Board Game Arena

During the bidding phase, the display box doesn't show how much $ left each person has. It should.

No, it shouldn't.

Nowhere in the rules does it say that the amount of money people have is public knowledge. In fact, in the bidding section, there is a tip to players,

rules wrote:Keep your money secret!

Jest Phulin wrote: ↑17 December 2019, 06:38 No, it shouldn't.

Nowhere in the rules does it say that the amount of money people have is public knowledge. In fact, in the bidding section, there is a tip to players,

rules wrote:Keep your money secret!

Interesting! When we play in real life we keep our money out on the table so people can look at how much you have and decide what to bid.

banished wrote: ↑17 December 2019, 16:19 Interesting! When we play in real life we keep our money out on the table so people can look at how much you have and decide what to bid.

Yeah same here, it never occurred to me that the money should be hidden - there are no player shields or anything. And fiddling with your components to make symmetrical shapes is a must have on my tabletop.

Given all the starting money and bids are open knowledge it's just a case of some rudimentary maths and a good memory to keep track. So it would seem like a needlessly excessive rule that doesn't make much sense. Needlessly excessive rules are never welcome in my house

While I agree that all information leading to the current state is public (starting money, how much has been spent), it is not uncommon in games to have this information hidden later. In Hawaii, resources are kept hidden even though starting, earnings and costs are public. In Jaipur, the number of initial camels can be determined but that number is hidden later. (Heck, by the end of the day, chances of the player holding on to any of their initial cards are slim, so the opponent should have seen their entire hand.) Points earned from shipping in Puerto Rico are hidden, even though they're given publicly.

The point is, just because something can be determined doesn't mean it should be displayed.

I think I have a similar feeling about the camels in Jaipur, but not quite as much as For Sale. In For Sale the bidding mechanic is is pretty much the whole game. In Puerto Rico it doesn't really matter too much, players are simply going to get as many points as possible anyway, if anything it may help to stop AP and kingmaking-like decisions.

Just because it's an official rule of the game, doesn't mean it's good. Being the main 'rule enforcer' type player that I have to be at home (no one else likes reading rule booklets) - defending needless rules is very low down on my list of things I enjoy during a game.

With BGA, I've now played both rule versions of For Sale. I think I prefer the money open version, seems less controversial and allows some nice strategic play for all no matter how bad your memory is.

RicardoRix wrote: ↑17 December 2019, 23:59 Just because it's an official rule of the game, doesn't mean it's good.

I can agree with that.

Not that anyone is necessarily doing it, but it probably wouldn't be too hard to create a screen reader (or maybe there's an api) and then a program that calculates how much people have at any given time. This person would have a huge advantage over those without that information. Making this viewable to all easily defeats this and doesn't sacrifice anything.

I know top players are keeping track of hidden info and that is why it should be shown.

What's the difference then between making your money public and your won cards, and points? If the justification for open money is because it's open info, then the same could be argued for making cards won at auction and sold cards also open info. But that spoils the game.

People who put in extra attention to what happened in the game should not be discouraged by making info available for those who don't want to exert effort at all.