September 2003 Archives

Check out Anathema, a Casino variant from APE Games. The card art is probably the best I've ever seen. But that's no wonder, as it's all done by Drew Tucker, who is one of the best artists I know.

Check out his Magic card art, for example. There's also a competition on the APE Games website (link above), where you can win a copy of Anathema.

Our latest Adam Spielt order has been made. Next week I should get the following games:

PitchCar - A must after the Lahti weekend. Simply too much fun to miss this one. I wasn't interested in this before I tried, it's unbelievable how fun such a simple game can be.

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - for my collection of curious trick-taking game. Sounds like a very curious game, indeed.

Alhambra - Spiel des Jahres winner, lots of praise. I was about to buy this one earlier, but unfortunately missed it. It's coming my way now.

Funkenschlag - This is one of the True Geek games (like Die Macher), heavy, obscure and German. Despite low production standards seems to be an interesting game.

Biberbande - What the world needs is more silly card games. Biberbande is definitely on the silly side, but what a brilliant, fun little game it is.

Gargon - For the curious trick-taking games department. I'm expecting gorgeous card art.

Canyon - Another trick-taking game. Simple game enhanced with an interesting scoring board, which adds another layer to it. Neat idea, probably a good "general audience" game.

Grand Canyon - Expansion for Canyon. Couldn't resist the price tag of 1,60 euros.

Played some Go today. I'm trying to bring my KGS rank down a bit. I'm just not 15 kyu. Today I lost a game (a bit over forty points - I lost 24 stones as captures!) to a 12 kyu, which dropped me down to 17 kyu. I guess I should sooner or later hit a level where I can expect to actually win some games.

Also, I'd really like to get rid of the ? next to my rank. I think it's causing me to miss some game opportunities, as people seem to be reluctant to play against people with unstable rankings. Which is understandable, I'm a bit more careful with unstable rankings on Dragon.

Here are some interesting Go resources:

Kifu generator creates nice diagrams from SGF files. If you want to study your games off-line, this one's for you.

Mind Sports Zine has an interesting Go section which hasn't been updated in a while, but still has lots of useful information. Go Learn, a series by Charles Matthews looks especially neat.

Links found from the Go web site of Joel Yliluoma.

I got some photos from the Lahti board game weekend. Enjoy!

Finnish Game of the Year awards have been given. Finnish Toy Association has chosen following winners:

Best children's game is Kissa ja hiiret by Ravensburger. Best family game is Blokus and the best game for adults is Cranium.

Interesting choices. I can't say I care much about the results, though...

I got a packet from Gaimport today. In it I found two fake leather Go boards (19 by 19 and 13 by 13), two plastic containers for stones and a cardboard box containing two bags of stones. Exactly what I ordered.

I checked the stones, wiping them clean of some kind of oil they had. I also checked for chipped or otherwise faulty stones. None were completely broken, but few had small dents or other small damage. Fortunately both sets had well over 180 stones so that's not a problem. I buried the worst stones on the bottom of the plastic containers. Also, the cheaper price can be seen in the small variation in the size of the stones. You can easily notice that some stones are thinner and some are thicker.

All in all I'm quite happy with the stones. They are look less like glass than I expected (the black ones are especially pretty) and they also feel good to touch. Unfortunately I can't really enjoy the click sound on my fake leather boards. I'll just have to see how well the stones survive use...

Edit: First stone chipped in March 2004 and it certainly wasn't the first stone to fall from the table.

I played some Go yesterday. I went to Kiseido Go Server to look for an opponent and found a Finnish 11k player. Loss was to be expected, with my higher than it should be ranking. Afterwards, he gave me some advice on how to improve my game, which is always nice.

That also got me working on the kifu I made of the game I played against Reko. I commented the rest of it, added some interesting variations and sent it to Reko. Hopefully he enjoys it.

Johanna wanted to play something Friday evening. That's always ok with me, so we started to think about what to play. Since Johanna wanted to try something new, that ruled out Through the Desert, which was otherwise a strong contender. It became a choice between Ta Yü and Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico was perhaps a bit more interesting for me, as I still haven't tried it with two players, but I thought Ta Yü would be more fun, so we played that. I think I made the right choice.

