Game: Elefantenparade

Thread: Re: Still confused about the SetUp

EYE of NiGHT — 2007-07-06T23:13:19+00:00

None-So-Pretty wrote:
I played the game twice tonight with 13 year old son...due to some slight-of-hand issues, we played the second game with yellow&green elephants VS brown&red elephants. This color grouping made it clearer in a two person game to tell which elephant had been moved.
But I have two questions, one related to set-up. DougAdams says that as players take it in turns to place their elephants on the first eight squares of the board, he uses Settler-type switchback setup. I still don't understand. The illustration makes it appear you can put down one OR two beasts at a time. My Ravensburger illustration looks like Red, Green, Yellow, Yellow, Brown, Brown, Green, Red. As though Red placed one as did Green, Yellow placed two as did Brown, then Green placed one then Red did the same. But how did Green get ahead of Red? Babel Fish translates the line up: The starting list must be selected in such a way that all elephants stand directly one behind the other, without an empty field lies between them. Or do you set aside twice the number of tree field/spaces as you have players [ref. Adams], in the pictured example that would be eight, from START. So Red Player picked spaces #1&8, Green #2&7, Yellow#3&4, leaving Brown with #5&6, right? That is the only way the second Green could appear to come before the second Red
The second questions is, if the youngest player moves first, is the first set-up the first move? And then you follow clockwise or something. Or doe the youngest player set up first AND move first? Seem like double-dipping to me!
RSVP

That's a big paragraph. Let us see...

None-So-Pretty wrote:
I played the game twice tonight with 13 year old son...due to some slight-of-hand issues, we played the second game with yellow&green elephants VS brown&red elephants. This color grouping made it clearer in a two person game to tell which elephant had been moved.
But I have two questions, one related to set-up.

Okay.

None-So-Pretty wrote:
DougAdams says that as players take it in turns to place their elephants on the first eight squares of the board, he uses Settler-type switchback setup. I still don't understand. The illustration makes it appear you can put down one OR two beasts at a time.

I think the illustration is wrong if you are following that method. I think it should go brown, green, yellow, orange, orange, yellow, green, brown. This is what DougAdams means by a Settlers method (1st player, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and then 1st). But the actual German might mean it's just done randomly. The translation I have doesn't explain this at all.

None-So-Pretty wrote:
My Ravensburger illustration looks like Red, Green, Yellow, Yellow, Brown, Brown, Green, Red. As though Red placed one as did Green, Yellow placed two as did Brown, then Green placed one then Red did the same. But how did Green get ahead of Red?

My copy shows the same thing, but it must be a poor example, whichever way you're meant to use. It's neither ordered nor random!

None-So-Pretty wrote:
Babel Fish translates the line up: The starting list must be selected in such a way that all elephants stand directly one behind the other, without an empty field lies between them.

Well I think this simply means they have to be in a line with no gaps, starting from the little temple.

None-So-Pretty wrote:
Or do you set aside twice the number of tree field/spaces as you have players [ref. Adams], in the pictured example that would be eight, from START. So Red Player picked spaces #1&8, Green #2&7, Yellow#3&4, leaving Brown with #5&6, right? That is the only way the second Green could appear to come before the second Red

Well Google translates "beliebiger reihenfolge" as "arbitrary sequence". I would go with DougAdams method, but maybe you just draw the elepahnts randomly and place them. I'm not sure there really is an advantage early in the game. After all, you get to choose which elephants move when, so you should be able to catch up.

But you do start from the little house temple and place your elephants in turn, one space at a time, going forwards along the jungle track.

Looking at the later illos, showing jumping, it shows the order as brown, green, yellow, orange, brown, green, yellow, orange. Which is even more confusing.

None-So-Pretty wrote:
The second questions is, if the youngest player moves first, is the first set-up the first move? And then you follow clockwise or something. Or doe the youngest player set up first AND move first? Seem like double-dipping to me!

If the youngest player is the start player, and you follow the DougAdams set-up, then they will be 8th and 1st place. Then the next player closckwise is placing 7th & 2nd and so on. So then, after all elephants are down, the youngest gets first moves. But you don't have to move your own elephants. In a 4 player game, you always must move one of your opponents elephants.

