Thoughts on Kickstarter

Let's start with a brief explanation of what Kickstarter actually is.  Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site, meaning that a person/business puts up an idea, people can pledge money to the idea, and if the overall funding goal is achieved, the project gets the money and produces a product to send to their backers.

What does this mean for boardgames? Well, several things.  First it means that anyone with a game idea can pursue the kickstarter route and get money to pay for their game to be published without having to take the traditional route of a publishing company.  There are a couple of ways to look at this.  One, people who do have a good game but can't find the right publisher can still have their game made.  Two, the overall quality is likely going down, because there is less quality control associated with Kickstarter.  The second thing that Kickstarter has done for boardgames is bring a lot more into the marketplace.  It's not as easy as looking at the big companies for new games anymore, there are a whole lot of other games out there.  Some are coming from long time designers who were told no by a company for one reason or another, but a lot of games are coming from completely new designers.  The potential issue here is a lack of uniform standards.  If I buy a game from Fantasy Flight or Mayfair or Days of Wonder or another big company, I know the game has been tested extensively and there won't be major issues.  If I kickstart a game, I don't have those same guarantees.  I know that most game designers want to publish a game they are proud of, but who knows how much testing they've done, how many people have played it, what styles people play with.  Ultimately, someone could design a game that works really well with their group, but it doesn't transition out of that group.

I've used Kickstarter for several games and a couple of other projects.  I've never been dissatisfied with my experience, save for every project coming in later than the estimated delivery date by at least a month, and some as many as 6 months.  Due to that, I've only received 3 games that I've kickstarted - Eminent Domain, Lemonade Stand, and Pizza Theory.  You've seen my reviews on Eminent Domain and Pizza Theory and I like both games.  Eminent Domain is a top 20 game for me, while Pizza Theory is a bit lower, but still a lot of fun, especially as a short filler game.  I haven't played Lemonade Stand enough, but I'm kinda "meh" about the game right now.  I do think that all 3 of these games are good, and they've been sufficiently tested and refined.  This is likely due to them coming from established companies, TMG, Mayday and Gryphon respectively.
I have a few kickstarter games on the horizon - Solar Circuit Racing (end of September/early October), Kings of Air and Steam (November), Fleet (October-November ish), Ace of Spies, Ground Floor, and the current project I backed last week, Story Realms.

I suppose I like smaller companies using Kickstarter for projects where they like the game, but they're unsure about the public response.  At that point, Kickstarter is one giant pre-order system, but that's ok. I think I'm still wary of the unknown designer with the unknown company and a game that doesn't have much shown.  Kickstarter for boardgames is best used for games near the end.  Development should essentially be done, and the game is ready to go except for final art, and then the whole manufacturing process.  Unfortunately, many companies use Kickstarter a bit too early in the process.  I don't think that asking for money to continue development is a good thing.  Believe in your game enough to spend your money on getting it close, then ask me for my money to make the dream a reality.

I'm still unsure of what roads I'll look at for Star Runner when I get closer.  Kickstarter is one, but I'd still love to go through an actual company.  I know if I did go Kickstarter, I'd want to work with a company like Game Salute, someone who knows the ropes of Kickstarter and can help the refinement process.

For much more on Kickstarter, visit www.kickstarter.com or http://www.thegamewhisperer.com.  The gamewhisperer does a podcast about all things kickstarter.  I've found it to be a great resource.

Collection Building: Co-op Games

Over the last 8 years or so, co-operative games have grown in popularity.  Lord of the Rings started it all, but the genre really picked up with Pandemic, Ghost Stories, and many other games.
There are a couple of things to look at when it comes to co-operative games.  The first is what they actually are.  Co-operative games mean that everyone is working together to beat the game.  The group wins or loses as a whole.  There are other games that involve two sides, either in teams, or all versus 1, but those will be addressed in another post.
The second thing to consider is if you like co-op games or not.  Some people really like playing games in the pursuit of a solo win.  They want to do the best they can do, and not have to depend on other people in order to win.  I can't blame them for that, maybe they work as part of a team at their job and they want a game to not feel anything like work.  Other people thrive in that competitive environment.
If you like the idea of working in a team, perhaps with your family, here's a small sampling of the multitude of co-op games that are in the marketplace these days.

