How To Play Point Salad

I’m not going to go through all of it. Basically it’s an open drafting game. You either take two vegetables or one scoring card. If you take vegetables that is going to cause the scoring cards to change. If you want more thoughts on it and my full review, albeit from a while ago, you can find that here. The player with the most points from their vegetables based off of their scoring cards wins the game.

Simplicity of the Game

Point Salad is not a complex game. For that reason, I think that it helps how the app can work and how quickly you can pick it up and play. I did have the advantage of already knowing the game, but it is an easy game to sit down and learn. Though, the app doesn’t do Point Salad any favors in learning the game.

But the basic mechanisms of the game work really well. It’s a sit down and get playing game that the system can play against you. It doesn’t require too much complex development to where the AI feels like it’s good because it knows more. That means that the AI is not too easy for the game, but also that it feels like playing real people. Sometimes other people just get luckier on their draws.

Learning Point Salad

This is an area, though, where the app is lacking. Most games that I download offer one of two things. Either they integrate the rulebook into the app, or they give you a walk through. Now, as someone who knows most of these games, the integrated rulebook is fine. But I admit it isn’t as nice as a walk through or tutorial level to learn how to play.

Point Salad gives you a link to a PDF download. So, you leave the app. That to me is just weird. What is so hard about taking your rules, again pretty simple rules, and just creating a page in the app that looks like your PDF? I don’t want to leave the app. I close my apps that are open a lot, so what if after I read the PDF, I close and your app? Not a big deal, but not nice. And it doesn’t integrate into being a ruleset that I could look up during the game.

Final Thoughts

I like the app and I think that Point Salad works well as an app. However, I know the game so that gives me an unfair advantage when learning the game in the app. Mainly, Point Salad is such a simple game that I don’t really have to learn it. I already know it, and I don’t even need a refresher on it.

For people getting into the game, I do think that it’s a fairly big negative to not have the rules integrated into the app. So I can’t give it as high marks. And with the AI, I said that it feels like a person. I stand by that, the intelligence level and skill level feel real. The downside, again, is that they feel like someone who knows the game. That means if it’s your first time or first handful of times, it might thump you. Especially if the app is your introduction to drafting games.

Overall, though, I think as people learn it, it is a good game. I haven’t played around with the online mode. I rarely do because it takes a fast game and makes it slower. And I didn’t mention this, but on the app it is very fast, another good feature. I might play online or pass and play eventually, but right now solo against the AI works well.

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Top 3 Board Games That Need a New Edition

Just to set-up how I’m picking the list. I am picking games that I have played. I know that there are some games that are mainly unplayable as the rules are written. If I haven’t played it, I can’t judge that for sure. I know some people think Tainted Grail is the worst thing ever for the grind that was explicitly said to be part of the game (don’t get me started) but I like that game a lot. So I don’t think it needs a second edition of the core game.

3. Lost Ruins of Arnak

This one is pretty easy as to why I think it should have another edition and it’s not because there is a major flaw with the core box of the game. In fact, I enjoyed it pretty well playing what comes in the core box. But the first expansion gives you leaders with powers. That should be in the core box. It took the game from a 7 or so up to a 9 or 10 for me because it meant everyone was doing things a bit more differently.

Now, I don’t think this will happen anytime soon. Lost Ruins of Arnak is a new game that they are still coming out with expansions for. But, in my opinion, the leaders should be in that main box. Even if you want to start with playing vanilla Lost Ruins of Arnak, have it in the box for when you’re ready for the next step.

2. SeaFall

This one falls into having issues in a number of ways. The rules were not good, the game itself was too long, and sometimes, you just got the story out of order. But I like the idea of a pirate legacy game, even though this barely seemed like pirates. So SeaFall is one that could use a complete overhaul, well, kind of.

I do think that the bones are there for a good game. There are elements like getting crew, exploring, fighting, even the dice mechanics once you figured them out in the rules weren’t too bad, but it needs to be tightened up. Maybe reduce how much you can possibly do in a game. Introduce rules more slowly, something like that. They changed rules, but let’s start out with just exploring and then after a couple of games add in fighting.

The two big things are you need to shorten the length of the game. There is no reason, besides to allow you to find more, to extend the games by a point each time. The game is already long at the start, there needed to be a way to get more points at the start from the legacy decisions that you made. And it’d have been a great balancing mechanism.

The other thing is that story. Like I said, you can find it out of order. The game is played over a number of sessions, give me a booklet or a section of the booklet to find the stories. That keeps the story from coming out awkwardly and leave the players with more questions. I get the desire for open world, but that isn’t needed in this case.

1. Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game

This is a Marvel game that I will not get. Helps that a friend has or had a ton of it so I got to play it a number of times. But for me this is a game that needs to be rebooted because, in my opinion, the game really doesn’t work that well. You fight a boss, deal with henchmen, and generally feel like you’re not doing much of anything.

