Thread: Re: Rule Question: Two questions about Special Actions with the turban

christophyr — 2008-06-27T02:59:08+00:00

Thanks for the response, Tony!

That pretty much confirms what I was thinking.

-Chris

Thread: Re: Rule Question: Two questions about Special Actions with the turban

tonyboydell — 2008-06-26T08:42:18+00:00

Chris,

Qn 1: It is NOT retrospective - that would just be too fiddly to track; it keeps it safe from now on

Qn 2: Yes indeed:

"The active player chooses a card in any scoring row and places the Action Piece on it. This card can no longer be affected by abilities, ** nor discarded in order to use its own ability (if any) **"

Thus, the 3pt 'end of lines' cannot be removed by using their ability of discard me to discard a card from your own hand!

Best wishes,

Tony

Thread: Rule Question: Two questions about Special Actions with the turban

christophyr — 2008-06-22T20:09:33+00:00

By playing your action piece and discarding a turban card, you may protect another card so that it can no longer be affected by abilities.

Question 1:

Can I assume this is NOT retroactive in nature? Meaning, if I've previously played an ability that added an extra point marker to the card I want to protect, will that extra point remain, or be removed because it came from a (previous) ability?

Question 2:

This protection can be played on a card in any scoring row. If the player before me uses the red scimitar 3 ability to prevent further cards from being played into another player's scoring row, could I follow that up by protecting the red scimitar 3 and effectively shutting down that player's ability to score anything further for the round?

Thread: Re: Scandaroon. It's like... well, I'm not sure actually.

Scurra — 2008-01-11T19:18:22+00:00

Minor error in the above review: the cards are in fact only shuffled back together after the second round. This means that a little bit of card counting is (theoretically) possible as in the second and last rounds you know what cards are not in play. Mostly this is fairly unimportant, but knowing if a particular Trump Change card is already out-of-play can make a difference...

Thread: Scandaroon. It's like... well, I'm not sure actually.

Scurra — 2007-12-04T01:42:06+00:00

Tony Boydell has an enviable knack of making light-medium card games that are unlike other games. This makes even describing the games difficult, let alone reviewing them, as the usual short-cuts (“it's a Rummy-variant”) aren't available. And an even better trick is that the games don't resemble each other either - Coppertwaddle is an intricate two-player battle of wits; Bloody Legacy is a riotous multi-player take-that affair.
Scandaroon is somewhat more abstract than those two games; the cod-Arabian theming doesn't extend beyond the box cover and the symbols for the art. But the game itself is a neat 3/4 player more-than-filler, with interesting tactical choices and a little bit more strategy than first appears.

The components are pretty standard: some markers for each player, a scoring track and the cards. The cards comprise four suits (turbans, scimitars, crosses and crescents), each with a number in the corner (from 0 to 7) and a red or black border. There are also some double-suited cards, and one that has no suit. Most of the cards also have icons along the bottom that indicate a special ability of some kind. The colours and symbols are very clear without being distracting. However, because the abilities are only printed on the bottom of the cards, you can't simply fan the cards in your hand during play. This is only a minor niggle as you only ever have five or six cards and they are played out quite quickly.

The game is played over four rounds, each following the same pattern. At the end of each round players earn some immediate victory points (the winner gets 3, second gets 2 etc.) and some “potential” victory points (for having the highest score to date or winning a no-trumps round.) These potential points will only come into play at the end of the four rounds and can change the final outcome, which means that you need to consider them as well. This adds a little bit of extra tactical play, especially during the final round when the apparent player positions will influence choices.

Each round consists of a number of turns. Usually the round continues until all players have no cards in their hand, but this isn't always the case – you can carry cards over to a subsequent round if you feel they may benefit you more there; this can be a strong play, or it can backfire!

On a turn a player may play a card, use the ability of a previously played card, use their one-shot Special, or pass.

Playing a card simply means adding it to the line of cards of front of you. The single rule here is that if the card at the end of the line has a red number/border then you cannot play any more card into your own line. Note, however, that this doesn't necessarily end your participation in the round - you can use abilities of played cards, or even your one-shot Special (see below) before you have to pass.

Cards with a red arrow on the bottom have abilities that affect other cards. To use these involves discarding them from your line (moving the other cards down) and executing the effect. There are a lot of effects, ranging from drawing new cards to causing other cards to be discarded as well. Fortunately there is a clear reference card supplied which lists all the effects; however I suspect that this will never be redundant – I still have to check some of the abilities even now.
And some cards have abilities that do not require discarding; they typically modify the values of the cards to the left or right of them in the line. This means that sometimes by discarding a card from the middle of your line you can actually improve your score (although this is rare.)

Each player also begins the game with a Special marker. Once per game they can use the marker by discarding a card (either from their hand or their played cards) and take a specific ability, depending upon the suit of the card discarded. These are generally more powerful than the individual card effects, and knowing the right time to use them is a key part of the game.

