Tag Archives: Ladies and Gentleman

GOTW: Ladies and Gentlemen

This week, our class played a game called Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a team-based game where players are divided into pairs – a lady and a gentleman. Both players play on opposite sides, with different gameplay depending on which role you were. Players on the Gentlemen’s side had to gather money in the form of stocks and make money for their wives. This side was dexterity based and involved very little strategy. On the Ladies side, players had to set up shops and strategically visit other shops to be the best dressed by the end of the game. Each team had seven rounds to collect money and purchase clothes for the ball. It is through the money the Gentlemen earned that the Ladies would be able to purchase their outfits. The Ladies and Gentlemen could not communicate on how their situation on their side of the board was going, so they largely could not strategize between collectively. One just had to trust the other.

         For this game I was playing on the Ladies’ side. My partner actually ended up being a friend of mine despite teams being randomized. There were three other pairs that we were up against. The first round took the longest, as we all were getting set up and gaining an understanding of how each turn was. Being on the ladies’ side, my primary goal was to get the best clothes I could by trying to deduct what other Ladies had in their shops. Unfortunately for me, my shop was usually stuck with servants being sold. I tried my best to strategize where I went for each round, but I definitely found it took me a while to get comfortable with what was the best way to play. I think this game is definitely one you have to play once to understand on the Ladies’ side. Me and my partner did a pretty good job, but I believe we ended up in third place. Each item of clothing had a star rating, and the more stars you had at the end of the game the better you did. One pair absolutely blew the rest of us out of the water. What I really liked about the game was the lack of seriousness we all had around it. We all definitely appeared to have a good time, and many laughs were shared.

           The hardest part of the game was strategizing. I do not play a lot of games that usually require me to strategize, so this took some time for me to pick up. Just getting used to the mechanics took some time as well. However, once everyone understood everything, they needed to do it became a lot easier to play and went a lot smoother. I definitely would like to play it again if given the chance. Besides these difficulties, none of them made me overly frustrated. It just took time to learn.

            Personally, I liked Ladies and Gentlemen. I thought it was a neat concept, especially for a satirical play on the old-timey roles of the European upper class. While playing on the ladies side of the board requires more strategy, something I usually try to avoid, I still had a lot of fun. I did not take the game too seriously and was not necessarily playing to win. I just enjoyed the banter and getting the chance to step into a rather silly role. I particularly liked how the group I played with also seemed to enjoy their roles as well. If I had to name something I disliked, it would be the fact that I was unable to strategize with my partner. This made it harder for me to communicate what I needed. Even though I disliked that aspect, I understood it was an important addition to the game to add another level of challenge.

With that being said, I did not see many forms of leadership beyond those who chose to lead the night and day cycle. They made sure the game was running smoothly while also taking care of what was needed for their roles on each end of the board. I think my parents would like this game quite a bit. They like silly games like this, and I feel it is a game they would enjoy when they have friends over for a game night. Considering they know other couples; I think it would be interesting to see whether those relationships would have an effect on how people played the game. Overall, it was a great experience, and I would love to play it again.

GOTW: Ladies and Gentlemen

I enjoyed Ladies and Gentlemen, but I’m not sure how many more times I would play it because I think it is very repetitive. However, I think I also played the easier of the two sides (gentlemen) so maybe switching to the ladies’ side would allow for more plays. I don’t think anything was really difficult on my side of the game, it was just grabbing pieces you wanted and then buying my teammate the clothing with the most stars (I assumed this was the determining factor of winning the game). I guess if I had to pick a part of the game that was difficult it would be finding a number tile each round. I tended to not find one until the very end and either got stuck with #3 or #4.

While it’s a bit hard to find a leadership topic in this game I think the teamwork with your partner, despite not knowing exactly what they are doing, to reach the goal of winning is a good representation of leadership. In leadership settings, you often have a lot of people working with you to achieve one goal, but you might not know exactly what it is they’re doing behind the scenes to achieve that. For example, in student organizations the President might not completely understand the Treasurer’s role and vice versa. However, they both do know that the other is doing their best to achieve the goal of the club (of course assuming everyone has the same goal).

