Game: Canyon

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jsper — 2008-09-10T21:22:41+00:00

Promotional sheet in german

Thread: Rules question: movement "forward"?

facesnorth — 2008-09-02T01:14:28+00:00

The rules state that you must move forward if possible. This takes a lot of strategy out of movement. But also raises a question. At what point during the turn around the canyon does "forward" change directions? Does it ever become diagonal? Or does it just shift to the side at some point? It would be nice to get over closer to the canyon leading up to the turn, but not possible if you are in the leading spot, because you must move "forward".

Is this a poor German translation or the correct rule?

Thread: A Canoe Race and Trick-Taking Card Game All in One

dagny21 — 2008-07-11T06:46:28+00:00

I admit it. I'm addicted to board games and I'm intent on dragging my family down with me. The latest addition to my collection was a used copy of Canyon, a trick-taking card game driven canoe racing game intended for 3 players ages 10 and up.

What You Get
~1 fold-out game board
~6 round wooden playing tokens that represent canoes
~1 black wooden marker
~30 tempo cards
~50 playing cards
~1 illustrated rulebook in several languages

How to Play

The Basics
This game is a combination between a racing board game and a simple trick-taking card game. Players play a card game hand and the course of the hand determines how quickly they get to move down the river. The first player to get their playing piece all the way from the start of the race around a winding canyon, and through rapids to a landing space at the end wins the game. Bonuses are given for predicting the number of tricks you will take during any given hand.

Set Up
To set up the game, have each player choose a color and place his chosen token on one of the 6 starting spots on the board. Give him the 5 "tempo" cards in his matching color. Place the black marker on the round chart on the board, on the space marked "1". Shuffle cards and deal 8 to each player for the start of the first round.

Course of Each Round
Each round of play consists of 5 phases:
1) Cards are dealt and a trump card is turned up.
2) Players look at their hands and predict how many tricks they think they will be able to take during that round. They declare their prediction by turning up the appropriate tempo card.
3) Players play the card game.
4) Players move their canoe markers down the river
5) The black round marker is moved 1 space on the chart

The Card Game
Determine who will be the first dealer. That person an equal number of cards to each player (in the first hand it is 8). The rest of the cards go into the center as the draw pile. The dealer then turns up the first card on that pile to reveal the color of the trump for that hand. Players then look at their hands to determine how many tricks they think they can take and display the appropriate tempo card. The player to the left of the dealer is the starting player for the hand. He chooses a card from his hand to lay face up on the board. In a clockwise direction, each of the other players also lays down 1 card. Players must follow suit if they can. If they can't, they can lay down any card they wish. They can play a trump card but are not required to. The trick is taken by the player who lays down the highest trump card. If no trump is played, the trick is won by the player who lays down the highest card in the starting suit. Once the trick is won, the winning player leads by laying down any card in his hand. Play continues until all cards in the players hands are exhausted.

The Race
Once the hand is over, it's time to move your canoes. Players move their canoes in the same order as the hand was played (starting player going first, then play going around the table clockwise). During the first part of the race, players move their canoes the number of spaces equal to the number of tricks they took during the round, plus the number of their bonus for accurate prediction. Movement proceeds this way on each round until players reach the rapids section near the end of the race. Once they reach this area, they only get to move forward if they predict their number of tricks exactly, and then they only move the number of bonus spaces. If they predict incorrectly, they are pushed one space by the rapids, in the direction of the waterfall. If they go over the waterfall they must start again at the top of the rapids. There are a few other rules for movement throughout the race, the most important being that no canoe can occupy the same space.

The Round Marker
After all canoes have moved, the round marker moves one space on the chart. As mentioned, the first round players have 8 cards. Each successive round players have 1 fewer card, until they are down to just 1 card. After this point, each successive round the number of cards is increased by one until the players have 8 cards again. Should the race still go on, the card numbers begin decreasing again. This can continue indefinitely. In order to keep track, the round marker is moved around the chart one space each round. This chart tells you how many cards are to be dealt on that hand.

