Christmas Hoard 2010

It's good to be a gamer at Christmas. You get what you want, and it makes it easier for people to find something for you. Unless of course, they know you are a gamer but not your game preferences and you end up with a bit of a dud. Of course, I cannot confirm or deny whether or not any games I received were duds. I'll let you be the judge, but I did pretty darn well.

We'll start with my wish list. Two months ago I posted about what was on my gaming radar as far as games I'd be happy to be the proud recipient of. I scored three out of the six games that were on that list, so that's a pretty impressive hit rate:

Martian Fluxx

Dice Town

Citadels

Additionally, my sisters chose to fuel my gaming habits with:

Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot plus the Perfectly Pink Booster (this was a gift for both myself and The Giggling One)

and Big Brother (this one doesn't have an entry on Geekdō, so I've now submitted one :-) ).

Finally, there was my and the Giggling One's gift to ourselves: Magic: The Gathering (Magic 2010 edition).

We've already played Martian Fluxx, Dice Town, and Magic. I'll do my best to post reviews in the near (read "distant") future. With any luck, the other games on my wish list may come my way by my birthday in February (hint hint).
 

Amuse-bouche: A Magic Christmas

Let me relate a little story.

On Sunday morning (ie. yesterday), The Giggling One and I were lying in bed. I was browsing the net on my iPhone as I am wont to do. I remembered hearing about the Magic: The Gathering game on the Xbox 360 (the only current gen console we don't own), and reminiscing about the games of Magic I used to play online led me to check out a review of the game out of curiosity.

I then decided to head on over to Wikipedia and see what the latest expansions were, as I hadn't been keeping track for the last couple of years. I had a chuckle reading the amusing code names each of the sets of three were given (eg. Control, Alt, and Delete; Live, Long, and Prosper; etc. - full list here).

The Giggling One asked me what I was laughing at, so I showed her. Then, just like that she said "We should get it."

I was a little taken aback. This was a game she had never seen before, but she had heard me mention it here and there. I've played plenty of games of Magic online, but I've never actually played the real, physical-cards-in-your-hand version of the game. In total I own one Magic card (called Oppressive Will), and only because that came as a freebie with a magazine.

Did she not know how pervasive the trading card game genre could be? Did she not understand that Dominion is one thing, but Magic is quite another? Did she not know how much more geeky playing this game would make her?

Well yes. Turns out she did. And she was OK with that. She figured it would be nice to play it together.

So, on a whim we went out that afternoon and bought two intro packs for the 2010 Core Set, as well as eight booster packs.

So shiny new Magic: The Gathering cards are sitting under our Christmas tree just waiting to be played come December 25. Now there's a way to celebrate.
 

Amuse-bouche: Why I'm not sold on Incan Gold

Perhaps my experience of Incan Gold was tainted by the first play when, with a runaway leader going in to the final round, there was no way anyone else was going to win.

With hindsight, I did go into this game expecting greater depth rather than treat it like the light piece of fun that it is designed to be.

The thing is, I do like light, fun, anyone-can-win style games (Zombie Fluxx being a prime example); I just don't like the uncertainty of the whole press your luck genre.

For the uninitiated, Incan Gold is an, erm, Incan themed treasure hunt card game where each turn every player must decide whether they wish to remain in the current round ("exploring the temple") or not. For those that stay in, a card is turned over. If that card contains treasure, those players still in the round share the treasure evenly amongst themselves, with any remainder placed on the card.

If the card turned over is a "danger" (ie. snake, spider, zombie, fire, rock fall), no one receives anything. However, there are three of each type of danger, and should one danger appear for the second time in the round, all players still exploring run screaming from the temple, dropping all their ill gotten gains in the process.

The crux of the game is, therefore, to decide at what point you wish to quit the round so as to safely stow your treasure. Obviously, until at least one danger card appears (they make up just under 50% of the deck) there is no benefit to departing the temple, but once a danger appears, you have to weigh up the risk of remaining in the round, as well as the likely decisions of the other players.

If you are the only player who quits the round on a particular turn, you get to take all the treasure still sitting on the cards that couldn't be divided between the players when it was discovered. Of course, your share diminishes if you depart at the same time as another player, so that's where factoring in the other players' decisions comes in to the equation.

The two games of Incan Gold we played were vastly different, and showed the two types of strategy that I think are likely to succeed. They also illustrated just what a random game this is.

We played with eight players in each game, which in itself makes a huge difference as to how much treasure you get, as more players are likely to leave the temple at the same time as you if the treasure is enticing enough.

One particular player proved to be more reckless, or foolhardy, than everyone else, and was always the last player remaining in each round. As a strategy, it's not the smartest thing to do, but it paid off handsomely in game one. With a massive haul all to himself, he finally left the temple in Round 4 with a total of 37 gems to his name.

This was significantly more than anyone else, and made the final round something of an anticlimax. No one was ever going to reach the same score, so it became a situation where you might as well stay in the round for as long as possible, risks be damned.

The same strategy was applied by this player in the second game, but failed dismally as he finished that game with no treasure what so ever. I found myself employing the same strategy as by that time I didn't really care how I went. I did, however, decide I'd rather not finish scoreless so I jumped out of Round 4 with 13 gems.

Round 5 was another anticlimax when the first four cards dealt were dangers, two of which were the same, so no one scored anything in that round.

Fortunes were reversed in game two as the winner of that game had lost the first. His 32 gems were amassed evenly across the first four rounds, and showed that playing it safe and not being too greedy is also a viable strategy. I'd tried that strategy myself in game one but, like everyone else, had lost out to the whale.

If I hadn't gone on tilt in the second game, I would almost certainly have improved my score. Ultimately, though, Incan Gold just seems a little too random. It's how you and the other players manage that randomness that decides the winner, but because of this it didn't have the fun factor for me.

Take Incan Gold for what it is, and it can be a fun game. The way the games panned out on the night just didn't make it as enjoyable as it otherwise could be. That's not to say I wouldn't play it again, because I would. I'd just lower my expectations a bit and get into the light hearted treasure grabbing romp that it is designed to be.
 

2008 Game of the Year

Here we are at the end of 2008. 12 short months ago, my goal was simply to play five new games in the coming year. It was a modest goal, but back then I didn't play board games very much.

I played the first new game of the year on January 18. The game was Kings Keep and the venue was Paul & Narelle's house. Joining us that evening was a friend of theirs by the name of Bernd. It turned out Bernd hosted regular games nights at his place. He called this little gathering HoGS - the Hobart Games Society.

