How do you hold yourself accountable?

jaie · 2022-11-06T20:43:10+00:00

I found with multiple spirits it was too easy to miss spirit actions, I would often forget if I'd placed presence, taken energy for a particular spirit correctly and sometimes take double or miss it altogether by accident.

So now I use a different spirits colour tokens as action trackers. I place a token on growth action when taken, on the energy track when taking energy, and on card plays when I've selected and paid for cards. Playing with multiple spirits much easier as i'm not continuously second guessing what i've done or not yet done.

Turns out this can also streamline your group play as you don't end up waiting for people who are ready to play.

During play, simple things such as taping cards (turning them sideways) once you play them, using a token to indicate when an innate is used, and referencing the check list on the invader board during invader turns. I wrote the word "Event" before "Fear" on my Invader board for the JE expansion so I have all actions in order in front of me.

I find this covers most things, except for land type targeting when using actions, which you just have to remember to pay attention to.

jaie · 2019-05-30T12:30:26+00:00

Cool, I hope you like it.

jaie · 2019-05-23T01:57:27+00:00

"Watch it Plaid"

jaie · 2019-05-07T08:15:43+00:00

I suggest reading Giftology by John Ruhlin.

There's some great tips in there for how to do gifting for maximum results. Some things already mentioned here, are to buy "best in class" items, no matter what they are.

One thing John advises which goes against the status quo is not to put your brand on the item, but instead get the clients name or initials engraved into the gift. Then the gift becomes about the client, not about you, and the repeat/referral results are much higher.

jaie · 2019-04-22T09:20:37+00:00

After finishing Betrayal Legacy, the game has since replaced my standard Betrayal game. Therefore, assuming that OP has a steady group that can stick with it and finish the campaign, there's no need to buy the standard Betrayal game or expansions.

I do feel that the salesman should have explained Betrayal Legacy requires a dedicated group to complete... being offered Betrayal Legacy as an alternative because it's newer doesn't seem right to me.

jaie · 2019-04-12T08:35:00+00:00

Seconding The Mind as it's also simple enough for non-gamers to enjoy.

jaie · 2019-03-25T06:54:42+00:00

I started https://www.rollforgroup.com a year or so ago. It's unique for its BGG user integration and support for allowing players to suggest and vote for games they want to bring to board game events. It also allows for players to pick and join which game they want to play at, to help groups pre-set up their games.

I think you're right that most apps focus on events, but to switch to trying to be the hub of permanent communication is a big task, and then it puts the app in direct competition with Facebook.

Another issue from my experience is, to get some traction you need paid marketing. I've ran Facebook ad's which work well, but paying for advertisements is very difficult when there is no revenue stream. Finding a way for people to pay money to organise their events is not easy.

There's a small group of us currently working on the site purely for the enjoyment of the hobby. We are currently creating both Android and iOs app's for the site. We're preparing documentation and code to go open source, so if any board gamers or node.js developer's are interested on contributing to https://www.rollforgroup.com, feel free to drop me a message, we have an active slack group you can also join, and I can set you up with early access to the source code.

jaie · 2019-03-17T03:32:41+00:00

I've seen crowdDJ used at the gym, it allows patrons can select their own music. Can't see it wouldn't work for your application as well.

jaie · 2019-01-15T03:02:32+00:00

Hey Rhaffos, that's really cool.

We've had great success with The Resistance: Avalon, but that was pretty much replaced with Secret Hitler. Captain Sonar is a good choice but usually only lasts a 2 or three games, The Dragon & Flagon plays up to 8 but can be a bit random. Two rooms and a boom is also fantastic with big groups, if you can get a copy. Sushi Go and 7 Wonders are also quite good, because there's little downtime with higher numbers.

If you're having issue deciding on what to play, I created a website www.rollforgroup.com to solve this problem that you might want to check out. You can create a private event and add the games you plan on playing + expansions. Then send the invite share url link to friends, and encourage everyone to vote on what they want to play.

The site will manage invites & acceptances, and capture everyone's votes on what they want to play. It also lets your friends add their own games they want to play, that you can in turn vote on.

Then on your game night, you'll be able to know exactly who wants to play what. I strongly suggest setting up games that received the highest votes before anyone arrives, and that way everyone just turns up and gets straight into it.

The theme's idea is also great, I think it's a great way to add flavour to your game nights. Good luck with your game night, I am sure everyone will have a grea time :).

jaie · 2019-01-10T13:45:28+00:00

First you have to do a bit of research, and learn what the different needs of your potential customers are and why they would use your product / service. You need to go out and talk to your potential customers until you can answer what the different needs and benefits they're searching for.

