Game: Basari

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cmessenger — 2008-11-02T20:44:37+00:00

game board with components

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cmessenger — 2008-11-02T20:42:55+00:00

center of board with jewels

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cmessenger — 2008-11-02T20:41:59+00:00

box cover - hogh resolution

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cmessenger — 2008-11-02T20:41:22+00:00

back of the box

Thread: Re: Simultaenous batering that big of a no-no?

ackmondual — 2008-07-28T15:46:06+00:00

I myself have yet to play this with 3p. Would be interesting. I'd imagine like many other games such as Carcassonne, Ingenious, Ra, and Samurai, there's less conflict and chaos/randomness with lesser players since you can get more out of the legwork you put in. Unlike a game like Settlers where's there's clear reasons where 4p can be superior (better trading ops).

I'll still do both 3p and 4p. No preference over one or the other. 3p calls for less batering whereas 4p greater chance of batering, cancelled actions, and possibility of dual batering, altho one game had 3 cancelled actions for all 4 players

Thread: Re: Simultaenous batering that big of a no-no?

loiosh13 — 2008-07-28T13:26:36+00:00

I'll echo what the other poster said - the order can matter a lot, depending on what effect it has on the value of the gems for each individual player. Value, of course, depends on where it will leave you in the contest for 1st place in the various gems, so what happened in earlier trades may drastically affect what you're willing to part with to get an offer.

So, my advice is do the trades in order - the game isn't that long anyway, and I don't think the time you'd buy would be worth the increase in "randomness" in the trading.

Tim

Thread: Re: Simultaenous batering that big of a no-no?

thorndor — 2008-07-28T12:57:42+00:00

It has been quite a while since I have played this game as a four player. (This is one of my favorite three player games, but I think it doesn't work well as a four player).

To take a stab at your question, I think it would be important to do the bartering in order. The value of a particular gem to one player is entirely dependent on the numbers of gems that other players have. So, simultaneous bartering would be throwing away valuable information.

Thread: Simultaenous batering that big of a no-no?

ackmondual — 2008-07-27T19:54:22+00:00

The rules say that in a 4p game, when there's 2 pairs of players batering that same turn, you're supposed to resolve batering sessions in the following order.... die action first, then points, and finally gems.

For those of you who've resolved the 2 batering sessions simultaneously, did you find that it really affected the game? Only thing I can think of is the 2nd couple of players batering following the 1st group is supposed to have information on how it went. In other words, who got to do the action and who got the gems and how many/which kinds they were. For those of you who did duel barterings this way, did you find it worth saving time to forgo such knowledge, as well as any other issues I may not be aware of?

Thread: Na Ludus depois da ABRIN

tiagoaob — 2008-05-13T13:59:03+00:00

Consegui escapar e dar uma volta na ABRIN e no final do dia, fui até a Ludus, tentar encontrar um pessoal por lá.

Chegando o Tola estava ensinando este pequeno jogo para um monitor e resolvi entrar na roda. É um jogo de blefe bem legal e leve e com muita negociação.

A idéia é pegar jóias de quatro cores diferentes para ter a maioria em cada uma delas. As jóias valem pontos diferentes, mas apenas quem tem a maioria leva. O tabuleiro é uma quadra em que cada casa corresponde as jóias que podem ser conseguidas naquele ponto e também os pontos de vitória que aquela casa dá. O jogo também dá um bônus ao jogador que completar a quadra mais rápido. A cada jogada, depois de ver a casa em que os jogadores pararam, cada jogador seleciona uma entre três possíveis opções, pegar as jóias indicadas na casa, ganhar os pontos indicados na casa ou ainda jogar o dado novamente para andar mais e ganhar alguns pontos de vitória. Se dois jogadores escolherem a mesma ação, eles negociam entre si quem leva. O jogo termina quando a terceira volta na quadra for completada.

Começamos e eu demorei para pegar o jeito, fui apanhando muito. Os outros jogadores seguiam a estratégia de tentar dar a volta o mais rápido possível, com o Tola recolhendo algumas jóias no caminho. Eu tentei consegui pontos de vitória diretamente e logo na primeira pontuação eu vi que minha estratégia não iria dar certo.

Tentei correr atrás do prejuízo, mas não consegui e fiquei o jogo inteiro correndo por trás, a disputa ficando com o pessoal da Ludus. Joguinho bom, mas o melhor estava por vir.

Thread: Re: Where can I find the original?

Wendy — 2008-04-24T18:24:34+00:00

Strange that this software totally hyjacked the URL that I typed: let me try it this way:

dub dub dub dot ebay dot de (German ebay)

Thread: Re: Where can I find the original?

Wendy — 2008-04-24T18:22:49+00:00

You can check at http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=4&cam... for the original version although that is sometimes tricky with the language barrier and shipping/payment costs.

I believe the original is only in German but it's the best version there is. I don't care for the OUT OF THE BOX version at all, as the graphics do not enhance the rich desert theme of this highly replayable game.

It's one of our favourites!

~W~

Thread: Re: more questions on rules

NateStraight — 2008-03-14T13:46:26+00:00

ackmondual wrote:

1) Are players allowed to state/suggest what they want in a counter-offer or must they keep mum about that?

e.g. "I'll let you take the action if you offer/give 3 red gems"

That's kind of like this scene:

Youtube Video

It's just about as silly. You're not supposed to tell the person you're haggling with your final value without going through the process. That defeats the whole purpose. Haggle properly!

Thread: Re: more questions on rules

Verkisto — 2008-03-14T13:21:14+00:00

ackmondual wrote:
1) Are players allowed to state/suggest what they want in a counter-offer or must they keep mum about that?

e.g. "I'll let you take the action if you offer/give 3 red gems"

Hmm ... do the rules say anything about negotiation? If so, I would say you could state what you want. It might speed up the game a bit, but there's a fun tension to be had with the slow, back-and-forth nature of the offers and counter-offers.

2) LONGSHOT, but still....... if there's a tie after all 5 tie breakers (most gems, most # of red gems, most # of yellow gems, most # of green gems, and most # of blue gems), who would win the game?

At that point I would just call it a tie. If two players manage to get the same number of everything, then they played equally well.

