2007.06.20
Maharaja with four
Maharaja, one of several board games designed by the well-known Kramer / Kiesling duo, is a game I had only ever tried with two players until very recently. I’m very glad I did, because as a two-player game, it’s just not very good.
With only two players, it feels a little too much like a race game with very few options that matter. It’s also a little boring since there’s not a lot of incentive to head to cities that are far away – if a given city is currently inaccessible, it’s very likely that neither player will bother with it.
With four players, however, it’s a totally different game. The board is much more open, there are many more choices that can lead to victory, and the mechanics of turn order and city scoring order become much more relevant.
Jason, Chris, Dave, and I all pursued different strategies, and the game wound up being quite close. I was surprised at how many times Dave generated a substantial amount of income when other people traveled through villages he controlled. It was a lot more money than I would have expected.
My strategy was a little more focused on manipulation of the city order, but I just didn’t generate enough income quite quickly enough to keep up with Chris and his infernal “oh, it only costs 9 for me to build a palace” ways.
I would definitely play it with 4 or 5 players, but I don’t think it would work as well with three, and with only two players, there are so many other games I would rather play that I don’t think this would have much of a chance of hitting the table. According to what I’ve read on the geek, the sweet spot seems to be 4-5 people, and I would tend to agree.
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