky and me. Above you can see Steven giving a brief refresher of the very simple rules. Basically they are: "In phase one, play two cards on your turn, one above the line, one below the line, no more than three to a space in the game. In phase two play one card above the line on your turn, still no more than three to a space. Draw cards to three at the end of your turn." The rest of the game takes care of itself. An eight player game takes a bit over an hour with set up and rules.

So here we are closing in on completing the opening brackets. This year Becky followed up on her previous performance by both winning the World Cup and leading the pack with an astonishing 15 points. Robin had a team place second, and was third in the points race with 7 and I had the third place team and second in the points race with 2. Poor Chris, last year's World Cup winner, had the prior champion eliminated in brackets and finished with 0 points.

Cluzzle - I had time for one more game for the night and so joined into a game of Cluzzle. Dominic, the designer, came over and help straighten us out on the rules as they are slightly different in the two printings, mostly due to components. We played four rounds and I managed to make puzzles that were too difficult to guess in three of them. Sometimes you just get unlucky with how folks ask you questions. I choose syringe and made an obviously pointy object. I was then asked if it was a tool. I answered yes, but of course that sent everyone off in the wrong direction. A fun game a great way to wrap up the day.

That wraps it up for the main reports from the Gathering. I am doing some family activities today and preparing to head home tomorrow, so may or may not get any more games played in. At some point I'll post a wrap-up of the whole event, but that may not be for a couple days as I try to return to normal life. Until next time, may your dice roll well.

Gathering Report - Day 7

Today's report will be a short one. I played one long game and a couple others, but also spent a lot of the day talking with people and decided to call it a night earlier than previous days. Time to start getting back on track.

Die Macher - I was in the game room relatively early and stumbled into a great opportunity to play this game with Rick Thornquist as our teacher. Christine, Terry, Chris and Kevin were the opposing political parties as we struggled to match our platform to the fickle whims of the German electorate over seven elections. Rick did a great job teaching and I am glad I finally learned to play this game. Still, between rules and play it was over five hours long, and I'm not sure I'd choose this particular title to play again for that length of time. Don't get me wrong, it is great and deserves to be a classic, but I think it would only really shine with a familiar group that got to play it regularly enough to enjoy the nuances. Unfortunately, I also have to concur with the gripes about the graphic selections, simply observing what the positions were from across the table was needlessly difficult.


Colosseum - After some time wandering and talking with friends Becky and I ended up sitting down to play this next game from Days of Wonder with Chris Biancheria, Bob, and Bernhardt. It is played over five turns as you plan out the production of four or five performances and the expansion and purchase of assets to make it all happen. The game works, but doesn't really all hang together for me. It is hard to put my finger on what bugged me, perhaps the trading system where all assets are open and you can see what people want. In any case, I just found it fell a bit flat, like I wasn't getting the payoff for my time that I was looking for. Becky tried it again later in the day and concurred with this first reaction, so I think it will be a pass for us.

Battlelore - After dinner I entered the Battlelore tournament. I know the Command and Colors system and had played once without lore cards earlier in the week, but this was the first time playing with that element. It took a while to get set up and started and then Rodney and I slugged it out. Our game took quite some time as we had a combination of cards with which to stop each other, and poor dice rolling. Finally, after a long battle I finally won by a score of six to five. This is definitely a game I enjoy, but Becky has indicated she won't play with me, so our copy went on the prize table. I'll need to find chances to play when back in Vermont though.

That was it for my gaming. I wandered a bit and then had a wonderful conversation with Steffan O'Sullivan (he used to run one of the great resources for game reviews out there, but recently has been transferring this information to Boardgamegeek). It was already getting late, so I poked my head into the Game Show tournament (you can see teams huddling to try to name the twelve independent countries of South America in two minutes below) and then it was off to bed.

Tomorrow is the flea market and the big prize table ceremony. Many depart right after that so things are winding down. We are staying for the annual dinner with Alan for the first time, so stay tuned.

