The Classic Misadventures in Gaming #4

By Dan Bosley
June 11, 2006 (Originally Posted on January 8, 2003)

Before we go back in time a couple of months to Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice - the Barbarossa Adventure, I first have to tell you what happened last Friday night.

A few nights earlier, Carol had called and invited Diane and I over to their place for dinner on Friday night.  This is Carol of TransAmerica Medford fame, and Bob of Little Black Sticks in Places They Shouldn’t Go fame.

Besides the invite, Carol told Diane “and tell Dan to bring a game.�

Well.

I didn’t know quite what to make of that, given the recent TransAmerica fiasco (or at least what I thought was a fiasco) with Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice.  I thought it had been a total gaming disaster, and they would never want to play anything else except their favorite card game, Oh Hell, again.

But despite that, here I was actually being REQUESTED to BRING a game.  By non-gamers.  The same non-gamers who had played that ever-so-painful, slow-motion game of TransAmerica only a few short weeks ago.

Was it possible that somewhere deep within their non-gaming hearts, a little “Urge to Gameâ€? had been planted, and now it was crying out for nurturing?  THEY had asked me to bring a game along.  They WANTED to play a game after dinner.  They wanted to PLAY A GAME!  My goodness, I was excited!  I was encouraged!  I sang, I danced, I laughed, I beat my chest, I burped.

But - what game should I bring?  Decisions, decisions!  I stand in the “games roomâ€? and look at all the games on my shelves.  What to bring, what to bring?

One thing I knew for sure.  I wasn’t bringing TransAmerica this time.  I couldn’t risk losing any more little black sticks.  And that of course meant I also couldn’t bring Settlers of Catan along either, or a permanent road shortage might develop in that game.

What to bring, what to bring?  It was just going to be the 4 of us.  I knew Bob and Carol really liked generic card games.  So I figured the best game to bring would have to be some type of card game.  I ended up choosing Alles im Eimer, The Bucket King.  This was actually the game I had wanted to introduce to Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice a few weeks back instead of TransAmerica. 

But Ted is totally colour-blind.  Which REALLY, REALLY limits the number of games that he can play.  Since the whole premise of Alles im Eimer is removing COLOURED buckets, that simply eliminated Alles Im Eimer as a game to play if Ted was playing. 

By the way, do you have any idea now many games rely on colour to some degree?  A huge number of them!  Which leaves Ted out of most of them.

Anyhow, Alles im Eimer was not an option last time.  But this time, Ted and Alice wouldn’t be there.  It would just be Bob and Carol and Diane and I.  No colour-blindness problems to deal with.  And it was a card game.  So Alles im Eimer was the game I chose.

Of course, I then felt I couldn’t just bring ONE game.  Alles im Eimer isn’t that long a game. (Mind you, that’s what I thought about TransAmerica, too......).  So I also brought along Royal Turf as a backup.  If Alles im Eimer flopped, I wanted to have another game around, just in case.....

Dinner was great.  And Bob, surprisingly enough, was the one most anxious to get a game going after dinner.  “Let’s play the game, and we’ll have dessert later.â€?

So we all helped clear the dining room table.  We refilled our drinks.  And then we were ready to go.  Carol was to my left, then Bob, then Diane, then me.  I put the Alles im Eimer box on the table.

“Would you look at that,â€? Carol says.  “Is the whole box in French?â€?

“German, actually,â€? I say.  (I have the earlier Kosmos version of the game, not the more recently released Rio Grande English version).

“Are the instructions all in German too?� Bob asks.

“The original instructions are.  But English translations are available on the web, so I download those and print them out and put them in the game.â€?

As I say that, I am suddenly struck by the thought that the German Game invasion that we North American gamers have enjoyed the last few years would NEVER have happened if the Internet didn’t exist.  Without the Internet and the various boardgaming websites to inform us about the games and to give us the opportunity to buy the games, we simply wouldn’t have known about them at all.  Before the Internet existed, how many of you would have been willing to buy a game that you had never heard of before, in a foreign-language box, without English instructions?  Very, very, very few, I’d venture to guess. 

