Game: Atlantic Star

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Rokkr — 2008-07-12T15:26:08+00:00

Atlantic Star - game in progress

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better rated

Morganza — 2008-06-26T18:39:31+00:00

junesen wrote:
JeffyJeff wrote:
[...]Is it just because of the different in theme? Are there any other differences? Maybe component quality? Rules differences?

Atlantic Star has 12 more cards than Showmanager--all of the 3-3-3 variety. This makes it easier to play with 6 players since the Showmanager deck gets pretty thin at the end with 6 players. On the other hand, this makes it more difficult to "fish" for cards since there are more mediocre cards in the deck. Another difference is that in Atlantic Star, you can have two cards when you put on the last cruise. These are pretty minor differences, but can lead to preference in one version over the other.
[...]

Sounds like you can play Atlantic Star by the Showmanager rules, but not vice-versa, right?

Thread: Point Value Distribution

DonovanLoucks — 2008-05-12T05:39:15+00:00

I was curious what the distribution of point values on the ship cards was, so I took the time to count them. Only then did I find Olli Mäkiketola's statistics in this thread: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/30747. Nevertheless, I figured I'd repeat the information under a new heading so it could be found more easily in the future.

First, let me point out that the distribution of point values is the same for all sea and leg combinations. That is, for each combination of sea (yellow/Baltic, green/Mediterranean, red/Atlantic, and blue/Pacific) and leg (A, B, C, D, E, and F, depending upon the sea), there are an equal number of point values. For example, there are three A-2s in yellow, green, red, and blue, as well as three B-2s, C-2s, D-2s, E-2s, and F-2s (as appropriate) in each sea.

Here's a complete breakdown:

3 - 2 points
6 - 3 points
1 - 4 points
2 - 5 points
1 - 6 points
1 - 7 points
1 - 9 points

That makes for an average of exactly 4 points for each sea and leg combination. Finally, here's a count of the various distributions of numbers on the cards:

12 - X-1
18 - 9
18 - 7/2
18 - 6/3
18 - 5/4
18 - 5/2/2
30 - 3/3/3

And that makes for a total of 132 cards.

Thread: Re: 2 Very Quick Questions

Whymme — 2008-04-27T08:16:03+00:00

Unless your last cruise is in an area where the others have all played their cruises already, it would not be handy to finish early anyway. You announce your score early and give the competitors two more rounds to beat you there.

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:31:42+00:00

right side cover panel

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:29:50+00:00

the money

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:28:34+00:00

ship cards, just a few among hundreds of different ones

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:26:26+00:00

rule book cover (includes inventory of parts)

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:24:58+00:00

left side cover panel

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:22:46+00:00

the charter agency

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:20:05+00:00

the game board

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:17:27+00:00

overview charts - English and German

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Rokkr — 2008-04-04T19:14:45+00:00

hi res back cover scan

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2008-02-10T09:39:32+00:00

Jon 50, Dylan 45, Yitzchak 39, Nadine 37, Gili 28

They all had a hard time deciding what to play next, so I forced this on them. This is a game which we've only played once. I liked it, but the other players, including Yitzchak, Dylan, and Ben, complained that there was too much luck. I thought they were highly exaggerating at the time and the game deserved another go.

It took a few minutes to remember the rules. Once again, I highly enjoyed the game. The two Queen games I've played (this and Alhambra) seem to have little in the way of plannable tactics, as the board generally completely resets by the time it's your turn again. Which is a negative.

On the other hand, in this game you definitely have long term planning options, which mitigates the lack of strategy quite well. Yeah, there's luck, but it doesn't have the effect of ruining the game; a better player will generally have better chances, at least. (This is not true for Alhambra, which is why I didn't like it.)

I think Yitzchak felt a bit better about the game this time, but still not enthusiastic. Nadine also did her share of complaining, although she tends to complain about every game that isn't Puerto Rico lately :-) . Dylan seemed to enjoy it.

