Mayfair Games Press Release - The Catan World Championship: Coming to a Computer Near You

From the Mayfair Games Website

The Catan World Championship happens every two years and alternates between Germany and the United States. This year it is being held in Berlin, Germany and will be organized and carried out by KOSMOS GmbH, the German language publisher of “Catan”.

On October 11-12 the greatest Catan players in the world will gather in the heart of Berlin. Including 2012’s Catan World Champion, the 2013 European Champion, the 2013 North American Champion - in total, approx. 65 players representing 33 countries will compete with the best of the best determine the 2014 Catan World Champion.

Mayfair Games Press Release - Catan Anytime! Anywhere!

From the Mayfair Games Website

Mayfair Games is happy to drop the beta tag from Catan Anytime on Thursday, August 28, 2014. Catan Anytime is a casual, free-to-play web variant of The Settlers of Catan brought to you by Bontom Games, in cooperation with Internet Explorer and Catan GmbH. Now the whole Catan community can connect through an evolving digital social game experience.

Catan Anytime provides a new way to experience Catan. Easy to play and designed for touch across any device, it gives players easy access to a Catan experience. Its turn-based asynchronous gameplay and automated trade and roll features streamline and the play flow, making it flexible and portable. Its simplified game features and open architecture make it simple to learn and permit dynamic development.

Mayfair Games Press Release - Meet the Man Behind the Game: Klaus Teuber

From the Mayfair Games Website

There was a very nice article in the New Yorker on the 12th spotlighting Klaus Teuber, creator of everyone's favorite game, The Settlers of Catan®!

If you ever wanted to know a little more about the creator of Catan®, this article is a perfect place to start!

Read it here.

Mayfair Games Press Release - The Settlers of Long Island

From the Mayfair Games Website

We previously linked to an article in the University Herald that called Settlers of Catan the greatest game of all time, and now that Settlers group is back!

In "The Settlers of Long Island" they chronicle their weekly the current standing of their Winter Season and the status of the group thus far, along with some of the optional rules they use when playing a series of Settlers games and tracking the score.

It's a great read, you should definitely check out!

Mayfair Games Press Release - University Herald Calls Settlers Of Catan® The Greatest Game Of All Time

From the Mayfair Games Website

University Herald News is a website that presents "breaking news from higher education institutions around the world."

In a recent article, titled "Settlers Of Catan Was The Top Game Of 2013 And Is Probably The Top Game Ever," writer Scott Bickard breaks down why he thinks Settlers just might be the greatest board game of all time. It's a fantastic article, but of course we here at Mayfair Games are biased, so go give it a read and decide for yourself if you agree with Scott.

Thanks to Scott and the University Herald News!

Read the article here.

Mayfair Games Press Release - Games 100 Names Four Mayfair Titles to its Annual List

From the Mayfair Games Website

Every year Games Magazine helps out weary holiday shoppers by providing them 100 great games from the previous year, as well as a Hall of Fame list of all time greats.

As usual, Mayfair is well represented on 2013's list.

In the Family Games category there were two nominees: Road Rally USA and Urbania.

In the Strategy Games category, Mayfair had another two nominees: Aeroplanes and Five Points: Gangs of New York.

And of course, if you're looking for an all time great, The Settlers of Catan is on their Hall of Fame list.
So keep these great games in mind when making your last minute holiday purchases!

 If You Are Interested In Purchasing These Titles:

                

Mayfair Games Press Release - Mayfair Games wins Best in Show at Chicago Toy and Game Fair

From the Mayfair Games Website

This year marked the 11^th anniversary of the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (ChiTag), held at historic Navy Pier. Myriad events take place at the show, covering the entire spectrum of fun and frivolity that make games and toys an integral part of our lives.

Mayfair participated in a broad slate of events, from the PlayCHIC fashion show, featuring high fashion inspired in part by Mayfair Games’ world famous games and toys, to puppeteering clinics taught by Stacey Gordon of the Bob and Angus show, inspiring the next generation of dreamers.

To top the show off, the show’s 20,000 attendees were asked to vote for the “Best in Show” in toy and game categories and voted The Settlers of Catan® best game of 2013!

ABOUT THE CHICAGO TOY & GAME FAIR
Founded in 2003, ChiTAG returned as the global toy and game hub for consumers, inventors, trade, and media. In celebration of the power of play and creativity, the two-day extravaganza, taking place at Navy Pier, offered interactive exhibits, contests, live stage entertainment, tournaments, and more. Reasonably priced tickets allow attendees to preview, play, and purchase the hottest toys and games, rediscovered classics, and met the inventors behind the ingenuity. For more information, visit www.ChiTAG.com.

About Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games is an international publisher of fine board games and card games suitable for families and hobbyists. An Illinois-based company, founded in 1981, making the games of our generation.

Game Review – Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg
Number of Players	2 - 4
Play Time	45 minutes
Ages	10 years and up

I am reviewing Saint Petersburg this time.  The theme of Saint Petersburg is that the players are part of Czar Peter’s court and are trying to create the strongest faction by constructing buildings in Saint Petersburg and getting aristocrats into their sphere of influence.

Each round of the game consists of a number of turns where the players purchase cards that represent the various things that they need.  During the turn the players have the option to do one of four actions:  purchase a card for the tableau, take a card from the tableau into their reserve, purchase a card from their reserve, or passing.  Players will take these actions multiple times during a turn.  They may pass and then do something else if play gets back around to them later.  Play continues until every player as passed as their action and play gets around to the first player that passed during that go around the table.

The first turn of a turn is when the Craftsmen or green cards are up for purchase.  These cards provide the players their primary income. 

The second turn the Buildings or blue card come out into the positions that are open on the board after the green turn.  The blue cards are the mostly victory point generators. 

The third turn is where the Aristocrat or orange cards make their appearance.  Again the orange cards are placed into positions that opened up during the previous turn.  The orange cards usually have a combination of money and victory points on them.  In addition they provide bonus victory points at the end of the game based on the number of unique orange cards a player has.

The fourth turn is where the special cards for each of the other types of cards come out in any spot that are available for them.  They do not have their own color.  They will be blue, green or orange.  When purchased they replace cards of the same type that they are.  If a player does not have a card of the color of special card then they may not purchase the replacement card.  This is the only round that there is no payout.

Play then goes into the next round where the four turns are completed again.  This continues until one of the decks of cards is depleted when the board is being replenished which is usually six to seven rounds.

There are two viable strategies that I am aware of the blue strategy and the orange strategy.  The blue strategy is centered on getting buildings in the blue turn as early as possible and as often as possible.  The trick is to be mindful of your cash because if you are not getting any orange cards during the orange turn, you will not have the income boost that you will need to get more green cards during the green turn.  You need to get a decisive lead in victory points during the play of the game in order to win using the blue strategy or someone using the orange strategy can beat you.

The orange strategy is probably the easiest one to win with, but has the problem of being the more popular strategy.  The orange strategy consists of getting as many unique orange cards during the play of the game along with specific blue cards that can get you advantages during the game.  If you get victory points while the game is played they are bonus points.  The goal is to have the most unique orange cards at the end of the game and use the orange card bonus to propel you to victory. 

You run into trouble if you are competing with more than one other player while trying the orange strategy because there usually are not enough orange cards available in a turn to be able to get the points needed to win using the strategy easily.

Saint Petersburg is one of those games that every serious board game player should play at least one.  There are warnings that go with that statement.  Try to play with a group of players that are around the same experience level as you.  If you have a player that has played the game a lot more than the rest of the group be prepared for them to beat the rest of you badly.  In those sort of cases occur when I try a new game out there is a greater chance that I will have a bad experience with a game and not be as willing to play it again whether it is a good game or not.

Money is also very tight in Saint Petersburg.  You will never have enough money to do what you want on any given turn.  Make sure you save money for the turns you need to purchase cards in, usually the green, special card and either the blue or orange turn depending on which strategy you are using.  Ignore the cards that you do not need.  You will need the money later.

Saint Petersburg is a great game for board gamers that are looking for games that are more advanced than the introductory games that I have recommended in the past.  It does have the virtue of having a simple rules set, but do not let that trick you.  It can be unforgiving.  If you make a mistake at the wrong time it could blow your whole game.  The real play time for Saint Petersburg is around an hour so that even if you start losing badly you will not be stuck in the game for a couple of hours hating every minute of it.

I recommend Saint Petersburg for players that are ready to try something that is outside of the comfort zone of Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride but are not looking for the long commitment time it takes to play Agricola.

