Recently, we played through London Dread.  Pretty good rulebook, decent game.  One thing struck me when I was reading the rulebook in the Gaining Resources section on page 11:

Whenever you gain resources, they must be distributed as evenly as possible among the Characters present in the location responsible for the gain.  For example: … It’s not legal to give all 3 items to one of the characters …

This is a very minor point in the game, but it really bothered me.  What if my character has been rolling bad and needed for all 3 items for the endgame?  The other characters may be doing fine, but I may need all the items so I can go further!  It’s clear, that in order to win the game, all characters need to do well in the final challenges! Or we will lose.  So, why was the game micromanaging such a small decision?

It bothers me because the rule doesn’t seem in-line with the overall structure of the  game: this is a cooperative game where we are making decisions together to decide our fate, and this rule micromanages how we can share.  I suspect the rule is there to mitigate Alpha Player Syndrome.  But, I don’t think it will: if you have an Alpha Player at the table, this little rule won’t do much.  Or maybe it’s there for balance?

All it does it make me mad (not real mad, but irate).  Why take away a decision in the game?  If we lose because of this rule, I will be more than mad.  I will be … a lot more mad.

Rules That Micromanage the Cooperative Experience

I have seen rules like this in other games:

• Arkham Horror: You can only buy 1 item at the store when you go shopping.  Um .. what?   You already get a “random selection” of items anyways.  And it seems very unthematic that the store wouldn’t let you buy as much as you want!
• Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game:  You can’t pass using stunts. In my review of the Dresden files, I was surprised how much space  in the rulebook was spent on this minor clarification.  Usually you never want to waste a stunt, but if it means the difference between a winning strategy or not, why limit us?  It seems arbitrary and limits choice.
• London Dread: You are forced to share your items as fairly as possible.
• Uno: This isn’t a co-op, but this rule always struck me as the prototypical micromanaging rule: You have to play Draw 4 if you can’t play another card.  Really?  We have always house ruled that you can play the Draw 4 whenever you want (I don’t really play Uno anymore, but it’s one of those strict rules that always seemed stupid.  You have so little choice in the game anyways, why restrict choice even more?)

Can you think of any other games with micromanaging rules like this?

House Rules

In our games, we house rule these.  You can buy as much at the store as you want, you can pass using your stunt, you can share your items as you which.  And you can play Draw 4 whenever you want.

I don’t feel like we are cheating.  I feel like we are overcoming a micromanaging rule.  We get more choice, and the game becomes more fun.

Or, a better way (for the manufacturers to look at this), is that we want to play their game more!  So, let’s not make rules that micromanage!

In this episode, We reveal some of the secrets of CO-OP: the co-op game!  But GASP!  What could they be?  Read on …

CO-OP Runs Its Course

Today I went to Isle of Games (a game store in Tucson) to buy the very last copy of CO-OP in distribution. In the irony of ironies, I was buying my own game from the game store! Why? Interestingly enough, I had two people email me this week to ask for a copy of the CO-OP. Two people I couldn’t say no to.

Clint has previously and ever so graciously given me copies of his books:

1. Writing Virtual Environments for Software Visualization
2. Program Monitoring and Visualization

… and I wanted to return the generosity. Clint had told me his son took his copy of CO-OP off to college, and that he himself didn’t have a copy at home. So, he asked me for one. I have just a few copies left for myself, partly because I *like* playing my own game, and partly because it’s fun to remember, and partly it’s a potential resume for game companies in the future. So, I went down to Heroes and Villains and bought a copy. Their last copy.

“Wait, I thought you said you bought your last copy at Isle of Games,
not Heroes and Villains?”

I did. The second-to-last copy was at Heroes and Villains. The last
copy is (or at least was) at Heroes and Villains.

Well, as I said, two people this week emailed me asking for a copy. Scott and Jen, who had missed the original Kickstarter (because they have little ones) asked for a copy. Of course, I was happy to oblige my good friends.

Wishful Thinking

I had always hoped CO-OP would do better. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for the success I had with CO-OP! I had great backers and great play-testers and just a great experience making the game. I just had hoped I would do a little better.

I am just happy now that people (like Clint and Scott and Jen) want to play it. I get enormous happiness just knowing some people are playing my game.

But, it’s clear now CO-OP has run it’s course:

• I am sold out, and I have only gotten the two emails (the two above) asking for a reprint/new copy.
• I sent a copy to the Dice Tower and they didn’t review it. (To be fair, Tom was very upfront with me saying they have a huge queue and it may not get reviewed). I think I had always hoped a good review from the Dice Tower would spur the game on for a second reprint.
• I did get a very good review from George Jaros on GJJGames, but he didn’t like it very much. (But it was a very well done review: see here).

What Did I Learn?

The GJJGame review had some real good stuff in it.  Here are some reflections on some of his points.

1. Art Matters. Probably the biggest ding CO-OP had from the review was the art. I am very happy with the artists who helped me out (as a personal favor: Bob Diven and Derek Jones: thank you!), but a lot of my art was clip art that I bought (and it wasn’t cheap either!).  But, at the end of day, my art should have been better.  (It was quite a journey looking for art, maybe someday I will write about it here …)
2. Price. I went out of my way to make the cheapest game I could with my limited resources. From the Games Crafter, the cheapest I could get my game was $28 per game–I had to print at least 100 for that price (Without that volume discount, they game would have been about $50 per copy!) Also, at the very end, I went ahead and upgraded all the cards to Linen and UV coating for an extra $6 per game. So my cost per game (at the volume 100 mark) was $28 + $6 = $34. That’s my cost to make the game.
3. Shipping Is Expensive! I tried to find the best shippping, but Naked Shipping couldn’t help me out unless I had more than 100 to ship (maybe more)? So, for the small print run I had, the cheapest/secure/protected way to ship was the USPS Priority Mail envelope, at $7.15 per game. (I was able to shave a few dollars if someone ordered two copies). So, when I charged $28 (+ $6 for shipping) in my Kickstarter, I was making absolutely no money. I was just doing it because I wanted to get my game made. At the very end, I was able to consolidate some shipping to New Mexico, California, and Arizona (where the majority of my supporters were), so I was able to pay the extra $6 per game for upgraded cards.
4. Outrageous price. I guess when the GJJ review said the game cost was outrageous, he’s comparing it to other mass-marker games: If I had the game printed in China, it would have been about $12,000 for 1000 games (plus shipping). Then maybe I could have charged less. But, my Kickstarter only made about $3000, so I had to go with something that would work with my meager budget.

