Game: Menorah Game, The

Thread: Re: The prototype was fun, hopefully it will make it one day!

Shade_Jon — 2008-08-21T05:44:53+00:00

I still have prototype copies left. Or you can buy the published version of the game with the new horror theme: It's Alive!.

Yehuda

Thread: Re: The prototype was fun, hopefully it will make it one day!

Darius Hawthorn — 2008-08-21T02:21:42+00:00

The theme's good. I'd buy this simply because the theme is of interest (even if it may be pasted on).

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

fehrmeister — 2007-05-18T20:46:27+00:00

Wow. That's just a "SLIGHT" change in theme.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2007-03-26T15:01:42+00:00

1. Nadine+, Jon

2. David+, Shevi, Nadine, Jon, Zack, Binyamin

I wanted to try out a variation on the tile distribution that was designed to accommodate between two to six players. Each additional player adds a set of tiles, thus keeping the relative number of tiles available per person about equal.

For two players, the number of tiles was slightly less than usual, but the impact on the game was extremely minimal. For six players I added most of the tiles from another set. With six players, like with so many other games that accommodate up to six players, the game bogged down considerably.

With six players, there was a tremendous amount of auctioning, so it's not like you were bored. And the auctions went quickly. In fact, as far as bogginess, I would rate this game better than other games with six players, such as Power Grid or Wildlife. But other games with six, such as Geschenkt or Havoc would beat it.

As a result, most of us were bored with the six player variant and we decided that three or four is still best.

In both cases we played the advanced version of the game, which was the first time for the advanced version for some of the players, such as David and Nadine. Remarkably, both Nadine and David didn't like the advanced version compared to the basic version, and David said the advanced version was decidedly more lucky!

This is in contrast to some of the other people their, such as Binyamin and Shevi, who both much prefer the advanced version to the basic version, and consider the basic version too lucky. So it was a fifty-fifty split.

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Psauberer — 2007-03-10T17:30:35+00:00

Shade_Jon wrote:
I always called it a prototype, but I sold more than 50 copies of this prototype.

So it's in a murky area.

Jon

If it was sold seaparately, then I would think it deserves its own listing. It was a distinct game and some of the categories it could fall under (e.g. Religious) would not apply to the "It's Alive" version.

However, I also think that Q-Jet 21xx should have its own separate entity because it could have "Science Fiction" as one of the categories to describe it. That category would not work for Ave Caesar, however. Yet it has been deemed that Q-Jet 21xx does not deserve its own listing and should instead be lumped in with Ave Caesar based on its identical game mechanics.

So, beats the heck out of me how this should all shake out.

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Shade_Jon — 2007-03-10T17:11:37+00:00

I always called it a prototype, but I sold more than 50 copies of this prototype.

So it's in a murky area.

Jon

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Sonja — 2007-03-10T16:01:40+00:00

I think he self-published a few copies.

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Psauberer — 2007-03-10T15:44:19+00:00

Yehuda,

Did you ever actually publish "The Menorah Game" or did it never get past the prototype stage in this form?

If it wasn't actually published then I think that this entry should be merged with "It's Alive."

Giving every game separate entries for each prototype on its development path doesn't seem the right way to go.

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Sonja — 2007-03-10T14:00:15+00:00

I added it to this geeklist for games whose themes were changed by the publisher:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/16285/

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Shade_Jon — 2007-03-07T12:19:22+00:00

Essentially, yes.

It's Alive has minor changes to the tile distribution and is from 2 to 5 players.

I'm open to whatever people decide.

Yehuda

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Sonja — 2007-03-07T12:17:28+00:00

Why not merge this entry with the new entry? Essentially same game, no?

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Shade_Jon — 2007-03-07T12:13:42+00:00

See the It's Alive entry for details.

Essentially, you are collecting body parts to build a monster.

Yehuda

Thread: Re: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Sonja — 2007-03-07T12:09:14+00:00

Interesting! Can you describe the new theme?

Thread: Going to print as "It's Alive"

Shade_Jon — 2007-03-07T11:35:51+00:00

This game will be published under a new theme and with some slight tweaking to the rules as "It's Alive" by Reiver Games.

It should be available by June.

You can order pre-copies from jack@reivergames.co.uk .

See It's Alive! entry for details.

