LINIE 1

GOLDSIEBER, £20

designed by STEFAN DORRA

2-5 players, playing time 45-60 minutes

reviewed by STUART DAGGER

This is a game in two parts. The first and larger of them is an interesting and entertaining track laying game in which players try to build their own pre-assigned tram route, while at the same time doing what they can to get in their competitors' way; the second is a somewhat unsatisfactory `roll a die and move' race. The long term playability of the game will, I think, depend on whether someone can come up with a better stage two, but stage one is good enough to make it worth trying quite hard to do so.

The board shows a 12$\times$12 squared grid. Round the edge are 12 tram depots, two each for each of 6 companies, and dotted round inside the grid are 12 buildings. At the start each player is dealt two cards. The first of these assigns them one of the tram companies and the second, when cross-referenced with their company, tells them which two or three (depending on the number of players) buildings they have to include on their routes. This information is kept secret from the other players, as the longer it takes them to figure out your objectives, the better your chances of avoiding deliberate enemy action. Each player is also given three straight and two curved pieces of track. In the box are some more tiles of these two types, together with a variety of fancier ones which can be used either as direct lays or as upgrades.

In your turn you lay or upgrade two pieces of track and draw replacement tiles. This continues until your route is complete, at which point you show your cards to the others, trace out the route for them, take your tram from the box and set out on your journey. The winner is not the first person to complete their route, but the first person to complete their journey.

Movement is effected by rolling a modified d6 which shows the numbers 1 to 4, together with two `H's. If you roll one of the numbers, you move that number of spaces along your route; if you roll an H, you move to the next tramstop along your route. These H-rolls can be anything from bad (if you are 1 square away from the next stop) to so good that your opponents start looking for an excuse to throw you out of the window. In our four games to date, we have seen moves of 12 and 20 as the result of an H, both of which were enough to bring the people who were fifth to complete the routes to within a whisker of winning the race. This level of randomness is, in my view, an unsatisfactory way to round off a game which, for most of its length, has called for thought and tactical planning. Clearly, you do need some method of rewarding a route for its shortness as well as its early completion, but it must surely be possible to devise a method that is better than this.

So far we have played the game by the rules, but next time I intend proposing the following. Once a player has completed their route, they have the option of declaring. If they do so, their score is the length of their route. The remaining players play on and their scores will be length of route plus 3(?) for each extra turn they required to complete their route. Lowest score wins. A player who has completed a route is not forced to declare it if they feel that by continuing they may shorten it significantly and thereby achieve a lower score. If any of you can come with any alternative and better ideas, please write to me.

A question to finish: the rules say that the game is for up to 5 players, but there are spaces and equipment for up to 6. Can anyone see why 6 wouldn't work?

Stuart Dagger