As some of you may have heard, some major league baseball players are getting together to organize Israel's first professional baseball teams. Israel currently has two professional sports: basketball and soccer (called football here, in the European tradition; what American's call football is called "American football").
Israel's history with sports is rather up and down.
Historically, Jews and sports didn't mix well, stemming from their refusal to take part in the ancient Greek sports games that required participation in the nude, and generally represented a heathen pastime and hero-worship. In the twentieth century, Jews managed to overcome that old association, and I'm sure many of you can list famous Jewish sports players in almost all disciplines, from Sandy Koufax to Al Singer to Mark Spitz.
Despite Israel's fascination with American culture, it follows European culture more closely. As such, it competes in the annual Eurovision song competition, and is also consumed with soccer fanaticism.
Israeli's soccer and basketball teams compete at a very high level, both within Israel and around Europe.
The fact that many soccer teams in Israel take their name from the Maccabees, the zealous Jews who fought against the Greek sports culture, is rather ironic.
Israel also has a long history of triumphs and disasters at the Olympics, the high being a silver medal in Judo by Yael Arad in 1992, and the low being the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Israel hosts the Jewish equivalent of the Olympics, the Maccabiah, every four years, which has had its own share of triumphs and disasters.
English speaking immigrants have brought their own sports to Israel, but up until now only in a minor way, such as the American Touch Football League in Israel, which is played by teams sponsored by American-sympathetic local businesses. Equivalents exist for softball, cricket, rugby, Frisbee, and so on.
For more detailed information, please see this excellent overview.
Game News
Giddy Up pointed me to a podcast interview with Chris Brooks about board gaming that I had missed last month.
An elderly woman is arrested for playing poker (with $20 stakes) in South Carolina.
Thingamababy reviews Four First Games by Ravensburger. They're pretty awful.
Yehuda
Showing posts with label podcasts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label podcasts. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Linkety Link
Chris Brooks has written his own parallel session report to mine about his visit to Israel and dinner and games at our house.
Someone made a rather amazing diorama in which to play Puerto Rico. With pictures.
Chris Bates compares the rise of Poker to the decline of Bridge.
The Toronto Star talks Eurogames. (via Ryan)
The Globe and Mail talks about an Israeli company using virtual reality to train people to reuse their physical limbs. (via Serious Games)
MAJAX! is a serious board game that aims to recreate the pressure and chaos of an emergency situation, and is aimed at health services to "provide an inexpensive way of testing major incident control procedures and promote team building".
Front Row Crew talks about "good" and "fun" in board games on their latest podcast. Just skip the first 30 minutes or so.
Yehuda
Someone made a rather amazing diorama in which to play Puerto Rico. With pictures.
Chris Bates compares the rise of Poker to the decline of Bridge.
The Toronto Star talks Eurogames. (via Ryan)
The Globe and Mail talks about an Israeli company using virtual reality to train people to reuse their physical limbs. (via Serious Games)
MAJAX! is a serious board game that aims to recreate the pressure and chaos of an emergency situation, and is aimed at health services to "provide an inexpensive way of testing major incident control procedures and promote team building".
Front Row Crew talks about "good" and "fun" in board games on their latest podcast. Just skip the first 30 minutes or so.
Yehuda
Monday, December 18, 2006
Top Ten Eurogame Events 2006
1. Blogs, Podcasts, and Videocasts, oh my.
Where 2005 was the year of the board game blog, 2006 was the year of the board game podcast. Podcasts and videocasts sprang up like roses and/or weeds in a garden; which was which depended on your taste. Board Games With Scott's videocast started at the end of 2005, but really came into its own during 2006.
Joe Steadman left The Dice Tower, but that didn't stop TDT from continuing an amazing assortment of giveaway contests.
Geekspeak changed to BoardGameSpeak, but then it ceased to speak at all.
2. Board Game Geek goes commercial
Board Game Geek turned commercial on day one of 2006 with a new look and walls of advertisements. Aldie quit his job to run BGG full-time. Even so, BGG was down for one dark week in August, and we had to rely on Google News Groups to take up the slack.
BGG ran a number of different giveaway contests during the year, and Tom Vasel once again organized a super Secret Santa. BGG co-launched Tanga.com, selling cheap electronics and board games, a site which appears to be better than anyone could have hoped for.
On the dark side, the comments and community of BGG got wilder, leading to a number of infamous battles, such as "Eurosnoots" vs "Ameritrash".
3. Games that made a splash
C&C:A/Battlelore - apparently the system to beat for light wargaming.
TtR:Marklin - another in the TtR series, and they get better and better.
Thurn and Taxis - the English version of a good game that no one is really enthusiastic about.
Simply Catan - a simplified version of the classic board game.
Canal Mania - Apparently good, but expensive and difficult to find.
Tempus - A civ-light game that suffered from some early overhype.
Rocketville - From the genius of Richard Garfield, but the rocket crashed and burned on the launching pad.
4. Rereleases
Many, among which were Ra, Traumfabrik, El Grande, Die Macher, Through the Desert, and a deluxe version of Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation.
5. Publishers
A number of publishers updated their websites, such as Days of Wonder and Fantasy Flight Games. Their sites became richer with information, easier to navigate, and often had complete online versions of their games.
On the other hand, a number of publishers had some big problems: Palladium was destroyed by an insider betrayal. Eagle crashed, taking with it other companies, such as North Star.
6. Conventions
Game conventions, such as Nuremberg, Gathering of Friends, Origins, GenCon, Essen, and BGG.con 2 continued, successfully. Board Game News and numerous blogs and podcasters carried extensive reports.
