Game: Escalation!

Thread: Re: Ma hand me my Rocket Launcher

elmonty — 2008-05-24T14:51:29+00:00

dracomjb wrote:
6 of us played this for at least 2 hours and it may have been 3 the night after the Australian Magic the Gathering Nationals in Rydges Lakeside in Canberra, with alcohol and good spirits this is a fun game cursing when you get hit with a 21 that you have no chance of beating or when 2 away from you play a large number and you scream with laughter at the person to your right having to pick it up only to see them play a neighborhood watch card and you scream and curse at both players because now you have to pick up 15 cards and are definitely going to lose this round.

Winner of the award for longest sentence.

Thread: Laughs, groans and great fun

fastfingers — 2008-05-23T04:06:12+00:00

Escalation!

This review is a cross-post from my personal games BLOG at www.aworldwithoutstring.com

Escalation! is a really fun card game. It’s quick, lively, has a bit of luck, and lots of opportunity to “stick it” to the other players. Everyone has a great time whenever we play.

Escalation! is by noted designer Reiner Knizia. It’s for 2 to 6 players, age 10 and up and takes about 15 to 30 minutes to play. It costs around $10 and is published by Z-Man Games.

Game description by the publisher

It's the classic suburban conflict of unreturned tools, loud neighbors, and prize-winning garden gnomes from Reiner Knizia. This simple gateway card game has players starting with low-value cards then escalating the values until someone goes too far and penalizes their neighbor with the stack of cards. When the deck runs out and a player's hand is empty, the player with the least cards in his stack wins.
One player opens with a card or cards and calls out the value played. The next player must play cards to surpass that value, and so on, escalating the value until the point where a player does not wish to or cannot go above that value, thus taking the stack of cards and placing them in her penalty stack. A simple card game in the tradition of No Thanks!

What’s in the box?
The game comes with 56 cards plus 1 rules card. The publisher’s web site says 55 cards plus rules, but that’s not correct. As you can see, the cards are divided into 2 stacks in the box. All the cards are the same green color on the back. The front of the cards look like this:

The artwork of the cards present the game’s theme in a very fun way. However, aside from occasionally examining the artwork, you really end up focusing on the numbers and symbols on the cards -- just like any other typical card game.

There are numbered cards from 1 through 13. There are also two special card types, having a “1-7” and a small triangle. The “1-7” is a wildcard but may only be used as either a 1 through 7. The card with the small triangle on it is called the “Neighborhood Watch” card. More about how these work in just a bit.

The cards are not distributed evenly. For example, there’s only 1 card with a “1” on it. And there are only a few of the high numbered cards. There are only 2 Neighborhood Watch cards in the deck.

Game play
The object of the game is to NOT collect cards. Everyone plays with 6 cards in their hand throughout the game, until the end of game conditions are in play. Cards are played onto a pile in the middle as the rounds continue. Eventually one player is forced to, or sometimes chooses to, take the whole pile and places it in front of them. At the end of the game you count how many cards you have in your own pile and the person with the least wins.

Here’s how it works. At the beginning of the game the deck is shuffled and each player is dealt 6 cards face down. The player’s keep the content of their hands secret.

On your turn you must perform two actions. The first action is to place a card from your hand, face-up in the center of the table. The numeric value of that card must be higher than the current value of the last card played. You can play more than one card at a time if they are all the same number. In that case the total value of the cards you played must be exceeded by the next player. After you play a card, or cards, you must draw from the face-down draw pile in the center and replenish your hand back up to 6 cards.

Here’s an example game in progress with 2 players. I’ve turned both player’s hands face up so we can see what is happening.

The current top of the discard pile has a value of 8. The player on the right needs to take a turn. He has a couple of options. He could play his 9 card on top of the 8. Or, since he has a pair of 6 cards, he could play them together for a total value of 12. He might choose to do this if he thinks the other player can beat a 9, but maybe not as 12. If the player on the right plays both 6 cards, he announces the total aloud, “12”, and then draws 2 replacement cards from the deck for his hand.

The player on the left can beat 12 by playing two 7 cards. She places them and announces the new total of “14”. She also draws 2 new cards to replenish her hand. This cycle continues to escalate between the players until someone either cannot or chooses not to play a higher total. When that happens, the discard pile in the center is gathered up and placed face-down in front of that player. You do not pick up cards from this discarded deck during play. After picking up the pile, the player seeds a new escalation by playing 1 (or more if they match numerically) card face-up in the center. Remember to draw to replenish your hand back up to 6 cards with each turn.

Eventually, the draw pile becomes depleted. This does not end the game, but does signal to the player that game ending conditions are active. From that point on, each player continues to add discards to the total pile in the center, each time increasing the value, until one player runs out of cards in his or her hand. At that point the game is over. All the other players must add the cards they are still holding in their hands onto the personal discard pile in front of them.

Each player counts how many cards they have. The actual numeric values on the cards do not matter. Just how many you have. The winner has the least cards in their pile.

The “1-7” wildcard has already been mentioned. It can be played alone, with the player announcing which number it is, or it can be paired with other numbered cards to increase the total count. For example, if you have two number 3 cards and a “1-7” card, you can play them together for a total of 9.

There are two Neighborhood Watch cards. This card is a free pass. If the current total on the discard pile is too high for you to increase, you can get out of trouble by playing this card instead if you have one. The Neighborhood Watch does not combine with any other cards. When this card is played, the current discard pile total has not been increased however. For example, if the current total is 24 and you don’t have any way to escalate above that you could play the Neighborhood Watch. The total stays at 24. You still draw a new card to replenish your hand back up to 6.

The game completes very quickly. And there’s simply sometimes a bad set of cards you may get in a game. To round off a little bit of this luck factor, the designer recommends that you play a number of game rounds and add up the total from all the rounds. Choose as many rounds as there are players. For 3 players, you would play 3 rounds and total up your scores on a piece of paper. The player with the smallest total wins the game.

Conclusion
Here’s the single most important point about this game. Every time I introduce this game to a new group of people, everyone has such a fun and memorable experience playing that they often go buy their own copy of the game. That’s pretty high praise for how easy it is to learn and how much fun people have playing.

This is obviously a light “filler” card game. We usually use the game to start off our game playing sessions. It gets everyone in a fun mood and plays very quickly.

There is one complaint I have about the game. It’s not a problem with the design. It’s a problem with how it is produced. The quality of the cards are not what they should be. Now we play this game a lot. However, I am now on my fourth copy of the game. The cards wear down too easily. And if you use the standard technique of shuffling the cards by flexing them and sliding them together, they get easily bent. This last copy of the game we have has been strictly shuffled by side-to-side technique, without flexing the cards. We’re thinking this will make it last longer.

But I also figure that a well worn deck of cards is a sign that the game is played often and loved. Like I was saying, it’s so much fun and easy to learn. I recommend you get a copy and try it out soon with family and friends. When we travel to meet friends or family out of town we usually bring a gift copy of the game to leave with them. It’s like bringing a bottle of wine over for dinner, except everyone, including children, appreciates this gift. It’s always been a hit.

Thread: Re: Quick Question (for a Quick Game)

mpnagel — 2008-03-27T16:00:06+00:00

Thanks!

Thread: Re: Quick Question (for a Quick Game)

Starsunsky — 2008-03-27T13:33:53+00:00

No one picks the cards.

The rule states that "The cards in the middle are ignored" at game end.

Hope this helps.

Star

Thread: Quick Question (for a Quick Game)

mpnagel — 2008-03-27T13:26:14+00:00

When a player plays his/her last card, who gets the play pile? The rules state that remaining players add what they still hold to their discard piles. Did I miss something? Thanks!

Thread: The Not Fit for Prime Time Players

monkeyturtle — 2008-02-03T12:50:21+00:00

It was a hard week at work, so to wind down, K, SR and I loaded into the Subaru and headed to our local pub – the awesome kind of joint that has a great variety of beer on tap: from Chimay to Pike’s Kilt Lifter.

Background:

I am the primary game introducer/pusher in our house and as such am always on the search for games my little band will enjoy. SR and K are still a little new to the kind of games found on BGG, so I try to make each new game a good fit.

I had just received an order from ThoughtHammer and had play tested Escalation earlier in the day to get a feel for it. Although I was by myself, I dealt three open hands and played them out. Halfway through the game I realized I was handing out some pretty tough smack-talk to my imaginary opponents!

Back to the Pub:

We ordered our beers and burgers and vented about crazy co-workers and unreasonable job demands while we ate. All of which primed us for our game of the night: Escalation!

The game started out pretty good – I modeled a little smack-talk, and before I knew it the neighborhood was in an uproar - what with Willy and his Weedwacker accidentally cutting down SR's rose bush; Grandpa Jones pumping Crazy Cat Lady's A** full of buckshot - and a few more choice phrases not fit for prime time! Let's just say Neighborhood Watch had to be called in a few times to tell the neighbors to tone it down!

We played 3 games and decided to determine the winner from the cumulative score. Well, wouldn’t you know it…the two of them got competitive with one another and wanted to play another 2 games to best each other – I was already proving to be a lightweight in neighborhood warfare.

After 5 games and more than a few beers, I was clearly the big loser. We were all laughing and miles away from the distant tensions of the week. K and SR were both talking about when we could play again – which made me the big winner!

Thread: Re: Ma hand me my Rocket Launcher

TheNakedPirate — 2008-01-02T18:50:41+00:00

Thread: Re: Ma hand me my Rocket Launcher

dracomjb — 2008-01-02T12:27:06+00:00

6 of us played this for at least 2 hours and it may have been 3 the night after the Australian Magic the Gathering Nationals in Rydges Lakeside in Canberra, with alcohol and good spirits this is a fun game cursing when you get hit with a 21 that you have no chance of beating or when 2 away from you play a large number and you scream with laughter at the person to your right having to pick it up only to see them play a neighborhood watch card and you scream and curse at both players because now you have to pick up 15 cards and are definitely going to lose this round.

Good fun : o)

Thread: Ma hand me my Rocket Launcher

TheNakedPirate — 2008-01-01T23:36:46+00:00

Escalation is a little game I picked up not long ago. I was looking for a diversion from our regular lunch break game of Bang! Sometimes when I’m snowed under at work I don’t want to spend a full hour playing a game so I was looking for some that could be played in about ten minutes with 4-5 people when I didn’t want to play Bang!
So I bought it…It wasn’t too expensive although it cost more than two regular decks of cards, which it essentially turned out to be. The distribution of card values in escalation has been tuned to the game. If you were willing to compromise and not have the cute artwork you could play this with regular card with a few tweaks.

