I am "Cosmic Encounter" years old. This game came out in 1977, as did Star Wars and I. And something that is quite special about it is that it holds up even today. In fact, one might say the design is so bold that most variable player power games, even today, do not go as hard and far with how game breaking their powers are. And that's just neat. PS, what's the best game that came out the year you were born :)
The game closest to my date of birth that I've played (and actually enjoyed) is Modern Art. So much positive player interaction, very social, very engaging, not too long and not too short. It made me fall in love with auction games. :)
Since it was 11 pages on BGG of stuff I've never played (sooo many obscure CCG's, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail Collectible Card Game"???) I'm gonna have to cheat with Mystery of the Abbey even though it was only the English version that came out that year (original in French the year before)
From a design perspective, the fate deck, no matter how much you dislike it, is an absolutely essential part of the design. Without the fate deck players would have the opportunity to choose who they're going to attack each term. This will quickly turn into extreme meta-gaining or Min-Maxing where players are only attacking the Worst player, the weakest player power, or the weakest player force (planet with the least ships) this min max session will take place every turn as players are scouting the easiest target, or making alliances and simply negotiating for point swaps, either dragging out the game or unbalancing it. The fate deck bypasses all of that, keeping all players equally involved and invested in the game, no matter if they are a strong or weak player, have the most powerful variable power or not, or have already been extremely weekend by previous attacks. My opinion is that the fate deck, although it eliminates agency of choice, is absolutely necessary for flow and fairness.
It's pure brilliance between this and Dune (by the same designers) that uses human interaction at the main force driving the game. Way ahead of it's time. And I hate cheating in games, but to play with the Filch power (where you can take cards from the discard pile and add them to your hand AS LONG AS YOU DON"T GET CAUGHT) is fun and brilliant.
When I first started getting into the hobby Cosmic more than any other game was what blew my mind at the possibilities a game could have. One of my favourites to this day but I find it can be a tad bipolar. When its good its transcendental and better than anything else I've ever played, when its bad its clunky and feels wrong. Partially this is because its very group dependent and I very pointedly tell folks its a slapstick farce when I teach it. People who go into it expecting to strategise and plan their way to victory seem to really dislike this game. Expecting nonsense and shananigans is definitely the way to go.
Actually played it with a serious group and it also works really well then. With all players being hard out into the strategy side it has a different character. As long as they are all pretty experienced with it
My favorite moment in this (my favorite board game) is when I playing as the night mare in a 4 player game was up against an unbreakable alliance of 2 but at the last moment of the game managed to deny a colony for a colony victory by playing a card that read "If you and one or more players are about to win the game, they are actually winning without you," i didnt win but got revenge by denying my friend a win
Thank you for this video! This is a fun one to house rule as well. I personally like to play with 16 ships and 4 worlds each, and 4 colonies to win. I also love playing this where everyone gets two powers instead of one. A friend of mine prefers to play where everyone gets three, which usually turns into a big discussion about how the rules would even work with what gets dealt out.
Such a great game that has loads of fun moments and with repeated plays you start to understand that there will be an infinite amount of crazy things that can happen each game
I played this game for the first time in march with a bunch of guys who had played it many times. Even as a newbie, the concept was easy to grasp, but the wild machinations of the other players is what made it so much fun. I am considering getting it for my main game group because its all about being a devious bastard and there are no dice rolls to screw things up. Also, I looked up games that came out when I did and I don't have anything that is near as much of a classic. The only one i even recognized with the GW Judge Dredd board game.
Phenomenal game! The first time I played it (Fantasy Flight edition) the stars must've aligned because it turned into the most hilarious and extraordinary experience due to the combo of alien powers and cards people had in their hands at the time (flares, artifacts etc). The end was slightly anti-climactic because we noticed that someone had already colonized 5 planets and won the game a few turns earlier but it was still pretty funny. In the morning when I was packing the game away I figured out what had happened - they had placed their ships ON the colony instead of beside it when being a defensive ally, and forgot to remove them afterwards. So they really only had 4 foreign colonies & we should've continued playing! Needless to say we've never made that mistake again. Anyways, I don't think I've ever had an experience in board gaming that has been as incredible as that first play of Cosmic Encounter (despite its abrupt end) so that is saying something!
