Post by Gilvan Blight on Jan 15, 2008 13:57:28 GMT -5
Quickly: a true classic for a reason. Should be on every boardgamers must own list.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary: [/glow]This is a straightforward tile laying game with stock trading elements. The board is divided into a grid of squares with letters A-I forming the X axis and numbers 1-12 forming the Y axis. Each square is identified by it's location, for example 6-E for the 6th spot in the E Row. There is a corresponding tile for each spot on the board, labeled identically to the board sections. These are placed face down and shuffled.
Players each draw one tile to determine the starting order. The tile closest to A-1 Starts the game. Each turns players do exactly 3 things. 1) play one Tile onto it's spot on the board. 2) Buy stock in companies that are in play. 3) replace spent or locked tiles.
1) play one tile. Players place one of their 6 tiles on the board. If they connect two or more tiles they form a chain with them. They select one of the 7 companies in the game to represent this chain and receive one free unit of stock for that company. Once a chain is formed any additional tiles touching it just increase the value of the company, the initial stock (founders bonus) is only paid once. When a tile is played that connects two chains the larger of the two chains takes over the smaller, representing a merger and buy out of the smaller chain by the larger chain. At this point the 2 players with the 1st and 2nd highest number of units of stock in the merged company get paid for the merger, with first getting twice as much as 2nd and the total award being based on the size of the chain before the merger. Then every player with stock has three options. 1) sell their stock at the current market price (determined by the size of the chain before merging), 2) keep the stock in hopes a new chain is made and the company ends up back on the board, or 3( trade the stock 2 for 1 for stock in the company that bought out the smaller one.
2) Buy stock. Each turn a player can buy up to three units in stock of any open company (on the board). They can be three of the same, or mixed. All stock is bought at the current market price indicated by the number of tiles in each company chain on the board. There are only 25 units in stock for each of the 7 companies. There are 3 groupings of stocks as well, 2 companies who's stock is worth less then the others, 3 companies with average stock prices and 2 companies with higher then average stock prices.
3) replace tiles. Normally a player just replaces the tile they played earlier in the turn, but players can also trade in locked tiles. Once a company reaches 11 tiles in size, it can no longer be taken over in a merger (called 'safe'). This means that the tiles surrounding it can become locked if another company that is next to it is also safe. There is no possible way to play these tiles as the companies cannot merge. Any of these tiles a player has are removed from the game and replaced by new tiles from the pool.
The game is played until one player declares that there is one company with over 41 tiles in it's chain or when all chains on the board are safe. At that point players sell all stock they have remaining and the player with the most money wins.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]I've always loved a game that is simple to learn but hard to master, and this is a perfect example. The rules are only a page and a half long and are easily taught and explained. There is a near perfect mix of luck from the draw of the tiles and strategy on where to place the tiles and which stocks to buy. A nice short game. We played our first game in about an hour and 15 minutes. This is a perfect time frame for people with lives and kids. Though I enjoy a 6 hour Fantasy Flight game from time to time, it's nice to have a good pick up and play quick game that isn't too quick and simple. Victory feels like a victory. Too many games I have played lately have left me with a feeling of either good or bad luck at the end, this was no one of them.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad:[/glow]Not the best looking game in the world. The latest Avalon Hill edition looks quite a bit better then the edition I have but still it's just not a pretty game. But how do you make a bunch of identical tiles placed on a grid look good? I hear there is an all wooden edition out there, that would improve things. I haven't experienced this myself, but I have read in many places that if you fall behind early it's nearly impossible to catch up to the leaders in a 3 or more player game. This is such a problem that there is a variant set of rules out there just to fix this problem (Lloyd's Rules of Acquire: which I also own but haven't tried). There is a ton of Money changing hands and that can get annoying with the paper monopoly style money. I have seen some online suggestions to use poker chips and I may consider that option.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly:[/glow]There is quite a bit of debate about whether or not players should have their money and stock totals hidden from the other players or not. This turns into outright flame wars on some online forums, with proponents of each way of playing (open or secret) being rather vehement about their preferred method of play. The game designer himself has stated that the intention was for secret play but that both are acceptable and that players should just agree to a method before starting.
[glow=Purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow] this game is generally considered a must own for any board gamer and now that I own it I can see why. It's probably the best abstract game I have played. Simple rules, with a simple mechanic that still allows for strategic play. Not to short and not too long. I definitely think I will be getting a lot of use out of this game.