It was indeed good fun. Johanna beat me easily, 81-20. Nine exits on both sides! Well, I made some suggestions regarding her tile placements, but I'm sure she would've won without my help. Anyway, it was an exciting and interesting game and I'm sure it's not the last time we play Ta Yü.

I went to Stockmann today and checked, as usual, the board games (they have the best selection in Tampere, at least of the department stores) and was quite surprised to see a Finnish edition of Die Neuen Entdecker. It was titled Uudet löytöretket (New Expeditions). Front cover said the game was designed by "world famous Klaus Teuber" and the back said "by the author of Die Siedler von Catan".

Quite neat, I'd say!

I've been offered 100 euros for my copy of Hammer of the Scots. Reason is, of course, the decision made by Columbia Games: "To improve product output and customer service, all Columbia Games products will henceforth be sold ONLY by mail order, telephone, or via www.columbiagames.com." Which is of course nice, except when you live outside USA.

Well, I'm not selling - because then I'd have to buy me another one. I would make profit (after shipping, customs and taxes, the game costs about 75 euros) but the profit is too small for all the trouble I'd have to go through. The prospective buyer gets a better deal if he just buys the game directly from Columbia Games.

I'm not sure if the policy of Columbia Games is good. At least they could have an European distributor. I could definitely consider Liberty, if it were available locally. Ordering it from the States is simply too big an effort.

I've been having these crazy ideas about getting myself a Crokinole board. That's sort of silly, but it's not like I'm able to get a pool table anytime soon...

It's worse now I found Crokinole Companions web site. Crokinole boards from Germany! Less postage costs, no customs, no taxes. Still very expensive, but perhaps not insanely expensive.

I'll have to think about it.

After less-than-well slept night (maybe the real-size Space Marine helmets I slept next to haunted my sleep?) it was a new day and new games. The breakfast - eggs, bacon, french fries - was sturdy and sure to clog arteries. That's just nice. The first game of the morning was a classic - Dragon's Gold. I hadn't played it in ages, so it was quite refreshing to play. However, the opponents were boring, negotiating hasn't usually been that tough. So I didn't win.

Which is why I needed to play something I would surely win. I gathered Kimmo, Tommy and Reko to play Sunda to Sahul on speed - that's something I've yet to lose. This time the results left nothing uncertain. It was clean victory. I love the game.

Turns out I managed to grab the last copy of Hammer of the Scots ever available in Finland. Tommy was one of the people who were left without a copy. To rub salt in the wounds, I played a game with him. I had studied the rules before, but we were both amateurs. I took the Scots, while Tommy had the Red Horde. The wooden blocks are very neat - it's a pity the map is such a thin and cheap. The dice were also bad, not enough contrast... Fortunately I had my black-and-white dice with me.

We were soon fighting over the nobles, it didn't take a long time to get the game going. I believe, when they say Scots are weaker. I lost William Wallace to a Pillage card pretty soon and then it was all downhill. I once tried to get Comyn to Fife to be crowned, but that failed when English got the idea of marching a huge army there. After two hours, the game was over as a rather decisive English victory.

So I lost. However, the game was fun. The mechanics work and are simple yet detailed enough. I kind of see why people have been raving about the game.

While waiting for further happenings, I challenged Tommy to a match of En Garde - it was clear victory for me.

Then it was time to start the big game of the day, the main event of every con: Die Macher. Fighting about the politics of Germany were me, my dear enemy Tommy, Peter Munter and two of his friends - all three were newbies. I had a good start and managed to win the first election, when most of the other players focused their strenght on the third election. That was all I could do in the game.

It was Tommy's day, and that is all right and well. He had played several games and had yet to win a game. Many times he has been close to victory, but now he was able to do it for the first time. It just took a suitable crowd of newbies and a bad day for me... Yeah. He deserved the victory (and it was very decisive), he succeeded during the whole game.

The process of playing the game wasn't that simple - we had a break of maybe three hours, while Munter prepared dinner. Then we continued and finished the game after four hours and ten minutes of actual play (and countless amount of people bobbing in and asking: "Are you still playing the game?" in disbelief - and Die Macher isn't even a long game).