7. Rick Thornquist quits Board Game News
Speaking of which, Roving Reporter Rick finally bowed out, at least for the moment. Our main consolation on BGN is the new and oft-updated Board2Pieces comic.
8. Mike Doyle blows us away
Mike Doyle's board game art rightly earns him high accolades, as he turned out new box covers, boards, and cards for every major Eurogame and then some. His Modern Art redesigns are simply out of this world.
9. FunAgain Games
FunAgain, while around for some time, appeared to gain a lot of strength this year, gobbling up several exclusive game distribution deals, all of Eagle's assets, and several game features such as The Dice Tower and Board Games With Scott (well, hosting in the latter cases, not gobbling).
With their extensive games collection, community supplied game ratings, referral bonuses, and new games point system, they are emerging as a force to be reckoned with, despite having rather higher prices than some other online stores.
10. More online boardgaming
As I mentioned, it seems that just about every publisher has finally gotten comfortable with the idea of providing full versions of their games online, and nearly always for free. That's good news for people living in remote locations and people who want to try out a game before buying. I guess the number who buy the game because they could playtest it balances or outweighs the number who don't buy the game because they can play it for free online.
11. Gone Gaming and the BGIA
I'm biased, seeing as I'm one of the contributors, but Gone Gaming continued to put out an incredible year worth of high quality articles, as well as wrapping up it's first Board Game Internet Awards and starting nominations for the second (Nominate now!).
THINGS THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN
Whatever happened to the planned Puerto Rico league, with a $5000 reward after a paid trip to Vegas?
Despite rumors to the contrary, and a few spurts, The Games Journal remained dead, or at least unconscious.
A Puerto Rico expansion promised by Andreas Sayfarth with new rules and a sixth player never materialized.
And whither the reprint of Princes of Florence? Is it available, yet?
Where 2005 was the year of the board game blog, 2006 was the year of the board game podcast. Podcasts and videocasts sprang up like roses and/or weeds in a garden; which was which depended on your taste. Board Games With Scott's videocast started at the end of 2005, but really came into its own during 2006.
Joe Steadman left The Dice Tower, but that didn't stop TDT from continuing an amazing assortment of giveaway contests.
Geekspeak changed to BoardGameSpeak, but then it ceased to speak at all.
2. Board Game Geek goes commercial
Board Game Geek turned commercial on day one of 2006 with a new look and walls of advertisements. Aldie quit his job to run BGG full-time. Even so, BGG was down for one dark week in August, and we had to rely on Google News Groups to take up the slack.
BGG ran a number of different giveaway contests during the year, and Tom Vasel once again organized a super Secret Santa. BGG co-launched Tanga.com, selling cheap electronics and board games, a site which appears to be better than anyone could have hoped for.
On the dark side, the comments and community of BGG got wilder, leading to a number of infamous battles, such as "Eurosnoots" vs "Ameritrash".
3. Games that made a splash
C&C:A/Battlelore - apparently the system to beat for light wargaming.
TtR:Marklin - another in the TtR series, and they get better and better.
Thurn and Taxis - the English version of a good game that no one is really enthusiastic about.
Simply Catan - a simplified version of the classic board game.
Canal Mania - Apparently good, but expensive and difficult to find.
Tempus - A civ-light game that suffered from some early overhype.
Rocketville - From the genius of Richard Garfield, but the rocket crashed and burned on the launching pad.
4. Rereleases
Many, among which were Ra, Traumfabrik, El Grande, Die Macher, Through the Desert, and a deluxe version of Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation.
5. Publishers
A number of publishers updated their websites, such as Days of Wonder and Fantasy Flight Games. Their sites became richer with information, easier to navigate, and often had complete online versions of their games.
On the other hand, a number of publishers had some big problems: Palladium was destroyed by an insider betrayal. Eagle crashed, taking with it other companies, such as North Star.
6. Conventions
Game conventions, such as Nuremberg, Gathering of Friends, Origins, GenCon, Essen, and BGG.con 2 continued, successfully. Board Game News and numerous blogs and podcasters carried extensive reports.
7. Rick Thornquist quits Board Game News
Speaking of which, Roving Reporter Rick finally bowed out, at least for the moment. Our main consolation on BGN is the new and oft-updated Board2Pieces comic.
8. Mike Doyle blows us away
Mike Doyle's board game art rightly earns him high accolades, as he turned out new box covers, boards, and cards for every major Eurogame and then some. His Modern Art redesigns are simply out of this world.
9. FunAgain Games
FunAgain, while around for some time, appeared to gain a lot of strength this year, gobbling up several exclusive game distribution deals, all of Eagle's assets, and several game features such as The Dice Tower and Board Games With Scott (well, hosting in the latter cases, not gobbling).
With their extensive games collection, community supplied game ratings, referral bonuses, and new games point system, they are emerging as a force to be reckoned with, despite having rather higher prices than some other online stores.
10. More online boardgaming
As I mentioned, it seems that just about every publisher has finally gotten comfortable with the idea of providing full versions of their games online, and nearly always for free. That's good news for people living in remote locations and people who want to try out a game before buying. I guess the number who buy the game because they could playtest it balances or outweighs the number who don't buy the game because they can play it for free online.
11. Gone Gaming and the BGIA
I'm biased, seeing as I'm one of the contributors, but Gone Gaming continued to put out an incredible year worth of high quality articles, as well as wrapping up it's first Board Game Internet Awards and starting nominations for the second (Nominate now!).
