Game: Störrische Muli, Das

Thread: End the Race with Two Left

travistdale — 2007-11-05T05:33:05+00:00

It can be pretty irritating to constantly re-roll dice towards the end of the race when there are only 2 or 3 competitors left. A pretty good solution is to end the race when there only 2 figures left on the board, and use their current order as the finish order.

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travistdale — 2006-11-18T18:40:28+00:00

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travistdale — 2006-11-18T18:38:17+00:00

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travistdale — 2006-11-18T18:38:11+00:00

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travistdale — 2006-11-18T18:34:00+00:00

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travistdale — 2006-11-18T18:33:36+00:00

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sisteray — 2006-10-04T06:46:09+00:00

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sisteray — 2006-10-04T06:35:44+00:00

Thread: Session Report

hinj — 2002-10-04T23:40:38+00:00

DAS STORRICHES MULI
with Rob, Randy, Ed, and Matt the Younger with Accidental Sideburns. Wowsa.

I've owned this one for over a year, maybe two, and finally got to try it. It's cute. Everyone picks a mule blanket, and that is the mule they are rooting for. "Rooting For" is a relative term however, as the mule who winsis actually the one who fails to cross the finish line. Movement is accomplished by rolling dice. Rather than numbers, the dice have colors on them. You move the mules which match the colors shown on the dice. If doubles of a color is rolled, however, that mule must take a step back.

Apparently tradition calls for moonwalking mules. When the first mule reaches the end of the board, ALL mules do an about face and try to drag their feet back to the start line. The tradition, apparently, is to yell in
your worst spanish accent "Holy Sheeeeeet!" when the turn around is accomplished. It was great because as we all yelled "Holy Sheeeet!" laughter erupted at the other end of the room. I've never found Sacred Linen to be that funny, but maybe it's me. In keeping with my arrival on
Friday night, last, I never made it to the start line. Victory is sweet!

This one falls on my Guilty Pleasure list.

Thread: Session Report

hinj — 2002-10-04T23:40:38+00:00

Thread: Session Report

hinj — 2002-10-04T23:40:38+00:00

My mule was the first to cross the finish line, followed quickly by Shane. Unfortunately, mi amigos the mule driver
followed after that. Then it was a nonrace to the finish, with Carl crossing the finish line leaving Jen the winner.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2002-04-30T18:55:14+00:00

Now, it was time for some silliness. I introduced Rob Derrick, Jim
Cobb, Rich McKiernan and Larry Levy to this incredibly silly, yet fun
game from Klee. Yes, it is designed to be a children's game and, yes,
it is EXTREMELY heavy on the luck scale, but it lends itself to some
wonderful, childish fun.

Of course, when explaining the game to adults, I'll always use Ted's
hilarious explanation tactics and phrases, complete with a horribly
mangled Mexican accent. And, although I try my best not to use foul
language, I just cannot help using the same mild expletive that Ted used
when he informed Craig Berg, Mark Jackson and I what happens when the
first mule reaches the end of the track and promptly reverses
direction. As Ted explained it, when this occurs, all the other mules
shout, "Holy Sh*t!" and must turn around and head the other way, too!
OK ... I guess you had to be there.

Fortunately, everyone got into the spirit of the game, using bad Mexican
accents and laughing hysterically. I even forced everyone to 'moonwalk'
their mule backwards and sing Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" song when
doing so!

Eventually, Jim was the victor in this fast, silly game.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-11-28T01:06:12+00:00

Time for some silliness. I first played this light, yet very fun mule racing game at Mark Jackson's home back in September. We had such a good time with it that I immediately sought out a copy. Fortunately, my Deutsche freund Andreas Keirat was able to track down some copies. At Essen, Patrick O'Brien was kind enough to secure the copies for me and ship them to me. Ahhh ... the beauty of the internet and the worldwide net of friends it allows us to enjoy!

The game is quite simple and definitely family fare. Players race mules and men to the end of the track and back. However, it has some interesting features, particularly in the determination of the winner. Depending upon the number of players, in addition to the mules, there are either 1 or 2 men in the race, each of a unique color. Each player guides a mule, while the ultimate finish of the men determine the victor. On a turn, two color dice are rolled and the appropriate tokens moved forward. If two of the same color are rolled, then that token moves backwards one space. Simple enough so far.

The twist is that the next player may opt to keep intact one of the dice and only roll the remaining die. This subtle rules twist allows for some 'catch-up' ability, as well as some nice hoseage as it makes it possible to move one player's token on several consecutive turns if all players keep that die intact. This may sound like a good thing for the affected player, but in reality being the first to cross the finish line is NOT always the best occurrence. What?

