Entry 10: Is Bigger Better?

        Looking around at ALL the games that my wife and I have and dreaming about the day when we can actually have our own space to properly display our huge game collection, I realized that the games we love come in all shapes and sizes of boxes. Some publishers try to manufacture games that are in uniform in box dimensions such as Gamelyn Games and their Tiny Epic series which makes putting their games on display together much easier. Other publishers such as Deep Water Games have game boxes of all shapes and sizes which makes organizing games by publisher and utilizing the most efficient shelf space more difficult to accomplish. Now to dive into the topic further…. Is bigger better? (no innuendo intended, get your minds out of the gutter). 

       

        The answer to this question flat out is NO, bigger does not always mean the games are better. There are some great games out there that take up a more of table space and fits into a little larger box (thinking of the new Lost Ruins of Arnak by Czech Game Edition) and there are great games that are in a standard size boxes (11.5” x 11.5” x 3”) such as the Dominion games that have an insert in the boxes to help keep the sets all neat and organized so you find the specific cards faster. 

        Some great family games that we enjoy are from Gamewright Games. If you were to put the majority of their titles together, you could fit them in a single Bankers Box. They do have a few titles that are larger boxes but still the point is that why use extra shelf space if it is not needed. 

        Another game company that uses a uniformed sized box for games in their “roll & write” series of games is Stronghold Games. The box sizes are designed to fit the score pads that are included in the game and the dice needed to play. Simply put…. Bigger is not always better. Just imagine if Yahtzee came in the smaller boxes years ago; would that have changed how the “classic” mass-produced games were made and packaged? I would like to think so. 

        So to keep in the spirit of this post, I will end by saying that no matter what size of box a game comes in just keep on playing games and socialize with friends and family. Large or small (box), you can not measure the value a person can place on the quality time and memories made from being with loved ones.

Entry 9: Gateway Games... Part 2

Continuing on from last week’s entry, we will look at the last four genres from the Whatnerd.com list. The four left are: Eurogame, Legacy, Social Deduction, & Worker Placement. So let’s get right to it. 

Eurogame  

        First off, we need a good definition and description as to what a Eurogame is. Taking from Wikipedia directly: 

“A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and abstract physical components. Eurogames are sometimes contrasted with American-style board games, which generally involve more luck, conflict, and drama. They are usually less abstract than chess or Go, but more abstract than wargame. Likewise, they generally require more thought and planning than party games such as Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit.”

 

Characteristics: “Eurogames tend to be focused on economics and the acquisition of resources rather than direct conflict, and have a limited amount of luck They also differ from abstract strategy games like chess by using themes tied to specific locales, and emphasize individual development and comparative achievement rather than direct conflict. Eurogames also emphasize the mechanical challenges of their systems over having the systems match the theme of the game.” 

        This is one of our favorite genres of games to play. It would not surprise me if our personal collection is made up of at least 25%- 50% Eurogames. One thing to note is that with how broad this genre is, most games do cross over into multiple genres and sub-categories of games. So based on all this information, how do we select which game would be our gateway into this genre. With much debate, the game we decided on is one that my non-gaming father is willing to play, Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder. 

        We picked this game because it fits nicely with indirect player interactions (building your own route), economics (victory points based on completed tickets), acquisition of resources (drawing the cards you need to lay “track,” and themes based on locales (each version is geography based). If you start with the base game to learn with, the other versions of the game with added mechanics is easy enough to pick up. 

        I do have to admit that I am biased as to which version is my favorite; Ticket to Ride: Märklin is the special edition Germany map that helps me feel close to my heritage. I am a proud German-American and love this map. Here are the weights of a few of the games in the series: 

Ticket to Ride - Weight 1.85/5  

Ticket to Ride: Germany - Weight 1.77/5 

Ticket to Ride: Europe - Weight 1.94/5 

Ticket to Ride: Märklin - Weight 2.24/5 

Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails - Weight 2.57/5 

Legacy 

 “A legacy game is a variant of tabletop board games in which the game itself is designed, through various mechanics, to change permanently over the course of a series of sessions.” (Wikipedia) 

        Most legacy games are designed to be played with the same gaming group over a period of time to complete a campaign since you will, often times, build upon a character or a specific area you control. The legacy game that we selected is one in which you can change who is playing as you advance in the game (even though it is nice to play with the same people in the progression of the game) because it is the character selection that I feel matters the most in helping with a successful game. The game is Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 by Z-Man Games. 