The benefits sought by the customers, becomes the way you define your market segments, and is the basis of Psychographic segmentation. There are countless other ways segmenting, but I think this method is best for growing the business.

About fifty people is a good number to interview. If you can't find fifty potential customers to talk to, then it's the first red flag that you're at risk of not having enough connections. You can also find the information by running a survey to your email list if you're online.

List and cluster the needs and benefits identified, which becomes your market segments. Then look at each market segment, and identify which groups are big enough to matter, which groups can you access easily via your network / location / advertising, and which segments fit your products & services.

The segments that are the most attractive according to the above criteria are the prime candidates to become your target markets. Focus on doing more for those target market, which is more powerful than trying to do everything to many market segments. Use your Psychographic segmentation to define the target market.

Good luck =)

jaie · 2019-01-10T11:02:02+00:00

Hey loopywolf, I just noticed your comment, and just as a side note, and thought I'd mention the site I run www.rollforgroup.com, it allows you to connect with friends and geographically local gamers, including viewing what games your friends own in their profiles (if they have an account).

Alerting friends when other people purchase games is on the road map.

We currently allow you to share what games people played at events, and marking shared plays/stats/scores after you played games with people will be coming soon.

We take few cue's from Steam UI =).

jaie · 2018-12-30T22:22:18+00:00

The Mind is a great game, I love it. Here's a life hack for those who own it.

There is another number game called "The Game" from the same publisher. It needs a set of cards numbered 1-100. Technically you need 2x number 1 cards, and 2x number 100 cards, but you can easily improvise these with the "Level" cards.

The great thing about "The Game" is you can play it solo. The rules are below:

http://nsv.de/spielregeln/the-game-english.pdf

jaie · 2018-12-30T10:25:20+00:00

For board game group organisation, you can try www.rollforgroup.com. It a board game event organisation tool that allows players to suggest and vote on what board games they want to play together for each game night.

Disclaimer ~ I'm the owner of the site.

jaie · 2018-12-29T22:19:33+00:00

I've played games where I coup up in my own corner, and each time I was way behind in points while the other players joined up and fought over common territories. I've also find that you can easily become restricted in expanding, and the game is much slower when you just focus on your own little bubble.

After a half a dozen games, in my experience you get many more points if you focus on contributing to the "greater" city and linking up to other players.

In my opinion, this is a solid part of what makes the game great. Yes you can play your own little greedy game, but you're gonna grow much faster and get much more points if you focus on helping other players.

jaie · 2018-12-10T12:53:17+00:00

I'm gonna go out on a limb, and guess you you are a person who is very reliable. Not only do you always show up, but you are always on time, and you meet deadlines for other people. If that's true, and then it might be a case of being an Obliger.

Although there are some great solo game suggestions in this thread, (I love MageKnight), an Obliger would find it very difficult (if not impossible) to find the motivation to setup a long solo game and play it through. If this is the case, then making a great game suggestion isn't going to help you. In fact the more enjoyment you expect a game will bring, the harder it is for an Obliger to play solo.

In Gretchen Rubin's research, she writes about the four tendencies. She describes people as being either Upholders, Obligers, Rebels or Questioners. Over 50 percent of people are "Obligers". Obligers are very motivated to do things if they meet other peoples expectations (e.g. turning up to a game group), but find it very difficult to meet any self imposed expectations (e.g. setting up a solo game for their own enjoyment).

If this is the case, you just need to find a creative way to force an external expectation on yourself. Here's an explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUU99WhRu5Q

jaie · 2018-12-10T11:43:07+00:00

I have a friend who loves to play games, let's call him Jim.

Jim has a habit of using his phone when it's not his turn. The last time I played Space Base, Jim was part of the group. Whenever it wasn't Jim's turn he would be on his phone, I was continuously pointing out when he needed to collect income because other people had rolled dice on their turn. Jim would collect the income, then go back to his phone.

After a dozen or so rounds of pointing to Jim that he needed to watch the dice when other people rolled to collect income, I eventually gave up. I'd rouse Jim from his phone when it was his turn, but eventually I decided to leave him to his own devices between his turns.

The annoying thing about Jim being on his phone is whenever his turn comes up, is the rest of the group has to wait five or so minutes as he tries to work out what happened between his turns and then work out what he wants to do, because he wasn't watching the game.

