SpinBall and other dexterity games

Looking at the general category of "dexterity games", it's one of the
few kinds of games I tend to be quite bad at, yet still enjoy a great
deal. This is not to say I only enjoy winning, but if one loses
a lot, it can be somewhat less fun.

I define dexterity games fairly broadly, including essentially any
game where manual dexterity impacts the outcome of the game. Among my
favorite dexterity games are Crokinole, Loopin' Louie, SpinBall,
Hamster Rolle, and Pounce. All of these are worth writing more about,
but for now I'm going to discuss SpinBall, since I just got my copy.

SpinBall is a game by href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/search.php3?designerid=235"> Aaron
Weissblum which is basically described in its href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewitem.php3?gameid=2794">
BoardGameGeek entry. The description doesn't really do it justice
though. Essentially this is a game of trick shots. Because of the
nature of the surface and the the ball, you can put so much spin on
the ball that you get some very elaborate series of bounces, all of
which seem to defy basic physics.

With inexperienced/less skilled players (such as me), you just shoot
for points, and this is challenging enough. However, once the players
get somewhat better, the blockers become critical. Often, one player
is very good with a single shot, and somewhat less skilled with
several other shots. Their opponent may be skilled with two shots,
but not so much with any others. As soon as the second player scores,
they can block their opponent's only good shot, and start racking up
points. That is, until their opponent scores twice with their less
practiced shots and blocks the second player's only two shots.

The variety of shots that can be made in this game is remarkable.
Everything ranging from the three standard shots (straight/back,
single ricochet, and double ricochet) to center bounces to "wall
hugger" shots make this an amazing game to watch as well as play.

It may not be as strategic as partnership Hamster Rolle, as silly as
Loopin' Louie or as stressfull as Pounce, but it really has a quality
that no other dexterity game I've played has; it seems like magic.

Game Metrics2003

I like game metrics. "Best" is a word that can mean lots of different things. Game metrics provide a nice way of describing what "best" means, more specifically. Here are my top games for 2003 by a number of metrics:

HuberHappinessHeuristic

(Rating-Offset)*Total Time

• Amun Re
  
  
• Puerto Rico
  
  
• ElectronicCatchphrase
  
  
• Attika
  
  
• 6 nimmt!
  
  
• Finstere Flure
  
  
• Balloon Cup
  
  
• RoboRally
  
  
• Princes of Florence
  
  
• Crokinole
  

MonthMetric

(distinct months in which the game was played)

• ElectronicCatchphrase (10 in 2003, 23 ever)
  
  
• Can't Stop (6 in 2003, 18 ever)
  
  
• 6 nimmt! (5 in 2003, 20 ever)
  
  
• Light Speed (5 in 2003, 5 ever)
  
  
• Crokinole (4 in 2003, 15 ever)
  
  
• TransAmerica (4 in 2003, 11 ever)
  
  
• Puerto Rico (4 in 2003, 10 ever)
  
  
• Hick Hack in Gacklewack (4 in 2003, 10 ever)
  
  
• Mause Rallye (4 in 2003, 7 ever)
  
  
• Blokus (4 in 2003, 5 ever)
  
  
• Amun Re (4 in 2003, 4 ever)
  

Most Plays Metric

See the 5sAnd10s2003 list

Most Sessions

• ElectronicCatchphrase (14 sessions)
  
  
• Light Speed (10 sessions)
  
  
• Can't Stop (8 sessions)
  
  
• Attika (7 sessions)
  
  
• King Lui (7 sessions)
  
  
• Amun Re (7 sessions)
  
  
• Balloon Cup (7 sessions)
  
  
• Crokionle (7 sessions)
  
  
• Europa Tour (7 sessions)
  
  
• Zirkus Flohcati (6 sessions)
  
  
• 6 nimmt

  (6 sessions)

  
  
  
• Finstere Flure (6 sessions)
  

Initiative Metric

Basically, total time spent playing with an offset to accomodate short games.

