I got to play a few games with a friend over the weekend!
Azul - I think I'm up to ~10 total plays with this game. It continues to impress me every time. It's an engaging little puzzle even when you're playing against rookies, the tiles are great, it's super easy to explain and get playing, and it's great at every player count. At 2 players, it's surprisingly cut throat (if you want it to be). I've had people dump -16 points on me a few times already. At 4 players, it's a bit more multiplayer-solitaire like, but it's engaging and fun enough to still be enjoyable. Plus, you do need to watch what other people are doing, if only to avoid screwing yourself. This game makes me think about it long after putting it back in the box.
Hive - My copy of hive pocket lives in my car. We went to a bar for Cinco de Mayo, and they had a 30+ minute wait. Gave us time to play a couple of rounds. I think this might be my favorite 2 player game of all time. It is so tightly designed in the base game that I feel like every single bug you play has weight and tension. In the full game (Ladybug, Mosquito, Pillbug expansions), it's wildly different. A frenetic, frantic, fraught series of decisions, wildly dependent on your starting position, but going first or second both feel pretty balanced to me. First player is a tight rope walk of trying to maintain tempo and advantage, while second player is essentially trying to stall and wait for an opportunity to reverse the course of the game through hyper efficient defensive strategies. Everyone I've ever introduced to hive has absolutely loved it and generally immediately buys it.
Quantum - I'm really happy with my purchase here. Eclipse is one of my favorite games of all time, but I haven't gotten it to my table in years, since one of my heavy game loving friends moved to Seattle. Quantum, however, is amazing. Super easy to explain, lots of interesting and complicated decisions to make in a short period of time, and when people see it, they can't help but watch. The dice-as-ship mechanic is absolutely brilliant. It scratches a lot (but not all) of the same itches that Eclipse scratches, in a package that's way easier to sell to people who aren't typically fans of the big, dense, 3+ hour games. There's some bit of luck involved in that the starting ship rolls you get can make it hard to have counter play (in the starting 2 player map, there are tons of planets that with the right roll, you can pretty much 'capture' in 2-3 turns that your opponent doesn't really have much in the way of stopping you), but the variable starting boards, player counts, and randomness keeps each game fresh. Plus, games are fast enough that if your opponent (or you) just gets a wildly better starting set up, the game plays fast enough and is easy enough to reset that you can just play again.
Finally, Spirit Island - I completed my second 2 player play through of Spirit Island, and I have to say that I remain highly impressed. It's pretty easy to set up, it's fairly (kinda) simple to explain, and once people *get* their spirit, even beginner board gamers start to come up with ideas and strategies that are unique, different, and valid. It's a really strong performer, and honestly, will likely completely replace Pandemic for me. I'll still bust out pandemic from time to time, but I just think SI inspires the same kinds of feelings and emotions that Pandemic does, with a lot more complexity in the right places to not slow the game down. I really, really love this one. Plus, being able to tweak the difficulty through a number of different levers is just great.
Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective : Carlton House and Queen's Park turned up today. So, that's pretty much the only thing I'll be playing with my wife for the next couple of weeks. Not complaining though, I love me some SHCD, even if Sherlock is a cheating son of a goose.
I went looking for Azul at my FLGS. Sold out. But they did have Shards of Infinity, a deckbuilding game with a name and an on-box description that I have no doubt was timed to cash in on the launch of Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War. Dice Tower was pretty enthusiastic about it, though. Tom and Zee mentioned it replacing Star Realms for them. I decided to give in. I'd post impressions but a good number of cards were pretty badly warped, so I've got them stuck underneath a heavy box. It seems to be doing the trick.
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
I've been insanely tempted by some Meeple Realty stuff lately. As I try to buy fewer games and go for only the cream of the crop, well of course that just leaves disposable income to throw at blinging my shit out. Meeple Realty really seems to have some of the nicest insert options. It almost makes me want to buy the newer edition of Tzolk'in so I can get the insert for that with the vastly superior first player marker.
Oh also, I still have stuff to sell. Please, fund my desire to have pointless but really cool inserts. Also I might buy like ONE game. Maybe Baren Park? Part of the challenge of buying less games is I still want games, but the goal is to get stuff that is like "Wow this is excellent" or it fills some hole in the collection. I've generally gotten good at "will we like this game?" so there are very few absolute duds that we play, but just trying to kick it up that extra notch into excellence.
FYI @ChaosHat sold me a game last week and it was an excellent buying experience. Fair price, shipped within days, excellent condition. A++, would buy again, etc
Watched the heavy Cardboard live stream of Forbidden City last night, probably going to end up backing it. The card play looks fun.
