Doctor Faust

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Doctor Faust
Game material
Game material
Game data
author Reinhold Wittig
graphic Klaus Albrecht , Torsten Schöps ,
Reinhold Wittig
publishing company Blatz games
Publishing year 1993
Art Board game
Teammates 2
Duration 45 minutes
Age from 12 years

Awards

Doctor Faust is a board game for two people by Reinhold Wittig that was published in 1993 by the Berlin game publisher Blatz Spiele . It is a re-implementation of the game Rufus , which he published in his own edition Guinea Fowl in 1988 , which he reworked himself and which he also brought out in 1990 as Doctor Faust in the Edition Guinea Fowl. In 1994 the game was awarded the special prize "Schöne Spiel" by the jury of the game of the year for its material and design .

Furnishing

The game Doctor Faust consists of a game board designed with quotations from Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , two red and two blue glass stones (devil stones), a crystal clear pyramid (soul pyramid), eleven soul cards and two sets of eight devil cards each in blue and Red.

In terms of game mechanics , Doctor Faust is a racing game. Thematically, two devils play against each other for the soul of Dr. Fist . They hinder each other by laying out devil cards, while at the same time trying to get the largest possible share of Faust's soul through the soul pyramid and soul cards.

Style of play

Components of the board game Doctor Faust

To prepare for the game, the game board is spread out in the middle of the table and the soul pyramid is placed on the starting field of Dr. Fist placed. The many devil stones are placed on the designated starting spaces and the two players agree on their game color. The cards with the red devil's claw and those with the blue devil's foot are distributed accordingly and the game pieces are assigned to the players accordingly. The soul cards are arranged according to their values ​​from 3 to 13 as an open pile next to the game board. Finally, a starting player is determined who takes the first move.

The players take turns playing and can bet seven points on each turn. You can move one of your own pieces forwards clockwise (one point per space) or move the glass pyramid forward clockwise (one point per space). The pyramid may not overtake fields on which there are player pieces, but may end there. In addition, once per turn a player may place a devil card for one point next to any field that has no other card. The devil cards have odd and even numbers, with an arrow pointing forward on the even number cards and one pointing backwards on the odd cards. If a player comes on his turn with his player piece on a space with an opposing devil card, the turn ends and the remaining turns are forfeited; the player must also immediately move his stone forward or backward according to the card.

Through their turns, players try to get soul cards, which they receive when:

  • your token ends at the end of your turn exactly on a space on which the soul pyramid is located. This is also the case when this is done due to an opponent's straight devil card. If he comes to the space of the soul pyramid when moving backwards (odd devil card), the player does not receive a soul card.
  • ends the soul pyramid at the end of your turn on a space with your own or an opponent's token. If the soul pyramid comes to a space on which both players have one stone each, they receive a soul card and both players have to place their stone next to the second devil stone.
  • the soul pyramid is switched to the opposite lane in its turn at the end of a lane.

The first and second option can also be combined, so a player can receive two soul cards in one turn. Whenever a player has received a soul card according to one of the first two options, he withdraws his own devil stone and places it on the space of his second stone. If the soul pyramid lands at the end of the turn on a space on which both of a player's pieces are located, the game ends immediately. In this case, the player whose turn it was receives all remaining soul cards if the two opposing stones are on the field, and the opponent receives all remaining soul cards if they are his own stones. If all four stones are on the field, the game also ends and neither player receives the remaining cards.

The game ends when all soul cards have been used up and given to both players. The players add up the values ​​of the soul cards won and add the total of all unused uneven devil cards in their hand and on the game board. The total of all unused even devil cards in hand and on the game board is deducted from this total. The player who then has the most points wins the game.

Development and reception

In 1988 the game designer Reinhold Wittig from Göttingen published the game Rufus as a racing game in the publisher Edition Perlhuhn, which he founded . After a thematic revision, he published the game again as Doctor Faust in 1990 with Edition Guinea Fowl, before moving it to the Berlin publisher Blatz Spiele in 1993 .

The jury for the game of the year justifies its decision as follows:

“The literature is full of stuff that the games are made of - or could be. Unfortunately, there are often walls between the two forms of expression of human culture that make an exchange practically impossible. DOCTOR FAUST by Reinhold Wittig is a prime example that shows what could arise if literature and games were mutually beneficial. In this game, the obstacle-laden hunt for Faust's soul - represented here by a soul pyramid moving across the game board - is implemented. Four devils chase this soul, whereby the players try either to reach the space of the soul pyramid with their own devil stone or to move the pyramid themselves onto the space of their own or another's devil stone. At every “encounter” there are soul cards with hourglass and points. DOCTOR FAUST not only offers tactical options, but also impresses with its presentation, which is consistent in every detail and adapted to the Faust story. The devil stones made of red and blue glass, the transparent soul pyramid, the illustrations and the "Faust" quotes are a visual delight. For this reason, it was awarded the Special Prize in 1994 with the Beautiful Game. "

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Instructions for use Doctor Faust , Blatz Spiele 1994
  2. ^ Versions of Doctor Faust in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English); accessed on November 4, 2018.
  3. ↑ Doctor Faust on the website of the Spiel des Jahres eV; accessed on November 4, 2018.

Web links