Thread: Re: Home-made copy

Rokkr — 2007-11-19T11:01:43+00:00

mrbeankc wrote:
It's out of print but still not to hard to get cheap. In fact a sealed copy just closed recently on Ebay with no bids at $20.
Yes, but it was in Germany. So add about $20 for postage. And that's with NO tracking and NO insurance. Kind of a crap shoot.
If you want tracking and insurance add about $40-50.
So $40 for a crapshoot or $60-70 for a guaranteed deal.
Risky one way, pricey the other.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2007-10-16T21:09:13+00:00

Binyamin 55, Yitzchak 48, Ben 39, Jon 36

Among several new games that I have, this was the one I wanted to try most. We almost had a five player game, but Nadine didn't like the look of it so she bowed out.

Ben hated the game, when the specific routes he wanted early on didn't pan out. After that he was sour for the remainder of the game. Yitzchak and Nadine were basically agreeing with his assessment that it was almost entirely a luck based game. E.g. the way that I feel about Alhambra.

Binyamin was also not thrilled with it. I was the only one who loved it. And as you can see, I came in last.

I'm also the only one who thinks that there is far less luck than everyone else was complaining about, and that you have to play what you're given rather than try to hope you get a rigid set of cards in a particular order. Sure, sometimes you'll win that way, and sometimes you'll lose badly that way. But that's the wrong way to approach the game.

So I had a good time.

Thread: Re: Home-made copy

eker — 2007-10-02T18:03:14+00:00

Adding points in each card - it is always 9. Setting up a matrix and you should be very close.

Single ship 9 points

Example two ship card = 5 and 4 points
Example three ship card = 3 - 3 - 3 points.

I am not sure how many post ship X-1 in the game.... But I can count them if you want.

Thread: Re: Home-made copy

asmiles — 2007-10-01T21:15:54+00:00

You'd need someone to go through the trouble of inventorying all 132 cards, as they have very specific information and are rarely duplicated.

Also note that Showmanager, which Atlantic Star was re-themed from only has a 120 cards.

I'm not sure that the information you're looking for is currently available on-line.

Thread: Re: Home-made copy

mrbeankc — 2007-10-01T21:02:50+00:00

It's out of print but still not to hard to get cheap. In fact a sealed copy just closed recently on Ebay with no bids at $20.

Thread: Home-made copy

Sonja — 2007-10-01T20:49:41+00:00

Since it's out of print, I'm curious about making my own copy. Where can I see a list of exactly what components and details I need to know to make my own copy? I could change the theme of course if I want to.

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better rated

bschoner — 2007-08-02T17:31:13+00:00

jcarvin wrote:
Thanks for reminding me to sell my copy of Showmanager by the way. It sold within hours of me listing it...

Thanks for reminding Jim to sell his copy of Showmanager by the way. I bought it within hours of him listing it...

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better r

gamemark — 2007-07-24T04:51:55+00:00

One other element: the yahoo who did graphic design on Atlantic Star made the ship board (agent board from the original game) in a U-shape... in other words, ships have to be shuffled in a semi-circle. The original game was in a straight line.

This may sound like a minor quibble unless you're the guy who has to move the cards along every 20-30 seconds.

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better r

jcarvin — 2007-07-24T04:11:54+00:00

Thanks for reminding me to sell my copy of Showmanager by the way. It sold within hours of me listing it...

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better rated

themore5@earthlink — 2007-07-24T00:52:49+00:00

I've played both and at one time or another owned both, but now I only have Showmanager. The reason? The theme. In Showmanager, I feel like I'm trying to find the best actors for a play. The right actors for the right parts mean more points (ie. a better production). It makes sense to me, and definitely adds to my enjoyment of what is a very good set-collection game. You get into it, and shouts of "Clear the board" elicit cheers or groans from everyone. I rate SM as one of my 20 or so all-time favorites.

I'm really not sure what I'm doing in Atlantic Star. I guess some ships are better suited than others for paricular legs of a cruise... The focus in Atlantic Star is never on the theme.

Let's face it- putting on a great production is a lot more fun than arranging a superior cruise.

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better rated

Eric Brosius — 2007-07-23T22:04:59+00:00

KGBRadioMoskow wrote:
"Can't anyone in this town ACT?!?!"

