Change in Yahtzee version introduced without warning!

[Pedros]

In the middle of a game this afternoon I discovered several changes to the Yahtzee version (not so far as I know Yams) - no Rigole at all any more, and changes to the scoring, particularly of the straights. I don't like them; and certainly I don't like not even being warned about them!

[Een]

In the middle of a game this afternoon I discovered several changes to the Yahtzee version (not so far as I know Yams) - no Rigole at all any more, and changes to the scoring, particularly of the straights. I don't like them; and certainly I don't like not even being warned about them!

Well, actually an announcement has been made in the Yahtzee players group. It shows up in all the players news feed on the home page.
The only change made is removing Rigole to conform to the official rules of Yahtzee: there was a confusion with Yam's in the original development on this and it had been reported as a bug.
Scoring is otherwise unchanged (or if it is, it's a bug to report), and of course Yam's hasn't been changed at all since this rules problem was only for Yahtzee.

[Liallan]

That's the second time you've mentioned announcements going to a game's player group, and I've seen neither message. (This one and Puerto Rico.) Aren't all people who have played a game automatically in its player group?

(Fortunately I read the forums.)

[Een]

Aren't all people who have played a game automatically in its player group?

Yes, they are. But maybe the way you use the site you are just not looking at the newsfeed on the homepage? (It seems like it may be the case for other players too, so maybe we should have some counter or indicator somewhere to advertise new entries to the newsfeed)

[Liallan]

Aren't all people who have played a game automatically in its player group?

Yes, they are. But maybe the way you use the site you are just not looking at the newsfeed on the homepage? (It seems like it may be the case for other players too, so maybe we should have some counter or indicator somewhere to advertise new entries to the newsfeed)

I think you're right - I come in by the "logged-in home page" and I see the big announcements and a few things underneath, which fall off the page. If I click on More I do see those posts scattered between other things. It's not real obvious unless I go hunting for us.

But I'm thinking I just saw a suggestion related to this? (Either a forum post or maybe even a suggestion in the bugs.)

[Pedros]

In the middle of a game this afternoon I discovered several changes to the Yahtzee version (not so far as I know Yams) - no Rigole at all any more, and changes to the scoring, particularly of the straights. I don't like them; and certainly I don't like not even being warned about them!

Well, actually an announcement has been made in the Yahtzee players group. It shows up in all the players news feed on the home page.
The only change made is removing Rigole to conform to the official rules of Yahtzee: there was a confusion with Yam's in the original development on this and it had been reported as a bug.
Scoring is otherwise unchanged (or if it is, it's a bug to report), and of course Yam's hasn't been changed at all since this rules problem was only for Yahtzee.

Several points here!
1. In the last few days it has happened again! The outrageous Joker rule (100 points for each further Yahtzee) has appeared in the last (very) few days, again unannounced anywhere that I saw it. And it isn't sour grapes on my part - I just discovered it when playing, got it TWICE and finished with 500+ points in "classic" Yahtzee. It completely unbalanced the game. (It may be "standard" rules - it's well over 30 years since I last saw a physical Yahtzee set and it certainly wasn't a rule ten! And official or not, its rubbish)
2. I don't know about other players but I almost never visit the players groups; I'd rather be playing; I only visit the Home Page when there's a "my notifications" alert. Basic rule changes should be announced in the same way, ie with a visible notification.
3. And finally there were actual scoring changes in the first revision - the scores for the two straights were doubled. Not as fundamental as the Joker rule, but important that we are warned in advance because it affects tactics in choosing how to play.

Sorry Een - I know this feels like a harsh rant. I have the highest regard for this site otherwise, and the work you put in. But I write as a previous, long-term senior Moderator at PlayDiplomacy and we would never have made changes without ensuring that they were as fully published as possible.

[Caffe Latte]

Couple of days ago I got four Yahtzee in one game. I did not even tried to, they just rolled. When I got second one I knew I can consider this tournament as won and after third I was sure and after fourth wished if I could spread the luck smoother. Just randomly clicked to finish.

My poor opponent.

1st Caffe Latte 517
2nd Sakelys 273

[Een]

1. In the last few days it has happened again! The outrageous Joker rule (100 points for each further Yahtzee) has appeared in the last (very) few days, again unannounced anywhere that I saw it. And it isn't sour grapes on my part - I just discovered it when playing, got it TWICE and finished with 500+ points in "classic" Yahtzee. It completely unbalanced the game. (It may be "standard" rules - it's well over 30 years since I last saw a physical Yahtzee set and it certainly wasn't a rule ten! And official or not, its rubbish)

Not in the last (very) few days.
If you look at the group posts https://boardgamearena.com/#!group?id=1224882 you'll see that the joker rule was announced even before the Rigole removal, 38 days ago.
If you discovered it only recently, it means, as probability agree, that it's extremely rare.
Also, these changes came from requests from the community that made it into the list of most upvoted reports in bugs & suggestions.

2. I don't know about other players but I almost never visit the players groups; I'd rather be playing; I only visit the Home Page when there's a "my notifications" alert. Basic rule changes should be announced in the same way, ie with a visible notification.

Yes, this has been mentioned before. We overestimated the reach of the post in the group.
I took note of that as a needed improvement. I don't know yet when and how this improvement will materialize, but the comment has been heard.

3. And finally there were actual scoring changes in the first revision - the scores for the two straights were doubled. Not as fundamental as the Joker rule, but important that we are warned in advance because it affects tactics in choosing how to play.

Really I don't think so. Maybe the developer A-dam can confirm this? Or maybe it's an unintended mistake.

Sorry Een - I know this feels like a harsh rant. I have the highest regard for this site otherwise, and the work you put in. But I write as a previous, long-term senior Moderator at PlayDiplomacy and we would never have made changes without ensuring that they were as fully published as possible.

Well, rants are to be expected on a website open to comments
But feedback is useful. We did overestimate the reach of the post in the Yahtzee players group. Sorry about that.

[Caffe Latte]

Thank you for link to the group. After a while I figured out there might exist other groups for other games and then by utilising a lot of deduction figured out it might be ssomewhere in Community -> find group. Searched for some I Play and voila, they exist! Last post in most of them was years ago.

So after being a Member since
01 / 28 / 2015 I had not even a clue these groups exist. Maybe when I am opening table, at the bottom ''Game info" I'd expect link to it if it was even considered for reaching players...;

[A-dam]

3. And finally there were actual scoring changes in the first revision - the scores for the two straights were doubled. Not as fundamental as the Joker rule, but important that we are warned in advance because it affects tactics in choosing how to play.

Really I don't think so. Maybe the developer A-dam can confirm this? Or maybe it's an unintended mistake.

Actually this is correct. Scoring had to be adjusted according to the official rules. The reason is simple, joker rule is reffering to the original scoring and implement joker rule with wrong scoring did not make sense for me.