Thursday, September 28, 2006

Designer's Best

These categories are for the best games of a particular designer.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Wolfgang Kramer (heavier games)

The best "heavier" games of designer Wolfgang Kramer...
Also nominated:
For comparison, the top five games from 2002:

While the games of Wolfgang Kramer didn't cause nearly the hassles Dr. K did last time around, it still was a pain in the rear end to divvy up the games. This time around, the Apple Pickers chose to assign their nominations to either "lite" or "heavy." (They had 7 slots to use in each category.) This explains how Expedition/Wildlife Adventure & Pueblo were nominated in both the "lite" and "heavy" categories.

Labels:

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Wolfgang Kramer (lighter games)

The best "lighter" games from designer Wolfgang Kramer...
Also nominated:
For comparison, the top five games from 2002:
The Apple Pickers expressed some prefences:
  • They like Daytona 500 best from Herr Kramer's series of card-based racing games... although there was a vocal minority who prefers Top Race because of the betting mechanism.
  • There was a slight preference for Wildlife Adventure over Expedition. I did not ask about differing opinions about the newest version of Expedition (with the National Geographic license) - but there are rules differences.
  • And a few of them expressed a preference for the older version of Heimlich & Co./Undercover over the newer Top Secret Spies.

Labels:

Monday, September 25, 2006

Leo Colovini

The best games of designer Leo Colovini...
Also nominated:
There are no comparison results, as we did not have this category in 2002.

Labels:

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Michael Schacht

The best games of designer Michael Schacht...

Also nominated:

There are no comparison results, as we did not have this category in 2002.

The Apple Pickers wildly preferred Web of Power to China (though there were a few who liked China better) - but I listed China first because that's the version of the game that is readily available.

When given a choice between Richileu (a two-player version from Ravensburger) or Kardinal & Konig das Kartenspiel (a multi-player version from Timbuktu), the Pickers leaned towards K&K DKS. If you're interested, you can download & print the game
here.

Labels:

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Bruno Faidutti

The best games of designer Bruno Faidutti...
Just missed the cut:
Also nominated:
There are no comparison results... we didn't have this category in 2002.

Yes, this is the first category where the Apple Pickers chose to pick only four top favorites.

Labels:

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Alex Randolph

Monday, September 18, 2006

Reiner Knizia (heavier games)

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Reiner Knizia (lighter games)

The best of the "lighter" games of Dr. Reiner Knizia...
Also nominated:

For comparison, the top five games from 2002:
This category was the site of one of my biggest mistakes last time. I divided the games myself into "lite" & "heavy" and ended up leaving Lost Cities with no nomination. That was corrected this time around by allowing the Apple Pickers to assign their nominations to either "lite" or "heavy." (They had 7 slots to use in each category.)

When it came to multiple editions (and Knizia has plenty of those), the Apple Pickers preferred the older versions of the games. Royal Turf won out over Winner's Circle, Schotten-Totten over Battleline, and Quandary over any other version of the game.

I also need to mention that the rules of two of the nominated games have undergone some odd tweaks in their most recent American editions: Circus Flohcati & Colossal Arena are both better played by the rules from their earlier counterparts.

Please note: the results for the "heavier" games of Dr. K. will be released tomorrow morning.

Labels:

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Sid Sackson

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Alan Moon

The best games of designer Alan Moon...

Just missed the cut:

Also nominated:
For comparison, the top five games from 2002:
Alan Moon has re-released a number of his games in multiple editions...
  • The Apple Pickers preferred Elfenland over Elfenroads or Elfenland w/the Elfengold expansion (both of which are OOP).
  • The responses were closer on the various editions of Ticket To Ride, but the newest, Marklin, is the most popular with this group of hardcore gamers.
  • There was a slight preference for Santa Fe Rails over Santa Fe. A couple of folks mentioned Clippers as their favorite game in this "family".
  • The picks in the 10 Days series were scattered between Europe, Europa Tour (the original German game) and USA.

Labels:

Monday, September 11, 2006

Stefan Dorra

The best games of designer Stefan Dorra...

Also nominated:

For comparison, the top five games from 2002:

The Apple Pickers were split evenly in their preference of Linie 1 and Streetcar.

Note: there are a number of differences between the Ravensburger edition of For Sale (which is now OOP) and the Uberplay edition of For Sale (which is still in print). We'll be asking the Apple Pickers to state a preference for one or the other in a later Apples category.

Labels:

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Klaus Teuber

The best games of designer Klaus Teuber...

Just missed the cut:

Also nominated:

For comparison, the top six games from 2002:

Since we've been lumping some of the games together (for example, both versions of Entdecker), we gave the Apple Pickers the ability to indicate a preference for a particular version of the game.

  • With Entdecker, the Pickers were split evenly between the Goldsieber and Kosmos/Mayfair versions of the game.
  • OTOH, the Pickers markedly preferred "vanilla" Settlers over any of the expansions.

Labels:

How To Read The Results

In each category, we'll list 5 (or more) games which were voted the best games in that particular grouping. (There might be more than 5 games if there was a tie for the 5th spot.) These games will be listed in alphabetical order. The cover of the game with the most votes will "decorate" the entry.

Then, if a game missed the top 5 by only one vote, we'll list it as "just missed" so you can see how close it was to being "in the money."

Finally, the other nominated games will be listed in alphabetical order. In the rare event of a nominated game receiving no votes, I will note that as well.

I'll also post the top 5 from 2002 (if we had that particular category in 2002) for comparison purposes.

As well, I'll note any preferences that the Apple Pickers had when we lumped games together for voting purposes. (For example: which version of Ticket to Ride they like best...)

I will not be listing vote totals for any of the categories - it just gets too messy & hard to read. I may list a particular vote total if a particular game garners an amazingly high vote total.

Labels:

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Two Weeks + A Few Days

Here's the latest update on the Apples Project:
  • We've almost completed the nomination process for 24 different categories - from the "best games of Klaus Teuber" to the "best action/dexterity games" to the "most innovative games."
  • We're 24 hours away from voting results in our first category - the aforementioned Klaus "I designed Settlers of Catan and could comfortably live off of the royalties for the rest of my life" Teuber. Those will be posted right here at The Apples Project Blog - tell your friends & gaming buddies to fire up the RSS feed and join in the fun!
  • We've taken a bit of a hiatus due to the Labor Day holiday weekend here in the states... we're just getting started again today with the next round of voting.

I've had questions about who's on the Apple Picking Crew this time around - the short answer is that nearly everybody from the 2002 crew is back (with a few sad exceptions) and we've added another 20+ folks to the team.

Pithy Quote of the Day, courtesy of Craig Berg:

Wow! I put a lot of thought into that list. I'm like a genius...only not as smart!

Labels: