What's your most obscure game? (Hammer of Thor)
Paul Aceto
the wargame section. Then I saw an odd-looking game in the RPG/fantasy
area, a 1980 release by Nova Games called Hammer of Thor. It had the
magic words "solitaire rules" on it, so I took a chance for $28.
Man, this is one strange game. Did anyone else in America buy it? And
has anyone actually played it through? The game just screams "labor of
love." Essentially, it's a role playing/war game for 1-300+(!) players,
in which you play a Norse god jumping from star to star (most of which
carry what I assume are mythological names) and gaining reputation
through encounters in preparation for the final showdown at Ragnarok.
These encounters run the gamut from attack to negotiate to seduce (which
can produce offspring). There are 677 perforated cards, many of which
have drawings of the various gods and creatures. I have to assume that
a tremendous amount of research went into this game; the number of
characters is staggering.
I am almost considering it a challenge to wade through the
less-then-crystal-clear rules and actually play through a solitaire game
(in which you play Thor and try to outdo his reputation totals before
Ragnarok).
Anyway, looking at this game made me realize just how many oddball games
there are out there that 99% of us never hear about. Some of them have
to be gems (the jury is still out on Hammer of Thor though). I'll just
mention a couple of other obscure ones I've found. But it might be
interesting to trade stories on this newsgroup to give some of these
games some light....
-- Legend of the Lost Dutchman: a desktop publishing game by Simulations
Workshop Inc. You outfit an 1890s prospector/desperado in Arizona
territory in search of Jacob Waltz's lost treasure (he died before
telling anyone where it was). You have to battle random events (my
favorite: getting bitten by a Walapai Kissing Tiger Bug) and other
players while searching for placer pits, caves, or ledges that might
yield gold. This company also puts out games on the race for the North
Pole (Safe Return Doubtful) and 13th century relic hunting in Europe
(Mad Monks and Scholars).
-- American Megafauna: another desktop pub game, from Sierra Madre Games
Co. Reptiles and mammals duke it out in an evolutionary battle. You
try to add genes to your creatures to evolve better traits. One of the
key ones to get is Sex DNA, which doubles the number of genes you
receive. And as the eons pass, the board tiles keep changing, meaning
your creatures have to adapt to the changing environment or die. I
always wondered how this game would have done had it been published by a
major game company with quality components.
So what obscure games have you found?
Mark Jackson
> Anyway, looking at this game (Hammer of Thor) made me realize just how many oddball games there are out there that 99% of us never hear about. Some of them have to be gems (the jury is still out on Hammer of Thor though). But it might be interesting to trade stories on this newsgroup to give some of these games some light....
> So what obscure games have you found?
Great question, Paul...
OK, one from Germany and one from the U.S.
姫APUA (Parker)... a German game for 4-6 players of escaping cannibals... each
player has four small wooden pieces (shaped like a Settlers robber) in day-glo
colors with a VERY unsmiley face printed on them. They start in a cooking pot
at the cannibal village. Each turn, a player rolls the dice and moves one of
his pieces. The trick is that the vast majority of spaces require you to move
in groups (of 2 or more different colored pieces). Add to that a requirement
for the superstitious natives to stop at various totems, the assorted cannibal
spaces (which send the piece landing on it back to the pot), and the fact that
landing on another piece sends someone back to the pot... and you end up with
a Keystone Kops-like run for the beach (and the one canoe). It's not a great
game, but a whole lot of fun with much hosing, whining, and cajoling going on.
My one line review - "It reduces the standard 7 hour game of Diplomacy down to
it's 1/2 hour essence... when do I turn on my ally like a caged weasel?"
筆OTOR MOUTH (Tiger)... watch for this one in thrift stores... it's got a
picture of John Misciotta (the fast-talking guy from the old FedEx
commercials) on the cover (and board). This is a fast-moving party game for
3-6 players (it'll expand to more but slows down a good bit). In turn, each
player rolls and moves to a space which requires them to either 'talk' or
'pass' or 'motor mouth.' If you talk, you start the timer and read a tongue
twister off the top card of the deck... when you're finished, turn off the
timer. (The timer is a wind-up goodie that can be set secretly to ring in
between 10-35 seconds, thus allowing the player who sets it to set up another
player to fail.) If the timer goes off, you roll & move backwards (and you get
to re-set the timer.) If you pass, you hand the timer and card to another
player, who attempts to do the same. If he succeeds, you roll and move
backwards. If you end up on a motor mouth space, the timer is reset to 35
seconds and the large set of plastic lips come into play - they act as a
marker for a game of 'hot potato', with players reading a card then passing
the lips while the time runs down. The loser moves backwards. The final space
on the board is a motor mouth space... you have to survive a motor mouth round
to win. It plays fast (45 minutes or so for 4-6 players) and there are LOTS of
laughs. The rare party game that I enjoy.
--
Let me explain....no, there is too much. Let me sum up.
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Mark Jackson
Nashville, TN
Brian McGovney
really looked cool in it's black vinyl binder and multicolored paper (hey,
this was 1982), but was utterly unplayable and over-priced, even after it's
supplement came out a year later. Still, it also seemed to be a labor of
love, with lots of great GROUNDWORK for a playable set of rules, including
economic detail, 3-D space, etc. I hope the designer tried again with more
success. Very rare, and I never met anyone else who bought it.
-Brian McGovney
Geenius at Wrok
The Rocky & Bullwinkle Role-Playing Party Game. Don't ask.
Also, I have an ancient copy of Infinity (by Gamut of Games) that I
inherited from my parents. I'm not sure that they had ever played it
before I got my paws on it. :-)
--
"I wish EVERY day could be a shearing festival!" -- The 10 Commandments
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Keith Ammann is gee...@albany.net "I notice you have a cloud of doom.
Live with honor, endure with grace I must admit it makes you seem
www.albany.net/~geenius * Lun Yu 2:24 dangerous and sexy."
Randy Simcox
all the punks you can.
Randy
Rick Jones
>
> I was in my local game store last weekend and didn't see anything new in
> the wargame section. Then I saw an odd-looking game in the RPG/fantasy
> area, a 1980 release by Nova Games called Hammer of Thor. It had the
> magic words "solitaire rules" on it, so I took a chance for $28.
>
Fill Or Bust a cards and dice game from Bowman Enterprises. Certain dice
combinations score points; if you make all of the dice scoreable that's
a fill. A throw of the dice without scoring anything is a bust. The
cards tell you what you must do and how many points you score. Can be
played by any number of people. I've played with up to 20.
C&O/B&O, the old train board game from Avalon Hill. (I also used to have
Dispatcher but put it up for auction years ago at Strategicon.) I've had
this since it was new, haven't played it in decades so I can't give a
synopsis. And, no, it is NOT for sale.
Kaliko, a path building game using hex shaped acrylic tiles (nicely
done), from Future Classics. Points are scored based on the length and
complexity of the paths you make.
Robert Rossney
news:Pine.GSO.3.96.990816205734.13580B-100000@merlin...
> > So what obscure games have you found?
>
>
> Also, I have an ancient copy of Infinity (by Gamut of Games) that I
> inherited from my parents. I'm not sure that they had ever played it
> before I got my paws on it. :-)
I've got a copy of Infinity too! Though if I had to pick one Gamut of Games
game, I think I'd rather have Montage.
My most obscure game -- if I restrict myself to professionally-produced
games -- is probably Energie Poker. It's a very interesting game with a
bizarre economic model. I have yet to play a game of it that didn't end
early because a player went bankrupt. It's the only board game I've ever
seen that uses metal washers as pieces.
--
Bob Rossney
r...@well.com
Life is hard, and it's harder when you're stupid. -- George V. Higgins
brian edward keenan
Finally, a chance for me, with my measely couple shelves worth
of games, to compete with the people that measure their games
by the acre :)
I bought a game in '85 called ICO by Specialty Brokers in Tulsa Oklahoma
(anybody heard of them or know if they're still around?). It's an
abstract board game where the "board" is a giant, 16" diameter wire-frame
icosahedron (d20) and the playing pieces are little colored rubber things
that clip on to the edges of the "board". During the game, the pieces
are placed on one of the 3 edges of the bottom face, then the board is
rotated on that edge to a new face. The pieces have to be played
according to certain rules, i.e. on the edge with the fewest pieces and
the fewest of your color, so as the game progresses, you can force the
other player(s) to place on a specific space. There are several levels
of games to play, from the basic game where the winner is the first
one to complete a triangle, to trying to complete a zig-zag type ring
around the board, or a pentagon of faces (5 triangles sharing one
vertex), all the way to the Master game, where you have to get 3
pairs of mutually orthogonal edges.
I remember it being a brain-burner in that you had to keep track of
where the board was going as well as where you needed it to go, while
keeping the other players away from where they wanted to go. I and
my brothers had several games where the winner didn't realize he'd
won until several turns later!
Can anybody beat that? :-)
Mark Jackson <game...@bellsouth.net> writes:
>MOTOR MOUTH (Tiger)... watch for this one in thrift stores... it's got a
Yeah, I vaguely remember seeing commercials for this on TV.
Brian Keenan
b-ke...@students.uiuc.edu
t...@warble.antispam.jhuapl.edu
>So what obscure games have you found?