First, let me start with three games that I have not played, but have heard a lot about.  Those three are Castle Panic, Elder Sign, and Flash Point: Fire Rescue.  Castle Panic and Elder Sign were played on Tabletop (Youtube), and that's one of the better avenues to explore to learn more about them.  Flash Point puts you in the role of a firefighter.  You have to go into buildings and rescue people before time runs out.  It seems like a really cool game, it's won a bunch of awards.  I have it sitting on my shelf, waiting for the right group to play it with.

Now, for the games I have played.
Forbidden Island/Pandemic (2-4 Players)
The best thing you can do to learn more about these two, is read my comparison of them in this post.
Both games take about 30-45 minutes.  Forbidden Island does tend to run shorter, and is less prone to the fast loss.  Forbidden Island is the more kid friendly of the two, but Pandemic is great too.

Space Hulk: Death Angel the Card Game (1-6 Players)
This is not a kid friendly game.  The theme is dark, the art is dark, and the game is really tough.  I like it because everyone has to work together to best use their abilities.  Each person does need to know the game, because there are times where they have to make decisions on their own that affect the entire group.  Death Angel does have the greater player flexibility, which I like for those larger groups.  The last time I played, we had 5 people, which was too many for any other co-op we had.  This is a great game for a group of guys, High School or later.  I'm pretty sure the game says 13+, and I'd keep to that.

Price Wars

Forbidden Island wins the price war hands down.  It really is the best bang for your buck game on the market right now.

If you get one from this list, it's hard to go wrong with Forbidden Island.  Pandemic is deeper than Forbidden Island, but also a little harder to learn.  Death Angel is probably the hardest game on the list. I'd say that my group has about a 40% win rate, maybe a bit higher, but I'm not sure.
If you're going to get two, grabbing Forbidden Island and Death Angel for under $35 is an amazing deal, and a lot of game to enjoy.

Dominion: Dark Ages Review

Reviewing expansions takes a bit of a different format for me.  I assume that you have some familiarity with the base game, either having played it, or at least heard about it.  With that in mind, let's take a look at Dominion Dark Ages.

Each Dominion set has a general theme/mechanic.  Seaside had durations, Prosperity had a lot of treasure, Cornucopia had variety, and Dark Ages has trashing.  Many of the cards give you a benefit when you trash them, or let you interact with the trash.  Dark Ages is probably the deepest of the expansions so far.  Many of the cards present subtle strategies, and interesting interactions.  They also enhance many earlier cards which have fallen out of favor, or were deemed to never be great.

If you don't want to read all my thoughts on cards, go ahead and skip down to the end now.

Dark Ages also provides a new way to start the game.  Players now start with 3 unique Shelters as opposed to 3 estates.  These shelters don't provide victory points, and only one is even classified as a victory point card.  Necropolis is an engine builder's dream with +2 actions.  Now, this is worse than a village, since it doesn't have a card draw, but you get it to start.  The Overgrown Estate is 0VP, but when you trash it, you get to draw a card.  Not great, but it's not meant to be in your deck all game anyways.  The Hovel takes up space until you buy a victory card. At that point, you can trash your Hovel.  The Hovel is the worst of the shelters, the Overgrown Estate is nice to get an extra card one time, and Necropolis is great for the bonus actions.

Some other general cards are
Spoils - A one shot treasure card worth 3 money.
Ruins - cards you typically don't want to see.  Not as bad as a curse, they are action cards, but they don't cost you VP.  There are 5 different types

• Abandoned Mine: +1 money, basically a copper that takes an action
• Ruined Library: +1 card
• Ruined Market: +1 buy
• Ruined Village: +1 action, would only be good in a Peddler game, or Throne Room, so you at least get +2 from it.
• Survivors: Look at the top 2 cards on your deck, and either discard both, or put both back on top.  This is the Ruin I mind the least.  I like setting up my next hand. Still, it's not great.

If you haven't guessed it, I'm going to briefly talk about each card, and give some impressions on them.

• Altar (Cost 6) Trash a card, gain a card costing up to 5.  This is a simple card, it lets you trim down your deck, and gain useful cards.  Early on you can gain big action cards, late game, gain duchies.  A very solid card.

• Armory (4) Works like a Workshop or Ironworks in that you gain a card up to 4, but you get to put it on your deck.  I like using this early to gain a silver into my hand, but it also works well with action cards.

