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Game Info
Year
1994
Collection
Ratings
Creator Score
Mechanic profile
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Vibe profile
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Description
This pure negotiation game pits the players as Renaissance era families that are engaging in rampant nepotism. Players are seeking positions in the other families' businesses, and to further that pursuit players offer bribes. However, once accepting a bribe, the 'bought' player is under absolutely no obligation to honor the highest briber or any other verbal deal. In a word, this game is vicious.
The new AMIGO edition came out in 2005.
The main difference between the F.X. Schmid and the AMIGO versions are that the the F.X. Schmid version uses five houses/buildings per player, with values of 1,2,3,5, and 10, but the AMIGO version uses four buildings/houses per player, with values of 1,3,6, and 10. Accordingly, the F.X. Schmid version has five professions - knight, merchant, lawyer, writer, and clergy - but the AMIGO version retains only clergy and writer, and adds chemist and doctor.
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 3
This page: 3
Sentiment:
pos 1 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 2
Showing 1–3 of 3
Video vuhe_iyrWkw
UndeadVikingVideos Discussion at 51:11 sentiment: positive
video_pk 86395 · mention_pk 223302
Click to watch at 51:11 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Incredibly mean game
- Only lasts 30-45 minutes
Cons
- Very mean
Thematic elements
- Deal Making
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bribery — Involves bribing people without obligation to follow through.
- Deal Making — A deal-making game where you don't have to keep your end of the deal.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Forest Bower has a wonderful story it's not a story he has a wonderful story not much about how how he he struck at rich
- I bought it at 11 bucks I woke up there at $72 and I thought I'd be cute I thought I'd be super cute and I was like yeah I'll hold on to this until the inauguration because surely it'll go up till then
- that son of a biscuit had to have his wife launch her own shitcoin the next day day which plummeted the value of his coin which is fantastic
- I made like 1,200 bucks or over two days which uh and like I was telling Scott like the only reason I only made 1,200 was because I didn't have more money to throw at it that very moment
- Karcassonne Power Grid was 2004 Kis was 2000 uh Ticket to Ride is 2004 Kis was 2005 Twilight Struggle 2005
- Dominion it's a good game because it's it's it's foundational right it's like how many games did did Dominion create right like just that mechanic of deck building or deck uh yeah deck building
- Lords of water deep is a good game
- Castles of Burgundy oh that's got to be in there at least in my opinion
- I should probably kick it in I got an early morning
- well next week I'll I'll be able to let it fly but I just couldn't too fresh too fresh
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video XC2Vg_1L9ZE
Analysis at 11:27 sentiment: negative
video_pk 66536 · mention_pk 162165
Click to watch at 11:27 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
negative
Pros
- Mean by explicit architectural design.
Cons
- No agreement is binding.
- There is no penalty for breaking the agreement.
- The game strips negotiation down to its most mercenary possible level.
Thematic elements
- Wealthy families placing scholars at palaces to generate income
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bribery — The mechanism for deciding who gets placed where is bribery and promises.
- Negotiation — Players offer in-game money to secure placement of their scholars.
- Take That — Players receiving bribes can take the money and place whoever they want.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- There is a specific kind of silence that falls over a game table when somebody realizes they have just been completely, deliberately, and systematically destroyed by somebody they trusted.
- Mean games are a genre unto themselves.
- The person sitting across from them smiled, played their cards just right, and had been planning it for three rounds.
- The sea serpent player maintained eye contact and smiled the whole time.
- You were never trying to save us.
- I was always trying to save myself.
- That is a different thing. It is, in fact, exactly what Nemesis is designed to produce.
- Everything is negotiable.
- The elected pope controlled by a player can excommunicate opponents.
- The traitor system is the knife at the game's heart.
- I held that card for two hours.
- That is why you committed everything.
- It is the meanest game ever designed because it is the only major board game where the primary mechanic is human trust and the primary strategy is its violation.
- Attack the east on this move and I will allow you three supply centers.
- That is diplomacy.
- This is showing me things about markets I did not want to understand.
- Since round one.
- The worst part was understanding that it had never been a competition. It had been a lesson on a schedule the teacher set before the first card was played.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video Y8Ay0Dp-Qgk
No Rolls Barred Top List at 10:03 sentiment: negative
video_pk 4771 · mention_pk 13957
Click to watch at 10:03 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
negative
Pros
- deliciously mean negotiation with tangible payoffs
- high social interaction and bluffing opportunities
Cons
- rules can be dense and fragile to learn
- deals being non-binding can frustrate some players
Thematic elements
- schemes, bribery, political maneuvering
- Renaissance court with scheming nobles and scholars.
- bastardly and chaotic, with backroom deals
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- binding but non-binding deals — Deals are often binding only if money changes hands; otherwise, they can be broken.
- Contracts — Deals are often binding only if money changes hands; otherwise, they can be broken.
- court worker placements and bribery — Players place scholars to earn ducats and influence court decisions.
- inter-player negotiations and shenanigans — Sweet talk and backroom trade aim to secure powerful hires and outcomes.
- Negotiation — Sweet talk and backroom trade aim to secure powerful hires and outcomes.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- meanest board games ever made
- the unofficial tagline is ruining friendship since 1959
- that's mean
- there are so many ways to hurt people in the estates
- the heart of the game is traveling around fighting off beasties and trying to complete tasks vital to your own personal success
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–3 of 3