Game 80: Wykersham

 We bought this game about 20 years ago, back when my parents had a small place near the Monterey Coast and our boys were little.  We would take a day trip into Carmel-by-the-Sea where, for me, the draw was not the beach but rather the game store.  I've always been drawn to beautiful woodwork as well as to games, so once I set eyes upon this game I wanted it desperately.  If you take a look at the photograph posted 3 down from here you'll see what we paid 20 years ago when we were pretty much flat broke.  I can't believe David ever said "OK" to this!  Now you can get it for less than $25 on ebay (which tells you something!).  The board is elegantly crafted, which makes it feel satisfying to play with, but I haven't yet really been delighted with the game itself - alas.  David and I did get it out again about a week ago, and I'm ready to give it a few more tries to see if I can make something of the strategy and yet develop a taste for it.

As mentioned above, this is the original price - back when we had no money and when games simply didn't cost anywhere near this much.  The fine craftsmanship lured me in big time!

 Here's David taking this on again for the first time in over a decade.  On each turn you roll two dice, and you place marbles according to the results of the roll.  You never add the results of the roll.  You can place a marble and then slide the bar (that that marble is in) by one space left or right, and then you place a second marble (and slide that bar if desired).  You never have to slide a bar, but if you do, you have to place a marble in the bar you will be sliding before you slide it.
 You score by getting 5 marbles in a row, but it only counts if you slid into that position that turn.  You can have more than one marble in a spot, but different colors may not share a spot (except in the central bar which does not slide).
 Other than the craftsmanship, the thing that lured me into buying this game was the story behind it, which is related in the direction booklet - having to do with two men, Sham and Wyker playing a game of "Slides" on a private yacht off the coast of Nantucket in 1880 and dying when the ship went down in a storm.  I'm not sure what about that drew me in, but I can tend to have a dark side  .  .  .
Well, we'll give it a few more tries and see what we think.  Maybe we just haven't put sufficient thought into strategy (though normally strategy comes pretty naturally to us).

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