Marvel Champions is more of what I wanted, but I think there is room for improvement on Legendary and that both could be in a collection. Mainly, I don’t feel like a super hero when I played Legendary. That’s kind of the idea is you are a super hero(es) beating up bad guys. But it takes forever to get to the main bad guy, make the easier and throughout the game than a last second dash at the end.

And with the deck building, I feel like I’m collecting random heroes. Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and Captain America all in the deck, I’ll probably have some of all of them. So everyone is playing basically the same team-up. I’d prefer a more generic set of cards, each hero can add some to it, but you play as a hero with a base set of that hero’s cards. Let me build up my hero and be a hero in battle. I don’t need to be everything. Let me grab a cool move, some intel, whatever it might be. But it is better than what they have now.

Final Thoughts

I could have come up with more. I actually almost push Smash Up on the list with just, make it into Marvel Snap. They are close, but Marvel Snap is so much better. And that one would really be changing the game, into a new game, versus being a second edition. I guess that Legendary might fall into that area as well.

But board games sometimes need that new edition. And, I would, if I ever had the time, go through SeaFall again and try and turn it into a better game. Try and make it something that doesn’t take four hours to play and a lot of that time not being interesting, in higher player count games. But that is for future me when I have future time, though, I’ll probably always be busy.

Is there a game you want to see a second, better, edition of?

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The Isofarian Guard – The Mistake

So let’s talk about why I’m fine making mistakes when I stream a game like The Isofarian Guard. There is a perception among viewers of larger board game channels, I’m probably too small still, that if you make a mistake it’s because you don’t care. That you just rush to get content out. But that is not the case. And it is why I play games the way that I do.

Honesty of Playing Style

Firstly, it’s a more natural way to play games. I dislike playing the first scenario of a game five times to make sure I have everything perfect. That removes the fun of gaming from me. You could even see as I played through this combat the more I did it, the less fun I had, until I noticed my mistake. Why, because it’s the same thing over and over again. There should have been a fail forward mechanic or something.

Everyone Makes Mistakes

And the other reason is while you might not think you make mistakes in games, you do. You just don’t have an audience to catch those mistakes. Making mistakes, learning the mistakes in the rules that you made, questioning stuff as you learn a game are natural parts of playing a game. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake in the rules of a game. And it’s up to you if you even correct it or not when you realize. If it’s more fun with that mistake, keep it in there for you. Warn people, but keep it in.

The issue that can arise with this is when comments are made disparaging content creators, people putting themselves out there. That is something that those people are not doing. Perfection in rules is strived for by all content creators. But, like your own game, it won’t be achieved, so correct out of kindness is helpful and appreciated.

How You Play It

The final reason is that this is how you play it and how I play games that aren’t on streams. Again, no one intentionally makes mistakes. And everyone corrects them when they find them as they go along. But it’s really a better representation of what Nerdologists.com is. It’s about trying new things and seeing what happens. That’s how everyone plays games in real life, so I try and demonstrate real life and real learning curve.

Upcoming Streams

So streaming next week will be different. The 4th of July is going to mess up streaming on Monday because I will be out of town. So no stream on Monday.

Then on Wednesday, I plan on streaming more Isofarian Guard. I say I plan on it because it might not happen. I need to time up getting somethings for streaming because I need to change up my set-up. With a new character being added to the group, how it’s set-up now just isn’t going to work. So I need to create combat zone and map zones for this game to show it off properly which requires a bit more equipment. Upside, that might mean that Chronicles of Drunagor could come back to the table, we’ll see.

The best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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What Is A Cozy Board Game?

Now, this is probably where we can get into a debate right away. Some people will have some idea, other people will think it means another thing. But I think cozy can encompass a lot of different things. But for a board game to be cozy, I think it needs a few different things to be true, or at least a combination of some of them.

1. Not Overly Complex
2. Aesthetically Pleasing
3. Short Length
4. Not Too Competitive

Not Overly Complex

This I think is the first point of contention. I think there are games out there that are more activities. Even one I enjoy, A Gentle Rain, is more of an activity because the decision space and rules space is so limited. It doesn’t have to be taken to that level. But it is a game where you can hold all the rules of the game in your head without that much trouble. Even if you don’t learn rules all that well, a time sitting down and playing a round or a hand, you know the game.

Aesthetically Pleasing

I think looks, generally, are a key part to this. A pretty game is easier to sit down and play. And a prettier game feels less mean. It actually surprises me when a pretty game is mean because I don’t expect it to be that. For example would be Calico which is so tight in how it plays and missing out on a tile can cause you to miss out on a lot of points. But a pretty looking game is definitely another element that is important.

Short Length

I also think it’s important that the game isn’t too long. A long game is going to feel like it drags. Especially if it hits on the first part, simple rules. Simple games generally do not provide the depth in strategy that a heavier game does. And because of this play time matters. But less that they are less interesting to play, but more that the longer they go, the less interesting they are. I enjoy a game like Criss Cross, but if that game was twice as long, it loses it’s charm. So short or at least the right amount of time for the amount of rules.

