Sometimes when I'm sitting in class... You know, I'm not thinking about class, 'cause that would never happen. I think about kissing you. And it's like everything stops. It's like, it's like freeze frame. Willow kissage.

Oz ,'First Date'


Gaming 1: You are likely to be eaten by a grue

A thread for the discussion of games: board, LARP, MMORPG, video, tabletop RPG, game theory etc. etc. and all attendant news, developments and ancillary subjects thereof, as well as coordinating/scheduling games either online or IRL. All are welcome to chime in, talk about their favorite games or learn about gaming of any sort.

PLEASE TO WHITEFONT SPOILERS for video games, RPG modules or anything for which foreknowledge of events might lessen one's enjoyment of whatever gaming experience.


Laga - Feb 09, 2009 8:21:42 pm PST #1633 of 26133
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.

Wait, so neither player knows who Jack is?


billytea - Feb 09, 2009 8:35:38 pm PST #1634 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

Wait, so neither player knows who Jack is?

No, Jack knows who Jack is. (You draw a card randomly at game start.) Jack sees himself as the embodiment of perfection, and thus desires that as many other characters as possible should achieve the same state as Jack.


Laga - Feb 09, 2009 9:22:14 pm PST #1635 of 26133
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.

Now I'm more confused and also more eager to play.


Tom Scola - Feb 10, 2009 5:40:33 am PST #1636 of 26133
Mr. Scola’s wardrobe by Botany 500

Oregon Trail coming for the iPhone: [link]


Volans - Feb 10, 2009 11:30:37 am PST #1637 of 26133
move out and draw fire

Oh, speaking of which, has anyone here ever played Fury of Dracula? I find that it intrigues me more and more of late.

I have. And it's eh. I love the wrapper, and spent more than a little effort painting the figures that come with it. But after a couple times playing it I think it's broken. Not in the way Ticket to Ride is broken, but more like the old bookcase War of the Ring. There appears to be a no-fail strategy for the hunters to employ that will always catch Dracula.


megan walker - Feb 10, 2009 11:39:50 am PST #1638 of 26133
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist

How is Ticket to Ride broken?


Volans - Feb 10, 2009 3:03:32 pm PST #1639 of 26133
move out and draw fire

There's no limit to the number of cards you can hold. So you simply draw cards on every turn, until you hold all your routes. By that time, you will probably hold several of your opponents' routes also, and may have cornered the market on one or two colors.


billytea - Feb 10, 2009 3:21:31 pm PST #1640 of 26133
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

There's no limit to the number of cards you can hold. So you simply draw cards on every turn, until you hold all your routes. By that time, you will probably hold several of your opponents' routes also, and may have cornered the market on one or two colors.

I'm not sure I'm following this. You're saying that you leave your opponents to take any routes they want, including ones you need, while you build up your hand?

I can see it being an almost viable strategy in 4-player, but in 3- and 5- the board gets too crowded too quickly. By the time you're ready to let loose, you'll find you're shut out of cities you need. In 2-player it might work with a relatively sedate opponent, but I'm not sure what would happen with a cutthroat game.

When I play, I tend to go for short bottlenecks I need first (Atlanta-Nashville, Houston-NO, Portland-Seattle-Vancouver, those kinds of places), then I sit on the card draw as long as my lines aren't threatened, but if any opponent comes sniffing around the tracks I need, I'm going to have to jump in first. (Indeed, that's what I like about it, the sustained tension between greed and fear.)

I have heard suggestions that the original game has a somewhat broken strategy in sorting out your routes first, then going hardcore after the six-train lines. I believe the 1910 expansion addresses this; more tickets especially in the East, and the 15-point bonus for most tickets completed. (It's still possibly a viable strategy, but not a broken one.)


Volans - Feb 10, 2009 4:04:17 pm PST #1641 of 26133
move out and draw fire

I don't know...in 2-, 3-, and 4-player it's been a solid win strategy. The other players can't get their routes built fast enough because you are controlling the deck. Maybe that says more about who I play against.


megan walker - Feb 10, 2009 4:16:25 pm PST #1642 of 26133
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist

There's no limit to the number of cards you can hold. So you simply draw cards on every turn, until you hold all your routes. By that time, you will probably hold several of your opponents' routes also, and may have cornered the market on one or two colors.

I only have Ticket to Ride Europe, but this makes no sense to me as a strategy.

Are you saying you use all your initial turns to collect extra route cards, and then later turns to build on those routes? Or, in the original game, do you not have to decide between drawing color cards, drawing route cards, and building (as in the Europe version)?