Why Go Through This Crowdfunding?

I think that it is interesting, every now and again to look back at what I’ve backed. And there are a number of games out there. But the interest is often tied to how my gaming tastes have changed. What did I back on Kickstarter when I started in 2014 and what am I backing now.

It provides an interesting opportunity to see that growth. Normally, you get a game and it leaves and there is no way to track it. I could go through Amazon, CoolStuffInc, and Miniature Market Purchases, but a lot of those are more recent. Kickstarter and now Gamefound give you a history of what you’ve backed over that longer period of time.

Plus Jesse from Quackalope went through his backing history, shorter, but larger than mine, with Devon from Devon Talks Tabletop. He had something like 225 games to go through and that’s almost a five hour video. I should have known that mine would take longer than it did. I thought probably two hours would be enough, it is not.

The Drink

Last nights drink was a Negroni. Back to a classic for me. I really like the flavor and it is a good summer drink. With how large I made it, I wish I’d started streaming and sipping on it sooner, but the flavor is always good. It’s also a nice mixed drink to make because it’s a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio with gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari.

Upcoming Streams

So, clearly I have some more to talk about here with Kickstarter and Gamefound. My hope is that it’ll be about an hour and a half to finish up with no thunderstorms. So that is going to be on Monday at 8:30. Then on Wednesday, I plan on playing some more Paper Dungeons. Like I said, I want to get through that campaign. While I am working on an idea for a bigger game in the roll and write campaign space, you can see my Designer Diary here, I want to finish off the one that I already have.

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Cooperative Games Rankings

So just be aware I’m going to talk less about these games because there are a grand total of 52 that I ranked. Expect a sentence or two on each one of them.

52. FUSE

Fast paced game of rolling dice and then using them to try and complete enough cards to diffuse the bomb. I don’t love games that are only real time, and FUSE is only real time. It plays fast, but the game isn’t that interesting the more you play it.

51. Magic Maze

Another real time game, this time taking adventurers through a shopping mall. This one is more interesting because you need to work together more. But it’s going really fast without talking and sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t.

50. Forbidden Island

This one is a great introduction to cooperative gaming and gaming in general. It follows the standard, do something and then something bad happens. My issue is that the game is too easy and generally just an okay game.

49. Arkham Horror: Final Hour

Now, on the flip side of Forbidden Island, this game is hard as you try and guess some ruins to be able to stop ritual from happening. It basically takes Arkham Horror and tries to make it shorter. It succeeds on that, but it also just isn’t interesting. The couple clever things it tries to do are just misses.

48. God of War: The Card Game

And another game that was too easy when I played it. I wonder about playing a whole game if that would make it more challenging, but what I played was fairly boring. I also feel like the decisions weren’t that interesting in the game. Most of the time it was do the obvious thing.

47. Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game

I talked about this yesterday. It’s a fine deck building game. It is just too slow to get to the table and too slow to get to feeling powerful. If they were to come out with a second edition and make the game play ramp up faster, I’d probably like it a lot. But right now, the ramp is just too slow.

46. Forbidden Desert

I like this a fair amount better than Forbidden Island, it offers more to do and a more clever mechanism of figuring out where to get things. It follows that Pandemic formula for things of do good things and then bad things happen. Played it a few times, enjoyed it, and have moved on.

45. The Mind

This one is an interesting one. You try and play cards down in numerical order without talking. The concept is cool, and the game works, but only sometimes. This is one where it really depends on who is in the group. And I had some good times with it but moved on again.

44. Sword Art Online Board Game: Sword of Fellow

I need to try this one again, it’s been a little while. The concept isn’t bad, you are basically playing the boss battles from Sword Art Online the show, and it has the main characters. The downside is that the rules aren’t that great, and it’s pretty simple and lucky. That said, it is tiny, so I don’t mind luck as much.

43. Exit Games

Exit Games are fun, but any escape room game is always hard to rank. I’ve played less Exit Games, and I don’t love that you can’t pass it on. Granted, I did see it kind of work with them at Fantasy Flight Game Center (now GameZenter), but I don’t want to buy something I need to then replace.

42. Flash Point: Fire Rescue

This is basically Pandemic but with fires. You haven’t seen Pandemic yet on the list so you know it’s higher. I think that Flash Point: Fire Rescue might end up being one that I get. And that’s because it might replace base Pandemic for me, but we’ll talk about why later. Very standard cooperative game.

41. Legendary Encounters: A Firefly Deck Building Game

On yesterday’s list, it is one that I like the theme of. Firefly was a great show, and the game is playing through the episodes. The game isn’t that easy and the artwork is just okay. Again, the ramp speed doesn’t seem right for the type of game it is, but it’s better than Marvel Legendary.

40. Stuffed Fables

This is one that I had a good time when I played it, but ended up being one that I never wanted to come back to. The game has a cool story about a kid who has a blanket, I believe, stolen, and you play as animals going under the bed with all the broken toys to get it back for her. But the mechanics were not that well taught and things that changed up on each different storybook page were worse taught.

39. Legacy of Dragonholt

Another one that was in my collection and left. When I heard about an RPG in a box, I thought it was going to be great. And in all fairness, it is a fun game with a lot of story in the box. But the story and writing was just okay. The best I can compare it is that it was written like a YA novel, but not one of the great ones. I think the system was very good, but I wanted writing.

38. Marvel Battleworld

This is dumb little game. I know it shouldn’t be this high on my list, though we’re not even half way yet. It is just a game where you roll a die and advance a track. The fun of the game is buying blind packs and getting little Funko figures. So I have it this high because it’s a fun toy with a little game attached to it.

37. Ghostbusters: The Board Game

We’re still in the area of games that are just okay, but we’re soon to games that are still in my collection. I loved the minis in the game, and the translucent ones look cool. But the game play was just okay. While there were different scenarios, they weren’t bad, but it wasn’t all that interesting. I just wished there was more.

36. Elder Sign

Another one that left my collection, some of that was just because I had only the base game. I have heard that the expansions help improve the game, and add more to the story of what you are doing. The base game is basically a Yahtzee type game, and I wish that it played a little bit faster for what it is.

35. Legends of Andor

Story driven puzzle game, Legends of Andor is good. The reason that it left my collection is that I never wanted to just sit down and play through all of it. So when I did want to play it, I’d play through the introductory scenario again and I did that a few times. But I like the story and the mechanics are pretty cool.

34. Sword & Sorcery

I played this one a lot, I got through the base game and one expansion. And I do like this game. Once I played that, though, I got rid of it. Even though I had more characters to play with, I wasn’t interested in going back through. The story doesn’t branch enough for that. And I wish that you could retire characters like in Gloomhaven.

33. Castle Panic

I almost culled this game, and I might, the board is a bit dinged so the FLGS didn’t take it. But the game is still playable. We’re not here to talk about that, though. The game is fun, and it’s a very light tower defense game. I like that I can play it with almost anyone, and while you rarely lose, it feels like you might. If I don’t lose a cooperative game fairly often, though, I will move on from it.

32. Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger

This is a fun silly little game. I would say that it’s pretty much a solo game. Because you all play as one character and basically just do a choose your own adventure. You can make decisions as a group and pass around who is reading and rolling a die, but that’s how it’s cooperative. It is fun for that, though, because it’s so silly that everyone is laughing together.

31. Mysterium

Mysterium bounces all over for me. I think it was in my Top 100 games this past year and now with this ranking it wouldn’t be. If and when I play it again, it likely will move up. This is about figuring out who the murderer is. And there are rules about how that all works, but really it’s about giving clues as a ghost to everyone so they can figure theirs out. It’s cool concept that can get in it’s way with how it tries to be a game.

30. Unlock Games

The better escape room style board game. Unlock Games you don’t destroy anything, unless in a fit of rage. And I like how it counts down building up pressure versus Exit which is just see how long it takes you. And there are a lot of these with a lot of different themes. I want to play more, but it’s kind of a lot of a game night and works better with 3-4 people not 6.

29. Arkham Horror

This is the 2nd Edition, I haven’t played my 3rd Edition yet, but I need to. This is a grand epic game that takes forever to play. But it is a lot of fun. I felt like when I’ve played it that I get into what is going on in the game. The story is light, but the longer you play, the more story develops just from what you are doing.

28. Dead Men Tell No Tales

I like pirates, so that helps this game. And the supernatural twist on it is good. It again falls into that category of do some things and then bad things happen. What ended up causing this one to leave my collection is that it is that bit more. There are so many things to keep track of and the game isn’t as familiar, I didn’t pull it out over Pandemic.

27. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

Another deck builder on the list, and one that I just got rid of as well. Why, because I own a lot of deck building games. This one I like the theme of it, and the mechanics are fun. The game gets a bit longer as you go, and I wish there were more characters in the base box. It’d be one I’d gladly get back when I have a group to play it.

26. Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

It’s odd how many leave my collection, and this is another. And I actually just realized that I forgot to rank Star Wars: Imperial Assault which also just left. So this counts for both. They are great games, The apps work really well, and you can pick your preferred theme. These are campaign games with a nice sense of adventure, but because they are campaign games, that’s why they left.

25. First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet

This one is still in my collection, huzzah. And it’s probably surprising because when it came out people didn’t love it. But I really enjoy this game. It is a tough cooperative game where you can play all sorts of one off missions with different focuses. Or you can do a mini campaign. And it has an app, not a great one, to handle a lot of the bad things that happen, which I like.

24. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

I really should buy a copy of this game. I played a few times at Fantasy Flight Game Center and really liked it. But never picked it up, and then played a bunch on the app. There is story, campaign, deck construction, and a lot of cool card play. I prefer the game that this is based off of, but I’d gladly have both in my collection.

23. The Lord of the Rings

While some might argue this game is fairly abstract, where you are pushing up on tracks as you go through the story of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I really enjoy this game. It is a very hard cooperative game, but it gives you rewards at just the right time. It’s one I haven’t played in ages, but now that I’m thinking about it, I want to play it again.

22. Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

My favorite book series in a board game. When talking about this one, I always want to to point out that it is abstracted. And while the theme is there, it is mainly there if you know the books. I love picking out one of the books to play and then characters from that book and trying to beat the game. I like it best, I think at two, though three isn’t bad either.

21. Just One

Party game on the list, Just One is a great game. And I really like that we are getting a number of cooperative party games. Here one person is trying to guess a word, and everyone else gives them a one word clue. But any duplicate words cancel. Simple game, clever idea, don’t need to play for points, and always a blast.

20. Cross Clues

Another party game, I told you there are a few, Cross Clues I like just a little bit better. Though, last time I played it I was so tired that I messed up a few times. Here you are giving a one word clue to get people to guess the intersection of two words. So it might be day and octopus, what word is between those two? Eight might be a good option. Simple and a lot of fun again. You can play real time, 5 minutes, see how well you do, we never do that.

19. Pandemic

Here are all the Pandemic games. And I have to say, I don’t know that I need to play base Pandemic again. Pandemic Legacy games just kind of ruined it for me. Still in my collection, but like I said, I might get Flash Point and replace it. If I want to play Pandemic again, I’ll play legacy, I think.

18. Village Attacks

A bigger tower defense game, I am still waiting for my Kickstarter to come in. It funded in 2019. But I am excited for it when it does. Village Attacks has you playing as the bad guys with the villagers coming with pitch forks and torches. You might be grotesque or horrifying, but the theme is just funny to me, so while it’s a dark game, it doesn’t come across.

17. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

I really need to play more of this game, it’s another one that I just really love. Arkham Horror: The Card Game, is the living card game (LCG) from Fantasy Flight, and it’s so cool how they can do so many different things with the game. Great card play and fun deck construction that I want to do more of. I prefer it two player, I think, but it’s good solo as well.

16. Similo

Final party game on the list, but not final light game. Similo is game where one person is it. That person is giving clues of either a card being like or not like the secret card. Then the rest of the players eliminate cards. Simple concept for a game and a ton of fun, especially to mix decks. How do you tell players that a chicken is or isn’t like a vampire or medusa?

15. Apocrypha Adventure Card Game

This is the game that the Pathfinder Card Game was based on, though the Pathfinder one came out first, it’s confusing. But I like the dark theme of this one, there is warfare going on between supernatural forces, and not everyone can see it, but you can. So how can you stop it in the different scenarios. Good game, great art, and my sort of them. Horrible rule book.

14. Say Bye to the Villains

Definitely the hardest game on the list, at least in terms of winning. The play is simple, spend time to improve your stats, look at what a villain is doing, and hope that you can win when you run out of time. And there isn’t enough time to do everything in the game. I’ve come so close to winning so many times, I’m sure eventually I will.

