What I Played Today: November 7

Coup: Rebellion G54, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Sheriff of Nottingham, One Night Revolution, Concept, Drawful, Fibbage

I participated in an Extra Life event, kinda technically. I mean, it had an Extra Life page and everything, we just...didn't stream anything and also didn't do what we said we were going to do and nobody really showed up. BUT I donated some money, so I feel good about that.

It started with a game of Coup: Rebellion G54, which I have been referring to as Supercoup pretty exclusively that I had to look up the name. It's like regular Coup, only there are 25 different roles and you play with five of them, so each game is different! If you ignore how this makes it harder to set up and play because now the standard interaction is muddied by not knowing exactly how each card works, and also the cards cannot interact with each other, because, you know, that's be impossible. The game was perfectly okay, although I was out pretty early, and nobody wanted to play again. Oh well.

Then several games of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, which was supposed to be part of our "gaming olympics" event, which we quickly grew tired of and never really pursued once we realized that there were only four contenders and our equipment wasn't up to snuff. Meh, things happen. BUT I solidly won this round, mainly because I've played this game before. I've probably talked about it. Let me check. Oh I have! Man, I was a dull writer back then. Also, that Back To The Future Adventure Game was four years ago? Time flies.

After a bit of huff and fluff, we played Sheriff of Nottingham, which is a perfectly fine game, but also depends greatly upon the people you are around, which...I guess is always true? I don't know, it is hard to win when you have a reputation as being someone who can never be trusted, so I couldn't really get the necessary contraband through. But the game is not as bad as my initial impressions. I will give a solid "Good Game."

I forced everyone to play One Night Revolution, because I KNEW this group actually understood how One Night games worked, and I have officially decided that this game is, in fact, poorly tested bullshit. The fact that roles happen in random order means that far too frequently, the roles do not perform their function in the order necessary to ensure that the game isn't broken immediately. Did the Investigator go last and see an Informant? Welp, game over. Did the Thief go to an Informant who goes first? Welp, good job being pointless? Why specifically is the switch role make the game harder for the Informant? Because this game hates you, evil team. I can only imagine this game is good with seven or more people (like Resistance, if we are being honest), but since I apparently don't have the right kind of gameplay group, I will never know. I should really just throw this game away.

A few games of Concept while waiting for Thai food. We kept trying to challenge ourselves, and it really didn't go well, as we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get us to guess "My Precious". You know, from that Lord of the Rings movie! It was fun that one player kept suggesting stuff that would be absolutely ridiculous if was printed on a card as the clue. "That time when Gandalf told King Theodin that he was wrong." Why would that be printed on a card?!

And finished up with a couple of games of Drawful and Fibbage. I think I've finally got the sense of these games, and they continued to surprise me. I mean, I totally got the clue in which someone was asked to draw a completely innocuous thing that could be easily interpreted as something else, but I was not expecting the INTENTIONALLY MISSPELLED drawing prompt. That was some messed up shit.

What I Played Today: October 30

Code Words, Smash Up, Red7, One Night Revolution, Race for the Galaxy

I made it to game night! I should get a tiny trophy! I had a mild panic attack that everyone would hate me for not showing up for over a year. That didn't happen! I don't know what I would do if it did!

Anyway, there are a lot of people I DON'T know there, including a guy that apparently has a hook-up with game designers, so much so that he has prototype for a game that is similar to Spyfall, which is a game I have not played. There are two words; most player get one word, one player gets the other. All players writes down a related word to the word they have, and then they must try to figure out who is the sole recipient of the other word, OR if you are that person, you try to figure out what the other word is. Whoever does the best gets points. There are a bunch of other rules. The concept is fine; the execution is clearly in need of work, thus, prototype. I got into a tiny fight with a guy who was like, "Well, why wouldn't everyone just be an asshole to the guy who is winning?" because the thought of being a dick NEVER OCCURRED TO ME. I guess I am just not tooled that way.

Then a game of Red 7, which went fine, everyone wasn't too dumb about it. This game has a weird level of entry. I don't know, it's fine, but it's unusually difficult to teach.

A game of Smash Up! Which is now officially out of control! The game was already kind of difficult to handle when there WEREN'T 40 goddamn factions. We played a game, slowly, and eventually it got to the point where someone was clearly going to win and I tried everything in my power to stop it, but I couldn't, because ninjas. The end.

I also tried to play One Night Revolution, which I might just fucking stop doing, because it has gone poorly every single goddamn time I've tried. This time it was five players, and I should have known immediately this was a bad idea, because I was playing with the same goddamn player who ruined One Night Werewolf with this group for this, and this other player who just seems....slow? Like, I don't want to be an ableist jerk, but...this guy takes a while to understand some concepts. And of course these two problem players break the game when one views the other and fingers him as a baddie, game over, pack up your cards, throw the game in the fucking garbage.

I admit that I kinda lost my shit here. I had reached a breaking point in which I was very frustrated that I could not get an even decent experience with this ten-minute game, and I said some frankly dickish things to people who did not deserve it, both when I was cleaning up and just now. I am very sorry that I feel this way, but I also feel that it is important to admit and display that I do, in fact, have this feelings, and while I am in no way proud, I am definitely a real human being who feels a bit of pride from this dumb game that I paid money for. I paid for this thing, and I want to play a single good game of it. I'm sorry for my stupid foolish pride.

BUT enough for that. How about a game of Race to the Galaxy? This game is pretty good. I got stuck on a military track, and couldn't get the planets I needed. It happens! I have no hard feelings about it. I could CARE LESS about Race for the Galaxy, because I've gotten my money's worth from that one copy I bought three or four years ago. Apparently they changed the Gambling World at some point. Who knew?

But yeah, kind of excited to going back to this again, TWO weeks from now, because the game center is closed for bullshit next week.

