Friday, January 27, 2006
Ticket To Ride: Europe
So I got this game at a silent auction, brand new, for 18 bucks. So it has a pretty low barrier to me thinking I made the right choice.
Oh man. What a good choice.
I played a couple games with my suitemates last night, and it was pretty dern fun. In terms of game design, it's fantastic - it rewards the following behaviors: taking the most risks (and succeeding), going as big as possible, and going as quickly as possible. However, the system is such that trying to fulfill all three at the same time throws them into tension - making really long trains takes extra time to draw extra cards, and so does trying to take the most risks. Taking a big risk (in terms of going for the longest routes) only works towards getting the longest train if its in the same region as the small routes, and so on. So you have to make measured choices. Throw on the layer that everyone is going through the same process and a little resource management, and you have one fun game.
So yah. Identifying behaviors to reward, creating structures that force choices and sacrifices to be made among those behaviors - good stuff.
I look forward to this semester being my semester of playing more games, of all kinds. In my suite we have Loaded Questions, Ticket to Tide and Cranium, and are shortly receiving Apples to Apples (fun!) and Jungle Speed (GPA will drop!). Not to mention I need to play Under the Bed and My Life With Master, as I own them but have not yet played.
The times, they are good.
Oh man. What a good choice.
I played a couple games with my suitemates last night, and it was pretty dern fun. In terms of game design, it's fantastic - it rewards the following behaviors: taking the most risks (and succeeding), going as big as possible, and going as quickly as possible. However, the system is such that trying to fulfill all three at the same time throws them into tension - making really long trains takes extra time to draw extra cards, and so does trying to take the most risks. Taking a big risk (in terms of going for the longest routes) only works towards getting the longest train if its in the same region as the small routes, and so on. So you have to make measured choices. Throw on the layer that everyone is going through the same process and a little resource management, and you have one fun game.
So yah. Identifying behaviors to reward, creating structures that force choices and sacrifices to be made among those behaviors - good stuff.
I look forward to this semester being my semester of playing more games, of all kinds. In my suite we have Loaded Questions, Ticket to Tide and Cranium, and are shortly receiving Apples to Apples (fun!) and Jungle Speed (GPA will drop!). Not to mention I need to play Under the Bed and My Life With Master, as I own them but have not yet played.
The times, they are good.
Wanna buy a game? 