It’s a good game that doesn’t even have that many rules in general, but the rulebook should be much better when so many of the rules are those little easy to forget things.
There's some significant rule changes from the original. Looks like it's easier now. Before you only got money by taking out loans. You never had to pay them back but you did have to pay interest on them regularly. Just added another choice to have to figure out. Now they just give you $100 to play with.
I enjoy this game quite a bit. In some ways. I think it's an easier-to-play version of Bear Raid (yes, I am aware that Black Friday is much older). You have to be okay with the randomness and that sometimes the turn order can make a big difference in terms of what options are available to you. However I feel like the game is light enough that these things don't matter too much. This is a game that is much smoother if the person teaching has played before because the rules and board make the game look more complex than it actually is
Yeah it's definitely a game for the right folks. There is however no change in turn order in Black Friday. I'm not sure that the game would get "smoother" with an experienced player, as that player would still need to keep reminding people to take the other, "fiddly half" of their turns. That being said though, I'm glad you like it! Just not necessarily for me or most of the folks I play with, which is why I showed what "the internet" thinks of it over on BGG. :)
pretty strange review: playing this game with 2 players is a weird choice. The game never "broke" on us, and I have around 8 plays. I don't even know how you can end up not having any shares or money... The excitement comes from the table talk with at least 4 players, and the conviction of others, buying the shares they hold a lot of. This is like a party game, but for people who like stock themed games. Maybe go back to multiplayer solitair? tile laying maybe?
Step 1 - have shares Step 2 - sell shares Step 3 - use money to buy gold... You now have no shares and no money. Ta-da. I'm not saying it's the right step to take, but it's how I got where I was! As far as table-talk over stock prices being the exciting bit, that's very exclusive to the game group in question. As far as recommending what I should play instead, I think I have that covered - thanks anyways. ;)
@@TabletopToolbox and yet you have made a review video, where you adress 'problems' that occur in the rarest cases, without adressing the fact that you made the worst decision you could possibly do!? And why even play a game, when you are not interested in the theme? The so called strange rules make totally sense, when you are at least trying to figure out, how stocks work. And now you even adress the fact, that you need a game group, not a single other person!
@@megamrmiro8752didja quit watching by 7:20, when I said "players can make a ton of mistakes" and then referenced my biggest mistake? ;) I'm glad you like the game. I'm sorry the Dice Tower didn't send you a review copy.
It's no surprise you didn't like it. You played a game with a theme you dislike. You played with the worst possible player count. You played poorly. You played the game incorrectly. It's a recipe for a frustrating and bad experience. I don't quite get the "fiddliness" you are referring to. Share/Gold track full? Price change. Only 5 shares left on the sell track? Price change. You buy a share or gold? A share always moves down. There's even a reference right next to each track. It's quite a simple game. Also, you're completely wrong on there being no story or excitement. It's memorable when a stock you've been collecting heavy on gets bumped up 3 to 4 spaces. It's memorable when you pull three black briefcases and the market tanks. I do agree with you on the poorly written and laid out rulebook. FF has a reputation for badly translated rulebooks and this one is no exception.
“I don’t like the theme, so I don’t like the game, so it’s not a very good game” is the most Dice Tower review I could imagine. Can we *try* to detach the quality of a game from our own personal preferences? I don’t give a toss about Harry Potter, but I can see why people like it. These reviews are meaningless to everyone except the person doing the review as it only speaks to their preferences.
@thedicetower To clarify more, the whole point of having a human reviewer do a game is to add in their personal experience. You obviously can detach that from the reviewer, so why not? We want to bring our joys and dislikes into games - and see where that takes us.
It’s a good game that doesn’t even have that many rules in general, but the rulebook should be much better when so many of the rules are those little easy to forget things.
Jeff is awesome, very under rated Dice Tower Contributer!
Agreed.
Great review! Yay for the mid credit outtakes!
There's some significant rule changes from the original. Looks like it's easier now. Before you only got money by taking out loans. You never had to pay them back but you did have to pay interest on them regularly. Just added another choice to have to figure out. Now they just give you $100 to play with.
Jeff, not only do you have a fantastic opinion piece here, it’s wildly entertaining. I love your reviews.
Outtakes were amazing. Keep running with them.
I enjoy this game quite a bit. In some ways. I think it's an easier-to-play version of Bear Raid (yes, I am aware that Black Friday is much older). You have to be okay with the randomness and that sometimes the turn order can make a big difference in terms of what options are available to you. However I feel like the game is light enough that these things don't matter too much. This is a game that is much smoother if the person teaching has played before because the rules and board make the game look more complex than it actually is
Yeah it's definitely a game for the right folks. There is however no change in turn order in Black Friday. I'm not sure that the game would get "smoother" with an experienced player, as that player would still need to keep reminding people to take the other, "fiddly half" of their turns. That being said though, I'm glad you like it! Just not necessarily for me or most of the folks I play with, which is why I showed what "the internet" thinks of it over on BGG. :)
Going to give this a try.
Ohhhhh ... those are supposed to be briefcases :D
pretty strange review: playing this game with 2 players is a weird choice. The game never "broke" on us, and I have around 8 plays. I don't even know how you can end up not having any shares or money...
The excitement comes from the table talk with at least 4 players, and the conviction of others, buying the shares they hold a lot of. This is like a party game, but for people who like stock themed games.
Maybe go back to multiplayer solitair? tile laying maybe?
Step 1 - have shares
Step 2 - sell shares
Step 3 - use money to buy gold...
You now have no shares and no money. Ta-da. I'm not saying it's the right step to take, but it's how I got where I was! As far as table-talk over stock prices being the exciting bit, that's very exclusive to the game group in question. As far as recommending what I should play instead, I think I have that covered - thanks anyways. ;)
@@TabletopToolbox and yet you have made a review video, where you adress 'problems' that occur in the rarest cases, without adressing the fact that you made the worst decision you could possibly do!?
And why even play a game, when you are not interested in the theme? The so called strange rules make totally sense, when you are at least trying to figure out, how stocks work.
And now you even adress the fact, that you need a game group, not a single other person!
@@megamrmiro8752didja quit watching by 7:20, when I said "players can make a ton of mistakes" and then referenced my biggest mistake? ;)
I'm glad you like the game. I'm sorry the Dice Tower didn't send you a review copy.
"its a fairly lifeless experience, however in the interest of fairness I think it does do a decent job of emulating the stock market" ....lol
It's no surprise you didn't like it. You played a game with a theme you dislike. You played with the worst possible player count. You played poorly. You played the game incorrectly. It's a recipe for a frustrating and bad experience.
I don't quite get the "fiddliness" you are referring to. Share/Gold track full? Price change. Only 5 shares left on the sell track? Price change. You buy a share or gold? A share always moves down. There's even a reference right next to each track. It's quite a simple game.
Also, you're completely wrong on there being no story or excitement. It's memorable when a stock you've been collecting heavy on gets bumped up 3 to 4 spaces. It's memorable when you pull three black briefcases and the market tanks.
I do agree with you on the poorly written and laid out rulebook. FF has a reputation for badly translated rulebooks and this one is no exception.
You and I have conflicting criteria for what makes games "memorable"... ;)
“I don’t like the theme, so I don’t like the game, so it’s not a very good game” is the most Dice Tower review I could imagine.
Can we *try* to detach the quality of a game from our own personal preferences? I don’t give a toss about Harry Potter, but I can see why people like it. These reviews are meaningless to everyone except the person doing the review as it only speaks to their preferences.
No.
@thedicetower To clarify more, the whole point of having a human reviewer do a game is to add in their personal experience. You obviously can detach that from the reviewer, so why not? We want to bring our joys and dislikes into games - and see where that takes us.
See 10:16 in the video... I did exactly what you asked for.