EPL Game Version 2.0

On Christmas, Patrick and I played another game of the English Premier League soccer game that I discussed in an earlier post. Once again the stats were quite realistic: Chelsea and Manchester City tied 2-2. Drogba scored both Chelsea goals, while Tevez and Adebayor scored for Man City.

The problem is that the game just isn't very exciting to play. A typical game takes about 30 minutes and goes as follows: Patrick and I roll the dice non-stop saying "nothing happens," occaissionally passing the dice to the other person. About once a minute the die roller says "scoring opportunity," makes two more die rolls and says "misses it," followed by more die rolling. About six times during that half hour a shot actually makes it to the keeper, and about half of the time it's an actual goal.

Now I can hear millions of Americans saying that it sounds exactly like a typical soccer game. And, in some ways they're right (except that it's 90 minutes for those six scoring chances). It may be the case that the game is a perfect statistical model of Premier League football, but it's really not fun. Dennis watched us play for about the first 15 die rolls (about two minutes) before walking away.

So, it was back to the drawing board this week. (I'm telling myself that dreaming up new ways of statistically modeling a soccer match and working through the numbers is good "exercise" for my day job.) I think that I've got a better way of dealing with it -- essentially a pair of die rolls (one for each team) will tell the players how many opportunities they have for the next 10 minutes -- removing one layer of "nothing."

Patrick and I will probably try it out Friday night or Saturday. I've got a feeling that he'll just want to keep it the way it is, but we'll see what happens.

Merry Christmas to All

As is our Christmas tradition, Al and I met up for some gaming this afternoon. Our original plan was to play Tide of Iron, but we were both a little tired, so we decide to play Battle Cry instead.

As I've mentioned several times in the last few posts, Battle Cry is a tactical game of battles from the US Civil War. It was the first in Richard Borg's Commands and Colors system.

We played two scenarios (battles) -- The First Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Chickamauga. Both games were close, but I won them both 6-5.

The game is a great introductory wargame and would be the perfect choice for a new wargamer who wants to fight Civil War battles. The game was only in print for a short time when it was first released in 2000, and its price on the used-game market was quite high in recent years. Copies still in shrinkwrap were selling for over $80, and used copies typically sold for about $50. However, Avalon Hill reprinted the game last month (with some fairly minor changes), so gamers looking for a new copy can now find one at a list price of $45.

Games that end in 0

It's traditional this time of year for gaming bloggers and podcasters to publish their "Best Games of the Year" lists -- and I plan to give mine early in the new year. I'm waiting a few weeks until the official end of the year, however, in case I get a few more plays in during my vacation. (You never know how one more play might change my feelings towards a game.)

It's also an end-of-the-year tradition for many folks to give a retrospective list of the "Best Games From ... " fill-in-the-blank ... five, ten or twenty years ago. Looking over my collection of rated games, I realize that I really can't give a "Best of" list for any of these years, since I haven't played more than a few games from any of these years. So, I hereby give my list of ...

Favorite Games Published in a Year Ending in Zero
(other than 2010):

7. It's not a very good game, but it earns a sentimental mention because it's the first game I can remember playing: Hi-Ho! Cherrio was first published in 1960.

6. I gave Tyranno Ex (published in 1990) to my neice in the early '90s because she liked dinosaurs. She and I played one game, and I thought it was very interesting. It presents the general theme of evolutionary biology in a very abstract way. Although it was published by Avalon Hill, it used (what would today be described as) Euro mechanics. I was hoping that GMT's new game Dominant Species would be similar, but it's not.

5. Swashbuckler (published in 1980) was always a popular distraction for our group. Players control patrons brawling at a tavern. It was always a little too chaotic for my tastes, but you have to love a game where you can give an order to swing on a chandelier. It also has a number of sketches on its cover lifted from Errol Flynn movies.

4. I've only played it a couple of times, but War and Peace (published in 1980 by Avalon Hill) is the definitive strategic hex-and-counter wargame depicting the Napoleonic Wars. The GMT game The Napoleonic Wars is more fun, but War and Peace has the old-school feel to it.

