The Benefits of Board Game Rating in the Binary

I think that the title right there lays out the biggest benefit for something like this. When you rate on Board Game Geek a rating means different things to different people. Yes, BGG does have it’s own standard for how you should rate games. What does a seven mean versus a six is sometimes a bit confusing.

So instead you just have that binary either good or bad. Now, a good review shows you the subtly of that. And I think that is something that Board Game Geek might lack at times. They give you so many options and honestly too many options in terms of how people now manipulate rankings.

Let’s look at the example of Gloomhaven and Brass Birmingham. People got into a fight on there about which was better and then they started hate rating stuff. Now, Rotten Tomatoes also has that problem. People review bomb things. That is going to be a problem anywhere. But I think with Rotten Tomatoes and a few distinctions in things, like Topic Critics there are ways that it keeps it cleaner than on BGG.

The Challenges of a New Board Game Site

So there are going to be a good number of challenges with this. Firstly being that BGG is already well established. Now we’ve seen new websites make a major impact. LetterBoxd is a great example of this where it burst onto the scene and got really popular quickly. I think a lot of that is because it was as much social media as it is for ranking movies. I don’t mean that in a bad way. It let people really quickly and cleanly rank things versus what IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes do.

The next thing would be keeping it simple and usable enough that people would want to use it. What features are going to be needed for something like that.

Along with that, how do you get all the information on board games that you’d want? I think that BGG is going to be one of the resources that you need to use for a game website. And that feels a little bit shady taking their information that they make public through API’s. Though as a starting point I think that could work, and let’s just talk design now.

Play or Pass Design

Yes, I do already have a name for it. I think that Play or Pass works well. Rotten Tomatoes has it’s whole thing where you are either fresh or rotten. That is a fun gimmick and I think with the history of throwing fruit at performers if they were sucking is wrong but also historically makes sense. Play or Pass are things you do in board games, so I think that makes good sense.

Let’s now just list off a number of things that you’d want on a site like this.

• Ability to sign in/sign up
• Ability to track your collection
• Ability select Play or Pass on a game
• Write Reviews
• Top Reviewers/Professional Reviewers
• New Game Ratings on Home Page
• Anticipation Meter for Crowdfunding Games
• Articles
• Forums?

Those are just some of the things that I think about when I think of how I’d want a website like this to work.

Should I Build It?

I’m asking this like it’s a question. I come from a web development background, though I’m enjoying not doing that anymore. And with AI and prompting, I think that I can build something like this. Whether or not it’s for public release ever or not, I’m not sure. But I want to see what I can create for Pass or Play and see if it’s a viable idea for a website or not.

Let me know if you’d use something like this or not? Or is Board Game Geek going to be good enough for you. Honestly, it’s probably good enough, but at the same time, we’ve seen sites like Gamefound and Backerkit push Kickstarter to do more and be better. So not letting a site become complacent isn’t a bad thing.

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What Is Arkham Horror 2nd Edition

Let’s talk about the game first because Arkham Horror 2nd Edition is a game that I actually now. In fact, I used to own the game. I even owned the 3rd Edition of the game, but I never actually played that one.

Arkham Horror is one of those big older Fantasy Flight Games games that people have a soft spot for it. The game is long, sometimes punishing for no good reason, but when you make a day out of playing it is just fun. And this is back when Fantasy Flight Games would make a million expansions for games and not just little ones like Marvel Champions. Actually, they still make a million expansions for most games.

Arkham Horror 2nd Edition is just one of those beer and pretzels sorts of games. I love the idea of sitting down, right now, with two or three friends and getting in a game. Though, I think we’d probably be drinking an Old Fashioned or some Scotch instead of beer right now.

So now the game is back in print, and it’s more than just the game being back in print. The expansions are as well. While you generally could still find the base game pretty often for a reasonable price, not all of the expansions were. So Fantasy Flight has opened up the vault, and they are going to be doing this more, and giving us a chance to buy it again.

Why am I Hesitating

There are a few reasons that I am hesitating on this one. The first being that the game is big, and because of how big it is and how long it is, it isn’t going to be a game that I’ll play often. Is it worth owning a game and expansions when I will only play it once every year or two. Even if I could say, yes, I’ll play it every year, is that worth it?

Another reason is because of the expansions. Right now to the game bundles is $350. And that is a lot in terms of game, but it’s also still $350. Do I want to spend money on that when I could get a three other big games instead. I could get Galactic Cruise, Darwin’s Journey and more if I wanted.

