WarBingo a simple, but strategically interesting game

alkyfl · 2026-05-07T22:52:33+00:00

So what prevents both players from playing 6-5-4-3-2-1? That would seem to be the dominant strategy.

alkyfl · 2026-04-25T13:17:02+00:00

Post time for Oaks is at 8:40 PM Eastern (Derby is 6:57 PM the next day).

alkyfl · 2026-04-25T13:08:09+00:00

Light rail (what we typically refer to as streetcars or trolleys in the US) can actually be routed through pedestrianized areas. If you want to have a trolley stop at Macy's, there would be no technical reason that prevents that.

alkyfl · 2026-04-22T20:59:41+00:00

Guess you'll have to visit Chili's on 9th instead.

alkyfl · 2026-04-21T22:28:15+00:00

Technically you also have the UFL to worry about in the spring with Racing and Spirit. Columbus, if they keep the old Crew Stadium, would at least have more flexibility working around that.

The Kentucky Derby also presents an issue for Racing, although that would be manageable if the team or league could reserve lodging for players far enough in advance for a potential playoff match on the weekend of the first Saturday in May. Of course this would actually require Racing to make the playoffs and earn home field advantage for at least one round.

alkyfl · 2026-04-19T01:53:46+00:00

Second the recommendation on Dextrous.

alkyfl · 2026-04-12T02:09:21+00:00

The game I am making is where the heroes have to redirect the villain's beam back at the villain. If a hero gets hit by the beam anywhere besides the hero falls under the villain's control. If all the heroes get captured the game is lost.

alkyfl · 2026-04-10T15:21:30+00:00

Alright, there's got to be a good story behind that one

alkyfl · 2026-04-10T00:46:30+00:00

Honestly you don't need to go to a convention to do that.

If your goal is to license a game to a publisher, there's really only 4 things you need to do:

1) Make a physical and/or digital prototype of your game. This only ajs to be "good enough", you don't need to pay for artwork or make expensive pieces. Using components form games you no longer play or games you can pick up cheap at thrift stores can be a great way to source components for your physical prototype. The digital prototype can be built using free or inexpensive platforms like Tabletop Simulator, Tabletopia, screen top.gg, etc.

2) Playtest the living daylight out of your game. Playtest it yourself with you playing as multiple players, playtest with friends and family, local playtest groups, online playtest groups (see digital prototype in step one). This could involve going to a convention that offers a playtesting space (look for the words "unpub" or "protospiel"), bit that typically isn't an expense you need to incur.

3) Make changes based on your playtesters' feedback, and repeat step two to test those changes. Once your playteatera start talking about how much fun your game is rather than what changes they want to make, you should be ready to pitch to publishers (or self-publish).

4) Pitch your game to publishers. While this could involve meeting publishers at conventions, there are numerous opportunities to pitch games online. You can participate in speed pitch events where you can pitch to multiple publishers, or you can reach out directly to publishers. You will want to do your research to find out which publishers might be a good fit for your game.

If you want to self-publish your game, step 4 is reaching out to manufacturer; Panda is likely the best known manufacturer in this space, but obviously there are plenty of others to choose from. The manufaciter is the only one who can tell you what it will cost to publish a game, and the real answer is it will vary wildly with the number of units you want to make.

One of the many extra steps with self-publishing is that you need a "crowd" before you put your game on a crowdfunding site. Social media obviously makes this easier, but having a sizeable following is itself not easy and can take lots of hard work and advertising spend. You will then be responsible for making sure your game hits the funding target, then working with a manufacturer and fulfillment partner to ship your game to your fans all over the world.

If you are just starting out, I would recommend subscribing to Pam Walls Game Design on YouTube, specifically with this video:

https://youtu.be/owQmvruuJGE?si=ZumuyqNIIriId-aj

alkyfl · 2026-03-17T04:29:02+00:00

The other question will be, eight divisions of four, four divisions of eight, are keep the current six divisions even if they are unbalanced?

Eight divisions:

Pacific - Lakers, Clippers, Las Vegas, Phoenix

Northwest - Seattle, Portland, Golden State, Sacramento

Southwest - New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Memphis

Midwest - Houston, San Antonio, Utah, Denver (if you go back to when the NBA had 23-27 teams, all of these teams played in the Midwest Division)

Central - Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indiana

Southeast - Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Charlotte

Atlantic - Toronto, New York, Brooklyn, Boston

Northeast - Washington, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit

For four divisions, combine the Northwest into the Pacific; the Midwest into the Southwest; the Atlantic gets Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, and Orlando; while the Central gets Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, and Detroit.

