I think the issue is that people are used to mainstream Amerogames, which are all roll-dice-move-mice, take hours and hours, and are largely luck-driven. Games people know (like Risk and Monopoly) exist more to burn time than to entertain. If you show someone that something like Small World is intensely skill-based and takes 30 minutes, you can win them over.
Had my first game of Eclipse the other night. Six players, four hours. I won by two victory points. It's probably the best board game I've ever played.
I think it's not necessarily time, it's having the time to play board games at the same exact time.
Finding time together to play board games with friends is not a problem in my household.
Right so this supports the isolated rhythms hypothesis I think. Everybody has vastly different schedules where once upon a time it was mostly 9-5 (or 6-6 or whatever crazy salt mine schedule) and people's lives were generally more formulaic.
I have 5 different game groups I can pop into for a game night, 4 of which meet weekly, plus many other "once or twice a year" big weekend events, cons, etc. There are definitely PLENTY of people with time to play board games.
Unfortunately I myself am not able to participate in, I'd say, 90% of these opportunities, but that is because of the other life choices I have made for myself. I do still get to play plenty of games though, considering the quantity I am taking 10% of.
And yes, I am happy with those life choices. Someday I may quit out on my extracurricular responsibilities and have a stretch where I go to game nights 3 times a week, but that's just not in the cards right now.
Haha yeah that is part of it. I am surprised at the amount of gaming I've been able to do with her around though. If anything, she's a convenient excuse to make people come to my house instead of having to go out, since she's in bed by 7:30-8PM.
I remember Rym and/or Scott saying they prefer Vinci, but I am still a Small World lover. Prepare to have fun.
Ro, how have you been liking Small World Realms? Get a chance to play it at all? My copy just came in, and I'm looking forward to playing more than just the one scenario I tried at DexCon.
No, but I am definitely going to play it at PAX. I've seen the box around, but I never thought much of it. Now I realize it is a Spiel des Jahres winner by the Dominion guy.
We play it once in a while in my group. It's not high enough on my list to buy, but it's a solid game. The main thing that keeps it interesting is that the victory conditions are different every time, so you have to go into each game with a completely different mindset, even though the options you have are very simplistic and limited.
Last night I had a big board game night thing, best one yet. Having these once a month has been interesting. I did have to learn a few things over time. One thing that helped last night is I tried to keep games down to 3 or 4 players maximum, which helps timing, activity, and seems to have made things a bit smoother. The problem I've now found is that one of my friends hammered on his new zombie game three times which sort of tied people up (and often the same people) and that's not what I'm trying to do.
Later on there was also a slight nuisance when one guy brought out Cards Against Humanity and played it with 8 people and by his own houserules (winner of each hand gets to be the questioner for the next one, so the game focuses on just a few players with similar senses of humor) and he also played straight through the whole deck rather than having an ending, which lead to the game bogging down heavily eventually, and it took way too long even if it was sometimes funny, so we didn't get any more games done after he brought that out.
I've been keeping an eye on Kingdom Builder since it was announced. Had plenty of buzz, but the major reason I haven't played it is kind of a crappy one. Most companies send review copies over. Queen Games has zero interaction with the media. If I was going to play it, I'd have to shell out money for a copy (can't justify that when I'm swamped with other great stuff) or happen to play it at a con or game night where someone else brought it. Haven't been lucky enough for the latter to happen yet.
I meet up with a group on Saturday in the city, and I got dismantled in Innovation due to the opponent abusing the education card, in the Middle with 7 Wonders with an all economic building build, and killed it in Ticket to Ride Europe with being able to not show where I was going until it was too late. Also I know how to maximize the trains: buy Ticket to Ride Europe and then get the maps for everything else, since that version has the pieces to be used in each other game.
I will try Vassal one day but I'm not brave enough to sit down and figure it out yet. I've learned how to use BrettSpielWelt, which was rather clunky but worth it to play lots of Dominion. Now I play that on Isotropic though, so my BSW account has been a bit dormant. They have plenty of other good games though.
THE Dune board game. $150.00 at my local game store.
It is listed as "Pre-Sorted", which means it is pre-played, but then it was repackaged and shrink-wrapped by the store, guaranteed to have all the pieces and be in good condition.
And it is yours for the $150 plus applicable shipping. Speak now because it will likely be gone in a matter of days.
Played Ankh-Morpork last night. Not bad. Heavily dependent on the cards you draw, and random events can really screw you up - but it's also good at getting everybody close to victory and turning the game into a mad scramble.
I'm definitely getting better at eclipse. Just not playing enough for my liking. And the knowledge gap with the guys I play with needs to get narrowed a bit. There is also a problem in that I think that generally people don't understand just how different the races are. One guy played orion for his first alien ever... and despite me telling hime he shouldn't, he traded 12 materials for 3 money to get just one more action in a turn. Then later on built a single monolith. And the mechanema player was gambling two interceptors with positron computers against aliens, which despite being viable, is not what I would consider a good risk. I told him as much specifically, but he still did it twice... once successfully and once not.
I'm trying to learn 'em. But it's just sad sometimes.
Comments
Finding time together to play board games with friends is not a problem in my household.
Had my first game of Eclipse the other night. Six players, four hours. I won by two victory points. It's probably the best board game I've ever played.
WUB - maybe I'm indoctrinated by I actually enjoy classic Monopoly. :-)
I think.
Unfortunately I myself am not able to participate in, I'd say, 90% of these opportunities, but that is because of the other life choices I have made for myself. I do still get to play plenty of games though, considering the quantity I am taking 10% of.
And yes, I am happy with those life choices. Someday I may quit out on my extracurricular responsibilities and have a stretch where I go to game nights 3 times a week, but that's just not in the cards right now.
Ro, how have you been liking Small World Realms? Get a chance to play it at all? My copy just came in, and I'm looking forward to playing more than just the one scenario I tried at DexCon.
Later on there was also a slight nuisance when one guy brought out Cards Against Humanity and played it with 8 people and by his own houserules (winner of each hand gets to be the questioner for the next one, so the game focuses on just a few players with similar senses of humor) and he also played straight through the whole deck rather than having an ending, which lead to the game bogging down heavily eventually, and it took way too long even if it was sometimes funny, so we didn't get any more games done after he brought that out.
THE Dune board game. $150.00 at my local game store.
It is listed as "Pre-Sorted", which means it is pre-played, but then it was repackaged and shrink-wrapped by the store, guaranteed to have all the pieces and be in good condition.
And it is yours for the $150 plus applicable shipping. Speak now because it will likely be gone in a matter of days.
Eclipse is still my favorite board game.
I'm trying to learn 'em. But it's just sad sometimes.