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The Worst Game I Own One of the hallmarks of game nights at Kevin’s was that, much like Forrest Gump’s infamous box of chocolates, you never quite knew what you were going to get. Although, in our case some of the chocolates were poison. Over the many years that we had been regularly gaming together, there was always a healthy mix of games that were legitimately good, such as Le Havre and Race for the Galaxy, games that we initially believed to be good but later turned out to be pretty bad, such as Catan and Munchkin, and finally the special little treats sitting at the bottom of the proverbial barrel. Occasionally Kevin would plop a game down on the table that would cause us to look at each other with suspicious glances. These were the games that you could absolutely judge by their cover, which usually featured Cthulhu, a Zombie, or a cat. And while it’s entirely possible that Kevin thought “Kittens in a Blender” would be a good time, I can’t shake the idea that he took a little bit of joy inflicting such poor designs upon those of us at the table. It’s like when one buys cans of Moxie to trick their friends into drinking it. There was, however, one game in particular that stood out from the rest. I use the term “game” as loosely as possible, as it was more akin to grade school logic puzzles. This game, Dark Stories, is merely a deck of cards with a seemingly simplistic murder mystery on each one, which the players have to figure out with a series of yes/no questions. You may have been presented with similar puzzles when you were younger. “Dave comes home to find his two best friends dead on the floor. What happened?” Players then ask questions to the person who read the initial card in an attempt to figure out the details of how this scene came to be. In the example above, it turns out that Dave’s friends were his fish that jumped out of the tank. It goes downhill from there, I promise. And that’s all there is to it. No score, no real structure, just a few pure emotions: obsessive curiosity on the part of those trying to figure it out, and pure rage when they eventually give up and are told the solution. It’s a terrible experience from every perspective with virtually no redeeming qualities as a game or even as an activity. Yet, here I sit, in a room festooned with games from floor to ceiling, and my eyes keep slipping back to it. You see, nearly a year before Kevin passed, he had expressed his desire for me to take care of his rather large game collection if something ever happened to him. I was honored, but to be perfectly honest my mind almost immediately brushed it away. Kevin had always had some lingering health issues, but he never really opened up about them and I certainly never thought that his life was in any sort of danger. Unfortunately those health issues were a lot more serious than he let on, as I found out over the next year. In July, I found out that Kevin was back in the hospital, as he mentioned as much when he cancelled on our weekly Game of Thrones viewing. This wasn’t particularly unusual, but when I texted him a few days later to see if he was back home, he immediately called me, something that he never did. He told me this time was different, and it wasn’t good. He wanted me to pass the word around to our friends, and for the first time ever he wanted me to come visit him in the hospital. Elizabeth and I were at the hospital the next afternoon, and there’s really no way to prepare yourself to see a dying friend. Up until that point, in all the years I had known him, I had always seen him as happy and friendly, quick to make a joke or pull up a ridiculous song on his phone. But now, faced with the potential of having his last days be in a hospital bed, he was completely downtrodden. I asked him if there was anything from his condo that I could bring him, like his Switch, and he responded that he didn’t want to start something that he knew he wasn’t going to be able to finish. I had always thought that it was hyperbole that words could hit someone like a punch to the gut, but now it’s the truth. Mercifully, the hospital allowed him to go home, so that he could die with dignity. And for a solid two weeks he was in pretty decent spirits. He was able to walk around, have visitors, get in a final roleplaying session with longtime friends, and one last shot at Fury of Dracula with myself and a few others. The doctors had given him a timeline as short as few days, but he fought for 3 weeks before his body finally succumbed to more than 30 years of battling complications from leukemia. People grieve in a multitude of ways, and I needed to keep my mind occupied. Thankfully, I had a task, a mission, a directive with which I could accomplish some good. During the week before his funeral, Elizabeth and I were able to clean up and move 5 carloads of games and miniatures, which represented a decent portion of his overall collection. My goal was to let each of our close friends choose one game to remember Kevin by, preferably one of the infamously terrible ones. The remaining games and miniatures we’d be selling to local game groups, or online if necessary, in order to help his family. Camp Grizzly, Unspeakable Words, Bang!, Betrayal. The hits were all there and various friends scooped them up lovingly. It was agreed upon almost immediately that we would have an annual Terrible Games Night in his honor. As for my pick, I couldn’t settle for merely bad. I wanted the most awful game in the collection with which to remember him by. It was a pretty easy choice: the epitome of Kevin was clearly Dark Stories. It sits on my shelf now, never to move from my collection, a tribute to the strongest person I have ever met.
