first impressions

Dice Town

22.06.09 We'd better put this right away: not every dice game is fun. In 'Dice Town' players throw their poker dice and form combinations to collect cards, money or gold, each of it worth points. A lot of dice throwing is done, and each time one die - or more dice against payment - may be kept hidden under the cup, separated from the other dice; players reveal their precious simultaneously and put them aside. When a player has archived his last die, the other players may throw a last time and must keep the result of this roll and add it to their already saved dice. Players now compare their results and the player with the best roll at each location may take away the profits there.
This way, a player with the most nine's gets gold, the one with the most ten's gets the money from the bank, and the player with the best poker combination may take from one to three cards at the town hall, each of them worth from one to five victory points. Annoyingly, the player with the most ladies in his company may steal a card from an other player, so why bother to achieve the best poker hand as stealing is much more convenient?
The game board only is the carrier of cards, money and gold, so it merely is an excuse to pimp up a card game to a full boxed board game. The symbols at the locations that explain which poker combination earns what, are printed so small that its use as player aid would be better off on a card available to each player. We continue: the fiddling with the dice under the cup is a recipe for players wanting to cheat; at a distance it is difficult to see the combination of dice a player is working at - the placement of dice at a location as in 'Alea Iacta Est' would be a better solution; and as a last remark: the poker symbols are not everyone's child's play.
Despite the clangour of dice it never was more silent during a game. By its appearance 'Dice Town' promises an atmosphere of joy and liveliness - however, in contrast each player quitely shuffles his dice. No, 'Dice Town' is more of a ghost town to us!
Dice Town, Ludovic Maublanc & Bruno Cathala, Asmodee / Matagot, 2009 - 2 to 5 spelers, 8 years and up, 30 to 45 minutesxxtopxx

Finca

06.05.09 An island. Give it a name. Call it Mallorca. Divide it into regions. Make it fertile. Overflow it with harvest of all kinds. Let the players collect the harvest. Create demand. Give the players on delivery a reward in the form of points. Stone the player with the most points. Correction: honour the player with the most points.
Apart from the textual corrective surgery, it all does not sound very adventurous. But to go straight to the point: Finca plays very nice and swift, and has everything in it to become the Darling of the Year. Listen:
Players move their peasants on the wings of a Spanish mill - just use your imagination for once, will you? Each of the wings depicts a different kind of fruit: almonds, figs, oranges, lemons, olives or grapes. In their turn, players move one of their peasants on this wing, and harvest just as much fruit on the wing they end their turn on as there are peasants on that wing. Harvesting is that easy! Where can the goods be delivered?
Well, in each of the regions of the island is a pile of fields of which the top one is open and shows what combination of fruit has to be delivered there, from one to six the same or different fruit. The points awarded are the same as the amount of fruit on a field.
When a player has collected the demanded stuff, instead of moving one of his peasants, he may choose to deliver. This is done with a donkey cart - it was in the times way before the EU-grants - and this cart must be borrowed, made or built, but anyway, after each delivery we suddenly lose it and so it must be acquired again! On delivery the player gets the field tile that he place face up in front of him, and the next field tile on the board is turned face up.
Each player has some special action chits that can be used, one at a time, in any one turn after which it is discarded and removed from the game. When the last field tile in a region has been taken, a last bonus chit goes to the player who has collected most of the depicted fruit on their field tiles.
The game ends on a varying number of empty regions, dependent on the amount of participating players. Players then count their points from the fields and bonus chits.
‘Finca’ is easy to play, but has sufficient tactical considerations to make that makes it attractive to players of any kind. It is astonishing that a simple and, in fact, downtrodded game idea brings about such a different and nice sensation. Did we say Darling of the Year? Oops, we must take care not to cuddle it to death then!
Finca, Ralf zur Linde & Wolfgang Sentker, Hans im Glück, 2009 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, approx. 45 minutesxxtopxx

Eine Frage der Ähre

01.05.09 Examination question at the Game Academy: Give the definition of ‘Eine Frage der Ähre’.
Answer: ‘Eine Frage der Ähre’ is a board game where in a players turn by placing domino-like tiles on a field that have two different or the same crops depicted score points for each field that shows the same crop as and is orthogonally adjacent or forms part of the placed tile; either it earns direct victory points that brings victory to the player who has collected most of them at games end, or it can be turned into so called farm points where at a given moment the right to place a farm on a field can be earned that, aside from the usual possible scoring in a turn by placing a tile, each turn scores additional victory points in the amount of the adjacent similar crop fields, including the field the farm is on; above that for each of the crops separate bonus points can be earned on the farm track.

