Entry 19: Stuck in a rut?... Challenge yourself.

        This year my wife and I made a resolution to play at least one game each day. Now this goal was set so that we could meet another goal which is to complete a 10 x 10 Challenge; but wait… there is more. To go along with our daily goal there is a weekly game challenge as well. Now you might think that we are taking on too much but in reality, it is not much at all. Let me break down each on for you. 

Daily Game Play 

        Having a very active toddler in the home definitely takes up most of our time from the moment she wakes up to the moment she is sound asleep at night. By committing to find a little bit of time to spend together and play a game helps keeps us moving forward as a couple. 

        Now I am not saying that it has been all fine and dandy each day because it hasn’t been. Some nights we barely make it through a single game and we play short and quick games such as Love Letter or Cartographers. When we do have the energy to play games that are longer, they usually take us well past midnight (I count it for the day we start playing, not the day we finish it) since we start late at night after we know our daughter is fast asleep. 

        I personally feel that playing a game together each day has brought us closer together and keeping our marriage fresh since we don’t go out and do the things we use to before having a child. If we are able to stay at home and enjoy some quiet time, we do. Our daily game play also occurs with other people as well such as when we have friends/family over or when we are at one of the parents’ homes we try to play a game with them each time we are there (it helps that we all live within a few minutes of each other).

        Taking a move out of the television show Blue Bloods, most Sunday’s each month my family gathers at my parents’ house for a dinner. After we eat, we stick around to play a game together before returning to our individual homes. This has strengthened our family bond that had become weak after my sister and I graduated high school and moved away. Now, my sister comes over a few times a month to our house to play some games with us. 

10 x 10 Challenge 

        Another way to challenge yourself is to do a 10 x 10 Challenge (or a 5 x 5 or whatever you want to challenge yourself with). What this challenge involves is simple, pick ten different games that you want to play ten times in the year. 

        My wife and I began our challenge at the beginning of the year and at the time of me writing this entry, we have completed just over 2/3rds of our challenge. What is really neat is that my mother also created a 10 x 10 Challenge and started at the beginning of the year as well. I believe that she still ahead of my wife and I in completion percentage. 

        Is there any specific rules guiding what games to play? The answer to that is no. You decide what specific games you want in the challenge to be. You can target different genres of games or mix things up with you favorites. I am thinking that next year I may also do a solo 10 x10 Challenge to challenge myself even more. 

Weekly Game Challenge 

        Boardgametables.com publishes an annual weekly board game calendar that features pictures of different games each week, space to record your game plays, notes of things to remember, a full year calendar page, a 10 x 10 Challenge page, a “habit tracker” for marking off each day you played a game, and a different challenge for each week. 

        Of the 25 weeks (it goes Monday to Sunday) so far, we were able to complete 23 of the challenges. The challenge for the weeks we did not do was to “play Monopoly to remind you how much board games have evolved” and the other one we just forgot to do the challenge (play a game set on a different continent). 

        These weekly challenges not only engage us into mixing up what we play during the week so we are not playing Love Letter ten times each week, but also helps us to table games in our collection that we either haven’t played before or haven’t played in a long time. 

Conclusion 

        Is it too late to start doing a daily game with your loved ones? Nope, you can always start and make the last half of the year great. July 1st is only the 182nd day of the year (making it the last day of the first half of the year) 

        Is it too late to start a 10 x 10 Challenge for this year? Again, the answer is no. With half the year still left you can still play a hundred games just by playing games four days a week. The key is to set a goal and aim for it; even if you don’t finish it, rest assure that you tried and can set another goal in the future. Life is about setting a goal and doing the best you can. If you don’t have to think about your goals, then you did not challenge yourself enough. 

        Can you do weekly challenges? Of course you can. What is neat about the one from our calendar is that we didn’t have to come up with what to do. You can easily look at your personal collection of games and come up with your own weekly challenges that can help you add variety into your game playing so that you are not laying tracks with Ticket to Ride each week. 

        If you set a goal in life, such as to eat healthier, and you find yourself still grabbing McDonald’s or Burger King each week when you know you shouldn’t, challenge yourself to do something different that can help you to break out of your rut. Mix things up and try something new; you never know if you are going to like it until you try it. 

