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CLASSICS CLOSET - 'Doubletrack' (Review) - Reliving a Game from my Youth

Posted by -matt s.

Classics Closet

20 May 2011

-matt s.

(tasajara)

United States
Eugene
Oregon

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blog/22

When I was a kid we actually had quite a few games around our house that I remembered playing. A good number of them really. However, I'd kind of forgotten the extent and variety until I first discovered and started looking around on BGG back in 2008. As I ran across them/remembered them I started marking them as Previously Owned and, in this case, 'Want in Trade'. Some others I remembered included: Inner Circle, Leverage, Touring, Waterworks, Survive!, Stay Alive, Operation, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Tri-Ominos, Quadominos, Pictionary, Yahtzee, and many more. And, I'm not ashamed to admit it that we owned Monopolyand it was one of my favorite games!

So anyway, last year I picked up the version of Cave Troll with the figures and I marked my version with the chits for trade. I wasn't sure if I'd ever get any bites on it, but recently I did as I received a trade request in exchange for Doubletrack. I'm sure not everyone has heard of this game but it was one I certainly remembered.

Doubletrack box (this is a fairly large box at 12"x20"x1-1/2")

In this game, I recalled there being plastic gates attached to the board that controlled access to certain paths on the board and you used a physical (cardboard) 'pass' that had to be inserted into the gates to open them up. I always found this functionality intriguing both the gate itself as well as the concept - each player controls a gate pass (or several in some cases) which gives them more control over who can go through them and when. I don't recall seeing this sort of feature in more modern games (if you've seen it I'd be interested to hear about it in the comments)

I also remembered the mechanic of using a Big pawn on an outer track that moves and then affects what the Small pawn on the inner track is doing.

So, I accepted the trade and thought this could be fun to play again.

Soon it arrived. It was a bit more beat up than the copy we used to own, but it had all the familiar components to it. There's something about getting your hands on a game you remember from your childhood that brings back warm memories of simpler days. You get this sense of zipping back in time, remembering where you would play it (on my bedroom floor with it's bright red carpet - no really, that's what I chose, much to my mother's chagrin), who you played it with (my sister mostly, sometimes my friend Jeff), and some vague memories of really enjoying it.

Well, my son and I got this game out the other evening. As we got out the pieces my son was intrigued by the gates. I had him install them, get the money chips out and set up initial money while I started reading the rules. There were more to the rules than I remembered. I wanted to be sure to go through everything and, as I explained it to my son he eventually said - "Dad, let's just play!" He's a little impatient. He had tired of fiddling with the gates and was ready to play. But reading the rules takes time! I guess it was my own fault for not following my own advice about reading the rules ahead of time. Especially when it comes to someone like my son.

Example game set up for 4 players

Anyhow, I glossed over the rest of the rules, except I'm glad I covered one rule in particular. There are certain actions which let you (rather force you) to sell a gate pass, sell a card from your hand, or even sell the lead (if you are leading). Something that surprised me about this game was that it used a blind auction for the selling part! I hadn't remembered that at ALL. I'm not sure if we ignored it (just as we ignored the auction in Monopoly) or if we did something else entirely.

(read more...)

4 Comments

Fri May 20, 2011 5:12 pm

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Los 28

(Los28)

United States

California

Very nice review !
I did some recent research on this game because I, like you, once played this game in my youth, and may have an interest in re-acquiring it. Some questions/comments:

You say the game is "for 3-5 players," but I believe it is 3-4 players as there is no fifth color to play.

In regards to the gates, you say "if you might want to go through them, if you own the pass you can decide whether to put the pass in or not to open the gate. You cannot change it after you roll, so you have to decide now." I thought the rules state that when you approach your gate, you must take the shorter path. So the player has no choice in regards to what path to take with gates that player owns, regardless if you put the gate-pass in the gate or not. Maybe you were discussing this as a variant, but I was not sure.

