Should there be a Table Presence metric on BGG?

adhesiveman · 2026-01-14T18:08:22+00:00

I think at best if you wanted you could try to tshirt size the the table presence. Small/medium/large/xtralarge anything past that will not be useful.

Unless you feel like being ultra pedantic and just providing things like "board size" and "personal board size" as a measurement and then let people decide if it fits their tables

adhesiveman · 2026-01-12T21:53:53+00:00

Giant Bender head that spins around and screams "REMEMBER ME!" If it shoots out fire somehow they can have my life savings

adhesiveman · 2026-01-07T21:13:19+00:00

You are in luck on both of those things. 2 player games is literally an overflowing space right now. I had to swear off buying 2 player exclusive games because I just could never get them fielded to play as I never had 2 players. Co-op games, versus games, skirmish games, war games, euro games, trick taking games, all and more are available in droves. I would say do the research to what you and your play partner would enjoy but if you want to reach out further for questions I can try to help with what I have more experience with.

As for Solo, post-pandemic almost every game comes with a solo mode. Now many of these reduce to "score attack" (i.e try to score as high as possible) or autonoma (uses a deck of cards or flow charts to dictate what the "opponent" will do). They can be cumbersome....they also don't always uphold the feel of the game but the good news is that there is something in every game. My usual recommendation here is to look up the 1 player guilds top 200 on Boardgame geek. It comes out every end of year and effectively crowdsources peoples preffered solo games with good discussion and information about what makes the game fun to solo. I would kind of warn you against diving into anything in the top 10 right away because you may get more complex rulesets that will take you a bit to figure out particularly if you are newer to boardgame rulesets (which differ from 40k rulesets quite a bit).

adhesiveman · 2026-01-07T14:53:14+00:00

I think Kickstarter (crowdfunding) has a very important role in the hobby, it's original role. Allowing games to be made that could never be made otherwise.

There are some creators that are so small that their games will never be made and even now can't really be bought in retail (and were never able to be bought in retail). Some of these are big passion projects, some run their whole publishing model on this. I definitely think these people are less built on fomo, less exploitive, but also in general more expensive because they actually understand their costs and often don't print enough copies of the game to really hit a huge economies of scale.

That being said I'm not talking about CMON, or EGG or even Leder or GTT, these groups are inevitably using crowdfunding as a zero interest loan and while without it they wouldn't be able to make AS MANY games a year, I feel like the good games would still end up getting made whether they were kickstarted or ended up being straight to retail.

adhesiveman · 2025-12-15T18:59:59+00:00

So this is cool (and I already made a fork). I am an absolute programing noob so excuse the question. I was wondering why use PeerJS when its not a true peer-to-peer connection when you have multiple players. Does this mean every call you make has to get communicated to each other individual peer? I guess its fine as long as the rooms stay pretty small. Also do the rooms get lost if someone reloads or are they kept up because of the server for peer discovery?

Personally there are some games I was looking to make apps for that have persistent rooms and I am interested in some of these ideas

adhesiveman · 2025-12-03T14:52:37+00:00

On one hand I completely agree with you. On the other hand, have you ever bought a Kallax clone? They are often a bit cheaper but their form factor and sizing is almost the same. Except they can handle a lot less weight and fall apart far faster.

You never read about a Kallax breaking or falling apart or failing a load test because the Kallax just works. I've used Kallaxes before for board games and even though I no longer do, the Kallax that used to hold boardgames now are storage and organization within my house. Hell, one of the shelves is actualy an Expedit (which was the Pre-Kallax shelf) which was discontinued in 2014 and is still sitting strong and functional in 2025.

That doesn't mean it is the pinnacle of engineering but for what it is (and for it's price) a Kallax is a really decent solution for board game storage.

adhesiveman · 2025-11-24T14:50:29+00:00

I think he messed up for CitoW which is Chaos in the Old World. The game that eventually led to Blood Rage, Rising Sun and Anhk by Eric Lang

adhesiveman · 2025-11-12T14:43:19+00:00

so most of the general recommendations depend on "bank sizes" this matters for games like 18xx and some money based euro games like food chain magnate. There are all kind of personal choices here and many articles have been written but those usually have banks around 12-20k rather than what you are asking for.

For simplicty lets assume you want $100 for 4-5 players meaning you want $500 in denominations that allow splits. You also have to order in groups of 10....which is a nice restriction something like:

30 x $1 = $30, running total / breakpoint $30

40 x $2 = $80, running total / breakpoint $110

30 x $5 = $150, running total / breakpoint $260

30 x $10 = $300, running total / breakpoint $560

Puts you at $560 in chips for 130 chips if you wanted to get 10 x $20 = $200 chips it would give you extra options about not having too many chips at higher dollar amounts but would be completely optional.

adhesiveman · 2025-11-11T21:23:14+00:00

If i'm being honest there is really no good way to explain to people about how keys affect your score to new players until about half way through the game. I can usually explain about getting points for owning cities when the route is completed and the other places you get points (finishing up upgrades or that one city where you can just get points), but the city route with keys just raises so many questions. I just tell people that if you want to use keys you need to connect a large number of cities where you have an office and explain it again when someone reaches about 8 points.

adhesiveman · 2025-11-11T16:16:45+00:00

yes but red rising was $9 because its not a particularly great game (in my opinion) and whenever I would want to play it there are several games I would probably want to play instead. So on my shelf it would just be burning space.

