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From: dat@hpcnof.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.games
Subject: board game reviews WANTED!!!
Message-ID: <43600005@hpcnof.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 8-Sep-85 17:13:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: hpcnof.43600005
Posted: Sun Sep  8 17:13:00 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 12-Sep-85 23:23:43 EDT
Organization: 08 Sep 85 15:13:00 MDT
Lines: 76


	Hi!  I got this rather glossy mailer from "GAMES" magazine
that advertises a bunch of new (and not so new) games for sale...
The prices are a tad high (+shipping!) but there are a few games
that might be worth further inquiry into ...

	I'd like to hear from anyone who has played, seen, or heard
of any of the following games as at $25-$35 a game I'd rather not buy
stuff blind!

1. Tales of the Arabian Nights - this is billed as both an FRP game and
	a board game too (pick your poison, I guess)...(actually, to be
	totally honest, this one isn't in the flyer - I saw it down in
	Boulder last time I was there and want to hear about it before
	I buy it...)

2. Mhing - a ? Chinese ? card game similar to Mah Jhong, this one looks 
	somewhat interesting...(I know - Mah Jhong isn't a card game!)

3. Gumshoe - "The hard boiled detective game of 1930s San Francisco" this
	looks really cool, but at $30.00 I'd rather not invest in a nice
	photograph in a flyer (if y'know what I mean!)

4. Grass - a card game based on the premise that everyone playing is growing
	a certain not-to-legal substance and trying to avoid the cops and
	the theiving neighbors (Don't laugh - this happens!) (not that I'd
	know...).  This looks like it could be a pretty hilarious party game.

5. Scotland Yard - this looks like it's in the same vein as #3, and the
	excellent (but too damn expensive) "Consulting Detective" game 
	but perhaps a bit less "intense" and complex.

6. Orient Express - another detective game (one might even assume that this
	is a bit of a trend!) this time taking place on the train of the
	same name...

-----------------

What I'd really like to know about the games are such things as;

	o Can you play them infinite times (for example, cases in the game
	  Consulting Detective can't be played more than once, so $30.00
	  gets you 20 cases and that's it) or is it limited to a set number
	  of predefined 'scenarios'?

	o Is it fun?  

	o Does it make any sense?

	o Is it worth the exorbitant sum that I'd inevitably have to spend
	  to get it?

	o Finally, is it challenging enough that I wouldn't finish the
	  game in five minutes and go on to something else?  (In fact,
	  how long DOES a typical game take??)

Perhaps when net.games.board gets going we could alleviate this sort of
stuff by having people post 'reviews' of games that they've either always
had or just bought...

	I'd be willing to do it, how about everyone else out there???


	Poor, but still willing to buy a decent game for fun...

					--- Dave Taylor

					..hplabs!hpcnof!d_taylor
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ps: Does anyone HAVE net.games.board yet?  Our machine doesn't know about
    it and Gene Spafford @ Gatech posted a note about the creation of the 
    group a few WEEKS ago!!!