Game: Indonesia

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

talrich — 2008-07-03T04:55:24+00:00

BFoy wrote:
no catchup mechanisms
There aren't mechanisms per se, but there are choices that help trailing versus leading players.

When producers have a choice of shipping route, they'll use the trailing player. When player's choose what company to operate first, blocking the leader's companies can factor in. There are other examples...

BFoy wrote:
if you make a mistake early in the game, you might not have any chance of winning.
The early game is forgiving, ignoring some strange R&D choices.

Protecting productive companies is an issue, but I consider that more of a midgame issue. Whenever you sell a company that you are trying to protect, at a minimum you make some money and free a slot. I believe the "perfect storm" mistakes are rarer than some suggest.

-Greg

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

BFoy — 2008-07-03T12:26:45+00:00

Barkam wrote:
MissMeeple wrote:
I am just not inclined towards math, so I was far less interested when I perceived the game as a three-hour multiplication problem, interspersed with corporate buyouts. :)

You are not alone. Even as a mechanical engineer, I avoid games with significant amount of arithmetic.

Hmmm, I don't see the difference between the following:

1.) If I spend my turn doing this, I can't do that.
2.) If I spend my action points doing this, I don't have enough left to do that.
3.) If I spend my $$$ on this, I can't afford that.

I guess any game with alot of calculations like 3.) above would be considered 'mathy'. But to me, its all the same.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

BFoy — 2008-07-03T12:09:11+00:00

MissMeeple wrote:
Considering that the main issue stated was with the perceived "mathiness" of the game, I don't think he's out of luck at all, if this is true.

That isn't the main issue. Actually the term "mathiness" is meaningless to me and so I ignored it. There are 2 real issues:

1.) This is a 4 hour game and you are used to playing 2 hour games.
2.) There are no catchup mechanisms, if you make a mistake early in the game, you might not have any chance of winning. You could be in a situation were you are losing all your good companies to mergers since you don't have enough $$$ to protect them.

I am not saying this to scare you, I am saying it so you know why we are initially concerned. But the preparation will definitely help. I wish you luck and I hope you enjoy the game.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

BFoy — 2008-07-03T11:50:20+00:00

Barkam wrote:
I think Indonesia is fine to be played as a 2player affair.

Mergers are a very big part of the game. It seems the mergers would be pointless in a 2 player game. Do you have an optional rule to handle that?

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

blueatheart — 2008-07-02T06:35:58+00:00

doubtofbuddha wrote:
blueatheart wrote:
I actually think that Antiquity is an easier game to play than Indonesia, but it is more fiddly, and the rulebook is perhaps more difficult to get through. It's about as complex as Puerto Rico.

Indonesia and Antiquity are *very* different games, however.

I have heard that it is exceptionally unforgiving. Is this true?

Heh. Not really, once you learn how to play. The pollution can feel terrible to place, and one can become overburdened with famine issues...but those are easily mitigated. Really, just don't run out of wood.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-02T06:24:47+00:00

blueatheart wrote:
I actually think that Antiquity is an easier game to play than Indonesia, but it is more fiddly, and the rulebook is perhaps more difficult to get through. It's about as complex as Puerto Rico.

Indonesia and Antiquity are *very* different games, however.

I have heard that it is exceptionally unforgiving. Is this true?

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

blueatheart — 2008-07-02T04:02:49+00:00

I actually think that Antiquity is an easier game to play than Indonesia, but it is more fiddly, and the rulebook is perhaps more difficult to get through. It's about as complex as Puerto Rico.

Indonesia and Antiquity are *very* different games, however.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-02T02:30:10+00:00

eknauer wrote:

Well, I hope you like it enough to inspire you to get Antiquity, another heavy Splotter game I've really wanted to play.

Its possible. I have been lurking over there and reading up on it. It seems a little heavier than Indonesia however, and a little less interesting...

We'll see what happens, though. If Indonesia blows me away it may be enough to push me over the edge (assuming I can find a reasonably discounted copy, of course.)

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

eknauer — 2008-07-02T02:26:21+00:00

Ahhhh, I did not know you had played before. This means you can help explain it.

Yeah, explaining rules is a real strength of mine. ;)

Now we just need to get Scott on board and we can add it to our regular rotation. I admit I am pretty excited about playing it. Its been intriguing me for awhile but I was put off by the cost. But between winning a free plane ticket to Gen Con and being hired to do some freelance design work, I have a bit more money than I was expecting...