It gives me that Great Western Trail "string of minigames that disguise an economic empire" vibe.
"I'm gonna trade this card so I can place these workers so I can control this area with a passive bonus so I can do more and then ride the kick back up to the next round."
I got to play a few games with a friend over the weekend!
Azul - I think I'm up to ~10 total plays with this game. It continues to impress me every time. It's an engaging little puzzle even when you're playing against rookies, the tiles are great, it's super easy to explain and get playing, and it's great at every player count. At 2 players, it's surprisingly cut throat (if you want it to be). I've had people dump -16 points on me a few times already. At 4 players, it's a bit more multiplayer-solitaire like, but it's engaging and fun enough to still be enjoyable. Plus, you do need to watch what other people are doing, if only to avoid screwing yourself. This game makes me think about it long after putting it back in the box.
Hive - My copy of hive pocket lives in my car. We went to a bar for Cinco de Mayo, and they had a 30+ minute wait. Gave us time to play a couple of rounds. I think this might be my favorite 2 player game of all time. It is so tightly designed in the base game that I feel like every single bug you play has weight and tension. In the full game (Ladybug, Mosquito, Pillbug expansions), it's wildly different. A frenetic, frantic, fraught series of decisions, wildly dependent on your starting position, but going first or second both feel pretty balanced to me. First player is a tight rope walk of trying to maintain tempo and advantage, while second player is essentially trying to stall and wait for an opportunity to reverse the course of the game through hyper efficient defensive strategies. Everyone I've ever introduced to hive has absolutely loved it and generally immediately buys it.
Quantum - I'm really happy with my purchase here. Eclipse is one of my favorite games of all time, but I haven't gotten it to my table in years, since one of my heavy game loving friends moved to Seattle. Quantum, however, is amazing. Super easy to explain, lots of interesting and complicated decisions to make in a short period of time, and when people see it, they can't help but watch. The dice-as-ship mechanic is absolutely brilliant. It scratches a lot (but not all) of the same itches that Eclipse scratches, in a package that's way easier to sell to people who aren't typically fans of the big, dense, 3+ hour games. There's some bit of luck involved in that the starting ship rolls you get can make it hard to have counter play (in the starting 2 player map, there are tons of planets that with the right roll, you can pretty much 'capture' in 2-3 turns that your opponent doesn't really have much in the way of stopping you), but the variable starting boards, player counts, and randomness keeps each game fresh. Plus, games are fast enough that if your opponent (or you) just gets a wildly better starting set up, the game plays fast enough and is easy enough to reset that you can just play again.
Finally, Spirit Island - I completed my second 2 player play through of Spirit Island, and I have to say that I remain highly impressed. It's pretty easy to set up, it's fairly (kinda) simple to explain, and once people *get* their spirit, even beginner board gamers start to come up with ideas and strategies that are unique, different, and valid. It's a really strong performer, and honestly, will likely completely replace Pandemic for me. I'll still bust out pandemic from time to time, but I just think SI inspires the same kinds of feelings and emotions that Pandemic does, with a lot more complexity in the right places to not slow the game down. I really, really love this one. Plus, being able to tweak the difficulty through a number of different levers is just great.
I ended up trading Quantum because I couldn't get it to the table, but I loved it.
I'm getting Hive from ChaosHat and can't wait to try it.
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Hmm, some Scythe news (don't know how new it is):
Jakub Rozalski, the artist responsible for the art that inspired the game, is under scrutiny for allegedly tracing over photos (copyrights + permission unknown) and other artists' works, and then passing them off as his wholly original work without credit (?). At least, he has a page in inkstation posting a tutorial on how he did a piece of art, but without any credit to the reference pic. There's also a response from Jamey Stegmaier in the linked reddit thread.
On one hand artists do crib from one another often, but on the other, you usually say upfront where you got your references. I kind of agree with Stegmaier on some of the evidence, though; they look less like straight up "traced" than "used as reference and almost copied 1:1", which... isn't so... bad?
Some of that stuff looks precisely the same though, so..
Namely the horse on the left here was the most strikingly similar: https://m.imgur.com/a/QZ8T3
AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
So my family finally finished Pandemic Legacy season 1. It was a replay for me but new to them, and it took us a year and a half because we basically took two six-month breaks from it for some reason. But we did it, and they really enjoyed it for the most part.
Now that we’re done doing campaign games for a while (we played all of Time Stories over the same period), I can introduce them to some good one offs. Starting with a Mother’s Day gift, the excellent and unique Potion Explosion.
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jergarmarhollow man crewgoes pew pew pewRegistered Userregular
Azul - I think I'm up to ~10 total plays with this game. It continues to impress me every time. It's an engaging little puzzle even when you're playing against rookies, the tiles are great, it's super easy to explain and get playing, and it's great at every player count. At 2 players, it's surprisingly cut throat (if you want it to be). I've had people dump -16 points on me a few times already. At 4 players, it's a bit more multiplayer-solitaire like, but it's engaging and fun enough to still be enjoyable. Plus, you do need to watch what other people are doing, if only to avoid screwing yourself. This game makes me think about it long after putting it back in the box.
I was once skeptical of the hype around Azul, but it has really delivered. Just the other night I introduced it for a 3-player game, and it again went over really well.
Azul and Arboretum are both excellent newer abstracts, and I think it's because they both have a similarly satisfying game "arc". In both games you have your own tableau, and you can choose to develop it as you wish, but your choice of pieces are constrained (either by hand of cards or available tiles). Both have a healthy dose of interaction in how you gain cards/tiles. Both have a narrowing of what cards/tiles help you as the game nears completion, and both have opportunities to "pull a fast one" on another player, especially if that player is taking risks to get ahead. It's just a great basic formula for shorter games.
When I was a child, I had a fever... My BoardGameGeek profile
Battle.net: TheGerm#1430 (Hearthstone, Destiny 2)
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Having not played Arboretum, I'd still quite like to because I think I'd like it better than Azul. The latter was just so dry when I played it, and while picking and laying tiles is fine, the 'guesswork mindgame' didn't get me right. It's not compelling public information, I guess? I want the hidden aspect from Arboretum very much.
Something about that is certainly silly considering how much I enjoy heavier perfect information games. I'll have to dig into that more ...
*shrug*
I re-learned Labyrinth (The War On Terror, not David Bowie) with a friend last night. Was really good to pick it up for the first time in a few years, because I wish I played it more often. I played the Jihadists and we muddled through it pleasantly enough for 3 hours before I ultimately lost on deck-out when Egypt had a friendly new government installed and cost me most of my resources. Boringly enough, this saw my friend win with 2 friendly resources to my 1, so if you know anything about the game you can guess how terribly we played. :P
Having come from playing the US the 3 previous times I played the game, it's certainly different from the right side of the table. There's something demoralizing about spending 10 ops in a turn just trying to get dudes on a board and only getting 1 success. But gosh I am desperate to play again.
FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
Just received the 2018 PAX Unplugged announcement e-mail: November 30- December 2, so they will avoid the marathon this year. Hotel prices were 40% less than last year...
Back on the gamebooks talk, I finally defeated Blood Bones (Fighting Fantasy #61). I lost count of my playthroughs; I'd say it took me a week and some change of playing around an hour a day to figure it all out and get through it. What a rewarding experience though, easily comparable to finishing Ocarina the first time.
Now I am going to play what Tin Man has out in order, starting with the one that kicked all this off: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
There was a Star Wars game book series that was published in the Scholastic book catalogue back in the mid 90s.
It had cardboard character sheets, weapons, vehivles and spaceships, and I think you got bouses to your stats at certain points in the book?
And then you just took your character and inventory across to the next game.
There was a Star Wars game book series that was published in the Scholastic book catalogue back in the mid 90s.
It had cardboard character sheets, weapons, vehivles and spaceships, and I think you got bouses to your stats at certain points in the book?
And then you just took your character and inventory across to the next game.
There was a Star Wars game book series that was published in the Scholastic book catalogue back in the mid 90s.
It had cardboard character sheets, weapons, vehivles and spaceships, and I think you got bouses to your stats at certain points in the book?
And then you just took your character and inventory across to the next game.
Yes, that is it.
It came in a thin black plastic shell suitcase originally I think.
It never really clicked for me as a kid I think.
I believe I was excited about them, but the books, or at least the couple first ones, seemed pretty linear, with decisions being based on whatever character stat was higher and just being good/bad outcomes and on with the story.
Not sure if that changed later?
Admittedly, I probably never 'played' the books, but instead just read through and assumed my character beat every check.
My Mayday sleeves for Dominion arrived at last. I bought the standard, thin sleeves for the price and because I had read they would allow the cards to fit into the box's rather nice insert. They do not. Their width is fine, but like FFG sleeves, there's a bit too much at the top. Oh well. I'll have to get one of those long cardboard holders and some dividers instead, or a bunch of snack baggies and remove the insert.
I had snubbed penny sleeves because the internet told me they were "worthless." I'm naive so I believe everything on the internet. But... they're fine? They're not loose-fitting, like I was expecting. As long as they shuffle well - they do - and keep finger oils off the cards, I'm content. Now I have to re-evaluate my whole outlook on life.
