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31 May 2003

Simultaneous Movement Finalists - Rules Available

The rules are now available for all 14 of the finalists in the 2003 Simultaneous Movement Board Game Design Competition.

Most of the games are from designers who have never been published before, but several are from published designers:

• Assembly Line and Rock, Paper, Scissors, Inc., were both designed by Stephen Glenn (Balloon Cup)
• King of Pearls was designed by Heinrich Glumpler (Fette Autos)
• Numa was designed by Don Green (Octi)

In addition, Nelaxtam was designed by Jorge Gomez Arrausi, the winner of the 2002 Unequal Forces Board Game Design Competition (Unlur).

Games I'm Playing

Memorial Day was a great time to sneak in some game-playing, and we took advantage of it. Beth and I headed over to Tom and Dana's, admired the new swingset they've built for their daughter, and then settled in for some games.

Settlers of Canaan

First up was this twist on Settlers of Catan, set on the coast of the Great Sea. Additions to the basic Settlers game include the wall of Jerusalem, to which a brick is added every tim e a 7 is rolled or when players turn in the right resource cards, and the copper hex, which acts as a wildcard -- producing any resource chosen by the player(s) with a settlement nearby.

There was a massive shortage of ore in our game, causing various difficulties. Dana and I competed for the longest road bonus, which I eventually won, and I managed to earn the most priests bonus as well. Combined with four settlements and two cities, that was enough to win the game.

Scores: Erik, 12; Beth, 10; Tom, 8; Dana, 7.

Inkognito

Four players begin with two objectives in this unique game designed by Alex Randolph. The first goal is to learn who your partner is. The second is to complete your secret mission. The board is a map of Venice, Italy, and you first learn about yourself: whether you are tall, short, fat, or thin, and what your name is. Then you spend time trying to glean information from other players without giving out too much of your own.

Tom and Dana learned that they were partners just a bit quicker than Beth and I learned that we were working together. And they were in better position to complete the secret mission. This was probably the hit of the day, a game we are all looking forward to playing again.

Result: Tom and Dana defeated Erik and Beth.

Roller Coaster

This is a children's game published by Parker Brothers. Each player has two marbles that they want to move from the start to the finish. Each move is very simple: roll one die, and choose which marble to move the number of spaces indicated. Where it gets a bit fun is that every third space on the board is a ramp that leads into the middle, so the marbles roll down into the center hole.

From there, they could wind up rolling out to any of the four sides of the coaster -- and they get lifted back onto the board space nearest the spot they rolled out. So it's generally a good idea to hit the ramp spaces on purpose near the start line, and not such a good idea to hit them near the finish line. I got just a bit luckier than Tom and managed to bring both my marbles past the finish line first.

Winner: Erik

Queen's Necklace

Players are all trying to sell jewels to the court, earning the most points for jewels that are both in fashion and rare. Each turn, you have 10 ducats to spend on any of five cards, some of which are jewels and some of which are characters who can help you make good sales. The trick is that anything you don't buy becomes cheaper for the next player. Three jewel sales take place during a game, and only the player who offers for sale the most gems of a particular type (diamond, emerald, ruby or amber) scores points.

It's something of an odd-feeling scoring system, but it allows for players to either have steady scores through all three rounds, or to have one massive round that carries them to victory. In our game, I was the only one who had played before, and the first two rounds I was able to buy numerous cards at discount prices. That good first round carried me through, despite Dana's massive final round.

Scores: Erik, 80+40+40 = 160; Dana, 0+30+120 = 150; Tom, 20+40+20 = 80; Beth, 0+60+0 = 60

Finding Nemo

A full review of this game is available, but the basic gist is that every player is trying to be the first to navigate Nemo (from the Disney / Pixar movie Finding Nemo) through a twisting series of sewer pipes and get him back home.

Early on, and without provocation, Tom and I decided the game would be best if we mercilessly beat on each other. Which, as it turns out, meant that our wives had a better-than-average chance of beating us. And they took advantage of it.

Results: Dana, 1st; Beth, 2nd; Erik, 3rd; Tom, 4th

Cash

A Wolfgang Kramer design from 1990 (co-designed with Jürgen P. Grunau), Cash finds players competing to collect sets of keys to unlock safes. Seven safes are laid out, each requiring a set of four keys to unlock. On a turn, players either draw one key card (which are placed face-up, so you can choose any color) or unlock one or more safes. Bonus points are earned for unlocking more than one safe on a turn, and for unlocking the seventh safe. Once all 35 safes have been opened, the player with the most cash wins.

We all enjoyed Cash, a quick (less than 30 minutes) and light game.

Scores: Erik, 130 (40 bonus); Dana, 118 (30); Beth, 116 (30); Tom, 106 (20)

Blokus

The goal of Blokus, a beautiful abstract strategy game, is to place as many of your 21 Tetris-like pieces on the board as possible. However, pieces of the same colour must touch each other on at least one corner, and pieces of the same colour can only touch each other at the corners. The game is extraordinarily simple to understand, but offers layers of complexity that make it a challenge every time it's played.

Tom, who majored in physics, was the easy winner.

Scores: Tom, 3; Dana, 15; Erik, 15; Beth, 25

Fresh Spiel - Time Control

Having the ability to travel into the past and alter history has fascinated mankind for centuries. With the new board game Time Control, you can test it out. Incorporating simultaneous play, multiple boards, and diceless conflict resolution, Time Control is an intriguing new game. For 2 to 4 players, ages 12 and up, it comes with four boards, nearly 100 cards, and more than 200 tokens.

About Board Games Forum Post of the Week

From Zadmando:

I love gaming with groups. However, there are times when I find myself partnerless. (This topic excludes my wife who will only play Quarto, Pente and Chinese Friends (Reversi)). What do I do? I play solo games. I have found a few, but am on the lookout for more.

Discuss in my forum