What We Like

The Combination
Trick-taking games are basically boring to me. However, they are simple, and combining a simple trick-taking game with a racing board game makes the whole thing quite fun. Rolling dice or spinning a spinner to determine movement would be boring. Playing a trick-taking card game is boring. Combining the two somehow creates good fun.

The Changing Rounds
The ever changing number of cards in a hand also adds to the variety in play. Some hands are short, some are long. The short hands rely on increased luck and you have less control over the results, but their effect on the movement of the race is less also. In the longer hands you have more control and more opportunity to jump ahead.

The Rapids
The first part of the race goes very quickly. I was surprised by how quickly in fact. Once players reach the rapids, though, things slow down quite a bit and get pretty interesting. I was worried that this would become frustrating or feel endless. But although you have to think a little harder about your predictions and players do occasionally go over the falls and are set back, but it's not endless or completely out of control. It took several hands for someone to get from the start of the rapids to the end of the race, but it didn't take too long, and only one of us went over the falls one time during our first play of the game.

Children and Adults Enjoy
Playing this game is simple enough that my 7 year old grasps it easily, but there is enough thinking involved that adults can enjoy it. It's a good family game in that way.

Time to Play
It takes us about an hour to get through this game with 3 players. The way it works with dividing the same number of available tricks amongst higher number of players, a game is going to take longer with more players. I'm not sure I'd want to play this game with 6 people, because of that. However, for the three of us, a game that takes about an hour is ideal for an evening where we only want to play one game.

What We Don't Like
The Board is Cheap
The cards are good quality and the wooden playing pieces and marker are also very nice. So, why is the board so flimsy? It's a small complaint in an otherwise nice game, but still it seems like they could have given us a thicker board.

Age Range
I think the age rating of 10 and older on this game is ridiculous. The card game is extremely simple and my 7 year old has no trouble at all with it. The strategy of the game is very simple and there is enough luck involved that young children have just as much chance at winning as anyone else does.

Price
I got this game for free, but I hear it retails for about $28.00. That seems about right for a game like this with wooden components, good cards, and even a cheaply made board.

Final Thoughts
Fans of card games and fans of racing games will enjoy this one. It's a good family game that can be enjoyed by both adults and children, and anyone in between.

Thread: Re: Seeking rules in English

loonling — 2008-03-03T23:38:47+00:00

SteveK2 wrote:
Amigo's website has a link to PDFs in a number of languages, including English (on this page, click the British flag at the bottom of the page):
http://www.abacusspiele.de/Spiele/familie/canyon.htm

Link has changed to:
http://www.abacusspiele.de/neueseite/index.php?m=spiele&cati...

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GeoMan — 2007-06-29T21:37:17+00:00

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myadestes — 2007-05-12T00:57:01+00:00

purple pulls away

Thread: Re: Do you move as in rapids when coming out of the cave?

davidme — 2007-02-19T15:58:41+00:00

The question is whether you get to move with any bid or do you have to make the bid exactly (as in the rapids). I think the cave should be part of the rapids, except if the bid isn't made exactly, the canoeist just stays in the cave rather than being pulled by the current. The other option is to just move as normal when not in rapids (whether the bid is made exactly or not).

Dunno what you mean about getting out being difficult. I could be missing something?

Thread: Re: Do you move as in rapids when coming out of the cave?

Verkisto — 2007-02-19T13:49:22+00:00

The arrows are there just to tell you where to drift if you don't make your bid, so you can still make it out of the cave if you get sucked down the waterfall. Granted, it's not easy to do, but it's possible....

Thread: Do you move as in rapids when coming out of the cave?

davidme — 2007-02-19T07:24:48+00:00

We played where you do since you can reach the finish line within 7 moves (as the rapids are 7 deep), but the cave point doesn't have an arrow like the rest of the rapids, so I can see it either way.

Thread: Canyon - A Light Review

Neil Thomson — 2007-01-03T05:06:30+00:00

All of my reviews aim to offer a brief overview that allows people to get a good feel for what the game may offer them. I feel that other reviews can be sought if detailed game mechanics is what you are after.

