In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell relates an intriguing story. In the 1970s, as he tells it, Pepsi began the "Pepsi Challenge" taste test to determine whether people would choose Coke or Pepsi if they didn't know which brand was which. Pepsi won overwhelmingly in the test (which resulted in the failed and much maligned "New Coke"), even though most drinkers still professed to prefer Coke. Gladwell's point was that the method used to determine which was better was a "sip test," based on a very small sample of each cola, rather than the fuller view provided by an entire drink. Pepsi may be better after a sip, Gladwell says, but Coke is better after a glass. (Says him: I still prefer Pepsi.)
So what does that have to do with iSlaytheDragon? We are a blog that strives to be timely, and as such, our reviews are often a "sip test." We play games several times before reviewing them, but numerous pressures (timeliness, deadlines, variety) generally prevent us from "whole beverage" kinds of reviews, reviews of games that have stood the test of time for us. And that's okay. As I've said over and over again, we're reviewers, not critics. We strive to help our readers discover games and determine whether those games are worthy of their gaming dollars. The "whole beverage" test we leave up to our readers.
But the thought of going deep rather than simply broad with reviews is appealing. Hence this new series, which I'm calling Shelf Wear. Shelf Wear will focus on games that we've played a lot, quantified to 50+ plays. Chances are these will be games we've already reviewed or at least talked about, but our opinions may have changed with (or are at least better informed by) experience.
The first Shelf Wear retrospective review is of 7 Wonders.