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Imagined posted:What do you reckon is the game with the widest gap between 'number of people who own it' vs 'number who've ever finished a game of it'? Because while plenty of people play Monopoly growing up, when people buy stuff like "National Parks Monopoly" or whatever, I have to imagine virtually none of those ever even get unwrapped - either it's bought specifically to display/collect with no intent to ever play it as a board game OR the recipient already has normal Monopoly OR they're purchased as a gift for a board gamer by a well-meaning friend who thinks "you like board games and you like hiking, National Parks Monopoly is perfect" which no just no. So if you sum up all of those various versions, that's gotta be a several million copy gap right there.
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Jun 16, 2021 14:58
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This bizarre Kickstarter just fascinated me and I used to do corporate investigations into shell corps, etc. so I figured I’d dust off that skill set and dig in for an hour. Whoever is behind this “company” has thrown out a bunch of different businesses that are loosely related or tied to the same location and/or officers. Some of them are pretty bizarre and unrelated so money laundering might be on the table. The parent company has been around about 20 years. There’s a number of design, energy audit, air condition, engineering companies associated with the group. All of them have really generic websites with pictures that look like stock pictures. No contact info is available on any of the sites, just contact forms. The teams for all these companies usually only have one person. That person has a single picture on the site. That person has one or two very empty social media/linked in profiles with the same pictures. Their work histories are... questionable at best. These are all more related to the people involved than the parent company so this could be its own branch of crazy totally unrelated to bad toy manufacturing. A few are directly related to Toy manufacturing though. One made these monstrosities: https://youtu.be/-_Ypp8H67i8 Which look like knock-off shopkins except creepy. There was some real person associated with the toy company that made these and not one of the questionable personas associated with the bizarre engineering/design companies. Oh, there are also some truly bizarre patents associated with the company as well. A game controller that is rifle that you have to field strip for one. So in summary, it’s a bizarre mishmash of failed toys, a bunch of companies that don’t seem to be real, nonsensical patents, and lots of shell companies. Could be money laundering, could also be some family that just tries a lot of different businesses trying to make something work. I’ve definitely had situations in my past job where I absolutely thought something shady was going on but when I got more evidence it just turned out to be stupidity/incompetence. I would bet more on that in this situation. It’s just bad toy designers running various get rich quick schemes with fad toys or brands. Either way, the company in question and their related companies absolutely do not have a history of making anything quality or successful. Not sure why the gently caress Blizzard licensed to them.
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Jun 16, 2021 16:32
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Other than the obvious, I thought it was weird that the faction leaders were wrong/dead for current WoW. I mean other than how stupid the entire product sounds.
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Jun 16, 2021 17:08
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Azubah posted:Other than the obvious, I thought it was weird that the faction leaders were wrong/dead for current WoW. Yeah, the model selection seems like a mixed bag. Without Velen & Lor'Themar, I feel like you could make an argument for it being a Classic WoW theme, especially with all the monster models being random Vanilla mobs. But then they throw in the Heart of Azeroth, and Mekkatorque in his post-Legion mech-suit. Desfore fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Jun 16, 2021 |
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Jun 16, 2021 17:25
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I'd love to know how much they paid for a WoW license to be able to produce a game like this.
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Jun 16, 2021 17:27
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Infinitum posted:https://i.imgur.com/gI8R2PA.mp4 I hope it has a "keep one butt cheek seated at all times" rule like Crokinole, so you aren't allowed to stand up a little to see what is going on, you have to lean all over the place and try to peer around the dummy huge towers to figure out what the hell is going on
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Jun 16, 2021 17:35
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I wish there were some genuinely interesting TG Kickstarters this week to help distract us from the unprecedented player distraction game World of Scamcraft.
