Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
Friday Night Shots – The Art of the Pass
Last week, I talked about people intentionally breaking a game by doing something that doesn’t change the game state.
In the post, I referenced everybody in a game of Terraforming Mars just passing as their first action, which doesn’t do anything to make the game advance.
That made me think about games that actually have some benefit when you “pass” or end your round or something.
Then I thought “Dude, why are you wearing shorts when it’s 50 degrees out?”
I had no answer for that. I’m just weird.
I also thought “hey, that’s a great idea for another post!”
And here we are.
Many games have round structures where, when you pass, you are out of the round. You’re essentially saying “I have nothing left to do while all of these other people have tons to do so I’ll sit here and twiddle my thumbs.”
Terraforming Mars is one of those games!
But I do like these types of games for one reason: It’s a great time to say “I’m passing, so I will go to the bathroom while you all take the rest of your turns. I may be a few minutes but I know you all won’t be done yet when I get back.”
But not every game is like that.
In fact, some actually give you some benefit!
What do I mean?
Let’s take a look.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 4501 – 4600
We have reached the midway point of the 4000s in the Boardgame Geek game rankings, and we have also hit another milestone.
I have not played or do not own any of the games in this century.
I know I said originally that I would probably stop when I hit that point, but I have looked ahead and there are some good centuries coming up.
Not to mention the fact that there are some interesting tidbits in this century that I would like to play, or will be playing eventually.
So there is that.
Not to mention the fact that I’ve been encouraged to keep going by friends of mine.
But yes, I am going against what I have said before.
Exactly.
Before I get into the nitty gritty of this post, though, we have our experiments to look in on.
The Game Makers (published by Bezier Games) was at #3078 when last week’s post went live.
As I’m writing this on last Thursday, it’s currently at #3071.
Not much of a change in one day.
Today it’s #2991, so it’s broken into the top 3000!
The other experiment is Wingspan Pocket, a game that I can’t wait to arrive because it’s bundled in with some other pre-orders I’ve done and I’m waiting for them.
When last week’s post went live, it was at #2023. Almost in the top 2000!
One day later, as I write this, it’s at #1993.
Now, it’s at #1783.
Can you say “Top 100, here we come?”
I knew you could.
As I said, I don’t own or haven’t played any of these games, so let’s just get into the ones I find interesting to talk about.
Including one new game that I’m sure will also be rising up quickly, and one that I could play as early as this week (so actually I will have already played it by the time this posts) if Abi comes to game day!
(He didn’t come, so I still haven’t played it)
Keep in mind that these rankings could change by the time you read this, if you’re reading this in 2 years and celebrating the imminent arrest of Donald Trump.
Your favourite game may not be on here anymore!
Hopefully it’s gone upwards and not downwards.
With that, let’s begin.
Read MoreNew to Me – August 2026
After last month where I said that my “new to me games” list was slacking off a bit in 2026, August managed to bring six new games to the table!
That still only puts me at 46 new games where last year was 84.
I have a feeling I’m not going to make it!
But they have all been fun anyway.
If I can manage 6 of them per month on average for the rest of the year, I’ll do better than 2024.
August’s new to me games managed to squeak a final one under the wire on August 30, and it’s also the one that saved my job as cult leader.
Yes, the Cult of the New to Me wasn’t happy that every new to me game was published in 2026.
Until August 30 hit and I had a 2022 game!
They were still a little miffed, but they put down their pitchforks and torches.
I did see them flicking their cigarette lighters aggressively, though.
I should probably be better about that in September.
Who knew a cult leader was such a dangerous job?
Anyway, without further ado (all of my ado went on a trip to many lands without me anyway), let’s get started!
Read MoreRacing Robots – Into the Machine Review
There’s something to be said for a game where you’re not chasing the usual points to win the game. Where you’re just doing something and hoping you’ll win the game.
Of course, a good game won’t have you hoping. It will instead let you actively work towards that goal.
But it’s nice not to care about points at all, at least sometimes.
Basically all racing games are like that, and Into the Machine is a racing game at heart, though it is also an engine-builder!
