(aka You Have to Divide the Pie)

While there’s lots of great discussion of digital games here, I thought it would be nice to have some discussion of games of another kind: analog games, aka board games, card games, tabletop games, etc.  In particular, I’m a big fan of German-style board games and usually have some opinions about them I’d like to share.  If you’re not familiar with the genre, check out the Wikipedia article or BoardGameGeek.com.

A game that’s been getting a lot of play in my group recently is …aber bitte mit Sahne (English: With cream, please).  This is a clever filler game (under 30 minutes playing time) designed by Jeffrey Allers.  You can find an English version of the rules linked on the game’s BGG page, so I’ll just give a quick description here:

The game consists of 57 slices of pie.  There are 8 different kinds, each with a different point value and a number of whipped cream dollops.  There are 3 slices of value 3, 4 of value 4, etc., up to 11.  Also, the higher the point value of a slice, the more dollops it has (up to 3).

The proceeds like this: on their turn each player takes 11 slices without looking at them.  They arrange them in circle and divide it into a number of portions equal to the number of players (rearranging the order of pieces is not allowed).  Then, starting from the player to the divider’s left, each player takes a portion, with the divider getting last pick.

At the end of the game, the player who has the most slices of a particular type of pie gets the point value of that type (ties are friendly).  For example, if I have 3 of the 9 valued slices, another player has 2, and the remaining players have none, I get 9 points.

As an added twist, when a player takes a portion, they can choose to flip over any number of the slices they take.  Flipped over slices don’t count towards the majority, but they do score points for the number of dollops on them.

For more information, read Jeffrey’s design blog.

So what’s so interesting about this game?  Its mechanics, the degree of player interaction, its accessibility to non-gamers, its quick playing time, and its plain and simple fun.  Read on for more!

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