In our games, it's "I cannot work with these actors!!!" I rate Showmanager higher partly because of the theme and partly because there seems to be a little more tension (perhaps as a result of differences in card distribution.)

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better rated

KGBRadioMoskow — 2007-07-23T21:31:32+00:00

It's all about theme. If you can come up with look alike real actors to name when you're announcing your play cast, and ham up the roster flushing ("Can't anyone in this town ACT?!?!"), it does add to the appeal of the game. Cruise ships just don't have that sort of charisma. But if you just want to play the game straight, then Atlantic Star is probably the better choice due to the additional cards and the (slightly) easier to get status.

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better rated

junesen — 2007-07-23T21:22:28+00:00

JeffyJeff wrote:
I own Atlantic Star, but have only played Showmanager.
Is it just because of the different in theme? Are there any other differences? Maybe component quality? Rules differences?

Atlantic Star has 12 more cards than Showmanager--all of the 3-3-3 variety. This makes it easier to play with 6 players since the Showmanager deck gets pretty thin at the end with 6 players. On the other hand, this makes it more difficult to "fish" for cards since there are more mediocre cards in the deck. Another difference is that in Atlantic Star, you can have two cards when you put on the last cruise. These are pretty minor differences, but can lead to preference in one version over the other.

I definitely prefer the Showmanager theme. Perhaps because I was taught Showmanager first, I can never think of the right "terms" for Atlantic Star. For example, we say "fire them all" for paying $2000 and getting rid of the actors from the employment agency. I'm not sure what the "right" saying would be in Atlantic Star. Also "putting on a show" seems much better than "putting on a cruise" (or whatever the right phrase should be for Atlantic Star).

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better r

topherr — 2007-07-23T21:06:54+00:00

jcarvin wrote:
So they say, but I've owned Atlantic Star and then "upgraded" to (ie-traded an arm and a leg for...) Showmanager. The theme would be better if I recognized the caricatures of the actors but I don't for the most part. So it's the same game IMO. It's like having two decks of standard cards with differnet pictures of the back... it doesn't matter, it's the same thing. I've heard that a lot of gamers much prefer the theme of Showmanager. I'm in the minority then, of preferring the sleek stylish Atlantic Start art. I just found the Showmanager art a little tacky (much like the art in Formula Dé). And I love the historical feel of the Atlantic Star lines. Still, I can see why some people would find it impersonal.

Oddly enough, I so preferred the Atlantic Star art that I actually traded up from Showmanager at a cost of about 10 bucks. Different strokes.

cheers,
topherr

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better r

topherr — 2007-07-23T21:06:02+00:00

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better r

fellonmyhead — 2007-07-23T20:42:07+00:00

Some people (most people?), me included, have played Atlantic Star but not Showmanager and therefore the latter game could be missing out on a lot of ratings due to both lack of availability and lack of BGGers playing it.

Thread: Re: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better rated

jcarvin — 2007-07-23T20:42:07+00:00

So they say, but I've owned Atlantic Star and then "upgraded" to (ie-traded an arm and a leg for...) Showmanager. The theme would be better if I recognized the caricatures of the actors but I don't for the most part. So it's the same game IMO. It's like having two decks of standard cards with differnet pictures of the back... it doesn't matter, it's the same thing.

Thread: Atlantic Star vs Showmanager: why is the latter better rated

JeffyJeff — 2007-07-23T20:33:29+00:00

I own Atlantic Star, but have only played Showmanager.

I've heard some say they prefer Showmanager... and indeed Showmanager is rated and ranked slightly higher than Atlantic Star here on BGG.

Is it just because of the different in theme? Are there any other differences? Maybe component quality? Rules differences?

Just curious to hear the thoughts on this.

Jeff

Thread: Re: 2 Very Quick Questions

Sprydle — 2007-06-12T21:49:55+00:00

seppo21 wrote:

We've always played that the game continues as normal, with players still getting their turns. This gives them the opportunity to interfere with their opponents' plans by taking cards or clearing the ship board. There certainly is no indication in the rules that you stop taking turns.