• Band of Misfits (5) Use this as if it was any less expensive card in the set-up.  I've yet to play it, but it seems really powerful, but not brokenly so.

• Bandit Camp (5) +1 card, +2 actions, gain a Spoils.  I like spoils cards.  They do help you out, even if they're temporary.  Probably not the best 5 in the game, but still a solid one and a viable strategy.

• Beggar (2) Gain 3 coppers in your hand. Also a reaction, when someone plays an attack, discard this to gain 2 silvers, 1 to your discard pile, the other to the top of your deck.  This helps mitigate attacks like Swindler and Saboteur, ones that mess with your deck.  It makes Margrave and Minion a bit less hurtful to you.  The normal action is great for a Moneylender(Base) deck, or Gardens(Base) deck, also helps Counting House(Prosperity) and Coppersmith(Intrigue).  For a 2 cost, it's got some good things going on. Just be careful to not over copper.

• Catacombs (5) Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. Either put them in your hand or discard them and draw 3 cards. If you trash the Catacombs, gain a cheaper card. It's a solid card. Seeing what you would draw and deciding if you like that or not is a good ability.  It's a better Smithy, which is why it costs more.

• Count (5) Do something bad: Discard 2 cards, put a card from your hand on top of your deck or gain a copper. Then do something good: +3 money, trash your hand, gain a Duchy.  I've seen Counts work really well in 2 games.  The ability to combine saving a card and then trashing, or discarding 2 cards and then trashing is good.  Late game, take a dead end action, forward it to next turn, and then grab 3 money.  At worst it's a gold that makes you lose a card or two.

• Counterfeit (5) Worth $1, +1 buy.  Take a treasure card and play it twice, then trash it.  It turns copper into silver, silver into $4, Gold into $6, and Platinum into $10.  It works really well on Spoils, since you're losing them anyways.  Counterfeit works well early to trim your deck of Coppers, and then works late to get you extra money to buy victory cards and get rid of the money that doesn't help you in the end.  One of my favorite cards in the set.

• Cultist (5) +2 cards, each other player gains a Ruins, you may play another Cultist (meaning you can chain them for a grand total of 1 action).  When you trash a Cultist +3 cards (so yes, sacrificing Cultists on the Altar is both a viable strategy and a really fun combo).  I like Cultist.  I think the chaining is something fun in Dominion, but I'm glad it's not overdone.  

• Death Cart (4) +$5. You may trash an action card from your hand. If you don't, trash the Death Cart.  When you gain this, gain 2 Ruins.  Death Cart isn't without it's drawbacks, but the ruins give you something to trash from the get-go.  Yes, Death Cart does make you want to say "Bring out your dead!"  Trust me, it's more fun that way.  Solid card here.

• Feodum (4) Victory card worth 1 point for every 3 silvers in your deck.  When you trash a Feodum, gain 3 silvers.  I don't want to spoil too many strategies here, but Feodum is fun and makes for wonky math.

• Forager (3) Trash a card from your hand. +$1 for each differently named treasure in the trash.  Most of the game, this is worth $1 for copper, or maybe $2 for copper and silver.  I've yet to see this with loans, talismans, quarries, etc in play.  I think those would make Foragers really good.

• Fortress (4) +1 card, +2 actions, when this is trashed, put it in your hand.  It's a village that comes back to you when trashed.  It works well with Foragers, Upgrades, Remodels. It's a safety for Death Cart and Rats.  Not something to buy all the time, probably a weaker $4 in the grand scheme of Dominion, but a good card.

• Graverobber (5) - Choose One: Gain a Card from the trash costing $3-$6, or trash an action card from your hand and gain a card costing up to $3 more than the trashed card.  Graverobber is a conditional Expand(Prosperity), but also a fun way to get cards back from the trash.  

• Hermit (3) - Gain a card costing up to 3, you may trash a non treasure card from your hand or discard pile.  If you don't buy a card, trash the Hermit, gain a Madman(Yes, Hermits turn into Madmen).

• Madman (0*) +2 actions, then you may return this to the Madman pile to draw 1 card for every card in your hand.  Madman is a great draw card.  You have to jump through a couple of hoops to get there, but a double Madman turn near the end can be the difference in the game.

• Hunting Grounds (6) +4 cards. When this is trashed gain a Duchy or 3 Estates.  Great card to draw 4, cool trash ability.

