Lunch Time Gaming At Work

I’ve started a new job so this has gone away, for now, but maybe once a week at my old job, I’d bring in a game and we’d play it. It was just a nice chill time and it was fun to introduce people who maybe hadn’t played many board games, some new board games. Plus it was a chance for me, and I need them, to play a game that I hadn’t played before. Biblios and Arboretum stand out as some of the favorites of the group. And then there were some duds like the Copenhagen: Roll and Write, or Hexroller. They were worth trying, but not great games.

GenCon

I could break this down even further, but the whole experience was amazing. And I can’t wait until the 2023 GenCon. But having some people I knew there was fun, and I got to chat with them some. Plus then Discord communities. I got game with people from Man vs Meeple and Tablenauts and their discords and it was just a great time. Plus I got to play so many different games. GenCon is an amazing experience every time and I think that I found a rhythm that I like for being there. Though, we’ll have to see what might be fun to try next year.

10 Minute Marvel

This one is more recent, but getting a co-host for 10 Minute Marvel has been amazing. Yes, it makes more work for me editing, but it’s just to have a scheduled nerdy Marvel conversation every week. And I want to have more of them, maybe without the editing all the time. But it was great to get a co-host and a friend to go to the movies with and just dive into all of the fun nerdy stuff. And I’m excited to see all the new stuff coming out and talk about that as well.

Getting a Gaming Table

It feels like it’s been longer but that was this spring that I went through, found a lot of games to sell, sold them, and got a gaming table. I love my gaming table. It makes playing campaign games so much easier since I can leave it set-up. I sometimes wonder if I could leave one game set-up on one half and another on the other half. But then again, a lot of them take up more than half of the table. But I basically always have whatever campaign game I’m streaming set-up on there.

Stars of Akarios

Speaking of Streaming, Stars of Akarios. I figured I’d like the game, but I didn’t realize I’d like it as much as I did. The game is just great, the story is fun, and that tactical space combat really shines. So an easy pick, it was hard to take it down. I kind of wanted to continue, but also, it is good to show off more games than just one.

The Dragon Prince, Locke & Key, and Stranger Things

I put them all in one because, well, they are all Netflix shows. And all of them are some of my favorites. I feel like I’m probably missing a show, but these three were great. Locke & Key ended strong. The Dragon Prince, it had been a bit but used it as a chance to watch the whole series again. And while, Stranger Things, Season 4 was the best one since Season 1, and I think it’s really close between those. There were just a lot of really good and fun shows that Netflix put out. And then GBBO is always good, but I kind of consider that to be a little bit of a different thing.

Campaign Games

Technically Stars of Akarios would have fallen into this group, but overall I had an amazing time with campaign games. Sleeping Gods, even though I played it wrong, was so much fun. Tainted Grail, we finished up the second campaign and are into the third. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game was great. Spire’s End and Spire’s End Hildegard have been a ton off un. Even the weird campaign from Paper Dungeons was a lot of fun to play through. So lots of campaign style games that were fun.

Final Thoughts

I don’t think that 2022 was completely a normal nerdy year. I have a four year old now and that means that some nerdy things happen less often or at least getting out for them does. On the flip side, I got to do GenCon and I got to play a lot of Tainted Grail and get a lot of games in. So it’s been a very fun and fulfilling year of nerdy things. And I didn’t even touch on the anime that I’ve watched, not all of which have been great. But there are a good number of fun ones of those as well.

I am really looking forward to what 2023 has as well. Like I said, we’ll talk about some of those things coming up. But it’s going to be another fun year. And hopefully you’ve had good nerdy things happen to you in 2022 as well.

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Unplayed Board Games 124 to 101

124: Monza

This is a kids car racing game from Haba. It is one that I will play when the toddler is ready to play it. But, for right now, it has some cars in it. And the toddler can match up the cars to spots on the board. Or roll the dice and have fun with it. Not one that’s likely to get played this year, I’d think, but maybe towards the end of the year the toddler will be ready.

123: Dragon Tea Society

This one, and the next one, fall into that same category a bit. Though really Dragon Tea Society and Monza. Dragon Tea Society is a deck building style game. You draw cards, play them out, get more cards, but a simple one at that. It’s cute, I want to try it, but again, this is probably more apt to get played when the toddler is older.

122: Hey, That’s My Fish

As we get out of the games for younger or family audience, we have Hey, That’s My Fish. It is a game about collecting fish. And as you collect fish you break up the ice flow so that it limits where your opponent can go. That seems a little mean, but the concept is easy to grasp. It is one I could see waiting for the toddler to be ready to play it, or playing it with adults just for an easy game.

121: Danger Park

Next we have Danger Park. I bought this game when the company was going out of business. It’s about building out your amusement park, and clearly you don’t care that much for the safety of your park goers. I like the concept of pushing to see how you can build out the park so that it’s risky but you can make the most money or points.

120: The Faceless

This is a game I saw a while ago on Kickstarter, and it looked cool, in concept. I’m not sure what was going on, but I bought it cheap as the stock was being sold off. The Faceless has you playing as kids trying to avoid a monster. And the monster moves around based off of magnetic pull from where the kids are. The concept seems cool, we’ll have to see how good it is. Because I’d love to be able to manipulate where the monster goes via magnets.

119: 8Bit Box

This is one that I’ve owned for a while. And I keep on meaning to play it, or play one or two of the games in it to see how it is. 8Bit Box promises a game system that has a retro arcade feel. You can pull out some base pieces and a cartridge for a specific game, and that is what you play around with. I don’t know if it’ll be good, I expect it’ll be okay. And it’s a fun concept to mess around with.

118: The Terrifying Girl Disorder

Another one that is not new to my shelf. I bought this game when it was on a sale because it seemed intriguing. A small box card game, the most intriguing part is that you score based off of one of the girls. But you don’t know which it’ll be when you start the game. So you are looking to gather cards in a way that will score you points.

117: Boy Band Builder

My wife backed this one on Kickstarter. A game from a small and new company here in Minneapolis. It is about building a boy band, and it looks funny. It’s one of those games that we’ll see how good it is, but I also have it higher than some on the list, because I expect for one play, it is going to provide a bunch of good laughs.

116: Starship Samurai

Next up is Starship Samurai. I like mechs and this game has cool mechs. Beyond that it is area control, negotiation – it seems, set collection, a lot of mechanics that I enjoy in the game. I think that the game itself looks better than the box looks, which is a shame. The artwork on the box doesn’t sell me on the game.

115: Unicornus Knights

On the flip side, Unicornus Knights looks good. And I really like the concept of the game. The princess is traveling the land to get to a big bad and fighting as she goes. But you, as knights around her know that she can’t win every fight and shouldn’t get into them. So you manipulate where she moves and deal with threats for her. I like the concept of the main character, the princess, but no one plays her.

114: Copenhagen: Roll & Write

It’s a roll and write game. I got it cheap. I don’t need to say more than that. And honestly, I don’t know a ton more about it than that. It’s one that I should just bust out and play and see how it is. I need to get rid of a few more roll and writes as the roll and writes take up 3 full Kallax cubbies.

113: Journey: Wrath of Demons

This is another game that I should know more about. I keep on researching it, because it keeps on being on sale. Eventually a sale was good enough, and in person, so I grabbed it. It’s a cooperative adventure game based off of a classic Chinese novel. That little bit is enough to keep me very interested in the game, so I want to see how it plays. Plus the cover looks impressive.

112: Cowboy Bebop: Board Game Boogie

This one I picked up because of theme. I really like Cowboy Bebop. It’s up there for my favorite anime, and aesthetically, it is amazing. This is a cooperative game where you are all part of the crew and you try and complete bounties. Each character also wants to do specific things for their own story. So it’s a push and pull of that. I don’t know how great this one is, but it is worth it to me to play it for the theme.

111: Detective: City of Angels

Detective: City of Angels, on the other hand, I am very confident will be a great game. It is a crime solving game with a lot of cases. Each person plays a detective racing to solve the case first. Except for one person who plays the chisel, they basically decide on how answers are given. The reason this is low, even though I really want to play it, is that most likely I end up being the chisel. This is a game I want to experience the cases as the detective, but since I own the game, I’ll likely learn it and play as the game master.

110: The Ravens of Thri Sahashri

Another that isn’t new to my shelf. A two player game that I really should pull off the shelf when my friend who I teach a lot of new games to comes over. But the idea is that one person is playing out cards, the other person is trying to pull them back. I forget exactly how it works, but it’s a puzzle of a game to get cards split into certain groupings which looks really interesting.

109: Shadows of Kyoto

Shadows of Kyoto, from the same company as Hanamikoji, is another two player game. In some ways it gives me a little bit of a feeling of a Stratego sort of game. You try and capture enemy agents, or pass along fake intelligence, or escape an agent to win. It plays fast, and I hope that it’s as punchy and interesting a decision space as Hanamikoji, but I suspect it might not be.

108: Ascension: Immortal Heroes

This is a different version of Ascension, but more different than a lot of the expansion/standalone boxes. So I’m curious to see how this one plays. I hope that it keeps a lot of the core mechanics, but maybe makes the game more directly battling versus so purely deck building. I honestly don’t know that much, I got it on a good sale.

107: Pioneer Days

The second game I bought as a company went out of business, this time TMG (Tasty Minstrel Games). Pioneer Days looks like a dice drafting game, and I like dice drafting. It is supposed to have a bit of an Oregon Trail feel where you are heading up west, getting what you need but also having to deal with troubles, weather, sickness, and the like, as you travel. I like the concept of the game a lot, and the artwork on the box is great.

