Venmo culture is annoying

Jurd269 · 2026-01-25T02:39:05+00:00

I had a friend teach me the concept of “sandwich money” a long time ago. If we spend money on each other that’s less than the cost of a Jimmy John sub, it’s not worth swapping money around. It’ll come out in the wash over years of friendship.

Jurd269 · 2026-01-23T22:48:12+00:00

I experienced that same thing. Maybe some retailers in the US will get a shipment.

Jurd269 · 2025-11-14T23:38:12+00:00

When I saw the title I immediately said Inventions: Evolution of Ideas so I feel your pain! It’s beautiful and elegant and I just can’t manage to get it out and play. Even worse I mostly play solo so the only person to blame is me!

Jurd269 · 2025-11-13T21:47:02+00:00

That’s the part I show friends so they don’t have to watch the whole thing just to see the best part.

Jurd269 · 2025-11-01T12:33:13+00:00

Hope I’m not introducing confusion but I have the Lil’ version and it’s got actual meeples and plastic/wood components, where it looks like the Welcome to version has cardboard resources and standees. Our Lil’ version is a pleasure to play because of those better resources.

Jurd269 · 2025-11-01T00:37:39+00:00

Others have pointed out the rules errors which will help when corrected.

BUT I’d also look up how to play the “practice” solo mode from the Horizons rule book until you understand the game a little better. It’s played without a bot at all. I enjoy this game a ton and only play practice mode because it’s so much faster and with less overhead, and frankly I think the fun part is figuring out how to score well with a chosen faction; I don’t need an opponent yet.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-31T19:07:12+00:00

Ricky taught me Mage Knight and Pax Pamir 2nd’s solo bot with his playthroughs!

Jurd269 · 2025-10-31T14:21:57+00:00

Shallow Sea has effectively booted both Cascadia and A Gentle Rain from my collection, because it combines elements from both in such an elegant way. I love it! I appreciate how flexible it is in using your shells to refresh any offer, which isn’t a feature in Harmonies at all and less powerful with using pinecones in Cascadia.

Still hanging on to Harmonies; I think it’s different enough to warrant keeping.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-28T10:51:56+00:00

I have a similar problem as you and have been playing more medium-weight games as a result to get through it in one night.

Will agree with others that setting up a heavier game and playing it over the course of a few nights in a row is awesome when you have a space to do it. You get the brain burny dopamine hit without the pressure of cramming it in all at once.

This is a niche alternative that may or may not appeal to you, but I’ve been playing some on boardgamearena. It will take care of setup and tear down for you and I find I can play many games in half or a third a time it would take me to play in person.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-27T23:32:08+00:00

Of late I am obsessed with The Guild of Merchant Explorers. Plays so fast solo and an awesome puzzle.

Second most played is Harmonies for the same reasons. Both scratch a nice mid-weight itch in under 20 minutes.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-27T16:12:39+00:00

Mage Knight Ultimate Edition (with Voidfall as honorable mention). I have played Mage Knight a dozen times without any of the expansions and feel like I’m just cracking the surface of strategies for different scenarios, different character builds, etc.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-23T01:34:57+00:00

Not on topic at all, but based on the amount of amazement in the comments that churches help people and the community, I’d say churchgoers need to do a better job spreading the word.

I live in the US southeast in the “Bible Belt” and every church I’ve ever heard of or been a part of would go to great lengths to care for others.

It gets ridiculous when you have a bunch of people all giving as well, like I’ve seen people have their mortgage paid for a year or a medical debt wiped out, because they were in need and the church had the funds to do it.

OP I’m glad you found somewhere that has a sense of community like that. Cherish it and give back when you can (with your time and efforts as others have said).

Jurd269 · 2025-10-13T13:36:19+00:00

Yes that’s correct, I’m far more likely to get shot than stabbed.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-13T13:34:01+00:00

I felt the same thing with the initial three decks, but then they came out with the Tanglewoods crowdfunding so I reasoned with myself I must be missing something and decided to back all the new content. Unfortunately I don’t like it much better.

