News Bits: 12/30/2013

I think everyone (including most of our writers) were on hiatus last week. In any case, we're back, and here is the NEWS:

Z-Man Games releases Government Shutdown scenario for Pandemic [Link] For those who want to relive the events of this past October (any takers? huh? huh?), Z-Man Games has released a new government shutdown scenario for Pandemic.

News Bits: 11/25/2013

"It's the holiday season..." Or at least it's coming. And that's probably why this was a slow week. (That, or everyone was at BGG.Con.) In any case, here's this week's NEWS:

Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts coming soon [Link] The news has to be legit this time, since the designer diary was posted on Board Game Geek. Also, Tom Lehman comments that it is in transit now to the Rio Grande warehouses. Alien Artifacts takes Race for the Galaxy in a new direction, beginning a new arc for the game. It may be time to jump back in...

News Bits: 11/18/2013

This week's NEWS is a little light, unless you follow the rabbit holes in the first link (which is what I did...):

Board Game Geek posts Essen coverage [Link] Here's a list of the videos in one spot. I'm not gonna lie: I've come away with more than a few games added to my wishlist after watching some of these. I'm very grateful for this service since I was unable to attend.

Top Ten Lunch Games

I've written on the subject of lunch games many, many times, but probably most completely here. The category of lunch games--games that can be played and in most cases taught in an hour--is near to my heart for several reasons, not least of which is lunch when I am most likely to have time free to play a game. The pressures and responsibilities of home prevent me from attending more than one game night a month. But over lunch? Then I am free.

In my earlier post, I listed several criteria for ideal lunch games. They are:

• Goldilocks playtime (neither too short nor too long)
• Simple rules
• Simultaneous (or near simultaneous) play (in other words, there's always something to do)
• Chaos factor (players have an opportunity to break gameplay conventions)

So which games am I most excited to play over lunch? Here's my list.

Besieged! (a review of Zulus on the Ramparts)

Things are looking grim for the small band of British soldiers at the fort at Rorke's Drift. Zulu forces have surrounded the fort and will soon overtake it. You are in command of the soldiers and the small stock of supplies available to them. Can you hold out until morning, when Lord Chelmsford's relief column should arrive with reinforcements?

Find out in Zulus on the Ramparts!

News Bits: 9/23/2013

Summer is gone; fall is here. The seasons change, but the NEWS stays the same:

Terra Mystica wins Deutscher Spiele Preis [Link] And surprises...no one. Other top winners are Tzolk'in, Bruges, and Bora Bora (yes, two Stefan Feld games in the top 4). Congratulations to the winners!

News Bits: 7/22/2013

Here is the NEWS:

Sentinels of the Multiverse to debut on tablets in 2014 [Link] More games coming to tablets is great news, but I think Sentinels is especially good news, given how much easier some of the bookkeeping will be in a digital format.

And the Rockets' Red Glare... (a review of Hanabi)

Fireworks. The sound, the spectacle, the dazzling display. You've probably attended some good fireworks shows in your lifetime, ones that have sent you home with an awed expressions on your face, memories in your mind, and praises on your lips. You've probably also seen the demonstrations that are completely forgettable, perhaps a way to pass the time to celebrate a holiday but not an event worthy of remembrance.

But did you know that fireworks displays require cooperation, deduction, and skill? And playing cards in ascending order? No?

Well, in the world of Hanabi they do.

So Happy Together (A Guide on Cooperative Games)

Only you and your teammates can stem the tide of disease in Pandemic

When non-gamers first hear that I like to play board games, I think one of the first scenes they imagine in their minds is the one with a group of young siblings playing a competitive game of monopoly or sorry until they get in a fight and quit angrily.  And while some relish the conflict and competition inherent in most board games, there is a genre of game which pits players not against each other, but against the game itself.

Even though cooperative games aren't a new phenomenon, many outside of the hobby gaming scene haven't heard of them, and aren't sure what that means.  Usually one of the first questions I get when I introduce a cooperative game is, "So you're on, like, teams?"