Well, I hope you like it enough to inspire you to get Antiquity, another heavy Splotter game I've really wanted to play.

Thread: Session report - Florida recount edition.

talrich — 2008-07-02T02:07:27+00:00

Five players - Mike, Chris, Ace, Seth, & I

Era A:
Both spice, one rice, and two shippers were aquired on turn 1.

Mike shipped spice in turn 1 with R&D expansion 2, but then couldn't use all of their expanded tiles in turn 2. The other spice trader, Chris, didn't ship in turn 1, but caught up, so both were size "3" by the end of turn 2. I guess Mike won't be doing expansion 2 in turn 1 again.

There was substantial competition for early turn order in turn 2 to aquire the remaining rice and shipping to end era A.

There were then two eastern shipping companies (mostly redundant with each other), and two western shipping companies(mostly redundant with each other).

Era B:
Two players (Seth & I) each had a rice co., a western shipping co., and mergers 2.

I proposed merging my shipping with one of the eastern companies for a large network. I drove the price high and bailed out.

Seth did the same with his shipping, so we had two large "full-service" shippers, but the redundancy meant that neither could force much business.

I proposed merging my rice with a spice for siap faji. I drove the price high and bailed out.

Seth also proposed siap faji, at slightly less favorable terms due to a smaller rice company, and won the bid.

I went into aquisitions with no money and piles of cash and picked up a rice and a spice.

I merged the rice and spice into a third siap faji, partially due to my favorable turn order, and bought a size 6 merged rubber company for $198.

I had a good turn of production, and everyone seemed to think that I had piles of cash, somehow not factoring in that I was making very little while I lacked production, and I blew nearly $200 for the rubber.

I advanced turn player to ensure that my siap faji made it to market first, and expanded to kill two of the oil companies before Era C hit.

Era C:
I shipped fully in Era C, which would only last one turn (largely due to my killing sites with rubber and siap faji expansion). Everyone at the table thought I was blowing out the competition.

The final tally was:
Ace 668 (siap faji with worst turn order)
Mike 686 (mostly just shipping)
Chris 751 (shipper with slots for secondary co.)
Seth 813 (other siap faji w/ secondary co.)

At that point, I asked what people thought I had for a final score. I heard 1400. I heard 1100. One person guessed $1. Well, if we were playing "The Price is Right", one dollar would have won, because everyone else overbid. I had $802.

So after a self-imposed recount (Seth was surprised), it was clear that Seth won.

-Greg

(edit for spelling)

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-02T02:05:37+00:00

eknauer wrote:
Yeah, I’ll play again for sure. I played it at a con last year and struggled with the strategy but still found it fascination. I do agree with others that it’s in a different league compared to Tigris, Power Grid, etc. I found Die Macher much more intuitive actually. lol

Ahhhh, I did not know you had played before. This means you can help explain it. ;)

Now we just need to get Scott on board and we can add it to our regular rotation. I admit I am pretty excited about playing it. Its been intriguing me for awhile but I was put off by the cost. But between winning a free plane ticket to Gen Con and being hired to do some freelance design work, I have a bit more money than I was expecting...

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-02T02:03:53+00:00

dbarree wrote:
You might find it helpful to watch Scott Nicholson's video review of Indonesia. He goes through the game play in some depth and you get a good feel for what you're supposed to be doing. Here's a link:
http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/?p=17

I did! It was reasonably enlightening, though I had already learned most of the information from reading some reviews and all of the available session reviews. Though it did give me an idea of why people think it is a bit fiddly. I sent it to her but she did not really want to watch the 30 minute video on playing the game. As Eric Flood noted earlier, she doesn't really want to do a lot 'homework' before playing the game.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

eknauer — 2008-07-02T02:03:44+00:00

Yeah, I’ll play again for sure. I played it at a con last year and struggled with the strategy but still found it intriguing. I do agree with others that it’s in a different league compared to Tigris, Power Grid, etc. I found Die Macher much more intuitive actually. lol

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-02T01:59:19+00:00

jschlickbernd wrote:
I would like to say one thing: if he doesn't present you as his 'girlfriend' but just as 'another player who doesn't like math' then he wouldn't have gotten those other responses. What was he looking for with the word 'girlfriend'? As he accurately points out, the nature of your relationship is none of our business, so why bring it up in the first place?

