http://sopastrike.com/strike/

Okay, here's the last Q&A show from Gateway 2011 and it's with the wonderful Kevin Wilson, of Fantasy Flight Games fame. Kevin is one of those rare American designers that knows how to create a thematic game with smart mechanics that feel like they came out of the eurogame tradition. His hybrids are huge hits in our hobby and he's also a well-spoken, thoughtful commentator on the subject of game design. It was an honor to have him at Gateway and I hope you'll enjoy our conversation.

Show Notes

Civilization The Board Game   Arkham Horror   Elder Sign   Doom: The Board Game   Descent   Cosmic Encounter

Magdar   Magdar on Facebook   Magdar on BGG  Kevin's RPG Bio  Fantasy Flight Games  Alderac Entertainment Group

Dan Verssen Games (he was on the podcast before, too!)

Another enjoyable Q&A show from Gateway 2011 is our next BGB. One of our Guests of Honor was Ted Alspach, a guy famous for comics, great expansions of existing games and as well as many fun games of his own. Ted was a huge fan favorite for running the best Werewolf games, bringing pre-release copies of many of his Spiel 2011 titles and for being all around cool. I think you'll enjoy this discussion of his history in games, his ludography and upcoming titles from Bezier Games.

Show Notes

Ultimate Werewolf   Perpetual-Motion Machine   Rapscallion   Seismic

TieBreaker   Start Player   Start Player iOS   Ultimate Werewolf Artifacts

Board2Pieces   Bezier Games

Jeff Siadek, designer of Battlestations, Lifeboat and Who Would Win? is a Southern Californian Game Designer who has been part of the Strategicon community for decades. I've played his games for nearly that length of time and it was an honor to have him join us as Guest of Honor for Gamex 2011. However, I missed much of that convention due to a family vacation so I had to ask Jeff to come back for Gateway 2011 to record a Q&A session to talk about his ludography, gaming history and some exciting new projects he has on the horizon. Good thing we have three conventions a year, eh?

Be sure to check out his hot new Kickstarter campaign for World Conquerors

Coming up: Q&A with Ted Alspach, also recorded at Gateway 2011

Show Notes

Gorilla Games   Who Would Win?   Battlestations   Lifeboat

Ninth Generation   Fat Messiah Games   Throwing Stones   Gamesmiths

Monster Derby   Hunting Party   World Conquerors

Thanks to Strategicon as well for sponsoring Jeff as Guest of Honor.

<iframe frameborder="0" height="410px" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1581450659/world-conquerors/widget/video.html" width="480px"></iframe>

It's been a few years since I've been on Garrett's Games and Geekiness (sometimes, it seems like years since I've been on my own podcast) but I'm on the newest episode out now. It's a fun show with Doug, Shelley, Paul Tevis and many other good folks - lightly sauced. Check it out here:

http://www.garrettsgames.com/

I've posted a new auction for about fifty games that need to find a new home so they get enough love and play. Included are some classic games, Treefrog limited editions and an Alea collectible - plus a lot of other stuff.

The auction ends (to avoid sniping) some time from 8/19-8/20 THIS WEEK...

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/71011/boardgame-babylons-clear-the-shelves-auction-3-c

Thanks and happy bidding!

P.S. Another BGB is on the way shortly...

A new session review show is here and it's not just for those of you with iOS apps. No, we're talking about real board games here and I hope you'll enjoy the musings on some recent releases, including:

Gamex 2011 is behind me and I have no podcasts from the show because I was only there part time. After a trip that involved Discovery Coves and Wizarding Worlds, I was only able to attend part of the last Strategicon so a podcast with Guest of Honor Jeff Siadek still lies ahead. Also ahead is a podcast about more iOS games. But, for now, here are some capsule reviews for the games I've been playing most on my iDevices:

 

Ticket to Ride for the iPad

Days of Wonder have made their next foray into the iOS world by bringing their most popular game, Ticket to Ride, to the iPad. The one thing you know for sure about DOW - everything they do, they do big. Their releases come out with splashy marketing campaigns that are clever and inspire a lot of interest in their games. Occasionally, their marketing is so good that it almost overshadows the game. But that won’t happen here since the game in question is the 2004 Spiel Des Jahres winner, Alan Moon’s Ticket to Ride (maybe we should call it Alan Moon’s Ticket to Retirement?), a huge worldwide hit that has been published in many iterations and with many expansions - almost all of which are worth adding to any good game collection. It’s a game that plays with well for casual players and still interests gamers for the most part.

