Game: Ys

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melee — 2008-08-23T09:21:41+00:00

Reference sheet

Thread: Re: Column Ties in the Market

jjacjackson — 2008-08-22T01:33:26+00:00

Neither house ruling nor official, simply intuitive. Ys is not the type of game that will throw balance out the window and allow a non-participant to win. Fluxx maybe, but not Ys.

Thread: Re: Column Ties in the Market

Basiliv — 2008-08-21T23:07:16+00:00

That was my initial guess, but the rules don't specify it anywhere (including the example). Is that an official or a house ruling?

Thread: Re: Column Ties in the Market

jjacjackson — 2008-08-21T22:50:56+00:00

Only the players who tie in the column are eligible to break the tie when considering total of the brokers in front of their screen. So, no - you cannot win the tie-breaker if you placed no brokers in the market.

Thread: Column Ties in the Market

Basiliv — 2008-08-21T22:27:13+00:00

The rules state:

Draws are settled as follows : look which column
has the most pawns in it (e.g. a column with three brokers has the edge on a column with only two brokers).
Still not enough ? Then, the player with the highest total before their screen chooses (again, draws are settled
as in the city, using ‘Order’ cards if necessary).

Let's say this is a 4-player game. Do we look at the highest total out of all 4 players, or only out of the players who have brokers in the columns in question? Could you be the tie-breaking player even if you had no brokers in the market at all??

Thread: Re: New Rio Grande Edition Packaging

dshortdesign — 2008-08-21T02:57:11+00:00

Thanks A Smith.

That picture of the front cover of the new Ys box makes sense, since I have seen the cover of the 5 player expansion at my FLGS and it matches the image you provided exactly.

I wonder why they would bother to update the graphics on the front cover (which by the way, I think looks awesome!) but not update the back cover. Bummer.

Thanks again.

Thread: Re: New Rio Grande Edition Packaging

thoreaubred — 2008-08-21T00:23:17+00:00

The box looks like this:

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The picture on the back of the box, however, shows the old brokers, and shows glass beads instead of the plastic gems that actually come in this edition.

The actual gems look like this:

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Thread: Re: New Rio Grande Edition Packaging

TrojanDan — 2008-08-12T04:27:44+00:00

I think the 3rd edition might be without the creepy looking guy on the front.

Thread: New Rio Grande Edition Packaging

dshortdesign — 2008-08-11T22:31:08+00:00

I was wondering if one can tell what edition they are buying by just looking at the box itself. I want to buy the newest Rio Grande edition (3rd edition I think - with the engraved brokers), and while my FLGS has a "Ys" in stock, I cannot tell what edition it is.

Are the graphics different? Does the front picture look different? Do they show a picture of the engraved brokers on the back of the box?

Thanks for the help.

Thread: First Impression

Mr Freedly — 2008-08-05T17:09:27+00:00

We sat 4 players at the game table for our first game of Ys. We had an excellent range of gaming experience represented with 25+, 5+, 1+ year gamers and a newbie on her first day of playing Euros. The explanation of rules was perhaps 10 minutes. I believe we only made 2 rules errors during play; we forgot the 1 gold payout for placing a broker on the market until the second turn and we started out determining the division of gems on the ships based only on the brokers in the port instead of the whole neighborhood. We corrected that before the game's end too. The mechanical parts of Ys resolved smoothly which I think is a good indication of the game's low barrier to entry even for novice players. The competative bidding, because it is partially blind, did not seem mean-spirited when someone lost in a contested area so the game remained friendly. The weakness I saw in Ys was the need for players to be somewhat self-regulating. What I mean by that is it is up to the other players to put pressure or otherwise play directly against a player trying to use a dominating strategy. In our game's case, I concentrated on placing brokers in the 3-gold scoring merchant districts and generated a significant lead by game's end where the other 3 players remained reasonably close in scores. I don't consider this a point to be a criticism of the game's mechanics, but a responsibility for players to bear who want a competative game. Having played Caylus, Yspahan and Amyitis I think Ys gives Ystari games 4 out of 4 for good games on my personal score card. I would be equally pleased to play any of them.