13. The Reckoners

Pretty high on the list for limited plays, but I love the theme of the game. The Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson is a great series. And I love the game play, it’s tough, even on easy, but it has a lot of good choices. And you feel like you can do a lot on your turn as you roll dice and every face on the die is probably something you need.

12. Marvel United

Marvel United is a pretty easy game, but I love it a lot. In the game you are playing down cards to stop a super villain. As superheroes you all work together. So the last card you played, if I’m next to go, I’ll get to use as well. The villains also feel so different in this game, and while I have everything for it, the grab and go get it to the table is great.

11. Letter Jam

A game that just made me realize I forgot to rank Hanabi, I play a lot of cooperative games, Letter Jam is a game where you are trying to guess your word. But you can’t see the letters that make up your word. Only through clues and words given by other players can you infer what your letters are. There is some good strategy in figuring out what are good clues. Loads of fun and one that I think a lot of people will like.

10. TIME Stories

The highest escape room style game on my list, though this one has more going on than that. I really like TIME Stories for the puzzles that it gives. I haven’t played all of them yet, and I have heard that some are weaker than others. But every one that I’ve played thus far I really enjoy.

9. Roll Player Adventures

I’m really excited, I get to play into a campaign of this in February. Roll Player Adventures is my highlight from GenCon in 2019. Getting to playtest it was great. In the Roll Player universe, this takes characters you might have rolled up, or pre-made ones, and lets you take them on adventures. The adventures are fun, and the combat is interesting. It’s a lot of choose your own adventure and so good at that.

8. Mansions of Madness: 2nd Edition

Another Lovecraftian game, and another cooperative one. All of Fantasy Flights games in their Arkham Files line are cooperative. Mansions of Madness is app assisted and so much fun. Like Arkham Horror The Card Game, the game can be so different depending upon scenario. Some might have you stopping a ritual in a mansion, others exploring a town. One that I want to play more of to see what else they can do with it.

7. Sleeping Gods

You can watch me play this tonight, Jan 26th, on Malts and Meeples. Sleeping Gods is a big adventure game that I’m playing solo right now where you are the Manticore, a ship, and sailing around with crew that go on adventures. The game has an amazing aesthetic and story. Even though the story isn’t linear, it works well. And the world it’s set in is really cool.

6. Marvel Champions

I like Marvel a lot, and for me Marvel Champions is the best Marvel game. The different heroes feel like that hero, and you can take them up against any bad guy. While Marvel United you play as one hero they are a bit more generic. And Marvel Champions gives you that alter ego side, so you push and pull to keep the villain at bay. And there are so many heroes and villains already and there can be so many more.

5. Aeon’s End

Another one I talked about yesterday. Aeon’s End is a cooperative deck building game where you try and stop a nemesis. A great solo and two player game. There are so many set-ups and so many cards for it. Now this does include Legacy as well, which is a great introduction to the game. And I like that the randomness in the game isn’t shuffling your deck, it is turn order and what the monster does.

4. Xenoshyft: Onslaught

Another deck building game, this one is Starship Troopers and tower defense. I like how collaborative the game is. I build my deck, but if I have an extra troop and you need one, I can give it to you to defend your part of the base and it goes into your deck. It allows everyone to really balance out what is going on and have a chance, which is good, because it’s a tough game.

3. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

I feel like this one I talk about and always describe it in a way that doesn’t sound that fun. But in this game, I feel like I am a detective. It’s a bit like a detective TV show, but fun is how I put it. You get into the case and the theme and if you allow yourself to be immersed in figuring out the story going on it is a great time.

2. Tainted Grail

Another one from yesterday, Tainted Grail is an amazing story adventure game. You take these characters and build them up through a grim dark storyline. And the writing on the game is just so well done. In terms of thematic games, I feel like this one might top my list, though, not my favorite cooperative game.

1. Gloomhaven

For my favorite cooperative game, no shock, it’s Gloomhaven. I love this game. I love the leveling in this game and the card play in this game. And I love that you retire characters and get new ones. I think that the mechanics are amazing and the story is interesting. But overall it leads to a great cooperative experience.

