Game: Nacho Incident, The

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Thread: Re: Score Keeping/recording, alternatives

GaryP — 2006-09-30T01:59:23+00:00

I agree that the cubes and cards do not work terribly well. We're far too klutzy, and the cubes are too light. We usually just use pencil and paper.

However, another alternative would be to use paperclips with the cards. I have an assortment of plastic-coated paperclips in different sizes and colors that I have used for Insecta and Hard Vacuum. I hadn't thought of it until now, but I'll have to toss a few into the Nacho Incident and Penguin Ultimatum boxes. They should stay in place even if an errant sleeve sweeps the scorecards off the table.

Thread: Re: Score Keeping/recording, alternatives

apotheos — 2006-09-28T17:43:24+00:00

josephc4 wrote:
There has to be a better way to keep score than using those little cards and the cubes that slip around on the them.

and there is probably a better way to do it than pencil and paper, which we used last night.

Please share your ideas and solutions.

I can't say I've ever had a problem with the cards and cubes. However, if I were to replace it, I'd used 2d10 per player to represent the scores just as the cards did - one digit for the ones value, one for the tens.

Thread: Score Keeping/recording, alternatives

josephc4 — 2006-09-28T17:00:24+00:00

There has to be a better way to keep score than using those little cards and the cubes that slip around on the them.

and there is probably a better way to do it than pencil and paper, which we used last night.

Please share your ideas and solutions.

Thread: Re: Travel by night. Evade the Mounties. Eat well. Indeed

Mike A — 2006-06-05T04:20:33+00:00

After more plays of this game, particularly with two players, I thought I should add a few more comments to my original review.

Mike A wrote:

All is not perfect, however. Two player may have balance issues. If one player keeps playing low smuggler cards then the other gets hit by all, or the majority, of the mounties. This can be a very difficult position to make the best of. With more players it is not a problem, and it has not been a problem in all the two player games I have played either, but on occasion it can be frustrating.

I no longer think this of the two player game. You really have to take everything into consideration each turn - food cost, mountie penalties and locations, opponent opportunities, cantina bonuses - and play stays very tight overall. It's more strategic than it seems initially.

Another small issue I have is that at the end of a round the lowest scoring player takes the gemstone. This is good for him because it breaks ties in his favor. But it also means that he is hit first by Mounties in case of ties for first. In a two player game, this can be particularly harsh. It isn't always, but it can be.

This I still agree with. I think that in the first round, the player with the gemstone should have ties broken in his favor as stated in the rules. But on subsequent rounds, I think that the player with the gemstone should be able to decide if they want their card to count as the highest or if that honor should pass to the tied player to their left. Since the stone goes to the person with the lowest score, it seems a bit more fair if they are suffering from some bad luck. It only benefits the player in last place in the case of a tie, so it rarely comes into play, but I think it's a worthwhile change.

I think the game could be made much more serious by introducing a variant changing the food selection mechanism a bit. As is, it is random, but reducing that randomness could increase the strategy involved overall significantly.

I don't think this is really necessary, that it has plenty of strategy as is. If it was modified, maybe something that still has plenty of randomness - say, like supplies to ship in Age of Steam - but you have a view of what is coming up could be beneficial. But really, it's fine as is.

It has enough decisions to make you think and reward good play, but also enough luck to keep everyone in the running. My family and I like it a lot.

While it does have luck, the strategy in the game has become much more significant with each play. It feels like a strategy game with some luck now rather than a light luck-filled game with some strategic decisions. I think I need to try it with my regular game group.

My family and I still like it a lot. I still give it an 8, but a very strong 8, one with big muscles that would take on a 9 without hesitation (it would probably lose in the end, but it would be an excellent fight).

Thread: Re: [Review] The Nacho Incident

Mike A — 2006-01-26T04:42:08+00:00

futhee wrote:

And in case anyone is wondering, yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are indeed the centre of the universe. :p

Centre of what? I think you mispelled Northeast Division. Or maybe you meant Eastern Conference.

And by the way, Flames Rule!

Thread: Re: [Review] The Nacho Incident

futhee — 2006-01-26T03:30:35+00:00

Come on now, let's give Canada a break here. Toronto is one of the most culturally diverse places in the world. You can find good food from just about any country here. Alright, so Mexican food may not be a thriving business here, but it's not THAT bad (I'll admit to not being a big fan though...and being a non-meat eater doesn't help!).

And in case anyone is wondering, yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are indeed the centre of the universe. :p

Thread: Re: [Review] The Nacho Incident

Mike A — 2006-01-26T02:53:44+00:00

rocky_dc wrote:
The Canadian version of Mexican food is terrible and I am dying for good Mexican...

Love the game, love the theme and still looking for GREAT Mexican food in the Greater Toronto Area

Ah, so true. I went out a few days ago for Mexican food with my wife to a little Mexican place here in town. Afterwards we thought it was okay, but no nearly as good as the other Mexican place down the street. Thinking about it now, it was still much better than any Mexican food I ever had in Canada.

As a tradeoff, however, I can't get any decent East Indian food here (unless I make it myself, and then it's just okay). I miss the Indian restaurants in Canada.

