Justin Fitzgerald
United States
Black Earth
Wisconsin
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I've played my copy of Rumis only a few times because I'm a little annoyed that the pieces aren't really squared perfectly. Pieces as a result don't fit together very well.
I'm wondering if newer versions of the game, such as Blokus 3D, correct this problem. Anyone know?
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Lacombe
Louisiana
It was a dark and stormy night.
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I traded off my copy of Rumis for the exact reason.
Now I'm looking for the older version [of Rumis], which was wood blocks.
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny Śląsk
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My (somewhat older German) wooden block set is nice and has no such problems.
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Randall Bart
United States
Granada Hills
California
Red October
Earth is one of my favorite planets
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I had no problems with the Educational Insights plastic pieces. I thought the cracked stone look for the boards was dumb, but there were no playability issues.
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Sight Reader
United States
Colorado
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KakarisMaelstrom wrote: I'm wondering if newer versions of the game, such as Blokus 3D, correct this problem. Anyone know?
Blokus 3D does: the playing surface is grooved for the pieces so that only long, vertically placed pieces will tend to be unstable.
Blokus 3D does introduce a new problem, though: there are only 4 different scenarios you can play, and it's a lot harder to add new ones because you'd have to produce your own plastic "mask".
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Michel van Peenen
Netherlands
Rijnsburg
Zuid-Holland
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The problem of lesser layouts can be solved by using the additional layouts found in the files section. just print the layouts and don't use the turntable.
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Sight Reader
United States
Colorado
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Carrotteer wrote: The problem of lesser layouts can be solved by using the additional layouts found in the files section. just print the layouts and don't use the turntable.
I don't remember really well, but when I first got the game I seem to recall having trouble trying to use the additional layouts posted here. I think I was having trouble finding the correct print ratio or something.
More to the point, though, is that replacing the form-fitted turntable with flimsy and slippery pieces of paper may obviate the benefits of stability desired by the OP.
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny Śląsk
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The wooden German set I have doesn't have any plastic templates or turning tray. You simply build the structure on printed cardstock boards, and it works just fine without them - no problems of pieces slipping or whatever.
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Get up, get up, get up, get down, fall over.
United Kingdom
Bolton
Lancashire
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Russ is right, the Murmel wooden edition is the best one of all.
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Sight Reader
United States
Colorado
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boltongeordie wrote: Russ is right, the Murmel wooden edition is the best one of all.
Yes, I think a big problem is that the pieces are hollow and lightweight. I imagine that wooden pieces would hold better.
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Randall Bart
United States
Granada Hills
California
Red October
Earth is one of my favorite planets
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sightreader wrote: I imagine that wooden pieces would hold better.
Hold better? What is the problem you have with the plastic pieces? I never had a problem with them wandering off.
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Justin Fitzgerald
United States
Black Earth
Wisconsin
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With Rumis, the problem is the pieces are resin which has been poured into a mold. The top side of them looks really good - like a bunch of squares stuck together and shaped correctly. The back side of them is not textured and is not uniform in shape. Typically with pieces like these, you'd expect them to use an injection mold.
The pour method is patently wrong for making uniform pieces. It's usually used more for decorative things with bases because the base can look like crud on bottom and it doesn't matter.
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Sight Reader
United States
Colorado
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Barticus88 wrote: Hold better? What is the problem you have with the plastic pieces?
You don't have trouble with towers falling apart?
Especially with vertically placed pieces, I find that, should pieces slide against each other or there be the slightest board warp, things can get pretty tipsy at the top - enough to make it scary for people turning the board (not to mention bumping the table!)
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Randall Bart
United States
Granada Hills
California
Red October
Earth is one of my favorite planets
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sightreader wrote: You don't have trouble with towers falling apart?
Do you mean the board with the really small base? I have played four player games of that, on that silly cardboard board, on a turntable. We tended to be careful in rotating the turntable, but we never had a disaster or near disaster. We played on a solid table, not something wobbly.
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Sight Reader
United States
Colorado
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Barticus88 wrote: We tended to be careful in rotating the turntable, but we never had a disaster or near disaster.
