The kid loved it (as a Hanukkah gift -- much earlier than Christmas this year). By Christmas he had been on the zone six times and won five.
That was enough to encourage me to play my first zone game.
And my first AOE death match. Which I won first as a 2 v. 2 team and then vs. my partner when he turned on me.
Now, I'm wondering about doing a DM style scenario. I've never seen one. With all the DM players it seems like a natural area to do a scenario in. I only wish I could have saved the map I played with (my partner, who turned on me after the opponents resigned, had a beautiful city designed and I really liked the way the land masses turned up. I'm going to have to recreate that).
Also pretty neat was the fact that the enemy's wonder clock kept running after they resigned. (I destroyed one of their wonders and they rebuilt on the same location after I left).
Anyone have any thoughts on how to do a good DM scenario?