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- Ulysses
Game in which the bored Olympian gods direct the path of the
hapless Homeric hero hither and thither across the Mediterranean
Sea. As in Expedition,
a player holds secret destination cards and tries to get the
ship to visit each of the corresponding ports. Success depends
on a combination of bluff and card management. The current player
proposes the next destination and then any wishing to dispute it
may play objection cards to propose a new one. Then begins a game
of "chicken" in which players must continue to play objection
cards or drop to determine the ship's eventual next port. But
this is not all. On a turn a player may use cards to build more
and more of the nicely-made wooden temples. Each of these expands
the number of cards drawn in a new turn, but also makes other
activities, such as curing plagues or swapping in new goal cards,
more expensive. There seem to be multiple approaches, whether
it be a quick win attempt, a huge temple buildup or some sort
of control of the plague locations. The best advice is probably
"know thy opponent" as what works with some is not guaranteed to
work with others. The Italian sense of style is evident in the
beautifully made board and cards although it's surprising to find
a vase rather than a box on the Pandora cards. On the other hand,
would they have had boxes in Ancient Greece? Players who enjoy
the bluffing of a Heimlich &
Co. and the card duels of a Taj
Mahal ought to enjoy this one also. One caveat: although
permitted by the instructions, do not attempt with more than four
players as then the objections can be piled so high that no one
can get anywhere and the endgame becomes a long and frustrating
experience. [summary]
- Um Krone und Kragen (To Court the King)
Dice game set in a royal court in days of yore. Players begin
rolling just three dice, attempting to achieve one of the
combinations found on a largish number of cards in the central
pool. Achieving a combination, which is generally not
difficult, grants a special capability, permanently either
adding a die to the player's supply or giving some special
ability to manipulate dice results. There are certain
difficulties, the main one being that the publisher has not
supported the design with much gusto. Not only the cards, but
also the player aids are too small. Consequently the icons
and text are too small, making figuring out what one has and
can do rather difficult at a glance. But some of the modes of
play can be confusing too, at least at first, especially those
which provide a pre-set result that can later be re-rolled.
Such systems may exclude some of the usual dice game audience.
On the other hand, the decisionmaking is mostly mechanical rather
than strategic. Programming a competent computer opponent
would not be difficult. This game is another in a long line of
attempts to improve on
Yahtzee
(of which
Easy Come, Easy Go,
because it can move fast enough to hold the excitement
is probably still the best). Alternatively, you could see it
as a version of
Outpost,
stripped way, way down. Marrying together mechanisms that were
not meant for one another can be intriguing, but combining
dice and a technology tree has not yielded an exceptional
result this time.
Strategy: Low; Theme: Meidum; Tactics: Low; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 5
Thomas Lehmann; Amigo/Rio Grande; 2006; 2-5
- Uncle Happy's Train Game
The Empire Builder system
is here simplified almost to the point of unrecognizability.
The board is a map of the United States. Each player get three
state cards and spins the spinner trying to connect states with
crayon lines. Connecting two states for which you have cards
gets a new card. Connecting five
states gets the win. Not much of a game except for having
something to play with small children.
[Traveling Merchant Games]
- Uncle Wiggily
Pleasant game for children has wonderful atmosphere and is full of fun
words like rheumatism, Skeezix and Pipsiwah, but typically not
much skill and a lot of luck. However, not bad for the game technology of the year
it was invented, 1916. The game board was changed in 1923, 1949 and 1955.
It remained in the Milton Bradley catalog until 1966 when
the franchise passed to Parker Brothers.
The object in this one is to be the first to reach Dr. Possum's office.
Based on the character of Uncle Wiggily Longears who first appeared 1910 in
Uncle Wiggily's Story Book
by Howard Roger Garis (1872-1961).
- ... und Tschüss!
Card game in which players bid for points on the table using
dealt starting cards. The lowest bidder is eliminated
each round, which is a bit of drag for players no longer in play,
but the game usually goes fairly quickly so this is not serious.
There is strategy and bluff in choosing to drop out early with low cards.
Rule which gives the overall winner of each round the
ability to improve his hand by discarding feels backward.