Final Thoughts

I’m guessing since I missed Hanabi and Imperial Assault that I likely missed others. And I also found it interesting how many I’ve gotten rid of. I think a lot of that has to do with me having so many I’ve played. It means that they are fighting for playing time. So only the top ones stick around. Especially when you get down to campaign games, for those it’s even a tighter field because of Kickstarter games coming in and time.

What is your favorite cooperative game?

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

August 24th

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Yes, it’s finally here. We get to see Spider-Man No Way Home. And this trailer looks crazy in a good way. As a lot of reviewers of these things who do breakdowns have pointed out, it looks like we might be getting Sinister Six set-up for this or at least something across the multiverse. This trailer has a lot going on in it, but mainly seems to be a Spiderverse set-up and borrow from the comics One More Day. In One More Day Aunt May is shot and dying, so Spider-Man goes to Strange to save her. He says no, so he makes a deal with Mephisto, unfortunately that undoes Peter and MJ’s marriage and causes everyone to forget him. It’s not a well love story, I thought it was okay, but definitely borrowing from that.

Nightbooks

Honestly, knew nothing about this before watching the trailer. And after watching the trailer, I have to say this looks odd. I’m not sure what I think about it, I’m not sure if it’s based on anything, though, I’m guessing it is. This looks like a true horror film but it also looks like kids on bikes sort of film. Looks like a bit of a confused mess, but we’ll see when reviews come out.

August 19th

The Eternals

Anything Marvel and I’m going to be interested. And I thought that the first trailer was good, but this one sells me on it more. It definitely gives you more plot for what is going on in the movie. And I think with The Eternals that was needed. It would be too easy to just rely on the Marvel name, and I think they do a good job of balancing it. Showing us some plot but not too much. Especially for characters that average Marvel fans don’t know. Even I only know some about them. But this looks really cool and I feel like there’ll be a good payoff, going forward, for this film.

August 17th

Star Wars Visions

So quick little breakdown of what this is. It’s an anime style anthology show with different anime studios creating Star Wars stories. It is coming out with the first episode on September 22nd.

This looks amazing and crazy all that the same time. It is truly anime not like My Neighbor Totoro, but like Cowboy Bebop, Gurren Lagann and more. The animation looks simply amazing throughout this whole thing and it seems like it is going to have sweet little episodes about family and pod racing to crazy lightsaber battles and high stakes. I don’t know if all the episodes will be amazing, but I am really excited to check this out.

Stranger Things Season 4

Yes, another show that I’m extremely excited for with a tiny bit of new footage, let’s talk about Stranger Things season 4. Stranger Things obviously hasn’t been around for too long and we don’t have a release date for it yet. It just says 2022. Note that all seasons of Stranger Things have been around different holidays, Christmas, Halloween, and the 4th of July. I hope and it’s been speculated that they put a 2022 date on it because it’s going to drop around New Years, fingers crossed.

I’m ready to hang out with these kids on bikes again, and I’ll be curious to see what they do with the experiments and taking Eleven back to where it first started. There is a garbage book that does some of the history of what happened, but I’d skip it, it’s a very poor ripoff. But I’d maybe checkout the book Firestarter by Stephen King to see where some inspiration might be drawn from if things go back in time a little bit. Plus when will Hopper come back?

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

So, I wasn’t extremely interested in the previous Ghostbusters reboot or twist. Nothing drew me into the story that they were telling. It seemed like Ghostbusters all over again, which the people we already knew but different people playing them. This, on the other hand, seems to be building upon the Ghostbusters lore, for better or worse. And I think there’s something about 80’s nostalgia now that just is seen best through the eyes of kids. I’m genuinely interested in this film. Will I see it in theaters, very unlikely, but do I want to watch it as a $5 rental, sure.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Now, pretty often there are games that I’ll save to decide if I want to back them later. It could be because with how we budget I don’t have the funds to back it right now without borrowing against future budget, or it could be because I’m not sure how interesting the game actually looks but it has an interesting theme or cool miniatures. I’ll come back to them when there are 48 hours left, Kickstarter sends out a notification, and the vast majority of the time I won’t back them. I think only once have a backed a game in the last 48 hours.

However, there are a ton of games that come out on Kickstarter every day. There’s a reason I check multiple times per day, it’s because there will most likely be three new games once we hit noon that weren’t there in the morning, another three in the evening, and five or so over night. So the real question is, how does one not go broke with all the really fun looking games coming out?

