tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6829360209113689355.post5856064595654801753..comments2024-03-22T01:20:21.749-07:00Comments on Board Game Reviews by Josh: Zertz ReviewJoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14011225292134198772noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6829360209113689355.post-72078518993761675502013-01-08T02:55:28.148-08:002013-01-08T02:55:28.148-08:00Zertz is a very cruel game. Bad losers should be f...Zertz is a very cruel game. Bad losers should be forbidden to play this game because it is very unforgiving and very tactical. It is very difficult to calculate agressive moves (basically sacrificing in order to shrink the board in the right areas) and even more difficult to calculate defensive ones (the art of prevent sacrifices).<br />I often sacrifice 2 whites, 4 grays and 5 blacks just in order to WIN the game with 4 whites. Needless to say the Opponent is left with a very bad taste in the mouth and a desire to kill. <br />Make one mistake and you're "dead, dead, dead".Bennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10282630175151887037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6829360209113689355.post-79216348736817190262011-04-23T07:51:56.946-07:002011-04-23T07:51:56.946-07:00Nice review; Zertz is one of my favorite gifp game...Nice review; Zertz is one of my favorite gifp games and among my favorite abstracts in general.<br /><br />Another tidbit of advice for setting up the board: Using the orientation of your picture as reference, I like to arrange the center "column" of rings (7) FIRST, and then flank out on either side, placing one less ring until I have 4 per column on the ends.<br /><br />This has been the most efficient way of setting up the board in a way that makes sense to the way my mind works.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05499897347654766163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6829360209113689355.post-7782593406571070932011-02-14T08:15:21.061-08:002011-02-14T08:15:21.061-08:00You can try to play zertz against computer AI usin...You can try to play zertz against computer AI using a free program, Holtz, which contains also Dvonn ... (http://holtz.sourceforge.net/) This can help to explore the game ... ;)Fabio (Pinco11)https://www.blogger.com/profile/03011623861800005902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6829360209113689355.post-19842767160580442932011-02-11T06:22:48.803-08:002011-02-11T06:22:48.803-08:00You are probably correct, there is probably a lot ...You are probably correct, there is probably a lot more depth than I gave it credit for - I'm a self-professed newbie at abstract games and their strategy. With that said, I still prefer Dvonn and Yinsh (the other Gipf games that I've played) but I would like to try all the games from this project. And even Zertz is on my list of games to acquire at some point... just not at the top.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14011225292134198772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6829360209113689355.post-36545381899646211642011-02-11T00:09:03.190-08:002011-02-11T00:09:03.190-08:00Perhaps the game has more depth than you imagined ...Perhaps the game has more depth than you imagined .. The main strategy here is to plan a lot of moves ahead and to play a lot of moves simply giving to the other player a ball to eat, preparing in this way the board for a single, and final, move. Here you'll find a complete stategy guide on Zertz (http://www.scat.demon.co.uk/zertz/strategy.htm), where you'll be able to understand that probably the game's weakness is exactly the opposite. I mean that usually, between good players, the game can be 'over' in just three moves, being the others obliged by the future winner. I don't know if I was clear enough, but the article I linked can be more enlightning than me ... for example, the capture 'by removing discs' can be THE real winning strategy .. ;)Fabio (Pinco11)https://www.blogger.com/profile/03011623861800005902noreply@blogger.com