Not Too Competitive

By this, I don’t mean that it shouldn’t be competitive. I think that often times competitive games make better cozy games. Why, because the game trying to beat you generally is done in such a way to give good tension. In a competitive game you can lean towards competitive but solitaire or minimal player interaction. If I can focus on what I am doing and I do not end up in direct conflict with you, I think that makes a good relaxing experience.

5 Cozy Games

5. Ohanami

This is probably the first game that comes to my mind when I think of a cozy game, or at least high on the list. The game is simple, you draft two cards and you put them in three columns. You are picking cards to score points. And scoring is interesting, blues score every round but fewer points. Greys score the last round but more points. There is strategy, but it is all easy to keep in your head. And nothing I take is going to really mess you up too badly. I will leave cards you can use, most likely. Plus the artwork is good and play time is shrot.

4. Kohaku

Kohaku is another very pretty game, probably the prettiest on my list. It is a game about building out a koi pond and scoring points. You pick two tiles and decide where to place them in your pond. One is going to be a fish and one is going to be a scoring tile. Picking and placement rules are very simple but you end up with a very pretty game. Especially with the Kickstarter edition, or first print, where it has double layer acrylic tiles.

3. A Gentle Rain

A Gentle Rain, I already mentioned this one and how it borders on an activity. But in Gentle Rain, you are picking up a tile and placing it into a big pond where it is raining. A pretty look for the game. You are trying to complete groups of four completely getting the four corners to touch. You do that by matching the flowers on the tiles. When you do you put in a disc and the goal is to play as many of those discs as you can. The draw a tile, singular, limits your options, but there is strategy to how you place. And it’s a very fast game.

2. Sagrada

The biggest game on the list and some might disagree with me on this one, is Sagrada. To me, this maybe isn’t the coziest game, no real order to this list. But it is a cozy game. Building out your stained glass window is pretty. The dice, windows, everything about the game is pretty. And the rules are a bit heavier, which is okay the game is a bit longer. But the basics are pretty simple. You draft a die and place it so it isn’t adjacent to the same number of color. At the end it can be tricky to play, but it never feels stressful. Even if someone drafts what you want.

1. Canvas

Finally, we have Canvas. Canvas is a simple game of picking pieces of artwork, overlaying them, and creating the best image to score points. And I know the point scoring is what gets some people and probably takes it off the list. Mainly because Canvas can feel like there is a balance between trying to score points and wanting to make pretty artwork.

It becomes a cozier game when you realize that you can just create the pretty artwork. Sure, points do matter, but it isn’t everything in the game. Even if you just layer the artwork for yourself or to show it off and then go to the good scoring combination, it is fun. And it is fun to see what you create and at the end of the game to judge which is prettiest, even if that isn’t the point of the game.

Final Thoughts

Cozy games are fun. But like anything, a cozy video game or a cozy movie or TV show, I don’t want that all of the time. But I do want to have some games like that in my collection. If it was all I had, I wouldn’t feel challenged and stimulated. If I didn’t have any, I wouldn’t have games to play when I just want to relax and clear my brain.

But, your mileage might vary as to how cozy a game can be for you. I put it this way for myself, I try and win games but I don’t need to win a game. For other people without winning a game or trying so hard to optimize to win a game a game isn’t fun. So if a game is too simple, which a lot of cozy games are simpler, they aren’t as fun for them. So know how competitive you are in a game.

What are some of your favorite cozy games?

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Top 5 Mistakes

1. Reading From the Rule Book

Don’t just read the rules. This I think is tied with my #2 as the worst offenders when teaching a game. But it’s not interesting or exciting to hear someone read from the rules. Also, all the rules might not always matter or be taught in the rule book in the best way possible. There are some horrible rule books out there and even the good ones tend to be dry.

The rules are important to get right, but use the rule book as a reference when you need it. Don’t use it for how you teach the game. This will make sense more when you see some of the other things.

2. Not Starting With How To Win

Such as if you use the rule book, how to win or scoring is at the end of the book. Start with that part. That gives the players a framework of what the goal is. It let’s them know what everything else you teach is going to be pointing towards.

Now, you don’t need to go into the details, for example, of where you get your points, but let people know it’s a point based game, or if everyone is still alive when this deck of cards runs out, or if everyone is on this tile. Put the end goal in focus first so that when you teach the actions and specific rules your players know where the game is going and can start to see how they’d bring it together.

3. Teaching Every Detail

This one might seem odd, but you don’t need to teach everything. For example, Biblios comes in two halves. The first half is handing out cards. Teach that when you start. Let people know the second half, auction is coming up and that you want money to bid on stuff. But you don’t need to explain all the auction details. Then, when you hit that second part, teach it.

