tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43531305609092398442024-02-02T01:09:38.613-05:00Zwischenzug - The Family Game BlogWhat I am doing when I am not doing what's expected of me - a blog for family and casual gaming.
I firmly believe all games are educational games in some manner. Board games create friendships, build families and teach social skills. This site is dedicated to helping families and friends find great family games and casual games to play.SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-22328288748457123432013-06-10T08:55:00.001-04:002013-06-10T08:55:45.262-04:00Moving to a new location!Since this blog name is so hard to remember, I am moving to a new blog name and address:<br />
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http://sofrankly.com<br />
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Hope to see you there!<br />
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FrankSoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-1977073009459065092013-05-31T14:54:00.001-04:002013-05-31T14:54:12.017-04:00Moving?I don't know how many times I have been told that my blog is too hard to find. Furthermore, since webcrawling bots have invaded my metrics, I have no idea how many of my hits are from sources made of carbon or sources made of silicon. My actual readership is a complete mystery.<br />
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So, figuring I may have absolutely zero branding to lose, I am thinking about moving my blog to another, simpler name. I would love to know what people might think of moving my blog, and I would also love suggestions for a new name.<br />
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What do you think?<br />
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<br />SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-18606672406880298622013-05-10T14:35:00.000-04:002013-05-10T18:59:15.285-04:003 Great, Easy-to-Find Boardgames to Play on Your Patio this SummerLast weekend I was camping with our Boy Scout Troop, enjoying some great weather and managing to play a few games. (I was actually undefeated in three games of chess, three games of backgammon and three games of <i><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/angola.html#HivePara">Hive</a></i> - a very rare thing indeed!) Playing outdoors is a lot of fun, but not every game can handle it. I wrote about this after the same campout two years ago, but with a focus on <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/lighting-my-fire-games-good-for-camping.html">games good for camping</a>. This time, I want to talk about three excellent family games that could be played on a lazy Sunday afternoon right on your patio; games that would be easy to find.<br />
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The difference between a game good for camping, and a game that you would play on your patio, is the weather. When you're camping, you have to be prepared for any kind of weather that might come along. That limits your selection of games to those that could get wet. However, on a patio, you can wait until the weather is dry before you go out. That opens up some additional possibilities, like having an actual board in your boardgame. Another possibility would be having some tiles. Either boards or tiles will soak up some water if the surface is wet. You can avoid that on your patio. Additionally, a lot of picnic tables at campsites are not flat, but most peoples patio tables are fine. In fact, the only real environmental issue on a patio is the wind.
So now that we understand why games good for camping are not necessarily good for the patio, let's move on to the actual games:
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<li><i><b>Scrabble</b>. </i>Here's our first case in point. <i>Scrabble </i>is a great game: a timeless classic. It does not work well as a camping game because it has a board which would soak up water if anything dropped on it, or was it laying on the table. However, on a patio, that's not an issue. Furthermore, this game's wooden tiles won't blow away in the wind. The best part about this game is that you probably have a copy laying around. Almost everyone knows how to play, or is at least somewhat familiar with its ideas. I know some people don't like <i>Scrabble</i>, because they don't feel their vocabulary keeps them very competitive . However, I wrote a whole article on approaching <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/03/mass-market-myth-scrabble-its-really.html"><i>Scrabble </i>as a strategic game, </a>rather than a word game, and that will make anyone a winner..
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<li><i><b>Qwirkle. </b>Qwirkle </i>can be thought of as <i>Scrabble </i>with colors and shapes. It has the opposite problem than <i>Scrabble</i> does though; it has no board. It is therefore susceptible to unevenness in the playing surface. Picnic tables don't work well for this game. However with chunky blocks as the playing pieces, this game isn't going anywhere. <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/qwirkle-wins-spiel-des-jahres-7-wonders.html"><i>Qwirkle </i>was the Spiel des Jahres </a>winner a couple of years ago, and that means it's a great game. <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/spiel-des-jahres.html">This German award</a> is given to the best new family game each year. My full review which can be found <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/mass-market-marvel-qwirkle.html">here</a>.
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<li><i><b>Blokus. </b></i>The last game is <i>Blokus</i>. <i>Blokus </i>has a plastic board, so it cant get wet. Since its plastic, it's also rigid, and therefore doesn't care what service its all. It might think that this would make it a good game for camping, but some of the pieces a rather small and could be easily lost in the grass. This will be a great games to play with the little ones, it's fairly easy to understand and very colorful. I wrote about the<a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/mass-market-moment-blokus.html"> entire family of <i>Blokus </i>games </a>several years ago. </li>
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These are three great games for the family that will make a great afternoon or evening outdoors in the fresh air. All of them are readily available at stores like Target, Wal-Mart and Barnes & Nobles. None of them are terribly expensive, and the latter two are certainly playable by the under 10 crowd (probably down to about age five or six). I've seen these games at all of those stores, as well as bigger grocery stores. Barnes & Nobles stores are carrying more and more good games all the time.<br />
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<b><i>Bonus. </i></b>This brings me to my last point. Speaking of B&N, I can't help but mention one other game that plays really well outside: <i><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/09/carcassonne.html">Carcassonne</a></i>. This is another game without a board; you actually build the board by laying down tiles. This game plays very well with anywhere from two to five players, and I just can't say enough about how good this game is. This is one of the very few games I rate a 10/10 on <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/03/gaming-resources-boardgamegeek-doorway.html">BoardGameGeek</a>, and I have played more than a few games. At one point, we actually owned three copies, so we would have one for my wife and I each at work, as well as the one we keep at home. I don't play games at work anymore, so that copy now belongs to a neighbor who loves it.<br />
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Pick a warm night under the stars with a lantern and play. Take an afternoon in the shade and have a blast. In any case, everyone in the family will be a winner.<br />
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<b><i>It's Your Move,</i></b><br />
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<b><i> </i></b> <br />
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<b>Related Posts:</b><br />
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<li><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/memorial-day-gaming-aliens-vs-gamegeeks.html">Memorial Day Gaming - Aliens vs GameGeeks!</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/good-camping-game-good-scout-game.html">Good Camping Game ≠ Good Scout Game</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/games-in-car-while-waiting.html">Games in the Car – While Waiting!</a><b> </b></li>
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SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-26242718653120640522013-04-28T13:27:00.001-04:002013-04-28T13:27:31.681-04:00Better Late Than NeverWow. This has been a pretty different year. Lots of things in my personal life have worked against my gaming, which is why I haven't posted as much. Here's a quick recap.<br />
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So far, I am on pace with last year. In other words, I am having another bad year in terms of number of games played. At this point in time last year, I had played 28 games of twelve different titles. This year, I have played 27 games of 14 different titles - though seven of those games are a special case as you will see below. It's amazing to me that I have dropped off that much.<br />
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I have received a lot of fun by learning new games. I have found that I learn a new game, and I am much better able to teach a new game, by playing the game through by myself with several players. It's a sort of "multiplayer solitaire", but it's been good. Of course, that's also kind of sad; I am getting the most gaming enjoyment from playing a game by myself. Ugh.<br />
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The good news is that the gaming group is managing to meet every month. The group was <i>very</i> hit an miss last year. Right now, we are hitting on all cylinders, and it looks like there isn't anything to get in the way this year. That's great, because my gaming outside of the group is down.<br />
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We also finally got the chess club started at the school. With only a month left, there was some question as to whether or not it was worth doing, but the kids really wanted it. We are just going to play, and not give much formal instruction. I played seven of the kids at once this past Wednesday, which is what I was referring to above. So instruction will be on an individual basis, as I point things out to the kids as they play. <br />
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We are going to try something different this year. I play a lot of chess on chess.com, which is a great site. (My number of plays doesn't include online chess games.) They have an associated website for kids, on which parents and coaches can control the amount of contact their kids have. I will be introducing it to the parents, so that the kids can continue to play over the summer with each other, and with me. I will be able to comment and keep track of their progress. If I can keep them playing, I will.<br />
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<i><b>It's </b></i><b>their </b><i><b>move!</b></i><br />
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<br />SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-46495190130220922542013-03-26T11:57:00.001-04:002013-03-26T11:57:37.799-04:00Catching Up<div dir="ltr">
Well, it's been almost two months since I have posted to this blog. It's been busy around the house and at work, and I haven't gotten to play as much as I would like. That said, we did get in our February and March game group sessions. </div>
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In February, we brought out an old favorite, <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-economic-game-for-your-money.html"><i>Acquire</i></a>, and had a blast playing it. That's one game that I will never get tired of. Since that game takes about 90 minutes, it took the majority of our time, and the only other game we were able to play was <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2013/01/king-of-fillers-king-of-tokyo-review.html"><i>King of Tokyo</i></a>. So there's no game to review from the February session, we played good old favorites.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On St. Patrick's Day, we played medieval themed games. I actually have a game related to Ireland, <i>Hibernia</i>, which is also medieval. However, we didn't end up playing it. The Irish ambiance was limited to the food and drink: corned beef and cabbage with beer. We started the afternoon with <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2012/01/tasteless-fun-dominion-great-game.html"><i>Dominion</i></a>, and played a couple rounds of that. The new game was <i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Rheinländer</span></i>, an area control game like <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2013/02/review-of-china.html"><i>China</i></a>, but <i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Rheinländer</span></i> is not quite as complicated and actually plays better with a larger number of people. We played with four players, although one of us had to leave before the game was over. We just left his pieces on the board as obstacles. Not only would the game have been better had the fourth person stayed, but it really could have used a fifth player. </span></span></div>
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I need to catch up on reviews now; hopefully I can do that soon. In the meantime, you can check the existing reviews for some of the games we played over the last couple of months. And you can take some time to play some great games.</div>
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<i><b>It's Your Move!</b></i> </div>
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SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-1913519162149186142013-02-05T13:17:00.000-05:002013-02-06T16:21:37.196-05:00Review of ChinaIn our last monthly gaming session, the I managed to get a couple of new games to the table: <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2013/01/king-of-fillers-king-of-tokyo-review.html"><i>King of Tokyo </i></a>and <i>China</i>. As I said in my review, the former is a great family/casual game. The latter is on the edge. Since I gave it a 9/10, and also because it seems to be on sale right now for almost half price at online retailers like <a href="http://www.thoughthammer.com/">Thoughthammer </a>and <a href="http://www.funagain.com/">FunAgain</a>, I should let you be the judge.<br />
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<i>China </i>is the brainchild of Michael Schacht, the German game designer that also gave us <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/game-for-whole-herd-zooloretto.html"><i>Zooloretto</i></a>. Over the course of a 45 minute game, each player attempts to gain control of different territories and roads in ancient China. At the same time, players try to form alliances between other territories that may not be under their control. In the end, the person with the most territorial control and influence becomes the new Emperor of China!<br />