Thread: Basari - 2nd game [session report]

ackmondual — 2008-03-14T07:09:53+00:00

4p game using the Out Of The Box version. Everyone else was new to the game. Rules took about 10 minutes to explain. One person didn’t get a good deal of it, so we started anyways since he mentioned he mentioned he works better hands on

Game Summary
Round #1
-most of us accepted small barter amounts. 1 through 4 gems was the norm, with about 2.6 being the average

End Of Round 1
-gray won the yellow gem bonus, but also the red gem bonus
-I won tied brown for the blue gem bonus
-brown won the green gem bonus and tied me for the blue gem bonus
-black won the lap bonus

Round #2
-Larger barter amounts accepted this time around, with up to 5 gems being offered
-near the end of this round, the player who was unsure about a handful of rules for the game had nearly all of them fully pact

End Of Round 2
-gray won the yellow gem bonus again
-I won the blue gem bonus
-black and gray got their lap bonus
-can’t recall who got the red gem bonus

Round #3
-black, on several occasions deliberately played the same action card as some of us to keep us from getting too far ahead, such as to cancel out our Gem actions to keep us from building up too many gems. It seemed to have worked sometimes, but I felt he would’ve been better off fully looking after his own interests.
-again, I tried to get 10pt lap bonus. In the end, my last turn I was 8 away from a complete lap
-In the end, brown had 4 spaces left to lap and gray had 3 spaces left
-black managed to get within 3 spaces of the starter marker after the movement phase. He got to place his Die action and got a 3 to end the round, and also max out on points
-the VERY LAST activity in the game was brown and gray deliberating on how to work out their barter. In the end, it was mutual. Brown got enough red to tie me for most red gems while gray got enough to tie black for yellow gems

End Of Round 3
me: 6 red gems (tied with brown) and 8 blue
gray: 7 yellow
black: lap, 9 yellow
brown: 6 red (tied with me) and 9 green

Final Score
me: 79
gray: 73
black: 73
brown: 62

Another nice session. The game was definitely enjoyed by at least on player. It was also the same deal with the last game with another group. It took a while for everyone else to fully get the hang of the game and make the best decisions possible, but once they did, they were into it. AFAIK, the game lasted over an hour.

Thread: more questions on rules

ackmondual — 2008-03-14T06:08:20+00:00

Finally got a chance to play 2 games. Nice game indeed

1) Are players allowed to state/suggest what they want in a counter-offer or must they keep mum about that?

e.g. "I'll let you take the action if you offer/give 3 red gems"

My take is yes

2) LONGSHOT, but still....... if there's a tie after all 5 tie breakers (most gems, most # of red gems, most # of yellow gems, most # of green gems, and most # of blue gems), who would win the game?

My most official takes would be to roll the die for the tiebreaker or just declare a tie.

Otherwise, rock-paper-scissor or a staring contest may occur

Thread: Re: question on bartering......

ackmondual — 2008-03-13T06:22:25+00:00

Initially, didn't notice that bartering has to end one way or another due to the constantly raised offers. Was thinking of bartering in a different way at the time. thanks!

Thread: Re: question on bartering......

EvanMinn — 2008-03-10T02:37:44+00:00

I've described this game as sort of both an auction and a negotiation game.

If you don't like the offer you are receiving, you can just offer them a higher amount and treat it as a straight-up auction game.

But I've found the game plays best when people are also trying to convince the other person why their offer is best for both players.

If the other person isn't convinced, then they are forced to come up with a higher offer and then convince the other person why they should take it rather than offer something higher.

If players look for offers that are mutually beneficial, they often can be found and it's just a matter of making a convincing case.

If you can't convince them its up to them to make a higher offer.

Thread: Re: question on bartering......

Eldard — 2008-03-10T02:00:08+00:00

Twinge wrote:
The bartering in this game isn't really a matter of coming to an agreement - it's a straight up offer that MUST be accepted or given a counter-offer that then MUST be accepted or countered, and so on.

Twinge is exactly right. The player has 2 options with the offering: (a) accept it, or (b) raise it.

Twinge wrote:
If Player A declines to offer at all, they do nothing in the round and Player B takes the action free of charge. (This never happened in the one game I've played.)

Nor in any of ours. Player A can always offer the minimum of 1 gem. If Player A determines that he/she doesn't want to part with any gems, then Player A can cede the gain to Player B for no return, but like Twinge's games, we've never experienced this.

Twinge wrote:
Otherwise, Player A will make some offer of gems. If Player B accepts this offer, then Player A gives those gems to Player B and Player A takes the action. Otherwise, Player B makes a counter-offer of higher value (which is basically either more total gems or more valuable gems; this is described more throughly in the rules). This can go back and forth several times.

Hopefully that clears it up?

Basari is a classic bidding game. The rules are simple; there are different strategies; and the bidding mechanism is open and clean. Twinge did a great job of clearing the bidding rules up for you; I hope you enjoy the game as much as our group does.

Thread: Re: question on bartering......

Twinge — 2008-03-10T00:56:25+00:00

The bartering in this game isn't really a matter of coming to an agreement - it's a straight up offer that MUST be accepted or given a counter-offer that then MUST be accepted or countered, and so on.

If Player A declines to offer at all, they do nothing in the round and Player B takes the action free of charge. (This never happened in the one game I've played.)

Otherwise, Player A will make some offer of gems. If Player B accepts this offer, then Player A gives those gems to Player B and Player A takes the action. Otherwise, Player B makes a counter-offer of higher value (which is basically either more total gems or more valuable gems; this is described more throughly in the rules). This can go back and forth several times.

Hopefully that clears it up?

Thread: Re: question on bartering......

Kubigaruma — 2008-03-10T00:06:54+00:00

If player B thinks he is being shortchanged, then he should counter-offer. Player A then must accept or counter-offer. Once a barter is proposed, there is no going back.

Thread: question on bartering......

ackmondual — 2008-03-09T22:59:17+00:00

The instruction manual (newer OotB edition) says if player A is to initiate trade but doesn't want to give anything, he may just not offer anything, and sacrifice his action move instead. If after going back and forth for a while, an agreement can't be reached, such as player A doesn't want to give THAT much jewels while player B thinks he's being shortchanged, would the game just default to player A not getting to move in lieu of not making any gem payments to player B? In other words, player B just does his action move, similar to the situation mentioned above?

Thread: Re: Where can I find the original?

ackmondual — 2008-03-09T22:48:42+00:00

I'll chime in and say now that I've compared the two, I too prefer the original artwork of the board. Rough comparison done by myself shows the content of the 2 boards remains the same, so I think I'll just stick with the OotB version, especially since I got that for cheap (the savings was mostly in the combined shipping which the extra cost was close to nil). Not willing to go through hoops and sell stuff just for the nicer artwork alone.

On a side note, a friend looked at the original box cover for Basari and thought there might be some pro-terrorist sentiment with it. I'd have to disagree. The folks on the cover are kinda cartoony looking, quite happy, fully vested in their trade, and it's not like there are 10 year old boys brandishing AK47's while burning a US flag.

BTW, is the original version also in English, or is it just available in German?

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barbate — 2008-02-11T12:42:21+00:00

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BaSL — 2007-11-01T15:01:53+00:00

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BaSL — 2007-11-01T15:01:31+00:00

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-08-12T17:33:48+00:00

Player tiles

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Liggur — 2007-05-28T18:49:51+00:00

13 Yellow Gems! But I managed to Draw in yellow at the end.

Thread: Re: Flaking Gems in Out of the Box version? Anyone got a res

msherwoo — 2007-05-14T01:34:03+00:00

I thought I'd let everyone know that this has not been a persistent problem for me. I got no more flakes aside from the initial batch.

