Tabaijana<\/a><\/h2>\n![\"board\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen2\/tabaijana_b1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
We started with a gem(?) by reliable Wolfgang Kramer, Tabaijana, a game where some
\npoor indigenous people have to flee a volcano island, but if they don’t take enough
\npizza cartons with them (at least the game board suggests these are pizza cartons), they
\nwill starve at sea, In addition the pizza boxes (or crates) have to be stacked in the
\nright order. Trouble is: they start as one big, chaotic stack. During the game each
\nplayer is responsible for one colour. After a die roll he can move any stack he is
\ninvolved in (or the ship, on which the crates have to end at some point). Splitting up
\nthe stacks is necessary to get the crates into some kind of order, a player can do this
\nas long as he takes one of his own crates into the new stack, or leaves one of his own on
\ntop of the old stack. All crates plus the ship move on a single track path towards the
\ninevitable end of the game.<\/p>\n
This is a collaborative game, from a time where working with statistical probabilities
\nand working together were still relatively new concepts. Fact is that it becomes obvious
\nafter a few turns that each player can only do ONE best thing with his die roll,
\neverything else is just plain stupid. As this is a cooperative game, all players will of
\ncourse always discover the best move. Now it depends on the roll of the dice if you make
\nit or not, as simple as that.<\/p>\n
This is very light entertainment from an author who later went on to create some of
\nthe best modern German games. Some games from this period of gaming have survived the
\ntest of time (like “Scotland Yard” or “Hare and Tortoise”), but this
\ngame is plain boring from a modern point of view. That the game material is minimalistic
\nand unpractical to say the least doesn’t help either. Don’t open this pizza box
\nof ye olden times – the pizza inside has long past its best before date!<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nChez
\nGeek!<\/a><\/h2>\nPeter is going to torture me forever for this present of mine….”Chez
\nGeek!” is another one of the totally useless card games Steve Jackson has produced
\nlately (with the exception of the excellent “Spooks”). The theme and the cards
\nare funny because of the humour of the creator of “Dork Tower”, John Kovalic,
\nbut the game play is dominated by the usually deadly combo of “solitaire game”
\nwith “take that!” cards. Each player represents a “slacker” who wants
\nto acquire as many “slack” points as possible.<\/p>\n
Basically game play consists of you playing cards to acquire “slack”
\n(depending entirely on what cards you happen to draw) and other players playing
\n“take that” cards to prevent you from playing these cards. This continues until
\nsome player has enough luck and the other players have run out of “take that”
\ncards. The only “strategy” consists of “going shopping” several times
\nto drain your opponents of “take that” cards against you instead of shopping
\nall items at once so they can all be prevented at once.<\/p>\n
Boy, were we glad we didn’t play this totally useless game with Walter! One could
\ncut out the pictures and create a nice comic with them, but playing the game is the only
\nthing that will REALLY make you wish you were a slacker instead, as you might find
\nhanging out in front of the TV more exciting than playing this game. Seriously!<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nDiamant<\/a><\/h2>\nNow we were ready for a good game. Faidutti’s and Moon’s “Diamant”
\nfit the bill of a game that can be explained in 3 minutes and played in 20. This has been
\nreviewed elsewhere on this site, but let it be said that this really is a good and fun
\nlight filler game, the only problem being that there are a lot of light and fun filler
\ngames out there at the moment. But we had a good laugh, and the game has even some
\ntactical issues that the advanced player can ponder about, so there really is nothing to
\ncomplain about.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nMamma
\nMia (Grande)<\/a><\/h2>\nThis fine card game has been revived by some expansion sets and advanced rules. In its
\noriginal form this was a kind of inverse Bohnanza. Players play ingredients and recipe
\ncards on a pile, hoping that the cards below their recipe (after all card plays the tile
