The Boys are Back in Town

One of the highlights of our gaming is Steve's occaissional trips back to St. Louis. He was an integral part of our gaming during high school and college, but his job has taken him away for most of the last 15 years. He makes it back to St. Louis about once a year, and we always make an effort to get together for some gaming. Wednesday night, he took time from his Christmas visit and brought along his son, Tom, and his brother, Jeff. Adding in the usual crowd (Al, Al's son Jeff, Drew, Steven and me) gave us the biggest group that we've had in years. It also created a challenge in picking out a game. (The other challenge was having two Steves and two Jeffs at the table.)

We started off with a game we haven't played in several years -- Forumla De. Published in 1991 by Ludodélire (although Al owns the version published by Descartes Editeur), it is a Formula-1 themed racing game. The latest version of the game (now known as Formula D) was published by Asmodee. The rules are simple, and we were up and running a two-lap race in about ten minutes. Steve and I were leading the pack at the beginning of lap two, but I missed a turn and spun out, leaving Steve to coast to the victory. Al was one turn behind and was able to finish second, follwed by Steven.

Not quite ready to call it a night, Jeff S. (who has become a huge gamer since we last talked with him ten years ago) brought out Saboteur by Z-Man Games. Originally published in 2004, it's a semi-cooperative card game with a traitor mechanic. The players represent mining dwarves and play cards helping the group to reach a target card representing gold. The group wins or loses together depending upon whether the group reaches the gold before they run out of cards. The players share the gold (points), but the player who played the last card (allowing the group to reach the gold) gets the most gold. The player with the most gold after three rounds wins the game (making it semi-cooperative).

What really makes the game, however, is the traitor mechanic. Before each round, players are dealt a card that (privately) indicates whether they will be a loyal dwarf (for that round) or a saboteur. It's possible that more than one dwarf will be a saboteur -- with our group of eight, five or six would be loyal, and two or three would be saboteurs. We've seen this mechanic before in one of our group favorites, Shadows Over Camelot, and Saboteur played out with much of the same feel. Every slightly off-key card play creates suspicions that the player is the saboteur. This always leads to charges and counter-charges and much laughter. Nothing is better than showing your true colors as a traitor by playing a killer card at the crucial moment. And nothing is funnier than watching an innocent person (often Al) profess his loyalty while we ignore the quiet traitor who's killing us without us knowing it. Every gaming group should try out a game with this mechanic. The previosly-mentioned Shadows Over Camelot has an Athurian theme. Battle Star Galactica by Fantasy Flight would be a choice for fans of the show. If neither of these themes have special appeal for your group, Saboteur has the feel with easier rules and a shorter playtime.