Spotlight on Games
>
1001 Nights of Gaming
- E -
- Early American Chrononauts
The
Chrononauts
card game prequel is much the same as its predecessor with the time
cards covering the period from the founding of the colonies to
well past the Civil War. A major addition is a new type of card,
the gadget. These are similar to artifacts, which still exist,
but each of these also provides some game warping ability. While
they provide more choices in the turn, they are sometimes so
powerful that their owner tends to collect most if not all of
them. This is not so much a problem in the runaway leader sense
as collecting three artifacts still seems the easiest way to win,
but it can mean that this player's turn starts to become very
complicated and long, increasing downtime for others. This game
can apparently be combined with its predecessor to cover all of
American history, but so far I have not dared. Thinking more about
the system, it seems a shame we never pay much attention to the
thematic changes in the timeline, but it's unclear whether the
fault is the game's or our own.
[6-player Games]
[Looney Labs]
Strategy: Low; Theme: High; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 6
- Earthquake
Card game with five suits of twelve cards each (skeletons,
wizards, elves, goblins, soldiers) plus two wild cards and eight
special cards (earthquake, opportunity, prosper, time warp).
Each participant gets to lay out cards twice per round.
A play is a single special card or a set of cards all from the same suit.
Players receive points equal to the number of cards laid down multiplied
by the number of cards of that suit on the table. Only the first player
discards, except when an earthquake is played. The prosper card gives
extra points, the time warp extra turns, the opportunity extra cards.
Has some strategy depending on whether one is in the lead or at the back,
but much of the game seems to be fairly obvious and much of the success
based on luck of the draw. At least it finishes quickly.
Theming seems gratuitously oriented to Wizards of the Coast's fantasy
card games business.
- Easy Come, Easy Go
Reiner Knizia dice game similar to
Knights
in structure, but wisely restricted to at most four players.
This means that games are short, a vital requirement in this genre.
In addition, the various different targets towards which one rolls
are just the right distance apart. That is, some aim to achieve a
configuration, e.g. three of a kind or two-pair while others aim
for totals, e.g. above 17 or below 3. Over the course of several
rolls the dice frequently point to multiple possibilities which
means the player is constantly reconsidering options. This game
appears to be a good bridge for the
Yahtzee
/ Bunco set to get to a vehicle that's a bit more intelligent.
So how about having this ready the next time you're winding
down at your local watering hole? The publisher has thoughtfully
provided a sturdy box and stain-resistant cards – good job
Out of the Box!
– so there should be no excuse.
[Frequently Played]
- Easy School
One of the signatures of the current gaming age has recently
become apparent. It was visible in
To Court the King
and this is another instance: the marriage of two unexpected
mechanisms. This time a press-your-luck game has been hitched
to a
"take that."
Of course there are cards – 110 in all – which
show scenes of students cheating at school in various ways
such as bribing the teacher, hacking their grades, hiring a
nerd, etc. There are also wild cards and stress cards, the
most common type. The most frequently taken action is to draw
cards one at a time until a voluntary stop or receipt of too
many stress cards, which also causes loss of cards. On the
other hand, should a player begin with a diversified set and
no stress, he may bank one of each type, though giving others
who are also without stress a chance to bank a single card.
Finally, a player having stress can give these cards to others
who must thereby each lose a card. This is a catch-up
mechanism that leads to much speculation about which player
has the most points in his covered stack. For despite the need
to collect in variety during the game, at the end points are
awarded for collecting large sets of the same cards according
to the triangular numbers scheme. Production-wise, the cards
are a bit flimsy, which added to the fact of their being so
many, makes them difficult to shuffle well. The artwork for
this Italian game is after the style of Japanese comic books.
More could have been done to differentiate the various card
types and make them more readily distinguishable, especially
at the corners. The mechanisms here actually combine
successfully, but the use of cards tempers the luck portion of
press-your-luck. There are only so many of each card type that
can appear, which means that the wild swings of luck that can
provide so much excitement in dice games are just not there.
This is press-your-luck made safe and reasonable when what's
wanted is insanity.
Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Low; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 5
Michele Mura; Red Glove/Abacus; 2007; 3-5
- ebay Electronic Talking Auction Game [American edition]
Auction game run by a talking gadget. Players take turns to bid
on one of three items (cards) in limited time using bid cards,
attempting to collect items in sets of three to gain double value.
To simulate that singular ebay experience of not being able to
get the bid in at the last minute, the length of each item's
auction is unpredictable. Each item has an apparent value showing
during auction time and hidden on the other side, a true value
which tends to either double, match or halve the apparent one.
There are also two types of special cards that come up to auction:
a display case that behaves as a wild card for completing sets
and a gift card that forces another player to give its owner an
item of the giver's choice. The time allotted for making bids
is limited, but not terrible and after the first couple tries
players will almost always get their bids in on time, although
amid a feeling of controlled frenzy. Ambient noise is a larger
problem as the device has a limited volume, probably limiting
sites to quiet, home situations. There are plenty of tactical
considerations such as how high to bid and whether it is better
to try seriously for an item or simply to force an opponent to
spend more in order to have the advantage later. One upside, or
downside, depending on perspective, is that very little of the
large deck is actually used. Viewed as a risk management issue,
this makes matters more challenging, but from a perspective of
balance, may tilt it in favor of those who happen to win what will
only later be revealed as the best items. Fortunately the game
length, a rather strictly enforced thirty minutes, is correct
for a setup of this type. In fact, despite being a promotional
vehicle, this is reminiscent of German set collecting efforts and
deserves repeated plays. Even though this item seems to have been
remaindered, it's a good example of what Hasbro could be doing,
perhaps with a better tie-in subject, but unfortunately usually
does not. The physical presentation is one downside as the
cards are rather flimsy, the base board too thin and the card
holders ill-formed, both for fitting onto other parts and for
the job of comfortably holding the cards. Batteries not included.
- Ebbe & Flut
Card game for two situated on a beach in which the land fights the sea
for dominance. Fascinating mechanism permits advancing one's own cards
and forcing the retreat or elimination of the opponent's. Brilliant match
of theme and mechanism as well. The English version of the rules are not
that great, particularly the rule which seems to suggest that a player
moves his opponent's card. This is simply a poor translation and not the
intention. Also features solitaire format.
Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: Low; Evaluation: High
Wolfgang Werner; Adlung-Spiele-2000; 2; 30; 10+
- Edel, Stein und Reich
Card game re-make of
Basari.
The dice and board are gone, the players' stalls being dealt from
a deck. The three choices are now gems, points or a randomly
turned up event card conferring extra benefits. Bidding and
negotiations are the same. If the proffered event card is not to
taste, the winning player may instead opt to take the unknown
from the top of the deck. A fifth player is supported by a
variant which creates a fourth category, that of being allowed
to take any jewel from the supply. This option is not if too many
others choose it, so it is a good way for a player in the lead to
make a conservative play. Other advantages of this edition are
elimination of the perfect strategy problem and a much smaller
package. On the other hand, more randomness is introduced by the
event cards. For example, one gives a large bonus for having the
most jewels in a category. A player who dominates all categories
could easily score 60 points, especially if no opponent realizes
he has it. At the very least, the full list of cards should
be made available to all prior to play. Speaking of cards,
they have been arranged such that those having the highest points
values also have the best collections of jewels. This is probably
meant to provide players with dilemmas. This can become a problem
unfortunately as there are too few cards for averages to even out;
one or two players might end up drawing the good cards all of the
time. It isn't a huge problem, but it would probably have been
better had each card been of about equivalent worth, i.e. cards
having low jewel values should be leveled off with high points
values and vice-versa.
Overall, the resulting mix of features may be slightly less elegant,
but at least the attractive jewel pieces are identical between editions.
An Edelstein is a precious stone, but edel also
means noble and Stein can mean jewel, while Reich
can mean riches.
Reinhard Staupe
- Eden
Unjustly ignored multi-player game posited on a square grid.
Players take most turns playing one of their tiles, after which a
takeover attempt may be made on an opponent's adjoining holdings.
This is resolved via a back-and-forth auction which starts at a
minimum price commensurate with the property's value. As the
attacking player's property is also part of the spoils, there is
something for the defender to gain as well. This system runs counter
to the usual, wherein one learns to always acquire as much as possible.
Here that would be a major error since not having sufficient funds can
leave one seriously vulnerable to losing it again, potentially at
a lower price. It may even leave the owner unable to pursue the
other kind of turn: property upgrade. Upgrades are difficult enough
already as it takes at least two turns for the resulting income
increase to cover the cost, but at least defense is somewhat
enhanced as the minimum bid is increased. Play requires some luck
as one needs to draw useful tiles, but as agglomerations grow it
becomes ever easier to find a way to move in next door. If the
skill in the game is in finding the balance between property and cash
as well as detecting opponent vulnerability in this respect, the
strategy is in whether to operate mostly by takeover or to quietly
build off in a corner. The board is just large enough to permit the
latter. Cards and artwork are attractive, even generous – this
probably could have been done with far fewer cards and tiles. Only
the theme is a poor fit. Most of all it is surprising how many
machinations can transpire on a simple grid.
Strategy: Medium; Theme: Low; Tactics: High; Evaluation: High
- Edison & Co.
Another one of those games which players seem to love to hate.
In this case perhaps the marketing and box cover are somewhat at
fault as they lead many to think it is a race game, which it certainly
is not. It does feature four very interesting pewter "invented vehicles"
however. Probably best played as a partnership game where there is
at least a little bit more control.
[analysis]
[Two vs. Two Games]
- 1830
Important game in the 18XX series, which look like train games but
are actually more in the vein of stock market manipulation. This
series was begun with Francis Tresham's 1829 (not
described here). Usually perusing game rules is a joy, but this
game strikes so prosaically as to be sleep inducing. Attempting
to play has the same result. While
some like the relative lack of randomness and fine-turned
decisionmaking, the entire series is unbearably dry.
- Einfach Genial (Ingenious)
-
Tile-laying pure abstract by Reiner Knizia for up to four
players. Not having played any Knizia titles in a while, it
was pleasant to realize that certain kinds of problems which
have plagued a lot of my playings recently, e.g. kingmaking,
overemphasis on luck of the draw et al., would be entirely
absent here. Thankfully too, "Simply Brilliant" puts the
situation clearly in the middle of the table where it can be
clearly seen rather than on upside down cards in front of
other players as in Puerto
Rico, San
Juan, Goa or St. Petersburg. The board is a
hex map and each player has a rack of six tiles, playing one
per turn. Points are gained for creating long lines in the
same color. Such games are deceptively difficult to design
as play becomes processional, each player merely extending
the chain to gain one more point than the latest opponent. No
one will forego the points until forced to by bad luck of the
draw or running out of board space. So inventors need to find
clever ways to end chains. In Schlangennest and
Die Schlangen von Delhi,
the tiles become snakes so there
is a convenient terminator, the head. Knizia has a different
solution: a double width tile containing two different colors.
This may be even better for two reasons: (1) a player can use
the same tile to terminate or not as he chooses and (2) even if
he does terminate he may well join or start another series with
the tile's other half. In addition, the double size creates a lot
of other interesting play choices as the piece can be rotated
to match up in many more relationships than a single hex piece
could. Beyond this ingenious idea, there are other attractions.
Scoring is as in
Euphrat & Tigris
– although public – meaning that the color in which a player
achieves fewest points is the most important. So players often
must choose between a lot of points in a color where they are
already prolific versus scoring fewer points in a color that's
lagging. The former may be especially indicated if 18 points is
achievable as that gives an extra turn, the latter if it appears
a large color group may shortly be closed out. A final aspect
is an understanding of the opponents' needs. Strategically, it
appears that diversity may be more useful for victory than extra
turns. This game's plastic pieces, board and rack are pleasant
to handle and the colors thoughtfully provided in varying shapes
for the color blind. This fast-playing and accessible production
should appeal to fans of pure abstracts and tile-laying games
and extend considerably beyond.
[Two vs. Two Games]
[Frequently Played]
[Holiday List 2004]
MLMM7 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 7)
Reiner Knizia; Kosmos/Fantasy Flight; 2004; 1-4
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Einfach Genial - ReiseEdition für Zwei (Ingenious: Travel Edition)
The travel edition of the above has some important
differences. As expected, the package is much smaller, arriving
in the 8x8x1.5" Kosmos two-player series box. The number of
pieces is reduced from 120 to 57 (three of each two-color tile
and two of each mono-color). The board is also reduced, from eight
spaces per board edge down to six. Unfortunately the number of
players is also down to two, ending the possibility of
four-player team play. It's fairly ideal for two now, play
being sharpened and shorter to complete.