        Good luck and remember to just have fun. Life is too short to take it seriously all the time. Happy Gaming!!!

Blog 18: Façade Games..... games in a book???

        First, it is Father's Day so I want to give my gratitude and thanks to my Dad for all he did for me growing up and as an adult. I just hope that I can take all the good from him and exemplify it with my child and future children. He is a great Opa to his Granddaughter. Love you Dad.

        I had previously spoke about companies that create games to be stored in uniformed sized boxes (like the Tiny Epic’s by Gamelyn Games) so that their line of games can be stored together for a quick and easy way to find them on your gaming shelves. I feel that this is brilliant for publishers to do because it helps keep the materials needed to manufacture the games uniform and on hand for when the next print run is needed. For example, if all your games are designed to fit in a 4”x 6”x 2” box, the manufacturing company can stock up on the cardboard and all they have to do is print the appropriate box label. Quick easy and ready to go. 

        The company I want to talk about today has created a line of games in what they are calling the “Dark Cities” series. Each of the games are based around a historical city and around a specific event that occurred there, hence the year that is part of the title. They are also designed to be played in under an hour even with higher player counts. These games are quick to learn and fun to play. Façade Games has designed the games in the series to look like books for keeping upright on the shelf. Out of the four games in the series, we have tabled three of them so far. The one we haven’t played is the one that required the most players at the minimum count, which is also the first game we will look at. 

Salem 1692 

Volume 1 in the series 

“Hunt down the witches before you become one of them! Will you be the hero who purges your town of witches, or will you be wrongly accused and hanged for witchcraft? Or perhaps you will become a witch yourself, escape conviction, and bring Salem to the ground in hysteria.” (facadegames.com) 

        This game is a 4-12 player game card game in “witch” you are either a witch fighting to stay alive or a townsfolk member trying to find and eliminate the witches. You will be working together to accuse or defend another person in the game; however, you won’t know if you are helping a witch or not. At certain points in the game the witches secretly communicate with one another to eliminate a townsfolk member. The question is, can you save the town from all the trickery or are you a witch having fun with the hysteria? 

        One thing I do like about this game is that they use historical names from the actual event in history. I have a connection to this event with being related to one of the last people accused and killed in the trials (but not featured in this game). Do you have any witches from Salem in your family tree? 

Tortuga 1667 

Volume 2 in the series 

 “A Spanish Galleon floats nearby, and you’ve talked your crewmates into working together to steal all of its treasure. What you haven’t told your fellow pirates is that you have no intentions on sharing the treasure once you have it. Your crewmates have told you that they share your loyalty and that they’ll help you maroon the greedy pirates on your ship to the rocky island of Tortuga. But you’ve seen your friends’ loaded pistols and heard their whisperings of a mutiny. You know that nobody can be trusted.” (facadegames.com) 

 

    Argh matey… it is another pirate themed game that is for 2-9 players. Tortuga in 1667 was a main base for buccaneers in the Caribbean at the time and home to many famous pirates. This game you have a secret loyalty to either the French or the British (but don’t tell anyone) and are trying have the most treasures in your hold when the armada arrives. You will vote on what actions to take each turn as well as playing event cards that can give you an edge and maroon your fellow crew mates. Who you trust is up to you; let’s just hope that your fellow pirate you helped is actually on your side. 

        All of Façade Games were funded on Kickstarter and this was the first one of theirs we backed (Salem 1692 was before we began backing projects). 

Deadwood 1876 

Volume 3 in the series 

“There's gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota and you’ve come to find (or steal) your share. You’re staying at one of the three major establishments in Deadwood where you and your associates are working together to steal some of the gold-filled safes floating around town. But you suspect that the “friends” you’re working with are secretly plotting to keep all the gold for themselves. Will you be ready to turn on them before they shoot you in the back?” (facadegames.com) 

        Gold was first discovered in 1874 in the southern part of the Black Hills and in 1876 the northern part was “invaded” by miners and the western town of Deadwood was founded. 