Discovering HoGS changed everything. The Giggling One and I rocked up to our first HoGS night on February 1st. That night we played four new games, and my goal was achieved. Just like that.

A rethink was in order, and after a quick calculation, I reset the bar at 25.

I reached game 25 on October 18, and went on to play a further six new games, bringing the total to 31 for the year. Admittedly, three of the games I included on the list were expansions, so it's 28 if you don't count expansions as "new".

So looking at those 28 games, I figured I'd make a good old Top Ten list of my favourite games of 2008.

So here it is. It wasn't the easiest of lists as I enjoyed almost all of the games. And that was the key factor: enjoyment. These our the games I liked the most.

To simplify the task somewhat, I went through the list of games and short-listed those that I enjoyed the most. That short-list contained 11 games. Through a process of elimination (or inclusion) I settled on my top 10 before ranking them. Incidentally, the honourable mention for the unlucky 11th game goes to Wits & Wagers. On to the Top 10...


#10 - The Princes of Florence


What I said: [We] thoroughly enjoyed the game. I imagine having 5 players instead of 3 makes the Auction phase a whole new ball game.

Justify yourself: While deserving its place in the Top 10, having a deeper underlying strategy than it may first appear, The Princes of Florence wasn't quite engaging enough to rank higher. I'm not the greatest fan of auction mechanics in games, but it was made easier with only three of us playing. The design-your-own-principality aspect of the game was fun - a sort of game within a game. Planning and modifying your strategy to maximise your points is the key to winning, and with multiple ways of earning points limited by the seven game turns, the result is a pleasing strategic mix.


#9 - Ca$h 'n Gun$


What I said: I have to say that I've never had so much fun pointing a foam gun at someone else's head.

Justify yourself: Foam guns are where it's at. This game is all about the fun you get from pointing orange guns at other people, and the ensuing laughter when someone discovers that everyone else has chosen to target them. A deeply strategic game this is not. There is a little strategy but ultimately Ca$h 'n Gun$ is a short, fun diversion that you have to play at least two or three times each time you pull it out.


#8 - Carcassonne


What I said: You know what? It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I never expected Carcassonne to be so..simple.

Justify yourself: Carcassonne is known as a gateway game for a reason. It's very easy to pick up and is light on strategy. It's fun and clever, which is why it has spawned so many expansions. Discounting "The River" (which adds a few tiles but doesn't change the gameplay), the lone expansion I've played - "The Tower" - adds a level of vindictiveness to an otherwise friendly game, and the jury is out on that one. If light is your cup of tea, then Carcassonne is a worthy game.


#7 - Power Grid


What I said: 'Twas a good game...[I] came away with a positive view.

Justify yourself: Not particularly useful comments there, but as I said in my review, I was in two minds about Power Grid before playing it. From reviews that I have read, it tends to be a game you either love or hate. I wouldn't say I "love" it, but I'm definitely lying towards that end of the spectrum. The clever use of the resource market, coupled with the power plant auctions and map placements makes for a cunning game.


#6 - Zombie Fluxx


What I said: Groooooooaaaannnn!

Justify yourself: Well, I said that during a game. I haven't blogged about it yet, which is very slack of me. Zombie Fluxx is the highest rated "light and fun" game on my list. It ranks this high due to the sheer amount of fun to be found in the 99 card deck. I promise to review it next year, but all you need to know in the meantime is Zombies + Everchanging Rules = Max fun.


#5 - Tigris & Euphrates


What I said: [I thought] I wasn't going to enjoy it. It looked too chess like. I'm happy to report that I was wrong. I really enjoyed the game.

Justify yourself: T&E makes it all the way to #5 courtesy of the surprisingly enjoyable mechanics. After reading about the game, and finding out it involved placing tiles on a board, I was worried. I shouldn't have been. It is nothing like Chess or Othello. Instead T&E is its own breed of simple tile laying mixed with a complex underlying strategy that results in a beguiling and intriguing game.


#4 - Agricola


What I said: n/a

Justify yourself: I'm waiting until I play a game with 3 or more players before I blog about Agricola. I've mentioned more than once that it is the new number #1 on Board Game Geek, and from my lone play through I can see the attraction. With so many cards available, Agricola lends itself to a slightly different experience each time. The key is combing the cards you are dealt with the known actions available throughout the game. I must admit, the anticipation of playing Agricola, and the ensuing enjoyment of the two-player game is what shoots it to number 4 on my list. And that's without animeeples. Will it manage to stay this high on the list over the coming 12 months? I have a sneaking suspicion it might.


#3 - Puerto Rico


What I said: I almost feel like a real gamer now. Everyone really enjoyed the game. One more to add to the ever growing must-play-again list.

Justify yourself: No other game was as eagerly anticipated this year as Puerto Rico. It has been the benchmark for all other games for the last few years, and my gaming quest would never have been truly complete without playing it. Like Agricola, I've only played it once (a five player game), and all I can say is that the genius mechanics and player interaction make this a must-play for anyone who considers themselves a gamer.


#2 - Catan Card Game


What I said: If you're a Settlers fan and have that special someone who enjoys the game as well, then this is a worthy consideration of your hard earned moolah.

Justify yourself: I was surprised as anyone that a two player card game made it to #2. However, I couldn't deny it this position. While I still think it could make a fun three or four player game with a couple of tweaks, it is nonetheless a very enjoyable game with just two. The Giggling One and I played the Catan Card Game many times this year, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Aided by the expansion sets, it is easy to learn, simple to set up, and allows for some cunning strategies. It's great for fans of the Catan series and newcomers alike, and is perfect for a lazy afternoon with that special someone.


#1 - The Pillars of the Earth


What I said: It was a joy to play a game that made reference to the events and characters within [the novel]. If you enjoy board games, then this is a great game to play. Easy enough for board game novices to understand and enjoy, and deep enough for veterans to have fun with as well. It rocks!

Justify yourself: No surprises here. "Pillars" was always going to be my game of the year. While I um'd and ah'd about the make up and order of this Top 10, it was only spots 2 to 10 that I debated. Pillars has a great balance of strategy accompanied by a dabble of luck. Despite only lasting six rounds, what it packs into those rounds is fun, exciting, and sometimes frustrating. Never frustrating enough to break the game mind you - just to curse your opponents. Awesome mechanics and a fantastically illustrated board set Pillars well above any other game I played this year. The expansion added that little bit extra to share the cathedral-building love with another two players, and there's nothing better than sharing this game with as many gamers as you can. Read the novel and play the game. Then read the sequel. You won't regret it.
 

Reiner Knizia's Amazing Flea Circus

I hit the big two-oh in my 2008 new games quest with a little card game called Reiner Knizia's Amazing Flea Circus.


