Gameblogtag:www.melankolia.net,2007-08-17:/gameblog//332008-05-14T15:58:27ZMikko Saari on board games.Movable Type Publishing Platform 4.0More playing-cardstag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.99482008-05-14T15:54:52Z2008-05-14T15:58:27ZModiano was kind enough to send me some sample packs, so more playing-card reviews are coming up!...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
Modiano was kind enough to send me some sample packs, so more playing-card reviews are coming up!]]>
Playing-card reviewtag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.99322008-05-12T09:22:33Z2008-05-12T10:22:56ZThis time I'm taking a look at some Doppelkopf packs. These packs have 48 cards, but they are actually made of two 24-card packs. Thus, the packs have A, K, Q, J, 10, 9 in each suit twice. Doppelkopf is...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
Doppelkopf is a very good game, developed from Schafkopf. In Doppelkopf, or Doko as it's also known, there are four players and usually the two players who have the club queens play together against the other two. It's a complicated game, but for serious card players, Doko offers interesting challenges and is highly recommended.
You can also use the Doko pack to play Pinochle and of course, split it to make two packs for playing Schnapsen...
ASS Doppelkopf Deutsches Bild. This Doppelkopf pack from ASS (here's a tip: if you search for their home page, search for Altenburger...) has German suits and pictures. That is, the four suits are hearts, acorns, leaves and bells. The court cards are king, ober and under. The obers and unders have the correct suit symbols: ober is marked with a suit symbol in the top corner and under in the bottom corner. However, all cards have indices as well (courts are K, O, U). The cards are also double-headed.
Highlights of the pack include the very beautiful aces. Shown below is the ace of hearts, but the others are just as decorative. The court cards are rather fancy as well. The theme is old-fashioned country-side style, as suits the symbols. Under of acorns is falconer, for example, while under of leaves brandishes a milk jug and a hoe. The bells are all very high-and-mighty figures, even the under wields a sword and a book. Very beautiful.
The pack also has six cards with the official rules of tournament Doppelkopf - in German, unfortunately. The cards come in a clear two-part plastic shell, which is fairly functional but needs a rubber band to stay shut. All in all, this is a handsome and useful pack, and a good choice if you wish to play Doppelkopf with the German pictures - which of course limits the potential users quite a bit outside Germany.
Piatnik Doppelkopf Franz. Bild, No. 182419. This Piatnik pack has French pictures, which means it has the standard suits: hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. The indices are German, though: K, D, B, and actually, the pictures are German as well. You see, in the Anglo-American standard courts, king of clubs represents Charlemagne (see Ron Decker's explanation) who holds the globe. In this pack and other German packs, it's the king of hearts who holds the globe. Also, here king of spades can be recognized as David, as he has his harp. In the Anglo-American standard pattern, the harp is not always visible.
The art here is very elegant and pleasant. The cards are of high quality and packed in a simple cardboard tuck box. Given the French suits, this is easier to approach than the pack with German suits, so if you're looking for a pack of Doppelkopf cards, here's a good pick. Of course, if you don't play Doppelkopf, this pack won't have much use either and the value of the pack is in the art. If your collection doesn't yet have a pack with the German-style courts with David as king of spades, that might be a reason enough to get this pack.
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W. Eric Martin's 40 thoughtstag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.99282008-05-10T10:12:20Z2008-05-10T10:15:56ZW. Eric Martin's Forty Thoughts on Gamers and Gaming is something worth reading....Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
Forty Thoughts on Gamers and Gaming is something worth reading.]]>
Cards from Piatniktag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.99272008-05-10T08:45:50Z2008-05-10T08:51:14ZI have good news for those of you who have enjoyed my playing-card reviews: I just placed an order to Piatnik, I'm getting 17 of their packs. Tarock, mostly, but also several different European regional packs. You see, I asked...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
I have good news for those of you who have enjoyed my playing-card reviews: I just placed an order to Piatnik, I'm getting 17 of their packs. Tarock, mostly, but also several different European regional packs. You see, I asked around for cards to review and Piatnik's Finnish agent replied. I didn't get anything for free, but even after VAT and shipping, those prices were dirt cheap. So, reviews are coming as soon as I get the cards.
