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I really enjoyed Pax Unplugged. If I wanted to pick either Origins or Gencon to go to in the summer how does one decide between them if travel is not an issue? Is one conn more geared towards certain aspects than others? My interest is mainly in being able to easily play all the hot new titles to see what's good or not. I don't care about panels. I will have friends to go with.
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:40 |
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# ? May 11, 2024 10:01 |
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discount cathouse posted:Request: A light game for 6 players that is language-independent. A couple are having both their parents over for christmas and they do not speak common languages fluently. Flick Em Up Skull Maybe Divinity Derby? You'd have to explain the bet cards beforehand. But once they understand those, the rest of the game is all numbers. (Don't use god powers).
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:41 |
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haven't been to origins but gencon seems to get a lot of new hotness titles
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:42 |
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discount cathouse posted:Request: A light game for 6 players that is language-independent. A couple are having both their parents over for christmas and they do not speak common languages fluently. Medici
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:42 |
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Megasabin posted:I really enjoyed Pax Unplugged. If I wanted to pick either Origins or Gencon to go to in the summer how does one decide between them if travel is not an issue? Is one conn more geared towards certain aspects than others? Origins hands down. Still plenty of vendors, demos, etc, but the games library room and general atmosphere is so much more enjoyable for board gaming. Gencon is just so much... everything. RPGs, cosplay, artists, and board games. If it weren’t for some goons and friends going I’d skip Gencon in favor of Origins no question.
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:44 |
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Tempura Wizard posted:Provided you have some people who are fluent in both to explain rules, I've had a lot of success with Sushi Go Party, Halli Galli, and Phase 10 in mixed-language groups. Phase 10 has the distinct advantage that it's just contract rummy and parents are likely to have played rummy or gin at some point.
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:45 |
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Megasabin posted:I really enjoyed Pax Unplugged. If I wanted to pick either Origins or Gencon to go to in the summer how does one decide between them if travel is not an issue? Is one conn more geared towards certain aspects than others? Gencon IMO isn’t worth it because it’s too big now. Too many people and events, everything is buckling under the load. They actually expanded into Lucas Oil stadium rather than stop growing. Origins is much more chill sight the downside being the new releases dont happen at Origins. Of course, you’re super unlikely get any of the new release stuff at Gencon unless you pay for VIP tickets or stand in line at the vendor hall at 6am.
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:47 |
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the best time to buy new hotness games is in january of the following year while they're still in stock and people have had enough time to figure out that game [x] falls apart when you don't have exactly [y] players or has a degenerate trashing strategy or has an over powered strategy involving going for bananas early or something
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:50 |
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Chubbs posted:Also, the Sorcerer City KS just delivered a few days ago and I'm super excited to play that. Mine was delivered today. I've been itching to get it to the table since it was announced.
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:55 |
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Yellow & Yangtze app is out on iOS, Android, and Steam w crossplay https://apps.apple.com/us/app/reiner-knizia-yellow-yangtze/id1439244350
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 21:57 |
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Megasabin posted:I really enjoyed Pax Unplugged. If I wanted to pick either Origins or Gencon to go to in the summer how does one decide between them if travel is not an issue? Is one conn more geared towards certain aspects than others? Origins is very similar to PAXU. It's at the start of summer so you don't get the newest releases but CABS keeps an amazingly well stocked library, there's no lack of seating, you get more smaller vendors available (lots of wargames, indies, and locals), and overall it's just a chiller and less frantic con. PAXU is fun but after the first year they're kind of hitting the limits of what Philly, a really tightly packed city, can handle but Origins' facilities are so large it feels like it's half full. My only complaint is having to deal with "generic" Mickey Mouse money for special events but if you don't care about that it's not a big deal.
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 22:04 |
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Thanks for the answers. I don't really need to buy all the new hotness at the conn itself, but I liked that PAXU had an area specifically for newer games with people who could teach them. Does Origins have something like that?
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 22:42 |
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Origins is a lot smaller and more 'personal' really, GenCon is a huge cluster gently caress. I go to each every year and greatly enjoy both. Origins never has a point where you physically can't move because there are so many people, but GenCon has that constantly.
