The year is 1979, and the U.S. government has just deregulated the airline industry, opening it to competition in terms of fares, routes, and the airline companies themselves. You represent a new airline that's trying to set up business in the U.S., but you have an entire country open to you, so where will you set up shop and how can you profit more than the other newcomers to ensure that you survive?
In Blue Skies, the game board presents players with thirty airports in thirty cities. Each airport has four gates, with you using 2-4 gates depending on the number of players. To set up, draw airport demand cards from the deck to seed airports with passengers. Whenever you place passengers on the board, draw from a bag that initially contains 100 red cubes and 25 green cubes; for each airport, continue drawing until you draw a red cube, then redistribute passengers at the open gates of that airport as evenly as possible.
*(Note that at most the first five airports drawn will have an open gate, and even those will start with only one open gate run by a local airline. All of the other passengers are just bunched up at the gate waiting for you to serve them!)
Each player starts with three demand cards in hand, and they take turns choosing two gates with a purchase price of at most 6. Players adjust their income from 0, with their income being set to equal the number of passengers now waiting at their gates, then the game begins.
On a turn, each player in turn buys new gates at airports of their choice, spending at most 6 points and adding any unspent points to their score. You can buy out a local airline, set up gates in new cities, or purchase multiple gates in the same airport to try to dominate that area.
Each player in turn then plays a demand card from their hand, drawing passengers from the bag to place one or more passengers at that location. Then demand cards equal to the number of players are drawn, and more passengers are ahead to those airports. The game board lists the number of cards for each airport, so you somewhat know the odds of where passengers might arrive.
Players adjust their income to account for the opening of new gates, the redistribution of existing passengers, and the arrival of new passengers, then they add their income to their score. If a player now has at least 100 points or has placed their twentieth and final gate, the game ends immediately; otherwise, you add a local airline gate to each airport with passengers but no open gates, pass the first player marker, then start a new round.
At game's end, score the seven regions of the United States based on the player's dominance of those regions. Each airport has a scoring value, e.g., ORD is worth 4, and each gate you have in Chicago is worth 4 for determining dominance in both the Midwest region and the Central region. (ORD is one of four airports in two regions, with the others being JFK, LAX, and DFW.) If you have the most dominance in the Central region, you score 13 points, whereas second place is worth only 6 points. Whoever has the most points wins. (publisher description)
We don't have much more to say as the publisher description is of course the most relevant you can read about the game itself.
It's smart and short, and the theme is well represented in this very nice Influence/Hand management game from Joe Huber published by Rio Grande Games that you should absolutely try, first because it's easy, second because it's smart. And solid.
You can play the game right here, right now, on BGA.
https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=blueskies
Of course, nothing would have been possible without the help of people from Rio Grande, and we would like to thank them, as well as the developer, Mogri, who has brought here one of the most clever adaptation of a game on BGA. Kudos to him!
*And, now, ladies and gentlemen,
Please fasten your seatbelts.
There will be no meals during this short flight, so enjoy the view !*
Modro nebo: prosim, povejte nam, zakaj ste se morali tako dolgo skrivati?
Leto je 1979 in ZDA
vlada je pravkar deregulirala letalsko industrijo in jo odprla konkurenci v smislu vozovnic, linij in letalskih družb. Predstavljate novo letalsko družbo, ki poskuša ustanoviti podjetje v ZDA, vendar imate na voljo celo državo, kje boste torej ustanovili trgovino in kako lahko zaslužite več kot drugi novinci, da boste preživeli?
V Blue Skies igralna plošča predstavlja igralcem trideset letališč v tridesetih mestih.
Vsako letališče ima štiri vrata, pri čemer uporabite 2-4 vrata, odvisno od števila igralcev.
Za postavitev povlecite letališke kartice povpraševanja s krova, da letališča zasejete s potniki.
Kadar koli potnike položite na desko, potegnite iz vrečke, ki sprva vsebuje 100 rdečih kock in 25 zelenih kock; za vsako letališče nadaljujte z risanjem, dokler ne narišete rdeče kocke, nato potnike čim bolj enakomerno porazdelite na odprta vrata tega letališča.
(Upoštevajte, da bo imelo največ pet narisanih letališč odprtih vrat in tudi ta se bodo začela z enimi odprtimi vrati, ki jih vodi lokalni letalski prevoznik.
Vsi ostali potniki so zgolj zbrani pred vrati in čakajo, da jih postrežete!)
Vsak igralec začne s tremi kartami povpraševanja v roki in izmenično izbirajo dva vrata z nakupno ceno največ 6.
Igralci svoj dohodek prilagodijo z 0, pri čemer je njihov dohodek enak številu potnikov, ki zdaj čakajo pred njihovimi vrati, nato pa se igra začne.
Na zavoju vsak igralec po vrsti kupi nova vrata na letališčih po svoji izbiri, porabi največ 6 točk in svojim rezultatom doda neporabljene točke.
Lahko kupite lokalnega letalskega prevoznika, postavite vrata v novih mestih ali kupite več vrat na istem letališču, da poskusite prevladovati na tem območju.
Vsak igralec nato iz svoje roke igra na kartico povpraševanja, tako da potnike iz vreče izvleče, da enega ali več potnikov postavi na to lokacijo.
Nato se izvlečejo kartice s povpraševanjem, enako številu igralcev, na ta letališča pa je več potnikov.
Na igralni plošči je navedeno število kart za vsako letališče, tako da nekoliko veste, kje lahko potniki prispejo.
Igralci svoj dohodek prilagodijo odpiranju novih vrat, prerazporeditvi obstoječih potnikov in prihodu novih potnikov, nato pa svoj dohodek seštejejo v svoj rezultat.
Če ima igralec zdaj vsaj 100 točk ali je postavil dvajseta in zadnja vrata, se igra takoj konča; v nasprotnem primeru na vsako letališče s potniki dodate vrata lokalne letalske družbe, vendar brez odprtih vrat, podate oznako prvega igralca in nato začnete nov krog.
Na koncu igre ocenite sedem regij ZDA na podlagi igralčeve prevlade v teh regijah.
Vsako letališče ima točkovalno vrednost, npr. ORD je vreden 4, vsa vrata, ki jih imate v Chicagu, pa so vredna 4 za določitev prevlade tako v regiji Midwest kot v regiji Central.
(ORD je eno od štirih letališč v dveh regijah, druga pa JFK, LAX in DFW.) Če imate največ prevlade v osrednji regiji, dobite 13 točk, drugo mesto pa je vredno le 6 točk.
Kdor ima največ točk, zmaga.
(opis založnika)
Nimamo kaj več povedati, saj je opis založbe seveda najpomembnejši, kar lahko preberete o sami igri.
Je pametna in kratka, tema pa je dobro zastopana v tej zelo prijetni igri Joe Huber za vplivanje / upravljanje z rokami, ki jo je objavil Rio Grande Games, ki jo morate nujno poskusiti, prvič, ker je enostavno, drugič, ker je pametna.
In trdno.
Igro lahko igrate tukaj, prav zdaj, na BGA.
https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=blueskies
Seveda brez pomoči ljudi iz Rio Grande nič ne bi bilo mogoče, zato se jim zahvaljujemo, pa tudi razvijalcu Mogriju, ki je sem pripeljal eno najbolj pametnih priredb igre na BGA.
Svaka mu čast!
In zdaj, dame in gospodje,
Prosimo, pripnite varnostne pasove.
V tem kratkem letu ne bo obrokov, zato uživajte v razgledu!