Thread: Re: Great Customer Service from Cyril to fix mold problem

rfeldster — 2008-08-01T04:12:47+00:00

I too suffered from the dreaded mold problem on my yellow and orange cylinders. In addition, there were two marked/moldy red cylinders and one damaged black cylinder. It took a little over 3 weeks from my initial email, but Ystari replaced them all at no cost to me - they apparently even had to shell out a hefty sum of 5.5 euros ($8.56 according to the current exchange rate) for postage to get them from France to Boca Raton, Florida.

Thanks very much Cyril and Ystari!

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

Karis — 2008-07-24T08:17:48+00:00

No problem, that's normal.

Thread: Re: New Edition.

TerminusEst — 2008-07-23T18:11:16+00:00

The latest edition comes with new plastic pieces that actually look like gems:
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The broker cylinders are also engraved now. You no longer have to apply stickers to them.

Thread: 2 player variant tweak

thoia — 2008-07-23T12:29:03+00:00

I've been playing a lot of Ys 2 player lately and it works fairly well. In the rules under the 2 player variant it says to use a neutral player with a value of 0, 1, 2 and 4. It goes on to say that you can increase this with skill level of the players. I've found a very effective set of numbers is 1, 2, 2, 4.

I always play with the "King's Favor" variant when playing 3 or 4 players but the rules state you don't with 2 players and I miss that but see it as understandable. However with the above distribution I've found you can effectively keep this variant in the game as well.

Take the rest of the neutral player's brokers and put them face down next to the board. At the end of each turn randomly select 1 of the neutral player's unused brokers and place it in the court. This creates a very nice mix with 0, 1, 3 as possibilities of brokers going over there. It's been interesting so far.

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

30ought6 — 2008-07-22T08:01:22+00:00

Just wanted to say thanks to Cyril for your outstanding customer support!

Thread: Re: Great Customer Service from Cyril to fix mold problem

thoreaubred — 2008-07-22T03:48:00+00:00

My wife and I purchased this game, knowing very little about it (we didn't know it was a brand new edition) and we had "moldy" pawns as well (we wondered if we had somehow been given a used copy of the game.) In addition to the mold, however, our copy is also missing a #1 broker for the yellow and black colors, rendering us unable to play with more than two players. After reading this forum I've just sent an e-mail to Ystari asking for replacements for the missing pieces as well as the moldy ones. Hopefully we'll be able to report that we received the same excellent customer service as others have.

Thread: Re: Great Customer Service from Cyril to fix mold problem

TerminusEst — 2008-07-22T01:16:20+00:00

Second this. Very quick service. My broker cylinders are now nice and clean.

Thread: Great Customer Service from Cyril to fix mold problem

TrojanDan — 2008-07-21T20:43:03+00:00

I received replacement parts from Cyril and co. very quickly. (And I have some new French stamps to add to my stamp collection.)

Quick response, going out of their way to make things write. Many many thumbs up.

Thread: Re: 5 gem cards

TerminusEst — 2008-07-12T17:25:36+00:00

I think these come with Ys+. They're markers for five gems if you run out of physical gems.

Thread: Re: 5 gem cards

ColtsFan76 — 2008-07-12T17:13:39+00:00

What cards have 5 gems on them? You're not talking about the score card are you?

Thread: 5 gem cards

elcomadreja2 — 2008-07-12T16:30:26+00:00

what are the gem cards with 5 gems on it for?

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

Karis — 2008-07-05T01:28:27+00:00

There was probably a problem with some yellow+orange brokers (only one part, because the boxes i opened were not moldy).

Anyway we've got some "non moldy" spare parts and we'll send them quickly if you need some.

REgards
Cyril

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

30ought6 — 2008-07-05T00:51:39+00:00

Besides the serious mold problem (I've sent an e-mail to Ystari about this) it surely is very high quality - the board is very tough and robust (though it surface is textured differently and looks a bit more matte that usual). The gems look really cool and the cards are thick. But still - I'm more used to the 'feel' of games "Made in Germany".

About the cards: One thing that really bugs me, besides the smell problem - aren't the cards punched the wrong way? Seriously. The cards are usually cut from the back and this edge of the cards are rounded. This is good since the 'face' edge is more vulnerable. Any possible wear and tear is therefore always on the concealed face of the card. The new Ys edition has the cards cut the other way around. Seems awkward.

