Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 13:51:18 +0000
From: cboote@penagen.co.uk
Subject: Maulwurf Companie
Ken,
Just my tuppenceworth about Maulwurf
It was one of the intergame games at Essen a couple of years back,a nd is fatally flawed for gamers by the fact that first player wins.
What it boils down to is where you end up on the last board - there is only one place where a mole drops through a hole in such a way that they can reach the shovel in two goes (without being blocked)
Working backwards, there are only two places to drop through from the previous level to get into that 'golden hole', and to get to those places ... etc. etc. I'm sure that you get the idea.
All in all, this means that whoever goes first, places his mole in the winning spot, and drops through perfectly every time.
At Essen this is exactly what happened - despite the judges attepts to add some sort of scoring system, first player won on almost every table.
Catherine wrote "The game can be easily played with young children." - sorry, I'd have to say she should replace "easily" with "only".
Chris
Interesting. I must admit I found it tepid at best.
I suspect that for most people the game just comes across as fairly random since most folks wouldn't allow a close inspection of the boards as they were laid in the tray (having a close look at the orientation of the boards, at the very least, seems to run against the grain of the game).
Given that, the game also seems a very poor choice for an Intergame tournemant. I suspect that someone was trying to give Ravensburger a little of encouragement to get back into the adult games market.
ken