1870

Mike convinced us all to try the “lite” version of this game. And it really, really sucks. It was completely unbalanced. And, thankfully, we finally stopped playing it. It was so painful, in fact, that I am placing it on my permanent ban list.

Why is it so unbalanced? Take a look at the picture and keep in mind that you can only place two track segments per turn. John (lower left) goes first. Mike (upper left) goes second and cuts John off. He also cuts me (upper middle) off as well. I cannot reach Houston or Galveston before Mike does. So I decide to go for Alexandria. However, as I draw near, I realize that everyone else will be able to use up the remaining city markers before I can use one to connect to Alexandria. I was only able to, in fact, because John skipped connecting to Galveston. It is only in the next stage of the game that you can connect up the tracks with other tiles.

The other flawed aspect of this “game” was that there are only a limited number of train engines. Once all of the 4 engines are bought, all number 2 engines are removed. So when Mike was able to buy a second number 4 engine before I could buy my first, I lost my number 2 engine and only had a number 3 engine left. This effectively takes you out of the running for the game.

Mu

At least we were able to play Mu. Its an okay trick taking game for five people. Although I must admit that the strategy is not as crystal clear for me as it is with Tichu.