This works well for some games and less well for others. But even in games where maybe a new action becomes unlocked or when a weird interaction occurs between a card and rules. It’s useful to know that it might happen, but the full details, probably don’t need them until it does happen.

4. Telling Not Showing

Another important thing, and why reading from the rule book is less than ideal is that you are just telling. Telling is fine, it is a part of teaching, but to get something to stick, showing helps a lot. Show people how an action works. Show people cards from decks. Fill in spots on a roll and write sheet. Do these things and it reenforces how all of the things work.

An example of this is that in most roll and write games I keep used sheets. Why, because they are great for teaching. I can pull out a sheet and point to examples on the board as I’m teaching the game. It makes it so much clearer when people can see how it works when you are explaining it.

5. Holding Questions Until The End

And this one, I think that it’s important to not hold questions. Let people ask away because people might forget questions. Often times the players will notice just naturally something that you missed. Or wording that you thought was clear might be more ambiguous than you think.

If people hold questions, they might forget them. Now, if someone asks about another part of the game, just say that you are going to get to it. But if it’s about something you’re talking about already. Take a moment, talk about it. Repeat stuff as need be, clarify what you are saying. And I think it is important as well, but stay it is in a different way.

Final Thoughts on Mistakes in Teaching A Board Game

The most important thing, no matter how you do it is that you teach the board game. And that you are willing to do it. There are a lot of games that don’t get played because people aren’t willing to teach them. Mainly, because it is a lot of work, sometimes, for the teacher. Unless you know a game well, you will need to review the rules.

And if that means you need to read from the rule book, you might need to read from the rule book. But that should be the exception. With a little preparation you can teach without bouncing to the rule book that often. And it’ll make it a better experience.

Also, expect that you’ll be answering questions throughout the whole game. I like to teach as much as I can, but eventually, even with showing, talking about the end goals, and everything too many rules is just boring and people pay less attention. So spend the time teaching but get playing as well.

Do you find yourself making any of these mistakes?

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How To Play Long Shot The Dice Game

In Long Shot The Dice Game you are trying to complete the game while having the most money. So yes, this is a bidding game, not as much a racing game. On a turn the person who is first player rolls the dice. This determines which horses move and and the other die determines how far.

Then every player uses that horse die, the color eight sided die, to fill in something on their board. There are four different areas you are able to fill in. Firstly, the concessions where you are trying to complete rows and columns. When you complete one you get a special bonus. Or you can fill in a jockey helmet or jockey shirt. Getting a pair gives you points at the end of the game. But they also allow you to either bet late on a horse, or add movement to one of the horses cards. Finally you can bet on a horse up to $3 per round.

The person who rolled followed by other players can then choose if they want to buy the horse who’s number was rolled or not. If they do, deduct the money and you get a special power. There is another way to get a horse with concessions as well.

At the end of the race you tally up your money from what you have left over, pairs of jockey helmets and shirts, bets, and any winnings you get if the horse you own placed. The player, like I said, with the most money wins.

What Doesn’t Work

This is not the most intuitive roll and write game. Nothing about a jockey helmet says you can bet late. Nothing about a jockey shirt says make a horse move more often. Even the concessions filling in rows and columns isn’t thematic. This is not a knock on the game play, though, this is a knock on how you have to teach it. If you’re not careful, you’ll miss something or a rule will get explained multiple times because it isn’t obvious. So for a light, fast, roll and write game, there is strategy but still not that much going on, it takes a bit to teach.

What Works

Firstly, I do think that the racing part of the game works. You want your horses to do well. As a group you kind of build up a horse or two to move faster. Try and buy them and get them across the finish line. So there are points where you are just getting excited for a horse, for a roll, to see what happens. Will a horse move this turn past the betting line or not?

I also think that the betting is fun, and I like that it’s not an even distribution. Betting on 7 or 8 is a long shot. But if they win, the payout is great. I do like that you don’t bet everything at once. It isn’t like I can spend all $12 of my starting dollars in one turn. You need to slowly bet it out in smaller increments. Which means you might spread out your bets a little bit more between horses.

And I think the highlight for me is the jockey shirts. Yes, other parts are fun, I like getting a column or row in the concessions. But crossing off a horse on another card/number is great. Having a 4 rolled and then 1, 2, and now because I marked it off 7 move as well is a lot of fun. Plus, if multiple people get behind a horse, now it just starts consistently moving up the track and can catch up, even if it’s number isn’t rolled.

Who Is It For?

I think that this is a roll and write game for most people. The tricky part is that it’s not the easiest to learn or teach. But a lot of the concepts are pretty easy to follow along with once you get them. And it has more than your normal roll and write. There is an element of this that makes it more of a party game. Which I think that racing, watching the horses move, takes it up a notch in terms of who it can be for.

But Long Shot The Dice Game is generally a concept that works well. And one that I think will get people into the game as you play. And for that, it is one that you can probably play with most gamers, and even people who are game interested.