        If you have never played Pandemic before, the rules do state that you can play it without using the legacy rules before diving into the legacy aspect of the game. Plus after you have completed playing the legacy campaigns, you can play the game normally (just have to ignore some of the stickers on the board). That is a huge plus in our books because a lot of the other legacy games you have to purchase a “recharge pack” and/or a new game board to use it again. Did I also mention that the game is a co-operative game as well? You work together as a team to fight off the viruses and the pandemic. 

 

Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 - Weight 2.84/5 

Social Deduction 

        Wikipedia defines this genre as “a game in which players attempt to uncover each other's hidden role or team allegiance. Commonly, these games are played with teams, with one team being considered "good" and another being "bad." During gameplay, players can use logic and deductive reasoning to try to deduce one another's roles, while other players can bluff to keep players from suspecting them.” I personally love this genre of game because most requires more than just two players to play so that means…. GAME NIGHTS!!!! 

        What game do I suggest to you to get into social deduction games? Love Letter by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). 

        From the publisher: 

Love Letter is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2–4 players. Your goal is to get your love letter into Princess Annette's hands while deflecting the letters from competing suitors. From a deck with only sixteen cards, each player starts with only one card in hand; one card is removed from play. On a turn, you draw one card, and play one card, trying to expose others and knock them from the game. Powerful cards lead to early gains, but make you a target. Rely on weaker cards for too long, however, and your letter may be tossed in the fire! 

         We love this game because of the simple and fast game play. Since cards are public knowledge (minus one hidden card) and because each player knows how many of each card there is, you can count to see how many of each is left and deduct what possible card(s) your opponent(s) hold. 

        When playing against my wife, I typically win once in a blue moon. When I play online, I can win about 50% of the time. Even though I keep losing, it is a fun game that is our go to when we want a quick game. For a two player game, my wife and I can finish a “drawn-out” (6-7 score) within a 20 minute period. As you can see with the weight of the game below, it is very easy to learn and pick up. 

Love Letter- Weight 1.19/5 

Worker Placement 

        Now comes a category that is very, very, very hard to decide on. To be completely honest we do not have just a single game that we would consider as our go-to introductory worker placement game. Yes, there are games like Carcassonne, Everdell, & Lost Ruins of Arnak (one of our newest worker placement games) that are fun to play but we use these games mainly to teach other mechanics. 

 

        When it comes to worker placement games, we typically focus on teaching games from other genres and/or other mechanics first but if the game is also a worker placement, it is an added bonus but not one whose focus is To someone who is new to board games we find that the worker placement is a harder concept to grasp for most. Most worker placement games that relies more on placing pieces for resources are rated at 2.5/5 of higher. 

(Tungaru by Alley Cat Games, a dice-worker placement game)

      

      What are some of your favorite worker placement games? 

Find your passion 

        We have a large collections of games because, well, we love games. We love being able to teach others new games and share the passion we have. We love being able bring others together to help find ways to grow closer to family and friends. We encourage each of you to find your passion and share it with others, whether it be gaming, cooking, crafts, or other things; share what you love because you never know who can benefit from it to make their day brighter.

Entry 8: Gateway Games... Part 1

        Having a great game collection is wonderful because we are able to introduce a lot of different types of games to others. I want to share some of our favorite “introductory” games from seven different genres of games that was listed in a Whatnerd.com article from earlier this year. The genres named are: Area Control Board Games, Cooperative, Deck-Building, Eurogame, Legacy, Social Deduction, & Worker Placement. 

        This blog entry will cover the first three genres and next week the final four. So let’s get right into it.

Area Control 

        Area control games are ones in which you want to control as much of the board as possible to win. The game that fits this description the best is the popular and well known Risk; take over the world and eliminate your opponents. However, the game that we like to introduce people to in this genre is Breaking Games Rise of Tribes. 