There are a few things I consider when looking at kickstarter games:

1. How unique is the game?
2. Does it fit my interests for theme?
3. Does it fit my style of game I like to play?
4. Will it hit the mass market?

How Unique Is the Game?

This one is first because it’s the most subjective and others can outweigh and override the decision about a not that unique game down the line. But if the game looks like it’s just stealing from another game or seems like someone jammed two games together that I already have, do I need the game? I know, I don’t need any game, but you know what I mean. There have been a lot of dungeon crawl type of games, for example, that have come out, do I need more than a couple of dungeon crawl games in my collection, and do I play the ones I have already? Or if a game says it innovates upon a game I already like, do I need that new game if I’m enjoying the old game?

Does it Fit My Interests for Theme?

This one is also subjective, but going to be more cut and dry for you as a person. If the game is a Lovecraft Horror game and you don’t like Lovecraft or horror, it’s fine to skip over that game even though it looks cool. Or maybe you love Lovecraft and horror, in that case, look at the project and see if it is going to match your style of game you like to play. But more on that in a second, just remember that because something looks cool or looks like it would be fun, but the theme is boring to you, you don’t have to buy it. Save your money for a game that you know you’re going to like the theme of it. There are a number of highly rated games that I don’t think I’ll ever own, and some that I’ve gotten rid of because the them of the game is boring to me.

Does it Fit My Style of Game I Like to Play?

I mentioned it above, but if the game is a dungeon crawler with a lot of dice and you don’t like the randomness of dice, but you like dungeon crawlers, that game might not be for you. If you want a game with a lot of confrontation and it doesn’t have it in the game, it might not be for you. I know I sound like a broken record, but before you put your hard earned money into a game, make sure that you will like it. Like above, there are a number of highly rated games on Board Game Geek that don’t interest me at all because of the mechanics of the game.

Will It Hit the Mass Market?

Now, this one is the biggest of them all. If the game is not just going to be on kickstarter, you have more time to decide. For example, Gloomhaven might have been slightly cheaper on Kickstarter and there might have been some added content for it, but you can buy Gloomhaven in your local game stores. This is one of the toughest areas though, beause of the Kickstarter exclusive content, it might seem like you’re getting less of a game if you don’t back it on Kickstarter. Let me say that if a company thinks it’s cool for them give you half a game with the other half meaning you have to get an add-on or kickstarter exclusive, I wouldn’t work with that creator. The game should be complete and ready to play without anything extra and still a ton of fun. So with that in mind, if it hits the mass market and you can get it at your local game store or better yet you can play a demo copy at your local game store and then buy it, that’s better for you because you can truly see if you like the theme and game play.

Now, I mention FOMO, and fear of missing out is huge when it comes to kickstarters. Sometimes the company won’t say explicitly that it is coming to game shops, but most of the time it’s fairly obvious if they aren’t because they will say that. If you don’t see that, you can assume it’ll come to a game shop. The bigger reason for FOMO on Kickstarters is that there is something that is Kickstarter exclusive. Sometimes you’ll see custom dice or minis that you can add on instead of just cardboard cutouts or meeples. I’m not going to pretend like those aren’t tough to pass on sometimes. And I got a Ghostbusters game, which is fun, because it has a million figures in it and I like Ghostbusters, I didn’t know a ton about the mechanics.

I don’t have a great suggestion for FOMO and about how to avoid it with Kickstarter board games. The best I can suggest is that you set a budget and stick to it. That’s what I do with board games in general. I know what money I have to spend and I can choose what I spend it up, but once I’ve hit that amount, I stop. It can be tough, because there’s always a new shiny game coming out. Another thing that might help is remembering that you aren’t going to get the game for a long time, most likely. Board games generally take about 8 months to a year to fulfill on Kickstarter. Now, some do go faster than that, but that tends to be larger companies that are just funding a first wave of printing, versus still wrapping up prototyping and rules. So by the time the game comes, you might not care anymore.