One of the things that disappointed you about the game was "the lack of control and the relative worthlessness of money." You went on to say, "in regards to the money, you rarely care how much you spend on going through a gate or buying a pass because they are extremely valuable. And, you are likely to get the money back again in the near future for the same reasons you spent it yourself."
The thing I am wondering about here, is would your opinion change (even slightly) if you had three or four players (due to the fact that the game really is not meant to be played with only two players). I say this because (if I am not mistaken) in the bidding process there are a couple of interesting rules. First everyone must bid. And the seller gets all the bid amounts from all players, regardless if you were the highest bidder or not. So if someone isn’t interested in buying, they usually bid the bare minimum in chips(money). Now also interesting is that if the highest bid is tied with other player(s), then the owner(seller) keeps the card and takes all the money. Sometimes all biding players are not really interested in wanting to buy, so if they all bid the bare minimum, (which is a hidden bid, by the way, and then bids are all revealed at the same time, by opening up your fingers and chips are revealed in the palm of your hand) then the seller just takes all minimum bids and keeps the card (since they are all tied). I think this is how I interpreted the bidding rules, but I may need to go back and recheck the rules as I read them (can someone who has the rule book handy confirm this please).
Anyway I am just wondering if this might change your thoughts on the value of money(chips) in the game. It would be interesting to hear from you again, if you can play a game with three or four players.

I like some of you variants, especially the "being able to use whatever combination of dice that you want" rule. Also interesting is your thought on "you must buy cards from the display instead of just getting them for free after you play another one (or buy one blindly from the top)." This sounds nice, but my thought is where/who does the money go to when buying ? If and when I acquire this game in the future, I will need to try your variants.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts in this very nice review ! I like to hear and read about older, less-known games, and not always just read about the "top 10" games (like that game about an island in the Caribbean, called Jamaica I think. LOL).

Double happy face given!

Posted Fri May 20, 2011 9:17 pm
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-matt s.

(tasajara)

United States
Eugene
Oregon

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blog/22

Los28 wrote:

Oops, you're right. I'll correct that. I thought I read that on the rules then just went from memory on what I remembered seeing, of course not even thinking about the player colors/pieces. DUH! (boy, that's two DUH moments for me today

and no I'm not divulging my other DUH moment)

Quote:

In regards to the gates, you say "if you might want to go through them, if you own the pass you can decide whether to put the pass in or not to open the gate. You cannot change it after you roll, so you have to decide now." I thought the rules state that when you approach your gate, you must take the shorter path. So the player has no choice in regards to what path to take with gates that player owns, regardless if you put the gate-pass in the gate or not. Maybe you were discussing this as a variant, but I was not sure.

Well, funny you should mention that. In reading through the rules the first time, I thought this as well although it didn't seem right to me. HOWEVER, in re-reading the rules I determined that you, in fact, have the option to have it opened or closed, you just have to decide BEFORE rolling. I don't have the rules in front of me at the moment but I'll give further details later on this. I'm almost positive you have a choice.

Quote:

One of the things that disappointed you about the game was "the lack of control and the relative worthlessness of money." You went on to say, "in regards to the money, you rarely care how much you spend on going through a gate or buying a pass because they are extremely valuable. And, you are likely to get the money back again in the near future for the same reasons you spent it yourself."
The thing I am wondering about here, is would your opinion change (even slightly) if you had three or four players (due to the fact that the game really is not meant to be played with only two players).

You're right, this probably would change my opinion. Maybe I can play it with both my kids this weekend to see.

Quote:

I say this because (if I am not mistaken) in the bidding process there are a couple of interesting rules. First everyone must bid. And the seller gets all the bid amounts from all players, regardless if you were the highest bidder or not. So if someone isn’t interested in buying, they usually bid the bare minimum in chips(money). Now also interesting is that if the highest bid is tied with other player(s), then the owner(seller) keeps the card and takes all the money. Sometimes all biding players are not really interested in wanting to buy, so if they all bid the bare minimum, (which is a hidden bid, by the way, and then bids are all revealed at the same time, by opening up your fingers and chips are revealed in the palm of your hand) then the seller just takes all minimum bids and keeps the card (since they are all tied). I think this is how I interpreted the bidding rules, but I may need to go back and recheck the rules as I read them (can someone who has the rule book handy confirm this please).
Anyway I am just wondering if this might change your thoughts on the value of money(chips) in the game. It would be interesting to hear from you again, if you can play a game with three or four players.

I will have to check the rules again. Because I tended to ignore that after being 'forced' to 'just play'

I didn't pay close attention since it didn't seem relevant to 2 players.