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Or not.<br />
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This game is a <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/p/gaming-glossary.html#Euro" target="_blank">European style game</a>. Like many games of this style, determining the winner is accomplished by counting Victory Points. The player with the most VPs wins. Many European style games, like <i>China</i>, have very little connection between the theme or storyline of the game and the gameplay. In fact, there is another version of this game which uses a European map called <i>Web of Power</i><i>. </i>In <i>China</i>, the primary mechanism is called <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/p/gaming-glossary.html#AreaControl" target="_blank">Area Control/Influence</a>. Specifically, you are trying to get more pieces in the various spaces than the other players. There is no direct confrontation, such as in <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/07/mass-market-melee-risk-revised-edition.html"><i>Risk</i></a>. It's not possible to eliminate other players or their pieces.<br />
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On his or her turn, a player will have a hand of three colored cards. (Cards have not values.) They use these cards to place pieces according to a simple 1-2-3 rule: in <b>1 territory</b>, a player can place <b>2 pieces</b> using their <b>3 cards</b>. For each piece placed, the card must match the color of the territory played into, though two matching color cards can be substituted for one card of any color. (If I have a green card and two yellow cards, I have two options. I can play two pieces into a yellow territory using the two yellow cards, or I can play two pieces into a green territory, using the green card for one and using the two yellow cards as a green card for the second piece. If I have green, yellow and purple, I could play one piece into any one territory of those colors, but that's all.) Pieces consist of houses, ambassadors and fortresses (in the advanced game). Houses are played onto house spaces, which set on roads, with one house per space. Ambassadors are played onto the "dragon space", which doesn't have a fixed amount of room. However, the total number of ambassadors in a territory cannot exceed the total number of houses in play in that territory. That's it! You've just learned 90% of the rules. The hard part is the scoring.<br />
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Scoring China is a little complicated because some of the score is relative. I will leave out fortresses in this review. There are two ways houses score points. The first is that they score 1 point for each house that is part of a string of at least four houses along a road. That's pretty straight forward. There are a fixed number of house spaces in each territory. The person with the most houses in a territory gets 1 point for each house in play in that territory. The person with the second most number of houses get 1 point for each house that <u>the player with the most houses has in play</u>. The player with the third most houses gets 1 point for each house the player with the second most houses has in play, and so on. (For example, if Adam has 4 houses, Bonnie has 3 houses and Carl has one, the scoring comes out like this: Adam gets 8 points since 4+3+1=8. Bonnie gets 4 points for Adam's four houses, and Carl gets 3 points for Bonnie's three houses.) This forms one of the basic strategies: how hard to I try to control something, since putting more houses down only gives someone else points unless I manage to have the most. Ambassadors score by a simple majority, however, I must have the majority of ambassadors in two adjacent territories to score points. Add to that the fact that the total number of ambassadors is limited by the total number of houses in the territory at any given moment, and timing comes into play. The tension between these two different area influence scoring systems is where the fun is!<br />
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As you can probably tell, this game is a little "thinky". Depending on your gaming style, that is either good or bad. As you can tell by my rating, I like games that require thought (have I mentioned Chess recently?), particularly if the rules are simple. <i>China's</i> rules are simple; once you play the game through the first scoring, it will all be crystal clear. The rulebook does a far better job explaining than I did. (But then, Mr. Schacht takes a little more room to explain the game than I did.) If it does suit your style, this would be a great game for casual play, or for family play with older children. It might be tough for the 10 and under crowd.<br />
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As I said, the game seems to be on sale right now in the US. That's probably because the US publisher has been out of business for a few years now, and online stores are dumping the last of their stock. At roughly $20 USD, this is a great buy if it appeals to you.<br />
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<i>China</i><br />
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Ages: 12 and up </div>
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Time: 45 minutes</div>
Players: 3-5<br />
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If you like games that require some thinking, otherwise no.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>It's Your Move!</i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
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<br />
<br />
Related Links:<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/game-stores-where-does-he-get-all-those.html">Game Stores – “Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?"</a> </span></span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18100/china"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i>China </i>on BoardGameGeek </span></span></a></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/86/michael-schacht">Games by Michael Schacht on BoardGameGeek </a></span></span></li>
<li><div class="post-title entry-title">
<a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/07/gambit-is-chess-good-for-schools.html">The Gambit – Is Chess Good for Schools?</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="post-title entry-title">
<a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/08/3-reasons-why-your-child-should-play.html">3 Reasons Why Your Child Should Play Chess</a></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
</div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<br /></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-27577248370514735032013-01-30T12:51:00.000-05:002013-02-07T16:09:37.448-05:00King of Fillers: A King of Tokyo Review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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We normally
don’t play many <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/p/gaming-glossary.html#Filler">fillers </a>in our gaming group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For the most part, we know each other well enough that we spend time
catching up before we start playing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have been trying to curtail that, since we have plenty of time while gaming to
catch up, and we are trying to limit the session to four hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of weeks ago we had a couple of
people running late, so a filler was in order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>King of Tokyo</i> was what made it to the table, since it met the player
count and wasn’t too long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did we like
it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we finished with it too…</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic898788_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic898788_md.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Promotional Image</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<i>King of
Tokyo</i> is meant to be a light game where each player takes on the role of a giant
monster attacking Tokyo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is
light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek humor which is evident from the moment players
start selecting their monsters from the pool consisting of Meka-Dragon, Cyber
Bunny and Alienoid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the course of
the game, each monster will gain special powers, helping them defeat the other
monsters (by doing damage) or lay waste to Tokyo (by gaining victory points).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Players win by either gaining 20 victory
points or by eliminating all other monsters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Here’s the
thumbnail version of the rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On their
turn, each player picks up a handful of dice and rolls them Yahtzee-style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each die has six sides with the same faces:
the numbers 1, 2 and 3 as well as a claw, a heart and a lightning bolt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dice are rolled up to three times, with
the player selecting which dice to keep and which to re-roll each time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rolling three numbers of a kind awards that
many victory points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words,
rolling three 1’s gives 1 victory point; rolling three 2’s gives 2 victory
points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rolling a claw is an attack,
rolling a heart heals, and rolling a lightning bolt awards the player with an
energy cube.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Energy cubes are the currency
of the game, and are used to buy cards that give the special abilities
mentioned before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Players outside of
Tokyo damage the one player inside the city (two in a five or six player game),
and vice versa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t go into details
on how one gets to Tokyo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suffice it to
say that being in the city is a higher risk / higher reward position, and there
are ways to force people into Tokyo.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1176287_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1176287_md.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">I won with Alienoid in the first game, but he let me down<br />
in the second! (Image by Raiko Puust)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is a GREAT
game!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the first game, I won by being
the last monster standing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the
chance to move into Tokyo on a turn late in the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On my next turn, I played an “Air Strike”
card which dealt everyone – including me – three points of damage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then rolled four claws, doing damage to
everyone outside the city and eliminating them all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since it was a six player game, it was just
between myself and the other player inside Tokyo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of turns later there was a showdown
and I barely won.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The second
game lasted a little longer, and resulted in a victory point win for one of the
other members of the group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On one hand,
this was a little less climactic, since only two people were eliminated
(including me).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, a
longer game allowed more special powers to be put in play, and there’s some
drama and humor to be gained that way, so it was just as fun!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cards with titles such as, “We’re Only Making
It STRONGER!”, this game begs to be played in your best B-grade creature
feature voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, part of the fun
(at least for me) is going over the top with this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1176297_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="152" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1176297_lg.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cards add special powers to the monsters, not to mention some corny humor! (Image by Raiko Puust)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
At a half
hour play time, this game has that in-between playing time that is a little long
for a filler, and a little short for a full experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s kind of like getting loaded baked
potatoes for an appetizer; should I stop here or order more food?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am also not sure how well this will do with
kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The theme is perfect for them, and
they will easily be taught the rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, being forced into Tokyo and then having everyone whomp on you
just might be a little traumatic for some younger children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll still call it a good kids’ game, because
I believe a typical 8 – 10 year old will be past that point.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The only
other issue with this game might be finding a copy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will either have to go online or find a
local gaming store to purchase it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do yourself
a favor and find a way to get it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I recommended this on my <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2012/11/gift-buying-guide-2012.html">2012 Gift Buying Guide</a>, I hadn't played it. I based the recommendation on the games reputation, and it has more than lived up to it! This
is a great game that will be fun for many gatherings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will play well in both casual groups and
in family groups across generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
plan to make it available at all of our game group sessions for quite a while,
since it was a big hit with nearly everyone. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i>King of Tokyo</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Ages:
