Hope you enjoy the new template. This is an important upgrade, as with 3 columns we can now leave game information on the left (current hot games, GOF information, etc.), and important links on the right. The text is a lot more readable now as well. The next step is getting the archiving to work correctly.
Thoughts on the new format? Leave your thoughts/feedback by clicking "x comments".
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
How do you host a game night?
Being in the retail business most of my adult life (and being the son of a merchant as well), it has been traditionally difficult to have a regular schedule. Merchant's typically work when the customers shop (afternoons through evening), and especially on weekends. The schedule is frequently erratic, in a sense being on call 24 hours a day (alarm calls, unannounced store visits, other random events). For the past 11 years, I've also moved (changed residences) 13 times (!) which has tied up a lot of time.
Tammy and I are now settling in a bit up at Clarks Summit, and work is getting easier with my veteran crew in place in my store. We've been here over a year now, and it looks as if we may be here for the long haul. With that in mind, it has me thinking about:
How do you host a Game Night?
Some in our congregation play basketball every Monday night (and have for years). Others play wallyball (volleyball in a racquetball court) every Friday night. Some golf every week. Homeschoolers meet every Wednesday. Could a once weekly or monthly game night be possible?
It seems that weekends would be good as most are off work (except retailers like me), but often folks have various (and important) family or congregational events planned. Weekend events mean leaving a wife/family behind, or putting off something important at home. Weekday evenings are often devoid of serious activitiy (usually rest?).
Does that mean a monthly, or bi-weekly game night might be possible in the middle of the week?
Assuming that it could be arranged, what are some other things to consider? An excellent forum article on the 'Geek was posted by a regular, with some suggestions if found interesting:
"CONSISTENCY: Pick a date and time and stick to it like a glue, so everyone automatically knows when it is. For busy working adults, weeknights are probably best, since most people usually have family commitments or social/getaway plans on the weekends.
The gaming activities should also be run in a consistent manner. Non-gamers in particular, might be a little intimidated by games because they don't know how to play them, or they may think they are bad at games. If they at least know what the routine is every week, it will help to put them at ease.
COMMUNICATION: A weekly email inviting everyone to the game night is extremely helpful. You can also include a short summary of what happened last week, and even announce what will be played this week.
GAME SELECTION: Depending on your style of hosting, you may or may not want to have control over which games are played. 99% of the games we play are owned by me, mostly because the non-gamers don't really have any games, and because my collection just happens to be quite large. But just because I own the games, doesn't mean I pick them.
Each week we have a "main game". The player who won last week's main game gets to pick this week's main game. This has turned out to be a really great method of game selection, since it gives everyone a chance to express their gaming preferences and provides a small reward for winning. I email a list of my games to the winner, including links to the Geek, and have them make their pick ahead of time so I can announce the selection in my weekly email.
As for the other games that we play, I usually pick a quick opening game to start the evening, and any other games we play are picked "randomcratically" (everyone picks the game they want to play, and we a use a die roll to make the final selection).
STATS: I keep stats for my group, not because I'm a stat-geek, but because stats provide continuity and a fun metagaming component that everyone seems to enjoy. You don't have to get fancy, just track how many wins everyone has, for example. Most people in my group could care less about the stats, yet everyone seems to enjoying talking about them from time to time."
Any thoughts on this subject? Please leave COMMENTS below (click the "x comments" link at the end of this post, log in and post with your name or anonymously! Then, answer the poll question at the very end of this blog!)
Tammy and I are now settling in a bit up at Clarks Summit, and work is getting easier with my veteran crew in place in my store. We've been here over a year now, and it looks as if we may be here for the long haul. With that in mind, it has me thinking about:
How do you host a Game Night?
Some in our congregation play basketball every Monday night (and have for years). Others play wallyball (volleyball in a racquetball court) every Friday night. Some golf every week. Homeschoolers meet every Wednesday. Could a once weekly or monthly game night be possible?
It seems that weekends would be good as most are off work (except retailers like me), but often folks have various (and important) family or congregational events planned. Weekend events mean leaving a wife/family behind, or putting off something important at home. Weekday evenings are often devoid of serious activitiy (usually rest?).
Does that mean a monthly, or bi-weekly game night might be possible in the middle of the week?
Assuming that it could be arranged, what are some other things to consider? An excellent forum article on the 'Geek was posted by a regular, with some suggestions if found interesting:
"CONSISTENCY: Pick a date and time and stick to it like a glue, so everyone automatically knows when it is. For busy working adults, weeknights are probably best, since most people usually have family commitments or social/getaway plans on the weekends.
The gaming activities should also be run in a consistent manner. Non-gamers in particular, might be a little intimidated by games because they don't know how to play them, or they may think they are bad at games. If they at least know what the routine is every week, it will help to put them at ease.
COMMUNICATION: A weekly email inviting everyone to the game night is extremely helpful. You can also include a short summary of what happened last week, and even announce what will be played this week.
GAME SELECTION: Depending on your style of hosting, you may or may not want to have control over which games are played. 99% of the games we play are owned by me, mostly because the non-gamers don't really have any games, and because my collection just happens to be quite large. But just because I own the games, doesn't mean I pick them.
Each week we have a "main game". The player who won last week's main game gets to pick this week's main game. This has turned out to be a really great method of game selection, since it gives everyone a chance to express their gaming preferences and provides a small reward for winning. I email a list of my games to the winner, including links to the Geek, and have them make their pick ahead of time so I can announce the selection in my weekly email.
As for the other games that we play, I usually pick a quick opening game to start the evening, and any other games we play are picked "randomcratically" (everyone picks the game they want to play, and we a use a die roll to make the final selection).
STATS: I keep stats for my group, not because I'm a stat-geek, but because stats provide continuity and a fun metagaming component that everyone seems to enjoy. You don't have to get fancy, just track how many wins everyone has, for example. Most people in my group could care less about the stats, yet everyone seems to enjoying talking about them from time to time."
Any thoughts on this subject? Please leave COMMENTS below (click the "x comments" link at the end of this post, log in and post with your name or anonymously! Then, answer the poll question at the very end of this blog!)
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Desert, Chess960, Empire Builder
My Northwest airlines flight back from Detroit to Wilkes-Barre was cancelled on Wednesday night (apparently the pilots had spent too much time in the air and there were no pilots available). I called my Dad and he and Mom shot up from Toledo and picked me up!
Took a 2.5 day vacation in Toledo, and of course Dad and I had to get some boardgames in -
In two days we played about 20 games of Knizia's Through the Desert, a lovely little go-like game I have written about before. Victories went back and forth, we probably split the games, although I had a 3-game win streak going at the end. We tried to talk Mom into a game, but she wasn't biting.
We brought out Chess once, and tried Bobby Fischer's Chess960 (Fischerandom). We took turns picking pieces for a pseudo-random setup. The white queen was in the right corner, next to a rook, then king, then bishop and rook, then knight, knight and bishop. A bizarre battle took place on the opposite side of the board after Dad castled. We got to about 40 moves and I managed a queen-backed checkmate.
Stopped by a game store on Sylvania Ave. in Toledo (the Game Room) that I had never been too before, and the owner was actually one of the friendliest and nicest I've ever met. Mind Games (my 'home store') has been good to me for years, but all the owners and workers are generally very passive. They typically only engage you in conversation (despite the fact that I have been shopping there for 20 years) if you initiate it. Sometimes I wander around in total silence. Here, the well stocked store had 4-5 customers shopping, painting, reading, and the owner was chatting with everyone.
Sadly, and no doubt slightly under the spell of this nice game store owner, I grabbed a copy (at 10% off) of Empire Builder, from Mayfair. Published originally in 1980, it has spawned numerous expansions, and sold very well over the years. On the strength of reputation (and vacationish weakness), I plunked down my $35 and boy am I sorry I did.
Let me just say that this is a classic example of why I don't play American games anymore.
No, let me add some more: Too long ('Geek reports 1.5 hours plus .5 per player), ugly components (butt-ugly would be a better description), super dry theme and mechanics (move goods from point-a to point-b by drawing from point-to-point on a white board with a crayon), odd damaging random events, and the ability for a veteran to memorize ideal locations - forcing an inexperienced player to spend tons of time hunting for possible delivery locations that you might have missed, zero interaction, loads of down time waiting for your turn (which often consists of turning in 3 cards, and drawing three more - exciting!)... I mean come ON.
I have come to the conclusion that I need to stay out of game stores/never buy anything that I haven't thoroughly researched/never buy an American game again/stop assuming that the number of sales/expansions has anything to do with how much I will like the game. (Probably the only games with huge popularity that I enjoy are: Carcassone, Puerto Rico, Settlers)
One fact that was not published on the box (but was in the manual) was the original date of publication: 1980. This edition had different box art, and had a 2002 date on it, making me think it was perhaps something new that I had missed. Nope. The 80's were pretty sad overall for gaming (except perhaps some conflict sims that I no longer play due to length: Squard Leader, Star Fleet Battles, etc.). Empire Builder is proof. Fun maybe 25 years ago before the internet and modern publishing techniques reduced my attention span and raised my expectations (i.e. made actual quality important), but not today. Ebay, here we come.
Took a 2.5 day vacation in Toledo, and of course Dad and I had to get some boardgames in -
In two days we played about 20 games of Knizia's Through the Desert, a lovely little go-like game I have written about before. Victories went back and forth, we probably split the games, although I had a 3-game win streak going at the end. We tried to talk Mom into a game, but she wasn't biting.
We brought out Chess once, and tried Bobby Fischer's Chess960 (Fischerandom). We took turns picking pieces for a pseudo-random setup. The white queen was in the right corner, next to a rook, then king, then bishop and rook, then knight, knight and bishop. A bizarre battle took place on the opposite side of the board after Dad castled. We got to about 40 moves and I managed a queen-backed checkmate.
Stopped by a game store on Sylvania Ave. in Toledo (the Game Room) that I had never been too before, and the owner was actually one of the friendliest and nicest I've ever met. Mind Games (my 'home store') has been good to me for years, but all the owners and workers are generally very passive. They typically only engage you in conversation (despite the fact that I have been shopping there for 20 years) if you initiate it. Sometimes I wander around in total silence. Here, the well stocked store had 4-5 customers shopping, painting, reading, and the owner was chatting with everyone.
Sadly, and no doubt slightly under the spell of this nice game store owner, I grabbed a copy (at 10% off) of Empire Builder, from Mayfair. Published originally in 1980, it has spawned numerous expansions, and sold very well over the years. On the strength of reputation (and vacationish weakness), I plunked down my $35 and boy am I sorry I did.
Let me just say that this is a classic example of why I don't play American games anymore.
No, let me add some more: Too long ('Geek reports 1.5 hours plus .5 per player), ugly components (butt-ugly would be a better description), super dry theme and mechanics (move goods from point-a to point-b by drawing from point-to-point on a white board with a crayon), odd damaging random events, and the ability for a veteran to memorize ideal locations - forcing an inexperienced player to spend tons of time hunting for possible delivery locations that you might have missed, zero interaction, loads of down time waiting for your turn (which often consists of turning in 3 cards, and drawing three more - exciting!)... I mean come ON.
I have come to the conclusion that I need to stay out of game stores/never buy anything that I haven't thoroughly researched/never buy an American game again/stop assuming that the number of sales/expansions has anything to do with how much I will like the game. (Probably the only games with huge popularity that I enjoy are: Carcassone, Puerto Rico, Settlers)
One fact that was not published on the box (but was in the manual) was the original date of publication: 1980. This edition had different box art, and had a 2002 date on it, making me think it was perhaps something new that I had missed. Nope. The 80's were pretty sad overall for gaming (except perhaps some conflict sims that I no longer play due to length: Squard Leader, Star Fleet Battles, etc.). Empire Builder is proof. Fun maybe 25 years ago before the internet and modern publishing techniques reduced my attention span and raised my expectations (i.e. made actual quality important), but not today. Ebay, here we come.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
More on the Polgar record
Susan Polgar (the number one ranked female chess player in the world?), addresses some interesting topics regarding her recent world record in a chess simul event. Andrew Martin (IM), the previous record holder has some 'issues' with the event:
" I found this a really gruelling event and was only too glad when it finished. Yet Polgar seems to have taken this record to an entirely new level, but my question is.....how ?"
and
" I just don't understand this second record. How can one play so many games in such a short time? (16.5 hrs = 990 mins) That's less than 1 min per game overall! How long were these games, how many moves?"
The link to the answer is found at Chessbase.com, here.
" I found this a really gruelling event and was only too glad when it finished. Yet Polgar seems to have taken this record to an entirely new level, but my question is.....how ?"
and
" I just don't understand this second record. How can one play so many games in such a short time? (16.5 hrs = 990 mins) That's less than 1 min per game overall! How long were these games, how many moves?"
The link to the answer is found at Chessbase.com, here.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
The Rocketmen
The Rocketmen collectable/constructible game has been something Gray and I have been poking at lately. At $4 a pack, and includes everything one person needs to play a game: 2 complete spaceships, 1 asteroid, 1 mineral card, a crew card, one tiny die, rules and a one page comic.
The game is a kind of retro-science-fiction affair, with some Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, The Rocketeer, and Pirates of the Spanish Main thrown in.
The owner of the Unknown in Scranton was kind enough to take some old 1980s comics in trade, and we picked up a dozen packs and combined them the 8 or so we had already purchased. Although disappointed with the poor randomization (seems like half of my packs were dupes) of cards, the ships are interesting looking a fun to build.
I am not crazy about free movement minature games, and so I broke out my old black hex-map, that I used to use with Star Fleet Battles back in the day. I whipped up some rules for hexes, and recreated an impulse movement system from SFB. Pretty excited about the results, looking forward to trying a few more games.
One of the best ideas for the game is resource collection. The Pirate's series seemed to be a race to various islands to collect victory points with combat interspersed. In Rocketmen, their is s race to the center of the map, and a battle to secure resources. These are then raced back to the player's home base where they are cashed in to construct more ships. There are multiple ways to go about winning, but collecting and harvesting resources to build more ships (up to the size of your original fleet), or trying to strip/capture/destroy the opponents ships before this happen gives you some extra things to think about and adds considerable variety to what could be simply a basic "meeting engagement".
The game is a kind of retro-science-fiction affair, with some Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, The Rocketeer, and Pirates of the Spanish Main thrown in.
The owner of the Unknown in Scranton was kind enough to take some old 1980s comics in trade, and we picked up a dozen packs and combined them the 8 or so we had already purchased. Although disappointed with the poor randomization (seems like half of my packs were dupes) of cards, the ships are interesting looking a fun to build.
I am not crazy about free movement minature games, and so I broke out my old black hex-map, that I used to use with Star Fleet Battles back in the day. I whipped up some rules for hexes, and recreated an impulse movement system from SFB. Pretty excited about the results, looking forward to trying a few more games.
One of the best ideas for the game is resource collection. The Pirate's series seemed to be a race to various islands to collect victory points with combat interspersed. In Rocketmen, their is s race to the center of the map, and a battle to secure resources. These are then raced back to the player's home base where they are cashed in to construct more ships. There are multiple ways to go about winning, but collecting and harvesting resources to build more ships (up to the size of your original fleet), or trying to strip/capture/destroy the opponents ships before this happen gives you some extra things to think about and adds considerable variety to what could be simply a basic "meeting engagement".
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Geeklist: upgrades
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Fairplay Order: Want in?
I am putting together another Fairplaygames order. Excellent company (I've written a detail article about them several months back here at the Cafe) with fast shipping, great prices, no sales tax (outside MI), and FREE shipping on orders above $125.
Here's my wish list - call me or email me with yours and lets get an order together -
1. Through the Desert, $19.95 (reg $30)
2. Puerto Rico Expansion, $3.45 (reg $5)
3. Palazzo, $20.95 (reg $30)
4. Revolution, the Dutch Revolt, $59.45 (reg $85)
I gave my copy of Desert to my Dad when I was in Ohio (he really enjoyed it, and wanted to introduce to Tab on his next trip up), and this game is worth a 2nd copy. Really like it.
Puerto Rico Expansion is my second copy, Kevin was kind enough to print me a copy off his ink-jet a year ago when we were really into PR and it was pretty new. I have a sealed extra copy of PR, if we ever have a two-table PR night, I might need an extra expansion.
