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Essen 2007 - Fairplay Poll Final Results
Nick Pitman
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Here are the final results of the Essen 2007 Fairplay Poll.

I have added some comments but will post my more detailed impressions in a later Geeklist.


Edit: These results were taken from the Fairplay booth at the end of the show (which used a cut off of at least 40 votes). They are different from those now on the Fairplay website (which used a cut off of at least 50 votes). More discussion on this in the comments.

Edit: Now have made a list with mini-reviews of the games I played
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/25486/item/513411

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Popular Tags: essen [+] 2007 [+] essen07 [+] convention [+] DRADIS [+] Fairplay [+] [View All]
Posted Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:18 pm
Edited Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:33 am
1. Board Game: Tribune: Primus Inter Pares [Average Rating:7.40 Overall Rank:155]
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Nick Pitman
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This one seemed to sneak up at the end of the fair from under my radar. Don´t really know much about it.
5
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Edited Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:09 pm
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Michael Webb
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The new Karl Heinz-Schmiel game...I'm surprised this wasn't on more radars prior to Spiel...it's certainly one that I've been keeping track of...!
marijn vis
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06
I like this game, it works.
It's something different from the usual set colleting games.
Andrew York
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0407
There is also going to be an English language edition out in about 6 weeks, althought in truth the German edition is pretty easy to understand ...
Joshua Miller
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This and Agricola were the two games I was most eagerly anticipating. Glad to see good reactions to both!
Jur dj
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07
This was the big surprise for us. We played at the FFG stand by chance, and without too many expectations. And then bang! it hit us.

The game has a good flow. Plays fast (although you can vary the game length by increasing the number of victory conditions that have to be met). Lots of action and interaction. It also captures the theme quite well.

With the varying victory conditions it will be up to more gameplay to establish whether there is a dominant strategy. There are some potent combo's, but that also means they can be wrecked. I'll be keeping an eye on the discussion.
2. Board Game: Agricola [Average Rating:8.37 Overall Rank:1]
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Nick Pitman
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Knocked off the top of the table after riding high for a while

This was my favourite game of those I played in my whole 4 days.
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Edited Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:04 pm
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Jur dj
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I have looked at it and I really like the theme (as an agricultural historian). However the booth was so busy we didn't get a chance to play and I'll wait before buying until it has been translated into English or Dutch. Just a bit too much text on the cards for non-german speakers. But this will stay on the radar.
Gregor Moir
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I played this, came in last and stil managed to really enjoy myself. Can't think of a higher endorsement of a game than that.
3. Board Game: Hamburgum [Average Rating:7.27 Overall Rank:175]
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Nick Pitman
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I quite liked this one, but was not overwhelmed.
1
4. Board Game: Cuba [Average Rating:7.39 Overall Rank:110]
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Nick Pitman
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For me (and quite a few others I spoke to) a big dissapointment.
2
Sheamus Parkes
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Eh, I read the rules. As soon as it started about buying buildings to convert one type of cube into some other type of cube and then another type of cube into VP it started to loose me.

I like cube pushers, but I don't need to spend that much effort swapping cubes of different types.
Mario Aguila
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For a 4th place it must be only a few more... :)
Paul Grogan
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Whereas everyone I spoke to who played it said it was really good.
Jur dj
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07
We played it, and liked it a lot. Although it won't escape the comparison with Puerto Rico, it may actually be a better game. Table seating is less of an issue, and it is not as deterministic. Worth a second try, I'd say.
Gregor Moir
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I really wanted to like this game, it looked gorgeous and had nice mechanics. Sadly it fell totally flat for me! With the exception of the voting/tax phase, every mechanic felt borrowed from another board games and you really didn't feel like you had to work to get any of the buildings. I think the main thing going for this was the hype.

G
Mario Aguila
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Strange, because there are only 1 of every kind of buildings (very different from PR). And to get it you need to chose the Architect, in your turn, instead another character...Difficult decision
5. Board Game: Before the Wind [Average Rating:6.96 Overall Rank:440]
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Nick Pitman
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Never got to try this so I can´t say much about it.
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Edited Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:10 pm
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6. Board Game: In the Year of the Dragon [Average Rating:7.53 Overall Rank:68]
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Nick Pitman
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I really liked this game and it is in my personal top 5 from the show.
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7. Board Game: King of Siam [Average Rating:6.95 Overall Rank:395]
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Nick Pitman
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Had really wanted to play this but just never seemed to be able to get to the table.



Edit: Omitted from the official rankings as only received 48 votes (cut off 50)
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Edited Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:28 am
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Jur dj
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Quote:
Had really wanted to play this but just never seemed to be able to get to the table.