Thread: Re: [Review] The Nacho Incident

rocky_dc — 2006-01-25T21:42:59+00:00

Loved your review of this fun little game...but I must take issue with this comment:

The theme of the game is one in which Mexicans are constantly trying to avoid Mounties as they struggle to smuggle quality Mexican food into Canada.

Every time I mention the theme to a new player, they simply laugh, because the theme is that ludicrous – yet sounds like a fun game.

Actually the theme isn't all that ludicrous, obviously those who have laughed have never tried to find quality Mexican food in Canada. Take it from a Canadian who has lived in New Mexico, Arizona and (yes of all places) North Carolina. The Canadian version of Mexican food is terrible and I am dying for good Mexican (and no, Taco Bell does not qualify). The theme is humerous, yes, but sadly true...Mr. Doherty hit the nail right on the head with this theme!

Love the game, love the theme and still looking for GREAT Mexican food in the Greater Toronto Area

Thread: [Review] The Nacho Incident

TomVasel — 2006-01-25T08:45:52+00:00

Jim Doherty’s game themes always make me laugh, and I’m always impressed at how he manages to mix clever mechanics with the most inane themes that one could imagine, like in his tremendously cute and wily game Monkeys on the Moon. I fully expected The Nacho Incident (Eight Foot Llama, 2005 – Jim Doherty) to follow through and be a similar funny yet excellent game. The theme of the game is one in which Mexicans are constantly trying to avoid Mounties as they struggle to smuggle quality Mexican food into Canada.

Every time I mention the theme to a new player, they simply laugh, because the theme is that ludicrous – yet sounds like a fun game. And Mr. Doherty has not disappointed. While I’m not sure that it is as good as the wonderful Monkeys on the Moon (which is a lofty goal), The Nacho Incident is certainly a well-designed game, and plays quickly, yet offers real strategic choices. Humor and strategy can and do mix in this game.

Four Province decks (representing Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec) are placed in a line on the table, with the top one flipped face up. The face up card shows four types of foods that folk in that Province desire (beans, onions, peppers, tortillas, salsa, olives, corn, or sour cream) along with an associated price (from three to nine) that they will pay for these foods. Each player gets two cards (one for the “10’s” digit, and the other for the single digits) and a cube for each to track their score. Players also place four Cantina cards that match the Province decks in a row in front of them, along with two random food cubes that are drawn from a bag. These food cubes match in color one of the eight desired foods of the Canadians. Twelve Mountie cards are shuffled and placed in three face down decks, with the first one in the first deck flipped face up. Each player is given eight Smuggler cards from a deck, and the player who has the most interesting thing in their pocket receives the “Gemstone”.

The game is made up of three rounds, each which has four turns. At the beginning of each turn, players play a Smuggler card from their hand face down and then simultaneously reveal them. Each smuggler card shows one of the flags matching one of the provinces, a smuggler and his speed (from 1 to 9), and the amount of gold that smuggler costs (from one to four – depending on the speed of the smuggler). The player who has played the fastest smuggler goes first, then the player with the next fastest smuggler, etc. Ties are broken by the player with the gemstone (or closest to him). The player who has the fasted smuggler takes the face up Mountie and places it on their matching cantina card.

On their turn a player must decide which Province their smuggler heads for – it can be either the one that matches the flag on the smuggler’s card or an adjacent Province. A player then can sell one of their food cubes to the province if it is wanted there, placing the food cube on the card (preventing further cubes of that type being sold), and receiving the money shown on the card. All money is tracked on a player’s score card. The first player can actually smuggle a food cube from another player’s warehouse but then must give them all their food cubes in retribution. No matter if the smuggler delivered food or not, the player must pay the cost shown on the smuggler’s card.

The smuggler is then placed on top of the province in which they delivered their food cube to, starting a “Cantina” there. All players check their provinces for any Mounties. Each Mountie arrests the highest-numbered smuggler in their province (discarding both cards). If there are no smugglers in a province, the Mountie sits tight. However, two Mounties together cause one to wander off and arrest (discarding both cards) the highest-numbered smuggler in any province!

Any Province which has a food cube in all four spots is then discarded, putting the cubes back into the bag and replacing the card with a new one from that deck. Each player then can sell any cubes they have for one gold each, if they want; then draw food cubes until they have a total of two. The next Mountie card is flipped face up.

If the round is over (after every four Mounties), players compare the Cantinas that they have in each province. The player whose total is highest in each province receives a bonus that matches that province (+4 or +5) and must also discard all of their smugglers in that province. Each Mountie also is worth “-3” or “-4” points for any players who have them in their provinces. Players can refill their hand to eight smugglers, discarding as many cards as they wish before redrawing. The next round then begins, with the player who has the gemstone, giving it to the player with the lowest score.

After the third round, the player with the most money is the winner!

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: Once again, Jim has teamed up with Scott Starkey, whose cartoonish artwork is a perfect matchup for the Eight Foot Llama themes. The smuggler cards are particularly funny, with the slowest smuggler (#1) riding a unicycle, and the fastest in a UFO. Putting the flags on the cards was a nice touch; because even though the cards are easily recognized by their background colors, the flags helped differentiate for those who are color blind. The cubes are plastic cubes that match up very well to the colors on the province cards. A small felt bag is included to hold the cubes, and all the cards and bag fit easily into a small flat box that showcases off more of Mr. Starkey’s artwork.