        This 2-9 player game is all about challenging your opponents for the gold that might be locked up in safes that they have and/or challenging for an available spot at one of the three locations in town. This is a simple “play a card, roll a die” game. Each card has two options to choose from, using a gun for a challenge (top of the card) or using an action that is on the bottom of the card to help you or another player. 

        In the end, there can only be one winner so potentially there will be a fight-to-the-finish, a final showdown at sundown, a quick-draw on main street, a… well, you get the point. This game is quick to learn and fast to play. For some reason we missed the Kickstarter for this one but was able to pick it up with the next game and have enjoyed how fast the game really is to play. 

Bristol 1350 

Volume 4 in the series 

“You are racing down the streets, desperate to escape into the safety of the countryside. If your cart is the first out of town you and your cart-mates win! Or do you? Some villagers on your cart may secretly already have the plague. If you leave town with a plagued villager on your cart, you will catch the plague and lose! What will you do to make sure that doesn’t happen? And who will you trust (or betray) along the way?” (facadegames.com) 

        Bristol, right before the plague, was the third largest city in England only behind London and York. However, it was estimated that the plague took anywhere from a third to half of the population. 

        This 1-9 player game (their first solo game in the series) is another in which is quick to learn and fast to play. Each player will have 2 symptom cards and if at any time throughout the game they add up to more than five, you have the plague (even if later you are at five or below, you still have the plague). Each player gets to do one action and at the end of each round of play, if the dice shows two rats of the color of the card you are in, you mingle with the others in your cart and are at risk of getting infected. Are you fast enough to leave town and escape the plague? 

        We did back the Kickstarter campaign and were very happy with the results. 

Final Thoughts 

        As a company, Façade Games does a nice job overall in terms of game design, aesthetics, quality of materials, and cost of the games. Each game costs $25 dollars (great price range for families), fits nicely on a bookshelf (meaning not a big bulky box), and are easy to learn and play. 

         The game boards for Tortuga 1667 and Bristol 1350 are neoprene mats that roll up into the book which are great for storage. The biggest drawback to the games though is that if you are like me and sleeve your cards, it will be a tight fit in the boxes. 

         I do love that the games in the series are based on actual historic events. From pirates in the Caribbean to the American Wild West, and from the Black Plague to witches in colonial America, I am curious to see what they bring out next. 

         If you like to support small game companies, Façade Games is one that I would highly, highly, recommend. They are great communicators, they listen to their supporters, they put out high quality work, and they are true to their commitments.

(Pictures of the individual games come from the Façade Games website)

Entry 17: Board Games based on Video Games

        I have thought about this topic for a few months now ever since I picked up the base game of Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game for my wife as a Valentine’s Day gift. Can video games be made into enjoyable board games? Can a virtual world be metamorphosed into a tangible 2D/3D tabletop game? For this, I am not talking about officially licensed games such as Monopoly: Legend of Zelda or Splendor Marvel Edition but new games that are supposed to mimic game play from the actual video games.

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game 

        Quickly scanning at my current list of games that we own, I do think that one of the two in our library that fits this topic is Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game by Steamforged Games. Within the past few weeks we finally opened the box and decided to give it a go. We did have our friend with us, who usually is our 3rd for our “after dinner” gaming sessions, for our first attempt to understanding the game. After watching some videos to help us understand the gameplay a bit more and playing just one part of the game we have not come to a full conclusion as to whether we like it or not. So far it seems like parts are okay in the board game but because the three of us play the video game we are going into it with a bit of a bias. Plus the reviews I have read about it have been leaning mostly to negative side so that has affected our views going into or gameplay. 

Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game 

        The other game in my collection (which I haven’t played in a long time) is Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game by Fantasy Flight Games. I watched a few videos to help refresh my mind about the game which makes me want to dig it out and play it again soon. The game play is much like the video game and does allow you to strategize how you want to achieve your victory along different paths. The game does take a few hours to play, but so does the videogame, and does a really nice job with recreating it into a physical game. 

        Here is a part what Boardgame Geek has listed under the description: 

“Players are tasked with guiding an entire civilization throughout the ages, taking ownership of your people’s technology, economy, culture, and military, as well as all the choices that go along with them. There are four different paths to victory, and each is riddled with opposition. 