Mayfair Games Press Release - A Look Back at the Catan North American Championship™

From the Mayfair Games Website

A Look Back at the Catan North American Championship™

Mayfair Games was thrilled to host another installment of the Catan North American Championship™ at Gen Con 2013 in Indianapolis this year. The event pits the best Catan® players from Canada, the United States and Mexico against their peers to crown a single champion.
The Catan® tournament season runs year round and thousands of players participated in qualifiers across North America at game conventions and local game retailers. The final 32 represent a cross-section of the continent; players hailed from California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington State and Wisconsin. From outside the United States, Canadian players traveled from Edmonton, Ontario, Ottawa and Waterloo; Mexican players journeyed from Mexico City and Santiago Ahuizotla.
The final table consisted of Jesse Boyd of Michigan, John Lieu of Calgary Canada, Matthew Pierce of Washington State and David Zevin of California. Matthew Pierce won the coveted title, and his prize, among others includes airfare to Europe next year so he can compete in the Catan World Championship™ and win the title Best Catan® Player in the world.

After Action Report – Board Game Night @ Comic Quest, August 22, 2013

For a change of pace this Thursday I decided to try out the board game night that Comic Quest does every Thursday night instead of going to Paradise Perks.  I wanted to see what the people were like and what sort of games that they were playing.  I also thought I could do some recruiting for the Strategic & Adventure Game Association events on Saturdays since the location of them is right up the street.

There were 15 – 20 players in attendance which is a pretty good turn out.  There were 6 games being player at any given time.  At least one of the games being played was a miniatures game, which is does bring up the game count.

The games being player were the cheap and common Euro games which you can now pick up at your local Target or Walmart.  I brought in a number of my games which were not new but could be purchased at Comic Quest and the players opted to stick with their safe games versus trying out new games (At least new for them.)  It is safe to say that the group is not blessed with early adopters like the other events that I go to.

I played two games at the event.

The first game I played was Star Trek: Catan.  Star Trek: Catan plays just like Settlers of Catan, with one exception:  it adds personalities with special powers such as 2:1 trades with the bank.  The player can use the power of a personality twice before they are required to give it up and replaced it with a different one of their choice from those that are available.

Everything else about Star Trek: Catan aside from the theme is the same as game as Settlers.  The players roll for resource at the beginning of their turn.  If a 7 is rolled, the Klingon (Robber) is placed.  The active player can then trade resources with the other players and use those resources to build Outpost (Towns), Starbases (Cities), and Starships (Roads) for victory points.  The first person to 10 victory points wins.

The owner of the game set up the board semi randomly with the planets placed at random but placed the asteroid belt in the middle of the board as the basic rules with suggest.  I managed to get one of my outposts next to a 6 and the other next to an 8 which games me the opportunity to get resources to if either of those common numbers came up in the resource roll.  The only problem that I had was that I did not have access to one of the resources so I would be required to trade or use one of the personality powers if I was to get that resource.  I was able to get a good rhythm going in the game even with the difficulty getting that one resource by starting to grow up instead of out.  I figured It would give me enough resources to trade with the other players if possible of the bank at 4:1 or 3:1 if not.  I was the first to upgrade an outpost to a starbase, even with that advantage I was always behind the leader of the game.  I managed to catch up to the leader on my last turn and would have gotten my 10^th victory on my following turn, but the lead player ended the game on their turn.

The other game that I played was Pandemic.  Pandemic is a cooperative game with the theme that the players are members of the CDC that are trying to find cures for 4 diseases before they get beyond the point of containment.  The group wins if they can do this.  If they are not able to achieve the goal the group loses.

I am not a fan of Pandemic because it usually comes down to one player telling the other players what to do and the players executing those orders.  To me Pandemic is a solitaire game where you let the other players take roles and pretend to let them play along.

This is pretty much how our game went.  We had four players.  We took the roles of Dispatcher, Medic, Research, and Scientist.  There were 4 epidemics added to the deck.  I had the role of the Medic.  I spent the game in Asia and the Pacific fighting the diseases there which the other players were working on the cures.  We were essentially ordered around and moved at times by the Dispatcher who was the one really playing the game.  We did find cures to all four of the diseases before time ran out to win the game.

I do not really know how to add Pandemic to my scorecard point system so I am marking is as played on the scorecard and not giving it any points.

This event is not my favorite event.  I think I enjoy Thursday Night Gaming at Paradise Perks more due to the selection of games they have there.  That being said I think I will be an infrequent attendee of this event in the future.

Here is my scorecard for the evening.

Game	No. of Plays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Avg.
Star Trek: Catan	1	-	1	-	-	-	-		2.00
Pandemic	1	Played
Totals	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1.00

Mayfair Games Press Release - Mayfair Hunts Big Game and Scores World Record

From the Mayfair Games Website

Mayfair Hunts Big Game and Scores World Record

Mayfair Games is ecstatic to announce a milestone event at Gen Con® 2013, they and 922 of their closest friends established an Official Guiness World Record® for the most players playing a single Settlers of Catan® game. The setting was the White River Ballroom at the JW Marriot hotel and the event was a stunning success, with the Official Guinness World Records® Adjudicator counting 922 official players in the game.

