The Terrifying Girl Disorder | Nerdologists https://nerdologists.com Where to jump in on board games, anime, books, and movies as a Nerd Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:18:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://nerdologists.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/nerdologists-favicon.png The Terrifying Girl Disorder | Nerdologists https://nerdologists.com 32 32 Should It Stay or Should It Go – Part 6 https://nerdologists.com/2022/04/should-it-stay-or-should-it-go-part-6/ https://nerdologists.com/2022/04/should-it-stay-or-should-it-go-part-6/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:14:24 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6920 What board games are going to be leaving the collection? Well, a lot of them, 17, but also, there are so many that are staying as well.

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Well, last night was a longer stream than planned, but I went through a ton of board games. And I ended up with 17 on the chopping block. One is on the maybe list as I’m seeing if my wife wants to save it from being culled, but looks like it is leaving most likely. Mainly because we both kind of feel like we’ve played it enough, now it’s time to move on from it. Catch up on the previous streams here.

What Board Games are Leaving?

There’s no chance that I’m going to remember all of them. Mainly because, like I said, there are 17 games on the pile to get rid of. And surprisingly, there are several from my Top 100 games of all time. I won’t go into detail on why they’re leaving, I do in the video, but most of the time it is because I have others in the same genre or style that I will always play over it.

Claim

Two player trick taking game. I enjoy it, it can be a little bit swingy, but the game plays fast. So that randomness or the luckiness of the game doesn’t bother me much. It is more that for two player trick taking games, I now prefer Fox in the Forest and Fox in the Forest Duet.

Hanabi

Hanabi is a game with a fun concept. You have a hand of cards and you are trying to get them played out in order. But you can’t see you hand of cards. You only get and give clues. I like it for that, but it’s one I’ve played 10-15 times, I don’t pull it off the shelf anymore. For a game where you don’t know what is in your hand, I prefer Letter Jam now.

Skulk Hollow

Skulk Hollow is consistently in my top 100 games of all time, and I suspect it might stay for a while. But it is leaving my collection. Not because I am getting Maul Peak, the sequel, but because it just doesn’t get played. If I want to play a two player game, I pull others out first.

Tsuro

Tsuro is the poster child for, I liked this game, but I’ve played it enough. It’s a good filler game that can play a lot of people. But I went through a number of games like that. So Tsuro can find a new home.

The Terrifying Girl Disorder

The Terrifying Girl Disorder, I picked this one up because of the title and the artwork. And both still are still intriguing to me. But it’s been a long time on my shelf and I have yet to play it. It is one that I wouldn’t mind getting to the table sometime before I get trade it, just to see, but not enough to make sure it happens.

Call of Cthulhu: Living Card Game

I got this one recently, and now it’s leaving. It’s not because I’m not curious about it. I like the idea of a living card game around the Call of Cthulhu theme, but I already have Arkham Horror LCG and Marvel Champions LCG, I don’t want to try and track down old things for it. So as much as I’m curious about it, I know I will get sucked in.

Shadows of Kyoto

Shadows of Kyoto is another in the Hanamikoji themed game. But this one has more of a Stratego feel. And honestly, that’s why I’m getting rid of it. The whole hidden thing, trying to find your opponents, or maybe take them out, it’s not as interesting. And it’s two player, so why play it over Hanamikoji if I want a two player only game?

Grimm Masquerade
Image Source: Druid City Games/Skybound Games

The Grimm Masquerade

Hidden role game that I find to be a good amount of fun. What I don’t love as much as that it’s a bit long. If I want to pull out a game where we’re trying to figure it out, then I am going to play two games of Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, if not three. And that’ll take the same amount of time and is just more fun for me. It’s a situation where I have another game I’ll always pick first.

Inbetween

Inbetween is another two player only game. You can see that I’m clearing out a number of those. One that I wanted to play because it had a Stranger Things-esque theme to it. But two player push and pull game as you fight over characters one to the “upside-down” and one to the “real world”. So, I could play it, but I don’t feel like it over Hanamikoji.