        This is the description from the publisher: 

In Rise of Tribes, players control a tribal faction in prehistoric times looking to GROW, MOVE, GATHER, and LEAD their people. The board is modular, composed of hexes in various terrain types. Each hex has a population limit. Players manage the number of tribe members they place on any one hex to either trigger or avoid conflict. 

Each turn the active player rolls two dice, then selects two of the four actions to take - GROW, MOVE, GATHER, and/or LEAD. Each action is resolved one action at a time. The power of each action taken depends on the die roll plus the last couple of dice placed onto the action board on the selected action by other players. Once both actions are taken, the active player resolves any Conflicts. The final step of each turn is the time to build villages and complete goal cards. 

Victory is possible in a couple ways: gathering resources to build villages and/or completing development and achievement goal cards for your civilization. Villages (limited to 1 per hex) score 1 point for the tribe that built them at the start of that tribe's turn. Goal cards will score points immediately when completed. Every tribe's ambition is to score 15 points. The tribe to score 15 points first wins the game. 

        We really enjoy this game because it not about total domination and ruling “the world” but you have certain objectives for you to reach to help you gain the 15 points needed for victory. The basic game is fun enough to play to get people hooked but if you are wanting more of a challenge, lo and behold, there is advanced rules and additional content to help step-up the game to the next level. I feel this game gets overlooked a lot because it is a lighter weight game (2.16/5 on BoardGameGeek). 

Cooperative 

        Thanks to Covid-19, couples and families that did not normally play games together are now using board games as a way to help combat being couped up together for long periods of time. For those that are not into competitive play where one person is declared a winner, cooperative games pick up the slack. There are a bunch of different games in the market right now that fit this category of play but not many, I feel, are simple enough to be classified as an introductory game. 

        Our go-to cooperative game is actually one that most other people would recommend for most non-gamers to start with, Forbidden Island by Gamewright. There are actually three games currently in this series and with each one building upon the previous increasing the complexity level. 

        In Forbidden Island each player (adventurer) has a different role to assist with winning the game. The difficulty level of the game increases with more players which actually creates a faster game time plus having extra help from the different adventurers abilities as always a plus. 

        Here is what Gamewright says about the game: 

Dare to discover Forbidden Island! Join a team of fearless adventurers on a do-or-die mission to capture four sacred treasures from the ruins of this perilous paradise. Your team will have to work together and make some pulse-pounding maneuvers, as the island will sink beneath every step! Race to collect the treasures and make a triumphant escape before you are swallowed into the watery abyss! 

        The Forbidden series is a must-have for every game collection. We enjoy it and hope you will too. 

Deck-Building 

        The last genre to discuss today is deck building. The fourth entry in this blog covered the “grand daddy” deck builder game Dominion. Which is a great game to introduce people to for this genre but it is not our go-to game. Before I disclose our game of choice I want to fill you in on the back story of how we got introduced to it. 

        

        Back in pre-pandemic days (okay so it was only in 2019) my wife and I made a trip to Utah for my friends’ wedding with a 1 month old child in tow. Since I lived in Utah for many years and it was the first time I had been back since moving back to the Pacific Northwest, our free time was spent visiting my favorite local gaming store and seeing some friends. I had gotten a hold of one friend and we met at the store with his family so I could show of my wife and child to everyone (yes, geeks do get married and have families), catch up on how things are going, and to play a game. 

        Now normally we would play Magic: the Gathering but instead they had brought with them a game that I had never played before. On that wonderful afternoon, we all played this deck building adventure game and before we left the store, we owned our own personal copy of it. 

        I have to add this…. Support your favorite FLGS whenever possible even if it is a 12 hour drive away from home. 

        What was I saying?? Oh yeah, the game. The game was Clank! In! Space! by Renegade Games. It is one that fits many different categories of games so this is why we picked it. Because you have a character that moves around a board collecting things and then trying to escape before being killed by a “bad guy,” it incorporates many aspects of board gaming we like. We do own the original Clank! which is the dungeon crawler version but do enjoy the space themed version for introducing other people this type of game. For your reference Clank! In! Space! is weighted at 2.53/5 and Clank! is 2.21/5 on Board Game Geek. 