Thread: Re: Financier(Ys+)/Merchant Play

Karis — 2008-07-04T08:20:19+00:00

From the rules : "The card is played at the very beginning of the counting phase."

It means that you play the card before doing anything else (so, before revealing brokers), then the card is active for the remaining of the counting phase (if necessary).

The best way to play this rule is to ask before the counting phase is someone would like to play a card (and also before the "placing brokers phase" for the cards with a character on the top left corner).

REgards,
Cyril

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

Karis — 2008-07-04T08:11:59+00:00

Just a few notes :

We decided to print the game in China because we wanted an upgraded quality despite the fact this print was low (5000 copies). In the future we don't plan to print games in China (apart for those special prints wich are even not possible to print in Europe) for schedule reasons (it's rather long to deliver the games) but not for quality reasons.

Engraved brokers (like the one you can find in Ys), are really expensive to produce in Europe, and you couldn't even release the game with such components in the box. China offered us the possibility to produce those brokers with an engraving and a perfect paint job, which ensure more secret. Apparently, a few components were stained, but even in Europe there's always problems (badly cut, badly painted). By the way we offer (as usual) an immediate exchange for flawed components, so there's no big deal...

About the quality of printing, i must add that China is actually better equiped than Europe too. I had the occasion to visit several printers in Europe and i can assure you that their printing machines are no match with Chinese equipment (they bought their machines recently, so they've got top notch technology).

About the components quality i'd say that China is like the rest of the world : there's good producers and bad producers. You can tell that a game was not produced in Europe because the texturized paper has a different "feel", but this texture is made by a tool (so there's no direct impect on the paper quality). Our agent spent a lot of time to ensure that the quality of the components (wood, paper, gems) would be at least equal to the quality found in Europe, and we only printed the game after a serious check (and a comparison) of those components.

All i can say is that this game is, IMHO, the best edition of Ys we ever released in terms of quality and printing. I know that some products printed in China are really poor, but this is not the case here, just because we used the good components, and asked the good persons. Just take a look to this edition and tell me that the quality is not there...

REgards,
Cyril

Note : please also note that some German producers have facilities in China. So it's not because there's a "made in Germany" on the box, that all the components were actually made in Germany. It only means that the game was partly made and assembled in Germany.

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

GeoMan — 2008-07-03T23:35:32+00:00

Bostich wrote:
Note to self: Don't buy new releases in early July (that were likely produced in some humid factory in China).

I would say:

Note to self: Don't buy releases printed in China.

The first edition of YS was printed in Germany. It seems that Ystari decided to drop their quality by printing in China.

From now on i'll check first the component quality before buying any Ystari games.

Note: Days of Wonder now prints in Germany again, probably because the cost of sending out replacement parts to correct defects was eating the profits from printing in China. Let's see what others are going to do...

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

Bostich — 2008-07-03T15:39:15+00:00

Interesting that this happens just about the same time as the very moist copies of Duel in the Dark from last year.

Note to self: Don't buy new releases in early July (that were likely produced in some humid factory in China).

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

TrojanDan — 2008-07-03T15:37:55+00:00

Karis wrote:

If you've got problems with your components, you can write an email to Ystari (with your adress and a list of damaged brokers) and we'll send you some replacement.

Cyril has been great. I e-mailed them about which cylinders had stains and he's mailing them out.

Thread: Re: Financier(Ys+)/Merchant Play

Mordachai — 2008-07-03T14:13:18+00:00

While one the timing issue already:
When do you play the "coin" cards? Before or after revealing hidden brokers? We are currently playing cards before revealing which makes it a bit more risky business, but I have a nagging feeling that is incorrect.

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

30ought6 — 2008-07-03T13:48:44+00:00

Sadly yes. I just received an order from Ludibay.net. Immediately I could tell something 'felt' different about the box. Haven't unwrapped it to inspect this mold-problem though. Anyway, the box looks awesome.

Thread: Re: New Edition.

PManoff — 2008-07-03T03:13:27+00:00

I stopped by Wal-Mart today and purchased the class pieces for replacing the crystals. The cost was $1.88 for a package of 215 crystals of each color. I now have enough for several games. I am very pleased with the glass pieces and it will enhance the game.