Thread: Re: Flaking Gems in Out of the Box version? Anyone got a res

Liggur — 2007-05-14T00:37:21+00:00

My gems too are flaking (as was the copy I played a few days ago.)
I think its the Glazing on the glass.

No way to stop it, except when it all comes off, like what has probably happened with Dustin's copy.

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BaSL — 2007-04-19T15:33:32+00:00

Thread: Review by SOS (from 1998)

sos1 — 2007-02-07T17:25:46+00:00

Basari is an excellent little board game of trading, bargaining, and psyching out your opponents. The game plays well with both three and four players, but very differently at each number. The four-player game becomes more psychological, while the three-player is an excellent tactical game.

The game consists of an attractive board, 100 play jewels in four colors, and four sets of playing pieces including a pawn, home base, scoring token, die, and set of three cards for each player.

In the center of the board are pictured four carpets to store the jewels on, and a scoring table. Around that is a series of spaces in a Middle Eastern arch theme, each of which has a number between 4 and 7, inclusive, and a picture of a certain jewel combination. Finally, around the outer edge, is the scoring track.

The game is won by being the furthest around the scoring track after three rounds of play - usually about 20-30 minutes per game, and it's such a good game you'll happily play an instant rematch. A round ends when one or more players get their pawn around the board back to their home base - those who do, score ten points. Then the player with the most blue jewels scores eight points, the most green jewels scores ten points, the most yellow jewels twelve points, and the most red jewels fourteen points. Those who scored points for jewels must return some to the carpet, to prevent the next round from being an automatic victory for them. Reset the home bases to where the pawns are, and start the next round.

Course of Play

The game rules are quite simple: each player starts with the pieces and cards for his color, plus three jewels of each of the four colors. Place your home base and pawn on any space on the arches - it doesn't matter where - and your starting token on the "Start" space of the scoring track. Each player then rolls a die simultaneously, then moves their pieces.

At this point, you must stop to evaluate the board. Each pawn is now on a space which shows a certain number and a set of jewels. Each player has three cards, one of which shows a die, another the numbers 4,5,6,7, and the third a jewel of each color. In secret, each player chooses a card, then places it face down in front of them. When all have chosen, they are revealed simultaneously.

If only one player has chosen an action, they get to perform it. If three or four players have chosen the same action, none of them get to perform it. If two players choose the same action, they must negotiate to see which one of them may perform it.

The actions associated with each card are:

* Die: roll the die, move your pawn the number of spaces shown, and your scoring marker six-minus-the-number-shown spaces.
* Numbers: move your scoring marker the number of spaces corresponding to the space your pawn is on.
* Jewels: take the jewels shown on the space your pawn is on.

If players have to negotiate, the leader offers the other player a number of jewels to allow him to perform the action. The other player can accept, or make a higher counteroffer. Eventually one and only one player will perform the action, and the next turn will begin.

To Deal or Not To Deal ...

The joy of the game comes in figuring out which actions the other players are likely to choose, then determining if you want to try to stop them, or let them and choose another action, and, if negotiating, offering (or accepting) the right combination of jewels for the action involved. Sometimes negotiators are potentially hurting each other - at other times, they can come to a mutually beneficial agreement. ("You let me take the red jewels, which you don't really want, as you'd still be in second place with them, and I'll give you all my green jewels, which will give you the lead over that other player over there.")

Two-Player Variant

You can play this game two-player, I've discovered. And while it's not as good as with more, it's actually not bad.

1. One player takes the two brown colors, the other player black and gray.
2. Each player rolls his/her two dice, and all four pawns are moved.
3. Each player sets a tile in secret for each of his/her pawns.
4. You may not choose the same choice for both of your own pieces.
5. The winner is the player with the highest combined score for both his pieces.

That's basically it - try it sometime.

In Summary

Basari is a very fun, quick game with a near perfect blend of skill and luck. Yes, there's luck in it, but that takes the game out of the purely cerebral realm which games such as Chess and Go occupy, into something mere mortals can play and enjoy and even have a chance of winning. But there's a lot of skill involved - the more you play, the better you get at the game, which is always satisfying.

2007 note: We have actually moved from Basari to Edel, Stein & Reich. The latter is basically the same game, with some increased options, and feels like an improvement. But I'd still happily play Basari anytime!

Thread: Basari - A Light Review

Neil Thomson — 2007-01-03T08:08:38+00:00

All of my reviews aim to offer a brief overview that allows people to get a good feel for what the game may offer them. I feel that other reviews can be sought if detailed game mechanics is what you are after.

Basari is another great game from Out of the Box. Each player takes the role of a trader in an Arabian style marketplace. The game board depicts a square market made up of stalls and each of these stalls contains a victory point number and a certain number of coloured gems.

Play begins with each player selecting a starting position and taking their 3 action cards (all players have the same action cards). Each turn requires all players to role their dice and move their trader that many squares forward. Once all players have stopped on a market stall they must secretly select 1 of the 3 action cards and this serves as the driving mechanic.

Playing the gems card allows a player to collect the gems represented in the stall they currently occupy. Playing the value card earns a player the number of Victory Points (recorded on the outside track of the board) indicated by the number in the stall they currently occupy. Whilst playing the dice action card allows the player to move their trader on the board and score a number of victory points.

The trick to Basari is that if any 2 players reveal the same card they must barter for the right to use that action. Bartering introduces player interaction to the game and the gems are used for this purpose. There are 4 gem colours and they also have differing values, they are from highest to lowest – red, orange, green and blue. In turn the players take turns to make an offer of one or more gems at a time. The highest number of gems offered will always win the auction but an equal number of gems means that gem value is used to break the deadlock.

Bartering continues until one player concedes and that player takes all the gems offered during the auction, improving their gem stockpile for future bids and bonus point scoring (discussed later). The winning bidder loses their gems but gains the right to the action bestowed by the card. If 3 players reveal the same action card then those players simply cancel each other out and they get no action for the turn.

Play continues in this way until one or more players complete a full lap of the market. When this occurs a special bonus scoring round occurs. The gems now play another important role as players can earn bonus points for holding a majority of gems in each of the colours. The player or players that complete the lap to end the round also earn a 10 point bonus.

At the end of a round all trader markers are returned to their original starting positions and the game of Basari ends when 3 rounds have been completed. The player with the highest victory points at the end is declared the winner.

The Final Word

Basari really offers a lot of gaming depth in a short space of time. All of the action cards play a critical role which makes for a balanced game that keeps all of the players on the ball and offers them numerous strategic options. Each action has a place and the beauty of Basari is that the game is ever changing.

Players are not locked into developing long term strategies as the game changes from turn to turn. This forces players to adapt to new developments but even more importantly they can enjoy themselves without developing a migraine. Basari is a worthwhile investment for this reason alone and offers fun for family and friends alike.

Thread: Re: Flaking Gems in Out of the Box version? Anyone got a res

MrUnicorn — 2006-10-26T18:02:24+00:00

msherwoo wrote:
...or if the flakes I got initially will be all the flakes I get.

