I don't know what that's like; just the burning sensation that comes from my wallet and the shrinking of space for which to store my treasures.
You can barely see the large pile of books and games in some of the pics I post
I have two 6' bookcases stacked high with games on top of them between them is a pile of games that goes from it to the top of the couch to the top 1/3 of it a blob of books and games
I have done much to clean it up over the last couple of months but I know I need a better way to store them. basically the games of it that get played a lot are Blackstone Fortress and Shadespire. But my dog does not like the card table for some reason. So that is one of the reasons why we only play games about once a week if we can
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38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
edited January 2020
Is that from geek group? Or whatever that website is?
In 2019 I logged 810 plays across 269 games. This compares to 788 plays across 285 games last year. I played at least one game on over half of the calendar days of 2019.
My most-played games of the year were Fine Sand (58 plays), The City (31 plays), and Just One (29 plays). All are outstanding games, of three different weights but none heavy. Fine Sand and Just One are new, and The City is a reprint of a slightly older game. I expect all three to stay on the short list next year, though Fine Sand has slowed to an occasional rather than nightly occurrence.
Next up is Fast Forward: FEAR with 23 plays, but this is misleading because of how short it is. Those 23 plays took only an hour and a half. By time instead of sessions, this is my 88th most played game of the year.
Number five is Mental Blocks with 21 plays. This is more team-building exercise than game in the vesion that has been commonly played. I would like to try the traitor variant in our group, which will make things much more game-y.
Then we have Wingspan with 18 plays, across about 24 hours making it the second-most played by time behind Fine Sand. It's a lovely game and deserving of its acclaim. Doesn't really do anything new mechanically, but all the bits fit together really well. It also has one of my favorite expansions. I love when an expansion doesn't add new rules to teach, just provides more variety within the existing rules.
Letter Jam at 16 plays was a Gen Con pre-release, and is a really smart word game. I am committed to getting better at it.
7 Wonders next, with 14 plays. Most of these plays were with the base game and Leaders only. It's one of Jenny's all-time favorite games, which is a driver for its frequency here. I've yet to try Armada which seems to have been received favorably.
I had 12 plays of Mysterium which is a bit of a surprise as it favors a larger group and lasts a while. All the plays were on medium difficulty. We won 10 of them, and in 4 of the plays I was in the role of the ghost. I received both expansions this year which adds a lot of card variety but doesn't further complicate the game.
Rounding out the dimes are Decrypto (11 plays), Fabled Fruit (11 plays), and Glass Road (10 plays). I have obtained the Laserdrive expansion for Decrypto but have only used it once so I'd like to try that more this year.
Honorable mention to Filler with 9 logged plays; I do not add demos or prototype plays to my statistics, so the hundreds of games under those banners don't count.
The remainder of the nickels: Onirim (second edition) (9 plays) Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition (9 plays) Time Chase (9 plays) Augustus (8 plays) The Duck Game (aka Quacks of Quedlinburg) (8 plays) Magic Maze (8 plays) Foppen (7 plays) Incan Gold (7 plays) No Thanks! (7 plays) Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age (7 plays) The Taverns of Tiefenthal (7 plays) TransAmerica (7 plays) DropMix (6 plays) The Quest for El Dorado 6 plays) Qwixx (6 plays) Skull (6 plays) Broom Service: The Card Game (5 plays) Cat Café (5 plays) Circus Flohcati (5 plays) Favor of the Pharaoh (5 plays) Mesozooic (5 plays) The Shipwreck Arcana (5 plays) Thingamajig (5 plays) Trogdor!! The Board Game (5 plays)
Resolutions
In 2019 I resolved to raise my H-index from 27 to 29, which I achieved mid-year. This year I will raise it to 31.
My other gaming resolution this year is to achieve a 5-strawberry ranking in Letter Jam. It is uncertain whether this is achievable.
Game Design
2019 saw the retail release of Filler. 2020 will see a new retail edition of Stroop. I am optimistic about the likelihood of a new contract getting signed this year, and have several design projects in the works as ususal.
Conventions
In 2019, I attended:
- 36 Hours of Games
- MittenCon
- The Tournament of Meeples
- Protospiel Michigan
- Gen Con
- Protospiel Chicago
- GrandCon
- Great Lakes Games
2020 is likely to be similar, with Origins replacing Gen Con. It was just too exhausting there this year to do it again in 2020.
