On Wednesday night (Nov. 21st), I was able to squeeze in a few pre-Thanksgiving games with Doug and Paul. I brought my fairly recent acquisitions of Attika and San Juan, which neither of them had played.
The first game of Attika ended when each of us had about two-thirds of our buildings on the board. By saving two amphora and using a couple of turns building up resource cards, I was able to lay down a new hex and make a sudden move at the temple Paul was guarding. Although I didn’t get the draw I needed to build all the way there on the first turn, Paul only had a couple of resources and couldn’t manage to block. I’m not sure if Doug could have blocked the spot, but if so he chose not to form a new (and permanently unconnected) settlement and I was able to connect two temples shortly thereafter.
Both wanted to try Attika again, so we played a second game. Doug made an early move towards the center and allowed me to connect to the temple behind him. From that point it was very hard to block me. It was over in about five turns.
Next we opened up San Juan. It was their first and only my second game. I opened strong, getting an early library and a quick lead. Doug went strong on production buildings and Paul got an archive and then a library a bit later. I got a number of cards with the poor house and began to stock my chapel with quite a few cards. I missed some builds though, and Doug got a guild house and edged me out by one point.
Doug is going to borrow both games so I’m hoping for some more tightly contested games of Attika in the near future. After having played four times now, I’m very impressed with the design. Despite drawing tiles, there seems to be little luck and many tactical options.
Showing posts with label Ludic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ludic. Show all posts
Monday, November 26
Thursday, November 1
Review - Hollywood Blockbuster
Today I want to offer a review of a game that is relatively new to me, Hollywood Blockbuster. Hollywood Blockbuster is a remake of the Knizia game Traumfabrik for an English-speaking audience and is published by Uberplay. It is an auction game where players take the roles of movie producers trying to collect movie components and assign them to films in production. Completed films give you points and let you vie for the many movie awards given out during the course of the game.
Every player starts the game with a number of ‘contracts’, the currency used in the game, and three movies that they are trying to complete. The layout of the board consists primarily of eight spaces, each of which represents an opportunity to acquire tiles which show directors, stars, guest stars, cameras or special effects. Each of these tiles also has from zero to four stars, which add to the quality of the film to which they are assigned. Who gets the tiles from each space is usually decided by auction, but two of the eight spaces feature ‘parties’, in which each player gets to choose one of these in turn at no cost (the player who won the previous auction gets first pick and play proceeds clockwise). The players will traverse the board four times, each trip around representing one year of movie-making. That means there are only 24 auctions and eight parties to make as many movies as you can.
One of the interesting features of this auction game is that it features a closed economy. All contracts paid out by the auction winner are divided up equally by the remaining players. Any contracts that can’t be equally divided are left in the center of the board and divided along with the proceeds of the next auction. Spending money means it goes somewhere else so how it’s even more important to pay attention to how much you spend on an auction (and how much will be left in the middle).
The movies that players are trying to make are either blue, green, or yellow which correspond roughly to the action, comedy, and drama genres. Every movie requires a director and includes a spot for an optional guest star. Other requirements may vary greatly. Every movie also comes with a number of stars, based presumably on the quality of the script. When a player places all of the required tiles on a movie, it’s “in the can” and he counts up the total number of stars on the movie and the placed tiles and takes a corresponding scoring tile. Finishing a movie also means you get a new movie card, if there are still any left. There are a limited amount of scoring tiles (two for most values) and if they are already gone, he will have to take the next lower tile and score less points. Finishing first will often score you more points and counts as a tie-breaker when deciding who wins awards.
Speaking of awards, they are one of the most thematic and entertaining parts of the game. Awards for the first movie in each category reward you with five points, as do “best movie” awards for the first three years. The major awards are worth ten points each and are all given out when the game ends after year four. These awards are for best blue, green, and yellow film, best film overall, worst film, and best director (all of a player’s director stars for finished movies are added together). Everyone adds their awards to the amount of stars they garnered from finishing movies and the highest score wins.
