Qwirkle - Matt's Opinion

Fellow blogger Matt Stevenson wrote another, more in depth review of Qwirkle.  You can find it at:

http://boardgamebackroom.blogspot.com/2011/06/fresh-baked-qwirkle-by-susan-mckinley.html

It's Your Move!

Spiel des Jahres

Recently, the Spiel des Jahres nominees were announced.  What is the Spiel des Jahres, and why do we care?  I am glad you asked.

According to BoardGameGeek, the Spiel des Jahres (SdJ) is the “most prestigious award for board and card games, is awarded annually by a jury of German game critics.”  To be honest, sales statistics would definitely support this, since winning the SdJ will easily boost sales by a factor of 50!  There are other awards, such as the Mensa Award, but the SdJ is the one I look to see on a game box.   In order to qualify, the game must be published in Germany in the year it is nominated.  That’s specifically interesting here because this year’s nominees include a game that has been in the United States for several years, but only now published in Germany.

This year, the nominees are:

·         Forbidden Island – which I briefly reviewed a couple of months ago.

·         Asara – of which I have no personal knowledge.

·         Qwirkle – which I own and my wife and I both really enjoy.

Qwirkle has been available in the United States for some time, and at Target stores for at least a year.  I plan to review it in the next few posts.  I would be happy with either Forbidden Island or Qwirkle as the winner.

For casual and family gamers, this award is the mark of a game that’s an excellent choice.   I own several of these games, and all of the awardees I have played are truly fun games with meaningful choices.  At the same time, they are games that are accessible to nearly everyone.  I have reviewed one already, Ticket to Ride (2004), and we love it enough to have three versions and three expansions!  Other winners we own include Dominion (2009), Zooloretto (2007), Carcassonne (2001), The Settlers of Catan (1995), and Rummikub (1980).  Of these, I can personally and heartily recommend all but Zooloretto (only because I haven’t played it yet!) and Rummikub (which is good, but which can’t compete against so many other games). 

When the winner is announced, I will let everyone know.  In the meantime, it’s a pretty safe bet that any of the three nominees are great games to enjoy with your friends and family.  So pick one up from your favorite gaming source, and then…

It’s Your Move!

Chess and the End of the School Year

We ended this year's incarnation of the chess club this week.  As much as I love the kids and I love chess, I am glad this is over for the year.  It does get tiring to keep these things going.  There are several healthy tensions that cause this, and finding the right course through them is where the effort comes in to play.  These tensions are somewhat about the differences between my expectations for the club and the kid’s expectations.  They are:

• Teaching vs playing
• Basic skills vs more advanced skills
• Motivation vs discouragement
• Accessibility vs focus

I once asked the kids how many of them wanted to read books on chess.  The answer was no one did.  I brought my modest chess library in, and even managed to avoid the word “study”, but nonetheless there were no takers.  In fact, on a day to day basis, the kids would just as soon I never teach.  They would rather play.  It doesn’t matter whether it is something specific – say an opening – or something very general, like being more aggressive.  The boys and girls would rather just play. 

What aggravates this problem are the various levels of knowledge the kids have when they arrive at the beginning of the year.  They either don’t know anything or are an expert player – just ask them!  In reality, there are several different levels of play going on at the same time, and with only two people who are instructing (my wife and me), it just doesn’t work.  At a minimum, you have three levels:

1. Kids who know nothing about chess, but want to learn,
2. Beginners,  who can move the pieces, but have no knowledge of tactics or strategy,
3. Relatively experienced players, who know a little more and need more of a challenge.

It would be easy to think that you could hold off the second group until the first group catches up, but in reality the first group needs to be constantly monitored to be sure they are moving legally.  It takes one adult just to do that.  (I had one girl – I will call her Sally – that said she knew how to play when she came at the beginning of the year, but still was making basic movement mistakes at the end.)

Sally also highlighted the third issue very clearly for me.  Most of the kids want to compete.  Late in the year, we started a chess ladder, which is a method of ranking within a group mathematically too small to use a regular rating system with.  Most of the kids liked it.  It provided motivation to improve, and might have even brought them to the point of being willing to learn lessons to get better.  I started it too late to find out.  Sally, though, was reduced to tears because she never won a game.  I suspect this would have been swept under the rug without the chess ladder.