MonsDRAWsity

MonsDRAWsity is a party game that I picked up cheap, learned the rules to it, and then I realized that I wasn’t going to enjoy it as much. It is a party game of drawing what you think a character looks like based off of a description. That’s fun, but then voting on which one looks closest, that is way less fun. Any party game where it’s a vote or picking a favorite, it’s hard to keep those in my collection.

7 Wonders Duel with Pantheon

Yet another two player game. 7 Wonders Duel is just a game that’s been on my shelf for too long. I know it’s supposed to be a very good game. But the theme isn’t that interesting to me, I think 7 Wonders is just okay at best. And I have Truffle Shuffle that works for two person drafting, same with Ohanami.

Quiddler

A word game that has a 5 Crowns type feel to it as you build out bigger and bigger words or multiple smaller ones. It’s a fine word game, but like most word games, the bigger vocabulary, the better you do. It’s one I’ve played, had fun with, but I’m not going to pull it off the shelf again.

I think that’s 11 total games, so I’m missing six from the list. I guess that’s a sign that I’m not that interested if I don’t remember them. I’ll add them on in a separate article when I can look at them again.

The Drink

Just a cream soda and Orange Jameson mix again. Still a very good drink that goes down easily. One that I’d recommend. Though, as we were talking about in the chat yesterday, it’s not nearly as good straight. It’s a whiskey that I’d say needs to be mixed.

Upcoming Streams

I think Part 7 is going to be the end of going through my collection. And I want to do that on Wednesday. When we’re going to get back to playing some games. Probably some more roll and writes, or smaller solo games for a little bit before diving into the next campaign. But right now, I’m guessing I have 30-40 games and expansions that I’m getting ready to cull.

If you want to know when I go live, you can go to the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel, subscribe, and click the notification bell. That’ll let you know when I go live or schedule a video.

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Unplayed Board Games – The Bottom 24 https://nerdologists.com/2022/02/unplayed-board-games-the-bottom-24/ https://nerdologists.com/2022/02/unplayed-board-games-the-bottom-24/#comments Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:16:57 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6662 What board games are in the bottom part of my unplayed games? I take a deeper dive to what games are that low and why.

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So, yesterday I talked about my unplayed board games. My plan was to spend some time talking about the games, but I instead talked about Shelf of Shame and Shelf of Opportunity, and how I treat my games that I haven’t played. I think it’s an odd issue to talk about, but something important to talk about with board games. I also laid out my full list. But now we’re going to talk about the games themselves.

Unplayed Board Games 124 to 101

124: Monza

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

123: Dragon Tea Society

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

122: Hey, That’s My Fish

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

Danger Park
Image Source: Story Machine Games

121: Danger Park

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

120: The Faceless

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

119: 8Bit Box

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

118: The Terrifying Girl Disorder

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

Boy Band Builder
Image Source; !uke earley, Sam Rosen, and Samuel Geer

117: Boy Band Builder

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

116: Starship Samurai

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

115: Unicornus Knights

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

114: Copenhagen: Roll & Write

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

113: Journey: Wrath of Demons

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

112: Cowboy Bebop: Board Game Boogie

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

Detective: City of Angels
Image Source: Board Game Geek

111: Detective: City of Angels

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

110: The Ravens of Thri Sahashri

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

109: Shadows of Kyoto

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

108: Ascension: Immortal Heroes

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

107: Pioneer Days

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

Pioneer Days
Image Source: Tasty Minstrel Games

106: Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write

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

105: Quarto

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

104: Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

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

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

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

102: Mesozooic

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

Tags
Image Source: Asmodee

101: TAGS

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

Final Thoughts

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

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

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Unplayed Board Games https://nerdologists.com/2022/02/unplayed-board-games/ https://nerdologists.com/2022/02/unplayed-board-games/#comments Tue, 08 Feb 2022 15:28:43 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6654 A lot of us have unplayed board games. Which ones on my shelf do I want to play, I ranked them all and which one do I want to play the most?

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One of my goals this year is to get through a good chunk of my unplayed board games. You can see how that started out in the month of January here. And I already knocked two more off of my list of games to be played, or shelf of shame or shelf of opportunity in February.

