[Card Game]: Titan: The Arena, reviewed by ShannonA (3/5)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9522.phtml

Shannon Appelcline's Summary:

A great betting game by master Reiner Knizia. Sadly out of print, but if you can find a copy, terrific for an hour's fun.

Go to the full review for more information.

Post originally by Steffan O'Sullivan at 2003-07-17 14:04:08
Converted from Phorums BB System

Nice review, Shannon. While I would never teach Galaxy the Dark Ages to a beginner - it doesn't go over well at all - we do find that once everyone is familiar with Titan the Arena, we enjoy Galaxy the Dark Ages more. It's really the advanced game version. There are some fiddly rules you <b>really</b> don't want when teaching a newbie, but those same rules make the game much more interesting for experienced players. At least our group has found it so.

So I won't be selling either game, and will use one or the other as appropriate: TtA to teach newbies, and GtDA for experienced players.

Post originally by Steffan O'Sullivan at 2003-07-17 14:06:25
Converted from Phorums BB System

Er, I should have said "never <b>again</b> teach Galaxy to a beginner ..." This is the voice of experience, alas!

Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2003-07-17 18:02:08
Converted from Phorums BB System

I've only played Galaxy once, and I was mildly horrified. I think my end answer was "I'd play it again as a nice change of pace from Titan, but I think it's an inferior game." However, more than anything else, I think complexity desirability really varies from person to person.

I'm planning to revise my old Galaxy review, just like I did this one, and suppose I should play it again first.

Post originally by Steffan O'Sullivan at 2003-07-18 03:13:57
Converted from Phorums BB System

:-) I suppose you should, yes! But try it with experienced TtA players, only!

There is one problem with Galaxy we fixed with a house rule. It has to do with the new discard/draw rule, which doesn't work as well as the discard/draw in TtA. Here's the fix:

Proposed fix: Discard capability is as normal - that is, if you discard, you may not play a card, and you may discard only one card - but if you draw a card from a surrendered world, you may show it to the other players, place it face-up on the discard pile, and draw another card. This next card drawn, too, can be refused if it's from a surrendered world, but the third card drawn must be accepted no matter what it is. (Of course, if you like the first or second card you get, don't draw any more!)