This is correct, the rules are quite clear by not stating that "you ONLY get to take a turn if you have a voyage left to complete." You simply get to take a turn when it's your turn. You can do all the normal stuff--take a loan, recycle cards, buy a card you think another player may want, etc. To play otherwise is reading things into the rules which are not there--fine for a house rule, but it's not official.

Because you get to buy exactly one card per turn and because you can never discard, if someone had EXTREME luck (or were playing really poorly) they could finish at most 2 turns before the last player to finish:
Player 1 gets exactly what they need to run each voyage without the 2 holdover cards, taking 3,4,5,6 cards respectively to finish. A total of 18 rounds.
Player 2 through 5 each utilizing the full 2 card holdover each turn would take 5,4,5,6 cards, taking 20 rounds to finish.
Player 5 only needs to hold one card each round would take 4,4,5,6 cards, taking 19 rounds.

I've never seen anyone finish 2 rounds before anyone else. But 1 or more players finishing a round before other players is not uncommon at all.

Thread: A three-player tour, a three-player tour . . .

seppo21 — 2007-02-03T18:12:33+00:00

Only Game: Atlantic Star

Last night, our good friend Dwight was able to come by and visit for a while before heading out of town this morning. As often happens when we get together, we ended up going out for a bite. This time, we headed across town to a Chinese / Sushi place he really likes. Unfortunately, by the time we made it back to the house, we only had time for a single "quick" game. In this context, quick meant something he already knew how to play. He rattled off a list of possibilities, leaving me to pounce as soon as he mentioned Atlantic Star -- one of my absolute favorite games.

Ostensibly, the game is about chartering ships for different legs of cruises in four different locales -- the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Baltic Sea. Each cruise has a different number of legs -- 6, 5, 4, and 3 in the same order. Players have a limited sum of money in which to charter ships from a rotating (with decreasing cost) supply. There are a couple of catches. The first is that you may not hold more than two cards in your hand once you complete and score a cruise. This necessitates a significant amount of hand management and reduces the amount of speculation in which you may engage. The second is that you may only get additional money by borrowing against established cruise, thus reducing their value and likely the victory points they can earn from you. All of this creates a constant tension between trying to get the most points possible, while using the least amount of money, with limited hand space.

In the three player game, each player starts with twice the money of a 4-6 player game but most also complete twice as many cruises -- two of each. While this is a lot of cash to have on hand at one time if you are used to playing with 4+, you ultimately have less money per cruise available as you can still only borrow against one cruise in each category.

Our game started off a lot quicker than I expected. By this, I mean that there were a lot more occurrences of having the charter board cleared of all ships and replaced. Since this costs money, which tends to be a scarce resource, this is not something that, in my experience, occurs a lot at the very beginning. Often, it is used late in the game -- or at least late in a cruise formation -- to try to get really necessary pieces of your cruise. Part of this I think was due to us each picking up a speculative nine leg card very early on, thus limiting our hand flexibility. Dwight very quickly put together his two yellow cruises, one of which would hold the number one spot until the very end of the game. Interestingly, he chose the five star column for this cruise, something of a rarity for the yellow line in our games.

My very first cruise ended up being a green cruise after abortive attempts at both blue and red. Unfortunately, the cards for those just did not come up for me. Strictly speaking, the cards I needed for the green cruise did not come up either, leaving me with a cruise I was guaranteed to be using as a loan source later in the game. Christine followed right behind me with a poor representative for a red cruise with a value less than 20. The problem for each of us is that we had actually spent money to put these cruises together with no real return on our investment.

My next attempts were a couple of red cruises and a blue cruise. The red cruises held up pretty well, finishing second and fourth overall. Christine managed to put together a massive 40 point red cruise toward the end while Dwight sneaked in a 30 point cruise just ahead of my 28 point. I had intended to take out a loan on this 28 cruise, but forgot about it until Dwight laid down his final cruise. I guess I should have been paying more attention. The blue cruise ended up in third -- behind my second cruise and Dwight's second after I was forced to take a small loan from it (just $2).

