Game: Treasures and Traps

Thread: official errata and tournament score sheets

Yargo — 2008-11-02T17:49:22+00:00

The official webpage has been updated with official errata (under the expansion rules) and a tournament score sheet for download (click the FREE STUFF link at the top). They also have updated original edition rules (which don't include all the errata so its best to print both).

http://www.treasuresandtraps.com

And of course the FAQ is on thier webpage as well (click THE GAME at top).

Thread: Family's First Play

Quest22 — 2008-10-13T15:52:48+00:00

This weekend, I broke out my recently purchased copy of Treasures & Traps for a Sunday afternoon family game session. The participants included myself, my wife and our 10 year old son. The 6 year old was off playing outside and wasn't ready to play with us yet. It took us about 10 minutes to go over the rules and explaining the various cards and actions possible.

I sat back reading the cards that had been dealt to me. I was in no hurry, as I was going last after the wife and the son. The game was pretty easy to learn, but I wondered if the family understood completly and how the game would play out. Well, I soon found out that they had no problem with understanding the game. On her first play, my wife hit me with a Door card, basically causing my only action the first turn to be an attempt to defeat the door. That, however, wasn't the worse of it. After she completed her turn, my son proceedes to place a Dungeon on top the Door, increasing the Exit number of the Door from 3 to 6.

Next was my turn, and having no choice, I rolled the die. Of course, I failed to get the required 6. And this, predictably, made the family laugh to no end. For the first few rounds of the game I managed to do nothing but roll the die in an attempt to defeat the door. This let the rest of the family get an early lead on treasures.

I seemed to be the favorite target of my son. Once I managed to finally defeat the Door/Dungeon combo and start to get cards in play my son hits be with another Door card. This went on for several round. Defeat Door, get hit with door. I haven't heard my son laugh like that in a long time. He really enjoyed slapping those doors on Dad and keeping him from getting anything going.

To make matters worse, once it seemed like he finally ran out of Door cards, I drew the Gauntlet silver treasure which gives a bonus for defeating doors. I think that was just the game mocking my unfortunate turn of events.

My son was making good progress and had a Bronze and Gold treasure in play and I was sure he was on his way to victory. On my next turn I played the Royal Edict, changing the victory condition from one of each treasure type to three of one treasure type. Needless to say, my son was not pleased! At this point, I figured I had the game locked as I had one silver treasure in play and two more in hand. I was sure to win on my next go!

My wife, as always, had a different plan. She played a card (I don't exactly remember the card name at this point) that had everyone pulling cards from the opponent on their left. Of couse, my son removes the silver treasure from my hands by pure luck and karma at this point. Luckily, I managed to get a silver treasure back when I pulled cards from my wife.

The game when on for a few more turns and I managed to eventually pull out the win by having two silver treasures in play with a gold treausre, then using a Morph card to turn the gold treasure into a silver one.

We all had a great time playing the game and there was much laughing, roleplaying and general merriment. My son continued to remind me throughout the day how he had been able to lock me down for much of the game with his Doors. I just smiled. That is why I game. To have fun with them and create memorable times. I'm glad such a simple and inexpensive game was able to to that for the family. I'm sure we will be playing this one more often.

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Aubigny — 2008-09-15T11:24:27+00:00

Contents of the German edition

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kuhflecken — 2008-08-10T19:03:13+00:00

German box cover from Pegasus Spiele

Thread: Re: The unbeatable son.

FNH1 — 2008-07-20T10:41:04+00:00

Physical age 15 going on 16, mental age 8-9 with autistic tendencies. He regularly whoops me!

Thread: Re: The unbeatable son.

EgorjLileli — 2008-07-20T01:33:40+00:00

I love session reports like this one. Although I've never played this game nor even know the rules, I was able to follow the session report and actually understand what was going on. I felt like I was sitting next to you watching the game!

Great report!!

BTW, how old is "Unbeatable?"

Thread: The unbeatable son.

FNH1 — 2008-07-19T09:47:51+00:00

On Wednesday night I dropped into a game of Treasures and Traps. I picked T&T because it doesn't run too long, and after the 10 mile cycle ride home I'm often too tired to play. But on Wednesday the little lad looked so doleful I had to play something with him.

I broke out the game shuffeled the deck dealt out the cards and then remembered the house rule. I have a little rule for T&T when playing with two. I remove the "Stink-Eye" card. This card prevents you from entering treasures, and as you need treasures this is a real bind. Additionally when this card is exited it is not discarded but rather moves to another player. So with only two players you get into a feed back loop of passing the card from one to another. Boring and ruins the fun, so I pull this card out.