I think the main thing I was looking forward is to make sure everyone know how important it was to me that she had an enjoyable experience. She plays most of my games with me, and her opposition is likely to result in us not playing a game. (Though others opposition also has an effect, of course. It is why we do not play Puerto Rico or El Grande a lot.) Nothing more, nothing less. By refering to another player it implies slightly less importance than refering to ones significant other.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-02T01:54:48+00:00

So Eric, are you also willing to play? You are the main other person I need to get to buy in. :D

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

eknauer — 2008-07-02T01:43:42+00:00

If you want to know if she'll be interested in playing, I'd try playing a game of Union Pacific or Wabash Cannonball with her first - these are the closest I can think of off the top of my head that are similar and yet accessible (unlike say 18xx games).

I have Wabash including a spiffy custom board. :D I played a few weeks ago and everyone really enjoyed it. It plays in about an hour and is quite meaty considering the length. IMO, Union Pacific is a :snore: set collection game.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

talrich — 2008-07-02T01:27:19+00:00

Going with the simple advice.

1. Use a calculator
2. At each new era, give the option to pack it up if it's intolerable.

As long as the first game "doesn't count", I'd just get into playing. Each phase is pretty simple, and early mistakes don't cost you the game. I've never seen someone lose the game in era A.

You should be fine. Enjoy,

-Greg

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

dbarree — 2008-07-02T04:52:26+00:00

You might find it helpful to watch Scott Nicholson's video review of Indonesia. He goes through the game play in some depth and you get a good feel for what you're supposed to be doing. Here's a link:
http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/?p=17

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

Ambrose — 2008-07-02T04:22:04+00:00

DocStryder wrote:
Then propose to her :D
You know, people don't do that enough.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

verandi — 2008-07-02T03:52:37+00:00

Indonesia is awesome, but the less players you have the longer it takes (generally speaking), and the more fiddly it gets towards the end (since individual companies are larger).

So I wholeheartedly recommend playing it, but probably you'd do best finding two more people to play with. Even the three player game can be long... the four player games seems to hit the sweet spot of around 3 hours.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

jschlickbernd — 2008-07-02T03:44:23+00:00

I would like to say one thing: if he doesn't present you as his 'girlfriend' but just as 'another player who doesn't like math' then he wouldn't have gotten those other responses. What was he looking for with the word 'girlfriend'? As he accurately points out, the nature of your relationship is none of our business, so why bring it up in the first place?

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

Barkam — 2008-07-02T12:35:50+00:00

MissMeeple wrote:
I am just not inclined towards math, so I was far less interested when I perceived the game as a three-hour multiplication problem, interspersed with corporate buyouts. :)

You are not alone. Even as a mechanical engineer, I avoid games with significant amount of arithmetic. This is one of the main reasons why I am not a fan of Scepter of Zavandor. Indonesia will require quite a bit of arithmetic but they are easily dealt with multiplication tables and/or software. I actually prefer multiplication tables because I can clearly see what the bid options are in a quick glance and I don't need a computer.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

MissMeeple — 2008-07-01T11:59:51+00:00

I have to say, I'm glad some posters chimed in with helpful and specific advice, unlike some of the early responders:

Tatsu wrote:
I'd say you are screwed. While it is an excellent game, you have nothing even remotely close to it in your collection. Indonesia is an auction and stock manipulation game and while there is math, math is not the core or the game.

Considering that the main issue stated was with the perceived "mathiness" of the game, I don't think he's out of luck at all, if this is true.

DaviddesJ wrote:

None of these are much like Indonesia. I agree with everyone else, the only way you're going to get her to want to play twice is to buy her a diamond bracelet, or something.

Oh, of course--all girls can be manipulated with jewelry! The only way to get a soft-minded girl to play a big, scary, heavy-weight board game is to buy her something expensive as a bribe. Gag me. Thank goodness the rest of you had more sense.

As the girlfriend in question, I appreciate the thoughtful, strategy- and game-centered responses many of you left (especially the above three posters). Knowing upfront what the game's most confusing aspects will be is actually really helpful information to have before a practice game. And trust me, all of Jesse's comments about my interest and willingness to play were not exaggerated. I am just not inclined towards math, so I was far less interested when I perceived the game as a three-hour multiplication problem, interspersed with corporate buyouts. :)

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

blueatheart — 2008-07-01T11:13:38+00:00

You're probably going to turn her off to the experience if you make her invest 2-3 hours *before* playing the game, choose one prep tool that you feel will suit her best. Definitely play through the game once by yourself to make sure you understand the rules, and minimize boring rules-look-ups.