Question 2: Wow! That sounds heavy! Is ‘Eine Frage der Ähre’ a difficult game?
No, at the contrary, it is an easy and accessible game. You place a tile, score the points for it, and take a new tile. When many the same crops are adjacent, it is obvious that taking direct victory points is rewarding; otherwise the investment on the farm track is wise as for the player who reaches the finish first there is a bonus of eleven to fifteen points; a second player scores considerably less, six to ten points, a third one to five, and the possible fourth player has had it. Be sure to be there!

Question 3: Who is ‘Eine Frage der Ähre’ meant for?
'Eine Frage der Ähre’ is meant for all who like to puzzle a bit; it is a real family game that because of its short game length will also appeal to the more experienced player who can use it as a nice conclusion of an evening session.

Question 4: Is it an interactive game?
Ofcourse a player will place his tile in such a way that he gets the most profit of it. Thereby it is unevitable that a next player also could profit from this situation. When a player has placed his farm on a field, the field can be downsized by another player to decrease the extra points fort that player. Watch out for the other players on the farm track and use one of your starting tiles if needed to get or maintain ahead and be the first to claim the highest bonus. What was the question again?

Question 5: Is ‘Eine Frage der Ähre’ fun?
Despite the fact that the game is not very original, it plays quite nicely. The rules are clear and simple, the components are sturdy and each player immediately can take it away. What else do you want?

Judgement Game Academy: candidate GRADUATED

Eine Frage der Ähre, Jeffrey D. Allers, Pegasus Spiele, 2009 - 2 to 5 players, 8 years and up, 45 to 60 minutesxxtop

Der Name der Rose

16.01.09 Brother William and his assistant Adson are guests in a monastery in the Alps. During their stay, several murders are committed! William and Adson decide to start an investigation. The players each take on the role of one of the suspected monks, and they try to go about their usual business without arousing any suspicion. The player that acts the least suspicious wins the game. The tricky part is that we don't know who is playing with which colour. In each turn, you play a card that allows you to move a monk - not necessarily your own monk! - to one of the buildings of the monastery. If the building contains a counter in the same colour as the monk that just entered it, the monk has a chore to do there, and his presence in that particular building is legitimate. But, if there is no counter in his colour, the monk has absolutely no business there, and he arouses suspicion. His marker advances on the suspicion-track. Subsequently, the marker on the sun clock is moved forward as many spaces as is indicated on the card that was played. When the marker on the sun clock has finished its round, the day is over. The suspicion-points of the various monks are then converted into evidence-points on the evidence-track, and a new day begins. This is repeated six times, and after the sixth day all players can make wild guesses as to what player is playing with which colour. For every correct guess, the evidence-marker advances on the track. The player whose monk aroused the least suspicion wins the game.
It all revolves around keeping your identity secret. You try to make your character less suspicious without being too obvious, or you try to make your character a little bit more suspicious merely to fool the other players. You are dependent on your cards; often you can only make moves that are not really good or really bad for any of the monks. What it comes down to is that everybody is making random moves. That doesn't make it any easier to guess who is who. Additionally, the game is very repetitive. Every turn is the same, every day is the same, there is no development in the game. And what silly reasoning is it anyway to assume that the monk that aroused the least suspicion is also innocent?? It certainly wouldn't hold in court. Both the book ànd the film follow a more convincing plot. Barbara van Vugt
Der Name der Rose, Stefan Feld, Ravensburger, 2008 - 2 to 5 players, 10 years and up, no time indication (appr. 75 minutes)xxtopxx