I think the subject matter of the game is a very interesting topic to discuss. While I completely understood that the game was satirical in manner, I can understand why other people may not see it this way. The women’s game seemed to be all about buying clothing and they were significantly limited in what they could do; they were only able to buy certain things if their husbands agreed to it and were not told why they did or didn’t purchase something. I do think, however, that this is slightly remedied in the game by the women owning shops and having control over what is placed in them. Assuming it was more accurate, although I haven’t researched this time period so this may be incorrect, it would probably be the men who were in charge of the financial decisions of the shop and therefore would determine what could and could not be placed in the shop.

Ladies and Gentlemen Reflection

This week in Tabletop Games & Leadership we played a game called Ladies & Gentlemen. This game is, in essence, two separate games that come together at various points. Usually, half of the table will play as the gentlemen and the other half will play as the ladies, except in our case we had an odd number of players, which meant that we had an extra lady in the form of the Courtesan. This game, set in the Victorian era, is meant to be a satire of the gender roles and rules of the time and shine a light on how ridiculous they were. With this theme in mind, the gentlemen had the goal of raising as much money on the stock market and fulfilling contracts and the ladies had the goals of gaining as much elegance as possible for the ball that’s fast approaching. They do this by shopping for clothes, accessories, jewels, and servants and asking their husband to pay for them. The lady with the most elegance, and her gentleman, are the winners of the game.

In this session, I played as a lady. For me, the hardest part was to try and build a strategy while being completely blind to what was happening on my partner’s side of the table. I would try to do my part and get items that would increase my elegance and when possible try to play some mental tricks on my fellow ladies, but there wasn’t much I could know about what my team could or couldn’t afford. I think this is also one of its closest ties to leadership. Sometimes in a leadership position we cannot, or at least do not, know what the rest of our team is doing but we have to do what we can to help them out.

In terms of gameplay, I liked that there were different styles of play and the strategic aspects of the ladies’ side of the board. I feel that I would have also liked the mad dash aspects of the gentlemen’s side of the game. However, I did not like that they were separated so much without communication. I have mixed feelings about the theme of the game. The game is intended to be a satire of gender roles in the Victorian Era, which I know and understand, but it still feels a little weird to me. I think my friend Ian would enjoy this game because I could see him being very comfortable with getting into character and I think he would do good with the strategic aspects of the game.

Ladies & Gentlemen Reflection

Last week (March 30th, 2023) our class traveled back in time to the Victorian era with the game Ladies and Gentlemen. There were two roles from which we could pick from – along with an extra role that was only used due to our uneven number of players. The first role was the Gentleman: By playing this role you commit to going to work everyday and making money by fulfilling contracts and selling items. The gentlemen should make as much money as they can to then satisfy their ladies’ wishes at the end of the day. The next role is the Lady: By playing this role you are given a number of shopping choices throughout the day. Your objective is to strategically find the best items and choose the dress and accessories that will make you look the best at the ball (at the end of the game – after six rounds). Once your choices have been made you are to showcase them to your husband (with little to no communication) in the hopes that he will use the money he earned to gift them to you. The extra role is the Courtesan: By playing this role you are a Lady who does not have a husband. Your objective is the same as the other ladies, but you must ask any of the gentlemen for gifts. If you are the best dressed of the ball, the gentleman that gave you the most elegance points (included in the item cards) wins with you. If you are the worst dressed, the gentleman that gave you the least amount of elegance points and his lady lose the game with you. 

