Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
Bezier Games Announces Werewords Deluxe
Have you had enough Werewords in your life? You know, that hit hidden-role word game where players are trying to guess a word but not get eaten by the werewolf?
Bezier Games doesn’t think it’s possible to have had enough.
They have just announced the new Deluxe version of Werewords, still designed by Ted Alspach, launching on Kickstarter on March 5, 2018.
Review – Hanamikoji
(Editor’s Note: Apparently there is conflicting information about whether Hanamikoji was a capital at any point. I took my description below directly from the BGG site for the game, but other information seems to contradict that.)
Like any honest businessperson, we would all want to attract as many customers as we could to our shop.
In Japan in the olden days, in the old capital of Hanamikoji (why do I keep forgetting the “j” in that name?), there was a Geisha street where geisha plied their trade. They were graceful women who had mastered the art of dance, art, music, and various performances. It was very prestigious to attract the most talented geisha to your establishment to entertain your clients.
Thus, of course, competition for their favours was born.
So hey, let’s make a game out of that!
In Hanamikoji, two players vie for the favour of seven Geisha Masters.
New to Me – January 2018
It was actually a pretty light month for new to me games. Between being sick and missing two game days/nights and then actually playing a few games multiple times, the new experiences were few and far between.
In fact, I only have two new games, though I finished the month on Sunday with a new expansion for an awesome game.
Because I was so “Cult of the New” last month, this month I went old (and one of them was really old!). My only 2017 experience was actually the expansion.
So, without further adieu, here we go!
The Pursuit of Happiness (2015 – Stronghold Games/Artipia Games) – 2 plays (owned)
Designers: Adrian Abela, David Chircop
Artist: Panayiotis Lyris
Acram Digital reveals Istanbul app
Earlier in January, Acram Digital tweeted this.
Happy New Year 2018! – NEW digital board game is coming!
There will be an official announcement soon.#gamedev #indiedev #boardgames #bgg #indiegame #videogames #screenshot #screenshotsaturday #indie pic.twitter.com/xtiHitNKQi
— acramdigital (@acramdigital) January 2, 2018
With the hashtag #screenshotsaturday, I expected something posted the next Saturday.
Then nothing showed up on the next Saturday and I kind of forgot about it.
Dave at Stately Play displayed none of my laziness and was evidently keeping an eye on them, because when they started their contest, I completely missed it.
They were slowly revealing the picture for the game over a series of days, and Dave figured it out before I even knew it was a thing (did I mention the “lazy” thing?).
Yes, Istanbul is apparently coming this year from Acram in app form.
Is a Catch-Up Mechanism Required?
On Sunday, I was playing a game of Terraforming Mars (which I won!) and the scores were a bit spread out.
I won with 73 points, and the last place player had 53 points. That player had been lagging behind most of the game, and I was wondering if that was any fun for them.
Especially in a 3.5 hours game like this was.
The player in question was black, and you can see above that they had 26 points while I had 55, prior to all of the final scoring (the pic was taken after Milestones and Awards, I believe).
The response to my question was that yes it was, that you have to play to get better and the process of playing is fun in and of itself.
But it made me think about this because I’ve seen it in other games, too (namely a review of Porta Nigra) where somebody mentions that you can be out of a game early.
Is a catch-up mechanism required in a game for it to be fun?
Review – Azul
(Edit: This is one of my Top 10 Games Played of all Time, as of February 2019 anyway. Check out the other games as well!)
Don’t we all need a little colour in our lives? Something to make things brighter, lift our spirits?
Did you ever want to lay tile without having to get all of that adhesive ready first?
Azul is the game for you, then!
Azul is an 2-4 player abstract tile-laying game designed by Michael Kiesling with art by Philippe Guérin and Chris Quilliams. It’s published by Plan B Games in North America.
Yes, there is a supposed theme for the game (“Azulejos” were originally white and blue ceramic tiles that the Portuguese king fell in love them with and wanted his palace to be decorated with them, with the players being tile laying artists who are competing to get the job), but let’s face it: it’s an abstract game.
As somebody who doesn’t really do abstract games, what do I think?
Let’s take a look.
How to Succeed at Boardgames…and Life
Boardgaming is a social activity. Whether you do it with friends or you do it with people you’ve just met, you are interacting with one or more people in an attempt to have fun and enjoy yourself.
Like anything in life, there are rules to live by in boardgaming that will make things go a lot easier for you, enable you to actually have fun, and make sure that the people you play with can have fun too.
If you can do that, and follow these guidelines even beyond your boardgaming session, then maybe you might have a more pleasant life as well?
It couldn’t hurt.
App Review – Lotus
Sometimes you just need a little tranquility in your life. Your day at work was terrible. The kids are getting on your nerves.
Zombies are rampaging down the street.
You know, a typical Monday.
On days like that, you need a game that’s peaceful, that will contribute to your inner Zen.
On those days, you’ll pick up your mobile device and open the Lotus app.
(Hopefully you downloaded it before the Zombie Apocalypse cut all the power)
Lotus is a beautiful 2-4 player card game published by Renegade Games. The app is published by Renegade and Dire Wolf Studios.
Oh no! There are women on the Dice Tower!
Batten down the hatches! Get ready to repel boarders!
Long-time readers of this blog know that I’m a big fan of the Dice Tower.
Back in April 2017, they reached the 500th episode of their podcast and in celebration, changes were made.
At first, Tom Vasel and Eric Summerer alternated between having a longer show with a “3rd chair” guest on it and then a shorter show where they talked about some games played and some gaming topic.
That change didn’t go over well.
Fairly shortly after that, the BIG CHANGE was implemented, with Tom & Eric doing the episode one week and then Suzanne Sheldon & Mandi Hutchinson doing the next week (with Tom & Eric doing a Google Hangout video show that week).
The reaction to that was…mixed may be an understatement.
Hating on HATE
(Editor’s Note: A previous version of this post said that HATE was designed by Eric Lang. Actually, the Kickstarter page says this: “Created by the same design team who brought you the Zombicide series, under the supervision of Eric Lang…”. I regret the error and the post has been amended)
Yesterday saw the Kickstarter launch of one of the most divisive games that I’ve seen in a long time.
Why do I say “divisive?”
Because every boardgame content creator that I follow on Twitter (and I follow a lot) universally condemned the game but it also hit almost $500,000 in the first few hours, with almost 4500 backers.
What game am I talking about?
The new design from CMON Games, HATE.
HATE is based on the Chronicles of Hate graphic novel series by Adrian Smith. The world of HATE is a brutal post-apocalyptic world where tribes viciously fight each other for resources.
(All pictures are from the Kickstarter page)
The first indication that this was going to be a divisive game was the trailer.
The trailer is full of sadistic and foul language in an effort to earn its “Mature Audiences” rating. The narrator emphasizes every “fuck” like he’s an 8-year-old who just heard the word, realizes that it pisses off his parents, and wants to keep using it as much as possible.
Dude! Take Your Turn! 