Author:

Nathan

Apples to Apples [Game Review]

Posted by Nathan – December 29, 2009

Apples to Apples is a conundrum for me. I should like this game. The game is simple and works like this:

Everyone has 6 or so cards, each with a noun on it. The nouns are like “Michael Jackson” or “socks” or Ethiopia.

The active player randomly flips over an adjective card from the adjective card deck. It has a single adjective on it. All the other players play a single noun card (face down) from their hand. They play one that they feel the active player will most likely select as relating to the adjective. The player whose adjective card is selected by the active player gets a point. Five points wins.

Let’s say the active player flips the adjective card: “smooth”. The other players play “Snake”, “Vodka”, “The little mermaid”, and “Silk”. Now the active player has to choose which one best fits “smooth.” Let’s say “Vodka” is chosen. The player who set down “Vodka” gets a point.

There are lots of positives. The rules are so simple that anyone can play. It takes seconds to learn. People can start and stop the game without interrupting play. It’s relaxed and lighthearted.

Games tend to last somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes. All the games I’ve played tend to have 3 phases of about equal lengths:

Phase 1: Everyone’s excited to play and folks match up nouns and adjectives. There’s some experimentation and discussion about choosing things.

Phase 2: Folks run out of their obvious cards and begin playing randomly. Most of their hand of cards is made up of nouns they don’t really want to use. Active players get sick of being thought “obvious” and begin basing their choices on things other than matching to the adjective. In attempts to be less predictable, players sometimes even choose antonyms matching “Sour” with “Sugar” or something like that.

Phase 3: Players are now all aware that entropy has invaded the game. Someone usually comments but it’s too late and the game begins to wind down.

This game has two problems.

Firstly, I like games where the more you play, the more enjoyable the game becomes. Generally games of skill are like this but lots of games of luck are also fun for long periods of time. Apples to Apples, however, has diminishing returns: the longer you play the less enjoyable the game, not because you’ve solved it like you’d solve tic-tac-toe, but rather because the wheels come off the game and people start behaving more and more randomly.

This is a perfect game for people who do not enjoy most games. If it were a food, it would be junk food. It doesn’t fill you up, but eventually you just want to stop eating.

Apples to Apples | Image | BoardGameGeek


Chickenfoot Dominoes

Posted by Nathan – December 26, 2009

Setup

For double-six dominoes, there are seven rounds. The score keeper writes 0 through 6 on the top of the score sheet and creates a score column for each player. All dominos are face down in the center. Each player picks 5 dominos at random to make their hand.

The First Round

The player with the double-6 plays it in the center of the play field. If no player has the double-6 then the player with the next highest double plays it. The player to left of the first player plays any domino in their hand with a 6 on it on one of the four sides of the initial tile with the 6 against a free side of the double-6. The next player plays another 6 on a remaining side until all four sides are filled. If a player cannot play because they do not have a 6, then the player draws one domino from the bone yard and either plays it because it has a 6 or calls “Pass”. No other plays can be made until all four sides of the double are filled. Once all four sides are filled, the player to the left of the last person to fill the 6 may play any domino in their hand that matches an exposed end of a played domino. If a player is unable to match any exposed dominos, they must draw one domino from the bone pile and either play it if possible or call “Pass”. If no dominos remain to draw from, the player simply calls “Pass”. Chickenfoot Dominoes

The Chickenfoot

Any time a player plays a double of any number on the exposed domino with the same number as the double, the player calls “Chickie (Number)”. For example, if a player played a double-4 on the end of a the 6-4 domino they would lay it long side against the end with the 4 and call “Chickie Fours”. No other dominos can be played until three more 4’s are played against the double 4. The three dominos played against the double-4 are played on the long side opposite the side originally played. The end result will look like a chicken foot with the double-4 having one domino laid perpendicular to one side, and three more dominos on the opposite side, the middle being perpendicular and the other two at 45 degrees to perpendicular. Any player who does not have a 4 must draw a domino from the bone pile and either play it if it has a 4 or call “Pass”. Once all three 4’s are played, the next player may play any domino in their hand on any exposed end that matches. Play continues until a player is out of dominos or no player can make a legal play.

Ending A Round

A round is over when either one player plays the last domino in their hand or no players can make a legal play. This situation can occur if someone chickie’s a number that no longer has three remaining free dominos to play on it.

At the end of a round, each player adds the spots on the dominos in their hand and adds this to their score. The score keeper crosses out the double that lead the round and the next round begins with the highest double left. When all 7 rounds are played, the player with the lowest score wins.


