Game: Adam & Eva

Thread: Adam & Eva - Reseña en Español

ArtEmiSa64 — 2008-03-16T21:43:20+00:00

Últimamente he estado probando juegos para dos personas. Entre ellos apareció Adam & Eva, un juego que nos había sido prestado por un amigo hace casi un año, y al cual todavía no le dábamos una oportunidad.

Se supone que los jugadores son Adam & Eva en el Jardín del Edén, aunque en realidad el tema pudo haber sido cualquier otro.

Los componentes del juego son:
* 4 fichas con árboles
* 2 tableros de control de puntos (uno para cada jugador)
* 32 manzanas (numeradas del 1 al 8 en azul, rojo, amarillo y verde)
* 28 cartas de manzana numeradas del 3 al 9 (azul, rojo, amarillo y verde)
* 3 cartas de comodín (2/3/4 en gris)
* 1 carta de serpiente
* carta de jugador inicial (Adam y Eva)

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Al comienzo de cada ronda se deben colocar al azar 2 fichas de manzana en cada árbol, de modo que en cada uno haya fichas de un solo color. Los jugadores reciben 6 cartas. La idea es recoger las manzanas más jugosas (o de mayor valor).

En su turno un jugador debe poner una de sus cartas en el centro de la mesa. El otro jugador debe decidir si se queda con esa carta o no. Si se la queda debe ponerla a su lado de la mesa frente al árbol con las manzanas del mismo color. Si no, la coloca en el lado de la mesa del otro jugador. El juego sigue así hasta que uno de los jugadores tiene 6 cartas en su lado de la mesa. Entonces debe entregar todas sus cartas al otro jugador que las debe poner por colores en su sector. Así, al final de cada ronda cada jugador tendrá 6 cartas frente a él.

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Se asignan las manzanas:
Se revisa árbol a árbol qué jugador tiene una suma mayor en sus cartas. Dicho jugador se llevará la manzana más grande y el otro la más pequeña. En caso de empate ganará aquel cuya carta más grande sea menor. En caso que haya un solo jugador con cartas en dicho árbol se llevará ambas manzanas. En caso que no haya ninguno, se descartan las manzanas.

Puntuación:
Cada jugador coloca las manzanas obtenidas en su tablero de control de puntuación. Cada manzana entregará tantos puntos como el número indicado en ella. Si un jugador logra recolectar las cuatro manzanas con el mismo número obtendrá un bono, el cual será menos a medida que aumenta el valor de la manzana propiamente tal (15 para manzanas 1/2/3, 10 para 4/5/6 y 5 para 6/7/8)

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Rondas posteriores:
Se repite la misma mecánica hasta completar 4 rondas de modo que se hayan repartido las 8 manzanas de cada color.

Carta especial: la serpiente
Cuando un jugador la ‘’acepta’’ debe sacar una de las cartas superiores de manzana de su contrincante y descartarla. En este caso la ronda terminara con 5 cartas en cada lado.
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CONCLUSION:
Tiene mecánicas similares al Balloon Cup pero están a año luz de distancia.Aunque uno decide qué hacer con las cartas del contrincante la probabilidad de que a un jugador le toquen cartas altas mientras que al otro bajas es bastante alta. Con ello se producirá la mayor ironía del juego: quien recibió las cartas bajas terminará aceptando las de su contrincante y ganará. Tener la carta de serpiente en la mano termina siendo algo más malo que bueno, ya que da aún más poder al contrincante que seguramente no la rechazará. A mi gusto, un juego demasiado simple para jugar con gamers y a la vez muy dependiente de la suerte. La idea de tratar de tentar al contrincante con las cartas en buena, pero no funciona muy bien en este juego. Un juego en definitiva liviano y rápido de jugar (30 minutos). Supongo que para personas menos exigentes podrá ser un buen juego.