So this begs a few questions:
What games have you backed on Kickstarter?
How do you cope with FOMO when it comes to Kickstarter or other new board games?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Drinks:

Punch/Koolaid

Booze for mixing

Jello Shots

For something like Ghostbusters, I’d recommend creating the brightest green drink that you can. The slime (and Slimer himself) are the inspiration for the drink part of the meal. The brightest green that you can get, the closer you are to actually getting slimed, like in the movie for the game. And with Jello shots, you are taking it to a whole new level for better or worse. Now it is actually closer to the slime.

Appetizers:

Deviled Eggs

This is a callback to early on in the first film. Now you’re trying to remember the scene with deviled eggs in it (or you’re hungry), but there isn’t one. It’s a callback to when Dana first encounters the ghosts and the supernatural and the eggs on her counter start exploding and frying. It’s also just an excuse to make deviled eggs, a food item that requires too much work to be made often, but is oh so tasty (in the humble opinion of the author).

Main Course:

Hot Dogs with all the fixings

Chips

Fruit or Veggies and Dip

Again, I’m focusing in on Slimer. He pops out of the hot dog cart and that’s the inspiration for this one. If you do hot dogs right, you can make it into a fun main course, but you do need to have all the fixings. I’m talking about sauerkraut, mustard, onions, relish, pickled jalapeno, and if it still existed green ketchup. But since green ketchup doesn’t exist anymore, you’ll just have to go with plain old ketchup. To get that correct green feel to the meal and the true green Slimer feel, there is relish that is about the greenest/weirdest thing that you’ll see. Go with that stuff. We’re talking about Ghostbusters here, so keeping it paranormal (and possibly radioactive) when it comes to the relish makes it right. Chips and fruit or veggies are basically there to make it so you aren’t eating only hot dogs because according most people, hot dogs by themselves aren’t a complete meal.

Dessert

Whoopie Pie

Was there really a question as to where the meal was going to end? There shouldn’t have been, a giant marshmallow, Stay Puffed, to end the first movie that explodes everywhere into marshmallow fluff means you have to have a marshmallow dessert. Instead of doing something easier like S’mores (which would have fit along with the theme of the meal which is kind of camping now that I see it), a whoopie pie gives you something different. Two chocolate cookies with healthy marshmallow fluff sandwiched in between might not be how the movie ends up, but you know all of them were thinking it.

How would you make a Ghostbusters themed meal? Are there some of your favorite scenes that you would draw upon, or would everything have an unnatural green hue to it thanks to Slimer?

———————————
Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

I think that is a really interesting line to walk, and I wanted to get it up on the website now, just for Christmas ideas, so I’m doing a double post today. The reason that it’s interesting is that there is kind of a gap and an idea that kids can’t really pick up on harder concepts, but allowing a kid to try more complicated games than Chutes and Ladders or Candyland will probably be helpful for them in learning as well as they have to tackle ideas and concepts in more fun ways than learning it through a text book. So, without much further ado, here are five board games that I think work great for families with younger (Elementary) kids and won’t bore the parent to death:

1. Ticket to Ride

This game has long been my go to game for family time. Ticket to Ride is a card collecting, color matching game where you try and connect routes across the country. It is a fast one to pick up, and the game can play differently every time that you play it. It’s good for kids because you are mainly trying to match the colors of cards in your hand so that you can play train routes. It’s also good, as it is a competitive game, but isn’t a cut throat game.

2. Catan

Catan is another good game to play with kids. The concepts are simple as you collect resources to build stuff. And while you can get competitive with it, the game generally works with everyone playing the board more so than competing against each other. Catan changes every time it is played as well, so while kids can pick it up pretty quickly. The one downside to Catan is that it is hard to predict exactly how long the game is going to take. If it starts taking too long, you can just play to a lower number of victory points. It varies a lot from game to game though.

3. Castle Panic

A tower defense game, this game has fun pieces, simple rules and strategy and is cooperative. It gives the family as a whole something that they can play together, and for a cooperative game, it isn’t nearly as tough as some. This means that while there is strategy, if you don’t play the ideal strategy because you are letting a kid take the lead, that is okay, you aren’t going to lose every time you let them take the lead. I like this game a lot as an option for kids because it really does help teach strategy, but in a fun way with fun pieces.