On the flip side, I want to back it because I know I like the game. This is less of a risk than some other games too because I know Fantasy Flight Games, I know the parent company, and it will deliver. Hopefully even pretty quickly because it’s based on something that already exists. But Arkham Horror 2nd Edition is still a massive game and my other things still are true too.

Finally, there is the fact that it’s the same game. Now, this is a positive, but also a negative. I hope that they streamlined it a little bit. Not too much because I love the epic nature. But just a little bit so maybe it’s slightly faster. Why, because I love a massive and long beer and pretzels experience, but also, it’s hard to get that in if it’s too long.

Back or Brick: Arkham Horror 2nd Edition

Honestly my disappointing answer is going to be that I don’t know yet. I am getting the updates for the campaign so I might decide to back it still. At the same time, I think that the negatives are pretty strong in terms of me getting this game. I think I’d need to pick a game or two to move on from before I’d back it.

Just for two reasons. One to free up space on my shelves. But the other one is just to get some more funds for the game itself. I could back it for just $70 and get the core game. And that might be what I do. But it’s also a question of, is it worth it just to get that when I could be getting more and this is the chance to do so. If this turns into a game that is played a couple of times a year, even, I think I would wish I had gotten all of Arkham Horror 2nd Edition.

Is this game a back or brick for you? You can check it out here.

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5 BGA Games I Want To Buy

The rules for picking these games are pretty simple. They have to be available, so no grail games, that was yesterday. And I need to have learned them on Board Game Arena. So let’s see what make the list.

5. Echoes of Time

The first one is one that I haven’t talked about yet. It is a new one for the month of October, so look forward to that article with all the new October games in a week or so.

Echoes of Time is a game about managing your hand and your track of cards which you combo together to take locations and then score points. What I like about the game and why I want it is this track that you place cards on. When you play a card you don’t get to use it right away. You need to get it off this track first. Now, that will happen after a few rounds, but if you want it faster you can push that. Of course, there is a cost to playing cards, and that is cards. So that duel use of cards as abilities and paying for other cards is one I like.

4. Azure

Azure is a game that I mentioned before. It is also one that I have almost picked up a number of times when I got to the game store. I’m not sure what is keeping me from doing what when I think about the other games that I’ve added to my collection. But it is one that I want to get.

It is a two player game where you are trying to get to 25 points fastest. To do this you are placing out stones into certain areas of the board. Each area has a special piece and power as well that goes with that. Most of them are just more points or getting another card into your hand. The cards are simple just a color, but you need to pay a card to play a stone, and not just a card, one per symbol. So you need to get cards, or your stones in that row and column reduce cost as well, which is a fun way to handle things.

3. Drillers

Drillers is the newest of the games on the list. And technically it is out of print but that is just because it was popular at Gen Con. So it is going to be coming back into print shortly.

This game is about drilling down, gaining resources and getting up to the surface to sell them. The more you sell the more you can upgrade your mining machine with more fuel, storage, and you can buy more cards. These cards you can use for fuel, or you can spend your fuel to use their abilities.

It reminds me a little bit of Lost Ruins of Arnak in how you build this deck or cards and are trying to get the right combos to be able to have great turns. But the game is quite different from that and not as good. Not that I’ll say that is a reason to keep me from buying it.

2. Galactic Cruise

Galactic Cruise is the biggest of the games on the list. And honestly, I only kind of do well at this game. That is because of how big the game is. And sometimes that’s worth noting for Board Game Arena. If a game is huge, I want to learn the game on my table first. It is going to be easier for me to understand all the pieces that are moving.

But the theme of this game of building up these galactic cruise ships, advertising or getting the right guests and then launching that into space for points is great. The mechanisms are fun as well in this game as you place out workers and activate things where you place them or spots you have connected. The downside, like I said, is that there is just so much going on in the game. There might be an optimal strategy, but I think I need to see it on my table.

1. Darwin’s Journey

Darwin’s Journey isn’t too far behind Galactic Cruise in terms of size definitely not in terms of things going on in the game. You are competing to have the best journey of the Beagle around the Galapagos Islands. Researching and finding creatures and sending that back. All of these different systems work to give you points. And there are objectives to complete, and you need money.

Like I said with Galactic Cruise when it comes to board games like this it is often easier to get that all figured out on my own table. On BGA it is fine, but sometimes it is hard to see everything. Other times they show you your options well and that might be easier. Either way, I want to get this one and get it to my table.