 

As you would expect from the people that brought you Small World (the best iPad-only eurogame there is), TTR is expertly done by talented people who raise the bar in terms of quality, the way DOW does in the physical game space. The gameplay probably needs no explanation for people reading this article; TTR is a modern classic of rummy/track-building goodness that has sold millions of copies. In the $6.99 game (okay, a bit steep by eurogame standards), you get the basic TTR on the USA map in a format that can be played solo or online with other players. TTR has been available for online play for years (and I’m still a willing player of the game seven years into the life of this product line) and they reuse a lot of the attractive art of that version here, too. Pass-and-play isn’t available here but, unlike Small World, this isn’t as much of a slam dunk for that format with secret cards and all. It could be done but I never thought that it worked on the Xbox and although it might be better here, they’ve made up for it in at least one way. To ensure a strong online component, TTR taps into the network of players online and combines them with players on the iPad, meaning that the game’s community was strong on day one. This is just good thinking on the part of DOW and probably part of why this release is just coming now, sometime after their Small World launch. But DOW’s commitment to get it right pays off - there are already tons of players there and it’s easy to join a game.

The in-game play is excellent. While the same AI players (Direct Bot, etc.) are still pretty easy to beat, you’ll want to play online against real opponents more often anyway. The interface follows closely the way cards are selected and placed in the online game - which is to say, it is what you would expect and is well done. Twenty games in, I’ve found only timing glitches (clicking too fast and needing to the game to catch up - heck, it’s an Apple product, which means that Steve Jobs wants you to wait sometimes just to show who’s boss) and it has yet to crash on me. In the funky world of handheld development, that’s saying something.

If there is something clunky in the app’s implementation, it’s the game options and start screen. In an effort to provide good, themed user interface, the designers have made something rather clicky that requires sometimes annoying sound in an effort to be language independent. So, to pick options, you go into an attractive train station where you can click on various spots to look at videos, high scores, other electronic DOW products and the like. If you have your sound turned on (which I couldn’t do on a recent plane flight, as my earbuds were in another bag), it’s less of a hassle - although I have yet to go to that screen even with the sound on without clicking the wrong options a few times. The options are themed but not necessarily indicative of what they select so it’s a good experience but perhaps not as intuitive as I would have liked. Not a big deal, though, as you will not explore this area that often. Worse is how many clicks you need to go through just play the game again with all the same options – and the same annoying voice overs that may make some people turn off the sound anyway. I’d love to have a ‘Play Again’ option from the final score screen that lets the players jump right back into a game. When you can plow through TTR in five minutes, you often want a rematch with the same player number and map. I don’t think I’m alone in that. But these are minor quibbles in a terrific app.

Ticket to Ride has three add-ons available already. For $.99, you can get the 1910 Expansion for Ticket to Ride USA. In physical form, this expansion is a necessity since it gives you the larger rail cards but it also gives you additional tickets for those that already had the original ticket memorized. In electronic form, it’s essential once you’re about where I am - after a couple of dozen games, you’ll want more variation in the basic game.

For $1.99, you can get the Swiss map. This is a fine expansion that was intriguing in that it limited the game to two or three players, included tickets that had multiple options for the end connections and included the tunnels mechanic from TTR Europe. Implemented here, it’s a winning addition that is worth the extra dough. I’d like Nordic Countries even more but I expect this terrific version (also limited to 2-3 players and, for my money, the most satisfying version for head-to-head play) to be added later.