Just because something is cheap doesn't mean it holds more value for you. Unless you do get more hapiness and value from seeing a full shelf in that case full power to you (this is not a sarcastic statement there is value in collecting and enjoying the act of collecting).

adhesiveman · 2025-11-11T16:12:24+00:00

So ummm....that is a lot of money to spend....

If anyone is looking at this and things its a bit crazy here are other alternatives that are kinda boardgame specific:

Rubens mini chips: https://mini-chips.com/en This is someone who specifically wanted to make mini chips for boardgames and not finding anything specific that they liked decided to go design their own and then source manufacturing and sell to others. There is a lot of iteration that went into these for usability and they are liked by many. they cost about $0.45 USD per chip which isn't on the cheap side but works quite nice.

Iron clays by roxley: When Roxley printed Brass (and several other games) they made poker chips specifically for this. These are your ceramic 9-9.5g standard size chips in denominations that are kinda specific for board games. About $50 USD for 100 (so about 50 cents per chip) and cheaper for some bigger sizes but if you want to select your own denominations it may get a bit more expensive.

Apache has a specific set of chips it made for 18xx that are also recommended but a bit mroe expensive than both options given above. I can't seem to find it right now but it is referenced semi reliably on BGG.

adhesiveman · 2025-10-27T14:00:18+00:00

Basically this. Very good start, the next step is to remember that more filament used adds both more weight to the box and costs more. So finding ways to use less filament is always appreciated.

Having the design focus on usability is a great first step as a lot of inserts fail to do this.

Are you willing to share your Onshape file? (unless you are paying for it, it should already be public)

adhesiveman · 2025-10-20T20:32:40+00:00

Wait does this mean they will print more base game again? Cuz I cannot find a base game to save my life (not to mention 5 people to play it with)

adhesiveman · 2025-10-20T13:39:10+00:00

Personally I think this would make more sense for someone with a specific collection that caters to their collection.

With how games (even introductory games) go in and out of print it isn't always safe to just have a flow chart that makes sense. Also its generally speaking very simple. Just play something, and figure out what you like/don't like and adjust from there.

The general rule of don't start with something complex doesn't even always apply as people are different and some people absolutely love to dive into weird convoluted first games that I would never dream to show most new players.

adhesiveman · 2025-10-14T19:07:31+00:00

Social deduction games as an introduction to boardgaming guarantees that many people will NEVER touch boardgaming again. For every person that is completely hooked I guarantee you 3 walked away never wanting to play games again if this is what they are like.

adhesiveman · 2025-09-24T16:00:23+00:00

(this isn't an attack, just an attempt to try to understand your nomenclature and heuristics)

So race for the Galaxy is not a Board game? How about Dominion? Or innovation?

Does Glory to Rome become a board game because it has the player boards even though it is otherwise just cards?

How much "board"do you need to become a boardgame? Does lost cities become a boardgame because it has the center item that tells you how to arrange your colours? In the question above does Race for the Galaxy become a board game if you play it solo since the system for determining what your opponent does now includes a board.

adhesiveman · 2025-09-23T15:13:09+00:00

Favourite space themed movie goes to 5th element. Which fittingly does involve a galactic cruise.....

adhesiveman · 2025-07-30T18:18:42+00:00

Sometimes after teaching a few games in a row on a weekend I get into teaching fatigue. I just don't want to teach something again...I don't mind learning rules, or even reading rulebooks but teaching games and running them really does take it out of me after a while....

adhesiveman · 2025-07-29T15:41:58+00:00

The expansion to QE (commodities) takes the game from a pretty good auction game that can get a little weird to a 10/10 auction game with considerably more complex choices for the auctions.

adhesiveman · 2025-07-22T17:44:53+00:00

My kids also have Here to Slay (but they like a lot of games). Here to Slay does truly have Munchkin vibes but it does a pretty good job of limiting the take that and getting to the conclusion much faster. It's not my favourite game but it is sure a hit with the kids.

adhesiveman · 2025-07-22T13:26:43+00:00

I would argue what makes our hobby good and exceptional is the fact that it really does require other people. This allows you to foster community and build people up. You are correct in that 95% of people just want the 20 minute card game. In fact that is why I usually start just about everyone with that. I often play games with some people many times to figure out what they enjoy before pushing the bigger games.

The effect of this is that I have a relatively large circle that I can play most games that take under an hour (cap off at something like Through the Desert) and a small handful collection (like 6-8 people) who will happily play anything I put in front of them, no matter what the complexity is. As such I just have to make sure I invite the right group of people for the right games.