At the end of the day, I did the best I could for my customers on the price and art without losing my shirt.

At the end of the day, it was a wash for me. But I didn’t do it for the
profit. I did it because I love games.

Wall of Text

An interesting passage from the review called the CO-OP rulebook a wall of text. And you know what? He’s right!

In my job, I read a lot of technical reports, journals, and articles which are typically mostly text. I personally have no trouble with lots of text. I think this also stems from my background as an RPG player from Dungeons and Dragons growing up (and Pathfinder more recently). RPGs tend to be very text heavy and that doesn’t bother me.

Most everyone I playtested with had no problem with the wall of text. English majors, Electrical Engineers, Computer Scientists, Physicists, Ph.D.s in Family Sciences, Game Store Owners.  But, maybe I didn’t quite have enough people to blind playtest the rules,
so I never heard that the text was a problem.

But, the review was right. There should have been more pictures, more set-ups, more examples showing the cards in action, more pictures. Okay. Lesson learned!

I am happy that the review noted the rules were complete.

Sentinels of The Multiverse

A final thought about the GJJGames Review:

As quick note, I give Sentinels of the Multiverse (SOTM) a 10/10 on BoardGameGeek. It is one of my favorite games of all time. I give myself a 9/10 for CO-OP (but I am biased).

The GJJGames review gives Sentinels of the Multiverse a 6/10 and CO-OP a 5.3/10.

What I take away from that: if you like SOTM , you may like CO-OP. If you don’t like SOTM, you probably won’t like CO-OP.

Isle of Games

Isle of Games was very supportive as a game store during this whole process: the were backers on my kickstarter, they helped me refine and playtest the game at the store during open play, and were generally very supportive. Heroes and Villains was supportive as well, which I am thankful for.

So, at the end of the day, when I have to buy my own game back from Heroes and Villains and Isle of Games, there’s something poetic about that. They helped me and I was able to help them sell some games and do business.

Celebrate CO-OP!

At this point, I think CO-OP has run its course. It’s now sold out everywhere. Unless something big happens, I don’t plan to reprint the game.

Today, to celebrate CO-OP: the co-op game running its course, I played a few solo games with 3 CO-OP characters: Henry Hall, CherryPit Jones, and CP Junior with the “Live Life to the Fullest!” Scenario. I do think this is my favorite scenario in the game.

It was quite humorous that my first celebratory play was THE WORST GAME OF CO-OP I EVER HAVE PLAYED! I lost, and I lost hard! This was demonstrating some of the randomness GJJGames was worried about. But then, I thought about it some more, and  I remember many games of Pandemic, Ghost Stories, Sentinels of the Multiverse, and Arkham Horror where we just lost quickly because of bad card draws. There was randomness, but it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the game! I think it’s okay if sometime the randomness beats you down (as long as it doesn’t happen all the time). It just makes me want to play again right away.

So, I played CO-OP again right away! I played again and barely won in the last round. This is my usual experience with CO-OP: on the last round, I usually just barely win or barely lose. (“If only I had one more action!!! Wait, if he goes first, ah-ha! We can win!”)

I am very proud of CO-OP. I think it’s a fun game.

CO-OP Secrets!

Here are some secrets about CO-OP you may not know.

1. The “CP” in “CP Junior” stands for “CherryPit” because CP Junior is CherryPit Jones’ son.
2. A bigger secret: Leigh Galbreif is CP Junior’s Mom! (Gasp!) That’s why CP is BOTH a Hippie and Bizzie.
3. I have a script for “CO-OP: the movie” somewhere. The premise: CP Junior has just graduated with an MBA and is coming back to the store to say hi to this Dad. While helping his Dad with some paperwork, CP finds the legal notice in the mail that the city will sell the store’s assets to pay back-taxes if they don’t come up with the money soon. CP enlists people in the community to help him, including his Mom. The cards in the Groove deck tell the story of the movie as CP does Random Acts of Kindness (which help him) and some old lawyer he used to play guitar with. In some last crazy scheme at the end of the movie, CP saves the CO-OP and reunites his Dad and Mom. Yay! I even have some songs picked out. (Yes, mostly Hippie songs).
4. CO-OP: the co-op game started life as an entry into the Greater Than Games: Meta game contest. It didn’t win or even place. I think that’s because the game wasn’t quite as mature back then. (The Goods cards weren’t added yet, see below).
5. The Goods cards were a later edition to the game, and they all came from a mammoth brain-storm session down in Las Cruces, NM. 90% of those silly goods were thought up by Chris C., Joe G., Kurt D., Mike H., and John M..  The GJJ Games review said the Goods cards were one of his favorite parts of the game! Thanks guys!

And the biggest secret of all: the premise of CO-OP: the co-op game is very loosely based on a King of the Hill episode called “Raise the Steaks!”

