Jump Drive 78,79

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Hadn't played in a couple of months, and felt like time to get it back out for a spin. I had been toying with the notion of playing nine round games to collect some statistics. Normally I play until hitting 50 points, hopefully in 6 rounds, more often in 7 rounds, and occasionally in 8 or 9 rounds. The idea with 9 rounds is to get a full set of statistics.

For Game 78, I did play 9 rounds, and it was boring. The later rounds induce increasing amounts of analysis paralysis as the tableaux and income grows. Drawing 15, 20 or more cards requires a lot more time to process. I also didn't do very well either.

Game 79 I went back to playing to 50 points, and this game still went to 8 rounds. Both of these games didn't have very good draws with respect to my initial strategy. In fact, for both games, the initial strategy seemed to work into Turn 3, and then in both games just collapsed, at which point it's a little too late to switch strategies.

I need to play a bunch of 50 point games to get back on track.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.