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
edited January 2020
Heh, the way things go my way, I would be surprised if any non-party game got more than 5 plays this year. I feel like there's a chance Anachrony did, and like ... possiblyMysterium, but absolutely nothing else I own came out more than once or twice. I don't mind - really, it's the effect of playing games at my friend's house most of the time, and he actively trying to play through different games in his gigantic collection. :P
I'm positive Just One had the most plays for us, with The Mind garnering at least a handful. It's certainly envious to see you guys having literally hundreds more plays than I did.
Started playing the scythe rise of fenris campaign which I'm excited for. I've heard good things about this campaign even from people like Tom Vassal who disliked the base game.
Super light spoilers for g1. You mostly begin by playing a standard game.
the writing starts off uh, pretty bad, but the plot hook is fine. It's mostly just expanding slightly on why everyone is in uneasy cold war mode with some added backstory on the factory being a Nikola Tesla future science hermit town that he disappeared from after realizing the nations only cared about his big robots for killing each other.
Then you set up a normal scythe game except you can claim a free setup bonus from a list of 7 once per campaign purchasable options and the different star requirements give an influence token to the player who earns that star first, then at the end of the game we had to vote with those tokens to go to war or find peace. We chose peace by one vote.
We don't know the full hook or setup next game yet but we do know that there is a replacement victory track next game (we're using the peace side which will make the game reward engine building. I don't remember the exact star criteria except if we'd gone war, there's be 4 spaces for combat stars, and peace has 0.)
So the start is pretty straightforward. But looks like ep2 is going to start shaking things up
Tried the first of two scenarios for Mystery House: Adventure in a Box (aka the escape room with the giant 3D cardboard setup) this last week.
It’s not great. It’s not bad. I hesitate to even call it good. I guess it’s “pretty ok”?
First off, the first scenario really only has 4 actual puzzles in the whole thing. For all but one of them, it’s not too hard to figure out what you need to do. The trick is that it’s a scavenger hunt to find all the pieces of information you need in order to solve the puzzle you quickly figured out the gist to.
So with the scavenger hunt, you’re peering into the box for any of the card facings you can see to contain the pieces you need. I guess I’ve been spoiled by the Exit series, because I was expecting some clever “Whoah” moments from all the things they could have done with this 3D setup. And they don’t really do anything with it. There was not a single thing that couldn’t have been done just laying the cards flat out on the table like an Exit or Unlock game. The only thing the 3D setup did was strain your eyes peering inside, being told “you can’t reach that” for countless clues you could see but couldn’t “reach” until you removed more doors, and blind your fellow players with flashlights trying to see inside (I highly recommend seating everyone on one side and just turning it as needed).
It was an okay way to pass 1-2 hours, but I don’t think I would recommend paying $40 for it. The only situation I could see buying it is if money wasn’t an object (and you don’t mind it taking up space after), or if you absolutely have to play every single escape room, or as a gift for kids who are into escape rooms. The kids would be impressed by the 3D setup, regardless of how much of a pointless gimmick it is.
If one were looking for a fairly simple DMless dungeon crawl, with co-op mode being at least potential, what should one be checking out?
Arcadia Quest seems a pretty good fit for what I’m imagining. Something like Descent with its exhaustion mechanics and strict time limits is above the desired complexity/difficulty threshold. Think more Heroquest.
Arcadia Quest is neither dungeon crawl nor co-op.
Mice and Mystics is just dull, Massive Darkness feels incomplete but they do fit your criteria and are at least playable. Dungeon Saga is a freaking mess.
Also look at Mansions of Madness 2nd, Village Attacks or Betrayal Legacy
I tried Roll for the Galaxy a couple nights ago and... I just can't stand these near-solitaire engine optimization games anymore. The only interaction is trying to predict what actions other players will commit to, so that you don't have to commit to them yourself, which is a mechanic I've never liked anyway.
Not my game, but I had the same issue with Sagrada. I need to start checking whether games fall into this category before I even play them, though, I think.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I tried Roll for the Galaxy a couple nights ago and... I just can't stand these near-solitaire engine optimization games anymore. The only interaction is trying to predict what actions other players will commit to, so that you don't have to commit to them yourself, which is a mechanic I've never liked anyway.
Not my game, but I had the same issue with Sagrada. I need to start checking whether games fall into this category before I even play them, though, I think.
Personally Roll for the Galaxy is one of my favorite games, but I get the solitaire complaint.
While expensive, have you looked into the Rivalry expansion? It adds a shared stock market module (among other things) that might add more interaction.
I tried Roll for the Galaxy a couple nights ago and... I just can't stand these near-solitaire engine optimization games anymore. The only interaction is trying to predict what actions other players will commit to, so that you don't have to commit to them yourself, which is a mechanic I've never liked anyway.
