I have read your EOG's, and it appears there is nearly consensus over some points.
First of all, we all agreed the ending was somewhat lacking due to the play of our substitute. BTW, this is not the first time I have seen this happen. I still don't understand the thinking but, oh well.
Secondly, it appears that the effectiveness of the spies was lacking, particularly at the end of the game. It doesn't surprise me that the end of the game didn't have the effectiveness as in the beginning. Just the amount of press indicated that would happen. It was a welcome relief though. There were years that I copied and sent over 70 presses.
Thirdly, the suggestion that the non spy periods proved too long was substantiated by the fact that the non-spy press almost equalled the spy press.
Fourth, there was a general consensus that an eliminated power should loose it's spy as well. Suggestions about capturing spies were not warmly embraced.
Fifth, it appears there is enough interest to try a new and revised version of this variant. This leads me to my own EOG.
This game had great players. Except, of course, for Bozo. The diploming was interesting right from the start. Even though I disliked the German's people skills, he exhibited enough intelligence to stand firm and add substantial humor to the game, which kept me reading most of the press. I will say one more time, that his abrassiveness cost him an early exit. No one like an arrogant dictator, they used get deposed.
The balance of power did change three times that I counted, and that testifies to the quality of the players. That game was shorter than I thought it would be but again, that's due to Bozo. I like the fact that eliminated players still stuck around to see what would happen. That showed me an inordinate interest in the game.
Congratulations to Turkey. You were in good position for the win, but it would have been much tougher with the original France.
Now, for my comments as Master. This game took alot of time and effort. I was particularly anxious when my mail went down. I don't think it caused too many bad effects however. I am willing to try it again but with a couple of revisions.
As everyone pointed out, the effectiveness of the spies needs to be increased. The non-spy time must be eliminated. The only problem, though, is the time and effort it takes to constantly save and record all press. At 70 message, it gets quite wieldly.
A couple of interesting things happened that were surprises. First the exchanging of spy mail. It was quite organized and extensive, especially in the beginning. Secondly, Germany's attempt at forgery was pretty good. I expected more coding, since this is something I tried in the original version.
I was also surprised at how many presses were sent to more than one power. Since, the powers were listed in the spy packet, I thought this might decrease as the game went on. It was also surprising that most of the assignments were for outgoing. I thought, incoming would be more beneficial since it gave insight to more than one power. But with copying and quoting, it looks like a power still got a good idea of other powers through only one power's outgoing. It appears that it might be possible to have outgoing only. That would substantially decrease the load on the master, since there is no duplicate copying and less opportunity for error, which I feared through-out the game. Toward the end of the game, co-opting for each other's mail decreased and duplicate assignments were not uncommon. That also decreased the workload. There was only one missed deadline for assignment which I granted since it wasn't too long overdue. With these observations I propose the following.
I will start the new game "spy4u2" soon, with the following revisions to the rules.
With that I will be creating the new game soon. I look forward to another great game and I will be watching eagerly. I hope all of you signon.
Later,
Master Bob
Robert R. Tierney
Back to Mercy Position Ethics Article
Back to SpyVsSpy EOG List
Read the next article (Game Summary)