In this episode, Hank has terrible steak from MegaLoMart and finds the CO-OP in town has amazing meat for steaks. Hank (reluctantly) has to join the CO-OP to get the steaks, but finds out he’s the only one who really understands how to run a business. The CO-OP members keep the VIBE up, and Hank keeps the place running. In the meantime, MegaLoMart has designs on taking over the CO-OP …

That King of the Hill episode is one of my favorite of all time: It shows two groups, typically in conflict, working together: the Hippies and the Business-minded people (from which I coined the term Bizzie for the CO-OP game). They find common ground. And it seemed like the perfect premise for a cooperative game.

Play a game of CO-OP then watch the “Raise the Steaks!” episode. I think you will laugh and find common ground.

In my mind, the greatest video game of all time is The Secret of Monkey Island!  It’s fun, it’s engaging, it’s humorous, it’s adventuresome, it’s silly, it’s romantic, and it’s non-linear.  Many people say that most graphical adventure games, up to Monkey Island, were fairly linear.  With the advent of Three Quests, Guybrush Threepwood (that’s who you control in the game), could try to solve three puzzles concurrently.  If he got stuck on one, maybe he could make progress on one of the others.  Monkey Island was very innovative on that front.

How Many Times Have You Bought It?

Here’s a metric to see how much you like something: How many times have you bought it? Ask yourself, how many times have you bought Star Wars (or your favorite movie)?  On VHS tape, on Laserdisc, on DVD, on Blu-Ray!  Or your favorite album?  On Album, cassette, CD, and streaming!  Or … your favorite video game.

Here’s how many times I have bought Monkey Island:

• The Secret of Monkey Island (original and Speical Edition): Amiga 3000, iPhone, iPad (twice), Playstation 3
•  Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge: Amiga 3000, iPhone, iPad (twice), Playstation 3
• The Curse of Monkey Island: Windows 95
• Escape from Monkey Island: Windows 95 (?)
• Tales of Monkey Island: Playstation 3

I love this game, and will replay it every few years.  It makes me laugh every time, and I have a ball reliving the game.

Disney Acquires LucasFilm

Not that everyone doesn’t already know this, but Disney bought Lucasfilm lock, stock and barrel.  And that barrel of Grog includes Monkey Island.  Ron Gilbert even tweeted, asking Disney if he could get the IP for Monkey Island back:

Dear @Disney, now that you’re not making games, please sell me my Monkey Island and Mansion Mansion IP. I’ll pay real actual money for them.

As to my knowledge nothing ever happened on this front.  I have heard that Disney is afraid that they might dilute their “Pirates of the Carribbean” franchise if they allow Monkey Island to move forward.

Pardon me while I beg for a moment: Please Disney!  Please let Ron make the final Monkey Island! I will buy it three times! (See my record for buying Monkey Island stuff!)

Ahem.

There’s also a petition online.

IOS 11 and Monkey Island

And thus we come to the saddest part of this.  Neither The Secret of Monkey Island nor LeChuck’s Revenge will work on your iPad or iPhone if you upgrade to IOS 11.  The Monkey Island games are 32-bit applications, and the newest iOS won’t support those anymore.

And Disney won’t let them update it anymore.  Or they won’t spend the resources.  Or something.

In this day of viruses and security holes and hackers, you probably want to upgrade your devices to the newest IOS 11.

So, you can:

1. Upgrade and lose Monkey Island
2. Buy a Playstation 3 and download it
3. Keep an old iPad around and play it from there
4. Boot up your old Amiga 3000 (will it still boot?  I think so!) and run it there

R.I.P. Monkey Island

I love Monkey Island.  I would love to see it updated for IOS 11.  I would love to see Ron Gilbert write the final installation (so we can know the real secret of Monkey Island!).  I would love to design a Monkey Island board game (such a fun IP).  I would love to just see Monkey Island get some more love.

I don’t know if we can do anything to bring it back … but HEY DISNEY!  I will buy Monkey Island stuff if you put it out!

Did that help?

UPDATE: GOG has Monkey Island!

A few weeks ago, my friend sent me an email: GOG has the first few Monkey Island Games available!

https://www.gog.com/game/the_secret_of_monkey_island_special_edition

Perhaps more exciting, you can also get The Curse of Monkey Island!  I have an old Windows 95 Box whose SOLE PURPOSE is to run The Curse of Monkey Island (COMI)!  With the GOG version, I can now play it on my Mac laptop.   I know that COMI is  not considered canon by some people, but I think it really fits well into the Monkey Island mythos.  Heck, it’s worth it just because of Murray.

If you don’t know Murray, you have to play the game, he’s hilarious.

Anyway, just wanted to shared you can still get Monkey Island in other ways!

UPDATE to the Update!!

As of April 1st, 2022 ..

What’s this?  Ron Gilbert is going to be working on a new Monkey Island?  It’s not an April Fool’s day joke!

So, at the latest RICHIECON 2017, I decided to cull some games from my collections I just will never play again.  I wanted to give them away at a raffle, but then I realized that people may not want some of the games I want to cull!  So, rather than inflict a game on someone who doesn’t want it, I instituted a Penny Auction.   Yes, a Penny Auction.  Bidding starts at a penny and goes up however it goes.  The record for highest bid this year was held by Junkerman for … Alien Uprising.  For 100 pennies!

Junkerman Review of Alien Uprising

Earlier this year, my mother passed away.  She was a wonderful Mom and a giving, caring person.  One of the things I will always remember about my Mom is the hope and optimism she gave to my life.  During her recovery, she always had a positive attitude and did the best with what she had.  She taught me this lesson as a young boy by telling it to me: Make the best of the hand you are dealt and she showed me this lesson as she approached her rehabilitation during her last few months.  I miss you Mom.

Game Design Philosophy: Make the Best of the Hand You Are Dealt

One of my favorite games of all time is Sentinels of the Multiverse.  I give it a 10/10 on BoardGameGeek.  It’s thematic, captures the feel of comic book superheroes really well, and is just fun.   One of the philosophies of the game (whether stated or not) is that you try to make the best you can from the cards you have.

