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Playing a 3-player game with only 2 people...Phantom Players?
S. P. Harris
United States

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How about games that are for more than two people that can be played by two with a "dummy" player for a third player? I've played one game this way (Drahtseilakt), have read that Trias can work this way, and have wondered if there are others. I am happy with games that have some luck/randomness so, considering that phantom hands would add to this, which games work well with a phantom (meaning that the game would not degenerate into total randomness and would keep fairly close to the way it is intended to play out)? Thanks for your comments and additions!
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1. Board Game: Acquire [Average Rating:7.43 Overall Rank:99]
Paul Burkhard
United States
Fort Collins
Colorado
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There is an official 2-player Acquire variant where the stock holdings of the "ghost player" are determined by a tile draw, with the "ghost player" holding shares of stock equal to the number of the tile. We have never tried this, not sure how well it would work...
 
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Nate Sandall
United States
Portland
Oregon
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It's okay for learning the game but really diminishes the game a lot. One bad (high) dummy tile draw early and you're hosed.
 
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  • Posted Wed Mar 24, 2004 6:19 pm
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2. Board Game: Union Pacific [Average Rating:7.36 Overall Rank:151]
Mary Weisbeck
United States
Black Hawk
South Dakota
Even virtual dice hate me!
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Union Pacific has a variation for 2 players which includes a dummy hand for the final scoring. I haven't tried it but it sounds interesting.
 
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Chris Pieters
Canada
Waterloo
Ontario
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2-player variant is not bad - we play it frequently.

3rd player has only once beaten either of us, however, it serves a role in making us 'compete' as much with the card-count as with each other. It gives a 3rd-player feel to the game, even if that player is not likely to win.
 
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  • Posted Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:33 pm
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John Stimson
United States
Menomonee Falls
Wisconsin
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I don't think the 2 player variant works well at all. I think there is little or no incentive to collect UP stock. It has the same flaw as two player Acquire.
 
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  • Posted Wed Mar 24, 2004 3:55 pm
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Joe Childers
United States
Dayton
Ohio
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The two-player variant in the rules is not very good, but there was one at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Metro/5303/unionpac.htm... (it's a dead link now) that is truly excellent.

In this latter one, there is definitely an incentive to trade for UP stock. It is not a competition for the UP dividends themselves, which are negligible, just a $4 difference in the final round between the two players except for the rare instance when one player is first and the other third. The real incentive is to give cards to the bank so that you can try to get the bank to be in second place, thus making a monopoly in that stock with respect to the other player.
 
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  • Posted Wed Mar 24, 2004 7:19 pm
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Wouter Cordewiner
Belgium
Gent (Zwijnaarde)
Oost-Vlaanderen
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Does anybody have a copy of the two player variant posted on the dead link http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Metro/5303/unionpac.htm... ? Is there another place where I can find it?
 
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  • Posted Thu Mar 25, 2004 6:38 am
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Malachi Brown
United States
Hermitage
TN
It's turtles all the way down.
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http://web.archive.org/web/20021028190913/http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Metro/5303/unionpac.html

the wayback machine is your friend.
 
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  • Posted Mon Mar 29, 2004 4:59 am
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3. Board Game: San Marco [Average Rating:7.26 Overall Rank:205]
Sarah Davis
United States
Unspecified
Unspecified
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A "ghost player" is the essence of a two-player variant that my husband and I created for San Marco (and posted here on BGG). I think it works ok, but I haven't heard from anyone else who has tried it.
 
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4. Board Game: Alhambra [Average Rating:7.05 Overall Rank:241]
Linda Baldwin
United States
White Plains
New York
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This is the standard two-player version of this game. The third player even has a name, Dirk.
 
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S. P. Harris
United States

Great suggestion! We have now played this several times & like it with "Dirk"...for us, it is a very different game with the ghost than with 3 live players - we like both ways equally well which makes this game a good value. The more often we play, the more we like it.
 