This is going to be a list article, with all my unplayed games ranked. But before I dive into that, I want to talk about some of the terms that I just used. Mainly shelf of shame and shelf of opportunity. They are the same term phrased in different ways. Let’s dive into them and then the big list of games to play.

Shelf of Shame vs Shelf of Opportunity

This is a term that I’ve heard thrown around for a few years now. The idea that games on your shelf have this title. First off, I think this is kind of silly. Games that you haven’t played don’t have a special spot in existence. Now, maybe they do have a special spot on your shelf, but they aren’t held in any sort of light. They are just a board game.

But the first term I heard is Shelf of Shame. The idea behind this is that you feel bad since you haven’t played all your games. This is silly. I go back to my talk about collection versus a hobby. Know what you have on your shelf. For me, board games are a collection and a hobby. That means it’s fine to not get to every game quickly. They are part of my collection. But I play them, as they are part of my hobby as well, and hobbies get used or worked on.

Then came the term Shelf of Opportunity. Shelf of Shame is very negative, and opportunity sounds much better. But I, again, find this not much better. Yes, they are games that you play eventually. And yes, it spins it in a positive light. But both terms keep a focus on the fact the games aren’t played.

What Do I Call Them?

I call them what they are. Board games to be played. A board game is just an object. In labeling them either way, it places power on that object. Yes, one puts it in the light of a game being an opportunity for something new, and new exciting opportunities are good. But it leaves the pressure on actually playing the game.

Like I said, I play games. I buy games. Board Games are a collection and a hobby for me. I own games that might take a long time to get played. Campaign games where I play one at a time or two, and I am already playing two. Those wait for when I have time, and that is okay. I feel like the label places a cloud, no matter what label, over the games, and in the end of the day, games are just games.

If I never play a game in my collection and it collects dust for five years. I shouldn’t feel bad about leaving that opportunity out there. I most definitely shouldn’t feel shame. It is a game and I play games. So I play other games and not the game that is sitting there. I am still enjoying the hobby without playing every game I own.

Descent Legends of the Dark
Image Source: Fantasy Flight Games

So Why Write This Out?

I gave myself a challenge at the beginning of the year. Not because I feel guilt about games that I haven’t played. But because it is fun to play games. And I want to play games, I want to experience new games, and I want to cover new games.

For me, my challenge isn’t to get all the games off the shelf. It isn’t because I feel like I miss out on an opportunity. And I care not about shame from it. For me it’s about trying new things and almost making a game out of it. If I don’t make it by the end of the year, I don’t care. I play these for fun.

