Donkey Bridge (game)

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Donkey bridge
Game data
author Stefan Dorra ,
Ralf zur Linde
graphic Michael Menzel
publishing company Schmidt Games
Publishing year 2011
Art Board game
Teammates 3–6 or 6–12 (in teams)
Duration about 45 minutes
Age from 8 years

Awards

Eselsbrücke is a board game by Stefan Dorra and Ralf zur Linde with illustrations by Michael Menzel . The game was published for the first time in 2011 by Schmidt Spiele , edited by Thorsten Gimmler, and in 2012 it was nominated for the “ Game of the Year ” award.

Game idea

In mnemonic is about to be formed from three or more terms a short story that the players as " mnemonic to serve." If the players remember the terms correctly a few rounds later, they receive victory points , but vice versa there can be penalty points for wrong or missing memories.

The game material includes:

  • 180 picture plates with terms
  • 30 stop tokens
  • 6 boards for players / teams
  • 1 " thought bubble "
  • 1 wooden donkey figure
  • 1 burlap sack

In April 2012 the game appeared in a new edition with some rule changes. Among other things, the penalty point rules - which many players perceived as too drastic - were toned down and the number of rounds for normal play was reduced to six. The process described below is based on the new edition of the game.

Game flow

The game is played with 180 picture tiles, each showing a specific concept. In turn, the players draw three tiles face down and use the terms to create a story that is as memorable as possible. For example, a player could use the terms traffic jam , Snow White and Three to tell the following story (example from the instructions): “At our school, the theater group played the play Snow White and the Three Dwarfs yesterday . Sure, there should actually be seven dwarfs, but the other dwarfs got stuck in a traffic jam and did not come to the performance in time. ”The player then puts the used tiles face down as a pile on his storage board.

In the third and fourth round, the number of terms that have to be linked by a story increases. In addition, the donkey bridges of the first rounds are now dissolved: one after the other, each player distributes the tiles from his story individually and face down to the other players. With the assigned tile as a reminder, they must now name a different term from the same story. If they succeed in doing this, they receive one victory point for it, otherwise they have to give up victory points already gained as a penalty. If the other players have been able to list all the terms correctly, the storyteller also receives a reward for his successful "donkey bridge" in the form of a stop tile. This also counts as a victory point and also protects all of the victory points you have already collected.

In the fifth and sixth round, only the stories of the third and fourth round are resolved, but no new ones are told. The winner is whoever was able to collect the most victory points by the end of the game.

The original rules of the game provided for a game over seven rounds and higher penalties for mistakes, which made the game longer and more difficult with the same number of players. These rules are attached to the new edition as a "variant for experts" with appropriate game material.

Awards and reviews

In 2012 Eselsbrücke was nominated in the new edition for the award " Game of the Year ", the jury wrote in their statement:

“Donkey bridges make it possible to memorize certain facts. This well-known memory technique is taught in a particularly creative way in this family-friendly game with 180 lovingly drawn concept tiles. Inventing imaginative stories promotes communication and also makes people smile. The simplified rules of the revised and now excellent new edition should be emphasized. "

- Jury game of the year

In 2011 illustrator Michael Menzel was awarded the “ Graf Ludo ” for “Best Family Game Graphics ”.

The reviews of Eselsbrücke were positive to very positive. The reviewers described the game as an entertaining communication and party game, which, however, is mainly driven by the creativity of the fellow players and the willingness to tell original stories. In some reviews of the first edition, the penalty points were also found to be too high and therefore frustrating.

Creation of the game

Eselsbrücke is now the fourth game that emerged from the collaboration between the two authors Stefan Dorra and Ralf zur Linde. Their first joint game ranking was published by Hans im Glück in 2010 ; In this game, picture tiles are also an essential part of the game.

In an article on the history of the development of Eselsbrücke (see web links), author Ralf zur Linde wrote that he had the basic idea for the game back in 2007. In the original concept, however, the “donkey bridges” were only made up of two terms, which were then placed on the table as a hidden pile. If 20 to 30 such stacks were formed, a second phase of the game followed in which the players in turn had to reveal the top tile of a stack and name the other tile. However, the game turned out to be too easy in shape. In 2009, zur Linde presented its game concept by Stefan Dorra; he had the idea of ​​increasing the number of terms used. The dissolution of the donkey bridges by all players as well as the merging of the originally separate game phases into a round concept resulted from the joint further development. At Spiel '09 in Essen, the authors presented their game Thorsten Gimmler , also a game designer and product manager at Schmidt Spiele since 2005 ; a few weeks later he offered them a license agreement. During the following editorial revision, among other things, the " Kramer bar " previously used for counting points was replaced by a "more practicable" count using the guessed term tiles. In 2010, Schmidt Spiele engaged Michael Menzel for the graphic design and also decided to increase the number of picture tiles from the original 120 to 180. The game was finally presented in early 2011 at the Nuremberg Toy Fair .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rule changes of the new edition ( Memento of the original of July 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of author Stefan Dorra @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dorra-spiele.de
  2. ↑ Game of the Year: 2012 nomination list: Eselsbrücke
  3. ↑ Jörg Köninger: Review at cliquenabend.de from May 7, 2011
  4. ↑ Kathrin Nos: Review at das-piele.de from July 7, 2011
  5. ↑ Franky Bayer: Review by H @ LL9000 from December 23, 2011
  6. ↑ Brigitte Ditt: Review by Pöppelkiste
  7. ↑ Gabriele Orymek: Review and video description at spielkult.de
  8. ↑ Thomas Szombach: Review at ludowelt.de from October 8, 2012