The thing that I like most about this game is that it lies in the sweet spot of having enough strategy to entertain true gamers, while not being so daunting that family members would never dare to play. The theme of the game lies more in the board design and the names the game uses than in the actual game mechanics, but it is an inviting one and adds to the enjoyment of the game. The fact that the actors and movies are puns on those that are well-known adds to the appeal of the theme. The game is well-produced and easy to learn and play. Overall I score this game a 7.5 out of 10.
Every player starts the game with a number of ‘contracts’, the currency used in the game, and three movies that they are trying to complete. The layout of the board consists primarily of eight spaces, each of which represents an opportunity to acquire tiles which show directors, stars, guest stars, cameras or special effects. Each of these tiles also has from zero to four stars, which add to the quality of the film to which they are assigned. Who gets the tiles from each space is usually decided by auction, but two of the eight spaces feature ‘parties’, in which each player gets to choose one of these in turn at no cost (the player who won the previous auction gets first pick and play proceeds clockwise). The players will traverse the board four times, each trip around representing one year of movie-making. That means there are only 24 auctions and eight parties to make as many movies as you can.
One of the interesting features of this auction game is that it features a closed economy. All contracts paid out by the auction winner are divided up equally by the remaining players. Any contracts that can’t be equally divided are left in the center of the board and divided along with the proceeds of the next auction. Spending money means it goes somewhere else so how it’s even more important to pay attention to how much you spend on an auction (and how much will be left in the middle).
The movies that players are trying to make are either blue, green, or yellow which correspond roughly to the action, comedy, and drama genres. Every movie requires a director and includes a spot for an optional guest star. Other requirements may vary greatly. Every movie also comes with a number of stars, based presumably on the quality of the script. When a player places all of the required tiles on a movie, it’s “in the can” and he counts up the total number of stars on the movie and the placed tiles and takes a corresponding scoring tile. Finishing a movie also means you get a new movie card, if there are still any left. There are a limited amount of scoring tiles (two for most values) and if they are already gone, he will have to take the next lower tile and score less points. Finishing first will often score you more points and counts as a tie-breaker when deciding who wins awards.
Speaking of awards, they are one of the most thematic and entertaining parts of the game. Awards for the first movie in each category reward you with five points, as do “best movie” awards for the first three years. The major awards are worth ten points each and are all given out when the game ends after year four. These awards are for best blue, green, and yellow film, best film overall, worst film, and best director (all of a player’s director stars for finished movies are added together). Everyone adds their awards to the amount of stars they garnered from finishing movies and the highest score wins.
The thing that I like most about this game is that it lies in the sweet spot of having enough strategy to entertain true gamers, while not being so daunting that family members would never dare to play. The theme of the game lies more in the board design and the names the game uses than in the actual game mechanics, but it is an inviting one and adds to the enjoyment of the game. The fact that the actors and movies are puns on those that are well-known adds to the appeal of the theme. The game is well-produced and easy to learn and play. Overall I score this game a 7.5 out of 10.
Tuesday, September 25
A game geek writes
Hi. My name is Jeff Plummer and I'm a game geek. My mind is often distracted by thoughts of board games, computer games, puzzles, thought experiments, etc. I'm interested in playing games, designing games, and keeping up-to-date on new types of games.
Until quite recently I worked part-time for Ravenchase Adventures preparing and running treasure hunts in Charlotte, NC. Now I'm looking for something else to occupy my creative mind and hopefully someday replace my boring day job.
I really enjoy reading other peoples' blogs, especially when there is some thought put into them. Here I will write about thoughts I have about games of every sort including game reviews, playing sessions, new ideas, or games that I'm working on. If you're into that sort of thing, then welcome..sit down and stay a while.
Until quite recently I worked part-time for Ravenchase Adventures preparing and running treasure hunts in Charlotte, NC. Now I'm looking for something else to occupy my creative mind and hopefully someday replace my boring day job.
I really enjoy reading other peoples' blogs, especially when there is some thought put into them. Here I will write about thoughts I have about games of every sort including game reviews, playing sessions, new ideas, or games that I'm working on. If you're into that sort of thing, then welcome..sit down and stay a while.
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