game night

100 Games

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Last week I completed my 10×10 Challenge for the year, with six months to spare. Over at boardgamegeek.com, people have been doing these challenges for years, but this was the first time I’ve tried it.

I chose to do the Normal Challenge where you pick 10 games that you’ll play 10 times each during 2016. You can swap out games if necessary to accomplish your goal, which I did several times. In the Hardcore Challenge, you’re bound to your original list and can’t change games.

After my wife bought me Dead of Winter for Christmas, I solo-played it a bunch of times at the beginning of the year, then took on the 10×10 Normal Challenge. According to the original post:

As a counterpoint to the Cult of the New, this challenge encourages people to play each game several times to explore and experience them in depth. There is no rush to find the optimum strategy on your first play, or read all of the cards beforehand. Instead, each play reveals something more and something different, you get to try various strategies, and everyone’s strategies evolve with their understanding and learning of the game. If you are tired of constantly learning new rules when running after the latest hotness, never really learning various strategies to any game, and needing to relearn the rules of old games because it’s been too long since they were played, this is the challenge for you.

At my weekly gaming groups there is always something new (or new-to-me) to play. I love trying out all of the different games and figuring out which ones would go over well with my wife and family. However, not many games get played multiple times except for fillers like No Thanks! or For Sale.

So, my list was completed thanks to all of the gaming I did with my wife and family. I’ll never tire of our game nights, especially the good-natured trash-talk that my wife and I dole out to each other. Nothing like gloating over our imaginary championship belt for whatever game we’ve most recently won.

After completing my goal I learned that I’d played 106 different games so far this year. I’m happy to say that I’ve played heavy fare like Mage Knight along with fillers like Zany Penguins. Besides the bonding time with my family, the best part about my board gaming experience this year has been making new friends at the tabletop. This alone has made the challenge worthwhile.

And I’ve got six more months to go.

Orccon 2016

Open Gaming at Orccon 2016.

Open Gaming at Orccon 2016.

I wrote about my Orccon 2016 experience  at  iSlaytheDragon.com and I wanted to add a few things here.

It’d been awhile since I was at any kind of gaming/comic/pop culture convention and Orccon was awesome. It was all about the gaming and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s interested in the hobby. Not only did it satisfy the hardcore gamers, but it also had plenty for the newbies.

Here are a few photos that didn’t make it in the original article.

The International Ballroom was where all of the big events and demos took place.

The Game Library had hundreds and hundreds of games to borrow.

The taco truck down the street from the convention was much better than eating at Denny’s or Carl’s Jr. The tacos de birria was delicioso!

So smart: these water dispensers were everywhere, keeping everybody well hydrated. Came in handy when my mouth was EN FUEGO after devouring a handful of spicy tacos.

My 2016 Gaming Goal

La Isla

La Isla

I’m on pace to reach my reading and writing goals for the year, so I’ve decided to add another goal: I’m going to do the 10×10 Challenge, which is to play 10 different board games 10 times each in 2016.

Last year was my re-birth as a gamer, which I wrote about it here, but it basically goes like this: after years of thinking game night meant poker, pizza, and beer, I purchased Ticket to Ride and Pandemic and I was hooked. I pored over boardgamegeek.com, devouring board game industry news and information, learning about games and the mechanics that made them go, and salivating at all of the games I wanted to PLAY RIGHT NOW.

I bought a few kid-friendly games like Zombie Dice and Castle Panic that I could play when my nieces and nephew were visiting and I was pleasantly surprised when they preferred Settlers of Catan and Dominion. My youngest niece isn’t interested in too many games yet, but she’s always up for a game of Sushi Go!, which we all happily play. My wife and stepdaughter got swept up in my obsession, too, and we had a few Gaviola Game Nights in 2015 (kudos to my wife for making a cool life-sized Instagram frame for our get-togethers).

When I wasn’t playing games with my family, I was reporting board game news for iSlaytheDragon.com and tweeting about my new hobby. I also started playing every week with a local gaming group and they introduced me to new games or we’d play classics that I’d missed. It’s been a godsend playing with these guys (and the occasional gal); I’ve learned a lot and played more games than I would’ve been able to had I just continued to buy games online, trying to learn them, and hoping that my family took to them as well.

Can I reach my goal of 10 different board games played 10 times each this year? I think so. If I don’t, though, then I know I haven’t had as much fun as I could have.

 

Day 350: Star Wars Eve

The Force Awakens

The Force Awakens

I had a great time with my gaming group tonight, playing Carcassonne, Kingsburg, Forbidden Desert, and Roll for the Galaxy. It took me a while to “get” Roll for the Galaxy, but after I did, it’s been a blast.

Naturally, the conversation turned to The Force Awakens since a few of us are going to an early showing tomorrow night. Although Christmas is still a week away, it feels like this is my version of Christmas Eve; call it the Night Before Episode VII.

I’ve got my blinders on right now, trying not to catch any Internet spoilers. My state of mind can be summed up in two words:

So. Excited.

Day 326: International Games Day @ Your Library

King of Tokyo.

King of Tokyo.