So far, this has been my experience with the gems in the Out of the Box version, and my copy has seen quite a bit of play and a fair amount of transport to really shake 'em up. At this point the flaking seems to have come to an end. Doesn't seem to be too much of a problem in the long run.

Thread: Re: Flaking Gems in Out of the Box version? Anyone got a resolution?

msherwoo — 2006-10-25T03:35:41+00:00

My gems are flaking in a huge way, and I have 2 gems stuck together. The stuck together gems are not a big deal, as I received 3 extra gems in each color.

The flaking is odd. I'm wondering if the problem will persist, or if the flakes I got initially will be all the flakes I get.

Thread: Re: Well, I like it...

begriffi — 2006-07-09T14:46:43+00:00

I like it too, but I only play it with 4 players so there is more interaction. It gets a little more tense too, since it is a real possibility that more than 2 players will pick the same action.

This is one of the gateway games I use and it has always been a hit.

Thread: Re: Where can I find the original?

DenverWolf — 2006-06-14T14:51:14+00:00

There are at least 4 people here on the Geek willing to trade for the original German version.

See here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewcollections.php3?gameid=14&...

I was not able to find any of the original version on ebay, or on the usual online retailers.

Sure hope you find a copy; I too prefer the German version.

Thread: Where can I find the original?

ed95005 — 2006-06-14T06:51:46+00:00

I played my first game of Basari last night and really enjoyed it, but I must say I have a strong preference for the original art that appears in the pictures here on the Geek (I assume the FX Schmid edition). Any idea about where I can find a copy?

Thread: Datek FTW

davek — 2006-02-20T02:11:27+00:00

Basari, one of my favorites. In this game you’re collecting jewels and victory points by moving around a bazaar. Each turn you choose one of three actions you like to take, all of them good, but if you choose the same action as someone else you two have to barter with each other (using the jewels) for the right to do the action. So while you’re playing you are constantly trying to figure out what everyone else wants to do, and then try do something different yourself…mostly. Quite a lot of double-think, and a bit of chaos, but good players can really come out ahead by paying close attention to detail. In our game, I jumped to a big lead after the first of three rounds, but then Chris caught up in the second round and shot way past in the third. At the end Molly and I were close together but way behind Chris.

Thread: 4-Player, separate die rolls for each player (as per rules)

Chump — 2006-02-08T22:12:26+00:00

A whole bunch of games were played at this week's Vancouver Boardgame Meetup, including a couple of party games: Like Minds, and two games of Apples vs. Apples; as well as a 5-player game of Settlers of Satan, Ticket to Ride, and an aborted game of RoboRally.

Once everyone had their fill of food, I noted that people were itching to get going and play some games. Basari was being eyed lasciviously, so I offered to teach it to four novices, Devon, Nikki, Sharon, and Dorothy. They all quickly got the hang of it. Sharon took an early lead, which she never relinquished, thanks to some lucky die rolls which continued during the entire three rounds. While Devon, Dorothy, and Nikki bartered for position with their jewels, Sharon pretty much depleted her supply early on, nevertheless scoring twice for yellow in the first two rounds. Sharon also was the only player to make it around the track, and she did so all three rounds. The scores reflect the lopsidedness of this game:

Sharon: 94
Devon: 67
Nikki: 60
Dorothy: 48

The oft suggested variant for this game whereby the same die roll is used for all players each turn would have mitigated the luck factor in this game, and I suggest it be used for future games.

Thread: Re: Flaking Gems in Out of the Box version? Anyone got a resolution?

shawn_low — 2006-01-19T04:27:42+00:00

I guess the whole point of buying a game is to play it right out of the box (pun NOT intended). The fact that I have to buy my own gems as a replacement is just plain silly.

OOB has thus far ignored my emails to them. Boo!

Thread: Basari Review

LittleMisfit — 2005-10-23T23:53:49+00:00

Basari is a light game that's easy to learn and moves quickly.

The game components include 4 wooden dice and pawns, 100 colored glass stones representing gems, action cards, and a glossy game board.

Like most Out of the Box games, I think this one is best for groups that prefer light games. It doesn't have enough to it to keep the hardcore gamer interested for more than a few games.

The game works as follows. First, each player rolls the die and moves their pawn around the board. The space that they land on will have a number and a certain number or jewels on it. Next, each player secretly selects one of three action cards. Then, they all simultaneously reveal which card they chose. The three action cards are Gems, Points, and Dice. The Gems card means you take the gems specified on the space you are currently on. The Points card means you get the number of points on the space you are on. The Dice card means you roll the dice, move your pawn that many spaces, and take point equal to 6 minus the number you rolled. The catch is, if two people choose the same action card, they have to bid for the privilege of taking the action by offering the other player gems. Counter offers are made until one player agrees to accept the gems in exchange for letting the other player take the action on the card. If three or more players select the same action, no one gets to take that action. Play continues until one or more players go all the way around the board, in which case the round ends and scoring occurs. The player with the most red gems gets 14 points. The player with the most yellow gems gets 12 points. The most green is 10, and the most blue is 8. Any players that made it all the way around the board get 10 points. After three rounds, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.

If you like light games that are easy to learn and have a good pace, Basari might be a good addition to your collection. I personally didn't care too much for it. It was a little to simplistic for my tastes, but I tend to prefer medium weight games. I would rate it about a 5 or 6 out of 10. I may adjust my rating with more plays, but to be honest I don't really have any desire to play it again.

Thread: Negotiation offers for beginners.

shawn_low — 2005-09-14T08:55:44+00:00

I introduced this to 2 seperate gamer groups. Some people have issues with the negotiation aspect of the game.

I think the way to explain the negotiation offer is:

1) Higher offer in terms of quantity or quality (according to points value at end of each round) always wins.

Therefore: 2 blue is worth more than 1 red. 1 red is worth more than 1 blue, etc.

2) Players need not build on their previous offer. They are free to completely take their current offer back and start from scratch...as long as their latest offer follows rule 1 above.

Good luck!

Thread: Flaking Gems in Out of the Box version? Anyone got a resolution?

shawn_low — 2005-09-06T08:41:46+00:00

I bought the Out of the Box version (excellent value) BUT my gems were flaking like no tomorrow and two of them were stuck together.

I read on RPG.net that this is an issue that OOB was looking into. I emailed customer service but had no response...anyone else had a similar problem?

Also, the 'yellow' gems are 'orange' and too close to red for a partially colourblind player like myself.

Thread: Re: One Die Roll

Sky Knight X — 2005-07-29T20:46:06+00:00

Yep, this is the way we always play it. It is a major improvement. We have the person with the highest score roll the die.

This should have been the official rule.

Thread: Well, I like it...

davek — 2005-07-29T07:23:16+00:00

After Steve's Rocket, we discussed playing something short. Carl was picking and leaning toward Puerto Rico when I suggested Basari. I like it, and it wouldn't take nearly as long as PR. Carl hadn't played it before. A quick rules rundown, and we kicked in.