Jugabilidad
Complejidad
Estrategia
Suerte
Entretención
Interacción

Thread: Re: Card distribution

ArtEmiSa64 — 2008-03-16T21:24:56+00:00

The one I have in my hands has cards numbered 3-9 in each color plus 2/3/4 in grey
Ravensburger 2004

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2008-03-16T21:15:35+00:00

apples with their value hidden

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2008-03-16T21:14:20+00:00

Thread: Card distribution

garygarison — 2008-03-14T22:55:30+00:00

Adam Smiles: "Cards are numbered from 2-9 and come in the four matching colours..."

Tom Vasel: "The deck is made up of four sets of seven cards - each in one of the four colors, numbered four through nine."

Robert Kelly: "The card distribution is 1-9 in each of the 4 colors..."

Is someone mistaken, or are there different versions of this game?

Thread: Review - My wife and I found it rather interesting

Necro1970 — 2007-12-29T16:24:38+00:00

A hearty hi from Singapore,

My wife and I just played this game tonight and we found it to be rather interesting. My wife has never played board games before and it was with trepidation that I tried to spring Adam and Eva on her tonight. And as luck would have it, the game suited my wife quite well since there was a little bit of everything in it - strategy, luck, as well as psychology; as we each sought to trick each other into playing the wrong cards.

Now, I would like to mention some pointers that is not already covered in the earlier reviews.

Quality of game
The playing cards and stock cards are of very good quality. My wife enjoyed the artwork of the apples, trees, scoreboards, and the Adam/Eva card.

Setting up involved
You have to flip all the apples upside down before beginning play... that would mean flipping 32 apple counters. Another disadvantage is that the apple counters are quite small to handle and that you might lose them. Also, the apples tend to slip off the smooth surface of the scoreboard and you'd better make sure you don't mess it all up by dropping the scoreboard off the table.

First time impressions
I read the rules wrongly and we continued to play each round even though one of us already had 6 cards on our side of the tree, but that never detracted us from enjoying the game.

Comments
We loved the subtle strategy, the conniving gameplay, and beautiful artwork. The Biblical theme was slapped-on but it did not deter us in any way from playing the game (- we are Buddhists). Its the gameplay and fun generated that ultimately counts.

In addition, I felt there should be more snakes in the card deck, we never dealt the snake at all in our first game. Bummer... at least we dealt the joker cards twice.

Conclusion
We will definitely play this game again and try to figure out the strategic nuances in the game. My wife (being an accountant) loves adding up the scores at the end of the game and we both had a fun 20 minutes of play for our first game. Also, there is the variant at the end of the rules to try out - that reminds me, I will want to try my hand at creating my own variants a few games later.

I originally scored this game a 6... but I have now revised my score for Adam and Eva to 7.

Adam and Eva really is a cool game to play!

Thread: Adam and Eva - or any two people, really.

Karmic_devil — 2007-12-16T19:14:50+00:00

Let me start by alerting you all to the fact that I like this game. I don't like it "despite it's flaws" or "Under certain circumstances" I just enjoy it as it is for what it is - a fun, quick game with a little luck, a little strategy, and a little psychology.

How the game works
The goal of the game is to get the most points by collecting apples of sets or high values (or both)

4 trees contain 2 apples each (valued 1-8). Players play cards on their side of the trees. At the end of the round the person with the highest value on their side of the tree gets the higher valued apple and the player with the lower value gets the lower valued apple. If one player is the only one with cards on a particular tree they get both apples.

At the end of the game your score is the sum of the values of all your apples with bonuses for collecting all of a particular value (e.g. bonus for having all four 1's or all four 2's)

Sounds easy enough but here's the twist. You and your opponent alternate offering cards to each other. On my turn I pick a card from my hand and offer it to you. If you accept you play it on your own side of the trees, if you refuse I play it on my side of the trees. When one player has 6 cards on their side the round ends and the other player immediately gets to place all the remaining cards on their own side.