• Ironmonger (4) +1 card, +1 action, reveal top card of deck, get something based on what it is, discard it or put it back on top.  It's solid, but it can be luck based.  As least you get something for it, either an action, +$1, or a card, so it's never bad, it just isn't always great.

• Junk Dealer (5) +1 card, +1 action, +$1, trash a card from your hand.  The mandatory trashing can hurt at times, but you're in control of playing or not playing your Junk Dealer.  Just be careful.  At least with so many cards that have a when you trash do ... benefit, you'll rarely be in a no win scenario.

• Knights (4 or 5)  Each Knight does something different.  There are 10 unique knights with their own abilities.  All have an attack though, which is each other player reveals the top 2 cards of their deck, and trashes one of them between $3 and $6.  If a Knight is trashed, trashed the attacking Knight.  I've yet to play with all the Knights, but I like the variety in them.  Certain Knights are better than others, but you know what you're buying when you get one.  A fun idea, maybe not the best execution, but enjoyable so far.

• Marauder (4) Gain a Spoils. Each other player gains a Ruins.  This is a really good attack card.  It gives you that temporary gold, it hurts your opponents, what more can you really want?

• Market Square (3) +1 card, +1 action, +1 buy. When one of your cards is trashed, you may discard your market square and gain a gold.  The card action buy is a nice thing regardless of the setup, not great, but helpful at times.  The reaction part is great because you gain free gold.  This works when either you trash a card from your hand, or you are attacked and have a card trashed, i.e. Swindler, Saboteur.

• Mystic (5) +1 action, +$2, name a card, reveal the top card from your deck, if they match, add the card to your hand.  This is the modified Wishing Well(Intrigue).  The bonus, if you have 2 Mystics, you're getting +$4, and at least one card for sure.  This combos really well with anything that lets you put cards back on your deck like Scout(Intrigue), Spy(Base), Wandering Minstrel(Dark).

• Pillage (5) Trash this. Each other player with 5+ cards in hand discards a card of your choice.  Gain 2 Spoils.  Pillage is mean, no doubt about it, but it's one shot.  I like that you have to weigh the timing of Pillage with the fact that you're going to lose the card.  You're buying it to gain 2 temporary cards which will hopefully turn into a Province.  Not the best thing if you ask me, but still an interesting card.

• Poor House (1) +$4. Reveal your hand, -$1 for each treasure card in your hand, to a minimum of $0.  This is interesting for two reasons.  First, it's the first card that costs $1.  Second, It can actually hurt you if you have too much money around, it will take money off the table from cards like Market(Base) or anything else that gives money.  I've yet to play a game with it, but it seems to have some interesting dynamics going.

• Procession (4) Play an action card from your hand twice, then trash it and gain an action card costing exactly $1 more than the trashed card.  Procession is an interesting twist on the Throne Room(Base).  It's a good way to get rid of Ruins and Rats.  It has other uses for getting rid of actions you no longer want.  Overall an interesting card, but one that takes a good amount of forethought.

• Rats (4) +1 card, +1 action, gain a Rats, trash a card that isn't Rats from your hand. When you trash a Rats, +1 card.  That's right, Rats multiply and take over your deck.  They go really well with a card that lets you trash something, Death Cart, Procession, Hermit, Graverobber, etc.  Rats take a careful balance, else you may find that you have nothing but Rats, and no one to rid yourself of them.  

• Rebuild (5) +1 action, name a card. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a victory card that isn't what you named.  Trash the victory card and gain a card costing up to $3 more than it.  Rebuild is a great way to turn Duchies into Provinces, Provinces into Colonies, and Estates into useful $5 actions, or Duchies.  I haven't seen the full depth of Rebuild, but it's a good card, and a solid way to gain points.

• Rogue (5) +$2. If there's a card in the trash $3-$6, gain one of them.  If there isn't, each player reveals 2 cards from their deck and trashes one of them costing from $3-$6.  Like Graverobber, Rogue takes cards from the trash.  Rogue has a way to put other player's good stuff in the trash, where Graverobber puts your own stuff in the trash.  I've had both in the same game, and we all liked Graverobber better, just due to the trash your own stuff, but Rogue is still a good card.

• Sage (3) +1 action, reveal cards from your deck until you find one costing $3 or more. Put that into your hand, discard the rest.  Sage is a great cycler.  You're going to find something good, but near the end, you'll find Provinces and Duchies.  I like sage a lot in the early game.  It sorts through the copper and estates/shelters and finds what you're really looking for.  

