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: June 22

Race for the Galaxy, Cosmic Encounter, Bohnanza

WELL we were supposed to have a party today with drinking and video games and all sorts of fun but there was a monsoon somehow so we were without power all day. I was so excited about the party, you guys...

Anyway, instead I went to a place where I knew there was power and played some board games. I lost a game of Race for the Galaxy by a jillion points. Okay, not so drastic, but I wasn't paying attention to what someone on the other side of the table was up to and he was taking all the cards I needed, and as his last action, he decided to steal one of my planets and deny me a fifth of my points. I wasn't happy. But it didn't matter, because I would have been clearly in last even if he hadn't done that.

Then a game of Cosmic Encounter which I guess I won, but I got bored with it quickly, as I do with most games of Cosmic Encounter, because it starts to just stagger on after mid-game. Someone was playing the Parasite, which meant they could get points whenever they wanted to, and another was playing the Will, which broke the way the game happened, and meh, screw this game.

Then another damn game of Bohnanza, went about as well as last time. I did buy a third field this time, but it didn't help.

What I Played Today: March 29

Love Letter, Race for the Galaxy, Legends of Andor, Guillotine, A Fool's Fortune

They have finally gotten around to reprinted Love Letter, and I picked up a copy. Then I played a few rounds with some people who did not get the game and did not like it. Come on guys, it's filler. It's not supposed to be complicated.

Then a game of Race for the Galaxy, where I went full military and came in fourth, even though I had the most prestige and three of the 8+ military strength planets, which are worth a ton of points. I just don't know where I went wrong. Well, I didn't get the 6 cost technology that would have actually taken advantage of my insane military, so that might have been. Stupid Race.

Then we tried Legends of Andor, which is interesting! It has this odd time mechanic and no rulebook for some reason, but a lot of fun little pieces. There is this super weird part where if you move yourself, you can only move one space per hour, but if you move an ally, you can move up to four spaces in an hour. I guess it can be used to drive player interaction... Anyway, it became clear that we needed to fight this really strong super boss, and so we all got together and tried to beat the crap out of it, and we just had a series of really bad rolls and it didn't happen, and now everyone hates the game. Well, I don't hate the game, but apparently that doesn't matter.

A quick filler game of Guillotine, in which all four players got the exact number of points. It was...uncanny. I don't even know how that works.

Also finally got to try out A Fool's Fortune, which is a trick taking with a lot of weird rules and I don't know how to explain it to anyone. Apparently you make sets. I got a hand of all characters to start though, so I didn't start well, and it didn't end well for me. But I get the game now, seems like a fun two-player.

What I Played Today: January 18

Ugh, Race for the Galaxy, Beowulf

At the game store, played some games. Hurray games. First Ugh, as it was intended to be played. Not bad, not great. It's a push your luck game, sure enough.

Then a game of Race for the Galaxy, with the new draft option. It is interesting, allows me to see all the cards available, and man this third expansion sure adds a bunch of insanity. I managed to win by exploiting the prestige system, and using a bunch of cards that gave me extra points based on how much prestige I had, making the eight or nine prestige I accumulated worth 3 points a piece. That's an easy way to sail to a win.

Beowulf is a tilelaying game that the designers went out of their way to make sure it ruined friendships. There is a tile in the game that will completely devastate a player's score, and it was aimed at me, and it really just peeved me off. Sure, the person who owned the game lessened the effect of the tile via fiat, but man, when I thought it was full strength? I managed to do rather well in the last round, but I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, screw Beowulf. They didn't even have naked Angelina Jolie to make it better.

What I Played Today: January 4

Lemonade Stand, Race for the Galaxy, Black Gold, Cribbage

Game store shenanigans, there was not enough space in the one we usually went to, so we had to go another one, and people were yelling, and I don't know. I think a game of Lemonade Stand was played. This game has really run its course.

At the other store, a game of Race for the Galaxy, with the newer expansions that I haven't tried yet. They added a crapton of new and confusing rules, including a way to take over other people's planets that is confusing since only seven cards in the game even let you try it...whatever. Anyway, I lost. It's good that the game is completely and utterly perplexing again.

Also Black Gold, which is a game that exists. I am not sure how I feel about auction games. They can be vicious, and this one is no different. Plus the board part is a little boring. I don't know, Black Gold.

Then I played Cribbage for some reason. Seemed like an okay idea at the time! Better that starting a game of Chaos in the Old World at 10:30. I had forgotten how to play this, but I picked it up pretty quickly, and ended up winning somehow. For a game with a small number of choices, there is a bit of strategy in this. Mainly, having a five is pretty good. Be happy when you get a five.

What I Played Today: December 29

Race for the Galaxy, Glory to Rome, Battlestar Galactica, Guild Wars 2

Some dudes wanted to play some board games, and I said sure. There were only three of us, but a couple of guys who are apparently huge in the Twilight Imperium scene joined us for some games. First a game of Race for the Galaxy, which went fine, I got second, I managed to nail some good achievements. I really don't understand why my group in the Bay Area never wanted to use the achievements, they really help drive some strategies.

Also got to crack open the new set of Glory to Rome that I acquired. Sure, I already owned the game. After some slow explanation, the game started, and I must admit, this game is weird. It has a very obvious early-mid-late cycle to it, in which everyone is on even ground early on and suddenly everything sucks later, in which a lot of actions become invalidated later on that there is somehow little interaction at the end of the game. I managed to tie for last after an obvious leader kind of forced us to end the game before he got too far ahead. But....I like it. It's a little complex, and it would really work better as a computer game because the playmat just doesn't work, but I think I like it.

Then a game of BSG suddenly! With four people, which the worst idea! We were doing alright at the beginning, as expected, with a huge dump of invasions early on, but a Cylon admiral who managed to trick me completely trusting him kind of tanked us, as we got stuck with a huge invasion force that we couldn't combat and a whole ton of civilian ships blew up in a single turn. And...of course, I realized ten minutes later that we made a critical mistake and I should have seen it. But it was fun, at least.

And then I really fell into the Guild Wars 2 rabbit hole. I played for HOURS. HOURS! I went to the Charr homeland and fought a bunch of Ascalon ghosts, which made me feel super shitty, because I liked those guys, but I managed to march through the zone like a boss, and I am really just tunneling through the levels. I respect the decision to de-level you to an appropriate level based on where you are standing, because it makes the game constantly challenging, and really recreates the sense of vanquishing that I enjoy from Guild Wars. Sure, I still have a number of skills based on my overall level, which makes it slightly easier, but still, challenging. And frankly, in some games, I love doing everything.

What I Played Today: December 18

Race for the Galaxy, Star Wars: The Card Game, Legacy: Gears of Time

I played a game of Race for the Galaxy with the first expansion. Someone I know has decided to start buying the expansions, which is good because that means I don't have to do it. It went fine, finally got to play with the objectives, which are lackluster at best!

And the Star Wars: The Card Game is finally out, and I am excited. I tricked someone into playing it, and managed to get throughly wrecked, because Luke Skywalker. Oh jeez Luke Skywalker, he is a really good card. Does two damage to absolutely anyone he wants, and untaps on his opponent's turn. So I got wrecked, but having played the game, I like it a lot now. Give me more cards, let me make decks!

Also played a game about time travel, so I was instantly skeptical, but mainly the game seems to be about going back in time and "establishing" certain technologies, and getting points for that. It's actually a pretty good resource management game, in which the high scoring card have a lot of prerequisites to score, but to incentivize other players to help, they get points if they assist you. I don't know, I ended up liking it. And it's local!

What I Played Today: November 28

San Juan, Race for the Galaxy, Alcatraz

Game store, played San Juan because I heard it was good. Turns out it's good because it is pretty much Race for the Galaxy, only slightly different. You choose roles, you build stuff into your tableau, etc. The only real difference is there's no victory points, so trading works different, but yeah. Really really similar.

So we played a game of Race for the Galaxy as well. It was pretty good.

Then forced people to play Alcatraz. Alcatraz is kind of a cooperative game, only someone will lose, based on how things go. You go around collecting goods and completing missions, although each turn someone is the scapegoat, who can't complete missions and can really tank them if he feels like it. I don't know, it's a weird game, and it feels like it will hurt a lot of feelings. We had a point where it was someone's "turn" to be the scapegoat, and he scuttled one of the missions we wanted to achieve. I ended up on the winning team even though I was the scapegoat at the time because I had the needed materials, but...it's needlessly vicious for no reason.

What I Played Today: November 27

Race for the Galaxy, Black Gold, Harvest Moon: A New Beginning

There was a clamor for Race for the Galaxy, which is cool I guess, so we played it a bit. Man, this game has/had a lot of potential. It feels like such an interesting piece that is just so hard to describe because everything on the cards looks bananas. So many times did people say, "I am not sure what I'm doing," and I ended up winning but going heavy-military planets and having a few good 6-cost developments.

Then Black Gold, which is an oil game with some auction elements. You drive your truck around to survey rigs, and build up your transport network, and so on. It's was okay; somehow we had this weird divide, where two players were doing really well and two players weren't, and it suddenly became a competition between them instead of between everyone. It just depends how screwed you get trying to sell your oil; if you can't sell it, then you just don't make any money. We had two players who just couldn't build more oil derricks for half of the game. I ended up in second place by a dollar because I misbid a couple of auctions, but I'm not sure how I feel about some of the choices and just how unlucky you can get based on placement.