But the Internet changed all that.  A world-wide boardgaming community sprung up - we discovered that other people around the world shared our love for games too!  People could now discuss online the pros and cons of various new game releases.  You could actually read and learn about games!  You no longer had to buy them from just looking at the box alone!  And English translations became readily available!  So language issues also became irrelevant.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  Oh, sorry, I think that line’s been used before.

But I digress from my tale.....

I explain the rules, and the explanation goes quite smoothly.  I deal out 12 cards each, and everyone starts trying to arrange their starting pyramid of buckets.  I am filled with optimism.

Carol, however, is concerned.  “I really don’t know the best way to arrange my buckets.â€?  A dread feeling of deja vu starts to tickle the back of my scalp.  That comment sounded suspiciously like Carol’s opening remarks about TransAmerica a few weeks earlier.

“Well, there’s no guaranteed way.  Generally, if you’re really strong in one suit, you may want to put the buckets of that colour at or near the bottom of your pyramid.  And if you are totally missing one of the colours in your cards, you’ll probably want to put buckets of that colour near the top.  But your hand changes constantly as you draw new cards - so your initial arrangement becomes less and less important the longer the game lasts.â€?

Carol nods.  “Maybe we should play the first game with everyone’s cards visible on the table,â€? she suggests.

Before I can say anything, thankfully Diane (my most-of-the-time-non-gaming wife) says, “Oh no, Carol.  We don’t need to do that.  You’ll catch on quick.  This game is easy to play.â€? 

Thank you, Diane.

Eventually, all 4 of us have our initial 15-bucket pyramids ready to go.  I play a red 3.  And then draw a card.  I tell Carol, “O.K., Carol, you basically have 3 options.  You can play a single higher red card.  Or you can play 2 or 3 red cards totaling 4 or more.  But you probably don’t want to that at this stage of the game. It’s a little early for that.  Or you can lose one of your red buckets.â€?

Carol plays a red 5.  And we proceed around the table. 

We do run into one snag.  As anyone who has played The Bucket King knows, according to the rules, if you forget to pick up a new card after playing your card (or cards), tough.  You don’t get to pick it up later, and your hand of cards has just shrunk by one card for the remainder of the game.

Since I’m getting a pretty good idea of Carol’s strengths (or lack thereof) in gaming, I decide to relax that rule in order to prevent her from getting frustrated and hating the game.  Relax, relax, relax.  In fact, we relax the rule so much, that it is out on the beach, sunbathing and getting a tan.  We use a different rule instead.  It is called the “Dan reminds Carol to pick up her card every timeâ€? rule.

I am NOT exaggerating - I have to remind Carol to pick up her card just about EVERY single time.  She remembers to pick up a card on her own a grand total of TWICE, the ENTIRE game.  “Don’t forget your card.â€? “Your card.â€? “Get your card.â€? “Pick up your card.â€? Pointing at the deck.  Clearing my throat and pointing at the deck.  Slapping the deck.  “Card time.â€? “Did you get your card?â€? “Aren’t you forgetting something?â€? Singing “card, card, card, card, card, card, card, card.â€? Slapping the deck and saying “CARD!â€? Singing “I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener, if only you would pick up your card...â€? “I’ll think I’ll get another beer while you get your card.â€? “Could I interest you in a card?â€? “Pick a card, any card.â€? Fingers walking spider-like to the card deck and tapping.  Singing “I’m off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of cards...â€? “Give me a C, give me an A, give me an R, give me a D, what’s that spell, what’s that spell, what’s that spell?â€? Making a face with my fist (with the thumb being the lower jaw) “I tink you bedder get a card, I do I do I do.â€? Raising my eyebrows and looking suggestively at the card deck.  Whispering loudly, “carrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddddddd.â€? “Forgetting something?â€? In a vampire voice “They call me Count Cardula.....â€? Waving fingers at the card deck.  “What’s that?  Oh, look, a deck of cards!â€? Handing her the top card.  “I bet you can’t guess what you forgot to do......â€?

