Hmm, no applause.  Gee, thanks.  Well, in any case, I should be back from my somewhat longer than expected hiatus as of this week.  Why no column for the past month?  A combination of two things:

Thing the First: Crappy / Nonexistent internet service at the hotel I was at in Hawaii.

Thing the Second: Crappy / Nonexistent free time upon return from said vacation thanks to real life having piled up while I was away.

In any case, I’m back.  Whee!

Those wondering: Given the length of time that has now passed, I won’t be writing ‘full’ GoF reports for my final two days there.  Instead, I’ll incorporate my opinions of the games I played there into my weekly articles as I play / discuss / rant about the various games I played.  I trust that will meet with everyone’s satisfaction?  If not, well, tough.

Y’know, those video log guys have it easy: much faster to speak than to type.  Of course, there’s all that editing and stuff that comes afterwards…

A little bit about my vacation: It turned out to be a vacation from gaming as well, since I brought no games along and had very little web ability while away.  That meant that I got to spend lots of free time with my family, and that’s nothing to complain about!  I’ve been traveling because of work so much lately that I hadn’t had much opportunity to spend quality time with my daughter, and if six hours on a plane ain’t quality, then I don’t know what is.

Seriously, spending time seeing the sights and whiling away the hours on the beaches was a very nice change of pace.  I got to show my little girl the Maui bits I love to visit, and we were able to discover some new secret spots as well.  We’ve already agreed to try and go again in two years’ time (as opposed to the five year wait between ‘true’ vacations up till this year).  Although I may try and slip a game or two into the bag – my girl will be five then and should be well into games, right?

Anyone considering a visit to the Hawaiian Islands would do well to consider Maui – I think it’s my favourite of the islands.  There’s a contrast in the scenery and a laid-back attitude among the inhabitants that combine to create a genuine feeling of paradise, as opposed to the tourist trap version hawked in Honolulu and Waikiki.  Of course, it depends on what level of amenity you want.  Maui is good because it’s still got a bunch of ‘civilization’ – the Big Island and Kauai are rather less developed, which, I suppose, may be a plus to some folks.  When traveling with a three-year old, though, it’s nice to know there’s a full complement of infrastructure around!

In the weeks since I last graced these pages with my electronic presence, it seems a fair bit has happened.  First, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that the Spiel des Jahres nominees were released.  And, as with every year (it seems), there are some deserving games left off the list as well as some “left-fieldâ€? selections included.

Which game do I think will win?  I think the best chance lies with Thurn und Taxis, but that Blue Moon City has a better chance than many are giving it.  It’s Reiner Knizia, after all, and his status as the Susan Lucci of the SdJ is well documented.  Should Andreas Seyfarth win, then he’ll truly be the man with the Golden Touch – three of this games (Manhattan, Puerto Rico and T&T) would have won major awards.

I don’t see Was ‘n Das winning, since I don’t believe a party game has ever won the award.  I don’t see giving the award to a party game as furthering the jury’s wish to expand gaming in Germany – after all, party games are already mainstream and don’t need the SdJ as a promotional vehicle.  The light family-level strategy games are where it’s at, and that’s Blue Moon City or T&T in my books.

I’ll weigh in on the special prizes awarded a little too: I think they’re great.  The jury is well aware of the fact that their criteria preclude a number of deserving games from contention – the games that are too fantasy, too war, too heavy or too whatever just can’t be seriously considered – the SdJ speaker himself made that point loud and clear in his press release.  So, what better way than with a special prize that does two things: lets the game put the coveted SdJ logo on its box (thereby presumably selling more copies) and lets the jury go about its business of promoting family games.  Win-win situation if I ever saw one!  I sincerely hope that the special ‘heavy’ game prize will become an annual event, something with a weight and selection criteria that would make it a worthy complement to the Deutscher SpielePreis.

Cleopatra and the Society of Architects

I had a chance to play this twice now: once at the Gathering and once just this past week courtesy of an early release of the game.

It’s a funny thing: at the GoF, I wasn’t very impressed, and summarized it in my mind as “a set collecting game with tons of chromeâ€?.  But the last time I played, I actually found myself enjoying the game a lot more.  Yes it was luck-heavy (or at least heavier than many had hoped), but there were definitely some questions to try and answer.  Do you risk taking lots of tainted cards early and bank on being able to offset them with sanctuaries later?  Or do you try and stay pure?  Is it worth playing a character card now or save it for later?  Do you risk building something now and have the game end before you’re ready or wait – thereby making it possible for someone else to build what you wanted to?  Actually quite a bit for a game that at first blush looks like “draw cards, draw cards, play cards, repeat as necessaryâ€?.

A quick summary of the game: You’re trying to build Cleopatra a new palace.  This takes lots of building materials as well as the artisans to work with them.  In a perfect world, you’d use only pure materials, but sometimes you need to try and move things along a little faster.  Here, the temptation to use the tainted materials available at a price (of corruption) grows.  As the temple takes shape (by having components in various categories built), Cleopatra moves closer and closer to the temple.  And when she reaches the end, the player with the most corruption is fed to the crocodiles.  Ouch.  Once the remains have been discarded, the player with the most money (victory points) wins.

A player’s turn consists of two options: either visit the market (i.e. draw cards) or visit the quarry (i.e. play cards to build things).  Usually a player will draw cards first, but bear in mind that a player’s hand size is only 10 cards – and some of the building pieces take a lot of cards.  Again, a reason to go the tainted route, since the tainted cards have twice as many materials on them as the pure ones, which lets you build twice as quickly.  Occasionally during the game, a sacrifice also occurs.  Here, the players give up some of their money in hopes of being able to rid themselves of some corruption counters – but everyone who didn’t offer the most has to take extra corruption instead.  Ouch.

One more point about the game: all you’ve read about it being hugely over-produced is true.  Days of Wonder really went to town on this one, and it’s undeniable that some of the appeal I see in the game is because of the way cool bits.  But since the bits seem (at least right now) to be tied to a game that’s more interesting than I originally thought, I’m okay with that.

And that’s all for this week – see you next week (promise)!

pk

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