Well, it happened again. I went into an Alexander Shen game with low expectations and my first reaction to playing it was "Let's play that again"
Friday, January 31, 2025
I didn’t expect Trap Construction Corp to work
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Sketchy Ski Lifts is about making lazy skiers happy
It has been many years since I last played On the Underground (although I wouldn't mind playing it again) but the element that has stuck with me is the lazy passenger mechanic. The idea of a passenger who will always take the route that will involve the least walking. And really, who can blame them?
Monday, January 27, 2025
Being weird doesn’t mean good gameplay but does mean a closer look
Farmers Finances was a game that I discovered shortly after I started seriously looking at Print and Play. It placed first in the 2016 9-Card Design Contest, which was why I found it so easily. I played it occasionally for a couple years and then set it aside.
Friday, January 24, 2025
Take It Easy somehow became a genre
Take It Easy casts a shockingly big shadow. For such an honestly light and quick little game, its core mechanic of Bingo with strategy has been used in what has to be hundreds of designs at this point. And while many of those designs haven't made it to the formal publication stage (I look at a lot of design contests and free PnP files and other prototypes), there is no denying its influence.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Zombie apocalypses make me care about Sonic
I have never actually had much interest in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Most of my knowledge of platforming games comes from my wife and son and they prefer Mario. However, when I saw that Humble Bundle had a Sonic comic book bundle, I was interested enough to pick it up.
Monday, January 20, 2025
Interesting ideas don’t always lead to satisfying Sudoku
I let Dicember be an excuse to go through my Roll and Write files and look for odds and ends. That’s how I ended up playing Dicedoku.
Friday, January 17, 2025
Does Orchard:Recipes do enough?
Orchard was a game that revised my ideas about what you could do with nine cards. While I had played multiple tile-laying games that had only eighteen cards, I felt nine cards wouldn’t leave enough decisions. But Orchard did it.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
The Magnus Archives - my choice of horror for housework
The Magnus Archives is a horror podcast that I have been listening to off and on for the last few months. I only listen to podcasts when I'm doing something else. A quote that has stuck with me from My Brother, My Brother and Me is that podcasts are the mustard of life. They add some spice but you don't eat them by themselves.
Monday, January 13, 2025
Very, very early thoughts on 52 Kingdoms
It is human nature to give added weight to something for arbitrary reasons. For example, I try to make the first game I learn in a year one I think will be a good one. For 2025, I taught myself 52 Kingdoms: Adventures.
Friday, January 10, 2025
Jardin Japones - planning ponds in zen gardens
Jardin Japones/Japanese Gardens is a Roll and Write where you draw a Zen garden on a grid, the garden features and locations determined by dice rolls. Honestly, that is such a very common mechanic in R&Ws. However, Jardin Japones does get some credit for embracing its theme.
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Waystation is a quiet, perhaps lost, gem of science fiction
Last year, I decided to try reading Clifford D. Simak for the first time since I was a teenager. I enjoyed City enough that I decided that I would keep reading Simak. I don’t plan on doing an exhaustive study of his work but I do want hit what has been decided are his highlights.
Monday, January 6, 2025
Couple of highlights of 2024
I’ve pondered doing some kind of summary of the last year. You know, it’s the kind of thing that is human nature to do. But that can get pedantic and boring.
Friday, January 3, 2025
My December Gaming
December ended up being my big month for learning games. That was entirely because of Dicember. I decided to challenge myself by learning fifteen new dice games.
Battle Card - Moro River
Xmas Sweaters
Road to 300
Pentaquest
Koala Rescue Club
Inverted Dice
Roll to the Top
Diceathalon
Diceduko
Orchard Recipes
Paleontologists
Vault
Jose Garcia Saves the Alhambra
Sketchy Ski Lifts
Forage
Tiny Maze Things
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
My PnP December
December was a quiet month for PnP crafting for me. That was because I focused my gaming time on Dicember, playing a lot of different dice-based games. I still made a couple projects.