Game: Raj

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dizzyl — 2008-08-23T17:36:33+00:00

Boxfront german Edition of Hol's der Geier

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cobalto — 2008-02-14T14:23:41+00:00

Full contents with rules

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Toynan — 2007-11-24T16:15:29+00:00

Positive points (mouse) fom the french edition (6 to 10)

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Toynan — 2007-11-24T16:14:42+00:00

Positive points (mouse) from the french edition (1 to 5)

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Toynan — 2007-11-24T16:12:24+00:00

Negative points (vulture) from the french edition

Thread: Re: History of Raj

Curtis Anderson — 2007-11-03T15:14:42+00:00

Except that "up" in that sentence is an adverb, not a preposition.

Thread: Raj Elementary Strategy Ramblings

hurstdm — 2007-09-12T17:19:56+00:00

One of my favorite games which I thought deserved rough cut at a stategy article. This was inspired by a long series of emails on Raj back-and-forth to a friend of mine. Alas, I couldn't dig 'em out, so I'm reproducing some points from memory.

I've organized this in sort of train-of-thought mode. But at least with numbered sections. I'm sorry I lacked the time to make this entry shorter. Familiarity with the rules is assumed.

1) NOTE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF POINTS AVAILABLE

Every game has ten tiles from 1-10 points and five tiles from -1 through -5. Which makes 40 total points available in each game. Right?

A player's first thought before each game (or round of the game, or game-round - we tend to play many, many of these in a row) would be to realize how many points you'll need to win. In a 2-player game, you'll obviously need one more than half: 21.

Games with more players are less subject to exactness, but there can be some rules of thumb. In a three player game, you'll probably something like 14. With four, you'll need more than 11. With all five, you'll need at least 9.

In reality, with a lot of players, two or maybe three players tend to hog all the points in each game. So those 11 or 9 point estimates may be out-the-window. It's still an excellent starting place to be aware of the total number of points. If you get just 15 in a five-player game, you're probably doing very, very well.

2) DECIDE ON A GAMEPLAN

I ain't talking about 2-player games here, really. It's a whole different spicy enchilada for somebody else's article.

It's notable that with three or more players, you may can win without a whole lot of points. Which makes the big tiles very important. In a five-player game, you might can win with JUST the ten tile and maybe the one and nuthin' else.

Even complete novice Raj players note the importance of the ten tile. But it takes a touch of sophistication to realize that the nine tile (and really the eight tile) are just SLIGHTLY worse than the ten tile, but may have substantially less competition for them. Your first games of Raj will feature wars for the ten, but later games will become more sophisticated, with players instead choosing to bail out on competition for the ten tile and instead focusing on something with slightly lower points.

Which leads to a player's gameplan. A player should probably decide before the game (or full game-round) whether he's interested in the ten. Or whether he's going for the nine. Or the eight. Or maybe just the six AND seven? The six and five together are worth more than the ten, and can often come cheaper. Hmmmmmm.... Lots of choices.

Long story short, a strategy should probably be in place from the beginning as to which tiles you're going to find important for this game-round. Of course, we all realize that no plan survives contact with the enemy. So some improvisation skills are important.

3) VALUING THE TILES

My rule of thumb on a tile is that it's worth spending a card worth the (absolute value) of double it's printed points. In other words, the two tile will be won by about a four card. A six tile should be won by about a twelve card. The negative two tile should be avoided with around a four card. This is, of course, a rough approximation, but it's a convenient way of explaining valuation to newbies. It's also a pretty decent rule of thumb. I already understand, of course, that it makes the 8, 9, & 10 out of the system. That's okay. They can be that important and belong in a different category.

I'd love to hear from anybody else if they have a different system or thoughts on this one. I think the worst part is that my system undervalues the negatives. Because when YOU end up with a negative, you've basically given the same number of positive points to ALL your opponents. Which is worse than a particular opponent getting positive points. Right?

4) BIDDING

There are only a few kinds of possible bids, really.

* Trying to win the tile by ONE more than an opponent
* Bailing on an auction to pitch your lowest card.
* Trying to win the tile for exact value (or less)
* Overpaying to be SURE to win a particular auction
* Attempting to tie on a negative tile
* Attempting to benefit from a tie by playing low-ish

The first is obvious. If the 5 tile comes up, people may bid around ten for it. So you'll want to bid an eleven to try and snatch it, while making people "use up" their tens on something they don't win. This can escalate and cause inflation of course as players are all trying to do the same thing.

For the next type of bid, you ought to be bailing on a whole mess of auctions. It's important to realize that you don't have to win them all. So when that value five tile comes up, just pitch your 1 or your 2 or whatever your lowest card is. That'll improve your hand for later, and you won't waste as much bidding power getting caught in the crossfire for every single tile. Pick your spots. Even if you bail only five times in the course of a game, your hand will be that much stronger.

Speaking of bailing, it can be tempting to try and win tiles for either exact value (hypothetically ten for the five tile) or something lower. If you think everyone will bail, you can sneak in there with something JUST above the bail level. Which is most satisfying....

You can, of course, overpay. For example, if you win a few surprise auctions in the beginning of the game and you've already got a bushel of points, you can use your 14 or 15 on something with mediocre point values, just to shore up your lead. Then just sit back and plan to avoid the negative tiles.

My personal favorite bid play comes from ATTEMPTING to tie on the negative tiles. For example, if the first tile turned over is negative five, then I almost always mention to everyone that I'm GOING to play my 1, hoping to invite any other player to also play the 1 and tie me. With that tie, the negative tile will have to be taken by someone that played more value from his hand. Devious, no? This strategy can be repeated, and is especially valuable early in the game, when you know people still have their 1s and 2s.

The caveat on this is that I've found it only works sometimes. It's a psychology thing. Maybe people just don't trust ME, but I think people think I'm going to bail on them and don't play to tie me. It's hit-or-miss, depending on the group. I'm often stuck explaining every time that if they'd played a 1, we both would have benefited. Eh, whatever. Quick games lend themselves to experimentation.

5) THE TEN TILE

The ten tile is a special case and a good opportunity to discuss the last kind of bid. Many players will save a 15 card for the ten tile. So there are often ties. Much of the fun of this game comes from the inevitable psychological stress that happens when the ten tile hits the table.

The basic thought is to decide whether to BID on it (with a 15, often) or to bail and play as low as possible. Since you know the rules, you know that if you're the only one to play a 15, you'll get it. But if you're tied with someone, you'll get NOTHING (and you'll like it). Fear of ties leads people to play low.

Of course, this leaves all kinds of space in the middle. For example, if you think everyone is planning on bailing low, you could theoretically win it with less than your 15. Why not play the 9? If everyone is lower, you'll grab it for MUCH less than value.

