Games went pretty darn well over the Thanksgiving holidays, I'd have to say. Sure, I brought lots of games that went unplayed, but I always expect that. I overpack games, hoping to get some of them played, not all. The biggest coup of all was getting my dad to play a wargame with my brother & I! That alone would've made it a great success. More on that below, but first I'll mention the family strategy games that we played.
Apples to Apples Jr.
Of course. :-) I almost didn't pack this one, partly because I was running out of room, partly because I wanted us to try something else. But then I faced the truth that this is so easy, and always a big hit. My brother and I played with my kids, and we had one of those great A2A moments when Molly was trying to decide which was more Boring--Big Bird or My Grandpa . . . with her grandpa sitting right behind her and laughing. We played twice, using more forgiving kids' rules of one card played per player, no one getting shut out. (I definitely prefer the pressure of the normal speed game, but with readers of uneven skill this works better.)
Wurmeln
Rather than a straight race, lately I've been preferring a simple "track" design, and/or an obstacle to worm around. This was just an out-and-around sort of track, like a 3/4-lap horse race. Turns out that was slightly too long, and somewhat boring of a layout (crossing over or doubling back might've been cool), but the game still worked ok. Like all good outings of this game, one player (my brother Matt) jumped out to what seemed an uncatchable lead, but then Molly started gaining . . . and gaining . . . to finally overtake & win at the last bit. She often wins this game, go figure! Besides those two, we got my wife, mother, and sister-in-law to play.
Bohnanza
This is one of the few family strategy games that some of my family already know. In fact, Matt and his wife Jessie had played their copy (which I'd given as a gift years ago) with visiting family just the week before. The rules and turn sequence was a little bewildering for my mom, but she got it well enough and said she really enjoyed the game. As much as I like this--and I do--it has the possibility of lasting a little too long if people overwork the negotiations. I shouldn't mess with success, just play the darn game! But I'd like to introduce them to some other card games like Coloretto or Frank's Zoo. (Actually I've tried both of those with minor success. So what am I thinking?! Stick with Bohnanza!)
Category 5
Some time ago I needed to include my old copy of Take 6 to complete a trade deal, then took forever to replace it. I finally did with this new, somewhat themed edition. We were down to just three players by that point, probably fewer than this game really needs, but I thought the uniqueness of the game would shine through. It did, sort of, taking a hand or so before my brother and mom saw what was going on. Then we played it a second time, and it went smoother, but didn't really wow either of them.
Thunder Road
My son was living a video game-less holiday (long car ride and everything), having been grounded from them for an offense I won't discuss here. :-) He's not too impressed by boardgames, but did ask to bring this Mad Max-inspired race/combat game. Nice enough components, open conflict, and an action-movie style theme appeal to 10-year old boys, what do you know? :-) The game was ok, in fact he loved it yet again, but I'm getting bored with it quickly. It's the usual problem--not enough real decisions. Not bad, but I should've tried to get him to bring Roller Coaster Tycoon instead. That's definitely better.
Raj
This ended up playing the way I'd hoped Category 5 would: a simple numeric card game that everyone quickly got, and generated both boos & cheers. Yeah, it's just Hol's der Geier, which I also own (Sid Sackson's old copy!), but it's still a good game. And it's funny how a little upgrade in components--the scoring tiles rather than cards, plus perhaps more inspired theming--makes a real difference in the game's appeal to nongamers. They don't distill a game's experience down to its base mechanics as readily as we hobbyists do, something the publishers understand (the good ones, anyway). I have some hope this can be a quick game to play with my immediate family even when not on a holiday.
Axis & Allies:D-Day
This, of course, was the wargame I played. I'd played it once before, another 3-player outing with my regular gamers. At the time I thought this might be one I could convince my dad to try. He's neither a gamer nor a wargamer, but he's got an interest in military history, at least of The History Channel WW2 western front-centric variety. He's also visited Normandy, making a special point to go there on his first retirement trip to Europe. So I figured I had a shot. Let dad take the familiar Americans, put my brother beside him commanding the Brits/Canadians and helping him with rules, while I opposed on the German side. It worked! I don't think this will be a regular thing--we may never play another wargame at all--but at least we did it this once. My brother made many of the decisions, but dad made his share, too. At the end, he commented that whoever designed the game knew what he was doing, thinking of the effect of Allied air superiority and the trouble the Americans had clearing Omaha beach. (I just knew the depiction of air power in this game was going to go over well!) Basic wargaming stuff, ok, but like nothing he'd seen before, I'm sure. I don't think my dad ever played so much as Risk, in fact. Yea! As for the game's outcome, it was much like my other play--Allies appearing to dominate by the midgame, but ultimately running out of time by a single turn (or maybe two), with St. Lo proving a tough nut to crack.