So, while Munter was washing potatoes, we played PitchCar, with Munter running from the kitchen to play his turns. No wins (or even success) for me this time. Well, I'm buying my own copy and then I'll practise until I completely master the game. It was still huge fun.

While Munter was paying more attention to cooking, he could still play Quarto. I took the challenge and played two games against him. First one I won, second I lost. Quarto didn't impress me much. It's kind of neat, but doesn't stand up to better quick two-player abstracts.

I was going to play a quick two-player Through the Desert with Tommy, but then we got two people join in on the game (newbies both) and oops, we had four players. Nice. The game didn't go well enough for me. I was almost close to winning, but not quite. I need more practise. Playing Through the Desert is great fun, though. It's probably one of my favourite Knizia games.

Of the quick two-player abstracts, my favourite is probably Zèrtz. I taught it to Reko, winning two games without trouble. Then I had Reko play Tommy, which was a closer and more interesting match. I really really should organize a Zèrtz course to get me more skillful opponents. Zèrtz just isn't much fun against newbies.

After the Zértz match we had finished eating (soup, pancake roll filled with peas and meat and whatnot) and continued the Die Macher match. But that's all covered elsewhere...

I didn't play as much new games as I would've wanted (for example Funkenschlag and Squad Seven were available and not played - but there'll be opportunities), but I managed to try Schacht's Paris Paris. As I'm a huge fan of Web of Power, I was interested. Now that I've played it, I'm not impressed. It's ok and I'll play it again without a doubt, but it's a bit too light. The decisions aren't significant enough, there's not as much tension as in Web of Power (which is a very exciting and fast game and that is why I like it so much - Paris Paris takes about as long, but doesn't have half the excitement of Web of Power). Perhaps more play would reveal some details that might make the game a bit more interesting, but as it is, it's not going to end up on my collection.

I had promised to show Battle Line to Munter and that I did, beating him in it, too. He seemed to like the game (indeed, so much that he offered Settlers of Canaan and Atlanteon in trade for it - I didn't accept). And why not, it is an excellent little game.

"Let's show some games to Munter" was the theme of the evening. We played two games of Coloretto and a game of Mamma Mia! to finish off the evening. My evening, that was. I headed off to bed, because I was very tired and the level of general sense of humour was turning real low.

Sunday morning we didn't play anything - just another heart-stopping breakfast, packing and off we went. The weekend was rather nice, the people were generally entertaining and the atmosphere fun. I just might go there again... Next time I'll take less games with me, however. I had to carry my game bag back home and it weighed a ton. And we didn't even play many of the games!

So, I spent the weekend at the Munter mansion in Lahti, playing games. It was an excellent weekend of games, one of the best I've participated in. Not the best, though - I think game events get better the less people there are. The participants were pretty carefully selected, but not enough. The ideal for me would be four or five very carefully selected people. I guess I'm just not that social person.

Anyway, it was a fun weekend. Peter Munter, the head honcho of Puolenkuun pelit, has a quite nice house with lots of interesting stuff in it - those, who are into Games Workshop miniature games might just feel a bit of envy if they saw his game room... Munter also had made delicious food and there was plenty of it available during the weekend. Rather brilliant. It meant I was only deprived of proper sleep...

I arrived before my games did, so we had to manage with the games of other people. Munter got quickly a table full of people to play one of his favourites, Titan: The Arena. I was eager to try it, but not any more. I simply wasn't thrilled... The game's a bit boring, really. It's random and the decisions aren't particularly interesting. I'll play it again, sure, if someone really really wants, but I'm not going to suggest it.

In the other hand, Ta Yü begs for more play. I played it twice, first a two-player game and then a four-player team game. I won the both, first one was eventually rather clear victory (54-36) and the second one ended as our opponents resigned. Toni, the owner of Safe Haven was experienced enough to know there was no way out. I really like the game, even though it's essentially about luck of the draw. There's some skill involved, but you can go only as far as the tiles let you. Still, it's fun game.