Quote:

I like some of you variants, especially the "being able to use whatever combination of dice that you want" rule. Also interesting is your thought on "you must buy cards from the display instead of just getting them for free after you play another one (or buy one blindly from the top)." This sounds nice, but my thought is where/who does the money go to when buying ? If and when I acquire this game in the future, I will need to try your variants.

Yes, the 'who to pay' question goes unanswered until I think about/try it. Paying to the bank may suggest a 'closed but dwindling' economy, where money becomes tighter and tighter. That may not be very successful though.

Quote:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts in this very nice review ! I like to hear and read about older, less-known games, and not always just read about the "top 10" games (like that game about an island in the Caribbean, called Jamaica I think. LOL).

Double happy face given!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

right back!

I have Dungeon planned for a similar review as well once I can get it played. (Don't hold your breath waiting for it though as I have plans for many different posts of various sorts

)

Posted Fri May 20, 2011 10:30 pm
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-matt s.

(tasajara)

United States
Eugene
Oregon

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blog/22

Los28: Ok, I just checked. You're right (again) - if you own a gate pass you MUST take the shortcut route. Personally, I think that's weird because elsewhere it says you have 'full' control of the gate. We actually played that way the first time. The strange thing is if you have some cards you want to play you can't because you aren't allowed to go on the outside route.

Regarding the auctions. WOW, this is interesting...

Sell a Card: The current player selects one of their cards and places it face down on the table. All OTHER players MUST bid on the chosen card simultaneously (blind bid) - the minimum bid is $5. ALL the money goes to the seller and the card goes to the winner. The winner MUST play the card IMMEDIATELY. If there is a tie for highest bidder then the seller gets the money AND keeps the card as well but must play it immediately for themselves.

Sell a Pass: Same bidding procedure as Sell a Card and winner gets takes the pass (or it keeps if they already own it).

Sell the Lead: The lead is up for sale (the lead being the space directly ahead of whomever is ahead on the inside track) regardless of if the current player is the leader or not. ALL players MUST bid, including the current player and the player who is in the lead.

Bidding procedure is the same as for Sell a Card and Sell a Pass. However, in this case the winner goes in front of the lead pawn (or stays on the current space if they are already the leader). The person with the inner pawn that is then furthest back gets all the bids. And, in the event of a tie, the person whose turn it is gets the lead AND all the money (i.e. even if they weren't the highest bidder)

The closed economy here is certainly interesting, but I'll have to play it to see how it turns out as I'm not convinced yet....

Posted Sat May 21, 2011 8:59 am
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Los 28

(Los28)

United States

California

Hello Matt,
With all this talk about DOUBLETRACK, you really got the gears in my brain turning, with possible ideas for this game and its rules. I thought of a couple of variants ( house rules ), so I will break them down into sections below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

tasajara wrote:

Some optional rules I think might actually make this game more interesting:
* ... roll both dice then choose one or the other, or use them both together. In this way you at least have a bit of a choice of where you can move on the board (2 or 3 options).

This is an excellent idea! More options allow a player to feel they have better control, and makes the game more enjoyable. But too many options might be excessive, and actually slow the game down, with players taking too much time looking and thinking about each option. That's why I like your idea on "roll both dice and then choose one or the other." But you cannot use (add) them both together, and move forward the combined total.

This is also nice, in that a player knows that the range of forward movement for their large pawn will be from 1 to 6 spaces, and not the larger range of 2 to 12 spaces. A personal gripe I have when playing with movement of the large pawn when adding both dice together (thus when playing with the official rules), is that I would constantly pay hefty to open an opponent’s gate, but then find my dice roll to be too low or too high, to land on a space on the shortcut route. With this variant, the odds are better.

Also, as you will read later down below, this variant works better in conjunction with the other variants I am proposing. This is because we (I) need to control that large pawns cannot move too far ahead in one single roll (turn). For example, a player who rolls an 11 or 12 could quickly find themselves almost half-way on the other side of the game board on one roll.

So the Variant ( House Rule ) reads as follows:
When you are ready on your turn to roll both dice, do so, and then move your large pawn clockwise around the outside track, the number of spaces shown on only one of the dice. You CANNOT combine both dice and move forward the combined total.
So for example: The red player rolls both dice and acquires 5 and 6. That player may choose to move either 5 spaces or 6 spaces, but cannot move a combined total of 11 spaces (5+6=11).