Have You Had Experience With Games Like This?

I think that as I’ve now owned probably over 1000 games in my lifetime, or near that that trying before you guy is good. Gen Con or a convention is my preferred way to do that. Or is there a game that you are hoping will show up on Board Game Arena so you can try it before you inevitably buy it or forget about it?

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What Are Grail Board Games?

Let’s start out by talking about what grail board games are even. These are generally board games that are hard to get a hold of. They are the holy grail, so to speak. And that can be for a number of reasons.

The most common reason for board games is that they go out of print. So it might be a game from before I started getting into board games. If that is the case, then I need to find a used copy somewhere, or stumble across a sealed one in the dark recesses of a game store where time forgot.

Another reason might be that the game was a Kickstarter exclusive. This happens with smaller game companies that don’t end up having distribution connections or plans. Often times this would be a bigger campaign game where it doesn’t make sense for it to got retail. Even if retailers back it and get copies that way, once it is gone it is gone.

And the final reason I can think of is that the game has a limited release. Now this could be something like a convention exclusive, but that’s pretty rare in the industry. Instead this is more often a game that might go into print in another part of the world and never get a US release.

I’ll talk about which board games are which type when I talk about five that I would love to get below.

Top 5 Grail Board Games I Want

Board Games are in no particular order.

5. The Crimson Scale

This one is an odd one for it. It isn’t a board game, but I’m putting it on the board games list. This is a fan expansion for Gloomhaven. That is more characters, more scenarios, the whole nine yards. The reason it’s on the list is that the designer of this has now designed their own campaign game which I own, Rove.

So this one is going to be hard to get because it already was hard to get. But now with a new, competing, game out there, it isn’t going to be printed anymore. But also, do I need a copy of this expansion when I have more Frosthaven to play? I can also still play Jaws of the Lion, and I’m sure there will be a third “haven” game in a few years.

4. Violet and the Grumpy Nisse

Violet and the Grumpy Nisse is first and foremost an amazing name when it comes to board games. It’s a two player game where one player plays as Violet and the other as Torech, the very grumpy nisse. The game is also a Nordic theme which is great as well for me being 100% Norwegian in heritage. The reason that it is hard to find is because it is a crowdfunding game that didn’t get a publication to retail.

But let’s talk about what makes this game one that I want to get from a game mechanism point of view. It is a two player trick taking game. I love trick taking. And this push and pull of two players can become interesting. Violet wants to win tricks and losing them is really bad for her. Whereas for the Nisse a loss here or there isn’t as bad. So it’s all about managing the tricks that you win or lose for both of them which sounds great.

3. Zerywia

It’s a campaign, it’s a crowdfunding game, and it’s hard to find because of that. But what drew me to this one? First off, the theme seems different than some board games. Yes, it’s got that fantasy element to it, but when it comes to it, it’s about Slavic myths and that is different than the normal mythologies that you see in board games. So I am curious about that and what sort of story it’ll tell compared to more Tolkien style fantasy.

Plus this is a campaign game with hard driven play. I like card driven play and I love campaign games. SO I think that it sounds interesting as to how it should work. And often that is enough to make me want to try and track down the game.

2. Three-Dragon Ante: Legendary Edition

This is a game that is just out of print. And because of that it is a hard game to find. Three-Dragon Ante is a game that they play in Dungeons and Dragons. And like some other board games like Gwent and Tak, it has moved from the original medium and into one that you can, or should I say could, get. I’d love to get my hands on this one, but compared to some of the other ones, it’s really expensive.

1. Arigato

Arigato is definitely my #1 on this list. I said that it wasn’t in order, but for the rest of the board games that is true. Arigato is easily number one and also impossible to track down. I saw one briefly on eBay, but I wasn’t fast enough. And good luck finding it on Board Game Geek and their Geek Market, though I’ll keep looking. This is one where it had a release in Europe and never came to the US. And now it is out of print.

I love this game. It is the one that I have played from this list. And I play it a lot on Board Game Arena. But I want to share it with more people and play it with more people. And if I could get a copy of it, I could do that. This is a game about managing three different scoring opportunities.

You have artisans that you place into your village. Each can go only in certain spots. They can give you points during the game. Then you collect resources and you can retire them, that is going to give you points. Finally there are objectives each of the days. And if you complete them you score points, more depending on how many you complete. And the game is such a great puzzle that way.

What games are on your list for grail games that you want to find?

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Who Is Grant Lyon?

First off let’s talk a little bit about him, but only a little bit. If you want to find out more about him, you can checkout his website here. But like I said he’s a board game comedian. What does that mean? It means that Grant Lyon does comedy, stand-up in particular. And that is going to be about board games.

He is on a tour now, though over half way done, with a stand-up show. So if you want to see him perform, he might still be coming to a town near you. And I’d checkout the website above to find out if that is the case.

How Was The Show?

But let’s talk about his performance and we are going to split it into three parts here. The first being the venue. The next being his stand-up. And finally some games.

The Venue

When it comes to the venue, I think that the GameZenter was okay. And I’ll give the big reason why here in a second. While being able to sit and see Grant Lyon perform was good, the PA system was not as good. Now, it might have just been a one off issue, but when hosting an event like this, you should test it better. And for what it was, the sound wasn’t good, Grant paused his performance and got his own system. After that it was great.

Grant Lyon’s Stand-up

Grant Lyon’s stand-up was a lot of fun. Though, as you’d expect, it is all about board games. Yes, there are some personal stories thrown in there, but it is about board games. So in terms of the audience, having it at a game store is a great spot to have it. And for me, it was a lot of laughs. There were a lot of good jokes in there that you will get if you know board games.

But when I talk about his comedy, it is all board game comedy. He was a comedian before becoming the big name in board game comedy, which isn’t that huge a name. But Grant Lyon is going to focus on the topic of board games. He talked about about he does shows at comedy clubs and he has them guess what they think a lot of board games is. And just how small that number is compared what he actually has. And yes, I think he has more than me.

I say that not as a knock on his comedy. I think his comedy is very good. And it is clearly written and focused for the audience that is there. In this case, that audience is board gamers, and it lands really well. It is also clean which is nice. I don’t think he swore in it. But there aren’t risqué jokes or things like that to worry about.

Gaming With Grant Lyon

Finally is the gaming. I wasn’t sure what this was going to be, but it was two big party games. The first being Green Team Wins. And this one works well. I don’t think it worked perfectly, but I do think there are ways that it could have been tweaked slightly. The idea of this one is to be on the green team. If you go from the orange to the green team you get a point. If you stay on the green team you get two points. And all you need to do to get that is just be in the majority.

This one, like I said, is an okay one. Mainly because of one of the three types of questions. I think of Grant Lyon had removed that one it would have flowed better. But the questions are either/or, multiple choice, or fill in the blank. That last one doesn’t work so well in a room with 150+ people. The other two are great though, and even with a few fill in the blank ones, it was easy to play.

The other one was Blob Party, this is one where you are trying to match with people. You become a blob, and the goal is to get everyone into a blob before seven turns are up. This one works well, as well. There is the downside that again with 150+ people, you get into a huge blob and picking a word is kind of guess work. But that is okay because the game is fast and simple.

Final Thoughts on the Grant Lyon Show

I recommend it. I think that Grant Lyon is a fun comedian. That is, of course, with the caveat for this show you need to know board games a little bit. There are elements that will translate over just fine in comedy. But if you know board games, a whole lot more of them are going to translate over.

I’m not sure he always does the gaming with him. I think that’s more for the shows that he’s done at game stores. But if you can get to one of those, it’s going to be a fun time as well. Also just reminded myself I need to add Blob Party to the list of games that I’ve played and rated.

Let me know what you think of his comedy if you’ve gone to a Grant Lyon show.

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5 Crunchyroll Anime

These are in no particular order

5. Magical Explorer

This is the one that I’m least sold on out of all of them that I’m going to talk about. The idea of a smut moving MC trying to turn themselves into a heart throb sounds like it could be funny for an anime. And I hope that it is that. But I’m also worried that it’s just going to be, I’m a horny protagonist who got isekai’ed into another world and now I’m still that same person just with a harem. And while that can still be fun, it is going to get tiring pretty quickly.

4. Reborn a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting The Strongest Ship!

This is an anime that I already know I’m going to be interested in. Probably my top or second to top one for this fall seasons. But Reborn a Space Mercenary is a manga that I’ve enjoyed. And yes, before you ask, it is another isekai. But this one is not in a fantasy setting like most of them, or a confusing setting like Trapped in a Dating Sim. This is straight up sci-fi and I’m excited to see what can be done with a setting that is a little bit less normal.

3. Firefly Wedding

Firefly Wedding is one that just sounds interesting based off of the summary. A character who is dying but then proposes to her kidnapper. There is a lot going on in that and I want to know more about it. Plus the visuals that I’ve seen for it really do look beautiful. And if an anime has a beautiful look to it, I find that I am more interested in checking it out. I hope that this one has a great aesthetic and that the tease of a dangerous obsession from the description is going to offer a unique story.

2. Hello, I Am a Witch and my Crush Wants me to Make a Love Potion!

I think that the title says it all as for why I am interested in this anime. I’m just going to call it love potion because the actual title is too long. But I want to know how it is going to turn out. My hope is for a slow build romance anime where the characters keep on bumping into each other before they fall in love. And the main character is going to make a tough decision of if they are going to help their crush with the love potion or not. I think that the answer should be yes, but then it won’t work or will work some other way.

1. Overgeared

Finally we have Overgeared. This is an anime that is from a source material that I already like. It’s a video game anime where it really isn’t quite an isekai because the main character isn’t trapped. But it is close because you are going to spend most of your time in the game with the character. But the game is a massive game that everyone in in the world is playing. And you can make money from it. So the main character wants to live that life of making a living, but it hasn’t been working out. But then he finds a secret class that no one else has. Is it his ticket to the big time, well, maybe.

Honorable Mentions of Crunchyroll

Psyren looks like a crazy anime that anything might happen in it. So I’m definitely intrigued by how that one might play out.

So What’s Wrong With Being Reborn a Goblin is an isekai so the odds are that I’m going to be checking that one out at some point in time.

The World’s Strongest Witch will round out my honorable mentions. Just the animation look for it and a plot of a disowned MC sound like it should be a fun time.

What are you going to be watching?

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Dungeon Crawler Carl Plot Synopsis

First off, let’s just refresh for those folks who might not know what Dungeon Crawler Carl is. I wrote an article/review on it not too long ago. And I am reading book 7 out of 8 right now. But it’s Earth and aliens harvest all the resources from Earth. Now, your options are survive on the surface where there aren’t many resources left. Or you can go into the dungeon and that is going to be televised across the universe. If you survive this dungeon long enough you can get taken out and get a job. But is that worth it, for Carl, the answer is yes.

The Differences

So let’s talk about the differences. Firstly, Dungeon Crawler Carl is not a system with a leveling cap to it. Or at least in the books that is not something that has been hit. So that is different from Dungeons and Dragons. In D&D you go up to level 20 and then that is it.

The other big thing is how you level up. You level up and you get to put points into stats. As well as then your skills and abilities level up. In Dungeons and Dragons terms think of it like the following. You go up to level five and you gain the spell fireball. You cast it a whole bunch of times. And after you cast it enough times it just goes up in level. You can now always cast it just a level higher even if you haven’t leveled up. Even if you don’t have a spell slot at that level.

How To Makes Dungeon Crawler Carl Work in D&D

Let’s now talk about how you make it work. I’m not too worried about the level cap for this. I think that is the element that is easiest to work around. Especially with how crazy Dungeon Crawler Carl is. I think that you can make that work at level 20 and maybe do some smaller milestone leveling or split up what you get at a level to stretch it out and give more of those rewards you expect from the book.

Leveling

But let me break down leveling even a little bit more. And let’s use the fighter as an example. If you are playing in the world of Dungeon Crawler Carl you start as a level 0 character. You get into the Dungeon and at the third floor you go from a nobody to a fighter.

Now, even before that you can start to get some skills. But we’ll talk about that in the next section. But when you hit level three of the Dungeon you become a level 1 fighter in Dungeons and Dragons terms.

Now what happens when you continue to go up in levels. You fight more monsters, and in Dungeon Crawler Carl you would go up to level 10 pretty quickly and then level 40 or 50. I think I would do something I’m going to term as micro-leveling.

Let’s use level 4 as an example because it’s easy and it’s the same for every class. At level 4 you get an ability skill increase. Now that is going to be adding in two points your ability scores. Well, instead of doing that you do a level 4a, a level 4b, and a level 4c. Level 4a is going to give you an ability point you can spend how you want. Then level 4b gives you your level up hit dice. And finally level 4c gives you your final ability point to spend.

