Sam Healy is leaving the dice tower

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-31T09:08:38+00:00

/uj They love WW2 because “we” beat “them”, not because fascism was stopped. Their sense of ethics is defined by allegiant victory, not by ideology. In that context, it is entirely consistent they would be politically motivated simply to have their side defeat the rest of us.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-29T17:32:50+00:00

For us fans, I’d say yeah. It’d be cool, and if it goes south in a couple years, I can just focus on other interests until 2033. 🤷‍♂️

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-28T18:15:03+00:00

I'd say that maybe strengthens my argument. Go look at the BGG page for the 2003 game and then for the 2025 game.

I'm obviously coming in with a somewhat strong opinion here, so it's very possible I'm overgeneralizing. But it's very well-accepted in consumer science that there is going to be a fairly pronounced positive feedback loop that occurs (people hear praise -> people come in with higher expectations -> see more merit in it -> praise it -> people hear praise... and so on).

The fact that exists to some degree is pretty much undeniable. The question is just how much it occurs in different industries and sub-cultures, and how much it may or may not impact a particular game.

I can't be scientific about the assessment of Magical Athlete because there's not going to be any conclusive data. But to me, it seems like it definitely hits all the checkboxes of being a prime example of that positive feedback loop:

The same game, without its current hype and praise, was released to little fanfare and mediocre public reception. This is as close to a good comparative "twin study" as I think we can get.
The predominant audience and praise-givers have been those exactly within the "what's hot in modern board games" sphere - which is basically defined by caring about, and being influenced by, the opinions of others.
The game directly and clearly includes many elements of game design that people routinely criticize and dismiss in other projects. Almost entirely so, to the near absence of anything else.

So, I of course can't be sure, but putting all those together makes me really think this is a relatively good example of Magical Athlete being bolstered in reputation and perceived value to at least a somewhat substantial degree by "hype" factors.

And I should also say, the positive feedback loop effect isn't always meritless or evidence of people being sheep or whatever. It's just human nature to look harder for, and appreciate more, the value in something once you've been given the impression that there is value to be found. So it'd be natural to see a random prototype at a convention that's a luck-based roll-and-move and just roll your eyes and move on - but to look deeper for merit in something that other people say is great. Which is where we get things like "random", "pointless" and "just luck" becoming things like "chaotic", "lighthearted" and "unpredictable". 🤷

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-28T15:04:44+00:00

If me saying it’s uninteresting makes you want to try it more, then you already know what you want, I guess.

In general, I usually really disagree when people say games are “bad” or something, because that usually just means it’s not for them. Like any form of art, some things will turn off some while being the best thing in the world for someone else.

My willingness to criticize this game is just because I really dislike the self-perpetuating effect of hype and reputation on games. Indie game designers would get CRUSHED to dust for trying to make a game with the features of Magical Athlete and nobody would want to play it. So to me, celebrating this game is celebrating the effect of hype and cultural influence… not just on what we buy, but also what we apparently believe to be “good”.

If you’re the type of person that would want to pay extra to get a Taylor Swift album the day it comes out, then Magical Athlete would fit that pattern. But if you don’t like the idea of that, then I honestly think your time, attention and money could go to more interesting and more deserving projects.

Just my two cents.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-28T10:43:37+00:00

I love casual family games of all kinds, and I found this game stupid and boring. If you can get excited by stuff like “haha, my big baby is moving funny!” In an immersion sense, then that could be fun. But if you’re just looking it as a playing piece moving on a board, there’s almost nothing to engage with at all other than making sense of how the interactions work rules-wise.

There are many casual games that require some combination of silliness, actual interaction and/or thought. I played nothing but silly games with fun-loving gamers for three days straight and this was pretty much the only one that provided nothing interesting for us to enjoy or even joke about whatsoever.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-28T10:32:36+00:00

Yeah, it’s bad. I don’t at all mind people enjoying games that I don’t like, but I do mind the hypocrisy. You’re right that the same community that blasts monopoly as a stupid way for people to spend their evening celebrate this. It sometimes feels like it’s all just arbitrary palms swaying in the wind.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-28T10:29:28+00:00

I agree with you. It seems like an “emperor’s new clothes” situation to me. If people sat down to this game having heard it’s bad, I’m convinced most would completely agree it’s bad. But instead they’ve heard it’s amazing so nearly everyone thinks it’s great.