Speed Scrabble

Posted by Nathan – September 1, 2008

I don’t like Scrabble much. It’s for various reasons. I feel like the game has a lot more to do with manipulating the space on the board and preventing others from doing things than it is about finding cool words that fit together. Basically, Scrabble with anyone who’s any good at it more of a strategyless strategy game than it is a word finding game (like, say, Boggle) and I find it deteriorating into waiting for your turn only to have your hopes at using that long word dashed and spelling “id” instead, even though you don’t know what it means.


Enter Speed Scrabble.


How to Play


Grab your Scrabble set and dump all the pieces face down in the center of the table or surface where you will be playing. You don’t need the board; each player just creates his own structure in front of him.

  • Each player takes seven tiles and keeps them face down in front of them.
  • When everyone is ready to go, players flip their tiles face up and try to create a single structure using all of their letters. Rules for what words and placements are valid are the same as in regular Scrabble.
  • When one player has used all his words he says “Done” and everyone takes another tile which they use to add on to their own structure until someone says “Done” again.
  • When someone says “Done” and there are not enough tiles left for all players to receive one, play ends and everyone counts their score.
  • Like Scrabble, players score for each word so some letters might be scored twice. Every letter not attached to the structure counts against the player. Each illegal word counts double its score against the player.




Advantages

Turns in Scrabble are a necessary evil. On the plus side, since you don’t interact with your opponents during their turns, you can go to the fridge or talk to nonplayers while everyone else is going. Speed Scrabble is ideal for a party situation where folks are looking for less of a time investment (about 7 minutes), any number of players (you can combine Scrabble sets) and high action all the time (no turns).

Couch of Power

Posted by Nathan – January 23, 2008

One issue I’ve been grappling with is what to play when you have more than 8 people. The most obvious game is Mafia/Werewolf. While I have nothing against Werewolf, like all fantastic games it has an addictive quality that can be unhealthy for a regular game night. So I went looking for an alternative. What I needed was a game where there was communication, strategy, lasted for a bit less than an hour and was playable with more than 8 people but with few materials. Couch of power was that game.

We tried it out last night and it worked pretty well. The rules we used were from Wikipedia and are as follows:

Everyone writes their name on a slip of paper and puts it in the pile, which is then shuffled. Each player takes a slip and does not reveal the name on it to anyone else.

Divide the players into two teams. The game works best if the teams are even. To avoid later confusion, instruct one team to distinguish themselves from the other team by wearing headbands, rolling up their pants legs or shirt sleeves, etc. — boys vs. girls may work.

Teams then alternate seats (i.e., no two team members are sitting next to each other) so that two people from each team are on the couch and there is one empty seat. Play begins with the player left (or clockwise) of the empty seat.

The player calls a name, and whoever has that name on their slip must move to the empty seat, making their former seat the new empty seat. Play always passes to the player to the left of the empty seat. When all four people on the couch are from the same team, the game is over and that team wins.

The game works on several levels. One is that you have to remember everone’s name and then also who HAS that name. Then you also have to play the game with a bit of strategy. I like the team dynamic that it has and it’s a great alternative to Hombre Lobo (Mafia) if you have an even number of players.

So Long Sucker!

Posted by Nathan – January 17, 2008

It’s my birthday and as a present to myself I’m beginning this blog about games. I want to start out with a really great game that I recently learned: So Long Sucker! (SLS)

SLS is for those who love Diplomacy but are never going to get 7 players together. Who love Risk or TEG but feel like it takes too long. It’s a pure negotiation game that strips everything down to the bare basics. Essentially players take turns deciding who will win the game. Each player has 7 poker chips. No luck, pure politics. If it sounds boring it’s not.

The first time I played this was on a double date (something I won’t make the mistake of repeating) and things very nearly went badly. As it was I died easily and early. This wasn’t just because I executed my girlfriend’s pieces in vengeance for an unfavorable move she had just made, I am simply not very good at negotiation games. I seem to become a lightning rod of controversy, something that will almost never help you in politics.

This game is perfect for a group of guys who want to play an hour long game at a bar. The game requires concentration. While it’s labeled as a strict 4 player game I’ve also played with 5 and it worked out just fine. Also if there’s more people partnering up just adds more personalities to the mix without unbalancing the game. While it does involve short term tactics the game is incredibly easy to learn and play. The only issue is that you may learn how nasty your friends can actually be…

So Long Sucker BGG Entry
Download So Long Sucker Rules from BGG