Of course, you can’t have a game without a winner and that honor went to Brendon Harbron of Indiana. Brendon won on turn 48 (of a maximum 62) with 25 total points. Brendon received a complete set of the core 10 Catan® products Mayfair Games produces. One other contestant, chosen at random, received a rare 10^th Anniversary 3-D Treasure Chest edition of The Settlers of Catan®.

Now we ask who in the Catan® community will meet the challenge with 1,000 or more players in an Official Guinness World Records® attempt?

To recap, a new Guinness World Record was established by Mayfair Games on Friday, August 16^th in the 20,000 square-foot White River Ballroom in conjunction with the Boy Scouts of America®, Catan® and Gen Con®.

Game Review – Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride
Number of Players	2 - 5
Play Time	60 minutes
Ages	8 years and up

The Ticket to Ride family of game is one that I have referred to a number of times in my posts since I have played a couple of variants and made comparisons to the game in reviews of other games.  With this in mind, I decided it was time to review one of the games in the family.  I have chosen the original Ticket to Ride.

The reasons that I have chosen Ticket to Ride instead of one of the variants are simple.  First, it is the game that started this family of popular games and represents the core rules for the family.  Once you understand it, you know the basics of how to play eight other games.  Second, it and Ticket to Ride Europe are among the most popular games at the events in my area.  There are very few events where there is not at least one session of a Ticket to Ride variant is played.  You could argue that it is more popular than Settlers of Catan.

The theme of the game is that the players are owners of train companies that are building rail lines in the United States.   The goal is to establish routes between the cities on the tickets that the players receive.  If the players connect the cities on a ticket they will receive bonus points at the end of the game based on the value on the ticket.  If they do not connect the cities on one of their tickets the player loses the number of points on the ticket.  Points are also scored for placing trains between two cities on the board more trains needed the more points are scored.

Game play is simple.  The players start out the game with five tickets that have destinations that they can connect of which they must keep at least three.  They will also receive four train cards. An additional five train cards are placed face up by the side of the board along with draw decks of train cards and tickets

The train cards are the core of the game.  They come in eight different colors and there is a ninth card type which is a wild card and can be used as any color.  These train cards are what are used to make the connections between the cities.  Each connection is represented by a number of spaces that are a single color.  If a player wished to claim a connection between two cities they must turn in the number of cards of that color.  They then place trains from their reserve on that connection.  After a connection is claimed no other player may use that connection.

The players choose one of three actions to take during their turn.  The first is that they may take train cards from the five cards that are face up or from the draw deck.  The second option is that they may claim a connection between two cities.  The third option is that they may take additional tickets.

Game play continues until one of the players has used all of their trains.  The player with the most points in city connections and completed tickets wins.

The thing that I like about Ticket to Ride is that it is a simple game to teach.  You can explain the games to a group of new players in less than ten minutes and they will be able to play the game fairly well.

The thing that I do not like about Ticket to Ride is more because I tend to prefer more complex train games.  I find the game limiting because there are a limited number of fixed connections between cities.  You can find yourself blocked from one of the destinations on your tickets either by accident or design.  I prefer the freeform track building in the Empire Builder family where connections are not as important as delivering loads of goods.

The other thing I did not like about Ticket to Ride that in earlier printings of the game the train cards were a much smaller card than the ticket cards as such you were not able to keep them together in your hand.  The smaller card size also made it more difficult to shuffle the train cards which can happen a number of times during a game.  The train cards have been replaced with larger cards in the current printings of the game.  If you have an older set, you can get the larger train cards by getting the Ticket to Ride 1910 expansion.

The other thing to be aware of is that the game takes more time than the 30 – 60 minutes stated on the box.  A round of Ticket to Ride realistically lasts 75 – 90 minutes for 4 players.  I honestly have never seen it take less than 60 minutes to play even with a group of experienced players.

Even with the limitation of the game, I find Ticket to Ride to be enjoyable to play.  If is not my first choice but it is a great game to use to introduce players to board games.  I do not tend to use it for that purpose any more as I have been using other games to mix it up a little bit for me more than because a dislike for Ticket to Ride.  If you are looking for a game you can use as an introductory game you cannot go wrong by choosing Ticket to Ride.