I haven’t even played Funkenschlag yet, but I’m determined to create a better map for it. The plastic map and the crayons are just too annoying.
Today I did some tests to figure out how to make a better map. To be more precise, what material to use to cover the printed map which I will mount to a thick cardboard.
I bought some self-adhesive plastic roll (“kontaktimuovi” for Finnish speakers), which seems to be the best material to coat the map with. The problem was to find a suitable pen that would leave an impression and would be easy to remove. I bought two overhead projector pens, permanent and non-permanent and tried them.
The non-permanent is perfect, it seems. It doesn’t wear off with light rubbing (so touching it is ok unless you sweat a lot), unless you add water and then it comes off easily. Which makes it a rather good solution. Pack of four pens in correct colours (the typical black, red, green and blue — finding yellow and brown will be harder but I’ve heard the game is best with four) with fine tip is relatively cheap, too.
Now I’m just wondering if I should do all this before I play my first game or after. If the game is bad, I’ve lost some money and lots of effort (but then again, I can sell the game and the new equipment helps to raise the price a bit so my loss would probably be just the effort). In any case the better components should make the experience better — it could be easier to “sell” the game to other players if it has nicer components.
3 responses to “Project Funkenschlag”
Make this effort AFTER playing your first game. I played it twice and sold it after our second game took four hours to complete.
Its an interesting game, but the rules as printed mean it can slow down badly in the mid-game. Play the variant that allows you to go through the powerplants more quickly. It should speed the game up at a minor cost to strategy.
I didnt think it was worth even trying the variant and sold it with the laminated board and OHP markers.
If you must make the effort, try the modular boards you can download in PDF from the Geek.
You certainly seem to be sceptical. From reading the rules it seems quite intriguing, though. Dunno, dunno. I was planning to first try the short game anyway to try and see how that feels. I wonder if it is a satisfying experience in itself, so maybe I could play the short game until I have a table full of players who know the game and then try the long game. Also, playing with four players seems to be a reasonable maximum.
The game sure seems to have some problems. Perhaps these are just the things that separate the great ideas dreamt up by brilliant designers from great ideas by brilliant designers edited by brilliant editors. Akke Monasso sure seems to like the game the way it’s written, but you’re not the only one to advocate the changes. I’ll see about it in about two weeks, hopefully.
Your right about the ideas that need editing point. It’s almost a superb game, but the ideas needed a bit more development. No game that advertises itself as taking two hours should last four.
Similarly, there is a big problem with the raw materials market. They tell you not to buy materials you don’t need as it slows the game down, but that is an obvious strategy as you can use it to screw your opponents.