Edit: That Hobby Lobby case with the Broken Token insert looks nice. I'll have to consider that later, if I really get into Dominion and want to pick up the Empires/Prosperity/Seaside expansions.
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
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CaptainPeacockBoard Game HoarderTop o' the LakeRegistered Userregular
I've been insanely tempted by some Meeple Realty stuff lately. As I try to buy fewer games and go for only the cream of the crop, well of course that just leaves disposable income to throw at blinging my shit out. Meeple Realty really seems to have some of the nicest insert options. It almost makes me want to buy the newer edition of Tzolk'in so I can get the insert for that with the vastly superior first player marker.
Oh also, I still have stuff to sell. Please, fund my desire to have pointless but really cool inserts. Also I might buy like ONE game. Maybe Baren Park? Part of the challenge of buying less games is I still want games, but the goal is to get stuff that is like "Wow this is excellent" or it fills some hole in the collection. I've generally gotten good at "will we like this game?" so there are very few absolute duds that we play, but just trying to kick it up that extra notch into excellence.
FYI @ChaosHat sold me a game last week and it was an excellent buying experience. Fair price, shipped within days, excellent condition. A++, would buy again, etc
Seconded! My care package from @ChaosHat arrived today in great shape!
Cluck cluck, gibber gibber, my old man's a mushroom, etc.
Well, I gave it a prudent few days but the desires didn't fade, so I scoured EBay and now the Lost Worlds books for 'Woman in Scale with Sword and Shield' and 'Giant Goblin with Mace and Shield' are on their way to me.
I'd never heard of them before and was just too intrigued to see these oddities for myself!
Just binged our way through Unlock: Secret Adventures.
A Nosides Story
The most vanilla of the three, good fun still
Tombstone Express
This one had some really good time pressure. It handle time better than Nautalis I think. Was not expecting a dexterity section.
Oz
Definitely my favourite of the 3. A bit more linear than the other ones, but the puzzles were better. This one had optional missions, which was cool. I think they could have introduced the "link the icons on the back of the character cards to make a story" thing a better better.
I prefer the Exit series, but I still really enjoy Unlock.
Well, I gave it a prudent few days but the desires didn't fade, so I scoured EBay and now the Lost Worlds books for 'Woman in Scale with Sword and Shield' and 'Giant Goblin with Mace and Shield' are on their way to me.
I'd never heard of them before and was just too intrigued to see these oddities for myself!
Those are good ones to start with. Generally the lower-numbered ones are simpler and my favorites.
My Mayday sleeves for Dominion arrived at last. I bought the standard, thin sleeves for the price and because I had read they would allow the cards to fit into the box's rather nice insert. They do not. Their width is fine, but like FFG sleeves, there's a bit too much at the top. Oh well. I'll have to get one of those long cardboard holders and some dividers instead, or a bunch of snack baggies and remove the insert.
I had snubbed penny sleeves because the internet told me they were "worthless." I'm naive so I believe everything on the internet. But... they're fine? They're not loose-fitting, like I was expecting. As long as they shuffle well - they do - and keep finger oils off the cards, I'm content. Now I have to re-evaluate my whole outlook on life.
Edit: That Hobby Lobby case with the Broken Token insert looks nice. I'll have to consider that later, if I really get into Dominion and want to pick up the Empires/Prosperity/Seaside expansions.
I think there are a few different brands of penny sleeves, and the quality of them seems to vary wildly. I remember 7 years ago when I had moved back here and was buying stuff at a then-new-to-me store, the penny sleeves they carried were legit. All of my Core Worlds stuff was sleeved with them, and I'm pretty sure my Labyrinth decks are as well. Those sleeves are a really good quality. But a couple of years after that, either the store started getting a different brand of penny sleeve, or they just changed their product, because suddenly they were rubbish. I still have a few packs in my sleeve box that I never opened after testing a pack. Loose fit and tons of variety in height. The sort of thing that would only be good for sleeving collectable cards, not something you were going to play a game with.
Which is all to say that depending on experiences, I can understand why "the internet" often doesn't like penny sleeves. It'd be interesting to try and work out if there are a few different kinds still around and which ones are the better ones.
WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
I've seen reports, and have personally encountered, inconsistent batches of the cheaper Mayday sleeves. A sleeve may be too tall that it's noticeable in a deck, or sometimes the card just don't plain fit inside. Their premium selection tends to be better, but those do cost more.
Back on the gamebooks talk, I finally defeated Blood Bones (Fighting Fantasy #61). I lost count of my playthroughs; I'd say it took me a week and some change of playing around an hour a day to figure it all out and get through it. What a rewarding experience though, easily comparable to finishing Ocarina the first time.
Now I am going to play what Tin Man has out in order, starting with the one that kicked all this off: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
Man do I love these.
You know, I don't think I ever finished Warlock. I was just a kid, but I came to the conclusion that there was actually no way to finish it, because there was a loop where I was just going around in circles and nothing led to anything (except death)... hmm, maybe that was Scorpion Swamp.
I definitely never finished the Deathtrap Dungeon video game, though. Got dam, that was hard.
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ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
I've been insanely tempted by some Meeple Realty stuff lately. As I try to buy fewer games and go for only the cream of the crop, well of course that just leaves disposable income to throw at blinging my shit out. Meeple Realty really seems to have some of the nicest insert options. It almost makes me want to buy the newer edition of Tzolk'in so I can get the insert for that with the vastly superior first player marker.
Oh also, I still have stuff to sell. Please, fund my desire to have pointless but really cool inserts. Also I might buy like ONE game. Maybe Baren Park? Part of the challenge of buying less games is I still want games, but the goal is to get stuff that is like "Wow this is excellent" or it fills some hole in the collection. I've generally gotten good at "will we like this game?" so there are very few absolute duds that we play, but just trying to kick it up that extra notch into excellence.
FYI @ChaosHat sold me a game last week and it was an excellent buying experience. Fair price, shipped within days, excellent condition. A++, would buy again, etc
Seconded! My care package from @ChaosHat arrived today in great shape!
Thanks! I'm glad you guys are enjoying the games! Give them good homes!
You could definitely finish Warlock of Firetop Mountain. With the way Scorpion Swamp worked I guess it's possible to loop around the same references, but the book is totally doable, though of course you may end up in a dead end where every option leads to death if you don't find the right path.
The only one I found was impossible (and I mapped the first forty or so), unless you cheated, was Creature of Havoc. And even then the creators intended it to be that way (they claim), as they introduce a rule for you to deduct x from the page reference after you gain an ability but only if the reference starts with a certain phrase. At one point, you have to deduct x from the page ref even though the certain phrase isn't used in order to progress the story. It's a terrible flaw in an otherwise brilliant gamebook, but they claim they wanted it that way for reasons that escape me, and are possibly just them trying to save face after screwing up.
House of Hell and Creature of Havoc are the two hardest, I think, along with Sorcery!
Just binged our way through Unlock: Secret Adventures.
I prefer the Exit series, but I still really enjoy Unlock.
My wife loves actual Escape Rooms. I am rather sick of them and didn't think the board game wouldn't be immersive enough for her. My son disagrees and wants to get her an escape game for Mother's Day. There are too many choices. You said you prefer Exit. Does it really matter which Exit game we start with? Pharaoh's Tomb looks like something different.
GameStop has a bunch on unlock games on clearance for like $4-5 a little while ago. You could check around and see if there are any left near you if you wanna try some on the cheap.
The order doesn't matter, but the difficulties differ, so if you are doing multiple probably start with the easiest and ramp up (otherwise it will be anticlimactic). I've done three Exit scenarios, two Unlock scenarios, and three Escape Room: the Game scenarios, and that's the order I'd rank them in, but I'd be happy to play any of them. Exit is consumable, Unlock is reusable, and Escape Room the Game is consumable but offers PDFs of the relevant parts so you can print them off and reset it for another group. Each has had occasional moments that seem unfair, and moments that were extremely rewarding.
- Exit has the best hint system, since you can get a hint on the puzzle you're stuck on specifically and the scoring system handles useless clues well. Unlock's hints are fiddlier since you might not know which card number to ask about.
- The solution system in Unlock is particularly clever because it allows for more than just combination locks.
- Escape Room the Game has a nice toy factor with a device you actually insert keys into.
Speaking of gamebooks like Lone Wolf and Warlock of Firetop Mountain, they’re both discounted for Humble Bundle’s Spring Sale! There’s also a bunch of other ones people other than me might recognize. I got Warlock in a bundle with a couple of other things, and tried a few characters a couple months ago. I guess I knew it was based on some real-life thing, but didn’t quite get what the idea behind it was and dropped it after an hour or so.
All this talk lately has gotten me wanting to give it another go tonight!
Just binged our way through Unlock: Secret Adventures.
I prefer the Exit series, but I still really enjoy Unlock.
My wife loves actual Escape Rooms. I am rather sick of them and didn't think the board game wouldn't be immersive enough for her. My son disagrees and wants to get her an escape game for Mother's Day. There are too many choices. You said you prefer Exit. Does it really matter which Exit game we start with? Pharaoh's Tomb looks like something different.