THINGS THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN
Whatever happened to the planned Puerto Rico league, with a $5000 reward after a paid trip to Vegas?
Despite rumors to the contrary, and a few spurts, The Games Journal remained dead, or at least unconscious.
A Puerto Rico expansion promised by Andreas Sayfarth with new rules and a sixth player never materialized.
And whither the reprint of Princes of Florence? Is it available, yet?
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Posting the Code
I've kind of gotten bored reading through the US military code. It is simply less interesting than the IP laws on copyright, patent, trademark, and so on.
I could keep going, but without further incentive, it wouldn't be done with passion; there's no point in blogging if it's not enjoyable. I made it through the first two parts of subsection A; when I tell you that these parts appear to be the most interesting, anyway, you'll know what I mean.
It was an interesting experiment. I enjoy converting the code to verse, so much so, that the reward of doing so is my inspiration for getting through the material to begin with. Despite the crudity of the verses, it often took some effort to succinctly summarize hundreds of lines of material into four or six lines of two beats each. It's a linguistic challenge.
It's too long to post the entire thing in one post, so I'll post it in chunks over the next few days.
Just because I abandoned the military code, doesn't mean that I won't use the technique on other documents I have always wanted to read through but have never felt inspired enough to do so. In my sights are the Canadian copyright code, the U.S. constitution, and various other documents of that ilk.
Speaking of legal issues, Peter Jackson has been dumped by New Line Cinema who are instead looking for another director to do The Hobbit and another film that will bridge the Hobbit to TotR. It's because a) they haven't yet settled finances with regards to LotR, b) Jackson won't do The Hobbit until they do, and c) New Line's rights to The Hobbit are running out of time.
Still, you have to think that was a pretty dumb move by all involved, probably to the tune of at least a hundred million dollars or more, unless they get a really good director to take over.
A while ago I posted a link to Muslim Games; here is an equivalent for Christian games, or as it's called, Biblical Strategy. They've got both regular and biblically-themed games, as well as comic books, a CCG called "Redemption", and other items.
Hammer of the Scots has a new website, and they're giving away software for playing online (with purchase) and a chance to win a Scottish claymore.
The Toronto Star has a nice article about Video Games and violence/art.
Scott Nicholson's "Board Games with Scott" videos are now available on, or via, Funagain Games. I wonder what's the story behind this.
Yehuda
I could keep going, but without further incentive, it wouldn't be done with passion; there's no point in blogging if it's not enjoyable. I made it through the first two parts of subsection A; when I tell you that these parts appear to be the most interesting, anyway, you'll know what I mean.
It was an interesting experiment. I enjoy converting the code to verse, so much so, that the reward of doing so is my inspiration for getting through the material to begin with. Despite the crudity of the verses, it often took some effort to succinctly summarize hundreds of lines of material into four or six lines of two beats each. It's a linguistic challenge.
It's too long to post the entire thing in one post, so I'll post it in chunks over the next few days.
Just because I abandoned the military code, doesn't mean that I won't use the technique on other documents I have always wanted to read through but have never felt inspired enough to do so. In my sights are the Canadian copyright code, the U.S. constitution, and various other documents of that ilk.
Speaking of legal issues, Peter Jackson has been dumped by New Line Cinema who are instead looking for another director to do The Hobbit and another film that will bridge the Hobbit to TotR. It's because a) they haven't yet settled finances with regards to LotR, b) Jackson won't do The Hobbit until they do, and c) New Line's rights to The Hobbit are running out of time.
Still, you have to think that was a pretty dumb move by all involved, probably to the tune of at least a hundred million dollars or more, unless they get a really good director to take over.
A while ago I posted a link to Muslim Games; here is an equivalent for Christian games, or as it's called, Biblical Strategy. They've got both regular and biblically-themed games, as well as comic books, a CCG called "Redemption", and other items.
Hammer of the Scots has a new website, and they're giving away software for playing online (with purchase) and a chance to win a Scottish claymore.
The Toronto Star has a nice article about Video Games and violence/art.
Scott Nicholson's "Board Games with Scott" videos are now available on, or via, Funagain Games. I wonder what's the story behind this.
Yehuda
Monday, October 23, 2006
needcoffee review of Board Games with Scott
Board Games With Scott, our favorite video board game blogger, gets reviewed by needcoffee.com .
There's a new store selling games called Golden Key Toys. Prices are nothing to write home about, but they do carry Carcassonne and Niagra, etc.
In the continuing story about 1,500 jobs for Parrsboro, Nova Scotia due to the opening of a plant for Headz Gamez, local factories are not happy that some locals have applied for jobs and may leave their current jobs as result. And simply because Headz is offering 20% higher salaries.
Hasbro's sales are doing well thanks to an increase in board game sales, including the new Monopoly, Clue, and Battleship.
And the Free Library of Philadelphia is sponsoring Scrabble all over the Greater Philadelphia Area in October and November.
Yehuda
There's a new store selling games called Golden Key Toys. Prices are nothing to write home about, but they do carry Carcassonne and Niagra, etc.
In the continuing story about 1,500 jobs for Parrsboro, Nova Scotia due to the opening of a plant for Headz Gamez, local factories are not happy that some locals have applied for jobs and may leave their current jobs as result. And simply because Headz is offering 20% higher salaries.
Hasbro's sales are doing well thanks to an increase in board game sales, including the new Monopoly, Clue, and Battleship.
And the Free Library of Philadelphia is sponsoring Scrabble all over the Greater Philadelphia Area in October and November.