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Jun 16, 2021 19:34
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Memnaelar posted:I wish there were some genuinely interesting TG Kickstarters this week to help distract us from the unprecedented player distraction game World of Scamcraft. I found Forests of Pangaia to be pretty interesting. Looks like an area control placement game, and the themes and look of it are delightful https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pangaia/forests-of-pangaia
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Jun 16, 2021 20:13
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Memnaelar posted:I wish there were some genuinely interesting TG Kickstarters this week to help distract us from the unprecedented player distraction game World of Scamcraft. I am currently backing Tea Scones and Arsenic, which I think looks like a lovely little 15min inbetweener game. Scones in a metal tin! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1886721229/tea-scones-and-arsenic-a-greedy-and-dangerous-game/description Robot Quest Arena looks like a lot of fun and is finishing soon. It's essentially Robot Wars The Boardgame. Comes with really awesome coloured minis, and the rules look really well thought out https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1172937197/robot-quest-arena Paris l'Étoile is also finishing soon. Looks like it has a good heritage by Kramer and Kiessling, and should fulfil your midweight euro needs. I am likely picking it up at this point. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamebrewer/paris-expansion Buru has JUST finished, and I've backed it for pledge manager access. I think the theme on this one is too notch, and I'm going to put it to my game groups of they're interested in it. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/craftygames/buru?ref=discovery_category_ending_soon
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Jun 17, 2021 03:08
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Infinitum posted:I am currently backing Tea Scones and Arsenic, which I think looks like a lovely little 15min inbetweener game. Scones in a metal tin! Scones aren’t cookies/biscuits! <  >
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Jun 17, 2021 03:26
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The_Doctor posted:Scones aren’t cookies/biscuits! < From the rules they posted: quote:The creator of the game being a neophyte concerning english pastry, he had taken the liberty to use the term Scones as a synonym for Biscuits. It sounds “So British” to his french ears! Our sincere apologies to scone aficionados. The rules also contain an actual scone recipe, though I'm not sure how good it is as I have never made scones myself.
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Jun 17, 2021 03:42
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quote:The creator of the game being a neophyte concerning english pastry, he had taken the liberty to use the term Scones as a synonym for Biscuits. It sounds “So British” to his french ears! Our sincere apologies to scone aficionados. Makes sense, so probably therefore  The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Jun 17, 2021 |
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Jun 17, 2021 04:07
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The_Doctor posted:Scones aren’t cookies/biscuits! < It's unbackable with that repeated mistake
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Jun 17, 2021 05:08
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senrath posted:From the rules they posted: Recipe seems fine Could probably just use self raising flour instead of baking powder + plain flour and the temperature should be specified for conventional and fan forced (I'm assuming it's just conventional since 220 is too hot for the latter), but there's nothing wrong with it overall. Doctor Spaceman fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Jun 17, 2021 |
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Jun 17, 2021 05:21
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The_Doctor posted:Scones aren’t cookies/biscuits! < I said scones because they said scones, even though they're clearly biscuits! *sips soft drink*
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Jun 17, 2021 05:47
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Doctor Spaceman posted:Recipe seems fine Just means it was written by/for Americans, we don't have the preponderance of fan assisted ovens that the UK does.
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Jun 17, 2021 06:13
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theironjef posted:Just means it was written by/for Americans, we don't have the preponderance of fan assisted ovens that the UK does. Going by general cooking instructions, drop temperature by 20C for fan assisted.
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Jun 17, 2021 07:34
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Mode 7 posted:The Campaign for North Africa Someone should kickstart a re-make or sequel to it.
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Jun 17, 2021 08:27
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Infinitum posted:Robot Quest Arena looks like a lot of fun and is finishing soon. It's essentially Robot Wars The Boardgame. Comes with really awesome coloured minis, and the rules look really well thought out Super tempted by this ahhhhh
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Jun 17, 2021 10:15
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My fav bit of tea related trivia I learnt recently is that the vast vast majority of Americans don't have electric kettles - it is a foreign concept to them.ilmucche posted:Super tempted by this ahhhhh I am also very tempted to bounce of Paris onto it as well. It's so cute 
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Jun 17, 2021 10:26
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Bruceski posted:That's... I had a checkers board as a kid with that on the back. What on earth was it called? I'm gonna have to message my brother and see if he remembers. Yes, that's exactly what I was also thinking, but I didn't think anyone else would know what Smess was so I just said Chess. 
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Jun 17, 2021 13:45
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Infinitum posted:My fav bit of tea related trivia I learnt recently is that the vast vast majority of Americans don't have electric kettles - it is a foreign concept to them. I’d never had one before, but my wife is a big tea drinker so I got her one for Christmas. The thing is amazing. We use it for everything. We even had an insta-hot tap already, but we use the kettle way more. I don’t know how we lived without one.
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Jun 17, 2021 14:53
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Infinitum posted:My fav bit of tea related trivia I learnt recently is that the vast vast majority of Americans don't have electric kettles - it is a foreign concept to them. Not so much now, you can get them at any Walmart/Target, but when I lived in the US about 15 years ago, they were unheard of. The best I could find was a plastic one that heated the water but had no automatic shutoff like English kettles do when they reach boil, so I’d turn it on, wander off, forget about it, and then come back to an empty kettle. 