Apart from being Reiner Knizia's Amazingly Long Game Name, this is a game designed for kids. That's not to say that adults can't enjoy it, for of the five players on Friday night, there was only one child. And that particular five-year-old was pretty darn good at the game.

The idea of the game is very kiddy. You play cards that form your circus show, and attract as many spectator dogs and cats as possible. Each dog is worth 2 points, and each cat is worth 1 point. Whoever has the most points when all the dogs and cats have been taken is the winner.


Each player starts with 5 cards (and draws back up to 5 cards after each turn), and then the players take it in turns to play a card. What happens when each card is played is dependent upon the card type.

Each card is played from your hand face up on to your stack. Only the top card of your stack forms your current "show".

In total, there are 55 cards. 28 of these are attraction cards (4 each of 7 different attractions). When you play an attraction card, you take dogs and cats equal to the number shown on the card (either 2, 3 or 4).

For example, if you played the card in the image above (the fire breathing flea), you gain 4 spectator points. You would then take cats and dogs equal to 4 points - either 2 dogs, 1 dog and 2 cats, or 4 cats.

It sounds straight forward, but here's the catch (and where the fun begins). If someone else has played that attraction on his or her last turn (remember, there are 4 copies of each card) and thus has it face up on top of his or her stack, then you take the 4 points worth of spectators from that player.

If no one else is currently showing that attraction, then you take the dogs and cats from the central pile. Be prepared to have those animals stolen by another player though!

In addition to attractions, there are also 12 clown cards, 7 free ticket cards, 6 acrobat cards, and 2 animal catchers.

Clown cards are worth 1 point each, but you can play as many as you like at one turn.

Free tickets allow you to poach 2 points (ie. 1 dog or 2 cats) from another player.

If you play a flea acrobat, the total number of points you get is equal to the total number of acrobat cards currently showing. So, for example, if no acrobats are showing, you only take 1 cat from the central pile. If the player to your left then plays an acrobat, he or she can take 2 points.

Finally, the animal catcher is worth negative points to everyone except the person who plays it. Every other player will lose points equal to the value of their current show. Attractions will lose their card value, clowns 1 point, free tickets 2 points, and players with acrobats showing lose spectators to the value of all acrobats showing.

In addition, all cards in player's shows get shuffled back in to the draw deck whenever an animal catcher is played.

If you have an animal catcher, it can be advantageous to wait until other players have high value cards showing before playing it. For example, if you played an acrobat, and that started a rush on acrobats by the other players, each seeking to earn one more point than the player before, you can then hit them all with an animal catcher on your next turn for major losses.

Be aware, though, that he or she with the most number of cats and dogs will be targeted for cat and dognapping.

Once the pile of 20 dogs and 20 cats in the middle of the table is exhausted, it's game over. Everyone then counts their spectator points to see who wins.

Due to the nature of the game, and the great fun to be had stealing animals from other players, I'd guess that it will usually work out fairly evenly. Indeed, in the game we played, Maka, Michael and Gypsy (the five-year-old) tied for the win on 12 points, with myself and The Giggling One on 11 (and yes, that only adds up to a total of 58, so I'm guessing there has been animal escapage over time).

Quick, cute, easy to learn, and a good laugh. All good qualities for a fun game.
 

Knaves

To kick off HoGS night for June, I joined two others for a quick game of cards. The game we played was Knaves.

I've never played Knaves before, but as it's a game played with regular playing cards, like Casino I'm not adding it to my list of new games played this year.

It's quite a clever little trick taking game because it's not just about capturing as many tricks as possible. Tricks are good, but if you capture a Knave (Jack) you lose points.

It's a 3 player game where 51 of the 52 cards are dealt evenly between the players (that's...erm..17 cards each). The final card is turned face up to determine which suit is trumps for that hand. You can't, however, have the same trump suit for two hands running so if card 52 is the same suit as the last hand then there are no trumps this time round.

There is a lot of strategy involved, and as all the cards will be played (except one, but you know what that card is) it is a definite advantage if you can keep track of what suits have been played.

Just for the record, I suck at card counting. I can generally strategise based on how many cards each player has remaining and how many cards of a particular suit I have, but I got into trouble a few times by leading a suit I shouldn't have later in the game.

So here you are trying to win tricks. The game is played just like all the other trick taking games. All players must follow suit, and if they do not have a card of the suit led they may play a trump to try and win the trick, or throw out another card.

The twist, as I mentioned earlier is with the Jacks. All the jacks are bad, but some are badder than others. It's sort of like the game Hearts, in that if you win a trick containing a Jack then you lose points.

J♥ will lose you 4 points, J♦ will lose you 3 points, J♣ will lose you 2 points, and (you may be able to follow the pattern here) J♠ will lose you 1 point (I could have typed out the name of each card in full, and it would have been quicker, but I just wanted to be all funky and use the suit symbols).

Given that there are 17 tricks to be won each hand, and a total of 10 negative points, it means that each hand there will be a net 7 points shared between the players. The first player to reach 21 points is the winner.

Obviously, you really don't want to collect Jacks, especially J♥. There's no bonus for collecting all the Jacks.

The safest option is usually to lead with a 10. The general pattern here is that the second player will usually play a lower card in case the third player has the Jack of that suit. This means that the third player is free to win the trick with a Queen, King or Ace.

Of course, it doesn't always pan out that way, but in the early game most tricks are won by the player going third.

Something you want to avoid is being stuck with a face card as your only remaining card of a suit, and having to play it and let the final player throw the Jack at you. High cards can be good, but when to hold on to them and when to play them is the key to the game.

It is sometimes a good strategy to throw away a high card of one suit when another suit is led, just so that later on you don't get stuck winning a trick that contains a Jack.

Possibly the suckiest thing is to be dealt the Jack of trumps. The only time it's not going to win is where the Queen, King or Ace of trumps are played in the same trick. It gets even worse if card 52 (the card that decides trumps) is a Queen, King or Ace as there are even fewer chances to successfully dump that Jack on someone else. If that happens, just hope trumps are Spades.

I managed to hold my own in the game we played, taking an early lead, but I made some poor decisions and got stuck with too many high cards in the later part of the game and ended up finishing second.

It's not a game I'd play much as there are other card games I enjoy more, but it was nice as a filler while we waited to play something more meaty.
 

Another update of sorts

Three topics are up for bloggerising today: Catan Card Game, Pillars of the Earth, and Big Brother.

Firstly to Catan. After having tried Wizards & Dragons, The Giggling One and I further expanded our Catan Card Game horizons with Science & Progress.

