victory

A couple of thoughts on victory conditions and general gameplay:

A lot of games include a certain "delay the leader" dynamic. The two best examples I can think of are Munchkin and Settlers... in both cases the group teams up to prevent the leader from attaining the victory condition and ending the game. I like attacking the leader, but I don't like the group dynamic it sometimes creates, in which those in last place are pressured to do something which, frankly, isn't really in their own self-interest. Once you're really out of it in Catan, upholding an embargo on the first place player only prolongs the pain and gives some other jerk a chance to win. Often, the last place player figures this out, and stops helping the group hold the winner back.... and everyone else gets angry because the last place player isn't being "competitive." I say, don't hate the player, hate the game.

All that leads me to ask, is there a way to make the "attack the leader" action help the last-place player? In other words, what if hurting the leader didn't prolong the game... but instead hastened victory?

Here's a simple example of what I'm talking about: take a deck of playing cards, deal some out. Players take turns giving points by playing cards on one another. The game ends when the group total=100 (or whatever), and the winner is the low point holder. Giving the leader points both hurts their position and brings the end a bit closer.