New Equilibrium Cards

Tried a couple rounds of Equilibrium with some new cards tonight.  What new cards you may ask?

"Blue Count +1" - A full set of 6 cards of these.  They are permanents that boost the count of that color when you check if you fulfill your score cards at the end of the game.

"Others Trash A Score Card" - All other players have to trash a score card of their choosing.

We also tried reverting to the trash/cycle without asking your opponent.

The plays:

First Game

I get an early "1st Pair" down, while my wife gets the Score Card discount permanent.  She then goes heavy into blue and green spamming a lot of the "11+ of 1 color".

I diversify and go for 5 of each color.  I nail 2 of those big bonus cards.  Ang hits me with a "Trash a Score card" but it barely hurt at all.

Ang quits a bit early with 25 cards.  I stretch it out just *trying* to find the other half of my pair.  At the very end I play a Draw +4 to sneak out my pair.

During scoring, I count only 4 blue in my deck.  Oh no!  But then remember I played a "count +1", woohoo!  All my cards score for a nice wolop of points.  Ang scores all of hers with ease.  Too easily in fact, she should have went a couple more turns.  She lost by 10 points this game.  Of course, if I'd had 1 blue card less then she would have won handily.


Second Game

Pretty much a role reversal.  I play an early discount card and go heavy for blue and yellow.  I decide to settle for 9 each so I don't play any of the 11+ cards.

My wife puts down the "draw +2" permanent early and enjoyed a nice selection of cards for the whole game.

My wife quits a little earlier than me since she didn't get the discount.  However, she nails all three of the 13vp 5+ of 3 color cards.  That's a mountain of points.

I know I need a good score, so I pull out 2 turns on my own.  For the first one I use the trusty Draw +4 to setup my last turn.  I sneak out one more "8vp for 7+ of 2 colors".  I manage to empty my deck and still have exactly 9 blue and 9 yellow.  My wife also has 9 yellow to tie me for a most card... until we remember the "Yellow count +1" I played earlier.  Then I get the extra 3 points I need to beat her.

A nice nailbiter :)


Verdict?

"Count +1 Cards" - Definitely a great addition.  They allow you to put your buffer into play and thin your remaining deck even harder.  I wouldn't have them cost more than 1, but we both played a couple at the price of 1 and I think it was worth the price.

"Trash A Score Card" - Horrible.  Only good on the 2nd turn of the game if your opponent is stupid.  Otherwise it just hits a cheap score card and you wasted your money (cards).  Not to mention the rules overhead is nasty.  What about attachments?  What if multiple people have to trash?  I just don't think this is working.

"Auto trash/cycle" - Definitely becomes a bit friendlier game.  Someone isn't malevolently trying to destroy your deck.  It's faster too.  Still, it leaves out a fair amount of interaction.  Really... I'm pretty split on it and could go either way.

Crokinole - Yea, that's Sweet

So I got my very own Crokinole board over the weekend.  It was a MayDay special straight from China.

How's the board?  Pretty solid I would say.  I only paid $100 for it so I can't complain too much.  There were no dings or dints.  The only minor complains:

• The lines are painted on top of the varnish.  Odd and annoying.  Didn't cover with 3 coats of wax.
• The score pegs don't fit in their holes well.
• There are 3 scruffs in the finish in a symetrical pattern like something was used to stack the boards.

But that's really it.  It's a very nice board otherwise.  I bought some wax and gave it a darn good waxing before we first played.  I also made the rubber and screw pegs and installed them for some very stable play.

And it was awesome.  I've only played 2-player, but this is by far the best dexterity game I've ever played.  There is skill, strategy and FUN!

I really like the rule forcing you to try and bump an opponent's piece.  It makes you attempt all kinds of wild shots.  And if you fail a shot, you have to remove that piece... and any friendly piece it touched!  Ouch!  So suddenly you start adding extra risk for failure of certain shots.

I've already logged 8 games from this weekend.  I'm sure it'll burn out eventually.... but maybe not.  I'd still play Tichu :)

I also can't wait to try the partnership version!

Urges - Why?

Man, I do for some reason just get urges to play certain games.  I really don't know why.  And often times I don't suggest them to my Wife just because I know we've played them a lot and I don't know why I want to play them more.  Almost like I think of them as guilty pleasures.  Isn't that strange?  I think these are the top offenders:

Ra: The Dice Game - I should really get tired of this one.  There isn't a whole lot going on, and it does feel the same from game to game.  And yet the decisions are just interesting enough and the situations unique enough to make me come back.  I'm probably going to give in again soon.

Ascension - I don't think it's an awesome game.  But it is fun by golly.  I want to kill some monsters.  I don't care that I can't really plan my deck out.  I don't care that the center row seems jumbled as piss most times.  I just want to whack a cultist over and over.

Carc: The Castle - The second Knizia.  Maybe he's on to something.  This one is odd.  It breaks a lot of carc standards, and yet it still feels like carc.  I also like the balance of the point sources.  The fight over the biggest house always seems charming to me.  It just has that certain touch...