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Your first step into the world of "German games"

Traumfabrik by Reiner Knizia

TRAUMFABRIK/FABRIK DER TRAUM by Reiner Knizia art Doris Matthaus publish Hasbro Germany Players: 2-5 Duration: 45-60 mins. Pace: Quick Complexity: Medium. Quite easy to teach and to learn. Simpler than Ra, but many tough, little decisions. Evaluating sets and what they are worth both to you and your opponents keeps you on your toes. Luck: Very little. Make a bid or you are out. Only luck is in drawing new movie 'plates' (which can, occasionally be significantly lucky, both bad and good) and in the party squares. Tension: High. Players all completing for bargains thn trying to make the best use of the tiles they win. Social: Some. Jimmy Stewart in "Ten Commandments? =)  Light enough to allow for some socializing. Visuals: Excellent. Very nice 'silver screen' feel. Thick tiles with real movie stars of the past: Kim Novak, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart. Theme: High. Real movie stars and movies of the past combined with good art make for a nice atmosphere in the game. Gamer Appeal: Yes. An outstanding auction game by one of the best designers. Non-G Appeal: Probably. Younger players may not find the 'old' movie stars and movies that appealing, but the game itself is quite good for non-gamers. 2 players: Okay. A much drier game with 2, but not bad. Playable. Replay: Good. The game is light, quick, and neccesitates flexibility in pursuing victory. I've played 5+ times. Good with 2-5 players. Best with 4-5 players.

Gold Game

Quick summary | (The game title translates to 'Dream Factory') Reiner Knizia makes a lot of games; most of them quite abstract and dry -- since I like theme in my games, that means that I don't like most of his games. Imagine my surprising in really liking this game! Players have: contracts which they use to bid on sets of tiles, and 'movies' (boards) they play these tiles onto. The winning bid takes the set of tiles and adds them to his/her various movies. The tiles are directors, actors, cinematography, soudtrack, special FX; each tile has between 0-4 stars. More stars makes your movie more valuable. What's interesting is every movie needs different tile combinations giving different players somewhat different priorities: Bambi doesn't need any actors, so your soundtrack needs to be good; Ten Commandments needs good actors and a good soundtrack, but not much special effects. Certain actors can star, others can star or guest star. But there are more crummy tiles than good, so you'll have to do the best you can. Should you place your 1-star actor on a good movie you need to complete before the turn ends? Or do you hold out for a 4-star actress so the movie is worth more next round? Lots of quick tough decisions, but the game is so easy to learn. This game uses real movies stars and movies of the past to give a great atmosphere. Even plays well with 2 players (tho not quite as much fun.) This game is very similar to Ra, but I like this one quite a bit better, and it's a better non-gamer game than Ra. A classic -- in more ways than one. (This game is in German. The movie titles are in German but could be easily covered with a label giving the English title. Most (online) stores have an English translation of the rules. Or go to www.boardgamegeek.com)

This page by Yirmeyahu Avery