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Danjell Elgebrandt
Sweden
Solna
Sweden
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This game is among the first board games I played. My grandfather had a copy at home and my brother and I used to play it all the time. This particular copy got lost but I managed to win an online auction for a complete copy. Something that is pretty remarkable in itself. The game has obviously been played repeatedly over a period of 40 years and yet not one of the little towers is missing.
The game is centered on acquiring oil fields, pumping oil and shipping and selling the oil. Not exactly the most politically correct theme so if you care about the theme of a game this one at least doesn’t leave people unaffected. The game is played on a board in a fashion resembling monopoly. The players move their pieces (little trucks) around the board and are subject to various events. Some of these are printed on the squares of the board and some are activated through cards. There are two kinds on cards, one which affects the individual player and one which has global effects. Among the most important global effects is the price of oil, which is noted on a scale between one and four.
Eventually the players will have the opportunity to test drill for oil. When this occurs the little truck is taken of the board and placed onto a track in the box of the game. The box is also used to keep track of the oil reserves at each oil field through the movement of little towers. This way of incorporating the box into the game is a nice feature and it makes you wonder how come so few games today do this.
When the players have sufficient oil they can charter one of four tankers and ship the oil to a designated port using another set of playing pieces (oil tankers). The rules are very unclear concerning how and when you charter a ship. There doesn’t seem to be anything preventing you from chartering a new ship immediately after delivering your cargo, thus creating a corner making it impossible for anyone else to ship. Some sort of house rule is necessary in order to play.
This is not a very good game if you look solely at game design. The replayabililty is low and luck has a massive influence over the game. This is not offset through negotiations the way it is in Monopoly. Even though negotiations are allowed it usually is hard to find trades that affect the game much and at the same time are acceptable to both players.
Still, if you have the chance to play this I can really recommend it. Especially if you haven’t played many older games before. It is always nice to get to know the history of one’s hobby and some of the concepts in the game could and should perhaps make a come-back in modern games.
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