One of the more obscure games I have that was published by a relatively well
company is "JZ". It was printed by Avalon Hill for WJZ-TV of Baltimore.
On the British game front, I have Waddington's "Grade Up to Elite Cow".
From the lesser known publishers, I have a "World Economy" game -- can't
recall the publisher off the top of my head, but the box is a grey vinyl
briefcase. I also have a game called "Olympiad" which has figures of
athletes competing in various sports, and medals for each event.
My ultimate obscure game is "Eloping", by Game Creations (1946). Now
*there's* a game you don't see every day! :-)
--
Tony Nardo INET: t...@warble.ANTISPAM.jhuapl.edu
** Please remove the "antispam" blocker from my address before replying. **
David Allsopp
<pac...@chelsea.ios.com> writes
>Anyway, looking at this game made me realize just how many oddball games
>there are out there that 99% of us never hear about. Some of them have
>interesting to trade stories on this newsgroup to give some of these
>games some light....
Not actually mine, but a friend's, who has the nasty habit of picking up
good games very cheap at various sales (Grrrr...).
This ones called The Blackfeet Indian Canoe Game. You draw cards, each
of which is a canoe segment, and try to complete three canoes worth.
You can select the length of the canoe (5-16) with longer (complete)
ones scoring more. Some of the canoe segments score points (e.g. Furs),
some score points in sets of three (e.g. Prospector + 2 cards showing
his gold), and some are Indians, which don't score points (but add to
the length) and allow you to attack other players' (unfinished) canoes.
When he first showed us this, we thought "Kiddy game", but agreed to
give it a try. It turned out to be fast-paced, reasonably strategic and
very enjoyable little game. Apparently my friend started taking it in
to work to play in lunch hour, but had to stop because huge arguments
started over whose turn it was to play!
--
David Allsopp Houston, this is Tranquillity Base.
Remove SPAM to email me The Eagle has landed.
Glenn Kuntz
Geenius at Wrok <gee...@albany.net> wrote:
>> So what obscure games have you found?
>
>The Rocky & Bullwinkle Role-Playing Party Game. Don't ask.
Hey, that's not so obscure - TSR! I found a few copies of it
at one of the mall chains a few years ago for $5 ea. I thought
about it just for the polyethylene hand puppets, but... NAAA...
:-)
Glenn Kuntz
>So what obscure games have you found?
Nuke Your Neighbor - 1983 by C.U. Neucom Co.
Chex - 1959 by C. Edwards. This is actually a collection of
several themed abstract games (yes, I know that's an oxymoron,
but that's what they are :-) It appears to be home published
(lots of rubber stamps, typewritten, mimeographed rules, etc.)
but from the contents (clubs, etc.) it appears the games may
actually have had a small following in upstate NY.
Stefanie Kethers
>
> In article <37B89D...@chelsea.ios.com>, Paul Aceto
> <pac...@chelsea.ios.com> writes
> >Anyway, looking at this game made me realize just how many oddball games
> >there are out there that 99% of us never hear about. Some of them have
> >to be gems (the jury is still out on Hammer of Thor though). I'll just
> >mention a couple of other obscure ones I've found. But it might be
> >interesting to trade stories on this newsgroup to give some of these
> >games some light....
>
> good games very cheap at various sales (Grrrr...).
>
> This ones called The Blackfeet Indian Canoe Game. You draw cards, each
> of which is a canoe segment, and try to complete three canoes worth.
> You can select the length of the canoe (5-16) with longer (complete)
> ones scoring more. Some of the canoe segments score points (e.g. Furs),
> some score points in sets of three (e.g. Prospector + 2 cards showing
> his gold), and some are Indians, which don't score points (but add to
> the length) and allow you to attack other players' (unfinished) canoes.
>
> When he first showed us this, we thought "Kiddy game", but agreed to
> give it a try. It turned out to be fast-paced, reasonably strategic and
> very enjoyable little game. Apparently my friend started taking it in
> to work to play in lunch hour, but had to stop because huge arguments
> started over whose turn it was to play!
> --
> David Allsopp
That's actually a version of "Ogallala", a pretty good
(and - in Germany at least - well-known) Rudi Hoffmann
game, originally published by Pelikan.
Cheers,
Stefanie
Torben AEgidius Mogensen
>This ones called The Blackfeet Indian Canoe Game. You draw cards, each
>of which is a canoe segment, and try to complete three canoes worth.
>You can select the length of the canoe (5-16) with longer (complete)
>ones scoring more. Some of the canoe segments score points (e.g. Furs),
>some score points in sets of three (e.g. Prospector + 2 cards showing
>his gold), and some are Indians, which don't score points (but add to
>the length) and allow you to attack other players' (unfinished) canoes.
This sounds very much like Games Workshop's "Chaos Marauders" game
with a theme shift and perhaps simpler rules. I wonder which was
first.
Torben Mogensen (tor...@diku.dk)
Kevin J. Maroney
>This one's called The Blackfeet Indian Canoe Game.
Luding lists this as Waddingtons, 1980 and it is a translation of
Ogallala by Rudi Hoffman (1975). _Chaos Marauders_ was published in
1987 and was designed by Stephen Hand; I'd say the influence is clear.
--
Kevin J. Maroney | Crossover Technologies | kmar...@crossover.com
Games are my entire waking life.
Kevin J. Maroney
>I bought a game in '85 called ICO by Specialty Brokers in Tulsa Oklahoma
>(anybody heard of them or know if they're still around?). It's an
>abstract board game where the "board" is a giant, 16" diameter wire-frame
>icosahedron (d20) and the playing pieces are little colored rubber things
>that clip on to the edges of the "board".
I've got a copy of _Obol_, which is a derivative of Sid Sackson's
_Focus_ which is played with velcro pieces on the checkered surface of
a plastic sphere. Neat game.
Daniel Blum
translation for it yet, though), and American Megafauna. I used to own
Infinity, but traded it to Frank Branham (who probably has more obscure
games than anyone who's posted so far - check out his "Island of Misfit
Games" (www.neonate.org/island.html)).
Other items of note:
Ant Wars, by Jason McAllister of Titan fame - two or three colonies
of ants fight for control of a suburban house and yard
Surprise Attack, a two-player abstract from Gamut of Games
Carapace, a strange two-player abstract from Plan B (makers of Vector,
which was reviewed in Games Games Games a while back)
Sly, a collection of six abstract games by Sid Sackson, published by
Amway (also released in Germany as Blockade, and not so unusual
any longer, since copies keep popping up on eBay)
Mercanauts, a simple economic game with neat little plastic ships (with
sails that break off really easily)
Lords of the Middle Sea, a post-holocaust game from Chaosium
Space Huk, 3-D spaceship combat rules from 1972-3
Space Fighters, a spaceship combat board game which is an obvious Star
Wars ripoff
The Evolution Game, which you can actually order if you want
(http://www.siba.fi/~sboswell/evg/index.html)
Extinction, another evolution game, from the Carolina Biological Supply
Company back in the 60s
Star Trek Battle Manual - the original version of the Star Fleet Battle
Manual, which had to be pulled when Paramount complained
China-Vietnam War, a wargame in Chinese, which is something I had never
seen before
And finally, Toxins, the game of transporting dangerous wastes, which
is something Frank Branham DOESN'T have (and Frank, if you're
reading this, I'd be happy to trade this new copy :)).
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum to...@mcs.net
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."
Daniel Blum
> b-ke...@students.uiuc.edu (brian edward keenan) wrote:
>>I bought a game in '85 called ICO by Specialty Brokers in Tulsa Oklahoma
>>(anybody heard of them or know if they're still around?). It's an
>>abstract board game where the "board" is a giant, 16" diameter wire-frame
>>icosahedron (d20) and the playing pieces are little colored rubber things
>>that clip on to the edges of the "board".
> I've got a copy of _Obol_, which is a derivative of Sid Sackson's
> _Focus_ which is played with velcro pieces on the checkered surface of
> a plastic sphere. Neat game.
Do you remember when and where you got this? I have something very similar
which I purchased at Origins 1981, but it was called Xeno, or the "O"
game. I've been wanting to find out if they ever did any of the new boards
(with more spaces) that they were talking about at the time.
The Maverick
>
> a 1980 release by Nova Games called Hammer of Thor.
> I am almost considering it a challenge to wade through the
> less-then-crystal-clear rules and actually play through a solitaire game
W.G Armintrout gave it a thumbs down in Space Gamer 43... This info
courtesy of the Space and Fantasy Gamer's Guide which lists more obscure
games than you can shake a stick at! ;-)
(http://www.brainiac.com/micro/sfgg)
the Mav
--
Cliffhanger Serials, Boardgames, Videogames, and Red Baron I
http://www.volcano.net/~themaverick
The Classic Microgames Museum
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/themav/micind.html
The Macho Women with Guns Homage Page
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/6747
Daniel Blum
> Kevin J. Maroney <kmar...@crossover.com> wrote:
>> b-ke...@students.uiuc.edu (brian edward keenan) wrote:
>>>I bought a game in '85 called ICO by Specialty Brokers in Tulsa Oklahoma
>>>(anybody heard of them or know if they're still around?). It's an
>>>abstract board game where the "board" is a giant, 16" diameter wire-frame
>>>icosahedron (d20) and the playing pieces are little colored rubber things
>>>that clip on to the edges of the "board".
>> I've got a copy of _Obol_, which is a derivative of Sid Sackson's
>> _Focus_ which is played with velcro pieces on the checkered surface of
>> a plastic sphere. Neat game.
> Do you remember when and where you got this? I have something very similar
> which I purchased at Origins 1981, but it was called Xeno, or the "O"
> game. I've been wanting to find out if they ever did any of the new boards
> (with more spaces) that they were talking about at the time.
Whoops, that's Origins 1991 (and they were also at Atlanticon 1992).
My copy is from Profitable Entertainment Products in Quebec, has 24
spaces on the sphere, and comes with a rulebook which includes
several games (Xeno, Vulcan Checkers, Out-of-Focus, which is the Focus
variant, although Xeno itself is not dissimilar, and a few other games).
The book advertises a 12-space sphere, which they were selling at the
time, and a 30-space sphere, which they had only in prototype (it also
advertises extra pieces for more players, and a computer program).
There was supposedly an International Xeno Players Association in
Vermont.
Erich Schneider
> I was in my local game store last weekend and didn't see anything new in
> the wargame section. Then I saw an odd-looking game in the RPG/fantasy
> area, a 1980 release by Nova Games called Hammer of Thor. It had the
> magic words "solitaire rules" on it, so I took a chance for $28.
>
> Man, this is one strange game. Did anyone else in America buy it?
A friend of mine back in college bought a copy at a convention and I
got a brief glance at it. I wish I could take a longer glance at it. I
recall one of the creature attributes was "likes cows", which causes a
creature with that attribute to automatically join any party that has
a cow in it. AFAIK the only creature with this attribute is a fly, and
there's a curse which changes someone into a fly. I presume this has a
precedent somewhere in Norse myth.
--
Erich Schneider er...@caltech.edu Caltech Information Technology Services
The Maverick
>
> So what obscure games have you found?
A lot of the independently produced games from the 70's and 80's in my
microgame collection would probably fall under this classification, but
one in particular that I never see mentioned is THE CONQUEST OF SPACE
published in 1977 by Thomas Cleaver.
The game has a paper mapsheet showing 15 colorful planets. Each planet
is linked by a warps to other planets (these links change each game.)
The playing pieces are translucent plastic discs in four different
colors (pretty fancy for a small-press game that came in a ziplock bag.)
Bagheera
them obscure:
Skirrid (Parker Bros) a 2d mathematical tetris like game
Curse of the Cobras - a "luck" game. Indy Jones themed
Lycanthrope! - you are hunting werewolves, avoiding becoming
one yourself, the winner is the last human left
Omega Virus - electronic Seek & Find game (annoying voice over)
Electronic D&D (mattel) - not many people know about it
SIEGE!!! - players race to build castles and siege engines
to become king of the region...nice card game
a bit unbalanced though...the guy who buys all walls
first usually wins.
LifeStories - really really stupid "tree-hugger-hippie" game
Laser Attack (Milton Bradley) - was supposed to be a star wars
attack the deathstar game
Catch Lucky! - a lucky charms cereal board game
and finally:
--
a game I don't know the title of (I lost the box, but
still have the board and piecees)
The gist is, you have ice cubes, and you move them around
the board, and at times you have to stick them in salt, and
at other times, you can rinse them off.
If anyone knows the name of this game, and even better has
a complete copy of this game, let me know!
The RARE non-obsucre games I own are:
(all of them are worth owning, except the ones marked with a *)
Elfenroads
*Arkham Horror
*Cosmic Encounter (eon) + 9 expansions
Warlock (Games Workshop)
Talisman 2nd Edition (w/ all expansions)
Supremacy (w/ all but megamap & merchant marines)
Trade Winds - a pirate game
King Oil
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
richar...@hotmail.com
pac...@chelsea.ios.com wrote:
Information on Hammer of Thor and other obscure titles deleted...
> So what obscure games have you found?
I have been called by people in my wargaming group, "The collector of
the most obscure titles". I have numerous weird ones. My collection
looks like one of those EBay days when people all at once decide to dump
their oddball stuff on there. This is, in part, due to my interest in
weird designs to get ideas for games to design. Off the top of my head,
here are some of the good, bad and ugly obscure titles I have.
* Swahili: I like this game a lot. It dates back to the late 1960s, by
Milton-Bradley. I saw it on EBay, and said "what the Hell is that?" and
I took a shot on it. I found out it is an interesting mix of diceless
backgammon and Mancala. It is supposed to pay homage to African
heritage, but a sick puppy would swear the point is to march tribesmen
into a volcano for points (the units look like little totems). Plays
equally well for 2-4 players.
* Grand Imperialism: Game of exploring on a fictional world map.
Imagine Viceroys, but much less complex. I like it myself. For 2-6
players.
* Gravball: Futuristic soccer/hockey game. Supposed to have killer
robot ref. Not sure how it is (never played it).
* Demo Derby: Forget Circus Maximus or other racing games. This is
demolition derby baby. Mayfair, mid 1980s. Simple rules lead to cool
car combat. Supports up to six. I bought a second set so that I would
have 12 cars for it. This and Roborally serve as the two best
multiplayer arena race-combat games I can think of. I will play this,
but keep C. Maximus away from me!
* The One World: Sim-canada's simulation of pre-Columbus Mexican
empires. Quirky rules to it. I want to play it, but haven't yet. I
think it supports up to six. Low complexity.
* Material World: I want to really like this game, but the rules are
confusing. I consider it obscure, simply because it is printed by a
small company and still in print. If you can figure out the rules, go
for it. The game looks like it has promise. Take Risk, and tinker it
to focus on economic development with focus on raising standard of
living.
* Cooperation: Oddball, way out of print game, made in the 1970s. More
of a classroom thing to teach economics than anything else. I never
played it, but would like to. Have a different set of economic rules to
run your country and try to win according to them.
* The Great Khan Game: Tom Wham's cardgame of empire building that
attached the AD&D name to it to increase sales.
* Aliens: The Game: Trendsetter's game of everyone plays the marines and
battles the aliens. Based on the movie with the same name. Fun kill'em
all carnage.
* Wabbit Wampage: A cartoon wargame. Haven't played it yet. Everyone,
depending on the phase of the game, scores points for completing certain
tasks. Get to order to old acme booby traps also to stun your
opponents.
* Chart Wars/Space Waste: Yes, 2 for the price of one! Made by Dipco.
This was a basic give away game I got at the Citadel in Connecticut.
Support for hand to hand divisional combat and the use of scuds.
Definitely not to be taken seriously. Hey, I paid $3 for it (well worth
the money), and I got a second one for free. Haven't played it yet
though. I think only 500 were ever printed.
* Several of the smaller Eon titles: Runes (use basic parts of letters
to create the letters and then the words), and Hoax (the game of
bluffing and deductive reasoning. Focus on Role playing different
characters).
* Larry Hagman's Flip Out: Garage sale special. Has Larry on the box in
his Dallas costume. Cosmic Wimpout game with a single die.
* Quo Vadis: Well, I have TWO Quo Vadis's. One is the german
negotiating game (I like it). The other is by Omar Sharif and I have no
idea what it is about =).
* Total War: I HAD two. One was a game of the German invasion of Poland
in WW2. The one I have now is an abstract game where you do R&D to
increase your movement, production rate and whatnot. Started out VERY
promising. It just bogs down BIG TIME, as the end game approaches.
Movement occurs in 8 phases, PER TURN. This allows for faster units to
move faster and whatnot. The drawback is that it makes turns get LONG.
* Tahiti: Yes, a wargame. Takes place on the island of Tahiti centuries
ago. Involves native warfare. This game is most noted for people
saying "log log log" over and over =).
* My games: I created a few, and I think they are good. Since so few
people play them, I count them as obscure (click on link below to get to
them :-)). :-)
* Middle Sea: By Fantasy Workshop(?). You know, the makers of really
obscure titles. Support for 2-40(!) players. Captures the flavor of
the Dark Ages and Crusades. Take the base of the game Diplomacy and
adapt it to that time period. Looks real cool, but haven't played it
yet.
* King of Kings: By Good Industries, and the one and only creator of
Ancients. A modular system capturing the rise of ancient empires. Rules
are somewhat confusing. Was meant to be the strategic component to the
Ancients system. The lavinder colored box was probably the reason why
the game bombed.
* Cradle of Civilization: Take Civilization, and make it more combat
oriented. Area movement, unlike King of Kings, which uses hexes.
Gee, I know I have more than this. But I better cut it short now...
- Richard Hutnik
Visit DocReason's Strategy HQ for free games, reviews, and
support and opponent finding for obscure/orphan games at:
http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/fortress/7537/
kma...@omni.cc.purdue.edu
I will. It's a fantasy-style race/battle to the top of . . .
yes, you guessed it . .. a mountain. Horrid components. Fun
to play a few times, at least back in the early 80's.
Mike
Mark Jackson
> Fill Or Bust a cards and dice game from Bowman Enterprises. Certain dice
> combinations score points; if you make all of the dice scoreable that's
> a fill. A throw of the dice without scoring anything is a bust. The
> cards tell you what you must do and how many points you score. Can be
> played by any number of people. I've played with up to 20.
Actually, the semi-national Game Keeper chain has these in stock... small
black box often gets stuck in with the standard card decks, though.
Richard Heli
richar...@hotmail.com wrote:
> * The One World: Sim-canada's simulation of pre-Columbus Mexican
> empires. Quirky rules to it. I want to play it, but haven't yet. I
> think it supports up to six. Low complexity.
Reviewed at my site: http://www.best.com/~heli/wargame
> * Material World: I want to really like this game, but the rules are
> confusing. I consider it obscure, simply because it is printed by a
> small company and still in print. If you can figure out the rules, go
> for it. The game looks like it has promise. Take Risk, and tinker it
> to focus on economic development with focus on raising standard of
> living.
The rules really aren't that difficult. I've played several times and can
answerquestions if you want. I have some strategy notes on it at my site.
> * Middle Sea: By Fantasy Workshop(?). You know, the makers of really
> obscure titles. Support for 2-40(!) players. Captures the flavor of
> the Dark Ages and Crusades. Take the base of the game Diplomacy and
> adapt it to that time period. Looks real cool, but haven't played it
> yet.
You should play it soon and let us know what you think. The designer
isconsidering re-publishing it and would like feedback.
> * King of Kings: By Good Industries, and the one and only creator of
> Ancients. A modular system capturing the rise of ancient empires. Rules
> are somewhat confusing. Was meant to be the strategic component to the
> Ancients system. The lavinder colored box was probably the reason why
> the game bombed.
I think it was more than just the box. I have some review notes at my
site.
Robert Rossney
news:37B8ED50...@lafn.org...
> Kaliko, a path building game using hex shaped acrylic tiles (nicely
> done), from Future Classics. Points are scored based on the length and
> complexity of the paths you make.
Kaliko's a great game: a brain-bending game with beautiful components. And
still available, for $59, from Kadon Enterprises (www.gamepuzzles.com).
--
Bob Rossney
r...@well.com
"Who is to say that pleasure is useless?" -- Charles Eames
Robert Rossney
Epaminondas and Confrontation, (Ariel), .
Caveat Emptor is a not-very-satisfying semi-abstract real-estate game, but
Vector is great: a partnership game in which each player plays cards to
influence the movement of the one pawn on the board, aiming it at
high-scoring spaces. The trick is that the E player's card goes off, then
the S player, then W, then N, so if you're not the first player this turn,
you have to guess what everyone else is likely to have done. It's sort of
like four-player partnership RoboRally, with one robot.
Epaminondas is a checkers variant (sort of) by Robert Abbott: its principal
virtue here is the extremely obscure name.
Confrontation is a nuclear-war themed game in which each player's island of
hexagonal tiles gets gradually annihilated as the missiles fly. It has a
very solid but abstract plotted-orders system whose outcome is very
difficult to predict.
--
Bob Rossney
r...@well.com
"Life is hard, and it's harder if you're stupid." -- George V. Higgins
Steve J. Chapin
}} * Material World: I want to really like this game, but the rules are
}} confusing. I consider it obscure, simply because it is printed by a
}} small company and still in print. If you can figure out the rules, go
}} for it. The game looks like it has promise. Take Risk, and tinker it
}} to focus on economic development with focus on raising standard of
}} living.
I've never played the regular game. I tried the "tournament" version
of the rules at Origins a couple of years ago, and it sucked rocks.
Basically, armies were unkillable, and fleets were unstoppable.
Armies had one impulse in which they could either move to a
neighboring province OR attack another player's army in the current
province. The obvious defensive tactic is to use the army impulse on
your turn to move out of the threatened province. This wasn't free,
as you would then lose control of the area you left, so you couldn't
always retreat without cost (and you could be cornered on a
peninsula).
Fleets were fatally flawed (moreso than armies). Combat was
simplified to the point where the attacker sailed in a fleet, and for
each ship in the attacking fleet, chose a defending casualty. Yes,
that's right, the attacker chose casualties. An important thing to
do in Material World is to collect rare items and bring them home,
which usually requires sea travel. This leads to silliness where
a single ship sails past 10 defending ships to take out the one
ship holding cargo.
I don't know whether these combat rules are the same as in the regular
game, but if they are, I'd forget about Material World.
cha...@ecs.syr.edu Steve Chapin Today's Usage Lesson:
It's a wise dog that scratches its own fleas. (William Strunk, Jr.)
One person's bug is another person's feature.
Robert Rossney
news:7pc5kq$9df$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
[much stuff snipped]
> * The Great Khan Game: Tom Wham's cardgame of empire building that
> attached the AD&D name to it to increase sales.
Not just Tom Wham: Richard Hamblen (Merchant of Venus, Magic Realm). This
is a really wonderful little game, maybe a bit overlong for what it is but
very fun nonetheless. One of the better mixes of card and board game that
I've seen. Copies can often be found floating about on eBay. And yes, the
AD&D branding of this game is pretty funny.
Eric Amick
> Rick Jones <bj...@lafn.org> wrote in message
> news:37B8ED50...@lafn.org...
>> Kaliko, a path building game using hex shaped acrylic tiles (nicely
>> done), from Future Classics. Points are scored based on the length and
>> complexity of the paths you make.
> Kaliko's a great game: a brain-bending game with beautiful components. And
> still available, for $59, from Kadon Enterprises (www.gamepuzzles.com).
And let's not forget Tantrix, another tile-laying game that resembles
Kaliko to some extent. It may not be as obscure as Kaliko, but it's not
exactly taking the mass market by storm, either.
--
Eric Amick
Columbia, MD
eam...@clark.net
richar...@hotmail.com
he...@best.com wrote:
> > * Material World: I want to really like this game, but the rules are
> > confusing. I consider it obscure, simply because it is printed by a
> > small company and still in print. If you can figure out the rules,
go
> > for it. The game looks like it has promise. Take Risk, and tinker
it
> > to focus on economic development with focus on raising standard of
> > living.
>
> The rules really aren't that difficult. I've played several times and
can
> answerquestions if you want. I have some strategy notes on it at my
site.
Maybe it has something to do with the organization of the rules and
understanding what to do with the different units in the game. I don't
quite grasp turn order in it.
> You should play it soon and let us know what you think. The designer
> isconsidering re-publishing it and would like feedback.
I would like to play "Middle Sea". But, alas, it is buried behind a
bunch of other obscure titles other people just aren't interested in.
> I think it was more than just the box. I have some review notes at my
> site.
In my case, with "King of Kings" people just couldn't get past the
box.
- Richard Hutnik
--
Geenius at Wrok
> And let's not forget Tantrix, another tile-laying game that resembles
> Kaliko to some extent. It may not be as obscure as Kaliko, but it's not
> exactly taking the mass market by storm, either.
It might be if it weren't made in New Zealand. It's quite a good game.
--
"I wish EVERY day could be a shearing festival!" -- The 10 Commandments
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Keith Ammann is gee...@albany.net "I notice you have a cloud of doom.
Live with honor, endure with grace I must admit it makes you seem
www.albany.net/~geenius * Lun Yu 2:24 dangerous and sexy."
Dan Schmidt
| > So what obscure games have you found?
|
| The Rocky & Bullwinkle Role-Playing Party Game.
Which, for the PC game players out there, was designed by Warren
Spector, producer of a bunch of cool games including Ultima Underworld
and System Shock.
--
Dan Schmidt -> df...@harmonixmusic.com, df...@alum.mit.edu
Honest Bob & the http://www2.thecia.net/users/dfan/
Factory-to-Dealer Incentives -> http://www2.thecia.net/users/dfan/hbob/
Gamelan Galak Tika -> http://web.mit.edu/galak-tika/www/
Christian Killoran
richar...@hotmail.com wrote in message <
>* Wabbit Wampage: A cartoon wargame. Haven't played it yet. Everyone,
>depending on the phase of the game, scores points for completing certain
>tasks. Get to order to old acme booby traps also to stun your
>opponents.
Not so obscure that it didn't generate a sequel game (Wabbits Wevenge, I
think.) Anyway, it's actually worth playing if you're in the mood for some
silliness.
Two games come to mind for me:
The Xenon Empire's Star Wars by Galaxy Foundation Games. Incomprehensible
rules. Maybe the game was part of a series and the real rules were in
another game.
A Fistful of Turkeys by Some Turkey Games. Amusing micro-game about a fella
who goes berserk in a turkey hutch. Counters include a wide variety of
turkeys and a big tank.
EYE of NiGHT
<bagh...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>I don't know if these are obscure, but I consider
>them obscure:
>
>Skirrid (Parker Bros) a 2d mathematical tetris like game
I have 2 copies of Skirrid. The pieces are clear plastic and you lay
them to cover squares with points to score. It's ok.
I have a bootleg edition of Escape from Colditz. It's called The Great
Escape and has no maker's name. It's an accurate copy of the board and
pawns and basic rules. It's a professional job, must have required
some effort to produce and distribute. It seems a strange game to
bootleg.
Kevin J. Maroney
>A Fistful of Turkeys by Some Turkey Games. Amusing micro-game about a fella
>who goes berserk in a turkey hutch. Counters include a wide variety of
>turkeys and a big tank.
The game is mostly an excuse for a lot of heavy-handed and amazingly
unfunny attacks on Steve Jackson for daring to leave Metagaming and
found a company named after himself as if anyone would care about the
name of a person who designed games. Certainly not Metagaming's finest
moment.
