The last game I played at Gamex was Super Yahtzee, I mean, To Court The King. No, I shouldn't be so mean (and that joke is old). I don't want to criticize this Tom Lehmann game since there are a ton of dice games out there now that are all using the Yahtzee mechanic of 'roll the dice and pull at least one out at a time'.

In fact, To Court the King is closer to a pure Yahtzee game than most others but with a whole host of cards you can acquire with various combos so you can get more dice or more ways to manipulate them to complete better combos.

While Jay was teaching Heather and me, Devi came up and said that he liked it because "you get more control as you go along". Indeed, TCTK gets better as you gain cards which give you special abilities - each named for some person or noble (maids, barons, laborers, all the way up to the King and Queen).

Some cards add dice set to a particular number (you can re-roll them after the first turn) to your rolling set, while others allow for pip manipulation (move them between dice to turn, say, a four and a two into two threes), while others allow for re-rolls.

And, yes, this is all dependent on the rolls you make. Luckily for those who dice hate (like yours truly), there is also the Fool card which you get if you are unable to roll a good combo (which are sets, higher totals, and the like). The Fool lets you do a free re-roll and if you get a second Fool, he turns into the Charlatan card, which mercifully gives you an extra die. All of this builds towards the winner combo - seven of a kind. This courts the King and then everyone gets one turn to beat that roll (i.e., roll seven 'fives' if the King-holder has seven 'fours'). If no one can unseat him, he wins. If someone manages, the King is handed over but the Queen stays and helps the original finisher gain the King back.

One potential issue for some is that large number of different cards that do different things. There is a cheat sheet but it is long and also double-sided. This is kind of a pain but I'd rather have them than not.

The game plays in about a 1/2 hour once you know how to play it. For those that cannot manipulate numbers (and, hey, they are small - it didn't intimidate this Literature major) and think quickly about how to reorder things with a whole bunch of factors, this one will seem harder than it should be. But as a casual activity for those who enjoy rolling the bones, it is fun. We played with three (including Jay) and it moved along nicely (despite the quirky choice to have the Start Player rotate counter-clockwise, giving everyone consecutive turns each round).

I plan to pick it up because I think it will play well with two and because I would like to use it to encourage good math skills with my kids. The numbers are small but the concept of moving the pips around to make other numbers sounds like something good to drill into elementary school kids.

One most post with a wrap-up will follow. I will also do a podcast wrap-up with more opinions later on.

...Sheylon
www.boardgamebabylon.com

The Q&A session with Jay was a lot of fun. I'm going through it now and it should be out soon. He told some great stories about Settlers first being published, the way he got Rio Grande going, his upcoming schedule and whole lot more. I expect it will be up in a week (after I give Jay a chance to hear it).

Here's a nice shot after the crowd left with Devi and Heather Hughes (from the Orange County Board Gamers), my sister Isabel (in the Invoke Ra shirt from www.meeplepeople.com), Mason hiding behind Jay and our gaming buddy Burt on the right.

...Sheylon
www.boardgamebabylon.com

Travis Ball, the winner of Orccon's Kniziathon and the man behind Protospiel West, took the crown for the Rio Grande tournament this weekend. I'm thinking that someone better knock Travis off his throne at Gateway in whatever special event ends up being the board game highlight or he will be impossible to be around!

Congratulations, Travis! He was awarded the nicest of three cool trophies - and the runners-up were Chris Johnson and Michael Nickeloff.

(photo: courtesy of Patrick Havert)

Before heading off to the Q&A session with Jay, we managed to squeak in one more game and my request was Guatemala Café. Jay had a copy of the German version and followers of this game (and Eggertspiele) will know that they packed some coffee beans into the game's draw bag so that while you are playing the game, you get the aroma of fresh coffee beans. A cute idea (although not appealing to me since I am both not a coffee drinker and I dislike the smell of it), but one that Jay isn't following through on for the US version. He noted that he'd rather not run afoul of the FDA by selling something that could be consumed, even though his counterparts at Eggertspiele insist that they are inedible. I can appreciate Jay's concern and, honestly, I'm fine with the lack of real beans.

But forget the Smell-O-Rama aspect of the game, how does it play? Very nicely, I'd say. GC is a rare game in that there are two boards. However, only one is really a play-board - the other is the staging area where you can draw play pieces from the column that the master pawn is on. On your turn, you must move the MP from 1 to 3 spaces and then you select up to three items you want to buy - be they roasting houses, workers, ships, roads or scoring markers. When you first look at this massive board plus the second one full of fields where you will place them, it may seem daunting and complex.