Gathering Report - Day 6

I started the day writing up yesterday. Thanks for all the nice comments. To the individual asking about RSS feeds, I don't know Atom from Eve. All I've done is copy some code and found that if I clicked on the little live-feed symbol on the net address in Firefox it gave me an option to put it on my watch list. If you want to send me more direct information on what is needed I'll try to set it up.

Yspahan - This game is destined towards my Top of the Gathering list for this year. Arriving downstairs I ran into Rachel, Silvio and Mick and we agreed to teach Rachel this fine game. In this play both the strategy and luck aspects of the play became more apparent to me and I like the proportion of both. It has a lot of things going on, but by the 1/3 mark you have seen it all and really understand how it works. An experienced player can still take advantage though. A solid eight at least and may move up to a nine for me.



Take it the the Limit - After a bit of poking around and conversing about a prototype with the talented Greg Daigle we ended up pulling out this sequel to Take it Easy (otherwise known as Bingo for Gamers). David, Greg, Larry and Jared joined with me in this massive, and slightly more complex version of that game. I enjoyed it , although the full Nexus board game was a slight bit long for my tastes. I'd vote to try the Orchid side of the boards (fewer tiles = quicker game) next time we try this one. If you like Take it Easy and want more, this game has it.

Prototype - Here are three very talented guys, James Droscha, Stephen Glenn and Kory Heath, working on a new game. Well really just James and Stephen were working on it. They let me give it a working title though. If you see something come out with these guys as co-authors in a couple years, you'll know it might have started here. We played a quick mock-up and it has definite potential. As you can see, game design is a true joy for the designers.

On the Underground - I taught Greg Daigle and Becky this game so we could try it with three players. I had previously purchased a copy sight unseen and wanted to figure out if it was something Becky and I should keep or destined for the prize table. It turned out not to be Greg's sort of game, although he won. We are keeping our copy for now.

Yspahan - I wanted Becky to try this as well, so I taught her and Greg and we were joined by Larry Levy for the play. As noted above, this game is holding up to repeated plays and Becky enjoyed it as well. This game I was able to pursue a building strategy and hold off on purchasing my last building so as to go first on the final scoring day. The plan was to use my numerous districts and control of the dice to vault into the lead at the end. As it turned out I had a spectacularly awful role, but that control wasn't needed as I just squeaked by to win anyway.


Bolide - After dinner we ran into James Davis who was teaching this vector based racing game with real momentum. Joining in were Dug, Angela, Sheila, Jim, Richard and Becky to bring our group to eight. This game isn't quick, but it is fun as you attempt to manage your momentum to maintain speed through the corners. We only played one lap which also gave us plenty of option to use hard braking. This proved to be a key way to change direction in the two hairpin corners on the course.

You can see our positions after three turns and heading into the first corner. The cars show current position and the round markers show relative momentum. I am in the unfortunate orange car. I thought I had a good line and purple blocked it, so I challenged him. I figured that starting out in fourth position I needed to make a move early to contend for the win. As you will notice, orange is facing the wrong way and has no momentum. That is what happens when you miss a challenge. I did manage to turn around, catch up to the pack, and finish third out of seven (Purple had to drop out to make it to the free poker tournament). All in all a fun game, and could lend itself to home courses laid out on a Chessex Mat.

Prototype - I ended the evening playing a three player prototype. It seems to be reaching the end of its development cycle and just waiting for the right folks to pick it up. It is tough for a designer at that point, because now it just becomes the cycle of presentation until you find the right match between publisher, market and timing.

One thing that is both fun and interesting is knowing about so many games and investing yourself with the designer and their quest to bring a cherished idea to market. It has been a good year for me in that regard, as several close friends have had success in finding companies to take their games for consideration. It may not lead to anything, but it is a big step on the path and I know how good it feels to at least have your foot in the door. One wonderful aspect of that experience here is that there is a cooperative sense of encouragement. I have never heard a complaint that a publisher was considering another game as well. It may just go with the territory, but the sense of friendly competition to simply impress is wonderful.