Between those games we played a game of Amun-Re. It was my first five-player game and thus quite interesting. In general I feel that Amun-Re is a game I should be playing more, but somehow it hasn't really made such a huge impression on me. Still, it was good entertainment and it left me wanting for more, which is always a good thing.

I had agreed to play a game of Go with Reko. I gave him generous handicap of nine stones, but it turned out to be too little. I had little trouble generating live groups. One mistake decided the game - with a better move, Reko could've killed a large group of mine and then he might have won. That's life... I made a game record and will create a commented SGF file out of it for later study.

Then Toni was already leaving, but we played one more game and that was 6 Nimmt!. Reko hadn't played before and managed to gather a large bunch of bull heads, losing the game in three rounds. Oops. Toni got only four on the first round and none after that, so that was quite neat. Me - I failed miserably. But 6 Nimmt! is always fun, no matter how well it goes. Losing is fun, winning is fun - it's really a win-win situation if you're looking for a good time.

Toni had to go, but we were there for the whole weekend. Thus, it was time to break out one of Tommy's latest acquisitions: PitchCar. What a wonderfully heavy package! It was great fun and hit my "games to buy" list immediately. It's the best racing game I've played! It's easy enough, anybody can do it after few practise flicks but it also rewards experience and skill... Real physical action is often good source of entertainment and PitchCar is no exception. I played seven rounds during the weekend and expect a lot more when I get my own copy.

The evening closed with two games of Lost Cities - but with four players! It was the first time I played the pairs version of this great game, but I'm sure it won't be the last. It was rather fun, you see. It took some time before we figured out the best ways to play, especially as two of the players played the game for the first time (not the best of ideas, but sometimes you can't help it). The ability to give two cards to your partner is highly useful, when used in right circumstances. If you have lots of cards to play, share some to your partner to play. Some kind of convention is probably good thing to develop...

That wraps up the Friday. Part two, Saturday, will come later...

Tomorrow I will head towards Lahti for the game weekend organized by Peter Munter from Puolenkuun pelit. The guest list has mostly people I don't know, but also few people I'm very happy to play with. I'm looking forward to face Gameblog's faithful reader Reko over a Go board. There will be plenty of good games to play! So you all can look forward to extensive session reports and pictures some time next week.

A new issue of The Games Journal is out. This time the article selection isn't that inspiring... There's an article about tie-breakers, which I don't find very inspiring. Why is it so hard to accept that games can sometimes end as ties? I don't see a reason to invent new tie-breakers, especially if the game already has one. Why Princes of Florence, for example, needs another tie-breaker?

Mark Johnson's article about their game of the month -system is inspiring, however. It is an idea I'd definitely use, if I had a weekly game group. However, since the Seurapelikerho meets approximately monthly and the people vary, it's more difficult to implement well. Some games would need repeat playings so they could be enjoyed better.

I never wrapped up the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? experience. Some of it is hidden in the comments, but here's the whole story.

Second time I went there, I went alone. It was easier now, having been there once before. I came in later than the other competitors and immediately had to tell them everything about the show, give some tips and so on. Which suits me fine, being able to brag with my superior experience. They were suitably impressed with my situation.

Unfortunately, I blew it on the first question. It was about the first sentence of Gone With the Wind. And we were just talking about the last sentence with Johanna earlier that week... I used both the lifelines, but that didn't help me much. It was about Scarlett O'Hara - was she pretty or not. I guessed she was - should've known better.

Well, it wasn't a big disappointment, or at least I wasn't going to take it as one. It stung a bit, sure, but then again: why mourn for something I never had? I'm 20 000 euros richer and I only have to pay about half of it back to the Finnish state (and even that money goes for useful purposes) so I can buy plenty of games...

It was a very interesting experience and definitely worth it.

There are two new blogs listed on the sidebar of my blog. I've been reading Boardgames-To-Go by Mark Johnson for a while now (since he switched providers and got a RSS feed). It's good read and highly recommended. Then this Dutch blogger mailed me about her blog asking for permission to use my RSS feed to display my latest headlines - permission granted, of course, she wouldn't have needed to ask but she certainly has good manners - and her blog, Gameblogger, looks promising. (Gender corrected later.)