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Lowell Kempf
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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As the head count for Charcon is starting to add up, I am seeing a familiar, age-old problem rearing its head as it always does.
Not good old too-many-games-,-not-enough-time. That particular ‘problem’ is pretty much a constant in my life. This time, it’s the too-many-gamers-at-the-table.
At this point, we’re looking at having at least six people in our group and it could go as high as nine. I can’t complain with any kind of credibility though. Feast is a whole lot better than famine and I’m sure we’ll spend plenty of time playing two different games at the same time. However, I know that since we are coming from all over the country to see each other, we are going to want to play at least a few games as a group.
Four players is the platonic ideal for a group of Euro-gamers. The number of good games that you can play well with four players is legion. Five is still solid. It’s when you get to six that things start to get a little shaky. And, when you get over six, that’s when you start asking why you’re not splitting into two tables.
In addition to the fact that they’re just aren’t that many games that play groups that large apart from party games that you can play as teams, there are two things that tend to kill games with that number of players. The time in between a player’s turn can end up being long enough for them to go play a quicker game in between turns and the amount of control a player has drops considerably.
A three-player game of Acquire, for instance, is a quick-moving, brutal affair where the players are essentially hitting each other with carefully selected sledge hammers. A six-player game, on the other hand, you are just praying that you get a tile that will let you slide a stiletto into someone, anyone, and that you can still use that tile when it gets to be your turn again.
In the end, I find that you are looking at lighter games for those kinds of numbers. Yes, there are some heavier games, like Advanced Civilization or Titan that whose long playing time and high number of players will reward you for playing them. However, those are the exceptions to the rules and you need to make sure that everyone has planned their day to spend the whole day playing them.
Over the years, I have tried out a number of games. Some have surprised me, like Who’s the Ass that proved to be a fast little climbing game. Some have disappointed me, like Citadels, which, despite its strong reputation, has fallen flat at every table I’ve taken it to.
The one game that has proven to be a winner at just about every table I’ve taken it to is 6 Nimmt. It will play up to ten people and everyone plays at the same time so adding players doesn’t add much to the play time. It is also a game where the wild card element isn’t the deck but the choices of the other players. On top of all that, it’s a deck of cards that could fit into your jacket pocket.
So, no matter what else I pack, that is going with me to Charcon. It might not be new and shiny but it is reliable and it always works. We are all going to see each other so I know everyone will want to play at least one game with everyone else. 6 Nimmt (admittedly in the cheaper form of Slide 5) will do the trick.
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