HIGHLIGHTS AMONG GAMES

 

DICKE LUFT IN DER GRUFT

 

Vampires at Dawn

 

Sieh an, sieh an, die Gruft ist leer,

nun schnell hinein und Deckel zu,

auch keine Ratte haust hier mehr.

So find ich endlich meine Ruh’.

(Einstimmungsgedicht der Spielregel)

 

After a first look at the rules our readers are instantly reminded of the established memory system, the indefatigable Ravensburger mainstay from 1959. From that moment on this way to play has achieved enormous popularity worldwide, due to, of course, very good reasons. For one thing, pure memo games are easy to learn and, for another, are suitable for practically any generation. You need not be a born games expert to turn over often very colorful tiles with your children and grandchildren and to search for two identical ones. An ability to concentrate and good memory are the deciding factors. And those abilities of children are often superior to those of adults. The first ingenious idea came to Swiss citizen William Heinrich Hurter already in 1946 when he took a self-made picture placement game to London for his grandchildren. Only when he returned to Switzerland did he seriously consider publication. Exact research of game historians has revealed though that the idea of searching for face-down pairs of images can be traced back to the 16th century. A game mechanism called „Kai-awase“ was traced in Japan. In 19th century  England and USA similar ways to play have appeared under the names  of „Pelmanism“, „Pairs“ and „Concentration“. [aus: WIN July 2004, HK] The modern master piece that is presented here as a jewel among games is called „Dicke Luft in der Gruft“ and features corresponding crypt covers - and you are guaranteed to find them in Leopoldsdorf im Marchfeld, at the Austrian Games Museum. www.spielen.at

 

Dear reader! The first light of dawn is purest horror for true vampires; Frightened to Undeath by those rays you can only dive into cool darkness. But when one has barely managed to find a nice crypt, uups, another Vampire is occupying it! Only if you keep your cool and don’t lose your countenance among garlic bulbs, rats and wooden stakes will you find a peaceful resting place till dusk. With those words players are prepared for half an hour of nerve-racking search for a quiet resting place in Norbert Proena wonderfully bleak memory thriller. You must lay to rest all of your own vampires in the sixty graves of the square graveyard. But this is not easy at all, as you first must open the crypt covers decorated with bat coats of arms and check the colors of the insides of the covers. Mesmerized, all stare at the cover of each resting place, because in a few minutes they might have a chance to find a correct resting place for one of their own vampires. Well, that’s how the world of vampires looks in Norbert Proena’s creation fro, 2004. The game components are excellent, too, from the double card board tableau holding the graves, the harmonious design of the vampire’s graveyard to the vampires drawn to fit children’s tastes. And especially laudable: There is practically no downtime, on the contrary one seems permanently to be one step away from a lucky opening of a grave. The speed of playing fits the mechanism excellently. The crypt layout with its crossroads and the 60 indentions gives you a nearly real experience of being buried. What more can you expect from a family game?!

 

Comments to: hugo.kastner@chello.at               

Homepage: www.hugo-kastner.at

 

RECOMMENDATION # 88

Players: 2-6

Age: 6+

Designer: Norbert Proena

Art: Victor Boden

Time: 20+

Price: ca. 30 Euro

Year: 2004

Publisher: Zoch Verlag

www.zoch-verlag.com

    

Memory: 7 von 9

Info±: 0 von 9

Chance: 2 von 9

 

“Dicke Luft in der Gruft” is a more or less 100% memo game, and yet I have given two rings to the element of chance in the game, as a lucky hand for turning up the right grave cover should not be underestimated.

 

Hugos EXPERT TIP

 

What kind of tactic should I use to lay my vampires to rest? Three ideas shall be given to you: (1) Try to keep to a certain plan when uncovering crypts, even when other players snatch graves from under your nose. (2) Place your garlic bulbs with care, because they close a crypt not only for your opponents, but also for yourself. (3) Stay relaxed. After a hard day at work a failure in looking for graves seems predestined! And don’t leave the table, even for seconds, or else all will be gone from short memory storage - believe me!

 

Hugos FLASHLIGHT

 

Dicke Luft in der Gruft is a wonderful family game, in the literal sense of the word; most fun is had by all when young and old try together to bury their vampires; with children, especially with those under 10 years of age a scary-nice atmosphere develops which can result in cheerful whoops when opponents uncover a garlic bulb in there nearly desperate search for an empty grave - then the air gets really bad!

 

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