\nis reversed) will be enough to fulfil the pizza recipe. Some recipes work, some
\ndon’t, and one can never be sure as remembering the actual ingredients in the pile is
\nvery difficult.<\/p>\n
The expansion “Sole Mio” (also playable stand alone) adds some very odd
\nrecipes with partly complicated rules, and the possibility to “help” other
\nplayers with finishing their recipe – for the price of finishing one of your own recipes
\nfor free. The odd recipes make the game more chaotic and unforeseeable, the
\n“helping” options make the game more tactical. All in all this is a good and
\nfun mix of ingredients, and the game was very well received in our group. After Peter
\nexplained it, we had the impression this was an complicated game, but once we got to
\nactually play it, it turned out to be easy fare. Not to be played with hard thinkers,
\nthough, but on that evening we were all “in the mood”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Session Report 12 October 2005 by Moritz Eggert at the table: Aaron, Loredana, Peter, Andrea, Moritz on the table: Tabaijana, Chez Geek!, Diamant, Mamma Mia (Grande) After a long gaming hiatus from Andrea and me this was the first time we could get together again with the other Westpark gamers, so it was intuitively decided … Session Report 12 October 2005<\/span> weiterlesen
<\/p>\n\npoor indigenous people have to flee a volcano island, but if they don’t take enough
\npizza cartons with them (at least the game board suggests these are pizza cartons), they
\nwill starve at sea, In addition the pizza boxes (or crates) have to be stacked in the
\nright order. Trouble is: they start as one big, chaotic stack. During the game each
\nplayer is responsible for one colour. After a die roll he can move any stack he is
\ninvolved in (or the ship, on which the crates have to end at some point). Splitting up
\nthe stacks is necessary to get the crates into some kind of order, a player can do this
\nas long as he takes one of his own crates into the new stack, or leaves one of his own on
\ntop of the old stack. All crates plus the ship move on a single track path towards the
\ninevitable end of the game.<\/p>\n
\nand working together were still relatively new concepts. Fact is that it becomes obvious
\nafter a few turns that each player can only do ONE best thing with his die roll,
\neverything else is just plain stupid. As this is a cooperative game, all players will of
\ncourse always discover the best move. Now it depends on the roll of the dice if you make
\nit or not, as simple as that.<\/p>\n
\nthe best modern German games. Some games from this period of gaming have survived the
\ntest of time (like “Scotland Yard” or “Hare and Tortoise”), but this
\ngame is plain boring from a modern point of view. That the game material is minimalistic
\nand unpractical to say the least doesn’t help either. Don’t open this pizza box
\nof ye olden times – the pizza inside has long past its best before date!<\/p>\n
Chez
\nGeek!<\/a><\/h2>\nPeter is going to torture me forever for this present of mine….”Chez
\nGeek!” is another one of the totally useless card games Steve Jackson has produced
\nlately (with the exception of the excellent “Spooks”). The theme and the cards
\nare funny because of the humour of the creator of “Dork Tower”, John Kovalic,
\nbut the game play is dominated by the usually deadly combo of “solitaire game”
\nwith “take that!” cards. Each player represents a “slacker” who wants
\nto acquire as many “slack” points as possible.<\/p>\n
Basically game play consists of you playing cards to acquire “slack”
\n(depending entirely on what cards you happen to draw) and other players playing
\n“take that” cards to prevent you from playing these cards. This continues until
\nsome player has enough luck and the other players have run out of “take that”
\ncards. The only “strategy” consists of “going shopping” several times
\nto drain your opponents of “take that” cards against you instead of shopping
\nall items at once so they can all be prevented at once.<\/p>\n
Boy, were we glad we didn’t play this totally useless game with Walter! One could
\ncut out the pictures and create a nice comic with them, but playing the game is the only
\nthing that will REALLY make you wish you were a slacker instead, as you might find