Sorry for that. While I was having a look at Napoleon's Triumph, my friends got to playing King of Siam. As far as I gathered, it was a fun game, but not my cup of tea. Certainly good value for money.
8. Board Game: Container [Average Rating:7.06 Overall Rank:261]
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Nick Pitman
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Beacuse I got a copy I didn`t actually play it. However it went down well with all those I spoke to who had played it.




Edit: Omitted from the official rankings as only received 49 votes (cut off 50)
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Edited Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:29 am
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Andrew York
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Was it personally signed by Miss Canada (who was manning the stall)?

- the lengths board game companies go to sell their products these days :shake:
Edited Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:24 pm
Surya Van Lierde is pure Eurosnoot and proud of it!
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She wasn't just there to man (what a sexist verb :p) the booth, she was mostly teaching the game...
Nick Pitman
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Surya wrote:
She wasn't just there to man (what a sexist verb :p) the booth, she was mostly teaching the game...

And helping to sort out and bag all the plastic containers - wish I had taken a picture.
Surya Van Lierde is pure Eurosnoot and proud of it!
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I took a mental one. I was one of the people sitting at the same table, helping sort :)
9. Board Game: Felix: The Cat in the Sack [Average Rating:6.73 Overall Rank:437]
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Nick Pitman
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06070809

Again I bought it so haven´t played it yet (it was only 9 euros and I liked the sound of it from the rules). Again everyone I have spoken to seems to rate it.




Edit: Updated final ranking 7
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Edited Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:30 am
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Jeroen Hollander
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Quote:
I liked the sound of it from the rules


Was it like miaow?
;)
Peter R.
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060708
No it is nothing like "Miaow Miaow"! :p
10. Board Game: Kingsburg [Average Rating:7.26 Overall Rank:145]
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Nick Pitman
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I quite enjoyed this but would not say it was an absolute gem.




Edit: Updated final ranking 8
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Edited Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:31 am
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Luca Iennaco
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I'm satisfied enough if people enjoy playing it (and I'm glad that you did). :)
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Edited Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:27 am
"Kurosawa"
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I regret that I didn't have the time to try it out, I like the board (it's something different) and the box looks gorgeois, I might possibly obtain it the future.
1
Edited Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:44 am
Sheamus Parkes
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Luke the Flaming wrote:
I'm satisfied enough if people enjoy playing it (and I'm glad that you did). :)


This is one I will definitely be trying out in the future. It's got cubes bouncing into cubes, but it also has dice :)
1
Edited Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:03 am
Peter R.
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The dices are used in this game to a nice effect. Somehow simliar to the dices in Yspahan! Don't get me wrong. The dices in Yspahan are used differently, but in this game by the numbers you roll you must make up the best move by also considerng what the other players rolled!
This game was definitely fun. But also expensive! The dices add the right amount of luck to this game to make it family friendly!
Kudos to "Stratelibri" for making this game!
John Daniels
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Excellent game. I have 5 plays under my belt and the best I have done is 3rd and I still enjoy it.
11. Board Game: Amyitis [Average Rating:7.18 Overall Rank:215]
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Nick Pitman
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Another of my favourites.




Edit: Updated final ranking 9
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Edited Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:31 am
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Jur dj
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We got to play this late on Saturday, so we were a bit tired. The game fell flat for us. It didn't reach a climax but felt rather repetitive. I'm afraid that the Caylus line of mechanics is reaching diminishing returns for me
12. Board Game: Darjeeling [Average Rating:6.68 Overall Rank:673]
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Nick Pitman
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A solidly fun game. It is reaonably light but still has some interesting decision (ie the level of some of the better Queen games).




Edit: Updated final ranking 10
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Edited Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:32 am
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Angela Lammers
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I hadn't heard of this game before. It looks interesting, maybe something my friends will enjoy. Hopefully there will be some reviews soon.
Surya Van Lierde is pure Eurosnoot and proud of it!
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08
I didn't know anything about it before the show, but I had it noted on my list to try. John Powers explained how it worked, and I'm interested. I'll get this when it comes out.
Ludwig Seitz
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I beg to differ. 'Solid' I can agree with, but 'fun' somehow deserted our gametable on this one. I felt kinda cold and mechanical. For my group it was nothing to raise strong emotions neither good nor bad.
13. Board Game: Linq [Average Rating:6.71 Overall Rank:1534]
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Nick Pitman
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The German version of this verbal party game. I understand they have tweaked the rules to improve on the original




Edit: Omitted from the official rankings as only received 48 votes (cut off 50)
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Edited Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:32 am
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Jon Theys
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I hope so...the original is too easy to break, as a game.
Dave VanderArk
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I love this game, but it's not what I would call a party game. More of a brain burning deduction game, and you have to have a group that's really open an unstructured guessing game. It just doesn't work with some folks.