Another benefit of playing something like the 9, is that if TWO other people choose to play the 15, then you're high enough to beat the people that bailed when it tile cascades down past the tie-ers to you. Nice grab, Willie Mays.

This is especially in play on the ten tile, but can be used at other times, too. The nine or the negative five perhaps most often?

6) PLAYER P-SIGH-COLOGY

This game gets better with multiple plays. The first few games, there's no psychology because everyone is fumbling around trying to figure out what tiles are worth and learning how to bail on auctions, etc. But once people start figuring it out, that's where the fun starts. You can start to watch the other players and their tendencies.

Does he tend to bid on the ten tile? Or does he tend to bail out on it? Does he try for the six and seven every time? How strongly does he feel about NOT winning the negative tiles? Are you in sync with someone? Is that good or bad? Who likes the monkey? Does everyone know Daniel's rule of thumb and so they can predict me with great accuracy? Yeah, probably. Yuck.

The psychology and bluffing aspects of this game are tremendous and extremely important. They're also the most fun part of the game. I couldn't do it justice here. Go read a poker book.

Thread: Re: Review by SOS

DocStryder — 2007-04-16T22:54:21+00:00

Nice review.

This is a great game! I love the guessing aspect of each hand as you desribed in your review. Should you play the 10? What if someone else does and a 9 wins the hand....each hand has a certain amount of tension associated with it.

Thread: Review by SOS

sos1 — 2007-04-15T18:00:40+00:00

Hol's der Geier is a quick little filler game of bluff and skill. Very simple in its components and concept, there's still a lot of little game here. It has been put out in many formats, but here I'll just mention the German edition with vultures and mice.

Components

The game has fifteen animal cards: five Vulture cards ranging in value from -1 to -5, and ten Mouse cards ranging in value from +1 to +10. Each player also has his/her own deck of fifteen cards, ranging in value from 1 to 15.

Simple Set Up

Everyone starts with all fifteen of their own cards. The animal card deck is shuffled and placed face down in the center of the table. The top animal card is turned face up and the game begins.

Object of the Game

The object of the game is to have the highest score at the end of a specified number of rounds - one round if you're pressed for time, but three rounds is a better game and only takes about half an hour. Each Mouse card you win counts its point value for you, and each Vulture card you take counts against you. Since everyone knows the range of animal cards (-5 to +10), and everyone starts with the same hand, it's a game of skill.

Course of Play

Once the first animal card is turned face up, players decide which of their own cards to play. You choose one card and play it face down in front of you. When all players have chosen a card, they are revealed. If the animal card in question is a Mouse (positive value), the highest player card played wins the trick. If the animal card is a Vulture (negative value), the lowest player card played wins the trick. So your high cards are always good: you can win positive points and avoid negative points with them.

Once the winner is determined and has collected the animal cards, the player cards that were used that round are removed from the game, the next animal card is turned over, and the players choose a card to play from their remaining hand. Continue in this vein until all fifteen cards have been played, and the round is over. Count up your Mice, subtract your Vultures, and record the score if playing more rounds.

Special Cases

That's basically the game - it's very simple in concept. There are only a few special rules. For example, if two or more players tie for high card when trying to win a Mouse, the next highest card played wins the trick. Likewise, if two or more players tie for lowest card when trying to avoid a Vulture, the next lowest takes the trick. And finally, if all cards played are matched, the played cards are discarded, a second animal is added to the trick, and another round takes both cards.

Why It's a Good Filler Game

For such a simple, quick game, it actually has lots of bluff and strategy opportunities. When the 10 Mouse comes up, for example, you can be pretty sure that high cards will be chosen. But if you choose your highest card, a 15, you may not win it - there may easily be another 15 chosen, and the next highest card played will win. So you think about playing your 14 instead, hoping two other players will play the 15, and you'll have the only 14. But what if someone else decides the same thing? And so on - lots of agonizing "What will they do?" decisions to make. The more you play, and the more you play with specific opponents, the better the game becomes. In this sense, it's related to poker: it's not so much the card you play as what you project to the other players you're playing, if that makes any sense ...

At any rate, if you like bluffing and outwitting games, this is a quick, fun one.

-This review originally published 1999.

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-01T21:41:15+00:00

Box Cover (High Resolution Scan)

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-01T21:40:10+00:00

German Box Back (HRS)

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-01T21:39:13+00:00

Back of Cards

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aih — 2006-12-21T08:53:08+00:00

Catch Up! (Finnish and Swedish version 2002)

Thread: Re: Review: Beat the Buzzard

LordBobbio — 2006-12-04T18:08:54+00:00

I too like Raj in all its simplicity. I never heard of it being called "Beat the Buzzard" though... I think I like the theme of Raj a bit better.

Thread: Review: Beat the Buzzard

bwridge — 2006-12-04T06:05:32+00:00

Review: Beat the Buzzard

Some games take an incredibly simple concept and spin it into a very entertaining game – Alex Randolph’s Beat the Buzzard is one of those games.

The components are simple: five sets of cards numbered 1-15; ten “mouse cards,” numbered 1-10; and five “buzzard cards,” numbered -1 to -5. Each player takes one of the sets, while the buzzard and mouse cards are shuffled together and placed face down in the middle of the table.

Each round, a single card from the center deck is revealed; the cards will range from -5 to 10, which indicate their point value at the end of the game. Then, all the players choose a card from their hand and place it face-down in front of them. Cards are then revealed simultaneously with the following rules in play:

• For point cards with a positive value, the player who played the highest card receives it.
• For point cards with a negative value, the player who played the lowest card receives it.
• If there is ever a tie for the highest or lowest card, then those two cards cancel each other out and the point card goes to the player who played the next highest or lowest card.

This continues until the center deck is exhausted, with the winner being the one with the most points. That’s it.

Yes, it’s incredibly simple, but don’t let that overshadow the potential for fun. With enough players, there is a lot of guessing, second-guessing, and triple-guessing going on. I’ve been in more than one game where the winner of the 10 point card is the person who played the lowest card - all the other players played high and ended up canceling each other out. A big part of the fun is yelling at your friends for having the nerve to play the same card you did. Damn them!

Of course, this game isn’t for everybody. As far as lightweight filler games go, it is way on the ethereal end of the scale (as opposed to a game such as, say, Coloretto, which is light but deep). There’s a bit of psychology involved in terms outguessing your opponents, but beyond that there isn’t a lot of “game” here. If that’s enough to keep you interested – and it is enough for me – than you’ll like this game. But for more hardcore gamers who are looking for a filler game, there might be better choices out there.

Beat the Buzzard is a fun, simple game that works well for a quick diversion when a break is needed. It’s also a good game for non-gamers because of its simple and intuitive rules.

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moxtaveto — 2006-10-20T20:38:01+00:00

first German edition (readable image)

Thread: 5/26/06 Session

WitheredHand — 2006-05-27T07:06:18+00:00

Introduced a new player to the game tonight. Still one of my group's favorite games, just when we think we know each others strategy and what they are thinking it always goes the opposite way.
Adding in new players keeps it interesting also and seeing everyone's brains cycling through this one. Tonight's game was no different. Allison had never played before, Ray, Derek, and myself have played numerous times so we always try to bluff & read each other.

1st Hand - Seth:10, Allison:13, Ray:3, Derek:15
2nd Hand - Seth:19, Allison:-10, Ray:-1, Derek:28
3rd Hand - Seth:25, Allison:-2, Ray:4, Derek:21
4th Hand - Seth:9, Allison:1, Ray:6, Derek:32

1st - Derek 96 pts.
2nd - Seth 63 pts.
3rd - Ray 12 pts.
4th - Allison 4 pts.

Even though Allison didn't fair too well, she did have some good plays and enjoyed the game. As far as Derek, Ray and myself the top 3 is always alternating between us.

Seth

Thread: Re: History of Raj

ralphreinert — 2005-11-19T21:44:15+00:00

ronlee wrote:
hellburner2 (#36457),

I am normally not a grammar prude, but since you hold grammar in so high esteem (about 40% of your messages have been grammar corrections to other people), you should note that it's bad form to end a sentence with a preposition.

This is the sort of criticism up with which I will not put.

OK, even if Winston Churchill did not say this, it is still a clever quote.

Thread: Beat the Buzzard: Session report

not2fear — 2005-11-14T02:45:57+00:00

Players: Terence, Weng Keong and Keng Ho

After the game of Kaboodl, which I didn’t really like (maybe losing had something to do with it), I suggested Beat the Buzzard, which I really enjoyed previously. However, my awful luck had not changed and this was probably one of those games which I was just fated to lose. I picked up 4 of the negative cards, 3 of which I nabbed because Weng Keong and Keng Ho played exactly the same card. I don’t know how these guys did it, maybe they are telepaths or something, but I was not able to recover, even though I picked up a number of positive cards as well.

I had the impression from my previous games that a lower number of players would result in a more skill, rather than luck, based game. Guess I was wrong.

Still a fun game but I can't seem to find it on Thoughthammer...

Score: Terence 3, Weng Keong 14 and Keng Ho 23

Thread: Game of Luck errr... Skill! Part II

not2fear — 2005-10-26T05:51:48+00:00

Beat the Buzzard

Players:Keng Ho, Siu Hean, James, Jeff and me (Terence)

Round 3:

Keng Ho was destined to win this round. After a few unremarkable turns, a '7' came up for bidding...and after all the players had revealed their bids, we discovered a pair of '11's and '12's ... and that Keng Ho had played a '4'! He had won the trick with a ridiculously low card! This was simply too outrageous for the rest of us and we all protested. However, all we could do was splutter helplessly while Keng Ho laughed his way to the (points) bank. After that, there was no stopping him.

Final Score: Terence 6, Keng Ho 14 , Siu Hean 11 (another 'come from behind'?), James 1 (Respectable...barely), Jeff 8.

Round 4:

This round was remarkable for being similiarly influenced by the hand of fate... a '-4' came up for bidding...and after all the players had revealed their bids, we discovered a pair of '7's and '8's ... and a '10'! Poor Siuhean had played the highest card...and still copped the -4. I don't think he quite recovered from it. Anyhow, it was then James' turn to cruise to victory.

Final Score: Terence 5, Keng Ho 7 , Siu Hean 2 , James 16 (winner), Jeff 10.

Overall score: Terence 21, Keng Ho 50 , Siu Hean 2 , James 37, Jeff 40.

This game is loads of fun!

Thread: Re: Game of Luck errr... Skill!

not2fear — 2005-10-26T05:34:40+00:00

I suspect that this game becomes more luck driven when there are more players- the chances of someone playing the same number as you increases with the number of players. I imagine a 2 (???) or 3 player game would be quite tactical. But i think that playing this with 5 players is quite alot of fun! Our normally fairly reserved group was making quite a bit of noise at Burger King!

I've got to get myself a copy... too bad i can't seem to find it at Thoughthammer...

Thread: Re: Game of Luck errr... Skill!

mlvanbie — 2005-10-21T16:48:59+00:00

not2fear wrote:

Final Score: Terence -4, Keng Ho 20 ( a whopping 20! I guess he owns the game and experience counts for something...), Siu Hean -4 (Misery loves company), James 12 (Respectability?), Jeff 14.

Owning this exact copy of the game never counted for anything with me ... I'm glad to see that it is being played in its new home. I always ended up doing the exact same thing as another player. I liked Zum Kuckuck! (the original version of Turn the Tide) a lot better....

Thread: Game of Luck errr... Skill!

not2fear — 2005-10-20T06:30:32+00:00

Beat the Buzzard

We were rummaging through Keng Ho's 'bag of tricks' for a suitable filler as it was getting late and I had to leave soon. The cartoonish artwork caught my eye and i asked to play this game. The rest had no objections and Keng Ho started with the rules explanation... after which i exclaimed that this was very similiar to 'Turn the Tide' which we had just played (and in which i sunk to the bottom).

Players:Keng Ho, Siu Hean, James, Jeff and me (Terence)

Round 1:

The first card was a -5. Having no idea of what the appropriate number to play might be, i played a 6, and hoped for the best. True to my luck for blind auction games that day, that was the lowest card, the others having played their 7s and 8s. Things didn't improve for the rest of the round and I soaked up another 2 more negative cards. Before the end of the round, I fought to achieve a positive score, but only managed to pick up one +5.

Final Score: Terence -4, Keng Ho 20 ( a whopping 20! I guess he owns the game and experience counts for something...), Siu Hean -4 (Misery loves company), James 12 (Respectability?), Jeff 14.

Having experienced my first game of 'Beat the Buzzard', I loudly proclaimed that this was very much a game of luck.... :oD

Afternote: The scores don't seem to add up (2 points seemed to have been mislaid)....but hey, its the first game for me!

Round 2:

This game went much better. By watching Keng Ho's play last round, I'd figured out which cards to play my high cards on, where to dump my low cards, and when to play the middle cards. I won't be revealing my observations here (just in case Keng Ho's reading this...), but i think everyone started picking up as well, as there were more ties. Everyone managed to achieve a positive score this time...