Three more days to go, but the mood here is starting to change a bit. Most people leave Sunday and Saturday has several big events in it, so tomorrow will be the last full day of uninterrupted gaming. It lasts such a long time and yet goes so fast. Still Alan manages to keep finding excuses to extend the welcome, so who knows what future years hold? In the meantime I'm looking forward to trying a few more new games from my list and savoring the next few days.

Gathering Report - Day 5

Thanks for the feedback comments. I'll see if I can keep up with more tournament info. I know the Tichu tournament that started last night at 7:30 is still going, I believe with four partnerships remaining.

Wednesday is the fifth day of the Gathering for me, and thus retains its place in the week as hump-day. Unfortunately, when this means an end to gaming it is too bad.

Venedig - I had the pleasure of learning this game with William Attia, Valerie Putnam and Dale Yu. A table full of 'gaming glitterati'. Bobby Warren and I were there to keep it real. The game is an interesting mix of mechanisms, centering around playing cards that allow you to build structures on one of five islands. As you score, your gondola moves along the canal, lending to scoring increases if you can build on a currently adjacent island. A clever game and one I would gladly try again.


Factory Fun - I first played this at an event last fall, but hadn't gotten a chance in six months and so had it among my list of new games to try. After running into Paul and Jacob we settled on giving this quick game another go. Nataline joined us, and in a rarity for the Gathering, we all knew the rules already and were able to just start playing. If you don't know, this game has two parts. One is a speed round where you flip machines and then everyone can take one. If you grab too quickly though you may be hurt by the result. In the second part you must play the machine to your factory and pay to place pipes to hook it all up. I enjoy this game quite a bit, but it isn't for everyone as Paul expressed a lot of frustration with the position he ended up developing.


Hour of Glory - Frank Branham had previously reviewed this game and I was interested in trying it out. He agreed to play the Nazi guards as Stephen Lesnik, Brian Fealy and I took on the role of the allied spies trying to loot the base for secret information. The game play was tense and exciting as each of us tried to use our unique abilities to best advantage in the game. We had quietly dispatched of many sentries and hid the bodies and were on our way out of the complex when the Kommandant played by Frank caught up with the elusive Russian a firefight broke out as we raced towards the exit and we were one minute short of fulfilling the dreams of our Hour of Glory. A lot of fun and would be perfect for a group that likes games with some chrome and a cooperative element.


Factory Fun - Becky got back in town after visiting nearby family and we had a bit less than an hour before a planned group dinner. We had run into Marty and I offered to teach him this title. It played quickly and we found that with the right group - willing to grab pieces based on looking at position rather than racing to grab without certainty AND quickly playing into the factory - the game is definitely quick and fun. This is good because I like the game and it stepped up a notch in Becky's book on this play.

Next we headed out for a group dinner of attendees of the Gathering of Friends who also play World of Warcraft (plus anyone who wanted to visit Schmitts in Germantown). As always this was good food and great fun as we chatted about everything from what characteristics make the perfect comic book movie to which ways of removing Jar Jar Binks are best for recovering some goodness out of the prequel movies. By eight o'clock we were back in the gaming hall.


Hermagor - Stephen, Jesse McGatha, Richard Rowan, Becky and I sat down to play this title with two interwoven parts that turns out mostly to be about the first auction portion. The auction is an array of tiles and by paying various costs you can position each of your four markers between to tiles, diagonally to four of them or directly on a tile. Each tile will be won by the player with the most markers around it, but the marker on top is first tie breaker and the marker on a side is the second.

