Arena without pepper?

[kostinen]

What you're describing is just someone trying to win a hand, it isn't a tactic available to only one player, the person that's losing will usually have the same strategy.

The major problem with the pepper expansion (which is why I don't like it either for Arena) is that the power cards are so strong that if you've got an OP power in the final round and you're only 5 points behind then you're the big favourite to win, but you haven't done anything to earn that power so it feels bad for it to be the biggest decider in who wins. It's too swingy and arguably incentivises players to deliberately lose rounds in order to keep the best powers for themselves.

Yeah with this extension there is that feeling it’s sometimes better to lose some round on purpose. I have to admit I do not enjoy that feeling very much. Making the games sometimes less enjoyable
On the other part, I like very much events in the way we think differently each round.
In an ideal world, I would keep the events but without the attribution to one of the players for the next rounds(s), or maybe only for one round at most

[Vrai]

I noticed that the level of strategy involved increases substantially when aiming to influence how the power cards are awarded. Often it seemed that maintaining a point or 2 behind someone to keep the best card advantage until the final round was worthwhile. I tried a few games without them and it seemed rather dull. There is certainly plenty of luck that can still dominate the outcome in many cases, but overall a positive addition to the game that is more than just rush to first last chance without thinking.

[LapinVelu]

I noticed that the level of strategy involved increases substantially when aiming to influence how the power cards are awarded. Often it seemed that maintaining a point or 2 behind someone to keep the best card advantage until the final round was worthwhile. I tried a few games without them and it seemed rather dull. There is certainly plenty of luck that can still dominate the outcome in many cases, but overall a positive addition to the game that is more than just rush to first last chance without thinking.

I totally agree.
The pepper extension is great. It forces to think, calculate your points, choose wether you want to "take the risk" to win a round and leave the power card to your opponent or you prefer to stay few points behind.
Many options are available and the makes this game unique.

[squg]

I noticed that the level of strategy involved increases substantially when aiming to influence how the power cards are awarded. Often it seemed that maintaining a point or 2 behind someone to keep the best card advantage until the final round was worthwhile. I tried a few games without them and it seemed rather dull. There is certainly plenty of luck that can still dominate the outcome in many cases, but overall a positive addition to the game that is more than just rush to first last chance without thinking.

The problem with this is that it makes the game very agnostic to the result of the first few rounds. You can successfully last chance 2 hands in a row and still be more likely to lose than to win if you have a negative modifier and your opponent has the dolphins or the angelfish. To me, it's very unsatisfying when the game only matters during the last few hands. It's also much more difficult to tell when you're losing a hand as compared to when you're winning one, and I feel that often players will win from extra pepper when they lost the first three quarters of a game due to bad risk assessment, i.e. losing a last chance bet, rather than genuinely trying to stay a couple points behind.

[TheGreenBaronRises]

Came here to post this myself. This pepper extension needs to go. It makes the game not fun. Every game turns into who can tank early to get the better event cards wins in the end.

As opposed to who can get the lead and just spam last chance?

Yep, those event cards are a joke. Too powerful. Try to lose early just to get the OP cards and come over the top at the end. The discard a series card and get an extra card is the worst

[LillaJag]

I like pepper and play with pepper but it's not suitable for arena. It's to luck based.