In actuality, the play of the game is pretty easy. You are trying to place similarly-colored roasters and adjacent workers to score in one of five colors when someone takes a scoring marker. If you can use roads (which come into play when the other pieces are taken - a nice touch) to connect to the docks through one of the roads, you can get bonus multipliers by placing similarly-colored boats down there. The roads are specific lines with multiple slabs for roasters placed by different players so you can either piggyback on someone else's work (and connect to the same docks) or compete with them directly and try to limit their ability to score big by placing your own boats down there. Workers add on to roasters and depending on how close to the docks your setup is, you pay more or less. The balancing act here, including the fact that you can specialize in one of five types of coffee, is where you find the fun. I managed to pull a solid victory by using only three types, including piggybacking on someone else's efforts with the white coffee, doing a solid job of the same for less money with black and then winning when Bernie managed a huge score at the end with the natural coffee type. He almost caught up but I shot straight over the line created by nearly constant scoring.

Ah, the scoring. So, you can select scoring tiles to get more points in the color of your choice - that is, for everyone with a roaster of that color with a corresponding worker connected to it. However, this is also how you can refill your coffers with eight more pesos - in face, this the only way! So, scoring is encouraged a lot and each time you score, you put the scoring tile on the score track. Since the winner is the one that reaches the end of the scoring track first, this accelerates the game as it goes. I love this mechanic since it means you can affect the length of the game, too.

Guatemala Cafe is a nice game that I enjoyed. It comes with a whole lot of wood and although the basic game provides a standard set up for new players, you can also randomly set up the pieces for a more varied game. Of course, this option could allow for a player to get too much on a line for a single turn.

After staying up way too late on Saturday, I still managed to get up early so I could play more of the great games Jay brought along. When I got down to the demo area, I wanted to play Caylus Magna Carta. However, Bernie and Devi were already playing the game with another guy. So, I settled for the chance to play Wikinger - or, as Jay will soon call it, Vikings. Can you believe that that name wasn't already taken?

Vikings has one 'exciting' mechanic - a wheel built into the board which sets the price for recruiting vikings and their respective island piece to your group. You buy vikings of different colors (farmers, nobles, goldsmiths, scouts, warriors, boatmen) and each comes with an island piece (a beginning, middle or end) that you can build out on your play space. Red gives you points, Yellow gives you Gold to buy things, Blue feed your vikings at the end of the game - and on and on. You need them all but can only buy so many. As Jay said, "a game where you can't do everything you want each turn. What a concept!"

Now, I have to say - the theme of this game makes no sense at all and has nothing to do with the admittedly enjoyable mechanics. In an upcoming (although actually recorded back at Orccon) Boardgame Babylon episode, art director jim pinto points out how 'phony' the mechanics of many designer games appear to be when you think about it with regard to the theme. Vikings is a particularly good example of this but the truth of the matter is that I don't care. Indeed, it is all artificial but it is also an enjoyable game that, again, plays through in about forty-five to sixty minutes (depending on your DPF - Deliberative Player Factor).

Jay explained the basics but didn't overwhelm us with the sometimes quirky scoring. In the end, we all found many things we would do differently but the first time is always a learning game. Indeed, nearly everything gets a chance to add victory points at the end, in addition to the incidental scoring and money payouts which happen throughout the game. All in all, I was very fond of Vikings and may very well get it. The Viking meeples are certainly neat ("Vikeeples?")

Check out Jay looking at me disapprovingly! "Did he ask permission to take this photo?" ;)

After the Escalation! tournament, I ran one for Blue Moon City. This is fast becoming one of my favorite light games. In fact, I think three copies are now owned in our regular group. Anyway, the tournament was a big success, with lots of players but I had to step in to fill out one of the tables with four players.

In BMC (which has nothing to do with Blue Moon except the artwork and dragon components), players complete the rebuilding of sections of the city by playing cards and placing tokens on spaces. There are bonuses to be awarded for using your cards to move one or more of three dragons to the space on which you are building and bonuses galore for building near other completed cities. The game rewards some level of cooperative play and although the artwork is wild and perhaps a trifle goofy, it is an utterly approachable game that plays very quickly and enjoyably in forty-five minutes. Further, it is one of those games that picks up speed as it goes since the building rewards are better as time goes on. A delightful gateway game and one that I look forward to playing even more this year. I came in second in our game but primarily due to an error on the part of one of the other players. That new player had some challenges playing but most don't.

