Mississippi

(my photo from BGG<> a>)

Recently, I've had several occasions to play "Mississippi", a
game from the late 1980's published by Mattel. It's not the greatest
game in the world, but it is a very good race/puzzle game. Given that
it was published in 1987, before the deluge of quality games from the
past decade, it is especially remarkable and worthy of a bit more
notoriety.

The basic mechanics are simple: pay logs to move forward or receive
logs for moving backward. If your boat ends up adjacent to another,
you may end up getting a push forward, or they may, depending on the
orientation of your pieces. This bumping is the core mechanic of the
game and some involved chain reactions may be produced.

The game play can feel a little dry, but not overly so, especially
given the kind of game it is. The components are nice, but nothing
remarkable, with the one flaw that some of the pieces are hard to
distinguish colors, occasionally leading to confusion. The whole
thing plays in 45 minutes, which feels about right.

Overall, it's fun and stands up well to today's more demanding
standards. Recommended, particularly if you like abstract,
puzzle-like race games.

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.

New To Me Games

These are games that are new to me, with the newest at the top, along
with whatever ultra-brief commentary I have on them. I periodically
update this, but the post time will no longer change and it won't show
up as new in RSSI fees.

2004

May

Der Herr der Ringe: Die Rückkehr des Königs Ugh. Uninteresting game of dice rolling.

Stapelei Simple, extremely compact dexterity game with a donkey.

Nuba Older abstract Knizia game worth a few plays

April (Gathering of Friends)

• DickeLuftInDerGruft Beautiful kids memory game
  
• SunkenCity Light exploration and screw-your-neighbor game
  
• Kaleidos Find words in busy pictures. Ok, but not as fun as I'd heard.
  
• Masterdieb Amazingly produced geometry, memory and role selection game.
  
• SmartyParty Fun party game with lists whose imperfections can be annoying
  
• DestinationTresor Clever, novel and enjoyable deduction game
  
• Tongiaki Somewhat chaotic but some real opportunity for interesting tricks.
  
• PayoffMachine Old 1970s game with marbles. Rather Neat.
  
• 5thAvenue Disappointing, but worth another play.
  
• MaNiKi Very entertaining animal stacking puzzle game
  
• Marco Polo Light but strong game of carefully timed cardplay
  
• StPetersburg Few new mechanics but a very good game none the less
  
• OldTown Older deduction game (sort of) with a very nice mechanic but very random results
  
• Immer oben auf! Fun and cute animal stacking memory game
  
• Goa Outstanding complex game in the mold of PrincesOfFlorence or PuertoRico
  
• Zopp Fun dexterity game
  
• RailroadDice Clever mechanics, fun game, but has some endgame problems
  
• OhPharaoh Disappointing pyramid building game with some potential
  
• PowerGrid Outstanding Funkenschlag rework
  
• MangaManga Dull realtime cardgame
  
• LostValley Beautifully produced but blandly mechanical game
  
• Spy I liked this like Knizia cardgame but most others were unimpressed
  
• Saga Interesting smallbox card game with a nice twist on influence games
  
• LePasseTrappe Simple, fun, entertaining wooden dexterity game
  
• MusicMystery Music trivia game. Not my thing.
  
• Memoir44 BattleCry in World War 2. Fun and nicely produced.
  
• BlueMoon Nice Knizia two player. Needs more plays, but I'm in no rush.
  

April

• Alexandros Some nice mechanics but led to a bad kingmaker result.
  
• SanJuan Very good. Lots of potential.
  

March

• Hansa Not bad, but awfully monotonous commodity collection game
  
• EinfachGenial Fun 2-, 3- or 4-player abstract from Reiner Knizia
  
• Corsari Very light and seemingly overly-luck dominated card game
  
• TicketToRide Nice middle-weight game of connecting cities and building rails
  
• Maritim Interesting puzzle movement game. _Way_ too long with six players.
  
• Landlord A "take that" game from Friedemann Friese. Not bad for a "take that" game, but...
  

February

• Mississippi Interesting older Mattel game all about chain reactions
  
• BalloonRennen Very chaotic and random, but we laughed a lot everytime someone slammed into the mountains.
  
• Industria Pretty good, but feels a bit scattered. Worth another play.
  
• UndTschuss Interesting, but I'm not sure what I think yet
  
• Yinsh Very good
  

January

• PrincesOfTheRenaissance
  
• Dracula A little long, but fun
  
• Adam & Eva Very good
  
• Piratenbucht
  
• Trampelfanten A light kids game with a funky rule or two. Fun.
  
• Coda A quick, light deduction game. That's a rare combination
  
• Bus
  
• LoadedQuestions OK party game
  
• CrocodilePoolParty
  

2003

December

• Viele Dinge
  
• Fish Eat Fish
  
• 10 Days in Africa
  
• Floriado
  

Extended Essen Thoughts/Photos, Sackson Auction list

I've put up my Essen 2002 photos. I've
also played several games of Trias, ad acta, ZooSim, and Fische
Fluppen Frikadellen, and all have held up well. The only one I'm
beginning to have some questions about is "ZooSim", which seems to
have a bit of a rich-get-richer problem. Next time I play I think
I'll play with a fixed income variant. That is, everyone gets 3
income at the end of each round.

I've cataloged my acquisitions from last week's Sackson auction. I
came home with:

ASAP, Ad Liners, Avante, Bazaar, Buried Treasure, Casablanca, Cloak &
Dagger, Corporate Pursuit, Das Erbe des Maloney, Das Super-Blatt,
Dragonriders of Pern, Eddie's Eleven, Focus, Foil, Fuedal, fun-et-iks,
Gold Connection, Gold am Yukon, High Hand, Jumpin, Lone Wolf and Cub
Game, Mad Marbles, MageStones, Maze, Mississippi, Mr. President, New
World, Oil Tycoon, Orbit War, Perfect Wedding, Phlounder, Ploy,
Quinto, Robin Hood, Round Four, Scoop, Stocks & Bonds, Stop Thief,
Swoggle, Tribond, True Colors, Twister, Twixt, Ultimate Stratego,
Whosit?, and Xanth.

In particular, I have more than one of Buried Treasure, Gold
Connection, Phlounder, and Mr. President and would be open to trades
or purchases.