This expansion was definitely more fun, and integrated more easily with the base game. We both built the (almost obligatory) University and switched our regions around to make use of doubled production. I found the Crane quite useful in the late game, especially as I had only one wood and one brick producing region.

In the end it was probably my beefed up ore production that won me the game. With two of my three ore regions either side of a Foundry and protected by a Garrison, I had ore coming out of my you-know-where.

The Giggling One was again frustrated by her lack of resource production but thought this was better than the Wizards & Dragons expansion. I agreed. The Science & Progress expansion fits in nicely and adds a few more options. I do, however, think it could do with more cards as it seemed a bit light on.


I just wanted to go into brag mode for a brief moment to mention I am still undefeated in The Pillars of the Earth. I'm 5 from 5 (from two games of 2 players, one game of 3 players, and two games of 4 players).

My most recent foray to Kingsbridge involved myself, The Giggling One, and Pillars noobs Paul and Narelle. I went the stone strategy, and finished Round 6 with three Sculptors, the Bellmaker, and a Goldsmith, leading to my highest final round yet: a not insubstantial 30 Victory Points (8 stone to 16 VPs from the Sculptors, 2 metal to 8 VPs from the Bellmaker, and 18 gold to 6 VPs from the Goldsmith). 54 points all up.


My inner snark is just itching to get out, and I fear I may be unable to keep it restrained once Big Brother 8 starts on Monday night. New hosts and a new producer should shake things up a bit from the stale tripe of the last couple of years. Here's hoping there's plenty of blog fodder to come.
 

Catan Card Game - Wizards & Dragons

The Giggling One's birthday was last Tuesday. Along with a shiny new iPod ("It's Pink!"), I bought her the Catan Card Game Expansion Set.


We didn't have quite the level of issues we had with the base game. Unfortunately there was still one card missing from one of the sets. Hopefully I'll be able to remedy that soon.

Anyway, as it was The Giggling One's game, she had first choice of the expansion to play with when we had our first game on Thursday night. Her choice? Wizards & Dragons. Why? Because it's wizards and dragons!

Unfortunately it didn't play as well as we hoped (Oh no! Not another negative review! Well, maybe a little but it all depends upon what sort of game experience you are after). I think my expectations were set a little too high. I was hoping the set would complement the game more than it did. However it was more like shoving the geeky new kid into a room with the cool kids and forcing them to play together.

Of course there are interactions between the cards but the Wizards & Dragons cards seem to have a bigger influence over the resource cards than anything else.

Our first attempt to play was aborted after less than a minute after The Giggling One decided that she would draw her starting hand from one of the two Wizards stacks. Big mistake. Wizard cards are only any good to you once you own a Citadel.

You're much better off playing with the base game cards for a few rounds, expanding your colony, and only when you can afford to buy a Citadel should you draw from a Wizard stack.

So, realising she was effectively neutered by her starting hand, we began again.

There are some neat strategies involving the Wizards cards, and I discovered a couple along the way. I was fortunate enough to get a Citadel well before The Giggling One, so had free reign of spells and Wizard cards for some time.

My lead was cemented when my frustrated opponent finally built a Citadel but was unable to play or get rid of any cards in her hand so she could then draw from a Wizard stack. It took a few more turns before she finally managed to get her hand on any purple cards.

By then I had two Wizards in my realm, and had used the Earth Magic spell to swap one of my Wheat regions for one of her Sheep regions. Not only did this give me two Pastures either side of a Wool Mill (which was why I played the spell) but it left her without any "4" regions (this was not intentional (I'm not that bastardly) and we only noticed this the next time a 4 was rolled). So whenever a 4 was rolled for the remainder of the game she did not receive any resources.

I was also aided by the Wheel of Time spell which allows you to determine the roll of the Event Die. I used it in conjunction with the Alchemist to choose the Production Die value as well, and then completely screwed up the choice. I should have chosen "4" as it would have won me the game there and then, but I didn't want to be mean and pick a number The Giggling One didn't have.

It was of little consequence though, as I then used the Magical Eye spell to draw Ismai the Green Dragon and played him on my next turn to take the Knight token from The Giggling One and give me my 13th Victory Point.

It wasn't a particularly fun game overall as The Giggling One spent the majority of it frustrated that she couldn't do what she wanted.

My opinion of the Wizards & Dragons set is that it's kind of fun, but more of an add on than an interactive set as I anticipate the other expansion sets will be.

But more of that when we get a chance to play with the other new cards. Stay tuned.
 

Race for the Galaxy

Last night's edition of the Hobart Games of Society games night saw only one addition to the New Games Quest list. And that game, was Race for the Galaxy.


Let me get this off my chest first. To me, Race for the Galaxy is like four people simultaneously playing solitaire and racing to go out.

Yes, it's a little more complex than that, but when you get down to it there is very very little player interaction. Everyone does their own thing, and no one can affect what cards anyone else plays. Yes, you can see what sort of cards someone else is playing, and base what cards you play on that, but there are so many different cards with so many different bonuses (there are literally no bad cards in the entire game) that you never know what cards you're going to get.

So, a negative start to this review. You're probably thinking I didn't like the game. That's not true. I did like it. But, I would have liked it more had there been some tangible way to influence what your opponents do other than choose what phase to play. So really, I'm ambivalent.

Let's take a look at how the game works.

Most people compare the game to Puerto Rico (a game that is now on the top of my "games I have never played but really, really want to" list). That's because at the start of each round, every player chooses the phase (or action) they want to take that round, and then everyone plays that phase.

Each player secretly chooses a phase they would like, and then they are all revealed simultaneously. For that round, the actions all players take will be those that have been revealed by the phase cards. So with 4 players, there will be 4 phases in that round. As players choose their preferred phase in secret, it is quite possible, and indeed probable with the maximum 4 players, that more than one person will choose the same phase. If that happens, then that phase is played multiple times that round.

There are 5 possible phases you can choose from: I: Explore, II: Develop, III: Settle, IV: Consume, and V: Produce. There is also an optional phase - $: Trade - that can be taken as part of the Consume phase. Phases are always played in the same order during a round. That is, if the Explore phase is chosen, it will always be played first, while any Produce phases always come last.

If someone chooses Explore, all players simply draw a set number of cards from the top of the (shuffled) stack and place them in their hand. There is no limit to the number of cards in your hand during a round, but you must discard down to 10 at the end of the round (ie. after all phases have been completed).