I need to start by stating that Canyon is essentially a board game version of ‘Oh Heck’, but you may know this trick taking card game by one of a thousand other names it has been given over the years. I must also state that the game play of Canyon is essentially this card game re-themed to a board. If you haven’t been blown away by this introduction then don’t despair as Canyon is still worth a look.

The theme for Canyon comes straight from its name. Each player controls a canoe and the aim is to be the first player to successfully make your way around the canyon and through the rapids at the end to the finish point. In addition to the board and canoes, the game consists of 50 cards in 5 colours (valued 1-10 in each colour). These are the suits used for playing and taking tricks. Finally each player receives 5 bid cards ranging from value 0-4.

The first hand begins with the deck being shuffled and each player receiving 10 cards. A final card is drawn from the deck and turned face up to display the trump coloursuit for the hand. The player’s then make a bid on how many tricks they will take by selecting one of their bid cards. Of course this selection is kept secret and all the players must reveal their selection at the same time. High bids usually signify a hand full of trumps or high valued cards. It is possible to bid for more than 4 tricks by combining and adding bid cards together.

The hand is then played out by a lead player (person after the dealer) playing a card. The other players then play in order by following suit, throwing off or trumping in. The winner of the trick then leads for the next trick. The hand ends when the last trick is won and the players consult their bids to see if they were successful. If a player’s bid was accurate they earn 1, 2 or 3 bonus moves plus one point per trick. The total is how far they can move their canoe around the canyon. Player’s that missed their bid may move one place for each trick won.

This is essentially the game of Canyon. A track in the top corner of the board uses a marker that is moved after each hand. This shows how many cards are dealt each hand and just as in ‘Up and Down the River’, one less card is dealt each hand until a hand only has one card dealt to each player. Future hands then begin to climb again towards ten.

The final addition to Canyon is the use of the Rapids at the end of the canyon. These are used to help slow down the winners and allow the players at the rear to catch up and make the game close. Canoes can only move in the rapids if the player gets their bid correct. If not then the canoe moves down the rapids towards the bottom of the board. If a canoe drops off the bottom, it will go back to a cave at the start of the rapids.

The Final Word

Canyon is really just a clever remake of an already popular game, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. My family have enjoyed ‘Oh Heck’ for years and we will play this version over the original any day. A great game if you have a mum like me who prefers more traditional fare.

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Verkisto — 2006-10-20T16:24:41+00:00

Where's Grunspan?? (Detail of the cover art.)

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Verkisto — 2006-10-20T16:15:01+00:00

Sample of each suit of cards. Note the symbols, which help when playing with colorblind players.

Thread: Re: Seeking rules in English

Mariana — 2006-03-23T08:06:58+00:00

Jazzuu wrote:
Thanks Steve, I too have been looking for a copy of the rules for a wee while now.

Now, if I could only get the English rules for Das Faultier.

If you have the German rules & can mail them to me, I can translate them.

Cheers,
Stefanie

Thread: Re: Seeking rules in English

Jazzuu — 2006-03-20T00:20:32+00:00

Thanks Steve, I too have been looking for a copy of the rules for a wee while now.

Now, if I could only get the English rules for Das Faultier.

Thread: Re: Seeking rules in English

SteveK2 — 2006-03-14T09:35:12+00:00

Amigo's website has a link to PDFs in a number of languages, including English (on this page, click the British flag at the bottom of the page):
http://www.abacusspiele.de/Spiele/familie/canyon.htm

Thread: Seeking rules in English

LittlePegasus — 2006-03-14T03:09:50+00:00

Seeking the rules in English...

