It’s been about six years since I last visited the desert island. Not such a long time in the grand scheme of things, but a lifetime ago from a gaming perspective. The wonders of the European gaming world had only just opened up to me, changing my expectations and tastes in games forever. Now, with an overflowing game library I’m at great pains to prune, it seemed like a good time to take that fateful cruise once more and see how things have changed.
The basic rules remain the same. On the desert island to which I’m destined, I’m guaranteed copies of go, chess, checkers, and backgammon, as well as decks of playing cards, pencils and paper, and a supply of like-minded castaway opponents. This allows me to ignore the classics and cut to the meatier decisions of which ten other games to bring with me into exile.
I’m going to cheat a little, however, and mention eleven games instead of ten. It’s only a little cheat, though, because the eleventh game can be played using the pencils and paper included in my basic life-support package. That game is Celebrities, the best party game I know. Three rounds of guessing the same famous names, with clues becoming more restrictive in each successive round until no verbal clues are allowed at the end. A guaranteed recipe for hilarity, endlessly replayable, and a proven hit with players of all age groups. In fact, I’ll have designer credit on a version of the game to be published later this year under a different title [Time's Up! from R&R Games -- Ed.].
Let’s take a look at the survivors from my previous list. The first one into the lifeboat, almost by reflex really, is Big Boggle. I’m good at this game. Really, really good. Good enough that nobody outside the Gathering will play with me. But I figure that on the desert island, people won’t be able to run away. The simultaneous play and timed rounds means everyone’s involved throughout, giving it a leg-up on Scrabble (although, admittedly, Scrabble offers greater tactical and strategic options). Scanning that 5x5 grid for the big score is just plain fun, especially for kibitzers who wander by and point out the huge word everyone missed. The newest, anniversary edition of Boggle offers a 5x5 grid with a plastic bit that attaches to the grid to cover a row and column, reducing it to standard 4x4 size if desired. Which only a heretic would ever do, of course, since the sublimity of the larger grid offers transcendental pleasures the smaller board can’t ever match.
Also returning for a second island stay is my fully-expanded Eon edition of Cosmic Encounter. I’m actually a little nervous about this selection, and saddened by that nervousness. It made the cut largely for sentimental reasons. I can’t possibly count the number of hours I spent playing this game in college, or the number of times I met the sunrise perched over its hexes. And yet I’ve played but two games of it in the past five years, the most recent too long ago to really remember whether or not it still holds up. But the thought of it falling short of my current standards fills me with melancholy, and so it comes along for the ride. With 75 alien powers (not to mention countless homemade additions available on the Net) and expansion components which can be added or not in endless variations, Cosmic Encounter is a very different experience every time. That replayability will be crucial as the island days stretch into weeks.
Magic: The Gathering also holds onto its spot on the lifeboat. A rather large spot, considering I collected cards (dark-bordered only, thank you) from the very beginning through the dismal Fallen Empires expansion before finally succumbing to an overwhelming ennui about the whole affair. Too many cards, too little time to spend sorting through them to prepare entertaining decks. With nothing but time on the island, Magic gets dusted off for another go. Booster drafts are still my preferred method of play, but we can simulate that and invent other approaches should the muse strike. While I prefer playing Netrunner, it lacks the variability of deck composition which makes Magic such a top choice under these conditions.
I spent precious moments amid the wail of the sinking ship’s klaxon holding two games in my hands, deciding which would get left behind. The new Die Macher called to me. A game I rarely get to play thanks to its length, density, and admittedly dry subject matter, the island seemed like a perfect place to finally get in some serious play time. But would it stand repeated play over the long haul? The game is packed with great decisions, but there’s a processional sameness not only within each game, but between one and the next. With pangs of regret, I finally leave Die Macher behind and make the same choice I made last time- Titan.
Given a choice, I’ll play Die Macher over Titan any night of the week. But if we’re talking about the long haul, I think Titan might prove more entertaining. I like recruiting creatures. I like maneuvering on the master board. And I like the short little battles that punctuate the game. But I never play Titan because of its fatal flaw-- players get knocked out. But waiting for six hours while everyone else finishes isn’t such a problem on the desert island. And it does make a dynamite, if long, 2-player game.
Left behind this time are the somewhat waterlogged boxes for Acquire, Junta, Illuminati, Wiz-War, and Taboo, all of which failed to make this trip’s cut. I haven’t played most of these more than once (if at all) in years. I wish it weren’t so with Acquire, which remains a solid game by any yardstick.