I next finished my first yellow cruise followed by the alluded second blue cruise, finishing up with green and yellow. The first yellow cruise actually was pretty good, tieing for the current high score, but placing second. It ultimately finished in third when Christine placed her final yellow cruise, cementing the lead. As mentioned, my second blue cruise was pretty much untouchable. Unfortunately, by this point, I was pretty much out of money. I had taken my $10 loan against my first green cruise and the $2 loan mentioned above. This last loan was actually used to get a relatively high-value card for my second green cruise, which, although not stellar, was a solid placement -- at least in our very lowball green scores. Once I purchased that card, I had but a single dollar left to finish both the green cruise and my second yellow cruise. Since nothing presented itself, I was left with taking the free card each time, turning my second yellow cruise in for a paltry five points.

Final Result:

Stephen -- 77 (wins tiebreaker with $1)
Dwight -- 77 ($0)
Christine -- 66 ($0)

It is very interesting that I managed to win this game despite taking significantly fewer loans than my opponents ($12 for me, $28 for Christine, $30 for Dwight). I had intended to take out an additional loan against one of my red cruises since I knew Dwight was about to fill the column. Unfortunately, I had a lapse in thought once I began looking at the cards available that turn. Once I took the card, no one would let me back up and take the loan. While annoying to me -- and perfectly within the rules -- it seemed awfully out of place in a friendly game. Ultimately, the only real difference it likely would have made was to let me pick up the final yellow card I needed, which would have given me the win in point total without a tie-breaker.

Another interesting anomaly for the game is the number of 9 value cards that were wiped off the board. Granted, you expect to see some of that in a game with fewer players just because there are fewer cruises being worked on at any given time and fewer speculative slots available for holding them. What was interesting was the very large number that Christine caused to be wiped out in the first pass through the draw deck. She easily caused nine, if not more, to be removed from the charter board. Since she was sitting to my right, I found this particularly frustrating. (I will note for the record that this was not poor play on her part -- just frustrating for me.) In fact, this seemed to work out quite well for her, as she turned in more 9 legs than either Dwight or myself. Unfortunately, she often couldn't complete the matching set of ships for her cruises, leaving her without the vital bonus points. I believe she would have trounced us soundly had she managed to get those points.

All in all, this is still one of my all time favorite games. I was very happy to get to play it so early in the year and hope to get in a few more before year's end. Our total playing time was about 60 minutes.

Thread: Re: 2 Very Quick Questions

seppo21 — 2007-02-03T04:32:35+00:00

2. When a player has completed all of his voyages, he no longer participates in the game (he can leave the table), correct?
We've always played that the game continues as normal, with players still getting their turns. This gives them the opportunity to interfere with their opponents' plans by taking cards or clearing the ship board. There certainly is no indication in the rules that you stop taking turns.

Thread: Re: the crayaon/dry erase problem

seppo21 — 2007-02-03T04:25:47+00:00

You know, we've never had a problem using the included crayon. It's always been easy to read, doesn't smudge while we play, wipes off easily, and hasn't stained our tiles after a couple of years worth of play.

Thread: Re: Clarification please

cypar7 — 2006-10-25T20:24:25+00:00

I agree, I like playing the game with two or three much better than with five or six. I feel a lack of control when the game is played with that many people.

Thread: Re: Clarification please

todi — 2006-10-25T09:58:51+00:00

Thanks a ton. Played 2 games with 2 players and found it really great!

Thread: Re: Clarification please

jtakagi — 2006-10-25T07:53:26+00:00

todi wrote:
I have the following doubt. Each player is given a victory plaque for each sea. So once that is completed does this mean that he cannot undertake a cruise in that sea again? What I mean is that if I finish a Baltic cruise and I collect cards to be able to undertake another Baltic cruise can I just do this and not score any points? Or is can I just improve my earlier Baltic Sea value with the new value if it is better?