Final Thoughts on Long Shot The Dice Game

I enjoy this game a lot. I like racing games, though I find that most of them are really betting games. But that works well, it is in some ways nicer than just pushing luck down a race track and rolling dice. I do want to play Formula D for that reason though, because it is. But that luck might frustrate some people, so betting games, also with luck, can work better with racing.

I wish the things made a bit more thematic sense. Though, to get the game to work, I’m sure it needed to be the way it is. And coming up with more thematic things is tricky. The oddest part to me is the pair of jockey helmet and shirt being $5 at the end of the game. The other actions at least affect the race a little more. But I do think it can help offset not buying a horse, so there is that.

Long Shot The Dice Game is one that I’d definitely recommend. I think that the game play is fun, and, it reminds me of Downforce another betting/racing game that I really enjoy. This one, though, I think offers more variety out of the box than Downforce does.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: C+

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Why Not Heavy Board Games

Let’s start out by looking at why I don’t generally buy heavier board games. And it comes down, mainly to one thing. They are harder to get to the table. Even the in the case of campaign games, that are heavier, which I do buy, they are harder to get to the table.

Generally there are a few more things, pieces, to the game. And so that is potentially going to make it harder to get to the table. But most of what makes it harder is that the games are more complex. That means that teaching the game is going to take longer with new players. And with the group I play with, often, it means I have a more limited target audience. Generally, for any gamer and game group, the more complex a game is the more you will limit who you can play with.

Side tangent, that isn’t a bad thing. If you really only love heavy games of whatever variety it is that you like, and you only want to play thoughts, cultivate a group to play with. Just know that the group is going to be smaller than if you play lighter games.

Why Lighter Games

So, I already answered this question, some. But lighter games get to the table easier. I can pull out these one off games to play without much effort and teach them really quickly. And generally they aren’t going to be as long, either. That means that you can get in a few games during a night.

I actually did something similar to the Brother’s Murph. I maybe didn’t get rid of light games, but I stopped buying a lot of them because I wanted to play heavier games. But I realized that those slightly heavier games, games that my wife might not be as interested in, things like that, just aren’t as useful to have in my collection.

The question for this is, is it better to have a lighter game that you like and play 10 times a year or a heavy game that you like and play 1 time a year?

And with that question, how well do you remember the rules? I shouldn’t say that heavier games only get played that little, but for a lot of people they do. See the side tangent up above. But often times the less often you play a game, the harder it is to remember how to play that game. That is another reason I like lighter games, even if I play it less often, the rules are simpler so I forget fewer of them.

Why Heavy Campaign Games

But then, on the flip side, I play and buy heavy, big, long, campaign games a lot. And I love my campaign games, but that flies in the face of why I buy lighter games, doesn’t it? And why I avoid heavier games with the longer rules teach and more set-up and pieces and side cases to keep track of. So a campaign game probably is not something I would buy.

But there is a difference for me with a campaign game versus a one off heavy game. The main one is that when I play a heavier campaign game, I play it a bunch. With my campaign game group, it’s every other week. For Malts and Meeples, it is weekly. So, it takes care of one of the issues, namely, heaving to relearn the rules.

Now, even with Tainted Grail, which we have played 30 or so different sessions of, we need to look stuff up every once in a while. But at this point it is rare that we do that, and the core game play, we don’t need to refresh anything on that. So that makes the whole process much faster to get through with the game. There is still a fair amount of set-up, but we don’t need a refresher.

That is very different than a game I play less recently. For example, I know and like games like Blood Rage and Lords of Hellas a ton. But because I play them less often, it is way more work to get them back to the table. And that is for me as the person who owns them. I could still, after not playing Gloomhaven for a while, sit down and teach Gloomhaven easily to people because I was steeped in it for so long.

Final Thoughts on Board Games

There isn’t a right way to buy games or to play games. I always go back to a quote from The RPG Academy. “If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right”. Now there is more to that about breaking rules that makes more sense for RPG’s. But the concept is the same. If you and everyone at the table are having a good time, doesn’t matter if you play a heavy game, a light game, a trick taking game, a campaign game. The point is to have fun.

And really, the most important thing is to know your group. Would I love to play a few heavier games more often, most certainly. I’d love to get Atlantis Rising back to the table soon, but it’s a bit more of a teach. Or Blood Rage or Lords of Hellas, both would be a blast to play again, but also more work to play again. I tend to keep those heavier games off to the side. And I know with my monthly game group, I need to keep it lighter.

So know your game group, Cultivate it to what you want, and maybe keep some games that aren’t quite as heavy on your shelf, if you have a game night like I do.

How do you find yourself buying games? Has it shifted over time?

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How To Play Ramen! Ramen!

Ramen! Ramen! is a pretty simple game with how it plays. On your turn you will add ingredients to two of the three ramen bowls. Your goal is to collect bowls to score which is done by either getting the total of the cards to be 14 or higher. Or to get all seven ingredients into one bowl.

The trick to the game is that you can only place one ingredient per bowl. So if I put down the 6th ingredient into a bowl, I am doing that off of the assumption that you don’t have that 7th ingredient type. If you do, you can score that bowl. Much of the game is trying to set it up so that your opponent will give you an bowl with a number of ingredients in it.

The game ends when all of the cards have been played out. Players then score each bowl separately based off of the number of different ingredients in it. The more ingredients the higher the scores, and the total of all the bowls that is highest is the winner of the game.

What I Don’t Like?

Firstly, I should say, I have only played this game at two. I am not sure that I would want to play it at the full four. Part of the fun of the game at two is that I can really try and set you up to give me something. At a higher player count, it is going to be more random than that. Maybe at three players I can keep stuff far enough from being scored that it could come back to me, but that’s questionable. And at four players, I’d just be worried about not setting up the person after me. So I think this is probably best at a two player game.

That’s not a major complaint, though it does fight against other two player games. And not a major complaint either is that the rules are a bit odd for the game. The game is very easy to play and understand. But when you end your turn, you replenish your hand. That is normal. To do so, you take one card from a face up group of cards, flip out another card to that group so it’s back to four. And then you draw blindly from the top. They turn that end part into three steps. You could just pick a card and draw off the top then flip out a card. It’d be the same thing and easier to remember.

What I Like?

Ramen! Ramen! plays fast, and I like that. The turn angst isn’t there that much. You have three bowls and four cards. And you will only use two of the cards. So there is some decision space, but it’s not too overwhelming. Once we learned the game better, it slowed down slightly, but generally that was not much and just on a few pivotal turns where we were trying to give your opponent as few points as possible.

I also find it interesting how defensive this game is. And I kind of enjoy it. I don’t like playing other games, Magic The Gathering, for example, defensively. But since Ramen! Ramen! is so fast and simple to play, I like it better here. When I pull off a play that makes my opponent get way less points than they were hoping that’s fun. Or when I can set it up so that my opponent can’t help but give me bowls, that is fun. It’s a much simpler version of Hanamikoji that way.

Who Is This Game For?

I could also put it this way. What niche might it fill for a gaming collection. Because this is very much a filler game. If you want something that has pretty simple decisions, but interesting decisions this is not a bad game. Especially if you are playing with more casual gamers.

This is definitely a game that leans more towards a casual gamer. I think that heavier gamers will find it way to light. It is also a game that is going to work well for someone getting into gaming. If they like board game and have played simpler card games, this won’t be a hard one to pick up. In fact, it is possibly a decent alternative to some of the more classic card games you find in Target and such.

Final Thoughts on Ramen! Ramen!

This is a fun game, one that I wouldn’t recommend to everyone, though. It depends on the type of gamer you are and more so on the types of people that you game with. I think that there are a going to be a number of people who find it too light.

But for me, that lightness works. I do think it’s a game that might end up getting moved on from after a bit, though. The game doesn’t change massively from play to play. But then again, either does Hanamikoji. If I wanted to keep something simpler for two players, or maybe for more, on h and, I could see Ramen! Ramen! sticking around. Or as I play it enough times it might leave like Tsuro did.

My Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: C-
Casual Grade: B+

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Different Types of Board Game Versions

I think it’s good to talk about the different types of versions you can find within these board game reprints. To me, there are three different categories of board games game reprints or versions that can happen. There might be more, but these are the three that stand out. A board game could also just get reprinted as it was before, but that really isn’t a change from what I already might own.

• The Updated Look Reprint
• Same Game New Theme
• Version 2.0

The Updated Look Reprint

This type of reprint is going to give you the same game that you had before. The game itself is getting a new look and feel to it. So this is something like the different editions of Pandemic that have come out. And while it isn’t a reprint, this is kind of what Pandemic Legacy does with season 1 and season 2, they each are available in two different options of box colors. Those box colors mean nothing to what is in the game.

A reprint like this happens most often when a game has been out for a while. It starts to look dated and people are buying it less. So even though it’s a classic or popular game, it needs a reprint to get it into the hands of more people.

Why might you want to get a reprint? It might get the game to the table more. If the artwork and aesthetic are better, people might be more willing to play it. Or if you old version of the game is well played, then you might want to get a new copy of the game and the new artwork and aesthetic might make sense versus tracking down an old copy.

Same Game New Theme

The game also doesn’t change or change much in this sort of version or reprint. It is more of a new version of the game though. The easiest example of this comes from CMON and all their different versions of Zombicide. You have Zombicide, Zombicide: Black Plague, Zombicide Green Horde, Zombicide Invaders, Zombicide Undead or Alive. They might do a minor tweak to the rules to improve them ore make them more thematic, but the games generally stay the same.

This again helps sell more games because some people like other themes better. This is true for myself, Undead or Alive with zombies and an old west theme is way more interesting than orcs in Green Horde. And the same with the just standard version of the game, it interests me less. This also is why I have Century: Golem Edition instead of Century: Spice Road. The theme makes a difference to if I want to play the game.