For those that want to tweak a couple of regular decks the distribution is 1 x #1, 5 x #2, 6 x #3, #4, #5, #6, 5 x #7, 4 x #8, 3 x #9, 3 x #10, 2 x #11, 2 x #12, 2 x #13, 3 x Jokers which can have a value between 1-7 and 2 x Neighborhood Watch which are pass cards.

So what do you do with these 56 cards? Well you don’t want them. That’s right the person holding the fewest cards at the end wins. The game is quick so you would typically play over a few rounds and the lowest score across all the rounds would win.

The rules are short and simple everyone starts with 6 cards from the shuffled deck which is placed in the centre of the play area. Play goes clockwise with each player playing cards from their hands with these rules.
A) Cards played must have a sum greater than the sum played by the previous player.
B) If multiple cards are played they must all have the same value.
C) You may play a Neighborhood watch card instead of other cards to pass the play to the next player.
D) If you can’t play a card following rules A, B or C then you MUST take all the cards in the centre and put them in a pile in front of you. They do not go into your hand. You then play cards of any total (following rules A and B) into the middle from your hand.
Once you have played your cards you must replenish your hand to 6 cards.

I liked the artwork the neighbors eye you off with ordinary garden tools in their hands ready to beat you down to grannies with rocket launchers. The quick play is great. One of my work mates is a slow deep thinker and often kills a game session while analyzing his next move. This game didn’t present a problem for him. This is a game of shaftage which appeals to my lunch time group.

I didn’t like the artwork having no relevance to the game. I find this of a lot of Reiner Knizia’s games. Beowulf: The Legend being my grandest disappointment from him and Lost Cities is a lovely looking game that me and my wife enjoy but it too is an abstract with lipstick. It is fundamentally, a luck based game and unless you play it a lot you won’t develop the arsenal of tricks required to keep it interesting.

Does it get the thumbs up? Meh! Maybe. It’s got shaftage but it’s not got shaftage enough to maintain a long term interest. Fun, yes, but not quite fun enough to fill an hour. There is some strategy but if everyone has played a couple of times they will have worked it out so then it pretty much comes down to luck. If you need a 10 minute game and only have 2 or 6 players then yes, it’s ok but if you have 3-5 then No Thanks! is a better game that will play out in the same time for a more satisfying experience.

Can be good if you are in the right mood

Image

Toynan — 2007-11-17T15:56:27+00:00

Back of the box

Thread: Re: The Wild Ones.....standalone vigilantes or need back up???

pusboyau — 2007-08-09T10:02:06+00:00

Thanks Zev for the official ruling, let the carnage begin with a clear conscience.......

Thread: Re: The Wild Ones.....standalone vigilantes or need back up???

Warbanner — 2007-08-09T03:38:26+00:00

Thanks Zev!

Glad to know I wasn't cheating when I played a pair of wilds as 14.

Thread: Re: The Wild Ones.....standalone vigilantes or need back up???

Zman — 2007-08-09T03:06:29+00:00

pusboyau wrote:
I've played this game a couple of times and the wild card (with the range of value 1-7) has me wondering: is this a typical wild card which has to be coupled with one or more cards of a specific value and can you only have 1 wild card in this numbered batch. Or can you play the wild card(s) without the defining valued card(s), obviously stating "7"?

Please help keep the peace!!!

Nick

****The wild cards can be played by themselves.

Zev Shlasinger, President
Z-Man Games, Inc.
www.zmangames.com

Thread: Re: The Wild Ones.....standalone vigilantes or need back up???

cagriggs — 2007-08-09T01:06:22+00:00

Based on the rules, it sounds like the card can be played by itself. Never is it stated that the wild card has to be played with another card. This has never come up in my games, but it certainly could be important, especially if a player's last card is a wild.

Thread: The Wild Ones.....standalone vigilantes or need back up???

pusboyau — 2007-08-09T00:45:58+00:00

I've played this game a couple of times and the wild card (with the range of value 1-7) has me wondering: is this a typical wild card which has to be coupled with one or more cards of a specific value and can you only have 1 wild card in this numbered batch. Or can you play the wild card(s) without the defining valued card(s), obviously stating "7"?

Please help keep the peace!!!

Nick

Thread: Re: the same as No Thanks?

Pyjam — 2007-07-29T03:12:48+00:00

Funny, my opinion is the exact opposite. I find that Escalation requires a lot more decisions than No Thanks, and is more strategic. Sorry, I don't speak English well enough to explain my opinion in details. Please read my comment here : http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1530608#1530608
I hope it makes sense.

Escalation is best played with 3 or 4 players. With 5 or 6 players, it's not a game, it's an absolute chaos.

You may like one or the other, or both, but these games are completely different.

Pyjam

Thread: Re: the same as No Thanks?

dracomjb — 2007-07-27T05:52:01+00:00

In Escalation the aim is to collect the least amount of cards. No Thanks it's to have the lowest score.