Final Score: Terence 14 (Woo hoo!), Keng Ho 9, Siu Hean 3, James 8 (Definitely very respectable), Jeff 6.

Now that I have a better feel of this game, I think it should be a game of skill after all.... :oP

To be continued.

Thread: Re: Best number of players?

rootbeer — 2005-10-11T03:38:32+00:00

I've played with 2 (though not with more), and found it fun. Actually, it wasn't straight Raj -- I used High Society cards with Raj rules, but High Society scoring. It was good.

Thread: Best number of players?

Sonja — 2005-10-09T23:50:55+00:00

How many players is this game typically best with?

Thread: Session Report

flieger — 2005-07-21T13:51:39+00:00

Hol's Der Geier
This is also a recent acquisition from ebay.de. It was on the list of recommended games for SdJ in 1988.
It is a very light filler that can be a lot of fun with the right crowd (which we had.)
There is some bluffing and some luck involved, but also some psychology: trying to know your opponents and estimate what they are going to play. I'm ok at bluffing and am as lucky as the next guy. However, I seem to have absolutely no clue about what others are thinking. None at all. Hence, scoring in the realm of positive numbers became a sheer impossibility for me. Jacob on the other hand seems to excel in this game. With a cool expression on his face he always managed to play the best cards, to Arden's and my frustration. A lot of 'aaaargh's' were to be heard from us.
We played five (or six?) rounds and totaled up the scores. Jacob soared with 116 point, Arden had 48, and I crawled on my belly across the finish line with 38.
We all enjoyed the game.
Thanks to Jacob and Arden for playing.

Thread: Re:User Review

browe — 2005-02-03T20:19:25+00:00

manowarplayer (#36345),

Scott, the thought processes behind the gameplay of Raj seem to closely mirror similar psychological elements in Colovini's Doge. When I introduced that title to friends, there came a delicious group Aha! moment as the game's depth materialized--much as you evidence here for Raj.

Thanks for the informative review!

Cheers,

Brian

Thread: User Review

Lightstorm — 2005-01-30T16:33:11+00:00

RAJ is a great game, one that works very well with adult players (and is reviewed as such elsewhere). I'm limiting this review to how RAJ plays with children...

As a father of smaller children (two are now 8 and 6), I'm always looking for games that are interesting and fun for the kids but also engaging for me. RAJ fit this wonderfully. After seeing the movie "Two Brothers," my daughters have been very interested in India. RAJ is packaged with an India feel - monkeys, elephants, diamonds, tigers, etc. are valuables (positive point value) while several "types" of cobras are dangerous (negative point value). The theme was the gateway to getting them interested... the game itself captured their enthusiasm!

RAJ is very simple:

Each player has 15 identical cards, numbered 1 - 15.

There are 15 tiles, 10 have a positive point value (numbered 1 - 10), five have a negative point value (numbered -1 through -5, the cobras), all are shuffled and placed face-down on a table.

One tile is drawn face up per round. All players must play one card (each) to the table, face down. Cards are turned simultaneously (a "rock-paper-scissors thing, which the kids immediately recognized).

The highest-valued card wins any positive-valued tile.

The lowest-valued card wins any cobra.

Ties - in a multi-player game, tied cards cancel each-other out, leaving the tile to the the remaining players to win via the normal rules. In a two-player game, a second tile is drawn and players bid on both together (if the sum of the tiles is positive, the high-valued card wins; if the sum of the tiles is negarive, the low-valued card wins; ties are resolved with another bidding round for three tiles together).

The winner is the player with the highest total point value at the end of the round.

Simple... and fun.

My daughters immediately got the game, no problems teaching. There's alot of bluffing here, and mystery - it's fun to outguess and try to outplay each-other, and the kids really got the idea of the game from the start. The tie-breaking mechanism is particularly fun - it's not unusual for a big surprise to happen when two players bid the same and the third player ends up winning! This is a subtle game, one that allows the kids to compete with sneaky moves, clever deduction and a bit of fun table-talk. There is no reading involved - only an understanding of number values and the concept of negative numbers (easily explained as "big, bigger, biggest cobra," etc.). The kids seemed to like the number values associated with the tiles (a diamond necklace is a "10." the small monkey is the "1," the tiger is the "6") so it was easy for them to enjoy bidding on items (rather than numbers). This is a highly-recommended family game!

Thread: Session Report

skelebone — 2004-06-03T03:14:50+00:00

Skelebone, Tedward, Candi, Matt, Kathy

After a couple early games of Survive! and Carcassonne, I introduced the group to Raj. I've really taken to Raj as a simple but tactical game.

First round, players were getting warmed up, and I was able to capitalize on several tiles by either holding high cards for later plays, or by pure luck when everyone else bid the same card. In the round where the 8 tile came up, everyone tied on the bidding and the 4 tile was added to the pot. Since everyone else had already burned their #15 cards fighting over the 10 tile, I picked it up with my #15.

Skelebone 30
Candi 7
Kathy 4
Tedward -1

Second round, everyone had a better grasp on the game, but there were still a few errors when it came to negative tiles. Tedward was the big winner, scoring 23 points in a mix of positive and negative tiles. Despite the jump, I held the lead.

Skelebone 16 (46)
Tedward 23 (22)
Candi 2 (9)
Kathy -1 (3)

Third round played out with a some early moves by each to dodge negative tiles and pick up solid positive tiles. Unfortunately for the rest of the group, the final three tiles were the high scoring group, and everyone except me had already played out their high cards. The last three tiles were nearly identical with all three other players playing the 3-2-1 respectively while I played the 4-3-2. I believe I got the 10 tile with that final round of 2 v. 1-1-1.

Skelebone 29 (75)
Tedward 7 (29)
Kathy 9 (12)
Candi -5 (4)

The last round in our mini tournament saw more good plays by Tedward of spending high cards on solid middle-point cards and deft maneuvers to dodge the stickiest of the negative points. Candi also improved her disposition, and scored her second positive round.

Final Round:

Skelebone 12 (87)
Tedward 13 (42)
Kathy 6 (18)
Candi 9 (13)

Thread: Re:User Review

Jazzuu — 2004-05-26T14:57:38+00:00

Although I've not played Game of Thrones I have played Razzia and For Sale. And while I like them both, especially For Sale, Raj (or Hol's der Geier as we actually play) has been a favourite "no brainer" bluffing game in our family for many years.

It has also been one of the games to get other non-gamers to try something "different" as has, for example, Ave Caesar.