Yehuda
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Cosmic Encounter to be Reprinted ...
Maybe. Anyway, that's what Peter Olotka says in this interview of him by Edward Pollard of eToychest:
Peter - three things to remember before reprinting Cosmic:
1. 75 powers, at least.
2. 6 players.
3. Flares.
I didn't do any gaming this shabbat. We went to dinner at Elijah's family, and I checked out their game collection. Elijah has managed to get his family regularly playing Settlers, Seafarers, Puerto Rico, and Princes of Florence. I'm sure they would get Cosmic, too, if it were reprinted.
Michael, Elijah's father, was an old school gamer, and I saw copies of Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Illumiati, various civil war games, Awful Green Things from Outer Space, and so on on his shelves. Also a few scattered Magic cards. We were hoping to play Puerto Rico after dinner, but we were all a little tired.
Nowadays Rachel and I don't have time for our shabbat afternoon Puerto Rico game anymore, as the class she teaches finishes only a few minutes before shabbat is over. A shame.
Greg announces an online chat on 10/25 on the subject of "Are Games Art?" It will be 4 am in Israel at the time, so if anyone can record or summarize it for me, I would appreciate it.
Yehuda
Ed: Do you have any plans to bring Cosmic Encounter Online to another format? Xbox Live Arcade, or the PS3 or Nintendo equivalent?"The whole Eon line." *grin* Dare we hope for Dune?
Peter: As I am writing this I am working on an XBLA proposal submission that was requested by us of a developer.
Ed: Will we ever see a tabletop version of Cosmic Encounter in print again?
Peter: As I am writing this I am responding to a publisher (FunAgain Games) who is interested in republishing Cosmic Encounter and perhaps the whole Eon line under the Eagle brand, which they acquired.
Peter - three things to remember before reprinting Cosmic:
1. 75 powers, at least.
2. 6 players.
3. Flares.
I didn't do any gaming this shabbat. We went to dinner at Elijah's family, and I checked out their game collection. Elijah has managed to get his family regularly playing Settlers, Seafarers, Puerto Rico, and Princes of Florence. I'm sure they would get Cosmic, too, if it were reprinted.
Michael, Elijah's father, was an old school gamer, and I saw copies of Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Illumiati, various civil war games, Awful Green Things from Outer Space, and so on on his shelves. Also a few scattered Magic cards. We were hoping to play Puerto Rico after dinner, but we were all a little tired.
Nowadays Rachel and I don't have time for our shabbat afternoon Puerto Rico game anymore, as the class she teaches finishes only a few minutes before shabbat is over. A shame.
Greg announces an online chat on 10/25 on the subject of "Are Games Art?" It will be 4 am in Israel at the time, so if anyone can record or summarize it for me, I would appreciate it.
Yehuda
Friday, October 20, 2006
Weekend Coming
We are invited out for dinner to Michael and Anna's. Elijah, their son, is a regular at the game group, and Michael shows up occasionally, too.
No kids this weekend, except Eitan who will be in and out for lunch tomorrow (if that). I know many parents would kill for that, but divorced parents don't feel that way. Yeah, it's nice to have quiet, but if we had our druthers we would see the kids more, not less.
Is my last post with all the pictures causing any problems? Too large? Too many broken links? I tried to load it on a different browser and had some problems the first time (not the second), but I'm downloading to Israel, after all, which is always a few orders of magnitude slower.
I'm working on a post about scoring and winning, which I'll probably post to Gone Gaming next week. The two questions are:
Links:
Rick Thorniquist's video on the first day of Essen is very well done. He is really upping the quality and professionalism of his reporting.
This week's Vintage Gamer covers some board game books. I haven't heard it yet, but it's downloading.
Raph points to a MMORPG set in the world of Shakespeare. It's not built yet, but it's a great idea.
I found a blog devoted to Cosmic Encounter, and the official blog of Cosmic Encounter Online which is updated by Peter Olotka.
Oh. And do you want to play Puerto Rico Monopoly?
Yehuda
No kids this weekend, except Eitan who will be in and out for lunch tomorrow (if that). I know many parents would kill for that, but divorced parents don't feel that way. Yeah, it's nice to have quiet, but if we had our druthers we would see the kids more, not less.
Is my last post with all the pictures causing any problems? Too large? Too many broken links? I tried to load it on a different browser and had some problems the first time (not the second), but I'm downloading to Israel, after all, which is always a few orders of magnitude slower.
I'm working on a post about scoring and winning, which I'll probably post to Gone Gaming next week. The two questions are:
- What makes a good score for a game? 0-0-1? 0-1-2? 3-4-7? 10-12-76? 45-163-306? 306-306-307? 4-19-10,0005?
- No matter what we score in a game, the end result is always 0-0-1 (or sometimes 0-1-1), i.e. winners and losers. Is there anything we can do about that?
Links:
Rick Thorniquist's video on the first day of Essen is very well done. He is really upping the quality and professionalism of his reporting.
This week's Vintage Gamer covers some board game books. I haven't heard it yet, but it's downloading.
Raph points to a MMORPG set in the world of Shakespeare. It's not built yet, but it's a great idea.
I found a blog devoted to Cosmic Encounter, and the official blog of Cosmic Encounter Online which is updated by Peter Olotka.
Oh. And do you want to play Puerto Rico Monopoly?
Yehuda
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Self-Love
More on my Shabbat/Sukkot gaming later, but for now ...
1. I was interviewed by Brain Storm Business Podcast. It runs for about a half an hour. I pimp Board Game Geek, various games, podcasts, and so on.