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  • Posted Mon May 16, 2005 11:53 am
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5. Board Game: The Bottle Imp [Average Rating:6.77 Overall Rank:571]
S. P. Harris
United States

Good, fast game & works well with the official 2-player variant to play with dummy named "Lopaka".
 
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6. Board Game: Trias [Average Rating:6.58 Overall Rank:806]
S. P. Harris
United States

On a geeklist, sodaklady recommends a three-player version with two people and the third/phantom player being played by consensus.
 
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7. Board Game: Raj [Average Rating:6.49 Overall Rank:1080]
Ian T
United Kingdom
Harlow
Essex
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I've played a few games of Raj with my son and a dummy third player - a cuddly toy gorilla (Gus), who had the cards face down in his lap. We simply drew a random card for his play each turn. I am embarassed to confess that Gus actually won a game!
 
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8. Board Game: Formula Dé Mini [Average Rating:6.53 Overall Rank:1095]
S. P. Harris
United States

We've just started playing this. For two, it seems that each person should definitely race with at least two cars. I would assume that a third team could be played by two players (maybe each player taking turns to move for the phantom player). However, since players can race with more than one car, is a third team worth trying or is it better just to race with more cars per person?

By the way, will anyone please explain the interchangeable aspect of the colors: car, dashboard, spoiler, gear shift piece, and spoiler puzzle piece? We've just been playing with everything matching (one color) - I'm sure this has to do with teams - I just can't grasp it!
 
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Joe Andrews
United States
Birmingham
Michigan
It is teams. If I own the blue team, to identify my team the body of each car is blue. However, the shifter and spoiler are different colors so I can match the car to the shifter.
 
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  • Posted Wed Mar 24, 2004 5:19 pm
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Håkan König
Sweden
Oxie
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Why not play 4 cars each?

(Sidenote: I once held a game of regular FDé where 5 players had 4 cars each... Great fun, but a bit tiresom to sort out all crash rolls)
 
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  • Posted Wed Mar 24, 2004 5:36 pm
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S. P. Harris
United States

Thanks, saulsehy!
 
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  • Posted Mon May 16, 2005 12:11 pm
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9. Board Game: Formula Motor Racing [Average Rating:6.35 Overall Rank:1164]
Håkan König
Sweden
Oxie
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this one works extremely well with a dummy player (see my article about 2 player games)
 
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10. Board Game: Relationship Tightrope [Average Rating:6.29 Overall Rank:1437]
S. P. Harris
United States

I have played this more often with two players and a dummy hand than with three people. It is light, fun, and quick - the dummy hand plays the top card from his hand which is a face-down stack. The addition to the randomness and luck already present seems to be just enough.
 
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♪ Isaäc Bickërstaff ♫
United States
Greer
South Carolina
designer
Entropy Seminar:
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The results of a five yeer studee ntu the sekund lw uf thurmodynamiks aand itz inevibl fxt hon shewb rt nslpn raq liot.
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Hm. I've only played this once, but I think having a dummy third-hand drawn at random defeats some of the strategy of the game. If you know your opponents, and can keep track of the cards, then you can outguess and outplay when possible. With a randomly drawn card thrown into the mix, I think it would make the game very different, as far as end-game satisfaction goes.
 
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  • Posted Wed Mar 24, 2004 3:49 pm
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11. Board Game: Feurio! [Average Rating:6.22 Overall Rank:1839]
Mary Weisbeck
United States
Black Hawk
South Dakota
Even virtual dice hate me!
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We just tried this for the first time tonight and it works very well. The 3-player rules give each player 4 neutral firefighters to use as well as their own colors so it's more interesting (to us anyway) than playing 2 sets of colors. Fun game.
 
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S. P. Harris
United States

Thanks, everyone! I very much appreciate your comments and suggestions. I have noted all for future reference Thanks, Andrew for clarifying the Formula de colors, makes sense.
 
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  • Posted Thu Mar 25, 2004 4:34 pm
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