• Electronic Catchphrase
  
  
• Amun Re
  
  
• Puerto Rico
  
  
• Attika
  
  
• Finstere Flure
  
  
• Balloon Cup
  
  
• Crokinole
  
  
• 6 nimmt!
  
  
• Light Speed
  
  
• Can't Stop
  
  

  Top 4 Games by number of players

  
  
  
  
• 2 player: Light Speed, Balloon Cup, Crokinole, Cathedral
  
  
• 3 player: Loopin' Louie, Coloretto, Can't Stop, Filthy Rich
  
  
• 4 player: Crokinole, Password, Attika, Can't Stop
  
  
• 5 player: Amun Re, Foppen, TransAmerica, Puerto Rico
  
  
• 6 player: ElectronicCatchphrase, 6 nimmt

  , Call my Bluff, Split Second

  
  

Top Games by Day of the Week

Ok, so as if these stats aren't strange enough, this is just weird, but it amuses me to present the data, so here we go:

• Sunday: ElectronicCatchphrase
  
  
• Monday: ElectronicCatchphrase
  
  
• Tuesday: Light Speed
  
  
• Wednesday: Balloon Cup
  
  
• Thursday: ElectronicCatchphrase
  
  
• Friday: Loopin' Louie
  
  
• Saturday: ElectronicCatchphrase
  

Recommended Variants

In general, I am a strong proponent of playing the rules as written. Most of the time, games have gone through extensive playtesting and there are reasons why the rules are in place. Introducing house rules more often than not reduces the quality of a game. Naturally, people should play however they find most enjoyable, but I'll be the first to admit it isn't always obvoius what is the "most enjoyable". All of that said, there's a few games where I've found a variant or house rule that substantially improves the experience. Some of these (for example, the Attika variant) are reasonably specific to my tastes. While I know several people who prefer my variant, others prefer the original rules. Others, such as the Vinci variant I haven't seen anyone prefer the original. So, on with the variants:

Vinci

Vinci is an outstanding game, but it can have a bit of a serious engame problem. Specifically, it there is serious analysis paralysis as people maximize their score and minimize the score of the players who are doing well. This problem is completely and simply fixed by utilizing hidden scoring. At the end of a complete round, if one or more players have passed the winning point total, they announce so and the player with the highest score wins. I've played it many times this way and highly recommend it.

ZooSim

ZooSim has a rich-get-richer problem in that income is derived from the number of zoo tiles one. Naturally, this is somewhat offset by the fact that purchasers of the early tiles presumably pay dearly, but it's been my observation, even with experienced players, due to the blind nature of the bidding, it is hard to effectively force that payment and a player who wins two tiles in the first round is at a serious advantage. The variant I've played with that fixes this effectively is to have income simply be 3 units per round, regardless of zoo size.

Attika

I find the "connect two shrines" win condition dissatisfying. Additionally, I find it can turn into a game of chicken where other players try to avoid spending the resources to stop someone from achieving this condition, hoping their opponents will. Eliminating this victory condition reduces the amount of player interaction. After a few testing games, I've found that making the connection of two shrines grant that player 6 cards is effective. It's a substantial reward enough to try to connect, but not so much that it ends the game.

ElectronicCatchphrase

This isn't so much a variant as an interpretation of the rules. We now play with "passing by intent". What I mean by that is that as soon as you intend to pass and make any effort to do so, it is considered passed. That puts the onus on the receiving player to grab it and get on with their clue giving. It's also a lot less frustrating and essentially unambiguous which team gets the point when the buzzer goes. If you're in the process of passing it, it counts as in the next players hands.

LoopinLouie

This one is again, not so much a variant as a more complete set of rules. These are usually called the tournament rules.

The so-called "Tournament Rules" for Loopin' Louie are used in the Gathering of Friends tournaments as well as by many people in casual play. The rules are as follows:

1. All players start with 3 chickens
   
2. Louie is started and players play until only one player has chickens remaining. (ie, play 1 game by the standard rules)
   
3. Louie is stopped. The player with one or more chickens remaining removes one of their chickens from play altogether. If this is their last chicken, that player is the winner.
   
4. All players put all of their chickens that have not been removed from play onto their barn. Return to step 2.
   

As a result, for each round a player wins, it becomes more difficult for them to win the next round.

2009 Games Summary

I managed to hit the one-game-per-day threshold just barely this year. Gaming with the kids has continued to progress, and that's allowed us to start hosting more gaming. Hopefully, lots more in 2010. There's still lots of good gaming at lunch at work, though my personal amount of play has gone down a bit. Race and Dominion dominated again, and overall another good year of gaming.

My kids are great gamers. My 5-year-old now plays real games, and is beginning to learn some actual tactics, and my 3-year-old finally has enough patience for an extended (ie 20 minute) game. Non-kids' games successfully played with kids include: Quoridor, Twixt, Zig Zag, Chess, Pitch Car, Pingvinas, Blokus Trigon, Dvonn, and a variety of others, focused on abstracts.


Overall Stats

• 365 Games Played
• 44% at home (family & guests)
  
• 15% at work
• 22% regular gaming group
• 12% "events" (eg, Unity Games)
  
• 7% other friends' homes
  
• 192 different Titles
• 141 days with at least one game played
  
• 54 new-to-me games played
• Gamed with 162 different people
• 33 new games or expansions acquired
  

Top Games

• 44 games of Race for the Galaxy
  
• 43 games of Dominion
• 9 games of Electronic Catchphrase
• 8 games of Connect Four
• 7 games of Viva Topo!
• 6 games of Loopin' Louie
• 5 games of Quoridor
• 5 games of The Adventurers
• 5 games of Go Away Monster!

New Games

The kids' game success of the year was clearly Viva Topo! which I picked up at Danger Planet when they had their store closing clearance. It's a nice push your luck race game, which is a mechanic that works well with kids.

Among the adult games, only the expansions for Race and Dominion really stand out. Three Commandments, The Adventurers, Ghost Stories and At the Gates of Loyang were all very good, but none are breakout hits.

2007 Games Summary

• 256 games played
  
  
  
  • 25% bi-weekly group
    
  • 21% Gathering
    
  • 13% Home
    
  • 8% Work
    
  • 8% UG semi-annuals
    
  • 25% Other
    
  
  
• 153 titles played
  
• 73 new-to-me titles played
  
• 78 sessions
  
  
  
  • 38% Home
    
  • 20% Bi-weekly group
    
  • 12% Work
    
  • 9% Gathering
    
  • 3% UG semi-annuals
    
  • 18% Other
    
  
  
• ~93 hours
  
• 170 opponents
  

Groups Breakdown

Bi-weekly gaming group
	25% of games played
	34% of titles played*
	20% of sessions
	17% of opponents
Gathering
	21% of games played
	25% of titles played*
	 9% of sessions played (each day counted separately)
	38% of opponents*
Gaming at work
	8% of games played
	11% of games played*
	12% of sessions
	18% of opponents*
Gaming at home
	13% of games played
	10% of titles played*
	38% of sessions
	 5% of opponents*
UG Semi-annual Events
	 8% of games played
	12% of titles played*
	 3% of sessions
	12% of opponents

* Percentages could add up to more than 100, since the same title/opponents can
occur in different groups

Top Games

Top 10 games (by my own "hot games" metric) for 2007
10) Loopin' Louie
 9) Antike
 8) Ra
 7) Princes of Florence
 6) Felix: Cat in the Hat
 5) Um Krone und Kragen
 4) Factory Fun
 3) Descent
 2) Notre Dame
 1) Race for the Galaxy

Fives and Dimes

10+

Race for the Galaxy (18 plays)

Go Away Monster! (11 plays)

5+

Factory Fun (7 plays)

Notre Dame (5 plays)

Toppo (5 plays)

Felix: Cat in the Sack (5 plays)

Speed (5 plays)

Top games by sessions are exactly the same, in the same order.