If one prefers the more controlled action of
head-to-head play this is fine, but making two. vs. two work
is somewhat difficult. It could perhaps be accomplished though
via the following measures: (1) one team does not get to use
the built-in racks, but will have to hold the small pieces in hand;
(2) scoring pegs can go past the midline if necessary, but
place one team's scoring pegs in rows not corresponding to the
indicated row so as to avoid confusion with those of the other
team; (3) pieces may be placed around the board's outside
edge. Physically the board is nicely crafted plastic with
raised forms to hold the small tiles in place. The peg scoring
track is rather small, but usable, though the track numbers,
only being raised plastic of the same color as the background,
are rather too difficult to read. The solo rules are not
included, but once one knows them, this can be played as well.
MLMM7 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 7)
Reiner Knizia; Kosmos/Fantasy Flight; 2006; 1-2
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Elasund: the First City
Multi-player game by Klaus Teuber is somewhat in the mold
of his classic
The Settlers of Catan.
Once again a roll of two dice determines production, which
results now in either gold cards and/or in other randomly-drawn
ones to be collected in sets. Placing new buildings in the
square-grid city is a multi-turn process, since first a player
must claim a property and only later build thereon. Larger
buildings need multiple claims. The ultimate goal is creation of
victory point buildings, which take up space, yet often do not
produce anything. One alternate means of scoring is building next
to the outer windmill spaces, which give points from progress on
a track. Another is building part of the cathedral, which costs
a lot and appears in a random space, but does build right away. A
"7" roll generates a pirate, which is a bit like the Catan
robber-baron, but the main catch-up mechanism is to build over
someone else. Usually one can see this coming and try to counter
it if sufficient resources are available; seesaw struggles can
last a few turns. Although some buildings can be immediately
re-located, it can seem pretty hard to lose one that cannot when
a lot of resources were spent to achieve it and/or positions
on good numbers like 6 or 8 are no longer available. Of course,
one could try the approach of covering every single number
instead. There could even be minor kingmaking issues, though
it's expensive to seriously target someone deliberately and the
endgame concludes so quickly that it's difficult for such moves to
sufficiently develop. That this mechanism makes for a game less
friendly than Settlers is certain; whether it nevertheless
works depends on individual taste. A more solid objection is the
downtime between the turns, which are more complex than
The Settlers of Catan, but include nothing for the inactive
players to do, the trading phase being absent. Production is of
the usual Kosmos high standard. The cathedral placement system
is a clever minor feature, not really seen before. Overall, this
probably works best for those who want a Catan that is
a little more in the American style.
Strategy: Medium; Theme: High; Tactics: High; Evaluation: High;
Personal Rating: 6
- Electric Football
Two-player action game for children depicts the American game.
Players set their eleven plastic figures along the scrimmage
line and turn on the device which vibrates to cause the pieces
to move. Player decisions cease at this point as each watches
the ball carrier with opposite hopes. Later variants include
a quarterback with a moveable arm that can throw a ball –
a small textile bit – which if it hits a receiver – a very
hit-and-miss affair – is considered to be a complete pass. Play
is quite exciting with all the noise and movement, but quite
disappointing in terms of actually being able to accomplish
anything. Video games should be more popular for almost everyone.
[Periodic Table of Board Games]
- Elefant im Porzellanladen, Der (Bull in a China Shop)
Michael Schacht card game successor to his hit
Coloretto.
The crazy topic
of this one follows the proverbial expression "bull in a china
shop", but here the bovine is replaced with an elephant. A
bit of whimsy's always welcome, but there's a game of tough
decisionmaking here too. Each turn one must either draft a
new piece of porcelain or have an elephant to lunch, that is,
destroy certain types of one's china. As china may be done at
most twice in a row, the elephants will be over often. Each
only breaks certain types so timing their visits is the
main challenge. All of this is lifted above the ordinary by a
Yahtzee-like
scoring system whereby a player must pick a
category (one of lowest card in each color, highest card in
each color, all of a color, all cards) when the scoring card
pops up. Lookahead is an important ability and it may take a few
rounds to recognize when it's necessary to endure a small pain
in order to avoid a much worse one. Overall it's amusing fun,
but disasters are quite possible and will probably turn off
some players. At least it's light and quick, if not quite a
Coloretto.
Strategy: Low; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium;
Personal Rating: 6
- Elements
Card game about the five elements known in Ancient Greece
really has no connection to its theme, but mechanisms aplenty
to make up for it. The English version of the instructions
are particularly difficult to understand, so here comes a
more thorough than usual recounting of them. The five color
cards, representing the elements, are arranged in a line, one
end of which is considered "high" by placing the box there.
Then players are dealt eleven cards each and take turns placing
one card each face down next to one of the elements. The cards
played need not match the ones they are laid next to. If there
are fewer than five players, the elements not spoken for get
cards from the deck. The cards are now turned face up. What you
now have are five pairs of cards. These are sorted, keeping the
pairs intact, from highest to lowest. If there are any ties,
the pair that started out closer to the box, remains so. Now
begin the contests. Each turned up card is a victory point
card and will be contested in its own round, starting with the
lowest and ending with the highest. Contests are somewhat like
Taj Mahal, but based on a
modified form of Poker.
On the first two rounds, players play, face up, one card each,
or pass on playing. On the last round, they play two cards or
pass. At the end, the highest card combination wins the victory
point card. The highest possible hand is a four-of-a-kind with,
e.g., four 9's being worth more than four 8's, etc. Ties in
rank are won by the element color which is closest to the box.
The next highest hand is four cards of the same color. Ties
between colors are resolved as above with ties within a color
going to the hand with the highest individual hand. The rest of
the hands proceed as you would expect: three-of-a-kind, three
colors, two-of-a-kind, two colors, single card. Note that unlike
Poker, cards of an unlike color do not invalidate what you
may be thinking of as a flush – they are simply ignored.
