Category: Topic Discussions

Working Hard – a look at worker placement mechanisms (Topic Discussion)

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The genre of worker placement games is quite large and has evolved a lot over the years. Traditionally, worker placement was all about certain actions being unavailable to other players as soon as someone placed their worker there. At some point, games introduced shared worker place spots. Some games allowed players to kick workers out, returning them to another player who would effectively get another go. In this article, I want to look at the genre and pick out different implementations and variations on the theme.

About Time – time as a mechanism in board games (Topic Discussion)

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Time as a concept, is something we are very familiar with in our daily lives. Sometimes time goes quickly, at other times it seems to almost stand still. Time is also a concept that appears in board games. There is the play time, of course, but some games also use time directly as a mechanism. I want to look at how board games represent time and how they use the concept in different ways.

Swords vs Words – the popularity of blogs versus other media (Topic Discussion)

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Jamey Stegmaier's blog post "Is There a Future for Written Reviews?" inspired Adam Richards of Punchboard to write a little post on his Substack to discuss the visibility of the written word compared to video or audio content. That, in turn, inspired me to share my thoughts on the topic and as always, I invite your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this article.

AI Art – what it is, what it is not and what it could be (Topic Discussion)

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Based on another suggestion from the wonderful Bez from Stuff by Bez, in this article, I want to look at the rise of so-called AI art. I want to describe what I mean when I talk about AI art, explain what I think it is not, despite people claiming otherwise and the creative potential of this new technology.

Designed Styles – pigeonholing board game designers (Topic Discussion)

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Based on a suggestion from the wonderful Bez from Stuff by Bez, I want to look at how designers can sometimes be known for specific styles of board games. That can be useful for people looking for certain types of games, but it also means that the designers can end up being pigeonholed, which can have a negative impact on their professional future in our hobby.

Conventional Tips – advice for attending board game events (Topic Discussion)

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I have attended quite a few different board game events in my time. I've been visiting conventions in Germany and the United Kingdom as a paying visitor, a member of the press as well as part of a demo team. From the more sedate and gaming-focussed AireCon to the crazily busy more business-focussed Essen Spiel and various exhibitions, shows, conventions or whatever you want to call them somewhere in between. So if you're planning to attend a board game event yourself and want to make the most of your experience, here are some tips that come from my own experience and that I hope you will find useful.

Board Game Feelings – what board games mean to me (Topic Discussion)

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Inspired by an essay that Bez from Stuff by Bez published a few days ago on Board Game Geek, I thought I might also write about what board games mean to me. Unlike her, I'm not a designer. I'm a consumer of board games, often with a critical eye because I'm also a reviewer. So I'm coming at this from a different angle and of course, my experiences with and expectations of board games will be different to Bez's. Anyway, I hope you find it interesting and as always, it would be great to hear your thoughts on the topic.

Reviews, Bad Actors and Consequentialism – reviewing games from controversial publishers (Topic Discussion)

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I reckon most of us have heard about toxic behaviour in our hobby. Some of us will have experienced it directly. Many of us can probably name at least one bad actor who is still present in our community. There are also publishers who still work with these people, despite there having been public outrage about the person's behaviour or actions and the person not showing any remorse or accepting any responsibility. As a reviewer, my initial reaction is not to review games from those publishers, let alone if a toxic person has worked on them in any capacity. However, as I want to discuss in this article, things aren't always that black and white.

Speed Boost – overlapping turns in board games (Topic Discussion)

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Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind long games. I happily play the same game for two to three hours, as long as it keeps me captivated. Even when a game requires a lot of focus and concentration, I usually have no problem sticking with it for a few hours. One of the ways in which a game can keep players invested is by reducing the amount of downtime, that is the time it takes for a turn to come back round to you. Something that helps in this respect is overlapping turns, which I want to look at more closely in this article.