Yourturnmyturn.com

Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 13:51 Post subject: Game design - or?

Hello,

Admittedly, I don't have a great deal of experience with this game, but from the games I've played here it seems to me that the game mechanics has the problem that the lead only very rarely shifts, and the first player to lead by more than one island wins. I don't think I've seen an outcome that was not predicted by the score at the end of round one.
Am I playing it in some special "all-or-nothing" style, or is this a general problem with this game?

Thoughts, ideas, opinions or hints are welcome...

M

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 19:58 Post subject:

One thing I like about Kahuna is it's a good mix of skill and luck. An experienced player will almost always beat an inexperienced player, but a game between two experienced players is often a tense match that goes down to the wire.

I don't find that an early lead is terribly hard for the trailing player to overcome. Getting the point for winning the first round is important, but I've been involved in many games where the first-round leader did not win the game. Tactics like the "three card attack" (lift your opponents bridge with two cards, place your own bridge in the same spot with a third) can turn a board from mostly black to mostly white in an instant.

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:00 Post subject:

I agree with dclarke. I've lost a couple of games where I've had a 3 point lead at the end of the third round

What I suspect has been happening is that the second player is not being very aggressive. One of the important strategies is breaking down your opponents islands.

As dclarke mentioned, you can use three or four cards and swing the score quite quickly. This happens for 5 bridge islands where you have two and the opponent has 3. Flip one bridge and the score swings by two points, and the opponent loses two bridges. If that connects to another 5 bridge (say iffi and jojo) that you have a 2-3 split and you have the right fourth card - now the score flips 4 points and your opponent is out 4 bridges.
The key here is getting those two bridges in place and biding your time.

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 14:13 Post subject:

I also have to agree with dclarke and slic. I've won quite a few games where I was 3 points behind (ask slic about some of those games Very Happy

).

I've alos deliberatly choose to give the first point to my opponente if things were close, and I could see that I would come out ahead in round 2.

The first point is nice, but by no means the be-all-and-end-all of Kahuna.

Lars

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 20:53 Post subject:

Thanks for the replies.
I guess I'll just have to play it some more...

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 22:46 Post subject:

Well I would like to have 3 rounds of play, the same as the first, build all bridges, take score reset to no bridges and play 3 rounds. The total score wins. What can you do now when brridges are all built,duh..

You remove opponent's bridges and place your own. But it's rare for ALL bridges to be built even by the end of the second round when I've played it. And keeping the middle island throughout the game is nearly impossible.

I forgot the last time I played it tabletop at home that I could discard something face down just so I could take new cards too. That's a very good way to keep your opponent from getting that card in the third round that knocks you off an island entirely.