In Civilization: The Board Game, 2-4 players take on the roles of famous leaders in charge of historical civilizations, each with their own abilities. Players will be able to explore a module game board, build cities and buildings, fight battles, research powerful technology, and attract great people by advancing their culture. No matter what your play style is, there is a civilization for you!” 

Other Games 

        Now I want to highlight a few that I have seen on the shelves at stores but have not played myself. For each of these I have watched at least on review video and based on those I have formed my own opinions. Let first look at a newer version of a classic arcade game turned board game, Pac-Man: The Board Game. 

    Pac-Man

        The new version of this game from 2019 from Buffalo Games seems okay at best to me. From the reviews I have watched one person is the yellow pellet eating Pac-Man while the others players control the ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky & Clyde. Yes, the game board does mimic the video game and the players playing the ghosts are after Pac-Man with a vengeance. This game would be a good way for younger people to be introduced to this famous ghost eater. 

         For me, what I don’t like is a rather small issue, I do not like that it is turned based swapping from Pac-Man to the ghosts and vice versa. Part of the excitement of the video game was the constant movement of all the characters in the game at once. This way you had to make quick decisions about where you are going to avoid the ghosts and in the board game the action is much slower. But hey, other Generation Xers who grew up with the original video games seems to enjoy it. To each their own.

    Resident Evil 2: The Board Game 

    Once again Steamforged Games acquired the rights to create another video-turned-boardgame game. They have also done the boardgame versions of Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, Ni No Kuni II (which we might get this one), and Devil May Cry. With Resident Evil 2, it is played as a dungeon crawler with scenarios that allow you to progress and upgrade your character as you go. It can be played solo or with others cooperatively. One of the review videos I watched stated this: 

        “This is a game that you will never ever feel safe.” 

        It was also stated that those who love the video games of this franchise but are not board gamers would find this to be an excellent gateway game. Most of the ratings and reviews of this game have been pretty high and favorable. Even though I was not really a fan of the video games (I would play them if someone else wanted to play), I would consider trying this game out before purchasing. If you have the right circle of friends to play this with who like this genre of games, I am sure it would be a hit for your group. 

 “Look, You Have Two Choices Here: Kill Or Be Killed. Your Call!” (Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles) 

New Excitement…. 

        Now to get to my newest board game excitement and the reason why this blog entry is all about videogames turned board games… The Witcher: Old World by Go on Board Games. This game just completed the fundraising period on Kickstarter and raised over $8.25 million USD. It also unlocked a lot of stretch goals and a handful of additional add-ons. 

        In case you are wondering about the game, here is the full description listed on the games Boardgame Geek page: 

“In The Witcher: Old World, you become a witcher — a professional monster slayer — and immerse yourself in the legendary universe of The Witcher franchise. 

Set years before the saga of Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher: Old World explores a time when monsters roamed the Continent in greater numbers, creating a constant peril that required the attention of expertly trained monster slayers, known as witchers. Five competing schools trained their adepts through brutal regimes, and once fully prepared, these now-recognized witchers set off to explore the land, seeking trouble and adventures and helping others for coin. 

In this competitive adventure board game, 2-5 players travel across a vast map, embarking on masterfully penned quests, encountering and making ambiguous moral choices, fighting monsters — and sometimes brawling with other witchers to defend their school's honor! 

The game lets players construct their own unique decks of cards by choosing from a wide range of abilities: attacks, dodges, and witcher combat magic — known as "signs". Through card synergy, players aim to achieve powerful combos as they utilize their witcher school's hallmark abilities to their full potential. Quests, battles, and even dice poker allow each player to earn money, obtain new items, and train their skills. 

The first player to acquire 4-6 trophies, with the number being set at the start of play, wins the game instantly. You can obtain trophies by killing monsters, instigating and winning chaotic tavern brawls against another witcher, training attributes to their highest level, and resolving certain quests throughout their adventure. The game will include a Solo Mode that will allow for a solitaire adventure on the Continent.” 