Thread: Review of Canyon

djbrickhaus — 2005-10-23T07:49:33+00:00

Gameplay: Canyon is basically a trick taking card game with a board as a point tracking device. The deck has six suits with cards numbered 1-10 in each suit. Then, one card is flipped over from the remaining cards and the suit represented is the trump suit. Each hand each player is dealt a certain number of cards. A chart on the board tells you how many cards you get each turn. The number of cards ranges from 1-7 or 8. Each player determines a blind bid, and they reveal simultaneously. Then play begins and the trick taking is similar to Euchre, Hearts, or Wizard. For every trick you take, you get to move your canoe piece one space around the river. If you make your bid exactly, you will get bonus moves. This allows a person to bid 0 tricks and still move their canoe. Game progresses this way until a player moves their canoe from the starting docks to the ending docks. There are several pinch points on the board, and since you can not move through other people's playing pieces, you can effectively block other player's progress. Near the end of the board, there is a waterfall section. In this section, there are two rule changes. First, you may only use your bonus points for making your bid to move in this area. Second, each space has an arrow, and your piece will move one space in the direction of the arrow at the end of the turn. If you fall off the map, your canoe is reset to the beginning of the waterfall section, but not the beginning of the game.

Length: About an hour with six people.

Review: I think that the game is OK. It is a trick taking game with only one change. The canoe movement can be frustrating because if the player directly in front of you is not moving very far, you could potentially lose many movement points because the must be forfeited because they block your path. The movement around the board seems to take away from the other part of the game. Additionally, the waterfall area can extend the game unnecessarily especially if the players are out to "get" the player in the lead by playing cards in a manner to make them miss their bid. If I wanted to play a game like this, I would reach for Wizard long before I reached for this one.

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EJKemp — 2005-03-01T21:12:08+00:00

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EJKemp — 2005-03-01T21:12:08+00:00

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GeoMan — 2004-12-05T23:58:36+00:00

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GeoMan — 2004-12-05T23:58:36+00:00

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nerotora — 2004-11-29T12:58:50+00:00

Thread: Session Report

gsilva — 2004-11-16T16:05:22+00:00

First Session Report, so bear with me....
With about an hour today to spare, TJ, Mary and I decided a quick game of Canyon would hit the spot. I started slow. Very slow. At one point, their five year old daughter commented on it by saying, "That color doesn't seem to move very much" or something similar. Laughs all around. By the time we got to the rapids section, I had caught up, and then the game goes in to slow motion. I enjoy this game as much as other trick taking games, like Rage, but I loathe the end game. TJ had already fallen over the rapids once, Mary was close, and I was two spaces from the end when we bunched up again. It was a five trick round, and TJ thought he could make them all. I bid conservatively at one, and Mary tried for two. No trump in my hand, and I figured TJ had five. He pulled the first four tricks on trump, but his luck ran out when my yellow six beat his lead yellow four to end it. My wins against him come rare enough, so I'll take it!
This game really has its' moments, but the end game can turn a light beer and pretzels game into a long, drawn out nightmare.

Thread: Session Report

Taxers — 2004-05-06T02:30:18+00:00

I finally got a chance to play Canyon, which was a gift to me from my Germany-refugee friend, Russ. Six of us started the game.

We all enjoyed the five suits. Five suits made it much less likely that a high off-trump card would not get trumped. That is, until you get to the final trick that you DON'T want.

I was lodged in 3rd place approaching the rapids. By luck (it was each of our first times playing the game) I was able to take two tricks for the +3 bonus and launch my canoe far into the rapids. This shot me to the lead and I was able to play safe to get home. My fellow players enjoyed the game so much that they played until the 5th and 6th places were determined!

I'm certain we will play again.

Thread: User Review

manowarplayer — 2002-11-13T02:48:06+00:00

This Bidding/Trick Taking/Trump variant of the card game Oh Hell is a perfect example of a good card game being made into a great "board" game. The deck consists of 5 colors of cards numbered 1-10. You are dealt a hand (# of cards varies each turn) and then bid on how many "tricks" you will win during the ensuing round. After the deal, the top card is turned over which becomes "Trump" for this round of play. Like other trump based games, you must "follow in color" (play the same color card) of the card that was "led" (the 1st card played by the player to the dealer's left) unless you don't have any of that color which allows you to play any color you desire.