So with Stink-Eye out of the game, I re shuffled the cards and dealt again. Unfortunately I dealt myself a bunch of poo cards.

My son won the die roll so went first. The first card he brought out was "The Castle" which prevents you from sending Creatures into his realm, and of course my hand was mostly made of Creatures!

I dropped a Bronze treasure into my realm.

On his second turn he drooped a Silver treasure and promptly stole my bronze. So that left him with two thirds of a winning position, I was really in trouble by turn two.

I forgot his Castle, tried sending a Creature to steal his Silver, but of course he remembered the Castle and pointed out my mistake. I looked through my cards again and realised I had the "Edict". When this card is played it changes the winning requirements from 1 of each treasure to 3 of one type. I played it which should set him back. I then successfully exited his Castle.

So we start turn three. He plays another Bronze treasure, meaning he is once again close to winning. Then... he gave me that look. Half smile, half in-your-face-old-man! He laid down a card that allows you to change a treasure of one type into any other type of treasure. He then deliberately and slowly lifted the die and made a show of rolling it.

So I chalk this game up as another loss to the near unbeatable son. Not only a loss but a quick and solid trouncing.

Thread: Re: First turn question

Nelud — 2008-05-30T14:20:44+00:00

I've just seen video, where game designer explains the rules. He clearly stated: "Each player will have one action at first turn..."

Thread: First turn question

Nelud — 2008-05-30T05:08:22+00:00

Sory for stupid question. From the rules: "On your first turn only, do one action". Does it mean "first turn of the first player" only? Or does it apply to whole first round?

Thread: Re: Treasures and Traps: Farewell GG and thanks for all the slime

C. Aaron Kreader — 2008-05-13T13:35:25+00:00

Wow. This was why I made Treasures and Traps. With the ever deepening complexity of RPG and the original D&D game--my hope as to see something the family could play, but in the spirit of Gary's vision.

This post made my day Dan, thanks. If i had any geek gold left, i would tip you.

C. Aaron Kreader

Thread: Re: Treasures and Traps: Farewell GG and thanks for all the slime

Bloodybucket — 2008-05-10T16:14:11+00:00

Thanks! We saw that Stink Eye might get too stinky, and plan to house rule it out of the game after it hits one player.

Thread: Re: Treasures and Traps: Farewell GG and thanks for all the slime

FNH1 — 2008-05-10T09:59:43+00:00

Nice post!

Here's a hint, tho'. If you play with two I suggest you drop out the "Stink Eye" card. If you dont, it's possible to get into a feed-back loop where you just keep passing it back to one another.

Thread: Treasures and Traps: Farewell GG and thanks for all the slime

Bloodybucket — 2008-05-10T05:27:20+00:00

I bought Treasures and Traps for some pretty logical Geek reasons.

I know Matthew, my oldest boy at eight, loves Bang! but we seldom have the four needed for this gun fighting card game as my wife refuses to play (explaining why would be a separate article) and the youngest boy, while a bright five, is still only five.

I’d read that Treasures and Traps plays well with two, and it plays quickly, and if my bride became a convert or the youngest boy showed an interest it could accommodate three or four, and the price was right in these tight times. I thought the theme would appeal to my oldest, as he is a Lord of the Rings fan. A recent death had nothing to do with it, at least not consciously.

So after I picked Matthew up from school it was off to our friendly local neighborhood game store to acquire Treasures and Traps. On the way home, I explained the concept of a dungeon crawl to him, and was mildly surprised to find that he had heard of Dungeons and Dragons, and what kid doesn’t respond to the idea of whacking monsters and grabbing loot?

Any doubts I had about him getting the theme were dispelled by the delight that he showed at the illustrations on the cards. They really are very well done, with the right touch of humor and clarity. I began to think of my own history with fantasy themed games, and wondered if this simple card game would hold up to my memories of evenings spent throwing dice and making up complex dungeons on graph paper.

A scanning of the brief single page of rules was all we needed to get going. I started the ball rolling by grabbing a gold sword, and my son got in to the gotcha spirit of the game by using a Giant Frog to move it out of my Realm to the Wildlands. When I saw the calculating gleam in his eye, it made me think of some of the gang I used to hang with when we played D&D.