It's a bit short notice, of course, but maybe a Mysterious Package Company package would scratch a similar itch? I have no experience with them, but they sound neat and I've heard good things.
Edit: though that's way more expensive than one of the games you're talking about
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Just binged our way through Unlock: Secret Adventures.
I prefer the Exit series, but I still really enjoy Unlock.
My wife loves actual Escape Rooms. I am rather sick of them and didn't think the board game wouldn't be immersive enough for her. My son disagrees and wants to get her an escape game for Mother's Day. There are too many choices. You said you prefer Exit. Does it really matter which Exit game we start with? Pharaoh's Tomb looks like something different.
While you could do them in whatever order you want, I'll speak from experience here - If you grab an Exit box, starting with the Abandoned Cabin is solid. It's well put together with no real "fuck you"s, and gives you a good intro to what they're on about.
As a comparison point, I'm pretty sure the deserted island (name of that one escapes me at the moment) would probably be _horrible_ for a first game, even though they have the same difficulty.
That said, Pharaoh's Tomb was pretty good minus one solid "fuck you", so if you really want to give that one a go, it's a good pickup. Would probably recommend you play it second is all~
I mean, come on, she's worth two games, isn't she?
That said, Pharaoh's Tomb was pretty good minus one solid "fuck you"
The real problem with this whole genre is that sometimes different groups have different "fuck you"s. It's the sort of thing that a GM can smooth over trivially, but a prepackaged game either anticipates or it doesn't. I think the Exit hint system does a decent job at helping groups through things that might seem unfair to them. Because without things that feel "unfair" to some people, you also lose the things that feel amazing when you figure them out.
Oh, another thing: Unlock has several print-and-play freebies on their website. They are a fairly decent taste of the full experience. The puzzles are less clever because of the limitations of print-and-play, but it's still pretty fun, and hey... it's free!
I've seen reports, and have personally encountered, inconsistent batches of the cheaper Mayday sleeves. A sleeve may be too tall that it's noticeable in a deck, or sometimes the card just don't plain fit inside. Their premium selection tends to be better, but those do cost more.
Their premium selection is not actually any better. Maybe, at best, proportionally.
I've seen reports, and have personally encountered, inconsistent batches of the cheaper Mayday sleeves. A sleeve may be too tall that it's noticeable in a deck, or sometimes the card just don't plain fit inside. Their premium selection tends to be better, but those do cost more.
Their premium selection is not actually any better. Maybe, at best, proportionally.
Man I disagree with that. The premiums are way better. The cheap ones I don't even bother with anymore. Premiums are my go to for regular board games. I go higher quality for tournament style LCGs and such.
I prefer the thicker sleeves, specifically FFG's selection. But sleeving Dominion and a few expansions starts to really add up. The base game with only a few expansions would end up being over $70. I'm an obsessive sleever, but that's just too much!
The Mayday European standards I'm using are certainly not consistent like FFG. Their height varies a bit. They're not always clean (though you can't really notice the inconsistencies when cards are in them). The bottom of some of the sleeves are curved. But they're doing their job better than I thought they would. They're certainly better than the Ultra-Pro penny sleeves I tried once before. Those were incredibly loose fitting and felt wrinkly. The Maydays are less consistent in shape, but they at least they're not loose.
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
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Azul - I think I'm up to ~10 total plays with this game. It continues to impress me every time. It's an engaging little puzzle even when you're playing against rookies, the tiles are great, it's super easy to explain and get playing, and it's great at every player count. At 2 players, it's surprisingly cut throat (if you want it to be). I've had people dump -16 points on me a few times already. At 4 players, it's a bit more multiplayer-solitaire like, but it's engaging and fun enough to still be enjoyable. Plus, you do need to watch what other people are doing, if only to avoid screwing yourself. This game makes me think about it long after putting it back in the box.
Hive - My copy of hive pocket lives in my car. We went to a bar for Cinco de Mayo, and they had a 30+ minute wait. Gave us time to play a couple of rounds. I think this might be my favorite 2 player game of all time. It is so tightly designed in the base game that I feel like every single bug you play has weight and tension. In the full game (Ladybug, Mosquito, Pillbug expansions), it's wildly different. A frenetic, frantic, fraught series of decisions, wildly dependent on your starting position, but going first or second both feel pretty balanced to me. First player is a tight rope walk of trying to maintain tempo and advantage, while second player is essentially trying to stall and wait for an opportunity to reverse the course of the game through hyper efficient defensive strategies. Everyone I've ever introduced to hive has absolutely loved it and generally immediately buys it.