• Scavenger (4) +$2. You may put your deck into your discard. If you do, you may look through your discard pile and put one card on top of your deck.  This is a better Chancellor(Base).  The ability to have a card in your next hand for sure is a nice thing.  Not amazing, but a solid ability.

• Squire (2) +$1 then choose one: +2 actions, +2 buys, gain a silver. When the Squire is trashed, gain an attack card.  Squires are great for the trash ability alone.  They're also good for gaining free silver, or giving you those extra actions to make your deck work.  Squire is a card I would buy at $3, so $2 feels like a steal.

• Storeroom (3) +1 buy. Discard any number of cards and draw that many. Then discard any number of cards, +$1 per card discarded the 2nd time.  Storeroom isn't amazing, but it is good.  It lets you sort out the cards you don't want for new cards, and then the cards you don't want for money.  It isn't the focus of a deck, but it plays an excellent support role.

• Urchin (3) +1 card, +1 action, each other player discards down to 4 cards in hand. When you play another attack with this in play, you may trash the Urchin and gain a Mercenary.  Urchin itself is a nice little attack.  The power of the card is in the Mercenary.

• Mercenary (0*) You may trash 2 cards from your hand. If you do, +2 cards, +$2, each other player discards down to a 3 card hand.  Mercenaries work a lot better in +2 action games, just so you can use the cards you gain.  They're great to thin out Ruins, Shelters, Rats, and Curses.  The downside is the need to trash cards, but if you have things to trash, Mercenaries are great.

• Vagrant (2) +1 card, +1 action, reveal the top card of your deck. If it's a victory, curse, shelter, ruin, put it in your hand, else put it back.  Vagrants set up your next hand.  They aren't great, but for $2, they're ok.  They stay useful all game, but are best early and late.

• Wandering Minstrel (4) +1 card, +2 actions. Reveal the top 3 cards from your deck. Put the actions back in any order, discard the rest.  This card is an action lover's dream.  I tend to like money a bit too much, so Wandering Minstrel fails me, but for action players, it dominates.  It's cheap, so it's easy to get a lot of them.  It feels a bit too good as a $4, but in some games it won't be great.

Some of my favorite cards in this set, in no particular order, are Rats, Counterfeit, Death Cart, Cultist and Mystic.  I need to play a bit more to order that list, but you can bank on me doing a Top 7 list o Dominion cards sometime in the future.

So that's some thoughts of each of the cards.  As you can tell, there are a lot of different cards here.  There are 35 different kingdom cards for the setup, as well as Madman and Mercenary which are only from Hermits and Urchins.  I've played a few games with all Dark Ages cards, and that seems to have the best mix of cards.  Mixing them with all the others can leave you without trashers, and then the odds of Ruins and Spoils drop drastically.  

Here's the big question, where does Dark Ages rate overall?  Well, I really do like it.  The set is not friendly to new players, trashing is a complicated mechanic as it is, and Dark Ages makes it more so with cards that do something when trashed.  Prosperity is still my favorite expansion, and Seaside is still my #2, but I think Dark Ages has slid into #3 for me.  It's still a bit early to tell, but it's done something no other expansion has done.  It's made me excited for Dominion again.  If you've been reading my blog, you've noticed that I haven't played a game of Dominion (in person) all year until the end of August.  Well, you're looking at the reason I broke it out.  These cards are interesting, there's tons of depth and options that I've yet to explore.

If I was telling you what expansion(s) to get for Dominion, I wouldn't say Dark Ages first.  But if you've played some, and you're looking for something a bit different, get Dark Ages.  It certainly has the best bang for your buck.  

Want to buy Dark Ages and support BoBG?

August 2012 Update

Welcome to September! This year is still flying by - 2/3 done now. Yikes!

August was a really slow month of games, until this last week.  I picked up Dominion Dark Ages, and I've played a bunch of games of that.  I also had a first, 2 tests of Star Runner in the same month.   I'm making small changes for me to implement, but ones that have good impact on the game.  It's still taking around 2 hours, which is ok.

What did I actually play in August?