There is little or no long term strategy in Treasures and Traps, but there are choices to be made within each turn. Matthew was all about putting his treasures under lock and key, and gleefully played several cards that made me lose a turn. I played several creatures on him attempting to move his goodies to the Wildlands, but I missed a few entrance rolls or merely moved them out to watch him recapture his loot on the next turn.

Matthew was eager to see his new cards at the end of each turn, I think as much for the illustrations as for the value they had in the game. I managed to squirrel away two bronze treasures and held the Edict card that changed the victory conditions from holding one each of a bronze, silver and gold treasure to holding three of one kind. Before I could sneak in a victory Matthew played a silver treasure for the win. First game went to the boy.

Matthew asked to play again, but it was time to get ready for the little league game. I was pleased that we put in a complete game in only twenty minutes or so, and contrasted that with the hours and hours I spent huddled around a few books with my buddies. I haven’t done any role-playing gaming in a long time, but at that point I realized that after the death of Gary Gygax Treasures and Traps was doing double duty as a new game for logical Geek reasons and as a small tribute for some sentimental ones.

Matthew doesn’t care about all that, he just wants to play an acid slime on his dad, and that’s fine with me. I’ll get the little orc next time.

Thread: Re: Storage for Treasures and Traps

TrojanDan — 2008-04-27T04:29:10+00:00

http://www.thoughthammer.com/pandoras-fluxx-boxx-small-p-308...

You can also order directly from Looney Lab webpage.

The small will do.

Thread: Re: Storage for Treasures and Traps

Cheesewizard — 2008-04-26T15:26:33+00:00

Wow, cool. Do you have a link for one of those boxes? What is it?

Thread: Storage for Treasures and Traps

TrojanDan — 2008-04-26T06:32:48+00:00

The game fits nicely inside a Fluxx Pandora Box. They're nice wooden boxes. I fit in both Treasure and Traps and the expansion in one nicely.

Thread: Re: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

Cheesewizard — 2008-04-09T19:46:43+00:00

I played with a group that didn't know you could do EXIT rolls on ANY card in the game, and that alone caused there games to drag out.

Our games are always over before lunch, often we get 2 in, rarely 3. And that is within 1 hour.

I think sometimes a rule gets forgotten or overlooked, so 1 idea might be to look at the rules a little closer.

We also do team games 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3 to play a 15min game if we have a little time left after a big game. That helps move faster.

-c

Thread: Re: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

FNH1 — 2008-04-07T20:36:45+00:00

Gosh, that's a real marathon. My family plays this game and is just about as nasty as can be, and it's never gone on that long.

What are you doing? If a guy has 1 treasure, he can easily get two more in a single turn. A couple of succesful entry rolls or exits rolls if grabbing stuff from the wilds.

How did you string it out?

As to stink eye, we dont use it in two player and in games with more players it works just fine for us. You usually just start grabbing treasures from the wilds if you've got stink eye, and only pass it on if someone is close to winning. We dont find Stink Eye that much of a handycap as there are always treasures in the wilds.

Thread: Re: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

PhilReed — 2008-04-06T23:49:35+00:00

Sigrdrifa wrote:
My group is not a very backstabbing group, in fact we're almost too nice.

We're anything but nice. Our games get nasty; very nasty. We run into this sort of problem with just about every game but Treasures and Traps seemed to drag on longer than most and, unlike many games, we couldn't see a way in which anyone had a chance to win.

Thread: Re: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

Sigrdrifa — 2008-04-06T22:58:10+00:00

PhilReed wrote:
Sigrdrifa wrote:
Can you give a little more info about why your games went so long?

Each time someone was in the lead that player was pounded. I was close to winning, but I couldn't get rid of Stink Eye.

Out of the four of us playing, three of us came close to winning multiple times. It's just that none of us could never pull off the win.

I see 2 things from what you said.

Ganging up on the leader can be a problem, but that's not necessarily a problem with the game, per se. I see that as a group dynamics issue, the kind of thing that keeps those games of Risk going on for-FREAKIN-ever, 'cause your two "buddies" just teamed up to kick you out of Europe or something. Not saying you have a group problem, just that it might be how you guys are playing as opposed to how my group plays. My group is not a very backstabbing group, in fact we're almost too nice. "Oh look, you missed an important move there, would you like to take your turn over?"

Maybe Stink-eye's it. We don't play with Stink-eye, we think it breaks the game. In fact, I think it so breaks the game that I have deleted it from memory, hence my not suggesting it initially. You spend so much time trying to pass off the Stink-Eye that you're actually elongating the play. I think there's enough backstabbing cards without Stink-Eye to appease the "stick-it-to-'em" folks in a group.

