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Thomas Morris, Bob Wicks, Curt Collins
and Nick Henning |
Ashley Kilroy and William Herbst |
The Kilroys Were Here!
Players in Yspahan enjoy the game, but the Kilroys
made it a family event with Kathy, Ashley, Stephanie and Rob
playing in the Mulligan and Rob and Kathy continuing in the next
heat (Stephanie won her Mulligan game). I hope they all come
back next year. Speaking of coming back, 34 of our 46 players
played more than once.
Yspahan
is a great, short gateway game that also has a lot of depth.
Some games had extremely high scores for the winner. That usually
occurred when two of the corner souks (barrel and sack OR barrel
and vase) were held allowing two tokens to go to the caravan
for most of a week or even two. In some cases, the cards obtained
fed the player the camels needed to keep the souks occupied.
Its pretty frightening for the other players. Don't let it happen
to you!
In the Final, that was harder to achieve, at least for more
than one of the game's three weeks.
The Yspahan Final demonstrates expert play and a variety
of strategic options in use. The initial turn order (and seating)
were: Rob Kircher, Jeff Mullet, Keith Galbraith, Tim Mossman.
Three were first-time YSP finalists.
Week 1
Day 1: Rob takes a card, Jeff, too and uses it for a move
to the caravan. Keith takes a Camel. Tim takes a card
Day 2: Jeff gets to place four pieces in the vase district
for 16 points. Keith takes a camel & builds the paddock.
Tim and Rob take a card.
Day 3: Keith takes two camels and builds the shop. Tim
takes two gold and uses a card to convert them to camels and
builds the shop. Rob takes barrels, builds the corner souk and
plays camel and coin cards to build the caravanserai. Jeff builds
the sack corner. Three different players have the corners for
this week.
Day 4: Tim takes a card. Rob moves the supervisor with
gold and moves a non-corner piece to the caravan for two points
and a card. Jeff takes a card. Keith takes a card and plays it
for caravan placement (two points).
Day 5: Rob takes three gold and cashes in a camel card
to build the hammam. Everyone else takes a card.
Day 6: Jeff takes three camels (using a card for one)
and builds the caravanserai with the card for a build without
coins. Keith takes four gold. Tim takes a card. Rob moves the
supervisor to the corner of sack and barrel, moving he and Jeff
to caravan. Jeff goes first for a card and two points, then Robb
(who saves his piece with a camel) for a card and two points.
Day 7: Keith builds a souk in the coffin district (three
pieces for six points). Tim takes three gold and using a card
builds the caravanserai with no camels. Rob sends his last piece
to the caravan for a card and a point. Jeff takes a card &
uses it with gold to build the hammam.
End of Week 1
Scoring |
Rob |
Jeff |
Keith |
Tim |
Previous |
5 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
Caravan |
6 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
Souks |
0 |
16 |
6 |
0 |
Total |
11 |
22 |
9 |
0 |
Jeff has an early lead with his vase build and Tim is biding
his time and collecting cards and buildings. Notice that of 21
total moves, 13 were to take a card.
Week 2
Day 1: Tim discards a card and takes four camels, then plays
a card to place in the barrel district corner souk. Rob takes
four sack dice, building the corner souk and starting the 8-point
souk. Keith and Jeff take cards.
Day 2: Rob takes five camels using a card for one and
builds the paddock for five points (16) and then plays a card
to place on the corner of the vase district. Jeff places three
pieces in the sack district, starting the 6-point souk. Keith
takes a card and turns in a card for three camels to build the
caravanserai for five points (14). Now everyone gets a card whenever
they move to the caravan. Tim takes a card and plays cards for
camels and gold, building the ship for five points.
Day 3: Jeff rolls four 5s but uses them to move the supervisor
and go to the caravan for one point (23). Keith and Tim take
a card. Rob moves the supervisor to go to the caravan for one
point.
Day 4: Keith places three in the barrel district and uses
a card to complete the 6-point souk. Tim places two in the casket
district to complete the 4-point souk. Rob moves the supervisor
0 and pays a camel to keep his piece on the souk starting row
3 of the caravan. Jeff moves the supervisor taking his piece
to the caravan and uses a card for another move to the caravan.
Day 5: Tim moves the supervisor and pays a camel.
The full caravan score.
Scoring |
Rob |
Jeff |
Keith |
Tim |
Previous |
16 |
23 |
14 |
5 |
Caravan |
15 |
15 |
1 |
3 |
Total |
31 |
38 |
15 |
8 |
Rob moves the supervisor and pays a camel to start the caravan
for two points (33). Jeff takes a card. Keith takes three gold
and builds the hammam for five points (20).
