Friday Night Shots – Boardgame Arena

I know what you’re thinking.

You’re thinking “Dave, you really shouldn’t wear green because it really makes you look hideous.”

And I would agree with that!

You’re also thinking “Dave, what’s this? Two Friday Night Shots posts in a row? What’s gotten into you?”

And I would respond with “Inspiration, baby! Inspiration.”

Also the realization that I really need to keep writing or my writing ability will atrophy.

So anyway, welcome back to the bar!

Not much has changed since you were just here last week, but I think I may have the jukebox issues ironed out.

We’ll see.

Pull up a chair and let me pour you a drink of whatever you like.

What the hell is that?

Sorry, it looks like the jukebox repairs didn’t take.

Anyway, tonight I wanted to talk about Boardgame Arena and its renaissance.

No, not that renaissance!

I’ve talked about Boardgame Arena a few times, mainly in my “playing games online” post.

I wanted to revisit this specifically, though, as opposed to the others that I mentioned in that post.

Also, that was 7 years ago!

Anyway, Boardgame Arena was running along, being a nice place to play some online games, but none of the really major heavy hitters. Or at least not the newer ones.

Then, in 2021, Asmodee bought them and everybody I know (ok, maybe an exaggeration) thought that spelled doom, because Asmodee has killed a bunch of things, or at least made them worse (though admittedly, some stuff has been good).

Nobody knew what awaited users of the site.

Would everything go premium and it would no longer be free to use?

Instead, they started bringing in some really cool games, and some of the games coming to the platform were actually brand new and the designer(s) was using it to help improve the game before it actually got published.

I know Carnegie was like that.

It was Kickstarted but during the Kickstarter, it showed up on Boardgame Arena and apparently the designer implemented some changes to the game as suggested on BGA before the game was actually published.

It also gave prospective buyers a chance to play the game to see if they liked it before they backed it.

That was amazing!

On Boardgame Arena there are three stages of a game’s development where people can play it.

The first is Alpha, and you have to have played a lot of games before you qualify to become a “reviewer” for Alpha games. You get access to play the games, but they could be buggy or have problems that need fixing. As a reviewer, it’s your job to test these games out and provide feedback.

But, as a reviewer, you can also invite others to play the game with you, and they don’t have to be eligible for Alpha status!

Every few days, a bunch of new games show up in the Alpha level, and many of them are A+ quality games.

I never expected to see Architects of the West Kingdom on there.

Yeah, yeah.

Also, Terraforming Mars? And they’ve already added the Prelude expansion too!

Hopefully more of the expansions will be showing up soon.

When Ark Nova hit the platform, there was quite the sensation.

Even more so when the Marine Worlds expansion went into Alpha!

That was just amazing.

Just recently, it was announced that Lorenzo il Magnifico and Arboretum hit Alpha.

Lorenzo’s one of my favourite games!

Anyway, games then move into Beta status, and they are available to the whole BGA community. They may still have some bugs, but enough have been stamped out that the creators feel it’s worth releasing it.

Finally, the game is just fully released to everybody.

However, when I say “everybody,” there is a bit of a caveat.

Many games (though not even remotely all) are “Premium” games.

What that means is that you have to be a paid BGA member to create a game to play with people.

You don’t have to be a premium member to play it, but to create it, you must be.

I’m sure the increase in Premium games is partly (or mostly) due to the Asmodee purchase, but considering the huge number (and quality) of games that are showing up on the platform since 2021, it does seem worth it.

I’ve been a paid member for a long time, so I’m happy to start games with my friends if it’s something I want to play.

I’ve also achieved Alpha status so can start reviewing and creating games when they’re in Alpha, which has been tremendous fun.

Hell, Revive (another favourite!) just showed up in Alpha recently and I’ve been enjoying my play of it since I haven’t seen it back on the table recently (thanks, Abi!)

There are just so many good choices now, way more than there were before.

The avalanche of games seems never-ending.

This does create a bit of a problem, though.

I’m in way too many games!

But I can’t stop accepting invites, or creating games, for all the cool stuff that’s on there.

I’m in a few Arena matches of Space Base and Can’t Stop, as well as one Arena match of Terraforming Mars.

What’s “Arena?”

It’s a competition where you play an asynchronous game with other random players on the site. You have to have a 100 ELO in a specific game before you can play it in Arena mode.

If you don’t yet, the game is greyed out and you can’t join.

This is a fun way to meet new people and play with them.

I’ve even made a couple of friends that way!

Which resulted in even more games that I’m playing.

I’m currently in 29 tables (though the one game of Lorenzo is still looking for players so it’s not happening yet).

Those would be as follows: Space Base (4), Can’t Stop (3), Terraforming Mars (1), Architects of the West Kingdom (1), Castles of Burgundy (3), Diamonds (1, and it plays really slow asynchronously), Ark Nova (1), Ark Nova with Marine Worlds (3), Welcome To (1), Teotihuacan (1), Earth (1), Memoir ’44 (3), Sea Salt & Paper (1), Revive (1), Let’s Go to Japan (1) and Mountain Goats (1).

That’s a lot of games!

And I could do more. There are enough games that I’d like to play.

One thing I’ve discovered, though, is that there are some games that I just can’t learn playing online asynchronously.

I have no idea what I’m doing, even after looking at the rulebook.

I need a teach.

Prime example of that is Russian Railroads (which I bounced hard off of on BGA but then had it taught to me on the table and I actually kind of like it).

You can always play real-time live if you want, and they’ve even enabled voice chat if people want to do that.

If you’re interested in playing online games at all, Boardgame Arena is hard to beat.

They’re even bringing some games to the platform that were only on Yucata before.

Like Lorenzo!

Yes, I do want to get a game of that going, why do you ask?

Maybe Underwater Cities will come soon?

Yes, one can.

Now I just need to work on creating a time bubble so we can all play while time stops around us.

That will let me get all of those games in.

Do you play on Boardgame Arena?

Live or async?

And what do you like to play?