2.) Rules: The rulebook, which is only four pages of color rules, including many examples, is clear and easy to understand. I will state that I missed a couple rules in my first game – in which I confused Round and Turn, but it really isn’t that difficult. All whom I’ve taught the game to have picked it up fairly quickly, although it usually takes them a turn or two to understand the long range implications of the Mounties. Even after four games, I’m still wondering if there are other strategies and tactics that I can be trying.

3.) Time/Players: The game works with two players; but as with most games with simultaneous selection, it’s much more enjoyable with three or four – both of which I would give equal credit to. It’s great for me to have a fun, fast, humorous game that plays three people well. And when I say fast, the game typically takes about thirty to forty minutes and keeps players’ minds occupied the entire time. Short and sweet.

4.) Smugglers: The key to the game, at least so I think, is to know which smuggler to play. There are benefits to playing the fastest smugglers – a player can be the first to deliver a food cube, getting a high payoff and blocking other players; they can steal a critical cube from a neighbor; and they can get a good Cantina lead in their province. However, there are also several disadvantages: the player has to deal with the Mountie and the negative effects it brings; they must go first, revealing their strategy; and they have to pay a high amount to the smuggler himself. All of this is balanced even further when players realize that they have a limited hand of smugglers, and every smuggler they use now will be unavailable later on in the round.

5.) Mounties: Every turn, the Mountie that is revealed changes the course of player’s actions. Sometimes a player simply doesn’t care if they get a Mountie, because it’s going to arrest one of their small smugglers that they don’t care about, thus negating its negative bonuses. But a Mountie can become a big pain – as they can effectively neutralize your largest Cantinas and give you negative points each round. They don’t go away! So a player could conceivably lose points from a Mountie three times in a game. Also, getting two Mounties together in the same province is a terrible idea, since they will arrest your best Cantina operator. To win, it’s usually a good idea to command a bonus in at least one of the provinces, and that’s often where a player's biggest Cantinas are. To have a Mountie destroy that can be annoying. So when a Mountie comes up that will hurt a player, they are tempted to play a lower card so as to avoid the hassles.

6.) Simultaneous Selection: And that’s why I love this mechanic so much! I might play a low card to avoid the Mounties and find out that I could have played a higher one, because Joe played a “9” speed smuggler. Or I play a “5” speed, confident that I’m not the fastest, only to find out that everyone else played a much slower smuggler. Attempting to read your opponents, trying to figure out what provinces they are heading to, and how fast they will travel, is a big deal. Scores are often quite close, with the Province bonuses playing a large part, so one mistake can be costly.

7.) Fun Factor: The games theme is ridiculous, even though some Canadian friends have assured me that good Mexican food IS rare up there. But it’s a theme that many people can relate to and laugh about, and the games mechanics actually fit the theme quite well. I’ve always been amazed at how Jim makes such a wonky theme yet makes it plausible in a game setting. Every time I’ve played the Nacho Incident, it’s been a fun time of laughter and easy going strategy.

All four of the Eight Foot Llama games that I’ve played have been quite enjoyable, but this one and Monkey on the Moon are my favorites. It has a silly theme, sharp mechanics, and still plays in less than an hour, offering some solid play time to three or four players. Don’t be scared off by the small box or the odd theming, because you’ll miss a clever little gem that you’ll be playing time after time. Boy oh boy, I love Mexican food; and while this game isn’t quite as good as a tremendous taco salad (my favorite food), it’s certainly a savory experience.

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.tomvasel.com

Thread: No Nachos in Canada, eh? Who Knew?

PlanetSmasher — 2005-12-26T19:49:56+00:00

The Nacho Incident:

I bought this one from my daughter. She loves Nachos, so I knew the name alone would get this game to hit the table at least once. After a bunch of plays, I figured I’d pass on my impressions of the game. The silly theme (silly to one who is not aware of the dire Mexican food situation in Canada) was a hit; however the game may need some fine tuning.

Objective:

Hire smugglers to run the “forbidden Mexican food” into Canada and open cantinas. Players earn more money by delivering Mexican ingredients that are in higher demand, and for operating the best cantina in one of the provinces. The Mounties will be patrolling looking to catch the most infamous smugglers they can.

Cards and Bits:

The quality of the cards was ok, a bit on the flimsy side. The came doesn’t play with any excess amount of shuffling, so the will likely hold up well. There were also plastic colored cubes (the ingredients to smuggle and the markers for the score cards), a clear light-green bead (used to show priority), and a cloth bag to hold the ingredients. Overall, the components weren’t too bad for the price of the game.

Rules:

I had some problems getting the game going the first time. It is a simple game once you see what’s going on, but I feel the rules could have been organized a bit better to help you get to that point. Perhaps numbering each of the steps rather than several paragraphs (with no spaces between) would have worked better. If not that, moving the pictures between the steps to where they would be needed could help. Rather than just complain, I’ll list out easy to follow steps that can be used if the instructions don’t seem clear enough.