Why it's awesome
The I offer you choose mechanic really works for me. When I offer a card to my opponent I am considering many things. The value of the apples available, the values (and possibly sets) my opponent has or has potential to get, and the value of other cards in my hand.

Offering cards is tricky because if you offer an obviously bad card your opponent can make you keep it, if you offer an obviously good card you have just given it away. There is a good deal of clever play here in that sometimes you offer a card that is great for you but does little for you opponent knowing you will either keep a good card of they will take it to stop you with little improvement to themselves. Sometimes you will offer all pretty good cards to encourage your opponent to fill up their side letting you choose where to put all the remaining cards now that you know what all of their values are. Sometimes you may intentionally keep bad cards for yourself sacrificing big point apples to get small ones that make a set.

Because of the varied approaches on what to offer and when the I offer you choose mechanic makes the game tense and interesting and fun. Trying to figure out what your opponent is likely to do is exciting and almost poker-esque. The fact that the game plays in under a half hour means you can play it pretty much anytime and I often play several games back to back.

I rate Adam and Eva an 8/10

The Biblical theme can be a bit polarizing. If you are put off by this game because of the Biblical reference in theme - don't be. The theme is pretty pasted on anyhow and the mechanics are lovely and the game is a lot of fun.

On the other hand if you are a Biblical purist you may be made somewhat uneasy by the inaccuracies inherent in the games theme and may want to remove a point of two from what I rate this.

Thematic issues aside Adam and Eva is a lot of fun for 2 players!

Josh

Thread: Re: Snake damage and 7 card variant.

Karmic_devil — 2007-11-28T02:28:57+00:00

well, that clears this up nicely. Thanks!

Josh

Thread: Re: Snake damage and 7 card variant.

Fledermaushaus — 2007-11-27T09:44:53+00:00

Not correct! But your confusion is because the English rules are wrongly translated.

When playing the normal game, each player is dealt 6 cards, meaning there are 12 cards in the round. Once one player has half of them in front of him, the other player gets the remainder, so each ends up with 6 cards. If the snake is used, the player getting the snake removes a card from the opponent, and both this card and the snake are discarded.
So, there are now 10 cards left. The game then ends when either player has 5 cards in front of him, the other player then getting the remaining cards and so both players ending up with 5 cards each.

When playing with 7 cards each, the game still ends when one player has 6 cards (or 5 if the snake has been used). Each player keeps back one card that is left unplayed. The player who has 6 (or 5) cards in front of him then reveals all but one of his remaining cards. The other player then decides which of his own cards he will keep unplayed (it must be one of the ones he was dealt, not one of the ones his opponent has just revealed).

The relevant errors in the translation are:

1. The rules should say 'As soon as one player has six cards on his side...' and not 'As soon as there are six cards...'.

2. The rules should say, in the 7-card variant, 'If one player has 6 (or 5) cards in front of him, he first reveals his remainining cards (except for one) before the other player decides which of his own cards he wants to leave unplayed'.So, the rules should say 'reveals' not 'covers' i.e. the complete opposite!

Thread: Snake damage and 7 card variant.

Karmic_devil — 2007-11-27T05:16:27+00:00

Hey guys, the rules for this are sometimes worded strangely so I wonder if someone could clear something up for me.

If the snake is used on someone the round will end if that player gets 5 cards in front of them or the other player gets 6 in front of them correct? It is not when either player gets 5 cards and then the other player gets 6 correct. Simply - if the snake is used on you, you may not have more than 5 card at the end correct?

Also

When playing with 7 cards, each player will end up with 6 cards in front of them, and 1 card from EACH player will not be used correct? For example, if I get 6 cards first, my opponent can's choose to use all of my remaining cards but hold back two of their own right? And also, they get to choose which of my cards remains unused, correct?

Thanks for the help.