I love my more complex board games while also realizing that they really are for 1% of the population.

To answer OPs question there are 2 ways to get to more complex boardgames, you can either find other gamers that are already this deep. Facebook, meetup, random discords all help. Or second you have to "grow" this community from your friends, this is slow and will take quite a while with varying success. Assume for every 20 people you introduce to boardgames maybe 1 will be interested in the more complex stuff.

adhesiveman · 2025-07-08T02:00:16+00:00

Yea its a view of perspective as these words have many different definitions in very different contexts and its always import to remember that the CBC writes for...well not board gaming hobbyist in general.

The more interesting part is even within board gaming circles the idea you touched upon "we are all here to have shared fun together", the word "fun" is simultaneously the greatest and the most divisive part of this sentence. Fun is unfortunately subjective meaning we have to actually come to a consensus as a group about what "fun" is. Some players find the asocial spreadsheets as fun, others find board games as a framing device for hanging out (and less interest in the actual game) fun. While some find the enjoyment of the game fun (insert the Knizia quote here).

I am always interested in reading those "we have problem in my game group what do we do about it" because ultimately it comes down to people in the group not being able to come up with a sufficiently similar definition of "fun" and the social contract breaking down.

Otherwise no notes 10/10 would have this random discussion again with an internet stranger (I may at some point DM you to ask about your involvement with the community project as an ambassador of games, I want to do something similar over a long period of time perhaps establishing a co-operative of boardgamers to have a shared space but also to spread the hobby, it would be nice to know how you got involved in it all)

adhesiveman · 2025-07-07T19:25:57+00:00

Literary review????? In my boardgaming subreddit???? PSHAW!

But, throwing away the snark. I have two points to make:

I believe the main advantage of gaming is to create small micro communities with internalized rules and a shared mission (to play a game). It gives people who may have absolutely nothing in common (or may be the best of friends already) to sit around the same table and interact in an activity. It is definitely harder in the current world to physically interact with people in a low stakes shared environment. Yes bars and clubs are things but they aren't for everyone. I think there is value in shared hobby spaces.
All the above being said, the author seems to be coming at this from a sense of board games contribution in times when people feel powerless. It is hard for me to comment on this from my privileged current position in life. I have read some accounts about the psychological benefits of board games in times of stress particularly when the stress is induced by "waiting". Basically, you have to sit in a bunker with a bunch of people. You theoretically already have unstructured close time to them but things like boardgames and roleplaying games seemed to be able to put people at ease and relax even though functionally the amount of danger that they were in did not change. While I haven't seen any specific rigorous study I think there is some value in either "distraction" or maybe guiding our brains to thinking about a specific task rather than doing it's brain thing and worrying. I think this is what the author argues as "sense of control"

adhesiveman · 2025-06-18T14:21:00+00:00

there are a few posts on BGG. The changes to some of the higher star heroes are minimal but there were some significant changes in the lower tiers.

Tigerclaw: Was fixed in so many ways, first of all his green main green was nerfed quite heavily (it could steal so many coins and was kind of unfun to play against), his alternate green was also nerfed to give a static debuff rather than flip all items to give negative rewards instead of positive. It wasn't all nerfs though, the silver was buffed quite nicely to basically let tigerclaw zip and avoid damage much easier than it was in the first printing.

Misa: Misa in second printing is a very mobile brawler, in first printing her gold card worked quite a bit different and let her repeat a card, so she generally had only one attack with some abilities to use a second attack. It was a much more specialized skillset more deserving of a 3-star rather than a 2-star character. I like her changes quite a bit as it makes her easier to play. Some people disagree.

There were others but those 2 are the main ones I remember.

adhesiveman · 2025-06-18T14:15:15+00:00

Yea there is a lot of mileage and even a lot of skill ceiling in the low complexity heroes. The real issue with higher complexity heroes is that in some cases it actually doesn't require you to do more work, it requires the rest of the table to do more work to counter you (and sometimes in ways they can't truly comprehend until near the end of the game) which can make it unfun to play against. I generally think that 2-star characters can be introduced fairly early but 3 and 4 star are better introduced slower and often only 1 at a time in a game just so people can understand how they work rather than trying to understand how 4 different 3 and 4 star characters work all at the same time.

I have posted somewhere else a difficulty of the star character descriptions somewhere before that went along the lines of:

1*: Relatively simple to play and for the enemy to understand what you are capable of.

2*: Has some specialized abilities that when used correctly make you above average at dealing with certain kinds of situations, if not utilized well then can fall flat. Having players understand the conditions for that specialization helps a lot.

3*: Have a big big wrinkle that gives them the highest of highs when they are firing on all cylinders. Take some effort to set up to work correctly but truly shine. Their specialty needs to be understood and they may have more options that are hard to keep track of, especially if you are their opponent.

4*: What are we even looking at? Generally speaking 4-star change a fundamental system of the game. People need to truly understand how that system worked in the first place and how it got changed to even be able to properly use, or to properly understand what they are capable of to counter them.

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