What I Played Today: February 16

Skyline 3000, Dungeon Lords, Contact

Another night at the game shop, and another night of new gaming. Someone was showing off a game called Skyline 3000, which is about building skyscrapers and placing them on the field. It’s simple, but a bit complex to tell what the proper strategy is the first time around. The most interesting part is at the end of each round, you choose which cards you take next, so you can determine what you’re going to do on your next turn and whether to concentrate on buildings or getting the special buildings. There’s also a way to piggyback off someone else’s built up locations, which is neat, and actually won the game for me, when I assumed I was going to lose because I couldn’t get huge skyscrapers up.

After that interesting experience, most people went home as often happens and we played through a good 7/8 of a game of Dungeon Lords with some latecomers before the place was due to shut down. We had to explain so much, and it became obvious that this is a complicated game. The rule book is 24 pages of dense, and the fact that a lot of the info is hidden behind the comedic nature and the “rulebook as entertainment” aspect makes it hard to teach. It took a good 30 minutes before we could get our feet on the ground, and I really appreciate the other players being so understanding, because I realize I’m not exactly the best at explaining rules. It’s a skill I really need to work on, and I’m glad that board gamers are so cool, because from I’ve seen, video gamers are a different breed entirely. They expect you to know what you’re doing from the second you hit the ground, and if you don’t, you’re a noob. That’s mostly why I never go online, because I’m expected to know so much information, and yet there isn’t a single place where people are willing to give out that information. I would really love a Boardgamegeek for video games...but it would almost evitably implode underneath the weight of the comments.

Anyway, after quickly packing up, I got home to find that my latest Gamefly envelopes were in, and decided to take a look at one of the games I got, the DS roleplaying game called Contact. One thing I noticed immediately was that Grasshopper was behind this, a fact that I had not known about but gets me both excited...and hesitant, especially after I started playing. So far I’ve been wandering around punching bugs and having some professor whose character design does not in any way match that of the main character talk to me, ME!, personally, which I know is the game's gimmick, but is still a little unsettling. I’ll still need more time with it.