Adventures In Game Theory

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For this week’s post, I asked my three nephews to tell me their favorite board games.  The conditions for selection were 1) they had to own the games, 2) they had to have played them, and 3) they had to play them with me so I could write about them.  What follows then is the top five games that they could (mostly) agree on.  Also, we agreed I would not use their real names.  Given the mundane option of Nephew 1, Nephew 2, Nephew 3, or the slightly more exotic option of code names, I’m sure it will come as no surprise when I introduce to you my favorite nephews, listed eldest to youngest: Lancelot, Galahad, and Perceval.  And since they got Arthurian code names, I didn’t see why I should be left out, so for the duration of this post I shall be taking the code name Guinevere.  Yes, like the queen.  Because I am a queen.  All shall love me and despair! Oops…wrong queen. Ahem.

Kill Doctor Lucky

This is a board game that generally takes 30 minutes or so, unless three conniving nephews are trying to teach their slow-to-learn aunt the rules, and conveniently keep forgetting to explain things properly and fully.  Then it takes longer.  The game felt a bit like “Clue” to me, but instead of a murder mystery, all the players are trying to kill Doctor Lucky.  This isn’t as easy as one might think, because you can’t kill the Doctor if there’s anyone else in the room watching or anyone else who might have line-of-sight from across the “hallway.”  And even if you get a chance to strike at the Doctor, he is after all lucky and most attempts fail.  Lancelot, perhaps under the impression that this was a selling point, informed me that he “once managed to kill Doctor Lucky in the foyer with a monkey hand.”  (Since I assume the monkey-hand-as-deadly-weapon idea is taken from the horror story The Monkey’s Paw, I really must say “Ewwwww.”) As I was trying to learn to play, there was quite a lot of, “You can’t do that, Aunt Guinevere.  Perceval can see you.”  “Well, I can see him too but you don’t see me bossing him around…”  I imagine it goes without saying that I did not win this game.  But it was definitely fun and I can see why the boys like it.  I’m sure I’ll make a better showing next time we play.

Star Wars: Rebellion

It’s all fun and games till Princess Leia takes over the Death Star.

On our next get-together, we played Star Wars: Rebellion.  I decided to prepare a little ahead of time by watching a couple YouTube videos on how to play the game.  I can’t say that this actually prepared me, but at least it made me somewhat familiar with some of the game lexicon and rules.  Galahad declined to play since “This game is too complicated and boring.”  But Perceval and Lancelot were all in.  The game is supposedly for 2-4 players, but since there are only two faction (the Empire and the Rebellion), it’s really only for two players.  Lancelot graciously agreed to team up with me and walk me through it.  As is apparently the norm, Perceval played the Empire and Lancelot and I played the Rebellion.  If you know anything about Star Wars, then the game play won’t be a completely foreign experience, as the planets and the game pieces are familiar, with ships, artillery, and infantry.  There are also familiar characters leading the fight on both sides.  The obvious goal is for the Empire to crush the rebellion, while the Rebellion attempts to hold them off long enough for the game to run its course.  The Rebellion was doing well until the Empire managed to turn Princess Leia to the dark side and put her in command of the Death Star.  It was all downhill after that.  The game supposedly takes 2-3 hours to play, but I don’t think that includes the time it takes to set it up and the even longer time it takes to put it away.  Nonetheless, the boys clearly enjoyed it and I also had fun until I lost Princess Leia.  I was a bit frosted about that…

Mousetrap

Queen Guinevere triumphant!

The nephews had managed to destroy their game a few years back, so I obtained a new game and we sat down to play.  Basically, each player rolls a die and advances around the board to the end “loop”, following instructions along the way.  The important instructions are 1) collect cheese (which can be used at the end of the game to force other players onto the Cheese Wheel) and 2) build the mousetrap piece by piece.  Hopefully, by the time someone reaches the loop at the end of the board, the mousetrap will be assembled, at which point each player will be trying to trap the other players.  I somehow managed to be the first one around the board and therefore, the first one onto the Cheese Wheel space under the trap.  One of my delighted nephews was thrilled to trip the mouse trap and I was sure that I would be the first out of the game.  But the trap failed partway through and I escaped unscathed.  There might have been some gloating.  I was on the Cheese Wheel twice more, and the trap failed twice more.  It really was quite delightful.  The nephews were annoyed.  There were accusations of sabotage (completely unwarranted; it’s not that I’m above sabotage…I just couldn’t have figured out how to successfully cause the trap to fail without the nephews noticing).  However, I managed to catch them one at a time on the Cheese Wheel and the trap did not fail anytime I deployed it.  I don’t want to brag about having a special skill but…not only did I win the game by being the last uncaptured player, but I also personally captured all of the other players.  I think we call that a clean sweep.  My favorite sister-in-law informs me that she could hear my howl of triumph from the other side of the house.  I don’t win against the nephews very often, so I savored my victory, although I didn’t go so far as to drink the blood of my enemies.  This game was quite fun, not complicated, and doesn’t go on forever.  We will definitely play it again.

