Topic Discussions
Topic Discussions 338 posts
Reviews
Reviews 284 posts
Let me illustrate
Let me illustrate 24 posts
Exhibitions, Events, Conventions
Exhibitions, Events, Conventions 12 posts

A Fake Artist Goes to New York (Saturday Review)

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The gallery was packed. People were chatting, holding glasses of champagne or plates with little aperitifs. Some of the attendees agitatedly pointed at artworks, clearly moved by what they were seeing. The gallerist had picked the artists and their artwork according to a common theme. Everything worked harmoniously together, except maybe one or two pieces, which were slightly at odds with everything else on display. They seemed a bit vague. It was as if, among the list of creators in the exhibition, there was A Fake Artist Goes to New York by Jun Sasaki from Oink Games.

An Ode to Friends (Topic Discussion)

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Playing games is often a very social activity, even though I don't want to neglect the many solo gamers that play an important part in our hobby. However, in this article, I want to focus on multiplayer games. I want to talk about what roles friends fulfil in our hobby. I basically want to write an ode to all the friends I have made through board games. See the following as my love letter to friends everywhere.

Ahoy (Saturday Review)

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"Captain!" came the shout from the deck. I turned around to see who from my Bluefin Squadron had called over to me. "What is it?" I shouted back in the general direction of my crew. "The crow's nest has spotted something. It looks like a smuggler ship." Ah, yes, the Smugglers. We were neither allies nor enemies. They would help us up to a point, while also always looking out for themselves. I only trusted them as far as my cannons could fire at them. "Fine, fine. Come about and let's see what they're up to." Minutes later the smuggler ship was upon us and I shouted "Ahoy!" by Greg Loring-Albright from Leder Games.

Evergreens – games I’ll always play and never sell (Topic Discussion)

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As a reviewer, my collection has quite a large turnover. After all, I need to play at least 52 new-to-me games every year, one for each week, to have enough material to write about. I regularly buy new games and I also get a fair amount of review copies. Review copies usually go back to the publisher or are sent to the next reviewer. The games I buy don't always stay in my collection though. I do regularly prune it and get rid of games that I no longer want to keep. However, some games are evergreens for me. They stay in my collection, because I know I'll play them at least ever so often.

Village Rails (Saturday Review)

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Nestled between hills and blanketed with beautiful fields of grass, where cows grazed happily, our village was in the perfect place. Country life was slow and relaxed, because nobody had anywhere urgent to get to. However, that was all going to change soon. Metal tracks were soon going to crisscross between hills and along rivers. They would connect our sleepy corner of the world. They were the Village Rails by Matthew Dunstan and Brett J. Gilbert from Osprey Games.

Risky games – playing to win vs taking risks (Topic Discussion)

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I normally don't win, at least not when I play with my games group. That's not a problem and I still have a lot of fun, whatever the outcome. In fact, I sometimes create some extra excitement by not playing it too safe. I actually really like games where you can gamble and create huge point swings. However, I know many people who play to win and who will always play it safe. So in this article, I thought I'd compare the different approaches.

The Spill (Saturday Review)

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We had been called out in the middle of the night. A major disaster had been declared. It was all hands on deck. After a swift site rep, we were dispatched to various locations around the oil platform. As we approached by helicopter, which was going to lower us onto the deck of our assigned rescue boats, we could see the extent of The Spill by Andy Kim from Smirk & Dagger Games.

Solitary Happiness – multiplayer solitaire games’ popularity (Topic Discussion)

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An interesting question Phil Gross recently asked is why low-interaction games are so popular these days. Even though I'm not really sure whether these types of games are actually popular nowadays, I do wonder why people like games with very little player interaction. So in this article, I want to look at the attraction of games that are either completely multiplayer solitaire or provide very little opportunity for players to interfere with each other's game.

Cake of Doom (Saturday Review)

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It was time to take over Earth. We had cunning plans, but then, we were also all trying to sabotage each other at the same time. We knew we had to convince a couple of different regions to be loyal to us and the rest would happen automatically. We also had a super secret weapon. We were going to bribe the Earthlings with Cake of Doom by Amar Chandarana and Pearl Ho from Rainy Day Games.

Serious hobbies – “serious” gamers and the mainstream (Topic Discussion)

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A "hobby", as defined by Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, is "a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation." So hobby games are all about doing something different to what we usually do and doing it to relax. The definition of "serious", on the other hand, is a bit more complex. One option I found in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines it as "requiring much thought or work" or "not joking or trifling." So a serious gamer invests a lot of thought and work into their hobby and doesn't want people to make fun of it. It's all a bit confusing and that's why I want to look at the idea of a "serious hobby gamer" in more detail in this article. I also want to look at how hobby games have entered the mainstream and how that relates to the "seriousness" of the hobby.