HIGHLIGHTS AMONG GAMES
I’M THE BOSS
Sid Sackson’s Legacy
Dear readers! „I’m the Boss“ is a new edition of „Kohle, Kies & Knete“, nominated for Game of the Year 1994) and published by Schmidt, and one that must be gladly acclaimed as the original - as Knut-Michael Wolf, the editor of the first German edition blithely stated - „this is the best he [Sackson] has ever designed.
If you are familiar with some games from the master’s Œvre, but do not know „Kohle, Kies & Knete“ you will be able to join the gaming table with tension and a high degree of expectations from this negotiation poker.
The history of “I’m the Boss” goes back even further into the creative time of Sid Sackson. A not very presentable card game edition was published for the US-American market already back in the Eighties under the name of „It’s a Deal“. This was not really feasible for the German market and the rules very completely revised. Fortunately Schmidt was able to hire a meticulous dedicated professional in the person of Knut Michael Wolf to work on rules adaption adequate to the approach to games on this side of the Atlantic. Maybe I should rather use rules expansion or rules regeneration, as - and this is stated by the editor himself in an interview - his own contribution to a readable and catching introduction to this atypical Sackson game is rather formidable. Well, premature accolades are now given, so now we can confront the core question, the assessment of this new issue’s quality. [From: WIN March 2005, HK] You can come to your conclusion in Leopoldsdorf im Marchfeld, in the Austrian Games Museum. www.spielen.at.
A board with sixteen squares and one „dollar“ marker are lit up by the light of my lamp and entice you to turbulent investments. And as fun and wits are also present at the table the investor cards show corresponding names: Carolyn Cashman, Debra Dougherty, George Goldman, Lance Liebgeld (Dearmoney), Stephanie Sacks [ac accolade to Sid Sackson, HK] und Will Wadsworth.
Now, what is the aim of the game? To state it baldly, to amass money, to finalize deals with a profit, to embody the motto of the game’s title („I’m the Boss“), and, first and foremost, to have the most money at the end of the game.
Typically American, you might want to remark. Well, at least the world of financial transactions is mirrored in an interesting way. Any reputable player takes on the bank, but all players individually begin with empty purses. „I’m the Boss“ is powered by negotiations for every single dollar, by continuous, somewhat surprising insertions of cards that sent Lady Luck like a ping-pong ball here or there. You suffer more when more player friends are assembled at the table and lustily comment on missed mega deals of others with untrammeled gloating, when there are vociferous discussions, maybe supported with a conclusive argument in the guise of a surprise card. This takes us to the crucial point: „I’m the Boss“ is not a game for restrained, cogitating people, because there is barely time to think about the use of one card or the other, because everybody, really everybody, act all the time and simultaneously. The more temperament you use to manipulate small or large transaction, the more decisive you are the more you will entice your fellow players into improvident actions.
Total interaction is the trademark of this masterly game by Sid Sackson. Will there be enough at the end? Wait and see - there can only be one true tycoon!
Comments to: hugo.kastner@chello.at
Homepage: www.hugo-kastner.at
RECOMMENDATION # 89
Players: 3-5
Age: 12+
Designer: Sid Sackson
Art: William O’Connor
Time: 60+
Price: ca. 30 Euro
Year: 2003
Publisher: Face2Face Games
Tactic: 2 von 9
Info±: 4 von 9
Chance: 3 von 9
Regardless of how you plan your tactics to be successful you need, in addition to a lucky allocation of cards, you need investors and clan members provided by fellow players. And they do nothing for free! But this is business, when money is in play. The valuable support cards of your fellow players remain hidden until used, so business is always like walking a tightrope and nothing can top a decisive, last-minute, loud and masterly I’m the Boss, uttered at a deciding deal and with an American accent.
Hugos EXPERT TIP
Should you be looking for an improvement on „Kohle, Kies und Knete“ in this new edition of the game, you will look in vain. If you own the Schmidt edition you can pass on „I’m the Boss“. Okay, they offer a few small in-house versions, of which I like the one best which does not change the order of play when a Boss card is played.
Hugos FLASHLIGHT
Once you have experienced the pulsating, lively striving for a mega deal you will recommend „I’m the Boss“ to each none too cognitive group of players. The rather dry denomination of “negotiation game” does give no inkling of the inner dynamics in this master piece by Sid Sackson. So prepare for a turbulent evening, especially then loud, clever negotiations suit your character. „I’m the Boss“ is a sure winner for players with convincing arguments.
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Queen of Card Games