Carl jumped out to 30 point lead before the end of the first round by going exclusively for points and circle bonus. Chris and I fought over the jewels, bartering at least twice. In the end Chris scored red and blue bonus and I got yellow and green. He jumped a bit ahead of Carl and I was behind.

I had a buttload of jewels at the beginning of round two and was able to use them to push Chris around in a couple more jewel barters. Carl continued sneak in consistent move and score advances by guessing CK and I were more concerned with jewels. At the end I scored red, yellow and green, shooting me ahead with the other two 10 or 15 points below.

I had just enough jewels at the start of round 3 to preserve my lead at the end, with Chris taking red and blue bonuses again and I the other two (IIRC). Carl's try at a "all-race, no-jewel" strategy was a good try but the bonuses are just too valuable. He thinks it may be more effective with four players.

Nobody liked this game much but me - I guess we should have played PR. I think its light and enjoyable, with jewel battles and fun blind-guessing double-think to keep it interesting. Maybe I just don't expect as much from it. As Dave R said watching us play, "That's pretty complex for an Out of the Box game, isn't it?" That says it all!

Thread: Re: One Die Roll

Gamegrunt — 2005-07-29T05:04:04+00:00

The single roll is an excellent way to play Basari. However, I tried to introduce it one evening to my seven year old granddaughter Lacey and she wasn't having any of it. She literally threw a fit.

You just don't fiddle with her games.

Gg

Thread: One Die Roll

cbrua — 2005-07-29T03:56:06+00:00

A commonly used variant for Basari is that only one die is rolled at the beginning of a turn and everyone's piece is moved that amount. It takes a little bit of the randomness out and enhances the value of the "roll the die" action.

--Chris

Thread: Re:another barter question

TMJJS — 2005-03-13T07:50:51+00:00

The way the bidding was explained to me helped me to understand it very well. Think of the different colors as number placements: red = thousand, yellow = hundred, green = tens & blue = ones.
Now the basic rule is that the number of jewels is always the most important. Therefore 4 blues will beat 3 of anything.
Once you have someone bidding same number of jewels use the idea above to see who's in 1st place:
3 green & 2 blue = 32
1 red & 4 blue = 1004 therefore the 1 red/4 blue wins

1red, 1yellow, 2blue vs 1red, 2green, 1blue
1102 vs 1021

Anyways, it helped me!

PS - usually the bidding goes in our game blue, then bigger color, than 2 blues, then 1 big color, 1 blue and so on with people using blues to out number the bigger colors.

Thread: Re:another barter question

npetry — 2005-02-22T19:15:25+00:00

Gamegrunt wrote:

The 4th offer would have to be 3 reds, wouldn't it? One red is not greater than 3 yellows.

Gg

Not exactly. A counter-offer of, say 1 red and 2 blues would be sufficient (though other combinations are possible). Three reds is probably excessive, though it would depend on the exact circumstances.

The basic rule is that a higher-quality offer (assuming same number of gems) requires that the most valuable gem in the set be worth more than the highest gem in the original offer. If both offer and counter-offer have the same number of 'best' gems, then you look at the next-highest colour, and so on. For example:

a) 1 red & 2 blues beats 3 yellows, since red > yellow.

b) 1 red, 1 green, and a blue beats 1 red and 2 blues, since green > blue.

c) 2 reds, 1 yellow and 1 green beats 2 reds, 1 yellow and 1 blue, since green > blue.

If one offer contains more gems, then it is always higher -- just ignore the colours. e.g. 3 blues > 2 reds.

Thread: Re:another barter question

npetry — 2005-02-22T19:03:33+00:00

csmsam wrote:
What am I missing here?

Caroline

What you've missed is that the rules require a higher offer to consist of either: (a) more gems (any quality), or (b) the same number of gems, but of a higher quality.

A counter-offer consisting of fewer gems is never valid.

I hope that helps.

Thread: Re:another barter question

Gamegrunt — 2005-02-21T13:54:33+00:00

csmsam wrote:
From what I understood from the rules, a counter offer can either be more in quantity or have a least one jewel which is worth more

Sometimes we find that the bartering never ends.
For example,

player A offers two yellows
player B offers one yellow and one red (more points)
player A offers three yellows (more jewels)
player B offers one red (more points)
player A offers two yellows (more jewels)

and so on.

What am I missing here?

Caroline

The 4th offer would have to be 3 reds, wouldn't it? One red is not greater than 3 yellows.

Gg

Thread: another barter question

csmsam — 2005-02-21T11:01:58+00:00

From what I understood from the rules, a counter offer can either be more in quantity or have a least one jewel which is worth more

Sometimes we find that the bartering never ends.
For example,

player A offers two yellows
player B offers one yellow and one red (more points)
player A offers three yellows (more jewels)
player B offers one red (more points)
player A offers two yellows (more jewels)

and so on.

What am I missing here?

Caroline

Thread: Re:Session Report

Gamegrunt — 2005-01-27T19:56:06+00:00

Yes, I came in last as avarice is not in my nature, and I was a bit slow to pick up on the importance of the actions involving the Die Card and the Numbers Card. I focused too much on acquiring gem monopolies (Red Gems, Green Gems, Yellow Gems, Blue Gems) and missed out on victory points acquired by completing board revolutions (10 points) and gaining inner track and outer track progressions.

A good session nonetheless, and another good Session Report, Ed.

Gg

Thread: Session Report

ThreeJs — 2005-01-27T13:36:22+00:00

I attended my first Ft Worth Gamers gathering this Tuesday evening. I arrived a tad late, and the fellas were already going over the details of a game called Basari - a title which I'd never heard of. I claimed the table's one vacant seat. Christpoh sat to my immediate left, and then Michael, and the final spot was filled by Arden (the games owner.)

Arden held-up the instructions, and explained to all of us the basic machanics and object of the game. Each player would have 3 action cards, a die, and a small quanity of jewels to start with. So you have 3 actions to chose from per turn: you can score points by collecting the number your counter lands on (by using the the number action card), or collect the gems your standing on (by playing the gem action card), or you may chose to roll an additional movement die (by using the die action card.) Those three action card are the only cards a player holds. All contestants must play 1 card simultaneously at the start of each turn.

Now the fun part. If any 2 players select the same action card (i.e. both play a die card or both select a gem card) then they must both enter into a bartar. Each player then offers gems to their opponent for the right to complete the chosen action. The player that excepts the jewel payment must then forfeit their action card for that turn, and the winning bidder may then continue with his chosen action. Now for the bad part. If 3 or more players play the same action cards, no one gets to complete an action that turn.

Arden cleared up a few rules questions we all had, and then we started the game. I admit I was still foggy on the rules but quickly decided to try and corner the ruby market (since red gems score the most points.) To my surprise I soon held a large heap of rubies at my side - with very little resistance. I may have successfully monopolized the ruby market, but I did so at the cost of my movement and scoring cards - so my scoring marker was falling woefully behind the others.