In a few hours I leave to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Ours isn't a big one, just 6 adults and 3 kids ages 1, 8, and 10. I'm bringing a bunch of games again, chosen with this mostly non-gamer crowd in mind (only my brother could I really consider a hobby gamer). Let me think, what have I packed up? I think I grabbed Ticket to Ride, Through the Desert, Category 5 (6 Nimmt), Die Fugger, Hick Hack, Wurmeln, Apples to Apples Jr, Thunder Road, Drunter & Druber, Get The Goods, Bohnanza, Raj, Coloretto, Starship Catan, and my big hope: Axis & Allies:D-Day. The latter looks like an odd pick--and it is, except that my brother has played some wargames in his time and my father is fan of The History Channel and WW2/D-Day history in particular. He visited the area during his first trip to Europe a couple years ago. So maybe...just maybe I can get them to play it with me.
I just wish I could fit the Crokinole board, but I think our minivan is full to the brim.
Today Rick Thornquist mentioned this blog in his own, Gamewire. He provides a link to one of my recent posts summarizing this year's Fairplay magazine Scouting Report from Essen. However, I think the more interesting entry is one from a few days prior, when I compare how well the previous year's (2003's) Fairplay scouts did compared to current opinion about the games.
I'm quickly becoming a diehard fan of Geekspeak, the new homebrew audio program about boardgames. This is part of the next wave of power-to-the-people Internet content & delivery, podcasting. Like the early days of websites, when there was an amazing display of poor graphic design skills (see my own home page for a current example!), these early podcasts are finding their own way. Almost everyone doing them has no experience in broadcasting. Even so, the personal feeling and targeted audience of a podcast makes it great. Just like you couldn't find a good boardgame magazine in 1996--but could find at least a dozen good websites--now we are beginning to have podcasts providing "boardgaming radio."
The name "podcasts" belies the medium's connection to iPod devices. However, that was just the consumer product that got this technology to the tipping point. Now it's taking off on its own, using a variety of software and devices. I don't have an iPod, myself. However, I can easily listen to the shows through my desktop machine. Later I figured out how to download them to my Palm device (which I still want to call a Palm Pilot), and listen with headphones. Most recently I've tried burning the episodes to audio CDs which I can listen to in the car. I've got a long commute to & from work (45 or an hour each way), so the longer Geekspeak episodes are perfect for me.
Predictably, all of this excitement in the medium has made me contemplate making my own podcasts. I read a few web pages that show how to do it, so I may try an experiment. Geekspeak is a 1-2 hour interview show. At least that's how it's developed so far. I'd probably aim for something more like a 15-30 minute session report/game review/editorial format, using recent Santa Clarita Boardgamer sessions as my main content.
For the past few years I've placed group orders to German webstores shortly after Essen, as we hear the buzz about new titles (and take advantage of some bargains). Adam Spielt is the gold standard for ordering overseas, though we've also ordered from Magnus Spiele, AllGames4You, and Playme.de This particular year we went with Playme.de, mostly because they had Oltremare in stock and a good price for Reef Encounter. I ordered both of those, plus Geschenkt and Im Auftrag des Konigs (the Adlung game). As usual, I opened this order up to the rest of the Santa Clarita Boardgamers, as well as two other local game groups. Getting the order size up helps to amortize the overseas shipping expenses.
Jonathan Degann and I have been placing orders like these since '98. We've said we should write up a little "how-to" article, uploading it to The Games Journal or Boardgamegeek. Would this be useful, I wonder? Now with the Euro-Dollar exchange rate being so lousy, these orders from Europe are less financially compelling. But they're still worth doing. Many of the games we're ordering aren't even listed at Funagain, Gamefest, Fairplay, or Boulder. Others are several bucks cheaper ordered this way, and a few are amazing bargains.
This is some sort of landmark--I'm selling off my Magic:The Gathering collection on ebay. Actually, that's not quite true, since I decided to save the twenty or so decks I've still got constructed. Only one or two of those are the sort of preconstructed decks you buy intact. Everything else is my own design, and almost all of those date from my early days enjoying this game. So I'll still have plenty of options to play the game some more, should that happen again. But the 5000+ cards I'm that are just sitting in card storage boxes are being sold.
A lot of boardgamers don't think too much of M:tG. And although my interest in boardgames came at the expense of Magic, I don't really think of one style of gaming being obviously better than the other. It's just different. Even though I played in a few small scale, regional tournaments, I never found much validity to the criticism that Magic is a "money game." Yeah, you end up spending more than twenty bucks, but most boardgamers I know spend more on the boardgame collection than I ever did on Magic cards.
The real difference between Magic and boardgaming is intensity. When I was playing Magic from 94-96, it was the only game I really played, I thought about it all the time (on my commute, etc.), and it's what I read about on the Internet and in magazines. I played a few hours every week, plus some rudimentary online play (using text shorthand over chat channels!). A decade later, I think I spend about the same time & mental energy on boardgames today!
Where boardgames do have an edge over Magic is socially. Not that playing Magic isn't social--I met a lot of interesting people through that game. However, anyone who's been reading my blog or other comments knows that I'm always trying to shift my hobby to one more inclusive of the rest of my family, and to distance myself from the "geekier" aspects. Magic, with all of its fantasy theming and dark imagery, doesn't do that very well. Bohnanza and Ticket To Ride are much, much better in that regard.
OK, with the election going the wrong way (from my perspective), the chances of Mr. President being played & enjoyed by my family at Thanksgiving is nil. But my regular game group isn't bothered! :-) In fact, Ryan said he was really in the mood to try it again, and since we had exactly four people it was a perfect opportunity to play the partnership game. (The best way, to be sure.)
It was fun, though for some reason we had even more fun with it last time (when Arnold became governor). I was the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, and our side won a landslide victory. Some of it was due to our superior debating skill (though we didn't actually "win" any of the three debates), stronger home states than our opponents, and a fair bit of luck. The luck comes from rolling the 7 or doubles that allows you to engage in a debate, use political advertising, or go back to your home state. Then there's the less direct but just as important effect of being able to play your ballot cards quickly, run out your deck first, and "steal" some ballots from your opponents during the Undecided/Absentee vote tally.
Next time we play I think we'll try the modifications suggested by Jared Scarborough to bring the game up to date with a 2004 political landscape.
Oops, I forgot to mention here that I'm selling a few more things on ebay. The auctions end in less than 24 hours, actually, so move quickly if interested. I'm selling Die Schatzinsel, Groovy, Lionheart, Searfarers 5-6 Expansion, Quads, and QUIXO.
Yep, I voted. First thing, before I went to work. I really enjoy it, so I never file absentee ballots. (Just once when I was in college.) I know it's not as fun & easy for everyone, but in my little suburbs I get to walk half a block to a home where senior volunteers have cleaned up & converted their garage into a polling place. A half-dozen portable polling stations are set up, and there's a small line of neighbors waiting to vote. I'm a moderate-liberal in a conservative town (my wife counted 12 Bush bumper stickers to 4 for Kerry--including ours--on our block), but everything is friendly.
California typically has a lot of ballot measures for the citizens to vote on, not just the major political candidates. After seeing all of the untrustworthy political ads for several weeks, my wife and I just read through the nonpartisan legislative analysis, as well as the impassioned arguments for and against (do all states provide this sort of packet? I think it's invaluable.) We talked it over and made up our own mind. Today at lunch I overheard young folks at another table talking about felons and DNA--undoubtedly a reference to one of the ballot measures. I know it's corny, but I really get a charge out of seeing all of these regular folks having water cooler discussions about the topics, and proudly wearing the "I voted" sticker. I'm just sorry mine blew away when I drove with the window open (still nice weather in California, you see!).
Regarding boardgames, I really wanted to play Mr. President before today. Actually, what I really want is to play a partnership game with my family over Thanksgiving. But no one will be in the mood if our candidate loses today. Go Kerry/Edwards! My family boardgaming is depending on it! :-) (That new parody-election game from Martin Wallace, Election USA, sounds like it might be worth a look, too.)
-Mark
P.S. This was the first year I put bumper stickers on the car, and a yard sign in the lawn. Kay, so someone spit on my wife's car near the sticker when she was shopping. Believe it or not, that was kind of exciting. I guess we're stirring up things a tiny bit. We've found a few more Democrats this way, and one muttered under her breath, "There are more of us than you think." :-)