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 22:50 |
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Megasabin posted:Thanks for the answers. I don't really need to buy all the new hotness at the conn itself, but I liked that PAXU had an area specifically for newer games with people who could teach them. Does Origins have something like that? Games don't come out near Origins so no. BGG Con has a hotness area and a ton of dealers but next year it and Pax Unplugged coincide so no one knows what will happen, particularly with the dealers.
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# ? Dec 12, 2019 22:55 |
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There’s no specific hot games area with teachers but Origins had a big vendor hall and lots of new game demos at every vendor as well as quite a few releases this year including Pipeline iirc. A lot of Gencon releases were being demoed at Origins as well, even if there were no copies for sale. I would call Origins the sweet spot of board game conventions between local/dice tower sized and Gencon. It’s a complete experience without being overwhelming and it’s still gaming focused, and Columbus was a great convention city to boot.
Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Dec 12, 2019 |
# ? Dec 12, 2019 23:13 |
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With all this talk of cons is there a list of cons and when they are for next year yet?
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 16:58 |
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Is Black Angel any good?
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 17:05 |
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golden bubble posted:Is Black Angel any good? It's amazing. It quickly took a #1 spot on my favorite's list, which surprises even me.
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 17:07 |
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Frozen Peach posted:It's amazing. It quickly took a #1 spot on my favorite's list, which surprises even me. It should be noted that this is an outlier opinion and the vast majority of people have had negative impressions and reviews. Losem posted:With all this talk of cons is there a list of cons and when they are for next year yet? All of the big ones already have dates: Gencon, Origins, PaxU, BGG. Not sure about SHUX which is probably the next biggest? I’m on my phone otherwise I’d post the dates.
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 17:32 |
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Bottom Liner posted:It should be noted that this is an outlier opinion and the vast majority of people have had negative impressions and reviews. Vast majority in this thread or reviewers or internet as a whole?
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 18:01 |
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Rad Valtar posted:Vast majority in this thread or reviewers or internet as a whole? In general. Troyes is good. Solenia is good. They don't get twice as good by becoming the same game with the same combined length.
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 18:09 |
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Black Angel is probably better if you haven't played Troyes.
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 18:13 |
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Played Professor Puzzle: Escape the Starline Express. This is a new series for me, and it was kind of a unique experience. Most escape games have sort of a shared language. There's instruction-following exercises. There's riddles. There's "correlating data sources in different forms" puzzles. In boxed games, the tropes tend to get more narrow. In an Exit game - which is pretty much the "vanilla" of the genre - there's some standard ones that show up in most boxes. Oh, here's the puzzle involving physically aligning cards/pictures/items with key spots to point out an answer (eg. I put this card on these tick marks, and now the hydra's junk looks like a 7). Here's the one where you are led through a tour of locations that takes the shape of a number (eg. when I follow his delivery schedule, the path he takes makes a moon shape). Here's the one where we count these elements, and then we know the order by looking at the number of spots on the 4 colored raccoons. Here's the one with a hidden symbol inside a game component (eg. spoiler for puzzles re-used in about half of boxed escape games: an item under the box insert, a scratch off area on a card, some glow in the dark paint, some writing that shows up under black light or when the paper is damp, you have to look at these stretched-out letters from an angle, or you have to pull apart the book/codewheel/box). Anyway, my point is I'd be happy to see a game that doesn't follow the normal conventions... but, uh, not like this. For this game, it's like the creator had only a vague idea the escape genre existed, and got started writing without ever having tried one. Instead of borrowing from other escape games, their core inspirations were newspaper puzzle pages and homework sheets from 8th Grade. I'm not exaggerating here. After a few puzzles, we joked - "next puzzle is just going to be a Mad Minute math worksheet, right?". It wasn't that exactly, but it was really close. Non-ruining spoilers for a game you shouldn't play: Somewhere into multiplying a bunch of fractions my current working answer was like 18 7/12 - and I thought, "maybe I'm not actually supposed to be doing all this math?". I was wrong, I just needed to finish the worksheet and that was the answer at the bottom. Later on they did a perfectly regular algebra problem - 4 apples and 3 oranges cost $11, 3 apples and 4 pears cost $15, etc.. - how much do 6 apricots cost? Welp, that's your code, guys. Now you want to do a really easy cryptogram? Find 8 differences between these pictures? Anagrams? On the plus side, they include duplicate copies of a lot of puzzle components, which is super courteous. The production value was solid, and everything ran smoothly... We were just baffled by how bland the puzzles were. But other people like these games more than I do (though I buy bloody all of them for some reason), so maybe I'm being overly harsh.