Not my game, but I had the same issue with Sagrada. I need to start checking whether games fall into this category before I even play them, though, I think.
I told my group not to get terraforming mars for similar reasons. Worker placements we seem to enjoy okay, but the full castles of burgundy experience isn't popular.
...
I'm thinking about buying some subset of Chinatown, Planet Steam, and On Mars. Bus was pretty fun as well, I guess?
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jergarmarhollow man crewgoes pew pew pewRegistered Userregular
If one were looking for a fairly simple DMless dungeon crawl, with co-op mode being at least potential, what should one be checking out?
Arcadia Quest seems a pretty good fit for what I’m imagining. Something like Descent with its exhaustion mechanics and strict time limits is above the desired complexity/difficulty threshold. Think more Heroquest.
Arcadia Quest has a quirky but fun niche: create a team of 3 heroes, run them through a simple semi-random "campaign" (you will play through 6 of 11 possible missions, I think?), they grow in strength (as do the enemies), then you face off against the same final boss. It's fun and provides opportunities for interesting tactical play and combos, though it's not deep and definitely simple enough for an 8-year-old to play. It's not co-op, but it isn't primarily pvp. Think more like "trying to get the good stuff first, and tripping your friend to get in front".
It's very fun, it's my son's favorite game (that 8-year-old I mentioned, heh), but I agree that there's certain expectations that go along with the term "dungeon crawl" that this game might not meet.
jergarmar on
When I was a child, I had a fever... My BoardGameGeek profile
Battle.net: TheGerm#1430 (Hearthstone, Destiny 2)
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
If one were looking for a fairly simple DMless dungeon crawl, with co-op mode being at least potential, what should one be checking out?
Arcadia Quest seems a pretty good fit for what I’m imagining. Something like Descent with its exhaustion mechanics and strict time limits is above the desired complexity/difficulty threshold. Think more Heroquest.
You might also want to check into Dungeon Saga from Mantic Games, if you can go for their stuff. It had a dm-less mode I believe.
I've played the Turmoil Expansion to Terraforming Mars three times now. While it makes a long game longer, I love it. Seeing and influencing which party is going to come into power in the next few turns, as well as the events, make planning ahead even more important. You really want to put yourself in a position to spend all your titanium when Unity comes to power, to spend money on non-terraforming projects when Red is in power, etc. I will say the events can vary in impact quite a lot. Sometimes I really want influence to maximize or mitigate an event, and sometimes it doesn't matter at all.
Also the new corp that lets you buy cards for 1 megacredit is bonkers, totally changes how you play.
If one were looking for a fairly simple DMless dungeon crawl, with co-op mode being at least potential, what should one be checking out?
Arcadia Quest seems a pretty good fit for what I’m imagining. Something like Descent with its exhaustion mechanics and strict time limits is above the desired complexity/difficulty threshold. Think more Heroquest.
Arcadia Quest has a quirky but fun niche: create a team of 3 heroes, run them through a simple semi-random "campaign" (you will play through 6 of 11 possible missions, I think?), they grow in strength (as do the enemies), then you face off against the same final boss. It's fun and provides opportunities for interesting tactical play and combos, though it's not deep and definitely simple enough for an 8-year-old to play. It's not co-op, but it isn't primarily pvp. Think more like "trying to get the good stuff first, and tripping your friend to get in front".
Buh? It's absolutely primarily PVP. Most of your quests are to kill another guild member and the rest you're all competing for and the best way to stop someone from achieving them is - surprise - killing their guild members.
I tried Roll for the Galaxy a couple nights ago and... I just can't stand these near-solitaire engine optimization games anymore. The only interaction is trying to predict what actions other players will commit to, so that you don't have to commit to them yourself, which is a mechanic I've never liked anyway.
Not my game, but I had the same issue with Sagrada. I need to start checking whether games fall into this category before I even play them, though, I think.
I told my group not to get terraforming mars for similar reasons. Worker placements we seem to enjoy okay, but the full castles of burgundy experience isn't popular.
...
I'm thinking about buying some subset of Chinatown, Planet Steam, and On Mars. Bus was pretty fun as well, I guess?
Chinatown is still the best trading game I've ever played, though I haven't tried Sidereal Confluence.
My group argues a lot during trades, so it goes long, but you could probably clock turns and shut down trading after 10 minutes of discussion or something and keep it to roughly an hour total.
