Fourentee

That's very helpful, MCS; many thanks. Home track advantage is a neat addition.

As I understand it, 21CH, each player has the same deck to start with and draws randomly from it. However, although all cards played are discarded, the winner of each exchange draws a card to his or her hand. So, for example, if you feel you don't currently have a good defensive hand and it is unlikely that you could fend off an opponent's attack on the straight, you might well be better keeping your powder dry and attempting to re-pass on the bend -- a good parallel with the real thing. We've all seen riders who are better at attacking than defending and vice versa. To quote MCS: "We start to analyze what cards have already been used, what our opponent might do, whether we should start the battle in the bend with our best effect or keep it for later use (or even keep it for the battle in the straight), etc. For the gamer, that would be where the lure lies -- the interplay between opponents and their styles, trying to out-think and second-guess them rather than just trotting out cards in a mechanical manner. I think you are 100 per cent accurate in your analysis. For board and card gamers with an interest in speedway, if the game plays as well as the background info and rule book suggest it should, then we're going to be as happy as pigs in sticky stuff. But for speedway fans who don't come to it from that viewpoint, a harder sell. However, it may be one of those where actually playing it through suddenly produces that light bulb "Oh, I get what they're doing" moment. I suspect that a bit of momentum could really produce results, but that actually getting the ball rolling will be the tough part.

The extra rider was a Jon Cook idea for the Craven Shield, the three-team tournament. "Furious Fives", I seem to remember being the tag. The fifth rider would be from the team not otherwise represented in the heat, so that there would be interest in every race for each group of supporters. But as Bwitcher notes, the riders didn't go for it.

Certain cards will frequently combine well with others and it also helps to figure out your opponent's style of play. To put it at its most simple in speedway terms, if you're leading a renowned 'white-liner' you'll only have to cover that style of overtaking move.

If MCS doesn't do so during the day, I'll have a go tonight.

Excellent, thanks. The last time I looked there was a play overview but no rules booklet.

Any sign yet?

Actually, that's me being polite...

What particular part of the game do you find pathetic?

Yes, some posters on here have expressed a general interest and a desire to take a look at the game and see what it's like. Just as you put it. Don't know. Perhaps I'll buy a copy and see what the wave of students and 20-somethings who attend games sessions think of it.

It's clear from the overview posted earlier that there is rather more to it; however, that's your view and fair enough. But you, presumably, have leisure interests on which you're prepared to pay £18, be they books, music, cinema tickets, theatre, concerts -- or, indeed, admission to speedway matches -- and regard the return in terms of entertainment as well worth the outlay. Board/card gamers are no different.

And more ads would drive greater pagination with consequent extra editorial, of course. Will be interesting to see how they fare. Back in the 80s, the general Sportsweek magazine was well-received, with good features and some superb photography. Not sufficiently well-received to survive, alas!

Exactly. It's like the old rule of thumb for buying clothes: £1 per wear. If you spend £200 on a jacket (not that I ever do), love it and wear it incessantly then it's good value. Likewise with the £2 T-shirt you stick on when painting the house and only put on a few times. I've bought my share of duff games (usually speculative cheap purchases in charity shops) but have had many, many hours of pleasure from the ones I like. Perhaps we need a BSPA rule: "In the event of a rain-off, the referee will produce his official copy of MCS and invite the two captains to step forward..." Actually not as daft as some of the rules already in there...

In pure economic terms, I suppose the answer to that would be the cost involved in research and development. For a regular games player (and I'm assuming you wouldn't count yourself in that group) it's the concept and the gameplay. My personal favourite card games -- Battleline, Condottiere, Red November, Caesar and Cleopatra -- are all in the £15-20 group. There's certainly not much to them in terms of equipment, but they're the ones with depth of gameplay that draws me back again and again. I'd cheerfully part with the £18 if MCS proves to be in their league, though I accept that in a speedway forum I would be in the minority. Edit: As MCS said that Arcana (not a game with which I'm familiar) is produced by the same manufacturer, I followed the link. The manufacturer turns out to be Fantasy Flight Games, whose reputation is first-rate; they are particularly strong in the card game area. For what it's worth, two of the four favourite games I listed are from their stable.

Without any details of how the game plays, it's hard to assess. I'm assuming it to be a light strategy/hand management mechanic, so I don't think the Top Trumps comparison is really valid. Production values look good. I think the major problem will be falling between two markets. Board/card players would certainly part with £18 for the right game (it's not a cheap market) but are hardly likely to be attracted by a speedway theme. Speedway fans, I suspect, will just think the price is too high. MCS, is it possible to give a brief rundown on how it works?

Closer. http://www.abc.org.uk/Products-Services/Product-Page/?tid=20871

A good publication, IMHO, but for the record your figure is way too high.

Copy received and enjoyed, many thanks.

I rather suspect that you are due a whooosh here, my friend.

I think speedway fans worry about their sport and its participants perhaps rather more than they are concerned about the fate of supermarket employees and the global future of capitalism. I don't know what is or isn't sorted. That's rather the point. I'd like to find out.

Oh well, that's sorted then.

Difficult to be positive or negative about the prospect when there's so little information available on it. I don't think anyone's interested in knocking it down per se, but I can quite understand an air of caution. It would be good to know more about the series: Who will be involved and where, who are the organisers (on the speedway side), under what auspices will the events be run, potential fixture clashes, insurance, licences and so on. Clearly the MCF knows its way around these matters on a motocross front (which is where they started), but when they're dealing with a sport which is new to them then surely these queries are not unreasonable. I don't want to have a go, but equally I'm not going to be root for the concept blindly. Perhaps the bikerfm date will help.

I'll just wait until the spring. Racers and Royals will have sorted it all out for me by then!

I note your signature.

OK, we'll go the long way round. How would you describe the Motor Cycle Federation? Edit: This may also be useful. http://www.fim-live.com/en/fim/history/