While everyone gets to draw cards in an Explore phase, the player who chose that phase gets a bonus. There are two different bonuses the player can choose. While everyone else draws 2 cards and gets to keep 1, the person who chose Explore can either draw 3 cards and keep 2 (discarding the third) or draw 5 cards and keep 1 (if they are looking for a particular card).

In the Develop phase, all players may choose to place 1 Development card on their tableau. These cards give bonuses during particular phases. For example, one card might reduce the cost of playing further developments while another might give trade bonuses.

Speaking of costs, here's where one of the interesting and cunning mechanics comes into the game. All costs in the game are paid by discarding cards. So if you want to play a development card with a cost of 2, then you must discard 2 other cards from your hand to pay for it.

This is a very intriguing way of going about things, as it forces players to choose which cards to keep and which to discard.

The benefit of being the player who chooses the Development phase is that the cost of playing a development card is reduced by 1.

Phase III is Settle. If this phase is played, each player may play 1 World card to their tableau. There are two main types of worlds: regular worlds and military worlds. Each of these also have sub types that may allow them to produce goods and affect how other cards interact with them.

Costs to play world cards are also paid by discarding other cards. Costs can be reduced if you have other cards that give bonuses. For example, some development and world cards give military bonuses. If the combined military bonuses on the cards in your tableau are equal to or greater than the cost of a military world card you want to play, then you can play it for free.

In addition to a cost, both world cards and development cards also have a Victory Point number. Generally the more expensive or powerful a card is, the more victory points it is worth. These VPs don't come in to play until the end of the game when you add them all up to see who has won.

I'll skip the Consume phase for now, and go to the final phase: Produce. This is because Consume relies on goods already having been produced, and it's easier to explain them this way around.

In the Produce phase, all world cards you have that can produce resources do so. There are four different resources: Novelty (blue), Rare Elements (brown), Genes (green), and Alien Technology (yellow).

No world can produce more than one good at a time so if it already has a good on that world, it won't produce another one.

Goods are also represented by cards. When a good is produced on one of your worlds, you draw a card from the deck and, leaving it face down, place it partially over the applicable world card to signify it is a resource.

It is during the Consume phase that resources are used. Using the bonuses listed on individual development and world cards, players can discard their resource cards in return for victory point chips. Some bonuses also allow you to draw more cards when the resources are consumed.

There are two extra bonuses you can choose from if you chose the Consume phase this round. The first extra is trading. If you chose this bonus, you get your own personal Trade phase before the Consume phase that no other player gets (unless they also chose this phase themselves). This allows you to trade in resources for cards.

Each resource has a different trade value, so for example, while you can trade 1 blue (novelty) resource in order to draw 2 cards from the deck, you can trade 1 yellow (alien tech) resource for 5 cards. If you have other development or world cards that give you trade bonuses, you can draw even more cards to your hand.

The other option when choosing the Consume phase is to double the VPs that you receive during that phase. This comes in handy towards the end of the game when you're trying to amass as many VPs as possible before the game finishes.

The game continues in this fashion, with each player choosing a phase each round, and everyone going through those particular phases. This is where an element of strategy comes in. For example, you may want to do both the Settle phase and the Produce phase this round. Unfortunately, you can only choose one of those phases as your selection for the round.

However, you check out what the other players are doing and notice that one player has lots of cards in their hand and they are a little light on with world cards in their tableau. You guess that there is a good chance that they are going to want to play a world card this round, so will probably choose the Settle phase. As you can leech off their choice to play your world card, you're free to choose the Produce phase so you can do that as well. Of course, if they are strategising as well.....

The game ends when either one or more players has 12 cards in play (the round is still completed) or you run out of VP chips (less likely). You then add up all the VPs on your world and development cards, your VP chips, and any special bonus VPs that some cards have. The player with the most VPs wins.

For the record I finished a close second in the game behind the more experienced Jon who owned the game.

As I said earlier, I enjoyed it. There are a hell of a lot of different strategies you can use due to the enormous number of different cards, but I still think it could do with more player interaction. For example, perhaps you could have a development card that allows you to use another player's world to consume one of your resources. Or perhaps if your military power is greater than other players you get a bonus.

It doesn't need to be a nasty power that lets you force a player to discard, or allows you to steal their world, because the developers have so obviously avoided that. I just want there to be more strategy involving interaction with the players.

I don't think it's really that much to ask and would add to the game's appeal for me. Hopefully the expansion coming out soon will do something that effect. If it does, I may well consider buying this game.
 

Catan Card Game

Catan Card Game (aka The Settlers of Catan Card Game) is a 2 player card game based on the Settlers of Catan board game.


The Giggling One and I are big fans of Settlers of Catan, and when she spotted it in Mind Games while we were perusing the shops of Melbourne's CBD she was unable to resist.

One of the main attractions to this game is that it is a 2 player game. It's easy to carry around, and if we're unable to drum up extra players for the board game version, we can always play this.

The basic concepts of the card game are similar to its more well known hexagonal island counterpart. Players have cards laid out in front of them representing settlements and cities, roads, and six different resources (brick, wood, sheep, ore, wheat, and gold). Each resource card has a number on it from 1 to 6, and when the dice is rolled, the resulting number generates one of that resource.

It's deliberately arranged so that each player starts with one of each resource, as well as one of every die number, so you will always produce something on a roll (well, unless you've maxed out that resource card).

You keep track of resources by rotating each resource card so that the number at the bottom of the card is equal to the number of resources you have. It's a nice mechanic and means that you can always see exactly how much of every resource your opponent has.

As each card is square, and thus has only 4 sides, the most resources you can store per card is 3 (each side of the card represents 0, 1, 2 or 3 of that given resource when rotated to face you). If you have 3 of a resource and that number is rolled again, you don't get anything for it.

There is therefore an inherent incentive to spend your resources before they are wasted. Additionally, like in the board game, if there's a brigand attack (equivalent to the robber) and you have more than 7 resources, you'll lose some.

Each player starts with two settlement cards separated by a road card. Each settlement has 4 resources diagonally adjacent. To extend your little piece of Catan, you need to buy roads and settlements and expand sideways.

Whenever you place a new settlement you draw 2 new resource cards to make up the 4 required (the new settlement will already share 2 resources with the previous settlement).

There are, of course, other cards you can have that assist your colony. You can play knights to protect you, fleets to assist with trading, factories to double production, and other beneficial cards. When you upgrade settlements to cities, even more cards become available.

All of these cards are placed directly above or below your settlement or city. Some of them may only benefit that particular town while others will benefit your whole colony.

There are also action cards that allow you to take a swipe at your opponent. In our first game, The Giggling One pretty much had a swipe-fest. I can say from experience that it gets rather frustrating after a while to have your strong knights and beneficial buildings removed all the time.

