Games

My gaming experiences.

Day 245: Swashbuckler

 

 

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Swashbuckler

I stopped by the open game night at my FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) and played two new games. First was Dragon Run, a nifty little press-your-luck card game in which you’re trying to grab treasure before the dragon turns you into toast. You and your opponents play characters with different abilities (thief, psychic, warrior, etc.) and there are spells and talismans to help or hinder your quest. It played fairly quickly and was a good way to start the night.

The second game was a real treat: Swashbuckler. This was a game from 1980 that one of the game night regulars put a lot of time and effort tracking down then upgrading its components (check out the gorgeous miniatures in the photo above). I love the pirate theme: it’s like a classic Errol Flynn movie, with everybody throwing chairs, swinging from chandeliers, and lunging and parrying.

Three of us played two characters each. Every player plots six moves per turn then reveals simultaneously; there are a few detailed charts for combat and movement and two six-sided dice determine your fate. It was easy to get into the spirit of things: after every successful (and even unsuccessful) move, we would lunge or parry in the air or make jokes in good swashbuckler form.

The Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya would be proud.

Day 243: Coins for Games

Soon to be growing soon: my humble games library.

Soon to be growing soon: my humble games library.

As I wrote back on Day 13 of this year, I keep my spare change in a jar. When it gets filled up, I take it to my local Coinstar and convert it into an Amazon credit. Coinstar normally charges about nine percent to count your coins, but it waives this fee if you opt to take the Amazon credit.

I usually cash out about $60 from the jar, so after I visit Coinstar I’ll be working my way through my Games Wish List. It’s nice not having a bunch of coins lying around; I’d much rather have a bunch of board games lying around.

Day 240: Gaming Goal

 

Sushi Go!, one of the 10 new games I've played in 2015.

Sushi Go!, one of the 10 new games I’ve played in 2015.

I just realized I hit one of my yearly goals. It was my fifth goal, added on Day 100 of My Quest to Blog Every Day in 2015: Play 10 new board games.

As a reborn gamer, I’ve had a lot of fun becoming reacquainted with the board game hobby. The best part is that my wife and stepdaughter enjoy a few of the games and my nieces and nephew always ask to play Sushi Go or Love Letter whenever they visit.

Gaming is so much better when it’s with family.

For years, game night meant an hours-long session of poker with my buddies. Typically no-limit hold ’em, but if there were enough hardcore players in our group we would have a long mixed-game session. I loved playing Omaha Hi/Lo, Badugi, and other variations of poker.

Today, though, I find myself opting for hours of board gaming over gambling. One of the best decisions I made this year was buying Pandemic. It was my gateway game and I couldn’t get enough of it. It was nice that it was solo-friendly since I could log in a few solitaire games after my wife had gone to bed.

My stepdaughter immediately took a liking to it as well, so that was a terrific surprise. I treasure the time we spend together and what better way than trying to save the world from being laid to waste by a super virus?

Here’s my list of 10 games I played for the first time this year. I’ve listed them in order of preference, so my #1 game is Pandemic, etc. I’d recommend any of these games for anyone’s collection.

  1. Pandemic
  2.  7 Wonders
  3. Ticket to Ride
  4. Love Letter
  5. Sushi Go!
  6. Zombie Dice
  7. Tsuro
  8. Castle Panic
  9. Mille Bornes
  10. Moose on the Loose

Day 239: Fantasy Football Draft Day

Fantasy Football.

Fantasy Football.

My favorite holiday of the year (my fantasy football league’s annual draft) is this weekend. Like the other owners in the league, I’m excited and definitely not studying as much as I should. I know Jordy Nelson’s done for the year and Aaron Hernandez is still locked up, but beyond that, I couldn’t tell you what players I’ll be targeting for my team.

I’ll print out a cheat sheet tomorrow and check the NFL’s injury list before our draft begins. It’s what I’ve done for years now and I’ve had some success; last year I dominated the league before falling in the championship game.

Of course, fantasy football stories are about as exciting as bad-beat poker stories or the one-that-got-away fishing tales, so I’ll spare the details of my almost-championship.

The one thing I think about every year is how the league has evolved. Actually, the players more so than the league. We’ve pretty much kept the same scoring system, roster positions, and rules the entire time. There’s a core group of us that includes my brothers and close friends who have been doing this for 16 years.

It’s cool to see how each guy has changed over time. There have been weddings, divorces, babies, and other real-life happenings and it’s nice to know we can always meet up once a year to talk trash about each other’s teams. We’re all basically the same guys we were back in 1999, but I’d like to think we’re all older and wiser.

Well, older, anyways.

 

Day 229: 7 Wonders

7 Wonders

7 Wonders

After a few rounds of solo play to get acquainted with the rules, I played 7 Wonders with my niece and nephew. We’d played plenty of rounds of  Sushi Go!, which turned out to be the perfect segue to 7 Wonders since both share a similar card-drafting mechanic (play one card from your hand, then pass the hand to your opponent).

7 Wonders is currently my favorite game. I love the civilization-building theme. Players build their cities and score victory points based on their city’s structures, treasury, military, science and technology, commerce, guilds, and their wonders (for example, Giza’s wonder is the pyramids). The cards represent the structures and players accumulate points based on the cards and other factors.