No Thanks requires decision making on what value card to take, and what amount of counters to take with it, linked to that how long to keep passing on a card that you can take for no penalty. Escalation the hardest decision is probably do I use a 7 or an 8 to go higher than a 6.

Escalation is good, entertaining fun where you probably have little control over whether you can win or not. I have found that Escalation is more entertaining in a loud group who hang stuff on each other for dumping them with something they can't beat so have to pick up a large number of cards. No Thanks is more of a strategic game.

Thread: Re: the same as No Thanks?

Larry Levy — 2007-07-27T04:53:26+00:00

Completely different games. Different designers, too.

Thread: Re: the same as No Thanks?

Blackberry — 2007-07-27T04:02:08+00:00

The game play sounds quite different.

Thread: the same as No Thanks?

MikeyMike79 — 2007-07-27T03:12:04+00:00

Is this exactly the same game as No Thanks, except with more illustrations?

Image

sikeospi — 2007-06-02T11:36:00+00:00

A sample of the cards used in Kublacon's 2007 Kniziathon.

Thread: Re: Strategy please?

Pyjam — 2007-06-02T08:39:47+00:00

I will try to expose my strategy but I must begin by apologies because I don't speak english very well.

For me, the game must be played in a semi-collaborative way. It's all about bashing the leader. The leader of the game, not the leader of the current deal.

In the following examples, the turn order is A B C D. You're A.

If B is the leader, your role is to hit B.

If C is the leader, don't hit B. If you hit him, he will not be able to hit C.

If D is the leader, protect yourself against the big slams of D.

If I don't want to hit B, I play lower cards. If I want to hit B, I play middle cards in order to broke his combinaisons.

For example: my hand contains 2 5 5 6 9 11, C starts with a 2, D plays 4. If B is the leader, I play my 6 to broke a hypothetical combinaison of 7 or to force him to play a high card. If C is the leader, I take the cards on the table and play my 2.

That was my 2 cents.

Pyjam.

Thread: Re: Double-deck Escalation!

fastfingers — 2007-06-02T02:27:47+00:00

We seem to play this game in our family every night while eating dinner. We usually do 3 rounds for 3 players and often play more than 1 "game".

This evening we hit upon an idea but didn't try it yet. What if you played to achieve the most cards at the end? For a 2-person or 3-person game the strategy may not be much different. In this variant you would anticipate what your other players may "push" before you decide to cash-in.

Don't really know if this would work but we chatted a bit about this while playing one of the rounds.

Escalation! is a pretty fun game with a push your luck component.

Thread: Re: Strategy please?

mattx — 2007-05-30T18:15:41+00:00

I think "always play if you can" is what got me into trouble in my last set of plays. If you play a set which is your highest set of cards but is not extremely high you can easily just end up picking up the pile one turn later. That happenned to me a ton last time. There is definitely a time to pick up and start over (although the person to your left is the obvious beneficiary.) There can be some teamwork to bash the leader in this game that can work by picking up the pile early and either immediately going high or when the person next to you goes high.

Maybe if I could recall the card distribution a bit better and count cards a bit I'm sure that would help my decision making process. Hopefully that will come with time.

Thread: Re: Strategy please?

atholbrose — 2007-05-29T00:38:52+00:00

I'm not claiming to be an expert at Escalation by any means, but I do okay. In answer to your questions, here's what I do.

I always start low, unless the draw deck is empty or has dwindled to a few cards. When everyone's trying to ditch their last cards, it's more advantageous to empty your hand than start low so the play can get around to you again.

I always use the next combo I can in its entirety.

I never, never pick up cards when I could play some instead. (Well, okay; as I said above, I don't split up multi-card sets -- because why play two fives for ten when you can play four for twenty? And I might hold on to a Neigborhood Watch instead of wasting it on a pile of two or three cards. But in general, yeah, never.)

Thread: Strategy please?

mattx — 2007-05-28T19:36:57+00:00

Man I stink at this game. It seems like a game that you should be able to really rock at if you pay attention and play your hand "correctly" but I cannot for the life of me figure out what that means. Does anyone have any simple hints for playing this game sensibly?

Should you always start low?
When should you use combos and when should you hold them?
When should you cut your losses and pick up the pile early?

Despite its simplicity this game completely confounds me.

Thread: Re: Hidilly-Ho Neighborino, is that an AK-47?

fizzix — 2007-04-24T18:26:19+00:00

Pyjam wrote:
What do you mean by "it's not terrible"? In French "it's not terrible" is an expression for "it's really not very good".

Pyjam.

I really meant "it's OK" (i.e. not great, not awful, might have a few exciting moments, but you'll probably think to yourself that something else might be more fun).

It's funny how different cultures put different connotations on phrases. Actually I can see some Americans thinking the same thing. Nevertheless, my intention was never to imply "it's really not very good".

Thread: Re: Hidilly-Ho Neighborino, is that an AK-47?

Pyjam — 2007-04-24T18:02:13+00:00

fizzix wrote:
I think 4 - 5 is the "sweet spot" for the game but it's not terrible with 3.

What do you mean by "it's not terrible"? In French "it's not terrible" is an expression for "it's really not very good".

Pyjam.

Thread: Re: Hidilly-Ho Neighborino, is that an AK-47?

Pyjam — 2007-04-24T17:31:32+00:00

You understand me to the perfection about the number of cards. I believe the best is 4 players then 3.

