Games

My gaming experiences.

November Writing Challenge Day 9: dude

I’m blogging every day this month. Some will be game-related, but this challenge is different than my most recent play-a-game-and-blog-about-it challenge. I’m writing a single post every day: no topic guidelines, with some posts being a collection of random thoughts. Click here to read yesterday’s post.

The game dude (all lower case) is a surprisingly fun card game. Much like Happy Salmon, you’re trying to match cards with one other person. Everyone shuffles their deck of dude cards, then secretly looks at the top one and says it out loud. If two players think they’re saying the same form of “dude” then they say “sweet” and reveal their cards.

If you don’t match, then you both discard your card into the middle. If you do match, then you both set your card aside and score it at the end of the game. The game ends when one player no longer has any cards and the most points wins.

What I love about dude is that it’s so easy to learn and leads to some hilarious in-game moments. How do you say the “dude” that’s printed against the tie-dye background? Will your “dude.” sound like “dewd”?

I know, it’s not a brain-burner. It’s super light, super silly, and way more fun than it seems. It’s not something you’ll want to play at every game night, but it’s great to have around as either an icebreaker with new gamers or as an occasional filler game.

November Writing Challenge Day 4: Sushi Roll

I’m blogging every day this month. Some will be game-related, but this challenge is different than my most recent play-a-game-and-blog-about-it challenge. I’m writing a single post every day: no topic guidelines, with some posts being a collection of random thoughts. Click here to read yesterday’s post.

Sushi Go! was one of the first “hobby” games I bought when I first started getting into tabletop gaming. I put hobby in quotes because even though you can easily find Sushi Go! at Target and other retail outlets, back in 2015 I didn’t know that. I thought only gamers would buy this game of odd-looking cards.

I’m glad I bought it and will always play a quick game of it or its bigger brother, Sushi Go! Party, which has a lot of new cards for a different gaming experience every time you play it.

Recently, Sushi Go! publisher Gamewright released the dice version of Sushi Go!, the appropriately named Sushi Roll. Instead of the cute cards of the original game, it’s all dice in this version.

After a half-dozen plays I have two main things to say about Sushi Roll:

  1. It’s not as pretty as the original . There’s no way to transfer those gorgeous drawings from the cards onto the dice. But the dice do contain the familiar icons of the dumplings, shrimp tempura, and desserts.
  2. I now prefer it to the original in terms of set-up (which can be way too long with Sushi Go! Party) and play time. Sushi Roll is a quick game: roll dice, pick one to keep, pass to your neighbor, rinse, and repeat.

Like the original, you’re trying to collect sets for more points. For example, whoever has the most maki rolls on their dice will score six points at the end of the round. Same goes for halibut, etc. It’s fun rolling all of the chunky dice and trying to get what you need to complete a set such as shrimp tempura. If you didn’t have a lucky roll of the dice, you can still turn in a menu to re-roll any number of dice.

You can also use chopsticks to steal one die from another player. Just turn in your chopsticks token, take another player’s die, and put one of your dice onto their player board. After three rounds, victory points are added and the most points wins.

Sushi Roll is another winner for Gamewright for both fans and non-fans alike. And maybe it’s just me, but I’m totally craving sushi right now.

September Game-and-Blog Challenge Completed!

Thanks to everybody who reached out via Twitter and Instagram during my challenge to play a different game every day in September and blog about it. I’ve done this before (click here to check out a previous one) and I’m happy to report that I completed my challenge.

Of course, I didn’t have game night at my house every day in September. I played games everywhere, from my local meetup to a brewery in Pasadena. I played games with my wife, my regular gaming buddies, and new friends. I played quick games, long games, casual games, heavy games, and solo games.

In fact, without solo gaming there’s no way I would’ve finished the challenge. As much as I love hanging out with people and playing games together, I appreciate my alone time. Being able to play a game quietly by myself is a real treat and one of my favorite ways to relax.