Skills and Spells

So the next hard thing is going to be how do you handle skills and spells. As I mentioned in the differences section, in Dungeon Crawler Carl those things level up separately from everything else. And I think that there are ways to make that work as well. And that is just by scaling benefits for things. Now that is going to mess up how you calculate difficulties in a Dungeon Crawler Carl D&D campaign, but it is workable.

Spells

And maybe it is even that you start out with things weaker and then level them up. Let’s give fireball as an example. Your character learns the spell fireball. A normal fireball in Dungeons and Dragons does 8d6 fire damage, that is eight six sided dice. Well, what if it starts out at 4d6. That is still strong, you can give it out early and the more the player uses it, the more D6 damage that it can do.

Skills

Or, what about a ability skill check or saving throw? I think that things like expertise could help with that. Now that is going to again scale up your leveling plans, at least I’d assume so. But there are some things to do to make this work as well. As they level up and as you get more points in your proficiency bonus, give a % based boost of expertise. You are really good at perception, you are proficient with it, cool, you get that +2. You use it more, now you are at 125%, rounded up, so a +3. Then you level up to a level where you get +3 naturally for your proficiency, you are +4 now. You go up to 150%, you are +5.

A similar thing can be done with weapon damage or attack bonuses. And even things like the rogues sneak attack ability. Treat it like the fireball. Less damage at first but then it ramps up into that.

Loot

Finally, I didn’t mention loot before, but loot is something that is common in Dungeon Crawler Carl. And there is a lot of loot in the story. It is tricky in Dungeons and Dragons because you don’t want to give out too much loot. But I think there is a way around it.

Still be stingy with things like +3 long swords. Or a wand of fireballs. But when you give out loot, give odd more mundane objects. A ring of water walking is something that is very useful, but won’t overpower your players too much. So items that they can keep that are situationally valuable.

The other thing is to give them items that are good and powerful but limited use. A wand of fireballs but give it three charges and then it’s destroyed. As the person running the campaign then you put them in situations where it would be useful. And the players should, hopefully, use it.

But the big thing is give them those limited use, one time use items, and give them those things often. And then put them in situations where it is going to be useful and go crazy and have fun with them.

So Would You Play Dungeon Crawler Carl in D&D?

I think it could be a fun way to do it. And there is one main reason that I would say to to do it over just getting the new system. If you have a group who is interested in it but not in learning a new system. I don’t think the new system is going to be that hard to learn. But I also know from owning different gaming systems for RPG’s I tend to stick with Dungeons and Dragons. I know how it works and that is good enough for me.

But let me know if you’ve given it a try. What did you do, if anything, that was similar to what I said? How did you give it that Dungeon Crawler Carl feel?

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What Is Isekai?

First off let’s talk about what Isekai is. The concept is generally that some person, from the real world or another world gets killed, or somehow trapped in another world. This is a little bit up for debate as if they can get back from that world. You’ll see on my list that yes, I think that counts as an isekai. But that’s the general idea. You are stuck in another world, often summoned as a hero, now what do you? Do you become that hero and save the world, or do you just want to chill?

Why Is It So Popular?

I think that there are a number of reasons that isekai are popular right now. Though, I do think that the popularity of the genre is fading. Or maybe I should say, it is in vogue to stick up your nose at isekai as being too basic in the anime world and a dime a dozen. That isn’t to say that there aren’t a ton. But there are a ton because they are popular, not because there are a ton.

I think that the big reason for isekai being popular is that it’s about a character getting away from something. Getting a new lease on life and being able to build themselves up again often times into a person that they weren’t before. They get another chance at being a hero. And as an audience we like that.

It can also give you the fish out of water sort of storyline. What happens if a normal person who isn’t some big nerd ends up in a sci-fi or fantasy world. How are they going to handle everything. And that is another element that is just fun to watch.

Why Do I Like Isekai So Much?

All of the reasons that I gave above are reasons I like it. I think for me the chance for characters to become more than they were before is something that is meaningful to me. That element is something that just feels good and is something that I want to have a part of my own life.

Isekai gives me an escape into that, but it’s not to say that I don’t love my life. I love it, but I am someone who is trying to grow, learn more, do more, and help more people grow. That is why I have a passion for coaching, development, and sharing what I care about to people in my life. It’s why I’ve trained people at work and managed people, and what has driven me to that point in my career.

But I also like the wide variety of stories that it can tell. From characters who are the hero. To characters who just want to be left alone and enjoy their new life in new world. And of course with so many isekai out there now, it has gotten crazy like being reborn as a sword, a vending machine, a slime, a goblin, and so many more things.

