It was closing in on the 11.30 pm slot, and the highlight of last year's Con - Schnapp. But we had time for a little light filler so Gola and Dave taught me this Knizia golden oldie.
They suck as teachers, both of them beating me.
I often like light, quick Knizia fare. That said, I would rather play most any other light, quick Knizia fare than this.
I do suck at teaching, because I got the scoring slightly wrong on this one. I think I said that you have to get at least 100 points in a currency to score, but that's not quite it: if you have less than 200 points, you subtract 100 from that currency.
Knizia has better card games, I think, but I do find this one entertaining on the rare occasions that I play it.
I was feeling decidedly brain-dead by now, so Dave, Avri and I played a quick hand of Money. The game is oddly fun; there doesn't seem to be anything particularly astounding about it, but somehow it's just very amusing to play. I botched the scoring though; I said that you had to get 100 points in a currency to score it, but that's not right, of course. You score 100 less for anything under 200.
A passerby was impressed by my old-school Goldsieber edition, which is appropriate.
Gaming Notes: Not much to say this week, honestly. I've been too busy working to do much gaming. What little gaming I did do was largely mediocre.
Money! falls into the same category for me as High Society: a filler of the first order. The game is cleverly designed for what it is, but it is too short and too random for me to care. I didn't feel bad about losing; I can't imagine feeling good about winning; I made four or so decisions, was informed of a result, and went about my day.
Risk Legacy has finally run its course. My apathy for the game must have been evident toward the end because (1) I was much more interested in ensuring that we open the last of the packets than I was in attempting to establish a winning position and (2) one of the other players was actively trying to aid me to victory (he failed). I finished with a 1-14 record, tied for fourth among the five players in our group.
Roger's Reviews: check out my reviews page, right here on BGG!
Who let this guy become wargame subdomain moderator anyways?
Quote:
I didn't feel bad about losing; I can't imagine feeling good about winning; I made four or so decisions, was informed of a result, and went about my day.
The number of interesting points per minute of reading is really satisfying. I had no interest in it when it was just a few posts, but now that it's more substantial it really works for me.
Roger's Reviews: check out my reviews page, right here on BGG!
Who let this guy become wargame subdomain moderator anyways?
Mr_Nuts wrote:
Interesting discussion, guys.
The number of interesting points per minute of reading is really satisfying. I had no interest in it when it was just a few posts, but now that it's more substantial it really works for me.
Ben, when you used the phrase "interesting decisions per minute," did you have any idea that it was the basis of an old geeklist of Chris's and that Chris used it as (part of) a key criterion in the 30 or so reviews he wrote, 3-4 years ago?
Because my reading of this discussion is that Chris interpreted your comments as a direct criticism of an entire body of work, and that you didn't realize that was happening as the discussion progressed.
Am I way off?
Good catch, Jack. I'm not familiar with the Geeklist in question nor the reviews that may have worked off of it. I have seen Christopher use the phrase at least once in the GCL before, and I took it that he was invoking the concept once again in defense of Money!
Unpacked, his initial response contained three variables: quality of decisions (interesting), frequency of interesting decisions (every round), and temporal scope (10 minutes). Given this, I took his assumption that I found the decisions uninteresting to follow from these premises: 1. It is objectively true that Money! packs many meaningful decisions into few minutes. 2. More interesting decisions per minute is always better than fewer (all other things being equal) Conclusion1: Given 1 and 2, if Ben found the decisions interesting, he would have rated it more highly than he did. Conclusion2: Ben did not rate it highly, he therefore must have found the decisions uninteresting.
The entirety of my response thusfar has been directed at explaining why premise 2 doesn't apply to me. This is why I've been baffled by the response (and frankly, am still baffled).
I take it that Christopher continues to think that I'm making a statement about his grand theory of everything (which I haven't even read) when I am working tirelessly to emphasize that the only thing I want to discuss is quite literally the mathematical formula of interesting decisions per minute.
What I had been hoping to get from this discussion was (1) whether Christopher subscribes to premise 2 (with emphasis on the "all other things being equal"), and, if so, (2) what our differences with respect to premise 2 say about the reasons behind why we play games.
Now that I'm thinking of it, the question MIT be unfair. All else being equal (particularly game length), I'm not sure that more decisions per minute doesn't qualify as more satisfying for me. My objection is primarily that decisions per minute suggests that the first minute of a game and the last minute of a game are equal. My claim is that, for me, they are not because each minute builds upon the previous minutes.
Also, to answer Aliza's question, this is different than strategy versus tactics. Generally, I think tactics describes an individual decision where the best course of action is to maximize your position based on currently available information. I think strategy describes an individual decision that requires accounting for how the current decision affects one's future decisions. I still think that a series of tactical decisions in one game is better than a series of tactical decisions spread across multiple games.
I figured that this one was not a very popular microbadge among BGG users and I was right. At the time of writing there are only 19 owners! Well, I still do love paper money. Certainly it tears easily and can be difficult to handle but more than any other money component, it actually resembles real money. That fact is such a thematic immersion for me that it is almost impossible to replace and the reason why I don't want to use poker chips. I feel more like a succesful businessman when holding a wad of cash instead of a pile of card board tokens.
The words in the game are in Fan Ti form (old form).
Words found on the coin (read from top to bottom, then right to left): 嘉慶通寳: Read "jiā qìng tōng bǎo" and means "common treasure of (Emperor) Jia Qing". This is an actual coin cast during the years 1796-1820 AD of the reign of Emperor Ren Zong, the 7th emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
Great game. Original edition. In the size of, you, a card game. I despise the new ridiculously oversized edition (of this and other card games). I probably shouldn't have sold this. It's not like a little card game will burden my move. And I really do want to play again.