It depends on the number of players. If you play with 3 players (which is pretty fun), you receive 2 per sea, and you can complete each voyage twice. With any more than 3, though, you will only do each sea once.

todi wrote:

If I can only undertake one cruise in each sea in a game am I right in assuming that if I have completed the Pacific cruise first I cannot hold more than 7 cards in my hand at anytime?

That's correct.

Thread: Clarification please

todi — 2006-10-25T07:32:18+00:00

I have the following doubt. Each player is given a victory plaque for each sea. So once that is completed does this mean that he cannot undertake a cruise in that sea again? What I mean is that if I finish a Baltic cruise and I collect cards to be able to undertake another Baltic cruise can I just do this and not score any points? Or is can I just improve my earlier Baltic Sea value with the new value if it is better?

If I can only undertake one cruise in each sea in a game am I right in assuming that if I have completed the Pacific cruise first I cannot hold more than 7 cards in my hand at anytime?

Thread: Re: 2 Very Quick Questions

WalkerRedEye — 2006-09-12T14:01:50+00:00

this game needs more sailing ships!

Thread: Re: 2 Very Quick Questions

Duglis — 2006-09-12T05:42:50+00:00

I suppose you are right about the finishing at the same time, but for some reason, the other night, 1 person finished a turn ahead of the rest of us and we didn't know what to do on his turn so we decided he was out of the game and skipped him. We probably made a mistake on whose turn it was after our break..I hope that didn't decide the game!

Anyway, thanks for the answers!

Thread: Re: 2 Very Quick Questions

JasonRMax — 2006-09-12T05:36:38+00:00

1. Yes

2. Yes, though the way the game is structured it's very odd (I'm not even sure it's possible) for one player to finish more than a turn or two before anyone else. Since you must put on 4 shows, and on all other turns you must take one and only one card, and you can only have a certain amount of cards in your hand after the last show, everyone will take about the same number of turns to finish the game.

Thread: 2 Very Quick Questions

Duglis — 2006-09-12T05:03:01+00:00

Hi

1. You hold your cards face down/towards you so no one else can see them, correct?

2. When a player has completed all of his voyages, he no longer participates in the game (he can leave the table), correct?

-Doug

Thread: The crayon/dry erase problem SOLVED!

Silveric — 2006-08-16T10:05:22+00:00

Good news!
After some test, I can recommend using some specific dry marker.
We used the black colored type from the brand "Conté - Velleda". The type used for boards covered with a white plastic foil.
These markers are quite easy to find in Europe; unfortunately, I have no idea about their availability elesewhere.
As a test, we wrote on a tile and deliberately left it untouched for more than four hours. The writing can be wiped off completely and leaves a perfectly neat surface; not the faintest trace remains.

Thread: Re: Differences from Showmanager?

Orski — 2006-06-30T23:51:11+00:00

I had too much free time, so I counted card distribution in Atlantic Star.

132 - Total cards
12 - X-1
18 - 9
18 - 7/2
18 - 6/3
18 - 5/4
18 - 5/2/2
30 - 3/3/3

And breakdown for each type:
1 - 9 point
1 - 7
1 - 6
2 - 5
1 - 4
6 - 3
3 - 2

So only change is that there are more 3/3/3 -cards.

Thread: Re: the crayaon/dry erase problem

otrex — 2006-03-30T16:42:26+00:00

Use a slightly moistened wipe, and the dry erase marker is removed easier.

Thread: Post-it

DeiTass — 2006-02-26T04:25:40+00:00

Post-it bookmarkers may also work nicely, and you do not need anything special to write on them.

Thread: Re: the crayaon/dry erase problem

GeoMan — 2006-02-26T03:05:15+00:00

Stick transparent tape on the tiles and use wet erasable markers.

Thread: Re: the crayaon/dry erase problem

vhk43 — 2006-02-25T19:58:25+00:00

Draw up a matrix of shipping lines against oceans and keep a record of the cruise scores on that. Easier if every player has a copy to avoid constantly asking about scores.
Use the main board for placing the tokens in their scoring order only. Involves paperwork but this is the price to avoid ruining tokens.

