Feature Request: Optionally displaying/hiding current scores

[Ladislaus]

Would it be possible to optionally (perhaps set during each game's set up) hide each player's current score? In the actual physical board game, once you turn over your sold goods markers, it becomes a little harder to remember "who scored what" goods and for "how many points". At least this is the case, for those of us whose memories are getting a little rusty. :wink:

If this were to become an option during the game's set up, then those players who like seeing the current scores displayed can still play in that manner, while those players that like the scores hidden can play in that manner. Everyone is satisfied, and there are no arguements about which method of play is better.

:?: Can this be added to MaBiWeb's version of Hansa?

Just my 2 cents. Good gaming.

[MaBi]

Well, we could start an endless argument here. Personally I think that playing with open score is always better (even in face-to-face games!), but in play-by-web hidden score really doesn't make sense to me. This is the reason why I didn't even consider the option when I implemented the games.
Of course the option could be added, but how many people would use it? On BGG there are very few games of T&E played with hidden score. And rightly so: in pbw you can't really keep any trackable information hidden. If you don't display it on front it's available in the log. If you remove it from the log, players can keep their own personal log. There is no way to prevent someone tracking it.
Anyway, I could consider adding the option if I had the feeling it would be use by more than a small handful of players...

[Ladislaus]

I understand. A few points (or I should say personal observations)...

In a face-to-face game, I don't track exactly what happened two or three turns ago. I know generally if I'm doing well or not, but I don't worry about my (or any one else's) Hansa score every moment. But that's just me. The goods markers are face down, so I can't look at anyone else's chips.

Yes, I agree that in a PBW game anyone can go read the game log to find out exactly what happened. (And a log is important to maintain.) But I don't typically read it to determine scores. I do read what someone did during their most recent turn, but I never remember the specifics after a few turns have gone by (but that's just me; see above).

Finally, for those individual's who enjoy playing with open scores, continue to do so. I have nothing against this style of play, I simply don't play Hansa that way. I don't prefer to have the score displayed so prominently that I cannot avoid knowing everyone's score. In Hansa, I know my score but it's limited to my score alone.

I hope that you do add hidden scoring as an option to Hansa. By the way, thank you for giving us a very nice implementation of Hansa. It's a great game.

Just my 2 cents. Good gaming, and thanks again!

[MaBi]

What I can't understand is the problem you have with open scoring. Why would anyone want to play with hidden scoring?? I think it's just an habit, carried on from face to face games. But in ftf games I can unserstand it: open scoring gives rise to analysis paralysis, especially at the end of the game everyone would be there calculating points and taking ages to complete a turn. And I think that's the reason why designers keep this kind of info hidden. But here AP and downtime between turns is not an issue, so why sacrifice such an important element of the game? What advantages do you see in playing with hidden scoring?
I'm just trying to understand...

(LOL, I have just finished to write a similar post on SBW, and I remember having the same argument on BGG some time ago, this is really one of those issues where everyone has his own personal preferences and there is no point in trying to convince the others :)).

[Ciaci]

Hidden score in PBW is useless, because you can view the game log and keep the score by yourself with pen & paper.

My 2 cents.

[Favar]

I agree with Ciaci and I add this: Can you add to the score column also the victory points for makets? (2 for each city / 4 for monopoly) Only to have a complete situation about the game progress...

[MaBi]

Yes, every time I start counting markets in the last round I regret not having implemented it since the beginning. Maybe I will add it sometime in future.

[WesM]

[MaBi]

Unfortunately in the last weeks I haven't had any time at all to work on MaBiWeb. I knew there would be periods like this, but I hope it will be better during the summer.