        Initially I was not going to back this game thinking that it may turn out to be like Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game but as the initial preview videos and early review articles came in, I became hooked. I am just grateful that I have a loving wife who allows me to feed my love of boardgames. I think this will cover a year’s worth of gifts.

Entry 16: Classic Games

        This past week a game we picked up on eBay arrived. It was a “vintage” game that was still new in the sealed shrink wrap (Deutschlandreise). As my daughter was splashing away in her kiddie pool at my parents’ house, all of us sat around the patio table and opened the game to see what it is all about. This game was from 1977 so we talked about how board games have come a long way in terms of design and materials used. We also discussed some “classic games” from our youth and how some of them have not changed much. 

        That got me thinking about some of the games that we played growing up. Most of which are still around, some are not made anymore. I want to highlight some that has stood up over time and a few that are hard to find. 

Chutes and Ladders 

 “Traditional game from ancient India was brought to the UK in 1892 and first commercially published in the USA by Milton Bradley in 1943 (as Chutes and Ladders). Players travel along the squares sometimes using ladders, which represent good acts, that allow the player to come closer to nirvana while the snakes were slides into evil.” (Boardgamegeek.com) 

        The Milton Bradley version has withstood time and is one that is still mass produced today. As simple game that I am sure will return to our collection for our daughter to play. 

The Game of Life 

        Another Milton Bradley game that was actually created over 150 years ago in 1860 and was one of the more popular parlor games of the time. A hundred years later the game got a redesign into what we know it as today. Since then, it has gone though a handful more transformations and has branched out into dozens of special editions, video games, and was even made into a television game show which lasted two seasons. 

Sorry! 

        Sorry! Is a game that has been around for almost 100 hundred years (created in 1929) that has not gone through major revisions of the game. The major changes to the game have been the wording on the cards you draw to move around the board. There have been a few other changes to the game but nothing major that affects the design or actual game play. 

Risk 

        The basic game of Risk has withstood the change in time. Minor differences (the game pieces) from the original to the present has allowed generations to enjoy the game together. There also has been around 50 officially licensed versions of the game published since the 1980s. 

Battleship 

        The origin of the game is still unknown but variations were played during World War I and the first commercially made version was called Salvo in the 1931. Upgraded versions have progressed the game into the “modern” age of gaming going from a paper game to pegboards to electronic and digital. “Hey, you sunk my Battleship.” 

Monopoly 

        Original version by Lizzie Magie was called The Landlord’s Game, the version we know today was first published by Parker Brothers in 1935 which dropped one of Lizzie’s rule sets. Like Risk, Monopoly has evolved, expanded, and been made into 1000s of variations. Of all the games I know, you can probably fill a large Amazon distribution warehouse with just variants of the ~opoly games from throughout the world and still not have enough space for all of them. 

Other Games 

        Other games that have withstood the test of time include Scrabble, Guess Who, Trivial Pursuit, and Pop-o-Matic Trouble. I am one that loves the Trivial Pursuit games and own a dozen or so editions of the game. 

Out of Print (OOP) Games 

        Key to the Kingdom (1990) is a game that had and wish I still had. The game had a “transforming” board in which the travelers would move through a whirlpool to get to the other parts of the board that fold. This game was a favorite of mine because of the fantasy adventure theme. 

        The other game that I wish I still had was called The Omega Virus (1992) which was an electronic space adventure game in which you had limited amount of time to gather resources and search & destroy the “omega virus.” It was a fun game because you had to enter codes into a keypad and if you were wrong the “omega virus” would mock you. 

        My sister and I were trying to come up with names of other games that we had or we played from our childhood that may be OOP games but we couldn’t think of any. We mostly reminisced about those two games and now I am wrestling and trying to justify spending $100 plus for each on eBay. My wife may not like that though but hey, the memories are worth it right?? 

Modern Times & Classic Games 

        As a person who loves board games and one who doesn’t mind finding classic “gems” at thrift stores, I feel that the classics are often overlooked and even put down because of the how “basic” they are as compared to modern games such in-depth Euros and Ameritrash (see article on Boardgamegeek for more info). Even though I love our modern game collection, it fun to go back to the classics from time to time. As with genealogy, it is nice to examine our “roots.”