No new cards are dealt until after the last victory point card
has been rewarded. At that time, points are recorded on paper,
players may make additional discards and a new round begins. There
should be one for each player in the game. What becomes
interesting is that the power order of the elements, the number
of victory points available for the round and which card one
can best live without in the limited hand are very intimately
related. This single decision is by far the most interesting,
closely followed by those around deciding how to divide up the
hand into the best combinations and which victory point cards
to target. Unfortunately, it doesn't work quite so miraculously
as it sounds. Probably the designer needed to go even further
with his ideas because with such a limited hand, the color order
only rarely makes much of a difference and the vagaries of the
draw and distribution mean it is hard to plan meaningfully.
Here we see the Knizia's genius in having players draft cards
in Taj Mahal, so that they can formulate plans, get some
idea of what others' plans are and adjust accordingly. Still
this should work as sort of a lite version for those who like
this Pokerish feel. Might work better if players were
allowed to draw eleven cards instead of drawing up to eleven,
as this would enhance long term card saving.
Marcel-André Casasola-Merkle;
Adlung-1997; 3-5; 30; 10+
- Eleusis
Invented by Robert Abbott in 1956 and subsequently published in
Scientific American.
Perhaps the predecessor to games such as
Das Regeln Wir Schon,
Fluxx
and
Democrazy
where the
rules themselves are unclear. One player takes the role
of the dealer ("god"), thinks up a rule and succeeding
players try to get rid of cards, which only succeeds if
they fit the rule. In this version of "Blind Men and the
Elephant", players score by avoiding mistakes while the
dealer wants to carefully craft a rule such that only one
player is able to guess it. The result is quite an unusual
beast: a party-style game that rewards very close analysis.
Highly recommended, with the right audience, however, as
abuses are difficult to legislate against, e.g. a rule
which states "all cards played by Sophie are legal." Later
variant called
New Eleusis
adds the role of the "prophet" who is rewarded for correctly
predicting application of the rule.
The Eleusinian Mysteries, the most important of all the
ritual celebrations among the Ancient Greeks, were held
annually at Eleusis in honor of Demeter and Persephone, earth goddesses
of grain and the harvest. The ceremonies were secret and exactly what they
were is still
not known.
The inventor explains that the title is in analogy to the
initiates at the Mysteries, each in turn becoming
a member of the cult as he discovers the secret rule.
[Robert Abbott]
- Elfenland
Doris Matthäus-illustrated game by Alan Moon. Players
take turns playing transportation tiles on roads between
twenty destinations. Then all try to travel along these
roads if they hold the matching cards. Whoever visits the
most destinations and arrives closest at a secret destination
wins. What could have been an interesting setup ends up
having a negative cast as it is more important to watch
other players and destroy their plans than to develop one's
own. A subsequent expansion kit, Elfengold, does
nothing to improve this.
[Spiel des Jahres Winner]
[6-player Games]
Alan R. Moon
- Elfenwizards
Alan Moon game seems something like an Olympics competition
for wizards. Players try to advance their wizards up a
hierarchy by rolling the highest dice. The biggest decisions
are whether to keep the dice one has or to re-roll and hope
for better. There is also the possibility of making deals
with other players for mutual benefit. I have heard vaguely
of variants to this game which make the decisions a bit
tougher and more interesting.
Alan R. Moon
- Elixir (Mixtur)
Party game of collecting cards needed to cast spells, which
have some warping effect on game play. First to complete
all of his spells wins. From a strategic perspective,
there is a large amount of luck of the draw, but the real
reason to play this game is the hilarious conditions required
by the spells, especially the one point variety, which are
often reminiscent of the moons in the game Cosmic
Encounter. Players may be forced to say phrases like
"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle" whenever speaking or sing
a song to avoid penalties. If you don't like games like
Democrazy or Fluxx best to avoid this one.
Also, some spell cards seem a bit unbalancing, e.g. one
forbidding its victim from playing any spells for three
entire turns a lifetime. Such rules also violate the useful
German game convention that no game state must be tracked
in one's head. Although I have not yet tried them, some
feel that the first of three expansion kits, Alambic,
improves matters, the other two being Mandragore
and Alchimie. There is a lot of text on the cards,
so be sure to get an edition in your language of choice
(Mixtur being the German title). Mayfair's English
edition and the second French edition cover up the nude
fairies. Not connected with the game of the same name by
TSR which is not described here.
[6-player Games]
- Emerald
Fantasy game of stealing dragon treasure without being caught is reminiscent of
Tutanchamun
in that pawns move ever forward and of
Cartagena
in that the total number of pawns in the same space determines
how far the pawn must move. Turns go quickly as at most two pawns
may be moved. At the end of it an available gold or gem card is
collected. While gems can be collected in sets for a nice bonus,
it's gold which is more intrinsically valuable, and which can be
used to bribe the dragon. This comes into play when a move ends
on the dragon's current space, upon which it jumps 1-3 spaces and
should it land on anyone, causes a forfeit of a gold card or
removal as dinner. So there is sort of a skating close to
disaster sub-game and the chance to play
nasty tricks on the opponents. In fact, while it could be argued
that bold vs. timid constitute distinct strategic possibilities,
or jewels vs. gold,
most of the time plays are tactical with some degree of lookahead
and risk management participating. Fortunately, those unable to
find sufficient challenge will not be detained more than thirty
minutes. At first there tends to be a "just one more" quality;
it is eventually destroyed when one has been mistreated by luck
too many times. It's unfortunate too that the turn order is so
unbalancing; the player who goes last and wins should consider
this especially wonderful. In a nice gesture, a lately resurgent
Abacus supplies printed rules in German, English and French.
- Empire Builder (North American Rails)
The 1980 granddaddy of the system and flagship game of the
Mayfair line has been published in several editions including
one titled North American Rails. The system consists
of rendering an area as a series of dots which players
connect to build track. They then run a train over the
track in order to pick up and deliver on contracts that
are dealt from a card deck. Subtleties including drawing
the most efficient route considering both current and future
needs, the issue of being locked out of crucial cities,
the most efficient route to travel and whether it is better
to dump all current demands and start fresh with new ones.
Probably the best of series in a generic sense, later
editions have seemed to make Canadian track building more
and more valuable. May have been partly inspired by
Railway Rivals
of 1973 and may in turn have inspired the German game of the
year of two years later,
Auf Achse.