Thread: Re:History of Raj

ronlee — 2004-05-24T20:51:22+00:00

hellburner2 (#36457),

I am normally not a grammar prude, but since you hold grammar in so high esteem (about 40% of your messages have been grammar corrections to other people), you should note that it's bad form to end a sentence with a preposition. The last sentence would be better written as: "Played as a card game, Gops uses one suit per player, with diamonds being the prizes for which players bid." Also, numbers should be written out that are less than two words ("one" vs. "1"). As you have noted previously, English is not a very logical language; there's nothing to do but memorize the rules.

Thread: Session Report

skelebone — 2004-05-19T14:19:48+00:00

Skelebone, Alexis, Alicia

We started the evening off with a game of Raj. A cursory explanation of the rules for Alexis and we jumped in for a mini tournament (71 points). Alexis profited greatly in the first round to the fact that Skelebone and Alicia kept cancelling each other out on important tiles. In the end of the first round Alexis was quite ahead, while Alicia had taken a beat-down from a bunch of snakes.

Alexis - 42
Skelebone - 3
Alicia - (-5)

The second round played very similarly, except that Alexis no longer edged anyone out for good tiles. In fact, she took just about equal amounts of bad and good. Skelebone and Alicia split the rest.

Alicia - 23 (18 total)
Skelebone - 15 (18 total)
Alexis - 2 (44 total)

After the second round, Skelebone opted to change tacks, and instead of shooting for the biggest tiles, spend hard on middle-high tiles and avoid the negatives. This worked well for some solid points. Alexis and Alicia also cancelled each other out for some gimme victories.

Skelebone 31 (49 total)
Alicia - 14 (32 total)
Alexis - (-5) (39 total)

For the fourth round, Skelebone continued on the middle of the road tack, this time taking the 8, 6, and 7 with the 15, 14, and 13. It was also in this round, as it was in all three other rounds, that two players bid 15 for the 10 tile, and the third player took it with the lowly 1. The first time it was Alexis, Skelebone the last three. Skelebone pulled a lot of points due primarily to a lot of cancellations and successful dodges on the negative tiles. Alicia and Alexis acquired as many negative tiles as positive and scored nothing for the entire round.

Skelebone 40 (89 total) - Winner!
Alexis - 0 (39 total)
Alicia - 0 (32 total)

Thread: Re:User Review

Craig Viau — 2004-05-18T20:26:13+00:00

manowarplayer (#36345),

We've played the game but still all in all its just double thinking your opponents. I've seen over a dozen titles like this, Razzia, For Sale etc. None of them holds much interest. The good ones like a Game of Thrones or others add extra elements.

Thread: History of Raj

hellburner2 — 2004-05-17T19:07:48+00:00

Raj is a reprint of the German game Hol's de Geier, which was released in the late 1980s.

This game is clearly based on the card game Gops (referenced in the Penguin Book of Card Games 1978 by David Parlett), which is also known as Goofspiel.

An alternative name is Psychological JuJitsu, though this title looks like a more recent invention.

GOPS is often used in Game Theory, often referenced in academic papers.

Hol's de Geier's creator Alex Randolph, says it was based on a game he saw played by Indian members of the British army in the 1940s.

The word 'Gops' is Hindu for milkmen, though this title has also been explained as 'Game Of Pure Strategy'. Sometimes this word is used as a generic title to encompass all games with no (obvious) element of chance such as Chess & Go.

Other games that use elements of Gops are High Society, by Reiner Knizia, Pico, by Frank Nestel and Doris Matthaus, Alan Parr's Dirty Dozen and also Tor by Reiner Knizia.

Played as a card game, Gops uses 1 suit per player, with diamonds being the prizes bid for.

Thread: User Review

manowarplayer — 2004-05-16T22:32:11+00:00

Describing something as simple often conveys the idea that there is no substance either. If you can summarize a game in a few words or phrases, you might get the idea that it isn't any depth to it and may end up passing over it in favor of something that seems to have a little more 'meat' to it. In the case of Raj, you'd be making a big mistake.

Raj is one of the simplest games to teach to someone. You each have a deck of the exact same cards numbered 1-15 and there are 15 scoring tiles numbered -5 through +10 which are mixed up face down. Each turn, a tile is flipped up and players select a card - holding it face down until all have picked a card. After everyone has a card picked, they are flipped over and the tile goes to the highest played card if the tile is a positive value tile or to the lowest played card if it was a negative value. The only exception is with ties. If two or more players play the same card, their bids cancel each other out and the tile goes to the next highest or lowest card depending on the tile. After 15 cards (and tiles) the game (or round in tournament play) is over - the winner being the one with the highest score if playing a single round. Tournament players play to a set number of points with a bonus to the winner of each hand.

That's it.

It sounds deceptively simple, yet after the first playing, you will see that there is a tremendous amount of depth to the game. In fact, I'd argue that the most important and fascinating component of the game isn’t even listed on the box description - that being the players themselves. Raj will bring out many different aspects of people's personality as the game is played and half the fun is learning how to read your opponents and trying to outguess what they will or wont do while you are trying to keep them from figuring out your next move.

Raj is cleverly disguised as a lesson in Psychology in game form. As you play, you will get to see into the psyche of your opponents - learning their desires, seeing them expose their weaknesses and you will have to adapt to every change in behavior they make along the way. Opportunities to deceive, mislead, tempt, thwart or crush them will present themselves with every card played. The choice to take those opportunities is yours but the best players mix up their decisions so as not to become predictable and not get beaten because of it. There are so many strategies to playing Raj but I will list a few of some of the ones I've seen (and used) among the many, many games I’ve played.

The game is about collecting the positive tiles and sticking the negative tiles to your opponents. People seem to have some basic "thresholds" when playing this game. What I mean by that is even though people all seem to be willing to risk a high valued card for a high valued tile, you need to find out what their threshold for each tile typically is. For example, if a +10 tile comes up, many will automatically throw out their 15 card in hopes of being the only one to "risk" it and take it uncontested. This is a viable strategy but after awhile it becomes detrimental to you after other players learn that you are going to do that and will often throw their 15 down as well. After seeing a few players throwing out their 15's and canceling each other out and having a 5 win the 10 tile, you begin to realize that there are many ways to victory.