I currently have a PS3, PS2, Wii, XBox 360 and an Amiga 1200 all connected to my TV
HMS Astute on Sea Trials
Snappatoon wrote:
Supposedly, many tourists coming to Britain before the 1971 decimalisation changeover were bemused to find themselves trading in "LSD" - which comes from librae, solidi and denarii, the Latin terms for pounds, shillings and pennies.
From Wikipedia: The livre was established by Charlemagne as a unit of account equal to one pound of silver. It was subdivided into 20 sous (also sols), each of 12 deniers. The word livre came from the Latin word libra, a Roman unit of weight. This system and the denier itself served as the model for many of Europe's currencies, including the British pound, Italian lira, Spanish dinero and the Portuguese dinheiro.
It always makes me laugh when my fellow Briton's make an argument for keeping the "British Pound" in debates about whether to join the Euro*. There is no such thing - like many other things about our mongrel nation it is an example of where we have taken on board something useful from other nationalities and made it our own. In this case the "British" pound comes from the Franks (modern day French) and before that from the Romans (modern day Italians).
This has always been one of our great strengths, where so much of what we think of as British is actually appropriated from all the other cultures which have made their home in these islands, or which were part of the Empire. We take all these little things and blend them together into something which is greater than the sum of its parts (I suspect Americans feel the same way about their "melting pot").
It's the same with our language. I once heard a great quote: "English leads other languages up dark passageways and then mugs them for all their good words".
* Of course there are currently many other good arguments for not joining the Euro!
I currently have a PS3, PS2, Wii, XBox 360 and an Amiga 1200 all connected to my TV
HMS Astute on Sea Trials
Also from the great Terry Pratchett in "Good Omens":
Quote:
Note for young people and Americans: 1 shilling = 5p. It helps to understand the antique finances of the Witchfinder Army if you know the original British monetary system:
2 farthings = 1 ha'penny. 2 ha'pennies = 1 penny. 3 pennies - a thrupenny bit. 2 thrupences = a sixpence. 2 sixpences = 1 shilling or bob. 2 bob = a florin. 1 florin and 1 sixpence = half a crown. 4 half crowns = 10 bob note. 2 ten bob notes = 1 pound (or 240 pennies). 1 pound and 1 shilling = 1 guinea.
The British resisted decimalised currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.
The British resisted decimalised currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.
Great quote
As mentioned in the quote, don't forget the pre-decimalisation Ten Bob note - the lowest denomination note, two of these to a pound. Also famous in the lyrics of The Beatles' "Mean Mr. Mustard".
Also, if you are a visitor to the UK, be aware that the £1 & 50p coins are often issued as special editions, with alternative backs to them - they're all legal tender and not forgeries.
Currently doing the rounds is a series with all the Olympics events on the 50p, but they seem to be pretty rare as everyone's trying to collect the set!
Holy wah! This is an expensive place to put random crap! And further, please DO NOT FIX GeekQuestions tipping** OR thumb counts. Both are a critical part of its charm (such as it is). ** Except for Purplewurple who totally deserves it!
Fun cards, pretty quick and easy to explain. Knizia again, it's almost like a theme is emerging! ha!
When the world hands you a Jeffrey, furry walls will make it fine.
Whenever I run short of cash and find myself in debt, the Universe seems to conspire and give me a gift in the amount I need.
In 1984 I was working part time, but most of my money went to going out with my GF at the time and a little bit to pay off a custom drumset I had ordered -- a Yamaha Recording Series made up of two 20"x24" kick drums, and 10"x12", 12x14", 14"x16" & 16"x18" tom toms. The drums were expensive, made more so by the fact that they did not come in a standard set, but were specifically chosen by me for the sound I was looking for.
I had also accidentally destroyed a friend's custom bolling ball and needed to repay him. I was at my wit's end in trying to figure out how.
Valentine's Day was also comming up and I had no idea how my GF would take me not doing something romantic like going to a nice restaraunt.
Two days after the bowling ball incident I had to be somewhere by a certain time, but all of the circumstances of the day were conspiring to postone my appointment. By the time I was finally free, I was frustrated by this day and my financial plight. I drove to the subway station, finding a parking spot amid the snow drifts, and walked to the subway station. I took three or four steps and stopped. Lying amid the snowbanks was an envelope with money sticking out. A lot of money. I took it to the police, but no one claimed it, and they let me keep the cash. It was enough. Enough to pay off the bowling ball, take my GF to dinner, and put a substantial dent in what I owed on my drum kit.
That day, like so many others, the Universe was looking out for me.
I used to make a joke about my dad. Each day he wakes up and says, "How am I going to make money today?" Then he goes out and does that.
He seriously has done just about anything legal to make money as long as it didn't require that he work for someone else.
He has owned or been part owner of around 20 businesses. He has owned at least 50 buildings in his life. He has participated in selling anything from candy to hot tubs to snow plows. He has owned a sports store, a UPS, a rental shop and a bar.
Name it I bet my dad has had his hand in it or at least close to it.
I should add that although my dad works hard everyday he also plays hard. He rides a Harley and I would bet he has put at least 500,000 miles on those he has owned. He likes to drink and most everyone that knows him would count him as a good guy to know.
From the Gryphon Bookshelf Series. Light, fun game that plays in less than an hour, easy to learn. Doesn't occupy a lot of shelf space and is not expensive. This one is very good.
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