Rick Jones
>
> Paul Aceto wrote:
> >
> > I was in my local game store last weekend and didn't see anything new in
> > the wargame section. Then I saw an odd-looking game in the RPG/fantasy
> > area, a 1980 release by Nova Games called Hammer of Thor. It had the
> > magic words "solitaire rules" on it, so I took a chance for $28.
> >
>
> combinations score points; if you make all of the dice scoreable that's
> a fill. A throw of the dice without scoring anything is a bust. The
> cards tell you what you must do and how many points you score. Can be
> played by any number of people. I've played with up to 20.
>
> Dispatcher but put it up for auction years ago at Strategicon.) I've had
> this since it was new, haven't played it in decades so I can't give a
> synopsis. And, no, it is NOT for sale.
>
> Kaliko, a path building game using hex shaped acrylic tiles (nicely
> done), from Future Classics. Points are scored based on the length and
> complexity of the paths you make.
I have one more to add to the list: The Playboy Game from Victory
Games. Basically, you try to live the life of Hugh Hefner. ;-{>
--
Rick Jones
Scrap the extra dot to find my real e-dress
"Let's rock."
-Al Bundy, "Married With Children"
The Maverick
>
> Stomp! by Chaosium. Elves vs a Giant (who is represented by counters
> for his feet).
This was reissued about a year ago as a freebie game in Chaosium's
Starry Wisdom newsletter. You never know if there might be any left at
The Chaosium...
> Dark Cults, a storytelling cardgame.
Somebody has a web page where they are still selling new copies of this
game!
Alan Winston
How about from a major?
"Citadel" by Parker Brothers?
"Commandos" by Parker Brothers?
abw
Boyd & Michelle Bottorff
> * Gravball: Futuristic soccer/hockey game. Supposed to have killer
> robot ref. Not sure how it is (never played it).
I've wanted to see this one for a while.
Bruno Faidutti
of comrade Stalin"... I'd love to get an english translation of its rules.
--
Bruno Faidutti
124 rue de Belleville
75020 PARIS
faid...@imaginet.fr
http://wwwusers.imaginet.fr/~faidutti/
the Dave
topic (at the time, every game that, like "Strategos, was about the Pelop
War was an obligatory purchase for me). It turned out that the Pelop War
half, "Strategos", was a fairly lame 2-player empire-building game, while
"Imperial Roman Governor" was a somewhat more clever multiplayer game. We
had some fun with it, years ago, but now I'm trying to figure out how much
I should sell it for.
--
Check out the Silicon Valley Boardgamers at http://www.io.com/~dk2/svb
the Dave
It has a theme somewhat similar to the NetRunner CCG (e.g., cyberpunk). But
it has a board (play mat, actually), and players draw from a common deck
(unless they're playing constructed-deck). Overall, it looks like a cool
package. I hope to get a chance to actually play my copy sometime.
Details are at http://www.jps.net/spider/virtual
Chris Camfield
wrote:
>Well, let's see. I also have Energie Poker (don't have a good rules
>translation for it yet, though), and American Megafauna. I used to own
>Infinity, but traded it to Frank Branham (who probably has more obscure
>games than anyone who's posted so far - check out his "Island of Misfit
>Games" (www.neonate.org/island.html)).
>
>Other items of note:
>
>Ant Wars, by Jason McAllister of Titan fame - two or three colonies
> of ants fight for control of a suburban house and yard
Hey, I hadn't made the Titan connection! I have a copy too, having
stumbled across it online... I had read the Space Gamer review of it
YEARS ago and always wanted a copy. Paid way too much for it, of
course.
My most obscure game is probably Chaosium's _Raiders and Traders_
(except perhaps for Ant Wars)
Chris
khoc...@linux.cc.stevens-tech.edu
: So what obscure games have you found?
Stomp! by Chaosium. Elves vs a Giant (who is represented by counters
for his feet).
A bunch of Metagaming micros that probably count as obscure these days
(Chiton, Black Hole, Annihilator/One World, Stick & Stones, Ice War).
Dark Cults, a storytelling cardgame.
Globbo, from an old Space Gamer (sigh, how I miss it). Alien babysitter,
babysitting alien babies.
-Kurt
Bruno Faidutti
>
> Somebody has a web page where they are still selling new copies of this
> game!
>
Who? Where?
Alan E and Carmel J Brain
> So what obscure games have you found?
Plague (Cats, Fleas and Newton's 3rd law of Motion) by B&B productions,
Weymouth, UK. 1991
Collect bodies on their carts and take them to the cemetary during the
black death, before your undertaker expires (and you lose that load and
get a new empty cart and driver). Humourous, and a good game.
Bridgehead by Gamecraft Pocket Wargames, Tweentown, Cheddar, Somerset,
UK 1980
Othello-like. Good components, average game.
Logistics Command by Westinghouse (makers of guns, radars etc) USA.
Design by Business Game Systems 1978.
Used as a selling tool and training aid for 3rd world dictators who want
to be Militarily Equipped.
--
http://www2.dynamite.com.au/aebrain
aeb...@dynamite.com.au <> <> How doth the little Crocodile
| Alan & Carmel Brain| xxxxx Improve his shining tail?
| Canberra Australia | xxxxxHxHxxxxxx _MMMMMMMMM_MMMMMMMMM
abr...@cs.adfa.edu.au o O*OO^^^^OO*O o oo oo oo oo
By pulling MAERKLIN Wagons, in 1/220 Scale
Karl Bown
agree, it sucks. I had signed up for the MW tourney thinking we were going
to play the standard game and was very disappointed by the change to the
simpler one. The standard game is very good, although the victory conditions
are not what you expect them to be and can difficult to understand first
time out. I've played it several times and would gladly play it again.
--
Karl Bown
The Games Store
http://www.tgs.co.uk/games/
Boardgames and Magazines by Mail Order
PS I also have a Hammer of Thor and A Fistful of Turkeys although I've never
played either.
Steve J. Chapin <cha...@mamba.cs.Virginia.EDU> wrote in message
news:yuzyemh2...@mamba.cs.Virginia.EDU...
>
> }} * Material World: I want to really like this game, but the rules are
> }} confusing. I consider it obscure, simply because it is printed by a
> }} small company and still in print. If you can figure out the rules, go
> }} for it. The game looks like it has promise. Take Risk, and tinker it
> }} to focus on economic development with focus on raising standard of
> }} living.
>
Glenn Kuntz
>Stomp! by Chaosium. Elves vs a Giant (who is represented by counters
>for his feet).
This reminds me of the first miniatures event I ever played at
a con. It was entitled, "St, George vs. the Dragon" but it was
actually more like, "4-inch plastic knights in armor vs. a
foot-tall rubber Godzilla." It was a panic. Simple but
workable rules, not too large (intended as an intro to minis
for newbies) and well thought out.
The fellow who ran the event had 2 sets of certificates made up
for either result. One set said "I stomped Godzilla at
???Con!", the other set said "Godzilla stomped me at ???Con!"
Frank Branham
>
> And finally, Toxins, the game of transporting dangerous wastes, which
> is something Frank Branham DOESN'T have (and Frank, if you're
> reading this, I'd be happy to trade this new copy :)).
> ___________________________________________________________________
Done. What 'cha want for it?
How to list the really obscure titles I have is a scary, scary thought. I
have a
tendency to pick up stuff I've never heard of without a second thought.
Like the Urban Systems games. (Toxins is one of a whole series of these
reasonably interesting educational games from the 70's.) All have
environmental themes, and pretty clever rules. My fav so far is
Smog. You have a giant flowchart which you navigate to add folks
, waste disposal, and pollution control systems to your city. The center
of the board is populated by pegs for people and smokestacks. The
smokestacks have large plastic smoke plumes that trail off according
to which way the wind is blowing.
Dragon Wars, which looks to be a prototype game crossing Talisman
and Candy Land. It looks unreleased and truly awful. Nice artwork
though.
Turmbau zu Babylon, a german game with popsicle sticks which I feature
on the Dumpster page. I still have yet to find out anything at all about
this game, save that it comes with dozens of hand painted tongue
depressors.
Lords and Magic. Published by a tiny company in Wisconsin. A
Talisman clone sort of thing. I've yet to play this.
The Gothic Game. This British game needs better press. It plays
somewhat like GW"s classic Dungeonmaster, save that you are
actively out to kill the other players. Death is frequent and random,
in an old gothic castle. The cards are really morbid, and very
amusing.
The giant Bamboleo. While some of you have seen Bamboleo, Zoch
Spiele makes two larger versions. The one I have uses a platform
about 3+ feet across and very large objects. The base fromt he normal
sized Bamboleo is one.
Bretonenboule. Since I've discovered that anything with a 3 star
rating in the Adam Spielt catalog is well suited to my taste. So I
order them. This is a freaky Bocce/Boule/Horseshoes game produced
by Amigo. (They do really large dexterity games-my fav which is
Piratenbilliards.) This one has several painted ping pong balls half
filled with sand that are thrown at a dot within an angled felt lined
box. The physics of a ping pong ball half filled with sand are very
very strange.