• Dominion x16 (all in the last 4 days of the month)
• Tsuro x 4
• Clubs x2 (I'm testing this for Northstar Games, and having a fun time with it.
• Star Runner 2 tests
• Wits and Wagers Party x1
• Risk Legacy x1 (Game #5)

That's a grand total of 26 for August, though it looked bleak for a lot of the month since every play came after the 16th.  The running total for the year is 202, which is 2 games up on the quest for 300.  Now I just need to continuing averaging 25 plays per month to hit 300 by New Year's Eve.

I acquired no new games, but 2 new expansions - Dominion Dark Ages and 7 Wonders Cities.  Finally feels good to curtail the list.

My unplayed game count is still 20, and I'm officially calling the quest to play them all this year dead. Maybe in 2013.

Reviews!  August saw one review. Real life kept me busy, and I had very important things to do, like finding work.
I did get a review of Word on the Street in, which was voted for on the BoBG Facebook page, which you can find at http://www.facebook.com/bitsboardgames

Finally, the State of the 2012 Resolutions

• Play every game I won that I've yet to play at least once - 20 to go.
• Finish Risk Legacy (5/15)
• Log 300 game plays (202/300 - on pace)
• The rest were done in months gone by.

I'm still looking for more guest authors.  Really, anything you want to talk about.  If you want to talk with me, or just talk to the readers, let's make it happen.  Want to share a review here, great!  Want to talk about why Candyland is a great game, ok, I'll bite, love to hear what you have to say.  Basically, let me know what you'd like to talk about, and we can make that happen.

Thank-you all for reading the articles and commenting, as sporadic as they are, the comments keep me going.  You keep me energized and enthused to continue talking about games.

Top 7 Gaming Distractions

This is a list of infamy.  These are the things that take away from gaming time, make games take longer, and have people waiting for someone to take their turn.  If you find yourself doing things on this list, try to avoid them.

#7  Conversations
I like players talking during the game.  It's meant to be fun, and games are a nice way to catch up with people.  What can be a problem is someone talking to you while it's your turn.  It's different if you're discussing a trade or something related to the game, but asking me about work or life on my turn is only going to make the game longer.  A lot depends on the game.  If it's something fun and simple like Can't Stop, talk away.  If it's more complicated like Agricola, Cosmic Encounter, or something in that vein, then please, give me time to think when it's my turn.

#6  Smoking
Sadly, some of my fellow gamers are smokers.  This means that they need to go outside and have a smoke every so often.  That means that the game grinds to a halt, and then I don't want to be around them with the smell.  This may not be a problem for others, but for me, it's an issue.

#5  Game Pieces
Think Poker for this.  Players have chips to play with, and do so mindlessly at times. In other games, like Catan, you have a lot of pieces you aren't using yet.  This gives you time to build things and play with the pieces.  This becomes a problem if you lose track of the game.  Also, having spare dice can be problematic, since many players are prone to rolling dice constantly.  They're all mindless activities, or just ways to do something, but they can distract others.

#4  Children
One downside of playing games in someone's home is that their kids are around.  If the kids aren't gaming, then they're likely going to want something at some point during the gaming time.  One little thing isn't a problem, but when they want attention on themselves, it gets frustrating.  Games start taking a lot longer, and then eventually someone has to step away to play with the child.  The solution to this, turn your kids into gamers.

#3  Significant Others
This can be a significant other playing in the game, or not in the game.  For the ones playing in the game, often they will have glances or some other signal when something goes wrong.  There also tends to be an unwritten agreement where they don't mess with each other.  When only one is playing, the other is often around, bringing snacks, acting all lovey-dovey, etc.  It can be distracting for the other players with all of that going on.

#2  Food
Everyone needs to eat sometime, but not all the time.  Snacks are a pain because most leave some form of residue on your fingers, so you need to wash your hands before resuming play, which just takes a long time.  If everyone takes a dinner break, that's a good thing.  People will eat quickly and get back to the table.  The problem is the frequent trips to the kitchen to get something to eat.

#1 Cell phones
Specifically smart phones.  Sure, they can be helpful, there are all kinds of apps for dice rolling, coin flipping, and some for specific games to track something or help set-up or score at the end.  The reasons cell phones are #1 is the people who get on the internet and look up videos, or check e-mail, text everyone they know and so on.  What's worse is when they take a call in the middle of a game, and they make it a long call.  I've gotten phone calls in the middle of games, and they were important to take, but I try to keep them short.  Courtesy is the idea here, and if people have to remind you it's your turn for the 4th time this game, you may want to put the phone away.

Collection Building: Introduction Games

First impressions set the tone for a relationship of any kind.  First impressions in the board game realm are just as important as impressions with people.  Monopoly, Risk, Life, Trivial Pursuit, and games in that ilk are the standard of boardgames to most people.  The bar is yet relatively low, but many people have a comfort with these games, and that has shaped what games should be in their mind.

Because of these preconceived notions, I feel like every gamer needs to have a game that they can pull out to show people what a designer board game is.  Now, I run the risk of sounding really snobby here, so I'm doing my best to dance around that.  Ultimately, we play games to have fun.  If people have a good time playing Scrabble or Clue or Monopoly, that's great.  I've done my best to never discourage people playing games, no matter what the game.

The goal of introductory games is to show people that there is a whole world of possibilities in games that they may not know about, and those games are something they might enjoy.  As always, I'll provide a few examples, give my thoughts on them, and hopefully help you reach an idea of what you'd like to have in your collection.

Settlers of Catan (3-4 players in the base, 5-6 with expansion)
This was the game that started it all for me.  It was my first exposure to a game where everyone played the whole time, and had things to do even when it wasn't their turn.  If you're not familiar with Settlers, you are trying to build settlements and cities with resources that you get on dice rolls.  You'll rarely have everything you need, so you have to trade with other players.  The dice are a comforting part of the game to players.  The idea of trading is familiar, but the frequency is new to people.  A lot of people can really get in to Catan and have fun the first time.  Catan appeals best to the dice fans, and people who like Monopoly.

Carcassonne (2-5 players, 6 with Inns and Cathedrals expansion)

Carcassonne was my 3rd game, and my first exposure to meeples.  Just for the meeples themselves, the game is worth a look.  Carcassonne is a fairly basic game to teach players.  Drawing a tile, playing it to the board, and adding one of your tokens to the tile is fairly simple.  There are some choices, and a lot of unique arrangements you can make with the tiles.  Building a map is a fun thing for people of all ages to see, especially when it comes together. Can Carcassonne get a bit aggressive?  Sure, but that's true of most games.  Carcassonne is a great introduction to people who enjoy puzzles, and long term strategy.

Dominion (2-4 players, up to 6 with Intrigue)
I first played Dominion in 2009, and I was instantly hooked.  I bought it for my birthday, and it started a bit of an obsession.  I've always been a fan of card games, I dabbled in Star Trek CCG and Pokemon, so I liked seeing cards interact.  The idea of deckbuilding always intrigued me, but as a kid, I never had the money to have the best cards or a lot of the good cards, so I knew I'd never be great.  Dominion changes that idea.  It's deckbuilding, but the whole game is building your deck.  Everyone starts with the same deck of 10 cards - 3 victory points, and 7 money.  You have to use these cards to buy better cards, slowly making your deck bigger and better.  The base game comes with 25 unique kingdom cards, and you play with 10 in each game.  This gives a lot of variety and makes most games feel different than the last one you played.  If someone is a fan of a CCG like Magic the Gathering, or Yu-Gi-Oh! this is something for them to look into.  They might just appreciate not having to spend $100+ every few months to get new cards.

Ticket to Ride (2-5 players)
Ticket to Ride is the first game I ever bought for myself.  I played the German board (Marklin version) with my gaming family.  That's the most complicated version of TtR, but I liked the core.  I decided to get the US map, since it would involve the least amount of hunting for odd cities, and thus save time.  I'm so glad I bought TtR.  It's currently my 3rd most played game (if you count all the different maps, 4th if you don't) and I don't see that changing.  It's a game I can play with just about anyone.  On a player's turn they have 3 options, really only 2 that come up every time.  You either take cards or play cards.  The third option is taking more destination tickets, but that isn't something to do every turn.  The scoring is fantastically simple, you get points for trains on the board, you gain points for completed tickets, you lose points for tickets you don't complete.    It's hard to nail down a particular group of people that would be best suited for the game.  I don't want to cop-out and say everyone, so instead I think that Ticket is a great way to get people who used to play games as a kid, but lost interest due to a plethora of things, back into gaming.

Price Wars
No, not a game, just time to talk money.