Now, I won’t even begin to say that all of them are that good. I like a lot of them. But you’ll see the list of isekai below and you’ll know that some of them I don’t like. At the bottom of the list are a lot of them that are just annoying. And that are an isekai for kind of the wrong reasons, I’d say.

Ranking The Isekai I’ve Watched

Let me know what isekai I don’t have on my list that I need to watch?

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New Games to the Collection

Turing Machine

Out of all the games added Turing Machine is the one that I knew for sure I watched to get. Turing Machine is a deduction game where you are trying to figure out a three digit code. There is only one right solution, of course, and you need to figure that out. But you are asking a machine questions as you create a number.

It might be, is the yellow number, which I have as 4, greater than 3. If that is true, it’ll show a green check. If it is not a red x. There are other things, like is the total of the numbers odd or even. Are there repeating numbers. Things like that for each one and you want to figure out the puzzle faster than other players by using the fewest clues possible. It’s a great thinky game and I love thinky games.

Northgard: Uncharted Lands

Northguard is on the list because it was so cheap. I am interested in the game. It seems like it could be a fun, bigger game of adventure without being a campaign. But it’s also a 4X games, and that is an area that I want to play more games in, but also one that I haven’t played many in. The game was really cheap, though, for how big the game is and that made it an easy one to pick-up for that reason.

Scoville

Scoville is one of the games that drew me in because of theme. I love spicy peppers and a game about that sounds fun. I actually just finished a play of it on Board Game Arena and I enjoyed it. In fact, I didn’t order the game until I was part way through and realized that I was enjoying it a lot. You plan peppers and then harvest them trying to get the spiciest pepper combinations and trade those in for points. If it weren’t for the theme I’m not sure I’d have bought it, but for the theme and my love of spicy foods, I know it’ll get played once in a while.

Spooktacular

Now another one of the games where the theme just was for me. I love spooky things and horror movies. So why not a board game all about horror movies and horror movie monsters. I own games like Camp Grizzly and Final Girl where you are trying to survive. But what about a game where you are playing the horror movies themselves.

That is what Spooktacular is. You are in a movie theater and you are the horror movies escaping from the screen. And you want to kill guests and do it in the way that your movie wants to do it. I love that all the movies have that similar objective but they all do it in different ways. It seems like my sort of game that way.

Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship

This is one that I have been looking at for a long time. It is a pretty safe bet with my wife that she’ll be interested in any Lord of the Rings games. In fact we have a few that need to get played still, with her or others. But Fate of Fellowship is based off of the Pandemic system but is it’s own game. I like that there is more going on with it in terms of complexity. But also is going to use some elements that feel similar and familiar to things that we’ve played before. That is going to make this an easier to table game.

Frost Punk: The Board Game

Finally for the new games is Frost Punk. I finally got my hands on a used copy of this game. I wanted it for a long time because I think it sounds wonderful and pretty absurd. Now, I don’t mean absurd as in really goofy, I mean as in you are being asked to make crazy decisions. And I like that in a game.

It feels like the next step, kind of, in a Dead of Winter Crossroads style game. You make a decision if you have child labor, for example, as one of the options. Is that a right or wrong choice, who knows. It’ll hurt morale but give you more workers. And sometimes you need more workers more than you need morale. But that is the sort of thing that the game is going to ask you. And I am here for that.

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New Games in September

Koi-Koi

This is a game that you play with Hanafuda cards. There are a lot of games that you can play with them, but this is the one that I picked to play, and I thought that it was okay. It’s all about trying to remove cards from your hand by matching them to ones on the board. The ones on the board and in your hand all align to a month, so you are matching that. Then you collect those cards and they create different scoring opportunities for you. You can score or you can push further. If you push further, you can score with a multiplier. But if you don’t score and your opponent gets a scoring hand you miss out.

Arctica

Arctica is a game that is actually crowdfunding now. It’s kind of rare of games like that to show-up on BGA before they are even out. But it is also a way for people to see if they are interested in the game. I think that Arctica is an interesting game with a lot of moving pieces. I mean that literally as it does have rotating cogs that you place pieces or or that change up the actions that you can do. This is one that I want to like more than I do. I think I mainly don’t like it, though, because it’s a game that is just okay to learn on BGA. There is enough going on with that I think it would be easier to learn and play in person.