2. My punchlines post was featured on Yahoo's "The 9".
Yehuda
1. I was interviewed by Brain Storm Business Podcast. It runs for about a half an hour. I pimp Board Game Geek, various games, podcasts, and so on.
2. My punchlines post was featured on Yahoo's "The 9".
Yehuda
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The Top Ten Important Aspects of a Game
Tom Vasel asked for my input for the latest Dice Tower episode, which I was happy to provide.
Unfortunately, we couldn't work a Skype hookup, so I had to call from Israel to the U.S. to leave my items on his answering machine, which he then picked up for re-editing in Korea. Tom's answering machine can only hold 2.5 minutes of sound, and my list went on for four messages. Needless to say, it sounds really awful. I'm sorry about that. It was not Tom's fault at all, but mine.
In addition to the poor quality of audio, I was reading from the email I had previously sent him, and I ended up sounding bored, smug, or I don't know what. Anyway, since you may not be able to make out what I was saying, here is the text from which I was reading, my top ten important aspects to look for in a game.
Tom and Sam,
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your show. You guys are doing a great job, so keep it up. I hope the following list is entertaining and informative. About the only thing I can guarantee is that it will be quite different from Tom's!
10 A Non-Offensive Theme
I suppose that this should really be number one, since I'm not going to play a game with an offensive theme, no matter what else it has going for it. But that would make an anti-climactic list. So I will place it here. If you want to know what I feel is offensive, my Ethics in Gaming 6.0 article should be coming out or have just come out on The Games Journal with more information. Basically, a game that tries to push decency standards, that finds humor in racial, religious, or sexual stereotypes, or whose mechanics include explicit violence, rape, or humiliation, would be over the line.
Along with a non-offensive theme, I would also probably not play any games from an offensive company, i.e. one that practiced racial, sexual, or gender discrimination, offensive politics, or was ecologically irresponsible.
09 Limited Decisions on Each Turn
Probably my biggest problem with war and grand scale civilization games is the vast amount of decision opportunities on each round. For instance, I enjoy Civilization up until the point where you have 50 units on the board that all have to be moved each round. Aside from the massive amount of downtime and analysis paralysis this causes, it just gives me a headache.
I don't think that this means that a game is bad if it has it, only that this is not my thing.
08 Heaviness, without Dragging
I cannot help but say that I like middle-weight to heavy games better than light games. That's who I am. A game to me is a meal; I want it to be full and satisfying. It's almost impossible to get that feeling without spending an hour or two playing. Less than that is fine and appropriate for many situations, but not what I'm looking for in a game. More than that and you get into dangerous territory where the game begins to feel more like work than play.
Really good play adds to the bearable length of the game, but it is a vastly sharp drop off. Caylus is 5% over the line at 2.5 to 3 hours. Die Macher is 20% over the line at 4 to 5 hours.
07 Multiple Strategic Goals
For this I have to explain, because this is a very tough balance to achieve. Some games have only one basic strategic goal, and they be fine but boring.
Some games have multiple strategic goals, but they are all essentially equal, which makes them just as boring. Just having multiple paths doesn't make them good. There has to be a reason to assess why in one game, a particular path is going to be better than another. Both Goa and Thurn and Taxis appear to fail here. The best you can hope for is to achieve a one or two point difference, and it will be mostly by luck.
Other games appear to have multiple paths, but one or more of the paths are simply flawed, which leaves you with only one real path. If you still have multiple paths, fine, but if you end up with only one, bad. I feel that St Petersburg falls into this category.
Which leaves the truly balanced games, such as Puerto Rico, Tigris and Euphrates, Princes of Florence, Age of Steam, and so on. Great games, with multiple meaningful strategic paths. (Naturally, I disagree with those who feel that PR is purely a tactical game, a subject for another discussion.)
06 Randomness, without Luck
I have written extensively on the difference between what I call "randomness" and "luck". Randomness is when something random happens, and then everyone uses that as a starting condition to play. Luck is when everyone does their thing, and then something random happens to determine the winner.
Regardless of whether proper strategic play can achieve you odds of winning at 100 to 1, it is simply boring to me to roll dice, flip the cards, or whatever to see whether or not you win. You have already won. Rolling a 1 on a d100 doesn't make you suddenly a loser, just like rolling 2-100 makes you suddenly a winner.
Luck is gambling, pure and simple. Cheering good dice rolls or flipped tiles appeals to people because gambling appeals to people. Lovely, if that's what you like. I don't.
What I like is when every game is different because the initial starting conditions are different every game, or because a very small random event occurs at the beginning of each round, like goods available in Age of Steam, or plantations in Puerto Rico. It happens, it makes the game different, and the tactics begin after the event has occurred, so barring huge anomalies, from there on it is skill versus skill. Note that in some games, bad "luck" can also be mitigated by good play, such as trading or negotiation, so it is not always so bad.
05 Interaction, without extensive negotiation
The best prominent feature of Eurogames is constant player involvement; not that we never had such a thing before. After all there was always Hungry Hungry Hippos.
This involvement is due to staggering the game phases and a lot of player interaction, often in the form of auctioning, trading, or negotiation. Of these three, I like negotiation the least, since some personalities dominate too much, others get left out, and people who are otherwise enjoyable to play with suddenly aren't. Negotiation also always goes on for far too long and rarely stays within the described rules of the game.
Trading is a form of negotiation, but a severely limited form, so more enjoyable to me.
04 Depth, Depth, Depth
All of the previous factors now begin to combine to make the remaining four factors. The first of these is depth.