The idea is to have the highest value card of the color led after everyone has played a card (which constitutes a "trick"). For example, if someone plays a BLUE 5, the next player plays a BLUE 3, the next a BLUE 7 and finally the last player (who has no BLUE) plays a GREEN 5 - then the player with the BLUE 7 takes all the cards and wins this trick. If the last player had a card of the Trump color (let's say trump was RED, he could play ANY RED card to "steal" the trick away from the player with the BLUE 7. The key thing to remember with Trump cards is that ANY trump card (even the lowest value card of 1, will beat ANY card of the led color. So a RED 1 will still steal the trick if a BLUE 10 had been played. The key to winning is to evaluate your hand properly and Bid correctly.

Unlike other card games with a cribbage board, Canyon uses a game board that is designed like a river flowing through a steep canyon and the players markers are canoes instead of pegs. Canyon also throughs a few wrenches into moving your marker or canoe. In this game, you move your marker based upon your relationship to where the dealer sits, so the person leading will move first and the dealer last. This means you could get a great hand, bid correctly and win it and then STILL not be able to move due to being blocked by another player. BLOCKED? Yes, the board itself is also different than a cribbage board as it widens and narrows (the canyon landscape) and it has obstacles on it as well. Some areas allow only one canoe through at a time and you are NOT allowed to jump another opponent, so maneuvering to block the others is also key to winning.

You get to move 1 space for each trick you win and you also get extra movement bonuses for bidding correctly - but you must hit your bid exactly to get the bonus, otherwise its just one space per trick you took. Sometimes, it doesn't hurt YOU to take more than what you bid, but it does prevent someone else from getting all the tricks they need - another good strategy.

Finally, on the last portion of the board (the Waterfall) you are only allowed to move the BONUS amount - ignoring the number of tricks you have taken. You MUST get your bid exactly otherwise you cannot move forward and are moved towards the waterfall inthe direction of the current marked on the board (pushing others along with you). This section does a couple of things, it slows down the winners (slower people can catch up) and it forces the leaders to bid well to win - two great design mechanics to help prevent runaway victories.

Games are fast and fun and often the person in last place most of the game sneaks through to victory. There was (still is?) a free expansion from Rio Grande that adds Indian "personalities" to the game which give players a special ability for one turn (jumping, pushing, miss bid by one, ect...). This "expansion" balances the game even further as the player in last place get's 1st pick of the Indians (and that player needs help the most!)and the player in 1st place usually gets one that is of little or no help.

My group thoroughly enjoys Canyon and it's suitable for the younger set too as my 8 and 9 year old niece and nephew play it (maybe not with all the nuance of an adult). Give it a try, you may find that Canyon to be an exhilarating ride!

Thread: Session Report

MarkEJohnson — 2002-11-10T18:58:02+00:00

Like I always say, one of these days I'll get to try Grand Canyon, but we didn't have enough time for that this week. This is a pretty simple, attractive, enjoyable trick-taking game in the Oh Hell family, but with a scoreboard that allows some blocking. What's not to like? Jonathan leaped into the lead, but Dave was on his tail. I fell way behind, but Canyon's endgame gives everyone a chance to catch up. Jonathan and Dave both missed chances to win a turn early, and in the end it was a 3-way tie between them and Winton. (Is there a tiebreaker rule?) Simple fun, would love to play this more often.

Thread: Session Report

MarkEJohnson — 2002-11-10T18:58:02+00:00

It looks like a boardgame, and I suppose you could argue that it is, but I think it's a card game with a fancy scoreboard. And I mean that in a good way. Yep, Ryan picked another favorite. We thought about the Grand Canyon expansion for a moment, but everyone agreed to play the basic game first. Makes sense. Early on I made a move that really screwed Greg W, blocking him completely on a turn when he scored 4! Is it too early for me to play so mean? Naw..... :-) (I'm sure what goes around will come around, soon enough!) I plan to play this one at Games Day this weekend, finally trying the Grand Canyon expansion.