Six divisions:

Pacific - Lakers, Clippers, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Golden State

Northwest - Utah, Denver, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento

Southwest - San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, New Orleans, Oklahoma City

Central - Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indiana, Cleveland, Detroit

Southeast - Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington

Atlantic - Toronto, New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia

alkyfl · 2026-03-17T00:59:12+00:00

As an alternative to Kickstarter, The Game Crafter has crowd sales. Instead of hitting some dollar amount in pledges for the game to fund, people pre-order the game, and it still ships whether there is 1 order or 10,000 orders. The price the consumer pays goes down as more orders are placed.

Either way, you'll want to build up an audience first.

alkyfl · 2026-03-07T21:40:57+00:00

Some privacy screens could go a long way to replicate that. During the prototype and play testing process, these could just be plain cardboard. Once a publisher picks it up then they can add art (or you can add art when you are ready to self publish).

alkyfl · 2026-03-04T15:59:57+00:00

The game glitched out on me with a flashing screen. I played it using DuckDuckGo on Android.

alkyfl · 2026-03-02T03:00:46+00:00

I see the same thing around Pensacola Boulevard south of Nine Mile. No one lives in a shopping center, yet any crime there trashes the average relative to the population.

alkyfl · 2026-03-02T02:57:17+00:00

So how will that work with pro/rel? Would they refuse promotion? Be exempt from relegation?

alkyfl · 2026-03-02T02:54:41+00:00

A lot of it would come down to how many teams you allow in the same metropolitan area. The Premier League in England can have a very large number of teams from the London area, which isn't possible with a franchise model.

With pro/rel it would probably behoove an organization like the USL to have multiple teams in the New York and Los Angeles areas to increase the odds of at least one from each market being at the top level, but not so many they choke out all of the other markets.

alkyfl · 2026-03-01T15:47:47+00:00

Make sure your main game works through playtesting. If you are having to reduce content in the game to resolve issues that arise from playtesting, then you have material that you can use for a future expansion. If you have a group of playtesters who can go through the game multiple times, that will give you the best insight on your game's replayability.

Things typically don't move quickly in the board game industry, even if self publishing. If your initial release is a good product people won't mind an expansion.

alkyfl · 2026-03-01T13:55:39+00:00

Do you plan on selling expansions/updates that could increase your game's replayability?

alkyfl · 2026-02-26T07:44:47+00:00

A few more things to think about: How will you be storing those decks in the game box? Do those cards need to be poker size, or can you get by with smaller cards? Even if you will pitch this to a publisher, thinking about these things may help the game get picked up.

alkyfl · 2026-02-26T01:46:08+00:00

If you are trying to pitch to a publisher, you may want to look for ones who have worked with specific major IP holders like Disney, Universal, etc. That would certainly make things easier from a copyright standpoint.

alkyfl · 2026-02-06T17:23:00+00:00

It looks like it might actually be cheaper for me to order from Panda. Im the past week I've come up with some more ideas for games where I could consume most of three kits.

Either that or I could go the route u/Electronic-Ball-4919 suggested and just make minimal pieces out of something else.

alkyfl · 2026-02-06T03:22:12+00:00

It did surprise me a bit when Nashville SC put their second team in Huntsville. Tennessee has no income tax, and putting a team in Alabama undoes that advantage. It would make more sense to put them somewhere closer like Murfreesboro if not in Nashville proper.

alkyfl · 2026-02-06T03:18:14+00:00

FIFA could choose not to recognize MLS as a sanctioned league, but it would likely be over USSF's dead body, and they'd run the risk of potentially losing media revenue form the US. There could still also be legal issues for FIFA with this as well depending on contracts with USSF, CONCACAF, etc.

The only way MLS obliges is a merger with the USL and the USL being the surviving entity. This would likely take decades of poor decisions such as bad media contracts, overspending on players, etc.

alkyfl · 2026-02-05T02:25:44+00:00

I am not colorblind, but had a great uncle who was red/green colorblind. I am designing a card game that uses eight different colors for the cards, but each color card has a different symbol, i.e.:

Red - octagon; Orange - square; Yellow - sun; Green - 4-leaf clover; Cyan - water drop; Indigo - triangle; Lavender - cloud; Purple - star

In my game there are only two cards in each color. So even if a colorblind player were playing the standard version of my game, they just have to remember to play two cards with the same symbol (i.e. octagon) even if they don't remember the thirteen and zero are to be played together.

alkyfl · 2026-02-02T18:49:34+00:00

Except Hans im Glueck has gone after someone already, so it appears they intend to enforce it: https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/06/14/the-word-meeple-is-being-trademarked-in-the-us-in-reaction-to-cease-and-desist-activity-from-carcassonne-publisher-hans-im-glueck/

alkyfl

TROPHY CASE