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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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August 23rd, 2011
Three of us tonight, Timm, Kevin and myself. As normal, we tapped beers and flung ideas around on what to play. Kevin brought Quarriors! but the three of us wanted something with a little more oomph and we all were up for learning something. So, I pushed for Vino, an older (1999) economic game of wine.
I had played a full game once before and we did start playing it on a Tuesday once, but someone had to leave for an emergency so we aborted the game. But, I still had to go through the rules to teach and refresh myself. Thinking about it, these are an excellent set of rules. Laid out perfectly, easy to understand, no ambiguities and an excellent, usable cheat sheet. The first time I played, I wrote numbers on the tiles as the colors can look very similar. That helped tremendously.
We got started buying vineyards and producing grapes when Timm had to run home for about 30 or so minutes for an urgent matter. So, in that time, Kevin and I played a game of Quarriors!. Dominion with dice is what Kevin told me. And it is. I completely understand where the buzz is coming from now in regards to the game. I'm glad it's quick as the dice rolls can definately not go into your favor. Adds more luck than Dominion. I thought it was decent, but since I know someone with a copy, I don't have an urge to pick it up. A ton better than To Court the King, I'll give it that. I also don't think it comes close to Dominion which is the game it really most feels like. To me, it's a classic 6. I'd play it, but not going to rush out and get a copy nor will I ever burn out playing it as I won't play it tons. By the way, I lost to Kevin in the game. 
Back to Vino. The game play is actually simple, the interactions of your choices become difficult. You are trying to balance on a line of having cash flow to buy more vineyards and having the most vineyards (which having the most is the winning condition). It also has a slight area control aspect as the more vineyards you have in a region, the more you can buy. And when you sell grapes on the market, you lose vineyards and the market adjusts to the supply and demand. It all works together nicely. The game is you pick two areas to buy vineyards, you sell wine, adjust turn order. Timm jumped out in cash by investing a ton into one of the grape varieties. I'm not a Wineophile (or whatever that is called) so I don't know the names. Kevin and myself were a little more diverse. It's sort of a two steps forward one step back type of game and we all worked that as well as we could. Timm probably benefited the most from the government-owned vineyards (which are given away when all the private ones have been bought). But, in the end it was teally tight as I made a big move. I could have perhaps done it differently if I min/maxed what everyone else had. But Timm and I were tied with 35 vineyards and Kevin had 32. I only had $10 left and Timm had $150 so on the tie breaker he won. It was pointed out to me that if I went a different route, Kevin would have been closer but I would have had more money than Timm.
I dig this game and looking forward to playing it again. It plays well with 3 and with 5. No special rules or setups with the player difference...you don't see that much anymore.
#148
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