What I Played Today: October 21

Mysterium, Tiny Epic Galaxies, One Night Revolution, The Grizzled

I decided that I'm going to put game night back into my weekly rotation. It has been far too long and I am missing a lot of socialization and frankly it behooves me to leave the house, goddamnit. I can get up and moving every Wednesday! It's one night a week!

So I went to the Fantasy Flight Game Center. I'm not going to lie; this facility is probably the best facility within 100 miles, there are plenty of tables, there are always a ton of people in there (with various degrees of friendliness), and their games library is insanely extensive (and, if I'm not, now completely free of charge). Plus, you can order food if you don't mind paying like 20% more than normal!

After fifteen minutes of being a shy idiot, I decided that I would just do a thing! So I walked up to someone I kind of know, and said, "Hey, we kind of know each other, let's actually play some games." So I sat down and played Mysterium, which I've heard a lot of good things about! It's...Dixit! It's slightly different Dixit! The ghost tries to get each player to guess which card is assigned to them based on vague pictures, and after a few rounds, everyone has to guess which set of pictures is the true murder victim. It's interesting! I would actually love to take a turn as the ghost.

Then I played Tiny Epic Galaxies, which is a perfectly serviceable game! I like it, although it has a weird arc, and the turns tend to take a little longer than I like. Plus...there's a weird exploit that if you have enough rockets circling a culture planet, it is really easy to max out your culture by following actions. But whatever, I made a huge push to try to end the game in my last turn, which one of my opponents could have blocked but didn't, but because I did, it gave time to give my opponent to recover and beat me. Oh well.

I played a couple games of 3-player One Night Revolution, and it....isn't good. Like, with One Night Werewolf, at least there are various roles that can be in and out of the game, but here, the only mystery is your alignment, and that can end with literally every player being a bad guy (which happened), or one informant who has it easy when the sole switcher changes his alignment with someone else. I don't know, it just doesn't not work at three players, which makes me think they didn't think this all the way through, and maybe this game is garbage? I don't know...I need to try it with a group who actually know how to play hidden role games and see if this is any good at all.

Then I played a coop game, The Grizzled, which is about a group of World War I soldiers who just...go through some real bullshit. Each turn, you need to play cards from your hand without playing three of the same type of symbol or becoming too injured. You can quit any time, but the more cards you still have in your hand, the worse it is for you, as it increases the number of cards you need to get through, and waste too much time and you lose anyway. It's interesting, although there's just enough fuzz here to make it too complicated for a party crowd. It's pretty though, I will give this game pretty. Looks like a Tintin comic.

What I Played Today: October 18

Between Two Cities, Oltre Mare, Istabul, One Night Revolution, Pairs, Qwixx

I went to go play board games! Oh man it felt so good to finally just go to a place and play board games. I don't know why I've been putting it off for so long. Oh, wait, I know, because my interests in board games don't intersect that well with most gaming communities, which we will soon see!

So I step in and immediately get pulled to play a hot new game, Between Two Cities, in which you build a couple of cities, one with the player on your left, one with the player on your right. You choose two tiles from a hand, and then put one in each city, and pass the hand. There are six types of buildings (technically 9, I guess), and they all score differently, depending on where they are put. One building scores in rows, one in clusters, one just cares about variety, one wants to be the most in a city, etc. After seven turns (one of which involves placing a double-sized piece), you have two little cities, and you score each one. Your final score is the score of the lower-value city.

We played a couple of games, and I did alright, never win but never completely failing the concept. Anyway, cool idea, well done, ten points.

Then a game I kinda didn't like, Oltre Mare, which is a set collection game that also includes a map with some boats on it for some reason. Seriously, all you care about is your little pile of cards, I have no idea why there is a board here, except to occasionally gain a few random bonuses. I didn't do great, and I kinda dislike how this game plays, so whatever!

I volunteered to teach Istabul, which I had not played before, but I've read the rules for once, and this is a skill I have. Well, mostly have, as I forgot two rules until the game had started and misrepresented one ability in such a way that people got mad. I'm sorry I'm not perfect, strangers. I am no Balki. Anyway, Istabul is fun, a game with a lot of things going on, several paths to victory (do you concentrate on money, goods, or upgrades?), and an interesting move mechanic. Set-up is kind of a complete bear, but once you get trucking the extremely busy board isn't that archaic. Good luck winning though, I completely dang lost this one.

Then I pulled out MY games, that I wanted to play, and everyone HATED them. Like, there were literally people walking up to my table, shouting "NEVER AGAIN" and leaving, as I had personally said something mean about their mom. Even the people who agreed to play did not quite grasp what was happening and it all ended unceremoniously, with all heads hung.

So first was One Night Revolution, which I like! It's an interesting direction to take this concept, and the fact that your role power is separate from allegiance is kinda neat, as you can use that to figure out if someone claiming to be the signaller is or is not a bad guy. It's cool! Too bad nobody understood how to play! At one point someone clearly broke a rule, and I didn't end the game right there like I should have, and at another someone just straight up said, "Oh, I'm a bad guy." So...not the right game for this crowd.

Then Pairs, which is a simple party game, too simple, in fact, as we played a few quick rounds and everyone believed that it was squirrel farts. Squirrel Farts!

So realizing that I guess I'm the worst, I played this game that I didn't like, Qwixx, a dice rolling game in which you mark off your score on a shit of paper like a common Yahtzee man. Except the score is just archaic enough to not be understandable with a dozen explanations, so I guess THAT is the fun part. Hearing this one example that I score a 6 before a 7 four or five times in a row.

All jokes aside, I did have fun. It was good to play board games, I should make it a point to do this more often, as I have all these games in my house and more arriving in the mail like every day! Why did I buy so many board games six to nine months ago?!