by evilbob65535
Just a quick follow-up to expand on the pros and cons of the two suggestions:- Change all Coco cards to "move the ghost captain" and limit purchases to one per turn: as stated, this helps keep the game a little more "swingy." One of the good/bad things about this game is that, in my experience, it tends to follow a very specific pattern: since every player's turn has the potential to benefit every player, and with unlimited building on your turn, this means that - barring a bad string of luck or ghost captain placement - everyone tends to build up at about the same rate until everyone can finish the game at the same time and it's just a matter of whose turn comes up first once this happens. The ghost captain helps inject a little randomness into this pattern, and give an alternative path to winning. This houserule preserves this. On the downside: this rule requires you to ignore what's written on the Coco cards, which might be very confusing for young players! You could also just remove those other cards, but this can be tricky in a 4 person game. In a 2-player game, this is probably a fine alternative.
- Remove the lair (and optionally remove a free lair card): this option is extremely friendly to younger players. Not only does it not require any visible changes, but it simplifies the core game and removes some of the counting / memory required. The only downside is the opposite of the first suggestion: because you've eliminated one of the "swingiest" parts of the game, all games (in my experience) tend to follow a specific pattern, and tend to end with everyone "about to win" at the same time, almost regardless of strategy. It tends to push up the "luck" factor, which may or may not be a boon.