[spielfrieks] 1995 Retrospective Results

[[e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

Well, that took longer than expected. I know I said that I'd finish off the '95 retrospective on Monday, but a new job (with limited access to the outside world) makes Larry a dull boy. But better late than never, so here is how the voting went. 50 Spielfrieks hung in there till the end and cast their votes. The number in parentheses is the original rank, with "n/a" signifying that the game wasn't nominated back in '95.


1. The Settlers of Catan - 34 (1)
2. El Grande - 32 (2)
3. Medici - 25 (3)
4. Mu & Mehr - 12 (4)
5. High Society - 11 (6)
6. The Bottle Imp - 5 (n/a)
6. The Great Dalmuti - 5 (n/a)
8, Das Motorsportspiel - 4 (n/a)
9. 1825 Unit 1 - 2 (n/a)
9. 2038: Tycoons of the Asteroid Belt - 2 (n/a)
9. Amazing Labyrinth - 2 (5)
9. Billabong - 2 (n/a)
9. Condotierre - 2 (7)
9. Streetcar - 2 (n/a)
15. Elfenwizards - 1 (12)
15. Middle-earth - 1 (n/a)
15. Once Upon a Time - 1 (8)
15. Tricks - 1 (12)


I don't suppose any of you are surprised that we picked the same top 3 games as we did 22 years ago. Still, I would have thought that El Grande would have beaten out Settlers this time around, so there's still some surprises this time around. I also didn't think that Medici would have finished as close to the other two as it did, so good to see that these two classics are still loved.


When I get some time, I'll post some summaries of all the votes, but for now, thank you all for supporting this exercise so well. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it next year, after we conduct the regular election.


Larry

[Clay Blankenship [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

I'm the opposite--I was surprised El Grande was so close to Settlers.
Settlers got me started in the hobby. I've played it dozens of times and
still use it as a good gateway game. I don't know when the last time I saw
someone playing El Grande was.

Clay

Post by ***@comcast.net [spielfrieks]
Well, that took longer than expected. I know I said that I'd finish off
the '95 retrospective on Monday, but a new job (with limited access to the
outside world) makes Larry a dull boy. But better late than never, so here
is how the voting went. 50 Spielfrieks hung in there till the end and cast
their votes. The number in parentheses is the original rank, with "n/a"
signifying that the game wasn't nominated back in '95.
1. The Settlers of Catan - 34 (1)
2. El Grande - 32 (2)
3. Medici - 25 (3)
4. Mu & Mehr - 12 (4)
5. High Society - 11 (6)
6. The Bottle Imp - 5 (n/a)
6. The Great Dalmuti - 5 (n/a)
8, Das Motorsportspiel - 4 (n/a)
9. 1825 Unit 1 - 2 (n/a)
9. 2038: Tycoons of the Asteroid Belt - 2 (n/a)
9. Amazing Labyrinth - 2 (5)
9. Billabong - 2 (n/a)
9. Condotierre - 2 (7)
9. Streetcar - 2 (n/a)
15. Elfenwizards - 1 (12)
15. Middle-earth - 1 (n/a)
15. Once Upon a Time - 1 (8)
15. Tricks - 1 (12)
I don't suppose any of you are surprised that we picked the same top 3
games as we did 22 years ago. Still, I would have thought that El Grande
would have beaten out Settlers this time around, so there's still some
surprises this time around. I also didn't think that Medici would have
finished as close to the other two as it did, so good to see that these two
classics are still loved.
When I get some time, I'll post some summaries of all the votes, but for
now, thank you all for supporting this exercise so well. It was a lot of
fun and I look forward to doing it next year, after we conduct the regular
election.
Larry

[[e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

My surprise was because El Grande is ranked much higher on the Geek, Clay. My group still views El Grande as a very good 5-player game, while Settlers almost never makes an appearance. I don't seek out either game, myself (and actively avoid El Grande).

Larry

[Jacob Lee [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

I love, love, love El Grande! And I've found that when I meet other gamers
who view El Grande favourably we tend to like many other games as well. So
there might be something about the style of game El Grande is that works
with me and other gamers as well for there to be that connection. Having
said that, I don't like playing it with five. Four is best for me. I
don't enjoy Settlers, but I would rather play that than play E.G. with five.

Jacob

Post by ***@comcast.net [spielfrieks]
My surprise was because El Grande is ranked much higher on the Geek,
Clay. My group still views El Grande as a very good 5-player game, while
Settlers almost never makes an appearance. I don't seek out either game,
myself (and actively avoid El Grande).
Larry

[[e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

I never did like El Grande. At first I thought it was because I got the German version and my group had a hard time with it. It didn't get much better with the first Rio Grande "smaller" translated cards because I had a hard time reading it across the table.

Finally I realized that I don't like El Grande because it is around 25% kingmaking (by this I mean that 25% of the time you need to pick an opponent to hurt). I probably despise kingmaking games because some groups I have played with before always picked me as the opponent.


I used to love Settlers and still am happy to play it if people play fast (30-45 min per game).


Jeff