Like Brian, I knew Tom's games before I knew Tom. Not all were favorites--his games, though innovative, were still based around the American paradigm and even back then I was somewhat disenchanted with that style (I just didn't know there was anything else). But it was clear there was an original mind at work here, so I made it a point to seek out his games when I could. It was a genuine pleasure to meet him more than a decade later and get to know the man behind the games.

Definitely a tough game to grok, particularly the rules about royal marriages. I played it several times and sensed there was a good game there. But there was usually six months or so between games and I'd have to relearn the unintuitive concepts all over again. Eventually, I just gave up. Still, I'd love to play this with Tom to see what makes this game tick; I think I'd like it if I could ever really understand it.

I really like this game. I was in a demo at Origins once, and it didn't seem that complicated, so I think you would probably like it if someone taught it to you. I bought it on the strength of the demo.

The royal marriages are counterintuitive because the partner receiving the spouse has to pay, whether it is male or female. (Different societies do pay a dowry or a bride price, but not in the same society.) But I don't think the rule is that bad, at least once you figure out how to play it. (Some rules are hard to understand and hard to apply. Other rules, like this one, appear to be hard to understand, but easy to apply once you undersand them.)

Actually, Suzerain was the third published Prism game (after FFF and TA); the publication date BGG gives is incorrect.

AofE was intended as the third game but we pulled it at the last minute for some extra tweaking, which is why AofE is numbered before Suzerain.

(The TimJim only games, Outpost and Mystic War, were numbered 100X; the Prism only games (FFF, TA, AofE, Sz, and TW) were numbered 200X; and the co-design, 2038, was numbered 3001. We playtested each other's games, which is how I came to help Jim develop the Outpost Expert Game rules.)

Before I started Prism my rule was that I had to have one finished game in hand (FFF) and two more well in the pipeline (TA and AofE). I chose these three games from a bunch of different games under development to stake out a fairly broad range of period (contemporary, SF, and historical), subject matter (finance, conflict, and exploration), and complexity (introductory to medium).

The downside of publishing a broad range is that very few gamers like (or even play) so broad a range, which made it hard to establish customer loyalty.

My designs continue to range along a fairly broad spectrum, with relatively few repeating mechanisms other than in the 18XX games. I would love to go farther afield (a block game, a CDG, a CCG, a storytelling game, etc.), but this ultimately depends on the publishers...

In this game, there is symmetry between male and female royal marriage partners. This may not be the case in real life, but it's hard to complain about the fact that Tom made it that way in his game.

One of the few games I've ever bought where the visual appearance was so off-putting that I never even tried it. In addition, I was really looking forward to a game was really about time travel and the abstract way it was represented here was a major disappointment. Probably not the game for me, but it's still a shame I didn't try it out back when I had more time and patience for games like this.

I have been trying to get this to the table for ~3 years. Someday...

The group I game with holds 2-3 'big game day' events each year. Our day spent playing Time Agent was unanimously agreed to have been our best day ever.

The recommendation for 5-6 hours for first-timers seems about right. We spent 8 hours together and enjoyed a leisurely game, a fair amount of socializing plus lunch and dinner breaks.

Setting aside enough time is crucial. Although not terribly complicated, this is a deep game with lots of possibilities for player interaction. Rushing people through their moves would definitely ruin the experience.

We used a spreadsheet (found on BGG) which cut down on the turn-to-turn math significantly. But you'll still find yourself running numbers furiously towards the end as you try to decide whether you can vault yourself into first AND destroy time travel all in one move.

I don't know what to make of the comments about the game being 'visually daunting' (or, even worse, off-putting). All I can offer is that our experience differed. At the end of the game, several players specifically mentioned the visual representation of timelines and/or the puzzle like quality of rotating tiles to alter connections as their favorite aspect of the game.

Can I use this as an excuse to pimp my Time Agent Scorekeeping Utility?

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo.php?fileid=22986

Pimp away, my good man. Pimp away.

The game that really got me excited about Tom's design abilities. This truly is a classic and this and Careers are easily my favorite roll 'n' move games. The theming is good, the Acquire-like way the properties grow is inspired, and Advertising (where you place a tile on a square which forces an opponent to move to one of your properties) is just a brilliant mechanic. A game chock full of good ideas. I've probably played this close to 50 times and it always went over well.

I met Tom at Origins '90 in Atlanta. I was there with one of my friends (and we met up with many others). But the guy I went with and I played this game with Tom (followed by demos/full games of most of his other offerings). We asked where we could purchase them in the vendor area, but he said he could sell some to us out of his hotel room.

So, we went to his room, bought every game in the line up to then, and went back to play some more with him. Even with him demo-ing, many games (Suzerain, Mystic Wars) weren't intuitive at all, but we got through them. But when we were back home, they didn't make any sense all over again.

The only one that really ever stuck was this one, and I really like it. My benchmark for a good game is that it comes out more than twice per decade. I think this gets at least 3 plays every 10 years.

