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Avalon Hill, 3M Parker Bros. Business European Mystery Politics Space/Fantasy
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EXCERPTS
FROM THE FALL 1998 GA REPORT
FROM "K-BAN'S KORNER": EL GRANDE (Rio Grande Games; $39.95) El Grande, Germany's richly deserved 1996 Game of the Year, is finally available entirely in English...Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich's collaboration is... the perfect 10! El Grande's impressive map board represents nine regions of 15th Century Spain and includes a 4" high 3D castle, the Castillo. Each of the regions, including the Castillo, has a mini-scoreboard indicating the points to be earned by having the most, second most, and sometimes, third most, nobles placed there.The game is for three to five players and each player is randomly dealt a starting region where he places his high noble (represented by a large wooden block) or Grande and two of their average nobles (represented by small wooden blocks) called Caballeros. ... Players are also given identical decks of color-coded power cards that are numbered from 1-13 and indicate, pictorially, how many Caballeros a player may transfer from his Provinces to his Court. The heart of this game is the interaction between five revealed action cards and the power card used to bid for them. Action cards allow players to move a designated number of their Cabelleros from Court to any region on the board adjacent to where the King (a tall, wooden marker) is currently situated. The action card also allows a player to take special actions that can benefit himself and/or hurt his opponents. Players study the five action cards on display and, in effect, bid on them...using their power cards... an elegantly crafted mechanism...to choose between long term and short term gratification...these choices can be excruciating... Nine rounds make game (a playing time of 90 to 120 minutes) with scoring taking place after the 3rd, 6th and 9th rounds.... El Grande has remarkable balance... no luck per se - just interaction caused by each player's decisions....Highly recommended. - - - - - - Steve Kurzban
MYSTERY RUMMY: CASE NO. 1: JACK THE RIPPER (US Games Systems, Inc.; $8.95)Jack the Ripper terrorizes the fog-shrouded streets of London once again...as two, three or four players earn points while collecting evidence to reveal The Ripper's true identity from a Rogue's Gallery of six suspects. This clever card game..., first in a proposed series of mystery-themed games, is a rummy variant designed by Mike Fitzgerald... After drawing a card... a player may play ONE Gavel card (Victim, Scene [of the Crime] etc.) and as many Evidence cards as wished. Melds of three or more appropriately atmospheric, color-coded, Evidence cards can only be played once at least one Victim has been revealed. The matching Suspect card can only be played once matching Evidence has been melded... Most cards carry point values. The suspect with the most melded points from all players is the Ripper. Players score individually and earn points based on the cards they have played... Play continues...until one player totals 100 points to win! Of course, the Ripper can escape...Should all five victims be in play, the player holding "The Ripper Escapes" card plays it immediately - even out of turn! This nets a formidable 35 points for that player while cancelling out ALL points on the table (except for Victims and Scenes). But get caught with that card when another player goes out and you LOSE two points for each victim in play... an auspicious start to a promising series ....- - - - Herb Levy
GUILLOTINE (Wizards of the Coast; $9.99)The bloodthirsty aspects of the French Revolution might seem an apt subject for a wargame or historical simulation. Surprisingly, the subject works brilliantly in a bright, light, non-collectible card game - Guillotine....Guillotine puts two to five players in the role of competing executioners (!) trying to behead the most valuable nobles!...Play consists of three "days"...12 nobles are dealt out in a straight line to await their fate. The Action deck is shuffled and every player receives a hand of five cards. Each turn, a player may play an Action card. Whether or not an Action card is played, that player collects the first Noble in line and then draws another Action card. All Nobles are worth (mostly positive) points. Some combinations of Nobles have a bonus value. The Action cards can impact on line order... In this way, a player can affect which Noble is in the front of the line when it's time to collect one. Once all 12 Nobles are collected for the day, a second array of 12 is arranged...At the end of the third day, points are totalled. The player with the most points wins!...The game is remarkably enjoyable, helped immensely by the Disney-esque artwork...While it is true that the game has a large random element to it, the Action cards do help to give you some (albeit limited) control over your destiny - but control is beside the point. Style (and fun) is.--------- Herb Levy
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