106: Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write

Another roll and write game. And there are a number more on the list. This one is a roll and write version of Portal Games Imperial Settlers. That is an engine building game, so I’m guessing it’ll be similar for the roll and write. Or in roll and write terms a combo building game. Another one that I just need to play to see if it’s a roll and write that sticks around.

105: Quarto

Part of a line of abstract games, it’s been on my shelf too long. And I really like the concept of the game. You are trying to complete a row that matches. But you don’t get to pick what piece you place, your opponent does. So there are shapes, heights, colors, hollow or not, that can all cause a row to be completed. Can you back your opponent into a corner where they need to give you a piece that lets you win.

104: Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

One that is lower on the list because it was kind of a grail game for me. By grail game I mean a game that’s out of print or harder to find that you want to get, the holy grail. But it was only kind of one. I want to see how the game is, mess around with it, because it’s kind of a living card game that is done. And it has some nice designers on it. Plus, I like Cthulhu.

103: Escape the Room: Mystery at the Stargazer’s Manor

Escape room games are hard to know where to rank. I like escape room games, but even in my Top 100, they don’t make it. So when ranking them, it is harder to rank. This has a Lovecraftian theme, which is always a plus for me. And it is in a bigger box than stuff like Unlock and Exit. I don’t know if it means it’s a bigger game, but I’m curious, and I know I’ll like it when I get people over to play it.

102: Mesozooic

A smaller game, Mesozooic just looked like a fun game to get. And like a lot of games on my list, it was on sale. It’s about creating a dinosaur themed part, which is a common theme in games. But it’s in a small package, light, and fast, and the artwork looks great on it. Plus it’s a real time game for part of it and then drafting as well, so I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and a good filler to try.

101: TAGS

Finally, we have TAGS to round out this chunk of the list. TAGS is a party game where in teams, I believe, you try to come up with words that match a prompt and a letter. This isn’t that unique, but the game plays fast, and by that I mean you have 15 seconds to guess, then the next team gets 15 and the next. So you need to be very fast in the moment. Seems like a chaotic and fun time.

Final Thoughts

This chunk of the list I do think I’ll play a handful of games. I’ve love to play the escape room game as well as TAGS. And the roll and write games I can knock out solo as well. Mesozooic seems like a good one as well. There are others, mainly Detective: City of Angels that I really want to play, but do I want to put the time in right now to learning that game and playing as the chisel.

Which game would you play first from this group of games?

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But let’s talk about what I picked up.

Palms Island

I remember seeing this game on Board Game Geek, their live stream, I forget what convention it was for. It might have been the 2018 GenCon or 2018/2019 Essen Spiel. It didn’t seem that interesting to me then, it was a small solo card game that you could play in your hand. You “play” cards to get resources, rotating the cards to then get resources and seeing how well you can do. Now that I’ve played solo games like Onirim, A Gentle Rain, and Orchard, I’m interested in this game. So was glad to spot it hiding in a box with some cheap games.

Imperial Settlers Roll and Write

Shockingly, I know, I got some more roll and write games. This is the first, Imperial Settlers Roll and Write from Portal Games. It is based off of a very successful game of theirs, Imperial Settlers, which I haven’t played. But it’s a roll and write, and it was cheap, so I wanted to give it a try and see what it was like. It looks more involved than a lot of roll and write games. This is a both a good and a bad thing. I like involved roll and write games and like a challenge. On the flip side, they are harder to get to the table.

Hex Roller

Another roll and write game, Hex Roller is one that I’ve heard basically nothing about. That’s generally not a good thing, but it looks like an interesting enough game. And I’m hoping that it’s at least an average roll and write game. It, unlike Imperial Settlers Roll and Write, doesn’t look that complex. While that might not excite me as much, it is one that I hope to get to the table really fast because it is going to be simpler to play.

Copenhagen: Roll and Write

Final roll and write on the list. This one looks a little bit more complex again, though not too complex. It is a roll and write, like Imperial Settlers Roll and Write based off of an existing game. Another one that I don’t know too much about, but I’m basically always willing to try a roll and write game, and if it’s not for me, I can pass it on to someone else. But most likely I’ll find some enjoyment in the game, and it’s based off of a Euro Game, so clearly I like Euro games.

Mechs vs Minions

So, there was one big game added to the collection. I was please to find this one because I’ve been not hunting it down, but looking for it generally for a while. Mechs vs Minions has you playing at mechs who are fighting off waves and waves of minions. You program out what you want to do, creating an engine of actions that will hopefully keep the minions from getting to your base.

The interesting thing about this game is that it’s from Riot Games. They are known for League of Legends. They decided to make a board game. This game comes with tons of minis in it, which is cool, but the price point of the original game was amazing. The game has done well, but they had a limited run of it. So now it’s hard to find, and I’m really glad to have found one at a good price in great shape.

Which one of these games would you want to play first?

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