Well, the tower is the worst, but there are a couple of other levels that are delicate as well.
We haven't had a full fledged disaster either, although we've had to reconstruct portions of the structure a couple of times from memory. With that being said, every game has at least a few oaths being muttered as someone knocks something out of whack either placing pieces or turning the base, resulting in yet another stoppage of play to realign everything.
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny Śląsk
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Barticus88 wrote: sightreader wrote: I imagine that wooden pieces would hold better. Hold better? What is the problem you have with the plastic pieces? I never had a problem with them wandering off.
Of course the plastic pieces don't just spontaneously wander off. (Unless one is playing in zero-G, perhaps... Space station Rumis!)
I've played with a wooden set and a plastic set. (Note there is more than one plastic version in existence. I don't know, but I have the impression that they are of varying quality in terms of how well-formed the pieces are. The one I played with seemed more or less OK in that regard, but not as good as the wooden set.)
This being the real world, with imperfect humans and all, it happens that when people are placing a new piece, sometimes their hands unintentionally shake or otherwise lightly bump other pieces.
My experience with that was that the wooden pieces are heavier and seem to have more friction, so that when bumped, these 2 factors made the structure indeed hold together more stably than with the light smooth plastic pieces. Basic physics, really.
If a plastic set has ill-formed pieces, then that would surely compound the problem of resisting slight jostles from players bumping the structure.
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Randall Bart
United States
Granada Hills
California
Red October
Earth is one of my favorite planets
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I agree the wood is heavier and has more friction, which theoretically makes it more stable, but I have never seen anyone jerk the turntable and cause a piece to fall. The plastic pieces do have the imperfections of the cheap molding process; it is easy to tell the top of the mold from the bottom of the mold. However, all of them are perfectly rectangular, and nothing wobbles.
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Lacombe
Louisiana
It was a dark and stormy night.
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Barticus88 wrote: However, all of them are perfectly rectangular, and nothing wobbles.
This is definitely not the case with all of them. I had a particularly awful set. The profile of many pieces was positively and noticeably trapezoidal.
I traded it, but assumed this was just the case with all of the copies of this edition [don't see how it could be otherwise given the mold used] so didn't make explicit mention of it. Had I known [I'm still not convinced] the badness varied between copies, I would have made more careful mention.
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Craig Duncan
United States
Ithaca
New York
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Yes, I have a plastic Rumis set. Instability is an issue. We have not had a game-ruining collapse of a structure, yet, but the worry about stability definitely detracts from the enjoyment of the game. It's seems like each game has some stressed players shouting "Careful! Careful!" as the next player adds to the wobbly structure.
It's annoying. If I wanted a dexterity tower game I'd play Jenga. But I want to play Rumis.
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Craig Duncan
United States
Ithaca
New York
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A follow-up to my previous post:
I just noticed there now exists Rumis+, which has wood pieces. Thus it might have fewer stability issues.
It also plays up to 6 players, which is a bonus. (That is, provided it is any good with six. I have my doubts whether any abstract strategy game can handle six; seems like too much would be out of your control between your turns to allow for much tactical -- or for that matter, strategic -- play. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong!)
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Lacombe
Louisiana
It was a dark and stormy night.
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cdunc123 wrote: A follow-up to my previous post: I just noticed there now exists Rumis+, which has wood pieces. Thus it might have fewer stability issues. It also plays up to 6 players, which is a bonus. (That is, provided it is any good with six. I have my doubts whether any abstract strategy game can handle six; seems like too much would be out of your control between your turns to allow for much tactical -- or for that matter, strategic -- play. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong!)
Rumis+ does not play 6 players, nor is it new.
It's an expansion to the old wooden Rumis edition, and adds two new colors of blocks [these are the only colors included in Rumis+] to allow 2 to play with Rumis+ or 6 to play with Rumis + Rumis+.
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Craig Duncan
United States
Ithaca
New York
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Oh, right. My mistake. Thanks for the correction.
Does anyone know if a wooden version of either Rumis (for four players) or Blokus 3D is commercially available for sale currently?
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