\nhanging out in front of the TV more exciting than playing this game. Seriously!<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nDiamant<\/a><\/h2>\nNow we were ready for a good game. Faidutti’s and Moon’s “Diamant”
\nfit the bill of a game that can be explained in 3 minutes and played in 20. This has been
\nreviewed elsewhere on this site, but let it be said that this really is a good and fun
\nlight filler game, the only problem being that there are a lot of light and fun filler
\ngames out there at the moment. But we had a good laugh, and the game has even some
\ntactical issues that the advanced player can ponder about, so there really is nothing to
\ncomplain about.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nMamma
\nMia (Grande)<\/a><\/h2>\nThis fine card game has been revived by some expansion sets and advanced rules. In its
\noriginal form this was a kind of inverse Bohnanza. Players play ingredients and recipe
\ncards on a pile, hoping that the cards below their recipe (after all card plays the tile
\nis reversed) will be enough to fulfil the pizza recipe. Some recipes work, some
\ndon’t, and one can never be sure as remembering the actual ingredients in the pile is
\nvery difficult.<\/p>\n
The expansion “Sole Mio” (also playable stand alone) adds some very odd
\nrecipes with partly complicated rules, and the possibility to “help” other
\nplayers with finishing their recipe – for the price of finishing one of your own recipes
\nfor free. The odd recipes make the game more chaotic and unforeseeable, the
\n“helping” options make the game more tactical. All in all this is a good and
\nfun mix of ingredients, and the game was very well received in our group. After Peter
\nexplained it, we had the impression this was an complicated game, but once we got to
\nactually play it, it turned out to be easy fare. Not to be played with hard thinkers,
\nthough, but on that evening we were all “in the mood”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Session Report 12 October 2005 by Moritz Eggert at the table: Aaron, Loredana, Peter, Andrea, Moritz on the table: Tabaijana, Chez Geek!, Diamant, Mamma Mia (Grande) After a long gaming hiatus from Andrea and me this was the first time we could get together again with the other Westpark gamers, so it was intuitively decided … Session Report 12 October 2005<\/span> weiterlesen
\nGeek!” is another one of the totally useless card games Steve Jackson has produced
\nlately (with the exception of the excellent “Spooks”). The theme and the cards
\nare funny because of the humour of the creator of “Dork Tower”, John Kovalic,
\nbut the game play is dominated by the usually deadly combo of “solitaire game”
\nwith “take that!” cards. Each player represents a “slacker” who wants
\nto acquire as many “slack” points as possible.<\/p>\n
\n(depending entirely on what cards you happen to draw) and other players playing
\n“take that” cards to prevent you from playing these cards. This continues until
\nsome player has enough luck and the other players have run out of “take that”
\ncards. The only “strategy” consists of “going shopping” several times
\nto drain your opponents of “take that” cards against you instead of shopping
\nall items at once so they can all be prevented at once.<\/p>\n
\ncut out the pictures and create a nice comic with them, but playing the game is the only
\nthing that will REALLY make you wish you were a slacker instead, as you might find
\nhanging out in front of the TV more exciting than playing this game. Seriously!<\/p>\n
Diamant<\/a><\/h2>\nNow we were ready for a good game. Faidutti’s and Moon’s “Diamant”
\nfit the bill of a game that can be explained in 3 minutes and played in 20. This has been
\nreviewed elsewhere on this site, but let it be said that this really is a good and fun
\nlight filler game, the only problem being that there are a lot of light and fun filler
\ngames out there at the moment. But we had a good laugh, and the game has even some
\ntactical issues that the advanced player can ponder about, so there really is nothing to
\ncomplain about.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nMamma
\nMia (Grande)<\/a><\/h2>\nThis fine card game has been revived by some expansion sets and advanced rules. In its
\noriginal form this was a kind of inverse Bohnanza. Players play ingredients and recipe
\ncards on a pile, hoping that the cards below their recipe (after all card plays the tile
\nis reversed) will be enough to fulfil the pizza recipe. Some recipes work, some