I asked other major European card makers, but haven't heard of others yet. Someone from Modiano did ask for my telephone number, but haven't called me yet...
Enuktag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.99262008-05-10T08:21:30Z2008-05-10T08:34:28Z We played Enuk with Johanna. It's a new children's game from the Queen Kids line, designed by Stefan Dorra and Manfred Reindl. It's so new that it isn't in the Geek yet (I've added it, but it's waiting for...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
We played Enuk with Johanna. It's a new children's game from the Queen Kids line, designed by Stefan Dorra and Manfred Reindl. It's so new that it isn't in the Geek yet (I've added it, but it's waiting for approval). Enuk is a fun little game, I would describe it as push-your-luck memory. Players turn over tiles with animals on them. You can continue until you want to stop, an igloo tile comes up or the animals are scared. The herring are scared of salmons, salmons are scared of seals, seals are scared of polar bears and polar bears are scared of eskimos.
When something is scared, all those tiles are turned face down and you get to keep the rest. If you quit voluntarily or because you got an igloo tile, you get to keep every tile you turned over. The goal of the game is to have most tiles in the end.
When players draw igloo tiles they place the tile and a meeple on the board. In the final phase - the eskimo tiles are a timer, once all are out the final phase begins - players with meeples on the board get a chance to get more tiles. You name an animal and turn over a tile, and if you're correct, you get the tile and another go. You get one turn per meeple in the igloo.
It's very simple, over in 20 minutes maximum and very entertaining! The combination of memory and push-your-luck should work both for kids and adults, it isn't tedious for grown-ups or too difficult for children. I rather enjoyed it and will keep this one waiting for Nooa to grow up.
We played two rounds, each winning one. In the first one Johanna was a tad too reckless and lost, but when she played more carefully, she won me hands down. The memory element really spices up the push-your-luck game.]]>
Thursday session: Thief of Baghdad, Strohmann-Tarocktag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.99202008-05-08T17:21:30Z2008-05-10T08:37:34ZI arrived in a bad time this week: two games had just started. I sat watching and discussing playing cards with Hannu (he had bought a rather entertaining German pack of cards, it's a reproduction of 19th century Saxony pack...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
Arkadia was moving slowly, so Hannu suggested playing Strohmann-Tarock on the side. Suits me!
There's a very good page on Strohmandeln, with rules and strategy. It's a two-player Tarock variant, where players have 15-card hands and three four-card draw piles. The top cards are visible and part of player's hand. Very clever, and it works well. Part of your hand is a mystery, but you see part of opponent's hand and can use that information. Suit cards are much more important than in most Tarot games.
We played three rounds. Hannu won the first as declarer, I got the second and in the third one, Hannu declared and made Uhu (won second-to-last trick with trump 2), but I got the game, so I won 7-4. It was fun, and Hannu enjoyed it as well. I'm fairly sure we'll get the cards out in a second next time we're playing something with just the two of us...
Edit: There's a more thorough Strohmandeln session report on Geek.
Next up was Thief of Baghdad. Players move their thieves between palaces to collect treasure chests. To get in, you must have your own bribed guard in front of the palace and an opponent's guard (to take the blame for the thieves, of course!). There's some pretty nice maneuvering, but also plenty of luck with the cards - getting stuck with bad cards can hurt you a lot.
Occasionally the game was fun, when you were able to pull off some neat move. Most of the time it wasn't very interesting, rather boring really. The game looks pretty cool, but it is one of those rather spiritless euro games, with nifty mechanics but very little attraction otherwise. I would play again, but the situation would have to be fairly desperate... We played twice, with the new Dutch guy Pieter winning both games. The first one was a massacre, but the second was good and exciting, with everybody having three chests when you need four to win. That was nice.
We finished off the evening with two games of Die Dolmengötter. We played with three and four players, and after these games I'd say four is better. The game is based on player interaction and providing incentives to other players and I feel it loses something when there are just three players. That doesn't mean five would be even better - I haven't tried it, but the game is short that with five it would probably be way too short. In any case, I love the game, it's a gem. ]]>
Russian Preferencetag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.99002008-05-03T12:26:54Z2008-05-04T13:56:49Z My mother and Ismo were visiting to see Nooa. Well, Nooa didn't want to sleep before they arrived and we had to put him to bed while they were here, so we entertained ourselves with games while Nooa was...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
My mother and Ismo were visiting to see Nooa. Well, Nooa didn't want to sleep before they arrived and we had to put him to bed while they were here, so we entertained ourselves with games while Nooa was napping. I got to clear one game from my "I need to play this list", that is Russian Preference. I even had Russian cards to play it with.