And my biggest advice: find another couple to play this with. I've not yet tried this with two people (once with three, once with four - four was infinitely better), but I have a feeling it could very well drag on.

The biggest problem I have with Indonesia is once you get up to 4-merger companies. They typically have *so* many different production regions that the logistics become too overwhelming. This problem would likely only become exacerbated with 2.

If you can't find another couple nearby, I would seriously suggest only playing Eras A and B for the first time. Things only get into the complicated logistics at the end of B, so it would make for a good stopping point for 2 people for a first time.

The last two or three operations turns of both the games I've played have each taken 30 minutes +, while the others were probably all less than 15.

One last thing: we've found it easiest to separate the incomes into piles, and put the money into the respective piles as they occur (so one player would be moving the goods, the other would be moving the money).

Bring a calculator, unless you can do the math in your head (it's not too difficult, but you're focused on other things so much you probably don't want to worry about it).

Thread: Re: Indonesia Map Project

GamesOnTheBrain — 2008-07-01T08:24:02+00:00

Anything new?

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

Barkam — 2008-07-01T08:20:11+00:00

Jesse,

I think Indonesia is fine to be played as a 2player affair. The biggest advice I can give you is to play Indonesia by yourself first multiple times until you have the game down to the letter. Nothing deflates enthusiasm than having to sit there while waiting for someone to find the rules for the game. There are quite a bit of subtle but critical rules in the game that you will forget.

Compared to the typical euro's you have played with her, Indonesia is a nightmare as far as the board clarity is concerned. The text is hard to read, the country lines are hard to determine, the city gems and good chits block key information and merging ships can get confusing if the merged companies require two sets of ship markers. So yeah, the logistics of playing the game can be daunting and frustrating, not just the information overload of the rules.

Oh, the biggest help when my wife and I played the game for the very first time is that we watched the Indonesia episode of Boardgames with Scott. It gave us the general feel and goals of the game, which made rules digestion much easier.

So yeah, play the game first by yourself and come up with ways to deal with the logistical issues of playing the game. Come up with multiplication tables for the auction or bring a laptop and download the auction calculators found on BGG for the game. Scour the forums for ideas on how to deal with the logistical issues regarding the game as mentioned above. Fix the issues you have with game first before showing it to your girlfriend.

Hopefully this helps.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

cparrott — 2008-07-01T08:19:19+00:00

To ease the experience, have her read http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/157606. That's a fine guide on playing with some advice for new players. I didn't find Indonesia to be that complex once explained. It's more understanding what to do and why you do it that takes a while. If she understands Power Grid well enough to be competitive then Indonesia shouldn't be that much of a stretch. Just be prepared that it will be a long and fiddly game. Stop after an era and take a break and go over what you two did. Play companies more 'friendly' meaning operate the companies in ways to support each other's companies before you explore the more unfriendly styles of play.

I'm getting ready to introduce this one to my SO as well. But she plays 18xx games and enjoys them, and loves all sorts of train/shipping games. I've used the above approach with her on almost every game we've learned together and it works for us.

It's a great game though I'd love to find a way to reduce all the marker fiddliness in operating rounds.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-01T07:48:15+00:00

BFoy wrote:

doubtofbuddha wrote:
I am hesitant to purchase Through the Ages because I just purchased Indonesia. :) I decided I was only going to purchase one heavier/meaty game and Indonesia seemed much more interesting to me than the alternatives...

Understandable. Indonesia is a great game. I hope you and your gf find the patience to learn the game. It can be hard when you lose control of the company you've spent alot of effort building up. As long as everyone understands that its all part of the game, everyone will enjoy the game.

Well, we play Tigris and Euphrates a lot. Losing a kingdom you have built up in that game is just part of the normal flow of the game. She likes and enjoys that game (as does most of the play group). Losing a company seems to be pretty similar. In fact it seems to be even less painful, since you get money/victory points as part of the deal. So I don't think that will be a problem.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

BFoy — 2008-07-01T07:38:21+00:00

doubtofbuddha wrote:
BFoy wrote:

I consider Indonesia as an 18xx style game. It is much heavier and longer than the games you are mentioning (actually I consider the games you are mentioned to be gateway games). She should be ready to spend 4+ hours playing the game. Its not a 2-player game so you need other people. You should do a run through of the game with just the 2 of you, before playing. Don't drag her into the game unless she really wants to play it. If you want to teach her a longer game, I suggest TtA since it plays well with 2 players and it isn't as long.