The game ends.  And guess what?  Carol has won!  Yes!  Carol!  Carol has won!  I hear a parade out on the street!  There’s fireworks too!  Carol has won!  Carol has won!  The radio cuts in with a special news bulletin that Carol has won!  The air is electric!  There are people out on the street, cheering loudly!  Hooray!  Hooray!  Carol has won! 

“Let’s play again,â€? says Bob.  “That was fun.  Let’s play again.â€?

“Yes,â€? says Carol too.  “That was good.  I liked it.  Let’s play again.â€?

And we do.  We play a 2nd game.  Carol and Bob are quite enjoying the game.  This time, Diane wins. 

They don’t want to stop.  We play a 3rd game.  Bob wins.

We have now played Alles im Eimer three times in a row.  I have never played Alles im Eimer three times in a row in my life.  I ask them, “Do you want to try out Royal Turf now?â€?

“No,â€? says Carol.  “Let’s keep playing this one.  It’s really good.â€?

“This is great.  Let’s keep playing this one.â€? says Bob.  “There’s quite a bit of strategy to this game.  Luck, too of course.  But it’s great,â€? he says.

We play a 4th game.  I win.  We’ve all now won one game each.

They still want to keep playing it.  They love it, they love it!  They just want to keep playing and playing Alles im Eimer over and over again!  Alles im Eimer has insinuated itself into their brains!  It’s the best game ever invented!

We play a 5th game.  Diane wins.

We have now played 5 games in a row of Alles im Eimer, the Bucket King game.  And they are hooked.  And best of all, by the 5th game, Carol had finally got the picking up the draw card part of the game down.  I don’t have to remind her anymore!  We can play with the REAL rule now!

No doubt about it, Alles im Eimer is a smash hit with Bob and Carol.  My inner gaming self is a happy dude!  We have lift-off!  We have success!  We have happiness!  We have chocolate éclairs for dessert! 

After dessert, although they still wouldn’t mind playing more games of Alles im Eimer, they decide to be brave and venture into Royal Turf territory.  But I’ll save that story for a future chapter....

Has anyone else noticed that when a game finally clicks with non-gamers, that they want to play it over and over again?  And over and over again?  Sort of like some new and refreshing comfort zone they’ve fallen into?  Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining.  I was very happy that they were enjoying the game - almost like watching the expressions on kids’ faces at Christmas time when they first open up a gift.  They had discovered something new and fun, and they weren’t going to let go.  They didn’t want the magic to end.  And I think I was actually deriving more fun from watching them enjoying the game than from my actual playing of the game itself!.  It was great!

And now, finally, at long last, we start the Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice Barbarossa Adventure.  But alas - it is only a bare start - it’s more of a teaser than anything.  I guess I rambled on too long about the Alles im Eimer game, and we’re running out of room.

This particular Barbarossa evening actually occurred a couple of months ago, BEFORE the TransAmerica game.

Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice are coming to our place for dinner, and a game of Barbarossa.  Only they don’t know about the Barbarossa part yet.....

I figure Barbarossa should be a good game for them to play.  It’s a very party-like game.  And they seem to have liked most party games in the past.  And it has clay.  That’s got to be a big plus!  Or so I think at the time.

Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice have played Cranium twice before, and liked it.  And the part they seemed to like best was the clay-sculpting part of that game. 

So, I think, Barbarossa should work just fine with them. 

But little do I know, before the evening begins, before Ted and Alice have arrived, that Ted and Alice have been having a little argument.  They’ve been having “wordsâ€?.  Not a big blow-up fight or anything - but they were mad at each other earlier in the day.  And they’re still mad. 

Although they’re on their “best behaviorâ€? during dinner and are trying to hide it, little things they say (and the way they say it) definitely indicate that they have been arguing earlier in the day about something, and it isn’t settled yet. 

And into this gathering storm, comes me and my Barbarossa game.....

Be sure and tune in again soon for the next exciting Chapter of Misadventures in Gaming.....

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