Others in Mayfair's series include
British Rails,
Eurorails,
Australian Rails,
Nippon Rails,
Iron Dragon,
India Rails,
and
China Rails.
See also
Italian Rails,
exclusively available at this site.
[Crayon Rails series]
[Traveling Merchant Games]
[6-player Games]
[errata]
[variant]
[chart]
- Empires of the Void II
Played with four. Setup takes quite a bit of time. Added to rules
explanation it was an hour before we could start playing. Puerto
Rico-style action selection. Combat is more like bumping people
away. Don't see how anyone can finish any track, which is not
necessarily bad, but feels kind of wrong. The VP cards seem pretty
uneven; would like to see those handled differently. Most of them
seem too hard to make pay off. Everyone should start the game with
the ability to move at speed 4; just a general rule for all games.
Felt odd that two planets were never, ever visited. Loading stuff
onto the ship is pretty fiddly. Seemed to be a pretty good game
overall though. Humor: changing the first player became known as
"passing the suppository".
- Empyrean, Inc.
In Latin the empyreus was the highest extent of the
heavens, the abode of the gods. It has been appropriated for
this science fiction card game of trading and set collection, the
race being to collect the required number of cards of the same
type. Players have planets which each turn produce cards which
have both a general and a specific type. These can be traded,
used to purchase more planets, to buy "take that!" cards
or to build a collection. Cards may also be taken by an
opponent under a taxation rule no doubt intended as a catch-up
mechanism. So far so good, but an important fact has been missed.
Card trading games work because players have different goals
and both participants gain by giving up something they don't
need in return for that which they do. But here the players are
likely collecting the same thing, either for a collection or to
buy the same planet. That this is devastating to the design's
center is evident when one sees players not even being willing to
state which cards they want as giving up such information may be
deadly to their plans, especially considering the special cards,
which some being rather powerful, are hardly balanced. Added
to these problems is the tiresome yet constant draw-play-draw cycle which
fills up plenty of time, but never excites with much sense of planning or fulfillment,
especially if someone is going to take an important card at random. Indeed, it
appears the best approach is just to play as many cards as possible every turn.
The system is also very fragile because very strong action cards may be directed at
anyone, not only the leader. A vindictive player can easily ruin everything for a
player who isn't even the one likely to win. While this is an improvement on
the usual
Take That! card game,
this is not likely to find many replays. Art by Studio Foglio. Inventor uncredited,
but website registered to Greg Moody:
[Versal Technologies]
- En Garde
Quick, sharp back-and-forth fencing battle not only rewards
strategy, but feels like the real thing. Knizia got this
one published with the help of the German Fencing Association!
- Entdecker (Land in Zicht!)
Klaus Teuber game of discovering a world of hidden tiles
is not all that thematic, but does resemble in some sense
constructing a giant puzzle. Important is determining what
is island and what water. Does not seem to work very well
as published, but is better with one of the variants floating
about on the Internet. The best audience is a tile-laying
fan. Title means "The Discoverers". Land in Zicht!
is the title of the Dutch edition. Succeeded by
Die Neuen Entdecker.
- Entengrütze
Dutch for "Duckweed", this is a strange game about a frog,
a duck, a pelican and a fish. This colorful, silly theme
on top of a heavy mathematical mechanism make for a bizarre
combination, but the game kind of grows on you. The really
fun bit is landing on other animals – if your wheel is
stronger than theirs, you get to toss them across the board
as far as you like. If you are weaker, it tosses you, which
affects your wheel value. Intriguing! although
the tossing fun is perhaps a bit of a trap. Victory in the
game probably actually comes from a careful, plodding, and
mostly "toss-less" plan.
- Entrapment
Abstract for two made of all wood components. The goal is
to surround and thus entrap opposing pieces with walls and
one's own pieces. Pieces are generally nicely made although
some walls don't seem to fit properly in slots. There is
possibly some advantage to being first player?
Personal Rating: 5
Rich Gowell; Gowell Games-1999; 2; 30; 8+
- Erbtante, Die
Card game whose background story is told with such verve
and humor that one cannot help but speculate whether it
has some basis in truth! For several paragraphs it details
the situation of the elderly Aunt Mary who wishes to leave
her descendants with nice heirlooms but not too nice, and
yet on the other hand might marry a suitor (based on a
"ticking clock" mechanism) and thus not care one whit.
Thus is established the two separate victory situations
with which the players must contend, although if the cards
do not fall so as to leave the issue in doubt, the game
tension is greatly reduced. Still it is a subtle and
interesting auction situation with fixed funds and a limited
ability for the revolving auctioneer to get "first dibs"
on new items.
- Erosion
Had a hand helping develop this, but not the main hand and not all
ended up my way so there should be at least some kind of
balance in my perspective.
Mystery Rummy 1: Jack the Ripper,
though quite good, advertises itself as supporting up to four
players, but everyone only plays it in a twosome. Some of the
same applies here. Themed around mountain building and
erosion, it's half a
Take That!
card game and half
Cassino.
A player's mountain is represented by a column of cards, each
of which depicts a single rock type. But a cards also contains a
second function, an action, in one of three types: weathering
(which places one or more rocks in erodible position),
hillslope (which actually erodes them into the river) and
fluvial (which if the player can produce matching hand cards
claims them from the river into the player's
delta or personal points pile). Points are also awarded for
the height of one's mountain. But the point of playing the first
two types of card is not only to knock down another's
mountain; in addition for each card affected, one places a
hand card under one's own mountain, sometimes even clearing
the hand. This part of the system feels like it's not quite
fully developed yet because replenishment cards are divided
into three decks and one chooses them with care. But when most
or all of the hand is uploaded into the mountain, all of that
planning simply goes out the window. As should be apparent,
there is a great deal of throughput of cards; probably
too much. To have a more measured approach, perhaps only
weathering should increase the mountain and perhaps only
hillsloping should replenish the hand. As it is, probably
more (than the ninety available) cards should have been provided.
On the other hand that would have rapidly come into a tableprint
issue, which would already be the case actually, had not the
cards been the smallest set for a pure card game since the
obscure
Mini-T
tennis game: 2"x3.5". This enables a very handy package as the
cards are just enclosed by a clear plastic container.
Their sharp corners don't make for easy shuffling, however.