Set Up:

1. Find the score cards (purple with numbered nachos bordering the edge): give one 10s card and one 1s card to each player (set the rest in the box)

2. Find the cube color that has 8 (either orange or light green), give 2 to each player and set the rest of that color away in the box. This will be used to keep score

3. Players should use the score cubes (from my step 2) with the score cards (from my step 1). Place on cube on the 10, and one on the 0 to show you have 10 gold coins (we switched to D10 dice after a few games, it was much easier to read)

4. Put all the other cubes (4 of each color-32 total) into the bag

5. Find the province cards: Back will have the flag, front will have 4 ingredients with the amount that province is willing to pay for each (there are 3 cards for each province).

6. Make a horizon row between the players with the province cards face down in the following order: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec.

7. Flip the top card from the 4 province stacks over and set it just below the stack (making a second row).

8. Find the cantina cards (they have the name of the province vertically on the left side, and either a +4 or +5 on the right side). Each player should get one of each province and set them up in front of them in the same order (from left to right: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec)

9. Find the Mountie Cards (says “Mountie Card” on the back with a picture of a patrol Mountie on a horse): Shuffle them and create a row of 3 face-down piles with 4 cards each (you can set these piles on the side of the province cards as shown in the instruction’s “Game Set Up” picture). Adjust the Mountie Card piles so you can see how many are in each stack (slide each card down a bit on the pile so you can see each of the tops from the one below it).

10. Find the “End of Round” card (mine was a light purple with white letters; “End of Round” is written on the top). Place this on the bottom of one of the Mountie Card piles and flip the top card of that stack. This card is just an aid to let you know the round is over, and give a quick reminder of what to do.

11. Find the Smuggler Cars (backs say smuggler Card): Give each player 8 cards

12. Each player draws 2 cubes from the bag. These will be the ingredients the player has in his warehouse (and will be trying to smuggle).

13. Find the Gemstone (light green bead). Give it to the person with the most interesting thing in his or her pocket. This will be passed each turn to determine priority (the packet thing is a cleaver way to determine who gets it first).

About the main cards:

Smuggler Cards:

The smuggler cards have a number (1-9), province flag (one of the four), gold cost to hire, and name/picture.

The number will be used to determine who goes first (the higher the number, the faster the smuggler). Going first has some advantages and penalties.

The Good: The first player may deliver an ingredient form any opponent’s warehouse instead of his own. If the player chooses this option, he must give all his ingredients to that opponent (the players are smugglers, not thieves). The demand for items is sometimes quite different, if both players had one ingredient, switching an items that would get you 4 gold to a 9 gold item would make a big difference.

The Bad: The faster the smuggler, the more it will cost to hire them. Cost for hiring range from 1 gold (for speed 1-3) to 4 gold (speed 9)

The Ugly: The player that goes first will always attract the Mountie for that round.

Mountie Cards:

Once the first player is determined, the Mountie will investigate that players operation. Mountie Cards first go to their home province (the one matching the flag on the card).

If the player’s cantina for that province is not yet open (no smuggler cards on top of it), the Mountie will wait there (place the Mountie Card on top of that cantina).

If the cantina is opened (one or more smuggler cards are on top of it), the Mountie will immediately arrest the most notorious smuggler (the one with the highest number).

If a Mountie is already waiting in that province, the Mountie will wonder and arrest the one highest smuggler you have working for you from all of your cantinas (only one is arrested; the player can choose which is busted if a tie occurs).

I’ll explain the rest in the next section.

Playing the game:

The game is broken out into 3 rounds, each lasting 4 turns. During each turn, the following will occur:

1. All Players choose a smuggler card from their hand. Players then reveal the cards at the same time.

2. Determine the order of players for smuggling, setting up cantinas, and arrests (steps 3 + 4).

If players are tied for fastest smuggler, the player with the Gemstone goes first (if playing with more than 2 players, the first player to the Gemstone holder’s left has priority and goes first).

The player going first will take the Mountie Card, and place it on his cantina card matching the flag on the card (see above for what to do if there are other cards already occupying that cantina).

3. Smuggle: Players send the hired smuggler to one of the provinces.

Smugglers can only be sent to the one matching the flag on the card, or one of the provinces adjacent to it. So a smuggler with a Quebec flag can only go to Quebec or Ontario, but one with an Ontario flag can go to Saskatchewan, Ontario, or Quebec.

Players may have their smuggler deliver 1 ingredient to that province if there is a demand (the color cube matches one of the ingredients on the front of the province card that has not yet been delivered).

Players must pay the gold coin amount to the smuggler, even if no ingredients are smuggled.

4. Set Up Cantinas and check for arrests

Once the smuggler has made his run, he will attempt to set up a cantina in that province (the same you sent him to, not necessarily the one matching his flag). If no Mountie Card is in that province, your smuggler will set up a cantina (or help out at the existing cantina if it is already established). If there is a Mountie there, he will be arrested.