@@3MBG yeah it's so easy to miss something, with me it's a case of knowing it's definitely going to happen but hoping that it's not going to be anything crucial that wrecks the game! :-D
I remember skipping lunches as a kid to save my lunch money so I could buy the Eon editions expansions at my FLGS. It was always in my backpack when I went to play D&D on Friday nights, because if the D&D game didn't happen I knew I could get people to play Cosmic Encounter. One rule that we got wrong that I didn't learn for many years was which player you had to attack - we thought you got to choose any base in the drawn system. Blue player has 4 bases but you drew Yellow? If Blue has a base there then you could attack it. Okay, now I'm getting nostalgic. I need to find people to play this with.
Cosmic Encounter, Arkham Horror and a third game (the name escapes me but it was about slime aliens taking over a spaceship) were all featured in an old copy of Dragon Magazine back in the 90s. When I got back into gaming several years back I made it a priority to find these older games and put them into my collection. Sadly Cosmic Encounter has yet to hit the table and I'll be damned if I can remember the name of the third one.
I have/had this boardgame, though a finnish edition. I didn't even know if an english version existed. Never got to play it because people thought it was too complicated. And I thought it was just some random, unknown game.
i am CE+1 years old lol. great summary as always, but i'm surprised you didn't emphasize the negotiation more. playing CE duel i realized how much it loses without it. my sister's first game she started with a hand full of N's and thought she was screwed, but ended up winning pretty quickly (after ganged up on the amoeba).. did a great job of showing off how dynamic the game can be!
I am way older than CE and I have one of the original sets. It's a great game to play with most non-gamers because it's simple to learn but very hard to master. Add to that all of the expansions that have come out over the years and it's a lot of fun.
Very group dependent game You need to make sure they understand that... 1)this game is about abusing the cards and powers to mess with other players 2)Its more tactical than being strategic 3) bluffs and manipulation is a part of this game
Interesting. I tend to only sleeve games I spent a bunch on and will know they will be a sod to replace. Nemesis for example. I also get a lot of games 2nd hand, and if the previous owner sleeved them, i keep the sleeves. I'll also sleeve something like the crew, because its going to be handled a lot. But in general, my games are unsleeved. I just checked my last 10 reviews, the Crew 2 was the only one sleeved in that by me, oh and the character cards in Arkham LCG. But for that one I have a set of 50 coloured sleeves for each player, and just swap active cards in and out. the whole game isn't sleeved as such.
There was an old web version I played a long, long, long time ago and I loved it. I really should pick up the physical version at some point. I love games with variable player powers so I owe a lot to Cosmic Encounter.
I think Dominion, Incursion, and Conflict are the usual recommendations. I picked up the latter two as they include pieces for extra players. I’d still like to find a copy of Dominion.
It can be the most fun, broken, long, short or boring game ever...and it can happen that more players win then lose...basically you never know what you gonna get
My whole group was so hyped to play this game and we all felt a little disappointed. We thought we would love it cause it’s originally from the guys who made dune (which is my groups favorite game)
The game is very group dependant and if everyone isn’t up for the crazy interactions and negotiation it can fall flat. I love the game but not many in my local play groups are into it, but a few weeks ago I played a game where everyone was into it. It was a fantastic experience. Just wish I could get it to the table more often.
@@ratguy69 you nailed it on the head!!! So my group likes dune cause some of us like to be involved with negotiations while others sit on the sideline and create their own battle plan. But with CE everyone needs to be on board with negotiations
This is one game I've not played yet. I imagine I'd like it, but a big thing for me in purchasing board games is how it looks. This doesn't look epic like Twilight Imperium or Eclipse. In fact, the space theme of it seems almost tacked on.
Well, it is 45 years old. When it came out, just being about aliens was a wild theme. And i really think the core idea, of aliens with vastly different powers, does work best with its current theme
Been contemplating this oldie but goodie.. I am cosmic encounter plus 6 years old! From what I understand the fantasy flight version fixes a few of the earlier versions difficulties. How would you rate it against say Race for the Galaxy?
I think both are amazing games, but about the only thing they have in common is the space theme. One is a euro engine building race with not a huge amount of interaction and the other is a zany negotiation/bluffing game with alien powers that break the game in their own way.
I will say the while the rules are "fixed" they're also in typical FF fashion rough to read... EXCEPT the current version of the game appears to be the new "42nd anniversary edition" that includes a quick start guide in sort of a comic book format
I think the best thing that FF added to the rules was the panel along the bottom of each alien (and the bottom of some cards) that shows exactly which phase the effect can be used in. This really helps clean up the order of operations and smooths the flow of the game.