Unplayed Board Game List

124Monza
123Dinosaur Tea Party
122Hey, That’s My Fish!
121Danger Park
120The Faceless
1198Bit Box
118The Terrifying Girl Disorder
117Boy Band Builder: The Card Game
116Starship Samurai
115Unicornus Knights
114Copenhagen: Roll & Write
113Journey: Wrath of Demons
112Cowboy Bebop: Boardgame Boogie
111Detective: City of Angels
110The Ravens of Thri Sahashri
109Shadows in Kyoto
108Ascension: Immortal Heroes
107Pioneer Days
106Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write
105Quarto
104Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game
103Escape the Room: Mystery at the Stargazer’s Manor
102Mesozooic
101TAGS
100KeyForge: Call of the Archons
99Vault Wars
98Mage Knight Board Game
97Shadows of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game
96Sentinels of the Multiverse
95Narabi
94Quadropolis
93Jamaica
92Heaven & Ale
91Silver & Gold
90This War of Mine: The Board Game
89Boomerang
88Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition)
87MonsDRAWsity
86WWE Legends Royal Rumble Card Game
85Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops
84Boomerang: USA
83Palm Island
82Blueprints
81Specter Ops
80HEXplore It: The Forests of Adrimon
79Crash Octopus
786 nimmt!
77InBetween
76Heroes of Terrinoth
75Codinca
74Formula D
73Arkham Horror (Third Edition)
72Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar
71Everdell
70The Table Is Lava
69Star Wars: Unlock!
68Cockroach Poker
67Drawn to Adventure
66Matcha
65Mariposas
64Tannhäuser
63Air, Land & Sea
62Shakespeare
61Foodies
60Papillon
59Valor & Villainy: Minions of Mordak
58Flick of Faith
57Rhino Hero: Super Battle
56Doodle Dungeon
55The Bloody Inn
54Wingspan
53Welcome to New Las Vegas
52Welcome to Dino World
51Camel Up (Second Edition)
50Arboretum
49Call to Adventure: The Stormlight Archive
487 Wonders Duel
47The Dragon Prince: Battlecharged
46Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler Game
45Yggdrasil Chronicles
44Forgotten Waters
43Mythic Battles: Pantheon
42Catacombs & Castles
41Adventure Land
40Space Base
39Chronicles of Crime
38Fleet: The Dice Game
37Raiders of the North Sea
36Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game
35Reichbusters: Projekt Vril
34Bloodborne: The Board Game
33Time of Legends: Joan of Arc
32The 7th Continent
31Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write
30The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
29Land vs Sea
28Heroes of Land, Air & Sea
27Champions of Hara
26Floriferous
25Folklore: The Affliction
24The Fox in the Forest
23The Quacks of Quedlinburg
22Res Arcana
21Western Legends
20Mechs vs. Minions
19Cthulhu: Death May Die
18Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor
17Black Rose Wars
16Descent: Legends of the Dark
15Betrayal Legacy
14Loup Garou
13Under Falling Skies
12Nidavellir
11Sea of Legends
10Middara: Unintentional Malum – Act 1
9Deep Madness
8Lost Ruins of Arnak
7The Ratcatcher: The Solo Adventure Game
6Solomon Kane
5Roll Player Adventures
4Nemesis
3Dwellings of Eldervale
2Terraforming Mars
1Destinies

Let’s Talk About the List

124 Games on it, and my goal is to get it down below 100 by the end of the year. You add in a bunch of Kickstarter games coming in, and you can see why it is a big list and also a challenge. And of course, then, there are campaign games on the list. If we look at campaign style games, I think we’re sitting at 14 on the list. And that is a lot of games to play through a campaign of, so that isn’t going to happen. Though, with Sleeping Gods coming off the list to start the year, it will some over on Malts and Meeples.

There are also some kids games on the list. Right now, I don’t think I will play those this year. Monza looks fun, but the toddler isn’t quite ready for it. But the toddler is also three, so who knows, maybe by the end of the year, we can play those games a bit more. But right now I’m not expecting to.

Mythic Battles Pantheon
Image Source: Mythic Games

I also think it’s important to note that a lot of big games are at the top. Those are the ones that I’m most excited to play and cover. And some of them should be getting played soon. Probably after this weekend I’ll be lining up a time to get started playing Roll Player Adventures.

To go along with that, there are a lot of solo games as well. I could play, in the top 20, around 75% of them solo and some of them are solo only games. So I need to start knocking those out first, because they are high on my list. That won’t be how I get under 100, though.

Final Thoughts

I think that it is fine to challenge yourself to play your unplayed games. I think it is fine to limit how many unplayed games you own. When that becomes the focus or the obsession, I think that is when we start to lose the focus on what we are doing. Or when tie to it other emotions, like shame.

When I see people post about clearing their shelf of shame, I am sure it feels good for them. But on the flip side, in the comments, you see people feeling guilty about their unplayed games. I am not that way. I don’t feel guilt over that. And you shouldn’t either.

This is an odd article, I wanted to talk more about the games, and I will soon. But before I could do that, I think it is import to talk about the shame or guilt that can be thrown around in the hobby. Not always intentionally malicious but always harmful.

Also, let me know what game you think I need to try first. What is your favorite on the list that I have too low, or that you know I would like or should try?