Quantum - I'm really happy with my purchase here. Eclipse is one of my favorite games of all time, but I haven't gotten it to my table in years, since one of my heavy game loving friends moved to Seattle. Quantum, however, is amazing. Super easy to explain, lots of interesting and complicated decisions to make in a short period of time, and when people see it, they can't help but watch. The dice-as-ship mechanic is absolutely brilliant. It scratches a lot (but not all) of the same itches that Eclipse scratches, in a package that's way easier to sell to people who aren't typically fans of the big, dense, 3+ hour games. There's some bit of luck involved in that the starting ship rolls you get can make it hard to have counter play (in the starting 2 player map, there are tons of planets that with the right roll, you can pretty much 'capture' in 2-3 turns that your opponent doesn't really have much in the way of stopping you), but the variable starting boards, player counts, and randomness keeps each game fresh. Plus, games are fast enough that if your opponent (or you) just gets a wildly better starting set up, the game plays fast enough and is easy enough to reset that you can just play again.
Finally, Spirit Island - I completed my second 2 player play through of Spirit Island, and I have to say that I remain highly impressed. It's pretty easy to set up, it's fairly (kinda) simple to explain, and once people *get* their spirit, even beginner board gamers start to come up with ideas and strategies that are unique, different, and valid. It's a really strong performer, and honestly, will likely completely replace Pandemic for me. I'll still bust out pandemic from time to time, but I just think SI inspires the same kinds of feelings and emotions that Pandemic does, with a lot more complexity in the right places to not slow the game down. I really, really love this one. Plus, being able to tweak the difficulty through a number of different levers is just great.
FYI @ChaosHat sold me a game last week and it was an excellent buying experience. Fair price, shipped within days, excellent condition. A++, would buy again, etc
It gives me that Great Western Trail "string of minigames that disguise an economic empire" vibe.
"I'm gonna trade this card so I can place these workers so I can control this area with a passive bonus so I can do more and then ride the kick back up to the next round."
I now want to buy all of these.
I'm getting Hive from ChaosHat and can't wait to try it.
Jakub Rozalski, the artist responsible for the art that inspired the game, is under scrutiny for allegedly tracing over photos (copyrights + permission unknown) and other artists' works, and then passing them off as his wholly original work without credit (?). At least, he has a page in inkstation posting a tutorial on how he did a piece of art, but without any credit to the reference pic. There's also a response from Jamey Stegmaier in the linked reddit thread.
On one hand artists do crib from one another often, but on the other, you usually say upfront where you got your references. I kind of agree with Stegmaier on some of the evidence, though; they look less like straight up "traced" than "used as reference and almost copied 1:1", which... isn't so... bad?
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Namely the horse on the left here was the most strikingly similar:
https://m.imgur.com/a/QZ8T3
Now that we’re done doing campaign games for a while (we played all of Time Stories over the same period), I can introduce them to some good one offs. Starting with a Mother’s Day gift, the excellent and unique Potion Explosion.
I was once skeptical of the hype around Azul, but it has really delivered. Just the other night I introduced it for a 3-player game, and it again went over really well.
Azul and Arboretum are both excellent newer abstracts, and I think it's because they both have a similarly satisfying game "arc". In both games you have your own tableau, and you can choose to develop it as you wish, but your choice of pieces are constrained (either by hand of cards or available tiles). Both have a healthy dose of interaction in how you gain cards/tiles. Both have a narrowing of what cards/tiles help you as the game nears completion, and both have opportunities to "pull a fast one" on another player, especially if that player is taking risks to get ahead. It's just a great basic formula for shorter games.
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Battle.net: TheGerm#1430 (Hearthstone, Destiny 2)
Something about that is certainly silly considering how much I enjoy heavier perfect information games. I'll have to dig into that more ...
*shrug*
I re-learned Labyrinth (The War On Terror, not David Bowie) with a friend last night. Was really good to pick it up for the first time in a few years, because I wish I played it more often. I played the Jihadists and we muddled through it pleasantly enough for 3 hours before I ultimately lost on deck-out when Egypt had a friendly new government installed and cost me most of my resources. Boringly enough, this saw my friend win with 2 friendly resources to my 1, so if you know anything about the game you can guess how terribly we played. :P
Having come from playing the US the 3 previous times I played the game, it's certainly different from the right side of the table. There's something demoralizing about spending 10 ops in a turn just trying to get dudes on a board and only getting 1 success. But gosh I am desperate to play again.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Now I am going to play what Tin Man has out in order, starting with the one that kicked all this off: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
Man do I love these.
It had cardboard character sheets, weapons, vehivles and spaceships, and I think you got bouses to your stats at certain points in the book?