@@ratguy69 Yeah that's very nice. And corresponding graphics for flair cards EDIT: which is of course included in "some cards"... bit quick on the trigger there
Huh, for some reason I thought you were older than I. I was born in 76, so this is one of the few games in my collection that’s nearly as old as I am. Unfortunate it just doesn’t hit the table much as most of the people in my groups don’t care much for it. Maybe we should organise a game with Sam sometime as he’s a big fan as well?
I’ve not heard good things about Duel. It loses one of the key parts of the original game: the negotiating. Even the original isn’t very good with 3 players as that severely limits the negotiation. I can only imagine how bad it would be none at all.
I love the game in principle and have still not sold it, but it only got to the table three times and I never really enjoyed it. I think no one in my group really enjoyed it. It's basically Munchkin.
Munchkin has very little to no strategy at all. It’s basically everyone piles on whoever is about to win until they run out of cards and someone wins by happening to be the last person standing. CE actually requires skill in negotiation and bluffing in order to pull off a win.
@@ratguy69 "everyone piles on the person who is in the lead" is exactly how every game of CE has played out for us, too so far. After three hours, everyone just wants it to end, so the two leaders decide to gang up and share the victory. Like I said, I probably just need to get more games in, but with the ridiculously long play time and the fact that no one in my group enjoys it, it's really hard to get to the table. It's also not at all easy to teach to new players.
This is the game for me with the biggest disconnect between how it looks and how it plays. Gorgeous art but dreadfully boring game play. I really dislike the “you have 1 minute to negotiate” mechanism.
@@3MBG I'm sure my reaction to it is purely an expression of personal preferences. I saw it as "we couldn't figure out a tie breaker, so figure it out for yourselves." And if the figuring it out for yourselves is more interesting than the rock-paper-scissors combat, then it leaves me irritated at the designer. But again, I'm generally not into that style of gaming, so it's a personal reaction.
Which is all good, different tastes, different folks. I just always find it interesting when the main turn off on a game for someone is one of my highlights. Good to hear the rationale behind it
I am "Cosmic Encounter" years old. This game came out in 1977, as did Star Wars and I. And something that is quite special about it is that it holds up even today. In fact, one might say the design is so bold that most variable player power games, even today, do not go as hard and far with how game breaking their powers are. And that's just neat. PS, what's the best game that came out the year you were born :)
The game closest to my date of birth that I've played (and actually enjoyed) is Modern Art. So much positive player interaction, very social, very engaging, not too long and not too short. It made me fall in love with auction games. :)
That's a great game too. Love it. Also "i am modern art old" sounds funny
Since it was 11 pages on BGG of stuff I've never played (sooo many obscure CCG's, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail Collectible Card Game"???) I'm gonna have to cheat with Mystery of the Abbey even though it was only the English version that came out that year (original in French the year before)
I just learned that I am SPQR years old.
Doesn't sound that good to say it out loud 😂
@@meradinfly At least you didn't say Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum
From a design perspective, the fate deck, no matter how much you dislike it, is an absolutely essential part of the design. Without the fate deck players would have the opportunity to choose who they're going to attack each term. This will quickly turn into extreme meta-gaining or Min-Maxing where players are only attacking the Worst player, the weakest player power, or the weakest player force (planet with the least ships) this min max session will take place every turn as players are scouting the easiest target, or making alliances and simply negotiating for point swaps, either dragging out the game or unbalancing it.
The fate deck bypasses all of that, keeping all players equally involved and invested in the game, no matter if they are a strong or weak player, have the most powerful variable power or not, or have already been extremely weekend by previous attacks.
My opinion is that the fate deck, although it eliminates agency of choice, is absolutely necessary for flow and fairness.
It's pure brilliance between this and Dune (by the same designers) that uses human interaction at the main force driving the game. Way ahead of it's time. And I hate cheating in games, but to play with the Filch power (where you can take cards from the discard pile and add them to your hand AS LONG AS YOU DON"T GET CAUGHT) is fun and brilliant.
One specific player at our table is banned from ever playing The Filch again😅
The game is basically a 40 minute argument.
Hahahaha, very group dependent. My groups recently have been great, back when we played in in the 1990s, not so much.
When I first started getting into the hobby Cosmic more than any other game was what blew my mind at the possibilities a game could have. One of my favourites to this day but I find it can be a tad bipolar. When its good its transcendental and better than anything else I've ever played, when its bad its clunky and feels wrong. Partially this is because its very group dependent and I very pointedly tell folks its a slapstick farce when I teach it. People who go into it expecting to strategise and plan their way to victory seem to really dislike this game. Expecting nonsense and shananigans is definitely the way to go.
Actually played it with a serious group and it also works really well then. With all players being hard out into the strategy side it has a different character. As long as they are all pretty experienced with it
This is my favorite introduction game for new players and at the same time, experience players are so cut throat
My favorite moment in this (my favorite board game) is when I playing as the night mare in a 4 player game was up against an unbreakable alliance of 2 but at the last moment of the game managed to deny a colony for a colony victory by playing a card that read "If you and one or more players are about to win the game, they are actually winning without you," i didnt win but got revenge by denying my friend a win
The first “big box” game I bought when I got into this hobby more seriously. It’s still in my top 5 favourite games I own. Always a riot!
A game I’ve always heard of but never really looked into before. It looks like the right balance of chaos and dickery that my group enjoys.
If chaos and dickery is your groups jam, then yes, this the right game, lol
Thank you for this video! This is a fun one to house rule as well. I personally like to play with 16 ships and 4 worlds each, and 4 colonies to win. I also love playing this where everyone gets two powers instead of one. A friend of mine prefers to play where everyone gets three, which usually turns into a big discussion about how the rules would even work with what gets dealt out.
The 4 worlds option is in the rulebook. 3 would be quite different.
@@3MBG I didn't realize 4 worlds was officially supported, that's excellent.
Such a great game that has loads of fun moments and with repeated plays you start to understand that there will be an infinite amount of crazy things that can happen each game
I played this game for the first time in march with a bunch of guys who had played it many times. Even as a newbie, the concept was easy to grasp, but the wild machinations of the other players is what made it so much fun. I am considering getting it for my main game group because its all about being a devious bastard and there are no dice rolls to screw things up.
Also, I looked up games that came out when I did and I don't have anything that is near as much of a classic. The only one i even recognized with the GW Judge Dredd board game.
Ah, the one where you are judges going around and the criminals have a matching crime card, so you can arrest Judge Death for scrawling?
Phenomenal game! The first time I played it (Fantasy Flight edition) the stars must've aligned because it turned into the most hilarious and extraordinary experience due to the combo of alien powers and cards people had in their hands at the time (flares, artifacts etc). The end was slightly anti-climactic because we noticed that someone had already colonized 5 planets and won the game a few turns earlier but it was still pretty funny. In the morning when I was packing the game away I figured out what had happened - they had placed their ships ON the colony instead of beside it when being a defensive ally, and forgot to remove them afterwards. So they really only had 4 foreign colonies & we should've continued playing! Needless to say we've never made that mistake again.
Anyways, I don't think I've ever had an experience in board gaming that has been as incredible as that first play of Cosmic Encounter (despite its abrupt end) so that is saying something!
Great story. And how many times when you first play a game do you just get 1 rule wrong and it changes everything right!
@@3MBG yeah it's so easy to miss something, with me it's a case of knowing it's definitely going to happen but hoping that it's not going to be anything crucial that wrecks the game! :-D
I remember skipping lunches as a kid to save my lunch money so I could buy the Eon editions expansions at my FLGS. It was always in my backpack when I went to play D&D on Friday nights, because if the D&D game didn't happen I knew I could get people to play Cosmic Encounter. One rule that we got wrong that I didn't learn for many years was which player you had to attack - we thought you got to choose any base in the drawn system. Blue player has 4 bases but you drew Yellow? If Blue has a base there then you could attack it.
Okay, now I'm getting nostalgic. I need to find people to play this with.
Being Battling Tops old, I remember owing and playing Cosmic Encounter when it first came out. Now I feel old.
Cosmic Encounter, Arkham Horror and a third game (the name escapes me but it was about slime aliens taking over a spaceship) were all featured in an old copy of Dragon Magazine back in the 90s. When I got back into gaming several years back I made it a priority to find these older games and put them into my collection. Sadly Cosmic Encounter has yet to hit the table and I'll be damned if I can remember the name of the third one.