Strange Synergy. This was a prototype game that the author was
selling off many years ago on r.g.b. Cross Wiz-War with multiplayer
chess. The game is quick, very chaotic, and very clever. And has
zillions of cards.
I suspect I could go on for awhile, but I'll stop for the moment at least.
Moo
Frank
Randy Cox
Crokinole?
Frank Branham
board with
a large crack (rendering it unplayable) which probably dates from the
early 1900's.
The other is my rather modern Carrom set which includes Crokinole as one
of
the 30 billion games in the box. (Toys R Us marked the main Carrom set
down
to $10. While you do have to use the stupid plastic rings, and the thin
often warped
board, it is still a great buy.)
As an obscure aside, I have a game which is rare to us US folks, but
much more
common in Germany. A children's game called Zong! published by
Ravensburger.
Designed by K.H. Schmiel, you flip subsets of tokens to move your pawn
forward.
Occasionally, you get to flick the black disk o'death from the finish
line to try and
take out as many of your opponents as possible.
Moo
Frank
Mike Lawson
> So what obscure games have you found?
Camelot; inherited from my Grandmother and Great-Aunt.
--Mike L.
--
Michael Lawson | "We fight, get beat, rise,
Software QA Engineer II - SDRC | and fight again."
e-mail: mike....@sdrc.com | -Nathaniel Greene
DrStevOwen
writes:
>Epaminondas is a checkers variant
What a lack of imagination. Ep was the Theban general who beat the Spartans at
their own game. Robert Abbott's interpretation is a rather clever game of
mobile phalanxes which seek to cut off the opposition. Recommended to
imaginative souls everywhere.
Steve Owen
Trevor Hyde
been Steve Jackson in disguise). The story is that a farmer has
discovered that his turkeys are plotting to take over the world. It
is a two-player game where one player plays the farmer, who strides
into the turkey coup with a shotgun and tries to shoot, club, punch,
strangle, and stomp all the turkeys to death. The other plays the
turkeys, and lays out traps (mostly chits that read BOM [biodegradable
organic material]).
Trevor
Robert Rossney
news:19990818155428...@ngol05.aol.com...
That was concision, not a lack of imagination. Jeez.
--
Bob Rossney
r...@well.com
"Life is hard, and it's harder if you're stupid." -- George V. Higgins
Richard Heli
the gossip columns in some old issues of STRATEGY & TACTICS
(SPI). In the Sept/Oct issue I noticed the following item, which I
found interesting on many counts:
Fifty-seven (!) companies made a showing at this past Origins and, as
with
every year, onee game emerged as the talk of the show. This year it is
ACE OF ACES from Gameshop, Inc., (!) in Manchester, Connecticut.
What is interesting about the game is that it has no counters and no
map.
It consists simply of two booklets: one for the German one one for the
Allied World War I pilot. It is a simple game of aircraft maneuver. It
sells
for $13.95. (!) Already in the works are additional books for strafing
trenches
and balloon busting.
These folks are no fools, for they have already applied for a patent (!)
on this
unique game concept. SPI and AH are naturally seeking the game out and
may end up being franchised by Gameshop. Nice twist (!) Gameshop is
not a
one-game company. They have also done ANGOLA, HAMMER OF THOR (!)
(Norse myth semi-role-playing/boardgame), and TIMELAG (a two-player
mini-game
using relativity and black holes). One of the principals in the company
is
Joe Angiolillo, who has done game design work for SPI (!) and tried to
have
FOUR ROADS TO MOSCOW published by Avalon Hill. I am sure that the
latter will soon re-appear with his new company.
In a different issue I saw an item interesting for another reason:
Alan Moon has just been hired by Avalon Hill. His first assignment will
be
to get FORTRESS EUROPA ready for Origins. I wonder if they told him
which year.
Ah, where did you go, Howie Barasch..? ;)
Paul Aceto wrote:
> I was in my local game store last weekend and didn't see anything new in
> the wargame section. Then I saw an odd-looking game in the RPG/fantasy
> area, a 1980 release by Nova Games called Hammer of Thor. It had the
> magic words "solitaire rules" on it, so I took a chance for $28.
>
> Man, this is one strange game. Did anyone else in America buy it? And
> has anyone actually played it through? The game just screams "labor of
> love." Essentially, it's a role playing/war game for 1-300+(!) players,
> in which you play a Norse god jumping from star to star (most of which
> carry what I assume are mythological names) and gaining reputation
> through encounters in preparation for the final showdown at Ragnarok.
> These encounters run the gamut from attack to negotiate to seduce (which
> can produce offspring). There are 677 perforated cards, many of which
> have drawings of the various gods and creatures. I have to assume that
> a tremendous amount of research went into this game; the number of
> characters is staggering.
>
> I am almost considering it a challenge to wade through the
> less-then-crystal-clear rules and actually play through a solitaire game
> (in which you play Thor and try to outdo his reputation totals before
> Ragnarok).
>
> Anyway, looking at this game made me realize just how many oddball games
> there are out there that 99% of us never hear about. Some of them have
> to be gems (the jury is still out on Hammer of Thor though). I'll just
> mention a couple of other obscure ones I've found. But it might be
> interesting to trade stories on this newsgroup to give some of these
> games some light....
>
> -- Legend of the Lost Dutchman: a desktop publishing game by Simulations
> Workshop Inc. You outfit an 1890s prospector/desperado in Arizona
> territory in search of Jacob Waltz's lost treasure (he died before
> telling anyone where it was). You have to battle random events (my
> favorite: getting bitten by a Walapai Kissing Tiger Bug) and other
> players while searching for placer pits, caves, or ledges that might
> yield gold. This company also puts out games on the race for the North
> Pole (Safe Return Doubtful) and 13th century relic hunting in Europe
> (Mad Monks and Scholars).
>
> -- American Megafauna: another desktop pub game, from Sierra Madre Games
> Co. Reptiles and mammals duke it out in an evolutionary battle. You
> try to add genes to your creatures to evolve better traits. One of the
> key ones to get is Sex DNA, which doubles the number of genes you
> receive. And as the eons pass, the board tiles keep changing, meaning
> your creatures have to adapt to the changing environment or die. I
> always wondered how this game would have done had it been published by a
> major game company with quality components.
The Maverick
>
> Why, isn't everyone's most obscure game....
> Crokinole?
Because none of us have it? ;-)
The Maverick
>
> Speaking of this HAMMER OF THOR game
This whole discussion has lead me to think of a good title for an
obscure game:
MONKEY WRENCH OF LOKI
Who wants to design it? ;-)
Paul Gifford
Richard Heli <he...@best.com> wrote in message
news:37BB3B13...@best.com...
> every year, onee game emerged as the talk of the show. This year it is
> ACE OF ACES from Gameshop, Inc., (!) in Manchester, Connecticut.
> What is interesting about the game is that it has no counters and no
> map.
> It consists simply of two booklets: one for the German one one for
the
> Allied World War I pilot. It is a simple game of aircraft maneuver.
It
> sells
> for $13.95. (!) Already in the works are additional books for strafing
> trenches
> and balloon busting.
>
Ace of Aces? That's somewhat old. I played it in the early 80's. In
fact, in 1983 a buddy and I traveled around Europe by train and used to play
this game to pass the time. I'll have to ask him if he still has it.
Amazing game - simple to play. Let's see if I remember this (it's been over
15 years now). Your page shows you your view from the cockpit. You pick a
maneuver (indicated by little icons at the bottom of the page) - with each
maneuver is a page number. You give that # to your opponent, he turns to
that page and looks up his maneuver then goes to that page himself. If I
recall, at some point the page numbers are supposed to be the same...I think
at the middle step.
Wow, that's a poor explanation :) In any case, it's pretty amazing and
fun to play.
p
Torben AEgidius Mogensen
Murphys's Island. The board is built from tiles, so it will be
somewhat different each time. It is basically a race game with event
cards.
Batalo. A game played on a hex-mat using rules that are a mixture of
checkers and Hnefatafl. It is unplayable because you can never lose if
you let your tower stay in its home hex, so unless a player is silly
it will be a (very drawn-out) draw. This is one game that has made me
consider writing completely new rules (as in the "you have the pieces,
now make the game" thread).
Several Ares games (Albion, Barbarian Kings, Wreck of the Pandora),
though I guess it is only their age that makes these obscure. ANd
judging from the amount of discussion BK is getting in this group, it
shouldn't really be called obscure.
A few Microgames (Trailblazer and One World).
Torben Mogensen (tor...@diku.dk)
Mark Buckley
DrStevOwen <drste...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990818155428...@ngol05.aol.com...
> In article <7pca57$k...@journal.concentric.net>, "Robert Rossney"
<r...@well.com>
> writes:
>
> >Epaminondas is a checkers variant
>
> What a lack of imagination. Ep was the Theban general who beat the
Spartans at
> their own game. Robert Abbott's interpretation is a rather clever game of
> mobile phalanxes which seek to cut off the opposition. Recommended to
> imaginative souls everywhere.
Is it still available? i remember lots of mention of in in Games & Puzzles,
but
not much since...
cheers,
Mark
Patrick Yip
fella
>who goes berserk in a turkey hutch. Counters include a wide variety of
>turkeys and a big tank.
>
>
Actually, how does the game work out?? What is the objective and what
are the main features that distinguish it from other games?