One thing I tried to do during this challenge, especially in the later posts, is talk about different aspects of the game I was playing or of the experience itself. Early on I found myself explaining the game play itself and I really wanted to share more of my experiences, whether it was about the venue I played at or how the game compared to others I’ve played.

Thanks again, friends, for following me on my September Challenge. You’ll find my game play stats for the month as well as links to each game I blogged about for my challenge below. Let’s talk about these games and more over on Twitter. Until next time, happy gaming!

September Play Stats:

Different games played this month: 53

Number of total plays: 86

New-to-me games played: 23

Number of players: 28

Number of locations: 8

Games Played for My Challenge (30):

Wingspan

Railroad Ink

The Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game

Thurn Und Taxis

Gentes: Deluxified Edition

Architects of the West Kingdom

Tapestry

Mint Works

Point Salad

Oaxaca

Spirits of the Wild

Shards of Infinity: Relics of the Future

Azul

NMBR 9

Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra

Tiny Towns

Valley of the Kings

Tal der Wikinger

Tiny Epic Galaxies

Friday

For Sale

Jetpack Joyride

Star Trek Panic

Brass: Birmingham

Samurai

Rolling America

Medici: The Card Game

Blood Rage

Pipeline

Baseball Highlights: 2045

The Day in Gaming, September 30, 2019: Baseball Highlights: 2045

I’m posting about a game every day in September! Here’s a link to yesterday’s post.

With my hometown Dodgers gearing up for the postseason after winning the NL West for the seventh straight season, today was the perfect day to play Baseball Highlights: 2045.

The game is one of those 2-4 player games that plays best with only two players. I love the feeling of going head-to-head against my opponent in Baseball Highlights; it’s like we’re both managing our futuristic baseball teams, trying to out-maneuver each other to score runs every game. Tonight I solo-ed the game, which is always a challenge since the AI starts off with a team full of powerful free agents while you slowly cull your deck of starter cards (rookies and veterans). By the way, the pieces you see in the photo above were 3D printed by my buddy Marlon. The actual game uses standard game pawns.

Designer Mike Fitzgerald did an outstanding job of incorporating the deck-building mechanism into the baseball theme. It’s remarkable that he distilled all of the action of a ballgame into a mere six cards that you play against your opponent.

I have a few of the expansions to BH: 2045 and while they add some new wrinkles to the game, the original base game is perfectly fine and you’ll log many hours playing it against your favorite baseball fanatic.

My nephew is one of those fanatics. He absolutely loves baseball and I enjoy seeing his passion for it. We’ve played BH: 2045 a few times when he’d visit and I gave him his very own copy for Christmas a few years ago. Although he’d rather play video games or an actual game of baseball these days, I’m glad that he’ll still play BH: 2045 with his Uncle Ruel. Maybe one day he’ll let me win.

The Day in Gaming, September 29, 2019: Pipeline

I’m posting about a game every day in September! Here’s a link to yesterday’s post.

I’m now up to a half-dozen plays of Pipeline and it’s on my short list of best games of 2019. For a game that can be downright punishing I still find it enjoyable. The first time I played a few months ago with my friend Jose, I immediately asked for a rematch. It’s a game where you always feel like you can do better, no matter if you’ve won or lost.

After today’s game with Nick, I felt the same way. It was a particularly rough game for both of us; neither of us could get much going based on the valuation cards for the game (orders and contracts, all of which were tough to complete). We both wanted to play it again right away, but decided to play the relatively mild The Castles of Burgundy instead.

One of the criticisms I’ve read about the game is how it’s not very exciting during the last few turns since you’re just running your machine and pumping out that Black Gold. It actually reminds me of one of my other favorite (so far) games of 2019, Wingspan. Both give players fewer actions each round, with your final turns feeling semi-scripted.

I actually like this about Pipeline. The puzzle of the first half of the game is brutal and brain burny, as you attempt to figure out a way to get your oil refined and make that money. Once you get your engine humming you can just sit back and collect your dough.

The criticisms of the upgrades are fair; I’m not a fan of how you get to lock not only the stack of upgrades you chose that turn, but also another stack. It just feels punitive for the sake of being punitive.