 Coming next week…. 

         Next week I will talk about the last four genres from the Whatnerd.com list. 

                 • Eurogame

                 • Legacy

                 • Social Deduction

                 • Worker Placement 

 So until then… Happy Gaming!!!!

Entry 7: Happy Easter

       

Since today is Easter Sunday in the Christian world, I have decided to highlight a few games that would be fun to play with your family today. 

HABA… Rabbit Rally

        HABA is a great company to look at for games and activities for the growing child. Not only do they make games but they also have toys for “young and old” (I say that because I want some games and a few toys like a marble run set). The game I want to highlight is one that I plan on getting my daughter for Easter next year as she grows a little bit older; it is called Rabbit Rally. 

        Here is the description from the HABA USA site: 

Rabbit Island is an exciting place. A giant golden carrot shimmers on the horizon and it's time to harvest the carrots. Unfortunately the golden carrot and other delicious carrots are on a different island in the lake and the poor rabbits don't know how to swim. But wait, one clever rabbit has an idea to sink big stones in the water in order to create a bridge between the islands with boards and planks! 

Each rabbit quickly starts to build their own bridge, and tries to be the first to reach the giant golden carrot. Unfortunately there aren't enough boards for all the bridges, so all the rabbits need to use the same bridge pieces. A player who overestimates the length of the planks must stand still and watch the other rabbits hop past on their way to the carrot island. So pay attention and start guessing and building! Encourages spatial thinking! 

        Does this sound like fun or what. Rabbits, carrots, and fun, fun, FUN! I can't wait to play Rabbit Rally.

IELLO… Bunny Kingdom

        The legendary game designer Richard Garfield created a game that is fitting for today. This game is on our want list and will hopefully soon pick it up... Bunny Kingdom.

This is what is on the IELLO webpage: 

Play as Rabbit Lords conquering a new world on behalf of the Bunny King. Take control of vast Territories across the New World, build Cities, and farm Resources to make your Fiefs prosper, and harvest precious Golden Carrots. Don't forget to satisfy the King by accomplishing missions on behalf of his Majesty. Each choice can bring you closer to victory, but only one of you will be named "Big Ears" by the Bunny King... 

        On the box cover it says “Expand Your Fief by Just a Hare.” It also has an expansion that adds another area to the game. I am looking forward to playing this one because of all the BUNNIES!!!!

Stonemaier Games... Wingspan

        

        Game designer Elizabeth Hargrave created a very beautiful and fun game called Wingspan. This games deals with collecting birds and putting them in specific habitats. The games has resources to collect in which you need to use and has a birdhouse dice tower that is simply fun to use. Oh, did I also mention (the reason it is in this article) it has eggs. Lots and lots of colorful miniature eggs. 

        This is what Stonemaier says about the game: 

You are bird enthusiasts—researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors—seeking to discover and attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves. Each bird extends a chain of powerful combinations in one of your habitats (actions). These habitats focus on several key aspects of growth: 

• Gain food tokens via custom dice in a birdfeeder dice tower 

• Lay eggs using egg miniatures in a variety of colors 

• Draw from hundreds of unique bird cards and play them 

        The base game covers bird from North America. Currently there are two expansions that covers the birds from Europe and Oceania with more expansions coming in the future. The plan is to cover all the continents of the globe. We currently own the game and the expansions and love it. Elizabeth Hargrave does have a couple of other games that are beautifully themed (publisher by other companies) that you might want to check out too. 

Speaking of Eggs… 

        Time for me to go and enjoy my daughter’s first Easter Egg Hunt (we didn’t do one last year). It doesn’t matter if you are Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Judaic, followers of any other religion, or not religious at all. Go out and enjoy the time you have with family and friends. Table a game or two and enjoy the company of being around others. No matter what life gives you, both the good and the bad, try to find joy in doing something. 

        For me, I find joy in my family and in board games. As a person who celebrates Easter and has a strong religious belief, I do want to share with you one scripture to conclude… “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)