Of sorts.
Into the Machine was designed by Kasper Lapp with artwork by Len H. Nicholas. It was published by Alderac Entertainment Group in 2026, or at least that’s when the Kickstarter fulfilled.
Quick story about how I got this, as it ended up being a gift by Alderac in exchange for an honest review, but it didn’t start out that way.
Instead, I did the Into the Machine Kickstarter solely for the expansion content for Smash Up, War Chest, and a mini-expansion for Space Base.
The description of Into the Machine didn’t entice me to actually want to spend money on it.
However, when the Kickstarter fulfilled and I got my expansions, I also got another box with Into the Machine in it.
I messaged them about it, saying I’d be willing to pay for it, ship it back (if they paid for shipping), or consider it a review copy since I do a boardgame review blog.
They said to keep it as a review copy, so essentially that’s what this is.
Now that I’ve played it a few times, what are my thoughts?
That’s what this review is about.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Breaking a Game Intentionally – Why?
It’s weird what you can find on the Boardgame Geek forums sometimes.
Usually it’s rules questions or reviews or comments about a game in a game’s forum on the site.
Many times, those rules questions would be quickly answered if they’d either do a cursory search or, I don’t know, READ THE FUCKIN’ RULEBOOK!
Anyway, that’s not what tonight’s post is about.
Occasionally there will be a post in a game’s forum that asks a question that nobody rational would ever have thought of.
It basically amounts to “what if all players did some thing that’s in the rulebook in such a stupid manner that the game state would never change and the game would never end?”
The game in question this time is Dnup, a card game from the designer of Scout that is actually brilliant.
In this game, you are trying to shed all of your cards from your hand.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 4401 – 4500
We’re halfway through the 4000s in our weekly look at games on the Boardgame Geek top games list, and things are looking up again.
Slightly.
Last week, I had only played two of the games in that century and I was beginning to despair that this series might soon be coming to an end.
But then this week hits!
And I’ve played/own…three games.
It’s a start!
Before we get into that, though, let’s follow our two experiments to see where they’re at this week.
Last week, The Game Makers (recently fulfilled from Kickstarter by Bezier Games) was at #3265.
I’m writing this on Friday night (and this is posting on the next Wednesday), and it’s currently at #3212. A gain of 53 in the space of two days.
Good! But slowing.
When this posts, it’s now at #3078, which isn’t too bad!
Slowing a bit, but that’s still just under around 150 spots in 5 days.
The other one I fully expect to hit the Top 100 at some point, which is good because I will soon own it and play it!
Wingspan Pocket was at #2417 when last week’s post went live.
On Friday night, it was at #2350. A 67-point gain.
Is it slowing down? Maybe?
Of course now it’s at #2023 so hard to say?
Another week of checking and we’ll see what happens.
These experiments are always fun, and if any hot new game intersects with one of these posts, a new experiment might happen.
So stay tuned!
This week’s list can be found here.
As ever, (make your own time travel joke here)
As mentioned above, I have three games owned and three games played in it, so at least I’ll have a little something to talk about.
I’m about at my introduction limit, so let’s begin!
Read MoreAugust 2026 Gaming
August was a booming month for gaming, despite there not being any conventions or anything.
Well, maybe not “booming,” but certainly better than last month!
Lunch time games at work certainly helped matters, plus there were a few Sundays where multiple games got played.
Of course, six games of Final Girl also assisted in that total, but that’s only one game, so didn’t contribute much to the actual game count (just the plays).
Overall, I played 20 games a total of 33 times (as compared to 15 games 24 times last month), which is pretty good.
Six new to me games really did contribute to that, though I’ll talk about them in next week’s post.
Here are the games I played in August 2024.
And here they are in grid format.
Many thanks to Boardgame Stats for the great app that lets me get these figures.
There were a few games that hadn’t been played in a while, so I’ll make note of those.
Don’t forget that you can click on the pictures to expand them if you want.