Thanks for clarifying. When I think about gateway games, I think of games like Carcassonne or Settlers, not Tigris Euphrates etc.

Well I like playing the heavier games so I view things as more of a continuum, with several layers of gateway games. My AH microbadge should indicate many of my preferences there.

doubtofbuddha wrote:
I was intending our first play to be more of a getting a feel for the game experience than an actual competitive event. If she feels that she knows how to play and the goals of the game before we sit down and play "for real" then she will be much more comfortable with the experience. That worked out pretty well after she reached a mild frustration point with In the Year of the Dragon. She does want to play it. She wants to play it, she is just leery of it for the above stated reasons. I will see if one of my other typical gaming partners is available and see if the three of us can do a run through of the game before the actual sesson. Do a practice game and such.

As long as your friend doesn't mind ending the game early. Being stuck in a long game can be frustrating for people not used to it.

doubtofbuddha wrote:
I am hesitant to purchase Through the Ages because I just purchased Indonesia. :) I decided I was only going to purchase one heavier/meaty game and Indonesia seemed much more interesting to me than the alternatives...

Understandable. Indonesia is a great game. I hope you and your gf find the patience to learn the game. It can be hard when you lose control of the company you've spent alot of effort building up. As long as everyone understands that its all part of the game, everyone will enjoy the game.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-01T06:52:19+00:00

BFoy wrote:

I consider Indonesia as an 18xx style game. It is much heavier and longer than the games you are mentioning (actually I consider the games you are mentioned to be gateway games). She should be ready to spend 4+ hours playing the game. Its not a 2-player game so you need other people. You should do a run through of the game with just the 2 of you, before playing. Don't drag her into the game unless she really wants to play it. If you want to teach her a longer game, I suggest TtA since it plays well with 2 players and it isn't as long.

Thanks for clarifying. When I think about gateway games, I think of games like Carcassonne or Settlers, not Tigris Euphrates etc.

I was intending our first play to be more of a getting a feel for the game experience than an actual competitive event. If she feels that she knows how to play and the goals of the game before we sit down and play "for real" then she will be much more comfortable with the experience. That worked out pretty well after she reached a mild frustration point with In the Year of the Dragon. She does want to play it. She wants to play it, she is just leery of it for the above stated reasons. I will see if one of my other typical gaming partners is available and see if the three of us can do a run through of the game before the actual sesson. Do a practice game and such.

I am hesitant to purchase Through the Ages because I just purchased Indonesia. :) I decided I was only going to purchase one heavier/meaty game and Indonesia seemed much more interesting to me than the alternatives...

Thanks for the suggestions.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

DaviddesJ — 2008-07-01T06:49:42+00:00

doubtofbuddha wrote:
Also I would prefer that you not make assumptions about things you know next to nothing about (i.e. our relationship.) Thanks.

I haven't made any assumptions about your relationship and I will gladly agree not to make such assumptions in the future. You're welcome.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-01T06:45:38+00:00

DaviddesJ wrote:

None of these are much like Indonesia. I agree with everyone else, the only way you're going to get her to want to play twice is to buy her a diamond bracelet, or something. Seems to me that you're asking for trouble in your relationship if you spend a lot of time trying to get her to do stuff different than what she naturally likes. Just my opinion, of course.

To repeat. It is not a matter of getting her to play the game. She is willing and interested in it, though she has some reservations because of some of the mathiness of it (though less now that I explained why bidding works the way that it does.) I just want to make the experience to be enjoyable and fun for her.

Also I would prefer that you not make assumptions about things you know next to nothing about (i.e. our relationship.) Thanks.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

BFoy — 2008-07-01T06:40:09+00:00

doubtofbuddha wrote:
BFoy wrote:
Why would you want to do that to her? Indonesia isn't a 2 player game. Its not a gateway game. Let her know what the game is about and when she is ready, she will tell you.

