The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Taj Mahal, Notre Dame, Dominion.
I lose Taj Mahal embarrassingly, Notre Dame a bit less so, and squeak off a surprise win in Dominion.
On Wed night I also taught and played Mr Jack with Bill, beating him first as Criminal and then as Detective.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Pitiless Rules
Board games are won and lost according to the rules. You can be pretty or ugly, smart or stupid, insightful, witty, or dull. Rich or poor, black or white or anywhere in between.
None of that is really going to help you win or make you lose a game.
You can't buy your way to victory in Monopoly with real money (*). You can't charm a Scrabble game, or argue your way out of home base in Sorry. And you don't lose Settlers of Catan because of your race or sexual orientation. Rules are pitiless and impersonal. The only way out is through.
I told my daughter that a minimum expected grade level from school is her goal. Frankly I don't really give a damn about her grades, nor the material she will be learning to achieve them. I want her to learn, and to love learning, and that will not come from school requirements, not from tests, and certainly not from the standardized bagruyot test inflicted on high school students for their last three years.
But there is one thing that she will definitely learn: there is no mercy in succeeding. She can argue me out of discipline and chores, charm her way into treats and vacations, and buy her way out of sandwiches for lunch. But the minimum grade goal in school is absolute. She can't charm, argue, or cajole her way out of it. Not with me, and not with her teachers.
It's not enough to know the material and fail the tests: that's a great goal, and it's also encouraged, but it's not THIS goal. THIS goal is to find out what it takes to get the minimum grade and do THAT. It may make no sense. It may have nothing to do with learning. It's pitiless and impersonal.
Why make someone do something that makes no sense? Because, unfortunately, a whole lot of life's challenges are just that. Effort, sense, and pleading only count for so much. You have to face nonsense and dispassionately bear through it on occasion.
(*) My original assertion is not entirely correct: you CAN sometimes charm, cheat, and buy your way out of games, and even grades. Some parents let kids cheat at games, or cheat for them. Some people bully or buy their way into victory, whether in games or bureaucracy. This may be true. But it's my job to not do that and to teach my children not to do that.
Maybe my only job.
Yehuda
None of that is really going to help you win or make you lose a game.
You can't buy your way to victory in Monopoly with real money (*). You can't charm a Scrabble game, or argue your way out of home base in Sorry. And you don't lose Settlers of Catan because of your race or sexual orientation. Rules are pitiless and impersonal. The only way out is through.
I told my daughter that a minimum expected grade level from school is her goal. Frankly I don't really give a damn about her grades, nor the material she will be learning to achieve them. I want her to learn, and to love learning, and that will not come from school requirements, not from tests, and certainly not from the standardized bagruyot test inflicted on high school students for their last three years.
But there is one thing that she will definitely learn: there is no mercy in succeeding. She can argue me out of discipline and chores, charm her way into treats and vacations, and buy her way out of sandwiches for lunch. But the minimum grade goal in school is absolute. She can't charm, argue, or cajole her way out of it. Not with me, and not with her teachers.
It's not enough to know the material and fail the tests: that's a great goal, and it's also encouraged, but it's not THIS goal. THIS goal is to find out what it takes to get the minimum grade and do THAT. It may make no sense. It may have nothing to do with learning. It's pitiless and impersonal.
Why make someone do something that makes no sense? Because, unfortunately, a whole lot of life's challenges are just that. Effort, sense, and pleading only count for so much. You have to face nonsense and dispassionately bear through it on occasion.
(*) My original assertion is not entirely correct: you CAN sometimes charm, cheat, and buy your way out of games, and even grades. Some parents let kids cheat at games, or cheat for them. Some people bully or buy their way into victory, whether in games or bureaucracy. This may be true. But it's my job to not do that and to teach my children not to do that.
Maybe my only job.
Yehuda
Media Schizophrenia About Board Games
The same newspapers can slant the implication about board game play, depending on what they want for the story angle.
In one article, board games are economical, ecological, and family togetherness time. "Bring out the old-fashioned board game," they declare. Or, if enlightened, "take a look at modern board games," and why they remain competitive with, or even best, other entertainment possibilities, such as video games or movies.
In the next article, or the next day, they'll throw out board games as an aspersion, implying people wasting their time or phenomenally bored. "Health employees are just sitting around reading and playing board games."
Then there are the articles that refer to people who play board games as "retro" or simply bizarre. "Fer chrissakes, what a geek! He plays board games!"
Media. Fear it.
Because every other idea, activity, nation, and personality undergoes the same treatment. A reporter wants to be cute, or wants to tap into something subjective about which you already feel. It's not about objectivity.
