Games & Me: Status Report Part 1

Greetings and happy holidays to all in blog land! Although I have found no time and/or inspiration the last couple months for my blog, I have managed to play a few board games. Most notable was my annual foray to Vermont with the wife and kids where I engaged in lots of gaming. My brother returned from Kansas and my cousins travelled from South Carolina to attend the family gathering, so they were all present for this most recent board game endeavor.

As I have probably mentioned previously, the family board game history is steeped in Risk, Monopoly, and Clue. These are the typical games we'd play at the thanksgiving gathering and despite being currently enamoured with a number of newer titles we still feel the need to at least dabble with the more familiar ones.

This time around Risk was the traditionalist's center stage for the holiday incarnated this time as a 6 player 3 1/2 hour monstrosity that finished with my brother the victor (one victory of many for Toph over the course of the week, I'll touch on that later.) We were dabbling with a bonus army variant for Risk card sets that awards fixed amounts for different types of sets as opposed to escalating set values. I'm not fully convinced this is a poor option, but I think it requires a change from our usual strategy as we suffered through a good 2 hours of status quo with four players remaining and seemingly no way to advance the game. Eventually I began to just randomly change strategy and become much more aggressive and unpredictable. Alas this methodology did not secure my victory, but it did break up the standstill and got things moving again. Perhaps another game using these rules would play more smoothly with a few strategic alterations on my part from the beginning. Or I could completely forget about all of this silliness by the next time I play the game (next Thanksgiving?) At times it did feel like we were on the brink of playing a satisfying game, but we never did quite cross over into that territory (and perhaps the fact that I LOST has tainted my opinion of the session. NEVER! Quiet, you.)

The Mrs. would most certainly claim the session would have had much different results had she played throughout the game. Unfortunately my daughter's stomach was a bit angry with her and emptied itself upon the bathroom floor and then later in the recliner where she was resting. The Mrs. graciously took her back to my mom's place where we were staying for the holiday and took care of her at the expense of withdrawing from Risk before the game had really even begun. My uncle took over for her with very poor results, so we'll never know how she might have finished. She will point to the previous evening where she went 2 - 0 in Puerto Rico and Settlers of Catan and state that her victory was all but guaranteed had she played out the game. Toph had a pretty good week though, I think he may have been due at that point.

A little more on Risk while I'm on topic. It seems that I go so long between plays of the game that I forget little details I've learned from past plays. One thing I remembered midway through this last game is that I find Risk much more enjoyable when using the random generation of starting territories rather than the player selected option. Although this would seem to add more chance into an already luck dependant game, it serves to set up a much less predictable early game. When players choose all their opening territories strategies are locked in early and most small continents already have a dominant presence by a single player. In the randomized version, each player ends up with armies in all sorts of odd places they never would have chosen and it is really up to them to sort out their strategy and find a way to make the best of a less than optimal situation. This appeals to me and I find it to be much more rewarding. I also think this could easily allow for more players to be eliminated in the early rounds, which would make for a shorter game as well. This is a good thing. Despite its many obvious (and already much documented) shortcomings, I do still enjoy a game of Risk on occasion (especially when it is considered 'tradition.') I simply need to hone our house rules to the point that they optimize the fun and satisfaction to be had with this classic (read: often boring) game.

More to come on some other recent plays.

Publishing, Painting, and Pooping

I do have a few interesting topics simmering on the back burner, but I have a feeling they'll have to be put off until next week when I'm sure to have more free time (yeah, right!) For now, here's a few quick highlights of a day in my so called life:

1. Game Carnival #4

New collection of game articles from around the web was just published by Yehuda. It features two of my posts from Splitting Eights and many other interesting stories, many of which I have yet to read (but will in the not so distant future). This is just getting off the ground, so please take a look and comment on what you like.

2. We're Home Owners!

The Mrs. & I just closed on our new house this past Friday and have been packing, cleaning, and painting in our free time ever since. This is my first real experience painting rooms and boy has it been an eyeopener--painting is a ton of work! We've worked the bulk of two full days and a few hours here and there shopping for supplies, cleaning walls, spackling nail holes, taping rooms, applying primer, waiting for paint to dry, and finally...actually painting! It's been fun, especially when we've been able to do it together, but we sure haven't made much progress. Since we're moving the bulk of our stuff into the new place on Sunday, much of the painting will have to wait. Oh well, it looks like we'll have two rooms painted anyway, which is better than none.

3. Potty Training Hell

When I picked up my son from daycare today we were informed that he had pooped in his pull-up, and this absolutely must stop right away. Apparently when a child reaches three (he will do so in September) and he isn't potty trained, his parents go to Hell. As if the entire potty training 'battle' wasn't enough, we need a little extra pressure from the peanut gallery. From my reading on the topic, potty training is something that you lead a child to, but the doing is up to him. I can't force him to do it, I can only help facilitate the process. So, I guess what I'm saying is...I want this as much as anyone, so do something constructive about it or shut the f&@$ up!