After BMC, I ran a tournament for Midgard and this is another enjoyable game that I have been showing off at various SoCal stores and events for a while. Think of it as El Grande in forty-five minutes, with a touch of Fairy Tale thrown in plus a couple more fun mechanics that work nicely with the theme. It is an area control game where you want to get majorities in various areas. You start with a Fairy Tale-style draft, so you get to see a good portion of the cards people have and then you use them to deploy your vikings out from the ships and on to the three regions, each of which have three or four provinces. Like El Grande, you have your vikings in your ship and more in a general supply that you need to bring into play. There are three categories of card (Bronze, Silver and Gold) which vary in value but you need a selection of all three. In a fine nod to the theme, vikings that are killed give you victory points and so do those that are deployed into the half of the provinces that are 'doomed' each turn. And heck, the doomed guys are worth another two points! There are also heavens that offer additional bonuses and a set collection mechanic to encourage even-handed placement. Midgard snuck up on me. At first, I thought it was just a fair game but the more I play it, the more I think it is a solid game and good fun.

Later that evening, I had a chance to play Notre Dame again. This time, I played it with three (the previous play had been with five), with all of us on our second play. Bernie, Seth and I powered through the game in under forty-five minutes and had a blast. This time, I managed to pull a victory through a combination of getting the carriage around and help from Notre Dame. The second time around was even better and I'm so happy to say that at least two copies have entered our regular game group's collection. I know Notre Dame will get a lot of play. It was THE hot game of Gamex 2007 and it's a good thing Jay brought a lot of them to sell.

Unfortunately, he forgot to bring Vexation - the TransAmerica/TransEuropa expansion! He did bring a sample but forgot to bring those for sale. Ah, but it and many other great games like Caylus Magna Carta, Jenseits von Theben, and Zooloretto will be in stores very shortly.

After that, I threatened to make everyone play a game of Rocketville! I was going to drop it into the convention's auction but I really had to see if was truly that bad first. While I went through the rules, we played a game of Ticket to Ride with the full complement of cards from the Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 expansion. Our friends Seth and Chris had never played the game before but the lineup of players also included experiences Ticketers Bernie and Mark (the convention's co-owner). Despite my being distracted by reading through the rules of Rocketville (it sounds bad...), I managed to pull a sizable victory because everyone else was fighting for the Northeast and I was lazily building across from Los Angeles to Miami. I managed to get all the way across, with one minor side trip to Chicago, completing three tickets - and then drew two completed tickets.

I pulled out a huge victory, made all the more disturbing for the others since I casually took my turns in the midst of reading about this Richard Garfield monstrosity. No one was willing to play Rocketville at 2 AM. We're getting old, I guess. To bed, then.

Egad - Jay actually brought the "Maxi Chicken Cha Cha Cha". Yes, you can dress up like the chickens and play the game full size! This was nicely paired with a full size Settlers of Catan game, too. Only at a convention, as they say. These are available through Rio Grande but they are pretty expensive. He brings them over at cost but, well, they are about $200 at cost. You don't see them too often...

After a whirlwind morning of errands, I finally made it down to Gamex before noon. I dropped off my sizable contribution to the Rio Grande library and checked out the nice dealer room. We've got a great crowd here and I'm thrilled to see such a big turnout.

Just after that, I got a chance to meet Jay Tummelson. As always described, Jay was a nice fellow and was cheerfully asking everyone, "Want to play a game?" Some of the games Jay Brought to show off include:

Caylus Magna Carta
Notre Dame
Guatemala Cafe
Master Thieves
Ponte De Marchio
Fiji

Jay brought a lot of terrific games to the convention to try out but the crown jewel for the simple reason of exclusivity is If Wishes Were Fishes, the Peter Sarrett game that was just published in Germany this Wednesday. Good guy that Jay is, he paid a hefty fee to have a copy shipped out so he could show it off at Gamex. Naturally, this story was good enough to get me to sit down right away. Jay showed the game to me and my buddy Bernie, who flew in from NYC for the con.

If Wishes Were Fishes is undeniably cute. I mean, you get little fish meeples ("fisheeples?") and a half-dozen rubber worms in addition to a single card representing two boats where you can store your fish. This card is cleverly divided to show two halves of two boats so you can put a fish on each side. The rainforest thanks them. You also get a colorful board with a fish stand for each fish type where some 'buyer' meeples hang out randomly to increase the amount you can get if you sell fish you caught and keep.

On your turn, you can sell a fish you have in your boat or 'fish' for a new fish card (well, draft them) and decide if you are going to keep the fish to sell at the appropriate stand or toss the fish back and receive the 'wish' the fish has on the top of his card. The wishes vary from allowing you to sell more than the limit of one fish per turn, increase the value of fish by manipulating the buyers, sell you fish as a more valuable one, get money for all your worms, get extra boats, and that kind of thing. The fish are set up in a line of four and you can only take the one to the far right free (shallow sea). If you want to take one further over, you need to use your worms - one for each card you want to skip past. Later, if there is a worm on a card you take, you get to claim it. Also, you can't take fish if you have no room in your boats.

