From: ezbanter@qni.com Subject: Re: favorite Snacks and Alcohol Boardgames Had a few friends over last weekend for a rip-roaring session of SHANGHAI TRADER. Most of these guys wouldn't touch a wargame with a ten foot sprue, so this is about as close as I can get to a "simulation-type" game without driving them away, screaming. As far as I'm concerned, ST is a blast. For those of you who have not experienced it, each player is required to get out of Shanghai by a certain turn or be left to die at the hand of the revolution. The winner is the one who's successfully departed with the most money banked in the International Bank. Other than that goal, everything else is pretty much free form. You can go pretty much where you want on the board, so there is no "set track" or move path. Everything you obtain or encounter does something for you, or to you, that's entirely different from anything else in the game. For this reason, strategy is really open-ended and changes with every game turn, sometimes drastically. Each player's personality and objectives become defined by what he/she obtains or suffers throughout the game. What really sets this game apart is the collusion phase. I guess those of you that do not like DIPLOMACY because of the need to negotiate and sometimes even lie, might find yourself uncomfortable with this phase. In it, people make deals to do or not do something for another player for that year. It might mean protection from the rackets, forgiveness of an anticipated debt, a trade of existing properties, or even a pact to gang up on a particularly successful (or obnoxious) opponent. We had one guy in the group who reminded me of Walt's fabled Richard M. He went around from one turn to the next pissing people off, stealing and conniving, making promises that he decided later were inconvenient. By the midway point, every single player (we had 5 total) was giving him the business, hiring thugs and muggers to whomp on him repeatedly. He made it out of Shanghai, but as a very poor man. Two guys waited too long and were swallowed by the revolution. I was stuck late in the game in the Opium den and just made it to the airport with one game turn left. Alas, I was assassinated in my attempts to flee, even with an entire cadre of Bodyguards. Other games of casual enjoyment with unwargamelike friends: Kingmaker - we used to play that one to death. Risk - some great variant rules out there. Titan - I really enjoy this game. Matt L.