Yehuda
In one article, board games are economical, ecological, and family togetherness time. "Bring out the old-fashioned board game," they declare. Or, if enlightened, "take a look at modern board games," and why they remain competitive with, or even best, other entertainment possibilities, such as video games or movies.
In the next article, or the next day, they'll throw out board games as an aspersion, implying people wasting their time or phenomenally bored. "Health employees are just sitting around reading and playing board games."
Then there are the articles that refer to people who play board games as "retro" or simply bizarre. "Fer chrissakes, what a geek! He plays board games!"
Media. Fear it.
Because every other idea, activity, nation, and personality undergoes the same treatment. A reporter wants to be cute, or wants to tap into something subjective about which you already feel. It's not about objectivity.
Yehuda
Necessary Invention: Yeshiva Stock Market
Yeshiva's beg for money to support their learning from people who make money, and then often feel superior to those who don't learn all day. That's chutzpah.
Back in the day, Issachar and Zevulun has an arrangement where one would learn and the other work, each getting the complete share of the merit for learning. Or so I understand.
I also feel entitled to the some of the study merit of those people I support. Whenever I give, I feel tempted to ask for some. But I don't know how much to ask for. If I give 100 NIS, is that 0.1% of the daily output of the yeshiva? Or a select group of students? How do I know that my 100 NIS wouldn't gain me better merit at some other more studious yeshiva, with better students and more disciplined finances?
I think there should be a yeshiva stock market. Individuals, study halls, kolels, and so on should float learning shares. That way we can evaluate what we get for our money. I want to support the yeshiva with the best learning (and good deeds) output. I want to know what I'm getting.
Yeshivas could report ... uh ... "mitzvaentials" on a quarterly basis: dafim learned (tested, to ensure quality), old ladies helped across the street, time spent delivering food to the needy, happiness quotient. We could more easily discover the yeshivas whose activities match our path. We could buy low (a yeshiva with unrealized potential) and sell high (when it's doing great). We could float shares. We could buy puts.
And best yet, we could sue for insider trading (you knew that the Rebbe's son was going to be accepted to your yeshiva, didn't you?).
Back in the day, Issachar and Zevulun has an arrangement where one would learn and the other work, each getting the complete share of the merit for learning. Or so I understand.
I also feel entitled to the some of the study merit of those people I support. Whenever I give, I feel tempted to ask for some. But I don't know how much to ask for. If I give 100 NIS, is that 0.1% of the daily output of the yeshiva? Or a select group of students? How do I know that my 100 NIS wouldn't gain me better merit at some other more studious yeshiva, with better students and more disciplined finances?
I think there should be a yeshiva stock market. Individuals, study halls, kolels, and so on should float learning shares. That way we can evaluate what we get for our money. I want to support the yeshiva with the best learning (and good deeds) output. I want to know what I'm getting.
Yeshivas could report ... uh ... "mitzvaentials" on a quarterly basis: dafim learned (tested, to ensure quality), old ladies helped across the street, time spent delivering food to the needy, happiness quotient. We could more easily discover the yeshivas whose activities match our path. We could buy low (a yeshiva with unrealized potential) and sell high (when it's doing great). We could float shares. We could buy puts.
And best yet, we could sue for insider trading (you knew that the Rebbe's son was going to be accepted to your yeshiva, didn't you?).
Dominion With My Brother
Ben's first attempt at Dominion was a failure. He lost every Silver that he bought to other players' Thieves, while he never managed to steal anything back with his own Thieves. Unlike some games (Agricola), however, he was willing to admit that that was bad luck and that the game seemed basically sound.
We tried it again yesterday, with better results. No Thieves.
The only additional actions were Spies, and I was the only one to take one. The other attack card was Militia, and we both had a lot of them (no Moats). You would think that this would make getting to the magic number 8 fairly difficult. But it wasn't, really. We were both able to buy Silvers and then Golds. We used Chapel to dump a few other cards and, even after getting hit with a Militia, 8 was not too hard.
Gardens were also available; I took two. Ben lost the game because he took a Gold on his penultimate turn instead of a Gardens. He lost 46 to 43, which is respectable enough, he says.
We also played a number of hands of Bridge, including three-player with my Mom. And Friday night, I got my non-game playing friends to enjoy a half-hour of Moot trivia questions.
We tried it again yesterday, with better results. No Thieves.