I'm curious to know what they've done to the rules, maybe it will have broader appeal now?
Nick Pitman
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David Vander Ark wrote:
I love this game, but it's not what I would call a party game. More of a brain burning deduction game, and you have to have a group that's really open an unstructured guessing game. It just doesn't work with some folks.

I'm curious to know what they've done to the rules, maybe it will have broader appeal now?


I don't know the original but apparently the biggest change is that now you have to try and say words that will let your partner know that you are working with them without anyone else realising.
10 comments [Hide]
Not sure why anyone would care about the results of this poll, because:
a) many of the voters don't get to play an entire game (read the session reports on this site), and
b) this is the same scientific method that gave you last year's turds, Khronos and that shitty game with the timers.
Nick Pitman
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06070809
Goodsound wrote:
This Geeklist doesn't show the final Fairplay scout Rankings!


The final results (at least 50 ratings) are:
1. TRIBUN by Karl-Heinz Schmiel (Heidelberger) 1,6
2. AGRICOLA by Uwe Rosenberg (Lookout) 1,7
3. HAMBURGUM by Walther "Mac" Gerdts (Eggertspiele) 2,0
4. CUBA by Rieneck/Stadler (Eggertspiele) 2,0
5. VOR DEM WIND by Torsten Landsvogt (Phalanx) 2,1
6. IM JAHR DES DRACHEN by Stefan Feld (Alea) 2,2
7. KINGSBURG by Chiarvesio/Iennaco (Truant) 2,3
8. FILOU by Friedemann Friese (2F) 2,3
9. DARJEELING by Günter Burkhardt (Abacusspiele) 2,4
10. AMYITIS by Cyril Demaegd (Ystari/Huch & friends) 2,4

if there is a tie in the average (7+8 and 9+10) then the game with more "1" ratings will be mentioned first. 1 is best and 6 was the weakest possible rating.

Alternative list if only 10 ratings were needed:

1. Tribun (Heidelberger) 1,61
2. Brass (Warfrog) 1,61
3. Agricola (Lookout) 1,66
4. Hannibal (Valley) 1,92
5. Hamburgum (Eggertspiele) 2,0
6. Origins (Sierra Madre) 2,0
7. Cuba (Eggertspiele) 2,04
8. Vor dem Wind (Phalanx) 2,13
9. Galaxy Trucker (Czech Games Edition) 2,13
10. Tzaar (Smart) 2,17

Source:
http://fairplay-online.blogspot.com/2007/10/scoutaktion-2007...


Sorry for the inaccuracies. I went to the Fairplay booth at the end of the day on Sunday and the staff told me that the poll was closed and that the rankings shown were the final rankings.

I only just got back from Germany today so I am too tired to sort it out tonight. Once I have recovered from the shock of coming back to the real world I will check over the fairplay website and try to amend this list.
Dan Rosewater
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MonkeyMagic wrote:
Sorry for the inaccuracies. I went to the Fairplay booth at the end of the day on Sunday and the staff told me that the poll was closed and that the rankings shown were the final rankings.


It was the Fairplay team that admitted some minor errors and that they had to publish a corrected list by monday. So it isn't you to blame.
Nick Pitman
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06070809
Goodsound wrote:
MonkeyMagic wrote:
Sorry for the inaccuracies. I went to the Fairplay booth at the end of the day on Sunday and the staff told me that the poll was closed and that the rankings shown were the final rankings.


It was the Fairplay team that admitted some minor errors and that they had to publish a corrected list by monday. So it isn't you to blame.

By looking at the raw data I have worked out what the problem was - the Fairplay booth used a cut off of at least 40 votes in order to rank, the website has chosen to use 50 votes. In fact if you drop the cut off from 50 votes to 48 votes you get the same results as those above (King of Siam 48 votes, Conatiner 49, Linq 48). It all depends how you cut things.

"Lies - damned lies - and statistics."
Nick Pitman
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06070809
generalpf wrote:
Not sure why anyone would care about the results of this poll, because:
a) many of the voters don't get to play an entire game (read the session reports on this site), and
b) this is the same scientific method that gave you last year's turds, Khronos and that shitty game with the timers.

I agree that the poll must be taken with a pinch of salt. I don't think anyone should buy a game purely on the basis of it's ranking.

I think it serves as an interesting starting point for people who were not at the fair to investigate the games which were there. Like I said, I knew nothing about Tribune before but will read a bit about it now.

Also I think it can serve as a reference point - before Essen 2008 we can look back at the games from the 2007 poll and see how they have done. This can give us perspective on the 2008 poll. I did a similar thing before going to Essen to help me decide how much attention to pay to the Fairplay booth while there.
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