Board Game Arena

Hi,

I have played a few games of the recently launched rememberwhen, and I have to say it seems to be a very entertaining game, but I noticed already a few points that will probably ruin it pretty soon.

So, you get 1 point for guessing the word/expression the hero/villain will use from the card you gave him/her. If this game was only for fun, it would be, actually it was the first rounds, amazing. But then, after a few games, when everybody got how it works, there intervened one more factor, the competitiveness. After all, there is a winner and an ELO, so you have to compete, not only to have fun. And, of course, those for whom the competition is more important than fun, soon noticed that the hero/villain has no restrictions in creating their memory, and no punishment if there is an illogical sentence. So, they prefer to create an absurd sentence, after all, the Champion memory doesn't come with any prize, and try to prevent their opponents to score.

I can give you a personal example, the object of the memory was SCHOOL, and the action VANDALIZED. I played the blue card with the only logical option, EMPTY. But the hero chose from that card CLUMSY... how does that go, CLUMSY SCHOOL?

Also, there were situations when the player chose to play a role, but their ulterior action suggested the opposite.

So, I think there should be done something in this matter. My suggestion is to give points to both the guesser and the hero if a guess is correct. (So, in a 6 players game, if all 5 actions are correctly guessed, the hero/villain gets 5 points. 4 if there are only 4 correctly guessed and so on). this way, the probability of getting funny sentences would increase and the competitiveness will be there, as well (I know that 'logic' is not the correct word, because they are senile heroes, after all, but some of the sentences we got were quite absurd and it was obvious they were picked this way only to prevent the opponents from gaining more points).

Also, I think the Champion memory should be voted at the end of the game, from all memories, and the winner to get points in their overall points in the game, as well.

i like the idea of voting on the Champion memory at the end of the game ... not being able to vote for your own. but there might be issues with king.making. the other thought would be to vote on the best memory of each round.

i also like the idea of the memory.maker sharing points with the memory contributors if they share a pick. the players who merely play for point denial and create nonsense memories would then get penalized a bit. the way it is being played now on BGA, it would almost be better to keep the scores hidden. or maybe you just know your own points ... so the points that others get are hidden until the end.

A totally other solution are to disable ranking for this game, like on Hanabi.

Romain672 wrote:A totally other solution are to disable ranking for this game, like on Hanabi.

This would be my vote. Doesn't make sense to have a Elo Skill rating for a social game.

Sorry I just saw this my friends. If you can disable ELO I (designer here) am fine with that.

You are correct that a social/party game is a very new thing for BGA, and will hopefully bring even more players to this great resource. Our HOPES are obviously that those who persist in playing will do it for the experience rather than caring about winning to much, but then again this is BGA where folks like to win Brederic and I are actively listening to the concerns of all players and actively trying to address them.

Let me address a couple main concerns here if I may.

1) More time - ESPECIALLY because some folks around the world are trying to translate these cards in a live game. Bless you! WE HEAR YOU and are making increases to turn length right now.

2) Awarding points for Active Player. Right now the Active Player does not get points for matching the guess from their "helpers". In a casual game this really shouldn't matter, since hopefully they're all trying to create the best memory that they can. However, a person who just wants to "mess with" the other players could deliberately sabotage the sentence, making for a truly random/disjointed memory. We are going to try (for a while) awarding a point to BOTH the Active Player and the "helpers" for each match that they make. This gives the both sides an incentive to get "on the same page" in their choices, and allows for a LOT of points to be possible for the Active Player. Unfortunately, this can be "gamed" as well, with someone deliberately not choosing someone's guess so they don't get a point and possibly win the game, but this is already unavoidable. Again, I don't play that way, but there's no way to stop it.

3) The "Best Memory" doesn't get anything. Right now they don't, and let me explain why. In the physical copy of the game there are TWO winners at the end of each game - the player(s) with the most points from guessing correctly, AND the "last sentence standing" at the end of the game. Sometimes you even get a "double-winner". We did it this way for exactly the reasons described above, to keep the system from being "gamey"/strategic by creating competing interests. It's a party game after all It works fine in physical form. But here's the problem. Brederic found that BGA's programming does not permit two simultaneous win conditions, so only the points leader technically "wins" right now. Best Memory is just "bragging rights" in the game's current form. However, we have heard your concerns and are going to TRY (for a while at least) a version where the "Best Memory" in the last round gets 2 bonus points! (And if you're wondering why not a point per round it is "best", it is because this would disadvantage the later/last players.) Trust me, we've considered a lot of options and there is no way to please everyone, but we will try this for a while and see what happens. Regrettably, this can become "gamey" (is that even a word?) as well, and COULD make someone deliberately vote for a worse sentence if it will help assure their own victory Frankly, just don't do that. Be honest! It may also result in far fewer Active Players, in case of a tie, voting for the current Champ's memory, since it "means more" now. And on a personal note, for those players out there who cannot have a good time if they're not winning a lot, this is simply not the game for you. We get it Anyway, we can try this and see what happens.

4) We are trying to fix some misc bugs too, so please keep us posted as you find more. It is in "beta" remember. We're also hoping to add a fun enhancement to 3 player games.

PLEASE spread the word if you enjoy Remember When. (Shameless plug here.) We would SO love this game to get published one day, but that usually requires some "buzz" being generated here and at boardgamegeek (check us out there too!). And don't hesistate to keep asking questions and making suggestions. I truly love hearing from you guys. And if you absolutely hate the game just be gentle

Thanks again for all your support and encouragement!