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Sep 1, 2017 00:45
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COOL CORN posted:Is Great Western Trail good? It's rated super high on BGG but I never see anything about it. It looks like a tweaked and rethemed Caylus, which I'm down with. It benefits from BGG hype. I think the reviews from more critical players is mixed. It's not a bad game, but it seems a little kitchen-sink with mechanics and the perception is best strategy is ignoring most tactics and bum-rushing to get to the end of the trail.
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Sep 1, 2017 00:47
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COOL CORN posted:Is Great Western Trail good? It's rated super high on BGG but I never see anything about it. It looks like a tweaked and rethemed Caylus, which I'm down with. It's one of me and my wife's favorite euros.
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Sep 1, 2017 01:12
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I taught and played Inis for the first time last night, and had a blast. One issue everyone, including myself had trouble with was accurately keeping track of who was chieftan of which areas. Since it switches as soon as one person has more clans in a territory, but the advantage card doesn't change till the assembly phase, that isn't a good way. Anyone have suggestions for this? I was considering possibly 3D printing a series of coins or flat symbols with the name of the territory on them, but that would end up being a lot of design work.
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Sep 1, 2017 01:21
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I doubt that any of those solutions would be better than looking at the territories you care about and counting the clans there. It feels like, if I had a list of territories I'm chieftain of in front of me, it wouldn't help because I'd still need to look at the board to see where they are, and what other clans are there, and what are the neighbouring territories etc.
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Sep 1, 2017 01:32
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Goddammit, I was not ready for this post.
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Sep 1, 2017 01:33
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Some Numbers posted:Goddammit, I was not ready for this post. If it makes you feel any better, we've already sold about $1400 worth of games, and we still have a few stacks left. I also haven't tried to move the Heroclix yet, as their value seems kinda dubious even with some of the bigger models. And the 40k stuff could be worth a small fortune, given the size of the armies and the fact that they're painted.
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Sep 1, 2017 01:51
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COOL CORN posted:Is Great Western Trail good? It's rated super high on BGG but I never see anything about it. It looks like a tweaked and rethemed Caylus, which I'm down with. it's not like Caylus at all but it's very good, one of my favorite eurogames right now. it's an engine-builder with deckbuilding and rondel building and a lot of very different engines to assemble, plus it's got some nice tactical decision-making where your best path through the board can change a lot from lap to lap depending on your hand. Plays best at 3 or 4, I think the cow blitz strategy is probably too good at 2p when there's fewer buildings on the board.
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Sep 1, 2017 02:06
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Big McHuge posted:The Worst Game I Own This is fantastic man. Thanks for sharing with us, and I hope you shared it with all of his gaming friends as well.
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Sep 1, 2017 02:08
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Dancer posted:I doubt that any of those solutions would be better than looking at the territories you care about and counting the clans there. It feels like, if I had a list of territories I'm chieftain of in front of me, it wouldn't help because I'd still need to look at the board to see where they are, and what other clans are there, and what are the neighbouring territories etc. The issue with this is that if 3 players are in a territory, and player A is chieftain with 3 clans, B and C with 2 each. If somehow play A goes down to 2, 1 or 0 clans in that territory he still remains the chieftain since there's a tie with the remaining players. So just looking at the board doesn't always accurately represent who the chieftain could be.
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Sep 1, 2017 02:11
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Bottom Liner posted:This is fantastic man. Thanks for sharing with us, and I hope you shared it with all of his gaming friends as well. Except the rear end in a top hat who stole those games.
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Sep 1, 2017 02:12
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I feel like every few months I read this just because I love it so much. Behold: the best game review on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/940888/life-altering-game-deserves-kind-session-report Warning, it's basically a novella. But it's such a good read.
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Sep 1, 2017 02:46
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LuiCypher posted:I think it's more of a complaint about how it's now AEG's Munchkin, with god knows how many different reskins that are regularly shoved down the gullet of players/FLGS everywhere. Love Letter is the old new Munchkin; the new new Munchkin is Codenames, and Vlaada's the new Steve Jackson. Big McHuge posted:Occasionally Kevin would plop a game down on the table that would cause us to look at each other with suspicious glances. These were the games that you could absolutely judge by their cover, which usually featured Cthulhu, a Zombie, or a cat. Ok, your posts are starting to get really depressing. (But seriously, thanks for posting, and I would totally buy your book about your friendship if you wrote such a thing.)
