Cherry Picking

I am a fan of Zoch's lighter games and am surprised that they don't get seen at games clubs. This might be due to the lack of advertising outside of Germany.

The latest game from Zoch continues the line of easy to play, whimsical and attractive fillers is Cherry Picking

The players are harvesting fruit and score points for making sets and for the face value of cards that they collect. Contents - Six different fruit trees (laid on the table) - a card deck made up of 4 different types of cards - Fruits corresponding to the tress with values 0 - 6, Ladders, Wild cards and baskets (values 0-9). The cards are shuffled and six are laid out, one under each tree. The players are then dealt the remainder of the cards.

All players simultaneously choose a card from their and reveal. If anyone has played a ladder they go first and pick a card  from underneath any tree (the card they placed replaces the card they took). The card taken goes in their harvest pile which scores at the end of the game. If more than one ladder was played then the players just put the ladders in their harvest pile without collecting a card from under a tree. Not a total disaster as ladders score their square at the end of the game –for example 6 ladders = 36 points. Then the same happens with Wild Cards - you usually want to see more than one wild card so yours goes into your harvest pile and is not left on the table for someone else to snatch later  - Wildcards can be winners!. Then the fruit cards are resolved in number order - If I play a 6 Cherry I take whatever is under the cherry tree, and if you have played a zero cherry you get the 6 Ieft under the tree. So high values might get you a card you need but leave value for someone else to snatch away.   Lastly baskets play in number order and may take from any tree. This sounds a bit procedural but actually plays very quickly. When everyone has played their last card the game is scored - squares of ladders + face values of all cards + 10 points for each set of all six fruits + 10 points for a set of 4 of the same fruit which becomes 20 if you manage 5. Harvest piles are usually played open so you can see what other players are going for.

Like most Zoch games It's not brain surgery. You are likely to have a plan how you want to play from your starting hand, and what card you might want to play last so it can’t be picked up by anyone else. However it will change as you play out as Ladders become more or less valuable to you, as wild cards appear and as low value baskets start to litter the fruit trees. A lovely way to pass 20 minutes.

Hold the Press! Best of 2013 Part 6

The trouble with putting together 'best of 2013' lists is that it's quite likely that I will have not played a lot of games released in the year. Not a problem if you believe you can spot the games you are likely to like and those you won't. A comparison to 'King of Tokyo' (fine game, but does not set my heart racing) had caused me to ignore 'Quantum' - I can see how 'Quantum' can be compared to 'King of Tokyo' ; dice and special power cards - but the comparison is a disservice. One is a knock about dice fest the other is a sublime game of tactical chains, short lived strategic dreams and boundless outcomes - I played 6 times over the weekend and every game played out differently - every new game I saw new combos and tactical subtleties I had not seen before. Glorious. 

6 Plays. Rated a 9. Joint best in Class 2013

Best of 2013 Part 5

A Study in Emerald

Neil Gaimon’s short story, ‘A Study in Emerald’ is a paradigm of literary precision whereas Martin Wallace took the 3,000 or so words and poured in the anarchist history of the 19^th century, the complete Cthulhu Mythos , Vampires and Zombies. My first three plays had left me agreeing with the question is the game a ‘Mess’ or ‘a glorious mess’? My fourth added the option ‘Glorious’.  A mix of deck building, majorities, hidden objectives, take that and a bit of cosmic chaos means that its not going to be a game for the control lover. You need to enter the game and play the players not just the game. It was only in my 4^th outing that this clicked and just in time as one agent was converted to a Vampire, a plague of Zombies was spreading across the board towards me and an obvious 'Restorationist'  was making his bid for victory…and even though I was sure he was on my team I had to cap his main agent. A little like last years 'Archipelago' you have to manage the board and deduce the other players intentions and lay false trails your self. Delicious  and my choice as best game from 2013.

4 Plays. Rated 9/10

Best of 2013 Part 4

 ‘Caverna’ is my most played game of the 2013 crop - if you did not like’ Agricola’ because ‘its no fun/you can’t’ specialize/its not got Dwarves/feeding is boring then’ fill your boots with this magnificent game.  ‘Caverna’ adds a lot to the ‘Agricola’ formula – more animals, more resources and both a farm to build and an underground chamber to carve out and fill with rooms. The addition of currency in the form of gold and rubies adds interesting timing and conversion possibilities and the expeditions a whole new way of getting all the stuff you need. The design (and difficult production) choice to make the game playable by seven dwarves gives some clue as to the best player count – the more the merrier. At lower numbers it is an enjoyable, but solitary, optimization exercise, with higher numbers you are bumping up against Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy et al for the spots you want and the tiles you need.  Magnificent yes, but after 20 plays I need an expansion - I am interested in exploring the game  with 5+ player , whereas I am still happy to explore the limitless possibilities of the E,I and K decks. Excellent game – but not as good as ‘Agricola’

20 plays. Rating 8 out of 10

Best of 2013 Part 3

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Last summer I role played for the first time in 30 years.  For a whole weekend. In a 14^th century manor house. With five friends. I was bored rigid.

Somehow the magic of years ago has turned to dust. The process of role playing has become tedium; the imagination necessary to breath life into paper has gone. But a little boy inside would love to recreate the wonder of the first encounter with Gary Gygax's world. Well Pathfinder won’t peel back the years but I had five amazing evenings taking my cleric through the first adventure pack with a like minded board gamer. Pathfinder is an easy canvas to paint with role playing memories – none too taxing, tells a story and often goes to the wire.

Played 16 times. Rated 8/10

Best of 2013 Part 2

Concordia

Quasi-deck builders were very much en vogue with the more trad.  euro designers in Euro 13 and the genius of this game is that the action cards selected also determine your victory points at the end. Otherwise the play of the game feels remarkably like Mac Gerdt’s ,other, rondel games – you are cycling through a lot of small actions with a sense that you are always one short of what you want to achieve – and whilst what you want to achieve is a bit generic and boring (Mediterranean, trade goods, houses, ….) how you do it is very entertaining. I still prefer ‘Navegador’ but I wonder if that will change after more plays.

Played 3 times - rated 7/10

Best of 2013 Part 1

I am going to post a few thoughts about the games I enjoyed most from 2013.

 Lewis and Clark

This is happening every evening in a gaming basement near you :-

 ‘The game ends – then the scoring begins. 15 minutes and a collective 1147 points later a leader is determined, after 17 categories are tallied and compared, resources behind screens divided by two and then Min maxed for majorities. 7 of the tracks are tied and need to go the 4th breaker, secret goals are revealed and the player in last comes first.… ‘

 How refreshing 1. A Complex Euro game that scores only one point. To the winner of a race. At the End.

 How refreshing 2. An abstract design was developed in to a thematically rich and thematically coherent game.

The game itself is a thunderously brain burning 120 minutes of optimization, hand management and resource conversion. But I know how why I am going up the river. Played 3 times (won all of them – I am not going to tell you that my approach is the only way to winning though), rated 8/10 Guru tip . Never play with the AP, Sweet spot 3 or 4 experienced players