8 and up </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Time: 30 minutes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Players: 2-6 (but I think it really needs at least three)</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgid-4MhbLv22_2jj0oCb-ubW7s2rnxu7zwCb2eAJ9p9FLkOvX1P_ywiGchP4eGj-YBQgnNdKt679ktbK0K2nwFPjDp7M9eOq2-OAYMa_mikT8jOiI87EXqwAju3eLnh9_g9RuPzxAjCYo/s1600/Good+for+casual+gaming+and+families+with+kids%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgid-4MhbLv22_2jj0oCb-ubW7s2rnxu7zwCb2eAJ9p9FLkOvX1P_ywiGchP4eGj-YBQgnNdKt679ktbK0K2nwFPjDp7M9eOq2-OAYMa_mikT8jOiI87EXqwAju3eLnh9_g9RuPzxAjCYo/s1600/Good+for+casual+gaming+and+families+with+kids%2521.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s
Your Move</i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Related Links:</span></b></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2012/11/gift-buying-guide-2012.html">Gift Buying Guide 2012</a> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/game-stores-where-does-he-get-all-those.html">Game Stores – “Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?"</a> </span></span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-of-tokyo"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i>King of Tokyo </i>on BoardGameGeek </span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></a></li>
</ul>
SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-21721559136953851082013-01-28T14:06:00.000-05:002013-02-05T11:03:18.661-05:00Goals for 2013<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Stay-puft-marshmallow-man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Stay-puft-marshmallow-man.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Image by Columbia Pictures</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am not a big one for New Year's resolutions. They seem to be strong assertions that often are just abandoned. I personally believe that leaves a lot of people feeling bad about themselves. I do believe in goals, however. I have one for this year, and its a big one. Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man size big. It will probably be my goal for several years. And it's about gaming.<br />
<br />
As of today, 28 January 2013. my family's current game collection stands at a little more than 250 games. (Say, 10% more-ish, but who's counting?) The past two years have seen a lot of game acquisition. In 2011, the number of games grew, well, significantly. The total number didn't grow as much in 2012, largely because I traded away games I knew would never get played for new titles. Looking at the situation, and specifically looking at the shelves filling up, I realized that this year has to be about something different. So I've slowed down. (Okay, I guess getting three games since New Years Day fails to be a shining example of restraint, but I'm a work in progress.) I realized that I have games that I have had for years and never played.<br />
<br />
So this year, or rather starting this year, I am going to play through the unplayed games in my collection. Not all of them will get played; I really don't feel the need to play games aimed at preschoolers. However, that still leaves a stack of games to be played, and I am determined to get through them. In order to do that, I am going to focus on <i>not</i> getting new games.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic761434_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic761434_md.jpg" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
King of Tokyo is rapidly becoming a favorite - and could</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
probably use a Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man!</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What does this mean for you, the reader? Does that mean that I will run out of games to write about? The answer to that is "no", not for a while. You see, that leaves me with about 50 games to try. My gaming group meets 11 times a year (not in December), so I have a solid four years of games to review. Of course, as I discover the dogs I will get rid of them, either by trading or selling, and acquire new games. And so it goes. <br />
<br />
Of course, this won't go smoothly. In February, we are playing economic games, prompted by a request for <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-economic-game-for-your-money.html"><i>Acquire</i></a>. I will try to squeeze in a new game, but since <i>Acquire </i>is on of my all-time favorites... I can't say I will give up all of my favorites for four years while I get through the unplayed titles. In fact, since I hope to discover some new favorites, this might just get harder and harder to do. We'll have to wait and see.<br />
<br />
<b><i>It's Your Move!</i></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" /></a></div>
<b><i> </i></b>SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-71064675548780175042013-01-23T12:06:00.001-05:002013-02-07T16:11:17.150-05:00Teaching Lessons<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Yesterday, I
got in the car and started listening to one of my favorite gaming podcasts, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On Board Games</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this <a href="http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/obg99-teach-me-obi-don">particular episode</a>, the hosts,
Donald Dennis and Erik Dewey, were talking about teaching games with their
guest, Giles Pritchard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a pretty
amazing coincidence to me, since I had an interesting teaching challenge this weekend
at our gaming group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back in April 2011,
I wrote about <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/second-chance-at-first-impression.html">not being prepared</a> to teach <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-for-games.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">7 Wonders</i></a>, and I actually put it away rather than ruin the initial play
experience for my gaming group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
teaching a new game at our monthly meeting on Sunday and once again wasn’t
prepared, but in a way that caught me completely off guard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Playing the game is one thing; scoring is
another.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
[<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As a complete aside, I really have to
endorse not only the </i><span id="goog_287549748"></span><a href="http://onboardgames.net/">On Board Games</a> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span id="goog_287549749"></span>podcast,
but also Giles’ blog, </i><a href="http://castlebymoonlight.blogspot.com/">Castle by Moonlight</a>.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are great resources for
those interested in gaming at any level.</i>]</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; height: 282px; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right; width: 332px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.teaching-certification.com/images/types-of-certification.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://www.teaching-certification.com/images/types-of-certification.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We started
off playing a couple of <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/p/gaming-glossary.html#Filler">filler games</a> until everyone arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Afterwards I announced that I was teaching <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">China</i> (a fantastic game I will review
soon).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have never played the game, but
I often end up teaching games that I have never played before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s unavoidable, since I don’t get to other
groups or conventions to play games with experienced players.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The game play is straightforward in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">China</i>, literally taking only a few
sentences to explain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Normally, explaining
the game play is the hard part; it can be very difficult to explain the various
phases and options the player has on their turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s use <i><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/mass-market-monopoly.html">Monopoly </a></i>as an example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are playing strictly according to the
rules, the player rolls the dice and moves their token.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From that point, they either: a) pay the
owner of the property; b) buy the property; or c) do nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Option a) is dictated if the property is
owned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the player chooses option c),
the property is put on auction, and there is a set of rules for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, all of this goes out the window if
the player lands on Chance, Free Parking or one of the other places on the board
that have their own set of rules, too.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The scoring
for <i>Monopoly</i>, however, is simple; there isn’t any scoring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The winning player is the last person
standing when everyone else has been eliminated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many games, and nearly all of the games our
gaming group has played, have relatively straightforward scoring systems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few others are an exception, like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Carcassonne</i>, having a relative scoring element as one part of the whole score.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/09/carcassonne.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Carcassonne</i></a>, scoring farms is relative to how many completed cities
touch that farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">China</i>, nearly <u>all</u> of the scoring is relative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the difficulty in explaining the
rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what I wasn’t prepared
for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How much you score in a given
province in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">China</i> is relative to how
many pieces other players put in the province.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That tension between gaining points and possibly giving away points
forms the strategy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I probably
should have seen this coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
trouble teaching <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Carcassonne</i>
precisely because of the farm scoring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, I fumbled around with an explanation of scoring on Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, the other players were willing to
play anyway, and after a first “learning game” we played a game with everyone
understanding all of the rules: both game play and scoring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not that the scoring is hard to
understand; it’s just hard to put into words.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In teaching
the game I learned a lesson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
past, I would teach a game by first introducing the game’s theme or story,
giving the game objective in story terms, giving the game objective in terms of
the rules, and then explain what a player did on his or her turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way, I would explain the various
game components.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Explaining the scoring
was simple enough that it just worked out in explaining everything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">China</i>,
that’s just not going to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Explaining
the scoring will need its own focus, and will probably need to include examples
as I teach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will need to work a little
more on my teaching technique.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i>It's Your Move!</i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" /></a></div>
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<b><i> </i> </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Related Posts:</b> </div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/second-chance-at-first-impression.html">A Second Chance at a First Impression</a></li>
<li><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/cheat-sheets.html">Cheat Sheets</a></li>
<li><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2012/01/teaching-chess-to-kids-one-rule-to.html">Teaching Chess to Kids – One Rule to Wring them All!</a></li>
</ul>
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<br />SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-85380191039633487842013-01-15T11:03:00.000-05:002013-01-15T11:03:20.563-05:00The Case for Complexity<i>Complex games often require a little more thought or a few more plays to wrap your head around. Nonetheless, there are complex games that can be a great experience for casual or family play. Blogger Keith Medlin was kind enough to contribute his thoughts on complex games.</i><br />
<br />
Two popular threads in the wargames forum on <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/">BoardGameGeek</a> right now are about wargames
than can be played in less than 1 hour. Generally, though certainly not
always, shorter games can mean less complexity. The other thread is
looking to put a page limit on the rules for a wargame. Again, fewer
pages doesn't guarantee less complexity, but it often facilitates it.<br />
<br />
So, before I begin...what is complexity?<br />
<br />
* Is <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171/chess">Chess</a> complex?<br />
* Is <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion">Dominion</a> complex?<br />
* What about <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/96848/mage-knight-board-game">Mage Knight Board Game</a><br />
<br />
Complexity
is difficult to capture in a single defintion unfortunately when it
comes to boardgames because of it's non-boardgame meaning:<br />
<br />
<i>1. The state or quality of being intricate or complicated.<br />2. A factor involved in a complicated process or situation.</i><br />
<br />
<div>
<img border="0" src="http://www.timeoutdubai.com/images/content/game_on1/gallery/game102711_1_gallery.jpg" /></div>
<br />
<br />
By
these definitions Chess most certainly is complex. Not because it is
intricate, but because of the factors involved in the process and
situations that the game presents. Mage Knight is complex for the
opposite reason. The rules are intricate, but the problem-solving
doesn't offer the same level of complication or situational evaluation.<br />
<br />
Dominion,
on the other hand, is not. The process for the game is relatively
simplistic, though more than 4 players and the strategy ratchets up a
bit. The puzzles aren't difficult to resolve for it either.<br />
<br />
So,
does complexity mean success or that a game is "good?" Absolutely not.