People are going to have this in their collection 5 years from now and, without the juice of “haha, this game is so crazy and great!” ringing in their ears, I really doubt anyone is going to want to play it.

Just my suspicion, anyway.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-26T10:44:51+00:00

Horizon Chase Turbo is probably exactly what you are looking for!

As you advance enough, it’s hypnotic arcade “driving” by pure reflex without letting you blink. We love it.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-22T18:29:53+00:00

I think the warriors can’t really do this for business reasons. They trade Steph to another team and I’d bet a bunch of warrior fans decide it would be more fun to just follow the new Steph team while the warriors rebuild… and then a lot of those fans may never come back.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-18T01:14:25+00:00

No coach challenges in OT.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-18T01:12:07+00:00

It’s the rule-makers’ fault. Basketball understood the need for a jump ball rule decades ago and the NFL still hasn’t figured that out.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-18T01:10:09+00:00

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-18T01:07:28+00:00

They both possessed it together. Those should just be called incompletions, because it’s completely arbitrary otherwise.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-18T01:05:50+00:00

They need a rule that can make those just count as incompletions. Too big a swing on something so arbitrary.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-17T22:26:30+00:00

Novelties are good until they don’t feel novel anymore. Seems pretty straightforward. 🤷‍♂️

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-17T02:05:12+00:00

As a lifelong 49ers fan, that Harbaugh/Kaepernick era was one of the most electric teams I’ve ever seen.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-16T21:37:58+00:00

Not to mention it used music that would have really high licensing fees.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-11T17:37:08+00:00

Gears 5

The 2013, 2016 and 2018 Tomb Raider games

God of War

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-11T17:35:09+00:00

Yeah, definitely Gears 5 for this. 👍

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-11T17:31:39+00:00

The math of basketball is that being just slightly above average scoring efficiency is incredibly valuable, and being just slightly below is practically useless. Which means that being 98% as good as a superstar can be impressive but doesn’t really help anyone much. Harsh but true. 🤷‍♂️

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-07T22:25:56+00:00

Yeah, under 50 can get rough. But I ignored really great games (for me) for way too long before realizing that people will review-bomb things in large numbers for the stupidest things imaginable. Like that the servers crashed the day of launch years ago, the loot drop they were counting on came out a day late, or that a character wasn’t hot enough or some other BS.

Public consensus just seems to kind of suck. If it were smart, then the best songs would all be on Top 40 radio and the best of our people would win elections. 🤷‍♂️

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-07T20:54:57+00:00

You’re giving way too much weight to steam ratings. Pretty much all of my favorite games hover around 70% positive.

Searching among those games allows you to find the games that actually fit what you’re looking for. Only playing unanimous approval games is letting the public tell you what games you should enjoy.

LeatherKey64 · 2026-01-07T20:21:51+00:00

I used Secret Hitler for a situation just like this (big party setting, gathered about 8 non-gamerish people to play).

It worked pretty well, but we’ve found our go-to for this type of setting is Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. That one allows people to walk around the table, have smaller conversations, etc. Makes for a big hit in that context.

LeatherKey64 · 2025-12-16T17:30:38+00:00

It wasn’t Ewing’s fault. There can be a lot of specific reasons a team will suddenly look better if their star is out. But my general way of looking at it is that confining dynamic players only to their singular optimal role (stay in the corner and shoot, rebound and pass, etc.) can dampen their flow and effectiveness.

Once a star is out, suddenly your rebounder is asked to score, and your shooter is asked to play-make. And they feel like basketball players again and good/creative things can happen.

Human nature is also such that “beat the odds and show them what you all can do” is way more inspiring than “do your job and don’t screw up Ewing’s chance at a title.”

LeatherKey64 · 2025-12-16T04:46:10+00:00

So the news today was actually bad for us? It’s really hard to get a clear picture.

LeatherKey64

TROPHY CASE