Take a four player game for example, you could have two players with aggressive personalities that probably will have to go after the +10 tiles full force, another "sneaky" player personality who hopes that they will tie and tries to steal it with a low card, and finally the forth player who may not care at all about the +10 and is trying to get a card advantage for later in the round (more on this strategy later). Having two going for it and two underplaying the +10 tile brings about some interesting psychological little battles into play. On the high card player’s side, they both know they WANT the 10 but how much to risk by going after it? Assume the +10 tile has been turned up early - the thought process that goes through your head while deciding which card to play is something like this:

"Should I play my 15 and guarantee a win if I’m the only one to play my 15?....of course I lose if any one else plays a 15.... Maybe two others will play 15's so I should then play a 14... But if we get two 14's the 15 will win... maybe I don't need to spend my 15 just yet.... I bet those two are going to underplay - possibly both playing 13's or 14's so then maybe I can steal it with a 12....I gotta keep my card higher than the "lowballers" - I wonder what their threshold is going to be?...a 3? 4? 5?...maybe I should be a lowballer - I'm known to always go after the 10's so that would be unexpected - but how low should I go then??"

Remember that this is just the first tile too. Once players have started playing cards, you also need to try and track who has played what from their hands. That information is VERY useful later in the round. If you know you are the only person with a 15 card left, you can pick the time to use it and take whatever tile you want. I often can get a high tile by bluffing that I’m going to use my high card and then playing a secondary high card to grab the tile as others will usually dump a low card if they think you are locked in to using your highest – though it can backfire!

Another great strategy is too dump low cards early and let others fight over whatever comes up. I have often thrown out a low card (1-5) when the +10 tile shows up and let everyone else fight over it. I’ll let the first five tiles go this way and at the end of the round I still have most of my high cards while everyone else has a hodgepodge of cards left and I can be in clear control of which tiles I want. A complimentary strategy here is to also purposely take the -1 and -2 tiles by getting rid of my 1 and 2 cards. It is only -3 points and everyone else will typically dump a good mid value card to avoid the negative points but I can usually make up the loss later in the hand with my higher cards.

If you play this a lot with the same group of people all the time, eventually everyone learns everyone else’s “tricks” and then the psychology aspect kicks into high gear. Suddenly bluffing, trash talking, cajoling, and deception come into play and the look on people’s faces when they’ve been had can be priceless. One of my friends has such a horrible poker face that she will often choose a card randomly because she has a tendency to telegraph the card she is going to play!

I’ve only touched upon the many different strategies that can be used in the game and all will work gloriously or fail tremendously as your group learns your playing style and you fail to mix it them up. Raj is fast, fun, easy to learn and impossible to master and will provide lots of laughs for 2-5 players. Games are as fast as 10 minutes or a tournament can be played to whatever point amount you agree to. The box suggests that “Teens & Adults” will enjoy the game but I have played it with my daughter, niece and nephew all who are under 10 – although the game definitely takes on a more random element with the younger ones.

Thread: Session Report

elevenbutnine — 2004-01-15T21:06:02+00:00

Broke out the Hol's de Geier and began. 3 players, Me, Lou and our son Rufus, 4 months old today, who played with the random deck.
1st Round - Me 8 Lou 15 Roo 20!
2nd Round - Me 19 Lou 6 Roo 18!
3rd Round - Me 7 Lou 6 Roo 27!

Final scores Me 34, Lou 27, Roo a convincing 65!
Roo was aided by me and Lou continually playing same card giving the points to him on a plate. Still it was well played by him.
:-)

Thread: Re:General Comment

janus — 2003-09-12T10:27:33+00:00

Another Italian edition was published by Ravensburger with the name "In bocca al lupo".

Thread: Session Report

Michael Becker — 2003-06-13T18:19:29+00:00

After our game of Edel, Stein and Reich we had just enough time for one last closer. So I ripped open my new copy of Hols der Geier and five of us got started. Neal and I were the only experienced players. Norm and James made the comment that many games we play are based on this design. I couldn’t agree more!!

The game played very quickly. Last time I played Raj with Neal he absolutely smoked me. So, I vowed to get my revenge…

Round by round scores:
Mike B (me) 13+7+14 = 34
Norm 15+11+7 = 33
Neal 0+19+7 = 26
Devon 9+13+2 = 24
James 3-10+10 = 3

I like this game and many of the variants associated with it (ex Montgolfiere). It is light, but it is something that anyone can play on the spur of the moment. I think a good strategy in a five player game is to bid low on the really high numbers and bid reasonably high on the negatives. I don’t think I acquired a single negative value the whole game following this strategy. Of course, after you have played once with the same group everything changes… And after five games with the same group you probably could do just as well mixing your cards up and playing at random. Good, light fun!

Thread: Session Report

Forlindon — 2003-06-09T14:44:11+00:00

Amanda showed up during the last game, so we were as big a group as we were going to get. We decided she needed a warm up game, and Hols der Geier was chosen. She, Rick, and James had not played, and Andy and Bill had only played a few times, so we thought it would be nice to introduce.

Players:
Rick, James, Bill, Amanda and Andy

Session Victory Condition: First to 50 points

If you have ever read session reports for our group, you will know that Rick, Bill and Andy are very competitive in gaming, with Rick possibily being the worst (Best?). Keep that in mind as you read this one...

Rick picked up on the game very quickly, bidding unconventionally from the start. Andy and Bill usually tried to predict what they thought others would and would not bid, and so naturally they cancelled each other out often.

Round 1:
Rick: -2
James: 6
Bill: 13
Amanda: 21
Andy: 2

During round 2, Rick was grumpy but thought he had a handle on the game. Amanda was cruising. Bill was hopeful, and the rest of us were just waiting till it was over.

Round 2: (Total)
Rick: 8 (6)
James: 4 (10)
Bill: 8 (21)
Amanda: 14 (35)
Andy: 6 (8)

During round 3, Rick was frustrated and beginning to think he could play better randomly, just taking the top bid card from his deck for each one. However, after the first time he tried this, his competitive nature won out. He tried to bid again. He went after a high number card (I think an 8), and lost out by tying Andy with matching 14s. Amanda won it with a low bid as a throwaway.

Rick walked away and started working on cooking a pizza. He asked us to play him randomly for the rest of the game.

Round 3: (Final Score)
Rick: -8 (-2)
James: -1 (9)
Bill: 16 (37)
Amanda: 19 (53)
Andy: 14 (22)

At least we proved that Rick's theory of playing random is a bad one. And Amanda won, walking away with it.

A side note, Rick requested we play it again, since he had pizza to eat. We declined.

Thread: Session Report

Deleted User 1 — 2002-07-15T19:48:33+00:00

With Clippers still in progress, the rest of the group sat down for a quick game of Hols der Geier.

Score:

*Dan* - 23
Ann – 20
Shari – 17
Patrick – 13
Joe – 7

Hmm... Joe in last place in two games in a row? There must be something in the water...

Thread: Session Report

Dan Bosley — 2002-06-27T11:40:31+00:00

We started off Monday night with Hols der Geier - the players being William, David, Anne, Steve, and myself, Dan.