------------------------------------------------------------------------

tasajara wrote:

Actually I like your variant and the way you (mistakenly) played the game! Don’t change it ... It will work great with the house rules I am proposing (more on that subject later down below).

So the Variant ( House Rule ) reads as follows:
When a player is approaching a closed gate they own, then that player must decide before they roll the dice, to either have the gate open or for it to remain closed. If the gate is open, then the owner and all other players must take the shortcut route. And if the gate is to remain closed, then the owner and all other players must take the outside-corner route.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

tasajara wrote:

Regarding the auctions. WOW, this is interesting...

Don’t you just love the "craziness" of the bidding/auction process in this game! Anything can happen. For example a player could put up a negative card up for bidding (like the "Back 10" card), but if there is a tie in the highest bid, then the seller gets all the money, but must play the card immediately (as you have indicated). So the seller was hoping to rid himself of a negative card and have another player suffer the consequences of the card devil

, but the plan "back-fires" and he must take the punch cry

. This creates plenty of laughter in the game laugh

.

The bidding process and rules for selling a card, selling a gate pass, or selling the lead, look fine and I do not recommend any variants (changes) in this area.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok ... Now for my main variant ! Some background information first ...

One thing I could never understand about the gates, is that I felt that the actual function of opening and closing the gate with use of the gate pass seemed to be "un-necessary" (when using the official rules). What I mean is that it is not really necessary to insert the pass card to open the gate and then simply remove it (to close the gate), immediately after you or the other player rolls the dice. For example, if the gate is yours, just "pretend" that the gate is open (without using the function of the gate at all), and advance your pawn taking the shortcut route. Also if an opponent and you come to an agreement (payment) to use your gate, then why not just "pretend" that the gate is open, and the player immediately then rolls the dice and advances his large pawn. Regardless if the player rolls a number high enough to even reach the gate, all players present know that he has just one turn(roll) to make it through the gate, because afterwards the gate is considered to be closed. So why even open the gate using the gate pass, to then simply close the gate immediately after ? (I could be repeating myself here, but do you follow my explanation of this?)

We need to add some "additional use" to the actual function of opening and closing the gate. This means that we need to add a variant, in where the gate will stay open longer, rather than for just only one turn (roll). Actually the way I propose to accomplish this, is to create a variant (rule) in where once the gate is opened, it stays open, until a certain condition is met to then close the gate.

Before going into the specifics on the conditions to close the gate, I need to describe some additional background information...
We may all be aware that when throwing two dice, there are a total of 36 different probable outcomes. So for example, when throwing two dice, the probability of acquiring a 7 is 6-out-of-36 or 6/36 or 16.67%. Similarly, the probability of acquiring an 8 is 5-out-of-36 or 5/36 or 13.89%. Now if we want to know what the probability of acquiring a 7 or 8 when throwing both dice, then we add the two and the odds would be 30.56% (16.67% + 13.89%).

My idea for a variant is this ...
Once a gate is open, then that gate (and all other open gates) stay open until someone (any player) throws a 7 or 8. If someone throws for example a 3 and 4 on the dice (3+4=7), then the very first action to perform is to close ALL open gates on the game board. Then after, the player has the option of moving their large pawn either 3 spaces or 4 spaces forward. This means that on every turn(roll) for each player, there is a 70% chance that all (if any) open gates will remain open, and a 30% chance that any open gates will all be closed. Throwing a 7 or 8 is the ONLY method/trigger for closing a gate or gates.

Some advantages to this variant are:
1.) Gates, and the gate passes inserted into them, have more function and meaning (this is the most important advantage!).
2.) There is still a chance of failure of advancing through the shortcut route after paying the owner of the gate for permission. For example, a player is near an opponent’s gate and pays to use it. The gate is then opened, but then the player rolls a 7, so the gate is closed first, and then the player must move along the outside-corner route instead.
3.) Some players, for their own "unusual" reasons, seem to never give other players permission to pass through their gates (no matter how much you offer them). With this rule, if a player opens their own gate to pass through it, then the gate remains open and gives the other players an opportunity of using this specific shortcut route (unless it is closed before their large pawn reaches this area of the game board). This tends to "loosen-up" some "stiff" players, and allows them to be more flexible and willing to negotiate on all aspects of the game.
4.) Players who open their own gate so they may use them, find themselves saying(thinking) that they hope someone else will roll a 7 or 8 after they have used their shortcut route. But at the same time, they would like other players not to throw a 7 or 8, because an upcoming opponent's gate might be open, and if it remains open, they have a chance of using the opponent's shortcut route for free! So it’s a "catch-22," and this should add to the laughter and enjoyment of the game.