Arden was moving around the board quickly and was almost about to complete a lap (thus ending this first of 3 rounds.) I knew there was no way I could catch "Speedy" so I went after more gems. I figured if rubies, the most prized gems, were easy to snag, then establishing a sapphire cartel would be a breeze. Arden crossed the finish line the very next turn, thus gaining himself a 10 point bonus and ending the first round. My neglected scoring marker had been sitting on the edge of the board dead last, but after I cashed in my gems, it quickly zoooom out to the front of the pack.

The second round was problematic. Being the market leader in so many gem categories can be damaging the following round, because prior to beginning the next round you must discard 3 of your winning gem colors. So I began round three with a depleated treasure chest of jewels. Christpoh seemed to be concentrating on scoring cards and movement cards this round. I knew I was not going to be able and compete in the bejeweled market this round so I also concetrated on scoring and moving also. Fortunately for me lady luck was on my side and I made a few higher die rolls than Chris. Both Arden and Mike had the gem market almost totally to themselves this round.

At the start of the finaly round the score stood: Christpoh and Arden neck and neck, me trailing a close third and Michael trailing a good deal behind. Since I didn't cash in any gems the previous round, I was ready to be a major player in the precious gem market this final round.

The round began and I goobled up the rubies just like the first round and established a healthy red gem pile. Arden was also stockpiling a large quanity of yellow, green, and blues! Christophe had little in the way of wealth but maintained a small points lead. I decided to trade heavy with Micheal. Micheal was too far behind to be much of a threat, but the better I fed him jewels, the more likely he was gonna knock Arden out of the yellow, blue, and green markets. And for good measure I also decided to step on the petal and grab the 10 point "finish first" bonus.

Lucky for me eveything fell right in line. My generous trades with Michael allowed him to neutralize all of Arden's jewel stacks. With my robust ruby stack and by finishing the final lap first (extra 10 points), I was able to pull out to a safe win. A fun, easy, interactive, must buy.

Winner: Eddie
2nd: Arden
3rd: Christpoh
4th: Michael

Thread: Session Report

fanaka66 — 2004-11-05T20:05:10+00:00

Class 2: Game 2

After Carcassonne, Bruce pulled out Basari. He went over the rules, and explained a rule variation that he prefered. Instead of everyone rolling individual dice and moving different amounts, he rolled a main die and we all moved the same amount. This made the die option more strategic, I guess.

I'm not sure what happened in this one. Again, I think I was just playing without a concrete strategy in mind. I was just trying to make each play a good one, instead of thinking about an overall plan.

After 1 round, I was in second, but then I had a disasterous second round. I didn't score any points at the end of round 2. As far as I was behind, Lisbet was out in front. It turned out to just be a race between Chet and Brian for second.

Round 3 went well for me, but I was too far behind at this point. Lisbet cruised to the win.

I didn't really like this game. The negotiating was fun, and the decisions were interesting, but I didn't like the rock-scissors-paper aspect. Either I was not good at predicting my opponents plays, or they weren't playing how I would of. Either way, I probably started over-thinking it and several times tried the same play as 2 others, giving the one other a big advantage.

Thread: Session Report

habermanm — 2004-07-15T15:35:42+00:00

My wife and I finally tried Basari for the first time with her brother and his wife. Every one caught on very quickly and a good time was had by all. I was able to sneak out a victory by picking the points 3 times when the other 3 players choose gems.

Me = 78
Tom = 74
Wife = 71
Jackie = 68

I rate it an 8 after one play.

Thread: User Review

gschloesser — 2004-01-28T19:07:51+00:00

After playing Basari when it was first released back in 1998, I found the game fair, but nothing terribly exciting. However, as with numerous other games, further playings heightened my enthusiasm considerably … so much so, that Basari is now a personal favorite. I was thrilled to hear that Out of the Box would be releasing a new version and was happy to acquire a copy.

This new version of Basari is identical to the original in terms of rules, but the components have been altered. Gone are the plastic gems, replaced with glass stones. Although the glass does feel better, I did like the shape of the plastic pieces, which gave the visual appearance of finely cut gems. The actual features on the board are the same as in the original, but the board is larger and a bit more garish. I really liked the parchment appearance of the FX Schmid version, but this is strictly a matter of personal taste. The new board is certainly large and easy to see … but it does have that nasty gutter where the board folds. Can’t any company in America produce a game board without this valley?

The rules are very easy to understand and very straightforward. Newcomers to the game should have no trouble whatsoever diving into the game with just a quick reading.

Although the game was originally released nearly six years ago, it has been out of print for several years. Thus, an explanation is in order. The setting for Basari is a Middle Eastern Bazaar. Players travel around the bazaar, visiting various stalls and deciding to purchase various items. Each stall (which is a space on the board track) depicts a various types of jewels in various combinations, as well as a number ranging from 4 – 7.

Players each begin the game with three each of the four types of gems: rubies (red), topazes (yellow), emeralds (green) and sapphires (blue). Gems are worth victory points when scoring occurs at the end of each of the three rounds, but they are also used as commodities when bartering for the right to perform various actions. Keeping a healthy stockpile of gems if vital, lest one lose the ability to barter and suffer when points are tallied.

Each player begins the game on a stall of his choice, indicating this as his base. This is marked with a disk of the same color as the player’s pawn. Players also each receive a die of the same color.

Each turn is conducted in a similar fashion. Players simultaneously roll their die and move their pawn the indicated number of spaces in a clockwise direction around the bazaar. When they come to rest on a stall, the jewels and victory points depicted thereon will be available to the player … maybe. You see, the player will then have the following options:

1) Take the jewels pictured on the stall;
2) Take the number of Victory points listed on the stall; OR
3) Roll the die and move that amount forward. The player also subtracts the number rolled from '6' and gets that difference in victory points.

Well, this isn’t exactly correct. Each player DOES have these options, but they are not guaranteed that they will be able to enjoy the benefits. Why is that? The main mechanism in the game is one wherein each player secretly 'bids' for which action he wishes to take by use of bidding tiles. Each player possesses three bidding tiles, one each for the three options listed above. Each player chooses one of his tiles and they are simultaneously revealed. If only one player chooses a particular option, he reaps the benefits. If, however, two players bid for the same action, they must negotiate a deal to see which one gets to execute the action. If three or more players happen to bid for the same action, those bids cancel each other and none of those players can execute the desired action. This can be immensely frustrating!

When choosing the action you wish to perform, it is vital that a player examine the potential rewards being granted for the other players. Often, you would love to have a certain set of jewels, but based on the stalls occupied by your opponents, you know there is a good chance that they, too, will be seeking to acquire the jewels. So, it is sometimes wiser to choose a different action that you feel won’t be chosen by your opponents. Still, they may be thinking the same thing, so will also choose a different action. Certainly, there is a strong element of guesswork here, but instead of being overly frustrating, it works well and adds tension and excitement to the game.

As mentioned, the jewels are the unit of currency. Whenever negotiation is required, process involves players making offers and counter-offers in jewels until one player decides to accept the other's offer, taking the jewels offered. The winning bidder then gets to execute the contested action, either the taking of jewels depicted, the earning of the victory points depicted, or the rolling of the die.