The game is very quick. You have 15 cards each, numbered 1 to 15. There are 10 good mice cards (numbered 1 to 10), and 5 bad vulture cards (numbered minus 1 to minus 5).

The mice and vulture cards are shuffled together, and one is turned up. Each player plays one card from their hand face down, and then all the cards are revealed simultaneously.

If it’s a mouse card, the highest UNTIED card wins it. If it’s a vulture card, the lowest UNTIED card gets it.

After all 15 cards have been played through, each player adds up their score, and highest wins!

Steve was the absolute master of this game. In one incredible hand, he took the 9 point mouse card with his lowly 1-card. That’s because there were two 15’s played (which cancelled out because they tied) and there were two 14’s played (ditto) - leaving Steve’s lowly one-card as the highest untied card on the table!

He just totally wiped us - check out the scores!

Steve -*27*
Willliam - 4
Anne - 4
Dan - 3
David - 2

Steve’s score was more than double all the other 4 players’ scores added together! We didn’t rate the game because we were all still in shock from Steve’s total domination.

Anne really liked the artwork on the cards, and is presently having a deck of Hols der Geier cards made into a wall hanging for their living room.

Thread: Session Report

Deleted User 1 — 2002-02-06T21:58:10+00:00

It looks like we are in danger of this becoming an ‘all card game’ night. We’ve played Hols before and decided to give it another go. Joe had to go pick up Shari, so Dan, Corwin and I give it a go.

Game One

Score:

*Corwin* - 27
Rick – 9
Dan – 4

In game one, Corwin skunks us by stealing the 9 and 10 cards for almost nothing when Dan and I tie on our bids. I accuse him of ridiculously good luck - Corwin insists that he was employing a cunning strategy. In your dreams!

Game Two

Score:

*Rick* - 24
Corwin - 16
Dan - 0

Game two separated the men from the boys, and demonstrated my skillful play against two devious and cunning opponents (or maybe I was just ridiculously lucky).

Ratings:

Rick - 7
Corwin - 7
Dan – 7

Comments:

‘A solid 7.’

Thread: Session Report

Deleted User 1 — 2002-02-06T21:58:05+00:00

Thread: Session Report

Deleted User 1 — 2002-01-16T15:57:14+00:00

In our group, there are two people than tend to bring most of the games to each session, Dan and me. Dan has accumulated an incredible collection of games – many tried and true favorites that are fairly popular, and some rarer games that that even a hard-core gamer like me has never heard of. It’s great to have him bring a few of these rarer games every week – most of them turn out to be a lot of fun (though we won’t mention Blindes Huhn…). Dan was the one that introduced us to 6 Nimmt!, which has been the closer at almost every one of our game sessions ever since.

Dan’s newest introduction is Hol’s Der Geier. Hol’s is a fairly simple blind-bidding game. Basically, each player gets 15 bidding cards numbered 1 to 15. There are 15 scoring cards, numbered -5 to 10 (with no zero card). These scoring cards are turned up one at a time and each one is bid on by the players by simultaneously choosing one of their bidding cards. If the scoring card is positive, the highest non-tied bidding card gets it, if it’s negative, the lowest non-tied bidding card gets it. In the end, each player adds his scoring cards and the highest score wins.

Like most blind-bidding games, the game becomes a matter of outguessing your opponents and managing your cards. The mechanic of making any tied bids cancel each other out make things very interesting when it comes to choosing your cards – you don’t want to choose a card that someone else might bid or your bid is worthless!

We played three games.

Game 1

Score:
*Rick* - 18
William – 14
Dan – 7
Sheri – 1

Game 2

Score:
*Dan* - 20
Rick – 15
William – 4
Sheri – 1

Game 3

*Sheri* - 25
Dan – 12
William – 6
Rick - -3

Ratings:

*Sheri* - 6
Dan – 7
William – 6
Rick - -6

Okay ratings for what is a decent filler game. I’m not usually a fan of blind-bidding games, I feel that they are usually just guessing games, but I thought that Hol’s Der Geier was good enough to try again especially when a short filler game is needed.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

The Italian edition of this game was published by Dal Negro with the name "Il gioco dei Gatti" ("The game of the Cats").

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

In spite of the late hour, everyone was amenable for even more gaming, but they insisted it had to be something quick. Jon asked for Raj, so we played three games of this Hols der Geier clone.

Game 1: Greg 11, Willerd 9, Jon 9, Eric 3, John -2
Game 2: Willerd 17, Jon 14, Greg 9, John 1, Eric -1
Game 3: Willerd 18, Eric 14, Greg 7, John 6, Jon -5

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Since our game of Nicht die Bohne was STILL not completed ... but we were close ... Willerd, Darren & Jerry killed the remaining time with a game of Raj. Apparently Willerd was the best at out-guessing his opponents regarding which cards to bid as he swamped them:

Willerd 25, Jerry 9, Darren 6

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

With everyone else leaving early, Darren & I played a quick hand of Raj. This is a quick bidding game wherein players bid cards in attempts to win the most valuable prizes, while avoiding the 'snakes', which cost you points. It is a fun, quick game. The result, however, was a stomp:

Greg: 34, Darren: 6

No rating yet as we need to play it with more people.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

While awaiting the arrival of the poor slobs stuck in traffic due to a seven car pile-up on the Crescent City Connection bridge, Lenny Leo, my daughter Lindsay and I played a quick hand of Raj. Lenny caught on quickly and captured the victory:

Lenny: 19; Greg: 12; Lindsay: 9

With the arrival of a few more gamers, I decided to instruct them how to play Raj, and two quick games were played by John Moore, Lenny Leo, Darren Arnold, Ashton Arnold and Clyde Hayman. Lenny swamped 'em both times:

Game 1: Lenny: 33; Clyde: 3; John: 3; Ashton: 2; Darren: -1.

Game 2: Lenny: 26; Ashton: 16; John: 5; Clyde: 1; Darren: 0.

Lenny now claims that this is his favorite game and that it has, by far, the greatest amount of strategic decisions of any game we play!

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Jerry and Willerd joined Ashton and Darren for another game of Charles Vasey's Chariot Lords, leaving Lenny, Eric and I awaiting the arrival of Bill Sanders. Not wanting to remain idle, we opted for a quick game of Raj.

When I say quick, I mean it. Raj can be played in just a couple of minutes. There's not much control in the game, but it is one of trying to out-guess your opponents in regards to card play. Eric proved the most clairvoyant in this one:

Eric 21, Greg 16, Lenny 3

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Since I gave members of the Westbank Gamers copies of Raj as a Christmas gift, several were asking me to show them how to play the game. Jon Comeaux and I drafted Darren Arnold into a quick game, even though he had to do split duty between Settlers and Raj.