I also made it to Fall in Harvest Moon. I keep trucking, I have a beehive now, and a paddy, and am spending every day just hoping that I find a brick or a goddamn chamomile in the wilderness. I kinda dislike that so much of the game is gated behind these random objects that I wouldn't even know the significance of when I first run into them in the spring. How was I supposed to know I needed to hang on to these honeycombs? Cheat?

(The answer is, in fact, cheat. I just found out one thing that I need won't be available until next spring. I almost want to start over, but that's kind of a horrible idea.)

What I Played Today: July 27

Sentinels of the Multiverse, Descent, Race for the Galaxy, D-Day Dice

The Source! It is a fun place for games. I got there early, because I always do, and some people who don't seem to have friends but play in a public place anyway (?) were setting up Sentinels of the Multiverse for two players. I told them it was impossible, so I joined them and easily killed Baron Blade. That guy is a pushover. One thing I missed the first time I fought him is when he turns, you pull out all of his mobile defense platforms, but you throw them in the trash instead of into play, which makes them useless. I don't get the point of this. But the game went well.

Then some people I knew showed up and I thought I would get to play Descent (second edition) with them. But I guess not, because the table was full. But since I had also bought the game, I set it up and played with four other people. I had a lot of misgivings about the game, about all the changes made and how little seems to be included with the game. But after playing, I think it works. The first mission is not the grandest, but the way the game works in general, it feels fun, and that's the important part. Now I just need to check out the other quests.

There was some screwing around, I don't remember if I played anything, but I did play a game of Race for the Galaxy, which I lost, like usual. I like this game, I just don't like how hard it thinks it needs to be. The iconography is so hard to describe to other people that it makes it difficult to get onto the table. But it's fast and easy and interesting. Everyone go play this dumb game.

Then I cracked my copy of D-Day Dice, which I bought that day because it was available and I have no impulse control. I was super dubious about this game as a multiplayer game, since it started as a pretty focused solo game and adding more people could only make it worse, and I was wrong! The game is actually really fun with multiple people, as you work together to keep each other alive, plan your route, determine who gets what items, it's a cool team feel. One thing we didn't do right is the trading rules, as I misread one of the specialists, so we ended up trading stuff we couldn't, but other than that...pretty fun! The tutorials were kinda dumb as heck though, as they eased us into the game a little too much. I shouldn't have to wait for the third game to get the benefits I really need, game. But enjoyable.

What I Played Today: April 15

Ultimate Werewolf, Agricola, Race for the Galaxy, Guild Wars

I took a risk and drove to Pleasanton to hang out with a new game group today! It went alright, although the meeting place was a bit worrisome. The group met at the library, and had reserved a single table in a room that could fit, at most, 10 people. It was not ideal. But the games were fun, even though I played exceptionally poorly.

First a game of Werewolf, which I had not realized I would really like! The game is super simple, and is not at all good with a bunch of people who do not know each other at all, but I quite liked it. The set we were using was Ultimate Werewolf, which comes with dozens of different roles, and the game is balanced by each role having a different numerical value. The moderator adds up all the cards you to equal about zero, and the game is supposedly balanced. Very neat idea, which convinced me to buy this game that I will probably never play again.

But anyway, the games of Werewolf. I lost both times. Me personally, because it was my actions alone that led to the villagers getting eaten alive. Both times because I was mildly prejudice against a guy who was making magic missile jokes. The first time, I singled him out because he looked shifty, but he was just a villager just making small talk, and it basically boiled down to having no chance. The second time, we managed to snare a werewolf immediately, the vote going four to three, with myself, the werewolf, and a third guy voting not to execute. Now, I'm playing a Diseased, which will cripple the Werewolf if I get eaten, so I decide being as agressive as possible will draw the remaining wolf's ire if anything. So, with some ironclad logic, I saw that we should totally hang the other guy who voted to keep the known werewolf alive. Everyone agrees! But it turns out he wasn't a werewolf, he was a secondary bad guy. Well, at least he's out of the way, and hopefully I get eaten so the villagers have a chance. NOPE. Some random other guy gets eaten, and so know its down to me and two others, one who is a werewolf, one who is a seer, and it's my vote. And...I'm a dick and don't trust the bigger nerd, even though both of their arguments were equally weak. So, we lose again. Meh, I'm over it, but I want to read the crap out of this booklet.