Palazzo I've heard great things about, was just release a month or so ago, and Revolution sounds amazing. Check out this really well written review here.
Here's my wish list - call me or email me with yours and lets get an order together -
1. Through the Desert, $19.95 (reg $30)
2. Puerto Rico Expansion, $3.45 (reg $5)
3. Palazzo, $20.95 (reg $30)
4. Revolution, the Dutch Revolt, $59.45 (reg $85)
I gave my copy of Desert to my Dad when I was in Ohio (he really enjoyed it, and wanted to introduce to Tab on his next trip up), and this game is worth a 2nd copy. Really like it.
Puerto Rico Expansion is my second copy, Kevin was kind enough to print me a copy off his ink-jet a year ago when we were really into PR and it was pretty new. I have a sealed extra copy of PR, if we ever have a two-table PR night, I might need an extra expansion.
Palazzo I've heard great things about, was just release a month or so ago, and Revolution sounds amazing. Check out this really well written review here.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Gaming in the Glass City
Dad came down sick, and Grayson and i drove out for a visit. I am creating this on my new PDA phone {!}. Picked up Roborally, Serenissima, and a few packs of the new Rocketmen CCG.
We played two games of RR, Dad won the first, would have won the second but I blew him up on the last leg!
Played a game of Through The Desert, was quite fun w/three players.
Tab is grand opening his new Old Navy store soon, too busy to post for a few weeks.
Great to have Dad out of the hospital, laughing and enjoying some time w/his grandson...
We played two games of RR, Dad won the first, would have won the second but I blew him up on the last leg!
Played a game of Through The Desert, was quite fun w/three players.
Tab is grand opening his new Old Navy store soon, too busy to post for a few weeks.
Great to have Dad out of the hospital, laughing and enjoying some time w/his grandson...
Friday, August 19, 2005
Random Catan tips
I have been doing pretty well in Settlers of Catan Online (current rating, 1771 with 22 wins in 49 three-player games, or 44.9% wins). I enjoy the game for a number of reasons, one of which being is pretty fast: most games end in 20-25 minutes. Not surprisingly for those who know me, I also enjoy being able to track my progress, and rank.
Lately I have been thinking of some "best practices" for playing Settlers, online or f-t-f. I have a document that I pour tips into when they come to me. Here's a sample:
-----
Lately I have been thinking of some "best practices" for playing Settlers, online or f-t-f. I have a document that I pour tips into when they come to me. Here's a sample:
-----
Catan Strategy tip #4 from Phuntomx:
When placing your City or Settlement, if all things are equal, make sure to place them on a number shared by your opponent. It would be VERY unlikely that your opponent would ever place the thief on a number that he shares with you. Sharing a resource location with at least 1 other player significantly reduced the odds by which you will have the thief placed on you, and great increases the odds that when he does, you will be able to remove it.
Also, be wary of the 6 and 8 locations, as these often attract the thief, as they are rolled 14% of the time. Five's and nines come up 11% of the time, still quite frequently, and are somewhat less likely to draw your opponents thief.
Catan Strategy tip #6 from Phuntomx:
When playing for the
Also, remember that it is extremely difficult to win a game of Settlers without having the
New players will almost always go for the longest road immediately, so use this to your advantage as well, by demanding favorable trading terms with them (when they are asking for Brick and Wood every single turn it can give you a clue). Also, cut their two initial Settlements in half immediately. This usually reduces their chance of having the longest road by 50% or so, and they will not always go right after the Largest Army, usually choosing to continue to find a path to the longest road. Sometimes this makes sense based on their setup, but often new players are playing other new players, and have not experienced as many Army wins are not as fearful of it as they should be. Use this to your advantage, especially at the lower rankings (i.e. below 1600).
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There is a lot more to say about Settlers in terms of tactics, but I feel that I'm starting to reach the cap of what I can learn about the game. There are fewer tactics to explore, and many of them are begining to be flushed out. Against a well positioned player who does not make any mistakes, it often comes down to the dice, in my opinion.
Still waiting for Tab's feedback on when he 'never loses' (see July 25th post) in Settlers!?
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