On one of my flights over the holidays, there was a Mensa puzzle in the in flight magazine, where I needed to know the word "sidereal". Thanks, this thread
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
I tried Roll for the Galaxy a couple nights ago and... I just can't stand these near-solitaire engine optimization games anymore. The only interaction is trying to predict what actions other players will commit to, so that you don't have to commit to them yourself, which is a mechanic I've never liked anyway.
Not my game, but I had the same issue with Sagrada. I need to start checking whether games fall into this category before I even play them, though, I think.
I told my group not to get terraforming mars for similar reasons. Worker placements we seem to enjoy okay, but the full castles of burgundy experience isn't popular.
...
I'm thinking about buying some subset of Chinatown, Planet Steam, and On Mars. Bus was pretty fun as well, I guess?
Chinatown is still the best trading game I've ever played, though I haven't tried Sidereal Confluence.
My group argues a lot during trades, so it goes long, but you could probably clock turns and shut down trading after 10 minutes of discussion or something and keep it to roughly an hour total.
Haha i thought a strict timer was part of the base rules
On one of my flights over the holidays, there was a Mensa puzzle in the in flight magazine, where I needed to know the word "sidereal". Thanks, this thread
On one of my flights over the holidays, there was a Mensa puzzle in the in flight magazine, where I needed to know the word "sidereal". Thanks, this thread
What's a 'magazine', GRANDPA?
A form of media that requires neither batteries nor wifi. Kinda like board games :razz:
On one of my flights over the holidays, there was a Mensa puzzle in the in flight magazine, where I needed to know the word "sidereal". Thanks, this thread
What's a 'magazine', GRANDPA?
A form of media that requires neither batteries nor wifi. Kinda like board games :razz:
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I'm excited for this upcoming week. A local guy who does a lot of demos (in an official capacity) is going to be demo'ing a Cities: Skylines game. It's apparently a brutally hard co-op game.
Bookended this week with two game days at various friends' homes.
On Sunday I learned Patchwork, Quacks of Quiddlenburg, Underwater Cities, and Kremlin.
Today (after playing Tiny Epic Mechs for the first time at the FLGS) featured Skull (which we also played at the store), Wordsy, QE, and two rounds of Just One plus some Jackbox (we crashed two different consoles...) and PuyoPuyo Tetris on the digital end of things.
Of the new games, Just One and Skull definitely lived up to the hype. Quacks was solid but felt off physically... something about the bags or the tiles themselves just wasn't feeling right to me. Underwater Cities had me in over my head (no pun intended) against two seasoned players (and a much more competitive group overall than my usual crowd; these people play Agricola like there's cash on the line). The less said about Kremlin the better; it's a game that really shows its age and not in a good way although fun enough in the right frame of mind.
Other than the work in the middle of it, a good week overall.
Got The Chameleon to the table this week. It's a fun enough filler game. Each player gives a one-word clue to show that they know which word on a grid in the center of the table is the secret word. The Chameleon doesn't know what the word is, so they just have to try to blend in. If they don't get caught, they win. If the Chameleon does get caught, they get one guess at the secret word - if they're right, they still win.
Wouldn't hold up to serious play, I don't think, but it's very quick to explain and play, and fun enough, that it should fill in nicely. Hopefully without completely taking over, like Codenames tends to do (grumble)
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FiggyFighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered Userregular
Is there a dungeon crawl-type (or similar) board game that requires little to no reading? I'm looking for a game to play with my 5-year-old who is very, very interested in board games but can't read in order to play games like Mice and Mystics.
Is there a dungeon crawl-type (or similar) board game that requires little to no reading? I'm looking for a game to play with my 5-year-old who is very, very interested in board games but can't read in order to play games like Mice and Mystics.
Is there a dungeon crawl-type (or similar) board game that requires little to no reading? I'm looking for a game to play with my 5-year-old who is very, very interested in board games but can't read in order to play games like Mice and Mystics.
Crazy suggestion: the Amazeing Labyrinth.
I actually have that, I could give that a shot. One thing j should mention is he really likes miniatures.
Is there a dungeon crawl-type (or similar) board game that requires little to no reading? I'm looking for a game to play with my 5-year-old who is very, very interested in board games but can't read in order to play games like Mice and Mystics.
Crazy suggestion: the Amazeing Labyrinth.
I actually have that, I could give that a shot. One thing j should mention is he really likes miniatures.
I've been playing Castle Ravenloft of the D&D adventure series with my 7 and 4 year olds. They love it. So much that I caught my daughter (the 4 year old) playing with the miniatures and rolling dice to see if she hit them.
