Re: [piecepack] So Copycats and Confusion Win??

["Rob LeGood" <rflegood@...>]

I'm sorry you didn't win, Eric, but there's no need to get pissy about it.
Fun is a relative term and what I or my friends find fun may not be what
others do.  I'll refer you back to contest rule #4...

"4) Judging will be subjective and based largely on how enjoyable and
interesting the game is (assuming it satisfies the rules of this contest),
but other factors such as how well the historical theme is used with the
game will also be taken into account. Overall, it will be the completely
subjective opinion of the judge that ultimately decides the winner."

The games that won, won because we found them more fun than any of the other
games.  Chariots had the players hooting and hollering, cheering on their
chariot to victory, while Pharoh's Heir had us all in a brain-bender,
attempting to beat the system and each other, struggling each round with
tough choices.  In one game, even the player far and away in last place was
having a good time with it.

I personally found your games less enjoyable.  Berlin was ruled by too much
randomness and confusion as the board whittled down to nothing.  The endgame
contained little strategy as most moves were obvious;  either capture a tile
if you can or, if you can't, impede the player in the lead.  One player, in
one game, was actually angry that we were making him finish it.  DBDDBS is
esentially four player solitare because it's ruled by the fact that in order
to stop someone, you must put yourself in a worse position, so there's no
reason to interact with the other players.  I have a beef with games like
this and I found it to be dull.  The theme was fun though.

The other part to winning is being able to really bring across the theme of
the contest.  In my original announcement I said, and stand by, that the
themes you chose felt *very* pasted on, so that was another black mark
towards them.  You even mention in your rules to DBDDBS that you can't
completely explain why one move is related to the "theme" you gave it.

While I agree that elements were heaviy borrowed from other games, I felt
that they were able to surpass that and came up with a unique twist.   In
fact, when I first read the rules for "Pharoh's Heir", I immediately hated
the game because I felt they simply ripped off proven systems.  I was ready
to put it in last place and had, in my head, written most of the scathing
words I'd write in the contest summary.  Surprisingly, playing the game
completely won me over, both with it's theme and the clever way it used
existing mechanics in it's own unique ways.

To be truthful, you can look at your games and say that Berlin is a rip-off
of Q-Bert, while DBDDBS is nothing but a variation of Chinese Checkers.

I'm sorry that you didn't win, but *to me*, your games didn't deserve to
win.  Just because rules are simple and easy to read doesn't mean that the
game's going to be fun.   Coming to this forums and publically whinning
about the fact that you didn't win in a completely subjective contest, shows
a great lack of class and I believe you owe me, and everyone else reading
your note, an apology.

Rob.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Electronicwaffle" <electronicwaffle@...>
To: <piecepack@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 10:08 PM
Subject: [piecepack] So Copycats and Confusion Win??


> Im not going to pout, yet simply point out that my games Seemed to
> be the most ORIGINAL and well  FUN.  I can't fully speak to the
> other games yet, but Im pretty sure my two rulesets are the
> thinnest, and therefore simplistic. Next contest, I will be sure to
> rip off every Board Game Ive ever played.....   and that will be
> sure to provide the most F-U-N.  Because aparently doing something
> UNIQUE  doesnt get you anywhere. Why do we even have a
> piecepack....   Just buy every 40 dollar board game you can afford
> and put them in a blender. Also... Thanks for waiting til the 20th!!!
>
> Eric
>
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