Hmm… Interesting, but I’m still not sure that this rule change would do other than possibly screw a player out of tiles.  Without the guarantee of three tiles a round (no matter how bad), a player could find himself quickly shut out of the entire game!  What if you didn’t get tiles in the first round and couldn’t put on a show?  Then you don’t have money to buy tiles in the next round… Or certainly not enough to buy two sets to make up the token deficit…

D

That was my first thought when I read the variant as well, Dale.  But after looking at it more carefully, I realize each player has just as much of a guarantee to buy a set of tiles as in the original rules.  Each player still can keep nominating sets during their turn until they buy one.  They can choose to pass, hoping for better sets when new tiles are drawn, but they already had that option with the standard rules, along with the same risk that they might get shut out.

The real difference is that you can have many more sets of tiles won with this variant.  A player with money can afford to win a mediocre set of tiles early in the process, knowing that when new tiles come out, he’s no longer restricted from participating.  In a five-player game, you could have as many as 25 sets awarded, rather than the current limit of 5!  That’s extremely unlikely, but based on an estimated average of about two auctions per player turn (a dangerous guess based on half a game, but probably not unreasonable), they’ll be 10 sets awarded.  That seems as if it will change the game dramatically.

However, I’m thinking strongly of using the variant the first time I play this with my group.  The fact that this is the version that Kramer uses with his own group is one reason.  But in addition, in my one abortive game, it seemed as if money was relatively abundant and that tiles and actions were the truly scarce items.  The variant seems as if it will make money management much more important, as the ability to afford multiple sets during the auction phase would be important.  I’m hoping to get this on the table in a few weeks and I’ll let you all know how it goes if I’m successful.

Especially in a 3 player game, this won’t help to make stuff more scarce, on the contrary. I found it quite easy to acquire what you wanted, this variant might make it even easier.

Just played this yesterday (3 players) and the auction mechanism almost felt “broken” to me. I mean, why call it an auction when you’re almost always buying at the entry cost? That is because even rich opponents won’t try to push the price since they fear they would lose their opportunity to buy a coveted lot. Moreover, everybody wants to see that next random lot. Finally, player ends up with loads of money and nothing to do with it.

All these reasons make me think that this “variant” is more like “the way the game should be played”. I’m really curious as to why it wasn’t the version DoW chose to put in the rulebook.

Surya, I played a three-player game recently and I would have preferred to use this variant. If you’re limited to only one lot, you can’t risk bidding up another player and having him dump those tiles on you because then you’re through for the round. The auctions weren’t dynamic, with only one lot (at most) receiving multiple bids each round—and even then the bidding never went above 12.

This variant should also make the competition for star performers more interesting because more tiles will likely come into play, forcing you to make multiple bids to keep your stars from being stolen.

Philippe, we’re thinking along the same lines! Then you asked: “All these reasons make me think that this ‘variant’ is more like ‘the way the game should be played’. I’m really curious as to why it wasn’t the version DoW chose to put in the rulebook.”

Probably because the variant makes the game more complicated. You have another aspect of money management thrown in, and the game is already quite involved for the family market—not to mention the potential for meanness since you can steal lots that others desperately need.

I’ll surely try this variant out, I’m curious to see how it works out!