The hardest part about playing this game (especially as one of the ladies) was the restriction of communication between partners. Even though the Ladies and the Gentlemen had to work together to win, it was not possible to share our individual strategies, and it seemed like we were playing two completely different games at the same time. In my case, I was looking to buy cheaper items, but to gain elegance points through my servant cards – since I didn’t want to miss the chance of getting items in case my gentleman wasn’t making enough money. Meanwhile, my gentleman was trying to accumulate as much money as he could to spend on the very last round, which I did not know about. Although it was a complex game to play, it was really interesting and fun to figure out. The satirical reference to the Victorian era was clever and done in a way that exposed many gender roles and expectations that have shaped our society. This game can definitely teach some lessons about gender disparity and gender roles, which are important topics to be aware of, especially when it comes to leadership. A good leader can be inclusive and empathetic, and putting yourself in a position that you are normally not in can help you understand someone’s context better. Being able to look at things from different perspectives and adapt accordingly can go a long way. 

In my opinion, I believe that my classmates from WGS courses would enjoy playing this game and discussing its context afterwards. This game can be a good conversation starter about gender roles then and now, and about gender inequality. 

Ladies & Gentlemen: A Class Reflection

We played Ladies and Gentlemen in class and discussed the idea of gendered roles in gaming. In this game, you can play as a Lady who shops for items to wear to the ball in order to try to win the game. The gentlemen try to fill contracts to get money and other bonuses in order to purchase the items that the lady presents. There was no communication between the two different roles to see how the game was progressing. This was probably the most difficult part. I also felt like there was no way to judge how well you were actually doing in the game.

I played the gentleman role which was interesting because you had to rush to grab resources in a hurry so that you could fulfill contracts. I found that it was important to look at what kinds of resources were necessary to fulfill the contracts before starting the day. I think I would do better playing this game in the future because I would have a better understanding of how the day worked. I bought all but one item for my lady which was good. I think it would be interesting to play from the other side of the table to experience the decision-making of the lady’s role.

My lady and I ended up coming in second in our game. I thought we did really well for being my first time playing. The pair that won was a little more conniving and sneaky so it made the game a little more intense. I really liked how we were randomly paired up with our partners. I met some new people in the class this way. I would like to take this game and play it with my family. However, we have an odd number of individuals so the game would be slightly different as we would play with the individual who tries to get all of the other gentlemen to buy her clothes.

I noticed some individuals really got into their roles and character personas. I noticed that I struggle with this. I tend to be able to imagine the role and put myself in the situation, but I cannot always act out the role well. It was cool to see people who have more experience with role-playing games, really fulfill their character’s role. I think this would be a good game for people to be introduced to role-playing and I know I have cousins who would enjoy the opportunity to act out their characters. 

Ladies & Gentlemen: Insights From A Lovely Lady

Ladies and Gentlemen was overall a pretty fun game, I thought I would really suck at it but it was pretty decent. I would like to play the game again and see if there’s more to it because I feel like I didn’t fully understand the whole strategy aspect of the game. As playing the role of the lady, I was focused on finding a cool outfit and so therefore I wanted different pieces and I tried to get them to match if I could. I thought I was asking for a lot of stuff but compared to the other ladies in the group, I think they asked for more items. I don’t know if the value of the items or the amount of money each item is worth is more important, but I assumed the value of the items would be more essential. Overall I don’t really even remember who won this game if the ladies or the gentleman won, and I also feel like because the women are going against the men, yet one lady and one man won, I got a bit confused about who the true winner is. While I got kind of lost determining who the true winner is, I got confused figuring out who all the losses were as well. 

I did enjoy that I could go to the other stores of the other ladies in the game, but I do feel as if the people who made the game should rethink their being servants in the game because I think it made people uncomfortable purchasing them, even if it’s just part of the game. It’s a lot more fun to purchase necklaces, bracelets, rings, dresses, shoes, umbrellas, etc. vs servants. I thought the outfit revealed at the end of the game was my favorite part. It was fun to see the outfits the other players found. I also think it would be interesting to play the male character. I think I would understand the game a lot better if I had played both parts, despite watching the introductory video multiple times. I also think this game would be fun to play with a group of experienced players that got really into the role-playing aspect of it. 