A lot of people have concern about the lack of control in this game. My opinion is that they're too passive. Decisions have to be taken early, not when there are 20 cards on the table.

One day, I will translate my strategical notes from French. If you understand French I invite you to read the discussion I had with people who worried about the lack of control.
http://www.trictrac.net/jeux/forum/viewtopic.php?p=552250#55...

To resume, IMHO an important thing in this game is to collaborate to bash the leader.

Pyjam

Thread: Re: Hidilly-Ho Neighborino, is that an AK-47?

fizzix — 2007-04-24T16:58:27+00:00

Thanks for adding the card count Patrick.

I understand your point about # of plays in a round and it's a good one but I think you figures are the maximum number of plays? For example with six players each person gets approx three single card draws and then plays out their hand until empty. Assuming one card is played, that does amount to nine turns. If people play cards in sets the number of turns you get would go down, making 6 player games even more chaotic.

I think 4 - 5 is the "sweet spot" for the game but it's not terrible with 3.

Thread: Re: Hidilly-Ho Neighborino, is that an AK-47?

Pyjam — 2007-04-24T15:41:02+00:00

Despite the double neighborhood watch problem with 3 players, I believe the game is best with 3 or 4 players. With 5 players, you play only 11 cards; and 9 cards with 6 players. To much chaos. With 2 players, play Schotten Totten or whatever you like.

To complete your review, here's the cards:

#1 : 1 card
#2 : 5 cards
#3 : 6 -
#4 : 6 -
#5 : 6 -
#6 : 6 -
#7 : 5 -
#8 : 4 -
#9 : 3 -
#10 : 3 -
#11 : 2 -
#12 : 2 -
#13 : 2 -
Jokers 1-7 : 3 -
Neighborhood watch : 2 -

Pyjam.

Thread: Re: Double-deck Escalation!

Pyjam — 2007-04-24T15:05:07+00:00

I believe that one set of cards is ideal for 3 or 4 players and a second set is mandatory for 5 or 6 players, but I didn't try.

This game is a little more complex than it seems at first sight with some tactics and a smell of collaboration against the leading player. (I played 60 deals)

Pyjam.

Thread: Hidilly-Ho Neighborino, is that an AK-47?

fizzix — 2007-04-23T14:13:16+00:00

Escalation is light, fast, anti-trick taking card game that is thinly themed around the concept of a war among neighbors. This game is just a deck of cards numbered from 1 to 13 with some wild cards and two special “neighborhood watch cards”. In terms of card distribution, there are more cards of lower values than of higher values The cards themselves are sturdy and come in a hard double-deck box like the kind used for Bang and No Thanks!. Some people will enjoy the artwork which does tie into the theme nicely since the higher value cards show an “escalation” in the weapons used to fight the neighborhood war. I would have liked to see some more dastardly tactics depicted like pouring lime on someone’s lawn or tp’ing a house and fewer actual weapons (a reference to the fence-covered Wilson from Home Improvement would have been funny too) … but that’s me. The rules also come on a single double-sided card so this is a very portable game.

Each player is dealt six cards and play will proceed clockwise from the lead player. The lead player may throw down any single card or a set of cards all having the same number (e.g. 3 cards that each have a value of “4”). Wild cards may be used as part of a set. After playing the card(s), the player announces the numeric total of the cards he or she played and then refills his/her hand to 6 cards. The next player must play cards that exceed that total and then the next player and so on …A neighborhood watch card allows players a free pass when played on their turn (i.e. they do not have to play cards to exceed the previous player). If a player can’t exceed the previous player’s total or chooses not to then that player must take all the cards that have been thrown down, placing them in a scoring pile. That player then leads for the next “trick”. Eventually the draw deck will be exhausted but play continues and the round ends when one player is out of cards. At this point each player scores one point for every card they took and for every card left in their hand. The lower your score, the better you did. You can play as many rounds as you like but one round per player is suggested.

There is some strategy to the game as you need to decide how much you want to "escalate" the current trick, when to play single high cards, and which low cards to hold on to as you try to build a high value set. Also, you are probably going to take a few tricks during the round and deciding when to take cards is important. It's better to take a pile consisting of one or two cards than to get stuck with a pile of 15 or 16 cards.

To me, Escalation is the kind of game that Knizia is best at. Not that this is his best game but he is definitely good (and prolific) at making quick, mathematical, lightly themed games. It’s not brilliant or amazingly original but it is very easy to learn, has a nice luck/skill balance, and is fun. The box says 2-6 players but this is not true. With two players, this is little more than a game of war with the win going to the person who gets better card draws. Sure there is a little strategy but… go play Schotten Totten if you want a good two player game. I’m getting a little sick of titles (particularly Knizia titles) being billed as 2 player games when they suck for 2. With three players, I’ve noticed a small problem in that the two neighborhood watch cards are a little overpowered as you can wind up playing a card and the lead gets passed right back to you by the other two players. With 4 -6 players the game works very well (maybe it's a little chaotic with six but not terrible) and playing multiple rounds tends to smooth out bad luck.

For $10 this is a good value. I would recommend it as a nice game to take to places like restaurants, bars, and coffee shops when you want to play something fast & easy to teach.

