F&@% Ra.

Occasionally a game will come around that I very much enjoy, but have no skill at whatsoever. Ra is the epitomy of that game. I've played dozens of times, never won. I may never have finished better than third (this includes plenty of three player games). But I'm always up to play because like Charlie Brown, I really think this will be the time Lucy doesn't move the ball at the last second. I like board games, I'm good at board games, I suck at Ra.

Ra is a straightforward auction game centered around a pretty weak Egyption theme of "expanding your power and fame." Basically you are either randomly adding to the lot, or calling for an auction on the lot (although randomly adding to the lot may instead trigger an auction).

Plenty of other games revolve around a dominant auction/bidding mechanic: For Sale, Vegas Showdown, Modern Art, Santiago, and No Thanks! are some successful examples. While I do well at the card games, the board games befuddle me. And I can't tell you why that is.

One of the first things I do when I try to break down a game is figure out how many choices/turns a player takes through the course of a game and divide a winning score by that. It gives sort of an average point per choice/turn expectation. This is a very simplistic view, but it gives you some perspective. In Ra you start with 10 points because you have some basic requirements to meet each round or you will lose points. While it depends on the number of players, 5 points per auction win is very good. You can win a maximum of 9 auctions, split evenly over three epochs. So at 5 points per, 55 points is quite a good score. So how do I do finish some early epochs negative? Again, I can't quite say.

So what skills are necessary to do well at auction syle games? What am I watching for? It's a lot more difficult than it initially seems. How do you determine what is "good value" for your tiles? I know that I can honestly tell you that NEVER do I end up with a lot and say "now that was good value." I've tried calling for auctions on small lots hoping to buy them for cheap. I've tried monitoring the other players to try and predict what they are not interested in (and what I've found is other people's bidding strategies are difficult to predict :)). I've tried waiting for the other players to use all their tiles so I can play alone or with just one other player but that hasn't worked either. I've tried using the high tiles early, I've tried saving them til the end, no luck. Auction games seem to require a judgement and intuition that I just don't have. Something you can't break down, even into general points of strategy.

I can report that my lack of ability is not genetic, my dad is strangely the best Ra player in our extended group, and perhaps the best I know. He'll have to provide you tips because I'm sure I'll steer anyone looking for advice in the wrong direction.

Again, although I'm horrible, I really enjoy giving it yet another try. Most recently I employed a new strategy, and it was most successful! I call it play for third. I picked who I thought was the worst player at the table and I tried to screw them at every turn. It worked brilliantly, I met my expectations of third (in a four player game), but I had to take a shower afterwards.

8/10. It's among the best of the genre that use this mechanic. And to say that you enjoy a game that you have no ability at seems like a significant compliment. I'm sure one day I'll start to figure it out. Perhaps I'll start playing my 8 year old. The kid can always use some confidence.