Rather than extol the virtues of complex games on individual terms,
it's important here to talk about the processes that go into playing
distinctly complex games versus less complex ones. There is a strong
case for complexity because it helps support problem solving, deduction,
and cognitive reasoning.<br />
<br />
First, let me say that I love non-complex games. <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/50/lost-cities">Lost Cities</a> is a great way to spend time with a loved one or friend. <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9209/ticket-to-ride">Ticket to Ride</a>
brings families together and gives an great introductory train game for
kids of all ages who are into trains. There's nothing inherently wrong
with easy to play, learn, and solve games. They provide incredible fun
and allow players to enjoy the social aspects in the forefront of the
in-game experience. It's lovely.<br />
<br />
Complexity, however, is
something designers and gamers shouldn't shy away from in any way!
Complexity offers a new set of challenges, depth, and (as the definition
says) intricacy. It's often in these nooks & crannies that we find
some powerful cognitive abilities. Stroking those through practice is a
great way to give yourself the mental workout you deserve! Keep that
spongy thing between ears in tip top shape.<br />
<br />
In fact, gaming decreases your chances for long term cognitive impairment according to the peer reviewed Neurology magazine ( <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/66/6/911.short" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.neurology.org/content/66/6/911.short</a>).
Fernand Gobet, Alexander J. De Voogt, & Jean Retschitzki
identified two types of complexity in board games in their 2004 book, <u>Moves In Mind: The Psychology Of Board Games</u>.<br />
<br />
<div>
<img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41w3b%2BygHRL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Mutational Complexity</b>
- This relates to how a player evaluates the given board state and the
effects that moves will have on the changes that are made. This is
particularly evident when there are many moving pieces or multiple
sources and levels of information necessary to calculate with each move.<br />
<br />
When I think about this, I think about the armor rules in <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/243/advanced-squad-leader">Advanced Squad Leader</a>.
Not only am I determining the motion state of the vehicle, but also
the facing of the turret, the vehicle's covered arc, the weight of the
vehicle and what terrain on which I can move, the speed I can move, the
effects of the potentially dozen units that are observing that move and
what armament they have which can be brought to bear on me as well as
the goal for my move. Each move I make with that tank can totally
reshape the board state. This is true if successful or if I turn into a
burning wreck because now I have smoke, fire, and defensive cover
potentially.<br />
<br />
<b>Computational Complexity</b> - This has to do
with the relative game state with relation to it's end, how many "moves"
must be considered in a branching state, and what their effects may
have on the overall progress toward the goal.<br />
<br />
Chess is handy
here. When evaluating moves in chess you're thinking ahead not 1 or 2
steps, but rather 4 or 5 for an average level player. You need to
consider HOW the pieces will move in order to achieve your given
strategy. This is particularly true in the opening where both players
are computing the probabilities involved in a variety of openings and
responses that will shape the mid-game.<br />
<br />
So what do we benefit from these skills?<br />
<br />
Simply
put, these are skills that can be applied across domains. Working
through problems in your career can be aided by considering how the
different components of game cognition are applied in your complex
career. While not everyone is trying to solve the world's problems,
there are definitely stressful situations and complexity that arise at
all workplace environments. Whether it's the lunch rush at McDonald's
or trying to negotiate a contract with a vendor, understanding how you
can approach the situation using strategies you may have honed in a game
of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/188/go">Go</a> is handy!<br />
<br />
Should you run out and try to tackle <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4815/the-campaign-for-north-africa">The Campaign for North Africa</a>?
Absolutely not! I am suggesting...strongly...that you consider adding
more complex games into your rotation if you're not already doing so
because of the scientific benefits for your mind.
SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-70612638125833539112013-01-02T11:07:00.003-05:002013-02-05T11:03:18.693-05:00Happy New Year 2013!Our normal New Year's Eve, which normally sees a few games played, really didn't happen this year. Instead, the year passed with great conversation. I hope you got in a few more games than we did.<br />
<br />
Over the holidays, our family received two games. My son received <i><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-for-games.html">7 Wonders</a>, </i>which I already have. While he is only 15, he is starting to collect the games he plans to take to college. He actually has a pretty good collection started, and will take quite a few great games with him.<br />
<br />
I received <i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/84876/the-castles-of-burgundy">The Castles of Burgundy</a></i>, which is a little more complex than the majority of my games. We may play that in the gaming group in March, but probably not sooner than that. It supposedly excels as just a two-player game, so that I may get to play it sooner.<br />
<br />
Hope everyone has a great year. <br />
<br />
<b><i>It's Your Move!</i></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" /></a></div>
<b><i> </i></b>SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-18584291631001128152012-12-27T13:15:00.000-05:002013-02-05T11:03:18.653-05:00Yearly Summary 2012Last year I posted a sort of "year in the life" post that <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/yearly-summary-2011.html">summarized my gaming</a>. Now, with the theme from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294870/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><i>Rent</i> </a>running through my brain, I will do that again for 2012.<br />
<br />
The busiest year in gaming gave way to the slowest year. I stopped this blog in February, moving over to the <a href="http://www.fathergeek.com/"><i>Father Geek</i></a> website to blog. What a great group of gentlemen, but I found that I was missing half my audience. The guys at <i>Father Geek</i> are focused on family gaming, but I am trying to reach the casual gamer also. As a result, and also probably because I was one of many writers, I really didn't write much at all.<br />
<br />
Another factor in writing: this year was a slow year for <a href="http://friendless.servegame.org/dynamic/result/feldmafx#pbm">actually playing games</a>, both favorites and new games. It was a very busy year outside of gaming. Over the course of the year I have played 21 different titles for a total of 59 plays to date. I am sure I will play a few more times this year. It will most likely be the same titles, so the count will end up around 21/62. Of the 21 titles I played, seven were new titles. All of these numbers are about a third of last year's numbers. <br />
<br />
I did slow down my game acquisition this year - just 47 new games. One group of games I received were from our neighbors cleaning out their closet. Quite a few of my new games were acquired in trades, as I realized that those four hour marathon games, no matter how good, just weren't going to be played. Neither were those extremely complicated games, as they generally don't appeal to my gaming group. My group falls somewhere between "casual gamers" and "hard-core". <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Best Acquisition of the Year: </b> <i>Werewolves of Miller's Hollow.</i> I will review this game at some point, since this is my favorite group game. All but one of the plays of this game were on my son's 8th Grade trip to Washington DC. In fact, all of those plays were in five hours on the way home!<br />
<br />
<b>Most Played Game of the Year:</b> <i><i>Werewolves of Miller's Hollow</i>.</i> Same story. See how limited my game playing was?<br />
<br />
Our
gaming group celebrated four years of getting
together. However, we also had our first missed months. After 3 1/2 years of meeting, we missed roughly four of the next six, for both good and bad reasons. We really started pulling back together in the fall, after school started back up.<br />
<br />
Since there really wasn't a group hit of the year, so I will go with:<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Game Group <u>Flop</u> of the Year:</b> <i>Small World. </i>After exactly one play, the gaming group suggested I trade it away. There was no interest in trying it again. I haven't reviewed it. I didn't see the magic, but there are so many people who love the game that I figure I must be missing it. Oh, and I did trade it away in a multi-game trade which netted me <i>Notre Dame </i>and <i>YINSH</i>.<br />
<br />
A close runner up to <i>Small World</i> would be <i>Warrior Knights</i>, which is a complicated marathon game that I will keep. It's a medieval multi-player wargame that is just the kind of thing I love! I think we played our one and only play of that in the group, too. But maybe I can sneak it in sometime this coming summer...<br />
<br />
What's really remarkable this year are my favorite games that I <i>didn't</i> play, most notably <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-economic-game-for-your-money.html"><i>Acquire</i></a>. That will certainly be played early in the year in 2013.<br />
<br />
Finally, just like last year, I will list my
Nickles and Dimes: games played 5 and 10 times respectively. (Once more I won't
count the 100+ games of chess I played online this year.) <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Dimes</b><br />
<br />
Plays / Game<br />
10 <i>Werewolves of Miller's Hollow</i><br />
<br />
<b>Nickles</b><br />
<br />
Plays / Game<br />
7 <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/lighting-my-fire-games-good-for-camping.html"><i>Hive</i></a><br />
6 <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/mass-market-monkey-business-bananagrams.html"><i>Bananagrams</i></a><br />
5 <i>Chess </i>(over the board)<br />
<br />
Both <i>Pandemic </i>and <i>Carcassonne </i>are likely games to hit the table in the last few days of the year, so I may have a few more nickles yet. <br />
<br />
Here's hoping that 2013 is a better year of gaming - for all of us!<br />
<br />
It's Your Move!<br />
<br />
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Related posts and links:<br />
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/yearly-summary-2011.html">Yearly Summary 2011</a> </div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<a href="http://fathergeek.com/in-the-company-of-teen-werewolves/"><i>In the Company of Teen Werewolves (Father Geek)</i></a></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
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SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-27653642712685177862012-12-19T16:40:00.000-05:002012-12-19T16:40:04.480-05:00What is Kickstarter?In my <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2012/12/gaming-with-santa-christmas-games.html">last post</a>, I mentioned that I had a game on the way that I had purchased through Kickstarter. Some of you may not be familiar with Kickstarter, and I thought I would give a brief overview for those who are curious. <br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/">Kickstarter</a> is a website which, in their words, "is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from
films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is
full of ambitious, innovative, and imaginative projects that are brought
to life through the direct support of others." In short, Kickstarter is a place for projects to look for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding">crowd funding</a>. This is not just for games, but for all sorts of creative projects. After talking about how one supports a project, I will discuss my experience with the site, as well as a few thoughts I have on this way of funding or buying the fruits of other's creativity.<br />
<br />