Each player is dealt 4 hero cards at the start of the game and as you play, you typically play 1 card and get 1 card per turn.   Sometimes you start with junk, sometimes you start with exactly what you need, and sometimes you have to just survive until you get what you need!  Sentinels embodies the Make the best of what you are dealt concept, and it’s very thematic!  In sooo many comic books, the hero pulls out a victory by doing something slightly offbeat (working the stuff around him, using special information, or trying something risky).  And sometimes, the hero loses!  Sentinels captures this spirit by giving you some cards, and you have to make due with what you have.

Strategy vs. Tactics

My friend Josh and I have this discussion: what’s the difference between strategy vs. tactics?  In the end, it boils down to the timeframe of a plan you concoct.  If a plan is to be executed over a “long term”, then it’s “strategy”.  If a plan extends to the “short term”, then it’s “tactics”.   For our discussion below having to do with board and card games, strategy is the long term planning and over more than just a couple of turns.  Tactics are the plan for the next turn or two.

Is Sentinels a strategic game?   You could argue, since the villains, hero and villain cards are randomly dealt and selected, there can’t be any strategy, as you are just reacting to the cards being played.   Clearly, Sentinels is tactical, as you react to the cards that come out.  But is it strategic?  Absolutely!

Consider Baron Blade (one of the bad guys from the intro deck).  In order to defeat Baron Blade, you have to stop him from bringing the moon to the earth!  You have 15 turns to do that.  Once you stop him, then he becomes a combat terror doing quite a bit of damage.   The long-term strategy: concentrate on stopping 15 villain cards from coming out by any means necessary.  A secondary goal would be getting prepared for combat with him once you stop the moon from crash-landing on earth.

As you play cards, you must consider the short-term effects (tactics) and the long-term effects (strategy).  Should I play an ongoing card now to help later (strategic)?  (Fortitude, in the example above is an ongoing card that helps reduce damage)  Or should I just do something immediately helpful?

The game can be hard, and you can still lose because of randomness. But that’s what I want in a game!   I want to know I did the best I could at both long-term and short-term planning.  And I may still lose.  But at least you went out doing the best you could.

CO-OP: The co-op Game

Co-op: the co-op game, my own creation, has this design philosophy throughout: Make the Best of the Hand You are Dealt.  You are given 5 cards to start, and from those you do the best that you can.

So, absolutely, it’s definitely a tactical game, as you play the best moves you can for the next turn or so.

Is it a strategic game?  I would argue YES.

Strategic Examples

1. Many, many, many playtests have the players just barely winning or losing at the very end of the game.  But only if they have some idea what’s going on!  If players don’t have a longer-term plan for when to use COOPERATE actions, when to use DISTRIBUTORS, when to use CUSTOMERS, when to use the special powers of the characters in play, they will probably lose.
2. The end of the week is a critical time.   At the end of Friday, goods move automatically from the Warehouse to the Storefront.  This will only happen 2 or 3 times per game (depending on the number of players and difficulty), and you have to plan ahead to make sure there are enough Goods in the warehouse.
3. The Storefront will almost certainly close at least once in the game.  Are you ready for it?  Do you keep some cards in your hand for a good SHARE action on those turns?   Or do use COOPERATE actions?
4.  Managing the VIBE.  Because the Park only lets you go to OKAY on the VIBE track, you have to be careful.  Do you try to get everyone AWESOME early on so you can get some extra cards?  Or do you get everyone to OKAY and save cards for the long-term to boost the VIBE?
5. Which cards do you keep?  Each player has a hand-limit of 5.  At some point, you will have to make some long-term vs. short-term decisions.
6. When do you play CONTINUOUS GROOVE cards?  Most CONTINUOUS GROOVE cards are not immediately effective, but will shield the players from harm in later terms.  By playing these cards, you are employing strategy.

Conclusion

I admit this blog posting is a reaction to some criticism that “Sentinels and CO-OP: the co-op game are too random”.  CO-OP: the co-op game takes a big heap of design philosophy from Sentinels, and I believe BOTH games have both strategy and tactics that help mitigate the randomness.

At the end of the day, I like games (like CO-OP and Sentinels) where you “Make the Best of the Hand You are Dealt”.  I believe the wide variety of cards makes it more fun to try to figure out new combinations.    I like them both and think they are great fun.

Unicornus Knights is co-operative game for 2-6 players.  Players take the role of advisors to the princess who is trying to take back her kingdom.  She wants to march (naively) straight back to her kingdom, but that’s suicide!  So, as her trusted advisors, you try to recruit, move, or (if you have to) kill other characters on the way there.

It’s a really neat, original concept that attracted me.  The game has an Anime feel, but it’s not based on any known intellectual property.  The Anime theme may make it “look” like a kid’s game, but it’s not.  It’s a deeply strategic cooperative game that’s fun.   In spite of the Anime theme (because Anime does nothing for me), I like this game.  If you like Anime, I suspect you will like it more.

First Impression

My impression in 4 words: good game, bad rulebook.

I have the AEG version (as of October 2017) of the game right now—it’s basically their first version of the game.  My understanding (from some BoardGameGeek threads) is that some things were lost in translation for the rulebook.

The rulebook looks like it would be good: lots of colors, very readable text, page numbers, and references throughout.

But the rulebook has problems.

Rulebook Problems

As of right now, a second edition of the rulebook is apparently being produced (see BoardGameGeek link here.)  This is because there are a lot of things left unclear.