With limited decisions each round, multiple paths to victory, and random setups, you get an exciting game that has depth. Depth is what it is all about.
Games where you can master the game in one sitting, or where the entire game is tactical, do not achieve the same sort of love from me as ones where game after game, play after play, more of the game becomes revealed. The ideal game will have never ending layers of this, where you get better and better as you play, only to discover that you still have new avenues to explore.
The downside is that games with depth are difficult to play between unequal players, with some exceptions (such as Go). But even then, some great games give new players with radical new ideas a fighting chance, either to win, or to feel that they've played well. After all, games are not only you against your opponent, but you against yourself. Good play is a victory, regardless of the winning scores.
03 Extensibility
I am a massive game tinkerer. A game that can be broken into parts and that provides an opportunity to add or modify the parts makes me excited. That is why I love PR (because I can make new buildings), Cosmic Encounter (new races), Magic (new cards), and so on.
A good game is an entire game system. It is a springboard to a whole new set of game designs and ideas. Which leads me to ...
02 The Game Experience
The reasons that most great games are great is that they offer an entire game experience. I wrote an article about this on Gone Gaming once.
It is a combinations of depth, uniqueness, and extensibility, that makes this happen. An RPG is not just a game for a few hours, but weeks of immersion in creating the game, creating the characters, and discussing the results. CCGs are days of deck tuning and discussion on on-line boards. Bridge is weeks of working on bidding systems and discussing hand results. Online computer game worlds also provide this experience.
Not every game with that type of immersion appeals to me, nor do I necessarily have the time anymore to immerse myself. But when I do, the game becomes a way of life far beyond a simple "game". It becomes brilliance.
01 Replayablility for a Lifetime
Maybe this is now redundant after all, but the best game is not a game that makes you say "Oh, that's clever" a few times and then sits in a corner collecting dust. The best game offers you a good experience every time you play it, whether a hundred times or ten thousand times, and whether you are young or old, male or female.
My best game is a game for a lifetime.
Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed,
Yehuda
Unfortunately, we couldn't work a Skype hookup, so I had to call from Israel to the U.S. to leave my items on his answering machine, which he then picked up for re-editing in Korea. Tom's answering machine can only hold 2.5 minutes of sound, and my list went on for four messages. Needless to say, it sounds really awful. I'm sorry about that. It was not Tom's fault at all, but mine.
In addition to the poor quality of audio, I was reading from the email I had previously sent him, and I ended up sounding bored, smug, or I don't know what. Anyway, since you may not be able to make out what I was saying, here is the text from which I was reading, my top ten important aspects to look for in a game.
Tom and Sam,
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your show. You guys are doing a great job, so keep it up. I hope the following list is entertaining and informative. About the only thing I can guarantee is that it will be quite different from Tom's!
10 A Non-Offensive Theme
I suppose that this should really be number one, since I'm not going to play a game with an offensive theme, no matter what else it has going for it. But that would make an anti-climactic list. So I will place it here. If you want to know what I feel is offensive, my Ethics in Gaming 6.0 article should be coming out or have just come out on The Games Journal with more information. Basically, a game that tries to push decency standards, that finds humor in racial, religious, or sexual stereotypes, or whose mechanics include explicit violence, rape, or humiliation, would be over the line.
Along with a non-offensive theme, I would also probably not play any games from an offensive company, i.e. one that practiced racial, sexual, or gender discrimination, offensive politics, or was ecologically irresponsible.
09 Limited Decisions on Each Turn
Probably my biggest problem with war and grand scale civilization games is the vast amount of decision opportunities on each round. For instance, I enjoy Civilization up until the point where you have 50 units on the board that all have to be moved each round. Aside from the massive amount of downtime and analysis paralysis this causes, it just gives me a headache.
I don't think that this means that a game is bad if it has it, only that this is not my thing.
08 Heaviness, without Dragging
I cannot help but say that I like middle-weight to heavy games better than light games. That's who I am. A game to me is a meal; I want it to be full and satisfying. It's almost impossible to get that feeling without spending an hour or two playing. Less than that is fine and appropriate for many situations, but not what I'm looking for in a game. More than that and you get into dangerous territory where the game begins to feel more like work than play.
Really good play adds to the bearable length of the game, but it is a vastly sharp drop off. Caylus is 5% over the line at 2.5 to 3 hours. Die Macher is 20% over the line at 4 to 5 hours.
07 Multiple Strategic Goals
For this I have to explain, because this is a very tough balance to achieve. Some games have only one basic strategic goal, and they be fine but boring.
Some games have multiple strategic goals, but they are all essentially equal, which makes them just as boring. Just having multiple paths doesn't make them good. There has to be a reason to assess why in one game, a particular path is going to be better than another. Both Goa and Thurn and Taxis appear to fail here. The best you can hope for is to achieve a one or two point difference, and it will be mostly by luck.
Other games appear to have multiple paths, but one or more of the paths are simply flawed, which leaves you with only one real path. If you still have multiple paths, fine, but if you end up with only one, bad. I feel that St Petersburg falls into this category.
Which leaves the truly balanced games, such as Puerto Rico, Tigris and Euphrates, Princes of Florence, Age of Steam, and so on. Great games, with multiple meaningful strategic paths. (Naturally, I disagree with those who feel that PR is purely a tactical game, a subject for another discussion.)
06 Randomness, without Luck
I have written extensively on the difference between what I call "randomness" and "luck". Randomness is when something random happens, and then everyone uses that as a starting condition to play. Luck is when everyone does their thing, and then something random happens to determine the winner.
