Mark's #6: Showmanager/Atlantic Star
You have to cast four shows with the best possible actors - but so does everyone else. Each turn you can hire a new actor or put on a show. (You can also pay to see a new slate of actors - the infamous cry of "Clear!") And that's pretty much all there is to the game.Still, Showmanager is a joyous play experience - fast-moving (notice that's a common element of most of my top games?!), fraught with tension, and rewarding wise play. (Much like Expedition, this game is not nearly as random as some seem to think.)
The easier to find Atlantic Star (pictured here) is pretty much the same game, but I don't like the theme (creating cruises), the way the board works (you have to slide cards in a semi-circle?!), the dumbing-down of the ending rules, or the added cards in the ship deck. In other words, find yourself a copy of Showmanager. :-)
Labels: Mark's 100
posted by Mark (aka pastor guy) at 10:20 AM
1 Comments:
I like the extra cards in Atlantic Star, as they slightly prolong reshuffling and cycling through the deck. This can happen way too much near the end of ShowManager for my tastes, where just $4 can often let you see ALL the cards remaining in the game. Yeah, you may not have $4, but you probably will. You're certainly more likely to have that than, say, the $8 you might need to do the same in Atlantic Star.
Otherwise, I agree with you. I'll play either, but I prefer ShowManager for theme (and you can port its endgame rules into AS)
Post a Comment
<< Home