The bartering process is at the heart of the game. The player who is currently furthest ahead on the victory point track makes the first offer, sliding forward one or more gems as an offer. The opponent can either accept the offer, or make a counter-offer. A counter offer must consist of either more gems, OR an equal number of gems, of which at least one is of a higher value than those offered by his opponent. The ranking of the gems in terms of value are ruby, topaz, emerald and sapphire. Thus, an offer of a ruby and two sapphires bests an offer of two topazes and an emerald. This bartering process continues until an offer is accepted.

Once all contested actions have been successfully resolved, players again roll the dice and repeat the same procedure. This continues until at least one player travels around the board and again reaches or surpasses his starting base. At this point, any player who reached their starting base on that turn receives a bonus of 10 victory points (this is one reason why the dice roll option is important). Then, each gem category is examined to determine which player has the majority in each. The player with the most gems in a category will receive points ranging from 8 – 14 points, with the most points being awarded for the ruby category. Points are divided if players tie for the majority in a category. As an equalizer, each player who had a majority must return three of that color jewel to the bank. Thus, the race for majority position remains competitive from round-to-round.

Players then reset their bases to the current location of their pawn and play another round. The game continues in this fashion until the completion of three rounds. The player with the greatest cumulative total of points after three rounds is victorious.

Basari has a lot going for it. Although the choosing of actions and the corresponding guesswork involved is fun, the bartering is at the heart of the game. Players must keep a careful eye on the majority status of the four gems and be mindful of how the current negotiations will possibly affect those positions. There is a constant struggle between the players for control of these majorities and one transaction can drastically later the current status. Shrewd negotiation is required, but must be accomplished by the offering of gems and not with a silver tongue!

When the game was first released, a few folks complained about the potential of a “king-making” problem developing at the end of the game. That is, the results of one negotiation involving a player who is out of contention can determine who will win the game. Yes, this can occur, as it can in numerous other games. Fortunately, the appearance of this unsettling situation has been rare. The vast majority of my games have been extremely enjoyable and competitive … and noticeably free of this potential problem. This is one Middle-Eastern bazaar I will be happy to visit over and over again.

Thread: User Review

TomVasel — 2003-12-30T16:16:56+00:00

I had heard on the internet for quite some time that Basari (FX Schmid, 1998 – Reinhard Staupe) was an excellent bartering game. When I saw that Out of the Box Publishing, one of my favorite game companies, was reprinting the game in America, I was quite pleased and looked forward to playing it. When we opened the box and saw all the colorful little gemstones, I was even more pleased – there’s just something about little glass stones in a game that adds a “coolness” factor.

Basari was indeed as good of a game as I had heard. However, I was concerned after initial playings, and after reading up on strategy on the internet, that the game might be “broken”; but later playings assured me that the game was quite good, and not flawed like some had said. Instead, I found that Basari is an excellent game to play, and fits easily in a half hour of time. This usually sounds like good “filler” material, but I found the mechanics of Basari clever enough that when playing it, one feels like they are playing a “meatier” game.
A board is placed in the middle of the players, a depiction of a gem marketplace. Each player receives three gemstones of the four colors (red, yellow, green and blue), with the remainder of the stones (there are 100 total) placed in the middle of the board, sorted into same-colored piles. Each player then picks a color (gray, brown, black, or tan) and takes the three pieces, three cards, and die associated with that color. Each player places their point marker piece on the start space of a scoring track that wraps around the edge of the board. In the middle of the board is a series of twenty-eight archways, arranged in a square. Players pick which archway they wish to start at (multiple players can pick the same archway), and place their start disk on it. Each player then places his “merchant” piece on top of this start disk, and the game is ready to begin.

There are three rounds in the game, each consisting of several turns. Turns are broken into two phases – the movement phase and action phase. In the movement phase, all players roll their die and move their merchant piece clockwise that number of archway spaces. Each archway has a number at it (from four to seven) and shows pictures of two to four jewels, in one or two colors. In the action phase, each player secretly selects one of their action cards – which are then all revealed simultaneously. If three or all players pick the same action – it is canceled, and play moves to the next movement phase. If only one player picks a specific action, they immediately carry out that action.
- Gemstone card: The player receives the number and colors of the gemstones pictures on the archway where the merchant piece currently sits.
- Points card: The player moves their points marker the number of spaces on the points track equal to the number in the archway where their merchant piece is.
- Die card: The player rolls a die, and moves their merchant piece that many spaces clockwise on the arches. They also subtract the number rolled from six, and advance their points marker that many spaces.

If two players pick the same action, they must barter for it. Whichever player has more points begins the bartering, and offers the other player any number of gemstones that they currently own. The other player can accept this offer (which allows the offering player to take the action), or raise it. An offer can be raised by increasing the number of gemstones offered, or by offering higher valued gemstones. (The gemstones are ranked, from highest to lowest: red, yellow, green and blue). The bartering occurs until one player accepts the offer of the other.

Both of these phases continually occur, until one player’s piece passes their start disc – having made one complete lap. After the action phase of that turn, the round ends. Players who merchant pieces made one lap successfully score 10 bonus points. Also, the players score bonus points for having the most gemstones of each color (red = 14, yellow = 12, green = 10, and blue = 8). Each player who scores points for having the most of a color must also return 3 gemstones of that color back to the middle of the board. All players move their merchant pieces back to their start discs, and the next round begins. After three rounds, the player with the most points is the winner! (Ties are broken by amount of gemstones.)

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: I was very impressed with the high quality of the components, especially considering how inexpensive the game was. The only quibble I had was that for as often as the cards are used, I thought they should be a bit thicker. Getting 100 small colored glass stones in a game is great, though, and I was pleased that they went with glass stones over cardboard tokens. What’s really neat is how the colors of each players pieces match – even the dice. The dice were an unnecessary touch, but a welcome feature. The artwork on the board is crisp and clear (a feature of all OOTB Games), and resembles a Persian market. Everything fits very well in a small, flat, extremely sturdy box, and the plastic insert includes some plastic bags for the jewels and pieces.

2.) Rules: The rules are very short and simple (although long compared to your typical OOTB game). As always, the four pages of rules are clearly formatted, with full color illustrations and examples, and superb formatting! I found that the game is easy to teach, although it usually takes one round before people realize what the best strategies are and how to barter effectively.

3.) Strategy: I read an article on rec.games.board that if a player consistently picks the same action card all the time (namely, the points card), they would easily win. I tried this out in a game without telling the other players, and was soundly defeated. We mentioned, tried it again, and found that it was not a problem. The best way to win this game is to successfully look at what everyone has, what you think they want, and figure out what card they will play each turn.

4.) Bartering: Bartering is fun in this game, and it’s easy to give more stones to the other player than the action card is worth. Exactly how much is each action card worth? Once players get this down, they will do better in the game. Bartering can take long, but if players don’t draw it out, the game doesn’t suffer time-wise.