Now Jon is one of our resident wargamers, although not quite as hard core as Mike Hayman. So it was to my pleasant surprise that he thoroughly enjoyed Raj, even commenting that he just had to bring the game to 'drill' the next day (he is in the military reserves). Jon's tactic (if he had one) was to play high for the high positive numbers and low for the negative numbers, accepting the fact that he would be forced to take the negative tiles. Well, it worked. He swamped Darren & I:

Jon 22, Greg 10, Darren 8

Jon then insisted we play it 2-player, and this one was much closer:

Jon 21, Greg 19

Ratings: Jon 7, Darren 7, Greg 6

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

While we were involved in the first game of Family Business, Jon Comeaux, Lenny Leo and Eric Alleman played several hands of Raj, playing to a total of 100 points to determine the victor.

Jon Comeaux held an impressive lead over Eric going into what promised to be the final hand (Jon 98, Eric 80, Lenny 31). However, in the final match, Eric scooped most of the tiles, scoring 33 points, while Jon sunk to a -9 score.

The finals: Eric 113, Jon 89, Lenny 47

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

The same group, minus the now downtrodden Emma, launched into two games of Raj, the American Hols der Geier reincarnation from Winning Moves. This game is always light, frustrating fun as one continually watches his card play canceled by an identical card played by an opponent. John even halted play twice to exclaim to the rest of the gamers that he and Frans had repeatedly played identical cards, effectively canceling each other's plays! This actually occurred 10 times during the first hand (out of 15 cards!).

Again, no extensive notes here, but the first hand went to Lenny with Frans winning the second.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Lately, we've been honored to have several out-of-town guests visit our Westbank Gamers group. This time, however, we had two out-of-country guests - James Hamilton and Michelle Minett of Manchester, England. James and Michelle are both avid gamers of all types ... war games, German style games, traditional games, role-playing games, miniatures, etc. James is also a member of Martin Wallace's (designer of Lancashire Rails, Und Tschuss, etc.) gaming group, so has the pleasure of playtesting many of Martin's designs.

We were also thrilled to be paid a visit by Walter Nunes, one of our former regular members who we haven't seen much of since he had a baby earlier this year.

After picking up James and Michelle at their hotel, we arrived back at the Bayou Bungalow around 5:00 PM. Jambalaya satisfied our hunger, and we were soon joined by Jon Comeaux and Eryk Syrdal for a game of Raj, which was new to our English friends.

Michelle benefited from the play of several duplicate cards involving the guys and was able to avoid the dreaded negative tiles to hold on for the victory:

Michelle 18, James 10, Greg 9, Jon 9, Eryk -6

Ratings: James 6, Jon 6, Greg 6, Michelle 5

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Doug writes:

David and Alan had arrived part way through the previous game, and had started a two player Jumbo Grand Prix in the next room. We grabbed Hols der Geier off the shelf to demonstrate a couple of hands to Roger and Dey, to fill in time while the Grand Prix was run next door.

Not much to say....it's fast and frenetic with lots of laughs. And I'm rather proud of my score! We finished up when Alan and David reappeared.

Janet: 34
Dey: 23
Roger: 21
Doug: 2

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Doug writes:

Something mindless after the numbing intensity of the first two games, and it was a riot. I don't know how many vultures Julian claimed by playing the highest card but having the lower four tied on him. Still, he scored higher than I did, so who am I to talk!

Scores:
Donna: 61
Janet: 31
Alan: 28
Julian: 23
Doug: 16

One thing that's been noticed is how good Donna is at these sorts of games. She cleaned up in 4 games in a row of For Sale a few weeks back, and did it again here.... rating: 8 Now, while Donna is good at these card counting type games, I've had a private belief that I do okay at the cash/business games, having taken out Tycoon, Shark and Acquire at Billabong, so it was with inner delight that I saw....

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Ron, Jim and I played with a face down stack of cards as a fourth dummy player. During an earlier game, Jim had gotten frustrated with losing and began playing cards at random. This strategy had won him a second place spot during that game.

The dummy player works well when you have only three players handy. The dummy's wild bids swallowed up a lot of mid-level cards I was counting on winning. The dummy also draws away some of the snakes although not as many as we thought it would.

I have no final scores to report. Jim was already fed up with losing to human players. Losing to a stack of random cards was too much for him to bear.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

While we were waiting for the second Bluff match to complete, Jon, Darren, Ashton and I passed the time with two quick hands of Raj (Hols der Geier). Darren was still on fire from his earlier Can't Stop game, smashing us both rounds.

Round 1: Darren 23, Jon 15, Greg 6, Ashton -4
Round 2: Darren 29, Ashton 15, Greg 0, Jon -3

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

While our table was re-building San Francisco, another group was attempting to decide what to play. I found it quite astonishing that with nearly 500 games to choose from, they settled on Raj, a game which takes all of 5 minutes to play! Seems Mark had really enjoyed this from last week and wanted Jim to give it a try.

Darren's notes were uncharacteristically a jumbled mess. It appears that the following were the scores for the three rounds:

Mark: 35 + 15 + 1 = 49
Jerry: 19 + 1 + 9 = 29
Jim: 5 + 5 + 17 = 27
Darren: -7 + 19 + 10 = 22

Ratings: Jim 6, Mark 5, Darren 5, Jerry 1 (why do we even bother getting his ratings?)

Thread: Session Report

wavemotion — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Hol's der Geier: For the next game we decided on a quick filler game so that we could move on to the group favorite of "Bohananza". Eddie had brought the "Auf Heller..." game we enjoyed so much so we let him choose another! We ended up playing Hol's der Geier which I believe is now out of print. It's a trick-taking card game where the object is to secretly bid for a value-card which can be a negative (bad) value or a positive (good) value. Each player is equipped with cards ranking from 1 to 15 so the playing field is very level. Each turn a single "value" card is turned over and revealed to the players. The players must then take one of the cards from their hand and secretly bid (by placing it on the table face-down). The bid-cards are all revealed at the same time. The object is to take as many high value cards and not take any negative value cards (which offset positive value cards taken). To make it a bit more complex, the positive cards goes to the highest bidder while the negative cards go to the lowest bidder. If you use all your high bids to take positive-value cards, you will more than likely end up eating a few negative cards. If you bid too low, you won't ever get enough positive-valued cards to win the game. I found the game plays a bit like hearts and similar bidding/trick-taking games but it was reasonably entertaining and quick to play!

Final Scores: Dave=62, Jenn=29, Carol=19, Eddie=10
Ratings(1-10): Dave=5, Jenn=6, Carol=6, Eddie=7