Preference is a three-player card game where one player is a declarer and the other two play against him. The defenders also have a trick quota to make. In most variations of the game the declarer's quota is six tricks (out of ten) and the declarer only chooses the trumps, but in Russian Preference the number of tricks to make is a part of the bidding. If declarer bids more than six tricks, the quote for the defenders is smaller.
That's simple enough. Everybody who has ever played a trick-taking game with bidding will understand Russian Preference right away, and even if bidding is a strange concept, it still is fairly easy. The scoring is slightly complicated, though: in three-player game every player has four different scores. Pulja (bullet) points are scored for making declared games, heap points are scored when player fails to make a contract (or a defender's quota) and whist points are scored when defending. Whist points are counted separately against both opponents.
So, if you make a contract, you score 2-10 pulja points depending on the contract. Number of tricks made doesn't matter once you make the limit, so one needs to choose a high enough contract to ensure the maximum number of points. If you fail, you gain the same number of heap points for each missing trick. That's very painful, if you miss more than one trick in a valuable contract.
If the defenders make their trick quota, they get whist points against the declarer, once again the same amount as the declarer would get pulja points for each trick made. If declarer is missing tricks, the defenders get more points for those. If defenders fail, they too score heap points - but only the defender who made less tricks.
The defenders don't have to play - they can pass. If both pass, the declarer wins automatically. If one passes, the other can either play alone against the declarer or request the other player to play too. In that case the forced player has no risk, he or she won't get any heap points if they fail - but no whist points either, if there's a success.
The game is over when everybody has ten pulja points. That's the maximum one can have. If the points flow over, the extra points are given to the player with the second most pulja points. In exchange, the giver gets ten whist points against that player for each pulja point given. This is a nice mechanism, as it makes sure the game actually ends, even when someone can't play. The game can be as short as three deals (if each deal is bid to ten and made), but if the players can't make contracts, the game can take longer. In practise our game took something between 60 and 90 minutes.
In the end the points are counted. Pulja points don't count, because everybody has ten anyway. Heap points are converted to whist points. They're each worth ten whist points (as are pulja points). If someone has lots of heap points, everybody else will get plenty of whist points against him, that's the basic idea.
Then you just compare the whist points. In our game Ismo had 209 whist points against me, while I had 68 whist points against him. The difference is 141, so Ismo scored 141 whist points while I lost the same amount. This is done for each pair of players and finally the scores are summed. It's a complicated process, but once you get the hang of it, it's not that hard, and it works pretty well.
In our game Ismo dominated, he made many contracts, one at nine tricks, even. Of the 30 pulja points in the game, I think he made about 25. This meant, of course, plenty of whist points. Unfortunately I experiented with collecting heap points: I made a whopping 34 them, giving both my mother and Ismo 93 whist points against me in the end. My mother didn't make any contracts, but she didn't fail many, either.
So, in the end, Ismo scored 193 points, my mother got 87 and I paid it all by scoring -280. I think I need some practise...
But I liked the game. It's simple, challenging and fun. It's no Skat, but then again, it's much easier to learn and enjoy. There's enough challenge in the bidding and the play to keep things interesting.
(The pictures for this entry are from Piatnik's Great Russia Standard Playing Cards pack, catalog number 1133. Pretty standard pack, just with Russian indices.)]]>
Playing-card review 2: Modiano Tarocco Siciliano, Noblet Tarot de Marseilletag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.98982008-05-02T17:25:00Z2008-05-02T17:25:44ZThis time I'm taking a look at some Tarot packs that are perhaps better suited for enjoyment as art, not as playing-cards. Modiano Tarocco Siciliano. The first thing one notices is the small size. The cards are as wide as...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/Modiano Tarocco Siciliano. The first thing one notices is the small size. The cards are as wide as typical Bridge cards, but even shorter. Thus, they are a lot smaller than Tarot cards usually are. The pack has just 64 cards. The suits (Italian symbols, but the card design bears signs of the Portuguese pattern - according to Dummett and McLeod this pack is the sole remaining representative of the Portuguese pattern in Europe) have cards 5-10 and the four court cards with coins having also 4 and ace. The jacks are female. Pip cards have indexes, while court cards are fairly easy to tell apart.