Thread: Re: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

PhilReed — 2008-04-06T19:59:55+00:00

Sigrdrifa wrote:
Can you give a little more info about why your games went so long?

Each time someone was in the lead that player was pounded. I was close to winning, but I couldn't get rid of Stink Eye.

Out of the four of us playing, three of us came close to winning multiple times. It's just that none of us could ever pull off the win.

Thread: Re: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

Sigrdrifa — 2008-04-06T19:55:19+00:00

ronster0 wrote:
We had a similar problem, the game went about 75 minutes, but we did finally have a winner. It took a little luck and backstabbing, but we got a winner.

We did like the game, but it did go on longer than anticipated.

That's interesting, because the games I've played for been about 10-20 minutes each, sometimes less. Maybe I'm incredibly bad at it, but I don't think so... Interesting.

Can you give a little more info about why your games went so long?

Thread: Re: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

PhilReed — 2008-04-06T19:32:44+00:00

ronster0 wrote:
We did like the game, but it did go on longer than anticipated.

We were having fun, it's just that we were already up past my bedtime and I was tired.

Thread: Re: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

ronster0 — 2008-04-06T18:31:50+00:00

We had a similar problem, the game went about 75 minutes, but we did finally have a winner. It took a little luck and backstabbing, but we got a winner.

We did like the game, but it did go on longer than anticipated.

Thread: Over an hour and no chance of a winner . . .

PhilReed — 2008-04-06T14:33:45+00:00

We tried this game for the first time and ran into a problem; there was no way anyone was going to win. Are we just that nasty when we play or are there end game issues?

We're going to try again -- this time with a one hour time limit -- but I'd like to find out if anyone else has encountered end game problems with the game.

Thread: Re: Worse than the Jail! A Rules Lawyer.

GaryB — 2008-03-08T01:59:55+00:00

mdornbrook wrote:
3. The Wand and the Book card also create some problems. At the end of each players turn, every player makes their hand size 5, unless you have either of these items. However, there is only one card that allows a player to draw additional cards. In which case, no one will ever actually go over 5 cards unless they happen to have their Book or Wand out and then get and play the card that lets them draw (odds are pretty slim).

Our Solution: This increases the hand size that is adjusted for by one (cumulatively), such that this player also draws an additional card at the end of the turn.

Not too sure what you mean there. The rules are pretty clear that if you have the Wand or Book you draw cards to 6 instead of 5 at end of every turn.

For what it's worth, we didn't like this game one bit. It can get very tedious and go on forever, or it can end in 3 or 4 turns. Neither is satisfying. To me it felt like primitive Magic but with a die roll to put things into play instead of tapping mana. I didn't like the die mechanic.

I like Magic but not this game.

Thread: Re: Question: Exit Roll Experience Bonus

GaryB — 2008-03-02T09:58:08+00:00

Correct, but taking 3 or 4 actions to do so could be incredibly counter-productive given what you could have been achieving with the same actions.

Thread: Re: Stink Eye!

Cheesewizard — 2008-02-23T15:49:56+00:00

I dont know why but i get a giggle out of the Darkness spell (which we call FART), and the AMBUSH from the EXPANDED REALMS added cards, which we call SPAGETT! (ala Tim and Eric)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUDHW8Y3e_Y&feature=related

LOL!

Thread: Stink Eye!

shadowknave — 2008-02-17T06:47:27+00:00

Played this for the first time tonight and had a blast. Great game. Stink Eye came into play early and sent us all into gales of laughter every time we looked at it (and of course, every time we passed it on with a shout of delight as we shared the love).

BEST...CARD....EVER...

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cobalto — 2008-02-07T14:55:46+00:00

Treasures Golden

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cobalto — 2008-02-07T14:54:22+00:00

Treasures Silver

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cobalto — 2008-02-07T14:53:24+00:00

Treasures bronze

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cobalto — 2008-02-07T14:50:51+00:00

Krallen und Fallen Box (Back)

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cobalto — 2008-02-07T14:49:12+00:00

Krallen und Fallen Box (Front)

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buffmeister — 2008-01-12T17:24:27+00:00

First Edition Card Rulings (inc in Supplement)

Thread: Re: Target another Player

buffmeister — 2008-01-10T14:33:09+00:00

I kind of like the strict interpretation that you have to target yourself, gives an edge to the play

but as Christopher has mentioned you may wish to have a house rule that suits you.