There are also bonus cards that show up when a certain number of a type of fish (betwen 4 and 7) are sold and cycling through them will draw the game to the end. When this comes up, the two people with the largest number of fish sold for that market gain extra money (points). The market for that kind of fish is then closed - well, sort of. You can still sell these fish for their current price but now any sold fish go into the garbage and the person with the most fish in the garbage loses 10 points at the end of the game. There are some wishes that will let you pull your fish out of (or put your opponents fish into) the garbage so you can affect this later.

Unfortunately, Bernie and I played a two-player game. Like many games, it seemed fiddly at first but once we got the hang of it, we were fine and churned through quickly (it says it plays in 40 mins). Although I think the game is fine, I don't think it is suited to head-to-head play. The markets filled slowly since we could often make a lot more money with worm bonuses and other choices. I think it will shine with four, although you will have less chance of the fish you want being there by the time your turn comes around. All in all, a nice game that I will play again. I could see Puerto Rico, Mall World, Parts Unknown - sheesh - a lot of games in this one. But that's okay, it worked well.

After that, Jay taught me Notre Dame and since this one has been described extensively online, I will make my comments brief. This is another victory point builder with multiple angles you can use. It has parts of Fairy Tale, El Grande, Industrial Waste, Thurn and Taxis, Castle Merchants - egad! But, you know what? I thought it was delighftul. I'm sure much of the muted praise coming out about it is the fact that the influences are so visible. But tossed in with an intriguing board makeup, nice bits, and quick gameplay, this game is quite enjoyable! Jay has brought a bunch of pre-release copies to the convention to sell and if I hadn't already pre-ordered it, I'd already own it. As it is, I'm just going to get in some additional games of it this weekend on the two copies available in the Rio Grande Tournament.

Okay, I'm off to run the Escalation! tournament so I'll sign off until this evening.

Okay, I'm now heading down to the convention on Saturday morning. Plans for a late night arrival on Friday were scrapped after the BBQ party I attended Friday evening had deceptively powerful "Hawaiian Punch" drinks. The haze formed quickly and yet I was still able to explain Klunker and Diamant to players and enjoy two good games.

Despite being "Punched", I managed to win Klunker handily (which is a game that seems like Bohnanza's Martian cousin - not surprising since it is the same designer). You get gem cards and have to place some out for sale (the ones you don't need for a set), some into your safe (which you do want for your sets) and then there is a buying round when you can grab up your opponent's wares. Money is rewarded for sets of four in your safe, but you get more if the sets match. Necklace cards are bonuses, making it easier to get full value for your sets - but in our game, nearly all the necklaces were at the end. Final scores: Lisa 12, Bernie 14, Chad 17, and Eric 22. A fun, but unmemorable game.

I was in fourth out of five in the wonderful press-your-luck game Diamant. Simply, over five caverns of play, each player must decide how long to stick it out and try to get a share of the gems that come up on most cards while avoiding one of five disaster card types. If two cards from the same disaster show up, everyone left in the cavern loses - you all face the cards together and split the gems that come up. But, if you manage to get out before (you get a chance after each card), you can add your spoils to your ore cart and have them as points for the end of the game. Leaving early can also be profitable sometimes because you get to grab the gems leftover from uneven splits (gem cards range from 1 to 17).

After doing fine throughout the first three rounds, I bailed on cave four with only one disaster out (admittedly, one of the disasters with three remaining cards) because the take for early departure looked too good! Unfortunately, Lisa felt the same way and we split the booty. Then, the remaining three players went on to form the longest cavern route I've ever seen - and they all got out with their gems! They loaded up so heavily (Chad gaining the most) that Lisa and I had no chance but to press our luck fully and we were rewarded with an untimely demise. Final scores: Matt 44, Bernie 43 (so close!), Chad 25, Eric 18, Lisa 12.

Now I'm off to Gamex to enjoy a weekend of great gaming. I'm doing Z-Man demos today, plus running an Escalation tournament at 3pm. Our Math Trade is also happening today at 6pm at Boardgame HQ. If you are in town, please stop by and say hello!

I was already looking forward to next week's Gamex convention but now I've just been informed that Gamex 2007 Guest of Honor Jay Tummelson will debut the new Rio Grande titles Notre Dame and Vexation: TransAmerica and TransEuropa expansion at the convention. He will have some number of them both available for sale to convention attendees. Both are sure to be hot titles and Notre Dame was unquestionably the big hit of the Gathering of Friends and Nuremberg this year. US fans will get the first crack at them only at Gamex 2007.

I will be moderating a Q&A session with Jay on Sunday at 1 PM in the Theater so please bring in your questions for the man who broke designer games in the US. If you cannot be at the show, you can also send me questions at: sheylon@gmail.com. If you send one in, I will be sure to attribute your question to you on the podcast.

For more information on the convention, check out: www.strategicon.net. See you there!