PY
The Maverick
>
> Ace of Aces? That's somewhat old. I played it in the early 80's.
BTW the official AoA web page states that a 20th anniversary edition is
planned:
www.aceofaces.com
The Maverick
>
> >A Fistful of Turkeys by Some Turkey Games. Amusing micro-game about
>
Heavy sarcasm directed at Steve Jackson games and his initial line of
microgames (FFoT copied the paper folder style of the first SJG
releases.)
You can see a comparison of the cover art of FFT and an SJG micro at the
Classic Microgames Museum:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/themav/stgvssjg.html
pdr
Designed by Mayfair Games for The Milwaukee Journal in 1981.
The Journal published it as part of a series on adventure gaming.
Basically, it's a mob game set in Prohibition Milwaukee. Uses wargame
mechanics. Very simple.
Pete de Rosa
Kevin J. Maroney
>Camelot; inherited from my Grandmother and Great-Aunt.
I have trouble thinking of a game which was in print from Parker
Brothers for over 45 years and which has an international players'
association as "obscure". But maybe that's just me.
--
Kevin J. Maroney | Crossover Technologies | kmar...@crossover.com
Games are my entire waking life.
Kevin J. Maroney
>> >Epaminondas is a checkers variant
Steve Owen then took him to task for that, to which Robert responded:
>That was concision, not a lack of imagination. Jeez.
Well, Epaminondas is not a _Checkers_ variant. It can be played with
several sets of standard checkers on a board made from two
checkerboards, but the method of moving and capturing pieces and the
goal of the game are nothing like any form of _Checkers_ or
_Draughts_.
What you said was like saying that _Liar's Dice_ is a _Craps_ variant
or that _Bridge_ is a _Blackjack_ variant.
Robert Rossney
news:37c03e9a...@client.ne.news.psi.net...
> "Robert Rossney" <r...@well.com> wrote:
>
> >> >Epaminondas is a checkers variant
>
> Steve Owen then took him to task for that, to which Robert responded:
>
> >That was concision, not a lack of imagination. Jeez.
>
> Well, Epaminondas is not a _Checkers_ variant. It can be played with
> several sets of standard checkers on a board made from two
> checkerboards, but the method of moving and capturing pieces and the
> goal of the game are nothing like any form of _Checkers_ or
> _Draughts_.
>
> What you said was like saying that _Liar's Dice_ is a _Craps_ variant
> or that _Bridge_ is a _Blackjack_ variant.
I plead guilty to imprecision, even to simply being wrong. However, that's
not what Mr. Owen took me to task for, and it's not what I was objecting to.
Mike Lawson
>>Camelot; inherited from my Grandmother and Great-Aunt.
Kevin replied:
> I have trouble thinking of a game which was in print from Parker
> Brothers for over 45 years and which has an international players'
> association as "obscure". But maybe that's just me.
YMMV, but I can say that outside of my Grandparents house, I've
only time I've come across the game was in a boardgame store in
the used and rare section, next to the Dr. Kildare game. I
suppose in terms of longevity and/or sales most of my collection
is more obscure than Camelot, but it's something I don't find
in my gamer friends' collections.
Paul King
Paul Aceto <pac...@chelsea.ios.com> wrote:
>Anyway, looking at this game made me realize just how many oddball games
>there are out there that 99% of us never hear about
Since nobodty else has mentioned it :
PanzerPranks (Chaosium) - very silly game of armoured warfare.
Oh, and Intruder (Task Force) - just about OK solo game based on Alien (but
not as silly as AGT).
The Maverick
>
> only time I've come across the game was in a boardgame store in
> the used and rare section, next to the Dr. Kildare game.
You can bet that most anything deemed worthy enough to reside in the
"used and rare" section of a game store is not obscure! ;-)
Neal Sofge
> published in 1977 by Thomas Cleaver.
I've got a copy of that. Even dragged it to PolyCon in an (ill-fated)
attempt to actually play the damn thing.
Some obscurity from the FMG Library:
War of Wizards, from TSR by MAR Barker
Bushi, a samurai man-to-man game with incomprehensible rules
Highway 2000
War of the Sky Cities (one of the many fine FGU boardgames)
and of course, Duel Arcane, which I actually picked up _after_ we
published Shapeshifters, regardless of what Lester Smith thinks.
John_Da...@acm.org
> with
> ACE OF ACES from Gameshop, Inc., (!) in Manchester, Connecticut.
> What is interesting about the game is that it has no counters and no
> map.
> It consists simply of two booklets: one for the German one one for the
> Allied World War I pilot. It is a simple game of aircraft maneuver. It
> sells
> for $13.95. (!) Already in the works are additional books for strafing
> trenches
> and balloon busting.
Ace of Aces is no rarity, but a well known classic, and can be found at
any good game convention. The inventor also did a somewhat similar
combat system for fantasy characters/creatures called Lost Worlds, now
sold by Flying Buffalo.
John David Galt
mats....@home.se
kmar...@crossover.com wrote:
> David Allsopp <d...@tqSPAMbase.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >This one's called The Blackfeet Indian Canoe Game.
>
> Luding lists this as Waddingtons, 1980 and it is a translation of
> Ogallala by Rudi Hoffman (1975). _Chaos Marauders_ was published in
> 1987 and was designed by Stephen Hand; I'd say the influence is clear.
>
Influence is putting it mildly. This is a case of plagiarism, which led
to the withdrawal of Chaos Marauders when it was exposed. I've read
about it in Die Pöppel Revue and early issues of Games International.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Joseph
<1999081721...@1cust185.tnt1.springfield.il.da.uu.net>
mbot...@sprintmail.com (Boyd & Michelle Bottorff) writes:
> <richar...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > * Gravball: Futuristic soccer/hockey game. Supposed to have killer
> > robot ref. Not sure how it is (never played it).
>
> I've wanted to see this one for a while.
I wasn't going to comment. I and a friend have played this game a
couple of times for a couple of hours each and hae never made a score.
I believe it is nearly impossible.
Joseph
Jon Cacherat
and you buy a caveman army. Unarmed ape-men are cheap...advanced
stone-aged warriers with armor and weapons cost more. You can also buy
dogs. Can one cave-man with a bow and arrow and a woman and a dog hold off
five naked ape-men? Other scenerios include mastodon hunt, ritual battle,
etc.
Kevin J. Maroney
>In article <37ba6a62...@client.ne.news.psi.net>,
> kmar...@crossover.com wrote:
>> Luding lists this as Waddingtons, 1980 and it is a translation of
>> Ogallala by Rudi Hoffman (1975). _Chaos Marauders_ was published in
>> 1987 and was designed by Stephen Hand; I'd say the influence is clear.
>>
>Influence is putting it mildly. This is a case of plagiarism, which led
>to the withdrawal of Chaos Marauders when it was exposed. I've read
>about it in Die Pöppel Revue and early issues of Games International.
I hadn't heard about that. I find it amazing that GW would cave in
like that, since, as has been discussed at length, game systems are
*not* protected by intellectual property law, and it's obvious that
neither the art nor the rulebook to _Chaos Marauders_ are directly
copied from _Ogallala_.
However, this *does* explain why _CM_ has never been reprinted.
Kevin J. Maroney
>Sticks and Bones, from Mayfair Games. You have so many points to spend,
>and you buy a caveman army.
That's _Sticks and Stones_, from Metagaming. Can't remember the
designer off-hand.
brian tivol
I'm currently on the other side of the United States from my copy this
game, so the details are going to be a bit sketchy, but this obscure
game is a two-player abstract number called "Nunchaku" (I believe) by
Mark Landsberg (I believe).
Each player has five little pairs of everyone's favorite ninja weapon.
The board is filled with a square grid of holes into which the posts
fit. On your turn, you must pick up one post and move it; naturally,
you can't move a post too far away from its partner. Another rule,
though, is that the chain between the two posts must remain straight:
you cannot bend the chain around any other post, even if there's
enough slack, nor can you start tying the chains in knots. A player
can move her posts so that her chain crosses over her opponent's
chain, drastically reducing the mobility of the piece underneath. A
player wins either by lining up five posts in a row or by crossing
every one of his opponent's chains with his own.
Very nice wood-and-metal pieces; sort of your classic
light-wood/dark-wood with two different metal accent colors.
Occassionally, though, you run across a move which really should be
possible, but it winds up putting a lot of stress on the posts; it's a
bit worse with the White set, since its chains' links are larger than
Black's.
Haven't played it in a long time, so now I'm curious about it again.
--brian
MattS
Consensus (I think that's what it's called) - an election game where you stick
pins in the map to mark who has howmany electoral votes
and
Stake a Homestead - sort of an educational game along the lines of Mille Bornes
Matt
Daniel Blum
> Sticks and Bones, from Mayfair Games. You have so many points to spend,
> stone-aged warriers with armor and weapons cost more. You can also buy
> dogs. Can one cave-man with a bow and arrow and a woman and a dog hold off
> five naked ape-men? Other scenerios include mastodon hunt, ritual battle,
> etc.
It's from Metagaming, though.
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum to...@mcs.net
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."
Richard Heli
Kevin J. Maroney wrote:
> "Jon Cacherat" <Ph...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
> >Sticks and Bones, from Mayfair Games. You have so many points to spend,
> >and you buy a caveman army.