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 19:33 |
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jmzero posted:Played Professor Puzzle: Escape the Starline Express. Doing math in an escape room is boring, whether in real life or in a board game. It also introduces a lot of room for error that's just frustrating - you've already solved the puzzle, so actually wondering if you just did the math wrong or if you're wrong is an experience that no one likes.
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 19:41 |
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golden bubble posted:Is Black Angel any good? I thought it was terrible, but I’m not a fan of efficiency puzzles
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 22:37 |
So I finally got to try gugong. Won pretty handily by rushing the double worker then spamming the great Wall with the bonus "when you great Wall you get a free worker in it" power. I dunno. It was fine, but nothing I was doing seemed all that interesting? I got zero Jade and definitely felt that was the right move. My second play of Crystal Palace was better, I definitely enjoyed the action denial that reminded me of Vanuatu and the delayed action stuff like dominant species. Not going to be a favorite, but definitely fine.
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# ? Dec 13, 2019 22:49 |
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Hi thread, It's Christmas, what're we currently recommending as good gifts for kids? Age 9-12 Cheers!
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 14:23 |
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Hello board game thread! I'd like to ask for recommendations. I'm looking for a 4-player game that is physically compact, as in takes up as little space as possible in a suitcase or the like, and doesn't require a lot of table area. We're not new to board games but we're not super experienced either - we've played and enjoyed classics like Settlers, Carcassonne and Pandemic but we've also started branching out and have tried Power Grid and Archipelago recently. I'm looking to pick up Codewords, but maybe there are some other alternatives I should be aware of?
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 14:40 |
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silvergoose posted:So I finally got to try gugong. I feel like that’s the strongest reaction I can muster to most new Euros anymore. There just seems to be a flood of interchangeable resource conversion-move up some tracks-2 to 3 hour products. Am I just getting old? Is the growth of the market creating demand that’s being filled with mediocre product?
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 14:56 |
Crackbone posted:I feel like that’s the strongest reaction I can muster to most new Euros anymore. There just seems to be a flood of interchangeable resource conversion-move up some tracks-2 to 3 hour products. Am I just getting old? Is the growth of the market creating demand that’s being filled with mediocre product? I mean yeah, most new games are meh. Most old games are meh too though.
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 15:09 |
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TheFluff posted:Hello board game thread! I'd like to ask for recommendations. I'm looking for a 4-player game that is physically compact, as in takes up as little space as possible in a suitcase or the like, and doesn't require a lot of table area. We're not new to board games but we're not super experienced either - we've played and enjoyed classics like Settlers, Carcassonne and Pandemic but we've also started branching out and have tried Power Grid and Archipelago recently. I'm looking to pick up Codewords, but maybe there are some other alternatives I should be aware of? Decrypto, Ganz Schon Clever/Doppelt so Clever, Railroad Ink (any roll and write, really)
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 15:12 |
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TheFluff posted:Hello board game thread! I'd like to ask for recommendations. I'm looking for a 4-player game that is physically compact, A card-based game like Anomia, perhaps?
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 15:40 |
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tarbrush posted:Hi thread, TheFluff posted:Hello board game thread! I'd like to ask for recommendations. I'm looking for a 4-player game that is physically compact, as in takes up as little space as possible in a suitcase or the like, and doesn't require a lot of table area. We're not new to board games but we're not super experienced either - we've played and enjoyed classics like Settlers, Carcassonne and Pandemic but we've also started branching out and have tried Power Grid and Archipelago recently. I'm looking to pick up Codewords, but maybe there are some other alternatives I should be aware of?
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 15:47 |
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TheFluff posted:Hello board game thread! I'd like to ask for recommendations. I'm looking for a 4-player game that is physically compact, as in takes up as little space as possible in a suitcase or the like, and doesn't require a lot of table area. We're not new to board games but we're not super experienced either - we've played and enjoyed classics like Settlers, Carcassonne and Pandemic but we've also started branching out and have tried Power Grid and Archipelago recently. I'm looking to pick up Codewords, but maybe there are some other alternatives I should be aware of? Tichu and any other trick-takers with no non-card components.
