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Max Jamelli
United States
Chambersburg
Pennsylvania
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#34 on the list is 1960: The Making of the President.
I first saw 1960 here on BGG back in 2007. I got some money for Christmas that year and put my first ThoughtHammer order together. Among that first order was 1960. I was really excited about it because I was always a fan of election games. I've already gone into that detail in my blog post on CM08
When I first opened the box, I was surprised at how large the map board was. I was also impressed with the graphic design of the board. I went to work on the rules and found them to be easy to understand. I got to play it for the first time on January 19, 2008 with my dad. I played as Kennedy for the first few plays despite choosing sides randomly.
At the time, 1960 was a top 10 game for me easily. If I had to make a list, I probably had it 7th. The thing that really appealed to me was the card draw. Because of the card draw, each game would be/should be different. If it was 7th before, why is it 34th now? I guess it's a combination of a few things. Some newer games obviously, and I think seeing a strategy of really hammering issues to win pushed it down. I love the CDG aspect and I still have 1960 rated a 9.
I've enjoyed 1960 at home and at WBC events where I was able to meet some new gamers as well as get throttled by one of the best 1960 players at the con, Chris Withers. I GM'ed an online version for the BPA a few years back on gametableonline, but decided to stop for a few reasons. Attendance for that first tournament was right at the cut off for a sanctioned event, and GTO had just started charging for the ability to play human players. It's not a major cost, but I didn't want to force BPA members to pay another outside cost to participate. There are other online versions of the game out there, but I moved on to GM other games instead. I've tossed around GM'ing CM08 on Yucata .. we'll see.
Jen has had her difficulties with this one. She's come close to winning a few times, but she's 0-9 against me. Maybe that's why she rates it a 7. I think with a win, she's push that to an 8. As it stands now, it ranks 17th on our combined ratings geeklist. Funny thing is, she rates CM08 a 7 as well, and she has won that a few times.
Final Thoughts
I've done blog posts on Campaign Manager 2008 and Founding Fathers as well. Between those and 1960, Jason Matthews and Christian Leonhard are two of my favorite designers. I've tried Twilight Struggle a few times, but haven't really gotten the hang of it. Thinking about it now, I think I'm going to have to try it again via ACTS and Cyberboard with my dad (who will be patient with my noobness) I have also seen that Mr. Matthews designed a game called 1989: Dawn of Freedom - this looks a lot like his other designs, but based on the end of the Cold War. After looking over some comments from the GMT P-500 page, this may be a pre-order for me.
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