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last update: June 27, 2004 | ||||
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Time Pirates</H2> <CENTER>an interesting family game with a <B>very</B> interesting rules problem<BR> modified: November 18, 2002<p></CENTER> <HR SIZE="3" WIDTH="80%">
Alan Moon, game designer and host of the fabled Gathering of Friends, got together with his friend and fellow designer, Aaron Weissblum, to create this time traveling family game. Like many of Alan's other games, this involves collecting sets (in this case, of artifacts scattered throughout the timescape) and dealing with a variable round & game ending mechanism. The only problem: there was a little disagreement with the company that published it (Piatnik) about the rules.<P>
Alan has suggested in an <A HREF="http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/moon">interview</A> with Stephen Glenn for the FunAgain Games website (which is quite good and worth your time to read) that Piatnik either changed and/or misunderstood one rule... regarding the restocking of epochs. (Jay Tummelson corrected this first error in the rules translation in the Rio Grande Games edition of Time Pirates.)<P>
Below is a chart containing that rule change and the others that Alan & Aaron advocate in their "designer" rules posted at <A HREF="http://www.gamingdumpster.com">The Gaming Dumpster</A>. Rules and/or rulings that vary from the other two rule sets are highlighted in <FONT COLOR="#990099">deep purple</FONT>. We here at Game Central Station have used the "designer" rules and the Rio rulels... and have come to like the Rio rules.<P>
<TABLE BORDER="1" CELLSPACING="3" CELLPADDING="10"> <TR> <TD><I>Piatnik (German) Rules</I></TD> <TD><I>Rio Grande Rules</I></TD> <TD><I>Alan & Aaron's "Designer" Rules</I></TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD><FONT COLOR="#990099">Players can not restock an epoch <I>unless</I> it has no artifacts.</FONT></TD> <TD>Players can not restock an epoch <I>if</I> there is a time pirate (player) present.</TD> <TD>Players can not restock an epoch <I>if</I> there is a time pirate (player) present.</TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Players who restock an epoch receive <I>two</I> standard actions.</TD> <TD>Players who restock an epoch receive <I>two</I> standard actions.</TD> <TD><FONT COLOR="#990099">Players who restock an epoch receive <I>three</I> standard actions.</FONT></TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>This is implied but not stated in these rules.</TD> <TD>This is implied but not stated in these rules.</TD> <TD><FONT COLOR="#990099">Players may move to/through an epoch with the Time Police without penalty on their turn.</FONT></TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>Scoring for color bonuses (both most in one color and having all five colors) takes place only on the <I>last</I> round.</TD> <TD>Scoring for color bonuses (both most in one color and having all five colors) takes place only on the <I>last</I> round.</TD> <TD><FONT COLOR="#990099">Scoring for color bonuses (both most in one color and having all five colors) takes place <I>each</I> round.</FONT></TD> </TR>
<TR> <TD>No clear ruling is given in these rules.</TD> <TD><FONT COLOR="#990099">No clear ruling is given in these rules, but Jay Tummelson is very opposed to keeping 'known' information secret. It gives players with good memories an advantage or makes all players spend the time to remember.</FONT></TD> <TD><FONT COLOR="#990099">No clear ruling is given in these rules, but both Aaron & Alan have expressed a preference for keeping fulfilled contracts face <I>down</I> in front of a player to increase the tension at each end of round scoring and avoid excessive arithmetic.</FONT></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P> <B>Clarifications & Suggestions</B><BR> <I>The first clarification comes straight from the horse's mouth... of course, I'm not sure Alan & Aaron really want to be called "horses". The second is my attempt to deal with a big question from Jason Ross on the rec.games.board newsgroup. Last but not least, Frank "Moo" Branham has a suggestion.</I><P>
1. Once your turn begins, you can not be caught by the Time Police. This includes restocking an epoch and having the Time Police enter your current epoch OR moving into the same epoch as the Time Police during your turn.<P>
2. One of the "worries" about the game is how easy it is to get into a 'death spiral' with the Time Police. Jason Ross put it really well: "If you lose artifacts AND have less actions AND because of those fewer actions and the forced movement, you are forced to move inthe path of the Time Police again, does this not seem like the weakened are being set up to get weaker, while the strong get stronger? In the game we played, one player was hit by the Time Police 4 or 5 times including two sets of two turns in a row, while the leaders never got hit at all."<P>
I (the Conductor) responded: "Excellent question... that's what those atomic move pieces are all about. This is definitely a game of giving a little ground in order to make it up later." <P>
3. Don't play Time Pirates with 6 people... it bogs down because (a) it's easy to block players from restocking epochs, and (b) at least one player is the "goat"... unable to catch up no matter what happens. (OTOH, it works VERY well with 4-5 players.)<P>
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