Click on the linked names below for those particular games....
‘Tinners’ Trail’ by Martin Wallace
‘Thurn and Taxis’ by Karen and Andreas Seyfarth
‘Traders of Genoa’ by Rudiger Dorn
'Tikal' by Kiesling & Kramer
‘Take it Easy’ – by Pete Burley
It is the Saturday afternoon of Phil’s mini-bash and fresh from Ragnar game testing we eagerly awaited the arrival of the ‘Bingley’ contingent.
After a rummage through Pete’s bag (NOT Pete Burley’s) and having dissected several games bought at Essen, it is decided that ‘Take it Easy’ and its new big brother ‘Take it to the Limit’ are the choice items. Five willing participants retire to Phil’s dining room to begin proceedings.
Sue announces that she has never won at ‘Take it Easy’, but casts this into doubt by quickly setting out her tiles like a veteran. Neil follows in his own style, leaving Andrew and Kendall to decide which arrangement to follow. Pete is the ‘caller’ so simply turns his tiles face down and prepares to make random draws.
First produced in 1986, ‘Take it Easy’ has sold over 500,000 copies and is thus a classic. For some reason, none of the Ragnars had played this game until being introduced to Pete (Burley) who is a fellow producer of games working with ‘One-Stop’ and Steve T. Even then, the game had only been played on-line via Pete’s web-site. However, Sue, Neil and Pete (the other one) are very familiar with it and are soon involved in typical ‘Take it Easy’ banter – ‘9-5-3’, 7,4,1’ etc. (numbers, lovely numbers).
Kendall gets into the spirit of things, opening a can of Grolsch. Plenty of ribald comments from the assembled company, but no-one else goes for the alcohol. Is this a symptom of the abstract game player?
‘Take it Easy’ consists of a hexagon hex grid and some 20+ hex tiles. The tiles have three designs on them running from one side to the opposite. There are nine such designs and each is worth points (1-9).The tiles fit onto the grid and the idea is to arrange the tile designs so that rows of tiles trace the same design from side to opposite side of the larger hexagon. Players then score points by multiplying the design value by the number of tiles in a complete row.
If you’re not sure what all this adds up to, then go to the Burley games web-site and have a go.
Andrew and Kendall have little idea where to place their first tiles, but it doesn’t take long to get the game going and once under-way it is very ‘morish’ ( no it’s not a North African game – ed). A row of ‘9’s down the middle row seems like a good plan as this yields the maximum 45 point score. However, if player’s stick to such a crude model, they can quickly find their options disappear and points are squandered elsewhere.
At the end of the first game Pete is a comfortable winner with 158 points (maximum is 300+). So much for Sue’s initial layout!
Player’s record their scores on a score sheet. This has been usefully arranged to help folk who are unable to do simple multiplication. Kendall has already ear-marked the game for pupils at his school and a player aid such as this is just the job for making the game accessible to the widest possible audience, A new caller (Neil) now takes over.
Unlike Pete, Neil seems unable to draw the same ‘quality’ of tile and soon the table is hissing with frustration. Row after row has to be ‘blown out’ allowing Kendall to chalk up a win with a measly 124 points. Andrew is visibly withering.
Kendall is the next caller and, such is the ease of play, the game is wound up fifteen minutes later. Sue wins this final round and the game overall. Very entertaining – an adult version of Bingo!
Go to top of page
|