A bit subject to luck of the draw, but worth a try or three as a very quick filler.
- Union Pacific
The re-issue of
Airlines
adapted to railroads.
Nicer components, better handling of the deck, the use of cash
rather than a scorecard, better graphics and more play options
are all great additions to the system. Unfortunately, the idea
of flipping tokens to sabotage a route has been lost and the board largely
become useless because one can almost always expand any line.
Moreover, the Union Pacific stock adopts an undue degree of importance.
Post-publication rule changes also introduce problems because not all
players will have heard of them, requiring a pre-game discussion session.
Better to backport the new ideas from this game and play Airlines.
[variant]
- Uno
Simple card game of the climbing family has some strategic elements.
Essentially the same as Crazy Eights except that the Wild cards
are not ranked and some of them force the next player to draw four cards.
In addition, there are cards to reverse and skip the current player order.
Uno Attack!
represents another salvo in Mattel's campaign to entice every man, woman
and child on earth to play some form of Uno. I can see the staff
meeting now... (dissolve to flashback)
Marketing Dweeb 1:
"Can you believe it? Some people think card games are insufferably boring!"
Game Design Weenie 1:
"You don't say."
Marketing Dweeb 2:
"Whatever can we do?"
Game Design Weenie 2:
"How about we put the cards in a shoe -"
Game Design Weenie 1:
"yeah, and make them come shooting out!"
Marketing Dweeb 1:
"Can they fly into your soup, your face and all over the floor?"
Game Design Weenie 1:
"Sure, but check with Legal ..."
I have to admit it can be rather funny, in the schadenfreude sort of way,
when someone is down to just a few cards, or even one, and then he pushes the
"draw" button and suddenly a dozen more are spewed at him. To make up for this
large number, by the way, sometimes no cards are emitted at all. There are also
now wild cards which force all opponents to draw, cards which let you dump all
cards of that color and cards which let you swap hands with another's. These
latter don't seem well thought out as it's rather unfair to play it and then take
a larger hand if it's one of your last cards. There is also a problem with the
shooter itself as cards don't emit unless stored upside down. So your new cards
come out with everybody able to see them. (Experienced players learn to position
their open hand right in front of the chute.) The target group for this game will
never read this, but if you are considering it as a gift for such a person, this
might not be bad as a gateway as long as you can avoid getting stuck too long
in the gate. Otherwise, this is even more random than the already random basic
game.
- Urland
A Doris & Frank successor to
Ursuppe
in theme only, probably one of the greatest successes from Essen 2001.
Perhaps in response to complaints that every Ursuppe
turn was more or less the same, now
one has at least three or four different types of turns.
There is the turn in which one chooses the island of competition,
after that the turn one spends only planning, after that the turn
in which one goes last and has a very good chance of knowing what the
land of competition will be and finally the neutral turn.
As in the predecessor there are still gene cards which permit players
to "break" the normal rules, but now the game is one of regional dominance
rather than of feeding. In addition, in deciding to breed more fish (which
will later walk onto land), one usually helps other players as well as oneself.
There seem to be curiously few gene cards, but there
is already precedent for an expansion kit. What many players may not realize
and what designers will most admire is just how clean all the rules have been
kept, how just by details like the clever ordering of the phases, the handling
of the scoring track, etc., many extra and niggly rules, e.g. what to do
about ties, have been very neatly avoided. Recommended for all strategists.
[What's the best evolution game?]
Doris & Frank
- Ursuppe
Amoeba feed, excrete and evolve, somewhat abstractly.
Very pliable game system with large number of strategic paths.
Can suffer from kingmaker problems, particularly with
respect to the "Struggle for Survival" card.
Is also often the case that one crucial decision in the game makes all of the
difference.
[What's the best evolution game?]
[variant]
Doris & Frank
- Ursuppe Erweiterungssatz: Frisch abgeschmeckt
The kit which expands Ursuppe from four to six players also
adds a large number of new gene cards, some quite interesting, others
a bit frivolous. As you expected, the resulting game is a bit wilder
and longer, but players should have fun for a long time trying out
various gene combinations.
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