This past Saturday I joined up with some fellow DC Gamers for an afternoon of games. I took a backpack full of recent games with me, and managed to get quite a few of them to the table. Thanks to everyone for playing all the games I brought! We ended up playing Steam, Exxtra, Hurry Cup and Drahtseilakt.
Steam by Martin Wallace, Mayfair Games edition
Steam – this is the often talked about new train game from Martin Wallace. It is Martin’s Age of Steam “Third Edition” that must go by another name. I really enjoy Age of Steam, and also really enjoy the basic Steam game. They are really quite similar, but have a few differences (major or minor and good or bad, depending on who you ask). In both games, you build up links between cities and towns on a map, in order to ship goods cubes from their starting locations to a city of the same color. This makes you more money, which lets you build more track, etc. Whoever does this the best ends up with the highest score and the win.
That last paragraph was an almost ridiculously high level explanation of the game; please do some online research to learn the gritty details and differences between the two games. Both use the same system, but have some big differences.
Here are my thoughts on Steam after two games. I enjoy basic Steam and think that it is an overall better game for someone who is not a hardcore gamer. The action selection/turn order mechanic in basic Steam is a clear improvement over the Age of Steam auction in my mind. But I have never enjoyed auctions that much, so take that statement with a grain of salt.
Steam by Martin Wallace - five player Ruhr map game on turn five or six
I am indifferent to the lack of the goods chart in Steam. I understand that some people do not like the uncertainty of future cubes and inability to calculate arrival probabilities when playing Steam, but this element does not bother me.
I really I don’t see a point to playing the standard version of Steam (the version of the rules that brings auctions back in) and would just opt for Age of Steam if my gaming friends wanted to go that route.
Overall, I am enjoying Steam quite a bit so far. It’ll replace Age of Steam as my train game of choice with new or casual players. I will still happily play AoS with more seasoned players (most probably at game conventions) who are up for that type of experience.
Ken 29, Laura 43, Simon 40, Shawn 32, Gary 31
Exxtra by Reiner Knizia, Amigo edition
Exxtra – My friend Laura had to leave in a few minutes, so we opted to play a quick game with my newly acquired copy of Exxtra. I think this old edition is nicer than the new Excape, which is why I recently grabbed a copy. Like many of Knizia’s dice games, this one has a great bit of push you luck fun, and manages to finish in a short time frame. It is essentially a roll and move game with a few nifty elements included.
The first neat thing is that if you don’t like your die roll, you can roll again! You can keep doing this until you roll one or two X’s, at which point you bust and move back one or two spaces. This offers a neat dynamic that keeps the game interesting.
The second great thing is that your final roll doesn’t tell you how far you go. Instead, it allows you to place (or bet?) on a number between zero and five. If your dice are still there on your following turn, you get to move that number of spaces. But if someone places a higher roll below you (e.g. you have a 67 on 5, and someone places a 71 on 4) you get bumped!
So what do you do? Attempt to roll high and not get bumped in order to move 5 spaces at a time? Claim lower spaces and hope that no one messes with you? Just try to bump everyone out and move ahead when you can? For such a simple concept, this game offers a lot of fun situations. Almost everyone ends up yelling and laughing by the time the game ends.
I’m very glad I picked up Exxtra. It is joining Sushizock im Gockelwok, Codeknacker and Shanghaien as one of my favorite dice games.
Laura 14, Simon 13, Shawn 21, Gary 12, Ken 4
Hurry Cup by Antoine Bauza, Hurricane Games edition
Hurry Cup – This is a crazy race game with a dexterity element that I managed to pick up for a cheap price. I’m glad I did; it offers some fun moments and interesting gambles in a short timeframe. The game is a race across a winding path of road hexes. Many road hexes have speed limits listed on them. If you are going above the speed limit, you are not allowed to enter the hex and must end your turn. First player to the end wins.
So how do you play? The turn is split into two phases. In the first, 6 uniquely colored dice are rolled in a cup by one of the players. When they are revealed, everyone must reach in and grab a matching pawn of the same color as the die they want to claim. If someone else gets to yours first, tough luck! You must take another. What does this colored die do for you? It tells you the maximum number of hexes you can travel across during the turn.
After everyone has a color, the second phase begins. The first player takes his colored die, and then rolls the accelerator die. He adds those two numbers together and multiplies by 10. This gives him his speed. For example, say you took the red die, which had a 4 on it. You then roll the accelerator and get a 3. This means your total speed is 70, and you can move across a maximum of 4 hexes.
Hurry Cup, mid game. El Gato is in the lead!
After that you simply make your move. You can travel through hexes until you either reach you maximum distance traveled, or come to a hex with a speed limit lower than your speed. In each situation you must end your turn.
There are some other things such as special items, and rare bonus tokens you can only claim if you end your turn on them. But basically, that is the game! I found it to be a fun mix of goofy grabbing for pawns, and some probability calculation. The game should be played quickly; if you are too serious you will slow the game down and probably not have any fun. I recommend this for race game fans and people who like zany games. If you are a serious Euro gamer, you should probably stay away from this one.
Gary 3rd, Ken 3rd, Simon 1st(won), Shawn 2nd
Drahtseilakt by Reiner Knizia, ASS (Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten-Fabriken) edition
Drahtseilakt – Finally, a few of us ended the session with a three player game of Drahtseilakt. This is a fantastic three player card game that was ruined for English markets by Uberplay. They rethemed the game as Relationship Tightrope, which meant that no one bought the game. I got it for a dollar from a friend, and I’m really gald I did, because it has become one of my favorite card games for three players.
I’m tired of explaining games, so I won’t get into the details with this one. I will say that this game really does feel like a balancing act, and creates a wonderful bit of tension and wobbly control. I think I’ll be playing this one for a long time… I just need to find the German edition so that more people I know will play it with me!
Gary 21, Ken 10, Simon 34 (low score wins)
Thanks to everyone who played games on Saturday, especially for indulging me by playing so many of the titles I brought. I had a wonderful time!
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