I think it took me about 2,500 games before I started taking defense seriously. CuBirds was mainly a straightforward race game up until that point. Now, I see it as a race game which allows tripping.
There’s a strong argument for playing defense on turn one. If you know what your opponent is going to do, it’s almost always the best move to disrupt them. For example, it’s pretty common to be dealt a pair of flamingos. Because of this, if your opponent’s free bird (the starting bird) is a flamingo, you should try to eliminate other flamingos from the four rows. Otherwise you risk giving your opponent an easy triple set.
More often than not, though, players start thinking about defense after it’s too late. If you hit six collected single birds but suddenly you find yourself looking for your seventh with four unhelpful rows, it’s not bad luck. Your opponent has been playing defense, watching for what you need, and clearing the board of those options.
If you start playing defense halfway through a game, your results will improve. If you play from the beginning, it should improve even more. The reason for this is pretty simple. If you count the number of times it takes to win a game — that is, the number of times you get the choice of taking two random cards or adding cards to a row to pick up cards — you get around 15 times, plus or minus. If you play below this average, you tend to win more; play above this average and you’ll tend to lose more. Defensive plays impose a higher turn average on your opponents, causing them to lose more often.
HOW to play defense is a totally different conversation. I still lose a lot of games, so while I’ve figured out some things, there’s a lot left to learn. WHEN is an easier question. Start right now.
There’s a strong argument for playing defense on turn one. If you know what your opponent is going to do, it’s almost always the best move to disrupt them. For example, it’s pretty common to be dealt a pair of flamingos. Because of this, if your opponent’s free bird (the starting bird) is a flamingo, you should try to eliminate other flamingos from the four rows. Otherwise you risk giving your opponent an easy triple set.
More often than not, though, players start thinking about defense after it’s too late. If you hit six collected single birds but suddenly you find yourself looking for your seventh with four unhelpful rows, it’s not bad luck. Your opponent has been playing defense, watching for what you need, and clearing the board of those options.
If you start playing defense halfway through a game, your results will improve. If you play from the beginning, it should improve even more. The reason for this is pretty simple. If you count the number of times it takes to win a game — that is, the number of times you get the choice of taking two random cards or adding cards to a row to pick up cards — you get around 15 times, plus or minus. If you play below this average, you tend to win more; play above this average and you’ll tend to lose more. Defensive plays impose a higher turn average on your opponents, causing them to lose more often.
HOW to play defense is a totally different conversation. I still lose a lot of games, so while I’ve figured out some things, there’s a lot left to learn. WHEN is an easier question. Start right now.