Once all players have completed steps 3 + 4, check to see if more Mountie Cards are in the current pile. If there are no more Mountie Cards (the “End of Round” Card should be showing), then it’s time to score the round, otherwise skip to step 6.

5. End of Round scoring

Cantina Bonuses and Penalties:
The smugglers with the best cantina in each province will get to retire (selling out to earn the player gold). Each player adds up the total of all smuggler cards for each of his cantinas (add the speed numbers). If one player has the highest total, all of that player’s smugglers from that province retire ( are discarded). That player will then get the bonus on the cantina card (either +4 or +5). Nothing happens when a tie occurs.

If a Mountie is patrolling one of your cantina, you must subtract gold equal to the amount on the Mountie card (-3 or -4). The Mounties are not discarded, they are a persistent bunch.

Check for “End of Game”:
If no more Mounties are left (it is the end of the 3rd round), then got directly to the end of game scoring below

Move the Gemstone:
Check the score, the player with the lowest total gets the Gemstone (if it’s a tie, the player who has the gemstone decides). The gemstone does not always change hads at the end of each round.

Refresh Hands:
Each player can get rid of any unwanted smugglers in their hands. Once they have discarded, they draw back up to 8 (recycle smuggler deck is necessary)

6. Set Up for next Turn

If a province has all 4 ingredients filled, clear the cubes and flip the next province card over it.

Starting with the Gemstone holder, players restock their warehouses. A player can sell any food they have left in their warehouse back to the Mexican market (for 1 gold). Once all food is sold, the player draws cubes until he has 2 ingredients.

Flip the Mountie on top of the next Mountie pile and begin the next round by starting at step 1 again (you can place the “End of Round” card under that pile to again remind you of the extra steps).

Ending the Game:
After 12 Turns, the game is over. The player with the most gold wins. If there’s a tie, the winner is the player with the tied high score who is either holding the Gemstone, or is the closest player to the gemstone holder’s left.

My take on the game:

Our games started feeling a bit dry early on. I tried to ham it up a bit by talking to the smuggler: “Ok Jose, I need you to jump on your unicycle and deliver these beans to Quebec. “Si, senor. Jose your bean amigo…me ride-o like the wind-o”. It definitely added a bit more fun to an otherwise dying game.

The games we played were all with 2 players. The score in each of those games was always quite a bit apart. One round with a bad hand (all high smugglers) can really ruin your chance in the game. The advantage of being able to deliver first doesn’t seem to offset the penalty of the Mountie (the option to take the opponents cube and have the first chance to deliver the higher demand ingredients). Even if you take the highest demand item possible (worth 9 gold), you will still leave you opponent with 3 ingredients to sell (if none can be delivered which will not often occur, it will swing the score only 6 points). Getting a Mountie means either an arrest, or a -3 or -4 gold penalty at the end of the round (arrests will often mean you have a lesser chance of winning the cantina bonuses).

I think the game is a good 85% luck. This may not be a bad thing for everyone (for me it means a good game to play with my daughter, but one I wouldn’t break out with any gamer friends). I rated the game a 6, but my daughter would likely vote it higher.

Thread: Re: Nacho incident -- great theme, mechanics not so great

Mike A — 2005-12-09T01:17:19+00:00

mnv_iii wrote:
I never realized that mexican food was so bad in Canada

It is, sadly.

I have one minor and one major qualm with the rules: they don't specify in which order the provinces should be layed out. Being Canadian I knew that it would have to be Alberta -> Saskatchewan -> Ontario -> Québec, but this might not be immediately obvious to other people.

I thought that would be a serious problem, so I checked the rules to verify this. For laying them out it says to see the figure on the first page. The figure in the bottom right corner of the page plainly shows the order they should be laid out. It's small, but it's there.

Overall I thought the rules were a bit hard to grasp on first reading, but thinking about it after playing the first time I realized they are really not. They are simpler to follow than the much longer rules for, say, Saint Petersburg (such a simple game needs 8 pages?) or Settlers of Catan.

The player with the highest total in each province gets the 'cantina bonus' (still unsure what that is, I think it's the +4/+5 symbol on the province card)

It is.

The penalty for playing a high smuggler is just so harsh (the loss of money due to his fees and attracting the mounties), and it so rarely happens that you have to go first that you might as well always play your lowest-ranked smuggler on every turn.

I found that this can be an issue mostly in 2 player games, but it can be dealt with strategically. If someone else is playing their lowest-ranked smuggler on every turn, that means that their lowest-ranked smuggler becomes higher as the round progresses. Plan for the round rather than just the turn and overall it can work in your favor. You won't get a tremendous lead, but you can win.

Thread: Nacho incident -- great theme, mechanics not so great

mnv_iii — 2005-12-04T15:18:12+00:00

I never realized that mexican food was so bad in Canada as to warrant smuggling some of it from South of Border. Oh, well... such is the theme of The Nacho Incident, where players try to smuggle good mexican food past mounties to fill the demand for such delicaties in four provinces: Albert, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Québec.

Components:
I'm pretty happy with the quality of the components given the cost of the game. You get a bunch of plastic coloured cubes, a cloth bag (which AoS wasn't even nice enough to provide with its 70$ game), a coloured bed and play cards. The cards a slightly on the flimsy side of things, but still decently ok.