Josh

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-12T14:06:05+00:00

the apples

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-12T14:05:29+00:00

back of cards

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-12T14:05:00+00:00

Temptation

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-12T14:04:32+00:00

Eva

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-12T14:03:19+00:00

Adam

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-03T19:40:43+00:00

Box Back (High Resolution Scan)

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-03T19:38:55+00:00

Box Cover - High Resolution Scan

Thread: Re: User Review

Brad Oliver — 2006-12-11T05:27:55+00:00

Good review Tom. I played this game for the first time tonight with my wife. Her analysis once the game has ended was one word: "Boring!" and I've have to reluctantly agree.

Like you, I can see that there's some glimmer of strategy in either going for lower-numbered apples to make bonus colums vs. higher-numbered apples for raw points. But the gameplay is, in my limited experience, mostly random -- it's hard to have much control over your own play and you can't forge much of a strategy beyond mere wishes. Maybe more play will reveal a greater depth, but again like you - it's unlikely to happen for us.

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cktjharris — 2006-09-01T03:50:06+00:00

Game in Progress - the middle of the 2nd round

Thread: User Review

grinningpik — 2005-02-24T04:18:17+00:00

On Sunday last, I popped into the local game store looking for a two player game for my wife and I to play. The week before we had borrowed the oft citied Lost Cities. The manager had mentioned Adam and Eva to me the week before so I looked for the play copy to take home for the night. I also grabbed San Juan as I wanted to try this out as well. After reading through the commendable multi-lingual rule book (although only in English) and packing the little ones off to bed, My wife and I sat down to play. To start with, the cartoony art put us off right away. The theme is poorly put forth and really you could be collecting anything high/low. With two strikes against it my wife and I embarked on the play.
The game plays relatively simple enough. Play is conducted over four rounds. In each round you are trying to out-bid your opponent for each of four different coloured apples. On each of the four trees is two apples of the same colour (picked face down and numbered from 1-8, so on one round you might have the 3 blue apple and the 6 blue apple on the tree) Play is then conducted using one of the 6 numbered cards in you hand. Cards are numbered from 2-9 and come in the four matching colours and also 2,3,4 in a grey "wild" suit) One card is placed in the middle and your opponent is offered to take the card or to let you have it back. If they take it they place it infront of the tree that had the corrosponding apple colour. Then they play a card from their hand and you choose to keep or let them have it. Play continues until one play has six cards on their side of the board. The opposing player take all remaining hand cards and distributes them on their side of the board. Then the apples are picked by giving the highest apple token to the player who has laid the highest card value. Numbered apple token are placed on a scorecard that each player has in front of them. Apples are then replenished and a new round begins. At the end players count points by apple worth (1-8) and get a bonus if they have collected all the apples of the same value (red,blue,green,yellow 4's give you a bonus of ten) In the two games my wife and I played she beat me both times.
The game plays quite well, although it took us into the last round of the second game before we started to realize what to play when. Even then the idea of offering a card to your opponent to play or pass on is quite diffulcult to master, especially if you are eyeing a collection of one type. Trying to purposefully lose a colour can become a struggle if you have a high card in that colour that your partner does not want to take. It becomes a move to get your player to take cards they think they want to take, but really you want them to take it. Psych! After two plays we were starting to iron out some of the intricacies and subtleties. The play moves along rather quickly the whole game taking about 20-25 minutes to complete. Just the right amount of time after some hassled parents get the little ones off to bed but don't have the energy to set up, let alone play PR or Settlers or the like.
Overall I enjoyed the play of the game, but my wife and I both agreed the poor graphics and theme were off-setting and detracted from the game as a whole. Would I play again? Yes. Will I set aside a small portion of my game budget for this game? Probably not. Three stars out of five. gp

Thread: User Review

TomVasel — 2004-11-29T14:16:08+00:00

Whenever I read negative reports on a new game that comes out, I always feel as if perhaps they may have been missing something; perhaps even though they didn’t like it, I will. I need to listen to these comments more often. This was the case when it came to Adam and Eva (Ravensburger, 2004 - Aaron Weissblum). The theme looked interesting, the game was certainly colorful, and it was a two-player game; something I thought my wife and I would enjoy.