The only additional actions were Spies, and I was the only one to take one. The other attack card was Militia, and we both had a lot of them (no Moats). You would think that this would make getting to the magic number 8 fairly difficult. But it wasn't, really. We were both able to buy Silvers and then Golds. We used Chapel to dump a few other cards and, even after getting hit with a Militia, 8 was not too hard.
Gardens were also available; I took two. Ben lost the game because he took a Gold on his penultimate turn instead of a Gardens. He lost 46 to 43, which is respectable enough, he says.
We also played a number of hands of Bridge, including three-player with my Mom. And Friday night, I got my non-game playing friends to enjoy a half-hour of Moot trivia questions.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Gaming at Gilad's: Cloud 9, Diamant, and Factory Fun
I actually made it to Gilad's game night in Modiin, which I usually don't do because a) it's half an hour away from me, b) I play already on Wed nights, and c) he starts at 9:00 pm. I happened to be at work today, and so was passing by anyway, and Rachel isn't around so I could arrive home late.
Gilad hosts game nights once a month. The group is primarily Hebrew speakers, but most spoke English around me, which was nice.
Participants: Jon, Gilad, Tali, Tal, Ronit, Koby, Oren, Oshrat, Adi, Odded, Amir
Gilad and his wife Tali are hosts. Tal (Darom), Koby, and Oren have all made it to my house on occasion. Ronit isTal's Koby's wife. The others are all nice people who don't make it out to Jerusalem.
Games I didn't play
Race for the Galaxy: Koby 26, Tal 28 (1st game), Oren 24, Ronit 36
First play for Tal, I don't know about the others.
Puerto Rico: Koby, Ronit, Odded, Oren
They were still going with this when I left.
Thurn and Taxis: Adi, Oshrat, Tali, Amir 22+
First play for at least some of them. The other three players all had scores in the single digits.
Cloud 9
Jon 26, Gilad 54, Tali 42, Oshrat 61, Adi 44
Cloud 9 is a light push your luck game with a number of twists. It comes with a deck of cards - each card is simply one of four colors. And four dice - four of the faces with one of those colors, and two blank faces. And a board, pieces, and scoring markers.
Each player gets a few cards to start with. Each player is "in the balloon" at the start of a round. One player starts the round by rolling two dice. Each player, other than the active player, then guesses whether or not the active player has cards in his or her hand to match the dice rolled. A blank die doesn't count as a card, so the person may only have to match one or no cards.
If a player thinks there is a match, he "stays in the balloon". Otherwise, he or she abandons ship and takes points. After all players, other than the active player, have stayed or abandoned the balloon, the active player then reveals the cards from his or her hand if he has them.
If he or she does, the balloon sails up the ladder, and the next player still in the balloon becomes the active player. Eventually the number of dice that must be rolled grows to three, then four, and at each step, the points for abandoning ship become higher, to a maximum of 25 for a completed trip.
However, if the active player cannot match the die roll, all players still on the balloon get nothing. The balloon returns to the starting position and all players return to the balloon.
After each round, each player gains an additional card. There are some additional rules for when you are alone in the balloon, and some wild cards, but that's the gist. Player with the most points at the end of a round after one player goes over 50 wins.
It's quite cute for a light push-your-luck game. While cute, the "balloon" was annoying, since you had to take at least a certain amount of care when putting the people into the balloon or they would just fall out.
In our game, I had the bad luck of abandoning the balloon early while everyone else stayed on, and they all got 20 more points than I did. In that situation, there is no way to catch up, no matter how cleverly I played. Luckily the game ended two or three rounds later.
I liked it enough to play again, however. I wouldn't buy it.
Diamant
Oshrat 25, Jon 22, Tali 21, Gilad, Adi, Amir
Another light and quick push your luck game, this one is also called Incan Gold from a different publisher.
In this game, the object is to have the most points at the end of the game. There are five rounds.
The game comes with 15 disaster cards in five types (three of each type), and 15 gem cards with values ranging from 3 to 17 (or so).
In each round, a card is flipped up. If it is a gem card, the number of gems is evenly distributed to each player who puts them in front of (not in) his or her cart. Remainder gems are placed on the card. If it is a disaster card, no gens are distributed.
Players than simultaneously reveal if they are staying in or abandoning ship. If all players stay in, continue. If one abandons ship, he takes all the gems in front of his cart and puts it into his cart, as well as all undistributed remainder gems that were left on all cards. That can be a decent take. If two or more abandon ship, they split the remainder gems, again leaving any further remainders on the cards.
The round is over immediately after the second disaster of a certain type is revealed. At that point, any gems in front of players who didn't yet abandon ship get returned to the supply, as well as all remaindered gems on cards. All cards are returned to the deck for the next round, except the last played disaster card.