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Deukalion

02.04.08 Deukalion was the son of Zeus, who, just like Noah, was ordered to build a ship because of an imminent flood that also in this case fully was avoidable, but sometimes these gods fancy some disasters they send to us. Nice, though, that they warn us timely, just like an anonymous bomb layer: '...in this so and so street, at eleven o'clock. A black sporting bag. No, a bit further, turn right at the traffic lights and then past MacDonalds. Yes, that's it. Eleven o'clock it goes off, you got that? So if you just take away that bag before eleven, nothing's going to happen. Cool, thanks!'
Now we got this boat, we just as well might sail away to relive Greek myths. No knowledge of these is required, as it merely comes down to a lot of fighting and fulfilling various assignments. These assignments come from a stack of cards, two of them are always visible until accomplished after which they go as victory points to a player. Fulfilling tasks is a mere acquiring of coloured cubes scattered over the various islands, and bringing them to Athens, where players at game start start their journey. After a by the amount of players preset amount of victory points, the game ends.
The presence of dice, started in players season '07, has been maintained in the spring collection of '08; we even could talk of a renewed trend. With these dice various known things are handled such as movement and fights. New is that this is done in a special cup (the 'kylix'), and that a player by the way the dice are placed in this cup has a choice of how to use them. The fights are done by the crew on our boat that somehow resembles a space ship. We throw the men on the table; all that fall flat on their face are worth a full point, those who show a cross are apparently dead and go to the corner (Styx) as a form of punishment. All men on their sides are worth a half point. The defender also throws his men, and the player with the most points has won the fight and may take a cube off the opposing ship or take an action card from the opposing players hand. These action cards show texts such as a reroll in a fight, or taking one or more men from the Styx and place them back on your ship.
Cities also can be attacked to get the cubes that lie next to them; a city shows a value that at least must be equalled in a throw with the crew of the ship. Some cities show one or two men; when leaving this amount of men on the city as a kind of garrison they are worth one or two points, but other players could attack the city and place their own men in a future turn.
'Deukalion' really looks good, and has some nice elements of which the 'kylix' is a nice gimmick. The movement of the ships is limited to the area around Athens as it is not worthwile to go beyond and visit a distant island. At the end we are left with an unsatisfying feeling; 'Deukalion' indeed seems to come from Antiquity, but this time in a game technical way: from the end of the seventies, beginning of the eighties; as a game of 'Deukalion' can be quite unbalanced. For instance: a fight is lost, and the opponent may put the ship three squares back, way out of all action, so it takes a player a turn or two to get back. Also he looses a cube or an action card, ok, but his 'dice', his fighting power is minimised as the lost men in the fight are put in the underworld (Styx) and cannot be used in future rolls. Only if a player passes a full turn he may take two men back on his ship. This way a player who lies ahead is difficult to catch up and this qualifies the game in the false warm-hearted category 'Nice to have had you here, but unfortunately we have to say goodbye already'. 'Deukalion', it was nice to have it played, but it did not have much volume of displacement.
Deukalion, Arno Steinwender & Wilfried Lepuschitz, Hasbro, 2008 - 2 to4 players, 10 years and up, no time indication (about 60 minutes)xxtop


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Fragile

30.06.07 Careful! Watch it! Fetch that crate! No, this way! It is rush hour at the wharf of Shanghai as the goods have just been unloaded and have to find their way to the warehouses. But it is just like food relief: on a first-come-first-served basis, so all Chinese trip and hinder each other to get hold of the crates and secure them in one of their warehouses. Up to five action points may be used on one playing figure: walk, push, stack or pass on. This last action in particular makes that the game becomes an inventive puzzle game, as with passing on the adjacent playing figures of other players can be used to pass a crate on several squares, even into a players own warehouse. When a player has placed a crate in his last warehouse, the game ends, scoring one point per crate with an additional point when the crate has been turned onto its 'fragile' side. This is only allowed for crates that are not yet stored in warehouses, and this action may not be combined with placing the crate into a warehouse in the same turn, which makes it a tricky operation. So, if you would be so kind to turn the crate over in your turn, then I could take it from you and move it into my warehouse!
The game is beautifully produced and this is what it really makes standing out: nice playing figures with hats painted with glitter paint and tiny crates of real wood. The game box itself is of wood too, and to finish it the components are packed in wood-wool. All of it completely unnecessary, but hey, who does not want something nice to look at? Thanks to this superb execution, people who like to show their set of chess pieces now are given an alternative!
Fragile, Czarné, Ludo Art, 2006 - 1 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 30 to 45 minutesxxtop