DoctorArch on
Switch Friend Code: SW-6732-9515-9697
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jergarmarhollow man crewgoes pew pew pewRegistered Userregular
Is there a dungeon crawl-type (or similar) board game that requires little to no reading? I'm looking for a game to play with my 5-year-old who is very, very interested in board games but can't read in order to play games like Mice and Mystics.
So this is a weird recommendation, but there is Adventure Land. It's not at all a dungeon crawl. Stay with me.
The core of this game is fairly abstract: The board is a 10x10 grid. You start with several dudes in the corner, you can move a dude as far as you want in any straight-line direction, twice. You do this to pick up items that give you points or combat strength (more on that). But you can never move backwards, so if you move a long way you might miss stuff that appears "behind" you. That happens because on each player's turn, you draw a couple cards that put items on spaces of the board.
So the theme of the game is well-suited to these rules. Those items that give you combat strength? You can use them against the "fog monsters" (of differing strength) that appear on the board. If your combat strength is greater than the monster strength, you defeat it and get points. The "not moving backwards" simulates the "adventure" that each little dude is embarking on, when it leaves the starting area. There are neutral "adventurer" pieces on the board that you can land on and add to that dude's "party", increasing it's combat strength (and getting points as well). It's clever and engaging.
I have three kids, and at one point they were 4, 6, and 7, all very different personalities, and all clamoring to play this game. They call it the "fog monster" game. The "arc" of the game is intuitive and straightforward: gather items, fight monsters, score points. They compete but also get excited when a sibling defeats a tough monster. It's not very mean, but it's certainly not co-op, either. It seems to have a good balance.
But here's a caveat: there's a bit of math, that you'll have to help the youngest with, to know if they have enough combat strength to defeat a fog monster (like counting to 8 or 12). Also, finding the grid space (like D-7) might need help. But there's no reading at all.
As to why they like it, you know how each player has to draw cards and place a couple of things on the board? Pure genius for small kids, because it's incredibly "enabling", if you know what I mean, for a kid to help with the board state. There's no decisions to be made at this step, but it's "important", the littles love that. Then they do have a real but simple decision on where to move, usually just to pick up stuff or move to fight a fog monster. Then there's some randomization that comes with fighting the fog monsters, because one combat item requires rolling a die. The kid can decide whether to risk losing (and removing that dude from the board), or simply collect enough items to guarantee a win. OR don't fight fog monsters at all, it's actually possible (though tough) to win the game without fighting a single one.
As a game, it's also easily engaging enough for adults to play. It comes with three different "play modes" (ways of getting points), some are more "tricky", but even the simplest one has surprising depth when played with adults.
ADDENDUM: You can, by the way, remove ALL the math and randomness in this game by doing a bit of a simple "variant". If a fog monster has a strength of 8, just put half that in coins on that space, so 4 in this case. That indicates how many combat items you need to beat it, again just 4. Turn in 4 items and boom, you defeat the monster. Also, when playing with the younger kids, I shorten the game a bit, because the game can last longer than a 5-year-old's (or a dad's) attention span, even if they like the game. But with those caveats it's STILL very very popular in my house.
jergarmar on
When I was a child, I had a fever... My BoardGameGeek profile
Battle.net: TheGerm#1430 (Hearthstone, Destiny 2)
Dungeon was the game I loved the most when I was in my youth and wanted to crawl dungeons. I don't think it comes with minis but if you have any other fantasy mini games you can use them at your heros. Get loot, fight monsters, race to have the most treasure first and escape.
Street Masters is the neatest god damn game ever my stars
Where else can you play a cannibalistic, chainsaw wielding blood magician trying to stop a homicidal, living bioweapon with the mind of a 3 year old from pumping experimental mutagen into a swamp while being harrassed by giant mutant alligators
Last night a failed experiment with the Power of Barf, the aforementioned blood magic lady and a nondescript martial artist with no underwear tried to stop a futuristic hacker gang from knocking over gamblers to grab their delicious cups of nickels all the while gambling our heads off.
Street Masters is the neatest god damn game ever my stars
Where else can you play a cannibalistic, chainsaw wielding blood magician trying to stop a homicidal, living bioweapon with the mind of a 3 year old from pumping experimental mutagen into a swamp while being harrassed by giant mutant alligators
NOWHERE IS THE ANSWER
Based on your description of the game, Street Masters doesn't seem an appropriate name. Sounds like it should be more like Florida Man Hunt.
