Review Updates
Ok, I was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. Perhaps my set was coated with some kind of hallucinogen, warping my perceptions and suffusing me with a general sense of contentment. But it's worn off now, and my opinion of Alibi has normalized. It is not, as I claimed in the review, a successful game. It is, in fact, a game which doesn't work very well at all. It is a game which I'm startled was let out of playtesting because of how badly it doesn't work. I still think it has some great mechanisms, notably the scoring system which lets you guess at just some of the crime elements and keeps everyone in the running. But the play of the game is hideously broken. The focus should be on asking questions to get information, but there's so much information needed that there's no way to get it all. You're far more likely to gain info through the passing of cards than to gain any insight through interrogations. And that's were the game goes wrong. It just doesn't work right. Now, that doesn't mean the game can't be played and enjoyed. But I don't think it can be enjoyed the way it was meant to be enjoyed. I cannot in good conscience recommend this game, and I apologize if my review led anyone astray.
Mayfair has release a new version of Family Business with redesigned cards. Now, the cards have a summary of their function printed on them, drastically reducing the need to pass the rulebook around when learning the game. This is a vast improvement, and will make the game much easier on new players.
Nov. 5, 1995
I don't play Pipeline much anymore, but it continues to be popular in the games class I teach. One very frustrating thing about Pipeline is that drawing a rack full of straight pieces is altogether too common. Since the ability to redirect a pipeline is crucial to success, we've adopted the house rule that if you draw a rack full of straights, you may pass your first turn, discard your entire rack, and draw 4 new tiles to replace them. If you get all straights again, you're stuck with them. This has helped make the game a little friendlier.
Nov. 5, 1995
I haven't played Trumpet in quite some time. In fact, I don't think I've played it at all this year. Not because it's not a fun game-- it is-- but because it's a very random one. Repeated play has definitely shown that Trumpet is heavily dependent on the luck of the draw, more so than in most other card games because your hand size is so small. If you get good cards, you do well. If you don't, you don't. The game board and other trappings give you the feeling of strategic maneuvering and control over your destiny, but in reality the outcome seems largely preordained by the deal. The result is that I usually choose other card games these days before pulling out Trumpet.
Nov. 5, 1995
I'm at a loss to explain why my opinion of WordHound has undergone a radical shift since this review was written. I stand by everything I said about the game, but for some reason I avoid pulling it out anymore. It reached the point where when I wasn't at a game session with my friends, they'd seize the opportunity to play WordHound. At some point, a switch was thrown in my brain which shut down my WordHound receptors. Maybe I tired of the squabbling for free tiles, of sitting with arms coiled, waiting to pounce. I still think it's a nifty game. I just don't feel like playing it these days.
Nov. 5, 1995
The Game Report Online - Editor: Peter Sarrett (editor@gamereport.com)