Thread: Session Report

Dan Bosley — 2002-04-04T17:41:36+00:00

Dan here. Myself, Wendy, Dave, Chris and Claire embarked on a game of Canyon. Canyon hasn't received stunning reviews in the gaming press, but it is a pleasant, fun little game. It basically is a trick-taking card game, with a board used to add some strategy to the scoring. If you're not into card games, or trick-taking games, then you probably won't care for Canyon. One note: a lot of "non-gamers" who have never played German games do like playing card games - and for that reason, Canyon makes an excellent choice as an "introductory" German game. It offers something that they are already familiar with (trick-taking with cards), but offers a few new wrinkles.

Basically, if you enjoy trick-taking games, then you will like Canyon, as it offers just that little bit more to the basic card-play. Canyon can be played with a number of variations, including the official "Grand Canyon" variant.

But as I was the only one who had played before, we played with the bare-bones basic game - the only exception being that players' bids were all revealed simultaneously, instead of one at a time.

If you know how to play games like Oh Hell, Up the River, Wizard (or basic Whist, for that matter...) then you already know how to play the card-portion of the game. You must follow suit if able - high card takes the trick, or highest trump if a trump is played.

Canyon's 1st wrinkle is that there are 5 suits instead of 4, numbered from 1 to 10. The game starts with each player getting 8 cards, and the top card of the remainder of the deck being turned up for trump. Each subsequent deal, the number of cards decreases - thus on the 2nd hand, each player only receives 7 cards. On the 3rd hand, 6 cards and so on. Once you reach 1 card, then you start going back up to 8 cards again.

So, after being dealt your cards, you must bid how many tricks you think you will take. Then everyone plays the cardgame portion. Now comes the Canyon part.

Instead of simply scoring number of tricks taken with a piece of paper and a pencil, the game of Canyon uses a board of a somewhat-horseshoe-shaped river. The river is marked off in squares. Each player is racing their canoe around the horseshoe-shaped river from their home to the happy hunting grounds. Whoever gets there first, wins.

How well you do at the card-game portion of the game determines how fast you will go on the river.

In the main portion of the river, you get to more one space per trick taken, PLUS you get to move a bonus number of spaces as well IF your bid was correct.

If you bid zero, and take zero tricks, then you get a bonus of one. So you would move one space, even though you took no tricks.

If you bid any number other than zero, and you take zero tricks, then tough, buddy. You're caught in an eddy in the river, and you don't move.

If you bid 1 trick, and get it, the bonus is 2 spaces. Thus, if you bid one trick, and take only one trick, you actually get to move 3 spaces - 1 space for the trick itself, and 2 spaces for the bonus. If you bid 1 trick and take 2 or more tricks, then you get no bonus. But you still get to move a number of spaces equal to the number of tricks you took.

Finally, if you bid 2 or more tricks, and are correct, you get a bonus of 3 spaces. So you could easily move 5 or more spaces if you bid correctly with 2 or more tricks taken.

As you can see, accurate bidding will help propel your canoe through the water at a much more efficient rate.

In the last section of the river are the rapids. Movement rules change in this section. You no longer move anything at all for general trick-taking. Now, you only move the amount of the bonus if your bid was correct. If your bid was wrong, then you move one space towards the waterfall. And if you do that too often, over the falls you will go, to a rather wet and not very glorious ending. However, being the staunch player you are, you may try to race through the rapids again after hauling your canoe up around the side of the rocks again.

So in the rapids, accuracy in bidding is very important. If you're right, you get to move towards the shore. If you're wrong, you're one step closer to going over the falls.

And finally, the river itself has some obstacles - rocks and things. This can create some interesting blocking situations. During the card-play, the player to the dealer's left starts. (the dealer changes every hand). And when it comes time to move the canoes, again, the player to the dealer's left moves first.

