The 6 rating defines this one perfectly. Harmless, reasonably fun, and not over-long. If played sporadically, I'll probably always enjoy it. Need some awareness of popular culture (movies etc.) or else the game won't work.
Summary of game: Each player writes down a person, place, and thing (PP or T) on their cards. Then each person takes a turn holding someone else's card to their forehead, and asking yes/no questions to try and guess the PP or T on the card. If you haven't guessed the PP or T in 60 seconds, then each player (starting to your left) has an opportunity to say one word to help you figure it out. Points are scored for guessing the PP or T or helping another to correctly guess it.
Review: I helped dampen the experience by playing with a 2.5 minute timer because I had heard that 60 seconds wasn't near enough time to guess your PP or T. The game was worse with the longer timer because it was just as difficult to guess your PP orT, but the length of the game and the downtime increased.
Even with the longer clock, there isn't enough time to narrow down the broad categories enough to identify obscure clues. For example, you could have 10 minutes and have difficulty figuring out that someone's Place was an "auditorium" or someone's Thing was "linen".
So my advice is - use the 60 second timer, choose easy/very well-known words or people, play the game simply to enjoy the laughs, and understand that most of the points will be scored when the one-word clue-giving begins. I expect your rating to be better than a 5.
Gets lower marks because you often feel that you have no control over your own fate. You can play your cards well and still score badly. Nevertheless the game is quite enjoyable because it's quick and everyone else has exactly the same problem.
2 hours for first play with 4 - longer than I thought it would be. Good game arc with beginning build-up, execution of strategy, and end game rush for final points. Look forward to further plays to see if the play time decreases and enjoyment increases.
Although the game is reputed to be worst with only 3 players, we eliminated 2 of the suits to reduce the supply of goods and it worked quite well. Instructions were easy to explain and learn straight from the booklet.
Favorite game from Tennessee Game Days 2009. There is enough to think about without being oppressively heavy. I love games like this with the possibility of dynamic moves.
Good filler for adults. Silly and induces a light smile from everyone. It is a fairly challenging, if useless, skill to identify the right number of beads in the igloos.
Once-around bidding using your scoring points really make this game shine. You can figure out quickly that the items up for bid will benefit you. Simple arithmetic can tell you roughly how many points it would benefit you to win the items. What you don't know is how high you have to bid to outbid the competition, both those that want the items and those that want to keep them from you.
After multiple plays, I think I like this one even better than Ra/Razzia!. The simplicity of the design and accessibility to newcomers gives it that extra edge.
The first play was not a great deal of fun, but felt like challenging and absorbing work (emphasis on work). It's continuing to grow on me with each subsequent play however, and my latest play with more experienced players was the best ratio of fun for mental effort.
Initial rating after one play. Took a while to get the hang of it, but started to have a little success at the end. Good difficulty level; modest play time; easy way to handicap superior players. Rating could go up.
San Marco does not require intense calculation of future moves, but does provide interesting options to consider as you try to balance (or unbalance) the card draw into three piles. It's great fun to measure how much to poison the well so that the next player will still take the card he wants, but regret doing so (as an aside, this is the same delicious feeling I love so much from 2 player Ra or Razzia).
Great mechanic. Lovely looking board. Highly recommended!
Played twice against adults, 6 times against 11-year old, and 4 times against 9-year old. Handles immediate replays admirably, even between same two opponents. Children improved with each play and beat me once each.
If you recognize your opponent's advantage early enough, the defensive play is fun and allows creativity. You can choose to flee and/or try to strengthen yourself, abandon yourself in unreachable position, abandon your opponent's strong stack in unmovable position, or open up previously unseen paths of escape.
This one is a solid 8 with some wiggle room to move up with further plays. I like games such as this that have enough meat to engage the mind, but enough hidden information and dynamic change to make constant calculation a waste of time. I appreciate the difficulty in choosing whether to use your high-powered brokers to improve your tie-break score/usw them to gain the King's favor, and reserving them for use in the city/market. Ys is quite fun, and not too intimidating for fairly new gamers who are looking for a bridge to the more meaty games out there. Rules are well-laid out, which is a plus.
Initial rating was 6.5 after one play with 4. Everyone filled up their enclosures rather easily and without a large number of extra animals. Seemed a bit too easy, but that may be perfect for a family game with kids.
Next play with 5 players was improved. Money was more scarce, several enclosures were uncompleted, and lots of animals were left in the barn at game end. Bumped up half a point.
Played with 3 and reduced money to one coin at start of game to make things more tight. With three, the opportunity for clever play using turn order revealed itself. Rating is improving with multiple plays. It probably maxes out here or at 8 out of 10. I don't think there is enough variability in gameplay or scores to merit a higher rating.
Two more plays - holding steady at somewhere between 7.5-8.0. Three new players all enjoyed the game and asked for a repeat play. It continues to become more evident that vending carts are key. Eager to try a couple of expansions to see if they spice things up.