Edit: I expect people to take me to task about the dates, but I'm awfully certain that Origins was in Atlanta in '90 (still have the tee shirt). Yet, some of these games list a later date of release. My explanations are 1) time warp, 2) games were printed earlier than dates listed here, or 3) maybe it was one of the other two DragonCons I ever attended, which could have been as late as about 1993 or 94 (DragonCon teamed with Origins in '90). If I had to bet, I'd go with #3.

Randy, I believe it was DragonCon '93 or '94.

This is an "experience" game and I don't do experience games, so I've never played. Those who do like these kind of games seem to admire it.

Along with Source of the Nile and Safe Return Doubtful, one of the top exploration games. Yes, an experience game where the story is more important than winning, but I think it is a great one.

One of my favourite games. Yes, experience based. Great fun and a real sense of exploration.

Only played this using the solitaire variant, but great fun and flavor. As mentioned the game has an immersive quality that gives (at least a solo player) a nice taste for the era.

this game has the worst designed game board ever (IMO)- prevented me from play until now...
(...and will do in the future!)

No less a luminary than Richard Berg described this as



and



(BROG #15)

I've only dabbled in 18xx, so I've never tried this. By all accounts, one of the most original approaches to that series.

I've also only dabbled in 18xx, with one playing of 1889. However I own 2038, and am eagerly awaiting an opportunity to play it. I'm glad to hear it adds a little luck, which, IMO, is exactly what the system needs

Luck isn't the problem with 2038. One of the privates (Fast Eddy) is overpowered as compared to the other privates and gives the owner quite an advantage in the early game.

Just out of curiosity, if this private is so powerful why isn't it "bid up" to a very high price? Wouldn't that equalize it's power?

At least in my games, Fast Buck (not Eddy) _is_ bid up; this is a mixed blessing, as it makes it even easier for Fast Buck to get a second ship and start returning at a high rate. (1/2 of the amount bid above the $100 minimum goes to the minor company.)

What I want to try is bidding up one of the other minors significantly; I suspect Torch or Lucky could be every bit as productive as Fast Buck with a bit more cash...

As Joe says, Fast Buck does get bid up. And it should be pointed out that FB's early game advantage is both intentional and something that can be managed within the existing game mechanics.

This is one of many strategy topics addressed by Tom in a lengthy BGG post over in the 2038 area. Required reading for anyone planning on playing their first game.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1276852#1276852

The connection to Time Agent scared me off when it came out, but after reading Brian's description, I realize the two games have nothing in common. It's clearly a wargame and I've never been much of a wargamer, but if I'd known it wasn't a true sequel to Time Agent, I would have picked it up and at least enjoyed reading the rules. Too bad.

Just played this yesterday, and am quite enamored with it. What Twilight Imperium 3 wanted to be. This is a space conquest game with exploration, tech advances, economics, warfare with no turtling, some variable race powers... really great stuff. The board is really bad, but you can't have everything.

Played this yesterday (with Michael). I really liked this game, it gives a great sense of buildup and exitement in the exploration. I never player TI but I would definately play this one again.

If only somedbody would redesign that board...

I just noticed that the page here on BGG has the errata and FAQ (which I'd seen before) and an 'introductory' scenario to speed the game up (which I hadn't). That would probably help groups get into this ... the first game would shorten up.

I like this game's focus. Instead of trying to be an all purpose econonmic/political/war/diplomacy sci-fi game, it's really just a good sci-fi war game. If you try to do too much in a single game, I think you end up with something too long and overly complex. Well that's my two cents ...

I recently picked this one up on clearance at Cardhaus. I'm looking forward to trying it out. At first, a game consisting of nothing more than 36 auctions sounded kind of dull, but all the special powers that come into play make this one sound kind of cool.

One of the few five-year-old games that has remained in our rotation. A good choice when you want an auction game that plays quickly. It also plays well with six, which is a real plus. Good ideas, well executed. Anyone who is fond of auction games should own this title.

It was also a real kick to see Tom finally break into the German game scene (even though I still hadn't met him). My man Tom was back!

I didn't realize that Tom designed this game. I haven't played it in a while, but it was one of my favorite new designs of 2002. Tom, if you're reading this, congratulations! This one is awesome.

Now that I've played this, I think it's just fantastic. An underrated auction game; better in my mind than any of Knizia's higher-ranked ones. (Yes, better than Ra. And I like Ra.)

I've always loved this game for 6.

First I've heard of this.

Reading the description this seems interesting, but c'mon, put a little more thought into the title.

BTW, the game isn't really co-designed with Wittig. 55 is an expansion to Das Spiel, a game system designed by Wittig. Meine Wuerfel, Diene Wuerfel, the game of Tom's included, is only of Tom's design.

Abacus was looking for a quick, simple game to go with 55. I designed and tested My Dice, Your Dice overnight at Essen, played it with their product manager three times during his break the next day, and "sold" it. Abacus didn't have any margin on this project to pay me a royalty, so I told them to clean out their warehouse and send me whatever random wooden bits they had lying around for use by me in prototypes. So, I guess I can be persuaded to design for wood.