just my 4 pennyworth

Thread: First Fun Session

buffmeister — 2008-01-10T13:56:25+00:00

Venue Toy Room in our house
No of Players 4 Rhiannon,Bryn,Wife Me
Game Experience Nil

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courtesy of mrbeankc

So it was windy and rainy outside but snug and cosy inside, perfect conditions to try out 'Treasures & Traps' from Studio 9. Getting this game was a bit of a no-brainer for me as it ticked all the boxes for a family filler game; quick to set-up and play, easily understood and a lot of fun. Enough of the review type blurb, on with the session report.

Bit of a slow first turn as everyone was a bit cagey about laying out the first treasure fully expecting it to be nabbed asap! Only Bryn managed to get any treasure into play - bronze.

It all kicked off on the second turn when we all had the normal two actions per turn. The wife immediately brought the 'Crystal Ball' into play and targeted guess who? Of course, all together now, me, her beloved husband ;-) should I have expected anything else, of course not. She followed up by successfully laying some silver treasure with the 'Boots' card. Rhiannon went next and BINGO when the dust had settled she had some gold treasure protected by a trunk AND her hand size went up to 6. (see below for picture of the 'Trunk' card)

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courtesy of bigcheese

Bryn followed up by putting a second bronze treasure card into play with a 'Luck Potion' (discard to get +2 to any die roll).

Back to me with my cards face up due to my spouses' 'Crystal Ball' I managed to get bronze and silver treasure treasure into play, yipee one card away from victory!!! Like that's going to happen with my family around, I think not.......... see below for examples of treasure cards

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courtesy of bigcheese

As expected my treasure went the very next turn when my kind daughter got a 'Golem' and a 'Troll' into the wildlands with my treasures (sob). The game very nearly ended in victory for Bryn this turn as he got a silver treasure in play, adding to the two bronze treasures he already had. He then attempted to use a 'Bandits' creature card (pick any item in play and put it into your realm), to grab the gold treasure card from Rhiannon, luckily she was able to thwart his larcenous intent by playing a 'Zing Spell' a surprise card that you can play out of turn that gives -6 to an entry roll.

Phew, close call just as we were enjoying the game

On my go I managed to get rid of my wifes' 'Crystal Ball' and was able to hide my cards from prying eyes. I also successfully played the 'Mystic Moment' event which allowed me to move Bryns' silver treasure into my realm - hahaha

Play continued for a couple of turns with people focusing on trying to get the treasure cards from the wildlands by defeating the creatures. When it came to my turn, (one bronze treasure in my realm), with my first action I achieved the entry roll for a silver treasure; then I played my 'Ruins' (place card) to grab a gold treasure card 'Mace' from the discard pile to win the game. Alas, despite the fact that nobody had any surprise cards to play against me I somehow managed to fail my free entry roll; bye bye sweet victory.

Would I get another chance for the win, I think you can guess the answer to that one. On the very next turn my daughter managed to get the bronze treasure that she needed for victory from under the 'Crypt' in the wildlands. It took both actions but the -1 to her exit roll due to the 'experience bonus' on her second action was crucial.

It took us around 25 minutes to play the game. Everyone enjoyed the experience and wanted to play again.

I learnt that the dynamics of the game can change in a second, you really need to deal very quickly with anyone who has two different treasures in play. Keeping 'surprise' cards in your hand can be crucial to stopping another player getting that last treasure card that they need.

We are looking forward to our next game of 'Treasures & Traps' and it will definitely be added to our list of games to take on holiday with us

Thread: Re: Darn Sneaky Kids

FNH1 — 2007-12-30T19:03:09+00:00

AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

It's not luck, it cant be luck. Its something else...

Thread: Re: Chests and items

grumblebee — 2007-12-07T08:05:10+00:00

Even stranger, you can put the dungeon in the mage tower! I'll assume it goes on the bottom floor rather than the top...

Thread: Re: Taxation question

Cheesewizard — 2007-10-30T02:31:08+00:00

The rules say "At the end of each player's turn...all players count the cards in their hand. Players who have more or less than 5 cards must draw or discard until they have 5."

THis is in the END OF YOUR TURN section.

That seems to be the way you played it, and the way we play it.