Yehuda

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2006-12-03T20:59:22+00:00

Rosie 55, Jon 49, Zack, Elijah

I decided to try the advanced version of the game, which I created back at the same time as the basic version. I've played the basic version hundreds of times, but the advanced version only once before.

It is definitely a more challenging and less lucky game. For all of you who have copies of the game, I tried it with a bonus of only five points for completing your board, and that seemed to work fine. I may have written 10 points in the rules I gave out; try it with five and see which works better.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the game has held up over time. This was the first play for Rosie and Zack, and Elijah's first play of the advanced version. They all enjoyed it, although Elijah said that he was used to the basic version. Rosie completed her board and won.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2006-03-19T08:22:19+00:00

Shachar+, Nate, Guy, Jon

Mace stayed long enough after dropping off Shachar to assist him with some hints during this game. It didn't seem to me like he was getting it, but he ended up winning, so what do I know? This was the first play for all of them, and some onlookers who had showed up later also expressed interest either in playing it (since they hadn't, yet) or playing it again.

One of the game's good features is that it's rare that you pull ahead with a decisive lead, since the money tends to even out. You're constantly scrambling for money, even at the end game; if you're not, it means that you're scrambling for cards. Only if you pull a series of low cards one after the other do you gain an advantage. Two people have complained about that advantage. I have a possible solution for it that involves the soldiers. Maybe I'll try it next time.

Guy was also the second one to note that the game might be improved by lowering the cost to grab a card out of the discard pile. He suggested half the price, which I think is too low; I think it would make the price too easy, and I want there to be a need for excess cash. Otherwise the game loses a certain amount of tension. However, I think lowering the cost by one might work.

Nate and Guy both complimented me on the game. Thanks. Not that anyone wants to publish it. Sniff.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2006-01-05T14:15:35+00:00

My wife's mother, Margaret, is here for a visit. She's a sweetie; the type who is always supportive and happy to do just about anything with anyone in the family just for the together time.

Also visiting is my good friend Shlomo, who visits me whenever he is in Israel and also shows up for game nights. I invited him over for dinner.

To that end I dragged them both into playing/they wanted to play/ the Menorah game. We played four ways: myself, Shlomo, Margaret/Rachel, and Saarya (who was home on his last day of vacation from school).

The game was slow, but intense and enjoyable, as both Shlomo and Margaret learned the ropes. Margaret and Rachel spent a lot of time huddling and trying to decide what to do with the candle they flipped up each turn. It was also an unusual game where a lot of candles got bought out of discard piles, when that is usually a rare occurence (sometimes not at all during a game). We all got hit with exactly one soldier during the game.

Despite Margaret/Rachel having two wilds and lots of cash near the end of the game, I managed to pull off a victory through a combination of luck and planning; I had also saved enough cash to buy my last candle out of a discard pile, if necessary, but instead I just flipped it up and bought it to win the game.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2005-12-29T10:08:22+00:00

Game 1: Zeke+, Jon, Brendan

Game 2: Zvi Yehuda+, Binyamin, Tikva Shira, Ben

In honor of this being the fourth night of Hannukah I thought it was appropriate to play this game as a light intro. Zeke didn't seem to like it that much but he doesn't seem to like anything. And he always wins it, too. Zeke buys just about everything, even for high prices, yet he still seems to come up with money again the following round.

And yes, that's a win for Tzvi Yehuda, too. He's only 7 years old.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2005-12-15T05:46:11+00:00

Jon+, Tal, Brendan

I was interested in playing again, and having a new person to teach was just the excuse I needed. Brendan seemed to enjoy himself and compared the bidding to Modern Art, which is also what Chris Brooks did when he was here.

Tal started out collecting a lot of medium values at low prices, but then she had nothing to do with the same colored tiles when she pulled them up later in the game, and couldn't get much money for throwing them out. Brendan got hit with the double 4/6 soldier combo which slowed him down. Come to think of it, he got hit with all four soldiers, and while he only had to pay for two, it meant that none of us got hit. In the meantime, I got a lot of early high cards which gave me cash. With a wild, I was able to win easily after Tal auctioned a candle she really should have bought.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2005-12-12T21:59:54+00:00

Benjamin+, David, Nadine, Moshe

These people arrived a little early so they played this relatively quick game while I finished dinner and we waited for a few others to come. Nadine and David began explaining the rules but after a few sentences Nadine said that they should start playing and they will explain the rules as they go. This was painful for me to hear, both because I don't think the rules are too complicated to explain before playing, and because I, personally, can't stand starting a game without knowing the major rules. I hate being blindsided in the middle of the game with a major piece of knowledge that I really needed to have prepared for several turns earlier.