1. Units.  Are Military Tokens on the board considered “fighting things”?  Or do you only fight Empire Characters?  (Short Answer: the Military Tokens move and fight as well as the Empire characters)
2. Combat.  The main mechanic of the game is fighting, and it is very poorly described.  Please please please read the rewrite before attempting this. There are about 7 things that need to be clarified!  The rules describe one scenario in depth (number 1), but what about the other scenarios?
   1. Kingdom Character attacks Empire Character
   2. Kingdom Character attacks plain Military Unit
   3. Kingdom Character attacks Empire Character WITH Military Units
   4. Military Units attack Kingdom Character
   5. Military Units attack Princess
   6. Empire Character attacks Kingdom Character
3. Flavor Text.  I love flavor text as much as the next guy, but 4 pages of flavor text when the combat needs SO MUCH MORE EXPLANATION is frustrating!

   

4. Wasted Space.  Considering how big this rulebook is, there seems to be a lot of wasted space: the back of the rulebook, the last page holds no extra information except for credits.  I wouldn’t care so much IF COMBAT WEREN’T SO POORLY EXPLAINED.

If I wasn’t so interested in this game, I would have given up on it.  I ended up going to BoardGameGeek looking for FAQs (there isn’t one) and clarifications (I found a bunch in the forums).  I tried watching a few videos on YouTube but they didn’t help.

At the end of the day, (I will say link this for the third time), it was only after I found the rewrite here that I finally felt I had a handle on how combat really worked.

Production Problems

There are production problems.  The rules state the the Kingdom Characters (the good guys) have a white circle border and the Empire Characters (the bad guys) have a black circle.  Can you see the difference?  No, you can’t because they both have a white circle!

On BoardGameGeek, there is an article here that shows the original edition, but the theory is that when they made the next printing, they messed up.

In order for me to figure out which characters were Kingdom and which were Empire, I literally had to put out all the Character cards and the Tiles (all of them!)  and match the tile to the picture.  I wasted at least 5 minutes of downtime sorting the tiles into Kingdom Characters and Empire Characters.  And that wasn’t fun.

Where Are the Player Aids?

The only summary of the game is found on a two-page spread in the rulebook:

The game really needs a player aid to describe the turns.  Honestly, they SHOULD have used the last page of the rulebook, but it turns out they just made it black.

It seems a wasted opportunity.  As I was learning/playing the game, I had the two-page spread open, and honestly it took up a LOT of space and got in the way.   It would have helped a lot to either have it (a) on the back of the book or (b) on some player summary cards.

No Solo Player Rules!

Okay, how many times do I have to say this?  Saunders’ Law: All Cooperative Games Should Have a Solo Mode!   The game officially only supports 2-6 players.   My first blush was to play “as-if” you play in 2 player mode, but that means managing four different characters! So, I played “as-if” I were in a 3 player game, and it worked just fine.  It was a little much working 3 characters at once, especially for the first time playing through.

So, I would have preferred some solo mode with fewer characters (because working more than 2 characters really makes it harder to learn), but the one player working 3 characters seems the “natural” solo mode for this game.  Why couldn’t the rulebook had just one sentence?

To play Unicornus Knights in solo mode, the solo player works three Kingdom characters and the game plays as if it were a 3-player game.

The game works well as a solo game.

Tutorial

Now that I’ve gotten that frustration out, let’s get into the game.  The tutorial (included in the game) is a good simplified scenario for learning the game.  This is something the rulebook does right.  You play with a much smaller map and just go through the game in a few rounds to get the hang of it.

The tutorial set-up worked very well.  It introduced just enough of the concepts that I felt comfortable enough to try the main game.

The Main Game

The main game is a LOT bigger and intimidating, but it is really fun!   There’s a lot to keep track of, and a lot of effects to keep track of—notice the display of Empire Characters to the left.  As you play, you have to consult the Character cards of the Empire cards a LOT, so keep them handy.

The game takes up a lot of board space.  Between player cards, Player character boards, the tiles, the Support and Fate and Event cards, the Empire character cards, the tokens, the dice and the Princess, the board fills up quickly!

Fate

The Fate cards are a very interesting concept!

When two characters (one Empire, one Kingdom) get close enough as they are moving around the board, something happens!  They may fall in love, they may hate each other, they may become allies, they may immediately attack!  It’s interesting!  It throws a wrench in the works, because you never know what will happen when one of your (Kingdom) characters gets close to one of the other (Empire) characters.  Not every Empire character will end up being evil!  Some will help, some won’t.  But it’s an interesting (and mostly well-executed idea).

There are a couple of problems with the Fate cards:

1. The rulebook describes how the Fate cards work, BUT IN A SIDEBAR.  If you aren’t looking for it, you will completely miss this mechanic.  And it’s so interesting!

   

   You might miss this rule if you are concentrating on the main rules.

2. The Fate cards are described as a pairwise relationship, but it’s very difficult to notate that.  The rules tell you to “place the Empire Character next to your Fate card and character card”, but this becomes so unwieldy so fast.  As noted earlier, the game already takes up a lot of board space, and moving the Empire character cards around is NOT practical.  What the games needs are a set of small tokens with the pictures of characters on it: you can then place the picture tokens on the Fate cards and take up no more space on the board.  Or something like that.
3. Some Fate cards don’t make sense.  The Fate card below says “This character gets …”.  Since Fate cards are played on TWO CHARACTERS, which is “This character”?  The one who played it?  Both? Fate binds two characters together.

   

Conclusion

I almost stopped learning the game because I was so frustrated with the rules.  Without BoardGameGeek and its forums, I may have given up.  And that’s a shame!  Because this is a neat game!  It’s deep, it’s strategic, it’s fun, it has enough randomness to keep things interesting, but enough strategy for a good game.

There are a lot of problems.  It almost feels like this was a Kickstarter game: there were enough rules problems, production problems, inconsistencies and poorly-thought out mechanics (Fate cards are cool, but poorly poorly notated).

If you don’t mind slogging through all the problems, there is a good, nay great game here!  But, if a second printing comes out, just mayyyyyyvbe you should wait until they fix all the problems.