Fortunately, if you've run into trouble explaining the concept, or are unsure what it means yourself, this guide is here to help you out.  

So, what is a Cooperative game?

News Bits: 6/10/2013

Here's this week's NEWS:

Donald X. Vaccarino previews Dominion: Guilds [Preview 1, 2, 3, 4, 5] I'm becoming very interested in this set...as I always am when the previews begin.

Where the Action's At (A Guide to Action Point Allowance)

Gamers are a funny lot.  On the one hand, we want a game with flexibility and freedom in decision-making.  Restrictions and limitations often mean a less sophisticated experience and leave us feeling like the game is playing us, rather than vice-versa.  However, on the other hand, most of us appreciate designs that are structured to rein things in a bit, and we like to have a firm grasp on what the game allows.  Too much of an open-ended framework often leads to confusion, significant play length, and agonizing downtime.  To address this intriguing paradox, game designers often turn to a very simple and basic mechanism.

News Bits: 5/6/2013

Did anything happen in the real world last week? Because there is a ton of board game NEWS this week:

Fantasy Flight reveals X-wing wave 3 ships [Link] Star Wars: X-wing is a game I'm definitely on the outside about, but I know many of our readers care about it, so here's a link to the new ships soon to come.

Frantic, Fun Fleeing (a review of Escape: The Curse of the Temple)

You never really know another person until your relationship is tested--as, for example, when you are running for your lives to escape from a cursed Mayan temple as it is about to crash down around you. Will the other person return to offer a helping hand when your tools are accursed? Or will they strive to save their own skin? These are questions it would be good to know the answers to in advance.

Thank goodness for Escape: The Curse of the Temple, which will allow you to test the strength of your relationships before you face a real life-or-death crisis. But is this an adventure worth taking? Find out below!

Guide to Gaming: Which Games Should I Buy First?

When you’re first discovering the world of tabletop gaming, you will likely run into one of two problems: either difficulty in finding these new designer games, or discovering a good place to get them but getting overwhelmed with the number of choices. I remember discovering the board game section at my first real hobby gaming store. “There are so many!” I said at the time, “some of these HAVE to be great. But which ones?” Fortunately for you, I went through that experience and now I can help you skip the confusion.

So which board games should you buy first? Let’s start with what I like to call The Big Three.

The big three are games that almost every gamer will have in their collection–Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, and Dominion. These aren’t necessarily the favorite games of any collector, but they’re excellent starting points for many reasons. They’re easy to teach; almost universally enjoyable; and they introduce new players to many of the gaming world’s staple elements.  These are the first three games I teach to anyone who visits my house; they go over well almost 100% of the time.

News Bits: 1/21/2013

Another week jam-packed with news. Here it is:

Z-Man Games announces new version of Pandemic [Link] Well, this video is Matt Leacock, the designer, doing the announcing, but it coincides with the release of a Pandemic Facebook page. Leacock mentioned two new roles and a new board with big pawns. I assume (or, rather, hope) that this means a bigger game board, reflective of how awesome Pandemic is. Z-Man Games reports that they are also overhauling the On the Brink expansion and will sell an upgrade kit to make the new version compatible with the old Pandemic. (The upgrade kit will also contain the two new roles. Huzzah!) There is a new expansion coming this year as well: In the Lab. The new edition of Pandemic will be available in February.

Holiday Gift Guide 2012

"It's that time of year, when the world falls in love..." It's also that time of year when gift-giving is not only encouraged but expected. And as expected as giving gifts is, what is even more expected--at least in the world of gaming blogs--is the ubiquitous holiday gift guide. Here's our unique take on it, from the hearths of a theme-loving Wolf, a mechanism-loving Farmer, and an eclectic Kinderspieler. And if after reading this you still don't know what to buy for someone on your list, leave us a comment. We give recommendations to order.

(And if you want to see how the list has changed over time, here is the list for 2011. And check out our guide to stocking stuffers as well.)