Street Masters is the neatest god damn game ever my stars
Where else can you play a cannibalistic, chainsaw wielding blood magician trying to stop a homicidal, living bioweapon with the mind of a 3 year old from pumping experimental mutagen into a swamp while being harrassed by giant mutant alligators
NOWHERE IS THE ANSWER
Based on your description of the game, Street Masters doesn't seem an appropriate name. Sounds like it should be more like Florida Man Hunt.
Posts
You can barely see the large pile of books and games in some of the pics I post
I have two 6' bookcases stacked high with games on top of them between them is a pile of games that goes from it to the top of the couch to the top 1/3 of it a blob of books and games
I have done much to clean it up over the last couple of months but I know I need a better way to store them. basically the games of it that get played a lot are Blackstone Fortress and Shadespire. But my dog does not like the card table for some reason. So that is one of the reasons why we only play games about once a week if we can
https://www.bgstatsapp.com/
Great app of you want to log plays etc
My most-played games of the year were Fine Sand (58 plays), The City (31 plays), and Just One (29 plays). All are outstanding games, of three different weights but none heavy. Fine Sand and Just One are new, and The City is a reprint of a slightly older game. I expect all three to stay on the short list next year, though Fine Sand has slowed to an occasional rather than nightly occurrence.
Next up is Fast Forward: FEAR with 23 plays, but this is misleading because of how short it is. Those 23 plays took only an hour and a half. By time instead of sessions, this is my 88th most played game of the year.
Number five is Mental Blocks with 21 plays. This is more team-building exercise than game in the vesion that has been commonly played. I would like to try the traitor variant in our group, which will make things much more game-y.
Then we have Wingspan with 18 plays, across about 24 hours making it the second-most played by time behind Fine Sand. It's a lovely game and deserving of its acclaim. Doesn't really do anything new mechanically, but all the bits fit together really well. It also has one of my favorite expansions. I love when an expansion doesn't add new rules to teach, just provides more variety within the existing rules.
Letter Jam at 16 plays was a Gen Con pre-release, and is a really smart word game. I am committed to getting better at it.
7 Wonders next, with 14 plays. Most of these plays were with the base game and Leaders only. It's one of Jenny's all-time favorite games, which is a driver for its frequency here. I've yet to try Armada which seems to have been received favorably.
I had 12 plays of Mysterium which is a bit of a surprise as it favors a larger group and lasts a while. All the plays were on medium difficulty. We won 10 of them, and in 4 of the plays I was in the role of the ghost. I received both expansions this year which adds a lot of card variety but doesn't further complicate the game.
Rounding out the dimes are Decrypto (11 plays), Fabled Fruit (11 plays), and Glass Road (10 plays). I have obtained the Laserdrive expansion for Decrypto but have only used it once so I'd like to try that more this year.
Honorable mention to Filler with 9 logged plays; I do not add demos or prototype plays to my statistics, so the hundreds of games under those banners don't count.
The remainder of the nickels:
Onirim (second edition) (9 plays)
Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition (9 plays)
Time Chase (9 plays)
Augustus (8 plays)
The Duck Game (aka Quacks of Quedlinburg) (8 plays)
Magic Maze (8 plays)
Foppen (7 plays)
Incan Gold (7 plays)
No Thanks! (7 plays)
Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age (7 plays)
The Taverns of Tiefenthal (7 plays)
TransAmerica (7 plays)
DropMix (6 plays)
The Quest for El Dorado 6 plays)
Qwixx (6 plays)
Skull (6 plays)
Broom Service: The Card Game (5 plays)
Cat Café (5 plays)
Circus Flohcati (5 plays)
Favor of the Pharaoh (5 plays)
Mesozooic (5 plays)
The Shipwreck Arcana (5 plays)
Thingamajig (5 plays)
Trogdor!! The Board Game (5 plays)
Resolutions
In 2019 I resolved to raise my H-index from 27 to 29, which I achieved mid-year. This year I will raise it to 31.
My other gaming resolution this year is to achieve a 5-strawberry ranking in Letter Jam. It is uncertain whether this is achievable.
Game Design
2019 saw the retail release of Filler. 2020 will see a new retail edition of Stroop. I am optimistic about the likelihood of a new contract getting signed this year, and have several design projects in the works as ususal.
Conventions
In 2019, I attended:
- 36 Hours of Games
- MittenCon
- The Tournament of Meeples
- Protospiel Michigan
- Gen Con
- Protospiel Chicago
- GrandCon
- Great Lakes Games
2020 is likely to be similar, with Origins replacing Gen Con. It was just too exhausting there this year to do it again in 2020.