I think the rules as they are writ are a bit confusing, but I wouldn't put too much weight on the starying moves. The game is much more about timing than position. But lagging behind is a killer.

I hope this helps.
Cheers,
jon.

I just noticed the final rule! We never did that!

Thread: Still confused about the SetUp

None-So-Pretty — 2007-07-06T02:25:09+00:00

I played the game twice tonight with 13 year old son...due to some slight-of-hand issues, we played the second game with yellow&green elephants VS brown&red elephants. This color grouping made it clearer in a two person game to tell which elephant had been moved.
But I have two questions, one related to set-up. DougAdams says that as players take it in turns to place their elephants on the first eight squares of the board, he uses Settler-type switchback setup. I still don't understand. The illustration makes it appear you can put down one OR two beasts at a time. My Ravensburger illustration looks like Red, Green, Yellow, Yellow, Brown, Brown, Green, Red. As though Red placed one as did Green, Yellow placed two as did Brown, then Green placed one then Red did the same. But how did Green get ahead of Red? Babel Fish translates the line up: The starting list must be selected in such a way that all elephants stand directly one behind the other, without an empty field lies between them. Or do you set aside twice the number of tree field/spaces as you have players [ref. Adams], in the pictured example that would be eight, from START. So Red Player picked spaces #1&8, Green #2&7, Yellow#3&4, leaving Brown with #5&6, right? That is the only way the second Green could appear to come before the second Red
The second questions is, if the youngest player moves first, is the first set-up the first move? And then you follow clockwise or something. Or doe the youngest player set up first AND move first? Seem like double-dipping to me!
RSVP

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FitisGames.be — 2007-01-05T16:20:52+00:00

Dutch version

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William Hunt — 2006-10-28T22:43:15+00:00

Dutch edition

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frogmind — 2006-08-22T20:14:09+00:00

Thread: Re: Water spaces?

nello — 2006-07-07T06:01:22+00:00

correct answer

Thread: Re: Water spaces?

cktjharris — 2006-06-27T15:13:30+00:00

We think of it this way:
If an elephant is moving and it reaches an empty water space, it gets stuck in the waterhole immediately. Any remaining movement that you had assigned to the elephant is lost because the elephant is now stuck.

So, yes to both of your questions.

Thread: Water spaces?

ivefa9 — 2005-12-17T17:08:15+00:00

Hi to you all,

I own this old game by Ravensburger and would like to have some points to be clear up about the water blue space:

- When I pass on a blue space, do I have to stop even if my choice of number of spaces is not reach? For example, I choose a move of 3 spaces. If I reach the blue space on my second move, do I have to stop? And if yes, do I consider my choice of 3 spaces made even if I reach 2 spaces?

Hope you understand what I mean, and hope that someone here has this game and remember how to play it on this particular rule…

Thanks,

..Yves

Thread: Re: collecting logs

drswirly — 2005-08-10T10:12:10+00:00

When an elephant collects a log, the _log_ is removed from the board and goes to the player. The elephant stays and trundles on.

Thread: Re: collecting logs

cktjharris — 2005-07-06T16:29:36+00:00

The game always ends when the third elephant reaches the middle, never before.

Thread: collecting logs

Michael Becker — 2005-04-15T05:44:48+00:00

Hi everyone,

The translated version of this game seems to indicate when an elephant collects a log on a brown square it is removed from the board. If that is correct, a four player game will probably end with no elephants reaching the center squares. Can anyone post a correct translation in English??? If indeed, that is the correct way to play I give this game a 2/10 on the rating scale. Yuck.

Thanks,
Michael

Thread: Session Report

EYE of NiGHT — 2003-10-06T20:42:51+00:00

Richard wanted another go at Europa Tour, but I said No! We're going to play Elefantenparade. And that's what we did play. I really like this game, very very simple rules, lovely wood bits, great for 3 or 4 players, the epitome of german gaming. You should definately add this to your collection.

And another easy win for me. I managed to get Ian and Richard split off the back early and picked up a lead in logs. But Ian sprung a trick on me and cleverly moved my lead pachiderm OVER the next logs! This woke Richard up, and suddenly our tactics changed. And in the mix, Richard brought his two elephants right to the big house, only to be pipped by my final move. I bagged the 3 logs for first in, winning me the game. If Richard and Ian had co-operated a bit more at the rear, it would have been closer, but it still had a tight finish.