This auction has a very Taj Mahal aspect to it in that once a marker is placed it cannot be moved. Thus, if you find yourself provoking or defending battles around numerous tiles you can expend a lot of resources to absolutely no gain. On the other hand, sometimes you just need certain tiles and so retreating to pick off the easy wins isn't always an option. The other half of the game consists of a traveling salesman problem as you move around a map and set up shops in cities matching the icons of tiles you won. In this phase there is little direct interaction (only a bonus payment if others set up shop where you already are) so this part of the game is more of a scoring puzzle. Overall well recommended, although I think five may have been too many. Next playing I will try with four, which I suspect is the sweet spot.

Alhambra Dice Game - Scott Alden, Ava Jarvis and Daniel Karp grabbed me as I walked by to try out the new Alhambra Dice Game. The initial reviews of this title had been fairly poor and so we wanted to try it out and see if they were fair shakes. The rules are simple enough, with each player taking up to three rounds of rolling to try to get sets of matching symbols and then scoring based on the best two markers in each of the six tracks. We ended up aborting the game after a scoring and second rolling round (a total of eight turns each). The game works and it isn't bad, but it isn't particularly good either. I enjoy dice games, but I would play Yahtzee, Pickomino, To Court a King or Can't Stop to address certain 'gaming itches'. I just can't ever see pulling this one out to play instead of one of those. Still, I'd play it with a group that liked it.


Taluva - After much hemming and hawing the same group ended up moving on to a game of Taluva that I taught for Dan and Aldie. After two plays I find I really like this game and I may seriously consider picking it up. The game play is enjoyable and fairly quick and it has the nifty mechanism for building your island up on multiple levels. I was glad Ava was at the table to catch me on a few missing rules in my explanation. Overall a good day, and I was able to get to bed for a better night's rest.

Gathering Report - Day 4

Today I was able to get up, deal with the minor work obligations early and get down to the game room a bit earlier than prior days. I resolved to do a better job trying "new to me" games, and the result was a day of many new experiences.

Prototype - I began the day sitting down with Stephen Glenn to test out one of his prototypes. The play was successful and I hope to see this game from a publisher sometime in the next couple years.


Medici vs. Strozzi - I ran into Jared and we decided to try this recently released two player cousin of the classic game Medici. In this game you are balancing a few main factors: your money, the size of your ships, the pier the ships dock at and both the value and type of the cargo you load on them. It is played in three rounds and each round ends when one of the two players fills their ships. I did well in round one by generating building up some good strength on my ships and worrying Jared about what would happen if the turn ended. As a result the bidding got higher and we both ended up losing money overall. The next two turns proved the nice balance in the game as I slowly allowed Jared to win more and more goods as he was willing to pay a price I thought too high. The end result was a strong win in my favor, despite loading only two goods (out of a possible twelve) in the second round. I don't play a lot of two player games at home, but would give a recommendation on this to anyone who likes tactical economic two player games.

Yspahan - Bobby Warren taught Larry Whalen and I this game and Ian MacInnes sat down to join us right when we were ready to start. This game has camels. Thus following the rule of German games, it must be good. And it is. There is a clever system where a player rolls dice on their turn and then groups them by ranking, you can see a result in the picture above. The number of dice in each row indicates how many of that particular action may be taken. This simple piece combines with a number of familiar other elements into a whole that is quite satisfying. Another positive first impression.

Space Dealer - Michael Weston offered to teach this title to Janobie and Jeff Ford and me. In this game, which lasts exactly thirty minutes, all of your actions are initiated by turning a (roughly) one minute sand timer. Once the timer runs out, the action is complete and it takes effect immediately. Everyone is thus playing simultaneously. The rest of the game is fairly simple, a good thing given the time pressure for what you are trying to do.

I expected to feel particularly harried, rushed and frantic during this game, but didn't find that to be the case. More it was frustrating to release you had just spent several minutes on something that was no longer useful because someone else had started that effort first. At the end of the game we counted score and found it was quite different from the markers we had been moving around. I think in the future I would skip these markers. Overall an interesting experience that I wouldn't mind on occasion, but not a game I need to have or play frequently.