Rules:

The rules are fairly well laid-out and somewhat easy to understand (I had to read them twice to really "get it"). I have one minor and one major qualm with the rules: they don't specify in which order the provinces should be layed out. Being Canadian I knew that it would have to be Alberta -> Saskatchewan -> Ontario -> Québec, but this might not be immediately obvious to other people. That's the minor issue -- my bigger issue is that I can't understand what the cantina bonus is all about, even after reading that section of the rules a couple of times.

Basic gameplay:

Players have a random hand of 7 smugglers, ranked 1- 9 and associated with a particular province. One "demand" card is layed out for each province describing which types of food are in high demand in that province as well as its going market price. Players simultaneously select a smuggler and reveal him at the same time. The player with the highest-ranked smuggler sends him to his associated province (or one adjacent to it), with a good from his warehouse. He collects the price for that good, minus the smuggler's fee (the higher the smuggler's value, the higher his price is). Then the next-highest ranked smuggler goes, etc. until all players have delivered one good. The player who played the highest smuggler attracts the attention of the mounties.

Afterwards all smugglers opens a cantina in the province where they delivered goods, unless there is a mounty already there in which case the smuggler is caught and is discarded along with the mounty.

Repeat 4 times, then it's the end of the round. At the end of the round, each player totals up the number of smugglers he has in each of his province separately. The player with the highest total in each province gets the 'cantina bonus' (still unsure what that is, I think it's the +4/+5 symbol on the province card) and looses all his smugglers in that province. Any mounty left over (not discarded) gives a penalty to its owner.

Repeat 3 times, the game is over.

My impressions

I really like the concept of "trading" with the game and the attempts to mix this with some sort of an area-control concept (the cantinas), but... ugh. It just doesn't work. The penalty for playing a high smuggler is just so harsh (the loss of money due to his fees and attracting the mounties), and it so rarely happens that you have to go first that you might as well always play your lowest-ranked smuggler on every turn. Selecting your smuggler is the main mechanic of the game; as this doesn't quite work, the game as a whole doesn't quite work.

If this comes to the table again (doubtful), I will try the following workaround: smugglers *pay* their rating in loonies instead of charging you -- this I think would fix my main beef with the game as you would want to play high enough to get a good bonus but not so high as to attract the attention of the mounties. Another thought I had was that if you can attract two mounties in the same province under your control, they both go away (to eat donuts or something). This would actually make it worthwhile to attract a mounty under some circumstances and might introduce some interesting decision-making. But this is untested and may introduce other problems. I'll report on it here if I get to try it.

Thread: Travel by night. Evade the Mounties. Eat well. Indeed!

Mike A — 2005-11-25T05:59:49+00:00

The Nacho Incident
Travel by night. Evade the Mounties. Eat well.

The Disclaimer
I should start this review with the disclaimer that I may be considered a fanboy for this game. I was looking forward to its release ever since I first heard of the theme. As an American living in Canada for the past five years, I often lamented the lack of good Mexican food available. Finally this topic would be dealt with seriously. Okay, maybe not so seriously, but brought to the attention of the all-important game playing population. I had to buy the game as soon as it was released based on the theme alone.

With that said, after several plays with differing numbers and ages of players, I hereby offer what I feel is an honest review based on my experience.

The Overview
The game deals with smuggling Mexican food into Canada. You earn points by smuggling foods that are in demand and running the best cantinas while trying to avoid drawing the attention of the Mounties by being too bold in your smuggling attempts. It is for 2-4 players and lasts about 30 minutes.

The Goods
The game consists of the following components:
56 Smuggler cards
12 Mountie cards
12 Province cards
16 Cantina cards
1 End of Round card
1 Rules summary card
8 Score cards
4 Warehouse cards
40 Colored cubes (4 in each of 8 colors, plus 8 more as scoring markers)
1 Gemstone
1 Drawstring bag for the cubes
1 4 page rule book

All components are of good quality. The cards are have humorous artwork drawn by Scott Starkey who also illustrated other Eight Foot Llama games Monkeys on the Moon and The Penguin Ultimatum. The cards shuffle well and have white edges that don't get marked up, which is important when playing simultaneous selection of smugglers.

Rather than the regular ubiquitous scoring track, smaller individual scoring cards are used. Each player gets their own cards labelled 0 to 9 on one side and 0 to 90 by 10s on the other along with two cubes to use for scoring. I thought this was clever.

The warehouse cards are nice touch. They are just plain white cards, one for each player. They are to be used for placing the colored cubes on them to make it easier to distinguish the colors regardless of the table top. Not a necessary inclusion, but a useful one. Fortunately, the nine different colors of cubes are distinct enough that I can tell them apart despite my colorblindness. That's very nice for me.

The Preparation
Setup is quick once you are familiar with the game. My 6 year old can do it just fine on her own after playing it a couple of times. It may seem bit-fiddly at first with all the cards and cubes involved, but it's really not bad. Everything has a purpose within the context of gameplay and makes play straightforward.

