(A brief explanation of blind bidding in Aladdin's Dragons -- Players each place numbered tiles face down, bidding for various treasures. At the end of a bidding round, the tiles are revealed and the player who bid the most total points wins the treasure. So by placing tiles with values of 1, 2 and 4 on a single treasure, you could bluff other players into thinking you're devoting a lot of resources to that treasure. In actuality, playing one tile with a value of 9 on another treasure is worth more points -- but might not be as effective.)

Tummelson, who published an English-language version of the game under his Rio Grande Games banner, said he's not very good at blind bidding but likes the mechanism.

A photo of the entire Aladdin's Dragons game board. A closeup of the lower left appears below.

Debbie Pickett, a member of the Billabong Boardgamers in Australia, says the game is played about once a month, frequent for their group.

Aladdin's Dragons, she believes, is a much-improved version of designer Richard Breese's independent release known as Keydom.

"Aladdin's Dragons, in my opinion, distills the best components from Keydom -- the blind [bidding], the spells, the special powers obtained in the city," Pickett said. "And it adds a few more of its own, such as the significance of the numbers on the tokens in the palace (and how they affect how many treasures the artifacts cost), the powers of the artifacts, the change-the-start-camel power. The result is a well-rounded game."

Breese, a 44-year-old resident of Stratford upon Avon, England, recently took some time to answer a few questions about the game.

How long did it take you to develop Keydom, which eventually became Aladdin's Dragons?

Keydom evolved over a few months from late Autumn 1997 (after the October Essen Spiel) to Spring 1998. Production took place in the summer ready for Essen 1998. The other Key games have follows a similar cycle.

How did you decide to incorporate the "blind bidding" mechanism into the game?

I wanted to achieve a game based on the acquisition of resources which depended on skill but was not predictable -- similar to Settlers of Catan but without using dice. I think Keydom achieved this.

A closeup of the lower left portion of the board for Aladdin's Dragons.

To some players, this was their favourite part of Keydom whilst others didn't like the possibility of investing several counters into a resource location and receiving nothing in return. Bernd Brunnhofer (of Hans im Gluck), who must take the lion's share of the credit for creating Morgenland (the German name for Aladdin's Dragons) from Keydom, overcame this issue by rewarding the heaviest investor in a location and at the same time speeding up the game play.

Can you talk about the differences between publishing a game yourself (Keydom) and working with a game publishing company (Morgenland / Aladdin's Dragons)?

Working with Bernd Brunnhofer was like a pupil working with and old master. I learned a lot from the experience and from Hans im Gluck's design process and think that my subsequent games will benefit as a result. The main advantage of producing your own games is that you are not restricted in any way in what you decide to include or exclude.

When and why did you start designing games?

I started to design in a serious way in the late 1980's after I had finished my first set of professional exams. I published my first game, Chamelequin, in 1989. Why? Like an author, it is to satisfy the urge to do something creative.

What games are you currently working on?

The latest game in the limited edition Key series, Keytown, was published [in October 2000]. The game will be on sale for a short time. (Further details are available from rbreese@msn.com).