News Bits: 8/20/2012

For those of us who had to live vicariously through GenCon attendees, this past week was rough. Not only did we have to live through the bragging tweets of "Look what I got!"—inevitably followed up by the news that "THIS GAME IS SOLD OUT FOREVER"—we had to live through the long periods of radio silence as people selfishly played games instead of tweeting about them. Oh well. For some GenCon recaps, here are some various sources:

• Fantasy Flight released a video update for each day of the con (1, 2, 3, 4).
• Board Game Geek News points to some first- and secondhand sources for GenCon updates.
• Dice Hate Me has a pictorial overview of his time at GenCon.
• Finally, Matt Carlson of The Opinionated Gamers has a pretty comprehensive overview, as does Dale Yu.

Stay tuned as I'm sure our own @Futurewolfie reports on his own (condensed) time at the con.

(Gaming) Life after Baby

As followers of this blog are well aware, I experienced a major life event in the last few months: the birth of my first son. While I am so grateful to have him around, there is one area of my life that has required a lot of adjustment: gaming.

My primary gaming partner before the Farmerlet arrived was my wife, but now with the (understandable) demands on her time, our gaming interactions have changed. So what have I been up to in the recent weeks? Find out below!

Panic! Disease Everywhere! (A review of Pandemic)

ugliest. box. ever.

[Editors note: The following is a Nemesis Review, featuring opinions from our in-house thematic-loving @futurewolfie and his ferocious opponent, the stodgy euro-loving @Farmerlenny. Make sure to read both opinions to get a better overall picture of the game!]

Not every board game in the world pits every player against each other.  In some cases, you've got to work together to conquer the game before it conquers all of you.  These sorts of games can be a great break from tough head-on-head action and intense rivalries, and especially bitterness and resentment that often happens after one player beats another by a few too many points or a few too many times in a row.

Pandemic shines at (or at least very near...) the top of these sorts of games as a solid, well-put-together game that requires strategy, cooperation, and communication between all players.

Friday Question: What Game Is the Tensest?

Games are meant to be a medium for fun social get-togethers with friends, family, and sometimes even strangers.  Still, every once in a while you run into that game that causes a lot of tension between players, whether it be from savage player interactions, intense and complex rules, or sometimes just poorly-worded or unplaytested games.  Some games just end up causing more trouble than fun. Which leads to today's question: Which game causes the most tension? And if you'd like to take it in another direction, which game causes the most good tension, the kind of situations that keep you on the edge of your seat?

@Futurewolfie answers:
I've found that most bad tension comes from arguing over poorly-worded rules, whether something is worded confusingly or not explained completely, or in some cases because something is just missing.  I've also experienced some tension when a game becomes imbalanced, leaving someone out of the fun.  I'm looking at you, MUNCHKIN.  As a note, I enjoy Munchkin but sometimes the luck of the draw, especially when combined with inexperience, results in one of the players not having enough power to do anything useful.

Arkham Horror, being the epic desperate-fight-against-evil that it is, brings on the tension in a good way - that's part of what makes the game fun.  Last Night On Earth is also a fun-high-tension game, especially when you're down to the last item you need to escape but the zombies are flooding in...  And some games, such as Incan Gold, thrive entirely on the tension of "should I stay or should I go now."

@FarmerLenny answers:
The game that has probably caused the most fights in my life is, surprisingly, the Christian collectible card game Redemption. Redemption was meant to be a nicer, less demonic version of Magic: The Gathering. It succeeded in being less fun, but it wasn't a good alternative. The rules were poorly written, and the wording of the special text on the cards was not streamlined, so we were never quite sure what some cards did. If I played the card, I wanted the definition that was best for me and worst for my opponent. Of course, even in the same game, if my opponent played that card, I argued for its being much weaker. We were playing with cards that depicted the fruits of the Spirit, but these were not exactly exhibited among the players during gameplay. This is why the Star Wars CCG saved my junior high and high school friendships.

As far as good tension is concerned, I'd say the winner here is either Pandemic or The Resistance. Both games succeed in making the players feel on edge the entire game. I love both games for the atmosphere they create, though sometimes you need a break afterward. (Agricola does a good job at creating tension, too--how will I feed my family?! That's probably third on the good-tension list.)