Again, another light push-your-luck game with simultaneous decision making. I liked this one slightly better than Cloud 9, but man, is it overproduced. I expect that the game would play just as well with pennies and dice.
The blind bidding is random (excuse me: "bluffing"), and it wouldn't go over well with my group. I would play again, however. it's a quick filler for at least three people.
Factory Fun
Factory Fun: Gilad+, Jon (eliminated), Tal-
This looked like a really cool game and it got great reviews on BGG. The components looked like leftovers from Robo Rally. And it has a lot of spacial features and puzzle aspects, which I love.
Each player has an empty board, four "sources" of energy - one each in four different colors, three temporary energy caps, and an unlimited supply of connector pipes and permanent energy caps.
The major component is the machines. Each machine is a 1 x 2 square with some number of inputs, in different colors, positions, and strengths, and one output.
There are ten rounds. On each round, a machine is flipped up and players grab - in no particular order and as fast as they want to - one machine to place on their board. After grabbing a machine, you MUST place it on your board or lose 5 points. The last player to grab a machine ends up with whatever is left, but doesn't have to grab any machine, and so doesn't risk losing any points.
Placing the machine onto your board is free, as is placing one of your energy sources or removing a pipe or source from your board. However, placing a pipe or energy cap costs 1 and moving a machine costs 2. You can only move a maximum of two machines each round.
All of the inputs have to match outputs, with sufficient strength. Sources are infinite strength, but cascading machines gives you many more points, and you only have one source of each color, although some machines allow you to take a bonus source in a specific color.
The game played placidly enough until around round 7. At that point, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, my machine was illegal in about three or four ways, and I quit the game to take a half an hour to completely rearrange my board just to see if or how I could fit my components onto it. There is no time limit for arranging the pieces on the board, so there is no way in hell my game group will be allowed near this game.
It was a lot of fun trying to figure out how to fit everything back onto the board, which I eventually did. But that's no way to play a game. I have no idea how many pipes I rearranged or machines I had moved. It was just incredible chaos.
I'm sure people much smarter than me will find this to be a fantastic game. I just liked playing with the pieces.
Dominion
Gilad 56 (8 gardens), Jon 43 (9 duchys), Tal 52
We wrapped up with a game of Dominion, which I also handily lost. I opted not to concentrate on Gardens, which was my downfall. Gilad took two and a few coppers whenever he had 8, while I bought a Province, and when I couldn't get a Province, I bought a Duchy. Didn't work, as you can see.
The game ended with Markets, Gardens, and Duchys.
Gilad hosts game nights once a month. The group is primarily Hebrew speakers, but most spoke English around me, which was nice.
Participants: Jon, Gilad, Tali, Tal, Ronit, Koby, Oren, Oshrat, Adi, Odded, Amir
Gilad and his wife Tali are hosts. Tal (Darom), Koby, and Oren have all made it to my house on occasion. Ronit is
Games I didn't play
Race for the Galaxy: Koby 26, Tal 28 (1st game), Oren 24, Ronit 36
First play for Tal, I don't know about the others.
Puerto Rico: Koby, Ronit, Odded, Oren
They were still going with this when I left.
Thurn and Taxis: Adi, Oshrat, Tali, Amir 22+
First play for at least some of them. The other three players all had scores in the single digits.
Cloud 9
Jon 26, Gilad 54, Tali 42, Oshrat 61, Adi 44
Cloud 9 is a light push your luck game with a number of twists. It comes with a deck of cards - each card is simply one of four colors. And four dice - four of the faces with one of those colors, and two blank faces. And a board, pieces, and scoring markers.
Each player gets a few cards to start with. Each player is "in the balloon" at the start of a round. One player starts the round by rolling two dice. Each player, other than the active player, then guesses whether or not the active player has cards in his or her hand to match the dice rolled. A blank die doesn't count as a card, so the person may only have to match one or no cards.
If a player thinks there is a match, he "stays in the balloon". Otherwise, he or she abandons ship and takes points. After all players, other than the active player, have stayed or abandoned the balloon, the active player then reveals the cards from his or her hand if he has them.
If he or she does, the balloon sails up the ladder, and the next player still in the balloon becomes the active player. Eventually the number of dice that must be rolled grows to three, then four, and at each step, the points for abandoning ship become higher, to a maximum of 25 for a completed trip.
However, if the active player cannot match the die roll, all players still on the balloon get nothing. The balloon returns to the starting position and all players return to the balloon.
