-
Who's the more foolish? The fool or fool that plays after the fool?
United States
DURHAM
North Carolina
-
June 8th:
With Mike busy and Tom on vacation, it was 3 player Wasabi! Rick's first play and a first time for all of us at 3 players (in fact the extra spaces used for 3 player were the last to be filled - not sure if that was unconscious or not). To cover a particular craving of my wife's since we got this game, we had sushi along with the game - taking care not to use the little bowls for dipping in.
J went with an everything-but-5 approach and she was regularly completing recipes and seemed to have 2 cards in hand constantly. Both Rick and I opened with a 3 recipe and both of us worked on something longer. At one point Rick had two 4s and a 5 on his menu (a tough place to get out of). I kept something shorter on hand, but had my eye on my 5 especially, with 4 of the elements lined up, I had the Stack to add the last (it was even with style!) when J dropped the Wasabi! card on the middle of it. I scrambled to complete a 2 length recipe and removed the offending card, only for her to Chop! out my all-important blowfish! Realizing I had tipped my hand by putting that in play, I concentrated on doing other stuff, but J was well on her way and Rick too had gotten ahead of me. With the board filled, J had all but her 5 recipe complete and Rick was a recipe and some wasabi cubes up on me.
Me: 19
J: 31
Rick: 23
This could be the perfect lunch game, as it stimulates the brain and the appetite and plays inside an hour comfortably. Not the deepest of games and though you have some control over the board, accidental blockage and even deliberate screwage can mean the best laid plans aft go very agley. So the one who avoids the rest will have an advantage at the end. Finding the best way forward at any particular moment (especially near the end) is puzzling fun, though I so far judge the opening few moves a little lacking (with plenty of space for everyone there is less tension) and the last turn or two can often be throwing down ingredients at a whim as people have little to gain by their play, but between those bookends is some tricky misdirection and clever manipulation - and it does not overstay its welcome either.
One thing I wondered about (I welcome comments) is how much studying the recipe combinations alters the game. Someone who knows all the 4s and 5s perhaps has an advantage in seeing what others are up to. Playing down a unique ingredient (as I foolishly did today) is a clear sign of intent, but the sets for those recipes might make the game more open to deliberate interference. I am not sure what that would do to the atmosphere of the game, but this is surely too light a game to be quite so confrontational.
|
|