Caylus Magna Carta - I like the game Caylus, but I don't love it like some people. I find it just a little too complex and long for my tastes, and I found that Puerto Rico scratched the same planning itch. Fortunately, I was wandering by when I got an invitation to join Dan, Mathew and Ava for a game on a pre-preproduction copy of Caylus Magna Carta. This game is, in my opinion, all the good stuff about Caylus, without so much complexity. Because the players dictate the order that every building but four will come out, I can imagine the game could be quite variable, and it was certainly shorter. This is a game I'll be looking for when it comes out later this year.

Race for the Galaxy - If you haven't heard of this game, let me tell you, keep an eye out for it. The same group stuck together to play a prototype copy of this game which is due out this summer from Rio Grande Games. There are a lot of things to cover at the beginning but I found the game quick, interesting, tense and all around exciting. If you still need to be convinced, head over to Boardgamegeek and check out Brian Bankler's accolades. I hate to build up the hype, but this game may live up to it. I also got to page through proof sheets for the card art and I can guarantee you, if you buy this game sight unseen you will not be disappointed in the look. The cards are many and beautiful.

Loopin Louie - One of the annual traditions of the Gathering is the Loopin Louie tournament. I and approximately forty of my fellow attendees and friends all queued up to play on one of the nine sets of this decades old children's game. The event is run with tournament rules whereby a player must start with an additional handicap (one less chicken) for every prior game they have won at the table. The first player to win a game with the full handicap wins the table, marks their card for a win and remains while their opponents must wait in a line to re-engage another group. It is a silly way to spend an hour, and one lucky gal or chap gets an early prize table pick as an award. This year I understand that was Brian Stallings.

Prototype - Wandering after the tournament I ended up sitting down with Matt Anderson, Stephen Lesnik, Alan Ernstein, Nataline Viray-Fung and Dave Chalker. As we were just sitting around in conversation Alan pulled out a prototype card game which we could play while chatting. We ended up playing two different games with the deck, but fun and interesting although with this group the first came off better as it lent itself to exclamations of shock and frustration.

I spent a couple hours out of the game room having dinner and wonderful conversation with some friends and then returned for a couple more games to cap off the night.

Taluva - Earlier in the day I had run into a table with Greg Schloesser and, while there wasn't room for me to play, he had invited me to sit in on the rules explanation. As it turns out, these rules were quite simple and I kept hearing good things about this game from the designer of Attika. Marty Hoff agreed to give the game a try as a two player competition and we sat down to duke it out. As a two player game it was quite interesting and challenging and I would like to try playing it with three or four. A good general first impression, although it is tactical and so I suspect that two or three might be the optimal numbers. For that reason I don't know how much play time it would really get in my collection.


Euchre - Nataline and Scott wandered by as we were finishing up. That could only mean it was time for a game of Euchre before bed. After some cajoling Marty agreed to stick around and help Scott thoroughly beat us. Sometimes the cards just aren't with you.

Another late night, I'll need to start finishing up sooner if I'm going to take time to post. Let me know in the comments if there are particular things you'd like to see more or less about.

Gathering Report - Day 3

Today I got up late, posted the report from yesterday, did some work for the office and had breakfast with Becky before she took off to see her family for a couple days. So it was about noon before I headed down to the game room.

Notre Dame - There are several copies of this sitting out on the tables, and lots of folks wanting to learn, so I volunteered to teach yet another three player game. Larry was new, and Buzz had played before, but the official rules have been tweaked in the intervening months. The play of the game demonstrated to me that it holds up well with three, and that experience counts as I pulled away and left them scrapping for second. With three plays under my belt I'd rate this game a solid 8 out of 10.

Prototype - Can't say much, but it was a quick game and a good chance to catch up with some other friends.

