I have sometimes wondered if I have some kind of weird obsession with Heinrich Grumpler’s Ablaze, which is actually a thematically linked set of three games that use the same components. If you count games I’ve played only once, I have played a lot of different games over the years. And, on multiple occasions, I’ve revisited Ablaze for binge plays, despite thinking there are more deserving games for that honor.
Friday, October 30, 2020
New assessment: Ablaze works great for casual gaming
Thursday, October 29, 2020
This is how the magic school genre got started?!
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Why does scary stuff work?
It’s almost Halloween. Our six-year-old has been obsessing about Halloween since August. So I feel like I should write about ghost and horror stories/movies/authors/board games/RPGs. But man, where to start? I mean, what can I write about Edgar Allen Poe that hasn’t already been written?
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
I find out Clock Golf is a thing
I just discovered that there is a thing called Clock Golf. It was a 19th century lawn game. I found out it existed because George MacDonald Fraser mentioned it in passing but apparently Agatha Christie and Wodehouse mention it as well, if Wikipedia is to be believed.
Friday, October 23, 2020
Yes, I had to make my own Alone Among the Stars hack
I have been looking through the various hacks of Alone Among the Stars, designed by Takuma Okada. I realized I wanted to play a hack that would let me tell a Tom Hanks in Castaway story but I couldn’t find one that fit what I wanted to play.
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
So Star Trek is Octonauts in space?
Octonauts is underwater, old school Star Trek with funny anthropomorphic animals but no red shirts or prime directive.
Monday, October 19, 2020
Alone Among the Stars actually works
I recently stumbled upon Alone Among the Stars and its myriad of hacks completely by accident. I’d been looking into more conventional solitaire card games. In fact, I’m still wading through all the variations and pondering the whole matter. You use a deck of cards and a die to come up with the inspiration to describe planets that you are exploring.
Friday, October 16, 2020
Scoundrel: random and abstract yet intuitive
Scoundrel had been on the top of my list of games for the next time I tried a thematic solitaire with a regular deck of cards. It’s not something I do that much but it is nice to add to the library of games that you can play with just a deck of cards in your bag.
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Project Superpowers : epic obscurity
Thanks to Humble Bundle, I got to read a hefty chunk of the graphic novels that make up Project Superpowers. I’ve been interested in reading it for years. It isn’t quite a tribute or a deconstruction of super heroes but it has elements of both.
Monday, October 12, 2020
The different pieces of Lost Cities
This is a weird thing to be thinking about but I have found myself thinking about the compass on the reverse side of the card in at least some editions of Lost Cities. Not the actual artwork on the faces of the cards but the art on the boring sides of the cards.
Friday, October 9, 2020
The Revolutionary War in the palm of your hand
Battle for the Carolinas is a solitaire war-themed game that is designed to be played with a deck of cards that you hold in your hands the entire game.
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
October is a good month for MR James
Monday, October 5, 2020
It’s no 30 Rails
I will be honest. I tried out Anty Establishment because I knew that it was going to super quick to make, teach myself and play. It’s from this year’s Roll and Write contest. The whole thing, rules and all, is one sheet of paper. Just add two dice and something to write with and your done.
Friday, October 2, 2020
Social deduction in three cards?
I recently made a copy of the basic three cards of Wild Cats, which is all you need to play the basic three player game. I did it just because I wanted to use some extra space on a laminating pouch. Really, I have no idea when I’ll be playing a social deduction game for three players.
Thursday, October 1, 2020
My September PnP
September wasn’t a super crazy month for making print and play games for me but I am happy with what I got done: