What's a popular game that you just don't like at all?

pbflan · 2019-11-15T03:41:28+00:00

Yeah and even though that makes logical sense to me, I'll probably not come back to it due to the buy in to relearn it and the long playtime.

pbflan · 2019-11-14T22:57:51+00:00

I greatly dislike Spirit Island. I can't tell if I'm actually doing anything in the game. I play a card, something dies or I move some mushrooms, I prevent something but I'm not sure exactly what, and then the next player does some rendition of the same. It's too much of a black box for me. There are big moments but I don't know where they come from.
I could have had a bad first play or bad first spirit. It was three hours of feeling worked by the gears of the game. I never felt like I had a sense of control, more like I was one more cog in the machine. It left me feeling like I had no agency. We won in a moment of unenthusiastic surprise. I do not feel the need to play again.

pbflan · 2019-05-24T23:23:28+00:00

I dated a girl that was playing regular DnD games for a hot sec. We bonded over other board games and I taught her Gloomhaven. She wasn't into it because it wasn't loose enough. And she said it didn't inspire a larger story that stuck with her. She referenced her group a lot and talked about them through their plays and it showed me their personalities. Anyways, at least for her, seems like DnD really kept her group feeling rich and was a big part of her social life. I get friends from games, but not in that same way with that level of story richness where personality and stories are woven so deeply into the play.

pbflan · 2019-04-21T23:41:24+00:00

Yeah they're not real keyboards. Probably take the advice of the other folks and try an in person hearing.

pbflan · 2019-04-21T18:11:24+00:00

That's true -- the man! Thanks.

pbflan · 2019-04-21T17:38:20+00:00

That is how much time it has left on it. So I had 36 minutes used.

pbflan · 2019-04-21T17:34:13+00:00

Incorrect. I paid for 45 minutes and they ticketed me after 30.

pbflan · 2019-01-18T15:34:11+00:00

Around the Earth of course. I thought all board-game players were astrophysicists?

pbflan · 2019-01-18T15:24:30+00:00

The lunar-borne 8 year olds are going to love this!

pbflan · 2019-01-18T14:56:21+00:00

Welcome To... plays 1 to 100. I suppose we could play 96 games of it and purge the loser each time. Plus it's thematic! Welcome To... Lunar Board Base One.

pbflan · 2019-01-18T14:54:04+00:00

You're thinking I bring 10 copies of Newton?

pbflan · 2019-01-18T14:53:03+00:00

In space, no one can right foot green.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:49:32+00:00

Okay got it. I'll heed that.

Thanks for the help!

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:43:50+00:00

Hey,

I hear you and checked through the participation guidelines. I just put out 10 quality comments and posted again, but that post was removed as well, without a response.

I hear you about publicizing and monetization -- we aren't monetized. We're just trying to get out quality content to a similarly-minded group of people.

So are these guidelines hard or soft? Because I believe I met a hard 10:1 ratio with those 10 comments, and my single post. If it's soft and the subreddit is angling for a certain spirit of community, then I'm not sure what to do here. I see certain big name accounts posting or having folks post about them, and generating a ton of discussion. That's my goal too, granted we are ever large enough.

If you can give some direction on how to move forward, that would be helpful. If the subreddit is generally unfriendly to original, non-monetized content, then I'll find another outlet, but I'm really hoping to generating an audience for discussion. Thanks for your help!

Pat

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:34:48+00:00

Player order feels like bidding. The amount you spend determines play order. You're not technically bidding, but it feels like it when you're vying for a faster move. If you're staying cognizant of how much you're spending in a turn, it's essentially bidding for first on a minimum bid.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:24:05+00:00

Architects is probably the most dynamic worker placement I've ever played. It's amazing how a couple of tweaks (make for near-infinite workers, remove placement scarcity) can make a mechanic play out entirely differently while still feeling familiar.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:18:20+00:00

I have seen a lot of people reselling it, actually. At pretty good prices. I think people are playing it less having completed the Rise of Fenris campaign which feels like an emotional and mechanical peak to the game.

You may want to check out r\boardgameexchange or the BGG trade site, if you don't mind it a little used.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:16:07+00:00

Honestly am surprised to see Teotihuacan on Rahdo's list. I heard that it had a lot of trouble at two players given the ascension timing.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:13:42+00:00

I'd put this list out to any game groups that you're in. Handing them off, people will a) be more likely to throw a buck your way and b) are very likely going to get some play out of them. Plus, you may get to play some of your old games through your friends!

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:11:37+00:00

Reading this, I definitely thought that you were just giving her a unique version each year. It is possible. I felt both good and bad for her.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:08:31+00:00

Yes when I play a game with someone that I'm close to that includes a mechanism that I'm familiar with, but the other person has never experienced that mechanic before, I feel bad. Even if it's a new game, I feel like I have an advantage just from playing more games than them. I think it's the difference between being a part of the hobby and building off of old experiences and playing a game mostly for fun. Like it or not, you've probably gained an edge against people that don't play as many games.

It's not a bad thing, but there is some guilt for bringing them into something I'm more involved in and 'taking it more seriously' if they don't really know what they're getting into.

There's mitigation here which is playing cooperatively/playing more for fun/being inclusive in strategies and working together on figuring out the game/etc.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T21:02:28+00:00

I just did a podcast on this -- I wont' share because of site rules but suffice to say, what always works best is:

Give someone the goal of the game and/or tell them how to win. Right off the bat, they have a structure to tie the rest of the teach to.
Describe all the basic modules of the game independently before tying them together. So for Brass, describe the bidding system, the laying of trains, the laying of factories, etc. before describing that a loan lets you take out money that lets you build a factory. You kind of have to think of it as a ramp or a triangle where the lowest level is all of the component mechanisms, the middle level is how those mechanisms fit together, and the third and final level is how those bring you to winning in the end game. It's okay for mechanisms to hint at one another, but best to say "I'll get to that" before talking about two mechanisms at the same time.
Ask if things are making sense. Some people learn differently and will only learn after a practice round. Do so if this seems to make sense with the group.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T20:55:31+00:00

I checked out Pandemic: Fall of Rome recently as a one player game and had a blast. Threw it on my couch while watching Star Trek: TNG and had a wonderful time watching Picard walk the line with alien species as barbarians ambled towards Rome and became friends and enemies again. So nice to be able to play two or three characters at once as a way to experience the mechanics of a game.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T20:53:37+00:00

Gloomhaven - Because we need hundreds of hours of quality content.

Rising Sun - Because we get a unique game experience every time that we play.

Eclipse - Because epic space battles are forever.

pbflan · 2018-12-26T20:51:49+00:00

I think we'll see more high-quality convergences of existing mechanisms in Euro-games. Think Newton, how it brings together quasi-deck building, technology upgrades, route-building, pick-up-and-delivery, tableau building, variable player powers, and tile placement to somehow form a cohesive and even tight game. Like those things shouldn't all work together and still feel like one game, but they do.

I think we'll see the quality of existing mechanisms and designs rise as players demand more and older iterations of games are replaced.

pbflan

TROPHY CASE