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The Collection A to Z: Games Are Such a T’s https://nerdologists.com/2020/12/the-collection-a-to-z-games-are-such-a-ts/ https://nerdologists.com/2020/12/the-collection-a-to-z-games-are-such-a-ts/#respond Fri, 25 Dec 2020 15:00:00 +0000 http://nerdologists.com/?p=5121 Yes, more work play, this is what you’re all here for, I know it. Yesterdays was completely insane as I had a million games, or

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Yes, more work play, this is what you’re all here for, I know it. Yesterdays was completely insane as I had a million games, or so that started with the letter S, but the letter T is considerably more reasonable, but still a bunch of games that start with T.

The Collection

Numbers

A’s – B’s – C’s – D’s – E and F’s – G and H’s – I, J and K’s – L’s – M’s – N, O, and P’s – Q and R’s – S’s

T’s

T.I.M.E. Stories (and Expansions)

I love this game, it is really well made in what I’ve played through of the expansions with each different scenario pack feeling it it’s something new. I’ve heard that some aren’t as strong as others, but through four of them it’s been really interesting. This reminds me of Assassin’s Creed in some ways, though depending on the scenario, less about fighting. And they have done a lot of weird things, from dragons to ancient Egypt to zombies.

Status: Played

Image Source: Space Cowboys

The Table is Lava

We all know the rules of the floor is lava, don’t touch the floor. But with this, you have meeples and you are flicking cards. You flick them onto the table, and if you hit someone else’s meeples you can knock them over or knock them onto the table, which is lava, of course. But you get points if your meeples are standing up and less if they are laying down, so you have a lot of different ways to score, but also some strategy in how or where you toss your cards, because you could go to knockdowns or you could try and keep it separate so you are less likely to have meeples knocked off. It seems like silly fun.

Status: To Be Played

Tainted Grail

I love my Awaken Realms games. Tainted Grail is a massive grim dark Arthurian legend and it’s really hard. I like the fact that it’s hard, I like that the combat has you running away fairly often and that you are fighting for survival, what they advertised the game as. The story in this game is really good, and I’ve played through the first chapter multiple times and I always find something new that I haven’t done before and places that I’d love to get to, except for the time that we have left on the Menhir. I’m excited to get back to this after Christmas.

Status: Played

Takenoko

Sometimes you want a game that is just a fun time, and Takenoko with it’s fat bamboo eating panda definitely is that. This game looks family weight but has a little bit more going on as you are putting out tiles, growing bamboo, eating bamboo and more. It has some random elements with the dice, but overall is a really fun time with a lot of good decisions to make. When do you want to water a spot so it starts to grow, does it help you more than the other players by doing that, when you want to move the panda and do you want to get more panda, gardener, or tile scoring cards?

Status: Played

Image Source: Matagot

The Terrifying Girl Disorder

Japanime Games makes weird games that definitely have a bit of an anime feel to them even if they aren’t about an actual anime, and this is one of those games. I picked it up because it was on a sale and it looked weird. From what I remember about it, you are picking cards, almost drafting them, to get sets for the girl that you have, but that can change who you have. It is a weird game and sounds like it either will be an interesting game for some people, or that it might be a bit too much game for how small it is.

Status: To Be Played

That’s Pretty Clever

Roll and write, you know the drill. But this roll and write has the distinction of being the one that really started the roll and write craze we’re in now. Ganz Schon Clever, as it’s known in German, is a good comboing roll and write game that has a lot of interesting scoring to it. The sequels then use that and build upon it, but they are their own separate games. That’s Pretty Clever introduces one of the best ideas that I’ve seen, of foxes, these are points where if you can get them can score you a lot of points, but they only score the lowest point total of another section, so if I don’t do well, let’s say in the yellow section and get zero points, foxes are worth nothing. This forces you to diversify as you go.

Status: Played

This War of Mine

Probably better known as a video game, this war of mine is another Awaken Realms game, one of the earliest ones that they did. It is based off of the IP of the video game, and is about trying to survive in a war torn world. From what I know of the game, it’s extremely dark, depressing and hard to in. Now, not all Awaken Realms are like that, but I always expect that an Awaken Realms game will have some elements to it that are punishing. This one I want to try solo and just play in short bits because of the darkness of the theme.