There are numbered trumps from 1-20 and two unnumbered trumps, Miseria and Fool. Miseria depicts a beggar with the text Miseria on top. The trumps have fairly typical pictures, but in unusual order and with some curiosities. For some reason I found the Hanged Man card rather disturbing: usually he is hanged from the foot, but in this pack he's hanged from his neck with his back turned to the watcher. The Sun shines over a fight, too - the art is beautiful, but rather strange at times. There's apparently some remains from Minchiate influences as well.
For most people this pack will be a curiosity only. There are several games known from Sicily, where it seems they play a different kind of Tarot in the different villages. Dummett and McLeod document several games in their book (A History of Games Played with the Tarot Pack), but none of those descriptions are available on Pagat. I'm going to make some effort to try at least one of the games, the pack is curious enough to guarantee that, but for most people that's not an option.
So, while the pack is perfectly functional for playing - the cards are clear enough, the material good and so on - for most people the value of this pack is in the art. I would recommend the pack for that use as well, as the cards are beautiful and the trumps are curious and fairly unusual. Also, if you want a pack of Tarocco Sicialiano cards, this is your only option, nobody else makes these cards anymore.
Jean Noblet Tarot de Marseille. Tarot of Marseilles is one of the major styles in Tarot cards, and the source where most occult Tarot traditions draw from. The pack designed by Jean Noblet in 1650 is a fine example of the style. There is one remaining copy of the pack in Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Fortunately it is nearly complete, missing only few pip cards from the swords. This reproduction by Jean-Claude Fornoy is based on the original cards, faithful to the original line drawings and with new, bright colours.
Fornoy has done well. The cards are beautiful, real works of art. The trumps are particularly pretty. They are Fornoy's favourite, as well. From his boutique, you can buy either a full 78-card pack or just 22 trumps, hand-coloured. I have the full pack, but I believe the hand-coloured trumps are quite a wonderful piece of work, as even the full pack is very beautiful.
I wouldn't recommend these cards for playing the game. The pip cards are somewhat confusing, as is usual with the older designs. There are small indices in the cards and the court cards have names on them, so it's not impossible to use this pack for games - after all, that was the original purpose why it was made in the first place. A bigger problem is the sharp corners of the cards and even though the material seems sturdy, I have a feeling the cards might get scuffed fairly easily and frankly, this is a pack I'd rather keep in fine shape and enjoy as a piece of art, not as an object in use.
Included with the pack is a small leaflet with few pages of information on Tarot and Jean Noblet and 60 pages of fairly pointless psychobabble. Those into card-reading might find that interesting; I got nothing out of it. I would've preferred to have more historical information, as that is always interesting.
(My scanner isn't doing justice to these cards; the colours are much better on the actual cards.)]]>
Playing-card review 1: Piatnik 1935, Carta Mundi Versaillestag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.98932008-04-30T15:43:12Z2008-05-01T10:16:26ZAs a new feature I'm going to review playing-cards. There are quite a few different packs available and finding information about them is hard. So, here's something and more to come, especially if I get any encouragement. Piatnik Tarock 54...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/Piatnik Tarock 54 Blatt Nr. 1935. This is an Austrian-style 54-card Tarock pack. That is, 22 trumps and 32 other cards. As usual, there are king, queen, knight and jack in each suit and 7-10 in black suits and 1-4 in red suits. Cards have no indices, but the court cards are easy to tell from each other and with pip cards, the lack of indices is only problem for the black cards. In most games the pip cards are almost completely insignificant, so it often makes no difference whatsoever whether you hold eight or nine of clubs.
The trumps have Roman numerals. To me this seems more authentic for some reason than just numbers. The pictures show vaguely Eastern European countryside life. The cards are printed well and pictures have beautiful colours. The cards are slightly oversized compared to regular Bridge or Poker cards and of typical Piatnik quality.