--CW

Thread: Taxation question

Sigrdrifa — 2007-10-15T04:55:46+00:00

Love this game. My wife even loves this game. Quick, fun, all the best parts of a RPG and card game combined in one. Someone else said it best, if you lose or win, blame it on the dice or the drawing.

Ok, on to the question:
Yesterday, as we played our second (2-player) game of the night, the taxation card was played by my wife. When it's played I have to discard one item of choice from hand or realm. If I choose to discard from my hand, am I stuck playing with only four cards in the next turn? Or can I draw back up to five at the end of my opponent's turn? It didn't break the game, but it did give a second's pause whilst we thought of a quick house rule. We opted with the draw back up to five version, 'cause we tend not to play cut-throat.

There was nothing explicit in the rules or on the card in this situation. Just thought I'd see what came of posting it here...

MJ

PS Yes, I lost both games, without even having to throw them . Could not roll a 3+ to save my life...

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mrbeankc — 2007-08-20T16:05:25+00:00

An important card for defending your realm.

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mrbeankc — 2007-08-20T15:30:13+00:00

Stink Eye. The most notorious card in the game

Thread: Re: Darn Sneaky Kids

FNH1 — 2007-08-18T21:22:45+00:00

... and again. How can he be that lucky? ...or is it skill?

Thread: Re: Darn Sneaky Kids

FNH1 — 2007-08-15T18:37:15+00:00

... and he's just done it again! He had a bronze and two silver on the table, I havn't managed to get any out, then blam he converts a silver to Gold, and game over. Flippin sneaky kids!

Thread: Re: a 2-player perspective (but why everyone should play it

mrbeankc — 2007-08-05T12:56:42+00:00

This game has surprised me. It's a light filler game for sure but there is a touch more strategy to it than first appears. Good card balance. Much better than Munchkin which I despise.

Thread: Re: Darn Sneaky Kids

C. Aaron Kreader — 2007-06-01T19:22:52+00:00

Having played and tested this game all over the place, I have lost to kids more than anyone else.

At first I thought I was just playing them soft, but now i am convinced the universe grants "special" luck to the little ones.

C. Aaron Kreader

Thread: Re: Darn Sneaky Kids

quickclay — 2007-06-01T16:57:26+00:00

Great recap! Yeah kids have that special edge.. grownups would have to cheat to compensate.

Thread: Darn Sneaky Kids

FNH1 — 2007-05-26T21:05:44+00:00

Well it was just me versus the the kid, I'm thinking that I'm going to kick his butt!

He opens us with a companion into his realm. I snigger, I have a bunch of treasures in my hand. I try to play a Gold, roll a 1!

He plays a Silver and a Bronze!

I hit his treasure with the Vampire before he gets a gold into play, phew.

He hits me with a Door and plays another Companion.

I clear the door and play out a Bronze, I'm on the path to winning now!

He stuffs my treasure under the Tower out in the Wildlands and plays something that helps him bring in items ( was it the Treasurey? ).

I fail to play my other Gold, and go to hit him with a door but before I roll he Suprises and I'm at -4, doesn't matter I rolled a stinking 1 anyway.

He plays a Bronze then plays a card that lets him dump his hand.

I try to hit him with another trap, but he's got another suprise. I play the Market to try and get some decent cards, nope they all come back rubbish.

He plays a Silver. Darnit! He plays a Gold but rolls low, I say "Phew", he shakes his head, The cards in his realm give him +3 to bring items in.

Darn it! He's WON AGAIN! LIFES NOT FAIR! I'm a GROWN UP I SHOULD BE WINNING.

Moral of the story : Kids are born with innate luck, dont play 'em for money.

Thread: Re: Suggestion for 2 Player game

C. Aaron Kreader — 2007-04-06T14:32:06+00:00

LOL! My wife has the same view point for this card.

I roll with it by keeping the STINK EYE in my area, and rely on CREATURE cards to get treasures. Then i defeat the creatures, or use the THIEVES. (since you can bring treasures to your area in other ways than entry rolls)

But if I have a hand full of treasure, I tend to try to get rid of the card too. As an event, it is meant to be one of those cards that alters the flow of the game.

Thread: Suggestion for 2 Player game

FNH1 — 2007-04-05T08:13:43+00:00

Either dont use the Stink Eye card or just exit-it to the discard pile.

Moving the card around between two players ends up becoming the entire focus of the game.

Thread: Re: Target another Player

C. Aaron Kreader — 2007-04-03T17:51:44+00:00

This is one of those cards which as we tested the game, seemed clear enough, but as we are finding, is up for interpretation.