Extras include advanced rules in the form of special powers
printed on some of the cards. Some of these take place only at
upload time while others are on all the time. These are
clearly very advanced since they tend to make turns take too
long and it can be quite difficult for other players to see
which ones are currently on. There can also be too many for
even the owner to keep track of them all. When there are more
than three players, it seems to finish far too quickly, even
with a complete second round (since so many cards tend to be
in play already). But with just two, there is more
time to draw the cards needed. There is only one other attacking
you so there is less chaos. You don't get into the dilapidated
situation where one person weathers you and the next hillslopes you.
The game seems to develop naturally into a situation of one player
concentrating on mountain building, the other on delta retrieval.
If only the decisionmaking involved more dilemmas and
challenging considerations. But post-publication, the designer
experiments yet with ways to file down the rough edges
and this may need to be re-reviewed at some
later date. Games on geology are rare, possibly non-existent,
and so this is at least a boon to geology fans, which is never clearer
than in the victory tiebreaker, i.e. needing to answer a trivia
question about the hardness of a rock type.
MMMM5 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 5)
John Douglass; Sierra Madre Games; 2009; 2-5
- Escape from Colditz
Very thematic British game about prisoners attempting to
escape a World War II German prison. Players first try to
collect equipment to help in the attempt and then when the
time is right, make a run for it and hope not only that
the German guards player doesn't catch them, but also that
the other players don't get in their way! Each escape
route is quite different which makes things even more
interesting. The early game can be a bit boring for the
guards player as his movements are very restricted.
- Escape from Elba
Players are Napoleon-wannabes in an insane asylum, who
move from room to room fighting other "Napoleons". Losers in such
an encounter gain from their experience, increasing strength by
one and rae randomly teleported somewhere else. The winner,
collects a card from the losing player, or the draw stack.
The cards have letters that can be used to form one of six
words that permit escape from the asylum. As with many
games from Cheapass, not much strategy here, but can be
amusing if players enter into the spirit of things, declaring
"I'm Napoleon!" and so on. The idea for this game was
apparently suggested by the 1992 novel
The Death of Napoleon
by Simon Leys (pseudonym of Pierre Ryckmans),
later made into a film called
The Emperor's New Clothes
starring Ian "Bilbo" Holm.
James Ernest; Cheapass Games-1999; 3-6; 60
- Eschnapur
Wherever Eschnapur is (Bengal, perhaps),
Indiana Jones might be right at home there. The name
has been used in three different German films, e.g.
Der Tiger von Eschnapur, a Fritz Lang adventure.
This game by the designer of
Basari has
some of the same feeling, especially the feeling of lots
going on plus nice graphics and components. In terms of enjoyment,
lightning does
not seem to have struck twice, however. There seems to
be a great deal going on here without much real effect.
For example, the cards that permit a player to reveal a
treasure seem pointless as most matches seem to readily allow
one to be opened every turn. The game might play just as
well, not to mention faster, by just allowing players to
find whichever treasure they want. Especially since there
is no indication anyway of its variable worth beforehand.
There is plenty of chaos as luck of the draw can be major
influence in the card bidding, which is a big part of the
game. A sizeable golden Buddha figure allows the last player
to double his victory points – a nice
catch-up mechanism. Strategically, the treasures do not seem
to give enough points to be worth picking up and one
can win by simply concentrating on acquisition of bidding
cards. This is problematic since without anyone picking up
treasures the game will never end. Probably a fix is needed.
Either the treasures should be substantially increased in
value, or the game should end if no one takes a treasure over an
entire round, or both.
Reinhard Staupe
- Eselsrennen (Bunny Zick Zack)
Doris and Frank game of donkey racing. Both sides of the
board are used, depending on the number of players. Very
innovative movement system has the identity and direction
of the next Esel to move depending on the last one's
move. Players have the vantage points of bettors, trying
to help along the results shown on their prediction cards.
A very satisfying blend of lookahead and bluff adorned with
the usual wonderful graphics.
Frank Nestel & Doris Matthäus;
Doris&Frank; 1989; 2-4
- Euchre
Trick-taking card game for four players in fixed partnerships
using the top twenty-four cards sometimes adding a joker.
Of interest is the way in which the players go around seeing
who is willing to take on the role of starting a game with
the given trump suit. Often game, which is only to ten or
eleven points, is dictated by luck of the draw.
[Two vs. Two Games]
- Euphrat & Tigris (Tigris & Euphrates, Eufraat & Tigris)
The first of Knizia's tile laying games, this one about
waxing and waning ancient city states. Features a
fascinatingly high number of viable options every turn,
yet never quite enough actions to do everything you want.
Nice artwork (with some complaint about the black tiles
which never bothers anyone after the third playing) and
matching of theme to game system. Appeals to those who like
a more detailed sort of game. A
Deutscher
Spielepreis Winner. Fans of the game may enjoy learning
more about the background from the novel
Between the Rivers. There is relatively little
difference in physical quality between the German and
American editions and text in the game is quite minimal,
so the decision basically comes down to price and one's
taste in art, which differs quite a lot. Note on the American
edition: the ambiguous river square actually does not count
as a river.
The Complete Tigris and Euphrates with Reiner Knizia (video)
[variant]
- Euphrat & Tigris: Wettstreit der Könige (Euphrat & Tigris: the Card Game)
Going in I had high hopes that this game might be just as fun as
its predecessor, the much admired
Euphrat & Tigris,
if not more so. This could be very handy since I own the original
German production in the big box which greatly discourages me from
carrying it games meetings. What I found was a game that starts
with 8 proto-kingdoms, all arranged in a line. Players add cards
and leaders to these, pretty much as in the original,, though
leaders now sit on cards rather than next to them. Monuments and
conflicts are pretty much as before. External conflict with an
adjacent kingdom is possible once a minimum size has been achieved.
Treasures are also still present. The hand size is expanded
slightly to compensate for the greater difficulty in making
four-in-a-row monuments (which are now "boats" actually).
Deciding when and how to merge is still an important facet. But
somehow not all the fun of the original was able to fit into the
smaller box. It's no longer possible to make the odd, ambiguous
play or to threaten one merger while in fact working toward a
different one. There are far fewer places to creatively break up
kingdoms as well. I'm still somewhat surprised in fact that the
kingdoms are arranged linearly and not in a ring in which opposite
sides could be joined. While nothing here is seriously amiss, it
feels that this game came about more from a desire to have a follow-on
than on its own merits. Rather than replace the original, it makes
one long to play it instead. On the other hand, the original was
not, by any means, an easy act to follow.
Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Low
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Europa 1945-2030
Negotiation game about the spread of the European Union.
The game flows fairly predictably and depends mostly on
which players want to make deals with which? But whom is
best to make a deal with? Are player scores public or not?
The rules are silent, but either way is problematic as
public scores encourage too much analysis and private scores
to giving away the game. In many ways feels more like a
pro-EU propaganda vehicle than a game.
[6-player Games]
- Europatour (10 Days in Europe)
Moon/Weissblum spinoff of
Racko.
Instead of numbers, players must manipulate their racks of
cards to order European nations in adjacency order to create
a kind of tour. Innovations are generic ship cards which can
stand in for dotted lines on the map that connect two nations by
sea and planes which can connect two countries having the same
color. Since the plane must also have this color, they are more
difficult to use. The single discard pile has been expanded to
five to reflect the greater difficult of achieving connectivity.
This really needs to be played more than once to fully appreciate
because the usual first experience is complete bewilderment. The
initial random draw often creates a hand that seems utterly
impossible. But with practice, players will find that matters
are almost never as dire as they seem. Of course it is possible
that sometimes someone gets a quite lucky draw and can finish
very quickly, but as the game has used so little time, it's
just as good to start a new one again. Just as in Racko,
strategy revolves around careful attention to what the opponents
are drawing and discarding to avoid making any dangerous
discards. An additional consideration is that countries like
Germany and Russia with a large number of neighbors are
good for just about everyone which usually means they are
never discarded. In the Schmidt edition the jolly map is
rendered on both sides,
one employing the German country names, the other the native.
Both map and cards show the country outline and a stereotypical
visual joke on the nation. Beware of the following glitches:
(1) the Belorussia card mysteriously also has the native name
of Albania on it; (2) some ship lines, such as the one between
Finland and Estonia are difficult to see and (3) some of the
plane card colors are not exact matches to the country colors
(the bottom of the plane card is the closest match – Aaron
Weissblum indicated that this is supposed to be improved in
subsequent editions). The Out of the Box version has neither these
issues nor these features, but does offer nice wooden racks.
Cards are of a thick cardboard.
Overall a light game with a "just one
more quality," enjoyable by children as well as adults. In fact,
considering all the new countries in Europe, this can even be
geographically educational as long as someone points out that
places like Scotland are not (yet?) standalone nations.
If this is successful, versions for the American states
(cars for boats) and the African nations will probably appear next.
(Later update: yes, in fact
10 Days in the USA and
10 Days in Africa have been subsequently published.)
[Tourist Games]
[Frequently Played]
[Top Ten Gateways]
[Holiday List 2003]
Alan R. Moon/Aaron Weissblum; Schmidt/Out of the Box; 2003; 2-4
[Buy it at Amazon]
Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 7
- Eurorails
The Empire Builder system game set
in Europe is one of the best of the series, even if
rails drawn to Scandinavia tend to be fairly rare and
deliveries to and from Spain often seem to be an unbalancing
game breaker. Innovations are ferries and Alpine dots.
Four is probably the ideal maximum number of players.
[Crayon Rails series]
[Traveling Merchant Games]
[6-player Games]
[variant]
[chart]
- Evil Genius
This is essentially a
take that!
card game, but one that reduces the pain cards to almost
nothing and implements a rudimentary technology tree.
We are mad scientists racing to achieve the mysterious goal of
twenty-three victory points (were the inventors of
23
inspired by this?). In hands of four cards, players can hold
ingredients, lesser experiments and actions.
Similar to the later-appearing
Uruk,
they can add an ingredient to their display when they can
acquire a pair in their hands. The prime method of acquiring
these, besides luck of the draw, is trade with others, only
the current player being able to initiate deals. Getting
three to five of the right combination of the four types of
ingredients uses them up to place a lesser
experiment, which gives a rule-breaking special power. Some of
these are quite nice, including one that permits taking a card
from the discard pile (whether any card or only the one on top
the rules do not say) and some that make playing ingredients
easier. Each lesser experiment type, of which there are
several copies, gives rise to a single greater experiment
which is gained by turning in the lesser one plus several more
ingredients. Greater experiments give no abilities, only
points, thus creating an effective catchup mechanism. Probably
three greater experiments or two of the difficult ones are required
to win. A nice innovation is the special ingredient, duct tape.
Acting as a double wild card, it matches with any other
ingredient for pairing purposes, but then that other ingredient
is not put into the display – the duct tape is, where it
again serves as a wild card. Of course this is a good joke
(at least in America; not sure if it translates elsewhere) on
the ubiquity of duct tape as well. Players are usually at
least somewhat involved during play because of the trading
aspect, and the small hand size basically forces that. There
seem to be two different strategies. Either one collects a lot
of ingredients without any experiment in mind and then finds
an experiment that fits or one gets and holds an experiment
and works toward solving it. It may be though that the first
one is a bit too good. But if everyone does this, there is
cause to worry about the possibility of the game
breaking as too many cards go into displays and no experiments
are purchased. But this game is too repetitive anyway and
without particularly interesting decisions. This might be
okay, but it goes on for an hour and a half whereas the
interest it offers would indicate a third of that. The action
cards don't do a whole lot so they seem mainly a waste of
time; often the person who draws them wishes they would get
something else because it takes up a slot in the hand and
there is reluctance to play it since it might just be
countered by an opponent having the reflection card which
makes the effect rebound on the player. This is probably thematically
correct for the superhero comic book genre from which it comes
though. The cartoon artwork is monochrome, probably an artifact of
its print and play format. Some cards have mispellings and
there are some rules ambiguities with respect to the card
combinations. Overall, this mostly neglects current gaming
technology; it would have been novel a couple of decades ago,
but no longer.
[PrintNPlay games]
MMLL4 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Low; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 4)
Craig O'Brien; web-published-2002; 3-5; 90
- Evo
A Philippe Keyaerts design which does for evolution games
what his previous outing
Vinci
did for empire building games.
Abstracted out is all but the flavor of a true evolution
situation. (Certainly it's no
American Megafauna.)