You see, the first mule to reach the end of the track forces ALL mules to suddenly turn around and race back to the starting line! This makes the mule who was in last place now in first place! However, that doesn't necessarily mean he will win, even if he crosses the finish line first. Hunh? Well, the game has a very clever mechanism to determine the winner.

If you are the first player to have your token cross the finish line, then you only win if the last piece remaining on the track is a man piece. Otherwise, if the final piece remaining is a mule, then that player is the winner! So, you have to make a judgment during the game as to whether you want to try to finish first or last, then attempt to move the other pieces accordingly.

The problem, of course, is that you really don't have much control beyond the decision to keep a die intact and only roll one die on your turn. Still, the game is really fun to play when played with the right attitude ... and when using horribly mangled Mexican accents! No, this isn't one with much depth, but it does make for an excellent filler and family game.

Keith, Spouey, Steven, Joey and I raced our mules across the Mexican desert. I figured Keith, Spouey and Joey would get into the spirit of the game, but was worried about Steven. Steven tends to disdain light games, comparing nearly every game to meatier fare such as Advanced Civilization. I did my best from the get-go to explain to him that this was a light game and should be enjoyed as such. It didn't seem to help.

Still, the rest of us had a good time, in spite of my continued usage of a Mexican accent! As it turns out, Steven and I were vying for last place, as all the men runners had crossed the finish line. Unfortunately, my mule crossed one turn ahead of Steven's, giving him the victory.

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2001-11-18T22:50:41+00:00

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-11-16T16:32:00+00:00

Time again for something light. Ted Cheatham dove into his bag of obscure goodies and brought out this mule racing game from Klee. It was new to all of us, so we had the great pleasure of listening to Ted explain the rules while using a mangled Mexican accent. The best part of the explanation was when Ted demonstrated the reaction of the runners (which includes both mules and men) when the first mule reaches the end of the track and turns around, heading back towards the start. The reaction? According to Ted, everyone must yell, " Holy Sh*t!"

The game is quite simple and definitely family fare. Players race mules and men to the end of the track and back. However, it has some interesting features, particularly in the determination of the winner. Depending upon the number of players, in addition to the mules, there are either 1 or 2 men in the race, each of a unique color. Each player guides either a mule or a man. On a turn, two color dice are rolled and the appropriate tokens moved forward. If two of the same color are rolled, then that token moves backwards one space. Simple enough so far.

The twist is that the next player may opt to keep intact one of the dice and only roll the remaining die. This subtle rules twist allows for some 'catch-up' ability, as well as some nice hoseage as it makes it possible to move one player's token on several consecutive turns if all players keep that die intact. This may sound like a good thing for the affected player, but in reality being the first to cross the finish line is NOT always the best occurrence. What? Well, the game has a very clever mechanism to determine the winner.

If you are the first player to have your token cross the finish line, then you only win if the last piece remaining on the track is a man piece. Otherwise, if the final piece remaining is a mule, then that player is the winner! So, you have to make a judgment during the game as to whether you want to try to finish first or last, then attempt to move the other pieces accordingly.

The problem, of course, is that you really don't have much control beyond the decision to keep a die intact and only roll one die on your turn. Still, the game was really fun to play, so much so that Mark Jackson, Craig Berg and I immediately wanted a copy. No, this isn't one with much depth, but it will make for an excellent filler and family game.

Craig won this one by being the final mule on the track.

Ratings: Craig 8, Mark 8, Greg 7, Ted 7

Please note that these ratings are for the type of game it is ... light and fun. It is genre specific and not meant to be a comparison against more 'meatier' games.

Thread: Preview

gschloesser — 2001-11-16T16:28:38+00:00

The game is quite simple and definitely family fare. Players race mules and men to the end of the track and back. However, it has some interesting features, particularly in the determination of the winner. Depending upon the number of players, in addition to the mules, there are either 1 or 2 men in the race, each of a unique color. Each player guides either a mule or a man. On a turn, two color dice are rolled and the appropriate tokens moved forward. If two of the same color are rolled, then that token moves backwards one space. Simple enough so far.

The twist is that the next player may opt to keep intact one of the dice and only roll the remaining die. This subtle rules twist allows for some 'catch-up' ability, as well as some nice hoseage as it makes it possible to move one player's token on several consecutive turns if all players keep that die intact. This may sound like a good thing for the affected player, but in reality being the first to cross the finish line is NOT always the best occurrence. What? Well, the game has a very clever mechanism to determine the winner.

If you are the first player to have your token cross the finish line, then you only win if the last piece remaining on the track is a man piece. Otherwise, if the final piece remaining is a mule, then that player is the winner! So, you have to make a judgment during the game as to whether you want to try to finish first or last, then attempt to move the other pieces accordingly.