As of right now, I like this as a solo game (in spite of the rule problems).  I suspect it will work well as a multiplayer game, but I need to get it to the table with some friends before we can decide that …

I know the real reason you are reading this: you want to see what the box top looks like when you sit on it.  Well, without further ado, here it is!

You might be wondering how that happened … Basically, before RICHIE CON 2017 really got going, I brought out Dresden Files: Cooperative Card game to teach my friends.  Um, while placing the game out, I put the box top on my chair.  And then I sat on it.  *Cough*

And that’s the hair-raising story of how I sat on the box.  The good news is that the great people at Evil Hat games replaced it!  I had backed the Kickstarter at a high level, and they were nice enough to send me a new box.  They were really friendly about it.  And YES I TOLD THEM THE TRUTH—The Red Court showed up and squished it.  No seriously!

I confessed how dumb I felt that I sat on my box.  The game was perfectly fine when they shipped it to me, it arrived in perfect shape. They didn’t do anything wrong, and it was all my fault.   And they were kind enough to replace it.  Thank you!

Cold Days

Recently, I “relistened” to Cold Days.  Wow.  This is really a great book.  I came home from a looong car trip, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!  When I got home, I really wanted to play this book, so I pulled out the Dresden Files: Cooperative Card Game.  Unfortunately, the expansions only go up to Turn Coat.  D’oh!  Anyways, I pulled out Storm Front and played it as a solo game.

I do hope they do the rest of the books.  The good news is that the box (the unsquished version) has plenty of room for the expansions if/when they come out.

Solo Experience

This is a good solo game.   If I want a quick, solo game, this game seems to fit in nicely.  The box says it takes 30 minutes to play, and  it really does take about 30 minutes to play solo! And it has quick set-up and tear-down.   With all the different books, (the first 10 books form the 10 scenarios, plus some random scenarios), there is quite a bit of content here.

So, I like the game as a solo game quite a bit. After playing a number of times, I did make a few changes:

• Solo Player uses 7 cards per character instead of 6
• I always use 20 FATE tokens (the max)

The game is actually pretty hard.  I found that the game has too random an ending (with the Showdown: see Part I of this review)  unless you give yourself an extra card.  I still lose about half the time, but the extra card makes the game feel like I have a chance.   Similarly for the 20 FATE tokens.  With the extra card, I feel like the game is more fun–I feel like I have a chance to win.  Without that extra card, it wasn’t as fun because I felt like I would always lose.

Group Play

So, during group play, one of the rules is that players are NOT allowed to say “exactly” what’s on a card in their hard.  The  hands are closed, so no info is shared.  Info can only be shared by saying something vague like “I have some GREAT Clues, but they cost a lot!”, but you can’t say “I have 5 CLUE card that costs 5 FATE”! Basically, this is the same rule as from Shadows Over Camelot … no table talk.  And my friends HATED that!

We immediately turned the hands over so all information was shared.   We could prod each other and look at each others hands: we had a LOT more fun when we made all the information shared and available.   This was immediately a house rule for us.  (We had all played Shadows Over Camelot and HATED that rule there too).

So, my friends liked it … ish.  None of them had read the Dresden Files, so they didn’t have any of the history or the backstory of the characters.  They were just playing what they were given.   So they didn’t bring any expectation to the table.

Sigh, well, they gave it about a 5 (6 if they were being generous) after we played.  Their main complaint was that it didn’t feel like there was a lot to do.   There needed to be more randomness: they liked it when they had to roll for FATE points, but it was a little too cut and dried.  (I am paraphrasing here).    Of course, the hated the randomness of the Showdown (where you just roll some dice at the end to see if you win).  Of course, you see the contradiction there: there want more randomness, but they were complaining that the endgame is too random.   Sigh.

Conclusion

I personally like this game: I give it about a 7 out of 10 (using the BoardGameGeek rating system).   When I want a lightweight solo game, I think this is a good choice … if you like puzzly games.  It’s only 30 minutes for a game!  I think the theme does a lot for me: I really like the characters.  I wish the game were a little more of an adventure.  My friend Josh and I were talking about “What would Cold Days look like an expansion?”  It’s such a HUUUGE book, it feels like it should be split into two or three scenarios which build on each other.  That could really engage some people more: if you felt like your choices mattered for the next adventure, as long as there was more than one way to win!

At the end of the day, I will pull this game out again to play it, but probably only as a solo game or for group play with people who have read the book.   Unfortunately, my friends who hadn’t read the books didn’t like the game as much as my friends who had read the books.  Ah well.  I like it.

Bethel Woods was a Kickstarter co-operative board game back from September 2016. According to the box, it is a game for 2-4 players, 12+ and takes about 40  minutes. I received mine sometime in the March/February 2017 timeframe.

Bethel Woods is a cooperative game where the players have to build a machine:
the DreamCatcher to win. Each player plays one of 8 characters (see below)
with a different power.

The game takes place in, shockingly, the Bethel Woods. (see below).

On a player’s turn, they move around some workers who can “fix” certain parts of the machine. At the end of every players turn, a new malfunction shows up. The malfunctions are colored and numbered and come from a bag.

Three (possibly four) malfunctions come out every turn and atrophy one of the six machines on the board.

When the malfunctions run out, the players lose. If too many machines are malfunctioning (four), the players lose. Finally, if too many spies come out the players lose. A spy come out when a machine malfunctions.

The spies are like malfunctions, but harder to get rid of.

Overall Impressions

 
Overall, I like this game. It’s a very puzzly game. The components and art are apropos, and I think the board (in particular) really pops. If you are looking for a medium-weight co-op game of about 40 minutes, this is fun. It’s not too complex, but still presents a good challange.

There are some issues you should be aware of.