So, I think this is a better reason to get a new version of a game. For me, I could have backed Zombicide 2.0 when that came out, the updated version, but the theme wasn’t interesting. I almost backed Zombicide Invaders, but theme didn’t grab me as much. So depending on your group a new theme might make a game more interesting for getting to the table.

Version 2.0

This type of version doesn’t change the theme, most likely, though it might. And it keeps the core of the game the same as was before, but it tries to improve upon the game that already existed. Lords of Hellas to Lords of Ragnarok is kind of a Version 2.0 of a game. Some of the original DNA is in the game, and while the theme changed, it is going to feel similar to at least some extent.

Another example of this would be Galaxy Trucker getting a new version. Galaxy Trucker, the original, was played over building your ship and flying three times. Each time you build a new ship and then go off flying through space. The new version gives you that option, but you can also play the game just doing the building and flight once. That drastically shortens the game time. Or any game that Restoration Games does like Downforce or Return To Dark Tower could be 2.0 versions of a game.

This is the one that I’m much more likely to want and I think that a lot of people want. A 2.0 version should improve your gaming experience not just because the looks or theme have changed. It should make the game more streamlined, better balanced, less obtuse rules, generally better in some meaningful way. Now, not everyone will like the changes, but the goal is that the game should be more accessible overall.

So Get A Version 2.0 Board Game?

Not always will you want to get that, because you can ask yourself a few questions. Will I play it over the version 1.0? Can I bring the new rules back to the old version? Do I play this game enough to need a new version or two versions? Do the changes improve it for me?

Let me use Lords of Ragnarok as an example for this, because I’m questioning this right now for myself. The game is backed, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep it because I have Lords of Hellas and do I really need both, even though Lords of Ragnarok does change up the system.

Will I Play It Over Version 1.0?

This one is tough, I have a lot of stuff for Lords of Hellas, which I mean, you get with any Awaken Realms crowdfunding. And I have played a solid chunk of it, but not all of it. So I do have stuff in version 1.0, Lords of Hellas, to explore still. But, Lords of Ragnarok is also a different enough experience that I suspect I’d play both of them. Gone is questing, one whole way of winning the game has been removed. The end game doesn’t trigger on a monument being built but Ragnarok.

There are a lot of different things that make me think I’d play both games. Lords of Ragnarok even has a tighter board, so you’re going to be in each others way more often and there should be more conflict between pieces on the board. This might be a 2.0 version of Lords of Hellas, but there are certainly a good amount of changes to the game.

Can I Bring The New Rules To The Old Version?

This one is easy to answer, no. The whole Ragnarok end game trigger is not something you could bring into Lords of Hellas easily.

Do I Play This Game Enough To Need New/Two Versions?

I put the word need in there, but that’s really more want. I love the Vikings and Norse Mythology theme, so I want Lords of Ragnarok for that. And I also think that this will feel enough like a different game that they will feel different. Dropping one way to win a game is a lot, and they changed up an end game trigger. So I am not sure I need two versions because of them, but mechanically I can see keeping both of them on my shelf.

Do The Changed Improve It For Me?

This I wonder about. BoardGameCo and Quackalope have done some content on this. And I’m slightly concerned, but this is also Awaken Realms and they have a very good track record for me. It seems like Lords of Ragnarok has pulled back on some of the things that can make you unique. I really love that about Lords of Hellas. Now, Awaken Realms might be looking at that feedback. And the more things that are unlocked in the Gamefound campaign, the more likely it’ll have more things to make you unique.

But also the end game trigger changing, I like that. One knock that people had on the previous game, Lords of Hellas, was that you’d only get one monument on the board. And that was on the board for the last three rounds of the game because it was the game end trigger. Lords of Ragnarok seems to encourage that building more. The game no longer ends on that but on Ragnarok. Though, even Ragnarok sounded like it might need tweaking or better selection for how fast it’ll trigger.

You can see how it might be a tough decision. For a new theme, I just keep the game that I like the theme of better. For a new edition/printing of a game if the rules haven’t changed, I don’t even care. Even something like Galaxy Trucker, I have my version, I don’t need the new one. But this is so much tougher because the games are different enough, and from a company that I love their stuff.

So Do You Get A New Version?

This is really one of those things that you need to decide. Even after laying out everything, pros/cons, comparison between theme and changes, I still don’t know if I’ll keep my Lords of Ragnarok pledge. Will I like the game, most likely. Will I be able to sell the game if I don’t like it for what I paid for it, most likely. But when a new version or new edition of a game comes out, don’t assume that it’s always going to be better as well, or that your old version isn’t worth it anymore.

Way out the pros and cons of the new version. Even if it’s just an artwork update, that might be enough to get the new printing of a game. Or a new theme if it gets it to your table more often. Generally I try and consider that as the biggest factor. Will I get this new version to the table more.

