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Before we get to the games, though, let's first see the press conference that Mayfair Games' Larry Roznai held on Oct. 23, the day before Spiel 2013 opened, to announce the acquisition of German publisher Lookout Games. I already covered this news in a BGGN post on that day — a post with many, many comments should you care to delve into them — but now you can see the announcement for yourself:
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I received a press copy of Polterfass at Spiel 2013 and have now played it eight times (1x three players, 4x four, 2x five and 1x six), with five of those games coming in a single game night yesterday. We put it on the table, then just kept going, with someone new joining in the middle, then again for the final game. The game plays well back-to-back as everyone builds on bluffs and faked bluffs from the previous games and the current one, and you get unbelievable plays and inadvertent hosings and lots of ups-and-downs depending on how crazy people are playing.
Initially I was worried about runaway leaders as the first couple of games were blowouts, but I've now seen multiple close games as well as one in which the leader sat at 71 or 72 points for five turns, unable to seal the deal while everyone else kind of collectively played around her — interesting group dynamic, which is the whole point of the game. The three-player game seems weird as you don't have the cushion of multiple customers to balance out your gambles, leaving you with higher highs and lower lows, but I've played only once with three, so who knows for sure?
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