The final game not making a return trip to the island is Santa Fe, which missed by the slimmest of margins. I love Santa Fe, and on a different day might well have chosen it again. This time, if only to be different, I’m going with Wildlife Adventure. I’m not sure I’d yet played Wildlife when I made my previous list, and I’d certainly not yet attended The Gathering of Friends. It was there my eyes were opened to the subtleties of the game, the demonic possibilities often overlooked by neophytes. Wildlife Adventure masquerades as a cute little family game, but don’t be fooled. It‘s a vicious, no-holds-barred contest best played without kid gloves. I’ve tossed a handful of tiddlywinks into my copy of the game- useful for marking the locations of the open discovery missions on the board. You might want to adopt a rule from Expedition (the current rerelease of the game) wherein players openly declare four of their animals at the start of the game (marking their locations on the board). These animals score double if claimed, but cost double if unclaimed.
So, half of the boat wound up loaded with games I’d taken along last time as well. That leaves the other half for new additions, one of which is actually very old.
I can’t possibly contemplate leaving my copy of Montage to go down with the ship. I only found this 1973 Gamut of Games gem last year, but it immediately shot to the top of my list. This partnership game uses a clever system of color chips to represent groups of letters, allowing players to create a crossword on the fly and use creative clue-giving to score. I like being creative. I like being clever. Montage lets me do both. The best part is that I don’t care whether or not I win- making a particularly clever clue is a personal victory in itself.
There was never any doubt that Reiner Knizia’s tile-placement trilogy would be represented on this voyage. Samurai, a good game but the weakest of the three, was immediately discarded. Which of the other two to take?
I love the ebb and flow of Euphrat & Tigris. The theming may be tenuous, but I can see the course of nations evolving on the board. Making use of bad tile draws is one of many challenges of a game with enough depth and replay value to easily warrant a berth on the lifeboat.
Durch die Wuste, though, turned out to be a sleeper. My initial warm reaction to the game just kept growing warmer until the complete lack of apparent flaws elevated the game to the highest echelons. You can do only one thing on your turn- place two camels onto the board- and yet that’s enough to produce agonizing choices on every turn. Every single time I’ve played this game, I’ve wanted to turn around and play again immediately. And with a duration of 45 minutes or less, I usually could.
Durch die Wuste is the lighter of the two, playable in low- or high-thought modes. E&T is longer and more complex, requiring a bit more concentration to play well. Both are stellar games, and in the end I just couldn’t pick between them. Both of them make it to the lifeboat, and that’s two more slots gone and only two remaining.
One of them is a no-brainer. Mu is easily the best commerical card game I know. Doris Matthaus’ gorgeous cards could be a tad more ergonomic (blue and black are easily confused, the numbers are too large to read easily while fanned, corner suit indicators would be helpful) and beginners are often confused by the unconventional bidding, trump, and scoring rules, experienced card players will find plenty to like (inane rec.games.board debates about the game’s stature notwithstanding). There are many subtleties to Mu which take a while to appreciate or even perceive: the strength of sevens as top trump or ones as low trump, when to remain silent during the bidding, when to play for the team and when to scarf points for yourself, when you’d rather be vice than chief, and so forth. There’s a lot of meat in a very small package. Competitive Mu is a joy to play, with many of the same challenges as in bridge but improvised rather than memorized bidding systems. Even better for my fellow castaways, variations of traditional games are even more fun with a Mu deck. Safaru, for example, is much more interesting than it’s progenitor, casino. In fact, I’m tossing a couple of extra Mu decks into the boat, just in case the first one wears out.
That leaves me with one last spot and a selection I almost feel obligated to make. Even though the bloom is off this rose thanks to nearly incessant play upon its initial release, later expansions have injected variety and new life into an already great game. And really, what better game to take to a desert island than one which takes place on an island? So it is that The Settlers of Catan and its Seafarers, Stadt & Ritter, and Alexander & Cheops expansions join me in the dinghy. With Seafarers along we can reconfigure the island into countless permutations. Stadt & Ritter takes the game to a different level, for when we want a bit more strategy and length. And I haven’t had a chance to try the new Alexander & Cheops scenarios, but early word has been positive and they sound like a welcome change. Lots of people deride Settlers for its dependence on die rolling, but they miss the point. That dependence, that inherent fickleness, is precisely why Settlers appeals. It wasn’t my fault I didn’t win- the dice just didn’t roll my way. How convenient. I’m in the pro-Settlers camp, and know that it will get lots of play while we wait for the rescue ships to arrive.
As I cast off my lines and row for shore, I reflect that these choices don’t necessarily represent my favorite games (Big Boss, for example, got left behind), but the ones which will best hold up to repeated, concentrated play and which will tide me over until help arrives. Some games like Tikal might very well have made this list had I played them enough to make a firm judgement. And inevitably, the list will change again four of five years down the road. Unless I’m smart enough to avoid taking any more cruises.