Der Markt von Alturien

11.05.07 To clarify right away: this is a light weigth family game with a short playing time, perfectly suitable for the occasional player who does not like all too complex games. The game makes use of familiar mechanisms, and even a comparison with Monopoly would not be unbecoming. First the players may divide six customers over the board, and place four of their trading houses after that. With the roll of a die one of the customers may be moved according to its facing; on crossroads the facing must be turned towards the new direction. If the customer lands on a square with a trading house of the players colour he gets paid: two per house, multiplied by the importance of the customer - from one to three, with a bonus for a majority of trading houses in a coloured quarter. Dark grey squares with trading houses get paid also if there is a customer of any kind on it, even if it was not the actually moved customer; this way more than one customer may bring in money for a trading house.
The money is needed for the purchase of further trading houses and cost from two to five money, but in order to win the game prestige cards will have to be purchased at some time, as three of them end the game. Meanwhile there also wanders a thief around the board, who is brought into the game when at one time the current player has more than 10 money - bought prestige cards counting also as money. The thief may be moved by an extra die roll to steal money from the other players. The unfortunate player is guarded against a further theft by the city guard (card), unless he is the wealthiest player at that time; in that case the card goes to the poorest player. The game features a small extension in which special cards can be bought, bringing the owner additional money, or give him the use of a second die in order to have more choice when moving one of the customers. This does not make the game any more complex; the basic game even could be played by kids as young as 8 years.
The over dimensioned sedate game board is a nice contrast with the fluorescent colours of the trading houses that somewhat look like a spirit stove; the very moody cover illustration would become well in a fairytale book; the decorating frame elements give it a sort of fin-de-siècle feeling. The game box itself is oversized; this could have gotten a more compact size, for us players who will have to find the storage space for it, as well as the stores who will have to deal with the same shelf problem.
'Der Markt von Alturien' provides a little under an hour playing fun where the decisions to make are very transparent, and where each player gets his share: ...three, four; now I'll first move the thief at your house, yes: paying time!
Der Markt von Alturien, Wolfgang Kramer, Pro Ludo, 2007 - 2 to 6 players, 10 years and up, 60 minutesxxtop

Fiji

21.02.07 In ‘Fiji’ two to five players are going to collect shrunken heads; the favorite pastime of the author must have something to do with the shady side of life - it changed his hair into green, that’s for sure! We have to collect these heads to sell them to museums; ah, culture, no problem! The islanders on their part are keen on beads, and trading the two makes us owner of the desired goods. This takes two rounds; first a column of four cards is laid out, each consisting of a row of one demand card and one payout card. After three phases of trading the players match their beads against a row of four goal cards (most/least of a kind), of which only the first is important; the other three are only needed in case of a tie. The player who matches this condition, gets one shrunken head less than the amount of players. This whole sequence is repeated four rounds, after which the player with the most shrunken heads has won.
There are four different colours of beads that each round are dealt in a fixed combination; beads from each former round are returned to the pool. The remaining beads form the stock. In each trading phase the players take 1 to 4 beads of any colour into their hand, after which the condition cards are worked one by one. The first condition always has to do with having the most or least of a certain colour; the second card shows what a player may take from the stock. When more than one player qualifies, or not enough beads are in the pool, the trade is cancelled. There are cards that give one bead of a colour to each player except the one who met the condition, or that a goal card has to be changed, ruining all planning so far. All this juggling and bidding in consecutive phases gives the game a rather dry and artificial feel; in the bidding style we have seen better games. Repeating the same sequence for a number of times is a weakness; it does not increase the tension but merely is more of the same. Finally, the brown tints and rough illustrations do not contribute to the exotic atmosphere that is suggested in the blurb text on the back of the box. No recommendation.
Fiji, Friedemann Friese, Rio Grande Games, 2006 - 2 to 5 players, 10 years and up, 30 minutesxxtop