A player’s city is built up during three ages and each age consists of six turns. With how simple the game is and how quickly it can be played (30-45 minutes), there’s a surprising amount of depth here. Different strategies yield different results; for example, you can focus on strengthening your military or trying to improve your science and technology. Sometimes during an age, you can try to build your wonder while others build their civilian structures.

So far this year, my top three games are Pandemic, 7 Wonders, and Ticket to Ride. Each one takes less than an hour to play and are terrific for players of all levels. For newbies, I’d recommend Ticket to Ride first. But no collection would be complete without Pandemic or 7 Wonders.

Day 221: Games Library

Games library growing

Games library growing

The games library in my home is growing slowly but surely. In addition to my latest games-buying binge, I found Carcassonne in storage. It’s a game that I bought years ago during a time when Game Night was called Poker Night and the only game that made it to the table was played with 52 cards, stacks of poker chips, and didn’t stop until long after midnight.

There still aren’t any heavy or hardcore games in my collection. I doubt I’ll ever get back into Dungeons & Dragons (my junior high self can’t believe this), since I prefer the light strategy games that don’t take up hours upon hours to complete.

I also prefer the games that are easy for non-gamers to play. Nowadays, it’s more satisfying for me to introduce people to the wonderful world of board games.

Day 215: 7 Wonders (First Thoughts)

7 Wonders

7 Wonders

I wasn’t able to get 7 Wonders to the table on Game Night, but I’ve run a few games by myself to learn the rules and it seems like it could be a new favorite.

The theme is what caught my eye. I’m not the biggest history buff, but I like how the seven ancient cities are used here. Build your city through three ages and gain points through your architecture, military, or science.

I love the card drafting mechanism; it’s simple and lends itself well to new players. Just pick a card and play it. Of course, there are dozens of icons to decipher, but the basic turn-by-turn play is easy. There’s some depth, too, with different strategies yielding different amounts of Victory Points.

More thoughts soon.

Day 214: Game Night Success

Water Works

Water Works

Game Night was a success last night, as my stepdaughter and her friends enjoyed themselves at the house. My wife did an awesome job of cooking while I got things rolling with quick games of Sushi Go! and Love Letter. The kids (they’re not kids anymore, but they’ll always be the kids in our eyes) moved on to Zombie Dice while we cleaned up.

Next up was the always crowd-pleasing Pandemic. It’s been months since I played and I forgot some of the rules, but picked them up again after a brief refresher with the rule book. My wife and I then relaxed with our own game of Zombie Dice while the kids played a rowdy game of Cards Against Humanity.

While we didn’t get to play 7 Wonders, I’m still excited to play it and hopefully we can do another game night soon. If anything, it’ll give us a chance to use our clever water sign shown above.

Day 212: GenCant

GenCant 2015 badge

GenCant 2015 badge

I stumbled on #GenCant earlier today — what a cool idea! This virtual get-together that runs during the same time as Gen Con, the tabletop gaming industry’s biggest convention, is for all us who Can’t make it to Gen Con.

What makes this online “convention” so fun is that there are actual prizes given away and you can even print your own badge (I’m using the one above). I can’t tell you how happy my inner geek is, especially since I’m doing game night tomorrow. Perfect timing for GenCant!

Here’s the history of GenCant from the official site:

“#GenCant started in 2014 on Twitter as Jason Paterson (@nakedmeeple,) Suzanne Sheldon (@425suzanne) and others were chatting enviously about all the Gen Con news in the social media sphere. One fateful Twitter exchange created the hashtag – and GenCant was born. Twitter gamers jumped in head first with enthusiasm by participating in the conversation, tweeting #GenCantContest photos, and donating prizes of all sorts. Soon the event had enough buzz that publishers and designers were asking how to get involved too.

  • GenCant is a community created and fueled event.
  • Call it an UnConvention, a Virtual Con, or Digital Gathering – just call it fun!
  • GenCant is intended to be something a bit fun for everyone who can’t attend the world’s biggest board gaming event, Gen Con.
  • GenCant is not intended as criticism or insult to Gen Con.”

I wonder if there’s a San Diego UnComic Con out there?

Day 211: Sushi Go!

Sushi Go (image from thegameaisle.com)

Sushi Go (image from thegameaisle.com)

Seeing all of the tweets from Gen Con has got me ready for game night here at the house. I may run a solo game of Pandemic before bed, but I wish there was a Sushi Go! single-player variant. My wife and I gave it a quick run-through to learn the basics and I loved it.

The graphics on the cards are uber-cute, from the salmon nigiri to the dessert puddings. I love the card-drafting mechanism; it’s easy to learn and the interaction with other players is always a good thing in my book.

I’ve read this elsewhere, but I’ll say it again here: I believe this physical interaction is what has been fueling the board game renaissance. Even though we have more ways now to communicate with each other, from Facebook to Snapchat to text messaging to the next technological breakthrough, we’ve lost the daily interactions that were a bigger part of our lives just 10 (5?) years ago.

I’m guilty of it as anyone. I always seem to be quicker to respond to a text or an e-mail. In a world of multi-tasking, it’s just easier to do it this way.

But board games require you to be in the moment. It’s not as much fun if you’re playing a game while someone’s on their smartphone or laptop. So the electronics stay off the table while we deal cards, roll dice, and move meeples around.

We’ll be running a bigger game of Sushi Go! soon, but just based on our little preview, I know it’ll be one of our go-to games on game night. It’ll be fun to disconnect from the electronics while connecting with our friends and families.