Top games by time spent playing are:
Descent, RftG, Notre Dame, Factory Fun, Princes of Florence and Ra

MonthMetric

1) Go Away Monster (6 months in 2007, 7 ever)
2) Factory Fun (4 months in 2007, 5 ever)
3) Notre Dame (4 months in 2007, 4 ever)
4) Monza (4 months in 2007, 4 ever)
... new inductees to the MM>=10 list ...
5) Blue Moon (2 months in 2007, 11 ever)
6) Light Speed (2 months in 2007, 10 ever)
7) Flinke Pinke (1 month in 2007, 10 ever)
8) Samurai (1 month in 2007, 10 ever)

Top Opponents

Of the top 25 opponents (by number of games)
	10 are regular attendees of the bi-weekly group
	4 live in California
	3 are other local gamers (not attendees of the bi-weekly group)
	2 are family members
	2 are co-workers
	1 each from NY, WA, PA and TX

Year over Year

Year    Games   New     Diff    Ses     Ppl
1997     ~30
1998    ~100
1999    ~150     63
2000     301    112     141     126     129
2001     712    172     266     175     165
2002     650    161     279     163     241
2003     552    128     272     129     180
2004     470     80     212     112     216
2005	 429     92     208     124     236
2006	 365     84     205      83     216
2007	 256     73	153	 78	170

First Derivative (year over year differential)
Years		Games		New	Diff	Ses	Ppl
2000-2001	+136%		+54%	+89%	+39%	+28%
2001-2002	-  9%		- 6%	+ 5%	- 7%	+46%
2002-2003	- 15%		-20%	- 3%	-21%	-25%
2003-2004	- 15%		-48%	-22%	-13%	+20%
2004-2005	-  9%		+15%	- 2%	+11%	+ 9%
2005-2006	- 15%		- 9%    - 1%    -33%    - 9%
2006-2007	- 30%		-13%	-25%	- 6%	-22%

August 2004 Games

As expected becoming a father causes a substantial slowdown in game playing. It's worth it, though.
Shockingly enough, I did play some games this month with family and friends while Genevieve slept (sometimes).

11 games played, 7 titles (0 new to me) over 5 sessions with 5 different people.

Hot Games for August, 2004

(ok, all the games for August, 2004)

Mississippi

My mom kept wanting to play this.

Loopin' Louie

It can even be played with a baby in one arm

SpinBall

Another family hit

Billabong

I really like the opportunities for clever tricks here

Durch die Wuste

Enjoyable as always.

King Lui

It plays differently, but well with 3. Scores are much higher.

Master Labyrinth

I like this, but it always feels a little incomplete, like there should be more to it.

Another month metric update

A few years ago, I posted the idea of a month metric
for gauging the long term worthiness of a game. Last year, I posted
an update to my top games by month metric and
I figured it's worth doing again. Games that score 10 or above on the
month metric (played on at least 10 occasions in different months),
make for a nice sort of "hall of fame".

When I posted a bit over a year ago, the list was 27 games: Electronic
Catchphrase, Crokinole, Can't Stop, 6 nimmt!, Call my Bluff, Battle
Line, Zirkus Flohcati, Speed, Lost Cities, TransAmerica, RoboRally,
Ra, For Sale, Apples to Apples, Knockabout, Carcassonne, Hick Hack in
Gacklewack, Princes of Florence, Puerto Rico, Ricochet Robot,
SpinBall, Traumfabrik, Settlers of Catan, Medici, Igel Argern, Lord of
the Rings, and Schnaeppchen Jagd.

In the past year or so since I updated, the following 7 games have
joined the list: Cartagena, San Juan, Basari,
Euphrat & Tigris, Loopin' Louie, Fiese Freunde Fette
Feten, and Shit!. I remain pretty happy with the metric as
a "hall of fame" measure.