The Disguise is designed to be a potent card when used correctly. This is why it is harder to get into play than most Surprise cards. Officially, if someone uses Disguise on an opponent and that opponent has no other valid targets save themselves then they have to select one of their own.

However, it falls into a gray area and certainly could be left to "house rules".

C. Aaron Kreader

Thread: Re: a 2-player perspective (but why everyone should play it

Shanahan — 2007-04-03T03:43:57+00:00

Nice review. And I agree--I bought this game for myself and my 9-year-old, and we've quite enjoyed it. It's fast, funny and fun. I've yet to play it with more than 2, but I look forward to trying it.

Thread: a 2-player perspective (but why everyone should play it)

cvlw — 2007-04-02T22:45:23+00:00

Treasures and Traps represents one of those games that come along every once in a while where you bring it home and find that your $13 got you more than you thought you’d get – a quick game that’s thoroughly enjoyable and equally engaging.

The theme of Treasures is that of heroes trying to acquire one of each kind of treasure: gold, silver, and bronze. While you are trying to acquire, you’d do well to muck up the plans of an opponent…because, trust me, your opponent will have every opportunity to interfere in your plans. Very flimsy theme but perfect for the game.

Everything that is good about Treasures is in the mechanics. I have to say, this is one of the first games I’ve played where the instructions could be understood in two minutes yet actually offer more than a semblance of strategic depth. Don’t get me wrong – this isn’t Tikal or Memoir ’44. Yet, one must really be on one’s toes in this game to win.

With the exception of the first turn, each player has the ability to take two actions, being able to choose among the following three options: entry roll, exit roll, and replacement. Each player is dealt and is required to maintain a hand of 5 cards. Where many card games have no or resource based restrictions on playing cards from your hand, Treasures slickly incorporates chance by requiring a roll of a six-sided die for successful play.

Each card has two number values. On the upper left hand side is a value for the entry roll. To get a card into play, a player must roll that number or higher. On the upper right hand side, there is an exit roll. In Treasures, players may remove cards from their opponent’s play area. Just like the entry roll, the player must roll that number or higher to remove that card from play. However, in a nod to RPG leveling up, if you miss the roll on your turn, you gain “experience” – if the exit number is a five and you miss, you gain plus one experience. As long as you try to remove the card on a consecutive action, the amount you need is reduced by one: you only need a four or better the next time, and so on. Also, cards have instructions or attributes – they might grant you protection from creatures or penalize a roll played against that item. Some card games sometimes provide confusing instructions on their cards – Treasure’s are clear and straightforward.

The deck of Treasures is loaded with cards other than treasures – there are items, creatures, places, and events. The various cards grant the player various abilities. For instance, a strong box, if entered into play successfully allows you to place the card over any item (protect those treasures!) thus protecting it from removal, at least until the strong box is removed. Similarly, you may play one of a variety of doors in your opponent’s area that prevent them from taking any actions until they are able to remove the door. Similarly there are cards that grant die roll bonuses (for instance +1 when trying to play an item) or negatively effect the roll of an opponent’s die with a –X. Some of the more interesting cards are the creature cards. Some allow you to simply steal an unprotected item from your opponent’s play area. The more interesting one’ allow you to abscond with the item to the Wild Lands (no one’s play area). Once there, the guarding creature must be defeated. Whoever defeats the creature gets to keep the item. In all, the various cards really allow players to stick to each other or build up their own defenses. If you simply try to collect three treasures you cannot win.

The gameplay in Treasures is a real joy. It is a rare card game with streamlined mechanics that allow for such a variety of strategic options. One place Treasures could have gone wrong is in the combination of card draws with die rolls. The design risks leaving players too wide open to luck and chance hence killing the strategic elements. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A very nice aspect of the design of the game is that the various roll values were reasonably assigned so that, of course, there is always some chance you won’t get the value you need, but it’s a decent chance you will. Additionally, the cards that help you out are themselves assigned reasonable values, so you can have an item that gives you a +1 bonus in play. If anything, the dual chance nature of Treasures keeps games very interesting. If there was one area that could use some tweaking, and maybe it’ll be addressed in expansion packs (please give us expansions Studio 9), it is in the number of treasures in the deck. It could simply be the chance of placement in a shuffle but there were times we felt we were waiting for treasure cards to turn up. It didn’t happen enough to frustrate but it can happen.