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Sep 1, 2017 02:59
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Tales of Woe posted:it's not like Caylus at all but it's very good, one of my favorite eurogames right now. it's an engine-builder with deckbuilding and rondel building and a lot of very different engines to assemble, plus it's got some nice tactical decision-making where your best path through the board can change a lot from lap to lap depending on your hand. Plays best at 3 or 4, I think the cow blitz strategy is probably too good at 2p when there's fewer buildings on the board. I tried the cow blitz strategy against my wife last game and she still squeaked out a 4 point win by amassing objective cards and taking all of the train master tiles I think they are called. Although I think the cow blitz is a very fun strategy.
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Sep 1, 2017 03:15
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Double post but my wife got this message from someone that follows her instagram where she posts all her board game pictures: Hey! I have a question about games. My brother's birthday is coming up. He loves Catan, and I was thinking about getting him an expansion, but I have been seeing all these awesome looking games on your Instagram. Do you have a recommendation for a game similar to Catan, or even just a really good table top game? I think one reason we all love Catan is because the rules are fairly easy and a lot of us have attention issues. 😛 Any tips would be awesome! My first thought was Splendor, Ticket to Ride and maybe Century Spice Road. Any goon advice would be helpful.
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Sep 1, 2017 03:29
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Rad Valtar posted:Double post but my wife got this message from someone that follows her instagram where she posts all her board game pictures: I'd recommend Splendor too. Big McHuge posted:If it makes you feel any better, we've already sold about $1400 worth of games, and we still have a few stacks left. I also haven't tried to move the Heroclix yet, as their value seems kinda dubious even with some of the bigger models. And the 40k stuff could be worth a small fortune, given the size of the armies and the fact that they're painted. Got a list to look at for some goons to offload to?
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Sep 1, 2017 03:40
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COOL CORN posted:I feel like every few months I read this just because I love it so much. It's the best AAR, but I misremembered it as being World In Flames.
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Sep 1, 2017 03:42
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Rad Valtar posted:Double post but my wife got this message from someone that follows her instagram where she posts all her board game pictures: I've seen Dominion clicking with lots of casual game players lately.
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Sep 1, 2017 03:45
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Rad Valtar posted:Double post but my wife got this message from someone that follows her instagram where she posts all her board game pictures: It depends what they like about Catan. Do they like rolling dice and getting resources to cash in? Maybe Machi Koro or Dice City or King of Tokyo/New York. Do they like collecting sets of things and turning them in to get stuff? Splendor. Ticket to Ride if they also like building routes and cutting people off, Century: Spice Road if they also like collecting cards. ...can't think of anything easy if they like the trading aspect, though.
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Sep 1, 2017 03:51
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Glazius posted:...can't think of anything easy if they like the trading aspect, though. Bohnanza
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Sep 1, 2017 03:53
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kinkouin posted:Got a list to look at for some goons to offload to? We're going to give our local groups a few more days to buy things in order to save on shipping. But after that, if there's still a quite a bit left I'll post a list. If there's only a few we'll likely donate them to a local children's hospital.
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Sep 1, 2017 04:01
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COOL CORN posted:I feel like every few months I read this just because I love it so much. Best session report is amun re, though.
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Sep 1, 2017 04:30
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CaptainRightful posted:I've got 55 board games right now (not including expansions) and I'm already at the stage where I'm trying to get rid of the rarely played ones before I buy new ones. My partner made a good point: "If these are your favorite games, don't you want to keep playing them to get better instead of constantly learning new ones?" And she's right, I've had other (more expensive, unfortunately) hobbies that I pulled back from when I realized I was becoming a collector more than a user. Yeah, I'm doing the same thing (with a smaller collection, 25 ). Want to have 1 great game of each time, offload the rest (so Puerto Rico and Agricola need to go the way of the Dodo) and then bling these out to maximise play-ability (Poker chips to replace paper money, custom inserts etc). Trying to play everything I have twice before buying a new game but I just violated that rule and impulse bought Star Wars Rebellion.
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Sep 1, 2017 05:41
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Rad Valtar posted:Double post but my wife got this message from someone that follows her instagram where she posts all her board game pictures: I would recommend Celestia. The only thing you need to learn in the base game is the four special cards and the Spyglass. Everything else is "stay or jump?", "match these symbols" and "it's the end of a voyage, do I have 50 points".
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Sep 1, 2017 08:05
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Big McHuge posted:The Worst Game I Own Thank you for sharing your experiences. Kevin sounded like a helluva guy. Did you ever sort out that idiot who was trying to rip him off?
