Tom Vasel: Starting from Zero - what a shock!

OK, this past week I finally got Shocking Roulette, after several people told me it was a tremendous way to choose the starting player for a game.  For those of you who don’t know about this “game”, it’s a device in which two to four players stick their fingers in, then a button is pressed.  Lights flash, a noise is produced, and eventually one of the players gets a decent shock.  It’s an interesting idea, for sure - and I couldn’t believe how much fun it was to watch groups of kids play this.

The problem is, I just don’t see how useful the device is.  A few of my gamers flat out refused to use the device, and several others had to be cajoled for quite a while before using it.  Ted Alspach’s Start Player is much more enjoyed by the players.  Shocking Roulette might be something that makes for a funny novelty item, but it won’t see much action on my table. 

I’ve also had a chance to play Iliad for the first time this week.  It was one of the misprinted versions of the game - where the backs of the cards were incorrect.  I really feel for Asmodee on this one, that must have been incredibly frustrating for them.  Still, the fact that the backs of the cards were incorrect didn’t cause us to be unable to play the game, so we gave it a whirl.  And in a rare moment for me, I requested that we play it again immediately after the first game.  I was very impressed by both games, and can’t wait to play it again, defective backs and all!  It’s a light card game, loosely themed around the Trojan War, and while there are too many Trojan horses, gameplay is simple and works well.  There is a lot of player interaction, the game is quick, and it feels rather refreshingly different.  I want to play it a few more times, but Iliad has a high thumbs up from me so far.

On the other hand, I was extremely dissapointed with Tower of Babel.  It felt like a mix of several mechanics, and none of us “got” the game until we finished it.  I don’t like games that take an entire game to figure out what’s going on, especially when they leave you no desire to play it again.  Still, I do see that there is a lot of high remarks for the game on BGG, so maybe I’ll try it again.  Such a great theme, but so dry and unintuative, that I really wasn’t impressed.

This weekend was busy for us, as we finally recorded episode “0” of the Dice Tower, a starting point for those starting to listen this year.  Check it out if you get the chance.  Check out my site, www.thedicetower.com, for more info!

And that’s about it.  The weekend was busy, the week will be busy, but we’re still gaming!  In fact, we’re in the middle of a marathon 7 Ages match now.  May my empires do well!

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.tomvasel.com

© 2006 Tom Vasel

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Comments:

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I’m a huge fan of Tower of Babel and recommend playing with only three players for the best experience. The game lasts a fixed number of building turns, so with more players, you have less opportunity to exercise your will (so to speak) on everyone else, and thus have less control over the results. It does take a playing or two to understand the consequences of your actions and learn how to manipulate the offerings, but that’s a plus in my book. Posted by W. Eric Martin on Sep 4, 2006 at 09:28 AM | #

I’ve heard that reaching into an aquarium of piranhas to see who will get bitten first is also a wildly funny way to choose the starting player:-) Posted by Jeff Allers on Sep 4, 2006 at 11:55 PM | #

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