Day 6: Rob rolls five barrels and builds the 8-point souk
and uses a card to move to the caravan for two points (35). Jeff
takes a card and uses it to move to the caravan for two points
(40). Keith takes a card. Tim moves the supervisor and pays a
camel for two points (10).
Day 7: Jeff takes two camels to build the paddock for
five points (45). Keith takes four gold and uses them with a
3-camel card and a camel to build the bazaar for five points
(25). Tim plays a card for three camels and then moves the supervisor
and pays a camel to go to the caravan for one point (11). Rob
moves the supervisor, removing a piece from the 6-point sack
souk to the caravan for one point (36).
Scoring |
Rob |
Jeff |
Keith |
Tim |
Previous |
36 |
45 |
25 |
11 |
Caravan |
6 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
Souks |
15 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
Total |
57 |
46 |
31 |
19 |
Rob takes the lead by doing well in both caravan and souk
points in Week 2.
Week 3
Day 1: Keith builds four in the barrel district, completing
the 3-point souk and starting the 8-point souk. Tim gets five
gold with a card and builds the hoist for five points (24) and
uses a card to place in the vase corner souk. Rob places two
in the 4-point coffin souk using a card. Jeff takes a card.
Day 2: Tim uses the die in vase area with card and the
hoist to build the 12-point souk. Rob builds the 6-point coffin
souk, adding a card. Jeff builds the 3-point sack souk with a
card added. Keith finishes the 8-point barrel souk using a card.
Day 3: Rob fills the 4-point barrel souk and puts 1 on
the road in the 6-point souk. Jeff moves the supervisor, taking
one from the sack souk to the caravan for one point (47). Keith
takes a card. Tim moves the supervisor using the corner vase
to the caravan for one point (20) spending a camel to keep the
souk.
Day 4: Jeff moves the supervisor taking his other non-corner
piece to the caravan from sack. Keith moves the supervisor to
take a non-corner piece to the caravan from the barrel souk.
Tim moves the supervisor to take the barrel and vase corners
to the caravan. Tim spends a camel to save his vase souk. The
caravan scores, but Rob is not in the top row this time!
Scoring |
Rob |
Jeff |
Keith |
Tim |
Start |
57 |
47 |
31 |
25 |
Caravan |
6 |
9 |
6 |
12 |
Total |
63 |
56 |
37 |
37 |
Rob moves the supervisor taking a piece from the 6-point barrel
souk to the caravan for two points (65).
Day 5: Keith takes three camels and plays a card to
place on the caravan for two points (39). Tim plays a card to
swap two gold for camels and then moves the supervisor for a
double move to the caravan from both barrel and vase corners,
throwing in two camels to keep the souks for four points (41).
Rob takes a die from the coffin placing two on street shops of
the 8-point souk using a card. Jeff takes a card.
Day 6: Tim moves the supervisor to the barrel and sack
corner. Jeff (57) and Tim (42) go to the caravan for one point
each and neither has camels to save the shop. Jeff is first and
they take the last cards. Tim plays a card for three camels,
then builds the paddock for five points (47). Rob takes three
camels. Jeff takes a card and plays a card for three camels and
another to build, without coins, the shop for five points (62).
Keith takes a card and plays the coin to camel card for one conversion
then four camels to points for eight points (47).
Day 7 (with 4-player turn order in reverse of score):
Keith with one yellow die, rolls four die in sack and with his
last card fills the 6-point souk.
Tim takes gold to complete all his buildings for ten points (58).
Jeff takes three camels and builds the bazaar with no gold for
five points (67). He uses two cards to move two to the caravan
for two points (69). He uses another card to score his last camel
for two points (71). He has two cards for six coins and his last
card turns them into six points (77).
Rob takes the barrel die to move the supervisor and moves from
the 8-point coffin souk to the caravan. He plays a card for three
camels. Another card converts them to gold and his last card
scores five points for gold (70).
Scoring |
Rob |
Jeff |
Keith |
Tim |
Start |
70 |
77 |
48 |
58 |
Caravan |
6 |
6 |
1 |
6 |
Souks |
20 |
0 |
18 |
20 |
Final |
96 |
83 |
67 |
84 |
And now for a boring statistical summary of all game results:
Finish |
High |
Low |
Average |
Median |
1 |
168 |
73 |
100.8 |
94 |
2 |
96 |
67 |
82.4 |
84.5 |
3 |
87 |
60 |
72.7 |
71.5 |
4 |
75 |
42 |
60 |
60.5 |
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Jason Arvey and Kevin Wojtaszczyk |
Chris Palermo, Eric Freeman, Deb Yaure
and Blair Morgen |
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