The shock of the new

[ffutures]

Haven't posted the last couple of days because I'm at Eastercon, the annual UK SF convention - I've been enjoying myself but haven't really had anything special to say.

But this evening I happened to drop by the game room and ended up playing Mayfair Games "Family Business," which was in a new edition I haven't seen before. It's easy to spot, if you know the game, because the box is smaller.

It used to be that all Family Business cards had a title and explanation of what they do; the new edition replaces the explanation with a pretty picture. And suddenly anyone who isn't very familiar with the rules is at a big disadvantage, since you may not immediately realise that one of your cards can counter a card that's just been played against you. And there's only one copy of the rules, they're printed small and a newcomer may not immediately understand which section applies to which card.

Tonight was the first time in years I've won, and I'm about 90% sure that a lot of the credit goes to other players bring a little more confused about the rules than I was.

The bottom line - it's a fun game, but if you want to buy it I'd strongly recommend shopping around for the older version.

Comments

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info. I thought I had a copy of the old one but I am not so sure now.

In general I am in favour of cards not needing English on them - but that only works some of the time...

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

Any chance for an Eastercon write-up?

UK games conventions like Eastercon or Dragonmeet always sounded so cool when they were written up in the back pages of WD along with a few choice photos.

::B::

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Nothing special to report this time - although I volunteered, I wasn't on any panels, so I spent most of my time sitting on a chair watching e.g. four people talking about Sherlock. Which was interesting but I didn't take notes, I really doubt I could write it up in enough detail to be worthwhile.