Tom, I have a tree in my garden. It's yours in return for a civilisation game that plays in two hours.

Never played--see my earlier comments on 18xx games. I did see it get a good deal of play at the recently finished Gulf Games and the participants seemed quite happy with it.

1846 is okay. Not great. Not terrible. Interesting additions/modifications to the genre: connection runs (running from an east to a west offboard location), multiple start areas (standard start but for $extra you can start at an alternate, usually better, site), partial capitalization, and a 11/2D stock market that has 'fast' movement (forward movement depends on dividend which, if large, can be 3 or even 4 squares forward).

We found the game to be quite slow during the first two phases but then has a nasty train rush. One issue was private balance (the minor RR and mail contract seem far better than the other minors) and the reduction in the number of number of majors depending on number of players.

A solid effort toward a shorter 18xx game but suffers like all the other efforts towards shorter 18xx games -- the need to reduce complexity to reduce length results in a games that are not only shorter than other 18xx game but have less depth and thus are less interesting than other 18xx games. The short, deep, 18xx game remains the Holy Grail of 18xx design.

Leave it to Lehmann to come up with a filler with a learning curve! Unfortunately, people don't expect this and those who've played this just once tend to put it down. But there's some good ideas here and some unique gameplay. By your second game, you start to realize some of the cool things you can do. I like it. There's a reasonable luck factor, but that's quite acceptable in a filler.

I've finally gotten around to playing this, and I second Larry's comments.

I've always liked dice games and the first time I played this (under its original title of Royal Advancement), I fell in love with it. The idea of turning in dice combinations to acquire powers to help you with future rolls was just so clever. Properly using those powers requires sound judgment, so there's much more here than just rolling well. Plus, deciding which powers to go for even gives it a strategic aspect. This ranks up there with the sainted Can't Stop and Pickomino as the best dice games ever created. Like most games of this sort, you need to limit the number of players. Five is definitely too many; to me, three players is perfect.

I'm going to have to agree on the 3 players comment (though I have enjoyed it as a 2-player game). I just love the idea of this game, though after a few plays I already find myself leaning heavily on a couple strategic rules, which I really dislike in a game.

I've played this 50+ times (not counting BSW), I think that gameplay has some subleties, but a few basic rules do get you most of the way there. (I do have a variant for the General, too). And I agree that this is for 2-3, really.

Still, any quick dice game that gets 20+ hours of play is one I recommend.

I think this game is pretty cool, and have been wondering about the inclusion of more cards that can switch hands (other than the King). My co-worker (Ksensei) loves this game, and we usually play 2-3 players.

The day that Phoenicia was finally released, I was probably almost as happy as Tom was. I first played this four years ago and found the ideas very intriguing. With each subsequent play, my admiration increased, until I considered it one of my favorite games of all time. Very deep, with multiple paths to victory. And yet, it moves very quickly and easily finishes within 1.5 hours. To me, this is Tom's masterwork and now that it's finally published, I hope to play it many times throughout the year and not just at the Gathering!

Id really love to get this game its really fun.

It's my favourite game of 2007, on the strength of which I will be checking out future games by Tom.

Let me also note that you can play this online using JKLMs client (along with On the Underground, which isn't bad either). They might be turning off the privilege (or charging a small fee) in the future, but with the computer shuffling and dealing, this game flies along.

Phoenicia, in my opinion, clotheslined itself by shipping with such a lackluster rulebook. A little more effort in presentation could have made this a major hit -- as is, I think a lot of people were simply turned off after a confusing first play.



I rewrote the rulebook -- it's my second-most popular file upload. No rules changed, but everything should be clearer and easier to find.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/28564

I'll never be the fan of this that Brian is, but I've enjoyed the times I've played it. I am nowhere near to truly understanding it, but I intend to pick it up and hope to explore its depths with my game group. I doubt I'll wind up preferring this to San Juan, which I think is a wonderful design (thanks, in part, to the contributions of Tom and Richard Borg), but it should make a fine choice when something deeper and more intense is desired. It's unquestionably an excellent design and should do very well. By the way, the artwork is incredible.

I don't particularly like San Juan but I love RftG, so I'd recommend it even if you don't like San Juan.

Whereas I believe that the relationship between RftG and San Juan is the relationship between cancerous cells and normal, healthy cells.

I limit my St. Pete plays to the PC game, but I'm also curious to see what twists Tom has come up with.

I'm exactly the opposite, in that I forbid myself to play this one the PC because I've heard too many times of the computer game ruining the experience because of overplay and the malaise induced thereby. Really looking forward to any expansion of this game.

Tom's doing this one? This is one of my most-anticipated expansions of 2008. (Previously my most anticipated expansion of 2007.) I love St. Pete, and I am currenly holding off playing my copy so that it's not all dingy by the time I get to add in the expansion.