Munchkin

It’s essentially a board/card game riff on Dungeons and Dragons, where you draw cards which give you certain skills and you fight monsters in order to advance through the dungeon to the final level and take the treasure (a dragon-hoard-sized pile of gold).  The cards are quite funny, as you can see in the picture.  Not only do you have to fight your own monsters, you also have to fend off the other players.  There are quite a lot of curse cards whose sole purpose appears to be to knock down other players.  This led to quite the drama, as Perceval was driven out of the game first, but tried to curse Galahad with his “dying breath.”  (I might have added that bit of literary drama to the proceedings, but for a couple minutes, it was funny.)  Lancelot supported the idea that the dying (or maybe already dead?) Perceval could use a curse card to damage one of his opponents, but Galahad (severely damaged by the curse) was very angry about this.  We might have come to a more reasonable and fair resolution had anyone thought to actually read the game’s instructions, but Lancelot claimed to know the rules, and I (foolishly) took his word for it.  In the end, tired of the argument (which was by now definitely not funny), I decided to roll the die to see whether to support Lancelot or Galahad.  Lancelot won the die roll and we proceeded.  I did end up winning this game too but mostly, I think, because Lancelot and Galahad were busy using up all their curse cards on each other and left me to it.  As I could still hear the boys arguing upstairs afterward, it was clear that the hurt feelings lingered a little while after the game.  Nonetheless, I think this game COULD be fun if we all read and followed the rules.  We should try it again sometime.  After the bitter memories have faded.  Maybe.

Monopoly Mega Edition

Filthy, stinking’ rich Lancelot has enough money to buy Amazon.

It’s not that I don’t like Monopoly…it’s that I never win because I play by my personal finance philosophy of “slow, conservative, and steady wins the race.”  Monopoly does not reward this methodology; it rewards the “buy property and build big as fast as you can” approach.  All of which is to say, I absolutely did not expect to win when I played this game with the nephews, which is a good thing since I definitely did not win.  First of all, the Mega Edition is like the original but with some additions: there are a few more properties to buy; you can now put skyscrapers on the property you own (and collect an amount of rent that will often immediately bankrupt your opponents); and there are a couple things to speed the game along, like bus passes which will allow a player to jump ahead along the board and also a special “speed die.”  I can’t really address that last item because as I was reading the rules for it, the boys announced that they don’t usually use it during play and I was quite happy to agree so I could quit reading the complicated rules for the new die.  Lancelot, who usually wins this game no matter who he is playing against, quickly took the lead, buying up lots of property and building on it.  I was content with my railroads and utilities.  It didn’t take too long for Perceval to be in dire financial straits, at which time Lancelot proposed a “merger” (to be entitled Lancelot’s Huge Conglomerate and Perceval’s Paltry Assets, or something similarly asymmetrical).   This meant in practice that Lancelot took all of Perceval’s cash and properties and agreed to “pay” Perceval “10% of my winnings.”  I’d like to mock his confidence, but I can’t because it was definitely not misplaced.  Once Perceval was no longer actively playing, he went to sit next to Lancelot, who immediately tried to browbeat him into accepting 5% instead of the previously agreed upon 10%.  I had to be the boring aunt and put the kibosh on this.  You don’t get to change the agreement after the fact.  I should have made Lancelot sign a contract.  Perceval should have made Lancelot sign a contract.  (Man, I really am boring!)  Meanwhile, I lasted a couple more rolls of the dice before I landed on a skyscraper property and went bankrupt trying to pay the rent.  And Galahad got knocked out right afterward.  Lancelot did come shake my hand and say, “Good game.”  I admire good manners and sportsmanship.  But it won’t break my heart if I never again play any version of Monopoly.