Perhaps less attractive is TTR Europe for $3.99. At four times what many games cost on the App Store, the pricing will give some pause but it does give you the challenging Europe map with the tunnel mechanic as well as the stations which help players get around the intense blocking you see in TTR. Although I love the map, it’s a little less appealing to me and knowing that it can be played online, I’ve not bothered to get this option yet.

It’s worth noting that DOW offered all three expansions for only $.99 on launch but now, they’re full price. Might that happen again? Who knows but I’d encourage readers to grab those bargains when they happen in the future (Small World Underground, anyone?) 

The game is only available for the iPad at the moment - not the iPhone. I support this idea. Like Small World and so many other apps that look great on the iPad but would look much worse on the iPhone, I think DOW is doing the right thing by keeping to a format that works. You will also see many asking for Android versions. As someone who’s had to consider the Android when developing handheld apps, I will say that the instability of the devices (different screen sizes, hundreds of devices to test on), the tendency of Android users to prefer free apps to paid ones and the overall smaller footprint for any individual Android tablet means it is a tougher choice to get into this space and not always a profitable one. I’m sure DOW will keep monitoring to make sure that if there’s money to be actually made there, they’ll do it. But maybe with iOS 5, there will be fewer Android users soon anyway. Yes, I know I’ll get hate mail over this part of the post. Just pretend you sent it and you can be done. ;)

As with Small World, the polish, quality of the original title and quick game play make Ticket to Ride another essential title from Days of Wonder. If you are a fan of Ticket to Ride, I find it hard to believe you won’t get your seven dollars’ worth out of the game on the iPad. 

P.S. Warning – if you decided to upgrade your iPad to the Beta of iOS5, your TTR app won’t go with you. Neither will Small World. Most eurogame apps are okay but not the Days of Wonder games. 
 

Gold! for the iPhone and iPad

Michael Schacht pushed into new territory by releasing a game in both electronic form and physical form at the same time. Gold is the right type of game for the iDevice platform - a quick-playing card game that can be completed on your iDevice in five minutes on a single screen. Like other Schacht games, it has a slim group of choices that end up being more interesting than they might seem when you just read the rules.

Indeed, the rules are simple - draw cards to collect sets of three. Most of the cards have values from three to eight and a color - but then there are the donkeys. These cards have a -2 value at the end of the game but are powerful in play. Players start with a single donkey. Each turn players take a single card from the center of the table, where five are laid out each round. To claim a card, players have two choices - take a card of the lowest value shown or trade a card from your hand for a card with a lower value. If you trade a donkey, it can be traded for a card of any value. When you collect three cards of the same color (regardless of value), you collect those cards for your score and get the opportunity to steal a card from another player. There is a limit; the card you steal may not match the color of any in your hand. If none is available, you lose this power. Once all five cards are gone, a new group of five are dealt out and the next round begins. This continues until all cards are dealt out and players then score for the cards that remain in their hands but only the player who has the highest value in each color gets to score in a card in that color. The app is good enough to ring a bell and give you a visual queue when the game is coming to an end.

Gold seems to solve a common issue in iDevice games in that all cards are on the table. Because of the nature of the stealing and close watching of what people have to try and foil their attempts at sets of three, this is a natural component of the game and it reminds me of the power that you get out of the mechanics of the game in something like Geschenkt (or No Thanks!) where the secrecy of your cards is not important.

Similarly, when Reiner Knizia opted to create one of the more popular offshoots of Keltis, The Way of the Stone, he eliminated the hand of cards in favor of stones and showed how compelling and interesting all that information can be without it getting too overwhelming. Off on a tangent there a bit but, the truth is that too many games on iDevices do seem to want secret cards that doesn’t really work in this medium.

Gold's strategy isn't terribly deep but there is something there. When to trade up donkeys, position yourself to get the final card in a round or - better yet - the first card in a round is compelling since you can also trade the other cards in (something that is easy to forget if you are playing quickly). Forty games in, I find it to be an enjoyable pastime and I think it will be fun to get the physical copy of the game, too.

