71–80 of 108 posts
The peak board game experience to me is Blood on the Clocktower.
I just checked it out, what's the difference between it and non-board-games like werewolf and mafia?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article is more about a certain style of "modern" games, which is an interesting strand but does not exhaust the category: classic games (chess, go, shogi, backgammon), card games (bridge, poker), TCGs (magic the gathering, hearthstone) often are as complex and sophisticated as any of those. If you're looking specifically for games in that style, Twilight Struggle has been studied extensively and there's signific…
Hmm i found 7 wonders and dominion to flatten out in strategy quite fast. Dominion requires to monitor cards that while helpful initially,can burden your hand in the end.
Does there have to be a board? Spyfall is no different to Imposter, except that there is no board, nor cards. D&D is mentioned as a board game, but you don't really need a board. Maybe we should call them "tabletop games" instead, in which case I think card games should make it (bridge, for example, means reading both your partner and your opponent).
The terms "board game" and "tabletop game" are considered pretty much interchangable by the vast majority of hobby board gamers, "board game" just tends to be the default. There's no requirement for a board game to have a board. BGG is full of card games, tabletop RPGs, dexterity games like jenga, junk art etc - none of which have boards
"Tabletop gaming" was a term invented specifically to capture things that weren't considered self-contained enough to be a "board game" or "card game".
I agree that "a board" is not necessary, but I do think that "less faff than D&D or Warhammer 40k" is a hard requirement.
I'm thinking of breaking up with my local board game Meetup. The reason why is: everybody there has board game ADD! I've been coming for 2 years, but we never play the same game twice; someone always brings the Hot New Game of the moment. But I find that the first playthough is the least-fun one. That's the one where you're trying to remember what the grey cubes do, and whether they're worth victory points or not. An…
I'm thinking of breaking up with my local board game Meetup. The reason why is: everybody there has board game ADD! I've been coming for 2 years, but we never play the same game twice; someone always brings the Hot New Game of the moment. But I find that the first playthough is the least-fun one. That's the one where you're trying to remember what the grey cubes do, and whether they're worth victory points or not. An…
I always enjoy the first playthrough(s) the most, because learning the system and strategies is the fun part. Once everyone knows all the rules and how to beat me, it's only going through the motions as a social experience.
We are living in a board game and card game Renaissance. For those outside of "the hobby", there are thousands of new titles being released every year. Some challenge the notion of what it even means to be a game. Even in the party game space, there is a lot of innovation. It doesn't matter what kind of game you like, there is one from the last 10 years that is your "perfect" game. If you hop on to BGG or the right D…
I think with the increased public interest in hobby board games, the pursuit of profit has lead to some really negative changes in the games that tend to get published.
I'm thinking of breaking up with my local board game Meetup. The reason why is: everybody there has board game ADD! I've been coming for 2 years, but we never play the same game twice; someone always brings the Hot New Game of the moment. But I find that the first playthough is the least-fun one. That's the one where you're trying to remember what the grey cubes do, and whether they're worth victory points or not. An…
Since I added the rule about a decade ago, we've never once hit the 3 game limit. Just having the rule made them rethink if it was worth learning a new game or playing one we had a lot fun with already.
We are living in a board game and card game Renaissance. For those outside of "the hobby", there are thousands of new titles being released every year. Some challenge the notion of what it even means to be a game. Even in the party game space, there is a lot of innovation. It doesn't matter what kind of game you like, there is one from the last 10 years that is your "perfect" game. If you hop on to BGG or the right D…
I’d argue we’re past the peak though. These days far too many board games are designed to appeal on Kickstarter with needless plastic minis and content. All that time and effort could have gone to play testing and improving the game but instead you get 2kg of plastic that doesn’t improve the game in anyway, increasing costs, and day one expansions or bonus content that’s often mediocre. For every truely innovative ga…
Thanks to crowdfunding, there are deluxe editions of games all the time being announced for $400–500.
Games ship with "6 expansions in box" which sounds great and like a ton of replayable content, until you realize that they're poorly playtested, lack balance, and add a confounding (and sometimes contradictory) number of rules.
As you noted, games come with a ridiculous number of minis and trinkets and baubles that drive the price of new games well past $100 in many cases.
As the industry has gotten larger, many publishers are turning more toward bankable IP as opposed to innovative concepts. Or, they're releasing a bajillion reskins of the same game (looking at you, TtR, Azul, Pandemic, 7 Wonders, etc..) This is not unique to board games by any stretch. But it's a sign of an inflection point.
I'm not saying there aren't good games being released. I'm saying they're harder to find and getting drowned out by the shameless cash grabs and lazy IP-based games.
Go find some of the classics by Rosenberg, Knizia, Feld, Luciani, and others. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck.
We are living in a board game and card game Renaissance. For those outside of "the hobby", there are thousands of new titles being released every year. Some challenge the notion of what it even means to be a game. Even in the party game space, there is a lot of innovation. It doesn't matter what kind of game you like, there is one from the last 10 years that is your "perfect" game. If you hop on to BGG or the right D…
I’d argue we’re past the peak though. These days far too many board games are designed to appeal on Kickstarter with needless plastic minis and content. All that time and effort could have gone to play testing and improving the game but instead you get 2kg of plastic that doesn’t improve the game in anyway, increasing costs, and day one expansions or bonus content that’s often mediocre. For every truely innovative ga…
I came back from last year with a few things but one of the hits was a physical area control game with just cards. The 2 play version is a pack of cards.