Still, for a game that plays under in an hour for two players, it’s a remarkably deep and thinky experience that’s one of my favorites of the year.

The Day in Gaming, September 28, 2019: Blood Rage

I’m posting about a game every day in September! Here’s a link to yesterday’s post.

Today was a special day of gaming for me, since I was able to celebrate my friend Dave’s birthday. We’ve known each other nearly our entire lives and and actually longer than that: our mothers were friends before we were even born. I like to think that it was pretty much a given that we’d become friends. It never ceases to amaze me that I could be friends with someone for several decades.

It was a fun day celebrating Dave with family, friends, and board games. We ate a lot, enjoyed a few adult beverages, and had a lot of laughs. We ended the day with his choice of games: Blood Rage.

Or, as most gamers call it, BLOOD RAGGGGGGEEEEE.

It’s one of my all-time favorites. There aren’t many games that offer this epic of a tabletop experience in 90 minutes or less, thanks to an approachable and streamlined set of rules. From the mighty Viking theme to the deceptively smooth card play, Blood Rage always gets an enthusiastic response when it’s on the table.

Our group last night included two new players, both of whom picked it up fairly quickly. It’d been a while since I’ve played so I forgot a few rules (like the ability of monsters to invade for free immediately), but thankfully it didn’t affect game play. In the end, the Birthday Celebrant won easily and I couldn’t be happier … and I was already looking forward to a rematch.

The Day in Gaming, September 27, 2019: Medici: The Card Game

I’m posting about a game every day in September! Here’s a link to yesterday’s post.

It looks like my September has been a celebration of Reiner Knizia’s catalog of games. I wasn’t planning it, but thanks to the fine tastes of my gaming buddies, I’ve played four of his titles this month: Ra, Samurai, Blue Lagoon, and Medici: The Card Game.

While Ra and Blue Lagoon were new to me, I’d played Samurai and Medici: The Card Game before. I’ve already talked about Samurai so let’s take a quick look at Medici: The Card Game.

The original Medici, like a few of Knizia’s games, use bidding as its main mechanism, with set collection used for scoring points. It’s an excellent game and the card game captures some of the flavor of the original, but replaces bidding with push-your-luck.

Like other Knizias, this is a streamlined game with tension on every turn. I love the use of push-your-luck as you try to collect all of the cards necessary to complete your different sets. While this isn’t a “deep” game per se, it sure is a lot of fun trying to see how far you can go to get the card or cards you want. Your draw is limited to three cards and at the very least you have to take the last card you drew.

I’d love to see more designers focus on games like the four Knizias I played this month. Each one has no variable player powers and some luck involved in game play, and you don’t have to go through pages and pages of rules to learn to play.

I’d rank Ra, Samurai, Blue Lagoon, and Medici: The Card Game higher than some of the latest board games that feature all of the extra mechanisms and what-not. Knizia’s games are so well-polished and offer an engaging tabletop experience for all types of gamers. Designers should learn a lesson from a master of game design: less can definitely mean more.

The Day in Gaming, September 26, 2019: Rolling America

I’m posting about a game every day in September! Here’s a link to yesterday’s post.

Busy today so I only had time for a quick solo game: the roll-and-write puzzle, Rolling America. I’ve written about this game before so I won’t re-hash the game play here.

What I will talk about is how this is a game I always enjoy when it hits the table. It’s fast yet puzzly, simple yet full of tension. The dice determine your fate, but you have a few options to mitigate your rolls. Have I talked about how I think gamers complain about luck too much? While I understand the argument, I’m not always sympathetic to it. A little luck, properly used in a game, can be a lot of fun. Nothing like sweating those dice, hoping they fall your way.

It’s one reason why I think roll-and-writes have been all the rage lately. Crunchy Eurogames are fine, but sometimes I just want to chuck some dice and figure out a way to deal with the results. There’s something so satisfying in the tactile sensation of rolling dice; it just feels better physically than flipping a card, consulting a chart, or pushing cubes on a board.