The Giggling One and I have played this twice now, for 1 win each. Our first game wasn't helped by the fact that once we got home (well, to Jason's home where we were staying) and opened the box, we found two cards were missing and another was duplicated.

Rather more bemused than amused by this, we stopped by Mind Games on our way to the airport the next morning and swapped the box for a new one. We decided to make sure the new version had all the cards and opened it up in the shop to count them.

Sure enough, this second set wasn't complete either. This one had an extra city and one missing road, so we switched the city for a road from the first set, and finally left complete.

The Catan Card Game is enjoyable, and has room for a nice amount of strategy. We've only got the base game, and I understand the expansions add a nice degree of extra strategy (more on that if - or rather when - we buy an expansion).

What I don't understand is why they haven't produced expansions for more players. After 6 or so expansions, it's still only a 2 player game.

Neither I nor The Giggling One can see why this game wouldn't translate well to a 3 or 4 player game, just like its board game cousin. Having more players would make inter-player trading a much more viable option as well. We've had a grand total of 1 trade between us in our 2 games, with all other trading being with the "bank".

If you're a Settlers fan and have that special someone who enjoys the game as well, then this is a worthy consideration of your hard earned moolah.

Set!

Another quick card game filled in our time as the third offering on Friday night.

Set! is a very simple yet fun and frustrating card matching game.

It's very simple to understand but can be difficult to master if you don't have a fast eye for detail.

Twelve cards are laid out face up on the table. The object for each player is to grab a set of 3 of these cards before anyone else does.

Each card has either 1, 2 or 3 matching objects on it.

Each object has 3 properties: shape, colour and filling.

There are also 3 different types of each property.

In this game the 3 shapes were an oval, a rectangle and an S-shaped squiggle; the 3 colours were green, orange and purple; and the 3 fillings were empty, solid or patterned.

The object is to collect a set of 3 cards such that for any given property (including number of objects on the card), none of them are the same or they are all the same.

For example, a valid set can comprise cards that show: 1 empty green rectangle, 2 solid purple squiggles, and 3 patterned orange ovals. This is valid as all the properties on the cards are different.

Another valid set would be; 2 solid purple rectangles, 2 solid orange squiggles, and 2 solid green ovals. This set is valid as all cards contain 2 solid objects, while the other properties are all different.

Perhaps the easiest way to recognise a valid set, and the way my brain finally understood valid sets, is to learn to recognise invalid sets.

If you find a property (remember these are number, colour, shape, and filling) that is present on two cards but not a third, then it's invalid. That is, if you have a pair of properties instead of singles or triples, then it's not a valid set.

So if I tried to pick up three cards comprised of 1 solid orange squiggle, 2 patterned purple ovals, and 3 empty orange rectangles, it would be invalid because two of the cards are orange.

When the cards are on the table, it's a free-for-all grab-a-set-athon. Once a set is removed, 3 more cards are dealt to replace them.

Once all the cards have been dealt, and no more sets are available, the game ends and the person with the most sets wins.

Generally speaking the dealer is at a disadvantage because often people will start grabbing sets before all the cards are dealt. You can implement a rule that prevents this, but the dealer is still disadvantaged.

I say "generally speaking" because this did not apply to The Giggling One. She has an astonishing eye for sets, and even when we made her be dealer to try and slow her down, she just beat the other three of us by even more.

Mark this down as another game I suck at. I'm the sort of gamer who likes to ponder things, and pondering in Set! will see you slaughtered.

It's a lot of fun though, and can see a lot of d'oh-ing as another person grabs a set you missed after you've been staring at the cards for a good 30 seconds. Certainly a worthwhile diversion for the whole family.

Democrazy

The Giggling One and I made our second trip to the HoGS games night, and played another four new games.

For one reason or another we both came away a little disappointed from the evening. We didn't have quite as much fun as last time. Perhaps it was because there were too many people there, or we didn't get enough time at some of the games.

Like last time, a quick game was produced for folks to play while we were waiting for more people to turn up so the serious gaming could begin.

So first on the table was Democrazy, a fun, quick game.

Except it was over so quickly that we almost didn't have any fun. I'll explain why later.

The concept of Democrazy is quite intriguing. Each player starts with a certain number of chips (five each in this case as we had seven players). Chips come in four different colours: red, green, yellow, and blue, and are drawn at random from an opaque bag.

We all received eight cards: 5 law cards (randomly dealt), 2 vote cards (a "Yes" and a "No") and 1 random wild card (a "Definite Yes", a "Definite No" or a "Scam").

The idea is that on your turn you draw a card from the top of the law deck, and then choose to play either that law, or one of the law cards in your hand.

The idea is to score points by passing laws that will benefit you.

The laws come in two types: those that are enacted immediately and are then discarded, and those that remain in play.

The first type include laws like "The players lose all of their yellow chips." or "Each player passes all their chips to the player on their left." or "All players draw two chips."

The second type of law are those that, if voted in, remain in play until they are either superceded or the game ends. Some of these won't take effect until the end of the game, but some will have a continuous effect while they remain in play. As well as affecting the number and value of chips, they tend to include some sillier laws like "Players must play their vote card with their left hand. The penalty for failing to do so is to lose a chip." or "Players with beards score 5 bonus points." Needless to say, with only three bearded men on the table, that vote was shot down by the rest of us.

Of course, none of these laws come into play unless they are voted in. When a player proposes a law, all the players vote either "Yes" or "No". If there are more "Yes" votes than "No" votes, the law passes and is enacted.

Players can try to force a law to succeed or fail with their wild card. A player can play their "Definite Yes" card (if they have one) to force a law to pass. However, this will only happen if no one else plays a wild card. Should any other player play a wild card of any type, all wild cards played that hand are immediately nullified.

The "Scam" wild card has the effect of swapping the outcome, again as long as no other wild cards are played at the same time.

Once the game has ended (and this happens when either the "End" card is drawn (this is shuffled into the last ten cards) or a player tries to draw a chip and none remain), and the final laws are enacted, the winner is the player with the highest score (number of chips plus any bonuses).

Sounds like it could be a laugh right?

Well, it is.

So what's my beef?

As I mentioned earlier the game was over very quickly, and we've found that on these games nights, it's often a case of play the game once and move on.

The issue we had was that after a couple of minutes, a law was passed that effectively killed off the game. That law was "Each time a law is adopted, the players who voted in favor draw a chip, and those who voted against lose a chip. Each time a law is rejected, the reverse happens."