Pondscape

Do you like frogs? Do you want to play board games about frogs? Than Pondscape is going to be for you. I think that it’s another one of those interesting games. And it does a lot of things like I like with tableau building and drafting. But I am also less sold on it compared to some other tableau building games. It is complex enough that it won’t work for everyone, but not as complex as some others that I like better. It’s one that I’d gladly play more and figure out more, but isn’t one that I love.

Manoir Bizarre

Manoir Bizarre is a fun game with some good choices in it. But not one that I loved. It’s about building out a weird manor to match the wants of guests and score points for completing different things. The big cool thing that it does, compared to other tableau building games, is that you are passing cards, but not drafting cards. So as you pick from your starting hand of cards you pass one to the left and one to the right and keep one for yourself. So you can try and send cards that your opponent won’t want to them.

Number Drop

Number Drop is a game that I owned but then sold. And having played it no on BGA, I’m not sad about that. There are a lot of games that use Tetris shapes. And this one is about dropping them down in Tetris style. You want to score points for getting rows completed and also for creating runs and sets of numbers. Is it fun, yes. Is it one that I want to play all the time, no.

The Builders: Middle Ages

This is an engine-ish building game. You are building your Middle Ages buildings and you need workers to do that. You can get new workers and send them to work, but you are limited by coins and action points as to how to do that best. I like games that push you to make smart and tight moves. You can’t just get all the buildings and workers and assume that you won’t spend actions just getting money. And just getting money is not helping you complete buildings. But the game is very simple, so that’s just okay.

Reflections in the Looking Glass

I really wanted to enjoy this game. I thought it sounded like a cool two player game, but in terms of two player games, it fell kind of flat for me. You are drafting in a 7 Wonders Duel sort of drafting way. And you want to win rounds by being the furthest from 0 that you can be. This is either positive or negative. The thing is, it’s hard to keep track of all of that. And because of how you draft and open things up there are sometimes that you just get stuck with it. I thought the decision space would be more than than it was, at least for me.

Chicken!

I like push your luck games. Though sometimes they are a bit too simple. This one is a nice balance of giving you push your luck but also a little decision making. You are just rolling dice and then seeing how many eggs you get. The more eggs the farther you go along the track. But as you roll you also get other symbols which add more dice. More dice, more chances to get eggs, but also more chances that you bust. So you sometimes want to stop sooner other times not so much. Because if you stop sooner you give all the dice to the next player and now they have more to roll.

Tangram City

This is a pretty fun little game of building out your city. You want your city to be part green and part brown and you want them as even as possible. Is there a theme, certainly not. But it’s still fun as you are trying to build out these areas and match the colors to get more points. But also build it as square as possible. I like what it does, but again falls into the category of a game that doesn’t blow me away with what it does. And I think that is mainly because of how simple the game really is.

Atrah

Finally for September is Atrah. This is another one of the new games that is coming out soon. A smaller game from CMON about fishing. I feel like I kind of understood my play of it. But I think I should play it some more to really figure it out. You are catching fish and then collecting fish from what you caught. Some of them give you abilities as well, and there is a set collection element. The game doesn’t feel bad to play but it also didn’t blow me away with the game play.

Top 3 Games

Normally I do Top 5 games for the month. But this month with fewer games, and it’s been busier at work so less brain space for games, it is just a Top 3 games. And even that is a little bit tricky.

3. Arctica

I do enjoy Arctica when it comes to the games from the month. I even am playing it more just so I can try and figure it out better. But like I said, there is enough going on that it is hard to play on BGA. I want to see it in person and try it there. But I also feel like it’s not a game that if I backed it I’d play often. So maybe someone I know will back it, but otherwise it’s a try before you buy for me.

2. Pondscape

Pondscape is one of those games that is just fun. I said it falls into an odd spot for me too complex for a simple tableau building game and too simple for a complex one. That might sound like a sweet spot, but it is likely the spot of games where it just isn’t going to get played that often. So yes, I’ll play it on BGA, but it won’t be one that I pick-up.

1.Manoir Bizarre

Manoir Bizarre is the one that I would consider picking up. I like how you split up the cards. And I think that the theming is fun as you play. But it also is not that unique in what it does. So while I like all the parts of it, when it comes to games to add to my collection or ones that I’d play a lot. I just don’t think it would do well for me in that area.

So is September maybe a little bit of a pass when it comes to games for me. Yes, but the more games that you play the harder it is to find the ones that you are super excited for or ones that will supplant your favorites. But still, look for tomorrows article about new games to my collection.

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