St. Pete is an odd one....I can understand almost all of the complaints against it (non-interactive, seemingly one strategy, luck dependent), and yet it's been the most popular game in my group now for about 5 months. It's just fun for us...and it hits a sweet spot in terms of game length and number of players.

And while I understand the complaints, I don't necessarily agree with them, or really...I don't agree that they overwhelm the good stuff. Like you stated, non-interactive can often be a real strength. The "one strategy" thing (get the most aristocrats) is the knock that most bothers be. The game is about scoring points. You do that by getting different aristocrats and with cards in play. You clearly need to do both. We have had a number of games where the person who was second in aristocrats won the game, or where it was a 1 or 2 point difference at the end. You need to stay close in aristocrats....well yeah. The game is how you accomplish that while still gaining enough "ancillary" points to put you over the top. The luck thing is there...we usually play that a 1st or 2nd turn Mistress is simply shuffled back into the deck. Easy enough. Yes..sometimes the game does come down to that last turn and who is able to get a different aristocrat out the trade pile, but you knew that going into the last round...who got to go first.

It's a fun game. Will it hold up after 20 plays? I sure as heck don't care. It's a rare game that will see 10+ plays in a year.

Sounds like we are in the same camp Mike. Just a fun game to play, end of argument. In my game against KC this weekend he got a first round Mistress and it was VERY hard to keep up with him. I ended up losing by less than 5 points, but it was very hard to stay even that close to him. And I think I played a decent game (he played a strong game as well).

"Just a fun game to play, end of argument."

Well, now, if you're gonna be like that, why participate in the original article at all? Sometimes it's useful knowing why someone likes a game or not - it certainly does in our group - and I think your responses in the original article cover this in part.

"Like you stated, non-interactive can often be a real strength."

This was probably Chris' strongest point, and why I think St. Pete is a great game to play against the AI (or on BSW, if you're so inclined). For my face-to-face gaming, it's a big problem.

However, when it comes down to one's personal opinion, I'm all for enjoying a game without being able to, or even wanting to, say why. Same goes for disliking a game. I'm just a "more power to ya" kind of guy. But these online articles should help folks understand why they would or would not like this particular game.