Like all these categories, this comes down to the budget pick, and the pick you want to have around.
Carcassonne takes the budget pick, but if you're willing to go up a bit, get Dominion.
As for the game to have around, my winner is still Ticket to Ride.  It works for the widest range of people, and trains are just fun.  If you want to take a 2nd in any category, I'd encourage you to take it here and also get Dominion.

These 4 games are fairly common these days.  I think Target even carries at least Ticket and Catan, maybe more, haven't checked lately.  Since they are common, you can generally find someone who owns a copy of at least one of these and ask to try it out.  I like all 4 of these games, you can't go wrong with any of them.

Yo Dawg, It's "Word on the Street" - A Game Review

Word on the Street (The Hilarious Tug of Words)

• Designed by Jack Degnan
• Published by Out of the Box Publishing
• Players 2-8 players divided into 2 teams.
• Plays in around 20-30 minutes.

Overview

As the name suggests, this is a word game.  Yes, you would have been shocked if this had to do with math.  Players divide into teams of their choosing, and the game gets going.  The goal is to move letter tiles to your side of the board, and be the first team to collect 8 letters. 

Components

Word on the Street has a very nice tri-fold board, hefty letter tiles, an awesome card holder, good quality cards, and a fairly good timer.  The components aren't over the top awe inspiring, but they do look good.  The tiles aren't going to blow away or slide easily, so that's a good thing for playing outdoors.  The artwork on the letters is various roadsigns, which fits the theme nicely.  

Initial board set-up

Mechanics

When it's your team's turn, a card is flipped with a category.  It could be something as general as "a color" or "a type of fruit" or something a little more difficult  such as "a country in Africa."  All the categories are fairly easy, at least to the point that you can come up with an answer.  Once the card is flipped, your team has 30 seconds to come up with a word, and spell it. As you spell the word, you move each letter tile (there are no vowels, and the rare consonants, J,Q,X,Z, have been removed) towards your side one spot.  If you move a letter off the board, your team captures that tile and it can't be moved back onto the board.  There are various rules for challenging spelling and so forth, but I won't go into those.

  

Interaction

First card. My word was
"Basketball"

Since Word on the Street is designed as a social game, there is a fair bit of interaction.  You have to work with your teammates to come up with a good word.  Also, you have to evaluate the state of the tiles and figure out what you want to move closer to you and away from the other team.  You won't be able to stop them from scoring forever, but delaying them a turn or two can give you the advantage.

Theme

There is a road/street theme here.  The tiles do have the roadsigns as mentioned previously. I don't feel like it needed that theme to be successful, but I don't think that it hurts.  The theme is light, but it's there. 

Learning Curve

This is a very short learning curve.  I'd say 30 seconds to teach, about 2 minutes to learn from a rulebook. Players can easily get into coming up with a word to fit the category, and they'll learn how to come up with words that better reflect the state of the board as they play.

The board after moving
Bx2, Kx1, Lx2, Sx1, Tx1

Why I like Word on the Street

Any game I can get both of my parents to play is a winner in my book.  We were able to sit down and have a fun time playing this the day I bought it.  It's really easy to teach and quick to play.  On top of that, it makes you think, but it doesn't feel like a classroom.  

Why I don't like Word on the Street

Sometimes the timer feels way to short, and thus you feel rushed.  This can lead to a negative play experience.  

Replayability

There are a lot of different categories in the game, and by the time I get through them all, I'll be able to play and not really remember what was played earlier.  I'd say there's a lot of replayability here.  If you have the same group, just change up the teams.  With 4 people, there are 3 different team combinations.

Will you like it?

If you're a fan of word games such as Scabble or Boggle, Word on the Street is a nice variation on those.  The team aspect makes things more fun, and it's great for all ages.  

Overall

I give Word on the Street 1 Thumb Up out of a possible 2.  I like the game, I think it's a good word game.  There's a lot of thought and some laughing, which is always a good thing.  I can see playing this with just about anyone.  The downside, there isn't much strategy to the game, so it doesn't appeal to more serious gamers.  A lot depends on your vocabulary knowledge, and that can become a problem over repeated plays.

House Rules

In an effort to reduce the frustration of time, we decided to say if your team had started spelling the word before time ran out, you were fine.  This gives people a little more time to think, and it means the odds of the board getting messed up in a mad dash goes down considerably.  Afterall, it is about having fun, so play in a way that everyone has fun.

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