Nadine, on the other hand, as well as many other people or so I'm given to understand, much prefer to learn games this way - if necessary playing a full round through and then stopping and restarting the game. Sometimes I will show rules with example play on the board, but I just can't bring myself to start a game without knowing or explaining the bulk of the rules, yet.

Once again I regretted not introducing some sort of pattern into the prototypes to complement the colors, because it turned out that Benjamin is almost totally color-blind. Luckily he was not completely color-blind and the other players could tell him what color each candle was as it appeared, but it still must have made the game harder for him.

In any case, Moshe ended up buying a number of the wilds and getting hit with a few soldiers, so he was only halfway through before Benjamin was able to win with a wild card for which he had been saving up.

Thread: Re: The prototype was fun, hopefully it will make it one day!

StormKnight — 2005-11-26T17:09:57+00:00

Shade_Jon wrote:
Thanks for the review. Two comments:

1. If you auction, you have to bid first. You can't choose to bid last.

Doh! I must have been getting mixed up with some other new game we tried. Sorry about that!

Image

Jeff — 2005-11-18T15:08:43+00:00

Money is kept secret, and a discard pile accumulates in front of each player's screen.

Image

Jeff — 2005-11-18T15:08:43+00:00

A look behind the player's screen. Players must collect 1 of each color candle for their menorah.

Thread: Re: The prototype was fun, hopefully it will make it one day

Shade_Jon — 2005-11-17T06:14:15+00:00

Thanks for the review. Two comments:

1. If you auction, you have to bid first. You can't choose to bid last.

2. I should have made the screens a little clearer: there are four wilds, 2 9's and 2 10's, and four soldiers, 2 4's and 2 6's.

Yehuda

Thread: The prototype was fun, hopefully it will make it one day!

StormKnight — 2005-11-17T00:45:38+00:00

Is it okay to review a game that's just a prototype? Well, what the heck, I will anyway. A chance to really write the first review for a game!

Saturday night at BGG.Con, as we were looking for the Werewolves and failing to find them, Yehuda grabbed us and asked us to come try his game, assuring us it was quick.

I admit I was a little worried with the Menorah tiles. Was this some religious nut trying to induct new members?
Nope, nothing like that. The theme is fairly pasted on; he commented it would probably have a different theme if it were released, but actually I thought it was fine. The Greek Soldier who "tries to blow out your candles" was an amusing note.

The game is very straightforward; you have a screen to hide your Menorah, and a small pile of resource stones. You need to collect candles of different colors (one of each color) to light your Menorah. Each turn, you will turn up a candle from a pile of tiles and make one of three choices:
1) Buy it for the value listed on the tile.
2) Sell it, receiving half the value on the tile.
3) Auction it. This is the option that makes things the most interesting. Its a once-around bid, and you can choose to either bid first or last. If you are the high bidder, you pay the stones to the bank and take the candle. If someone else makes the high bid, they get the candle but must pay you the stones.

Actually, there is one other option, but its used less. When tiles are sold, they are 'discarded' face up in front of the player. You can choose to use one of those discarded candles instead of drawing a random tile, but to do so you must pay its value in stones or discard a tile with an equal or higher value.

To mix things up, there are also a few wild candles that can go in any position, and two greek soldiers who force you to discard a candle or pay some stones. On the bright side, if you draw one you can use it as a tile for the 'trade' option mentioned above.

The game is very fast moving; each turn only takes a few moments. Most of it is a fairly straightforward collection game, but the resource management and bidding give it an interesting depth. Starting a bid makes things interesting. You can try to get a better return than half value on a candle you don't want, or try to get a candle you do want cheaper than its listed price. But this can wind up backfiring on you if other players mess you up; maybe you hoped to get the candle cheap, but another player really wants it and is willing to pay even more than the face price for it!

The inside of the screens shows all the different candles and lists the possible values for each; this is nice for keeping track of everything and knowing whether you are looking at a pricy version of a candle or a cheap one.

Its hard to say how the final version will turn out. I would say this isn't a spectacular game, but its a solid enjoyable filler.