donio

joined 1 year ago
[–] donio@feddit.de 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)
  • Clever 4Ever is the first newer Clever game that I actually prefer over the original. Don't see any exceptional deals on it but I thought I'd mention
  • Spirit Island on Amazon for $44 is a decent price. Or Horizons of Spirit Island at $14.99 for a less expensive entry point.
  • Tabletop Merchant has a bunch games on sale including Ark Nova which you might enjoy based on the Terraforming Mars like. The free-shipping threshold is pretty high but lots of good stuff to choose from and even their base prices tend to be decent
  • Buttonshy has everything 25% off with the coupon code on that page
  • Some other Amazon deals that are still live: Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game $15, Cat in the Box $17, Carpe Diem $16, Beyond the Sun $44, Jekyll vs Hyde $12
[–] donio@feddit.de 2 points 11 months ago

I am very happy to see For Northwood doing so well. #36 is an amazing debut especially for such a small and unique little game.

[–] donio@feddit.de 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No change in the top 3 but some interesting moves after that. Gloomhaven is out of the top 10 despite being bundled together with JotL and Frosthaven. Both Dune Imperium and Arnak had big jumps. The LotR and Arkham Horror LCGs have climbed a few spots. Ark Nova overtook Terraforming Mars. Cascadia continues its steady climb while Wingspan continues to slide.

[–] donio@feddit.de 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Dice Tower is running their 12 Games of Christmas 2023 series too. 9 videos so far with 12 games each for various categories.

[–] donio@feddit.de 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Is this a hit board game? The number of BGG ratings and rank (13648) don't reflect that. Does it stand out in some way from the multitude of similar games?

[–] donio@feddit.de 1 points 11 months ago

Darwin's Journey - A nice combo-tastic euro with an interesting theme. Looks great on the table. Many familiar elements from other Italian-style euros and also a hint of Maracaibo. Left it on the table for a couple more plays and I might try the solo too later on. Minor regrets about not having the double-layered boards from the collector's edition.

Sky Team - This is a really good 2p-only co-op. I first tried it on BGA and had to immediately order it and we played it on the table a few times since. Easy to learn rules and the box contains a lot of content to allow you to ramp up the difficulty. Highly recommended if you enjoy limited-communication co-ops (Hanabi etc) and dice placement.

Castellion - got in a few solo plays, it was nice coming back to it after a long break I enjoyed it a lot more this time and I finally gave the advanced mode a try.

 

Posting this for the fun intro that brings to life one of the pictures from the new expansion but the content is interesting too (for Arnak players).

[–] donio@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Best: play games with them

Might be pricey and difficult but will almost certainly make them happy: find out what game they've been wanting to get but it's hard to find or too pricey. But it will be hard to find and pricey for you too. Maybe they have "Wishlist" or "Want to trade" items on boardgamegeek.

If they also play online: annual Boardgamearena subscription. They have a way to gift a subscription but you have to make a (free) account for yourself and you have to know their username.

More practical, lower budget: If they play on a regular table (not a special boardgame table) then they might like a neoprene mat. Ideally it should be close to the dimensions of the table. Deckboxes and the accessories others are mentioning are always nice too. Upgrade bits for their favorite game (etsy has a ton of stuff too) or trays/card holders etc.

[–] donio@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Istanbul: The Dice Game - A simple but solid dice based take on the original Istanbul. Like in the original you are racing to get 5 or 6 rubies and the rolled dice faces, saved up resources, upgrade tiles and card draws give you various ways to get there. Nice chunky dice.

Maul Peak - a new version of Skulk Hollow. Only one play so far but looking forward to exploring this further. Very nice production.

[–] donio@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

First play of Maracaibo. It's a medium-heavy euro with lots going on. You can definitely see the GWT lineage, it's fun to try to map the various concepts between them. Gameplay feels very different though, I don't think that either is a replacement for the other. Maracaibo has a bit more of that Pfister wackiness (in a good way). And so much content in the box!

How do you play Maracaibo? Very carefully! Lots of moving parts that are easy to accidentally knock around. GWT-style double-layered player boards would have made a big difference. I hear that the expansion actually comes with those but I want to give the base game a few more plays before deciding on that. BTW, Amazon US currently has Maracaibo at a decent price in case anybody is looking to get it.

Back to back Clank and Clank! In! Space! - Happy to play any Clank any time! We haven't yet played CiS as much as the original so I really enjoyed jumping back into that. We don't have Catacombs yet, waiting for the price to drop.

