Scott Tepper: Gipsy King Review

Corné Van Moorsel, the designer behind the Cwali label, has produced a mixed bag of games.  Most of his games seem to fly under the radar, although a few have garnered maybe a moderate amount of attention.  O Zoo le Mio, Streetsoccer, and Isi all seemed to be generally well received, but didn’t create huge buzz.  Factory Fun, which was released at Essen last year, was one of the show’s hits.  Here was a game that was different from everything else, and it worked.  True, it didn’t appeal to everyone because of its brain-burning puzzle feel, but no game pleases everyone.  So when I was running through the halls at Essen and saw Gipsy King, which I had heard very little about, I thought that the risk/reward ratio was pretty low given Cwali’s track record.  I’m pleased to report that after playing Gipsy King I don’t feel like my money was wasted.

Like many Cwali titles, Gipsy King is pretty abstract with only a thin veneer of theme.  In fact, where most games have a paragraph introducing an overview of the gameplay, Gipsy King only has three-and-a-half cryptic sentences that don’t quite explain what the game is about.  Had there been possibly more space in the two pages of rules, perhaps Corné would have explained that the players will be adding gypsy wagons belonging to their families to the modular gameboard.  The larger groups you can form, as well as your groups’ dominance around lakes stocked with fish, will earn you points.  At the end of two rounds, whoever has the most points wins.

The components are simple, but appropriate.  A set of 15 numbered tiles comprised of three or four hex-shaped spaces depict land and lakes.  The lakes contain between 0-5 fish.  At the beginning of the game the tiles are arranged randomly into any sort of circle-ish shape.  The players each take a set of 18 like-colored wooden trailers and set one aside to be used to display turn order.  I need to make the point here that the colors used for the trailers are NOT conducive for color-blind players.  The brown, orange and red used may be a little difficult to discern.  I imagine that with a permanent marker you could draw a symbol on some of the trailers to differentiate them.

Looks like no one is paying attention to the red player

The game play is extremely simple.  In turn order, the players can opt to place a trailer around the lake numbered 1, or they can pass.  This repeats until all the open spaces around lake number 1 are filled.  Then the players can place their trailers around lake number two, etc…until all the land spaces on the board are occupied.

The players receive points corresponding to the number of fish in the lake if they have the most trailers surrounding it.  In addition, the players get points for each group of their trailers.  For a single isolated trailer they receive one point.  If they have two adjacent trailers, they get three points; for three trailers, six points, etc… The twist that allows you some control is the turn order.  The trailers that the players set aside at the beginning of the game are placed in a line to indicate turn order.  When a player at the front of the line takes his turn, his trailer is put at the end of the line.  If a player passes, he cannot place any more trailers around the current lake and his turn-order trailer remains in its position for the next lake.  During the game you will find yourself passing so that you’ll have first shot at placement on the next lake.

Must have been some party in that orange trailer last night!

When the board is completely filled, the players score their caravans and then all their trailers are removed from the board.  The second round is played pretty much the same as the first round with a few exceptions.  Now, the starting order used is the reverse of the original turn order at the beginning of the game.  Instead of going from lake 1 to 15, for the second round you start at lake number 15 and work your way down to lake number 1.  In addition, twice during this round, instead of placing one trailer on a space you may place two of your trailers on the same space.  Both of these trailers will count towards the total number in a group. 

Well, I guess it’s better than a pad of paper and a pencil

While Gipsy Kings is an abstract game, it plays very quickly.  Your decisions generally revolve around deciding where to start a group, playing to prevent an opponent from expanding, or passing with the hope of being able to choose a prime spot for expanding on a future turn.  You do need to watch how and when you pass, though.  Often a current lake might not have much to offer you, but it may be attractive to another player who would like to expand there. 

There is no luck in this game, so the strategy comes from a little bit of planning and outthinking your opponents. As I mentioned before, the game plays quickly, maybe in 30 minutes.  After the game we played, everyone commented that we wanted more, so we immediately played it again and enjoyed it as much the second time around.  For a relatively simple and quick game, Gipsy King has a nice balance of player interaction and tactics.  I can already see this is going to join my set of games that I use to introduce non-gamers to game playing. 

Quick Overview:  Players take turns placing trailers around a modular board consisting of lakes and land spaces.  Turn order changes depending on whether a player takes a turn or passes.  When the board is filled with trailers, the players score points based on the size of their groups of trailers.  Extra points are scored for dominance around a few special lakes.  The board is then cleared of trailers and the second round is played with a few modifications.  The player with the most points wins.  Due to the coloration of the trailers, color-blind players may have difficulty with this game.

Summary

Number of players 2-5
Rules explanation: 3 minutes
Abstract or Theme: Abstract
Effect of Luck?:  None
Game Length: About 30 min
Replayability: Good

© 2007 Scott Tepper

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Comments:

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Oi, my Gipsy King review was just about set to go. I’m not even going to read yours, Scott, so as to avoid your unholy influence. I’ll guarantee that my review will be twice as long though! Posted by W. Eric Martin on Nov 12, 2007 at 10:30 AM | #

Eric, Again with the fascination with the length of my column compared to the length of yours. We’re going to have to add the appropriate designation to the end of your name...Eric Martin, SQ. Posted by Scott Tepper on Nov 12, 2007 at 11:48 AM | #

Gipsy King is my favorite of the “2nd tier” games from Essen that haven’t gotten much attention otherwise. Those RV’s absolutely rock in terms of nice wooden pieces, and the turn order mechanism is fast and fluid, and provides the real interesting decision, even more so than where to place (which is usually somewhat obvious). I hadn’t thought of using this as a gateway game, but that’s a great idea! My Very First Area Majority Game. Posted by Ted Alspach on Nov 12, 2007 at 12:43 PM | #

I am glad to see this one come out.  I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit at http://www.yucata.de.  I am having trouble with the multiplayer concept as it’s strictly two player at that site. When this hits our shores, I’ll be looking for a copy. Posted by Scott Russell on Nov 12, 2007 at 12:48 PM | #

Scott R., I think you’re referring to http://www.Mastermoves.eu, which is van Moorsel’s own website. Mastermoves has Cwali’s StreetSoccer, Territories, Floriado, and a games available only in online versions. Eric, SQ Posted by W. Eric Martin on Nov 12, 2007 at 01:01 PM | #

yes, I did mean Mastermoves.  I was coming back to correct that.  yucata has some fun games, too, but not Gipsy King (formerly known as Land of Lakes). Maybe I need to find some more dependable opponents (without lives) so I don’t have to play online so much. :) Posted by Scott Russell on Nov 12, 2007 at 03:01 PM | #

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