Finding Kickstarter projects is a matter of either directly searching by name, or clicking on "Discover Projects" and picking from a list of project categories on the right side of the page. Either will result in a list of projects grouped by popularity, staff picks, projects that are recently fully funded, or the highest funded projects in that category. I am not particularly fond of this part of the interface, since where to find a project that doesn't fit any of those criteria isn't obvious. (I believe you will see everything in that category by clicking on the "see more Popular projects" link on the page.) After getting to the project you are considering, there will be a description as well as images that describe the project. Often there is a YouTube video to go along with it. This allows you to decide. On the right there will be a listing of funding levels at which you may pledge. Each of these levels also lists the rewards that come with funding the project at that level. It works much like a PBS pledge drive, with one big exception. At the top of the page, listed below the total amount of pledges received to day, is the pledge goal, as well as the number of days left in the drive. The important thing to know is that<b> your money doesn't leave your hands until after the drive is over, and only if the project is fully funded.</b> If the time on the drive expires without the project meeting its goal, the project is cancelled and your money stays with you. Honestly, participating as a supporter is pretty straight forward.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; height: 310px; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left; width: 286px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0109/6022/products/viva_java_medium.jpg?103" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0109/6022/products/viva_java_medium.jpg?103" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> I strongly considered <i>VivaJava</i>. (Promotional image from GameSalute.)</td></tr>
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I have been a "backer" on <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1285490975">six different Kickstarter projects</a>. Two of these were card games, one was a game expansion, two were gaming accessories, and one was a camera mount. All of them, except the camera mount, reached their goals. At that point my card was charged. The money was used to finish the development of the projects, and I have received all but one. That one project is being shipped to me now. I have been happy with each of the projects, and I personally have no misgivings about supporting them. I am a little picky, which is why I haven't backed more than six in a year and a half. (Well, that and my needing to slow down a little on game <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/yearly-summary-2011.html">acquisition after last year</a>!)<br />
<br />
I am picky because this certainly isn't a perfect system. There are those who are worried about someone taking their funding and skipping town, so to speak, but I am not one of them. In general, I think that people who are creative enough to scam us in this manner will probably have bigger targets in mind, and its far too much hassle for petty thieves. Someone could use their money to finish their product development and fail, but that's a risk I am willing to take. In fact, that's the whole point of crowd funding; the consumer is also an investor. In my case, the return on investment is a game related product. However, like investors in other endeavors, my return may be zero. I accept that. However, I have never heard of that happening. I have heard of entrepreneurs losing money on the their ventures because they underestimated development costs. In those cases, though, they still fulfilled their obligations to their consumer/investors.<br />
<br />
My only concern is the quality of the product: the game. I don't mean the quality of the components; there is often a company behind the physical production, and that will reliably indicate the component quality. I am actually referring to the quality of the gameplay, since even a great company can produce a dud. If I had unlimited funds and storage space, I probably wouldn't care. However, Kickstarter is allowing many more people to publish a game with out the full development of the gameplay or ruleset. With Kickstarter, it is possible to contract with a fulfillment company to handle production and distribution, but without anyone to thoroughly playtest the game and finish the gameplay development. Because of this, I tend to be a little more careful about a game I buy on Kickstarter versus a game traditionally published by <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/08/publisher-profile-days-of-wonder.html">Days of Wonder</a> or <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/09/publisher-profile-z-man-games.html">Z-man Games</a>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; height: 269px; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right; width: 273px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic866095_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic866095_md.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Alien Frontiers</i> is arguably the first and most successful of all Kickstarter games. (Image by CleverMojo Games.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I will continue to use Kickstarter. It has a place in the boardgaming world. It reminds me of eBay, in that it has been met with suspicion and speculation. Like eBay, I think it will continue to thrive. Without it, there are games that would never see the light of day, such as the hugely successful <i>Alien Frontiers.</i> There are amazing game accessories that I think will only be developed this way. Kickstarter has found its place amongst my gaming sources, amongst the local game store in my area, online gaming stores, eBay, and game trading through <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/03/gaming-resources-boardgamegeek-doorway.html">BoardGameGeek</a>. Take a look; there is something that will draw your interest. Whether your interest is gaming, performing arts, or supporting a podcast, there is a project that you can help bring to life. <br />
<br />
<i><b>It's Your Move!</b></i><br />
<br />
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<i><b> </b></i>SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-91232858293336481032012-12-13T11:47:00.000-05:002012-12-19T11:15:39.002-05:00Gaming with Santa: Christmas GamesEveryone loves to give Santa a break on Christmas Eve, leaving cookies, milk, and perhaps a few carrots for the reindeer. What if Santa needed a REAL break, taking a little bit of time to relax and play a game. Let's say he stops buy Christmas night after delivering presents and a much needed nap. What would you play with him? Somehow, I think, wargames are out. Games with a lot of negotiation, like<i> <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/07/game-that-settles-in-never-to-leave.html">Settlers of Catan</a></i>, are probably out too...<br />
<br />
"Santa, you can't just <i>give</i> the sheep away, you have to <i>trade</i> for it."<br />
<br />
"Yes, I know you're <u>the </u>Santa Claus. Still, in this game, it's the law."<br />
<br />
"Yes, Santa, I know that even the Law of Gravity doesn't apply to you. Hey, have you ever played <i><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/saving-humankind-from-death-and-disease.html">Pandemic</a></i>?"<br />
<br />
"No, I don't suppose you ever get sick, either..." [Sigh]<br />
<br />
Finding good Christmas themed games to play is a little more difficult than giving games at Christmas. Don't worry, I will find a few for you.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.usaopoly.com/sites/default/files/styles/game-detail/public/rudolph_mn_pr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://www.usaopoly.com/sites/default/files/styles/game-detail/public/rudolph_mn_pr.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Promotional image by USAopoly</td></tr>
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There are games that have a Christmas theme that <i>don't</i> work. Many of them have movie or TV tie-ins, which is always a cautionary flag. There are multiple games for <i>Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer</i>, <i>A Christmas Story</i>, and <i>Nightmare Before Christmas</i>. In fact, there is a version of <i>Monopoly </i>for each of these movies, and at least <i>Monopoly </i>is a decent game <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/mass-market-monopoly.html">as I have mentioned before</a>, particularly if you play with the only good house rule: the game is over when the first player is eliminated.<br />
<br />
There are better games, though, if you are willing to think a little outside the box, so to speak. These may not have a Christmas theme <i>per se</i>, but certainly would be Chrismas-y enough to pass muster for most people.<br />
<br />
Starting with the least thematic, I would suggest that a quick game to be played on the holiday would be <i>Hey! That's my Fish.</i> This game has the additional benefit of being easily playable by little ones, and that's important since people on Christmas Day, and Santa himself, are so focused on the children. Players are penguins trying to grab as many fish as the can as the iceberg they are on slowly sinks, piece by piece, into the water. I won't go into details, (I have a<a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/pocket-fishermen-hey-thats-my-fish.html"> full review</a> available,) but suffice it to say this is a great game. It's a little more cutthroat when its just adults, which may not be quite as giving on Christmas, but its so fun! Penguins implies the South Pole, but since I think that's Santa's summer home, it's okay. For Christmas, it does offer:<br />
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<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "Wingdings 2"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: "Wingdings 2";"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: "Wingdings 2";"></span></span>Snow! (well, ice)</li>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic202587_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic202587_md.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An older version of the game in play. Newer versions have better figurines. Image by Chris Norwood</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Promotional Image</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next, I would offer up <i>Snow Tails</i>, which is a dog sled racing game. This is a game for up to five players, and is recommended by the publisher for ages 10 and up. This game gets great reviews, and is sitting on my gaming table waiting for the Big Day. Compared to <i>Hey! That's My Fish</i>, this game will be a little less, well, <i>dog eat dog</i>, since there really isn't as much direct interaction. It takes a little longer at 45 minutes. For Christmas, it offers:<br />
<ul>
<li>Snow</li>
<li>Snow sleds</li>
<li>Evergreen trees</li>
<li>Puppies! (well, they might be full-grown)</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Promotional Image</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries</i> is another in the <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/03/getting-on-board-with-ticket-to-ride.html"><i>Ticket to Ride</i> franchise</a>. This game is noted for being just a little more confrontational, since there are a few key train routes to control, but I suspect that's going to depend on your style of play. At our house, no flavor of <i>Ticket to Ride</i> is ever terribly confrontational. Of course, since this part of the franchise, you know it's going to be good! This also plays in 45 minutes, but Days of Wonder suggests players as young as 8 years old, so it's another great option for the kids. But is it Christmas? We have:<br />
<ul>
<li>Snow </li>
<li>Trains (always, <a href="http://retro.cincinnati.com/Topics/Holiday-trains"><i>always</i> a part of Christmas</a>)</li>
<li> Reindeer on the box cover!</li>
</ul>
<br />
Finally, I do have one <span style="font-family: inherit;">more </span>game that definitely is Christmas: <i>12 Days</i>, now being published by Gamesmith, LLC. This is a game funded through <a href="http://kck.st/OvkNJc">Kickstarter</a>, and it should be in the mail to me today. I have read the rules online, and I am sure that it will be a good game. Take that to the bank - I slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night. This is a light and quick game, recommended for kids 8 and up, and playing in about 15 minutes. This will fill the time that is too short for the above games. I don't know when this will become more generally available, <span style="font-size: small;">but </span>probably not until after Christmas, so it may have to wait until next year.<br />
<br />
<b><i>It's Your Move!</i></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" /></a></div>
<b><i> </i></b> <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Related Posts:<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2012/11/gift-buying-guide-2012.html">Gift Buying Guide 2012</a></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/11/game-buying-guide-2011.html">Game Buying Guide 2011</a></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/chess-sets-for-gifts.html">Chess Sets for Gifts</a></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/grandma-comes-through.html">Grandma comes through!</a></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
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<br />SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-63268225697276449672012-12-06T16:40:00.002-05:002012-12-12T09:36:48.498-05:00Review: Pizza Box FootballPizza Box Football is a great game to play with kids young and old, so I posted <a href="http://fathergeek.com/pizza-box-football/">my review on Father Geek</a>. This is a particularly good game for a Christmas gift, since gridiron football is ramping up for college bowl games and pro playoffs!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgid-4MhbLv22_2jj0oCb-ubW7s2rnxu7zwCb2eAJ9p9FLkOvX1P_ywiGchP4eGj-YBQgnNdKt679ktbK0K2nwFPjDp7M9eOq2-OAYMa_mikT8jOiI87EXqwAju3eLnh9_g9RuPzxAjCYo/s1600/Good+for+casual+gaming+and+families+with+kids%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgid-4MhbLv22_2jj0oCb-ubW7s2rnxu7zwCb2eAJ9p9FLkOvX1P_ywiGchP4eGj-YBQgnNdKt679ktbK0K2nwFPjDp7M9eOq2-OAYMa_mikT8jOiI87EXqwAju3eLnh9_g9RuPzxAjCYo/s1600/Good+for+casual+gaming+and+families+with+kids%2521.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>It's Your Move</b></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" /></a></div>
<br />SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-81114064643144466512012-12-03T14:08:00.001-05:002012-12-06T16:47:00.312-05:00Father Geek Article on Buying Chess Sets as GiftsLast year I wrote <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/chess-sets-for-gifts.html">this post</a> about buying chess sets for the Holidays. I covered the topic again over at <a href="http://fathergeek.com/chess-the-perfect-little-geek-gift/"> Father Geek</a>. If you read last year's post you won't find this one that different. Whichever version you read, it makes sense to buy a child a good chess set that will last for years.<br />
<br />
<b><i>It's Your Move!</i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" /></a></div>
SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-19186307022886234492012-11-27T11:36:00.000-05:002012-11-27T11:41:28.327-05:00Another Gift GuideIn addition to my own <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2012/11/gift-buying-guide-2012.html">holiday gift guide</a>, Trent Howell, who blogs at <i><a href="http://www.theboardgamefamily.com/">The Boardgame Family</a>, </i>also has a great gift guide:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.theboardgamefamily.com/2012/11/board-game-gift-guide-update-2012/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Board Game Gift Guide – Update 2012">Board Game Gift Guide – Update 2012</a><br />
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SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-63547608388165016032012-11-21T18:48:00.000-05:002013-01-30T12:52:45.179-05:00Gift Buying Guide 2012<br />
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Even though I haven't been writing this post for a while, many of you have still been reading. I really wanted to give my perspective on gift buying before Black Friday. This way, those family gifts and tough-to-buy-for situations have some good options. The games on <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/11/game-buying-guide-2011.html">last year's guide</a> are still available, so use that guide for additional ideas.</div>
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Just like last year, I am writing this with a focus for those who are casually interested in the
boardgaming hobby. These games will be available through<a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/game-stores-where-does-he-get-all-those.html"> local game stores or online</a>, and man of them should
also be available through some larger, mass-market outlet. Target and Barnes and Nobles are now devoting more shelf space to the types of games that I have written about.<br />
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Links to my
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 1: “I loved playing games as a kid!” </b></div>
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This person
has fond memories of playing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Risk</i> and
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monopoly</i> as a kid, and probably
played these games at least some as a teenager. Last year, I recommended the revised version of <i>Risk</i> as a good game, and this is still a great choice. This year I will recommend <i>Risk Legacy.</i> This game has a truly revolutionary game concept in it. As the game is played, there are actions that can be taken that <i>permanently</i> change the rules of the game or the game board. Some of these changes remove cards from the game permanently. By permanently, I mean tear the card in two and throw it in the trash. In other words, each game will be played under slightly different conditions. My first reaction to this was, "What! Why would I deliberately damage my game?!" I have come to think of this as an experiential thing, and I would love to play! Furthermore, playing through all of the actions will take 15 game sessions, so there is a lot of experience to be had along the way. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A copy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Risk</i> <i>Legacy </i>will probably need to be purchased online or at a local game store.</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 2: “We love/loved <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scrabble</i>.”</b></div>
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I am going to repeat my recommendations from last year. Buy
<a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/mass-market-marvel-qwirkle.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Qwirkle</i></a> or <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/mass-market-monkey-business-bananagrams.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bananagrams</i></a>. These are two great games, and still some of the more economical choices,
too. If you bought someone on of these games last year, buy them the other this year. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All of the mass-market outlets will have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bananagrams</i>, and many will have <i>Qwirkle </i>(Target has carried it for several years now).</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 3: “My family plays/played cards when
at family functions.”</b><br />
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I am going to go out on a limb here and say <i>Bohnanza</i>. I haven't actually played this, and it probably will need a local Barnes and Nobles or a trip online. However, it has a great reputation within the gaming community and with friends of ours. As a bonus, it plays well with 3-7 players, so it works well for gatherings. Don't let the age range on the box scare you at 13+, I know younger kids love "the bean game". The game sounds silly, but that's part of the charm.</div>
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<a href="http://www.gateplay.com/images/products/display/Deadwood_board_game.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://www.gateplay.com/images/products/display/Deadwood_board_game.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 4:
The family/casual boardgamer</b></div>
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This starts
to get tricky, because there is the chance that you will give a gift they
already have. However, <i>Deadwood</i> is a pretty safe bet, since it was published just last year. This is one of the less expensive choices on the list. It's American West theme will appeal to many. <i>Deadwood</i> is published by Fantasy Flight Games, who puts a lot of care into a games presentation. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>Deadwood </i>has recently become available at Target.</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 5: The Dedicated Chess Player</b></div>
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Handkerchiefs. See <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/11/game-buying-guide-2011.html">last year.</a></div>
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<a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1059805_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1059805_md.jpg" width="320" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 6: The Geek</b></div>
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By far and away the best game to geek-out on this year is the <i>Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game</i>. This is a dogfight game pitting X-wings and TIE fighters. And Y-wings. And Interceptors. And the Millennium Falcon. Not all of this comes in the box; some are coming out in expansions. The box includes three fighters and everything else you need to play the game. I have played the games predecessor, <i>Wings of Glory</i>, which is set in WWI. As a geek, this game has me juiced, and my son is thinking he <i>needs</i> to own it. <b><i>Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game</i> is </b><b>available at Target.</b><br />
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Sorting through the drivel is the biggest problem. I will go with the <i>LEGO Ninjago Board Game</i>. It may not be the very best game, but hey, it's LEGO. How far wrong can you go?<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> <i>LEGO Ninjago Board Game </i>has become</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">generally available in the
mass-market stores.</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 8:
Families with no gaming experience</b><br />
Last year I had <i>Qwirkle </i>and <i>Forbidden Island </i>here on the list. These are still great choices. This year I will add <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2013/01/king-of-fillers-king-of-tokyo-review.html"><i>King of Tokyo</i></a>. In this game, you play Big Monsters (think Godzilla) attacking the city of Tokyo, and each other. Games are short and can be filled with lots of campy humor, since the monsters have such silly names as Cyberbunny and MechaDragon. Sound effects are part of the fun. Kids can easily play this, though the energy level might ramp up as they get into the them! <i><b>King of Tokyo </b></i><b>is definitely going to be the toughest game to find on this list. It might be between print runs as the holidays arive. </b>However, since the two choices from last year are solid options, I don't feel too badly about this one.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 9: Party Gamers </b><br />
The Spiel des Jahres winner for 2010 was <i>Dixit</i>. Think <i>Apples to Apples</i> with pictures. One player makes up a sentence which tells a very brief story from a picture, and everyone else picks a picture from their hand to match the story. The storyteller chooses the best match, and points are scored. Sound a little similar. What makes this a great choice is not only the proven style of gameplay, but also the excellent artwork. <i><b>Dixit</b></i><b> can be found at many mass market outlets. </b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Type 10: Couples / Everybody Else</b></div>
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Many of the games here work well for two. For this, I am going to go with my recommendation for last year: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/angola.html">Hive</a>. </i>This game is an abstract strategy game
the is incredibly popular in our Scout troop, and it is easy to learn. There is now a smaller edition called <i>Pocket Hive</i>. So, you can even recycle this idea if it was a big hit last year.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I have found <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hive</i> at
Barnes in Noble.</b><br />
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I hoped this
helped! If you would like more personal
suggestions, email me at </div>
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<a href="mailto:zwischenzug.fxf@gmail.com">fxf@engineer.com</a>.</div>
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I will be
glad to answer any questions!</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s
Your Move!</i></b><br />
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SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-79433297843163082282012-02-09T15:04:00.000-05:002013-02-05T11:03:18.699-05:00Moving along...Today I am glad to announce that I will be joining my voice to those gentlemen at Father Geek. This move will allow me to participate in the larger discussion of family gaming, including games for smaller children. Going forward, I will be posting exclusively there. Thanks to all of my loyal readers, the steadfast few, as well as all of my family members that read this primarily out of a sense of duty or guilt.<br />
<br />
Father Geek can be found at <a href="http://fathergeek.com/">http://fathergeek.com</a>.<br />
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It's Still Your Move!<br />
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<br />SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-9013154390581676572012-01-24T12:10:00.000-05:002013-02-05T11:03:18.715-05:00The List<br />
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My son had
some friends over for a couple of hours the other week. There were three of them, and they struggled
for something to do. They ended up
playing video games, but I got the sense from the conversation that it really
didn’t work very well. I asked him why
they hadn’t tried board games, and he expressed reservations about his ability
to teach the games he loves. He does
tend to like games that are fairly complicated, and hard to teach.</div>
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I took a few
minutes over the weekend and looked at my collection database. I keep my inventory on <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/03/gaming-resources-boardgamegeek-doorway.html">BoardGameGeek</a>, and the
data can be downloaded into an Excel file.