Thread: Double-deck Escalation!

Game_Storm — 2007-04-21T17:45:35+00:00

After playing Escalation! many, many times over the course of an hour, one of my players noted that the game isn't long enough. Of course, he says this about most games. So, we shuffled two copies of the game together, and dealt 8 cards to each player. Everything else remains the same. As a result, we saw a lot more large combos (e.g. four 6's followed by four 7's followed by four 8's happened in one game). Interestingly, this makes the game last only about 50% longer (i.e. 15 minutes instead of 10 minutes) because you get to play multiple cards more often. Double-deck works well with five or more players.

Thread: Re: This Addition-Based Filler is Fast and Fun

KSensei — 2007-04-11T04:23:33+00:00

Yeah, so I didnt buy you a dud in Oregon!

Thread: This Addition-Based Filler is Fast and Fun

smattathias — 2007-04-10T05:41:17+00:00

I received this from KSensei who visited the West Coast a week or so ago. How he picked Escalation! out of the dozens of games we were interested in, I'll never know, but I'm happy to report on this cute little Knizia filler.

The rules on Escalation! fit on one of the cards in Escalation! (front and back), and this put me off a little at first. I wondered how original it could be with so few rules (I hadn't seen so few rules since "Pennywise" from James Ernest, "the Cheapass game that fits on a business card"). As is the case in so many games, the playing brought out much more than the instructions would indicate.

Game Description

Escalation! is a cross between Poison and The Great Dalmuti. Each player starts with six cards. You have a running stack of cards in the middle which you try to avoid taking. Eventually, someone must take the middle cards (basically a negative trick), and then a new stack is formed. The player with the fewest cards wins.

The stack is built based on addition. A card or group of cards is placed in the center of the playing area. Any card is fine to play first. If a group is played, each card in the group must be the same number (there are "wild" 1-7 cards which can count for any of those numbers to form a group). Each subsequent play must add up to more than the one before. The player who can't play cards adding up to a higher total or is unwilling to play (in some cases, a good strategy) must take the middle cards.

There is one exception, of course. There is a "Neighborhood Watch" sign which can be played on any stack to equal the previous total. This card is basically a "pass" card. There are two in the deck, so watch out!

Once you play, you onto the middle stack, you replenish your hand back up to six cards. Any taken "trick" cards are left on the table in front of you and never constitute part of your running hand. When the draw deck runs out, the first person to empty his or her hand triggers the scoring. Ignore the unfinished stack, and add your remaining hand to your stack of taken cards. The player with the fewest cards wins.

For example, the following would all be legal plays:

Player A: Plays a 3 and says THREE
Player B: Plays a 5 and says FIVE
Player C: Plays two 4s and says EIGHT
Player A: Plays a 10 and says TEN
Player B: Plays a Neiborhood Watch and says TEN
Player C: Plays two 6s and says TWELVE
Player A: Plays two 7s and a 1-7 and says TWENTY-ONE
Player B: Says CRAP and takes the middle stack; then plays a 1 and says ONE.

My Opinion

In short, Escalation! is fun. For me, it answers what didn't work about Poison. Poison, another addition-based game, is interesting and fun, but no one in our gaming group wanted to replay it. We almost never finished a game. You're supposed to play as many rounds as there are players; if we got halfway before moving to a different game, that was pretty good.

In Escalation!, you are more or less guaranteed to have a pretty good five to ten minutes. It boasts nothing more beyond its hilarious artwork and simple number crunching.

One of the reasons it works so well is the time to completion/satisfaction ratio. Most game players know intuitively when a game has passed their threshold, when its close to the line, and when its well within the boundaries of acceptability. If for example Tic-Tac-Toe took six hours to play, it would have been lost to the sands of time long ago, and we'd never know about it. Concerning Escalation!, I think it plays just the right amount of time for its complexity.

There is a little strategy concerning when to hold your cards and take the middle and when to play them. Holding anything that adds up to fifteen or more is a good thing to save, the neighborhood watch is actually something to look out for, and if you're ahead of your opponent(s), it might not be a bad idea to just take the center cards.

If you're into quick games or are looking for a new filler, Escalation! wouldn't be a bad one to add to the list.

Thread: Re: A great quick filler.

Pyjam — 2007-03-28T18:00:44+00:00

Good review. The game is fine with 3 or 4 players. It's unplayable with 5 or 6 players except maybe if you use 2 pack of cards but I haven't tried.

About tactic, I believe it's better to keep the lower cards until you have a pair. If you play one 2 or one 3, your left opponent can play one 3 or one 4 easily. If you play 4 or 5, he must play 5, 6, or 7. He may be annoyed by your card because he's trying to keep three or four cards of one of these values.

Pyjam

Thread: A great quick filler.

etherton — 2007-03-28T05:54:54+00:00

Components
After reading about this game here I decided it was worth picking up at my FLGS. It's ten bucks for a glorified deck of cards -- in fact, you could nearly reproduce the game with parts of two full decks of cards if you were stunningly cheap. Personally, I wouldn't bother, it's a great game and you'd otherwise be missing out on the whimsical artwork. The cards themselves are of good quality and have a pleasant linen finish. The box is a tiny bit flimsy (as noted elsewhere, it's slightly too big for the number of cards in the game) and is a bit difficult to open.

