aramis

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bio	website	aramis.hostman.us
	location	Alaska
	age	43
visits	member for	2 years, 2 months
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SCAer, lifelong gamer.

	4,923 reputation	bio	website	aramis.hostman.us	visits	member for	2 years, 2 months
619 badges		location	Alaska		seen	1 hour ago

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Jan 29	comment	Cargo Noir: How to prevent Macao Black Market from going stale @E_L having about 20 plays under my belt, I can say, you are dead wrong in how to win. The value of a 5 set (25) is well more than the value of two 3-tile sets (2x3=9), and going for the 5-7 range is often worth sacrificing a tile or two to take an extra turn and get the extras. Your math is fatally flawed, and you just don't see it.
Jan 17	comment	How does the cost of designer board games compare to other forms of entertainment? You never get hours back on any play... time is a one way road.
Dec 17	comment	Can I create my own version of Monopoly and distribute it ? @Joe it's also worth noting that some US states have additional IP law, such as Texas' "Trade Secret Law" (actually a collection of favorable decisions in case law, not statute nor regulation). Canada, the UK, Australia, all differ. France goes well beyond them.
Dec 8	comment	What games are similar to Risk? @RaYell There are at least 4 different Shogun games - The one published by Queen Games looks like risk with cubes, but is a civ-game in play. The Milton-bradley one, renamed Samurai Swords, uses d10's and is really an Axis and Allies variant more than a risk variant. Neither of which is the same as Shogun: Total War.
Dec 8	comment	How can I compete against the unit armies tactic in Risk? Often not practical.
Nov 28	comment	Initial setup for a house game Green is often 20 rather than 25, especially in casual gaming or when chips are used for non-poker use.
Nov 28	comment	Advice on acquiring / constructing Dice Towers Could, but won't, as I've no experience with them, and so adding them would violate the basic SE guidelines on how to answer.
Aug 24	comment	Looking for the name of a 2d6 game It changes little, vsz - such games have a lot of variations, and the description in Wikipedia is one such local variation misconstrued as more widespread.
Aug 23	comment	Ben and Mabel (Mable) cardgame? What's the “real” name? Five Crowns is a 5-suit short-numbered version of contract rummy.
Aug 13	comment	How long does the copyright for a game last, after it is out of print? Patents are extremely rare for board games.
Jul 24	comment	Something that only happens every X turns I've seen it fail more often than succeed at dominion... to the point where almost everyone I see play trees their actions - when you play a village, the two resulting actions are both overlapped off that one village card.
Jun 24	comment	Discarding Destination Tickets in Ticket to Ride While User 1873 has correctly stated the official rule, in casual play, it's extremely common for players to ask for your permission to play before you've discarded. You should give this, unhesitatingly... seeing their play is usually to your advantage. If someone asks another player, you should discourage it. Not so much because it's against the rules, but because it's to the drawing person's benefit.
Jun 21	comment	Counting multi-runs in cribbage Just be prepared to break it down if your opponent fails to grok your shorthand. Double Run, Triple Run, Double-Double run, and Pair Royal (=3 of a kind) are pretty widely used, and most competent players will know what you mean by them. Most tournament players will be well more than just competent... The only one that's standard that a lot of players don't know is "his heels"... many confuse it with "his knobs"...
Jun 9	comment	How much would it cost to get started with Magic: The Gathering? I'll quibble on the "There is no other game with such infinite potential." L5R has about as many cards, is doing quite well, has larger tournament decks (in no small part due to a play-deck being two separate piles), and thus is more flexible.
Jun 9	comment	Ways different people enjoy board games @thesunneversets You're still tinkering with your playstyle.
Jun 8	comment	Ways different people enjoy board games @thesunneversets that falls under tinkering.
May 25	comment	Maximum attainable points for a single player in a two player game of Carcassonne I show 10 places on here for additional farmers. More than the meeples available. 6 around big city alone. The one in the upper right corner scores two cities.
Apr 11	comment	Erasable yet bold crayon for Empire Builder Games (e.g. Eurorails)? On factory laminate, you use a damp sponge, in several passes. If you use a hot-application laminate, you leave the 1-2mm edge on the map, and can just rinse it in the shower. For an adhesive laminate, you need to either over-shoot the edges 2-3mm, or tape the edges, in order to assure water-resistance.
Mar 24	comment	How do game designers come up with suggested (or minimum) age requirements for games? No, Joe, it really doesn't. In fact, that's one of the things that, in my undergrad, we were taught to treat as a fallacy - anyone whose sources must include their bonafides in order to be credible is probably including them solely to be credible at all.
Mar 24	comment	How do game designers come up with suggested (or minimum) age requirements for games? I forgot to mention that I've playtested a bunch of stuff. Suitability for children was a common designer question.