Sadly, I just can’t find much good to say about the game. The theme is not only pasted on but is just incredibly off thematically. The mechanics are certainly not my style, as players play the card their opponents choose. This mechanic works tremendously well in San Marco, but in this game it falls flat. I’ve read that some folk enjoy the hidden intricacies of this game, but for me they simply remain hidden. I like colorful, fast games but not this one.

The game is supposedly about Adam and Eve tempting one another to pick fruit from different trees, collecting the most valuable apples. Each player is given a score board, showing eight rows of colored apples in numbered columns. At the bottom of each column is a numbered bonus (columns 1-3 have a +15 bonus, 4-6 have a +10 bonus, and 7-8 have a +5 bonus). Four tree tiles are placed in the middle of the table with a space between the two middle ones. Eight sets of small apple tiles (numbered 1-8 on one side) are placed face down, so that only their color (red, yellow, blue, and green) is showing. A deck of thirty-two cards is shuffled and six cards are dealt to each player with the remainder removed from the game temporarily. The deck is made up of four sets of seven cards - each in one of the four colors, numbered four through nine. There are also three wild cards, numbered two through four, and a snake card. Two apples of each color are drawn and placed on the same tree, so that each tree has two apples in one of the four colors. One player is given a start card, and the game is ready to commence.

In a round, the player who starts chooses one card from their hand and places it in the space between the trees. The other player then takes the card and plays it in on their side of the table in front of a tree with an apple of the matching color, OR they can allow the other player to place it in front of a tree with an apple of the matching color on their side. Wild cards can be placed in front of any tree. The snake card, used by either player, discards one of the cards their opponent has placed on the table. Play alternates between players until one player has six cards (or five if the snake has been played) on their side of the trees. When this happens, all remaining cards are given to the other player, who places them on their side where they see fit.

Each tree is then checked, to see who gets the apples on it. If there is any tree with cards on only one side, the player whose cards they are takes both apples, placing them on their board in the appropriate spot. Otherwise, the player who has the higher sum on their side takes the apple with the higher number, while the player with the lower sum takes the apples with the lower number. In case of a tie, the player whose highest card is lower than the opponent’s highest card takes the higher apple. Once all apples are claimed, eight more apples are placed on the trees; and all thirty-two cards are shuffled with six more dealt to each player. The next round begins until four rounds have been played.

After the fourth round, the players sum up their points, adding together the sum of all the apples they have collected. Players also score the bonuses in the columns if they have all four apples in that column. The player with the most points is the winner! (Ties are broken by the player with the most “1”s, or “2”s, etc.)

Some comments about the game...

1.) Components: The game is bright and colorful with four different apples colors and a nice scoring board to place apples that players have won on them. The apple tokens are quite small and sometimes hard to handle but do look good when placed in the trees. The cards are of medium quality with decent artwork and good design. Everything fits well in a custom plastic insert in a fairly small box. The game certainly looks good on the outside...

2.) Theme: I realize that in “German” games, the themes are often pasted onto the mechanics. I don’t mind that, as long as they make some kind of sense. But this one must be to some revisionist Bible, as I don’t recall Adam and Eve fighting over multi-colored apples. It makes no sense, and the fact that the serpent cancels an apple even less so. Now I could overlook all of this if the game play was excellent; but it wasn’t, so I could not ignore the fretful theme.

3.) Rules: The rulebook, which was in several languages, was fairly sparse in the six pages it took up. There were a few rules that were either unclear or not explained well. The scoring mechanism in ties for a tree, for example, made no sense to me; but it was only mentioned in passing. I didn’t have a problem teaching the game, but it just wasn’t very intuitive. A variant was included in the rules allowing players to have seven cards per round, playing only six of them. I would make this mandatory; it would add a smidgen of strategy to the game, and it needs all the help it can get.