>
> That's _Sticks and Stones_, from Metagaming. Can't remember the
> designer off-hand.
Someone called D. Ray?
Tim Isakson
> and of course, Duel Arcane, which I actually picked up _after_ we
> published Shapeshifters, regardless of what Lester Smith thinks.
Is that a game, circa late-70's early-80's, that at least has a
similar theme (shapeshifting wizards)?
When I first played Shapeshifters (love the game, BTW), it raised a
vague "I think I've played this" feeling, as I'd played a game at
one of the early 1980's GenCons (still at Parkside) that I went to
in, like, 8th grade or so . . .
========================================================================
Tim Isakson loi...@io.com | "...we are clearly an intolerant
Dallas, TX, USA | society largely devoted to pretending
http://www.io.com/~loiosh/index | otherwise" - Tom Tomorrow
Christian Killoran
Jim Bolland
> >depending on the phase of the game, scores points for completing certain
> >tasks. Get to order to old acme booby traps also to stun your
> >opponents.
>
> Not so obscure that it didn't generate a sequel game (Wabbits Wevenge, I
> think.) Anyway, it's actually worth playing if you're in the mood for some
> silliness.
We call it "Saturday Morning Cartoons in a Box". There is nothing quite like
actually being able to mail order all those goodies from ACME!
I'd forgotten about the sequel. Maybe I should find one to buy.
Jim Cobb
called "Hey Pa, There's a Goat On The Roof", that I've never seen
mentioned anywhere else.
Jim
George D. Phillies
On Wed, 18 Aug 1999, Randy Cox wrote:
> Why, isn't everyone's most obscure game....
> Crokinole?
Not War of the Halagolandish Succession?
Actually, Plan Martin probably rates as the rarest commercially produced
game (ca. 10 copies). The rarest by a major producer is likely Poultron
Press Italian Campaign, of which ca. 150 copies made it out the door.
(I am still looking for one. (8^((
)
George
George Crawshay
<pac...@chelsea.ios.com> wrote:
>
>So what obscure games have you found?
I think you would have to go some way to find a more obscure game than
GLOPOL. This, although all in English, actually comes from Iceland!
It is about fishing - naturally, I guess - and has some interesting
ideas and components. I discovered it when reviewing games for the
old mag Games & Puzzles, but they didn't think it worth publishing
anything owing to the difficulty of obtaining copies!
George Crawshay
Larry Marak
attempts to clumb a bunch to turkeys in a hutch to death, while they
attempt to trip him by laying mines (bombs, biological organic matter
batches) on the floor, hoping he'll slip. Once he's down the turkeys
can attempt to infect Billy Jackal with turkey fever via a pecking
attack. I used this game to introduce several poor souls to wargaming.
It was followed up with a role playing adventure entitles Pailquest, the
quest for the holy feed pail. I don't think it was thought of so much
as an attack on Jackson but as an attempt to escape the acrimony after
the Ogre-Gev lawsuit. By the way, the designer's notes by "some turkey"
was worth the price of admission.
Elgiboring
game from 1964. Played on a board of small squares it has various types of
spacecraft. It also has a stand up status board and mobile stand up plastic
"planets". The object is to complete different missions avoid obstacles. You
can shoot up the other players too, I haven't looked at it in a while and such
I do not remember what the endgame is.
I call it obscure because I have never seen another one and have not even
heard of it being discussed before.
Regards,
Bill Newton
"My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellant. I shall
attack."
----Foch
Alan Paull
>> So what obscure games have you found?
>
>
One I've actually heard of!!! A friend from North Carolina used to play
this, but I don't think he had it with him when he was in the UK - mind
you, I suspect that no-one on this side of the Atlantic would have
understood it.
My most obscure game is probably Ephemeris, a positioning, strategy game
based on the signs of the zodiac. It would probably fall into the
"German-style" game camp now, though it came out in the '80s.
The basic idea was that you drew a random set of 5 (I think) cards
representing signs of the zodiac and a corresponding number of planets (plus
sun and moon). You then had to move the planets into one of your signs on a
board consisting of a circular track marked with the zodiac positions. You
could only move one planet at a time. Trouble is, you could not move the
moon past the sun, nor planets past the sun or moon. And of course your
opponent is also moving the planets too. This made for a very complex game,
consisting of tactical ploys, bluffing and a lot of spacial awareness.
--
alan paull
<Sig>"The Goddess of Victory will bestow her laurels only on those who are
prepared to act with daring."</Sig>
>Also, I have an ancient copy of Infinity (by Gamut of Games) that I
>inherited from my parents. I'm not sure that they had ever played it
>before I got my paws on it. :-)
>
>
>--
>"I wish EVERY day could be a shearing festival!" -- The 10 Commandments
>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
>Keith Ammann is gee...@albany.net "I notice you have a cloud of doom.
>Live with honor, endure with grace I must admit it makes you seem
>www.albany.net/~geenius * Lun Yu 2:24 dangerous and sexy."
>
pm agapow
> "Fistfull of Turkeys" by Some Turkey Games (I suspect it may have
> been Steve Jackson in disguise). The story is that a farmer has
> discovered that his turkeys are plotting to take over the world. It
> is a two-player game where one player plays the farmer, who strides
> into the turkey coup with a shotgun and tries to shoot, club, punch,
> strangle, and stomp all the turkeys to death.
And don't forget the sequel "For a Few Turkeys More".
My contribution: the bizarre games published on Space Gamer like
"Slasher" (one player is the uber powerful psycho-killer, all other
players are the unsuspecting victims), Globbo (the "quasi-dimensional,
semi-sentient playroom assasination device").
There was also "Slasher Flick", which came in a video box, and all the
players initially were the potential victims stalked by a psycho-killer.
Over time players accumulate clues which allow them to accuse each other
of being the killer. Eventually someone is "proven" to be the killer, at
which point they can be hurt ... Cool, if perhaps low on strategy.
A prize in my colllection is "Ant Army" (by Rebel Games of West
Australia). An "exciting game of conflict in the insect world", at one
time it seemed every gamer in Brisbane had it. The company had produced
far too many, and so games were being given away with any purchase. Many
of us accquired multiple copies and gave them as Xmas presents to other
gamers. Hideous game, but massively amusing if you were drunk and made
insect noises.
p-m
--
Paul-Michael Agapow (p...@postviews.freeuk.com)
pm agapow
> On Tue, 17 Aug 1999, Eric Amick wrote:
>
> > And let's not forget Tantrix, another tile-laying game that resembles
> > Kaliko to some extent. It may not be as obscure as Kaliko, but it's not
> > exactly taking the mass market by storm, either.
>
> It might be if it weren't made in New Zealand. It's quite a good game.
A sensational game, that appeals to non-gamers. It deserves to do well.
--
Paul-Michael Agapow (p...@postviews.freeuk.com)
Neal Sofge
> Is that a game, circa late-70's early-80's, that at least has a
> similar theme (shapeshifting wizards)?
Sure is, from 1980 (I think). It's more abstract, with no board,
closer to a rudimentary RPG. I'm not too impressed with it by modern
standards but it must have been fairly revolutionary in 1980. It even
presages the "roll again on a six" mechanic that FASA likes so much.
Richard Heli
pm agapow wrote:
> Trevor Hyde <5pu6...@vms.csd.mu.edu> wrote:
>
> > "Fistfull of Turkeys" by Some Turkey Games (I suspect it may have
> > been Steve Jackson in disguise). The story is that a farmer has
> > discovered that his turkeys are plotting to take over the world. It
> > is a two-player game where one player plays the farmer, who strides
> > into the turkey coup with a shotgun and tries to shoot, club, punch,
> > strangle, and stomp all the turkeys to death.
>
> And don't forget the sequel "For a Few Turkeys More".
>
> My contribution: the bizarre games published on Space Gamer like
> "Slasher" (one player is the uber powerful psycho-killer, all other
> players are the unsuspecting victims),
Actually, the above was called SLASHER FLICK. Not sure what gameyou are
talking about below.
Kyle Miller
Richard Heli <he...@best.com> wrote in message
news:37C1D8F7...@best.com...
>
>
> pm agapow wrote:
>
>
> Actually, the above was called SLASHER FLICK. Not sure what gameyou are
> talking about below.
>
> > Globbo (the "quasi-dimensional,
> > semi-sentient playroom assasination device").
> >
"Globbo" was designed by Allen Varney and released by Steve Jackson Games in
the 80's. Do I sense a trend in this thread?
Cormac Russell
> > > Globbo (the "quasi-dimensional,
> > > semi-sentient playroom assasination device").
> > >
>
> "Globbo" was designed by Allen Varney and released by Steve Jackson Games in
> the 80's. Do I sense a trend in this thread?
Globbo is great fun. What I really want to see is a rerelease of Snit's Revenge
:)
ah, old SJG games. mmmm
RTG OUT!
..-. -. --- .-. -.. ..-. -. --- .-. -.. ..-. -. --- .-. -.. ..-. -. --- .-. -..
Retch The Grate aka Cormac Russell Amiga, The Computer for The Creative Mind
Tolerance, Peace and Love rco...@occs.cs.oberlin.edu re...@io.com // /\
Vote Discordian Play Traces Of Reality crus...@dtproductions.com \X/ /()\
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