Batt'l Kha'os release

Z-man Games, an American publisher, has released Batt'l Kha'os, a new game which I've co-developped with Eric Hanuise.

The game is an abstract duel with square tiles containing knights and orcs. The objective is to control towers by gaining the majority of the corners.

Check the website of Z-man Games for the full rules or Boardgame geek for a translation.

Designed as a 2 player game, it is nevertheless quite easy to play it with more players.

Here are the special rules to adapt the game for 4 players :

• The players form 2 teams of 2 players. Each player gets 3 tiles in his hand and 3 power tokens (instead of 5).
• Players alternate turns. First, one orc player plays his turn, then one knight player. After this, the other orc player plays his turn and the other knight player last. Then, a new turn begins, always in the same order. Power tokens can only be used by the controlling player.

With 3 players, the special rules are quite similar.

• Now, there is one team of 2 players and one of one player. The single player gets 6 power tokens instead of 3.
• The single player plays twice per turn while his opponents only once per turn.
  

Pressconference in Berlin

Here a few pictures of the pressconference on July 29th 2009.

The president of the Jury hands over the nomination award to the editor and myself.

All nominated games in a row. As you can see, Nicht zu fassen is standing very close to the winning game (at the right).

The wolf and myself in front of the presentation stand of the game.

"Nicht zu fassen" can still compete for other prices.

Particularly interesting is the Deutscher Spiele Preis, where the public can vote.

So, if you think that "Nicht zu fassen" deserves a price, please participate in the voting.

You must fill in the name of the editor, which is Zoch. Attention, the site is only in German language.

http://www.deutscherspielepreis.de/p040.php4

Nomination for "Kinderspiel des Jahres"

"Nicht zu Fassen" alias "Cache Moutons" for the French, has been nominated for the German Children's Game of the Year. At the end of the month, the final decision of the Jury will be known.

Among all contests, this one is the most prestigious, especially for the "Game of the Year". To give childern's game a chance, the organisators have added a childern's price too, since 2001.

A nomination and even better the first prize is much envied in Germany.

In contrary to contests for game designs where authors are rewarded, this contest is a reward for the game as a final product : not only the concept of the game, but also how the game is realised : the clarity of the rules, the design of the game box and its components.

In this regards, Zoch Spiele, the editor, did an excellent job and I'm very glad about it.

Saboteur in Japanese language

From now on, the game is also available in Japan.

How to playtest your game designs ?

You have a brilliant idea and you want some feedback on it.

Here is a step-to-step plan how to proceed :

1. Go to your local pub and tell everyone that you are looking for some smart guys. Skip the first volunteer. He is drunk and useless for playtesting purposes.
2. Offer all your victims a drink. It is important that they start the test with a positive attitude.
3. Important : do not begin explaining the rules of the game right now. The folks are not paying attention anyway, they can't memorize all the details and they don't care a sh**t. Instead just start playing the game and explain what players must do when it is their turn to play.
4. During the game, interfere as much as possible. Give suggestions how to play, give strategical hints and explain why you love your own game so much.
5. Do not to forget telling some good jokes in order to create a happy feeling and relieve the tension (if someone gets upset from your ticks).
6. When you are hobbling behind, do not hesitate to suddenly change the rules in your favour. However, do it in a clever way. Tell the other players that you are just reminding an important rule. If they start complaining, just tell them that you are not playing, but playtesting a game and that changes are very common during a testing session.
7. When you have won the game (which should be evident, as you alone know the dirty little tricks how to win), offer everyone a new drink and ask in general how they have liked your concept. However, now you must be very talented. If they want to express a certain reservation, it is important to explain why the playtest has been a little outbalanced and is not representative : they had bad luck with the die rolls, they did not follow your advise in turn 1 or they simply do not have understood the key elements of the game. Do not tell them that you have expected to play with some smarter guys and that you are the one who is disappointed most. At this moment, you must use all your diplomatic skills.
8. Don't take notes. As you seldsom gets a usefull suggestion, it is not worthwile to spoil ink and time writing down some silly comments. Remember that you are the designer, not them.
9. Next, thank everybody for the nice evening and express the hope that they will buy your game once it will be published, which will occur soon. Do not tell that you will never ever want to play with those losers again. They just participated at your playtest for the free drink.
10. Finally, go the girl at the bar who was smiling at you during the whole evening and ask her : "Do you like playing games?". She might answer : "Depends which game...". Now, you can reply : "Follow me, sweetheart". When you hear the tickling of her high heals behind you, you can say to yourself "mission accomplished!".

Conclusion : for a successful playtest, check first if there are some nice girls at the bar, waiting upon a handsome man with brilliant ideas. If not, go to another pub.

Spellenplezier Poker Championship 2009

Saturday March 21th 2009 :
While my opponents are joking, I'm wondering if I will call or raise. Ace-King. Let them laugh, I take the next pot.

My son (the youngest participant among the 70 competitors) had bad luck. He is sitting next to a pro, who has already taken most of his chips.

My son is out of the game due to his neighbour. Time for revenge.
I've just managed to kick off the pro from the table, which costs him 50 € for losing a bet with another pro. With a big stack in front of me, I'm ready to join the final table.

There, my luck ran out and I stranded at the 6th place. Nevertheless, I won 2 positions compared to last year (where I finished 8th with 50 competitors).

It's 3 o' clock in the morning and time to drive home to my lovely wife who is chilling in bed, waiting upon me.

How to play?

My kids and I have made a video where we explain how to play "Nicht zu fassen" alias "Cache Moutons".

Enjoy!