Top Ten Filler Games

Last time I posted a top ten around these parts, it was my top ten lunch games, games that can be played and taught comfortably within the confines of a lunch hour.

But what if your lunch hour is more like a lunch break? Or what about those times when you want to play another game, but you're waiting to mix up the players, and the other group is playing a game of Power Grid that simply will not end?

That, friends, is where the aptly named "filler" games come in--short games that can be used to open, close, or fill gaps within your game night.

What defines an ideal filler game? Here are my criteria:

If a gamer rolls a "1" in the Forest...

Last week I was away on vacation. My ego hopes that you noticed, but regardless, I get to talk about it.  Why? I'm a gamer and a blogger and that's just what I do.

My vacation was not just any vacation, after all.  It was my yearly trek to the western side of Michigan, camping with family for a week right by the lake.  It's a time of relaxation, of getting away from electronics and obligations, and doing whatever one feels like doing at the moment.  Which, for me (and fortunately, for several of my cousins) this meant a lot of playing games.

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!

News Bits: 1/28/2013

Big news this week. Read on!

Toy Vault acquires Firefly license [Link] Geek worlds converged last week when Toy Vault announced that it had acquired the Firefly license to create tabletop games in Joss Whedon's 'verse. I'm not terribly excited about this news, but only because licensed games don't excite me much. (This is the themeless, soulless Euro part of me coming out.) And I'm especially not too excited when the tabletop games announcement came in the same breath as novelty plush figures and pillows based on the characters. Still, time will tell.

My Year in Games: 2012

Starting near the end of April 2011, I began to track every game I play (give or take a few, I'm sure) on Board Game Geek. And starting in January of 2012, I gave an overview of the games I played in the previous year, namely my "nickels and dimes" (games played 5+ and 10+ times, respectively).

It's time to continue that tradition. Here's my list of nickels and dimes from 2012, along with some commentary and a comparison to my list from 2011.