Gameplay
I love games with stunningly simple rules but a decent amount of depth. I can't help but wonder if Reiner Knizia set out to make a playable version of the old children's card game "War". The rules here are simple: On your turn, play one or more cards from your hand. If you play more than one card, they must all be the same value. The sum must be higher than the previously played card or cards. If you can't play anything higher than what's already on the table, you have to take the stack of cards and place them aside, at which point you start a new trick. [Edit:] You draw back up to six cards after every turn; the game is over when somebody plays their last card (after the draw pile is empty) and the player with the fewest "picked up" cards wins.

There are a few wrinkles -- there are some wild cards in the deck that can assume any value between one and seven, but their value must match any other non-wild cards played at the same time. There are also a few "neighborhood watch" cards which, when played, allow you to match the previously played value without raising it.

Strategy
There aren't a lot of agonizing decisions in this game (unlike another one of my favorites, Lost Cities), which actually enhances its appeal to me. But that's not to say there's no strategy. Do you up the bid a little bit to prolong the trick and really nail your opponents? Or do you play a double-up or tripled-up card to guarantee you don't get stuck with the stack? (That's where neighborhood watch is great -- the other guy plops down a 27 and you bounce it right back to him!).

Is it better to play two fours or a single eight? Three fours or a single twelve? (I think you're better off burning the lower-valued cards as much as possible so you can draw more -- unless, of course, you suspect you won't have another play after it and you're gonna get stuck with the stack).

I have a feeling that like a lot of other trick-taking games, early play here in the round is very important -- how high do you open? How quickly do you escalate?

Commentary
I've played several rounds of this so far, but only with two players. My eight-year-old son and I both had a blast. A strong early lead will sometimes dissolve quickly. We played four rounds and split them down the middle. I'm looking forward to trying this with more players -- I have no idea how chaotic it would get with a full table of six players.

One might argue it's a tiny bit pricey for a deck of cards, but it's one of those special games you can teach in literally a minute or two and play several rounds in one sitting. I personally am very satisfied with the purchase; I've spent far more on games that never make it to the table.

Thread: Re: Triangle cards and end of game

Zman — 2007-03-23T01:56:16+00:00

atholbrose wrote:
I actually think you can't lead with the Neighborhood Watch; there's no previous player's total for the card's value to match! If it's the last card in your hand, you can just play it on the current trick and go out, so there's no situation where this would come up...

*****Hmmm, I would agree you can't lead with it normally - but if for some reason it is the last card it probably can be played and is considered a zero.

Zev Shlasinger, President
Z-Man Games, Inc.
www.zmangames.com

Thread: Re: Triangle cards and end of game

Pyjam — 2007-03-23T00:52:09+00:00

atholbrose wrote:
I actually think you can't lead with the Neighborhood Watch; there's no previous player's total for the card's value to match! If it's the last card in your hand, you can just play it on the current trick and go out, so there's no situation where this would come up...
I played this game 12 times tonight (in France). There are a lot of opportunities to play this card when the rules are applied correctly.

We found the game very funny. For the first time, we laughed while playing a Knizia's game!

Pyjam.

Thread: Re: Triangle cards and end of game

Henry Rhombus — 2007-03-22T21:30:23+00:00

atholbrose wrote:
I actually think you can't lead with the Neighborhood Watch; there's no previous player's total for the card's value to match! If it's the last card in your hand, you can just play it on the current trick and go out, so there's no situation where this would come up...

Good call! I just got the game yesterday, so I haven't played it yet. Should get to it tonight...

Thread: Re: Triangle cards and end of game

atholbrose — 2007-03-22T21:13:39+00:00

I actually think you can't lead with the Neighborhood Watch; there's no previous player's total for the card's value to match! If it's the last card in your hand, you can just play it on the current trick and go out, so there's no situation where this would come up...

Thread: Re: Triangle cards and end of game

Henry Rhombus — 2007-03-22T19:38:52+00:00

Pyjam wrote:
OK, thanks. English is not my native language and I understood that the triangle card is played with other cards and that you have to equal the previous value.

Now I understand that the triangle card is played alone. OK.

The example shows how the triangle card is used in case you still have questions. The player plays the triangle card and nothing else, holding the total at the current level.

Thread: Re: Triangle cards and end of game

Pyjam — 2007-03-22T19:14:09+00:00

OK, thanks. English is not my native language and I understood that the triangle card is played with other cards and that you have to equal the previous value.

Now I understand that the triangle card is played alone. OK.

Pyjam.

Thread: Re: Triangle cards and end of game

Henry Rhombus — 2007-03-22T18:51:49+00:00

Pyjam wrote:
If my last two cards are a 3 and a triangle, and I play first, may I play them together? And, if my last card is a triangle and I play first? Thanks.

If your final card is a triangle and you play it, then (from the rules) "...the same value as the previous player is announced." There is no previous player, but the previous total was 0, so you'd announce 0, then the game would end.

If your final two cards are a 3 and a triangle, then you can play either the 3 or the triangle. The triangle would keep the value the same as at the start of the round (0); the 3 would raise the value (to 3).

I'm sure Zev will be on soon to answer your question, although hopefully I've already got it all right...

Eric
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com

Thread: Triangle cards and end of game

Pyjam — 2007-03-22T18:22:19+00:00

If my last two cards are a 3 and a triangle, and I play first, may I play them together? And, if my last card is a triangle and I play first? Thanks.

Pyjam.

Thread: Getting Schooled in Escalation!

potts_games — 2007-03-21T03:31:48+00:00

Let me start off by saying that this is my first session report.

My wife (Patty) and my mother in law (Joan) returned today from a week in Michigan, and Patty suggested we play a game tonight. She mentioned Ticket to Ride, but I resisted, and suggested we play Escalation! (this was my first mistake). I had just purchased the game over the weekend and was ready to give it a try. It also seemed like a simple game to start with, considering my mother in law had only played For Sale before.

The first game started with three, but Patty was called away by the crying of our 10 week old son. After waiting about 5-10 minutes for her return, Joan and I decided to start over with a 2 player game. She quickly crushed me. I collected all but 3 cards from the deck (this is very bad). Two more games quickly followed, with the result the same, although closer.

When Patty returned, I thought my luck would change. Sadly, it did not . We played two games, and I was a distant 3rd in both. After the 2 games were finished Patty decided to move on to something else, but I decided to push ahead in search of my first win.

Joan quickly dashed all hope of a victory, soundly beating me in two more games, at which point I decided to throw in the towel.

Final score, Mike: big fat zero, Joan: 6 wins, Patty: 1 win.

Dispite my record, I did enjoy the game. It played quickly, and required some fore thought to be prepared for the next play. I cannot wait to try and get my revenge.

Thread: Re: Fun and Quick Game, and a rules clarification.

Zman — 2007-03-20T01:23:38+00:00

Ogma wrote:
Picked up a copy from Game Empire Pasadena today. Looking forward to trying it out!

I have to say that while the card art is quite humorous, the overall package is pretty lousy. That dark green color was a bad choice, the cover seems thrown together (a splash of text and a cut-and-pasted granny from one of the cards over a field of that unpleasant green), and the box itself is made of a thinner material than what one normally expects from these little games. The box lids (for both copies on the shelf) were slightly bowed under the "pressure" of the shrinkwrap!

Still, it looks like a nice filler and I hope it proves to be worth the $10.00!

~Scott

*****The box should be the exact same material as Fairy Tale (same printer - and we specified to use the same material), however, the problem is that there are so fewer cards in this game that there is more air between the top of the cards and the box top - thus leaving nothing to support that box top.

Unfortunately this knowledge came too late but I let the printer know for next time to include a higher insert in such a case.

Just an FYI.

Zev Shlasinger, President
Z-Man Games, Inc.
www.zmangames.com

Thread: Re: Fun and Quick Game, and a rules clarification.

Ogma — 2007-03-18T06:34:35+00:00

Picked up a copy from Game Empire Pasadena today. Looking forward to trying it out!

I have to say that while the card art is quite humorous, the overall package is pretty lousy. That dark green color was a bad choice, the cover seems thrown together (a splash of text and a cut-and-pasted granny from one of the cards over a field of that unpleasant green), and the box itself is made of a thinner material than what one normally expects from these little games. The box lids (for both copies on the shelf) were slightly bowed under the "pressure" of the shrinkwrap!

Still, it looks like a nice filler and I hope it proves to be worth the $10.00!

~Scott

Thread: Re: Fun and Quick Game, and a rules clarification.

JonnyG — 2007-03-18T02:41:38+00:00

I added this to an order and it held the order up. But the order shipped a couple days ago, can't wait to get it in.

Thread: Fun and Quick Game, and a rules clarification.

fastfingers — 2007-03-18T01:36:51+00:00

I had just been listening to a Board Game Babylon Podcast (http://boardgamebabylon.libsyn.com/) where E. R. Burgess talks about this game. The description sounded fun and since I was near a FLGS I stopped in and sure enough they had a copy. In fact the cashier told me they just received the game that day.

So I took it with me to be played with some friends that evening.

It was a real hit. We laughed and played about 5 times.

Only negative comment would be that the rules could be more clear. We spent considerable time discussing the rules around how the game ends. And then this morning, I re-read the rules and see we were misunderstanding when cards go back in a player's hand.

For clarity, the correct rule is that when a player places cards down that player then must refresh back up to 6 cards at the end of his turn. When the draw deck runs out, do not stop just yet. Rather, stop once a single player then runs out of cards from his hand. The other players must then take their remaining cards and add them to the collected piles of cards for counting.

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Sheylon — 2007-02-11T08:51:16+00:00

My favorite of the cards...Rocket Cats!

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Sheylon — 2007-02-11T08:50:00+00:00

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Sheylon — 2007-02-11T08:49:20+00:00

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Sheylon — 2007-02-11T08:48:23+00:00

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Sheylon — 2007-02-11T08:47:10+00:00

Cheerleader - okay, what is she doing?

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Sheylon — 2007-02-11T08:46:17+00:00

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Sheylon — 2007-02-11T08:45:49+00:00

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Sheylon — 2007-02-11T08:45:16+00:00

Thread: Re: New or retheme?

habermanm — 2007-02-05T15:57:30+00:00

It doesn't sound anything like Crazy Chicken. If it reminds me of anything, it's The Bucket King.