¡Cuarenta!

Learning this game was trickier than a soggy biscuit!  At first.  Maybe it's because it's so different from any card game I've played, or maybe it's because we started playing with almost no knowledge of the rules.  We caught on gradually, however.  As we honed our skills and understanding of the game play, I decided that I didn't really like the game after all.  My group noticed a distinct advantage to being the dealing team each hand.  For the first two(ish) tricks of each hand, the cards laid by the non-dealing team would instantly get matched and cleared by the dealing team.  This allows the dealing team to gain a major lead in points.  Anyways, I prefer card games that require more strategic playing of specific cards.  I'd like to give it another go maybe.  I feel like playing a tournament right away wasn't good for me, I would have liked to practice a little more beforehand.  Forty!

Game Progress

So!  My and Jackson's game is coming along rather niftily.  We have made our board, but still need to add the planets and the sun.  The goal of the games is to win victory points by building colonies on new planets, upgrading them to metropolises, and building fleets of battleships to crush your opponents handily.  The simple but menacing mechanism of the board is such: every turn a randomly selected ring rotates a random distance.  We need to make a few pieces yet, but hopefully by the end of the week we will be ready for a test play.  The working title of our game is "Orbit."

Right: Jackson calculates probabilities as Gabriel cuts orbital rings out of foam core.

Teaching and Learning

It was much more enjoyable for me to teach a game than to learn.  Part of that is due, I think, to my ability to explain things well (I do brag about this) and my impatience when listening to instructions.  I am easily frustrated when I don't understand exactly what's going on.  I dig myself into a hole when learning new games because I tend to zone out when the game is being explained, and then I get frustrated when I don't know how to play.  Hilarious!

Wizard turned out to be an easy game to teach.  Everyone at the table had enough familiarity with trick-taking games that no explanation was needed on that front.  Only the rules specific to the game.  It so happened that everyone caught on quick enough to play at an experienced level, so I had more fun as a teacher because I could play competitively without worry.  

For some reason I found Ticket to Ride intensely stressful.  Even in the beginning turns of the game, I was about to have a heart attack.  And it's not like anyone was even close to blocking me.  I don't know if I can play that game again...

Learning New Games: A Friendly Adventure

Two new games I learned today, Alhambra and Fluxx.  Alhambra seemed like a pretty with it game, reminding me of a complex sort of money-inclusive dominoes with a hint of strategic placement and anti-cooperation.  A simple game to learn, strategy seemed more difficult to master.  Several variables could be given priority.  Fluxx, on the other side of the spectrum, contained absolutely zero strategy.  A card game of complete chance and constantly changing rules, it was possible for someone to win on the first turn.  I appreciated this game for the lighthearted atmosphere it created.  Competition was impossible, and the focus of the game play was on the silliness of the game itself.

I appreciated the random selection of persons to games.  It allowed for people to get to know each other better than the large ice-breaker games played on the first day.  I don't think this would have been the case if we had self-selected our groups.

Settlers Variations

Friday's gaming activities focused on different rule variations of Settlers of Catan.  Our group played the four person team game, consisting of two teams of two players.  Though all of the players at my table had experience playing the game, there was a large gap in skill between the most experienced and least experienced players.  I thought the idea of the variation was pretty neat, but there were a few problems we encountered while playing.  Firstly - and this may have been due simply to our individual game - it took far too long for either team to reach the winning amount of points.  Secondly, the inability of team members to trade with one another made the game a lot more cut-throat and therefore generated an air of hostility throughout the game.  The trading rule also eliminated almost all trading during the game.  I would like to alter the rules to allow inter-partner trading.

Question: What is the most difficult aspect of designing a game?  Are certain parts, like board design, strategy, or game play more difficult to design than others?

Apples to Apples, Telephone Pictionary, Cups

Apples to Apples - a fun game, but I wouldn't call it the best icebreaker.  I feel that to play the game well, one needs to understand the minds of the other players.  A knowledge of the players' personalities is essential to being able to play cards tailored to each player.  I believe the most fun part of the game is the ability to play off of inside jokes and personal connections between players, which is impossible when playing with strangers.  Though the game play was less than ideal, it did serve to ease the tension caused by unfamiliarity between players.

Telephone Pictionary - I love playing this game.  Hilarity ensues every time.  Again, though, I feel that it is more enjoyable when playing with people that have established friendly relationships and share interests or memories.  This is not to say that the game cannot be enjoyed when played in a group with strangers.  One comment I have about the simple mechanics of the game is that I think it is better when played with a stack of small pieces of paper, rather than one large piece that gets folded at each pass.  The folding can make drawing or writing awkward and also limits the size of the drawings.

Cups (liar's dice) - I had played this game before and hadn't enjoyed it when I did, but I think that was because my previous experience lacked a couple of key rules involving one's and bidding.  This time around, I enjoyed the game very much.  Since it's mostly based on luck, it worked well as an ice breaker.  It revealed certain aspects of the players like competitiveness and whether they take winning or losing well.