Lastly, anyone who has read this blog knows I want the club to be accessible.  However, I am starting to feel as though there may need to be pressure to “get in or get out”.  There were too many kids that just showed up a few times.  It sometimes felt like it was dependent on whether or not after-school care was appealing that day or not.  I think being a little less open would concentrate the group to those who, well, want to concentrate!   Maybe a few kids on the fence would be left out, but the total value of the experience would go up for those kids who are in the club.

There are two adjustments my wife and I are planning for next year.  The smaller adjustment will be dues of some type.  This forces a commitment from the kids and their parents.  It will also allow us to purchase some supplies, like a few chess clocks, bags for pieces and boards, and notebooks/score sheets for the kids.  We have to think about the right amount, but there will be some dues nonetheless.

The big adjustment has to do with a chess curriculum bought through our Home and School Association.  (Our private school version of the PTA.)  We picked the Championship Chess program, having met the founder at an educational conference at the beginning of the school year.  I can’t endorse it yet, since we have to plan out next year with it.  I do have some reservations, particularly about the lessons on chess openings.  However, there seems to be far more good than potential bad.  Furthermore, it has DVDs, and two very specific benefits related to them.  Firstly, the program is designed through the DVDs to allow non-chess playing adults to present material.  Secondly, it allows the one or two kids who are older and uniquely experienced to work on their own.

The end result is that I have my homework for the summer.  I need to digest this program and figure out how to present it in a way that fits my kids.  That will give me some ideas on when and how much I want to close the doors, which in turn will help me set dues.  As I move forward I will keep you informed.  Some of you might be curious, and one of two of you readers might have kids in the club next year!

It’s Your Move!

Well, I guess not this time!

Games While Driving - 2nd Gear!

I recently posted about a couple of great podcasts that helped me get my arms around all of these games.  Now they are joining forces as part of the same podcasting network.  Along with that, there are other podcasts in The Dice Tower network that are excellent, if a little more geeky!

Find the news here on BoardGameGeek:

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/6832277

It's Your Move!

Games While Driving to Work!

At the bottom of my web page I list other resources for family and casual gaming.  In general, those are focused on casual and family gaming.  The “Gaming Resources” listed below are places that helped me get my arms around this hobby when I was getting back into gaming.  They have a lot to offer the casual and family gamer too.  A couple of them are podcasts, and are easy to listen to on your daily commute.

There are a lot of game related podcasts out there; I listen to a half dozen pretty regularly.  Many of them are for the hobbyist.  Those provide an in-depth look at one particular game, or take an analytical look at the mechanisms of a game.  A lot of effort goes into them, and the quality of the works shines through.  Personally, I find them informative and entertaining – but then I am a geek about this stuff.

Two of the resources listed at the bottom are podcasts that are very good for those who aren’t as heavily into gaming as a hobby: the family and casual gamer.  They are the two podcasts I first listened to, and they helped me get my bearings.  The two that might be helpful in picking a game to purchase that your family and friends would enjoy are The Dice Tower and On Board Games.

The Dice Tower is hosted by Tom Vasel and Eric Summerer.  Tom and Eric talk about the games they have played recently, news and upcoming events.  There is a lot of playful banter between the two, which keeps it light.  In some sense, this podcast is the gaming equivalent of a magazine show, with several guests and contributors.  Because they receive review copies of games from publishers, they play a lot of games, and they hit on most of them.  Their reviews, which are really more like commentaries, are short overviews of these games.  While they talk about what they like and dislike in a game, it doesn’t get so technical – so geeky – that it would be a mystery to the non-hobbyist.  Their signature feature is also the best feature for the casual gamer: the Top 10 list.  Every other episode Tom and Eric put together a Top 10 list of games in some grouping.  It might be base on a theme (Top 10 economic games), or a publisher (Top 10 games by Fantasy Flight), or some other breakout.  Regardless, the list sets apart the better games to look at for in the vast sea of boardgames and card games out there in the world.

On Board Games is hosted by Scott Nicolson, Erik Dewey and Donald Dennis.  Again, the banter between these three makes it fun to listen to, but this podcast is very different from The Dice Tower.  Game reviews are more structured, and slightly more in-depth, but still short and to the point.  The signature feature is a roundtable discussion, where the three hosts discuss a game related topic.  The topic might be about good practices when teaching a new game.  It could be a discussion on how to deal with people texting during games, or the issue of food at the gaming table.  They discussion is rarely about any one game, but rather how to make the gaming experience better.  This podcast tends to be a bit more focused, and therefore shorter than others.  This is the podcast that consistently leaves me wanting more.