She is not a gateway gamer. She has already played and enjoyed a bunch of mid-heavy Euros. (Tigris and Euphrates, In the Year of the Dragon, Power Grid, Puerto Rico, Shogun, Race For The Galaxy etc.) I have told her all about the game and she is interested and willing to play. I am trying to find a way to make the game as enjoyable for her as possible.

I consider Indonesia as an 18xx style game. It is much heavier and longer than the games you are mentioning (actually I consider the games you are mentioned to be gateway games). She should be ready to spend 4+ hours playing the game. Its not a 2-player game so you need other people. You should do a run through of the game with just the 2 of you, before playing. Don't drag her into the game unless she really wants to play it. If you want to teach her a longer game, I suggest TtA since it plays well with 2 players and it isn't as long.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

DaviddesJ — 2008-07-01T06:25:28+00:00

doubtofbuddha wrote:
She is not a gateway gamer. She has already played and enjoyed a bunch of mid-heavy Euros. (Tigris and Euphrates, In the Year of the Dragon, Power Grid, Puerto Rico, Shogun, Race For The Galaxy etc.)

None of these are much like Indonesia. I agree with everyone else, the only way you're going to get her to want to play twice is to buy her a diamond bracelet, or something. Seems to me that you're asking for trouble in your relationship if you spend a lot of time trying to get her to do stuff different than what she naturally likes. Just my opinion, of course.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

DocStryder — 2008-07-01T06:09:22+00:00

Then propose to her :D

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-01T05:50:29+00:00

BFoy wrote:
Why would you want to do that to her? Indonesia isn't a 2 player game. Its not a gateway game. Let her know what the game is about and when she is ready, she will tell you.

She is not a gateway gamer. She has already played and enjoyed a bunch of mid-heavy Euros. (Tigris and Euphrates, In the Year of the Dragon, Power Grid, Puerto Rico, Shogun, Race For The Galaxy etc.) I have told her all about the game and she is interested and willing to play. I am trying to find a way to make the game as enjoyable for her as possible.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-01T05:47:52+00:00

She has played and done well with Power Grid. It seemed that Power Grid is close enough that she won't be in over her head.

Also, I want to play it with her so that I can learn the game and teach it to a bigger group. It would be easier to do that with the two of us, I think. Though I suppose it might be wise to see if I can find a third person to play. The same question applies for three people, however.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

e.e.goings — 2008-07-01T05:46:28+00:00

Listen to Ben. You're setting yourself up for a pretty poor evening.

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

Tatsu — 2008-07-01T05:36:24+00:00

I'd say you are screwed. While it is an excellent game, you have nothing even remotely close to it in your collection. Indonesia is an auction and stock manipulation game and while there is math, math is not the core or the game. Honestly, I think the vast majority of the playing time in this game is figuring out the shipping of the goods and who gets paid what... After two plays, I have yet to really figure out how to speed that part up. Other than that, how the game plays out will really depend on the people playing and their interpretation of the game as it unfolds.

If you want to know if she'll be interested in playing, I'd try playing a game of Union Pacific or Wabash Cannonball with her first - these are the closest I can think of off the top of my head that are similar and yet accessible (unlike say 18xx games).

Thread: Re: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

BFoy — 2008-07-01T05:27:11+00:00

Why would you want to do that to her? Indonesia isn't a 2 player game. Its not a gateway game. Let her know what the game is about and when she is ready, she will tell you.

Thread: How to get my girlfriend to play Indonesia twice.

doubtofbuddha — 2008-07-01T05:05:14+00:00

So I ordered Indonesia on Sunday and expect to get it some time next week.

My extremely tolerant former English-major girlfriend (who plays lots of Race For the Galaxy with me, as well as various other board games when I have people over) has agreed to play it with me even though she fears the potential mathiness of it. It took some effort for me to get her to play Race For the Galaxy and In the Year of the Dragon a second time, and I suspect that I am going to have a similar hurdle here, particularly since it is a three hour+ game. Though as a point in her favor she had no problem getting into Tigris and Euphrates, where I have seen hesitation from more experienced players in playing it again because of their own confusion with the game.

So how would you, oh players of Indonesia, suggest I make the first game play experience for her as pleasent as possible? She doesn't neccessarily care if she wins (though she likes it when she wins, particularly since she knows that I don't let her win), but she wants to feel comfortable and "in" the game. She wants to have a reasonable idea of what is going on and what she needs to do to win.