Cheapass was, within its field, downright subversive in its time. In the days between when Magic: The Gathering introduced the game you never quite finished buying and companies like Days of Wonder were conducting their “German experiment” to see if the American market would continue to support new titles at the price point established by the early imports, Cheapass had the gall to point out that markers were essentially all the same. In doing this, he (because let’s face it, Cheapass was pretty much James Ernest’s solo flight) pulled the wool off my eyes and revealed that, given a nice set of Icehouse pyramids with glass stones in matching colors, I already owned many of the games on my wishlist for all intents and purposes. The reason for the Cheapass model was to eliminate the redundant expenses and in so doing make operating a small press viable.

This is why I wouldn’t want game companies to start packing poker chips into every game. If trying to separate paper bills from each other bugs me (and if the slickly finished bills used in Dice Town were to become the norm, paper money might shake its bad reputation), I’d rather supply chips myself than have every game title add yet another 10 bucks to its price tag. It’s very similar to the way that small new publishers in the 70’s and 80’s managed to bring epic battles to the marketplace through the use of the cardboard chit. (One of the most nastily amusing comments I ever read in a game forum shot down a complaint that an SPI game had no plastic miniatures by suggesting that the box should have had a disclaimer reading “Warning: Imagination Not Included”) It looks like Cheapass is folding up the tent now as James Ernest moves into glossier publishing (which brings up another apparently soon-to-be-missed company but that's another post) but as much as I appreciate a dazzlingly produced game, I’m glad he was there to prove that not every game had to follow the same production model. I’m a big fan of Spree! And thanks for the idea of raiding my copy of Dread Pirate for Captain Treasure Boots; I can’t believe I forgot about that.

 I could hear your surprise (and outrage) at the actions of the Canadian and U.S. governments in banning the practice of Potlatch. I'd like to cast more light on the subject. Our modern society has an overly romanticized view of native cultures that largely glosses over its unsavory elements. The usual, current interpretations of the Potlatch paint it as essentially a celebration of generosity and altruism. But it was viewed very differently in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was judged to be a form of  compulsory communism. The Potlatch was more than just a social event: it was the foundation of their politico-economic system. At a time when Western leaders were fighting a global climate of communist rebellions, the Potlatch economy was viewed as a challenge to capitalism. Not simply a communal ceremony, it was seen as a despotic redistribution of wealth, wherein titles and social standing were dependent upon obligatory forfeiture of property. It fostered and sustained poverty, indebtedness, and squander. Furthermore, it often involved destruction of property and even slaying of slaves. In fact, because the Potlatch reinforced the class system and maintained a cycle of destitution, its ban had support from many natives.

In the same way that we denounce communism today, the Potlatch system was condemned a century ago. I'm not defending the "white man's" practice of forced assimilation, I just hope that explains the mindset behind the Potlatch bans. In any case, I'm really hoping to get a copy of the game, along with several others from Mr. Clowdus, most notably Dirge and Temple.

Being one of your devoted Canadian listeners, I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on the new sponsors and to let everyone know what a great company Starlit Citadel is!   I have placed several orders with them in the past and have always been impressed with their level of service.  Prompt, courteous, and always happy to answer your questions, they are a pleasure to deal with.  And I would also agree that up here in the great white north you would be hard pressed to find better prices.

In fact, I just received my last order from them only three days ago, and it arrived so quickly I was shocked to see it in my mailbox already!  These guys are great! So go check them out Eh?

Great to see you giving some love to the small publishers - not so good that I now have two more games on my want list.

Given that Small Box games work on limited print runs, what do you say to getting a bunch of Spiel listeners together to submit one big 'Spiel order' for a special run.

I'm in ! Anyone else ?

[Can I play it on the toilet?]

Worthy of note, by the way, is the fact that there is also a Kachina iPhone Application:

It's quite a nice implementation although it only plays solo (currently there are no AIs to pit your wits against nor any online play). Still it's an interesting exercise in scoring points and gives a good flavour of the game.

Actually, you did not mention it in the show but it seems the game does lend well to a solo 'puzzle'. The app plays with 30 tiles and your hand size is three - my top score so far is 119 but I keep improving :-)

Obviously the final word goes to the couple that submitted the Sommelier idea, but I have to give a conditional thumbs down to the 10 Days series.

The problem is, even though the person playing only had use of one hand, the little player in hand has full use of both hands! It won't take long before that little crying/sleeping/eating bundle adds the grabbing skill, and then the order of your tiles might be a little harder to maintain. I think I would avoid games where one quick lunge (they are fast!) can cause a restart.

On the bowl of random pawn pieces; It made me think of one game - Monopoly. Perhaps everyone will come back and tell me that Monopoly started out using little generic color coded plastic pawns, but I think one of the things that led to Monopoly's success was the varied player pieces. How many people have that one piece that they just have to use? Horse? Race Car? Not the iron (say it's not the iron)...

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you know that I've posted my feedback on #88 over at Go Forth and Game, my new gaming blog.  Everyone come on over and check it out and let me know what you think.

tomg