If you have played a few tabletop games, you will have noticed how game length varies drastically. Some games are specifically designed to last a very short amount of time. In fact, some games include a timer that explicitly limits the length of the game. Other games stretch over hours - or even days, but these are usually split into separate sessions, where you "save" the game and return to it another day.
A lot of recent game releases have done away with old fashioned, wooden game pieces or cardboard standees and replaced them with miniatures. They are either included as part of the core game, or offered as upgrades - but in most cases these miniatures are highly detailed and add an extra interest to the game, bringing everything to life. These miniatures have attracted new people to tabletop gaming and even created new business for artists who offer to paint miniatures.
If you have bought a number of tabletop games, you will have noticed how some games fill out every inch of space in the box, while other games are basically a large box of air.
With the advent of crowd funding sites like Kickstarter, it has become easier to fund a new project - and the tabletop games industry has been overrun by games designers launching their own games with the help of people willing to sponsor their ideas. These days literally anyone can design a new game and try and make it a reality.
All games are a mixture of chance and strategy - Yahtzee is virtually pure chance, while Chess is virtually pure strategy, and there is a whole range in between of course. Chance and strategy affect specific aspects of games.
Most of us will have played traditional tabletop games, such as Monopoly, Game of Life, Yahtzee or Risk. However, what if you want to move towards more modern tabletop games? What games are there that introduce you to new game mechanics? What games are you gateway to this new world? There are definitely a number of "classics" that you will return time and again, even when you are a more experienced tabletop game player.
In my view, themes very often make or break a game. Even a game with the most amazing gameplay will be broken by a badly chosen theme. Of course, different people will like different themes. However, irrespective of what people like, blending theme and gameplay is vital to a game's success - and here is why.
Let's kick off this group with a conversation about games nights. I am part of a four player group that has a private weekly session where we play various modern tabletop games, including Rising Sun, Clans of Caledonia, Near and Far, Star Realms, Hardback and even Fluxx. We're looking forward to trying out the new 7th Continent soon. So do you have a games nights group yourself? What games do you play?