Stacks of demand cards are laid out for each of the four provinces. Yes, there are only four provinces in the game - Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec. A purist might argue that there are actually 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada so this would not be accurate, but for all practical purposes, the other provinces don't really matter in real life anyway. Except maybe British Columbia, but this isn't a drug smuggling game, it's Mexican food.

Each player places their four cantina cards in front of them (one for each province). These will later be occupied by smugglers and/or Mounties looking to arrest them. Each player draws 8 smuggler cards that will be used for the first round. Then each player also draws two food cubes from the bag and places them in his warehouse. The player with the coolest thing in their pocket takes the gemstone.

The Smuggling
The game play takes place in 3 rounds of 4 turns each for a total of 12 turns in the game. Each turn takes place as follows:
1. Pick smuggler (simultaneous selection from cards in hand)
2. Determine turn order
3. Smuggle
4. Man cantinas and arrests
5. Wrap it up if round is over
6. Get ready for next turn

Each player chooses a smuggler simultaneously. Each smuggler has a provincial flag, a number, and a cost on the card. The higher numbers have priority but also cost more. The turn order is determined by the number on the smuggler chosen. The highest number goes first, next highest second, etc. Ties are broken depending on who has the gemstone. On each player's turn, he smuggles one type of food to the province shown on the smuggler card played or one of the neighboring provinces. The smuggler then sets up shop in that player's cantina in that province.

Choosing a smuggler can be a very difficult choice. If you have a food that is in demand and worth 9 someplace, it can be tempting to choose a high numbered smuggler. But if you go first, then you attract the attention of a mountie who then occupies one of your cantinas. This can be a serious deterrent to wanting to go first. Higher numbered smugglers also cost more, so you could end up earning little cash for all your troubles. Where it becomes more interesting is in the extra benefit given only to the highest numbered smuggler - you can steal a food cube from another player in exchange for both of your own. If you have nothing worth smuggling, this can be a good way to improve your position. All in all, it can make for some very difficult decisions.

If a mountie is in the same cantina as a smuggler, an arrest is made and both cards are removed from the table. If two mounties are in the same cantina with no smugglers, one wanders off to another cantina and arrests a smuggler. This can be good to get mounties out of the way so they don't cost points at the end of a round.

At the end of each turn, each player can sell any remaining food cubes on the Mexican market for 1. Each player then draws enough cubes to refill his warehouse to 2 cubes. If a province has filled all its food needs, a new province card is drawn to replace it.

After a round of 4 turns, the player with the most smuggler-points in their cantina for a province gets a bonus. Then those smugglers retire and are removed from the game. Any mounties in a player's cantinas result in penalties, but they are not removed from the game. Those pesky mounties just stick around until they make an arrest.

My description may make the game seem a bit more complex than it actually is. It is a relatively light game with some significant decisions to be made, but with a heavy dose of luck involved as well. I think the game effectively captures the feel of managing a smuggling operation, not that I would know from personal experience. Scoring feels representative of what could happen in real life.

The Bads?
All is not perfect, however. Two player may have balance issues. If one player keeps playing low smuggler cards then the other gets hit by all, or the majority, of the mounties. This can be a very difficult position to make the best of. With more players it is not a problem, and it has not been a problem in all the two player games I have played either, but on occasion it can be frustrating.

Another small issue I have is that at the end of a round the lowest scoring player takes the gemstone. This is good for him because it breaks ties in his favor. But it also means that he is hit first by Mounties in case of ties for first. In a two player game, this can be particularly harsh. It isn't always, but it can be.

Some also may feel it is a bit too fiddly for a light game, as in there are more bits to keep track of than may be worthwhile for the rewards of playing. However, I don't think this is really an issue after the first game for new players, it just seems like a lot at first. The gameplay does flow very smoothly once you get the hang of it.

I think the game could be made much more serious by introducing a variant changing the food selection mechanism a bit. As is, it is random, but reducing that randomness could increase the strategy involved overall significantly.

The Rating
Overall, I give it an 8. It is good medium light fun. It has a wonderfully clever theme implemented well. I feel it is a great family game, assuming your family doesn't have issues with smuggling Mexican food. It has enough decisions to make you think and reward good play, but also enough luck to keep everyone in the running. My family and I like it a lot.

The End

Thread: Re: First Smuggling Operation

aleo09 — 2005-11-02T14:21:47+00:00

Great Report! Looking forward to your review...

Thread: Re: First Smuggling Operation

Mike A — 2005-11-01T05:00:48+00:00

kdiddy13 wrote:
Would you mind doing a review, too, Mike? I'm very curious about this game, but have heard little feedback about it.

Sure, I will. I'd like to get a few more games of it under my belt against some more different opponents first, just to see how it plays with various people. I really like it so far.

Thread: Re: First Smuggling Operation

kdiddy13 — 2005-10-31T22:46:07+00:00

Friendless wrote:
And I still pine for the chicken chimichangas at the Morenci Motel (Arizona).

Same here, but for the chimichanga from Old Town in San Diego (unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the restaurant).

It's amazing how hard it is to find a good chimichanga these days.

Fun report by the way. Would you mind doing a review, too, Mike? I'm very curious about this game, but have heard little feedback about it.