What then happened was that everyone tried to second guess the most popular vote (which wasn't too difficult) and voted that way. With five or six players on the winning side each time, the chips ran out in no time at all and the game was over.

In fact, it was over so quickly that I only got one turn for the entire game. And even though I had 10 chips, and finished equal first, it's always going to be a let down when your interaction is limited to voting on other people's laws.

Mark this one down as another game I want to play again. Preferably with fewer players. I like a laugh, and this one was more of a brief chuckle.

Overall thoughts? If you play it, laughs will come. It doesn't take itself seriously, and neither should you. A fun diversion.

Familienbande

The third game we played on Friday night was Familienbande which I believe translates into English as "Family Ties". It's a simple card game with a little, but not a great deal of strategic depth.

There are around 60 cards, each containing an illustrated portrait of a man or woman. Marked clearly on each card, each of these people also has a combination of three attributes (genes) out of a pool of five.

The five attributes are big ears (coloured blue), eyeglasses (yellow), "impressive" noses (green), red curls (orange), and broad lips (red).

Each character has three genes, but these may include more than one of the same attribute. So while one card may have an ear, a curls and a nose icon, another card may have two glasses icons and a nose icon. Five of the cards have three of the same attribute on them.

At the beginning of the game each player secretly takes an attribute tile and peeks at it to see which attribute they have. The idea is then to promote that attribute more strongly than any others.

The promotion of attributes is done via marrying and child birth. The game starts with three cards being dealt face up on the table to represent the first generation. As the game progresses, each player may marry two people, by placing a person of the opposite sex next to a single person.

As a couple, they can now have kiddies. On their turn, instead of marrying two people, a player may instead choose to place a card down as the descendant of a couple. The catch is that the three attribute icons on this card must be made up of three of the six attribute icons of the parents.

For example, if one parent has red/green/yellow, and the other parent has red/blue/blue, then you could place a card with red/green/blue down as the child of this couple. However, you would not be able to place a card with green/green/blue down because that would require two green icons from the parents, and they only have one between them.

If you're not thoroughly confused by this, then please read on. Each descendant represents a new generation. The first descendant of the game will be placed on the table below the existing row, and will form the first card in the second generation. When this card is married, and a child produced, it will be placed in the third row, representing the third generation.

The game continues up to the fifth generation. Each generation can have no more than one more descendant than the generation before. That is, the first generation has three people. The second generation can have no more than four descendants (who can then be married), and the third generation five.

The fifth generation is therefore made up of seven descendants. This final generation cannot marry. Once the seventh card is placed in this generation, the game is over regardless of whether every generation above them is "full".

So, scoring. Kind of important I think you'll agree. Every time a descendant is placed on the table, the attributes on that card score points. The points allocated depend upon the generation. For every attribute on a card in the second generation, two points are scored. So if a second generation card has blue/blue/red, then the blue marker will move 4 places up the score track, and the red one will move 2 up.

The idea is that each player will try and promote their own attribute as much as possible, so they move up the score track. However, saving cards with more than one of your own attribute on it for later generations is a good idea for two reasons. Firstly, you get more points. If you were green and save a green/green/red card for the fifth generation, you'll score 10 points (and you'll give 5 points to red).

The second reason to hold good cards until the later generations is you may not want to give away your colour too early. Not that there's a great deal of blocking strategy the other players can use as they are limited to the cards in their hand, and the combinations on the table.

After the seventh card is placed in the fifth generation, the game ends and everyone reveals their colour. Points are then deducted from each player for any cards remaining in their hand.

Whoever has the most points wins. Obviously. In the one game we played, I finished dead stone motherless last. I didn't get at all strategic, and failed to hold any good cards for the later generations. Rather silly really, but these are the things that you learn in hindsight and make you itch for just one more game...

Bohnanza

Ah Bohnanza. We only played it once, and that wasn't enough. Like most games, it takes a few goes to really get the hang of the play and the associated strategy.

Bohnanza is a fun card game. Each card has a picture of an anthropomorphic bean. The idea is to plant beans by placing them face-up in fields (sets) on the table in front of you, then harvest (discard) the fields to gain gold. The bigger the field, the more gold you get.

So it's a simple match making game right? Ooh boy are you wrong. There are a number of elements that make this anything but straight forward.

First and foremost, unlike any other card game I've ever played, you can't rearrange your hand. Cards must stay in the order in which they are dealt/picked up, and you must play all your cards from the same end of your hand. That is, when it is your turn to plant a bean, you must plant the card at the planting end of your hand.

Also, you can only have two fields in which to plant your beans (you can later purchase a third field for 3 gold), and you can only plant beans of the same type in each field. What this means is, as you are forced to plant beans at certain stages of the game, you will be forced to harvest fields if none of them match the bean you are planting.

The additional problem there is that you have to have a certain number of beans in each field in order to gain gold when you harvest that field. Each field can earn up to 4 gold if it is big enough, but you may have to harvest it before it gets that big. In fact, it's not uncommon to harvest a field and earn no gold from it at all as you don't have enough beans in it yet.

The bean cards themselves are very cute. We played the German version, meaning we often had to resort to describing the bean rather than using its German name. The beans include the Soy Bean (a peace-loving hippy), a Black-Eyed Bean (looking the worse for wear in a boxing ring), a Green Bean (puking in a drunken stupour while clinging to a lamp post), a Red Bean (looking all embarrassed and covering its naughty bits), and a Blue Bean (a Wild West cowboy (or should that be cowbean?)).

No two sets of cards have the same number of cards in the deck as any other. They range from a lowly 6 to an abundant 20. The trade-off is that the fewer beans of that type, the more valuable they are, and the fewer you need to plant to earn gold.

Getting to the gameplay itself, each player is dealt five cards. Each turn has four compulsory stages. Firstly, the active player (let's assume it's you) must plant either one or two beans. Remember, you can't rearrange your hand so you have no choice over which cards to plant. You must plant the card at the front of your hand - the one you drew the longest time ago. Your only choice is whether to plant a second bean or not.

If all your fields are currently planted and have beans of a different type than the one you have to plant, then you must harvest a field to make way for the new bean. Choosing which field or fields to harvest is the key and depends on what you have in your hand and whether you want to hold out for more beans in one particular field.

Having said that, there is a limitation to the harvesting process: no field with only a single bean can be harvested unless all fields have only one bean.

In stage two of your turn you draw two cards, and place them face-up, separately from your fields, for all to see. You can then trade any of these cards, or any of the cards in your hand to other players.

Trading can only be done with the active player, and can be in any arrangement (eg. 1 for 1, 1 for 2 etc.). This is very useful for players as it is the only chance you get to change the look of your hand, as you can trade a card from anywhere in your hand. If there's a card in your hand you don't want to have to plant then you can trade it to another player for a card you do want.