Capes + Cowls - When at the Gathering I always try to track down Frank Branham because he always has interesting and unusual games. In this case we sat down to play a two player game of tactical superhero combat. The game has a chess-like feel as it is played on an eight by eight grid of numbers and colors, as you can see above. The strength of each character varies by the number (and in some cases color) he stands on. If you are strong enough you can get a guaranteed hit, but even a weaker attacker can take a one in six chance at the attack. On top of that, the heroes get a variety of powers to break the rules and do special things.

Game play itself is fairly quick with a nice back and forth mechanism so you never feel out of the action. The first game we played was an asymmetric heroes versus fodder type battle. It wasn't terribly exciting, but didn't take long so we decided to go for a symmetric battle of four vs. four random heroes. This turned out to be quite exciting and tense. The game does very well for its genre and I would be willing to try it again. It is obscure enough I may even order my own copy.


Attika - I ran into Marty Hoff next and sat down to play a game of Attika with him and Jeff. It has been a long, long time since I have played this game and my rust showed. I was still a good three to four turns away from finishing by my reckoning when the game ended. Still it has proven it's staying power, and I remain convinced that three is an ideal number for this game.

Prototype - I was then able to get a game going of a prototype I had an interest in playing. The outcome was inconclusive in my mind, and I may be trying it again this week.


Thurn und Taxis Expansion - Glanz und Gloria - After a bit of wandering I ran into Jennifer and Lorna who offered to teach this recent German expansion for last year's Spiel des Jahres winner. This can be played two ways, either as an alternate map for the basic game, or with new, slightly different rules. We opted for the latter. The basic differences are that there are no carriages and carriage bonus points. Instead you may opt to play a card face down next to your carriage for the horseshoes shown on its back. This takes the place of a regular card play. You then may not cash in a route until these horseshoes equal the total length of the route you are playing.

The net result is that it is even easier to get bad cards out of your hand. A simplification in an already simple game, and one I didn't care much for. I like the original, even if not as much as the SdJ jury, but I personally don't have a need for this game. If you play T&T to the point of being bored of the map, this might be a great pick-up. Note that it comes with map and cards, but you need the houses and rules from the base game to make sense of it.


On the Underground - I ran into Gail who was trying to round up someone to play a game with Ken and her. Since they didn't have a game in mind, I suggested this title which I've been wanting to try. During the game players lay track to create several lines of the London Tube system. After each turn a passenger (we called him the "lazy American") moves to certain stops based on a formula that is first minimizing the distance walked and second minimizing the train transfers taken. He'd rather ride across London on three trains if it means he can get right to the stop he needs and the alternative is walking a block.

During players turns they can place a few links of track, and this change in the board topography can drastically impact where the lazy American heads. I opted early to try to identify some likely frequent routes and lay my tracks along those. This proved to be a good strategy as they frequently became legs of the trips made back and forth across the city. I've heard that the game is better with three than four or five, despite the box indicating it can play that many. I could really believe it, more players would definitely up the chaos factor.

That was it, after a lot more conversation it was off to write a report and head to bed. Tomorrow I know more folks come into town, and I may be introducing a guest blogger to add some other thoughts on the Gathering.

Gathering Report - Day 2

Yesterday I only played a handful of games, but somehow managed to get to bed very late, so this update is in the morning.


Notre Dame - Above you can see Jay Tummelson teaching the newest Alea title as we found him on Sunday morning. All the good things you have heard about Jay are true and more. He is a wonderful teacher a boon to the hobby and all around good guy. Right after teaching this group he brought some of us to a second board he had out and taught it again so we could play.

The first thing to notice is the nifty setup. The oddly shaped district pieces are arranged about a Notre Dame tile selected for the number of players. With three it is a triangle, two or four a square or five a pentagon. No matter what shape you use, one district per player fits snugly into the arrangement creating an attractive presentation. Most of your play is in your own district, but a carriage from each player can head out through town.