The only other thing that would be required (unfortunately) with this variant, is that each owner of DoubleTrack will need to design/make some custom markers. This is why ...
As we all know, the ownership of each gate pass, switches hands between players all the time. (For example: the red player will eventually lose his red gate pass, but then acquire the yellow gate pass. Later he also gains the blue gate pass, but losses the yellow gate pass. Then later he may lose all gate passes and have none, but then finds himself back with owning his original red color gate pass. Etc, etc.)
So if you insert a gate pass into a gate and it stays there for a while because it must remain open, players may end-up forgetting exactly who owns which colored gate pass.

So this is where custom markers will come in handy. One must design/make some kind of additional card (or other marker) to indicate ownership of gates. You will need one custom marker for each color, for a total of four. It could simply be made of paper (via your computer and printer) with large letters. The cards that are designed and cut could be approximately 2 inches wide by 3 inches long. Each card must be printed with the words, like, "Green Gate Owner," then the next one with "Yellow Gate Owner," etc. If you have a color printer, then I suggest you use the appropriate color ink to match the same color of each gate. So even though your gate pass is in the open gate, each player retains the "custom-made colored owner" card, to remind everyone of proper ownership. Alternatively, if you have for example large (regular-size) poker chips in blue, red, green and yellow, then you could use these for your custom "ownership" markers.

Note that if your gate is open, but you lose ownership of your gate (through either a sale of your gate pass, or when another player lands on the "Take the 'whatever color' Gate Pass" space, or by use of the "Steal a Gate Pass" card), then the gate remains open, and you just simply hand over your custom-made ownership marker to the new owner.

So the Variant ( House Rule ) reads as follows:
Once a gate is open, it remains open with the inserted gate pass.
There is ONLY one method for closing a gate: When ANY player throws both dice on their turn to move, and the dice combined add-up to either 7 or 8, then ALL open gates on the game board are IMMEDIATELY closed. Gates are closed even before the current player is allowed to move his own large pawn forward.
For example: The yellow player's large pawn is in a position on the game board, where he is near an open gate. The player proceeds to throw both dice, and throws a 3 and 4 (which add-up to 3+4=7). Immediately all gates on the game board are closed, which means that the yellow player must advance his large pawn either 3 spaces forward or 4 spaces forward, using the outside-corner route.

Additional Variant ( House Rule ) reads as follows:
If you lose ownership of your gate (through either a sale of your gate pass, or when another player lands on the "Take the 'whatever color' Gate Pass" space, or by use of the "Steal a Gate Pass" card), then do the following:
If the gate is CLOSED, then give the gate pass AND the matching color ownership marker, to the new owner.
If the gate is OPEN, then leave the gate pass in the open gate, and give the new owner the matching color ownership marker.

PS: I have not yet tried this new variant. My only fear is that the amount of time for a game, may pass too quickly (a short game). This may occur, because gates stay open too long and are not closed enough. This will cause all players to have constant access and use of the valuable shortcut route spaces, and thus advance the small pawn along the inner track too much/often. If this occurs, then we can increase the probability(chance) of closing gates. For example the probability of throwing a 9, when throwing both dice is 11.11%. So if we would like to increase the chance for closing gates, we could simply adjust our house rule to read as :
"When ANY player throws both dice on their turn to move, and the dice combined add-up to either 7, 8 or 9, then ALL open gates on the game board are IMMEDIATELY closed."
This will increase the probability of closing all gates from 30.56% to 41.67% (16.67% + 13.89% + 11.11%).
Obviously, many other combinations are possible to devise, thus increasing or decreasing the probability (percentages) according to your desires.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any thoughts, ideas and comments would be appreciated.

Edited Sun May 22, 2011 11:25 pm
Posted Sun May 22, 2011 10:20 am
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CLASSICS CLOSET - 'Doubletrack' (Review) - Reliving a Game from my Youth

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