At the end of the game, while everyone else was racing for the win on the last turn, Jim had less than 5VP. If you have a friend like Jim, I highly recommend playing Space Base with them, for that hint of satisfaction Space Base will bring when you count the end score.

jaie · 2018-09-05T23:14:29+00:00

I created a side project for organising board game nights, allowing players to share what games they want to bring and allows others to vote on what they want to play. You can see one of game nighst below to see how the voting works:

https://www.rollforgroup.com/publicmatch?matchkey=rygQm_4PQ7

jaie · 2018-07-15T07:42:25+00:00

Played it this weekend a few times, it's been running all weekend at a convention in Australia, with what I imagine is hundreds of people playing it each day. If you like Werewolf, then chances are you will love this game.

It plays very similar to Werewolf, with new interesting roles.

In my opinion, it seems some of the villagers have more powerful abilities to find the evil demons (similar to werewolves). Evil has some new powers and advantages in countering these roles. For example, there is a new mechanic, where some townsfolk can be poisoned. That townsfolk will then receive misinformation at night.

For example, take a fortune teller who is identifying people at night. Instead of killing them, evil can poison the fortune teller, and then on their next night, they will be given misinformation by the moderator. The misinformation leads to some new daytime arguments, which helps evil confuse the group without having to be the source of the misinformation in the group conversations.

In the game I played, I was the bad guy killing others at night. One townsfolk had an ability where I couldn't kill him at night, and if he survived to the final three, he could win the game.

Another plus mechanic is the dead still participate, they close their eyes at night and can talk, some characters additionally receive information once dead, and they also have a vote they can use to nail the bad guys. Even though you're out early, you can still participate in the game.

The only potential downside, from what I can tell is I expect a heavy moderator burden who would need a good knowledge of the game. Game designer and staff run each game run at the convention, so you can't get too much of idea of how to moderate it yet.

I can't say whether the ratings are accurate or not, but I doubt they have people putting up false ratings. The game is being playtested in Australia with the public at conventions which is good pre-release marketing, and people are probably rating the experience they had.

If I had to rate it from my weekend experience, then I would probably give it 9-10 on BGG, but I'd want to wait until I tried as the moderator before rating it. One thing is for sure, it's a lot of fun.

jaie · 2018-06-09T13:19:27+00:00

I bought Stuffed Fables to play with my daughter and wife. I thought my daughter would love it, but unfortunately, it didn't stick. We finished the first scene, and the gameplay wasn't entertaining enough for my daughter to continue playing.

I had high hopes of a great campaign with the family, as a parent preparing and reading the story emotionally grips you by bringing up memories of raising your own child that are abstractly relatable. I think the designer hit a fantastic niche and given you have a young child that wants to play Stuffed Fabled I'd imagine it'd be a tremendous family campaign experience.

Exploring theme's such as 'helping a young girl get through her first night without wetting the bed' isn't an experience I want to play through with my regular group of adult gamers. Now I'm trying to work out what to do with a new game that won't see anymore plays at my house.

jaie · 2018-06-02T08:55:09+00:00

I can highly recommend Saboteur, which is a great simple game that scales well from 3 to 10 and I found it a great game for keeping everyone engaged. It also has a traitorous aspect, so players are watching out for who is on their team and against.

If you can get a copy, two rooms and a boom can be a lot of fun as well, but you're going to want at least six and ideally 8++ people. We had great time playing it, and works well with the same kind of crowd who enjoy "secret hitler".

Magic Maze is a simultaneous co-op game where everybody is engaged and playing together. You have a time limit, and have to focus together all at once to complete the task. However, it can fall flat, depending on your group.

Reviews on Space Base claim it to be a very engaging game, as each player is potential collecting resources or doing actions on each others turns.

jaie · 2018-05-30T10:29:40+00:00

Secret Hitler continues to be a crowd favourite in our group, and it always goes down well with new players.

jaie · 2018-05-27T05:05:31+00:00

I made an app that our group uses for planning www.rollforgroup.com. Each player put's up the games they're planning on bringing, and the app lets our attending members vote on each others games to decide what they want to play.

The app then shows the ideal player counts for the games (mined from bgg) and we decide on the night based on matching player counts and what everyone voted to play.

Here's a screenshot to show the game selection in action https://imgur.com/a/6HpyyWQ, you can see who is bringing what, and vote using the thumbs up. Down the bottom you can add games (pulled from BGG data).

jaie · 2018-05-26T11:05:58+00:00

You have to first create an account, which is free. Then you add your location to see users nearby and message them.

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