For the last few months we've (my wife and myself) been going to my Parent's house for game night. The night changes based on our schedules, but we usually have been meeting once a week and have been trying an assortment of games, but we usually always play Phase-10 at least once per gaming session.
It is a great game, and everyone likes it... but that's the problem, everyone 'likes' it, but nobody 'loves' it. There is always something about it that makes it not a perfect game for us. Some of us don't like the length, some don't like how the rounds go, we've tried the Master's Edition, variants from the rules, variants online, etc., but still, something has never been quite 'perfect' with the game... heck, I've even guy the Phase-10 Dice game to try that out.
Well, last night we found the sweet spot, we played a game of Phase-10 that everyone loved. It was fast and fun and we used a combination of the original game with a variation and an element from the Master's Edition, overall the game worked out great, and I thought I'd post the method here for anyone who may be in a similar situation - trying to find a way to play this that everyone will enjoy.
First, we used the first variant rule from the original game to make the game quicker... We played 10 hands and each player advances to the next phase whether they completed the phase or not... this made the game time about half of what it normally had been running (4 players, we finished in about an hour, whereas previously the games too up to 2 hours). Basically in the first round, we were all going for Phase-1, then in the second round we were all going for Phase-2, etc., at the end of the game, whomever had the lowest score was the winner.
In addition to the faster game play, this also made the game easier to play and keep track of. No more "I'm going for Phase-3, she's going for Phase-2, You are still on Phase-1, and he's already on Phase-7" confusion that the normal game would sometimes pose... Actually, if you haven't yet played Phase-10, let me not mislead you, it isn't THAT confusing, but like I said, in recent weeks we've been trying many variants, and also the Master's edition, which lets you go for any Phase you want at any point you want to, which basically causes confusion going into the first phase.
This also made the game more interesting for a few reasons... With us all on the same phase, some of the phases became quite a challenge. In phases 4, 5 and 6 (going for a run of 7, 8 and 9), the phases got harder each time because with a run of 9, everyone was in need of almost every card... Also, in phase 8 (7 cards of one color), the phase was fun and challenging. With 4 players, the chances of two people going for the same color were pretty good, and luck was with me because I was delt a completed phase from the start, so I went out fast. My Parents and Wife scrambled to get rid of high cost cards and complete the phase before I could go out, and my Wwife and Dad both ended up going for the blue color at the same time, which basically screwed them both. My Mom, in an effort to 'skip' me twice in a row to buy them some valuable time, didn't realize until it was too late that she already had her phase (she thought she was a card short), she realized this as my second skip expired and I took my final turn, going out just before she could put her phase down. I taunted her that if she wasn't so busy trying to plot and scheme with her plans to skip me, she would have gone out as well, and with 2 wilds in her hand at the time, that move pretty much cost her the win at the end.
The other thing we did differently, was a rule we pulled from the Master's Edition that we all seemed to like. Basically it introduces a 'save' pile. Each round, instead of discarding a card, you can 'save' one card from your hand to put to use later in the game. I found that I would end up with the ability to put my phase down, but would hold off a bit, trying to get a skip or wild card to save for later, or if I had a completed phase in my hand that used a wild, I'd continue to play for a bit to see if I could find a replacement and save the wild's. The ability to have a couple of wild card sitting in my save hand was a big help. You don't need to own the Master's set to add in this rule, it is pretty basic and no new cards are needed, just remember when you use a card from your save deck, you draw it instead of drawing a new card, and you can't draw more than one saved card at a time (you can't pick up 3 wilds from your deck play them all at once).
So all in all we think we found a method of playing phase-10 that everyone was really happy with, and we'll play with this method again next week and probably 'set in stone' that as our house method of playing.
Oh, in case anyone was wondering on the final scores:
FIRST PLACE
Dad-Rock with 185 points
SECOND PLACE
D-Rock with 255 points
THIRD PLACE
Mom-Rock with 285 points (she probably would have won had she not tried so hard to keep me from winning in Phase 8, that was her downfall)
LAST PLACE
Wifey-Rock with 315 points.
No comments:
Post a Comment