And then you just took your character and inventory across to the next game.
Is this it? Never heard of it before.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
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Yes, that is it.
It came in a thin black plastic shell suitcase originally I think.
It never really clicked for me as a kid I think.
I believe I was excited about them, but the books, or at least the couple first ones, seemed pretty linear, with decisions being based on whatever character stat was higher and just being good/bad outcomes and on with the story.
Not sure if that changed later?
Admittedly, I probably never 'played' the books, but instead just read through and assumed my character beat every check.
I had snubbed penny sleeves because the internet told me they were "worthless." I'm naive so I believe everything on the internet. But... they're fine? They're not loose-fitting, like I was expecting. As long as they shuffle well - they do - and keep finger oils off the cards, I'm content. Now I have to re-evaluate my whole outlook on life.
Edit: That Hobby Lobby case with the Broken Token insert looks nice. I'll have to consider that later, if I really get into Dominion and want to pick up the Empires/Prosperity/Seaside expansions.
Seconded! My care package from @ChaosHat arrived today in great shape!
I'd never heard of them before and was just too intrigued to see these oddities for myself!
A Nosides Story
Tombstone Express
Oz
I prefer the Exit series, but I still really enjoy Unlock.
Those are good ones to start with. Generally the lower-numbered ones are simpler and my favorites.
Which is all to say that depending on experiences, I can understand why "the internet" often doesn't like penny sleeves. It'd be interesting to try and work out if there are a few different kinds still around and which ones are the better ones.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
You know, I don't think I ever finished Warlock. I was just a kid, but I came to the conclusion that there was actually no way to finish it, because there was a loop where I was just going around in circles and nothing led to anything (except death)... hmm, maybe that was Scorpion Swamp.
I definitely never finished the Deathtrap Dungeon video game, though. Got dam, that was hard.
Thanks! I'm glad you guys are enjoying the games! Give them good homes!
The only one I found was impossible (and I mapped the first forty or so), unless you cheated, was Creature of Havoc. And even then the creators intended it to be that way (they claim), as they introduce a rule for you to deduct x from the page reference after you gain an ability but only if the reference starts with a certain phrase. At one point, you have to deduct x from the page ref even though the certain phrase isn't used in order to progress the story. It's a terrible flaw in an otherwise brilliant gamebook, but they claim they wanted it that way for reasons that escape me, and are possibly just them trying to save face after screwing up.
House of Hell and Creature of Havoc are the two hardest, I think, along with Sorcery!
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
My wife loves actual Escape Rooms. I am rather sick of them and didn't think the board game wouldn't be immersive enough for her. My son disagrees and wants to get her an escape game for Mother's Day. There are too many choices. You said you prefer Exit. Does it really matter which Exit game we start with? Pharaoh's Tomb looks like something different.
- Exit has the best hint system, since you can get a hint on the puzzle you're stuck on specifically and the scoring system handles useless clues well. Unlock's hints are fiddlier since you might not know which card number to ask about.
- The solution system in Unlock is particularly clever because it allows for more than just combination locks.
- Escape Room the Game has a nice toy factor with a device you actually insert keys into.
All this talk lately has gotten me wanting to give it another go tonight!
It's a bit short notice, of course, but maybe a Mysterious Package Company package would scratch a similar itch? I have no experience with them, but they sound neat and I've heard good things.
Edit: though that's way more expensive than one of the games you're talking about
While you could do them in whatever order you want, I'll speak from experience here - If you grab an Exit box, starting with the Abandoned Cabin is solid. It's well put together with no real "fuck you"s, and gives you a good intro to what they're on about.
As a comparison point, I'm pretty sure the deserted island (name of that one escapes me at the moment) would probably be _horrible_ for a first game, even though they have the same difficulty.
That said, Pharaoh's Tomb was pretty good minus one solid "fuck you", so if you really want to give that one a go, it's a good pickup. Would probably recommend you play it second is all~
I mean, come on, she's worth two games, isn't she?
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Their premium selection is not actually any better. Maybe, at best, proportionally.
Man I disagree with that. The premiums are way better. The cheap ones I don't even bother with anymore. Premiums are my go to for regular board games. I go higher quality for tournament style LCGs and such.
The Mayday European standards I'm using are certainly not consistent like FFG. Their height varies a bit. They're not always clean (though you can't really notice the inconsistencies when cards are in them). The bottom of some of the sleeves are curved. But they're doing their job better than I thought they would. They're certainly better than the Ultra-Pro penny sleeves I tried once before. Those were incredibly loose fitting and felt wrinkly. The Maydays are less consistent in shape, but they at least they're not loose.