Someone had published an Excel tool for sorting and filtering a collection,
which I have personalized. Dumping my
collection download into this tool lets me find games for the right
setting. In this case, I used the
filtering to flag my collection for games that are good with at least two players (He
normally has only one friend over at a time), play in an hour or less and are
of low complexity. I sprinkled in a few
of his favorite games, flagging those I know he could teach, even if they don’t
quite fit the criteria. I then filtered
on the flag I had set, and viola! We
have a set of game that might work. I
gave him the list, and suggested he go to the “game room” (the portion of the
basement where my hobby lives) and look them over. He could then mark the games he wants to
learn.</div>
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[Okay, I
realize that some of you can’t concentrate on reading this now due to that
incredibly loud Nerd Alert that is going off in your head. Yes, I have an Excel filtering tool for my
collection. Those of you that know me
are either saying, “That’s awesome!” (<a href="http://mypartyof6.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Laundress Sue</a>) or “Oh no – now I’ll have
to explain why I let this guy near my kids!” Those of you who don’t know me are
trying to see if I have another blog games and <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/game-storage-and-ocd.html">OCD</a>. (What did you think this
is?) Breathe deeply. Ready?]</div>
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My son was actually
glad to have it. Or he was buttering me up. Not really sure, but I
digress. <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/feldmafx?sort=rank&sortdir=asc&rankobjecttype=subtype&rankobjectid=1&columns=title|thumbnail|status|rank|rating|bggrating|avgrating|plays|subdomains|commands&geekranks=Board+Game+Rank&own=1&ff=1&subtype=boardgame">Another version of the list can be found here</a>. My question
to you is, “How many of these games have you played? Heard of?”
There is another world out there waiting to entertain you, and it doesn’t
exist in Vegas or on riverboats. It can
be in your house, at your calling, ready to build friends, families and memories.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s
Your Turn</i></b></div>
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SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-27054398717235869972012-01-19T15:59:00.001-05:002012-11-16T15:36:43.214-05:00Teaching Chess to Kids – One Rule to Wring them All!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Most people
think chess is a hard game to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once someone learns how to move the
pieces they can play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, there are a
few slightly complicated moves like castling or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">en passant</i>, but generally speaking moves aren’t an issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Learning how to move pieces <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in combination</i>, that is where the game
gets involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not the rules; it’s
all of the strategy and tactics that make the game complex.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJAAKHIwwus-_gWWTlEGDNhNOOq5XeEMDLU3kp6-OZQKCgjgfti8aKSl9JYYHI_00zCQacyA71IfaVmePdQEp7vQd1xCjRGV6xxXd-1HtaPBDtxIZRbn215k0yVTLJiSYhO8q8hR-NpbM/s1600/chess%255B6%255D" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJAAKHIwwus-_gWWTlEGDNhNOOq5XeEMDLU3kp6-OZQKCgjgfti8aKSl9JYYHI_00zCQacyA71IfaVmePdQEp7vQd1xCjRGV6xxXd-1HtaPBDtxIZRbn215k0yVTLJiSYhO8q8hR-NpbM/s200/chess%255B6%255D" width="198" /></a>Except with
kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we are into a whole different
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First of all, kids want to know
all of the odd-ball rules, not only castling and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">en passant</i> but also the three-position and 50-move rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Normally, I try to just move past these
topics, but generally someone has heard of them and I eventually end up
explaining these rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will try to
invoke them, and be completely wrong; this is particularly true of the
three-position rule.* However, we get past them and put them away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So what is
the concept that wrings all the certainty out of their heads, leaving the idea that chess is hard? What is the hardest thing for
children to learn (that actually does show up in their games): the knight’s
move? No, they need some help with that, but it comes pretty quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key to that is not only the shape of the
move, but the fact that the knight changes the color of the square he stands on
with every move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the knight is on a dark
square now, it will finish on a light square.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What about the pawn?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact
that the pawn moves differently when it attacks causes a little confusion, but
that’s cleared up quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The toughest part of chess to teach is check
(and by extension checkmate!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Then
how do they end the game?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They end the
wrong way, at least in the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here are the most common misconceptions:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>“If I threaten the king on this turn, and don’t
call check, I can capture it next turn!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course, the king is never actually captured in chess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the king is threatened, it’s in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">check</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">must</i> get out of check.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
the king can’t get out of check, then it is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">checkmate</i>
and the game is over.</li>
<li><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>“But you didn’t call check!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check is check, called or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often it doesn’t need to be said, because it’s
that obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a common source of
disagreements, because this statement will probably follow the previous
thought!</li>
<li><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">"</span></span>I’ll move my king next to theirs and put my
enemy in check!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem with this
is that two kings next to each other are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">both
in check!</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since a king cannot move
into check, it’s an illegal move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last
night I actually had an 8<sup>th</sup> grader, who has been playing for a year,
suggest that doing this would allow a player to win with just a bishop and a
king – wrong!</li>
</ul>
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How does
this get solved?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the immediate game,
I try to back the players up to the last legal move, and then continue the
game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Otherwise, I call it a draw.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Speaking of
draws, stalemate is also a problem concept, but not as hard to overcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is truly amazing how often stalemates
occur at this level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last year our youngest
member played his first ten games without a loss – 3 wins and 7
stalemates!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As
frustrating as it can be, teaching chess has its own rewards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is wonderful to see their enthusiasm, and
fun to watch their faces as the “light comes on”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though my son graduates from the school
this year, I can’t imagine giving this up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s
Your Move!</i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdoGMtF2m0rXVDtkhzBlzBLsN8lL0z-SePYupAxVLSUtv1G-hhHRpAZiABjSC5l4Bmrme9JmFmDBwRupeUEe7b1tNRY3pDUQ8SCK7JFZ1sFSy57Gku6v5gLmMrrKod7DiJ2kGZSBCsIo/s1600/Frankly.png" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><i> </i></b><i>* </i>The three position rule says that an exact board position occurring three times is a draw. For this to happen, every piece and pawn must be in the same position all three times with the same moves available. As a result, a piece captured or a pawn moved means none of the prior positions can be repeated, since those pieces can never go back to where they were.</div>
SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-57373563105674067292012-01-13T12:54:00.001-05:002013-02-05T13:19:36.299-05:00Tasteless Fun: Dominion -- Great Game, Little Flavor<br />
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I have to
confess that <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion"><i>Dominion</i></a>
is completely out of style with the games I normally like. In fact, I
probably would never have played it except for my brother's family. The
year it was published, it was quite the rage. Yet, its reputation as a
themeless game put me off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So did the constant
card shuffling I heard about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then why,
in the end, did I end up giving it a rating of 9 out of 10?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, I like games that drip with theme,
telling a story as they are played.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was just as surprised as you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic394356_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic394356_md.jpg" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Incredible fun in 30 minutes!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That year, when
my brother and his wife came back from visiting one of their kids, they raved
about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dominion</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my brother to do this, it must be a huge
success as a family game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His motto is,
“If it starts to feel like work, I’d rather work.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This game he was anxious play with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Christmas they gave my son a copy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still wasn’t convinced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not until we sat down to play it a few months
later was I completely won over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got
home late the night of our first play, but still took the time to break the
seal on my son’s copy and get it ready to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A few days later I bought a copy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dominion:
Intrigue</i>, which is the first expansion, but is also playable as a
standalone version.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This way, when Big D
(he has grown taller than me since I started this blog!) goes off to college, I
am sure to have a copy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dominion</i> is a card game which is
supposedly building up a kingdom, a dominion, by adding various places, people
and features to it as the game goes on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, the game doesn’t really feel like you are doing any of
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Typically, this is where I take a
pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The game play in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dominion</i> is so good, however, that it
makes up for any lack of flavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Players have
a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">deck</i> of cards that sits at their
left hand, and are holding five cards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At your right hand is your personal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">discard
</i>pile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More cards of various types
are on the table for purchase, including cards which represent money and cards
that are victory points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On your turn,
you can play one card from your hand for an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">action</i>
and/or buy a card from the table, and then you “clean up” by discarding
everything you bought, played and your hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Five cards are drawn from your deck for the next turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An action allows you to draw more cards, make
