Too many games?

Great article over on boardgamenews.com about the subject of "too many games." As a person with 140+ games in his collection, I've asked myself this many times. W. Eric Martin tackles it here, with the intro quoted below.

"W. Eric Martin: Too Much Is Never Enough

Occasional BGN columnist Ryan Bretsch took on the role of firestarter recently in an online mailing list about games and posed the following questions:

1. Are there too many boardgame companies out there today?
2. Are there too many game releases coming out each year?
3. Do you feel the games hobby industry can support the number of new game releases that are now appearing each year?
4. Do you feel that newly released games are labeled as “hot,” then quickly supplanted by the “next big thing”?

My short answers to these questions: No, No, No, and No. My long answers to these questions are more nuanced..."

Want list...

Boardgamegeek has a great "wishlist" feature that allows you to rank (1-5) your interest in any game on the site. As I become aware of new titles (usually through Boardgamenews or by surfing Thoughthammer) I'll head over to the 'geek, check them out, and rank them.

Here's some games that I am tracking and would like to own:

1. St. Petersburg Expansion
Expansion to the excellent St. Petersburg card game. Haven't played this face-to-face much, but I love the game on Brettspielcafe, probably have played it more than any other game than Settlers on-line. This inexpensive expansion is a must have, although not released yet from Rio Grande.

2. Roads and Boats
I was all pumped to get this when it was re-released last year. It's a monster game, that I've heard compared to SimCity, without the computer managing all the tiny details. I have too many complex games that never get played, but some day I have to get this nuts-and-bolts game and try to play it.

3. China - Das Duel
This two-player conversion of the 3-5 player China (Michael Shacht, developer of Hansa and Spiel de Jahre Zooloreto) is a must-have. I have an extra copy of China's pieces mounted in a shadow box in my game room along with the map in a frame.

4. Gipf Project - set 1
I love the Gipf series of abstract games. They are elegantly designed, beautifully constructed games that play in under 20 minutes. They can be connected together to form one large game by the use of "potentials", pieces that stack and connect various moves from other games in the series. There are three small expansions, and although I am not sure I'll get to play with them often (until Grayson gets a little older perhaps) they are inexpensive and easy to integrate.


5. Space Dealer
This game sounds wacky. Uses sand timers to control turns in some type of space-ship assembly game? I'm in!

6. Pitchcar
Racing game where you "flick" the cards around the track, and the bounce around off of rubber-band "walls". A dexterity game that has a couple of expansions (including a loop, and jumps), and sounds like a hoot! Would be a great ice-breaker for our Gathering of Friends.

7. Sid Meier's Civilization: the Card Game
Can only get this game inside a deluxe edition of the latest computer game. Someday perhaps it will be sold off the shelf, or I can grab it on closeout somewhere. I love Civilization, have played all it's versions on the computer, have the Avalon Hill edition, the Eagle Games edition... why not a card game?

Magna Carta now in stock

Magna Carta is here!

Xbox, the new boardgame system?

My brother downloaded the Xbox version of Settlers of Catan just released, and has even played some games versus my dad. Now I hear Carcassone has been released!

Is the Xbox the new "boardgame system"?

Gaming routine

Quiet on the posting front, and not much activity from me in the board gaming area lately. Thanks to some increase responsibilities as of late, and a decline in interest for some reason from my 9-year old (the first real decline since we started gaming when he was about 5 years old).

We broke out the Carrera slot cars also, which killed a couple of weekends.

There's a session planned for Saturday, which looks like an all-day affair... Kevin is asking about playing Twilight Imperium... now we're talking!

Railroaded at Northampton game night

Kevin and Marci hosted our 3rd Northampton game night last night. I arrived late, they had just finished a close game of St. Petersburg, Kevin winning by just 2-3 points over Dough. Kevin had 10 aristocrats, Doug had 8 in their four-player game with Caleb and Kim.

After a wonderful dinner, and some kidding around at Willie-Joe's expense (thanks Mike!), we got down to a 3 hour game of Railroad Tycoon, originally published by the defunct Eagle Games. Designed by the great Martin Wallace (Age of Steam, Struggle of Empires) this game ranks 19th on the geek, and is know for a huge board and great pieces.

Long story short, Caleb ran away with it, dominating in the Northeast. I built from NY to Boston, buy he controlled the NY to Philly to Baltimore/DC area, and was able to cheaply and steadily out-earn us all until his was buying level 5 rail upgrades for cash.

I was able to fulfill my secret objection (level 6 trains), and Doug racked up some great local bonuses. Kevin built junctures to some key routes and was carried along by his opponents needing the to finish longer lanes. Mike stayed in the Atlanta area.

Caleb won by what looking like 20 points ahead of the rest of us, who were clustered more tightly together. One of the key advantages he had was getting 4 moves in the first move due to the advantages of his age (lowest goes first) and a double-move card at start. We all agreed to play the game again, but bid for the right for first turn to eliminate any advantage here.

Thanks Kevin and Marci for a wonderful evening!

Java Crazy

Okay, okay... I've been going a little crazy with the Java games. Here's one more (and then I promise to take a break):

Spikey's Bounce Around

Silversphere

Clever puzzle java game with techno sound track and sharp graphics. Give it a try! (click the screen shot to go to the site)

New Tigris and Euphrats art

Tigris and Euphrates is being reworked into a new version, I am really excited about this.

This game is ranked 2nd on the Geek, and has been for many years now. I've played around 50 games online, play-by-email on the Geek, and a few face to face at the Gathering of Dayton a couple years ago.

It's certainly a more serious game (rates 3.6 on a 5 point "heaviness scale", with El Grande at 3.18, and Settlers at 2.3), and it rewards concentration not negotiation or trading.

Fancy Pants

Neat little side-scroller called "Fancy Pants". Use the arrow keys, plus the "s" key to jump.