My drive to work is about fifteen minutes.  Generally, I can finish either one of these podcasts in the half hour round trip for the day.  They relax me, and having listened to them for a while now, feel like old friends.  I think you owe it to yourself to listen to at least one episode of each of these podcasts.  They will certainly better your experiences at the gaming table.

It’s Your Move!

Don't Just Take My Word - Acquire and Hey! That's My Fish

I recently ran across a couple of other opinions on Acquire and Hey! That's My Fish.  They both get high praise, but I will let you see for yourself:

Acquire Review:
http://www.boardgameinfo.com/review/15/15397/

Hey! That's My Fish Review:
http://theboardgamefamily.com/2011/05/have-a-fun-penguin-battle-hey-that%E2%80%99s-my-fish/

It's Your Move!

Gaming Resources – BoardGameGeek: the Doorway to my Demise

When I turned back to gaming at the beginning of 2008, I had played Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan.  I had so much fun with these games, and I had never experienced anything like them.  I wanted to find out more about these types of games.  After a quick Google search I found myself at the Wikipedia entry for Ticket to Ride.  At the bottom was an external link to the Ticket to Ride page at some place called BoardGameGeek.  Just the name made me curious.  Little did I know my life would change forever as I gained a new addiction.  This one website helped me find great games, will quickly and easily lead you to great games too!

image by BoardGameGeek

BoardGameGeek, or BGG as it is known, is both a huge and authoritative database of board and card games as well as the largest online community for these types of games.  As of today, BGG has 50,874 games in its database, including Ticket to Ride and Tic-Tac-Toe.  Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are part of the community, including the publishers and designers of many of the games.  The content is mostly user contributed.  The breadth of information and the number of people involved makes this a huge resource for the entire gaming world.  Much of the content really is, well, geeky.   However, there is great information there for the casual and family gamer too, including ratings, synopses, and more.  Membership is free, though just viewing content doesn’t require a membership.

Each game on BGG has its own webpage, and right at the very top will be the average rating for the game.  BGG members may rate a game in the database, if they choose, and this generates the average.  The scale is 1 – 10, with 10 being the highest rating.  Additionally, there is a Bayesian averaging routine which is used to rank the games.  Currently, the highest ranked game is Twilight Struggle, a game in which two players relive (or re-write) the history of the Cold War as the United States and the Soviet Union.  (I haven’t played this game, though I would love to play it.  I do know it’s a pretty involved game.)  It has an average rating of 8.31, which shows there isn’t any one game that everyone loves.  My general rule is that any game with a rating above 7.0 is a pretty safe bet, and anything below 6.0 probably isn’t worth checking out.

Below that is a synopsis of each game, which gives a little information and generally includes the theme of the game.  This is very important; your family and friends may love a game about building a zoo, but may be turned off by a game called Nuns on the Run.  This section lets you know of the game “sounds interesting”, like the inside of a book jacket.

There are other features that are also useful, particularly the forum on each game.  The forum will give answers to common rule questions, often answered by the game’s designer.  There are also strategy hints and news.  There is a huge amount of information, and it can be a bit overwhelming.  So, I will tell you the best way to quickly and easily find games for your family and friends!

When you go to the BoardGameGeek home page, you will notice a row of blocks in towards the top that list general groupings of games.  One of the blocks towards the middle is labeled “Family Games”.  Hover your mouse over that, and a short dropdown list appears.  Click on “Games” in that list, and you will be taken to the rankings of those games considered “family games”.  These are games that typically play with 3 – 5 players in two hours or less, and are generally suitable for kids over 10.  Some go as low as 8 and up.  Smaller children might find them too difficult.  Just go down the list until you find a game that sounds like a good thematic fit, and you have a great pick.  There are similar blocks for Children’s Games and Party Games if those better suit your situation.

Be warned!  This website can be addictive, and can lead to uncontrolled game purchasing and room additions.  However, it is guaranteed to show you gaming alternatives that you never even knew existed.  Best of all, it can lead to hours of fun with the people you like to be with the most! 

Keep rolling along!