The Rulebook

The rulebook is fine. Not great, not bad. I was able to learn the game in about 30 minutes by reading the rules and setting it up. I maybe got one or two rules wrong the first time, but I was up quickly and playing. My only real complaint is that the rules are very dark. The black background was a little hard to read. Arguably, it’s very thematic. But I had a
little trouble with it.

The Characters

Each player plays one of eight characters, where each character has a special power.

I didn’t realize it until I played the second time, but eveyone (except Fenn) looks really depressed! I remember being bummed after my first play through, and I wonder if just looking at all those gloomy faces really set me back. I don’t know about you, but seeing a *kid* depressed makes me extra sad.

I know these are orphans in a alien-infested world fighting for the world, but man, they really bummed me out. I tend to play with Fenn, just because he’s doesn’t look all depresssed!

Don’t get me wrong, here. I like the art. It fits the game—it reminds  me of illustrations in a kid’s book (which is very thematic for the orphanage kids).

The characters special power are minor, but they are useful. The powers are important enough that they will probably make a difference between winning and losing. (The text at the bottom was kind of hard to read because they are dark).

The Board

It’s easy to see where things go. My one complaint is that I wasn’t sure what the things in the middle of the board represent.

I thought, for quite a while, that I needed to discard those knowledge cards to enter the orphanage. Nope! They are just repeating information on the edge of the board (the starting conditions). This was probably the most confusing thing in the rules. Honestly, I think they could have gotten rid of those markers in the middle and it would have made the game better. The are distracting and don’t do anything but repeat information.

The Workers

On your turn, you grab a bunch of worker at one machine and move them around the board (clockwise or counter-clockwise, your choice) dropping off one worker as you go to fix malfunctions. A red worker can only fix a red malfunction, a blue worker can only fix a blue malfunction, and so on. They have different names, (engineer, technician, electrician, mechanic), but I never used those names once I left the rulebook.

I like the idea that the when a worker fixes a malfunction, you gain the malfunction as a knowledge token. That’s pretty cool! “You learn from fixing the machines!”

The workers are fine and easy to grab:

They are all different looking, but I guess I never really concentrated  on that. I am very glad they are different colors! The color (not the name) is what’s important. It was very easy to know what worker fixed what malfunction: just match the color. It was easy to see across the board and work it out without having to pick up and investigate tokens. I appreciated that! That made turns easy and quick (from that perspective at least).

Single Player Rules

Sigh. When will designers learn Saunders’ Law? There are NO solo player rules in the rulebook at all. Luckily, it’s really easy to play solo: the solo player plays two characters. Done. It’s really obvious that this is the way to play solo, but a single sentence in the rulebook would have gone a long way … something like …

“Bethel Woods plays 2-4 players, where each player chooses and plays one character.  The solo player can play Bethel Woods by simply playing two characters and alternating between them.”

The game plays fine solo (two characters) and this is how I learned it so I could teach my friends. I think they could easily say 1-4 players on the box and not be lying.

GamePlay

Gameplay is fairly straight-forward.

A player figures which workers to pick up, which direction to move, which malfunctions to fix (by dropping which a single color worker on each spot). The last worker is special: that worker can go and try to build the next stage of the DreamCatcher rather than go to next spot.

You can only win if you build the DreamCatcher: you have to keep discarding more and more knowledge to build the next stage. There are 6 stages and it costs X knowledge to build stage X. By stage 6, you have to  collect 6 knowledge and discard it at the orphanage.

But you can only enter the Orphanage at six points: one an entrance has been used, that entrance cannot be used again. It’s even worse than that, you lose a worker when he enters the orphanage! And the knowledge all has to be the same color and the same color as the worker.

What makes this game hard is that you lose workers as you build the machine, which makes it harder to keep the machines from malfunctioning (as there are fewer workers to move around).

Paralysis Analysis

Is there paralysis analysis in the game? It wasn’t too bad. There’s not too much to do on our turn, so you don’t have to look too much into the future to figure a good move. It really depends on how much you want to look ahead. BUT since you have no idea what malfunctions will come out at the end of your turn, you can’t plan more than a few moves in advance.

There’s two sides of this. Since you can’t do that much on your turn, it seems like there’s usually an obvious move. “Hey! That group of 4 workers can fix 4 different malfunctions if you move them!” So, unless you are setting someone else to fix the DreamCatcher, usually, your move is fairly obvious.

But, in the end game, there is a lot more thought, and you will find yourself planning moves out to set-up the last worker to go in and fix the last piece of the DreamCatcher.

Overall, this works pretty well. The beginning game is quick, and people get into the game, even if the proper move is obvious.  Once people are invested, the game gets harder and much more thinky as you have to plan the last few moves.

So expect some analysis paralysis in the end game, but otherwise turns will be brisk and fun.

Final Analysis

In the end, this reminds me a little of Pandemic. Keep the malfunctions (infections) under control so players can decide when build the DreamCatcher (cure disease). That’s not a bad comparison because I love Pandemic. I like the theme a little better in Bethel Woods,  although the world still ends if you lose in both games.

My main problem with the game is that it gets a little samey. You do the same things over and over: move workers. Luckily, it’s a short game so that mechanic doesn’t wear out. But, I feel there’s “something” missing! It would have been great if maybe …

• A one-time use power for each character?
• Choose how many workers to place when you move?
• A way to reseed the bag with malfunctions?
• Knock over a worker to “prevent” malfunctions on machine during
  the malfunction placing?

I’m not sure, I just wanted “one more little choice” I could make on my turn. That would have made it just a little more fun.

Again, I need to say that I like this game. It’s a simpler Pandemic in many ways. I can teach Bethel Woods much more quickly than Pandemic, and it has fewer moving parts. I think younger players will like this better than Pandemic: both the theme and gameplay are a little more appealing.

