Dear Peter,
Congratulations on producing an interesting magazine.
From your reviews of games I have already played and therefore know, our tastes in games do not seem too far apart. On that basis, following your favourable reviews, I have purchased both Wiz War and Alibi, the latter, admittedly, mainly because it seemed very similar to Sid Sackson's Sleuth which I rate very highly. You don't mention Sleuth in your review, does that mean you haven't played it?
Unfortunately, I have to say that none of my group or myself enjoyed playing Alibi. We found that nearly all the information gleaned about which cards were still in play came from the cards which were passed on at the end of each round plus the melds.
Very little information came from logical deductions as a result of asking questions. Indeed even being given examples of questions that could be asked from both the rules and your review we found it very difficult to frame questions which would yield useful information mainly because so many cards are passed on. As a result it also proved very difficult to keep sensible notes. I would appreciate hearing your comments on my experience.
I did like the concept in Alibi where all players can score not just the first accuser. With Sleuth there is only one winner, however we usually play on until most if not all players have deduced the missing card(s). This gives a certain degree of satisfaction if you get it right even if you haven't won.
Your comments with regard the record sheet in Alibi apply equally to Sleuth. I had to create my own record sheet for Sleuth in order to have space to write notes. I've done a similar thing for Alibi by photocopying a record sheet onto an A4 sheet.
You might be interested to know that after (!) I had bought Alibi I heard via Mike Siggins that Alan Moon considered the game didn't work. I kept an open mind but ultimately I have to agree with Alan.
Unfortunately I have not tried out Wiz War yet (along with a few other games in my cupboard purchased in the last couple of years!)
From your review Pipeline sounds very good, perhaps better than Waterworks by Parker Bros., which I feel suffers from the disproportionate damage that playing or receiving a leaking 'T' can cause.
Repeated Play Lists: this concept, promoted by Mike Siggins in Sumo, was a good one but I feel you should ask your readers to restrict their lists to games they have played in, say, the last few years. I believe the lists would then have more relevance and e.g. would prevent people listing games they had played a lot in their childhood. I have used the lists published in Sumo to contact people who have played a game that I would like information about (e.g. rule queries) and thus I have found such lists useful.
Eon Games article: I feel you should have mentioned that the Eon design team designed Dune which was published by Avalon Hill (and which you want!).
News here is that Midnight/Ghost Party has been deleted by Ravensburger so if you want a copy get one soon— be warned it is very light but fun, especially when Hugo the ghost starts mopping up your opponents' pieces. The nature of the scoring is such that after a few games everybody ends up with a negative score!
If copies of Daytona 500 are 'thick on the ground' can you get one for me too?! (even 2nd hand)— they are unobtainable here (apparently Milton Bradley have deleted it from their list).
Cosmic Encounter: I still have a copy of this game as published by Eon, together with expansion sets 1 & 2. Much as we have enjoyed this game in the past we always had problems with the end game (i.e. someone getting the fifth base). It seemed that unless you had the 30 attack card together with the Force Field edict preventing alliances there was no way of winning. Many of our games ended in impasse with one or more players establishing four bases but not able to get the fifth. Sometimes two players allied to attain a joint win but this always seemed less satisfying that one player winning outright. Have you experienced similar problems with the end game? If you did, how did you overcome them?
Elfenroads: This is one of my favourite games. I was late acquiring it and reckon I obtained virtually the last copy left in England! One of my group had difficulty reading the aide-memoire which tells you which modes of transport can be used over which types of terrain so I produced an enlarged version.
Feminist movement: any example you give refers to her or she, never, it seems, to the good old-fashioned him or he. Does this mean you are bowing to a powerful equality/feminist movement in the States? If so I would suggest you are leaning too far towards the femine camp! After years of reading 'an anonymous' player being referred to as 'he' it is exceedingly strange to see the exclusive use of she or her. One often sees he/she or his/hers but I must admit articles full of his/hers etc. do not scan too well.
I see in your letter published in Sumo 16/17/18 that you don't like Razzia. Do try it again. I bought Razzia, before I'd read any reviews (which is unusual for me and often a bad move), on the basis that the main mechanism appeared to be very similar to Adel but that the game would probably not take as long as Adel. This has proved to be the case on both counts. Razzia is popular with various groups and ages and is excellent as a 'filler' game. Try varying the number of clubs according to the number of players. Mike Siggins in Sumo 9 suggests the formula: clubs = players - 1. In my view this leads to a lot of dueling and not much buildup of money on the clubs. I prefer clubs = players + 1. This frequently enables a buildup of money on clubs due to carry-overs from previous rounds. This leads to really agonizing decisions on whether to send a gambler or a cop to a club with a lot of money or ignore it, however it is very satisfying to win a lot of money in just one turn (he said, stating the obvious). Even using my formula, deals still need to be struck or duels resolved by dice throw. If you have a small number of clubs the chancesa re that most of the money will be cleared each round thereby losing the excitement of the potential big wins.