Regardless of whether proper strategic play can achieve you odds of winning at 100 to 1, it is simply boring to me to roll dice, flip the cards, or whatever to see whether or not you win. You have already won. Rolling a 1 on a d100 doesn't make you suddenly a loser, just like rolling 2-100 makes you suddenly a winner.
Luck is gambling, pure and simple. Cheering good dice rolls or flipped tiles appeals to people because gambling appeals to people. Lovely, if that's what you like. I don't.
What I like is when every game is different because the initial starting conditions are different every game, or because a very small random event occurs at the beginning of each round, like goods available in Age of Steam, or plantations in Puerto Rico. It happens, it makes the game different, and the tactics begin after the event has occurred, so barring huge anomalies, from there on it is skill versus skill. Note that in some games, bad "luck" can also be mitigated by good play, such as trading or negotiation, so it is not always so bad.
05 Interaction, without extensive negotiation
The best prominent feature of Eurogames is constant player involvement; not that we never had such a thing before. After all there was always Hungry Hungry Hippos.
This involvement is due to staggering the game phases and a lot of player interaction, often in the form of auctioning, trading, or negotiation. Of these three, I like negotiation the least, since some personalities dominate too much, others get left out, and people who are otherwise enjoyable to play with suddenly aren't. Negotiation also always goes on for far too long and rarely stays within the described rules of the game.
Trading is a form of negotiation, but a severely limited form, so more enjoyable to me.
04 Depth, Depth, Depth
All of the previous factors now begin to combine to make the remaining four factors. The first of these is depth.
With limited decisions each round, multiple paths to victory, and random setups, you get an exciting game that has depth. Depth is what it is all about.
Games where you can master the game in one sitting, or where the entire game is tactical, do not achieve the same sort of love from me as ones where game after game, play after play, more of the game becomes revealed. The ideal game will have never ending layers of this, where you get better and better as you play, only to discover that you still have new avenues to explore.
The downside is that games with depth are difficult to play between unequal players, with some exceptions (such as Go). But even then, some great games give new players with radical new ideas a fighting chance, either to win, or to feel that they've played well. After all, games are not only you against your opponent, but you against yourself. Good play is a victory, regardless of the winning scores.
03 Extensibility
I am a massive game tinkerer. A game that can be broken into parts and that provides an opportunity to add or modify the parts makes me excited. That is why I love PR (because I can make new buildings), Cosmic Encounter (new races), Magic (new cards), and so on.
A good game is an entire game system. It is a springboard to a whole new set of game designs and ideas. Which leads me to ...
02 The Game Experience
The reasons that most great games are great is that they offer an entire game experience. I wrote an article about this on Gone Gaming once.
It is a combinations of depth, uniqueness, and extensibility, that makes this happen. An RPG is not just a game for a few hours, but weeks of immersion in creating the game, creating the characters, and discussing the results. CCGs are days of deck tuning and discussion on on-line boards. Bridge is weeks of working on bidding systems and discussing hand results. Online computer game worlds also provide this experience.
Not every game with that type of immersion appeals to me, nor do I necessarily have the time anymore to immerse myself. But when I do, the game becomes a way of life far beyond a simple "game". It becomes brilliance.
01 Replayablility for a Lifetime
Maybe this is now redundant after all, but the best game is not a game that makes you say "Oh, that's clever" a few times and then sits in a corner collecting dust. The best game offers you a good experience every time you play it, whether a hundred times or ten thousand times, and whether you are young or old, male or female.
My best game is a game for a lifetime.
Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed,
Yehuda
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Linkety Link
A geeklist after my own heart: song parodies about games.
From another thread on BGG, I just noticed MoxRadio, a for-pay podcast with extensive coverage of Magic events. You can download a sample for free, and I have to admit that it's pretty spiffy and probably very interesting if you are quite insane (i.e. play Magic at the international tournament level).
The one red paperclip guy is a guy trying to trade from one red paper clip all the way up to a house. If he succeeds, I know I'm not challenging him to a game of Settlers of Catan. He's actually doing quite well.
Right now he has a walk-on speaking part in a movie starring Corbin Benson. One of the offers he has received in exchange for this is from a guy named Mike Farrell, who offers:
Best of luck, Mike. It sounds more like a favor for Mike than an offer, however. Who wouldn't want to acquire a gaming partner for a year, and also get a movie role?
Via boarshead, I offer you Left Behind Games, computer games that feature the anti-christ and the rapture.
And via uncrate, I offer you Scrabble key rings. "Officially licensed". Each Scrabble tile on the ring costs $35. They also offer matching earrings.
The site is called Uncommon Goods, and they have a number of weird looking board games, such as Hot Flash, a game about menopause, and Strip Chocolate, which comes with real chocolate, and ... uh ... you can figure out the rest.
Yehuda
From another thread on BGG, I just noticed MoxRadio, a for-pay podcast with extensive coverage of Magic events. You can download a sample for free, and I have to admit that it's pretty spiffy and probably very interesting if you are quite insane (i.e. play Magic at the international tournament level).
The one red paperclip guy is a guy trying to trade from one red paper clip all the way up to a house. If he succeeds, I know I'm not challenging him to a game of Settlers of Catan. He's actually doing quite well.