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

GeoMan — 2008-07-03T00:10:07+00:00

TrojanDan wrote:
Anyone else having this problem. For sure the Yellow and Orange cylinders have them. And its even more pervasive than the cubes in 1960: Making of the President.

Is the game printed in China?

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TerminusEst — 2008-07-02T23:11:50+00:00

Plastic gems with latest Rio Grande release

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

Karis — 2008-07-02T23:04:34+00:00

Hi All,

If you've got problems with your components, you can write an email to Ystari (with your adress and a list of damaged brokers) and we'll send you some replacement.

REgards
Cyril

Thread: Re: new edition with moldy cylinders?

TerminusEst — 2008-07-02T21:33:32+00:00

I just got my copy and discovered the same problem. I was able to wipe most of it off with a disposable disinfecting wipe, but there are still some visible stains.

Thread: new edition with moldy cylinders?

TrojanDan — 2008-07-02T06:15:29+00:00

Anyone else having this problem. For sure the Yellow and Orange cylinders have them. And its even more pervasive than the cubes in 1960: Making of the President.

Thread: Re: New Edition.

PManoff — 2008-07-01T01:20:51+00:00

I just received a copy of the new edition today. The outside of the box is very nice and the gems are all small clear plastic gems, very similar to the ones in Edel, Stein & Reich. After reading the different postings I was considering purchasing a set of glass stones like the expansion set at Wal-Mart. You get a pretty large package in individual colors and the price was right. After looking at these stones, though, I may stick with what came in the new edition.

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unittype — 2008-06-29T20:46:01+00:00

Before you can enter this game, there has to be done some sticker patching..

Thread: Re: New Edition.

ltux — 2008-06-27T15:56:09+00:00

So which bits does it have? The original or the second edition ones?

Thread: Re: Differences of the editions?

Karis — 2008-06-24T16:38:47+00:00

Yes,

Same size and blue color.
But the numbers will be engraved

Regards,
Cyril

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sbilbey — 2008-06-11T20:30:41+00:00

Rio Grande Games edition

Thread: Re: New Edition.

AnakinOU — 2008-05-26T18:32:22+00:00

Unless it also includes the ceramic bits, I'll stick with my first edition copy.

Thread: New Edition.

30ought6 — 2008-05-26T18:23:23+00:00

Looks very good:

Thread: Re: Differences of the editions?

Rappak — 2008-05-19T13:32:44+00:00

The Ys+ will match the brokers from the first/second version right?

Thread: Re: Differences of the editions?

mbuckingham — 2008-05-19T13:23:21+00:00

Henry Rhombus wrote:
Cyril Demaegd has noted on a May 19 news item about Ys+ (coming in June from RGG) that Rio Grande's new edition of Ys "will include new plastic gems (like the gems of Niagara), new player screens (with the player aid included) and new engraved brokers (no need to stick 50+ stickers anymore)." Presumably the pieces in Ys+ match this new edition since they're being produced at the same time.

Eric
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com

Thanks for the update Eric!

Thread: Re: Differences of the editions?

Henry Rhombus — 2008-05-19T13:15:28+00:00

Cyril Demaegd has noted on a May 19 news item about Ys+ (coming in June from RGG) that Rio Grande's new edition of Ys "will include new plastic gems (like the gems of Niagara), new player screens (with the player aid included) and new engraved brokers (no need to stick 50+ stickers anymore)." Presumably the pieces in Ys+ match this new edition since they're being produced at the same time.

Eric
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com

Thread: Re: Lord of the Rings

KingPut — 2008-05-09T20:23:23+00:00

Does that mean you're going to buy Blackbeard by GMT?

Thread: Lord of the Rings

raolsson — 2008-05-09T01:36:40+00:00

When I arrived at Bobby Tweak's game night last Wednesday, I had brought along Command and Colors:Ancients to apply stickers while waiting for a game to start. Naturally I arrived just as a game was starting (but still managed to get a few troops completed).

Phil, Phil W., and Matt D. had just opened up Ys and were reviewing the rules. I had seen Ys in game stores and was intrigued by the cover, so I sat down and listened to rules about brokers and rings of the city and scoring black gems and white gems. Putting aside the C&C:A blocks for another night, I put my brokers behind the shield and set about to game.