Die Baumeister von Arkadia

26.11.06 Pick up your cement tub, because it's building time once again! This time our journey leads us to Arkadia, with its gentle slopes and fertile valleys. It is here that a city must be erected, with a massive castle as its central master piece. At the same time this palace triggers the payment of the surrounding buildings, and the player that has gathered most of it by game end wins. At the start of the game each player is dealt four building cards, on which buildings of varying size and colour are depicted, one on each card. They also get three workers in their player colour that they put behind their player screen. In a turn, a player decides wether to play a card or to place one or more workers adjacent to any single building. When playing a card, he places the building tile onto the board adjacent to any other tile or the castle building ground, and he puts a seal on it that matches the colour of the played card. It doesn't get tougher than this.
When a building is completely surrounded by other buildings and/or workers, it gets scored and every player that has a worker in his colour next to it, gets a seal in the same colour of that on the building. The player that triggered the scoring gets the seal on the building as a bonus. After this he has to place a palace piece; during the first phase of the game he is only allowed build at level one high, during the second he builds on the second level, and in the last phase each player may only build one final palace piece on the third level. There are only so much pieces per phase in the stock, and from each of the first two phases two pieces remain that get transferred to the stock of the last phase.
Each palace piece has a coloured seal showing on the roof. When a player takes an extra action and hands in one of the four streamers that he got at game start, he gets two additional workers. Apart from this, he may cash for the collected seals against the daily rate: the number of seals visible on the roofs of the castle, multiplied by the collected seals of that colour.
The scarce workers can be added with a neutral one that may be taken for each preprinted tent that gets covered when placing a building tile. It may not seem much, but this way it helps to handle the scarce resources that laborers are. It might even be better to surround a building with another building, just to save workers. The scoring might be less, but at least the player still has ammunition to score at an addtional spot. When one player has collected many seals of one colour, other players surely will cover that palace seal and place one of an other colour more favorable to them. When the second level of the palace is completed, each player has one final turn in which he could place a thrid level palace piece.
Everything in this game looks just fantastic! The atmosphere is great, choices are simple with the neccessary tactics, it plays swift, and tastes for more. Ravensburger has made a great game for us (spoiled) gamers once again. And you know what: it feels Chinese Dam good!
Die Baumeister von Arkadia, Rüdiger Dorn, Ravensburger, 2006 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 45 to 60 minutesxxtop

Der Dieb von Bagdad

16.11.06 When someone has acquired a bit too much wealth, there are others who are more than willing to balance this unasked. Of course there are enough candidates to perform this noble task; take Ali and his comrades for instance, all from a well respected thieves guild. For them this is daily and hard labour: try to avoid the guards and slip into the palace unseen, climb against the walls of one of the six palaces in Bagdad, and set the owner of the treasure chest free from his sorrow with the help of our nephews, cousins and other relatives, all dependent on the measurements of the chest. This could be mistaken for plundering or theft, but in fact it is macro financial management combined with a short term demand on the goods market; the thieves guild in Bagdad has its own oriental and peculiar view on the world too.
Dependent on the amount of players a preset amount of chests has to be secured; as it is called in the local jargon. At the start of play neutral guards are placed at each of the six palaces; thereafter the players place their own coloured guards that they already bribed as these are a prerequisite for a thief to enter a palace. In a turn, unlimited cards may be played that each have a colour of one of the palaces; these cards move a guard or a thief. To get a thief to enter a palace, the number of foreign guards, including the ones of other players, are counted, and this is the number of cards that must be played for one thief. As a consequence of this, guards are moved back and forth, until enough thieves have entered the palace and a chest can be lifted; the thieves involved go back to the players stock. Now there is a new chest in the palace that needs one more thief in order to claim it.
Of course each player lacks the right cards, or sufficient cards, or gets hindered by a player who puts his or a neutral guard in a palace where he just wanted to build 'cheap', for only one card per thief. Three cards are drawn at the end of a turn; if a player forfeits any action he may take four, one of which is a wild card.
'Der Dieb von Bagdad' is an uncomplicated swift game with no hurdles that takes less than an hour and will attract players of any kind.
Der Dieb von Bagdad / Thieves of Bagdad, Thorsten Gimmler, Queen Games / Rio Grande Games, 2006 - 2 to 4 players, 8 years and up, 60 minutesxxtop

Die Säulen von Venedig

20.10.06 Our help is wanted in Venice! The only thing we have to do is aiding in surrecting the city, and get fame and honour in return! Oh well, points, OK, it's just the same to me! The first thing to be done is constructing the base with tarred pillars, in the game for more convenient purposes varnished wooden discs. Smaller coloured player discs are subsequently strategically put on top on some of them, and earn points when other players build over these positions. These and other actions are simultaneously chosen from a player hand of five cards, one at a time, carried out in turn order. The played card then is passed to the left hand player, enabling him to use that card in a later round. The spy character for instance lets a player look in another players hand, take one card from it and play that card immediately. The spy in turn goes to the robbed player. The gondoliere enables a player to put his player disc on the plywood gondola, giving him points for each city part that is built by any player next to the Canale Grande.
Each player starts with a minimal amount of city parts; further parts must be taken from the general supply by playing the counsellor card that comes in various values allowing smaller or larger city parts to be taken. Players are awarded points by building city parts, placing them on top of the pillars. Larger parts earn more points, and bonuses are awarded for matching adjoining city parts. Play ends immediately when the stock of pillars is depleted, the round is not completed.
'Die Säulen von Venedig' is a lively and nice looking game with a nice atmosphere; not complex but still challenging, and because of this suitable for each kind of player group. Because of all these characteristics, and just to start an early speculation: this game might be a candidate for a nomination for the Spiel des Jahres!
Die Säulen von Venedig, Christian Fiore & Knut Happel, Goldsieber Spiele, 2006 - 2 to 6 players, 10 years and up, 45 to 60 minutesxxtop

