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‘Jet Set’ by Kris Gould
‘Jamaica’ by Messers Braff, Cathala and Pauchon
‘Java’ by Kramer and Keisling
Games-night….. Jet Set by Kris Gould
It’s nearly Christmas and Roz, Derek and Gary enter Kendall’s be-decked home as waif’s might visit Aladdin’s palace, yet … they make no comment. Gareth follows a few minutes later, but pays no heed to the giant singing Santa by the fire-side. Perhaps the company is already weary of parties and the social round (Derek did greet the Santa and shake his hand on entering the festive halls of the Kendall household, he’s either short sighted or drink had already been taken on board – ed.). No matter… a games-night needs no further excuse. Beer, assorted crisps, humus and salsa, together with a new game on the table – what could be better?
And tonight’s game is Jet Set. It looks good. Kendall has played solo and is all set to explain the rules, when (to some astonishment) Roz is found to be reading said rules in advance and Derek is pouring over his player reference card. With such enthusiasm, what could possibly be easier than to flesh out what is a conceptually appealing theme? It almost explains itself, just by the layout; map of Europe, cities connected by flight-paths (‘What do the colours signify?’ – ‘Nothing’), flight cards showing destinations, little plastic aeroplanes (one colour per player).
And away we go…. With lots of appropriate, meaningless banter. Freddy Laker, Virgin, air hostesses, many allusions to the Easy Jet ‘extras’ that plague cut-price travellers etc. Some difficulty is encountered with working in Euros rather than Pounds – but hey, sign of the times! But … much more difficulty with those simple rules.
There are two parts to a player’s turn; the filling up of Flight card rows (of which there are two rows and two ways to fill up), and player actions (of which there are five). Nothing particularly difficult about any one ‘fill up’ or action; but every single one is royally misinterpreted at some time or another.
For example; action 3 - ‘Place planes on another player’s link’. Roz doesn’t realise that this can be done at all, and later that it can be done when another player’s plane is on that link. Derek wants to play on more than one person’s link in the same turn (but can’t) and Dicken … well, not sure anyone understood his problem, but it included at least action 2 - ‘Place planes on links you already own’ and action 4 - ‘Claim a Flight card’ (you didn’t tell me that I could claim Flight cards on routes that I didn’t completely own! – indignant ed).
The Flight Cards not only provide income but also victory points ranging between 1, 3, 5 and 7 but the more victory points the more complicated the route is to be able to collect it.
Through all this the person that is Gareth assists in everyone’s confusion. Fulsome re-explanations of rules follow upon every query. Sometimes these explanations are wholly accurate, but by containing numerous examples of play they quickly conspire to befuddle further. At other times, Gareth simply hasn’t quite got it right (amen! – ed).
The map is filling up, ‘un-owned’ routes are grabbed, planes skim along the flight paths, Flight cards are being taken. Money is in short supply, but at least the company have adhered to the rules advice of collecting at least one ‘1 point’ Flight card. To not do so is to court disaster, with the prospect of a long evening with no money and no chance of ever doing anything else in the game ever again (quite unusual in today’s hobby, but not unfamiliar to players of a certain generation who got used to ‘being knocked out early’- if you are referring to the pre-emptive strikes on you in Panic Station, then ‘get over it dude! – ed.).
The beer is good, the crisps are fine. The angst is ratcheted up and the suspicion is that the decibel noise of aviation has risen to a disturbing level. Routes are being snatched from under player’s noses under the banner of ‘I’ll take this on spec…’ and the Final Flight cards are being continually inspected as players attempt to figure out how the hell they can afford to complete either of the two designated 10 point routes that completion of will herald the end game phase! Dicken manages a cake based pun when the Madrid to Vienna route is ‘stollen’ before he can claim it – (groans of horrified delight erupt from the others – ed).
The first ‘Vacation card’ appears – it’s a ‘timing device’ explains Kendall. Roz doesn’t remember being told about this and what does it mean? Gareth to the rescue ….
The second ‘Vacation card’ appears. Hurrah! The game end is nigh. From now on the ‘Final Destination’ card (sounds disturbingly terminal) may be played. Players each have two at game start and one of these can be played, at which point that player stops playing and waits to see if anyone else will join him / her. This can go on for five turns, but each turn missed is rewarded with 2 bonus points for those who have completed their Final Flight.
Kendall is not hanging around. His planes have been positioning themselves for some time; Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Seville, Madrid, Rome, Vienna, Munich. 10 points – Ching! Ching! Time for in-flight refreshments – de-caff, white, no sugar. Dicken quickly plays his Final Destination card. Gareth meanwhile, is desperate for Euros. Kendall and Dicken collect more bonuses. Derek Final Destinates (is that grammatically correct? – ed). Roz remonstrates about the rules and not being told the rules. Gareth has enough Euros! Kendall collects his fifth round of bonuses – and Gareth doesn’t get time to spend.
A win for Kendall, followed by Dicken, 2 points behind and then Derek, Roz and … Gareth, lots behind.
Plenty of après jouer. A game that draws players in, but doesn’t quite do what they would like it to. Derek fumes that not one, ‘Not One!’ of the longer Flight cards (5 points or 7 points) has been taken. Roz finds it ‘un-natural’ that the income for any Flight card collected beyond the fifth, will be less. And why do longer Flight cards generate the same income as shorter Flight cards? And why is money always in short supply? And is it a good thing that some players’ turns are protracted to several minutes, but then others have turns of ten seconds or less?