I'm positive Just One had the most plays for us, with The Mind garnering at least a handful. It's certainly envious to see you guys having literally hundreds more plays than I did.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Super light spoilers for g1. You mostly begin by playing a standard game.
Then you set up a normal scythe game except you can claim a free setup bonus from a list of 7 once per campaign purchasable options and the different star requirements give an influence token to the player who earns that star first, then at the end of the game we had to vote with those tokens to go to war or find peace. We chose peace by one vote.
We don't know the full hook or setup next game yet but we do know that there is a replacement victory track next game (we're using the peace side which will make the game reward engine building. I don't remember the exact star criteria except if we'd gone war, there's be 4 spaces for combat stars, and peace has 0.)
So the start is pretty straightforward. But looks like ep2 is going to start shaking things up
It’s not great. It’s not bad. I hesitate to even call it good. I guess it’s “pretty ok”?
First off, the first scenario really only has 4 actual puzzles in the whole thing. For all but one of them, it’s not too hard to figure out what you need to do. The trick is that it’s a scavenger hunt to find all the pieces of information you need in order to solve the puzzle you quickly figured out the gist to.
So with the scavenger hunt, you’re peering into the box for any of the card facings you can see to contain the pieces you need. I guess I’ve been spoiled by the Exit series, because I was expecting some clever “Whoah” moments from all the things they could have done with this 3D setup. And they don’t really do anything with it. There was not a single thing that couldn’t have been done just laying the cards flat out on the table like an Exit or Unlock game. The only thing the 3D setup did was strain your eyes peering inside, being told “you can’t reach that” for countless clues you could see but couldn’t “reach” until you removed more doors, and blind your fellow players with flashlights trying to see inside (I highly recommend seating everyone on one side and just turning it as needed).
It was an okay way to pass 1-2 hours, but I don’t think I would recommend paying $40 for it. The only situation I could see buying it is if money wasn’t an object (and you don’t mind it taking up space after), or if you absolutely have to play every single escape room, or as a gift for kids who are into escape rooms. The kids would be impressed by the 3D setup, regardless of how much of a pointless gimmick it is.
I dunno. “Pretty okay”?
Arcadia Quest is neither dungeon crawl nor co-op.
Mice and Mystics is just dull, Massive Darkness feels incomplete but they do fit your criteria and are at least playable. Dungeon Saga is a freaking mess.
Also look at Mansions of Madness 2nd, Village Attacks or Betrayal Legacy
Not my game, but I had the same issue with Sagrada. I need to start checking whether games fall into this category before I even play them, though, I think.
Personally Roll for the Galaxy is one of my favorite games, but I get the solitaire complaint.
While expensive, have you looked into the Rivalry expansion? It adds a shared stock market module (among other things) that might add more interaction.
I told my group not to get terraforming mars for similar reasons. Worker placements we seem to enjoy okay, but the full castles of burgundy experience isn't popular.
...
I'm thinking about buying some subset of Chinatown, Planet Steam, and On Mars. Bus was pretty fun as well, I guess?
Arcadia Quest has a quirky but fun niche: create a team of 3 heroes, run them through a simple semi-random "campaign" (you will play through 6 of 11 possible missions, I think?), they grow in strength (as do the enemies), then you face off against the same final boss. It's fun and provides opportunities for interesting tactical play and combos, though it's not deep and definitely simple enough for an 8-year-old to play. It's not co-op, but it isn't primarily pvp. Think more like "trying to get the good stuff first, and tripping your friend to get in front".
It's very fun, it's my son's favorite game (that 8-year-old I mentioned, heh), but I agree that there's certain expectations that go along with the term "dungeon crawl" that this game might not meet.
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The downside is that Dungeon Saga is just absolutely awful as a game. It's a one versus many race game themed as a dungeon crawler
Also the new corp that lets you buy cards for 1 megacredit is bonkers, totally changes how you play.
Buh? It's absolutely primarily PVP. Most of your quests are to kill another guild member and the rest you're all competing for and the best way to stop someone from achieving them is - surprise - killing their guild members.
The only co-op bits are the optional dragon sets
Chinatown is still the best trading game I've ever played, though I haven't tried Sidereal Confluence.
My group argues a lot during trades, so it goes long, but you could probably clock turns and shut down trading after 10 minutes of discussion or something and keep it to roughly an hour total.
Haha i thought a strict timer was part of the base rules
What's a 'magazine', GRANDPA?
A form of media that requires neither batteries nor wifi. Kinda like board games :razz:
Or what if it's a digital one?
On Sunday I learned Patchwork, Quacks of Quiddlenburg, Underwater Cities, and Kremlin.
