[Icehouse] Volcano question

[TheLoneGoldfish]

Well, you could take turns in the reverse order of point position (after
each round)... so the players go around like-scoring players... also, "screw
you" play will focus more towards the person with more points I'd imagine.
Also, the game ends at the end of the round when a player picks up the 5th
color... not immediately.

Just a thought.

-Evan (who wants a game to play with just 2/3 pointers [leftovers from
volcano caps])

On 11/30/06, Bart Janssens <bartjanssens at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> Speaking of Volcano.... I love the game, but I've been chewing on a
> problem that seems to come up a lot in my games.
>
> In a game with more than two players, your success depends quite a bit
> on what the player who goes immediately before
> you does - and what state they leave the board in.  Some players will go
> out of their way (perhaps even forgoing a good
> eruption for themselves) to deny the next player a good move; others
> will just aim to collect more pieces for themselves,
> and not care what moves they're leaving open. Yet other players will now
> and then do a  random move to 'open up the
> board and see what happens.'  While the latter is a perfectly legitimate
> tactic, it does give the next player a noticeable
> advantage.
> In the group I'm in, we have a mix of the above play styles - including
> one player who is quite fond of the 'open up the
> board' moves.  It's to the point where the person sitting next to him is
> much more likely to win.  I don't really fault him- like
> I said, it's a legitimate style of play- and besides, I get a bit
> impatient with the 'overly defensive' approach, so I can't complain
> about the opposite.
> Is this a problem with Volcano itself?  I find myself wondering if it
> would help to have a mechanic to reverse, or randomize,
> the turn order.  It's hardly the only game where turn order has such an
> effect, but it seems more prominent in Volcano.
>
> Bart Janssens
> Double-Duty Lab Rabbit
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