When I last posted, I predicted a few games would make this list
before long. Of those predicted, only San Juan has made it so far,
but Heroscape is only one more play away from making the list and the
others (Ticket to Ride, Oasis, Adam & Eva) seem like still not bad
bets for the next year or two, but it may take a while for them to get
up there.

Of this years crop, Um Krone und Kragen seems likely to make
the list before too long. It's already at 4 and I don't even own a
copy yet, plus it's short. Thurn und Taxis, Descent and
Blue Moon City each have a score of 3 so far and will likely
climb, but it may take some time before they hit 10.

The "elite" set, those that score 20 or above, remain the same:
Electronic Catchphrase, Crokinole, 6 nimmt!, Call my Bluff, Can't Stop
and Battle Line. Zirkus Flohcati and Ra will probably
break in before too long.

5s And10s2003

My 20s, 10s and 5s list is essentially unsurprising. The last entry
(Trollig) is a children's memory game from Haba that has been a big
success with 5-year-old relatives. Those in italics are games that have been on the 5s and 10s before:

20s, 10s and 5s:

20+

ElectronicCatchphrase (36), Light Speed (23)

10+

Balloon Cup (10), Crokinole (10)

5+

Coloretto (9), Amun Re (8), Europa Tour/10DiA (8),
Can't Stop (8), 6 nimmt! (6), Attika (7),
Finstere Flure (7), King Lui (7), Loopin' Louie (6),
Puerto Rico (6), Zirkus Flohcati (6), Hick Hack in Gacklewack (5)
Mause Rallye (5), Paris Paris (5), Password (5), Trollig (5)

Ten Years of Games

I have been tracking the games I play now for 10 years. I tracked games some in '97, '98 and '99, but didn't start keeping really good records until 2000. In this past decade, I played:

• 4480 games: 1.2 games/day
• 1060 titles: 2 new titles/week
• 1267 different days: 2.4 days/week
• with 977 different people: 8 new people/month

Top People

Of the top ten people (by number of games played) my wife and daughter are #1 and #10. Of the remaining eight, two (FR & ET) are folks I game with every month, two are people I've gamed with many times a year for the entire decade (RS & SD) and four are four are people who I gamed with a lot and then they moved away.

Top Games

The following 30 games got 20 or more plays in the decade:

100+: Electronic Catchphrase, Race for the Galaxy, Crokinole

50+: Dominion, Call My Bluff, Speed

40+: Battle Line, 6 nimmt!, Geister, Spin Ball, Can't Stop

30+: For Sale, Zirkus Flohcati, Apples to Apples, Light Speed, Loopin' Louie, Trans America, Knockabout

20+: Pente, Ra, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, Go Away Monster!, Blue Moon, Hick Hack in Gacklewack, Werewolf, Heroscape, Flinke Pinke, San Juan, Princes of Florence

A few games that didn't make the 20 plays threshold, but deserve mention from this decade, for me: Descent, Traumfabrik, Vinci, Fiese Freunde Fette Feten, RoboRally, Power Grid, Schnaeppchen Jagd, Goa, Battlestations, Medici, Fresh Fish & Medina.

Every Year

Only four games got played every year of the decade, because well, a lot of great games came out during the past decade. Those four are Igel Argern, Can't Stop, 6 nimmt! and Ra. A bunch of games managed to hit 9/10 years though: Medici, Knockabout, Crokinole, Basari, Battle Line, Call my Bluff, Lord of the Rings, For Sale, Zirkus Flohcati, Speed, Electronic Catchphrase & Apples to Apples.

Year-by-year breakdown

Year    Games   New     Diff    Ses     Ppl
1997     ~30
1998    ~100
1999    ~150     63
2000     301    112     141     126     129
2001     712    172     266     175     165
2002     650    161     279     163     241
2003     552    128     272     129     180
2004     470     80     212     112     216
2005     429     92     208     124     236
2006     365     84     205      83     216
2007     256     73     153      78     170
2008     370     66     168     140     159
2009     365     54     192     141     162