And finally a player may pass. They put a marker on the last card in their line and play no further part in the round. A player who has passed may not be affected by abilities of other cards (which is a significant consideration sometimes) but their score may still be affected by what later players do.

Once all the players have passed (and note that a player may still do things even though they have no cards in their hand if they use abilities etc.) then the scores are checked. Normally players should update their scores as they go along, as this helps to keep everyone aware of relative positions, but a final check is always helpful, especially in this game where there can be unexpected interactions that can be overlooked.

Scoring is simply a matter of adding up the current values of each card in front of you. Of course, there are a number of factors to take into account. Firstly, there are the adjacent cards that may provide bonuses. Secondly, there are the 0 cards. These are actually worth 1 point for each card of the same suit anywhere on the table (i.e. in front of other players as well); this can be very powerful sometimes.
And finally there is the Trump suit. At the start of each round a Trump suit is determined by means of a set of separate cards (with one exception: the round following the Turban card is always No Trumps.) Any card from the Trump suit is worth twice its final value. And this happens after any bonuses are scored. So a 6-point Trump suit card with a +2 bonus from an adjacent card is worth a massive 16 points at the end of the round (8 x 2.)
It's worth noting that one of the card abilities involves changing the Trump suit if that card is discarded. This can produce a devastating turn-around in scores at times, and can be well worth the card sacrifice as it will affect everyone at the table.

As mentioned above, the highest score earns 3 victory points, the second highest 2 and third scores 1. If the highest score has surpassed the previous high score in the game (indicated by a separate white marker that remains on the score track throughout the game, moving to mark the current high target) then that player get a potential victory point - if their marker is still in the “highest score” space at the end then it becomes an actual victory point.
The winner also gets to put their highest value card played into a separate scoring pile, and the second placed player puts their lowest value card into their scoring pile (this is the printed value on the card, not the scoring value, which may mean the second player putting a 0 into their pile!)
The current values of all the cards in each player's scoring piles is now checked, and the highest score there gets 3 potential victory points, with the second highest score getting 1. Again, these points only become actual points after the final round.

All the cards that were played are gathered up and shuffled with the unused cards. Each player now receives enough cards to go back up to five cards (if they kept any cards then they receive fewer new ones.) And the person who scored the least in the previous round receives one extra card (so they start the round with six cards instead of five.) This allows for a little bit of strategy as a player may opt to keep some cards and take a low score, hoping that the extra card in the next round will help produce a much bigger score.

And after four rounds, the potential points now become actual ones and are added to the relevant player's scores, and the player with the most points wins.

Scandaroon is basically a game of tactical timing. You look at your hand; try to assess the optimal order of play, but always being ready to change your plans based on what others do. Knowing when to sacrifice a card for its ability and losing its value is key; a shrewd change of Trump suit, or the forced removal of an opponent's card can make all the difference. It's also worth remembering that to win a round you only need to score one more point than anyone else to earn the 3 points on offer. Aiming for the high score bonus is important, but you must be careful not to fall into any of your opponent's traps.

Inevitably in a game like this there will be people who decry the lack of control. A small random selection of cards surely cannot reward superior play?! In fact the player is much more the architect of their own (and others!) fate than it appears; making the most of opportunities that arise is always the key to these sort of timing games, and sometimes you even get the chance to capitalise on errors (indeed, occasionally even your own errors can be rewarded!)

If you're looking for something that is slightly more than a simple filler, but not perhaps a main course, then give Scandaroon a shot. It doesn't feel quite like anything else, the basic principles are easy to grasp and yet the interactions are sometimes more intricate and unexpected, and there are tricks that won't be learnt on a first play. Definitely a keeper for me.

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Gonzaga — 2007-10-23T16:57:57+00:00

The board

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Gonzaga — 2007-10-23T16:57:25+00:00

Closeup

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TabbySunLion — 2007-10-23T10:42:44+00:00

Game in play at Essen 2007

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TabbySunLion — 2007-10-23T10:41:01+00:00

Display in the press room at Essen 07

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TabbySunLion — 2007-10-03T13:53:14+00:00

Play Area

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TabbySunLion — 2007-05-22T18:11:56+00:00

Advertising Poster

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TabbySunLion — 2007-05-19T14:30:08+00:00

Score Board

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TabbySunLion — 2007-05-19T14:29:08+00:00

Box Lid

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TabbySunLion — 2007-05-19T13:53:47+00:00

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TabbySunLion — 2007-05-19T13:32:52+00:00

Game: Scandaroon

Thread: Re: Rule Question: Two questions about Special Actions with the turban

Thread: Re: Rule Question: Two questions about Special Actions with the turban

Thread: Rule Question: Two questions about Special Actions with the turban

Thread: Re: Scandaroon. It's like... well, I'm not sure actually.

Thread: Scandaroon. It's like... well, I'm not sure actually.

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