Right now he has a walk-on speaking part in a movie starring Corbin Benson. One of the offers he has received in exchange for this is from a guy named Mike Farrell, who offers:
I am willing to trade a year's worth of competition in gaming like any tv game show or board game or video game with the winner at any time they would like and as long as they would like for this role. I just graduated high school and I am trying to make my way to become an actor and I just got my head shots done today. It's what I live for. Thanks for the opportunity. If you don't understand my trade it is simple- I will basically be someone's gaming partner or opponent or competitor for a year in any game they choose at any time.
Best of luck, Mike. It sounds more like a favor for Mike than an offer, however. Who wouldn't want to acquire a gaming partner for a year, and also get a movie role?
Via boarshead, I offer you Left Behind Games, computer games that feature the anti-christ and the rapture.
And via uncrate, I offer you Scrabble key rings. "Officially licensed". Each Scrabble tile on the ring costs $35. They also offer matching earrings.
The site is called Uncommon Goods, and they have a number of weird looking board games, such as Hot Flash, a game about menopause, and Strip Chocolate, which comes with real chocolate, and ... uh ... you can figure out the rest.
Yehuda
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
I'm know when I'm being mocked
In the latest Dice Tower, Moritz the German games correspondent makes fun of me ... (ref: here)
Yehuda
Yehuda
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
MB Gamemaster Series Podcast Episode
Front Row Crew's "GeekNights" has an individual episode covering the Milton Bradley Gamemaster Series: Shogun, Axis & Allies, Fortress America, Broadsides and Boarding Parties, and Conquest of the Empire.
Yehuda
Update: - Actually, they have a number of episodes that cover board games, or touch on board games.
Yehuda
Update: - Actually, they have a number of episodes that cover board games, or touch on board games.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Podcasts
I download the pods from the websites (you can get them from RSS or Itunes, also) and split them with Mega MP3Splitter into 10,000 frame chunks (about 4:20 each). Then I burn them onto CD and listen in the car.
Geekspeak (www.boardgamegeek.com): The original two Geeks talking to the luminaries of the board game world. Derk and Aldie (well, Derk, really) talk too much, but they are so Geeky that I don't mind. Sometimes their guests are particularly fun to listen to. All time highlight: Reiner Knizia giving them hell at KublaCon. Their pods go on pretty long.
The Dice Tower (www.thedicetower.com): Two other guys - not really Geeks. Tom and Joe are Christian missionaries, but aside from occasional mention of the soldiers they meet, you don't hear it - they're just gamers. The interplay between the two, one a Eurogamer and one a wargamer, is fun to listen to. Shorter pods, but more focussed.
Board Games To Go (www.boardgamestogo.com): Second board game pod, after Geek Speak. Mark Johnson puts out the least Geeky and most professional pod. He covers everything from all sides. Mark sounds like one of the greatest people on Earth. I find his blogs harder to listen to, as they are just one person, and lose a sense of the dynamic because of that. Sometimes one of his kids joins him, and then he shines.
I don't know why I can listen to these things - even the best pods seem so awkward and unprofessional compared to listening to broadcast radio or books on tape. For one, they're free. And they cover subjects I'm intently interested in, I guess. Mostly, it is nice to know that other people are devoted to this (unfortunately, still) obscure interest.
Yehuda
Geekspeak (www.boardgamegeek.com): The original two Geeks talking to the luminaries of the board game world. Derk and Aldie (well, Derk, really) talk too much, but they are so Geeky that I don't mind. Sometimes their guests are particularly fun to listen to. All time highlight: Reiner Knizia giving them hell at KublaCon. Their pods go on pretty long.
The Dice Tower (www.thedicetower.com): Two other guys - not really Geeks. Tom and Joe are Christian missionaries, but aside from occasional mention of the soldiers they meet, you don't hear it - they're just gamers. The interplay between the two, one a Eurogamer and one a wargamer, is fun to listen to. Shorter pods, but more focussed.
Board Games To Go (www.boardgamestogo.com): Second board game pod, after Geek Speak. Mark Johnson puts out the least Geeky and most professional pod. He covers everything from all sides. Mark sounds like one of the greatest people on Earth. I find his blogs harder to listen to, as they are just one person, and lose a sense of the dynamic because of that. Sometimes one of his kids joins him, and then he shines.
I don't know why I can listen to these things - even the best pods seem so awkward and unprofessional compared to listening to broadcast radio or books on tape. For one, they're free. And they cover subjects I'm intently interested in, I guess. Mostly, it is nice to know that other people are devoted to this (unfortunately, still) obscure interest.
Yehuda
Friday, December 24, 2004
Catching up on the Geekspeaks
On BGG, which are really geeky, but kind of fun if you have been following BGG. Since I have, I don't know what it would be like for those who haven't.
I will never be featured, since I only buy games after they have been around for a while, since I don't want to waste my very precious money. So I have nothing particularly new to add.
My newest games acquisitions are Tikal (1999), Torres (2000), and Traufabrik (19something). OTOH, I am trying to play new games by constructing them from other components (Geschenkt).
The invitees fly to Essen in Germany and buy 30, 40, 50 new games every few months. They like about 3 or 4 and sell the rest. Or they keep a collection of 300 - 700 games. Mine is about 30.
Sigh.
I will never be featured, since I only buy games after they have been around for a while, since I don't want to waste my very precious money. So I have nothing particularly new to add.
My newest games acquisitions are Tikal (1999), Torres (2000), and Traufabrik (19something). OTOH, I am trying to play new games by constructing them from other components (Geschenkt).
The invitees fly to Essen in Germany and buy 30, 40, 50 new games every few months. They like about 3 or 4 and sell the rest. Or they keep a collection of 300 - 700 games. Mine is about 30.
Sigh.
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