As a result of various river obstacles, and where you come in turn movement, and how you decide to move, it is possible to purposely block canoes behind you. Which causes the blocked canoeist to curse assorted river vulgarities, as he must paddle about aimlessly, unable to go where he wants to go because some other slowpoke is blocking him. Not that this happened to me of course. More than about 3 times.

Anyhow, Claire started off the race, paddling like mad and getting the rest of us all wet in her wake. Wendy and Dave then tag-teamed and blocked off the early narrows of the river so that yours truly was forced to paddle about aimlessly. As already mentioned.

Chris meanwhile kept bidding to take too many tricks, and then actually taking zero. For awhile, he just went fishing. Didn't catch anything, though.

Claire entered the rapids first, water splashing everywhere. I had to get up twice and get a towel. Wendy and Dave weren't far behind though. Chris and I kept paddling backwards to see who could go the slowest.

Claire seemed to have a firm grip on the lead - the finishing pier was in sight. But then Wendy attached an outboard motor to her canoe and zoomed 6 spaces in one turn. Since she cleverly timed this just before the rapids started, she managed to shoot out into the rough water almost neck and neck with Claire. They started light-sabering with their paddles. It was a sight to behold.

We men stayed back, out of harm's way. Finally, in the final hand, Wendy claimed her one trick and two bonus points to surge ahead to the landing pier and a first place finish. The rest of us stopped paddling and caught our breaths. Only Wendy and Claire made it through the rapids.
We more cautious menfolk were still enjoying the scenery.

After that exhilarating race, we forgot to rate the game. But based on the comments, I would estimate the game being a solid 7 in general. That is - 9 if you really like trick-taking games, and 5 if you don't like trick-taking games.

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-07-21T13:09:15+00:00

Our closer was this Oh Hell variant, Rob’s eagerness the catalyst. We played the Grand Canyon variant, and it featured a sweeping fast track into the rapids via 3 connected double arrow tiles and a maze of rocks up the first straight.

Kevin and I leapfrogged each other up the front. I stuck one space short of the rapids, trying to get the big play to move me smartly across, whilst Kevin progressed slowly through the rapids. Eventually Rob and Nick and I were all within a space of each other with just 2 or 3 spaces to the finish. The game featured a few Mad Moves from 1 to 8 cards and back again depending on who wanted big bonuses and who didn’t. Eventually it got to the position where I was moving first and needed a call of 0 / bonus of 1 to win (my leapfrog would get me there). A mad move of a 1 card round was called. I called 0 leading the 9 green, praying for a blue trump out there. Believe it or not, no trumps but Nick held the green 10.

This game was a bit long (90 minutes) for what it is, a light card playing romp. It has a wonderful catch up mechanism going, but still rewards going hard for the win from the start if the cards favour you.

A rating of 6 after 4 plays; good for the occasional play. It’s fun, neat theme, neat art and bits, lots of luck.

Thread: Session Report

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

Doug writes:

Alan, David, Bernie, Moray and myself decided to try this supposedly quick Oh Hell variant, while Julian kept Liz, Dey and Roger at bay in Scotland Yard. Jarrod had to leave, but promised to return in two weeks.

This game was new to the other players, I had played it a month or so earlier and enjoyed it as a lighter and much faster form of "Was Sticht". The game is a trick taking game, where the number of cards in each hand varies between 8 and one (!). You assess your hand and declare how many tricks you think you are going to win, based on your cards, trumps for the round, and what the other players have declared.

Now the game gets a little weird. The hand is played out according to normal trick taking rules, and tricks won are compared against your estimate at the end. You now move your canoe across a game board a number of spaces equal to the number of tricks you won, with a bonus if you guessed correctly the number of tricks you were going to win.

The object is to be the first to navigate the canoe to the finishing line at the other end of the board. Blocking tactics appear as you cannot move over other canoes, and the turn order is critical as David found out, being blocked by Alan for several turns, unable to move.

Moray did very well in the early stages, with a great opening hand which saw him re-enact his game of Mississippi Queen and go surging down the river. David and Alan soon caught him up, however, and Bernie along with myself were in touch at the back.