Any cards you receive through trading are placed face-up in front of you and not in your hand, regardless of whether you are the active player or not.

In stage three, everyone who received beans in a trade, not just the active player, has to plant those beans. If this means anyone has to harvest a field to make way for the new bean(s), then they must do so.

If no one wants to trade with you, then you're stuck with whatever two beans you drew in stage two and must plant them.

Finally, in stage four you draw three cards from the stack, and place them at the back of your hand (the opposite end to that from which you plant).

Play continues this way until the deck is exhausted. The discard pile is then reshuffled and becomes the new deck. After three times through the deck, the game is over, and whoever has the most gold is declared the winner.

I managed to finish second out of four players in our only game of Bohnanza. That, however, was a long way behind our more experienced host Marca.

I'd love to give Bohnanza another try some time. It was fun and friendly, especially with the trading aspect. 7½/10.

Casino

No, this isn't a post about gambling, though I am a fan of television poker (World Series of Poker etc); it's another new game I've played this year.

Except I'm not going to count it towards my New Games Quest. Why? Well because it's a card game played with regular playing cards. And that's not all together new. So it's not going on the list, but as it's a game and this is a blog about games, it still rates a mention.

What is Casino? Until last Wednesday I hadn't even heard of it. Having said that, there is some strange inkling jingling around in the far reaches of my brain that says I have actually heard the name in the context of card games before. We'll ignore that inkling for now and just carry on.

I was unwell and invited The Giggling One to play a game on the bed. In the spirit of the quest thing I figured we'd try a two player game that we'd never played before. She pulled out my Encyclopedia of Games and I riffled through the card games section seeking a likely candidate.

That's how I found Casino. The book describes it thusly: This unusual game has its origins in medieval France and is still popular in Italy and eastern Mediterranean countries. It has more in common with traditional Chinese 'fishing' games than with most other Western card games.

It took a little while to understand the rules as they weren't particularly well written. In fact, it wasn't until afterwards when I read the rules for the next game in the book, Scopa - a relative of Casino - that some of the terms were properly explained. So we probably didn't play it 100% correctly, but we got the gist of it.

The aim of the game is to capture as many cards as possible. Here's how it works:

Each player receives four cards face-down. Four more cards are dealt face-up in the middle of the table (well, doona for us). The actually dealing order is two cards face-down to the non-dealer, then two face-up to the table, then two face-down to the dealer, then repeat.

Each player then takes their four cards to form their hand. One at a time, starting with the non-dealer, each player must play one, and only one, card to the table. What they do with that card is up to them. There are three options:

Option 1: Capture one or more cards from the table. To capture a single card, the value of that card must equal the value of the card played. For example, you can play the 8 of Clubs in order to capture the 8 of Diamonds. You can capture multiple cards if their combined face values add up to the card you're playing. Taking the 8 of Clubs example again, if there is a 5, a 2 and an Ace on the table, they can all be captured with your 8.

You can capture as many combinations that add up to your card value as you like, so with your 8 you could capture another 8 and the 5,2,A. You can also capture builds (see Option 2) with the same value as your card. Court cards have no value and can only be captured by a matching court card, but if you do this you can only capture one (to make a pair) or three (to make all four) at a time. Who knows where these rules originate or why?

Captured cards are kept in a face-down pile (along with the capturing card) by the capturing player. If you capture all the cards currently on the table at once, you get a sweep, and keep one of those cards face-up so you know how many sweeps you've taken. Neither of us got any in our game.

Option 2: Build. You can add your card to another card on the table to make a combined total. eg. You add your 6 to a 2 to make an 8. However, you can only do this if you also have a card in your hand equal to the value of the build. That is, you can only add a 6 to a 2 if you also have an 8 in your hand. Your opponent can then add a card from their hand (with the same restriction) to make the total higher still (though it can never exceed 10). For example, they can add an Ace to the 6 and 2 and make the total 9, as long as they also have a 9 in their hand. This is known as a single build because it involves only one card from the table to begin with, regardless of how many cards are played onto it from the players' hands.

Building therefore allows you to capture multiple cards at once on your next turn, though you're taking the chance your opponent might swipe them before you get a chance to do so.

You can also do what's called a multiple build. Here's where things get a little tricky so stay with me. We had to read the rules a few times to get our heads around this one. Once you've played a card from your hand on to a card on the table to form a single build, you can then grab another card on the table of the same value as the existing build and add it to the build. If you do this the value stays the same and cannot be changed.

For example, if you play a 3 from your hand on to a 5 on the table, if there is an 8 on the table as well, you can add that to the build and declare you are "building 8s". The value of this build is now set at 8 and cannot be changed (you can't add a 2 and make the value 10).

Any player may further add to the multiple build by playing a card from their hand either by itself or with another table card to the build as long as the value is the same as that of the build. I could therefore play a 6 on to a 2 and add those to the 8 build.

The same rules apply as with single builds, in that you can only make a multiple build if you have another card in your hand equal to the value of the build.

Option 3: Trail a card. The term trail means to place a card face-up on the table by itself without capturing (obviously) or building. This is usually going to happen when you can't capture anything with any card in your hand, or there are no cards currently on the table (because the other player made a sweep).

Once you've made or added to a build you are not allowed to trail a card until that build value is changed (in the case of single builds) or the build is captured by your opponent. That's because you have to have a card in your hand to capture the build with at the time you make the build. You don't have to capture it immediately though. You can start a new build or add to an existing build if you wish, as long as you don't trail.

Once both players have exhausted their hand cards (after eight turns), the dealer deals four more cards, two at a time, to each player. This continues until no more cards are available to be dealt.

Any cards left over on the table once the final card is played at the end of the game go to the player who made the last capture. Capturing cards this way does not constitute a sweep unless they are taken in the normal course of play.

Then, finally, if you've trawled your way through this post, you can tally the scores as follows:

> For capturing most cards: 3 points
> For capturing most spades: 1 point
> For capturing the 10 of Diamonds (Big Casino): 2 points
> For capturing the 2 of Spades (Little Casino): 1 point
> For each Ace captured: 1 point
> For each sweep: 1 point

If there is a tie for most cards or most spades, neither player scores a point.

There you have it. It'll play quicker than it took me to type all of that, and it's not overly strategic. We thought it was OK, but not brilliant. Any comments welcome. For the record, in my battle with The Giggling One we played 3 games, and I was victorious 2-1. We're in no rush to play it again. I have more important games on my agenda. More about that soon...