The tiebreaker rule for Potion Explosion is one of the worst tiebreaker rules I know.
First, it doesn't fit to this kind of family game, we don't need a tiebreaker at all, instead let it be a tie. If I play this with my young nephew and we end up in this really rare tie stituation and we just let it be a tie, we would laugh about it with happy astonishment and enjoy ourselves. Instead with the tiebreaker, this can end up in weird frustration for one of the players.
However, the tiebreaker is just so random, almost like a simple coinflip, it feels totally pointless. Potion Explosion contains some deep engagement in pattern recognition and little tactical maneuvers and at the climax of the game, we have to decide on the winner by a simplistic coinflip mechanism? This is so weird. Of course the game contains a lot of luck but in the tiebreaker, the randomness is just "in your face".
I think that better tiebreakers were easy to find: Who has the most marbles left? Who has the highest scoring potion or the most high-scoring potions? Who has the highest number of different potions? There are lots of possibilities where the tiebreaker relates stronger to the rest of the game and hence players could relate to it and integrate in their thinking during gameplay.
I know that BGA will stick to the official rules. I am just staggered that this rule made it into the final rulebook.
First, it doesn't fit to this kind of family game, we don't need a tiebreaker at all, instead let it be a tie. If I play this with my young nephew and we end up in this really rare tie stituation and we just let it be a tie, we would laugh about it with happy astonishment and enjoy ourselves. Instead with the tiebreaker, this can end up in weird frustration for one of the players.
However, the tiebreaker is just so random, almost like a simple coinflip, it feels totally pointless. Potion Explosion contains some deep engagement in pattern recognition and little tactical maneuvers and at the climax of the game, we have to decide on the winner by a simplistic coinflip mechanism? This is so weird. Of course the game contains a lot of luck but in the tiebreaker, the randomness is just "in your face".
I think that better tiebreakers were easy to find: Who has the most marbles left? Who has the highest scoring potion or the most high-scoring potions? Who has the highest number of different potions? There are lots of possibilities where the tiebreaker relates stronger to the rest of the game and hence players could relate to it and integrate in their thinking during gameplay.
I know that BGA will stick to the official rules. I am just staggered that this rule made it into the final rulebook.