Valerie Putman:  Wood for sheep?  Anyone?  Anyone?

Actually, I should revise that to “torch for gladiator”?  Anyone?  I’ve got a torch.  Anyone need a torch?  How about you?  I see you have an extra gladiator!  Want a torch for it?  No?  But I want your gladiator.  How about if I trade you my torch for it?  Sigh.  Anyone?

I played back-to-back games of Colosseum last night.  They were both teaching games (I was the teacher) and both groups really liked it.  In the game, players make investments to improve their colosseums, buy scripts, hire gladiators and other participants, and then put on a show to attract the people.  You earn money depending on the quality of your show and over five rounds you attempt to put on the best show to win the game.  In the middle of all this is a trading phase where you can get rid of things you don’t need (want a torch?) and try to acquire the things you do (how about that gladiator?).

In the first game, we followed the rules carefully and each player, starting with the start player for that round, would have a chance to initiate trades with the other players.  So on your turn, you could offer me the gladiator for my lion and I could suggest that maybe you’d prefer the torch.  You pass.  But on my turn (note…nothing other than trading has changed what everyone has), I can try again.  Are you sure you don’t want to trade that gladiator for my torch?  Sometimes the trading phase lasted 5 or 10 minutes.  We were all set in what we wanted, but we thought that if we were convincing enough, we might just change someone else’s mind.  (I’ve got a torch for that gladiator!) Overall, the game was fun and everyone felt that it was really different from anything else and worth picking up.  But the game did feel a little long.

In the second game, players were slightly less careful about waiting their turn to work on trade deals.  (Pssst….when it gets around to you, I have a torch for that gladiator.) We were also a lot faster to say, “not trading” when it was clear that we weren’t going to find what we wanted.  The rest of the game didn’t seem to be affected by our speedier trade rounds, and the game lasted about 60 minutes instead of over two hours.  I decided for sure, this game is a keeper.

Now, I’ve been known to try to speed up games before.  Caylus dragged a bit too long when we winded our way down the road, slowly and carefully, checking each building in turn.  As long as no one resolved their own buildings out of order and we paused when a decision was affected by someone else, the game sped up tremendously if we all just resolved our own buildings at the same time.  Roads & Boats has specific rules that unless someone invokes turn order, everyone can play at the same time.  The end result is that I can play Caylus in 1 ½ hrs and Roads & Boats in 2 ½ hours and they hit the table many times a year.  I cringe at the idea of a 3 hour Caylus game or a 5 hour Roads & Boats because it just seems so unnecessary.

Some people don’t appreciate my attempts to speed up the game.  I try to emphasize that you should take all the time you need when making a decision—it’s just the upkeeping that I’m trying to hurry along.  But some people feel rushed.  So in the end, I find that there are some friends that are better suited for a game of Space Dealer—guaranteed to be just 30 minutes!  Hopefully they understand. 

So…about that gladiator you got there.  I’m offering a torch.  No, a torch.  What about the torch?

I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman

© 2007 Valerie Putman

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Comments:

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Already in the first game of Colosseum, we gave up the trading with the active player only. As all asset tokens are open (in contrary to Settlers), then we sorted everything we kept by the program and set aside what we never would trade and this made remarkable quick tradings, as everyone immediately had a good overview of what the other might offer and wanted. No trades took more than 2-3 minutes and it helped sometimes to include money in the trade. My last game with only newbies took exactly 2 hours. I still wonder what the idea s to have separate tradings? Is it just to simplify it for “family gamers”? /Carl Posted by Carl Samuelsson on May 6, 2007 at 04:40 AM | #

Valerie, I wish I could agree with you—but I’m more on the fence about the game in general… I think that the trading can certainly be streamlined—because IMHO, once you start going down a particular path in the game (collecting gladiators, or boats, or torches for example), your future possible shows are already determined.  Thus, there are plenty of tokens that will mean nothing to you for the entire game.  The same thing happens to each of your opponents.  Thus, to me, a lot of the trading is just a simple swap of un-needed tokens that you were forced to buy through the auction system… (and the auction system is another less-than-optimal token delivery device IMHO) D Posted by Dale Yu on May 6, 2007 at 06:44 AM | #

That titles just not quite the same when used by a female.  I’m still on the fence on this one, but as I have most other DoW games I’m sure to pick it up. Posted by Jonathan Greisz on May 6, 2007 at 09:33 AM | #

During my one half game of this, players were pretty sensible about not insisting on dead trades (I mean, Settlers can take forever too if players insist on trying to squeeze sheep out of an ore).  But I agree with Carl--I don’t see the harm in a single open trading round following the auctions.  I’ll definitely propose that if the trading is our game starts to drag and might choose to use it anyway. To me, all bets are off with this game until I try it with Kramer’s “intense auction” variant.  I’ve heard too many reports of plentiful money and uninteresting auctions with the rules as written.  The fact that Kramer’s group plays with the variant makes me suspect that they were part of the original design and they seem to fit the game better.  I look forward to reports of games played with the variant and to trying it myself that way. Posted by Larry Levy on May 6, 2007 at 10:01 AM | #

I have the same urge to speed up games, and as a result we also play Caylus in 90 to 120 minutes. Or 60 with 2 players. I never had the game last 3 hours. Posted by Surya Van Lierde on May 7, 2007 at 07:27 AM | #

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