I love this game, and I should, because I'm the designer's (John Cooper) wife! Anyway, players can play how they like, of course, but in your demo you had the one star chip as the highest, but actually that's the lowest. More stars, more strength. Also, you are not supposed to speculate on what other players have in their hands. The rule is you are not to talk about what is or can be in anyone's hand, not just your own. You can point out flush or straight possibilities that the board shows, but you shouldn't say that you think Dave has that. Thanks for playing and reviewing!
Whether you have the 1 star as the weakest or strongest doesn't really matter as long as everyone knows which is which. 1 star could mean the number 1 hand, or the highest start (depending on player count) could mean the strongest. The rules are pretty vague on communication. It says "you are not allowed to freely discuss the cards in your hand. You are not allowed to show, say, or hint which cards you have in your hand to the other players. Additionally, if you know something about another player’s hand only because you know your own hand, you also cannot disclose that information." That doesn't say anything about not saying what someone else might have given the board state and the chips taken previously. In my opinion those discussions is what makes the game what is is (great) :) I don't see how pointing out the flush possibility is any different from suggesting Dave has it (based on the chips he took in previous steps). As long as you're not saying something based upon what you have or don't have in your hand, that should be ok. Most of these limited communication games do leave some interpretation up to the group's preference.
I wish the world would move out of the 1800s. There is no reason card decks are not 4 colors now. Back then, there was good reasons to make card decks 2 colors. 4, much easier to see across the table which is why tournaments are starting to use them. We need to move this to board games too IMO.
The designers wanted that, and at home we play with a deck like that. The game company didn't, but made the diamonds and clubs a fainter shade than the hearts and spades, so that they are quite distinguishable. This also kept the game to a unified color scheme, which we enjoyed. (answering as one of the designer's wife.)
I disagree that people need to know poker to play this, I think it's the opposite, I think this is an amazing teaching tool for poker. You can teach them about the potential hands around the table as the game is being played, and use the chips as a stand in for betting patterns. You learn to get good at this in a stress free friendly environment, and then you use those skills to play real poker a lot better.
I did say in order to have the best experience, from what I experienced, is that everyone needs to be familiar with Poker. People that don't know poker can play this, but it won't go over as well. Unless all players are learning poker, or none of them are. When you have a mix of players, it doesn't go over as well as the one(s) that don't know poker that much tend to lose the rounds for everyone.
I love this game, and I should, because I'm the designer's (John Cooper) wife! Anyway, players can play how they like, of course, but in your demo you had the one star chip as the highest, but actually that's the lowest. More stars, more strength. Also, you are not supposed to speculate on what other players have in their hands. The rule is you are not to talk about what is or can be in anyone's hand, not just your own. You can point out flush or straight possibilities that the board shows, but you shouldn't say that you think Dave has that. Thanks for playing and reviewing!
Whether you have the 1 star as the weakest or strongest doesn't really matter as long as everyone knows which is which. 1 star could mean the number 1 hand, or the highest start (depending on player count) could mean the strongest. The rules are pretty vague on communication. It says "you are not allowed to freely discuss the cards in your
hand. You are not allowed to show, say, or hint which cards you have in your hand to the
other players. Additionally, if you know something about another player’s hand only because
you know your own hand, you also cannot disclose that information." That doesn't say anything about not saying what someone else might have given the board state and the chips taken previously. In my opinion those discussions is what makes the game what is is (great) :) I don't see how pointing out the flush possibility is any different from suggesting Dave has it (based on the chips he took in previous steps). As long as you're not saying something based upon what you have or don't have in your hand, that should be ok. Most of these limited communication games do leave some interpretation up to the group's preference.
I wish the world would move out of the 1800s. There is no reason card decks are not 4 colors now. Back then, there was good reasons to make card decks 2 colors. 4, much easier to see across the table which is why tournaments are starting to use them. We need to move this to board games too IMO.
The designers wanted that, and at home we play with a deck like that. The game company didn't, but made the diamonds and clubs a fainter shade than the hearts and spades, so that they are quite distinguishable. This also kept the game to a unified color scheme, which we enjoyed. (answering as one of the designer's wife.)
I disagree that people need to know poker to play this, I think it's the opposite, I think this is an amazing teaching tool for poker. You can teach them about the potential hands around the table as the game is being played, and use the chips as a stand in for betting patterns. You learn to get good at this in a stress free friendly environment, and then you use those skills to play real poker a lot better.
I did say in order to have the best experience, from what I experienced, is that everyone needs to be familiar with Poker. People that don't know poker can play this, but it won't go over as well. Unless all players are learning poker, or none of them are. When you have a mix of players, it doesn't go over as well as the one(s) that don't know poker that much tend to lose the rounds for everyone.