Tuesday, March 31, 2015

#35: Show Manager



Showmanager

Mark's Ranking
  • 2014: 35th
  • 2012: 26th
  • 2010: 31st
  • 2005: 6th
  • appeared on all four lists
  • rank: 615
  • rating: 7.14
Print Status
  • in print
Why It's On The List
  • A wonderful card-drafting game that whips along at a breakneck pace and offers a consistently enjoyable gaming experience as the players cast (and miscast) theater productions.
Tips & Tricks:
  • You don't have to be a card counter to do well - but it is good to know what "9" cards are remaining in each show.
  • You do not have enough money - so you're going to have to accept that one of your four shows is going to be, well, a flop.
  • Use your flop show to borrow money - a common tactic is put on a flop, put it in the lowest point value city & then take the maximum amount of money out of the show.
Extras
  • While I'm very glad there is a reprint available (pictured above), I do want to note that the two included variants are not necessary to enjoy the game.
  • Thankfully, the inferior version of the game (Atlantic Star) is out of print. 
  • Showmanager scales really well for 3-6 players... I'm least fond of 4 but it still works well.
  • Here's what I wrote about Showmanager for The One Hundred.

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2 comments:

  1. Dave Vander Ark4:53 PM

    I read that comment about Atlantic Star being inferior fairly often, and I don't necessarily agree with it.

    Quite frankly, I don't feel that much difference between the two games. I have always played by Show manager's rules for cards in hand at the end of the game. When you can seamlessly house-rule the earlier rule into the game, it's not inferior. Are you going to cite the card mix? I can't say that I notice it making enough of a difference on gameplay that I would call AS inferior.

    I also prefer the nautical theme and artwork on the cards over the silly actors, and dumb theme that we're all going to complete the same plays in the same city doesn't make sense, either.

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  2. Dave Vander Ark4:55 PM

    Wow, the last sentence in my comment doesn't make sense! That's what happens when you edit yourself in two different directions.

    It should read "I also prefer the nautical theme and artwork on the cards over the silly actors and dumb theme that we're all going to produce the same plays in the same cities."

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