"The Awful Green Things From Outer Space"
You're welcome :)
@@3MBG 👏The best in the business folks! Thanks!🎉
Possibly my favorite board game of all time. Pity no one in my friend group likes it
This seems a common theme on these comments
I have/had this boardgame, though a finnish edition. I didn't even know if an english version existed. Never got to play it because people thought it was too complicated. And I thought it was just some random, unknown game.
Fascinating. Yes, very much not a random unknown game at all.
The board game that got me into board games. Nothing matches it for my group. Excited to see the new expansion.
One of my most favorite board games. Love it.
Played Duel once, it is missing negotiations with the other players and thus feels really lacking.
i am CE+1 years old lol. great summary as always, but i'm surprised you didn't emphasize the negotiation more. playing CE duel i realized how much it loses without it. my sister's first game she started with a hand full of N's and thought she was screwed, but ended up winning pretty quickly (after ganged up on the amoeba).. did a great job of showing off how dynamic the game can be!
I have 70+ board games. This is in my top 5
I have a cosmetic encounter every morning when I look in the mirror.
I am way older than CE and I have one of the original sets. It's a great game to play with most non-gamers because it's simple to learn but very hard to master. Add to that all of the expansions that have come out over the years and it's a lot of fun.
Such a fun game.
Very group dependent game
You need to make sure they understand that...
1)this game is about abusing the cards and powers to mess with other players
2)Its more tactical than being strategic
3) bluffs and manipulation is a part of this game
100% agree with all that.
OMG YOU DIDNT SLEEVE YOUR CARDS IN THIS VIDEO!! YOU MONSTER!
I don’t think J is a big advocate for sleeping cards.
Nope. It also still has its sticker on the box from when i got it from a 2nd hand store, lol
@@3MBG the one thing I’ve noticed about a lot of your videos, is how you usually sleeve everything
Interesting. I tend to only sleeve games I spent a bunch on and will know they will be a sod to replace. Nemesis for example. I also get a lot of games 2nd hand, and if the previous owner sleeved them, i keep the sleeves. I'll also sleeve something like the crew, because its going to be handled a lot. But in general, my games are unsleeved. I just checked my last 10 reviews, the Crew 2 was the only one sleeved in that by me, oh and the character cards in Arkham LCG. But for that one I have a set of 50 coloured sleeves for each player, and just swap active cards in and out. the whole game isn't sleeved as such.
Whenever you return ships from any situation, are you allowed to put your ships anywhere you already have spaceships on?
You finally did my favorite game WOOHOOOO!!!!!
You're welcome!
Just bought my copy and damn, these powers are SO STUPID! I LOVE IT
The perfect attitude for this game! The powers are so stupid and busted and you just have to lean into that
There was an old web version I played a long, long, long time ago and I loved it. I really should pick up the physical version at some point. I love games with variable player powers so I owe a lot to Cosmic Encounter.
Expansion must have recommendations?
I think Dominion, Incursion, and Conflict are the usual recommendations. I picked up the latter two as they include pieces for extra players. I’d still like to find a copy of Dominion.
My opinion, you NEED the reward deck for this game otherwise the game is not complete
So...
Dominion or incursion
Game looks great and I understand from others they really enjoy it. just never felt the urge to play it.
It can be the most fun, broken, long, short or boring game ever...and it can happen that more players win then lose...basically you never know what you gonna get
Nicely done, thanks.
My favorite game
My whole group was so hyped to play this game and we all felt a little disappointed. We thought we would love it cause it’s originally from the guys who made dune (which is my groups favorite game)
Very different sort of game, but you can see cosmics influence on Dune, with how asymmetric the Dune factions are.
The game is very group dependant and if everyone isn’t up for the crazy interactions and negotiation it can fall flat. I love the game but not many in my local play groups are into it, but a few weeks ago I played a game where everyone was into it. It was a fantastic experience. Just wish I could get it to the table more often.
@@ratguy69 you nailed it on the head!!! So my group likes dune cause some of us like to be involved with negotiations while others sit on the sideline and create their own battle plan. But with CE everyone needs to be on board with negotiations
I know I’m asking a LOT, but could you explain the differences between the FF and Asmodee versions??, I have no clue which one to get :S
Considering Asmodee own FFG, i'm not sure there is any difference. I honestly didnt know there was an Asmodee version
Ah, thread here might help. boardgamegeek.com/thread/2844135/version-confusion
@@3MBG thanks!