Die Säulen der Erde

07.10.06 Two to four people participate in building a cathedral. At game start, each player gets three laborers: a mortar mixer, a carpenter, and a mason. These laborers are used to turn the collected resources in a round (sand, stone and wood) into victory points, necessary to win the game. Resources may be collected by picking one or more worker cards from a open set of seven cards; two other cards are new laborers that can be bought from the initial 20 gold. A player may have a maximum of five laborers working for him. The worker cards show a number in one of the three resources that can be claimed with a varying number of small wooden worker tokens; each player can assign all 12 of these every round and place them at the appropriate quarry or in the woods. Left overs, when not enough workers are left to 'buy' a worker card, are placed at the wool manufactory. After this, the starting player draws one builder token at a time from a cloth bag; each player has three of these in his players colour.
The first player drawn must pay 7 gold to place his builder on one of 14 locations on the board, or pass and leave his token momentarily on the '7' spot. The second player pays 6 or must pass, etc., untill all paying players have placed their builders on the board or have passed. After this, all passing players may place their left over builders, one by one, for free. Then, in chronological order, all actions on the 14 locations on the board are carried out. First, an event card is read out loud that affects all players, except the one player that has placed his builder at this location. The resources now may be collected, and the players get their workers back for a following round. Taxes must be paid too, and the players that did not place a token at the King's location, must pay from 2 to 5 gold, decided by the roll of a die. There are locations where privilege cards can be taken, some of them have an immediate effect, others may be saved for a future round or occasion. At the village are two labour cards; one for each player that has placed his builder there. At the market additional resources may be bought or sold, and finally, the starting player ends the round by placing one of the six wooden parts that form the cathedral. After six rounds the game ends.
Players constantly move between decisions like pumping up their gold, or converting the resource cubes into victory points, and this is what the game makes fun. Adding certainly to the atmosphere of the game are the beautifully illustrations by Michael Menzel; the mapboard is full of detail. The labour cards could be seen as an example of a romantic Soviet view of the labor classes, but this is not meant to be critical at all, the illustrations are simply very well done!
There is much more in the game that has not been said; we keep that for a full review. But what kind of game is it? The 'collecting scarce resources and trading them in for something more valuable-game' resembles many other games. But because of this familiarity players instantly feel comfortable when playing the game, no matter if it resembles 'Game X-Light' or 'Game-Y Medium'. The parts of the cathedral are only used to mark the starting player of a round, they serve no other function. But again this is not to be taken negative, would it have been left out, it would have felt somewhat strange for a game on cathedral building. And it feels good to see a publisher who puts superfluous material in a box!
Two players are done within 90 minutes; four players need some twenty minutes more. After that, we are left with the feeling that we have experienced a very good game, maybe even one of the highlights of this year.
Die Säulen der Erde, Michael Rieneck & Stefan Stadler, Kosmos, 2006 - 2 to 4 players, 12 years and up, 90 - 120 minutesxxtop

Extrablatt

12.08.06 It is difficult to describe why one game is more appealing than the other. Sometimes you just feel comfortable at it, and does it serve to your taste. I like the idea of putting together a newspaper, 'pasting' the various articles that you take from the 'telex machine' - a window of small news item cards. How large will I bring this item? Only the largest ones will be scored at games end, so you must bring the same item larger than your opponent, if they already have one in their paper.
Each news item has three fax chips, and is subject to larger categories such as politics, religion, various, etc. So apart from the one item that lies open on the fax sheet, it may or may not be the only one that becomes available during the game. Bonuses are awarded for the player who has the largest category (several different articles -but of the same category- one or the other way adjacent to each other), and you get double scores for an article in the head lines section. If you have come out with an article, and an other player brings the same item larger than yours, there is always the possibility of putting a canard chip on his article, making it worthless. These chips occasionally come from the telex in the form of socalled time motors; each time when a column of the telex has to be replenished and such a chip gets drawn form the stock, the clock is adjusted one hour forwards (the game lastst 12 game hours but the time motor chips make it unpredictable how long in real time it will last).
When a player chooses to take such a time motor chip from the telex, instead of the 'normal' move of taking a news item from it, he can use it to put it as a canard on the article of an other player IF he has the highest value of one cheque that gets exchanged between these two players: at games start, all players got dealt a set of four cheques, with varying and all different values from 1000 to 12000. When two cheques get exchanged, the highest values wins, with the exception of the 1000 beating the 12000 cheque. The player who played the highest value, may now perform the action - and this could as well be the 'defender'!
There are three 'flags': at 4 o'clock, at 7 o'clock, and at games end (12 o'clock). Whenever a time motor advances the clock and crosses a flag, all articles already laid out on the paper are labelled; with a '10' at 4 o'clock, a '20' at 7, and '30' at 12 o'clock. These are the possible scores for the articles (but remember, only the largest ones get scored at games end).
So basically you try to fill your news paper in the most efficient way, trying to beat the competition with a larger article or a canard. 'Extrablatt' is a nice game - it is what the title says: you are busy trying to put a paper together, and every element of it fits nicely. This game deserves to be reproduced, as it is not overly complex and certainly will appeal to a larger audience.
Extrablatt, Karl-Heinz Schmiel, Moskito Spiele, 1991 - 2 to 4 players, 14 years and up, 120 minutesxxtop

Emira

26.07.06 Some men will have to get accustomed to it: looking with somewhat more attention in the mirror, and act accordingly: are the split ends of the mustache removed, the richly grown eyebrow hairs trimmed, and the shining skin powdered at places? Are the fresh and ironed clothes neatly tucked? Did we put the flowers in the back of the camel, and regarding good manners: did we make sure our middle finger is where it belongs - in rest position, next to the four other fingers? Then we are ready to go on audience with the women. In 'Emira' three to five players try to get the favor of the women, and invite them in their harem. The game is won by the player who manages to get a by the amount of participating players preset amount of women in his harem.
At the start of play players are dealt a conditons card. On this card are the special capabilities of the women he needs to look for in order to get a sort of discount in the amount of collected women. If he fails to fulfill this condition, he must collect the full amount, which is equal for all players. The women are represented by cards which enter the game one by one, with the occasional exception triggered by an event card. On the card is the preference of the woman depicted, because she chooses the player which matches her personal taste the most. She looks for beauty, good manners and clothes, but housing and status also can be decisive. Of course all these matters cost money, not in the least because players have to bid to get the right to buy an item from the window - they do not just get it! Only after a player has won the bidding, he decides which action he will perform and marks it with his player disc - this action may not be chosen anymore this round.
Each round players get a base income, but it is the same old story in the land of One Thousand And One Nights as it is here in the modern world: the welfare state has deteriorated, and we will have to replenish our income with private herb fields (and no, they are not weed fields!) that will have to be bought in an auction too. Most women bring the harem to life with their personal capabilities: some outright steal from our stock, others bring their own gold so we don't need to pay her any money, another lady brings a discount when building a new wing to our palace. The sheiks have their preferences too and do not want just everyone in their harem, but they have no voice in this: if one meets the criteria, the lady joins his harem.
Take Xenia, for example. When she comes to sit on the comfortable cushions of your harem, on every third round she demands pocket money, being 250 gold; and this includes the turn she enters the harem. All the other ladies only need to be supplied with 50 gold per round. Xenia's preference is money, this is clear, and obviously she will pick the richest sheik. This leads to the hilarious situation that when Xenia is out on the table, all sheiks buy whatever they can, bidding enormous amounts, just to not be the richest one to be left with this demanding lady!
Buying camels give a discount in the bidding phase, and this can further increase if one or more event cards regarding the camels are played.
The graphics by Franz Vohwinkel are beautifully done; he must have been working at it with much joy, and it shows! 'Emira' basically is an auction game with some development; in this regard it reminds a bit of 'Goa', but the players interaction in 'Emira' is definitely higher!
'Emira' is a very joyful game, albeit a bit on the long side. The 75'plus' minutes according to the box are a large 'plus': our first play with five players took more than two hours. Even with experienced players this game probably will take more than 90 minutes. Be it so, 'Emira' is one of the nicest games published this year, although less suitable for those who don't like (longer) auction games.
Emira, Liesbeth Vanzeir & Paul Van Hove, Phalanx Games, 2006 - 3 to 5 players, 12 years and up, 75+ minutesxxtop