The other thing to note is that this is another excellent implementation by Shannon Applecline, a talented writer for RPG.net and someone who has developed a standard format for card games on iDevices. He's already done solid versions of Money (a terrific Knizia filler), High Society (a lesser Knizia filler that is still attractively packaged) and I think he’s doing Modern Art: The Card Game, too. The format he uses works well, although I cannot get behind his 'handwritten' rules, which I find hard on the eyes, if aesthetically interesting. The simplicity of the appearance of his company's games is enjoyable but I'll admit they lack a certainsharpness that I find in Steve Blanding's Mu and Tichu. There, the colors pop a bit more, the tips are attractively revealed and the cards seem to sail rather than slide across your tableau. Both companies are creating a solid way to standardize eurogame apps and I appreciate that a great deal because there are few things more annoying than not being able to intuit what to do in an iDevice game. 

 

Gold is a lot of fun, especially if you like Schacht’s wonderful lighter games like Coloretto (or, my personal favorite, Der Elefant im Porzellanladen – sorry, I can’t get behind the goofy Playroom Entertainment version). I remain convinced that the short, light game is what works best for the iPhone. Even Gold plays with more players only on the iPad (iPhone is limited to two players), which is a sensible choice like that of Days of Wonder to keep their games iPad-only.

 

Reiner Knizia’s ClusterMaster

A free but pay-to-upgrade game, this new offering from Dr. Knizia and his friends at TribeFlame was designed for the iOS experience but it feels like many other games. Players place multi-color hex pieces on the hexagonal board and trying to come up with clusters that will be disappear and score points when they do. Points are scored, time is short and there are a few options like bonus pieces and bombs to knock out hard-to-eliminate clusters. It reminded me of nothing more than Bejeweled with a couple more sides and although you can buy additional upgrades, the game is pretty thin. The expansions give you options but I’m not sure the addition of slight variations in play will do much for this game. Furthermore, the interface to rotate the pieces is quite clunky. The player has to adjust them by clicking arrows while the cluster is sitting in a space below the board. This is sort of awkward, especially since other games make use of multi-touch to rotate pieces into place successfully. The funny thing is that this deficiency sent me back toTopas, an earlier Knizia iOS original that was released by Ludicious Games. Although, at the time, I criticized Topas for the rotation interface being less responsive than it should be, it was functional and reasonably intuitive. My lack of interest with ClusterMaster did send me back to Topas and found its minor charms appealing again for another dozen plays or so. The issue is that neither of these games has a lot going for them in the way of strategic depth - they are just about trying to deal with situational luck. After a while, they lose their appeal but for a buck or two, you might very well get your value out of them before that happens.

 

But I’m not a big fan of the ‘pay to get additional features’ option when the basic game is so spare. Like so many other people, TribeFlame and Reiner are clearly trying to find a revenue model that works. This seems to be having limited success for Zabu Studios on Facebook, who are invading the social space with their apps (including a few Knizia titles) and you can buy power-ups (“cheats?”) by paying money for an otherwise free app. That hasn’t appealed to me at all but perhaps they’re making more money than trying to charge directly for the game. I tend to think ads are the way to go (free version with ads or a paid version without) but I’m not sure that is working out for the eurogame makers with fewer eyeballs looking at their game than say those with Upset Fowls or Dopey Undead, for example.

That’s it for this quick round-up for now. Part 3 of my iOS podcast series is coming and will include these and other games reviewed in some depth. Happy iOSing.

I sure didn't think I'd do ten episodes between the last iOS podcast and this one but here it is. The next one won't be so far off. And, next time, I think my wife will probably not agree to come on again if she gets so little talk time but we'll see. What do I prattle on about?

Carcassonne   Kingsburg   Wabash Cannonball   Reiner Knizia's Labyrinth   Boggle (yes, BOGGLE!)

More are to come very soon!