My strategy was non-existent on the first turn, but I quickly decided that black gems seemed to be where it was at. Phil W. was going for the quick points in the middle ring of the city. Matt and Phil were kind of playing the field and picking up a bit of everything. Blue ran high as a gem color, so when I was placing brokers, I would put my big numbers in the blue gem parts of town.

I won one card the entire game, which was the King card for five victory points. Phil had more blue than anyone, Phil W. had more green and red than anyone, I was leading in black, and Matt was leading in yellow. I felt sneaky, though, because I was second place in all colors. The brokers started piling up in the marketplace to move colors around, and Phil W. was able to slip his green up and blue down.

In the end I was confident I was about to win, but I was in for a surprise as all of the while gems were turned in. I did not have enough for second place in two of the colors. I collected my 24 points for the seven black gems I had, but Phil W. had run away with it. He had collected all four of the 3-point quadrants of the inner circle on three turns. His starting point more than made up for my black gem gains.

It was my first game, so Bobby Tweaks asked my was I thought. I think I am a little stuck on the GMT games right now, but I would give Ys another try. It was a fun game and I had a good time playing.

Thread: Re: Alchemist Question

ColtsFan76 — 2008-04-25T20:12:19+00:00

Right, I think the quotations aspect comes into play so that you don't take a gem and then it gets devalued right away. You can wait and see what the current market value is and hten trade your lowest for the highest if it helps you gain the majority in that color.

Thread: Re: Alchemist Question

dbmurph22 — 2008-04-25T19:14:41+00:00

ColtsFan76 wrote:
From the rules:

Alchemist : After the quotations have been set, the player replaces one of their gems with another gem of their choice. Black and white gems cannot be exchanged. If the player eventually does not want to exchange any gem, he doesn’t have to. In both cases, the card is discarded.

Seems pretty self-explanatory. But you exchange a gem you possess with one from the supply that you do not possess. Black and white are excluded. You may do this during Phase 4 once the majorities have been determined in the market and after the values have been adjusted.

Okay, that makes sense. The inclusion of the quotations in the explanation made me think it was linked directly to the gems on the market - not just the timing of the values.

Thanks gyus.

Thread: Re: Alchemist Question

ColtsFan76 — 2008-04-25T19:07:52+00:00

From the rules:

Alchemist : After the quotations have been set, the player replaces one of their gems with another gem of their choice. Black and white gems cannot be exchanged. If the player eventually does not want to exchange any gem, he doesn’t have to. In both cases, the card is discarded.

Seems pretty self-explanatory. But you exchange a gem you possess with one from the supply that you do not possess. Black and white are excluded. You may do this during Phase 4 once the majorities have been determined in the market and after the values have been adjusted.

Thread: Re: Alchemist Question

Rappak — 2008-04-25T18:47:15+00:00

I don't have the game in front of me but I belive it has a hour glass on the corner. That means that you only count those at the end of the round/scoring, can't remember which at the moment. But it's exchange a gem from your pile, with one in the pool, meaning the ones not on the board and not in other player's areas.

Thread: Alchemist Question

dbmurph22 — 2008-04-25T18:39:49+00:00

Hiya, just got the game and haven't played - only read the rules. Everything is pretty understandable except I'm not sure I quite understand the Alchemist card. I know it's a gem exchange card, but which gems do you exchange and when do you do it?

Do you exchange gems from your hand or exchange gems in the Market? If it's the Market (which I think it is) when do you exchange? Before or during, or after obtaining a gem by having the majority?

Thanks!

Thread: YS online

jksedge — 2008-04-13T11:20:57+00:00

I have the boardgame, but would love to see an online version of this game. Any idea if there are any plans for Ys to go online in the future ?

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felo — 2008-04-12T16:29:53+00:00

"Oh, am I yellow?" Julio says...

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felo — 2008-04-12T16:17:02+00:00

Greens leands in the third round, finally he (I) win :-o

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fabricefab — 2008-03-28T13:23:44+00:00

inside the box

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barnyams36 — 2008-03-03T12:56:43+00:00

Screen for Ys with helping graphs

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barnyams36 — 2008-03-03T12:53:42+00:00

Should I get blue... or red...or...?

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punkzter — 2008-02-15T00:15:41+00:00