5.) The Die Card: One variant on the internet is that only one die should be rolled each movement phase, and all merchant pieces moved the same amount. This is a good idea, and makes the Die Card that much more useful. As it is, it only seems to be picked about 15% of the time in the games I’ve played. When using this variant, however, it moves closer to 33%, as players can only be the first to lap the board if they use this card. This lowers the luck level of the game, and while some might dislike that, most people enjoy the variant.

6.) Theme and Fun Factor: The theme is certainly integrated into the game, as bartering is what the game is mostly about. One can easily imagine that they are bartering viciously in an ancient market. The bartering, to me, is the most fun part of the game, although picking the action cards and trying to bluff your opponents is also quite enjoyable.

7.) Time and Players: This is a better game with four players, but still an excellent one with three. The time to play the game usually runs in less than half an hour, and while that qualifies the game as a filler, the strategy is good enough that I think the game transcends the “filler” category.

Basari is definitely worth your time and money. For a small, inexpensive game, it certainly packs a gaming punch, and will please both people looking for a “light” game, and those who want a little more strategy and thoughtfulness in their games. Folks who like to haggle will especially like the game, as they will have a field day here. Luck plays a small role in the game, but good bluffing, bartering, and strategy will help the best person to win this small, fun game.

Tom Vasel

Thread: Session Report

clearclaw — 2003-09-29T12:55:58+00:00

After dinner (thanks go to Walter Hunt for good conversation and taxi
service) we picked up Basari. I'd long wanted to play as I love
trading games, was interested in the rock/paper/scissors mechanic, and
hoped to compare it to the closely related but not quite the same
Edel, Stein & Reich.

I found it another unsatisfying and flawed experience.

Bits complaint:

The gem stone markers in the arches are too small. The gems
themselves are fairly small as well, but are acceptable. The gem
markers conversely are tiny.

The simultaneous turn mechanic is interesting and attractive. On each
turn everybody rolls their die and moves their token accordingly.
Then each player secretly decides which of the three possible actions
he wishes to take given the advantages of his new location, and picks
the card from his hand that represents his selected action. Each
player then simultaneously reveals their selected action and
arbitration takes place.

If only one player has selected a particular action they get to
perform it immediately.

If two players have selected the same action they must engage in a
bidding war, each one offering the other increasingly valuable gems
for the right to take the action, with the winner having to pay the
other the accepted offer and take the action.

If three or more players select the same action then none of them
get to do anything except whine piteously.

This works out surprisingly well. Turns are fast and rapid, with the
RPS model providing a few quivering "I dunno which!" choices. There's
some nice thought required in both selecting the best earning action
for your location, as well as in attempting to determine not only what
other's best action will be, but what that particular player will
select given their thoughts on others. I'm not quite convinced that
all the analysis in the world will do that much better than random
selection, but the appeal of attempting to solve the double-think
conundrum is tangible. Certainly attempting the doublethink knot
_seems_ rewarding when it succeeds. Seems. We also had many turns
were three people had to sit out, which wasn't appealing. The
doublethink reductio ad absurdum loops can and do get silly, but that
same silliness is valuable in limiting the tendencies to analysis
paralysis. At this level Basari remains a Good Game.

In our game I entered the end of the first round having barely
gotten onto the scoring track with the other players up into the
20's. However I dominated green on the first round having sold all
but one of my blue and handed out red and yellow like confetti.
That brought jumped me up into the pack for the end-of-round
scoring. Dave meanwhile had leapt way ahead with a combination of
red and yellow dominance. The other two player seemed to be
struggling. The owner of the game ended the first round with almost
the same set of stones he started with, and Jeff beside me had
fought for second place everywhere it seemed, tho he ended the round
with solid positions.

Amazingly I was in close second position for red and blue entering
the second round, so I concentrated on those while working to make
the round end as quickly as possible via dice rolls. I managed to
end the round with the narrow leads in blue, red and yellow. My
score ran around the board up into the lead by a huge margin, but
the three stone tax for the lead put me well into second place on
all counts. Things did not look good for the future as Dave was not
that behind me and held leads in two stone colours and was tied for
a third heading into the last round.

In the third round I figured I wouldn't be able to steal or maintain
the lead in any stones, and so went almost solidly for point
accumulation in my actions. This worked well until it became clear
that Dave was keeping his stone dominance and my VP earning rate
just wasn't high enough to maintain the lead. So I changed to dice
rolls to try and get points while accelerating the end of the game.

As was clear three turns from the end, Dave won by one point and
there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I'd tried to feed
stones to the other players when I could, trying to make them stone
lead distractions for Dave, but it wasn't enough.
The problems with the game are simple: It is awfully hard (near
impossible) to catch someone who gets ahead, and there is almost no
way to slow someone down who is ahead. It turns into a challenge for
the other players to try and guess the same as the leading player in
order to deny him an action or exact tribute. But that's a lower
probability, 33%, than "pick differently" at 66%, and carries with it
a large chance that you'll end up doing nothing but setting yourself
and him back while the fourth player gets ahead. Not exactly
appealing odds for a control mechanism.

Now that all sounds good: there were things to think about, planning
to be done and decisions to be made. The bit that ignores is that the
game has a big rich-get-richer problem, which is implied by the
run-away-leader problem. The rich have lots of gems, which means that
they can trade away lots of gems in order to make more gems while the
poor don't have the gem reserves to be able to top rich bids from the
rich and so are easily forced to accept expensive bids which don't
actually help them much positionally. So the rich get richer and the
leaders run away.

In sum this came out as a game I won that I was also disappointed by.

I think it was Walter Hunt who commented that Edel, Stein & Reich
mostly solved those problems. I look forward to playing and finding
out.

Thread: Session Report

EYE of NiGHT — 2003-09-29T12:53:36+00:00

Finally we played Basari, one of my absolute favourites. This went very quickly with 3. If you have 4 players, there's always a conflict (there can't not be unless there's a tie) so you have constant bartering. But with three, we sped through with only a few pauses to calculate. Richard rolled high and picked up the bonus points easily (I missed the last by one pip!) but again his business sense weakened and he missed some opportunities. When you're bartering, it's a good trick to offer gems which split majorities between the others, so a mis-count can be disasterous. I normally win Basari, but I struggled this game though, because Ian and Richard are mental and made completely stupid choices. How can I work in these conditions?? Ian finished a clear winner, with me 2nd and Richard last, but he liked the game. He's kindly offered to buy my shares in Baghdad Oil and is interested in leasing a bridge off me too.

Well we had a good laugh and played some nice games... three in SIX HOURS! I really dislike it when people tell me to hurry up, but we're going to have to crack on. Mebbe I'm expecting too much, especially when people are learning games, but in the old days we'd play 3 or 4 games in three hours. How many games would you play in six hours?

We're playing again next week so the sessions straddle Essen. Essen, Essen, my beautiful Essen. Autumn leaves, golden sunsets and I'm in a 4 star hotel for 80 euros a night! Ace.