Status: To Be Played

Ticket to Ride

It’s a classic gateway game for a lot of people. This one is all about collecting cards, putting down trains and completing routes. What makes this work so well as a gateway game is that you do one of a few things on your turn. You either take train cards, play down trains, or you take routes. That’s it, you don’t do more than one of those things on a turn. It makes the game easy to teach an very accessible. The game also is based around connecting those routes which is an idea that is really easy to grasp, because we’re all familiar with a road trip of going from point A to point B, with Ticket to Ride it’s just about how you get there.

Status: Played

Image Source: AEG

Tiny Towns

This game has been a pretty popular one this year from AEG and last year. It is a simple cube placement game with a bit more depth than it’d first seem. What makes this really interesting for me is the picking of the resource and how I can use that to my advantage at times or to hurt someone else. Now, I don’t think that hate picking is a viable strategy, but if I see that my next opponent has a brick and wood for building a house, or straw, whatever it is, and I just have a wood, I might pick brick so that they are likely to pick straw and we both get houses, but now they have an extra brick they have to work with. And there are a ton of combinations or buildings that are really fun to work with.

Status: Played

Titan Race

Another fun filler type game is Titan Race. This one is again really easy with dice drafting and racing either across the same board three times or across three different boards once each. The game is fast and easy to learn, and each racer having their own powers is fun. What I also like about the game is that even when you are knocked down to 0, you just lose a turn and you get going again. But what is the most fun is knocking people around, being able to drop a trap right in front or someone or push them into lava, it’s great. And even though there is the take that feel to the game, since it’s so fast and so silly, people aren’t likely to have their feeling hurt.

Status: Played

Tofu Kingdom

I bet you didn’t know tofu had a kingdom. This is a bluffing game where players can either lie or tell the truth depending on what cards they have in their hand and the person who is Prince Mochi is has to try and guess who has Princess Tofu in their hand. It seems like one of those silly little games, almost social deduction, with a little bit of deduction thrown in. What is nice is that it plays a pretty large number of players. I’m curious to get it to the tale once we have people playing in person again, because it seems best at a higher player count.

Status: To Be Played

Image Source: Self

Tokyo Highway

Dexterity games are a ton of fun for me. I like them because late in a game night, you might not want to sit down and play something too meaty. Instead, you can grab out a game and try, in your tired state, to balance roads and place cars on them. Tokyo Highways is one of the most aesthetically pleasing games to see played. When you wrap it up, it’s almost a piece of artwork, which is crazy to say for a board game. And the rules are simple enough, if your road crossed over or under another road, you get to put a car on your road, the first person to get all their cars out is the winner. But you only have a limited number of discs to raise or lower your road, and without special discs you can’t raise or lower than more by one. It’s a lot of fun and tense, but so pretty that it’s calming.

Status: Played

Tsuro

This is another of the high player count but not a party game games. It’s actually one of the most played in that category for me. Tsuro, the way of the path, is about using your tiles to keep yourself on the paths as long as you can, and outlast everyone else. I think this game plays best at the higher player counts where you can knock out a game or two fast and then move onto something bigger. I’m a little bit played out of this game which is why I’ve added more games of similar player counts to my collection, but it’s still a good one when you need something fast.

Status: Played

Image Source: Schmidt

Twice as Clever

The follow up to Ganz Schon Clever (That’s So Clever), this game takes the foundation that you get in That’s So Clever and builds upon it. Twice as Clever is by far, I’d say, the most challenging of the three games to play. You have to think a lot about all the sections because the scoring is quite different. I do like pieces of it though, the pink track is great, the grey/silver area is really interesting to think about. The yellow area is hard to rock, but if you can, you can get a lot of points and some good bonuses. It, like That’s So Clever, is all about getting as many combos as possible and getting to those foxes so you can score the most points off of them, but not forgetting to get points in every area.

Status: Played

That’s it for the T’s, definitely less than there were of the S’s, but that’s fine, I have a lot of games as it is. What is your favorite game that begins wit the Letter T? Is there any that I’m missing from my collection that you’d think I’d like?

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