While the game appeared to get silly when the number of tricks in the hand decreased slowly down to 1 card, tactics were still apparent, and the game seemed nicely balanced so that when the crucial end game approached (where you can only move if you guess correctly), the number of tricks was increasing again, allowing a bit more flexability in your hand.

To be honest, our endgame was a bit of a fizzer, as Moray progressed well into the special end squares while Alan held up the rest of the field at that one space wide area of the river near the end. David could have advanced several times but was blocked due to Alan's inability to move. Bernie and Doug caught up while Alan was stuck. When Alan did eventually move, he was moving last, and effectively shot away from us into the special spaces, with the rest of us again forfeiting movement (due to moving before Alan that round). David was not happy with this aspect of the game.

The game ended on the next round as Moray correctly achieved a 2+ bid to advance three spaces and take the win. Positions were:

Moray: finished
Alan
David/Bernie
Doug

Doug's rating: 6 - I like the game as a much faster, lighter, version of Was Sticht, without the heavy "what is tricks" round. While I think Was Sticht is a much better game, it is too long. There is some strategy to Canyon, where positions on the board influence how you'd play a hand out. I can see Canyon being played more than Was Sticht at my place, even though I like both games, simply due to playability.

Thread: Session Report

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

Doug Adams writes:

Picked this Abacus game up from the local game store, of all places. Goodness knows how it got there. Liz, Roger and I took it for a late night spin to close out our evening (we could have played it twice given the marathon game of Members Only that finished 30 minutes after we did).

A pretty standard trick taking game, with each player having to estimate how many tricks they will win in the hand. Each trick won allows the players to navigate their canoes across a game board, which depicts a river running through a canyon. If you take a number of tricks equal to your estimate, then you get to move some extra bonus spaces.

>From round to round, the number of cards per deal varies between eight and one! We used the optional rule that skips the lower cards dealt rounds as it seemed to be rather pointless! Our game moved very quickly and canoes fairly sped around to the rapids near the finishing post. Once you hit the rapids you must get your exact estimate in order to move, otherwise you drift in the current and could end up over the waterfall! That didn't happen in our game, with Liz and myself finishing on the same turn (after some rather alarming drifting in earlier rounds) with Roger stuck about five spaces from the finish.

Scores: Liz: the win
Doug: finished same turn
Roger: 5 spaces from the finish

Doug's rating: 6

Thread: Session Report

tool — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Played for the first time, and with the Grand Canyon expansion. It wasn't bad, but I think it would be very dull without the expansion. The special powers add interest, and if we had used the extra obstacles and whatnot, the part of the race before the rapids would have been more interesting - as it was, things were a little dull up until that point. The game definitely integrates special powers into a standard card game better than Cosmic Eidex (although that game is not without interest).

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Played for the first time and so decided to forego the Grand Canyon expansion. Will definitely use these next time (as advised). It does feature my favourite traditional card game though (Up and Down The Road aka Oh Hell) as the main device. The board featuring each player's canoe shooting down the Manitou river, juggling the demands of the rapids, are mainly a neat scoring device. Unfortunately we never got to see canoes being gurgled over the waterfall as Jeff won this baby in a cakewalk with miracle trump hands and finely judged calls. No one else had even hit the rapids.

Usually in UADTR the 0 call is consistently the safest way to go. Not here, as you move the number of spaces equal to the number of tricks you've won, plus you get a bonus for scoring exactly what you predict. I like the end-game rapids section more though, where you only move the bonus amount, not the number of tricks, and so therefore must land your predictions exactly or else get shifted towards the waterfall.

I'm going to rate this a 7 after the first playing for 'good game, usually willing to play'. Simple, fun and quick as a 30-45 minute closer for up to 6 players. Good artwork. The GC expansion seems to provide interesting variants for players to employ. I'm glad to get it at half price, but also glad I didn't pay full price.

For the record, Jeff won, either Rick and Garth came second (sorry!, faulty memory), Andrew 4th and myself a woeful 5th after a succession of 1 calls came a cropper.