3. I don't even have a copy of Vince Lombardi's (football) Game (published in 1970) anymore. Dennis received it as a Christmas present, and I remember watching him play using its solitaire rules. I played it dozens of times while Dennis was in the navy, and a number of high school friends (including Al, Rick, Steve, Doug, Paul S.) and I had a league using the game in 1982. Strat-o-Matic is a better game for statistical accuracy, but Vince Lombardi's Game was very elegantly designed. Pizza Box Football would probably come closest to capturing its feel.

2. I hated Battle Cry (published in 2000 by Avalon Hill) the first time I played it with Al. It was the first game in Richard Borg's Commands and Colors system. It wasn't until several years later, when Andrew and I played Memior '44, that I came to appreciate the system. I'm glad to see that Battle Cry is getting a makeover by Avalon Hill this year.

1. I remember seeing Avalon Hill's Civilization at the Smithsonian Museum of American History gift shop shortly after it was re-published by Avalon Hill. (It was originally published by Hartland Trefoil in 1980.) The description on the box got me hooked, and I got the game as a gift shortly after. The game's massive length-of-play keeps it from being pulled out too often, but it is a remarkable game. How remarkable is it? Sid Meier acknowledges that it helped to motivate the design for his historic computer game (which subsequently has inspired two board games -- one by Eagle Games and one by Fantasy Flight).

Premier League Soccer Game

I've been an amatuer game designer nearly as long as I can remember. I started 40 years ago -- making up my own games using a deck of cards when I was bored on Sunday afternoons at Grandma's house. I can recall playing Kingmaker for the first time in 1976 and then making up a simplified version the next day at school. A group of friends and I spent much of 7th grade English class playing my version of the game. Al and I developed a space exploration game (what today would be refered to as a 4x game) in 1983 that went under several names, including The Carl Sagan Game and Mercantilism. For much of the 1980s and early 1990s, Mercantilism was our group's most-played game. We probably would still play it, but Twilight Imperium has much the same feel (plus cool plastic pieces).

During the 1970s I created a number of sports games, including baseball, football and hockey. The baseball game was eventually replaced in 1981 by APBA, and the football game was eventually replaced in 1982 by Strat-o-Matic. The hockey alternatives, however, were always weak. I played dozens of games of Strat-o-Matic Hockey and APBA Hockey over the years, but wasn't impressed with either of them. So, my hockey game never really disappeared during this time. In fact, Rick, Fred, Al, Doug, Mike and I had a hockey league for three years using my game.

As I've mentioned before, both boys are really into soccer, especially the English Premier League. I've been trying to learn the players, and last week I came up with the idea of redoing my hockey game as a soccer game. So far, the game is a success; Patrick and I played three games last weekend pitting my Chelsea against his favorite Manchester City. Man City won the first game, 2-1, with a pair of goals from Carlos Tevez. (Frank Lampard notched the sole Chelsea tally.) The second game was all Chelsea; Didier Drogba's two goals combined with one each by Lampard and Nicolas Anelka for a 4-0 score. In the third game, Lampard and Tevez traded goals at the beginning of the second half, but Drogba's 60th-minute goal proved the difference-maker in a 2-1 Chelsea win.

So far the game is getting the stats right. Obviously the correct people are scoring, and given the final table from last season, it's not surprising that Chelsea would dominate (although interestingly enough, Man City did win both matches in the real season last year, with Tevez scoring two of their three goals). There are parts of the game that seem awfully repetitive to me, but to the extent that Patrick represents the target audience, the market research is coming back positive. Right now I'm working on adding yellow and red cards. The next step will be to sort out how formations will factor into the game.

Anyone willing to playtest should let me know.

The Week in Review

1. I managed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory in the History of the World game I was winning at GamesByEmail. Steve slipped into first place on the last turn and won with 194 points to my 189. Oh well, second place is better than I've been doing.

2. Patrick and I played the Battle of Akragas scenario in Commands and Colors: Ancients last weekend. This is probably the 12th time we've played this scenario -- Patrick always takes Syracuse, and I always take Carthage. While Carthage won the real battle in 405 BC, I've only seen them win the scenario twice (which explains why Patrick likes to take Syracuse). This time was no exception.

3. Dennis came over for dinner last Friday, and we played a game of Long Shot. Dennis guided Six Gun to a win and collected $290 for the victory. Andrew bought Last Chance, who came in second, giving Andrew $200. My favorite horse Wonder Bred and I both came in third with $190. Patrick finished with $165.