Today (after playing Tiny Epic Mechs for the first time at the FLGS) featured Skull (which we also played at the store), Wordsy, QE, and two rounds of Just One plus some Jackbox (we crashed two different consoles...) and PuyoPuyo Tetris on the digital end of things.
Of the new games, Just One and Skull definitely lived up to the hype. Quacks was solid but felt off physically... something about the bags or the tiles themselves just wasn't feeling right to me. Underwater Cities had me in over my head (no pun intended) against two seasoned players (and a much more competitive group overall than my usual crowd; these people play Agricola like there's cash on the line). The less said about Kremlin the better; it's a game that really shows its age and not in a good way although fun enough in the right frame of mind.
Other than the work in the middle of it, a good week overall.
Wouldn't hold up to serious play, I don't think, but it's very quick to explain and play, and fun enough, that it should fill in nicely. Hopefully without completely taking over, like Codenames tends to do (grumble)
Crazy suggestion: the Amazeing Labyrinth.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I actually have that, I could give that a shot. One thing j should mention is he really likes miniatures.
I've been playing Castle Ravenloft of the D&D adventure series with my 7 and 4 year olds. They love it. So much that I caught my daughter (the 4 year old) playing with the miniatures and rolling dice to see if she hit them.
So this is a weird recommendation, but there is Adventure Land. It's not at all a dungeon crawl. Stay with me.
The core of this game is fairly abstract: The board is a 10x10 grid. You start with several dudes in the corner, you can move a dude as far as you want in any straight-line direction, twice. You do this to pick up items that give you points or combat strength (more on that). But you can never move backwards, so if you move a long way you might miss stuff that appears "behind" you. That happens because on each player's turn, you draw a couple cards that put items on spaces of the board.
So the theme of the game is well-suited to these rules. Those items that give you combat strength? You can use them against the "fog monsters" (of differing strength) that appear on the board. If your combat strength is greater than the monster strength, you defeat it and get points. The "not moving backwards" simulates the "adventure" that each little dude is embarking on, when it leaves the starting area. There are neutral "adventurer" pieces on the board that you can land on and add to that dude's "party", increasing it's combat strength (and getting points as well). It's clever and engaging.
I have three kids, and at one point they were 4, 6, and 7, all very different personalities, and all clamoring to play this game. They call it the "fog monster" game. The "arc" of the game is intuitive and straightforward: gather items, fight monsters, score points. They compete but also get excited when a sibling defeats a tough monster. It's not very mean, but it's certainly not co-op, either. It seems to have a good balance.
But here's a caveat: there's a bit of math, that you'll have to help the youngest with, to know if they have enough combat strength to defeat a fog monster (like counting to 8 or 12). Also, finding the grid space (like D-7) might need help. But there's no reading at all.
As to why they like it, you know how each player has to draw cards and place a couple of things on the board? Pure genius for small kids, because it's incredibly "enabling", if you know what I mean, for a kid to help with the board state. There's no decisions to be made at this step, but it's "important", the littles love that. Then they do have a real but simple decision on where to move, usually just to pick up stuff or move to fight a fog monster. Then there's some randomization that comes with fighting the fog monsters, because one combat item requires rolling a die. The kid can decide whether to risk losing (and removing that dude from the board), or simply collect enough items to guarantee a win. OR don't fight fog monsters at all, it's actually possible (though tough) to win the game without fighting a single one.
As a game, it's also easily engaging enough for adults to play. It comes with three different "play modes" (ways of getting points), some are more "tricky", but even the simplest one has surprising depth when played with adults.
ADDENDUM: You can, by the way, remove ALL the math and randomness in this game by doing a bit of a simple "variant". If a fog monster has a strength of 8, just put half that in coins on that space, so 4 in this case. That indicates how many combat items you need to beat it, again just 4. Turn in 4 items and boom, you defeat the monster. Also, when playing with the younger kids, I shorten the game a bit, because the game can last longer than a 5-year-old's (or a dad's) attention span, even if they like the game. But with those caveats it's STILL very very popular in my house.
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Where else can you play a cannibalistic, chainsaw wielding blood magician trying to stop a homicidal, living bioweapon with the mind of a 3 year old from pumping experimental mutagen into a swamp while being harrassed by giant mutant alligators
NOWHERE IS THE ANSWER
We failed! Fuck Las Vegas!
what.
Based on your description of the game, Street Masters doesn't seem an appropriate name. Sounds like it should be more like Florida Man Hunt.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
There's a lot of better names for it, honestly.
Crazy House of Punches for one