The shared element with
Vinci
is a very nicely-invented auction
system to purchase capabilities which are then used to
compete on the board under very simple rules. Tends to be
fairly tactical as there is not that much time to get very
strategic. There are also fairly important chaos factors
in terms of which cards get drawn and in resolving cards
such as the Deluge. A variant which reduces the number of
items up for auction to one less than the number of players
seems a good idea and to go with this, playing the game
for two more turns than indicated results in a worthwhile experience
about an hour long. Perhaps those who dislike the chaos
will omit the cards altogether. Adding features to one's
dinosaurs is a cute graphical exercise; unfortunately the
same skill was not employed in the difficult-to-use weather
and mutation points tracks.
[chart]
[Periodic Table of Board Games]
[What's the best evolution game?]
- Expedition (Terra-X, National Geographic Expedition)
Challenging Wolfgang Kramer game about the worldwide tours
of three archaeological expeditions. Lookahead ability is
an important skill in this one, as is the ability to figure
out what your opponents are trying to do. This successor
to Wildlife Adventure
turns that children's outing into one of adult strategy.
Nice for six which is often a difficult number. Curious
however that in many games I have never seen anyone use
the feature by which they can spend to trade in a mission
card, unless playing under the Variant A rules, which reduce
somewhat the wild branching possibilities. Unfortunate
that the cards describing the various archaeological sites
are not more interesting. Also known as Terra-X,
a German television tie-in. For an interesting variant, you
can use a copy of this game to play a satisfying
TransAmerica
– just hand out chips to count the scores.
|·| National Geographic Expedition:
The new English edition is the same apart from physical factors.
The advantage is that the site cards are more detailed, only to be
expected from the prestigious National Geographic. The travel
vouchers are now easy-to-handle, thick cardboard rather than paper
money. Some disadvantages are that the chips are now cardboard
that blends in too easily with the now more colorful and busy
board. I suppose it's possible to get used to this, but a more
serious deficiency is the lack of extra chips which in the German
version can be used to show who is playing which color and to
mark the neutrals. Neutrally, some sites have been re-named,
having little effect on play. By the way, Variant A has long
since been my favorite way to play.
[6-player Games]
[translation]
[variant]
Strategy: Low; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 8
- Express
Rummy-like card game about collecting various types of
train cars. There are a few games that seem to match very
well to gaming groups such that they transcend status of
games and their playing becomes more than just a game, but
a true special experience. For some mysterious reason, this
is the case with this game for us, especially the four-handed
partnership version. To play this game is not just a matter
of trying to gauge the opponent's hand or figure out what
your partner is trying to tell you, but to recount all of
the bizarre hands and experiences one has ever had playing
this game, often at three in the morning. Unjustly panned
as a game about set collection, it is actually about rather
detailed hand management.
[errata]
[summary cards]
[Tourist Games]
[Two vs. Two Games]
[Take That! Card Games]
[6-player Games]
[Frequently Played]
A
- Extinction [Sinauer]
Obscure package with an educational bent includes instructions
for several different games, but only the main one seems
to hold any interest. Players represent a species on the island of
Darwinia, a colorful hex map depicting six different terrain types.
Card draws determine six secret attributes: reproductive rate, attack,
defense, habitat, mobility and environmental resistance. The engine of
play is the good old spinner which tells the player which two actions he
may perform on his turn, e.g. mutate, migrate, attack, reproduce,
experience an environmental disaster. The animals themselves are
represented by innumerable small dice, the number of visible pips indicating
the population size. Mutation is a matter of discarding one to four cards
and drawing their replacements. Migration means moving a certain number
of pieces depending on their mobility level. Some have no mobility at all,
but are able to reproduce in three different habitats. Those with the
most mobility can reproduce only in one. The reproduction rate determines
how many more population may be placed in and around an occupied hex.
There are disasters which eliminate players having more than four pips in
a hex, but this is otherwise valuable as it permits moving in on a hex with
fewer individuals and removing them. Another way to do this is predation,
a matter of having an attack ability like strength, speed or nocturnal which
the defender does not. At first it seems like matters will never come to a
conclusion as fortunes wax and wane, but after a couple of hours there will
probably be a tipping point that gives someone complete dominance. It's an
interesting system and fairly clean, but awfully random. It's entirely possible
to never reproduce even once, as just one example. There's also a disappointing
randomness in the nature of mutation; it would be preferable to see at least some
rhyme or reason to it. There also seems to be strangely mixed message in terms
of theme. Significant evolution occurs over a period of a million years or more,
yet random events include very transient ones such as airport construction
and water pollution. Still, this might be a good vehicle for a retrofitting.
The spinner could be replaced by a
Puerto Rico-style
variable phase order that would help things a great deal. If more sense
were added to mutations, one would almost be there, having only to deal with
the long downtime that occurs waiting for others to handle all of their many
dice.
Invented by Gary Sinauer for Sinauer Associates, 1968?, 1970, 1971;
re-published by
Carolina Biological Supply Company, 1978.
The 1978 edition changed the reproductive attribute cards
from a fixed litter size to a multiple of the number of creatures in an area.
- Extrablatt
Karl-Heinz Schmiel's game about being the editor of a newspaper up against a
deadline features uncertain leadership and tight-integration similar to his
Die Macher
and
Attila.
Laying out stories is resolved as tile placement and probably inspired the later
Die Fürsten von Florenz.
Layout is very graphically-pleasing.
Unorthodox enough that few will win this their first time
playing. A surprising and interesting strategy is to start
conflicts very early in the game. This permits finding
out the check distributions of all the other players,
building up a strong check hand for when it is important
later and finally, gives time for others to commit
to their stories so that one can operate with more data.
What seems most important are the Main stories in the
headlines area. Since this part of scoring is doubled, it
probably should receive the most attention, though it's so
easy to get distracted by other issues when one is engaging
in ten different contests at once. There are a lot of
jokes on the tiles that need German knowledge to appreciate,
but that text is totally unnecessary for play of the game.
Highly recommended.
- Exxtra
Reiner Knizia dice game feels somewhat similar to
Can't Stop,
particularly in
the importance of the dice and the question of how far to
push your luck. Quick and full of all the tension of gambling,
even if highly dependent on luck of the dice. Seems to be best
with about four players.
On to F
- Main
Please forward any comments and additions for this
site to Rick Heli. 