4. I downloaded the iPhone app for GMT's Battleline. I've only had the chance to play it once, but it's a nice implementation. The game is somewhat similar to another Reiner Knizia game, Lost Cities, but (at least at this point) I like Battleline more.

Gotta Support the Geek

Back in January of 2004, I was hunting around on the Internet for some rules to an out-of-print game. At that time my favorite gaming web site was Web-Grognard -- a (still-existing) site devoted to wargames. But the game I was looking for wasn't a wargame, so I turned to Google.

My Google search turned up a link to an incredible site called BoardGameGeek. Virtually every game I had ever heard of had a page at the site, with each page having photos, reviews, FAQs and links. It was (and still is) the definitive site for gamers. The great thing was that all of the content was community-driven. Unlike most gaming sites at the time, it wasn't just one person's reviews -- anyone wanting to post a review or photo could post one.

BoardGameGeek was four years old when I found it; it's celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It continues to be my go-to site for learning about new games and getting support for the games I own and play. It's one of the first sites I check into every morning, and I'd be hard-pressed to name a site that gives me more value on a day-to-day basis. To make things even better, about a year ago, the site expanded to include role-playing games, and this summer it added video games.

Once a year, the site's founder, Scott Alden, has a fundraising drive. I'm sort of ashamed that I've never dontaed before today, since I get more out of the site than a lot of other non-profits that I donate to every year. So I decided that it was time to hit the PayPal button and make the $15 donation to become an official supporter. As of now, after less than a week, the drive is already over 2,000 on its goal to have 3,000 supporters.

Anyone who's never visited the site should check it out. If you're a gamer, I'll bet that a year from now, you'll be clicking the "donate" button.

All the news that's fit to "print"

A few odds and ends to report:

1. With the World Cup announcements, Patrick and I were in the mood for some World Cup soccer. So, we pulled out the World Cup Card Game last week. As much as it pained me, I managed to lead France to a victory over Patrick's Brazil in the finals. England topped Italy in the 3rd place game.

2. The night after Thanksgiving, Dennis made it to Mom's house for dinner. And, now that Patrick's golf and soccer seasons are over, we were able to play a game of Long Shot. Dennis bought Slow Jenn, who won the race and gave Dennis the victory with $180. Andrew purchased Six Gun, who came in second -- as did Andrew, with $170. Last Chance finished third, giving Patrick a total of $115, and I came in last with $100.

3. I continue to play a number of games online at GamesByEmail. I'm 0-4 in History of the World games, but I'm winning one of the two that I'm playing now. With Epoch V almost over, I'm 15 points ahead of Tom (who has won more than his fair share of these games). I managed to win the one game of Risk we played -- defeating Al, Jeff and Drew. I (playing the UK)also teamed up with Steve (playing the Soviets) and Tom (playing the US) to win a game of Axis and Allies against Al (playing Japan) and Drew (playing Germany).

4. Labyrinth (which I pre-ordered back in February) arrived last week. GMT had a mixup on my credit card, so I didn't get it when everyone else did in early November. But, as usual, the office folks were apologetic and kind, and got it to me two days later. I've skimmed the rules, and I'm eager to give it a shot.

5. Speaking of which, it took a lot of willpower not to order GMT's new game Commands and Colors: Napoleonics. It's Richard Borg's new game using the Commands and Colors system that started with his game Battlecry in 2000. I have to admit that I hated Battlecry the first time I played it with Al, but I enjoyed subsequent games of Battelcry, as well as Memoir '44 and Commands and Colors: Ancients. What stopped me was thinking about the fact that I haven't played any of these games in over a year. So, I pulled out the Commands and Colors: Ancients rulebook last night; Patrick and I plan to play today.

6. Al (taking England and the Protestants), Andrew (taking the French and the Ottomans) and I (taking the Hapsburgs and the Papacy) played three rounds of Here I Stand using Wargameroom the night before Thanksgiving. It only took about two hours -- including the time we spent working out the computer kinks. Compare that to the six hours it normally takes six of us playing in person. The Ottomans were unstoppable, and Vienna fell in the second turn.

7. Finally, there will be a few games under the tree on Christmas, but I need to keep those a secret.