Last note: it's good to see a board game that's only 1 year my younger that still stands the test of time. I just can't see playing Twilight Imperium III 30 or so years from now. Though you never know.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary: [/glow]This is a straightforward tile laying game with stock trading elements. The board is divided into a grid of squares with letters A-I forming the X axis and numbers 1-12 forming the Y axis. Each square is identified by it's location, for example 6-E for the 6th spot in the E Row. There is a corresponding tile for each spot on the board, labeled identically to the board sections. These are placed face down and shuffled.
Players each draw one tile to determine the starting order. The tile closest to A-1 Starts the game. Each turns players do exactly 3 things. 1) play one Tile onto it's spot on the board. 2) Buy stock in companies that are in play. 3) replace spent or locked tiles.
1) play one tile. Players place one of their 6 tiles on the board. If they connect two or more tiles they form a chain with them. They select one of the 7 companies in the game to represent this chain and receive one free unit of stock for that company. Once a chain is formed any additional tiles touching it just increase the value of the company, the initial stock (founders bonus) is only paid once. When a tile is played that connects two chains the larger of the two chains takes over the smaller, representing a merger and buy out of the smaller chain by the larger chain. At this point the 2 players with the 1st and 2nd highest number of units of stock in the merged company get paid for the merger, with first getting twice as much as 2nd and the total award being based on the size of the chain before the merger. Then every player with stock has three options. 1) sell their stock at the current market price (determined by the size of the chain before merging), 2) keep the stock in hopes a new chain is made and the company ends up back on the board, or 3( trade the stock 2 for 1 for stock in the company that bought out the smaller one.
2) Buy stock. Each turn a player can buy up to three units in stock of any open company (on the board). They can be three of the same, or mixed. All stock is bought at the current market price indicated by the number of tiles in each company chain on the board. There are only 25 units in stock for each of the 7 companies. There are 3 groupings of stocks as well, 2 companies who's stock is worth less then the others, 3 companies with average stock prices and 2 companies with higher then average stock prices.
3) replace tiles. Normally a player just replaces the tile they played earlier in the turn, but players can also trade in locked tiles. Once a company reaches 11 tiles in size, it can no longer be taken over in a merger (called 'safe'). This means that the tiles surrounding it can become locked if another company that is next to it is also safe. There is no possible way to play these tiles as the companies cannot merge. Any of these tiles a player has are removed from the game and replaced by new tiles from the pool.
The game is played until one player declares that there is one company with over 41 tiles in it's chain or when all chains on the board are safe. At that point players sell all stock they have remaining and the player with the most money wins.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]I've always loved a game that is simple to learn but hard to master, and this is a perfect example. The rules are only a page and a half long and are easily taught and explained. There is a near perfect mix of luck from the draw of the tiles and strategy on where to place the tiles and which stocks to buy. A nice short game. We played our first game in about an hour and 15 minutes. This is a perfect time frame for people with lives and kids. Though I enjoy a 6 hour Fantasy Flight game from time to time, it's nice to have a good pick up and play quick game that isn't too quick and simple. Victory feels like a victory. Too many games I have played lately have left me with a feeling of either good or bad luck at the end, this was no one of them.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad:[/glow]Not the best looking game in the world. The latest Avalon Hill edition looks quite a bit better then the edition I have but still it's just not a pretty game. But how do you make a bunch of identical tiles placed on a grid look good? I hear there is an all wooden edition out there, that would improve things. I haven't experienced this myself, but I have read in many places that if you fall behind early it's nearly impossible to catch up to the leaders in a 3 or more player game. This is such a problem that there is a variant set of rules out there just to fix this problem (Lloyd's Rules of Acquire: which I also own but haven't tried). There is a ton of Money changing hands and that can get annoying with the paper monopoly style money. I have seen some online suggestions to use poker chips and I may consider that option.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly:[/glow]There is quite a bit of debate about whether or not players should have their money and stock totals hidden from the other players or not. This turns into outright flame wars on some online forums, with proponents of each way of playing (open or secret) being rather vehement about their preferred method of play. The game designer himself has stated that the intention was for secret play but that both are acceptable and that players should just agree to a method before starting.
[glow=Purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow] this game is generally considered a must own for any board gamer and now that I own it I can see why. It's probably the best abstract game I have played. Simple rules, with a simple mechanic that still allows for strategic play. Not to short and not too long. I definitely think I will be getting a lot of use out of this game.
Last note: it's good to see a board game that's only 1 year my younger that still stands the test of time. I just can't see playing Twilight Imperium III 30 or so years from now. Though you never know.