Session Report: Attribute, Ticket to Ride

My cards during a rousing game of Attribute. I chose the the topic "my artwork" and had to pick a word that did not match that topic. Which card do you think I played? Answer below.

Attribute

Finally, I had an evening free to play a couple games with Sarah, Yuki and Gabe. This is not a game critique, just a session report.

The highlight of the evening was Attribute, a crazy funny German word/party game that some have compared with the party game Apples to Apples. Frankly, I think that's like comparing apple to oranges. One of the major differences is that Attribute has an action component. Players are dealt four attribute cards with adjectives on them such as "fragile," "nocturnal," "stretchable," etc. Each player also receives a sheep card (why sheep? I don't know, but that' s part of the charm). Sheep cards are kept secret and come in two colors: red (don't match) or green (match). The attribute cards are kept in players' hands and the sheep cards are placed facedown on the table.

One player then makes up and announces a topic. It can be anything: an object, an abstract concept, a person. For example, "Britney Spears." Players who have a green sheep card must then choose an attribute card that matches the topic. If you have "blond" or "buoyant," those would work with "Britney Spears." Players who have red cards must pick a card that does not match the topic. "Manly" would be a good choice. But say you have a green sheep and the cards "stretchable," "greasy," fragile" and "anal-retentive" in your hand. Which would you pick?

Once everyone picks a card, they are turned over at once on top of the facedown sheep cards. The object is to earn points by grabbing an attribute card that has a green sheep hidden underneath -- in other words, one that matches the subject. You earn a point if you grab a green sheep or if nobody grabs your red card. You are penalized a point if you grab a red sheep or if nobody grabs your green sheep. It's a little confusing at first but makes beautiful sense when you think about it.

Each player in turn gets to invent a topic until the pile of sheep cards runs out. It usually takes about 30 minutes.

It's very unusual for a word game to be imported from Germany (the company published an English version). This one made it, I think, because an online version proved very popular. Interestingly, the difficult part of the game is coming up with intriguing topics; choosing a card and grabbing is much easier, at least for me. I'm pretty good at making rapid connections -- which is probably why I'm a conceptual artist -- so I managed to win the game. Final scores: Roger 11, Sarah 10, Yuki 8, Gabe 2.

OK, to answer the question in the caption above: I had a red sheep card and it was my turn to come up with a topic. I said, "my artwork" and chose "Overrated." I wanted to see if anyone would take it. Friendships were at stake. Gabe grabbed it immediately. Hmm. He defended his action saying that he thought that I might think my work was overrated because I'm so humble. Nice save.

Ticket to Ride

We also played Ticket to Ride, a game that won Germany's 2004 game of the year award (Spiel des Jahres) . The game, called Zug um Zug in Germany, is designed by American Alan R. Moon and published by Days of Wonder, a company located in part in Saratoga, California.

Ticket to Ride is a fast-paced game about claiming rail lines across the United States. Basically, players collect and play train cards that match the color of routes between cities. When a player has enough cards of the same color to claim a route, he or she marks it with plastic railroad cars. The object is to earn the most points by connecting pairs of cities on "ticket" cards. Each player starts with three tickets and can draw more during the game, but any uncompleted tickets at the game's end generate severe penalties. Two things make the game work well: difficult decisions (do I use my turn to draw colored train cards, claim a route or draw more tickets?) and the fact that the game takes about five minutes to learn.

As usual, I lost miserably. I always seem to get stuck trying to build a difficult route and neglect to draw more tickets. Final scores: Gabe 114, Sarah 81, Yuki 69, Roger 62. Sometimes I think I enjoy the activity of playing a game so much, I forget to try to win.

Finally, we played a few rounds of Blink (also known as Speed), one of the best 30-second games around.


Ticket to Ride, also known as Ticket to Humiliation. My useless meandering route is the one with the red train cars.