Some Strategies for the Marram Classic Short Game
Basics
• Most people play this game to complete snakes and worms, but there are serious points to be gained by completing patches, and flipping tiles
• Don’t put a welly boot on something that will not or cannot be completed - this is the short game, and in 99.9% of games you will only get points for completed features.
Claiming patches
• At the start of your turn you should identify any small unclaimed patch that requires only 1 or 2 tiles to complete, and complete them if you can
• Small 1 tile-to-complete patches look like Pac-Men. If you can complete an unclaimed Pac-Man patch then that is a strong move, better than most snake and worm moves. Don’t forget to put flowers or coins into the patch and don’t forget to claim it!
• Look at the 3 tiles in your stock and concentrate on the side of the tile that shows a quarter circle top left corner – is it grass or sand? If you have 2 or 3 that are either grass or sand, then you can potentially claim a patch that requires 2 tiles to complete. If any of the tiles in your hand have a spade symbol on them, then count them once as grass and once as sand. If you have 3 tiles, then you always have 2 of one or the other, so always calculate what you have because those patches!
• Then you should look at those patches requiring 2 tiles to complete. The small ones look like green or yellow half circles. Use your 2 tiles in combination to complete the patch and claim it. Make sure you align the tiles to put all the coins and flowers in the patch for extra points.
• Patches tend to be overlooked in the early part of the game because players go in search of completing worms and snakes. But quite often, even early on, there are opportunities to score small patches. The smallest complete patch of grass or sand is worth 5 points, and much more if you put coins or flowers into it.
• Generally, don’t put a boot into a patch unless you can see a way to complete it quickly, preferably next turn.
• If you think you want to claim the patch, but can’t complete it, then look at your opponent’s tiles, and see if the opposition players can expand the patch to make it hard for you to complete
• If the type of tile needed to complete the patch is common then this lessens the risk of claiming an uncomplete patch. Tile edge statistics – the chances of any tile having an edge that would join to a blue snake is 15%, a worm 23%, an orange snake 30% and with no snake or worm 37%
• Think very hard before putting a welly boot in a patch that requires more than 3 tiles to complete – there is a good chance it will still be there at the end of the game, stranded.
• The larger patch you try to make the more likely that your opponents will try to frustrate it, so small is good!
• Be very careful about putting a welly boot on a tile that can be flipped unless your second move in the turn completes a patch. An opponent will be quite tempted to flip the tile to remove your boot permanently.
Claiming snakes and worms
• It is probably not worth putting a welly boot on a worm or a blue snake unless the beast has a head or tail already, and that completing it will not be too difficult
• It is always better to extend a snake or worm with tiles that expand the playing area, so that extending it further or completing it will not be too difficult
• Conversely, it is difficult to complete a snake or worm where the next tile to be laid to extend it is hemmed in by other tiles
• In a 3- or 4-player game, claiming a lot of worms or snake ends early in the game gives opponents less chance to start their own worms or snakes. If you follow this strategy, make sure that adding to these worms and snakes is easy.
• Early in the game, claiming the initial blue snake by laying a body segment is a good move. Adding a tail to the initial blue snake is not a particularly good move, as it will only give you 3 points - it is probably better to start your own blue snake
• You should always finish a blue snake you have claimed if it is more than 1 tile long as opponents will target making it into a freak snake denying you points.
• Early in the game, claiming worm ends and completing them as 2-tile freak worms is good for keeping the score ticking along – 3 points for a worm – there are only 6 worm saddles but 27 worm ends
• Unless there is a good reason, don’t add a body length to a worm that has no saddle unless you are sure of putting a pink saddle on it or you are completing it
• Don’t put a welly boot on a tile with a spade symbol on it unless you are sure or confident that your opponent will not flip it and take your welly boot out of the game
Playing Superhero tiles
• Tiles with a spade symbols are really strategic, and it is best to think carefully on where to lay these.
• First you must remember that if you lay a tile with a spade symbol and you claim a feature on it, you stand a real risk of an opponent flipping the tile and taking the welly boot out of the game
• There are 6 tiles with no snake or worm elements and 4 of these have both flowers and gold coins. These tiles are quite key in completing patches, especially as the tiles can be rotated to put the gold coin or flower into the patch.
• There are two orange snake cross-road tiles and one worm cross-road tile. You should add these to your own worms or orange snakes especially the long ones. Most players also see these as an opportunity to free up a partly blocked snake or worm, but they do so much more than this! Why? In the first part of a turn, you can complete the worm or orange snake, and claim all the points, and then for the second part of the turn flip the cross-roads tile and score all the points again!
• There are also two double bend orange snake tiles and one worm double bend tile. When these are flipped they actually change the ownership of the worms and snakes they are joined to. In some circumstances they add an extra worm saddle to a worm, and that causes it to become a freak. Also you can steal another person’s worm with a saddle.
• All of the spade symbol tiles can be flipped up to 3 times and they change the shape of grass and sand patches so you may be able to complete patches or join two patches, or snip large patches into smaller ones.
• The wild card tiles can be any snake or worm, but the tiles that join top and bottom have to match the same snake or worm, and the right and left have to match as well. These tiles are really good for helping your partly trapped worms and snakes as they can extend them and lessen the trap relatively frequently.
Flipping tiles
This is the hardest part of the game to get right, but if you do, then you will almost certainly win against someone who doesn’t understand it or can’t get it right. Tiles with a spade symbol are valuable. Each tile can be flipped 3 times, but not twice in the same player’s turn.
• This game tends to favour the brave. Flipping a tile to claim a patch, snake or worm may lead to a flipping war, where players trade flips but usually the first person to flip ends up with more points in the 2-player game, but is less certain in the 3- or 4-player game
• Some flippable tiles have two straight body segments of worms or orange snakes. You can flip these tiles to reclaim an already completed worm or orange snake. If this is a really long and valuable beast you are re-claiming – say worth 8 points or more, and your opponent in a 2-player game goes to war and re-flips the tile, then you get the first chance for the third flip.
• This general idea also applies to the double worm bend tiles and the double orange tile bend tiles.
• It is less attractive to flip a tile that breaks up a completed larger patch in the hope you can re-make the patch on your next turn – but if your opponent has only 1 spade card left, you may get away with it. If your opponent has zero spade cards, then no sweat! But you used two spade cards in the process.
• Look for opportunities to join complete or incomplete patches with a flip, or to snip large patches to create other valuable patches. When there are coins and flowers also involved, these flips can bring in a lot of points.
Blocking and opening up
You can tie opponents up in knots by blocking their ability to complete their already–claimed snakes, worms and by opening up already-claimed patches.
• An opponent’s incomplete patch is usually easiest to frustrate, at least temporarily. Any tile that can be laid on the space the opponent needs to lay to enclose the patch can be laid to make the patch open up.
• It is usually quite easy to block an opponent’s snakes and worms whose uncompleted ends are inward-facing or sideways-facing, but this blocking should be considered only if the tile lays directly helps your claimed features. It is almost certainly worth blocking a long blue snake or long worm that already has a saddle.
• Don’t use a whole move (two tiles) to block a snake or worm, unless it is clear the opponent will win the game on the next move.
• There are no tiles with only an orange snake head on it, and that is the same for worms.
Freak beasts
• You can add a segment to an opponent’s blue snake or worm to turn it into a freak beast. This might considerably reduce the score your opponent will make for completing it.
• Adding a blue snake head to an opponent’s blue snake that is only lacking a tail, makes a 2-headed freak scoring only 3 points
• A similar story - adding a blue snake tail to opponent’s blue snake that is only lacking a head.
• Adding a second pink saddle to an opponent’s worm that already has a pink saddle on it turns it into a freak worth only 3, no matter how long the snake is.
Joining up features
• Joining onto an opponent’s incomplete snakes or worms might make sense if the net gain in points through doing that is 4 or more.
• Think about it. Flipping a tile always joins two patches (sand for example), and snips a patch (grass) into two, and vice versa. Most of the time these will be incomplete patches, but one might be complete already.
Basics
• Most people play this game to complete snakes and worms, but there are serious points to be gained by completing patches, and flipping tiles
• Don’t put a welly boot on something that will not or cannot be completed - this is the short game, and in 99.9% of games you will only get points for completed features.
Claiming patches
• At the start of your turn you should identify any small unclaimed patch that requires only 1 or 2 tiles to complete, and complete them if you can
• Small 1 tile-to-complete patches look like Pac-Men. If you can complete an unclaimed Pac-Man patch then that is a strong move, better than most snake and worm moves. Don’t forget to put flowers or coins into the patch and don’t forget to claim it!
• Look at the 3 tiles in your stock and concentrate on the side of the tile that shows a quarter circle top left corner – is it grass or sand? If you have 2 or 3 that are either grass or sand, then you can potentially claim a patch that requires 2 tiles to complete. If any of the tiles in your hand have a spade symbol on them, then count them once as grass and once as sand. If you have 3 tiles, then you always have 2 of one or the other, so always calculate what you have because those patches!
• Then you should look at those patches requiring 2 tiles to complete. The small ones look like green or yellow half circles. Use your 2 tiles in combination to complete the patch and claim it. Make sure you align the tiles to put all the coins and flowers in the patch for extra points.
• Patches tend to be overlooked in the early part of the game because players go in search of completing worms and snakes. But quite often, even early on, there are opportunities to score small patches. The smallest complete patch of grass or sand is worth 5 points, and much more if you put coins or flowers into it.
• Generally, don’t put a boot into a patch unless you can see a way to complete it quickly, preferably next turn.
• If you think you want to claim the patch, but can’t complete it, then look at your opponent’s tiles, and see if the opposition players can expand the patch to make it hard for you to complete
• If the type of tile needed to complete the patch is common then this lessens the risk of claiming an uncomplete patch. Tile edge statistics – the chances of any tile having an edge that would join to a blue snake is 15%, a worm 23%, an orange snake 30% and with no snake or worm 37%
• Think very hard before putting a welly boot in a patch that requires more than 3 tiles to complete – there is a good chance it will still be there at the end of the game, stranded.
• The larger patch you try to make the more likely that your opponents will try to frustrate it, so small is good!
• Be very careful about putting a welly boot on a tile that can be flipped unless your second move in the turn completes a patch. An opponent will be quite tempted to flip the tile to remove your boot permanently.
Claiming snakes and worms
• It is probably not worth putting a welly boot on a worm or a blue snake unless the beast has a head or tail already, and that completing it will not be too difficult
• It is always better to extend a snake or worm with tiles that expand the playing area, so that extending it further or completing it will not be too difficult
• Conversely, it is difficult to complete a snake or worm where the next tile to be laid to extend it is hemmed in by other tiles
• In a 3- or 4-player game, claiming a lot of worms or snake ends early in the game gives opponents less chance to start their own worms or snakes. If you follow this strategy, make sure that adding to these worms and snakes is easy.
• Early in the game, claiming the initial blue snake by laying a body segment is a good move. Adding a tail to the initial blue snake is not a particularly good move, as it will only give you 3 points - it is probably better to start your own blue snake
• You should always finish a blue snake you have claimed if it is more than 1 tile long as opponents will target making it into a freak snake denying you points.
• Early in the game, claiming worm ends and completing them as 2-tile freak worms is good for keeping the score ticking along – 3 points for a worm – there are only 6 worm saddles but 27 worm ends
• Unless there is a good reason, don’t add a body length to a worm that has no saddle unless you are sure of putting a pink saddle on it or you are completing it
• Don’t put a welly boot on a tile with a spade symbol on it unless you are sure or confident that your opponent will not flip it and take your welly boot out of the game
Playing Superhero tiles
• Tiles with a spade symbols are really strategic, and it is best to think carefully on where to lay these.
• First you must remember that if you lay a tile with a spade symbol and you claim a feature on it, you stand a real risk of an opponent flipping the tile and taking the welly boot out of the game
• There are 6 tiles with no snake or worm elements and 4 of these have both flowers and gold coins. These tiles are quite key in completing patches, especially as the tiles can be rotated to put the gold coin or flower into the patch.
• There are two orange snake cross-road tiles and one worm cross-road tile. You should add these to your own worms or orange snakes especially the long ones. Most players also see these as an opportunity to free up a partly blocked snake or worm, but they do so much more than this! Why? In the first part of a turn, you can complete the worm or orange snake, and claim all the points, and then for the second part of the turn flip the cross-roads tile and score all the points again!
• There are also two double bend orange snake tiles and one worm double bend tile. When these are flipped they actually change the ownership of the worms and snakes they are joined to. In some circumstances they add an extra worm saddle to a worm, and that causes it to become a freak. Also you can steal another person’s worm with a saddle.
• All of the spade symbol tiles can be flipped up to 3 times and they change the shape of grass and sand patches so you may be able to complete patches or join two patches, or snip large patches into smaller ones.
• The wild card tiles can be any snake or worm, but the tiles that join top and bottom have to match the same snake or worm, and the right and left have to match as well. These tiles are really good for helping your partly trapped worms and snakes as they can extend them and lessen the trap relatively frequently.
Flipping tiles
This is the hardest part of the game to get right, but if you do, then you will almost certainly win against someone who doesn’t understand it or can’t get it right. Tiles with a spade symbol are valuable. Each tile can be flipped 3 times, but not twice in the same player’s turn.
• This game tends to favour the brave. Flipping a tile to claim a patch, snake or worm may lead to a flipping war, where players trade flips but usually the first person to flip ends up with more points in the 2-player game, but is less certain in the 3- or 4-player game
• Some flippable tiles have two straight body segments of worms or orange snakes. You can flip these tiles to reclaim an already completed worm or orange snake. If this is a really long and valuable beast you are re-claiming – say worth 8 points or more, and your opponent in a 2-player game goes to war and re-flips the tile, then you get the first chance for the third flip.
• This general idea also applies to the double worm bend tiles and the double orange tile bend tiles.
• It is less attractive to flip a tile that breaks up a completed larger patch in the hope you can re-make the patch on your next turn – but if your opponent has only 1 spade card left, you may get away with it. If your opponent has zero spade cards, then no sweat! But you used two spade cards in the process.
• Look for opportunities to join complete or incomplete patches with a flip, or to snip large patches to create other valuable patches. When there are coins and flowers also involved, these flips can bring in a lot of points.
Blocking and opening up
You can tie opponents up in knots by blocking their ability to complete their already–claimed snakes, worms and by opening up already-claimed patches.
• An opponent’s incomplete patch is usually easiest to frustrate, at least temporarily. Any tile that can be laid on the space the opponent needs to lay to enclose the patch can be laid to make the patch open up.
• It is usually quite easy to block an opponent’s snakes and worms whose uncompleted ends are inward-facing or sideways-facing, but this blocking should be considered only if the tile lays directly helps your claimed features. It is almost certainly worth blocking a long blue snake or long worm that already has a saddle.
• Don’t use a whole move (two tiles) to block a snake or worm, unless it is clear the opponent will win the game on the next move.
• There are no tiles with only an orange snake head on it, and that is the same for worms.
Freak beasts
• You can add a segment to an opponent’s blue snake or worm to turn it into a freak beast. This might considerably reduce the score your opponent will make for completing it.
• Adding a blue snake head to an opponent’s blue snake that is only lacking a tail, makes a 2-headed freak scoring only 3 points
• A similar story - adding a blue snake tail to opponent’s blue snake that is only lacking a head.
• Adding a second pink saddle to an opponent’s worm that already has a pink saddle on it turns it into a freak worth only 3, no matter how long the snake is.
Joining up features
• Joining onto an opponent’s incomplete snakes or worms might make sense if the net gain in points through doing that is 4 or more.
• Think about it. Flipping a tile always joins two patches (sand for example), and snips a patch (grass) into two, and vice versa. Most of the time these will be incomplete patches, but one might be complete already.