How do you decide to get a new version or printing of a game?

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The Rulebooker

This is the person who is going to read the rulebook no matter what. Whether this is because they need to know every detail, can’t pay attention to someone talking, whatever it might be, this person is going to only learn by reading the rulebook.

Why This is Good

This is good because someone else knows the rules. They have gone through the book so if you have missed anything in it, hopefully they’ll have caught it. That means you get a more comprehensive overview of the rules.

Why This is Bad

Two reasons why this can be bad, firstly, you get a more comprehensive overview of the rules. So if you aren’t teaching it in the order they are thinking about the the rules, they might interject and break up y our teach for other people. This can hurt the learning process for other people a lot.

The other thing is that reading a rulebook often takes longer than someone teaching the game. You don’t want everyone else to have learned the game and then wait on the rule book learner.

How To Help

Two things that can help with the Rulebooker. Firstly, let them know what games are going to be played ahead of time. Board Game Geek has a ton of links to rulebooks for them to use. So figure out what games you are going to play and the new ones for the player and send them the rulebooks ahead of time.

Next, open up your teach of game setting the expectation that you’ll pause for questions or comments at certain points in time. This sets the expectation that no one will be interrupting during this process. Then ask for comments or questions on what you just taught. And don’t feel bad about interrupting if this rulebook reader goes down the rabbit hole of something that’s yet to be taught.

The Jump In

This player claims that they don’t learn except by doing. They get the general idea of the game and then they want to jump right into the game and start playing. Even if the rules aren’t fully explained they are gung-ho to get going and get playing.

Why This is Good

This can often be enthusiasm and that is great for gaming. Someone who is excited about a game gets more people excited about a game and that helps get more games to the table.

Why This is Bad

You need to know the rules to play the game. That is one thing that any TTRPG or board game has, it’s a set of rules that create the framework of what you do in the game. You can end up with someone who just wants to play and then will get annoyed when they don’t understand everything.

The Jump In player also can lose focus when rules are being explained. As much as the positive can be excitement and getting other players into the game. This can be a negative and push other players away from the game. It isn’t always that this learner isn’t interested in the game, but more that they aren’t focused. But it comes across as lack of interest.

How To Help

Show and tell is what I’m going to say is the biggest thing to help this player learn and stay engaged. Or it might be more Tell and Show. As the person teaching the game tell what is happening, but have the hands on learner of the group engaged doing stuff. When you explain how cards work, give them to deck to shuffle and put in place. When you explain how a move it done, have them move it on the board. For some people it is that they do learn so much better by doing. And for those people who have really short attention spans, giving them a new task every few minutes helps keep them engaged.

The Every Detail

This one is similar to the rulebooker, but I do think that they are different The Every Detail player is capable of keeping their hands off of the rulebook. But they need everything explained 100% clearly, including all the exceptions, before they are able to feel comfortable starting a game. This can come from a few different areas, often competitiveness.

Why This is Good

This is often the player who catches if you missed something. They’ll ask questions and often lead you through the teaching without knowing it. They won’t correct your rules, but they will help you know if you’ve missed anything with the questions they ask.

Why This is Bad

It is often impossible to cover every exception. And it makes the teach of a game way longer if you try and do it. So having to answer every question for them in the moment means that the others learning the game are checking out from the rules and forgetting what was already taught.

This adds a ton of time to the teach of the game. Like I said, other players are forgetting what was taught. And you are getting in less gaming. I don’t like to start a game with negative impressions or having to go back over rules.

How To Help

Only cover the important exceptions or exploitable ones. If something happens at phase 3 of the game that is completely separate from everything else, you don’t need to answer exception questions on that until then. And just be up front with that, say that you’ll answer questions and explain more then.

So what do I mean by exploitable exceptions Basically anything that you as a person who knows the game, can use to do better or make other people do worse at the game. If you can take over an area from someone with a certain exception, that’s no fun if you teach that when you do that.

Players Know How You Learn Board Game Rules

Like I said at the beginning there are other ways people learn, and most people learn in some combination of these stereotypes. But these three are ones that stand out as often being a larger hindrance to getting games to tables. So know where your weakness lies and where you strengths lie as learners.

For example, I know that I tend to be a bit of the first two. I have learned from so many rulebooks that I can read a rulebook and get going fast. So if I know I’m going to be learning a new game from someone teaching me, I should still read the rulebook. And because I’ve learned so many board games, I tend to just want to jump in as well. Once I hear the basic premise of the rules I can sometimes fill in the details without needing to hear them. Or at least I assume that I can and I want to get playing. The issue is that I might be wrong or the game might do something unique, so I need to listen for that.

This is the same when I teach, I need to pay attention when I read in the rulebook for those different things and really highlight them. It’d be very easy for me to assume that it makes sense to everyone. Or assume that it is going to work like every other game out there. Or even assume that people will be able to get that rule just with a simple description because it is common across other games.

How do you learn rules?

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