After each round, each player gains an additional card. There are some additional rules for when you are alone in the balloon, and some wild cards, but that's the gist. Player with the most points at the end of a round after one player goes over 50 wins.
It's quite cute for a light push-your-luck game. While cute, the "balloon" was annoying, since you had to take at least a certain amount of care when putting the people into the balloon or they would just fall out.
In our game, I had the bad luck of abandoning the balloon early while everyone else stayed on, and they all got 20 more points than I did. In that situation, there is no way to catch up, no matter how cleverly I played. Luckily the game ended two or three rounds later.
I liked it enough to play again, however. I wouldn't buy it.
Diamant
Oshrat 25, Jon 22, Tali 21, Gilad, Adi, Amir
Another light and quick push your luck game, this one is also called Incan Gold from a different publisher.
In this game, the object is to have the most points at the end of the game. There are five rounds.
The game comes with 15 disaster cards in five types (three of each type), and 15 gem cards with values ranging from 3 to 17 (or so).
In each round, a card is flipped up. If it is a gem card, the number of gems is evenly distributed to each player who puts them in front of (not in) his or her cart. Remainder gems are placed on the card. If it is a disaster card, no gens are distributed.
Players than simultaneously reveal if they are staying in or abandoning ship. If all players stay in, continue. If one abandons ship, he takes all the gems in front of his cart and puts it into his cart, as well as all undistributed remainder gems that were left on all cards. That can be a decent take. If two or more abandon ship, they split the remainder gems, again leaving any further remainders on the cards.
The round is over immediately after the second disaster of a certain type is revealed. At that point, any gems in front of players who didn't yet abandon ship get returned to the supply, as well as all remaindered gems on cards. All cards are returned to the deck for the next round, except the last played disaster card.
Again, another light push-your-luck game with simultaneous decision making. I liked this one slightly better than Cloud 9, but man, is it overproduced. I expect that the game would play just as well with pennies and dice.
The blind bidding is random (excuse me: "bluffing"), and it wouldn't go over well with my group. I would play again, however. it's a quick filler for at least three people.
Factory Fun
Factory Fun: Gilad+, Jon (eliminated), Tal-
This looked like a really cool game and it got great reviews on BGG. The components looked like leftovers from Robo Rally. And it has a lot of spacial features and puzzle aspects, which I love.
Each player has an empty board, four "sources" of energy - one each in four different colors, three temporary energy caps, and an unlimited supply of connector pipes and permanent energy caps.
The major component is the machines. Each machine is a 1 x 2 square with some number of inputs, in different colors, positions, and strengths, and one output.
There are ten rounds. On each round, a machine is flipped up and players grab - in no particular order and as fast as they want to - one machine to place on their board. After grabbing a machine, you MUST place it on your board or lose 5 points. The last player to grab a machine ends up with whatever is left, but doesn't have to grab any machine, and so doesn't risk losing any points.
Placing the machine onto your board is free, as is placing one of your energy sources or removing a pipe or source from your board. However, placing a pipe or energy cap costs 1 and moving a machine costs 2. You can only move a maximum of two machines each round.
All of the inputs have to match outputs, with sufficient strength. Sources are infinite strength, but cascading machines gives you many more points, and you only have one source of each color, although some machines allow you to take a bonus source in a specific color.
The game played placidly enough until around round 7. At that point, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, my machine was illegal in about three or four ways, and I quit the game to take a half an hour to completely rearrange my board just to see if or how I could fit my components onto it. There is no time limit for arranging the pieces on the board, so there is no way in hell my game group will be allowed near this game.
It was a lot of fun trying to figure out how to fit everything back onto the board, which I eventually did. But that's no way to play a game. I have no idea how many pipes I rearranged or machines I had moved. It was just incredible chaos.
I'm sure people much smarter than me will find this to be a fantastic game. I just liked playing with the pieces.
Dominion
Gilad 56 (8 gardens), Jon 43 (9 duchys), Tal 52
We wrapped up with a game of Dominion, which I also handily lost. I opted not to concentrate on Gardens, which was my downfall. Gilad took two and a few coppers whenever he had 8, while I bought a Province, and when I couldn't get a Province, I bought a Duchy. Didn't work, as you can see.
The game ended with Markets, Gardens, and Duchys.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Session Report, in which two new people come but only play with each other
The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Dominion x 2, Pillars of the Earth, R-Eco, Mr Jack, Tichu.
Two new people came, but they showed up during PotE and left shortly after it ended. PotE continues to give me bad luck.
Two new people came, but they showed up during PotE and left shortly after it ended. PotE continues to give me bad luck.
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