Tikal & Other Games

[shannon_a]

Had a good night of gaming tonight, with two new (for me) games, plus old classic Clans. Top up was Fairy Tale, which I'd recently received from Z-Man, and wanted to try out. I now have a game under my belt, and it was fun. Light fun. The other new game was Tikal, which I've been wanting to play for ages. Fortunately Alex had just purchased a copy and wanted to play. We did, along with Andrew and David.

Having now played the enter K&K exotic locations serious (including Torres), I'm astounded by how similar they are, yet their play is very, very different. I have the same visceral feeling with each of these--the feeling of iterating people about and of building things upward--and yet the strategy and ideas of each are very different.

I should really try and write reviews of these four sometime. I suppose I can make that a project, now that I've finally written all three Knizia LotR reviews, which I'd be meaning to do for about two years. It'll be a while though, because after a lean January, I now have a ton of full-length games to review, with Hunting Party, Ostia, Intrigue, Reef Encounter, Castle Merchants, and Siena at the top of the list.

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Tikal was one of the games from the 100 that I hadn't played yet. As I wrote last November when I first talked about the 100, I have piles that I still haven't played. And, I'm pretty surprised that hasn't changed much in the last 3 months. Here's mys list from then, updated.

The games I want to play and haven't:

• Tichu (#10)
• Die Macher (#22)
• Showmanager/Atlantic Star (#28)
• RoboRally (#32)
• Torres (#33)
• Wildlife Adventure (#34)
• Tikal (#39)
• Traumfabrik (#43)
• 1830 (#45)
• Daytona 500 (#53)
• Schnappchen Jagd (#57)
• Wizard (#58)
• Stephenson's Rocket (#61)
• Elfenland (#66)
• Ave Caesar (#68)
• Breaking Away (#71)
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (#73)
• Taboo (#74)
• Hare & Tortoise (#75)
• Was Sticht (#78)
• Un Reinfenbreite (#84)
• Battle Cry (#85)
• Code 777 (#89)
• Chinatown (#91)
• Royal Turf (#92)
• Capitol (#95)
• Mamma Mia (#96)
• McMulti (#97)
• Africa (#98)
• Dvonn (#99)

The ones that I've tried out on the computer, and like, and thus should play the real thing:

• Acquire (#11)
• Taj Mahal (#23)
• Battleline (#29)
• Can't Stop (#54)
• Blokus (#60)

The ones I don't care to play:

• Time's Up (#17)
• Crokinole (#18)
• Roads & Boats (#37)
• Lowenherz (#44)
• Titan (#47)
• Ricochet Robot (#52)
• Diplomacy (#56)
• Hannibal: Rome v. Carthage (#59)
• Smarty Party (#62)
• War of the Ring (#77)
• Age of Renaissance (#83)
• Gipf (#88) -- played on computer
• Carabande (#94)

Among those I actually traded away Titan and Hannibal unplayed, and I've tried Ricochet Robot and Gipf online, to no excitement. The others are mostly too long or not my type of games, with the exception of Lowenherz, where I fail to understand the continued reverence when there's now a new edition of the game.


So, with Tikal I've now got a 57/100 rating, or 62/100 with computer plays.

Comments

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

If I bring Traumfabrik to EndGame next week, would you be up for a play?

[shannon_a]

If the flow of games at gamenight so allows, definitely.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Why don't you want to play Löwenherz? It's different enough from Domaine that it's worth trying. In fact Domaine:Löwenherz::San Juan:Puerto Rico is a pretty good analogy, come to think of it.

[shannon_a]

I suppose if someone put it on the table, I wouldn't throw it out of bed, so to speak.

I think Domaine is a very good game, and I generally trust a designer when he revises something, so I don't see the worth of spending time learning a variant of the same system.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I was going to reply that Domaine isn't a revision of Löwenherz, just like San Juan isn't a revision of Puerto Rico, but the German version of the game is still called Löwenherz so maybe Teuber does regard it as a revision/replacement. But there are enough interesting/unique mechanics in the original game that are wholly absent from the new game that I think it's worth at least reading the rules. Unlike, say, Funkenschlag, in which the original crayon-connection system is pretty much the same as any crayon rails game, so you're not missing anything special by only playing Power Grid. (Although I think there are also people who consider the original Funkenschlag to be the better game—I have yet to actually play Power Grid so I don't have an opinion.)

It's interesting to note that Teuber's other redevelopment, Entdecker, got considerably more complicated. But it's fairly easy (and worthwhile) to play the new version with the original rules, or something close to them.

[brak55.livejournal.com]

I love Robo Rally but haven't played the new version. I noticed they added a timer which should take care of one of the biggest problems with the game (the long thinker). Most fun on small board with lots of crossings to the different goals as a runaway player can make things pretty dull.

What's the problem with playing Titan? Don't have a lifetime to finish a game?

I've played Age of Renaissance many times (even though I don't own it) and it can be enjoyable, but you are almost guaranteed four to six hours of game and, if you have one of those long thinkers, many more. Some interesting mechanics, though.

I think Ricochet Robot is only fun if you are playing with a group of people. The race to find the moves in the smallest number makes it more of a think-on-your-feet game than a simple puzzle game with only one or two players.

[shannon_a]

RoboRally I'd definitely like to try out sometime.

Yes, Titan and Age of Renaissance are both a time issue. I usually don't have that amount of time to play, let alone that amount of patience, to spend it on a single game.