Thread: Re: First Smuggling Operation

okiedokie — 2005-10-31T22:32:13+00:00

My son jsut moved to Vancouver and says that their Taco Bells suck even more than the ones in Oklahoma. Now THAT'S bad.

Thread: Re: First Smuggling Operation

mlvanbie — 2005-10-30T17:48:50+00:00

As a Canadian living in San Diego, I can say that there is a lot of Mexican food that I would miss upon moving back. Nachos are the only item that might be similar. Want cilantro for salsas? Go to the Persian/Asian foodmart on a Wednesday. Tomatillos? Not a chance. Peppers? No -- wait, wasn't my uncle doing experimental farming of hot peppers?

Thread: Re: First Smuggling Operation

Friendless — 2005-10-30T11:25:16+00:00

Reminds me of the time I was working in Wright, Wyoming and drove to Gillette looking for some Chinese. In Australia, we have excellent Thai, Indian and Chinese, and I was pining for some rice. The people at the Chinese restaurant in Gillette were very nice, but their food was not up to Australian standards.

And I still pine for the chicken chimichangas at the Morenci Motel (Arizona).

I must get this game.

Thread: First Smuggling Operation

Mike A — 2005-10-29T05:58:39+00:00

Five Years Ago

We knew it would be different. Yes, Canada is a neighbor to the United States, but it is definitely another country. Different history, different customs, and different food. Just how different, we had no idea.

"What?! You call this Mexican food?!"

"What about the children? What wonderous foods they will miss out on. We can make tortillas at home, but there's only so much we can do."

Three Months Ago

"Daddy, I don't want to move to the United States. I want to move to Mexico."

"What? Why do you say that?"

"Well, I speak Spanish and they have nachos..."

Present Day

The long awaited day had finally arrived. After fleeing Canada and returning to the Mexican food haven known as the United States, the chance to help right a major wrong had come. The time was at hand to assist in the provision of our beloved Albertan neighbors with good, wholesome, spicy Mexican food. And we'd help out the Saskatchaweiners, Ontarians, and Quebecois while we were at it.

B.C.? Never heard of it.

My daughter joined me in the quest to bring southern comestibles to our northern friends. Little did I know that her business would cut into my own so much. Of course, we were only driven by the desire to help the less fortunate, but business is business. Let the smuggling begin.

It was immediately apparent that certain foods were in high demand in specific provinces. I had sour cream and olives in my warehouse awaiting covert delivery. Ontario and Saskatchewan were strong markets for these commodities. With such strong demand, my dear Albertans would have to wait. I had to make sure they would get their deliveries quickly and efficiently, so I hired relatively high-priced but outstanding [-]smugglers[/-] operatives for my first couple of rounds. Apparently they were a little too high-profile for they each attracted the attention of nearby RCMP officers, the reknowned Mounties. At the same time, my daughter stayed under the radar with her smaller operations in beans and salsa. Cantinas were established to create a permanent presence close to our customer bases.

I sent in additional operatives to get the RCMP out of the way, but more officers kept coming. My daughter continued to undercut my operations. How could she be so consistent? What could I be doing wrong? She laughed at my woes. I checked the official Eight Foot Llama manual for inspiration.

End of Round...Each player may discard any Smugglers in their hand they do not want. Afer discarding, they draw back up to 8 smugglers.

End of Round, End of Round...Curses! That was it! End of Round, not End of Turn! Two rounds of four turns had passed at this point, two-thirds of the entire planned series of operations. Caramba y maldiciones! We were working out of specs. After making the proper adjustments, the third and last round would be my chance at redemption.

I was hit again by another Mountie. I shook it off. Then finally, the RCMP began to investigate my daughter's cantinas taking the pressure off of me a little. Sadly, it was too little, too late. Her steady small "import" business and cantina operations had brought in enough funds to far outweigh my meager gains after many losses of significant employees and steep fines from "the man". Ay, ay, ay, eh.

In the end, I had but 57,000 loonies to my daughters impressive 80,000 loonies. She laughed and danced with glee. I joined in her celebration. I mean, it's all about helping the poor unfortunate Canadians, right? I helped them. I can rest easy and satisfied knowing I did my part.

Secret note about the future. Not meant for RCMP officers.
[o]We will definitely be pursuing more operations in the near future. In fact, we already have some more. And we have more competing operations making things even more interesting...[/o]

Thread: Re: 2006 GAMES 100: Runner-Up Best Family Card Game of the

Sonja — 2005-10-23T23:01:42+00:00

Yay! I really wanna try this game. Its theme captures my heart. :P

Thread: Re: 2006 GAMES 100: Runner-Up Best Family Card Game of the

Spielfreak — 2005-10-23T19:06:58+00:00

Congrats, Jim!!

:meeple:

Thread: 2006 GAMES 100: Runner-Up Best Family Card Game of the Year

eightfootllama — 2005-10-23T17:10:37+00:00

Very happy to say that Nacho Incident is included on the GAMES 100 for 2006, and was specially honored as the runner-up Best Family Card Game of the Year as well.

The full list is available at www.funagain.com.