4.) Divide: When I first read about the mechanic of choosing what to do with the card your opponent played, I was intrigued; as I loved the way this worked in games like San Marco. However, in practice, it simply wasn’t fun at all. Since only twelve cards from the deck are used in a round, you have no idea what cards your opponent has; so knowing what card to play when can get confusing. I’d rather play a game that lets me play a card I choose, thank you.

5.) Strategy: Of course, some are going to tell me that there are deep and varied strategies to the game. After several plays, I can sort of sense what they are; but I don’t feel like playing a game I’m not enjoying dozens of times just to see if there is some redeeming crumb of strategy in it. The game play comes across as vague.

6.) Fun Factor: If you like submitting to your opponent and allowing them to make your moves for you, then this is a lot of fun. If you, however, like me prefer to make your own choices in a game, then the fun factor is a bit flat.

Compared to games like Balloon Cup or Lost Cities, some will claim that the strategy is deeper and richer here. But frankly, if I have to search that hard to find it, then the game isn’t much fun. Give me those straight-forward Kosmos two-player games any day. Mr. Weissblum has produced some excellent games, but I don’t think this is one of them. There is probably an audience for this game - those who like to play with a lot of unknown factors and convoluted scoring. I’m just not in that audience.

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games.”

Thread: Re:First Impression/Summary of play

tempus42 — 2004-05-18T21:41:35+00:00

asmiles (#26709),
Thanks for the good review, but "lighter than Lost Cities"??? I really did not think that was possible...

Thread: First Impression/Summary of play

asmiles — 2004-01-29T17:22:37+00:00

I had the opportunity to play Aaron Weissblum's new game: Adam & Eva.

It's published by Ravensburger and is part of their "fun for 2" line of games.

It's light, quick and enjoyable. It's a card game that falls in the Lost Cities/Balloon Cup genre, although it is a bit lighter than both.

The theme is about Adam and Eve being tempted by apples in the Garden of Eden. It gets bonus points for an original theme (at least as far as I'm aware of). Plus I got to play myself in the game.

There are four apples trees, and each tree has apples of a different color (blue, red, green, and yellow). There are 8 apple chits of each color, numbered 1-8. The game is played over 4 rounds and each round 2 chits of each color are randomly selected and placed on their tree.

Each round both players are dealt 6 cards. On your turn, you select a card from your hand and place it on the table. Your opponent will then decide if they will keep the card for themself, or give it to you to place. The
player who ends up with the card, places it in front of the tree that matches the card's color. The players alternate offering cards to each other, until one of the players has 6 face up cards in front of them. At this point, the other player takes the remaining cards and places them on their side of the tree, so that both players have 6 cards face up. The player with the higher sum of cards on the side of the tree takes the higher numbered apple, and the lower sum takes the lower number. If a player is unopposed, he/she gets both of the apples. If no cards are played in a
color, no one wins and the apples are removed from the game.

After 4 rounds, player score points equal to the sum of the numbers on their apples. There are also bonus points for getting all 4 colors of the same number. For example, if you got all 4 ones, you'd get a 1 point bonus. The bonuses scale so that lower numbered sets are more valuable.

The card distribution is 1-9 in each of the 4 colors, plus a 2, 3 & 4 wild card and a snake. The wild cards can be applied to any color. The player who keeps the snake, may use it to destroy a card of the other player, so that the round is scored with only 5 cards each. The deck is reshuffled between each round.

My thoughts on the game are positive. It is certainly light, and has a decent amount of randomness in the cards you're dealt. But there is definitely room for skillful play. You are presented with an interesting decision on every turn of the game. The depth of the game is appropriate to the length. By that I mean, if the game was 60 minutes or longer, it would quickly wear out its welcome. But at 20-30 minutes, it fills its niche quite well. And most importantly, it was fun.