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 15:47 |
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Crackbone posted:I feel like that’s the strongest reaction I can muster to most new Euros anymore. There just seems to be a flood of interchangeable resource conversion-move up some tracks-2 to 3 hour products. Am I just getting old? Is the growth of the market creating demand that’s being filled with mediocre product? This is what I mean with milquetoast midweight euros. They existed before but they aggressively make more of them now. It’s hard to fault them since they look impressive on the first play, both visually and player performance. Most people won’t even play the game more than 2-3 times anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. I know several people who treat games as any other consumable media like movies, to be seen once and not really thought of again. It’s both good and bad, since it pushes these types of designs but it’s also what’s driving the renewed interest in 18xx by extension. Honestly, it just makes the search for new gems harder, but it’s fine since I’m perfectly content getting maybe a couple new titles every year that are very compelling. My plays of deluxe pax pamir are up to a dozen at least.
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 16:26 |
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Lots of good ideas here, thanks! Will have to read up on all of these. Much appreciated!
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 16:34 |
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Chill la Chill posted:This is what I mean with milquetoast midweight euros. They existed before but they aggressively make more of them now. It’s hard to fault them since they look impressive on the first play, both visually and player performance. Most people won’t even play the game more than 2-3 times anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. I know several people who treat games as any other consumable media like movies, to be seen once and not really thought of again. It’s both good and bad, since it pushes these types of designs but it’s also what’s driving the renewed interest in 18xx by extension. Honestly, it just makes the search for new gems harder, but it’s fine since I’m perfectly content getting maybe a couple new titles every year that are very compelling. My plays of deluxe pax pamir are up to a dozen at least. This is how I felt most of this year. I played a bunch of new games at Grandcon and felt like 1 or 2 is all that would even boot anything I have out of my collection. The industry has just become so big that we get more fluff with the good games. It’s not even that there are less good games every year it’s just there are more of the mediocre ones to drown them out.
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 16:40 |
Chill la Chill posted:This is what I mean with milquetoast midweight euros. They existed before but they aggressively make more of them now. It’s hard to fault them since they look impressive on the first play, both visually and player performance. Most people won’t even play the game more than 2-3 times anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. I know several people who treat games as any other consumable media like movies, to be seen once and not really thought of again. It’s both good and bad, since it pushes these types of designs but it’s also what’s driving the renewed interest in 18xx by extension. Honestly, it just makes the search for new gems harder, but it’s fine since I’m perfectly content getting maybe a couple new titles every year that are very compelling. My plays of deluxe pax pamir are up to a dozen at least. I learned a new acronym recently from BGG: JASE, meaning Just Another Soulless Euro. Pretty good summation. I'm actually really glad I got to try Crystal Palace twice in two days. It let me have a much better sense of how much I like the game. (It's fine, better than average I'd say)
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 16:47 |
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tarbrush posted:Hi thread, Like sight unseen this is a hard Q to answer. Light / Non-Gamers: Ice Cool Pyramid of Pengueen (which is just curse of the mummy with penguins) Junk Art? esp. at the lower end. More involved: Tiny Towns Splendor / Century Golems Machi Koro (Legacy if family?)
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# ? Dec 14, 2019 17:28 |
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# ? May 11, 2024 10:01 |
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TheFluff posted:Hello board game thread! I'd like to ask for recommendations. I'm looking for a 4-player game that is physically compact, as in takes up as little space as possible in a suitcase or the like, and doesn't require a lot of table area. We're not new to board games but we're not super experienced either - we've played and enjoyed classics like Settlers, Carcassonne and Pandemic but we've also started branching out and have tried Power Grid and Archipelago recently. I'm looking to pick up Codewords, but maybe there are some other alternatives I should be aware of? Any weight/length you are looking for? Some good stuff has been thrown out, but I’d also look up Oink Games as their unique thing is very compact rules-light games (~5-10 min a round, but add scores between rounds). Startups, Deep Sea Adventure, Fake Artist Goes To New York, and Maskmen are all excellent Moaideas also has compact games that are a bit heavier: Symphony no 9, Tulip Bubble, Mini Rails are all good and are a bit heavier rules/length wise Fellis fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Dec 14, 2019 |
# ? Dec 14, 2019 17:32 |