The game is played over nine rounds, in three groups of three turns. During this time you have the potential opportunity to play to each of seven districts, move your friend and help build Notre Dame. The trick is a clever mechanism where you draw three cards on your turn from these nine options, keep one and pass on two. You then keep one of those two and pass on the remainder. In this way the players jointly dictate each other's actions. You only can play two of these three cards and must discard the third.

A last clever piece is the rats. They accumulate as the game goes on and penalize you heavily if you ignore them. So the game is one of trying to build an infrastructure to generate victory points, help work on Notre Dame, send carriages out to recover messages from throughout the city and keep the plague under control. Kris, Becky and Tom played a learning game with me and I enjoyed enough to come back later the same day.


Pillars of the Earth - It was cathedral building day for me I suppose. I next learned on the new Mayfair English edition of this Essen 2006 release. Jennifer was kind enough to teach and David and Becky joined me for the play of the game. Another terrific title for my tastes. I appreciate how at the beginning of the game you are essentially gambling with your choices, but the decisions become more predictable as the game proceeds to lead up to a tense endgame.

Kevin, Valerie, Dale and Brian play the epic full game of Through The Ages. This is on my list for a second play sometime this week. If you have trouble telling Dale and Brian apart, just pull out a camera and see which one mugs for it.

Prototype - Next I played a prototype. One phenomenon of the Gathering is sometimes you get poor translations or incorrect rules explanations that cloud your opinions. In this case, I actually think that may have happened as the game was run by the publisher, not the designer. You'd think this would be the point at which that doesn't happen, but it is a good reminder to take all these first impression reports with a heaping helping of salt.


Notre Dame - Mathew wanted to try this title so I agreed to teach and we were joined by Paul and Angela. The second playing was won in a very different way from the first and we all struggled much more with the rats. The difference in plays is a good thing to me, showing lots of replay value. It is immediately apparent that if you let a player go off on their own down a path, they will likely win. At least as far as Carriages and Notre Dame are concerned.


Mr. Jack - I had played this title a couple times last fall and agreed to teach Mathew it as well. Based on conventional wisdom I let him play detective as I played Jack. On the first turn he was able to get two pieces flipped to innocent. Then the second turn he miscalculated and only got to flip one more. Even more important, unnoticed by Mathew I had moved a piece within on movement of exiting the board. With five potential killers still out there he started to get concerned, especially when my moves made it so that four of them were guaranteed to be seen. Not detecting my gambit, he figured "Well, at least I'll get to flip one." and moved a piece to prepare for the following turn.

I announced that Mr. Jack was unseen. "Uhoh." End turn 3, out goes lamp, Mr. Jack takes first move and exits the board. It is good to see that it can happen, even if it requires a small oversight from the detective. He could have stopped it of course, but at the expense of making no progress in deducing who was Mr. Jack.

Dune - Finally, at 8:00 I began an epic game of Dune with Nate, Evan, Daniel, Zack and Brian (not Dale). We had our first worm on the third turn and quickly split into three two player alliances. Then the diplomacy instincts took over. Frequent sideboards were held, strategies discussed and the game play stretched out. We stopped for pizza and Evan, my ally at the time said something offhand to Nate like "Well, we know these alliances w0n't last to the end of the game". At the next nexus event I dropped him and teamed up with the Emporer. It seemed like a good idea until Harkonen dropped a single unit into a major stronghold and deployed the lazgun and shield. By the next nexus I was back together in an alliance with Evan, but this time Dan was on board as well as we struggled to hold the balance.

It was easily the longest game of Dune I've ever played, but very enjoyable. At one point it seemed like 3/4 of the pieces were in the spice tank, but still, victory proved elusive. In the end Zack (Bene Gesserit) and I (Fremen) were able to consolidate control of every city but Arrakeen and I shared a win in my fourth distinct alliance of the game. By that time it was 3:00 A.M. (Yes, it took about six hours of game play, plus rules and pizza break) and I went to bed.