And so they left, 7.45pm, 4 games in 5.5 hours. Better than last week, and Tikal eats time, but not fast enough. More games more games.

Hey, I just realised, a clean sweep for me! I won all the games! Fab!

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EYE of NiGHT — 2002-08-10T17:26:20+00:00

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EYE of NiGHT — 2002-08-10T17:25:02+00:00

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EYE of NiGHT — 2002-08-10T17:25:00+00:00

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EYE of NiGHT — 2002-08-10T17:24:58+00:00

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2002-08-10T17:24:56+00:00

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-07-21T13:09:17+00:00

A second playing, Jeff winding up down the back straight with the peleton fractured and struggling to get back together to catch up the leader.

Iain: “You call this a filler?!?” as he sits poring over his move possibilities.
Pat: “Well it’s a thinker filler”

It all proved ugly in the end though.

Scores: Jeff 9, Pat 3, Craig and Iain 2

A rating of 5 after 2 plays; ok, filler might be a bit much - there’s a fair bit of quiet thought involved. I’m still not sure how much control over the outcome you have though.

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-07-14T16:04:08+00:00

Each player gets 2 pretty cool 5cm wooden elephants. There’s a track (winding back) that contains a special brown space every 15 spaces or so, each containing 2 sticks. The first elephant to land on these collect the sticks. The first 3 elephants to complete the track get 3, 2 and 1 sticks respectively. Most sticks (from the 16 available) wins.

A turn consists of either calling an Elephant Parade (ie moving every elephant 1 space) OR moving any 3 elephants of your choice - one 3 spaces, one 2 spaces and one 1 space in any order. There’s only 1 elephant allowed per space, so elephants leapfrog - a move of 1 space is actually to the next empty space.

The usual go then is to move your two elephants 2 and 3 spaces, and the elephant in last place 1 space, unless you need to move something else to achieve max effective movement. Naturally you want to setup to be able to be first on the brown spaces. Unfortunately there’s usually a water space just before the brown spaces. The first elephant in gets bogged and can’t move until someone calls an elephant parade or until all other elephants are passed him. So you want to be cannily placed not too close to the front (otherwise someone will plonk you in the water) but close enough to take advantage of someone else going in the water and you getting to the sticks.

Sadly, with 4 players there seems to be little control available to set up in this way. As each move turn moves the collective elephant mass 6 spaces further forward, things will either turn out your way (ie there’s now enough elephants between you and the sticks to leapfrog there) or it won’t. If it doesn’t, it generally happens that your forced 6 space move will result in the next player being able to get there regardless of what you actually move. Which becomes depressing after a while ;-)

In our game, Rob jumped to an early lead claiming 4 of the first 6 sticks, but Rick got his elephant home first to come back from the dead.

Scores: Rick & Rob 5, Nick 4, Pat 2

A rating of 5 after 1 play; average, take it or leave it. I’d like to try this with 3 players as it will likely improve with more control. But the game seems largely processional (and take that how you wish). It’s very quick to explain, so could easily fill a 30 minute semi-thinker filler category, but it’s more a quiet game in a calc-y way rather than a ‘fun’ game. How they ever got a theme that features elephants leapfrogging and laying down their coats over puddles is beyond me though.

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Roger Smith writes:

Tina and Janet: 5 sticks
Debbie: 4 sticks
Roger: 2 sticks

A new game for Tina and Debbie. I was suffering from a bad cold and my brain just wasn't working. This is a tough game at the best of times, so why I suggested it, I will never know. I neglected my second 'fant, resulting in him being left so far behind the rest of the pack as to be effectively out of play and ruining my chance of a halfway decent score. The others were all quite even, so much so that I got to play kingmaker on my last turn, enabling Janet to draw with Tina.

Roger's rating: 7

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Doug writes:

When Billabong invaded Roger and Dey's a few weeks ago, there was something about the interior of their house that, well, stood out. Elephants. Lots of elephants! Dey collects lots of things of the elephant persuasion, so of course the old game Elefantenparade had to be mentioned to them. Julian was the only Billabonger to have seen and played this game, which Yucata is apparently derived from. After Yucata proved to be a hit, a copy of Elefantenparade was quickly hunted down and acquired.

