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Barbarossa (board game)
Encyclopedia
Barbarossa is a plasticine
-shaping German-style board game
for 3 to 6 players, designed by Klaus Teuber
in and published in 1988
by Kosmos
in German and by Rio Grande Games
in English. Barbarossa won the 1988 Spiel des Jahres
award.
) track. Further in there is a circular track with twelve marked spaces on it, and in the center there is a space for sculptures. Later editions of the game change the shape of the board but not its contents.
At the start of the game, each player chooses two objects from a list provided and creates plasticine sculptures of each, and places them in the middle of the board. Each player places on the board three tokens: a magician
, a witches' hat
and an Elfstone. The hats are placed on the scoring track; the elfstones are placed on the elfstone track, and the magicians are placed on the space marked "A". Each player receives three curse tokens.
Players then take turns as follows: They may begin either by rolling a six-sided die
and moving their magician that many spaces, or by forfeiting their roll and instead spending elfstones to move. After they roll or spend elfstones, what happens next depends on the space they land on:
Elfstone (4)
Dragon
(3)
Ghost
(1)
Dwarf (2)
Question mark
(2)
At any point, a player may spend a curse token to either ask a player for a letter (as if they had landed on a dwarf) or to guess an object (as if they had landed on a question mark, but without the questions). Once a player has spent their first three curse tokens, and five curse tokens have been spent, they may take three more tokens - so any given player may spend six tokens during the course of the game.
When a player reaches the end of the scoring track, or when 13 (3-4 players) or 17 (5-6 players) flags have been placed, the game ends. Each player loses two points for each of their objects which only got one flag, and five points for each of their objects which did not get any flags. The player with the highest score wins.
, has a significant appeal to young players. However, since the game rewards players whose sculptures are guessed later in the game, the best sculptures are not necessarily those made by the best sculptor - but more likely those made by the best riddler. That, together with the spend-or-roll mechanic which reduces the impact of luck, make the game interesting for serious gamers.
Plasticine
Plasticine, a brand of modelling clay, is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. The name is a registered trademark of Flair Leisure Products plc...
-shaping German-style board game
German-style board game
German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...
for 3 to 6 players, designed by Klaus Teuber
Klaus Teuber
Klaus Teuber is a German designer of board games. He won the Spiel des Jahres award four times, for The Settlers of Catan, Barbarossa, Drunter und Drüber and Adel Verpflichtet. He retired from his profession as a dental technician to become a full-time game designer in 1999. , he lives in ...
in and published in 1988
1988 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1988. For video and console games, see 1988 in video gaming....
by Kosmos
Kosmos (game publisher)
Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. is a media publishing house based in Stuttgart, Germany, founded in 1822 by Johann Friedrich Franckh. In the nineteenth century the company published the fairy tales of Wilhelm Hauff as well as works by Wilhelm Waiblinger and Eduard Mörike.The "Friends of Nature...
in German and by Rio Grande Games
Rio Grande Games
Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games.-History:...
in English. Barbarossa won the 1988 Spiel des Jahres
Spiel des Jahres
The Spiel des Jahres is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the stated purpose of rewarding excellence in game design, and promoting top-quality games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award is one of the major drivers of the quality...
award.
Gameplay
The game is played on a circular board, with three tracks running around it. Around the outside are the scoring track and the elfstone (moneyMoney
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
) track. Further in there is a circular track with twelve marked spaces on it, and in the center there is a space for sculptures. Later editions of the game change the shape of the board but not its contents.
At the start of the game, each player chooses two objects from a list provided and creates plasticine sculptures of each, and places them in the middle of the board. Each player places on the board three tokens: a magician
Magician (fantasy)
A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
, a witches' hat
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
and an Elfstone. The hats are placed on the scoring track; the elfstones are placed on the elfstone track, and the magicians are placed on the space marked "A". Each player receives three curse tokens.
Players then take turns as follows: They may begin either by rolling a six-sided die
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
and moving their magician that many spaces, or by forfeiting their roll and instead spending elfstones to move. After they roll or spend elfstones, what happens next depends on the space they land on:
Elfstone (4)
- The player gains one elfstone - this is recorded by moving their elfstone token one space forward along the elfstone track. Players may not gain more than 13 elfstones.
Dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
(3)
- Each other player gains one point - this is recorded by moving their hat token one space forward along the scoring track
Ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
(1)
- Each other player gains two points.
Dwarf (2)
- The player may ask an opponent for a letter from the name of their object. The player can specify which letter - e.g. "first", "second" or "last". The opponent writes down the letter and passes it to the player. If the player asks for a letter which is not in the name of the object, they are given an empty sheet of paper.
Question mark
Question mark
The question mark , is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence in English and many other languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions...
(2)
- The player may ask two sets of questions about the opponents' objects. The player asks (out loud) one opponent a yes/no questionYes-no questionIn linguistics, a yes–no question, formally known as a polar question, is a question whose expected answer is either "yes" or "no". Formally, they present an exclusive disjunction, a pair of alternatives of which only one is acceptable. In English, such questions can be formed in both positive...
. The opponent must (truthfully) answer "Yes", "No", "Possibly", or "I Don't Know". The player may continue to ask questions until the answer is "No". The player then asks a second set of questions, again until they get the answer "No". The two sets of questions do not have to be about the same object, or to the same opponent. The player then has an opportunity to guess any object, by writing down their guess and passing it to the opponent. If the guess is wrong, the opponent says "No". If it is correct, they say "Yes" and the player sticks a flag into the object's sculpture.
- The first player to correctly guess an object gets 5 points, and the second gets 3. The opponent whose object is guessed either gains or loses points, depending on how many players are playing and how many objects have already been correctly guessed.
At any point, a player may spend a curse token to either ask a player for a letter (as if they had landed on a dwarf) or to guess an object (as if they had landed on a question mark, but without the questions). Once a player has spent their first three curse tokens, and five curse tokens have been spent, they may take three more tokens - so any given player may spend six tokens during the course of the game.
When a player reaches the end of the scoring track, or when 13 (3-4 players) or 17 (5-6 players) flags have been placed, the game ends. Each player loses two points for each of their objects which only got one flag, and five points for each of their objects which did not get any flags. The player with the highest score wins.
Game interest
The plasticine-shaping aspect of the game, similar to Rapidough or SculptoradesCranium (board game)
Cranium is a party board game based on Ludo. Whit Alexander and Richard Tait created Cranium in 1998 after Richard spent a weekend playing games with another family and recognized the need for a game involving a variety of skills. He left his job at Microsoft, convincing friend and co-worker Whit...
, has a significant appeal to young players. However, since the game rewards players whose sculptures are guessed later in the game, the best sculptures are not necessarily those made by the best sculptor - but more likely those made by the best riddler. That, together with the spend-or-roll mechanic which reduces the impact of luck, make the game interesting for serious gamers.
External links
- Klaus Teuber's page about the game.
- Kosmos' Barbarossa homepage