Yesterday was International Games Day @ Your Library, celebrated at libraries everywhere. Our local library’s event was from 2-4pm and my wife and I arrived about 15 minutes late, only to find things being packed up. Our host said nobody had shown up, so she was happy to get the games back out on the table to game with us.

The three of us started with King of Tokyo, which was an absolute blast. My wife and I had never played before, but it only took a few turns before we got the hang of it. A few minutes later, a lady and her 14-year-old son arrived and we added them to the mix. We enjoyed a lot of laughs as we each took turns attacking each other.

We ended the event with a few quick games of  Wits and Wagers (Party edition) and Timeline: Inventions. My only complaint about the event? We didn’t have enough time to play all of the other great games available.

Day 320: Fortunate

Building a Better Dystopia in Euphoria.

Building a Better Dystopia in Euphoria.

I’ve accepted the fact that I’m only going to accomplish 3 of my 5 goals I set for this year (actually, 4 of 6 when you include My Quest to Blog Every Day in 2015). I’ve already read 26 books and played 10 new board games, so I’m assuming that I’ll do two things: write 30 more reviews to bring my Yelp review total to 100 and post 45 more blogs to achieve my daily blogging goal.

I won’t break 100 on the golf course this year or finish the AFI 100 Greatest American films list, but I’m okay with them being lifelong goals for me.

It’s the board games goal that took me by surprise. Back in January I was bit by the board games bug. Hard. It’s like my love of gaming had laid dormant for so long when it was suddenly awakened on the day I received my copy of Pandemic.

From that day on, I’ve been buying games, playing games, talking games, and enjoying the heck out of my new hobby. My wife and I have hosted a few family game nights and whenever our daughter is home from college we’re playing games on at least one of the nights that she’s back.

One of my favorite gaming-related things I’ve done this year, though, was joining a weekly gaming group. Over the past two months I’ve played dozens of games with cool people I never would have met otherwise. It’s been a fun experience and I’ve learned that gaming has come a long way since I bought my first 20-sided die in middle school.

There seems to be something for all kinds of gamers these days. Whether it’s killing zombies or ruling a dystopian world, using cards or dice, or playing a 10-minute “filler” game or an hours-long session, there’s almost no reason not to game. Even if you’re gaming on a budget or have tons of disposable income, the many price points offer plenty of opportunities to experience something new.

As I’m reminded each week with my gaming buddies, I’ve been fortunate this year to have embraced such a fulfilling hobby.

Day 315: Roll for the Galaxy

Roll for the Galaxy.

Roll for the Galaxy.

My reaction upon seeing the components to Roll for the Galaxy: so many dice!

I’d heard a lot of good things about this game and it lived up to the hype. You get to roll lots of dice while trying to build the best galactic empire. You roll, you assign dice, and you add up your victory points. And so much more.

For my first time playing it tonight I was a bit lost, but my fellow gamers were patient and answered all of my frequent questions. By the time I got the hang of it, though, the game was over.

The experienced players told me that the original Race for the Galaxy had more (and different) icons, was more difficult to learn, and was not as fun to play. Looks like I’ll skip that one and give Roll another shot sometime.

Day 308: Steampunk Rally

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Steampunk Rally.

While I love science fiction I’m not the biggest steampunk fan. After playing Steampunk Rally tonight, though, I might have to take a closer look at the genre; for gaming purposes steampunk was awesome.

Steampunk Rally looks like a simple race around a track, but it’s much more than that. Each player builds a contraption to get around the track. The card drafting and dice rolling mechanics give everyone lots to do on each turn, with plenty of options to re-roll dice or play special event cards.

With all of the dice and cogs and cards it seemed a bit overwhelming, but after a few turns it was easy to get into the swing of things. I missed a few opportunities to build a better contraption and I had bad luck with my movement, but I did get to play a “ray gun” card that put a ton of damage on my opponents. Even though it had no effect on the winner (who seemed to be way ahead throughout the game), it was hilarious to play the card.

If you can’t beat ’em, might as well ray gun ’em.

Day 294: DungeonQuest

Just a few turns and I'm almost finished. Dungeonquest is brutal.

Just a few turns and I’m almost finished. Dungeonquest is brutal.

I didn’t do anything special for Back to the Future Day, but my gaming group did do a little time traveling tonight. We split into two groups and my table did some space colonization in Tiny Epic Galaxies before we went back to the time of dungeons and dragons in DungeonQuest.

When I was in junior high I played D&D, but I grew out of it as I entered high school. DungeonQuest isn’t a role-playing game, but it has all of the fun aspects of D&D: different characters with special abilities, monsters to be fought, and treasure to be gained.

And, of course, a big ol’ nasty dragon to wipe out you and your fellow adventurers.

I quickly learned that DungeonQuest is a brutal game. Getting to the dragon was hard enough and the various monsters, traps, and what-not could easily take you out. My first action resulted in my near-death and the other two players bit the dust within a few turns. We used a house rule that regenerated our characters and extended the game, but there was more death to come.

It was a lot of fun strolling through a dungeon again. And as long as the house rules permit multiple lives, I’m happy to do it again.