For the past year and change, I’ve been playing a lot of physical games online. By that, I mean I’ve been playing a lot of online games that were originally intended to be played in person. Sometimes these are games by Jackbox, which while mediated by a computer are definitely enhanced by being able to… Continue reading In-Person Gaming
Tag: board games
Unrealistic
Board games aren’t realistic. Monopoly doesn’t look like any metropolis and the geography in Settlers of Catan makes Giant’s Causeway look conventional. The diseases in Pandemic are translucent cubes instead of microscopic blobs. This all makes sense, of course. Board games are an abstraction of reality, paring down big concepts into statistics. This can be… Continue reading Unrealistic
Choice
Sid Meir, the guy behind Civilization, famously described a game as being "a series of interesting choices." The idea here is that a good game has you making decisions that have some weight to them, that is, decisions that though not necessarily wrong, could have repercussions. In Civilization, it can manifest from whether you plan… Continue reading Choice
D&D, But Online
I’m a big fan of tabletop RPGs. Probably because it’s all the fun of storytelling coupled with the inherent zaniness of improv comedy. Imagine, you get a good group together who feed off of each other’s energy and are all too willing to "yes-and" off of whatever random plot or character development another player throws… Continue reading D&D, But Online
Quarantined
To stem the rising tide of a pandemic, the residents of New York are put under lockdown. Life in the city grinds to a halt; no one goes into work and restaurants and bars are limited to take-out only options. News chyrons speak of medication being shipped to cities and team games being banned. Who… Continue reading Quarantined
Tasty Words
If you’ve ever played the Pokémon Trading Card Game or Magic: The Gathering or really any trading card game, you’ll have read the little bit of text on the bottom. Not the copyright information, but rather the flavor text that tells you a little about what the card is and how it fits into the… Continue reading Tasty Words
Of Board Games
Board games are still a thing. And card games and other such games that don’t require a TV, computer, or phone. Fascinating, isn’t it? Now, I love video games. The Last of Us is a work of art and there are feel things in life that can compete with mixing alcohol and Super Smash Brothers.… Continue reading Of Board Games
Essays, Not Rants! 