This is one game I've not played yet. I imagine I'd like it, but a big thing for me in purchasing board games is how it looks. This doesn't look epic like Twilight Imperium or Eclipse. In fact, the space theme of it seems almost tacked on.
Well, it is 45 years old. When it came out, just being about aliens was a wild theme. And i really think the core idea, of aliens with vastly different powers, does work best with its current theme
I literally have to teach this in an hour lol
Good timing then!
@@3MBG oh no not Good sir.... PERFECT!!!!
@@3MBG thanks again. Love your channel btw
Been contemplating this oldie but goodie.. I am cosmic encounter plus 6 years old! From what I understand the fantasy flight version fixes a few of the earlier versions difficulties. How would you rate it against say Race for the Galaxy?
I think both are amazing games, but about the only thing they have in common is the space theme. One is a euro engine building race with not a huge amount of interaction and the other is a zany negotiation/bluffing game with alien powers that break the game in their own way.
What Ryan said basically, he nailed the answer
I will say the while the rules are "fixed" they're also in typical FF fashion rough to read... EXCEPT the current version of the game appears to be the new "42nd anniversary edition" that includes a quick start guide in sort of a comic book format
I think the best thing that FF added to the rules was the panel along the bottom of each alien (and the bottom of some cards) that shows exactly which phase the effect can be used in. This really helps clean up the order of operations and smooths the flow of the game.
@@ratguy69 Yeah that's very nice. And corresponding graphics for flair cards
EDIT: which is of course included in "some cards"... bit quick on the trigger there
A game I played a lot in 1980...
Damn, here's me thinking I'm the old man of the sea here :)
Huh, for some reason I thought you were older than I. I was born in 76, so this is one of the few games in my collection that’s nearly as old as I am. Unfortunate it just doesn’t hit the table much as most of the people in my groups don’t care much for it. Maybe we should organise a game with Sam sometime as he’s a big fan as well?
Possibly because i've known Scott for so long? He's a few years older than me.
Sounds like an interesting game, unfortunately only my wife and I play board games and I don't think this would work as a two player game.
They made Cosmic Encounter duel as well, a 2 played version of the game
Note, i've not played that one though
@@3MBG Cool. I'll look into that!
I’ve not heard good things about Duel. It loses one of the key parts of the original game: the negotiating. Even the original isn’t very good with 3 players as that severely limits the negotiation. I can only imagine how bad it would be none at all.
I love the game in principle and have still not sold it, but it only got to the table three times and I never really enjoyed it. I think no one in my group really enjoyed it.
It's basically Munchkin.
Munchkin has very little to no strategy at all. It’s basically everyone piles on whoever is about to win until they run out of cards and someone wins by happening to be the last person standing. CE actually requires skill in negotiation and bluffing in order to pull off a win.
Ooof, i think that's a bit harsh.
@@ratguy69 "everyone piles on the person who is in the lead" is exactly how every game of CE has played out for us, too so far. After three hours, everyone just wants it to end, so the two leaders decide to gang up and share the victory. Like I said, I probably just need to get more games in, but with the ridiculously long play time and the fact that no one in my group enjoys it, it's really hard to get to the table. It's also not at all easy to teach to new players.
3 hours seems hella long for the game to be honest
I have Cosmic Encounter DUEL.
although components and art are great, it sux, I do not recommend.
I played this one but I didn't like it. I just can't put my finger on it as to why
That happens sometimes. There have been more than a few games ive played that i've thought "i should be liking this but im not"
@@3MBG for real. the worst part is to how to tell your group as to why your not liking it
This is the game for me with the biggest disconnect between how it looks and how it plays. Gorgeous art but dreadfully boring game play. I really dislike the “you have 1 minute to negotiate” mechanism.
Interesting, i think that mechanism is what changes the game from just a numbers competition to a interesting social interaction.
@@3MBG I'm sure my reaction to it is purely an expression of personal preferences. I saw it as "we couldn't figure out a tie breaker, so figure it out for yourselves." And if the figuring it out for yourselves is more interesting than the rock-paper-scissors combat, then it leaves me irritated at the designer. But again, I'm generally not into that style of gaming, so it's a personal reaction.
Which is all good, different tastes, different folks. I just always find it interesting when the main turn off on a game for someone is one of my highlights. Good to hear the rationale behind it
Played once and will NEVER play again. Yawn.