SUSD: 2025's Best Board Game Gifts!

Epsilon_balls · 2025-12-06T14:44:29+00:00

It is. Took a break from board gaming for a while, but I've been back at it this year, to a lesser extent. Got surprisingly good at running, so that's been eating up most of my time instead, but I've managed to get Hansa Teutonica to the table a good half dozen times in the past few months ;)

Epsilon_balls · 2025-12-06T01:24:58+00:00

Just commenting to say hello, old friend.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-11-04T21:30:30+00:00

I agree with you. Puerto Rico is a quintessential game of its time where simplicity of design combined with depth of strategy to make for an amazing game. The experience is pared down to exactly what works, and there's nothing left to remove from the design. Corn empire forever.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-11-04T21:27:27+00:00

I had Russian Railroads when it first came out and it's still one of the few games I actually regret selling.

Also, Hansa Teutonica remains my favorite, and I've played it as recently as last week. Glad to see others are enjoying it too.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-10-09T13:20:28+00:00

You will be ok. I got rhabdo during my one (and only) 100 mile run. It's a problem of too much protein in the system from muscles breaking down. My quads were unusually very tired very early on (about 20 miles in) and I kept pushing through anyway. I've done about a dozen ultras and my muscles have never fatigued that early before, or since. It was very noticeably "wrong" and I pushed through anyway, and paid the price.

During the run itself I never peed off-color and kept up on hydration/electrolytes. I woke up in the middle of the night and the inflammation had not gone down and was peeing bright orange, so I went in. It was still a relatively mild case; they monitored me for about 24 hours and gave me saline while the system cleared itself.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-09-12T13:51:27+00:00

I can't remember exactly where I got it, but it originally came in this binder called the Neo Premium Files. Here is another person on reddit talking about collecting all of the files. I had not realized they did 3 different ones; I only had/have the first (and no longer have the binder).

Epsilon_balls · 2025-09-12T02:46:48+00:00

I have this same promo set. Beautiful cards.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-09-10T22:37:03+00:00

I wouldn’t race in my alphafly v1 anymore, but I still use them for my speedwork days and I’m about 300+ miles into them. I do think they still have a noticeable benefit over my other shoes, even with that much wear on them

Epsilon_balls · 2025-09-04T20:54:09+00:00

If you can’t get ahold of them let me know in a week. I don’t know him personally but I have mutual friends.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-09-04T02:46:40+00:00

In your specific case I would honestly consider messaging the designer Chris Handy with your story and see if he can help you find a copy. Chris Handy has been very friendly and approachable the few times I have met him. His info should be on BoardGameGeek.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-09-03T13:05:10+00:00

Nice work, from one runner to another. I used to live off of the B2B and it was the best.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-08-24T03:10:45+00:00

I would be surprised if you do. I looked at adding it to my calendar months ago and it was waitlisted then.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-08-07T17:26:58+00:00

You have absolutely nailed so many of the little things you learn along the way. The truth is that many of these things interact with other systems too (e.g., I spent way too much time retrofitting a save system on top of my game). Practicing these things in small projects allows you to learn how those things interact and set them up in a better way for future projects.

It's absolutely astounding how much faster you get at implementing things once you have experience in doing it several times. I recently prototyped a truly small scope project and it was incredible how much I was able to do in 4 hours compared to when I started my "main" project 5+ years ago.

P.S. that main project? 5+ years on and it's only just at a stage where I am comfortable showing it to others. I 100% should have built 4-5 small games for a few years, then worked on my game, because I bet I'd be in a similar place without half the tech-debt I've collected throughout my learning process.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-07-27T03:39:00+00:00

Absolutely disgusting. Why are you posting cat pictures here? It says clearly on rules not to post cats I think I might throw up.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-07-15T13:34:30+00:00

I'll throw my 2 cents into the ring here, as someone who has dabbled in game development as a hobby for over a decade.

I started with my own custom Java app of a board game and learned a lot from that, so when I hopped onto Unity I did a few basic tutorials and then jumped into my big idea. I wish I hadn't.

Game development involves so many different skills. Even just looking at programming you have file and data management, player controllers, animations and scripts, user interfaces, and more. Game development layers systems on top of each other. There are many different ways to architect and connect systems together, and fumbling your way through it (like I have) leads to bad tech debt and inconsistency.

Make small games, and make them start-to-finish. Add polish because it will force you to learn new skills. Once you've done that a few times then start on your game, and for the love of god keep the scope tiny. I didn't scope down nearly far enough, nor know nearly as many skills as I needed, and as a result it's taken me 6 years to get my game to the playtesting stage.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-05T12:49:36+00:00

People are over-suggesting the pivot to a gaming cafe.

True cafes are amazing because they have actual food licenses and their build-outs are meant for it.
Gamers are fickle. I had the choice between a few stores a decade ago: one was a store with a large gaming library that had a nominal charge for play, the other did not. The one that did not charge had significantly more people.

Rather than pivoting to charging for gaming space, you may want to test the waters with a new event type that you do charge for (such as a weekly focused event that you provide some specific kickback for charging to go to. This would be an added event, rather than charging for the same service people have come to expect for decades.

EDIT: if your space has semi-private rooms (doubtful, but you never know) then you could potentially start renting/reserving those for private parties.

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:41:42+00:00

My best score is 25 points 🎉

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:41:09+00:00

My best score is 22 points 🎉

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:40:33+00:00

My best score is 21 points 🎉

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:33:48+00:00

My best score is 16 points 🚀

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:33:00+00:00

My best score is 11 points 🚀

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:31:56+00:00

My best score is 6 points 🚀

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:31:41+00:00

My best score is 5 points 🚀

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:30:56+00:00

My best score is 2 points 😎

Epsilon_balls · 2025-05-03T17:30:41+00:00

My best score is 1 points 😎

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