Game: World Flag Game About the United Nations

Thread: Re: Two 3-player games – Hard Lesson turns into Glorious Victory

MerricB — 2007-08-14T08:43:15+00:00

Go Willow!

Thread: Two 3-player games – Hard Lesson turns into Glorious Victory

GeneSteeler — 2007-08-14T05:57:42+00:00

Two 3-player games – Hard Lesson turns into Glorious Victory

I want to focus on the second game, but I’m including a score summary for game#1 for comparison.

Game One – A Lesson Learned
Our first game was relatively unexciting. My two daughters took a big lead (98-85-49 points) with me coming back from behind to take the final victory with 183pts to 139 and 105. This is how the majority of our games go, actually I think they have all gone this way so far. But I gave some hints to my daughters and a light turned on. They wanted to give it another go, so…

Game Two - A Victory Won

The early game saw us all putting down single flags to an even score of 19-31-23 (Willow-Wren-Me).

The board began to fill-up with Willow holding Pakistan (to block Asia) and Wren holding both Netherlands and Yugoslavia preventing any other European cards being played.

Both Africa and South America began to fill, and rather than open up Europe to the rest of us, Wren conceded the 25points for Africa to me.

Game note:
There are five 25pt bonuses to be had. 1 for being the first to get rid of all your flags, and the other four go to the last flag in each of the 4 continents of Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

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Meanwhile, Willow, who had a few ‘easy’ plays in Central America forced Wren and I to give her South America.

The score at this point was Willow:102, Wren 89, Me 107. Pretty close.

Instead of opening up Europe, Wren then Refused to Play.

Game note:
This is actually allowed by the rules. If you cannot play a flag, you lose 5 points. But at any point you may refuse to play, losing 10 points, and you lose 15 points the next time you refuse to play. You can only refuse to play twice, maximum, per game.

Willow played her last Central America card and Wren refused to play again! None of my daughters have ever used this tactic before, and I don’t think I ever refused either.

Willow, not wanting to also lose the points as well played Pakistan and Asia was then gobbled up. Wren, who was now down an additional 25 points slowly played out her Asia cards (of which she had 5 of, to my three). Willow began losing 5 points a turn and soon I joined her, as Wren lapped it in and eventually scored the 25 points for completing Asia.

Now, with only Europe to go, Wren’s gambit appeared to have paid off royally:

Wren 110, Willow 82, Me 99

But, as soon as Wren opened Europe, Willow stunned us all by playing Italy/Austria/Germany/France and Belgium all in one turn. This was a massive play and gave Willow 63 points!

Game note:
When scoring countries, each country is worth between 1-6 points, with a few 10pointers thrown in. If you play adjacent countries in the same turn, the second country’s score is doubled, third is tripled etc.

The game ended shortly after as Europe filled up and Wren went out first with the play of Norway (+25pts). But this wasn’t enough to catch Willow after her massive Europe powerplay.

Final Score:
Willow:153
Wren: 145
Me:114

Synopsis
This was the first game of Flag Game I haven’t won. Both my girls played intelligently and made some fantastic plays. They applied strategy from the first game, and Wren adamantly declared after the first game “Dad, you always lock us out, this time I’m going to lock you out.” And in a bold move, that I probably would not have done, she blocked us from Europe and almost won the game. Willow’s freakish run was a power move and just managed to give her the edge over her stubborn sister.

This was the most enjoyable game of The Flag Game we’ve played yet. And I’m looking forward to a rematch. My girls are all grown up and no longer easy pickings.

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GeneSteeler — 2007-08-14T04:38:37+00:00

End Game - Europe is locked out and Pakistan blocks developement in Asia.

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GeneSteeler — 2005-04-21T13:48:18+00:00

The Game Board.

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GeneSteeler — 2005-04-21T13:48:17+00:00

The 'Flags of the United Nations' booklet. Not for gameplay, for education only.

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GeneSteeler — 2005-04-21T13:48:17+00:00

The flag cards

Thread: User Review

GeneSteeler — 2005-04-20T04:58:18+00:00

I first played this game, from here on called "Flag Game", in the 1980's. I have very fond memories of playing it with my cousins and have recently acquired a copy from eBay. My review will be based on both my current experience with this game, and my memories from a time long ago....

The Purpose:

The winner is the player who accrues the largest point total throughout the gameplay. Each turn you get a number of points (1-10) based on the 'flags' that you have played or lose points if unable, or unwilling, to play. You get bonus points (multiple values of the flag played) for playing multiple flags from adjoining countries, but in the early part of the game (until the draw deck is exhausted) you get punished by drawing less cards.

As one also gets 25 bonus points for being the first to empty one's hand, and 25 bonus points to be the final person to 'complete' one of the major continents (Africa, Europe, South America or Asia).

The Play:

This hand management is where real strategy comes into play. Should you play multiple adjoining flags for the quick points (possibly forcing you to play your last flag in Europe or getting negative points for not playing) or should you bide your time and attempt to force the other players to play out their flags allowing you the juicy bonus points from the corners.

From my recent experience, in playing a few 3-player games, the winning score is around 150pts, so the 25 points is quite a big deal. In the 1980's we used to play with 4-5 players, and consequently the scores were much lower, so the bonus points played a major factor in determining the winner.

The game ends when any player runs out of flags. The remaining players then get negative points for flags still held.

The Components:

The flags and board are colourful but somewhat dated. Being a native Canadian, I get a kick out of seeing our old flag representing our country in the game. The additional educational booklet (refer pictures) is also an interesting read with a real 'retro' feel.

My Rating: 8/10

I recommend all geeks give this 'old' game a try (published in 1961). Although obscure to obtain, it was always fun to play and allowed for some thoughtful strategy and, especially in larger groups of 4+, backstabbing and diplomacy. A game that is definitely more fun when one is making deals with his/her neighbours of which flag to play next.

This game, in its time, was quite unlike any other game I was exposed to, and is definitely worth exposure here on the Geek. Please give it a try and post your comments below.

Variant:

The rules discuss playing with all your cards face-up. Geeks may find this lessens the 'excitement' as you can count how many playable flags your opponents have. I've played the Flag Game with hands hidden, which works well (as long as no one tries to cheat, as the penalties are different for "not being able to play" and "refusing to play", but this was never an issue with our play group, but if you play with children, you should probably play with hands revealed).

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trnardo — 2005-04-17T20:25:45+00:00

Box cover