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Sep 1, 2017 08:15
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Spikes32 posted:The issue with this is that if 3 players are in a territory, and player A is chieftain with 3 clans, B and C with 2 each. If somehow play A goes down to 2, 1 or 0 clans in that territory he still remains the chieftain since there's a tie with the remaining players. So just looking at the board doesn't always accurately represent who the chieftain could be. No it doesn't the chieftain is always the player with the most clans in the area. If there's a tie then no one is the chieftain. The only thing what what you describe happens is with the Brenn which stays where it is if no one is the chieftain of the capital territory.
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Sep 1, 2017 10:31
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CaptainRightful posted:It's the best AAR, but I misremembered it as being World In Flames. No but this is the best quote about World in Flames quote:I had a friend who had the same problem. His wife filed for divorce and one of her claims was his games (and opponents) were more important to him.
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Sep 1, 2017 12:30
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COOL CORN posted:No but this is the best quote about World in Flames That spare bedroom must have been locked up tight! I heard a story on a podcast or here or somewhere about an angry wife who emptied all the counters out from a bunch of wargames into a giant pile and then poured honey all over them.
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Sep 1, 2017 12:44
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Sleekly posted:That spare bedroom must have been locked up tight! I'm hyperventilating right now
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Sep 1, 2017 13:10
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Rumda posted:No it doesn't the chieftain is always the player with the most clans in the area. If there's a tie then no one is the chieftain. The only thing what what you describe happens is with the Brenn which stays where it is if no one is the chieftain of the capital territory. What happens if you fully leave an area but no one else moves in?
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Sep 1, 2017 13:23
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The giant pile is bad enough but the honey is just inspired
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Sep 1, 2017 13:23
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Spikes32 posted:What happens if you fully leave an area but no one else moves in? No chieftan is a valid result I think
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Sep 1, 2017 13:25
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Vlaada Chvatil posted:It is nearly Autumn in this year of our lord, 2017, and, yet, do I still see a glowing recommendation for Love Letter in the OP? There's plenty of better 15min or 30min games. But I think Love Letter is still one of the best 5 minute games. Rad Valtar posted:Double post but my wife got this message from someone that follows her instagram where she posts all her board game pictures: If your main issue is attention issues, Carcassonne is really simple. Otherwise, I'd go with Bohnanza .
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Sep 1, 2017 13:41
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The Narrator posted:No chieftan is a valid result I think I'm confused then why there are two victory conditions, one which requires you to be chieftain in six areas and one which requires you to be present in six areas. The second is so much easier than the first.
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Sep 1, 2017 13:42
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Spikes32 posted:I'm confused then why there are two victory conditions, one which requires you to be chieftain in six areas and one which requires you to be present in six areas. The second is so much easier than the first. It's Chieftain of six enemy clans. Which, means if you have 7 clans in one place, and an opponent has 6. You're winning. Or, if you have 4. And two enemies have 3.
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Sep 1, 2017 13:48
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Spikes32 posted:I'm confused then why there are two victory conditions, one which requires you to be chieftain in six areas and one which requires you to be present in six areas. The second is so much easier than the first. One of the conditions is being the chief in areas with 6 or more enemies. So if all 4 players are in a territory that counts as 3 to whoever is chieftan.
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Sep 1, 2017 13:58
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Papes posted:One of the conditions is being the chief in areas with 6 or more enemies. So if all 4 players are in a territory that counts as 3 to whoever is chieftan. I completely misinterpreted that victory condition! Wow thanks guys I'm going to get so much flak for this the next time we play haha.
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Sep 1, 2017 14:08
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I wish more board game publishers would hire technical writers that specialize in their language because I fell into all the same trappings in the first couple plays. At least put a glossary of terms in your book. Clans = a single figure Chieftain = person with most clans in a single territory, if tied there is no chieftain and the advantage card is returned face up during step 3 (technically speaking everyone discards their advantage cards at the end of a round whether they used it or not but this is an extra step no one does) Brenn = Chieftain of the capital territory. If there is a tie the Brenn does not change. Initiator = the person who actually starts combat IE the person whose turn it is. Is not always the person who is actually fighting. Instigator = the person who will perform the first maneuver. Is not always the person who actually initiated a clash.
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Sep 1, 2017 14:21
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al-azad posted:I wish more board game publishers would hire technical writers that specialize in their language because I fell into all the same trappings in the first couple plays. At least put a glossary of terms in your book. This problem is literally a class I'm teaching next week.
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Sep 1, 2017 14:43
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CommonShore posted:This problem is literally a class I'm teaching next week. Thank you, from all of us who play Level 99 games. (And more, but geez Level 99)
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Sep 1, 2017 15:06
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