This pack is identical to pack number 1936 except for the backs. 1936 has a subtle line pattern, this has baroque ornaments in blue and white. 1936 is my current favourite pack for 54 card games, and for all practical reasons 1935 is just as good.
Carta Mundi Jeu de Tarot - 78 Cartes. This pack has no identification number or other details, but the back pattern is called Versailles so if you search for that, you should be able to find a whole family of backs with the same design. The pattern is blue and gold floral design, but apparently there is also a red and gold variation available. I'm not sure if there's a red and gold tarot pack, though.
In any case, this is a full 78 card pack, that is 22 trumps and 56 cards otherwise. All cards bear indices in four corners; court cards have French indices (R, D, C and V). The trumps have what is apparently a French standard pictures, but here the pictures look better than in the other French tarot pack I have. The colours are better. The trumps are numbered with Arabic numerals.
Included with the pack are the rules and a scoring card for French Tarot. The card quality is excellent. This is a very good pack for playing almost any Tarot game and my standard suggestion to people who wish to buy exactly one Tarot pack and thus want maximum versatility.
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Thursday session: Eketorptag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.98922008-04-30T10:05:36Z2008-04-30T10:16:39ZAnother Thursday session, this time on Tuesday because the Vappu festivities on Thursday mean the university is closed. After a quick round of Coloretto we bit into Eketorp. Whether to play this or not was a bit of a question,...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
After a quick round of Coloretto we bit into Eketorp. Whether to play this or not was a bit of a question, since from reading the rules I knew I would not enjoy the game. However, I decided there is some value having played the game - at least I can now write a review of it, since it's coming out in Finnish.
The reason why I don't like the game lies in the main mechanics: double-guessing and blind bidding. That's it. First players allocate their viking warriors on different fields. If you're lucky and choose fields nobody else is taking, you get good rewards. If you fail to do that, you'll have to fight and win to get anything. Fighting is done by playing battle cards with values from 1 to 6: bigger card wins, then players exchange cards.
This is repeated for ten rounds. It's a long session of rather tedious repetition. The box says 45-60 minutes, our game took 90 minutes. I could tolerate a game like this for 30 minutes. It'll take some convincing to get me play this one again. It's not a bad game if you like this sort of thing: one person in our game enjoyed it a lot.
After Eketorp we played one quick round of Die Dolmengötter, this time with all newbies except me. The Ollis offered tough opposition: the top three had scores of 73, 72 and 70. Tapani took the fourth place 20 points behind... Dolmengötter gets better every time. This time I made some blunders, didn't play my druids well, but managed to survive anyhow. I did one teleport jump without leaving a stone, that was a critical move which ensured my win even though I had to pay a point there. Interesting, interesting... ]]>
Game timertag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.98812008-04-28T10:10:07Z2008-04-28T10:21:01ZRemember the online Chess timer I mentioned before? It was discussed on the Finnish Board Game Society forums and the lack of multi-player option was noted. Well, it didn't take many days before Zumba Gametimer was online. Check it out,...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
Zumba Gametimer was online. Check it out, if you need a multi-player timer. ]]>
A word on video games - Mario Kart Wii rocks!tag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.98782008-04-27T11:57:06Z2008-04-27T12:11:07ZWe got a Wii last week. The final reason was Mario Kart Wii - it's one of my favourite series, I've enjoyed it on both GameCube and particularly on DS. The Wii version is the best, however, for several reasons....Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
Mario Kart Wii - it's one of my favourite series, I've enjoyed it on both GameCube and particularly on DS. The Wii version is the best, however, for several reasons.
Wii has been on our "to buy" list since it came out, it was obvious we would buy it at some point. It's the only console I'm at all interested in. PS3 and Xbox 360 have simply nothing at all to offer me, yet I've been quite intrigued by Wii. I don't care about flashy graphics or most games, I want clever gameplay and few choice hits I'm going to play a lot. Mario Kart Wii fits the bill, and I expect Wii Sports (bowling in particular but also tennis) to entertain me for quite a while as well.
Mario Kart Wii is a very good game. The gimmick is the Wheel, where you insert the Wii remote and then go driving. It's funny, it'll change your driving style a bit, but it works. It takes some getting used to, but I like it. It's not a cheap gimmick, but actually a rather pleasant way of driving.
There's some other new stuff as well. There are now bikes as well: 100 cc class is at first bikes only and 150 cc is bikes or karts. A local game critic didn't like the bikes, but I love them - right now if I have a choice, I'm riding a bike. They just work very well with my driving style.
The new tracks are fun, there are several rather clever and funny tracks in the new set and the recycled set is well chosen. Many favourites are back, with some new twists. The new tracks remind me of F-Zero GX at several places... There's plenty of speed and some pretty tough challenges. The latest version of Rainbow Road is just fiendish.
There's a ton of chaos in the game, it's much worse than before if you don't like it. There's 12 karts or bikes in each race and some new and nasty objects (POW blocks and the thunderclouds in particular), so there's trouble ahead! Winning races is hard at 150 cc, because someone's blasting you with shells or something all the time. Skip this game if you can't stand the chaos or are easily frustrated...
What really works is the online play. I tried online matches with DS, but that wasn't very good. There's little point in running four race competitions when your opponents are going to drop out as soon as they figure out you're better. Here it's just one race at a time, with up to 12 players. Players have rankings, and if you suck, you don't have to win to improve your rating (right now, I think if I only could make it fifth or so, I would improve my rating in most cases). That makes sure everybody has motivation to do their best all the time.
One feature I really like is ghost races. You can get a ghost run that's slightly better than your current record and try to beat that. That gives the game so much extra mileage. I used to do something similar with Tommy in F-Zero GX: we had an online leaderboard where we recorded our times. That competition kept me playing F-Zero GX for a long time after I had unlocked all the cups. Here it is built in the system. You can compete with your friends, find random opponents at your level, challenge the continental or world champion, race against staff ghosts, see how your times compare to other people... All very cool stuff, and everything works without any trouble at all.
So, I expect to play Mario Kart Wii for a long time, because the regular cups will offer more challenge than before and the online play will add to that. This all means the game is well worth the money and almost alone enough of a reason to get Wii.]]>
Two nice GeekListstag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.98772008-04-27T04:48:50Z2008-04-27T05:10:27ZThe Generic GeekList - The only GeekList you'll ever need. Images for Desktop Wallpaper - Need desktop wallpapers? Sorry, the Generic GeekList won't help, but this one will!...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
The Generic GeekList - The only GeekList you'll ever need.
Images for Desktop Wallpaper - Need desktop wallpapers? Sorry, the Generic GeekList won't help, but this one will!
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Chess Timertag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.98702008-04-24T09:21:13Z2008-04-24T09:22:33ZJonathan Rose has done a pretty neat JavaScript Chess Timer. It's easy to use, looks neat and seems to work pretty well (haven't tried it in action, though)....Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
JavaScript Chess Timer. It's easy to use, looks neat and seems to work pretty well (haven't tried it in action, though).]]>
The International Playing-Card Societytag:www.melankolia.net,2008:/gameblog//33.98662008-04-22T11:24:49Z2008-04-22T16:37:27ZI joined The International Playing-Card Society recently. I have little interest in participating the activities, but I was curious about Playing-Card, their journal. I received the three back issues of this subscription season yesterday and I'd say they're worth the...Mikkohttp://www.melankolia.net/
The International Playing-Card Society recently. I have little interest in participating the activities, but I was curious about Playing-Card, their journal. I received the three back issues of this subscription season yesterday and I'd say they're worth the money. I mean, I haven't subscribed to Counter, because I can read board game stuff online more than enough. However, The Playing-Card has material that isn't as easily available online.
There's tarot reviews in each issue. One of them pointed me to Tarot History, which is a web site about French Marseille tarot. They've recently published a beautiful new edition of Jean Noblet's Marseille tarot pack from 1650. It looks really great: it has the original line drawings and new, bright and beautiful colours. You can get a hand-made edition of the trumps as well (there are neat pictures of the colouring process). ]]>
ASS Doppelkopf Deutsches Bild. This Doppelkopf pack from ASS (here's a tip: if you search for their home page, search for Altenburger...) has German suits and pictures. That is, the four suits are hearts, acorns, leaves and bells. The court cards are king, ober and under. The obers and unders have the correct suit symbols: ober is marked with a suit symbol in the top corner and under in the bottom corner. However, all cards have indices as well (courts are K, O, U). The cards are also double-headed.