Conclusion

I like Bethel Woods and will keep it in my collection. It’s a simpler Pandemic and I think it will be a good gateway game for younger gamers. I also like it as a solo game for when I just want a medium-weight puzzle game without too much set-up and without too much maintenance per turn.

I think in the long-run, an expansion could make a deeper game that might be more appealing to heavier gamers. Some things I’d love to see:

• Bethel Woods: Golem expansion. Adds a golem the players control who can fix more malfunctions autonomously, but can take malfunctions himself.
• Bethel Woods: Dark Forest Expansion. Adds one-time powers to each player, but also adds a drone which moves and can kill workers. Also adds rules for placing multiple players as well as keeping workers at one spot and working.

… but this is just me blue-skying.

Secrets of the Lost Tomb … a Prelude!

A while ago, I posted my “Top 10 Cooperative Games Off the Beaten Path“, and Secrets of the Lost Tomb was one such entry.  (As usual, I got the very first printing which has a huge/different box and different cover than most people have).

I have really enjoyed this game: it’s kind of like Arkham Horror meets Betrayal at House on the Hill, but with a story! It’s sort of an RPG-light, with the expanding tiles (laying out like Betrayal at House on the Hill) and exploration reminiscent of Arkham Horror.  It’s a fun game.

Some people didn’t like that it didn’t have miniatures in the box; I personally had no problem with the standees.  But it influenced the “next generation” of the game …

Secrets of the Lost Station

This game just came on Kickstarter today!  I loved the original, and I am looking forward to seeing what they did to “modernize” it and bring it to the future.  It looks like (basically) the same game, but with a Sci-Fi setting.

You’ll also notice it has miniatures galore.  I heard the Developer once say “We listened to the people: they want miniatures, and they want a normal sized box”.  The very first Secrets of the Lost Tomb had a HUUGE box, but the second printing had a more standard box.  It appears this will also have a standard box.  And lots of miniatures.

It looks cool.  Check it out here!

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, there is a phenomenon called The 6th Man.  The home games of the University of New Mexico Lobos (college) basketball games are played in an arena called “The Pit“. (No, really!)  The 5-man basketball team is helped by their spectators. The spectators generate such an uproar supporting their Lobos, the Pit is frequently called The 6th Man. 

The crowd (booing and yelling when appropriate) in the Pit  supports their home Lobo team,  becoming the 6th Man in the basketball game!  This gives the Lobos a decided advantage when playing.

Spirit Island

Recently, I received my Kickstarter for Spirit Island in the mail.

I have played Spirit Island a  number of solo games, and I was ready to bring it to my game group.  So, there are a lot of rules.  This is probably a “Euro” co-operative game.  It’s a great game, it’s fun, the components are fantastic, but it is by no means a light game.  It was critical I learn the game ahead of time before bringing it to my game group; it’s just too much to learn and play without some understanding upfront.

Player Count

So, I put out the call to my game group to “Come Learn Spirit Island!”  I invited a small group.  The game plays 1-4 from the base game, but if you want you CAN play 1-6, if either (a) you have the Kickstarter exclusive map (see below) or (b) buy two copies of the game.  I was lucky and had the map.

But, the rules BEG you (seriously) not to play with the large big map until you have played the game a few times. (If you look closely at the map, you can see huge amounts of starting resources per area.  That’s waaaay too much for a starting game). Given that I was the only one who had played, I acquiesced to the rules “begging”.

The 5th Wheel

So, we played the 4 player game.  That means I became the 5th wheel.  I sat out of the game (I am not pictured below) so my friends could play.

Yep, I really wanted to get the game played so I sat out and became a “5th wheel”.  I was bummed.  I wanted to play.   I became more a shepherd of the game, answering rules questions and teaching the game to my friends.  I, of course, wanted to play, but I really wanted to get this played in a big group to see how it went.  And I noticed something: as the “fifth wheel”, I was helping EVERYONE win the game.  Spirit Island is a cooperative game, which means I could roam and help whomever needed help.

I became The 6th Man.

The 5th Wheel Becomes The 6th Man

One of the things I love about cooperative games is that you can easily add and take away people from a game.  Since you are all working together as a team, everyone is on the same page trying to win the game as a group.  Someone can easily step out and someone can easily step in to take their place.

The 6th Man is an obvious extension to this idea.  Even if a game, like Spirit Island, has a smaller player count, other players can join in and help as The 6th Man, a roamer who people can bounce ideas off of, or just offer a new perspective.  Seriously!  Just getting around and looking at the board can sometimes offer new physical and mental perspectives on a game.

Roles of The 6th Man

The 6th Man is not just limited to one type of role.

• The Rules Shepherd: This is someone who knows the game, and helps shepherd the game along, answering rules questions and helping players with basic strategy.
• The Expert: If a game is particularly hard, this player can work closely to make sure the players have a chance of winning.  He can roam the game and make suggestions as the players play.  This player has to be careful not to catch Alpha Player Syndrome.
• The Watcher:  Like Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Watcher can be an equal member of the team, concentrating on things outside the game:  “What’s this rule?”  “Can you look up this rule?”  “What do you think of this idea?” “Can you help me with this?”. Whatever is needed by the players, the Watcher does whatever is needed to move the game along.

• The Replacement:  Many times, people need to come and go from a gaming session.  The 6th Man can be watching and ready to jump in if someone else has to leave suddenly.  He is also participating as the game plays.

Certainly, there are other ways The 6th Man can be useful.  Are there other roles we are missing here?

Conclusion

In cooperative games, a 5th Wheel can become the 6th Man.  This is just one of the may great things I love about cooperative games!  Even  players who aren’t directly playing can still participate and have an impact.   The next time you are playing a cooperative game and are worried that there are too many people, consider assigning some players to be The 6th Man.