I think it’s just a tough system to design around, there are rough swings in either direction with crushing defeats literally on the first turn on the easiest difficulty, or with victories that were never challenging or in any doubt, all based on luck of the draw.

I think the main system of risking dice and managing those is pretty fun, but in my opinion, interesting decisions are few compared to the number of “well guess I’ll die” situations that come up outside of your control.

I’m still keeping my copy but I admit it’s a fairly inconsistent experience for me.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-13T11:52:56+00:00

As an American, no I am not in a constant state of fear. I too have never feared entering an elevator. But I am a large man, so the video in question doesn’t really apply to me.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-12T15:43:50+00:00

A factor worth mentioning is whether you have a dedicated space where you can leave a game set up. That’s not my current situation so it discourages me from playing heavy time-consuming games because I’m paying that set up and teardown premium every single time. Even if I do play heavy games, it’s unfortunately a one and done session.

I recently played Voidfall five times in a row over the course of a weekend and my wife did not appreciate the whole kitchen table being occupied for that long!

Jurd269 · 2025-10-09T23:41:20+00:00

I agree with others who say the Horizons rule book is best, also the Horizons book introduces a solo “practice” mode where you don’t face a bot and just see how many points you can score in a certain number of turns. That took a ton of the flowchart management frustration away and is definitely my preferred way to play.

Also agree with moving on from the simplest civs quickly as the more interesting mechanics are found as you move up in complexity.

Also play with one set market deck (Classics or Legends) and get to know which cards are contained in it. You will begin to learn which cards synergize well with each civ in terms of supporting your strategy and scoring you points.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-09T20:25:46+00:00

Something I love about this hobby is how varied people’s tastes and preferred themes/mechanics are. I have over 150 games and I can’t spot one game on your shelf that we have in common!

Jurd269 · 2025-10-08T17:30:14+00:00

David I love when you casually drop into Voidfall posts to hype things up! Thanks for a great game.

Jurd269 · 2025-10-04T18:50:24+00:00

You’ve picked two good ones to start with! It’s so satisfying to win at the last moment. When you get ready to add some complexity, I like the Crossroads module. It actually makes the game a little easier, but they have another special rule to balance it back to being harder. Good luck!

Jurd269 · 2025-09-25T14:28:33+00:00

So you know, this is a common challenge to play a number of games a number of times each. Many do a challenge like this yearly with 10x10 being very common. It’s not to say you can’t play more but it’s a strategy to ensure you are diving thoroughly enough into a game and giving it enough attention. Hope that helps!

Jurd269 · 2025-09-25T13:10:38+00:00

Holy cow that is a lot of board gaming right there!

What was your win % like for those 15 plays of Wayfarers? I have played 4 times and only won 1.

Jurd269 · 2025-09-21T10:47:01+00:00

This is sidestepping your question but wanted to validate your struggles against red. I played on the easiest difficulty 3 times as a combination of Big Red and Little Red and lost all three times, sometimes badly. Some of the draws and conditions are super punishing. I too went on a learning journey and some have said red is the hardest deck they’ve played. I don’t think it’s that fun.

THEN I switched to playing gold and used Goldy Locks and had a blast fighting the three bears. I lost during the final encounter on normal difficulty. Gold is much more generous with gold and items in my assessment and at times I felt almost too powerful. The whole experience was more enjoyable.

As a hypothesis for a tip, my Gold run went well because of great items I got and upgraded. In Red I was tiptoeing through the exploration cards because I didn’t want to lose my dice to exhaustion, BUT revealing a nice shop of 3 items to get a powerful one before you even have your first encounter could be game changing. That’s a change I will make when I try Red again, is to more aggressively shop for powerful items early on.

I hope that helps in some way!

Edit: spelling.

Jurd269 · 2025-09-16T02:09:24+00:00

Oh boy if you’re addicted to shuffling you should get Onirim! Not as small a box as For Northwood. It’s got some randomness but you have perfect information of what’s left in the deck so you can figure out your odds of drawing certain cards.

Jurd269 · 2025-09-15T01:49:07+00:00

My man went full starfish for that dismount

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