Thread: Re: the crayaon/dry erase problem

locusshifter — 2006-02-17T06:04:18+00:00

Wet erase markers....and they don't leave discoloring film on the pieces.

Thread: Re: the crayaon/dry erase problem

shawn_low — 2006-02-17T02:49:37+00:00

Let me know if you find a solution.

I think that dice will be fiddly (althogh I have lots and lots of mini dice from my Pirates of the Spanish main days).

Dry erase isn't great because they don't seem to properly erase. Crayon is messy.

I have a thought:

Perhaps you could stick some removable sticky tape over the tiles and use the dry erase. Just peel off the tape after each game.

Thread: the crayaon/dry erase problem

ropearoni4 — 2006-02-17T01:46:44+00:00

Is there a way to not use a dry erase and still work like it is supposed to? I was thinking of using 2 dice per card to place on the cards instead of the markings. any ideas?

Thread: Re: English rules

shawn_low — 2006-01-19T06:10:08+00:00

I posted official english rules from Queen games. They are in the files section.

Thread: Re: Replacing the crayon.

shawn_low — 2006-01-12T01:16:23+00:00

I tried dry erase last night. Slightly less messy than a crayon BUT beware, leave it for too long and the dry erase ink may not fully come off!

Thread: Re: Language independent..?

shawn_low — 2006-01-10T01:07:37+00:00

Favre4MVP wrote:
When I had a copy of this game, it was the original Queen version (I don't think there was an English printing ever), but mine came with a set of English rules and English player aids too. I was surprised when I got it because I didn't think it was supposed to come with any English parts.

The back of the box has a description of the game in 5 languages but my copy came only with German rules and player aids.

I think this was done in the days when Queen wasn't really distributing into the US or the UK hence the lack of english rules.

Thread: Atlantic Star Review

Big Lar — 2005-12-21T18:28:31+00:00

Type of Game and Brief Game Play Description

Atlantic Star is a set collection and money management game. Players complete "cruises" using ship cards that match the cruise type (color) or wild cards or cards that don't match (which hurts the completed cruise value). Cruises vary in length from 3 to 6 cards needed (each card in the cruise line needs to have the right color and the letters need to be competed - for example A, B, and C for a cruise that is 3 in lenght). The player may at most have 2 extra cards in their hand when they complete a cruise. Players buy cruise cards from a separate game board. There is a separate scoring board with 5 columns where players score their cruises. Players start the game with a set amount of income and can only get more by taking a loan against a completed cruise - so depending on the flow of the game money can get tight at the end).

Are the rules long and complicated or brief and simple?

This is an easy game to learn. It may take a few card draws and completed cruises for everyone to understand, but the rules are not long or complicated.

How light or heavy is the game and how much time does it take to play?

This is a light medium game. Not a brain burner, but not too simple either. Our 2 player games usually take about 1 hour to play. Some turns go by quickly - some have turn angst as the available cards don't work well with the cruise the player is trying to complete.

Did I have fun playing the game and did the people I played with seem to have fun?

This is one of my favorite games. It can occasionally be a little flat and frustrating if 2 players happen to be trying to complete the same cruises by accident or oversight through most of the game. It is usually a fun way to spend an hour or so gaming. The hand management and money management aspects of the game work well together. I've played this numerous times and a 2 player game and this is a favority of both me and my girlfriend.

Would I buy this game (or buy it again if it was lost)?

I would definitely buy this again. Unfortunately, as of when I'm writing this review the game is out of print. Hopefully, Queen Games will decide to reprint this...

Thread: Re: Optimum number of players?

Bergbau — 2005-11-03T12:21:52+00:00

Thanks. I will try it with three to begin with and get a feeling.

/Strömer, from Sweden

Thread: Re: Optimum number of players?

dimarco70 — 2005-11-02T09:10:28+00:00

I think the optimum is 3. No fake company, and still a little bit of control on the draft.

Thread: Re: Optimum number of players?

chaddyboy_2000 — 2005-11-01T20:12:51+00:00

I've always liked playing it with 3-4. Play with any more than that and there gets to be too much downtime, and too much luck as to which cards are available to you on your turn.