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Jun 17, 2021 15:27
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Infinitum posted:My fav bit of tea related trivia I learnt recently is that the vast vast majority of Americans don't have electric kettles - it is a foreign concept to them. We're doing our part! Our electric kettle even has ~6 different temperature settings for different tea types. Also on board that Chai: Tea for Two kickstarter 
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Jun 17, 2021 18:58
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fischtick posted:We're doing our part! Our electric kettle even has ~6 different temperature settings for different tea types. Also on board that Chai: Tea for Two kickstarter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzkvVXr8nH4
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Jun 17, 2021 19:04
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Infinitum posted:My fav bit of tea related trivia I learnt recently is that the vast vast majority of Americans don't have electric kettles - it is a foreign concept to them. For a while the only "electric kettles" I knew of were fancy ones that could heat to a set temperature instead of just being on/off, so I thought that was a feature in all of them and the reason you'd get one. Let to some confusion when I got tired of burning my mouth on hot cider from my stovetop kettle and was talking about getting a $20 electric one just for the consistent heating. Unfortunately I don't do hot liquids often enough to invest more than that, particularly with my current countertop space.
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Jun 17, 2021 21:29
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Anyone who doesn't do electric kettles probably doesn't know about electric rice cookers either. (Rice cookers are amazing)
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Jun 17, 2021 21:37
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I think Alton Brown did a lot to popularize electric kettles in the states. I'm very happy with mine. If you drink essentially any amount of tea regularly, they are worth the price of admission.
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Jun 17, 2021 21:48
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They’ve become a lot more popular, I’ve had one for years and you can regularly get them pretty cheap. Great for ramen noodles.
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Jun 17, 2021 21:50
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Magnetic North posted:I think Alton Brown did a lot to popularize electric kettles in the states. I'm very happy with mine. If you drink essentially any amount of tea regularly, they are worth the price of admission. That's where I first learned about them. I couldn't function without mine, especially now that I've switched from coffee to tea.
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Jun 17, 2021 21:58
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My mom has this and it's amazing, does everything it says it does.
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Jun 17, 2021 22:48
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Arivia posted:My mom has this and it's amazing, does everything it says it does. I do too, and I agree! I also have a Zojirushi rice cooker because I'm a loving kitchen nerd.
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Jun 17, 2021 23:03
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rantmo posted:That's where I first learned about them. I couldn't function without mine, especially now that I've switched from coffee to tea. Eletric kettles are great for coffee if you use an Aeropress or french press.
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Jun 17, 2021 23:04
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clockworkjoe posted:Eletric kettles are great for coffee if you use an Aeropress or french press. Until you get lazy and just buy the cold brew bottles at the supermarket instead 
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Jun 17, 2021 23:10
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The weird part to me when I visited is that because electric kettles are rare, so are hot water bottles. My loved ones are in Minneapolis. It's so cold in the winter. And yet I had to teach them about hot water bottles. I bought a drat kettle at Target.
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Jun 18, 2021 00:23
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Forgot to back the robot fighting game before going to sleep 
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Jun 18, 2021 08:02
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Well, checking back in on the GameVaults project, they added a new video showing off their prototypes, so there has been some work being put in behind the scenes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCReC6wu1xs It just seems like, there's so much wasted effort going into the design of this thing. Like, the vault mechanism legitimately looks pretty cool, but I don't need all that to play a board game. And they show off the bottoms of the terrain pieces with "Hidden details" that you wouldn't see during gameplay, magnets to attach them to the board, and I just kept thinking to myself, "If you cut out all this extra poo poo, have a $50~100 tier with a regular board and just the player pieces, this might have been a serviceable campaign." Desfore fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Jun 18, 2021 |
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Jun 18, 2021 12:38
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Anyone worried over the cargo ship price gouging happening over in China affecting unfulfilled tabletop Kickstarters? It might not be anything, but I'm hoping that all my games that haven't gotten on a boat yet aren't going to be delayed for a year (even if fully manufactured) or outright go undelivered. I'm also not looking forward to project creators coming to their backers asking for a second payment of shipping costs.
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Jun 18, 2021 14:45
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JazzFlight posted:Anyone worried over the cargo ship price gouging happening over in China affecting unfulfilled tabletop Kickstarters?
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Jun 18, 2021 14:57
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I'm really hoping shipping normalizes in a few months. It's a major problem for Kickstarters that are delivering soon, but hopefully ones launching soon are unaffected, or minimally affected.
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Jun 18, 2021 15:09
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