Game: Thebes

Thread: Re: The simplest fix for "the luck problem"

bwridge — 2008-07-05T02:50:33+00:00

waddball wrote:

A variant I've seen here that is thematically consistent is: remove one dirt after each dig (if dirt came up). After all, if I excavate in a certain spot and don't find anything, word should get around. This doesn't directly address the OP's concern, but it reduces variance a bit.

We played with this variant last night and I think I like it.

I've never been too adverse to luck in my board games, but my first impression of Thebes is that attempting excavations late i nthe game was just a waste of time in light of the odds against finding an artifact. Removing one dirt per dig seems like a good way to even out the odds later in the game.

Brian

Thread: Re: Interpretation of the Special Excavation Card

Great Dane — 2008-07-03T08:57:39+00:00

That is correct.

A digging permit is a digging permit. Each player has one, which will be renewed annually.

The extra permits you buy is in addition to that - but they aren't renewable.

Thread: Re: The simplest fix for "the luck problem"

pusboyau — 2008-07-03T08:33:25+00:00

The easiest fix I find whilst still maintaining the theme of (un)fortunate excavations is to play the game with only 2 players.

Admittedly there are too many chaotic subsystems (chit pulls from bag; being in the right/wrong city at the right/wrong time in regards to the 4 cards to draft; the card flush at Warsaw; not all the cards come out) and a third or fourth player creates too much interference to adopt some sort of point scoring strategy in terms of gaining a majority in special knowledge, picking up exhibits and congress cards.

Also the game takes about an hour to play with 2, which for the amount of chaos feels right, whereas with 3 it can be an interesting and fun 90mins, but not when hope evaporates

Thread: Interpretation of the Special Excavation Card

pusboyau — 2008-07-03T12:27:41+00:00

In a 3 player game last night, had an interesting situation in which a player excavated near year end using the normal excavation permission token, so it was flipped onto the 'x' side.

In the next turn, the same player discarded the special excavation card to dig at the same site. As there is no mention in the rules that such a play causes the permission token to be "touched" so the excavation card doesn't change the status of the flipped token. (In previous games, I actually discarded the card to flip the excavation token to the valid side).

Now what happens next is due to the time spent using the special excavation card forces the player's time marker to cross into the next year, and as per rules immediately causes all 'x' permits to become valid again.

So now with the use of the special excavation card, it is possible to at least have 3 digs without needing to move from the site....something I haven't experienced before and I feel sure I've interpreted the use of the 'special excavation' correctly. So now the card is more powerful than I previously thought and implemented.

Nick

Thread: Re: The simplest fix for "the luck problem"

mikoyan — 2008-07-02T05:19:11+00:00

I like the game just as it is. As others have said, there are ways to mitigate a lucky draw. You can keep going to conferences. You can make sure you have more knowledge in areas. You can get a mix of stuff and have exhibits. Or you can just accept that today is not your day and move on.

And the luck factor fits well with the theme of the game in that you're an archeologist.

Thread: Re: The simplest fix for "the luck problem"

amacleod — 2008-07-02T04:45:01+00:00

kevinb9n wrote:
Btw, just to give some background on why I posted this, if you look at the 21 personal comments on Thebes that rate it less than a 5/10, 15 of these specifically cite the too-high luck factor. So I'm hoping that some simple ideas like this might really help people enjoy the game better. That's all.

It's interesting that most of the people who rate Thebes less than a 5 cite the luck factor as the reason for their dislike. Obviously, these gamers don't like games generally which have a moderate to high dose of luck. Now while I do like games with low luck and plenty of strategy and tactics, a snazzy theme always grabs me, and (to a degree!) a snazzy theme covereth over a multitude of luck filled sins. To reduce the luck factor is a major reduction of the archaeological theme.
So Thebes is going to win over people like me, while Puerto Rico (for example)is going to put me to sleep with it's lack of theme. But that's OK: some games are meant for some people, and some games are meant for others. To each his own!
It will obviously be an SdJ winner the day that a game is designed that gets nothing but 10's here (other than Monkey Auto Races).

Image

pHr0sT — 2008-06-30T10:45:49+00:00

HQ Thebes Box Cover - The actual box cover without the panaramic view