What is the sound of one hand clapping? Does a dog have the buddha nature?
You'll face these questions and many more as your ragtag group of monks attempt to corner the livestock market against Joshu, the owner of the biggest ranch in Asia.
Great two player Decktet game. Feels a lot like Lost Cities, but has its own unique aspects. Highly recommended.
Here is what I say about it in another Geeklist:
Admittedly, Emu Ranchers is recognizably a riff on Lost Cities. Still, there are some differences in scoring, differences in the way that the discard pile works, and differences in the endgame. The biggest difference comes from the Decktet itself: Dual-suited cards can be used in either of two ways.
It is farther from Lost Cities than some Reiner Knizia games are from other Knizia games. If he had designed it himself, it could easily be published with a different title, and we wouldn't be talking about how derivative it is.
Plus, bird ranching is totally different than archaeology.
I've played this one a few times and I quite like it, though it does usually require a game or two before my hapless partner figures out exactly how the game works. I really like the ability to pick how many eggs you'll risk playing, and the ability to finish out your hand so you don't get stuck with useful cards. Feels like a friendlier Lost Cities with more interest card dynamics.
My only negatives would be: 1) the scoring is a bit hard to remember and odd (something like an egg costs 18, and Aces and Crowns can add or cost 5 points each.) Lost Cities was a lot easier with 20 points and expeditions as multipliers. 2) only having a single discard pile feels less fun than LC's 5 piles. 3) I want to play with more than two people!
I think all of those could be house-ruled to a degree. I think with a double-decktet and per-player discards, you could have quite a hectic, amusing game.
I think all of those could be house-ruled to a degree. I think with a double-decktet and per-player discards, you could have quite a hectic, amusing game.
(Sorry for the late reply! )
You are welcome to house-rule the game as you like, of course, but I thought I'd say something about rationale behind the rules as written:
regarding 1) 18 points is one point more than you could have with just two cards. So it always requires at least three number cards to have a non-losing bird. regarding 2) When my opponent discards a card that I want, I cannot discard if I want to pick it up. I am forced to play a card instead, and maybe that leaves a big gap in one of my birds. My opponent might even discard a small card that she knows I want, in order to tempt me to play a card I'm not really ready to play. If there were multiple discard piles, this tension would go away; I could just discard without covering up the card I want. regarding 3) OK, this is just a matter of deck size. A double deck might work for more players, but card counting would be harder. (It might be worth trying with a double basic deck. The duplicate cards would serve a similar purpose to the Pawns and Courts in the single-deck game.)
If you do try a house rule, consider posting about it in the Emu Ranchers forum as a variant.
With just two of us left, we broke out the Decktet for one final game of the night. Neither of us had played this one before but we had heard good things.
After one play we are undecided. There are some interesting decisions to make and game play is very fast. I still prefer Magnate but still willing to give this one another play.
The ratings got a bump during the third Decktet challenge and again when Joel Eddy did a video review. It's also the only Decktet game that's been implemented on-line. In July 2011, it reached its 30th rating.
Ben Staley wrote:
Great two player Decktet game. Feels a lot like Lost Cities, but has its own unique aspects.
Jeremy Oppenheim wrote:
This game is what R.K. wanted Lost Cities to be. Takes the tension of LC and turns it on its head. Much better game all around!
Admittedly, Emu Ranchers is recognizably a riff on Lost Cities. Still, there are some differences in scoring, differences in the way that the discard pile works, and differences in the endgame. The biggest difference comes from the Decktet itself: Dual-suited cards can be used in either of two ways.
It is farther from Lost Cities than some Reiner Knizia games are from other Knizia games. If he had designed it himself, it could easily be published with a different title, and we wouldn't be talking about how derivative it is.
Plus, bird ranching is totally different than archaeology.
If he had designed it himself, it could easily be published with a different title, and we wouldn't be talking about how derivative it is.
I think we would, but that’s OK. I don’t mind that Emu Ranchers is inspired by the decktet. I first found the decktet way back when I was looking for multi-suited decks to play Lost Cities and the first game I made for it was very similar to Emu Ranchers (which existed, but I didn’t know). I just wanted to play Lost Cities. And now I just want to play Parade and all my decktet ideas seem to look like Parade.
I first found the decktet way back when I was looking for multi-suited decks to play Lost Cities and the first game I made for it was very similar to Emu Ranchers (which existed, but I didn’t know).
Some one or group of people were going around a few years ago and convincing the Amish in my area to take up emu farming. I saw them all over the place for a while. I'm not sure what the commercial uses of an emu are.
I've visited an emu "ranch" near Nevis, MN (or was it Akely?). Actually a couple times. The birds are a bit weird. Six plus feet tall with slightly dangerous talons. They make a curious "thumming" sound.
The owner likes to tell about the time a lynx got into one of the pens. The males ran the cat out of the pen, then jumped a six foot high fence to run down and stomp the cat. WOW!
lol!
heading to a remote homestead in far north western NSW. Had to contend with a 100km mud road that was slippery and on top of that was an emu keeping pace or right in front of the 4WD we were in.
the birds when they run kind of hop from side to side which is disconcerting especially when concentrating on a slippery mud road for a couple fo hours. i wanted to run the damm thing down!
From a car commercial in the nineties. No idea what car or company, just the young feller looking into a pasture and the old rancher sharing his sage advice.
edit... The emus fight back. Hilarious! I did a search to try to find info on this and found this commercial at the center of a lawsuit because it was "disparaging emus as well as disparaging the business of raising them and of slandering and libeling the rancher plaintiffs." The ranchers accused the commercial of exposing them to "the hatred, contempt, and ridicule of the general public, as well as their friends and relatives." Wow, how do you hate a guy just for raising large, flightless goofy birds? Emu prices went from $25-30,000 per bird down to $30 per bird? Unbelievable. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E5D91E30F...
Emu Ranchers is basically a port of Lost Cities to the Decktet.
You've specifically ruled out "Lost Cities with a Sticheln deck" as a port, but the Decktet has different structure than the Lost Cities deck. Since most cards have two suits, you must decide how to spend them.
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