Highlights of the pack include the very beautiful aces. Shown below is the ace of hearts, but the others are just as decorative. The court cards are rather fancy as well. The theme is old-fashioned country-side style, as suits the symbols. Under of acorns is falconer, for example, while under of leaves brandishes a milk jug and a hoe. The bells are all very high-and-mighty figures, even the under wields a sword and a book. Very beautiful.
The pack also has six cards with the official rules of tournament Doppelkopf - in German, unfortunately. The cards come in a clear two-part plastic shell, which is fairly functional but needs a rubber band to stay shut. All in all, this is a handsome and useful pack, and a good choice if you wish to play Doppelkopf with the German pictures - which of course limits the potential users quite a bit outside Germany.
Piatnik Doppelkopf Franz. Bild, No. 182419. This Piatnik pack has French pictures, which means it has the standard suits: hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. The indices are German, though: K, D, B, and actually, the pictures are German as well. You see, in the Anglo-American standard courts, king of clubs represents Charlemagne (see Ron Decker's explanation) who holds the globe. In this pack and other German packs, it's the king of hearts who holds the globe. Also, here king of spades can be recognized as David, as he has his harp. In the Anglo-American standard pattern, the harp is not always visible.
The art here is very elegant and pleasant. The cards are of high quality and packed in a simple cardboard tuck box. Given the French suits, this is easier to approach than the pack with German suits, so if you're looking for a pack of Doppelkopf cards, here's a good pick. Of course, if you don't play Doppelkopf, this pack won't have much use either and the value of the pack is in the art. If your collection doesn't yet have a pack with the German-style courts with David as king of spades, that might be a reason enough to get this pack.
We played Enuk with Johanna. It's a new children's game from the Queen Kids line, designed by Stefan Dorra and Manfred Reindl. It's so new that it isn't in the Geek yet (I've added it, but it's waiting for approval). Enuk is a fun little game, I would describe it as push-your-luck memory. Players turn over tiles with animals on them. You can continue until you want to stop, an igloo tile comes up or the animals are scared. The herring are scared of salmons, salmons are scared of seals, seals are scared of polar bears and polar bears are scared of eskimos.
When something is scared, all those tiles are turned face down and you get to keep the rest. If you quit voluntarily or because you got an igloo tile, you get to keep every tile you turned over. The goal of the game is to have most tiles in the end.
When players draw igloo tiles they place the tile and a meeple on the board. In the final phase - the eskimo tiles are a timer, once all are out the final phase begins - players with meeples on the board get a chance to get more tiles. You name an animal and turn over a tile, and if you're correct, you get the tile and another go. You get one turn per meeple in the igloo.
It's very simple, over in 20 minutes maximum and very entertaining! The combination of memory and push-your-luck should work both for kids and adults, it isn't tedious for grown-ups or too difficult for children. I rather enjoyed it and will keep this one waiting for Nooa to grow up.
We played two rounds, each winning one. In the first one Johanna was a tad too reckless and lost, but when she played more carefully, she won me hands down. The memory element really spices up the push-your-luck game.]]>
After a quick round of Coloretto we bit into Eketorp. Whether to play this or not was a bit of a question, since from reading the rules I knew I would not enjoy the game. However, I decided there is some value having played the game - at least I can now write a review of it, since it's coming out in Finnish.
The reason why I don't like the game lies in the main mechanics: double-guessing and blind bidding. That's it. First players allocate their viking warriors on different fields. If you're lucky and choose fields nobody else is taking, you get good rewards. If you fail to do that, you'll have to fight and win to get anything. Fighting is done by playing battle cards with values from 1 to 6: bigger card wins, then players exchange cards.
This is repeated for ten rounds. It's a long session of rather tedious repetition. The box says 45-60 minutes, our game took 90 minutes. I could tolerate a game like this for 30 minutes. It'll take some convincing to get me play this one again. It's not a bad game if you like this sort of thing: one person in our game enjoyed it a lot.