This game can relate to leadership because you need to be knowledgeable and strategic, which leaders also need to be in order to be successful. Sometimes in leadership, you need to know your audience and be able to manipulate situations to work in your favor, which is also a part of the game as well. I think my friend Josh might enjoy this game because he is very analytical and the job of the male role would be intriguing for him. I also think he would enjoy the challenge of pleasing his lady and buying her the things she needs. If we played this with our usual group of friends, we would have a great time because we’re comfortable enough to be goofy with it and would be okay doing the character impersonations.  

Game of the Week Blog Reflection 10- Ladies & Gentlemen

One week in class we played Ladies & Gentlemen. I was a gentleman and had a lot of fun doing the fast-paced stock market. The hardest part of the game for me was waiting on the women side. On my side of the table, we always got through our parts really fast and then waited forever for the women side. I enjoyed all of the jokes the gentlemen were making in the role play, however it got really boring waiting on the women to make decisions. I assume though that that is just how the game goes. 

I think some of my friends would like to play this game who like strategic play, but also a faced paced other side of the table. I have friends who I know would like the ladies side and I have friends who I know would like the gentlemen side. In particular I think my friend Joe would really get into the role play and enjoy this game. 

Our session went well; however, we were unable to finish the whole game. I liked the stock market aspect. However, it was rather boring at times waiting on the ladies. I wish the tasks per side were more equal in timing. The gentlemen always got our part done and then had to wait around for the ladies. 

In terms of leadership, we discussed making everyone feel comfortable to be included. We discussed how in our roleplay many of us assumed we had social identities of people who are in the majority. Very few if anyone assumed their character had a disability or other social identity that would put them in the minority in the setting. 

Game of the Week Blog Reflection 10: Ladies & Gentlemen

I think gender stereotypes are well represented in games. The game we played together this week, Ladies & Gentlemen, is sure to upend the perception of women who have played the game. In fact, with the exception of board games, women are consistently undervalued in video games, both in terms of interest in games and the skill of playing them. In classes other than 290, I once discussed with my peers in an education class about gender in STEM literacy education. We mentioned that very few women receive games as gifts and even many women never receive games as gifts. There are even differences in the types of games, such as cooking games, dressing up Barbie is the type of games that girls should play. The gunfight, the King of Fighters is a game suitable for boys. That’s why Ladies & Gentlemen amazes me so much. The game exploits once stereotypes about the gender of men and women. In the game, gentlemen need to get up early every day and work hard to find resources and make money. Ladies should choose clothes that suit them and highlight their economic status, and compare their accessories with other ladies.

This game brought me a lot of laughs. Because there are only two women in our group plus me, and both of us are playing “gentlemen” in the game. This means that there are three men who need to “put on a lady’s skirt”. When watching them show off to each other whose husband bought the most things; comparing who is the most beautiful woman, the contrast is really funny. And this game both requires business strategy and shopping dress up. So both boys and girls can find fun in this game. During the game, some boys said that they finally realized the fun of shopping. For me, I can also realize the status of men at home. Not only did it make me think that women may not be the only victims when we talk about gender stereotypes. People take it for granted when the “husband” is working hard as a man. Especially after the game was over, our professor mentioned that the game was designed by women, and I became more admirable for this game. The game addresses issues of social justice in a joyful way and allows people of different genders to actually experience life in each other’s shoes. I think this game has deep meaning in addition to bringing joy to everyone, and I will definitely bring this game to more friends around me.

Game of the Week Blog Reflection 10: Ladies & Gentlemen

This week we played Ladies & Gentlemen during class, where I played as a lady. My goal was to buy clothing in order to score the most points, however I had to rely on my team member playing as a gentlemen to pay for all the clothes. Since our game only had 3 teams instead of 4 we managed to get through every round and have higher scores. In the end I ended up losing by only 2 points, which easily could have been a tie with just one $100 more to buy one last item. Its also interesting to note that I didn’t pay much attention to how the gentlemen side was played and switching teams would likely feel like I was playing an entirely different game.

The most difficult aspect of the game was the limited communication with your teammate. Without knowing how much money my partner had it was difficult to know which clothing I should be picking out to buy each day. I also had to be careful about what clothing I would hand to him. I couldn’t specifically say which cards were the most important to buy so I had to make assumptions about which he would pick anytime I wanted to hand over more than one card. This made me hesitant to try more complicated strategies, such as picking clothing I knew the other ladies wanted, because I wouldn’t be able to communicate to not actually buy those clothes.

Having to rely on my partner during the game reflects the importance of teamwork in leadership. One person can’t do everything so you have to trust others to help. My teammate’s role was similar to what a treasurer in a club might do, manage how the club spends it’s money. The clothing I was picking out to buy would be like scheduling events for the club in this comparison. Even as a leader all of these responsibilities would be too much for just one person. If these roles are split between different people on a team however their chance of success is much higher.

Game of the Week Blog Reflection (For Class on 4/7/2022): Ladies and Gentlemen

During this past Thursday, our class got together to play Ladies and Gentlemen, a cooperative board game where players are split into teams of two, a Lady and a Gentleman, who each have very different roles in the game. The Ladies are playing a card drafting game as they attempt to set up boutiques and create the best outfit for the upcoming ball. Meanwhile, the Gentlemen are playing a dexterity game as they race each other to try and acquire stocks in goods to sell or fulfill contracts. Once both the Ladies and Gentlemen have completed their tasks, the Ladies then pass over the garments and accessories that they picked out to buy during the day for the Gentle to either pay for, pay a much smaller amount to put them on hold until they can acquire more money, or discard them.

I personally played as a Gentleman during our session, though I could tell just from observing the other side of the table that the Ladies had a much more complex side of the game. During the entire time they were drafting their boutiques, shopping for their outfits and choosing which ones they wanted to ask their Gentleman to pay for, they had to consider how many elegance points these pieces had, whether they had a piece of that kind already, and whether they had too many designers or not. With all of those things that have to be considered at any given time, I would certainly say that drafting and choosing what cards to place in their boutique is the hardest part of this game, both due to the sheer amount of things that have to be considered for it to be accomplished successfully, and for the fact that all of that effort may end up being wasted if their Gentleman just simply wasn’t able to make enough money to pay for it. This difficulty in planning and drafting is only exasperated by the blind nature of the game, as Gentlemen are not allowed to share just how much money they have with their Lady, and Ladies are not allowed to share what clothes they are planning on trying to buy with their Gentleman until they are ready to pass them over.

However, while this planning may be the most difficult aspect of the game, it may also be an excellent window into what Ladies and Gentlemen can teach us about leadership. For one thing, Ladies and Gentlemen requires the Lady players to be able to plan out their turns without knowing exactly what resources they will have available to them, and to possibly make contingency plans by grabbing extra articles of clothing and accessories. Similarly, unexpected issues or shortages of resources may occur when working on a project, and a good leader will need to be able to plan for these possibilities. This could include contingency plans to work around those issues and shortages, or gathering more resources ahead of time to work around any shortages that may come up. Either way, a leader and their team creating plans like these ahead of time will help mitigate any issues that come up during whatever project they may be dealing with.

Overall, I very much enjoyed playing Ladies and Gentlemen as a Gentleman. The game can be quite tense if you struggle to find resources you need for contracts or if another Gentleman manages to fulfill a contract first and take your bonus. From everything I saw, the Ladies half of the game may be even more tense, and if given the opportunity I would be very interested in playing Ladies and Gentlemen again just so I can see what that  half of the game feels like to play in comparison to the Gentleman’s half. However, even if I wasn’t able to attempt the game’s other set of rules, I would still most certainly be willing to play the game again to experience the chaos of a fake stock market.