\ndon’t, and one can never be sure as remembering the actual ingredients in the pile is
\nvery difficult.<\/p>\n
The expansion “Sole Mio” (also playable stand alone) adds some very odd
\nrecipes with partly complicated rules, and the possibility to “help” other
\nplayers with finishing their recipe – for the price of finishing one of your own recipes
\nfor free. The odd recipes make the game more chaotic and unforeseeable, the
\n“helping” options make the game more tactical. All in all this is a good and
\nfun mix of ingredients, and the game was very well received in our group. After Peter
\nexplained it, we had the impression this was an complicated game, but once we got to
\nactually play it, it turned out to be easy fare. Not to be played with hard thinkers,
\nthough, but on that evening we were all “in the mood”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Session Report 12 October 2005 by Moritz Eggert at the table: Aaron, Loredana, Peter, Andrea, Moritz on the table: Tabaijana, Chez Geek!, Diamant, Mamma Mia (Grande) After a long gaming hiatus from Andrea and me this was the first time we could get together again with the other Westpark gamers, so it was intuitively decided … Session Report 12 October 2005<\/span> weiterlesen
\nfit the bill of a game that can be explained in 3 minutes and played in 20. This has been
\nreviewed elsewhere on this site, but let it be said that this really is a good and fun
\nlight filler game, the only problem being that there are a lot of light and fun filler
\ngames out there at the moment. But we had a good laugh, and the game has even some
\ntactical issues that the advanced player can ponder about, so there really is nothing to
\ncomplain about.<\/p>\n
Mamma
\nMia (Grande)<\/a><\/h2>\nThis fine card game has been revived by some expansion sets and advanced rules. In its
\noriginal form this was a kind of inverse Bohnanza. Players play ingredients and recipe
\ncards on a pile, hoping that the cards below their recipe (after all card plays the tile
\nis reversed) will be enough to fulfil the pizza recipe. Some recipes work, some
\ndon’t, and one can never be sure as remembering the actual ingredients in the pile is
\nvery difficult.<\/p>\n
The expansion “Sole Mio” (also playable stand alone) adds some very odd
\nrecipes with partly complicated rules, and the possibility to “help” other
\nplayers with finishing their recipe – for the price of finishing one of your own recipes
\nfor free. The odd recipes make the game more chaotic and unforeseeable, the
\n“helping” options make the game more tactical. All in all this is a good and
\nfun mix of ingredients, and the game was very well received in our group. After Peter
\nexplained it, we had the impression this was an complicated game, but once we got to
\nactually play it, it turned out to be easy fare. Not to be played with hard thinkers,
\nthough, but on that evening we were all “in the mood”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Session Report 12 October 2005 by Moritz Eggert at the table: Aaron, Loredana, Peter, Andrea, Moritz on the table: Tabaijana, Chez Geek!, Diamant, Mamma Mia (Grande) After a long gaming hiatus from Andrea and me this was the first time we could get together again with the other Westpark gamers, so it was intuitively decided … Session Report 12 October 2005<\/span> weiterlesen
\noriginal form this was a kind of inverse Bohnanza. Players play ingredients and recipe
\ncards on a pile, hoping that the cards below their recipe (after all card plays the tile
\nis reversed) will be enough to fulfil the pizza recipe. Some recipes work, some
\ndon’t, and one can never be sure as remembering the actual ingredients in the pile is
\nvery difficult.<\/p>\n
\nrecipes with partly complicated rules, and the possibility to “help” other
\nplayers with finishing their recipe – for the price of finishing one of your own recipes
\nfor free. The odd recipes make the game more chaotic and unforeseeable, the
\n“helping” options make the game more tactical. All in all this is a good and
\nfun mix of ingredients, and the game was very well received in our group. After Peter
\nexplained it, we had the impression this was an complicated game, but once we got to
\nactually play it, it turned out to be easy fare. Not to be played with hard thinkers,
\nthough, but on that evening we were all “in the mood”.<\/p>\n