Isla Dorada- trash or treasure?

Michael Barnes wrote: Thanks Bull, I'll look into it...that's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for right now, games that got lost while everybody was scrambling for Arkham Horror expansions and zombie games. And I am also looking for those "new old fashioned" titles like what Von Tush has been mentioning, games that have the spirit of the Euro family games but are post-1980s/1990s.

I like the "hidden treasures" thread idea. I wonder if you could really restrict it to ERP prospects without getting into a big semantics argument though.

2001 - Genoa
2006 - Bison
2008 - Aquaretto
2010 - Workshop of the World

Those have remained on our short list of keepers. Genoa and Aquaretto were pretty popular but seem to have faded, although they're still solid games that have aged very well. Bison and WotW weren't popular that I remember and seem to have been largely overlooked. If the hidden treasures thread gets going maybe I'll repost and elaborate a little more on each game.

I've looked at Paris Connection a few times, but after Chicago Express fell pretty flat with everyone I played it with I got leery about Paris Connection and haven't looked at it since.

You know, I was kind of thinking that Isla sounded like Elfenland...which is one of those "maybe not forever shelf" ones. I like the looks of it, but it does look like something I wouldn't necessarily want to keep around for long so I'm probably going to pass on it.

I like Chicago Express...I traded for it once, had it for like a week, but an offer came up and I flipped it again. I've played the IOS version (Wabash Cannonball) a bunch.

Genoa is great, I do need to get that one again...it really requires heavy negotiators though since everything in the game is a tradable commodity. I haven't seen the newer edition anywhere, I had the old Alea one. Which was really not like the other Alea games at the time at all.

Aquaretto I'll eventually get. Kids already like Zooloretto.

Been meaning to look at Bison...found one for $15 shipped (!) so I'm grabbing it. I really like Native American themes.

Workshop of the World...is it close at all to Canalmania?

We played Aquaretto when it was originally released, but gave up on it quickly because it's pretty screwed up. The fish collection strategy ("keeper" bonus points) will crush any other strategy, if memory serves.

The newer edition of Genoa is huge compared to the Alea one. It has slightly nicer components, but the box is about Cyclades / Tales of the Arabian Nights size. Completely unnecessary. Functionally the same though.

I haven't played Canal Mania but from what I understand Canal Mania is more closely related to games like Ticket to Ride, while Workshop is more of an auction/valuation game.

Re: Aquaretto fish strategy: You can screw with that strategy just as well as you can screw with the other strategies. A player working the fish strategy shouldn't have a lot of extra coin for add-on boards, so mess with him by loading the fish animals on carts with other animals he can't use, or with animals of the types he wants without the fish icon (which he will have to place). Always target the leader(s) when you're crapping up the animal carts.

The ERP: the new face of board game addiction?

But, my friend, this is value gaming. Total outlay for my last three acquisitions (including Bison)- about $50. I was going to buy those Diskwars expansions, but that was going to be $50 right there.

Starting a "lost treasures" thread...

Michael Barnes wrote: But, my friend, this is value gaming. Total outlay for my last three acquisitions (including Bison)- about $50.

"Value gaming" is playing one of the hundred games you already HAVE; no matter how cheaply you pick up a game, it's not "value" unless you're getting more out of playing it than you would've gotten out of everything else. It's just sucking value from the rest of your collection instead.

wadenels wrote: The newer edition of Genoa is huge compared to the Alea one. It has slightly nicer components

No way; Alea edition is much nicer, new edition is super unnecessarily cluttered. Sweet game...not really a good one for families, though. It's kind of in that El Grande weight class: not complicated enough / too interactive to be a post-PoF-style Euro, but too vicious and heavy to be a true family game.

Edit: "Cluttered" was the wrong word; ugly and confusing is more like it. I feel completely lost looking at that board; there was no need for CG art, no need for all the buildings having distracting shadows, and especially no need to replace every piece in the game, including the wooden cubes, with cardboard chits that all look the same.

To me the ERP seems like a good jumping off point, to quit or take a long hiatus from the buying end of the hobby. It is, as I think you pointed out in one of your ERP reviews, something like a Fuck you to all the crap (good or bad) that is being cranked out these days faster than you can keep up. who can keep up with kickstarter etc? atleast the ERP games are tested by time and many plays... It makes sense. but like with AT and hybrids, maybe there are only a few euros that truly belong on the forever shelf?