inconsequential ruminations

I just finished a PBW game of Shazamm! with Michael at Boitajeux.

I cannot beat Bruno Faidutti’s description of the mechanics. The PBW implementation is smooth and easy to understand with Google Language Tools doing the work. I enjoyed it very much for slapstick. Michael hated the luck factor. I admit there is lots of luck involved, but ultimately both sides have the same resources, so the end of the game could be skilful, particularly if you choose the variant that gives both players their full complement of spells immediately.

I won, which pleased me, as Michael is always a tough opponent. The only other two-player game I have won against him was Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. Maybe it is significant that these are both bluffing games?

I will probably buy Shazamm, particularly as the components look good, but I do not get too many opportunities to play two-player games, so I will have to think about it.

We played Showmanager with five people on Wednesday night.

Showmanager is a decent, but unspectacular, welterweight game. It is basically a rummy-like set collection game, but with a great theme. You play the part of an impresario finding performers for musicals. The artiste cards have very funny and very German portraits on them. They remind me of satirical political cartoons, or the cartoonists of Leicester Square in London, or the Charles Bridge in Prague. I have not seen Drunter und Druber, but it seems to have similar artwork.

You have to make tough decisions about what sets to collect, but it is not too analytical and turns shift reasonably quickly.

My only complaint is that it is easy for careless players, or learners, to forget the rule that you have to have two cards left in your hand after every musical. The only fair ways to fix this are to force players to put on a different musical with more cards or to randomly take cards from their hands. These solutions hit scores hard for an easy mistake.

It is out of print and quite hard to find now. There was a later rethemed version called Atlantic Star, about Atlantic steamers, but cannot be as good as it is the theme and artist cards that really make Showmanager.

I probably will not make the effort to get this, as it is a bit too light and gentle for my mob, but it would work very well for families and non-gamers.