4. Forbidden Desert or Forbidden Island

These games are cooperative again. You are either looking for pieces of your crashed plane or trying to find missing treasure. The trick is, the pieces of the crashed plane as in the desert and keep on getting buried, and the treasure is on an island that is actively sinking. I’ve only played Forbidden Island, but Forbidden Desert seems more enjoyable. It adds in one piece of complexity that will make the game more interesting generally. They both come with other ways to up the difficulty as well which will make it feel like there is more pressure. These games are probably the fastest on the list as well, so that is to their advantage.

5. Ghostbusters

A cooperative game as well, this time you can play the iconic characters from the original Ghostbusters movies as they battle various ghosts completing different story arcs. The mechanics are simple, there are limited number of actions that you can do, and it comes with a ton of minis. Kids will enjoying playing a game where there are a bunch of little figures that they can move around on the board, and the main mechanic is just rolling dice. I’ve only played this one once, and I am sure that Kristen and I messed up some rules, but it plays fairly quickly, and there isn’t a ton of downtime between turns.

What are games that you think work well with kids? I have a few more that I could have added to the list, like Tsuro or Zombie Dice, but these are some bigger board games that use more strategy that would work well with younger kids.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Sorry Ghostbusters, you had me interested with the first trailer, and then you came out with this. Why do you play with my heart strings? And why do you go for the stupidest jokes out there? It looks more and more like what I was afraid it would be, not funny. The originals hold a place in my heart for some of the same dumb humor, but they didn’t only have that going for them. And with the more jokes that you are showing now, it seems like the new Ghostbusters will be taking only the dumb humor. This makes me a sad panda.

P: I don’t know book titles yet, but I know that I want to read more Urban Fantasy books. Also, I want to finish off the Library Wars Manga, which I started over Christmas break; we need to get the last seven.

K: I’d like to read more manga in general — I love manga, but my knowledge of it isn’t very broad yet, and I really want to change that! I’d also like to read more historical fiction; I’m hoping to read at least one more book in the Outlander series (I’m on the fifth one), and after a recent trip to a Norwegian history museum, I’m inspired to read something set in the very early Middle Ages (I’m looking for recommendations, if you have any!). I’m also due for re-reads of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia!

What Shows/Movies Do You Want to Watch/Binge?

P: I’m going to go the Marvel route — I want to binge on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., plus there is a new Agent Carter coming out as well that I’ll need to watch.

K: I’m with Peder on the Marvel — I’m excited to watch all of those! I’d also really like to watch The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and finish the episodes of Scorpion that I missed last year. And as with manga, I’d like to widen my knowledge of anime. Peder got me the whole Soul Eater series for Christmas, so I’ll start with that one — I can’t wait!

What Games Do You Want to Play?

P: I have some kickstarted board games that I need to play — in particular, Ghostbusters. As far as video games go, I need to finally play through all of Tomb Raider, and Divinity: Original Sin.

K: I have a kickstarted game coming my way called Marrying Mr. Darcy that I’m really stoked about. I’m also looking forward to playing Pandemic: Legacy — the original Pandemic is my favorite board game, so I’m excited to try this one! When it comes to video games, I am determined to play more of them in general this year. I want to finish The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and play at least one of the Mass Effect games.

What New Nerdy Thing Do You Want to Start?

P: I want to watch more anime; I’ve enjoyed it when I’ve watched it, but I haven’t watched all that much. So I’ll be watching more anime and reading more manga, like Library Wars and Fairy Tail.

K: I always seem to have a zillion things, but mainly, I’d like to make more nerdy crafts. I’m about to start knitting a Fourth Doctor scarf, and I’d really love to learn how to make amigurumi (crocheted plushies). I’d also love to get back into doing fan art — it’s been a long time since I’ve done much, and I really miss it!

What Do You Want to Do for the Website?

P: I’d like to start writing a story — something that is serialized and that will come out once a month, maybe even as an audio drama. Also, I want to get guest writers coming in and get more articles up on the website.

K: I’m looking forward to joining Peder in creating the serialized story/possible audio drama; I’d also really like to do another podcast series or two. And I’m toying with the idea of doing a little vlogging — we’ll see if we get there this year!

We’d love to hear about your New Year’s resolutions, too! Whether nerdy or otherwise, feel free to share them with us in the comments below! What are you hoping 2016 will bring?

—————–

Share questions, comments, or ideas for articles with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message us directly on Twitter at @TheScando and @Kefka73
Visit us on Facebook