more than one purchase, play more actions, attack or defend or some combination
thereof.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When your deck runs out, you
shuffle the discard pile and make it the deck and keep going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the game ends, the person who has the
most victory points wins.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic392195_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic392195_md.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the cards from <i>Dominion</i> (Image by Gary James)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That’s not a
thorough description without going into the cards, but it does go about that
fast: 30 minutes for a complete game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
not terribly complicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Little ones
will have trouble with shuffling and reading text on the cards though.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your deck grows as you buy cards and they
eventually cycle around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fun is in
the interaction of the cards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love
trying to buy cards that will work in combination to allow multiple actions or buys,
or more valuable buys.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The game
components consist exclusively of the cards and the rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While available at Target and Barnes & Noble,
don’t look for it on the same rack as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rook</i>,
or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monopoly Deal</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This game comes in a full size box.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s because it doesn’t have the usual 50 –
100 cards; there are 500 cards in the box!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The artwork is adequate, though not awe in inspiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I said, the excellence of this game is in
the game play.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If I haven’t
convinced you yet, consider that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dominion
</i>was the 2009 <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/spiel-des-jahres.html">Spiel des Jahres</a> winner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since its publication, the game mechanism of buying the cards you will
play with later in the game has appeared in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a
lot</i> of games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t played any
of them, since I love this game so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s hard for me to justify another game that largely plays the same
way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
I gave this game a 9 / 10. That's pretty high praise from me; it's a rating for games I don't imagine giving up. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><b>It's Your Move!</b></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r4NjF581mUg/TZs-32MNKsI/AAAAAAAAAGg/eU9xDhlAKpQ/s1600/GreenMetalKing.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Dominion</i>:
ages 8 and up, 30 minutes, 2-4 players.</div>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmJCTnRTVrp88Xqmhzm95Nm9wEeBvWoLWeAG02g01F_IuS4_KG4dvPH36nEquaH6Dk799RIZ1-bG3qJB44pJ_UeFWSJiCMqZao3Lbj_c4TTb831LDPxa16UrWI_qkjBwN-iZKUu8mBXc/s1600-h/Good%20Casual%20Gaming!%5B3%5D.png"><img alt="Good Casual Gaming!" border="0" height="30" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Y_DvXaDl1YXYOP9lgrTfP2FxlseHgSDPKNchTgB-wHRlaT4EIRx792b-sncCLiQaFOuhtqtrHxnDYzhIT4IuzJV-lk1wS0pptvJJ-6MifN4387aBWrWd4zCPrF0NQlCI5KGAFxlYEsc/?imgmax=800" style="border: 0px none; display: inline;" title="Good Casual Gaming!" width="17" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRDjRQhID8zZQRxQV7q_MUrK9ybM83JUXPrYkL_WVycqs9ibmVb2NVBe-kaN-HsKKoAVmEcjj4BWFNg_NqM0UI3TEAGZJAQ-lTWGNZGeK9rxH90B5NesCpoLlowd_9o8FxLdRTH9XJ-yc/s1600-h/Kid%20Friendly!%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="Kid Friendly!" border="0" height="18" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhwfcYHmArNpse-M5Ix-MCPTWgSuDo5zZOZXpFsEqJKlyoS7zaVcH_rXbIbn3P4Ul1nZAjw5J3AHVrZyC-cK3kS3r0peXUHFluOFqCzXtKCcdHZJgibDG7RSW7FXevxKcCwlbH5PMvhY/?imgmax=800" style="border: 0px none; display: inline;" title="Kid Friendly!" width="18" /></a>SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-34048503286095234682012-01-03T12:15:00.000-05:002013-02-05T11:03:18.676-05:00Happy New Year!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic702995_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic702995_md.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Chris Norwood</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well, the disappointment of Christmas gaming gave way to starting the New Year right. I played exactly ONE game in December prior to December 31st, but a good friend of ours came over for New Year's Eve and we broke out <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/saving-humankind-from-death-and-disease.html"><i>Pandemic </i></a>and it's expansion,<i> <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/grandma-comes-through.html">Pandemic: On the Brink</a></i>. This expansion is really several expansions in one, so I will need to play all of the different variants before I review it. We were able to play standard <i>Pandemic </i>with new roles, and got in one game with the Bio-terrorist role, played against the other players by my son. He won, but in a sense the good guys have to beat two opponents, the Bio-terrorist and, as usual, the game. We were beaten more by the game than by the bad guy. In the end, we won one game out of four, which isn't bad for us. That makes a total of 42 games of <i>Pandemic </i>for me; this is just one of my favorite games.<br />
<br />
And the new petri dishes are awesome!<br />
<br />
Happy New Year!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div>
<br />SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-71962715709122522112011-12-28T12:05:00.003-05:002013-02-05T11:03:18.696-05:00Yearly Summary 2011Now that Christmas is done, many of us become introspective. The new year begs us to look over the old, and learn what we can. So, what can I do but review my life as a gamer...<br />
<br />
This past year has been the busiest year I have had from a gaming perspective. Not only did I start this blog, but I have grown my collection of games more this year than ever before, adding an embarrassing <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/feldmafx?sort=rank&sortdir=asc&rankobjecttype=subtype&rankobjectid=1&columns=title%7Cthumbnail%7Cstatus%7Crank%7Crating%7Cbggrating%7Cavgrating%7Cplays%7Csubdomains%7Ccommands&geekranks=Board+Game+Rank&own=1&ff=1&subtype=boardgame">65 games</a> and expansions in just 2011. (I like to think of this as my own economic "stimulus package"!) Most of these were trades, Ebay purchases or thrift store finds, so it really isn't as bad as it sounds. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!<br />
<br />
<b>Best Acquisition of the Year: </b> <i><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-for-games.html">7 Wonders</a>.</i> Given the number of plays and the excellent play, this is the best buy I made this year. <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/ahead-mr-sulu-set-course-fun-factor-10.html"><i>Star Trek: Fleet Captains</i> </a>still needs a few plays for me to really have a feel for it. Overall, though, the best game <i>related</i> purchase of the year was the <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/06/take-this-game-and-shelve-it.html">shelves </a>my wife bought for me; I really needed those!<br />
<br />
Since I started tracking my plays in 2008, this has been the second busiest year for game plays (just behind 2009). I played 44 different titles this year a total of 180 games played. A few more games will probably be played New Year's Eve. Of these 44 titles, 26 of them were games I had never played before this year. It didn't feel like I had as much time to play this year when compared to 2009, a year when I was playing a lot on lunch breaks. However, between the chess club at school and Boy Scout outings, I have played more games with kids this year. <br />
<br />
<b>Most Played Game of the Year:</b> <i><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/angola.html">Hive</a>.</i> This game is a huge hit at <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/05/lighting-my-fire-games-good-for-camping.html">Scout outings</a>, and that accounts for most of my plays of <i>Hive</i>. There are now four copies amongst all of the members of our troop! This is a great game: really a "must own" game in my opinion.<br />
<br />
Our gaming group expanded this year as it celebrated three years of getting together. Tastes are broader, and it can get a little crazy trying to figure out who is playing what, but it has been great fun!<br />
<br />
<b>Game Group Hit of the Year:</b> <i><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/saving-humankind-from-death-and-disease.html">Pandemic</a>. </i>This year alone, I played <i>Pandemic</i> 19 times, and all but one or two of those plays were with the gaming group. This was easily the most played game for the group, and is another "must own" game.<br />
<br />
Finally, I will list my Nickles and Dimes: games played 5 and 10 times respectively. (I won't count the 100+ games of chess I played online this year.) Interestingly enough, most of them are games actually purchased this year, too.<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: small;">Dimes</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<table class="sortable shaded" id="dimes">
<thead>
<tr><td><span style="font-size: small;">Plays /<span class="sortarrow"></span></span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;">Game<span class="sortarrow"></span></span></td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="even">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">22</span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/angola.html">Hive</a></span></td></tr>
<tr class="">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">19</span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/saving-humankind-from-death-and-disease.html">Pandemic</a></span></td></tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">16</span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/171">Chess</a></span></td></tr>
<tr class="">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">15</span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/mass-market-monkey-business-bananagrams.html">Bananagrams</a></span></td></tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">13</span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/02/angola.html">No Thanks!</a></span></td></tr>
<tr class="">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">11</span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/71836">Onirim</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: small;">Nickels</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<table class="sortable shaded" id="nickels"><thead>
<tr><td><span style="font-size: small;">Plays<span class="sortarrow"></span></span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;">/ Game<span class="sortarrow"></span></span></td></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="even">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">8 </span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-for-games.html">7 Wonders</a></span></td></tr>
<tr class="">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">6</span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/30933">Bang! The Bullet!</a></span></td></tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><span style="font-size: small;">6 </span></td><td><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/pocket-fishermen-hey-thats-my-fish.html">Hey, That's My Fish!</a></span></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
SoFranklyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14629984479802083360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353130560909239844.post-18943445474861852072011-12-19T08:46:00.001-05:002012-11-16T15:40:01.966-05:00Grandma comes through!I am glad I waited to buy <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/12/ahead-mr-sulu-set-course-fun-factor-10.html"><i>Star Trek: Expeditions</i></a>! This past weekend was Christmas with my wife's family, and my son received it as a gift. I received the expansion for <a href="http://zwischen-zug.blogspot.com/2011/04/saving-humankind-from-death-and-disease.html"><i>Pandemic</i></a>, entitled <i>Pandemic: On the Brink. </i>I've broken the seal on mine; he hasn't...<br />
<br />
The <i>Pandemic </i>expansion adds some neat gameplay, including more special abilities for players to choose from, but it <i>really</i> adds to the Awesomeness Factor. The expansion includes little Petri dishes to store the disease cubes in. Totally superfluous, and totally awesome!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic991384_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic991384_md.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Tony Bosca</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b><i>It's Your Move!</i></b><br />
<br />
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