Well, the second round of the tournament is now complete, and after looking at the results, we’ve had our first big upset…
Matchup 17 – Adel Verplichtet vs Keltis
Adel Verplichtet 53%
Keltis 47%
Matchup 18 – Cafe International vs Carcassone
Carcassone – 91%
Cafe International – 9%
This matchup as the one I thought would be the biggest landslide, and turned out just like I had expected…
Matchup 19 – Dixit vs Niagara
Dixit – 67%
Niagara – 33%
Matchup 20 – Elfenland vs El Grande
El Grande – 74%
Elfenland – 26%
Matchup 21- Scotland Yard vs Tikal
Tikal – 63%
Scotland Yard – 37%
Matchup 22 – Dominion vs Zooloretto
Dominion – 73%
Zooloretto – 27%
Matchup 23 – Mississippi Queen vs Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan – 82%
Mississippi Queen – 18%
Matchup 24 – Thurn and Taxis vs Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride – 73%
Thurn and Taxis – 27%
Voting on the next round will be set up tonight! Onwards to our final four…
Adel Verplichtet vs Keltis an upset? Why because the better game won? :devil:
I may have guessed that Adel Verplichtet would lose because it is probably not as well known.
Fraser, I agree with Dale. To me, it’s a very big upset. Not only is Adel almost 20 years older, but despite having a small rabid fan base, I sense that it’s reputation has diminished quite a bit over the last 5 years or so. I don’t think many gamers understand Adel’s place in the history of boardgames, either.
This may say as much about Keltis as it does about Adel. There was a reasonable backlash after the Knizia game won the SdJ and, if anything, it’s increased a bit with the appearance of all the spinoffs. Still, I didn’t think that negativity would be nearly enough to keep it from beating out Adel. I would have predicted at least a 60-40 win for Keltis. Guess I was wrong.
Interesting. I’m not particularly surprised by the win for Adel Verplichtet. (In fact, I just played it this weekend — it’s been quite some time since I played Keltis.) But my lack of surprise might just be my personal pro-Adel bias getting in the way.
Adel is a pretty good game and Keltis is a dog. (At least, that’s my completely personal opinion.) In addition, Adel is fairly distinctive, while Keltis is hard to pick out in the midst of a cluster of similar games, and is also (again IMCPO) clearly weaker than Lost Cities, the game from which it is descended.
Yes, for me it would have been a tougher decision if it had been Adel vs Lost Cities, but much more a no brainer with Adel vs Keltis.
Although I have to say, that Adel has not aged well imho. The “simultaneuos action selection” mechanism has been done quite often since 1990 and in many cases better.
(But I have o admit, I never was a fan of AV)
By the way, even on BGG, which should represent the “cult of the new”, Adel has a higher average rating and a better place in the rankings than Keltis.
If we were reading your average college basketball talking head on ESPN, the article would say Adel was “underseeded” and that there really should be no surprise at the upset of Keltis which really didn’t deserve the higher seed. For what its worth, i totally agree as both an Adel and Keltis fan.
Adel or Keltis… I don’t care for either of them.
Scotland Yard vs Tikal should have been the upset!
As someone who reviewed the entire Keltis line here on the OG, I have to say that Adel is better than vanilla Keltis. But, Orakel, New Ways, New Plays, or even the Kartenspiel would have swayed me to vote for Keltis instead. All 3 are better games than Keltis. Now, to get the dice game to the table……
I totally agree Lucas. Keltis the Card game is absolutely fantastic – both as a two and three player game. For me it made Lost Cities obsolete. Haven’t tried the two twists on the board game, but I suspect I would enjoy them quite a bit.
Agreed, all the spin off products from Keltis are improvements. Keltis das Kartenspiel is brilliant.