Today was my friend Amanda’s birthday and Nick had put together an awesome day for her and her friends. We had brunch at Chez Zee (Bed and Breakfast French Toast FTW) and then hung out at their place while Nick picked up the cake and Amanda got a massage. We played video games and party games and iphone games. And there was cake.
All posts in Board Games
Status Quo
Not much to report today except I discovered there is a new large expansion for Talisman coming out. Plus Adobe CS5 will supposedly get released in April. The new features of Photoshop CS5 look crazy.
Tired from errands. Bye now.
What a Great Day
Today I woke up early, showered and played a bit of Broken Sword on the iPhone. It’s a really well put together adventure game.
Then I went over to Nick and Amanda’s where I and their friend Ryan were meeting to go out hiking. We stopped and grabbed yummy kolaches first and then went to the park. I can’t remember the name of the park, but it was a great hiking trail.
Then we went to see Cop Out at the Alamo. Pretty silly movie. It could have been directed by anyone. As Kevin Smith didn’t write it, it didn’t seem to have anyone signature on the film.
After the film we went back to their place and watched Amanda play Heavy Rain for a few hours. Totally different game than what I experienced in the demo. I’m really looking forward to playing the game on my own. I can see what changes by making different decisions than Amanda.
I had to leave and go to Great Hall as I was playing in a Dominion Tournament. This was a slick operation. Everyone got personalized name badges to wear. We played three rounds, with three different load outs. They had these funky tournament rules where you played until 45 minutes were up or you ran out of *all* Victory cards. At first this sounded crazy, but it totally worked. You totaled your scores from each game and that was your tournament score. I ended up in 3rd place with 121 points. 1st was 125 and 2nd was 123, so it was close. Plus, the guy who got first place was taught by a guy that I had originally taught to play the game. Overall, it was a blast to play. It was like being in a geek poker tournament. Everyone was standing around, talking strategy, how each game had gone. Super fun.
Achievement Unlocked
Sometimes I fall into that slough of self-examination where I feel as though I have accomplished nothing with my life. Or, when compared to Person X, I am found wanting. This often happens when I’m not currently working on a creative project, as they tend to define me and give me purpose.
So I think it might be helpful to recollect the things I have achieved. Not in a boastful, resting on my laurels sort of way. But to remind myself that I am the same person who did all of those things. Try it yourself when you are feeling somewhat less than. Continue reading →
The House always wins
Tonight I brought House of Whack to Boards ‘n Brews. It was good to see it on the table again. I hadn’t taught the game to new players in ages, but this was the smoothest explanation so far. There were four players, a really good size group for newcomers. We played the straight up “Inside the Box” version with nothing fancy. The Throne of Swift and Whimsical Judgment came into play and there was a pretty amusing trial as a result. Dan had a legitimate beef with Jeff, namely being forced to stand while playing and walk around in a circle. The jury was split and it came down to a roll off, which Jeff won. That’s how it goes down sometimes.
Jeff pulled ahead of everyone on the score track and took home a copy of the game. Good times!
Agricola
Boards ‘n Brews has been going strong for 10 months now, meeting just about every week. I recently moved the group to Austin’s Pizza and that’s been a positive change for the most part. It wouldn’t hurt to turn up the heat, though.
Tonight I got to play Agricola with mostly new players. I had missed the big Agricola frenzy from a few years ago and had only played the game once. I did better this time around now that I knew how important it was to gather food. Who knew that a game about farming could be so tense?
Advice to Game Designers
I’ve been sorting through my various writings and came upon this unfinished list of the Top Ten things you should so to improve your game design.
1. Add a Compass Rose to the game board, even if your game is about stock car racing. A compass rose adds elegance to the visual design and suggests careful planning. Also, if a player happens to get lost in the real life Himalayas with a copy of your game “Himalayan Hijinx,” they can utilize the compass rose to navigate back to safety. Can you imagine a better blurb on the box than “This game saved my life!”? I certainly can’t. Continue reading →
Retrogasmic 1.4 – You Have the Power of Ameritrash
Visit the Secure Immaturity site to read my latest article on early Ameritrash board games and the geek who loved them.
As usual, please comment at the Secure Immaturity site.
BoardGameGeek.con 2008
Along with Fantastic Fest and, recently, GenCon, BGG is something that I now look forward to every year. A comparatively small convention (only about 700 people this year), the Dallas-based convention focuses exclusively on board games.
The highlight reel:
Although Agricola is still hugely popular, it came out at last year’s BGG. This year the new hotness was definitely Dominion. When describing the game, most people reached for the easiest comparison: Magic the Gathering. More specifically, the deck building mechanic and the strategy of playing from your graveyard. You essentially build your deck as you play, trying to saturate your deck with certain cards in order to increase the odds of drawing specific combos. Your victory points are also cards, effectively useless for anything but points at the end. So you have to decide if you want to go for a bunch of the low hanging 3s and fill your deck with cards that do nothing, or hold out for more valuable but more expensive single cards.
Cosmic Redux
As some of you know, Cosmic Encounter is one of my favorite board games of all time. My geek heart nearly exploded with joy when I learned that Fantasy Flight, one of my favorite companies, had secured the rights and was going to release a new edition. Upon entering the dealer’s hall at GenCon, I made a beeline to the Fantasy Flight booth. “Encampment” might have been a better word, given the enormous area they took up.
The guy running the demo (drat, forgot his name) was one of the main designers involved in the new edition, if not THE guy. I chatted with him a bit about his vision of the game, what they were keeping, what they were throwing out. Then I got to play a few rounds! Continue reading →