Sleuth is a great, if unattractive, game. Certainly superior to Alibi. I mentioned all of the problems you discuss in my review. Notetaking is a big problem in Alibi, as is getting useful information out of questions. I enjoyed the game despite these problems, though. Perhaps what I really liked was precisely what you did: the scoring system which rewards everyone who guesses correctly, not just the first accuser, and penalizes people who guess wrongly.
Although I have Waterworks, I've never had the chance to play it. It doesn't look to be as much fun as Pipeline. The latter is plagued by a "too many straight pieces" problem, but this is easily fixed by allowing players to exchange their entire rack as their first move.
I didn't mention Dune because, although designed by the same team, it wasn't published by Eon. And since writing the article, I have acquired a copy of the game— now I just need to get a group of people together to play it.
Daytona 500 is scarce around here, too— I can't find a copy for myself! It may still be around on the East Coast (no doubt sharing a shelf with Liar's Dice at K-Mart). If anyone spies a copy at their local merchant, snarf one up for me! [11/18/95-- I've got one now, and it's a dynamite game. - Peter]
It does tend to be difficult to get your last base in Cosmic Encounter through a frontal assault— everyone else is usually allied against you, which is hard to beat without something up your sleeve. Sneaking your way to a fifth base is much easier. Some powers (Prophet, Parasite, Disease) have a better time at this than others, but the clever of other cards can work, too. On the other hand, joint victories are an integral part of Cosmic and we don't mind them too much. Usually, if someone thinks she can win by herself she goes for it. If not, she asks for help and shares the win. Better to win with others than lose alone.
As for my usage of gender pronouns, I think you're overstating the case. I tend to stick with one gender throughout a review, but switch off in different reviews. I feel this is a more equitable accomodation than the cumbersome he/she construction or some inane genderless fabrication like 'e'. I have no problem with 'he' being used as a gender-neutral pronoun, but switching off is easy and seems only fair.
I'm willing to give Razzia another go. It didn't do much for me last time, I think partly because the duelling mechanism is unsatisfying. But I like Adel, and I like the similar elements in Razzia, so it's worth a second chance. [11/18/95-- I've played Razzia a few times now and sure enough, it really is a fun game. Simple, fast, and amusing. - Peter]
Dear Peter,
I just got TGR's latest issue. Good issue. I might even play Pick Two with Dave [Sidore], and I generally abhor word games. Must be the fact that grunting is my native language.
Oh, and just my 0.02 about Mayfair's nRails. I bought EuroRails sight unseen (A bad habit of mine) and looked it over. When I got to grad school I played it a few times and then sold it. I have games that I don't play, because I can't find opponents. But I haven't sold them because I might, at some point, find people who like the game. But I found people that like EuroRails and discovered that I was the one who didn't like the game. There are several reasons: 1) There is player interaction, but not that much. 2) Quite a bit of the expertise of the game comes from memorization and 'off-line' study of the map to figure out the best route. 3) The amount of decisions you have to make are more suitable for a game about half as long.
And, the price of the game is unreasonable. The store I got EuroRails had it listed for $35, I got it at a 10% discount. More than 1830. Most of the components are OK, I suppose. All of the other nRails games come rolled up in a tube, so the map (non-mounted) curls, the components are poor, even by American standards, and the cost is $20. Compare this to Dampfross, which is made in Germany, imported by Mayfair. So Dampfross, which has an extra layer of distribution costs (Germany--> Mayfair --> Distributor --> store, as compared to starting at Mayfair) costs $50. However, for the extra $15, I get *3* extra maps, (2 boards, double sided) which are the big part of any rails game. And, were I to buy the game in Germany or a neutral third country, I suspect that the costs would be reversed.
I happen to like Mayfair, as a company, and I applaud their moves to import good games (Dampfross, 1835) and trying to re-release CE, but nRails have left me out in the cold. I'm with you, Peter. Forget Eurorails. As I said in my review of Dampfross, it is an incredible rail game. It is the promise that EuroRails didn't fulfill.
And the controversy rages on. EuroRails seems like it'd be a fine play-by-mail game, but why anyone would choose to make an evening of it escapes me. I haven't tried Dampfross yet— rail games in general don't get my blood pumping, so it takes me a while to get around to them. However, given all the positive reactions I've seen, I'm looking forward to it.
Dear Peter,
The game of the summer (aside from the completion of my Formule De series) was definitely Manhattan. I've still got some concern (but it's fading with repeated play) about the play balance due to turn order between the four different player positions, but it's quick (under an hour), fairly involved in terms of possible tactics, and has lots of interaction between players. Plus, it's just plain fun to build up / take over those towers. And the recent "Godzilla variant" as seen on rec.games.board adds even more complication (at the cost of playing time).