Who knows? It could be a Ragnar thing, but this is a game that deserves tweaking, as it has the potential to be very good and it plays with 6! Dicken and Kendall vow to tinker and play again (always ominous – ed).
The guests leave in good spirits – and with seasonal best wishes. ‘Til the next time.
Games night.......
It’s finally raining. ‘Java’ arrives in a strong carrier bag and Kendall has another one for his beers. This is a heavy game. With no sign of Spiller and British athletics struggling, there’s plenty of time to set up and exchange bits of Ragnar news.
Spiller arrives, and the game is still being extricated from the box. The set-up involves Kendall calling out bits of kit whilst Dicken shouts ‘Check!’ Gilly arrives, but can’t be persuaded to make a fourth player. Hard to believe as Kendall grinds through a fifteen minute rule bashing session. This is not a game that can be paraphrased – every rule counts. After fifteen minutes, Spiller announces that he hasn’t taken much in.
Dicken starts. He places a couple of 3-space tiles, moves a ‘developer’ onto the village and builds a Palace, thereby creating a City and scoring himself 2 points. It seems easy. Kendall can’t think of anything better to do and promptly executes an almost exact copy of Dicken’s turn. Spiller does something similar and the game is up and running.
Carol breaks off from her chat with Gilly to answer the phone.
Dicken has a brainwave. He extends an irrigation site, placing 3 extra irrigation tiles. Then he surrounds it with some 3-space tiles and scores 12 points (his developer being the only one adjacent to this mighty watering hole). Spiller and Kendall consider their options, but decide not to buy shares in water companies at this juncture (actually there aren’t any shares in this game – sorry). More 3-space tiles are laid, villages extend and Palaces are either built or enlarged.
Carol comes back in. Catherine’s dog has bitten Catherine (a friend whom Lorna, daughter of Dicken, is staying with). The dog is going to have to be put down. Dicken is going to have to get up at some un-Godly hour to drive to Kent. Spiller can’t believe it and argues a different case on behalf of Dicken, involving mid-day and a spade. Carol manages (somehow) to continue her protestations with Dicken. Gilly tries to extricate Spiller from the debate. Kendall keeps quiet. It could be a very long evening.
‘Java’ has not been played by the Ragnars before, despite it being bought for Phil as a Christmas present last year. Phil’s excuse has been vague and something to do with Roger and ‘not his type of game’. Kendall read the rules and almost gave up after discovering (or rather NOT discovering) what constituted a City rather later than might be expected. Other slight glitches caused further consternation. Rio Grande usually do better. Still, after navigating early difficulties the game proves to be no more difficult than many and is certainly modelled on aspects of its sister games ‘Tikal’ and ‘Mexica’.
Not-with-standing this, Spiller is struggling. ‘Can I put this tile here?’.... ‘No, you’ll be joining two Cities’. ‘Why can’t I do that?’.... ‘You’ll be joining two Cities.’ ‘I’m going to build a Palace’ ..... ‘You can’t build another Palace in a city’. And so on. It doesn’t help that every time a rule is interpreted he comes off the worse, and that Dicken profits. Spiller wishes himself chatting with Gilly and Carol – but bridges are already in flames regarding that possibility.
Kendall and Dicken have discovered the delights of ‘Festivals’. This is a neat development away from the exclusive board play of the two other games. Players collect and play cards to determine who gets points from the Festivals taking place as Palaces grow. Slow Palace building can mean lots of extra points, both for building and for Festivals, but can allow opportunity for others to jump in and steal some of the action.
And so, to the main feature of the game - ‘Terracing’. Nothing to do with ancient English football grounds, but think more of paddy fields. The developer placed highest on the terraced tiles is top dog. Build a Palace – he gets the points; organise some irrigation – he gets the points; at the end of the game – you guessed it. (Festivals are different). There are quite a few strictures on how tiles can and cannot be built up, and players have extra 2-space and 1-space tiles in their own supply. Plenty to keep gamers puzzling for weeks at a time. In fact, being the first game all three players can be found putting on and taking off tiles like some DIY fanatic from hell. Six action points don’t go very far in this game.
Beer and Pringles are the order of the day. Spiller is desperately out of salts and goes for a second cigarette. Dicken and Kendall jockey for the lead in a game that ‘doesn’t matter who wins’... as if.
With the last of the 3-space tiles being placed, Kendall counts his points, scoring a healthy 143. Spiller has his last go and comes in with a chesty 104. Dicken does all he can, but can only manage 139 - not bad considering Kendall kept the end game scoring rule to himself until virtually the last 10 minutes! ed.
The verdict is , ‘Good’. Not much by way of theme, but different and demanding. Further games will require in-house rules on turn management e.g. a player may only take off the tile just placed. Spiller seems prepared to give it another try – not what he said earlier in the evening. There’s a lot to this game and it will warrant a further review to do full justice.
Time for a quick coffee and some serious thought about the running of fantasy football this year. Kendall sends his regards to Catherine, advising her to report to the doctor if she starts frothing at the mouth. Dicken adds a further warning about hydrophobia. Spiller snorts. Carol manages a wry grin.
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