Fit to Print - this came in just today and we gave it a quick whirl. Imagine if Phil Walker-Harding designed a more family-friendly version of Galaxy Trucker, that's what it feels like. The actual designer is Peter McPherson who is known for Tiny Towns. At first glance the game might seems light (and it kinda is) but the twist of having to collect your components onto a small table first (without trying them on the board) and then build your newspaper in a separate phase (so you can't take or discard anymore) makes it work. The game comes with a bunch of variants: player powers, event cards, solo, a turn-based mode, some puzzles and Cascadia-style challenges.

[–] donio@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I never look at the Type and Category fields, my eyes are just not drawn there.

What I do look at all the time is the Mechanism field. That's one of the first things I check when finding out about a game for the first time. I also use that field extensively in searches. It's fun to do an advanced search for combinations of different mechanisms. For example what are some co-op trick-taking games besides Crew and Fox in the Forest Duet?

[–] donio@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like it a lot! We play at two and sometimes use a fan made variant that pre-populates some of spaces with a dummy color. This tightens up the game quite a bit. I love the way the game looks on the table and the tactility of the tiles. This is a game where the production elevates a good game into a great experience. I only wish that the cards were standard size for easier shuffling and handling.

I've been thinking about different ways we could draft at 2p. For example a Biblios style draft where each player draws 3 cards one at a time and has to keep one, give one to the opponent and place one into the bonus area. Or maybe just an open draft where we take turns picking from the current batch of face-up cards.

If anyone has the expansion I'd love to hear you experiences with that, especially at 2.

[–] donio@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The BGG best player count is currently based on a single vote. Looking at the rule book less than 4 works by having players control multiple characters. So as long as you are ok with that it should play the same at all player counts.

 

Not the coolest or most expensive ones but the ones that you actually use All The Time.

 

I am looking for ways to track scores for games where the included score tracking is not great. I would like something tactile, I already use apps but I'd prefer not to fidget with digital devices at the table.

Ideally I'd like something that's:

  • tactile, should be enjoyable to manipulate with our meat appendages
  • easy to read
  • robust, should resist some minor knocking about without losing the scores
  • track 2-4 players
  • go up to at least 100 and preferably also track 100s
  • should be easy to increase or decrease scores in any increments
  • shouldn't take up too much table space

The closest thing I see is a cribbage peg board. Or possibly an abacus. Or maybe one of those click wheels but those don't usually handle larger increments well. Any other options?

 

Challengers is a game I play a lot on BGA so it's very interesting to see the designers talk about the evolution of the design. Pictures of prototype components are always fun to see too.

 

This is part 4 of Czech Games Edition's series on boardgame production. In this one they give a lot of details about the manufacturing challenges of Tzolk'in's gears which I thought was really neat. They also talk about Tash-Kalar and Alchemists.

Playlist with the previous episodes

 

Have you ever missed or misread a rule and ended up playing several games the wrong way before you noticed?

 

Whenever I have trouble getting back into a game I like to make my own setup and rules summary to make it easier in the future. These are intended for myself only so they take shortcuts and make assumptions about how I think about the setup and play and even our typical player count (2). I will share an example in a comment.

Do you ever do something like this?

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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by donio@feddit.de to c/boardgames@feddit.de
 

Imagine that your friendly local game store has a sale and you see a great deal on a game by one of your favorite designers. You know nothing about the game besides the designer's name and that it's a decent price. You are in a hurry, no time to research, buy it now or miss out.

Which designer's game would you most likely purchase blindly based only on their name?

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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by donio@feddit.de to c/boardgames@feddit.de
 

Not sure if the community is interested in deal posts and digital implementations so why not try both?

The Steam Summer Sale is on and it includes a bunch of digital boardgame implementations. Unfortunately the "boardgame" and "tabletop" user tags are a bit polluted so have to wade through the noise. Here are some standouts I see (USD prices), please add yours in the comments.

  • Aeon's End - $1.94 ~~$14.99~~
  • One Deck Dungeon $0.99 ~~9.99~~
  • Scythe - $7.99 ~~$17.99~~
  • Sentinels of the Multiverse $0.99 ~~9.99~~
  • Spirit Island $12.48 ~~24.99~~ (all time low I believe)
  • Tabletop Simulator - $9.99 ~~$19.99~~
  • Wingspan $9.99 ~~19.99~~

Note that some publishers do matching sales on mobile so for example One Deck Dungeon is on sale on Android too.

Edit: relevant BGG forum post with some more

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