Then I played Agricola, and I lost pretty badly! It's been a while since I played with four people, and I just always seemed to have one resource too few to really charge ahead. It also didn't help that I wasted time playing a card that gave me no benefit and instead helped everyone else on the table. Plus I just spent a lot of time not bothering to get a food engine up, so I was just always struggling. It also probably didn't help that my minor improvements were crap, so I had no reason to take start player, and therefore was always going last.

Then in Race for the Galaxy, I was all set to charge straight ahead with a military strategy, only for an opponent to get all the cards I needed to make it really succeed. I didn't have enough to swing it back around, and always seemed to trash a card I could have really used a turn before I realized I could use it. The fact that I also wasted my last two turns hoping someone would perform a specific action when there was no reason for them to...yeah, I was just the worst today.

So I went home and screwed around on Guild Wars. It went pretty well, actually. Played some random arenas, and in the first time in my entire six years of owning this game, I finally got my first gladiator point. Oh, I only got the one, and I can't believe it really took me this long to finally get that, considering how easy it should have been to get (you just have to win two fights in a row. Just two.), but hey, I got it! I also joined a guild, the Evenfeather Family, and found a team that seems to work pretty well in six-member areas, so I'll be tackling that goddamn final Kryta war mission once more. 

What I Played Today: May 25

FITS, Race to the Galaxy, Citadels

Game night at the store, and got to try a new game and play another that I don’t get to play enough. I tried FITS, which got a bid for Game of the Year in Germany but lost, obviously, to Dominion. It uses a mechanic fairly similar to Tetris, in which you drop shapes into a small space and try to make lines. For each space you leave open, you lose a point. There are further rounds in which you can only score points for leaving certain spaces open, and it’s actually a bit harder than I thought it would be. An interesting puzzle game I lost...very badly.

I also got to play a large game of Race to the Galaxy, which was interesting. I got some early mining cards, so I tried to play a mining heavy tableau, but couldn’t get it moving fast enough and didn’t get the cards I really wanted until it was too late in the game. But I do remember like this game, it has a lot of options and choices involved, and while it’s tough to change strategies midstream, I like playing it.

A game of Citadels happened afterwards, and I did terribly, only being able to build a couple of buildings, but what buildings. I got a goofy card in play that required people to say “Thanks, your excellency” whenever I called their names as King, which I caught one player in a couple of times. I let it pass the second time because he didn’t seem to enjoy the rule. I also had a card that gave points for each card in my hand, so I spent the last couple of rounds making sure I had as many cards as possible. It didn’t help, but I got close considering how few buildings I had.

What I Played Today: February 21

Shadow Complex, Race for the Galaxy, Dominion, Rock Band

I can’t shake the siren call of Shadow Complex. I keep crawling back, back to jumping around in dark caverns and shooting terrorists, trying to inch my way up to the coveted 100% item collection, which I can’t even get close to because I keep getting shot. I take way too much damage per bullet at the hardcore stage, so spending more than two seconds in the path of a projectile will kill me outright. But I keep playing, because it’s easy to get to, and fun to attempt. I’m sure the further I go, the easier it’ll get, and hopefully I can get my fix soon so I can stop playing.

I also played some games over at a friend’s tonight. I finally got Race to the Galaxy on the table. It’s a quick card management game, with lots of archaic symbols and confusing gameplay, but once you know how to play, I find it very fun, trying to get the right card and ride off the actions you’re sure the other players are going to use to get the right combinations in your tableau. My friend caught onto a strategy that netted him an easy number of VP every 2 turns, and I couldn’t catch up. He wasn’t impressed, but I’m glad that I finally cracked the box open this time.

We also played three or so games of Dominion, using cards from the Seaside expansion. Dominion is easily one of the easiest and most enjoyable games that’s come out in a while, and each expansion adds another layer. Seaside offers these strangely powerful cards that stay in play from turn to turn, as well as some of the weakest cards in the game, in my opinion. It makes an interesting dynamics when it comes to the random games, because you get a set of vicious attacks, or the biggest waste of space in your deck. One card I’m particularly in love with, Lookout, doesn’t actually do what I want it to do whenever I use it. It requires me to trash a card that I can’t see beforehand, which means there’s a fair chance that I’m forced to get rid of something I wanted. It worked well tonight, but I know the card is just a trap waiting to happen.

We switched to play some Rock Band for a while, enjoying some tunes and playing some songs. My fingers have apparently stiffened or something, because I had some trouble playing tonight. I have troubles with playing repetitive short patterns that don’t change notes around, which I know about. I’m better at playing quickly changing sections that jump over the fretboard. I did have a magical moment where I played a good measure of 1/16th notes perfectly, which completely shocked me that I said “wow!” It was neat. I also was made aware of a band that I had heard before I realized I liked, which is one of the best things about these games; the fact that they help you to appreciate music you wouldn’t have found otherwise.