With only four players on deck, we decided to try it out again (we'd played it a few nights earlier). The game involves a line of eight elephants, two per player. On a turn, a player may move three elephants one, two and three spaces respectively, or declare an elephant parade which moves every elephant one space. Movement is along a track that starts on the outside of the board and spirals inwards to the center. Along the way there are special spaces that contain logs. The object of the game is to land your elephant on these spaces and claim the logs there. Bonus logs are paid for the first three tuskers across the finish line.

It's such a simple game, but a couple of things turn it into a brain draining experience. Firstly, there are a few blue water spaces on the track. If an elephant enters one of them, it must stay there until all elephants are passed or a parade is called. Second, movement is counted by the number of free spaces, not occupied (similar to how you score in Ursuppe). This makes plotting a move very difficult; it's just not intuitive to see how the board will look after a move.

In our game I managed to pick up the first set of logs - there are two logs each in these special spaces. Roger picked up the second set of logs, but I had a nice lead over the pack. I decided it was in my best interests to move Janet's elephant to pick up the third set of logs, evening out the load, and go for the finish line for the three bonus logs on offer there.

Somehow my lead elephant got the break on the field, so my three logs were assured (almost!). I then concentrated on trying to give Dey two logs so Roger couldn't take the win off me by claiming second place and two logs. Well, it sort of worked, as I won the game, but I'm uncertain as to just how much control I had over the win. Fun, and frustrating. Especially as the others didn't trumpet loudly to celebrate my win, as instructed by the rules!

Logs claimed:
Doug: 5
Roger: 4
Janet: 4
Dey: 3

Doug's rating: 7 (up from 6)

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Julian writes:

[See Doug's review for scores. I stuffed up here and thought I was writing the EP review, so rather than let it go to waste... Might be interesting to compare it to Doug's.]

Dey and I were the first to arrive at Doug and Janet's and had once again brought along our pre-loved copy of Elefanten Parade which arrived from Funagain last week. This was the second time the four of us had played the game together, and despite the cries of "too cerebral for the Billabongers" it seems to be a success. Our first play inevitably saw us comparing it with Yucata'. I think we all agree that while, superficially, Yucata' has some elements in common with EP, there are more differences than similarities. In particular they are very different to play, with EP being slower and more intense.

Each player aims to gather the most logs using their two elephants. Logs are gathered as your elephants progress to the centre of the board (which the Yucata' board DOES somewhat resemble). If you land exactly on one of the four spaces containing two logs each, you can pick them up. The first elephant home gets three extra logs, the second two, and the third one. Also along the way are four waterholes. If your elephant lands in a waterhole, you can't move it out again until all other elephants have passed. The movement system is unique and interesting. Each turn you can either a) move one elephant three spaces, another two spaces, and a third one space, or b) call an elephant parade, where every elephant is moved forward one space (this is the only way to get out of a waterhole without waiting for the other elephants to pass). Note that if you choose to use the first move option you can move any three elephants - not necessarily your own. When moving elephants you only count empty squares; consequently there is a lot of elephant leapfrog taking place.

There is a good balance of offensive and defensive strategy. The former involves trying to set your elephants up so they are in a position to take logs on your turn. The latter includes dropping your opponents' elephants in the drink and moving them past the logs they were planning to take. Often such a move must be setup by one player and implemented by the next (because you can only move an elephant once on your turn). Opportunities seem to sneak up on you. For example, being the last elephant in the pack might seem to indicate you are coming last, however a move of as little as one space can take you to the front, and all of a sudden those logs seem to be in reach. Similarly those logs several spaces away are frustratingly just out of reach of your elephant - until you move two other elephants ahead of yours and use your third move to jump over them onto the log square.

One question arose re. the setup. Players take it in turns to place their elephants on the first eight squares of the board. We are not sure if the intention is to place them one or two at a time, therefore we have been using a Settler-type switchback setup. This seems to work OK. Any comments?

An enjoyable, challenging game and one that we have hardly begun to work out. The wooden elephants are cute too.

Roger's rating: 7.5