I usually include a components section in my reviews. Treasures is simply a deck of 100 cards. BUT, what fun cards they are. In the style of a Guillotine, they are quirky and politically incorrect. The art style is similarly reminiscent of Guillotine. The fantasy theme is complemented by humorously drawn cards filled in with nice bright colors. It’s fun to just have the cards in your hand.
Treasures is advertised as a 2-6 player game. The last great virtue of the game is its ability to scale down. This game is a bunch of fun and still intense with two players. It is very easy to imagine it being a blast with more. It is not a game that is subject to analysis by paralysis so a multiplayer game should go smoothly. For couples playing this – have a good relationship A significant portion of this game is trying to do your opponent in and there are some infuriating cards in this deck. Beware!

In all, I recommend Treasures highly. We gave it an 8. Pound for pound, it won’t go up against a Thurn or Alhambra but what this game does, it does really well. If you’re up for a fun and strategically engaging fantasy themed 30 minute card game, go for Treasures.

-c-

Thread: German Language Edition!

valar12 — 2007-04-01T14:15:42+00:00

2-8-07

German Language Edition!

Great news! German speakers be on the look out for Pegasus Spiele’s release of the German language edition of Treasures and Traps™

Thread: Re: Target another Player

jstadolnik — 2007-03-31T17:28:11+00:00

This is slightly thorny...

The only surprise card in the deck which can force a player to change their intended target is the DISGUISE card, upon which it states: "Your opponent must pick a new target. If no valid target exists, your opponent's action fails".

If the card stated "Your opponent CAN pick a new target", the resolution would be cut and dry, but alas is says "MUST".

I think the ideal interpretation would be: "If an attacker goes to make an attack but finds that the target is not there (disguised), the attacker may then choose to target a different card if they want, else the action is failed."

Being forced to potentially attack yourself or a teammate (in team play) doesn't seem correct, especially because the defender only disguised their one card. If the defender got to choose the attacker's new target that would a different matter (as it would imply that the defender swapped the appearance of two cards, but this is not the case).

-Joe

Thread: Target another Player

FNH1 — 2007-03-29T20:02:38+00:00

Here's a knotty one.

Assume someone targets your realm, and you play a card that tells them they have to target another realm, but there are only two players.

Does that mean they end up attacking themselves. Or do you just end the action?

Thread: Re: Order of play with potions.

C. Aaron Kreader — 2007-03-26T18:39:09+00:00

Joe has the rules down pat. That is 100% correct.

Sorry if i dont get on here often enough to field questions. It is nice to have some help.

--C. Aaron Kreader

Thread: Re: Order of play with potions.

jstadolnik — 2007-03-24T00:05:57+00:00

TimothyP wrote:
Are you forced to play your potion before or after an Entry or Exit roll, or can you choose?

For instance, if I attempt an Exit roll and miss the mark by 2, can I then discard my magic potion, kind of like an instant in MTG?

We play that you can play it whenever you want because no limits are specified in the rules.

This is actually covered in the instructions:

Do I add bonuses and penalties to the die before or
after it is rolled? The answer depends on where the bonus
or number comes from. If it is from a SURPRISE card in
your hand, you must apply it before your opponent rolls
the die. If the bonus or penalty comes from a card you
already have in play, (like a Potion or Robe) you may apply
it after the roll.

TimothyP wrote:

Also, how would this resolve:

1. Player 1 lays down a card he intends to enter
2. Player 2 lays down a surprise card he intends to enter, against player 1
3. Player 3 lays down a surprise card he intends to enter, against either player 1 or player 2 (I don't even know if that's possible)

But I'm just looking for specifics of resolutions when multiple cards are laid down.

As stated in the rule above, all the surprise modifiers must be laid down before the die roll occurs. (Though, it's legal to play a surprise card upon the entry roll of another surprise card. )

-Joe

Thread: Order of play with potions.

TimothyP — 2007-03-22T15:46:36+00:00

Are you forced to play your potion before or after an Entry or Exit roll, or can you choose?

For instance, if I attempt an Exit roll and miss the mark by 2, can I then discard my magic potion, kind of like an instant in MTG?

We play that you can play it whenever you want because no limits are specified in the rules.

Also, how would this resolve:

1. Player 1 lays down a card he intends to enter
2. Player 2 lays down a surprise card he intends to enter, against player 1
3. Player 3 lays down a surprise card he intends to enter, against either player 1 or player 2 (I don't even know if that's possible)

But I'm just looking for specifics of resolutions when multiple cards are laid down.