Read MoreThings Are Getting Stranger – Final Girl – The Falconwood Files Review
I’m actually surprised that it took the Final Girl franchise until Series 3 to do a film based on Stranger Things.
However, when they decide to do so, they go whole hog and throw in everything but the kitchen sink.
Did you think there was so much going on in that series that there was no way Final Girl could include it all?
Ye of little faith.
The Falconwood Files was designed by Mike Martins with artwork by Vincent Dutrait. It is part of Series 3 and was published in 2025.
(Need I remind you that you can click on a picture to blow it up? I didn’t think so)
I have to say that Dutrait’s artwork in this one is a lot better than in the North Pole one.
The map is actually readable and is really well laid out, though I’ll get to that when I get to the location.
I just wanted to mention that up front, because he is a great artist, but North Pole Nightmare was just really hard to navigate.
The Falconwood Files totally references Stranger Things, except of course there’s not a group of 80s kids in it running around getting in the way when they should be home doing homework.
But everything else is in there!
Let’s go with the killer first, as usual.
Read MoreThe Distant Sound of Thunder – Rumble Nation Review
That’s the sound of a medieval nation in the throes of civil war.
Also the sound of dice hitting the table!
Both sound ominous.
Rumble Nation is a dice-chucking area control game where players are attempting to take over as many provinces as possible in medieval Japan.
It was designed by Yogi Shinichi (与儀新一) with artwork by Toru Kageyama, Yogi Shinichi (与儀新一), and ヤマモトマサアキ（Yamamoto Masaaki).
It was published in 2017 by Hobby Japan.
And it is awesome for what it is.
The mechanics of the game are simple and it will take all of 20-25 minutes to play, even though there are tactical depths to the game, depending on your dice rolls.
That’s because the layout of the map is different each time, making many of your decisions depend on the makeup.
It’s not that Japan changes shape.
It’s not a Transformer or anything (RIP Peter Cullen).
No, each game, the provinces are seeded with a number from 2-12.
That’s the order they score in (ascending), which becomes very important.
Lots of other important stuff in there too.
Read MoreBGG Top Games – 4301 – 4400
Welcome to another look at a century of Boardgame Geek game rankings!
These posts have been really cool for me because of the conversations they’ve started with friends and colleagues, but they’ve usually had at least a few games that I’ve played and can talk about with some semblance of knowledge.
That may not be the case for the next couple of weeks, though.
We’re getting down into the areas where I’m lucky to have played a couple of them, but that is actually a blessing in disguise in some ways.
This gives me an opportunity to talk about games that might be of interest!
Really quickly, because this is the first time that this has happened.
After writing last week’s post (but before it actually posted), I actually played a game that was in that century.
On Sunday, between writing and posting, I played Hanami (currently #4019, so maybe it qualifies for another experiment?), which is a reimplementation of the classic Samurai system, and it’s actually quite good!
I did enjoy it and I wonder if this will ever happen again?
It might!
Also, speaking of last week, we have two experiments still going on that I want to check in on.
The Game Makers (from Bezier Games) is freshly published and we are going to track how high it goes, since it happened to be in a century that I was writing about.
When last week’s post went live, it was #3420. I’m currently writing this on Thursday evening last week, and it’s at #3409.
Seems to be slowing down, but we’ll see what it is when this posts. Which is #3265.
Not gangbusters, but still moving steadily!
The other experiment is Wingspan Pocket, which hit the ground running and is racing up the charts.
When last week posted, it was #2879. As of when I’m writing this on Thursday, it’s currently #2728!
Slowed down a little bit since last week, but now (at the time of this posting) it’s #2417.
Top 100, here we come?
We’ll keep an eye out.
This week’s century of games can be found here.
Keep in mind that these rankings could change and that favourite game that you were looking for isn’t actually there if you come look at this during the apocalypse.
Because you need a good game to keep you occupied when something like that happens.
And it’s not very good for games I’ve played, with only two (owning one of those).
I’ll talk about those and then get onto some more interesting games (maybe).
Or maybe not!
Since I’m already way over my introduction limit, let’s get started!
Read More