So, to sum up: 1. good 2. great 3. grrrr

Maybe one of these days I'll actually write something about games again. I think I need a muse.

Back To Work!

After a fairly brief summer off from work, I'm back to the grind on Tuesday. It is quite unfortunate that we weren't able to close on our house a couple weeks earlier (we close this afternoon) since we have a lot of work to do before it is move-in ready. Now with both of us working full time while we try to pack, paint, clean, and move, and only having two weeks to get it all done before our lease ends on our current home, we're sure to be more than a little stressed out. Hopefully work will be slow and I won't have to put in outrageous hours right away as the semester begins.

My emotions are a little mixed as far as returning to work is concerned. Certainly I had a lot of fun at times and did manage to relax a little when the kids weren't screaming bloody murder. Also I had a little extra time to do some reading, and lots of time to jump start this blog. I have some doubts as to how frequently I'll manage posts in the coming months; my current feeling is that two articles each week will be a good number to shoot for. Last week when I returned to work for most of a week I had a tough time working up the motivation to write anything at all. The issue isn't necessarily finding the physical time to post, but rather a combination of having mental energy enough to brainstorm ideas and motivation to get words down on (virtual) paper. I can find the time but it has yet to be determined if I can find the desire. Stay tuned!

There have been downsides to having the summer off as well, and not just the fact that I haven't received a paycheck in a couple of months. Although I loved the idea of spending lots of quality time with the kids at first, as the weeks passed my patience with them grew considerably shorter. On bad days I felt I should be committed (oh, the peace and quiet of a nice clean place with no kids! I can deal with the mentally ill.) On good days (well, day, I think there may have been one of those) I could sit back watching my brilliant, beautiful children and think how wonderful it is to be a parent.

Maybe an even tougher aspect of the time off is that I don't know what to do with myself when no one structures my days. I'm so used to being busy enough that free time is at a premium and it always feels like I need to make the most of it. When I'm here at home all summer one day leads into the next, I feel like I waste too much time just fiddling with the computer, and I never seem to really get anything accomplished or very often have much fun. I need structure! Sure, you'd think I could have self-imposed some structure on my free time, but if that's the case you obviously don't know me. Maybe I should have tried to get committed, I hear there's lots of structure there! Maybe next summer.

After saying all this it might appear that I am just an ungrateful bastard that doesn't fully appreciate a great gift that God knows how many busy Americans would love to receive in my place, but really I did enjoy the summer, and I am grateful to have had it.

But I'm still ready to go back to work. Of course, catch up to me in a month and ask me what I think about that, my answer may have changed by then.

Movie Games

My daughter loves video games, although she calls them movie games. This makes sense, I suppose, they are games and you do play them on a television just like movies.

A couple days ago my mother in law was visiting our area and staying in a nearby hotel. My brother in law had his PS2 with him along with his special guitar controller for the game Guitar Hero II. My daughter, after realizing that the instrument was actually a controller with a 'Wow!' said to him: 'You like movie games too!?' This line made me smile instantly. Her innocence and somewhat sheltered life was certainly evident here. She didn't realize that video games make up a huge industry around the world comprised of hundreds of systems and millions of players. She was just overjoyed that her uncle shared this hobby that to her was her own personal thing. To her this seemed a very unique and profound connection.

Of course, upon further reflection, her love of video games reminds me how assertive they truly are and how easily they can become the object of obsession. Of course, she loves board games too, but when Super Nintendo is offered (and even when it is not) it's certainly the activity of choice. With video games, the action comes to the players almost automatically, there is no need to set up the board or keep track of pieces in play. The visuals and controls are simply right there, obvious and blunt yet instantly appealing and addictive at the same time.

I've always liked video games since I was a child, especially the older Nintendo stuff, but this particular line of thought makes me glad I've chosen to pursue board games as my primary gaming outlet. It also drives home the point that what Nintendo I do let my daughter play must be a treat on rare occasions, not an everyday obsession. I feel board games are more constructive, better both socially and creatively. Board games will be the rule, movie games the exception.

9 Favorite Games To Play With My Daughter

My four year old daughter loves playing board games. Actually, she'll play pretty much any kind of game you put in front of her: video games, bowling, badminton, board games, card games, and any kind of made up game she can conjure up. In fact, she often insists on playing Caylus, Settlers, Carcassonne, or whatever adult game she happens to see on the shelf. I don't blame her, all those games that we never play together must be awfully good, right? I do break out Carcassonne with her on occasion since she gets the matching terrain aspect, although not so much the meeple placement/scoring aspect.

Personally I like board and card games the best, so that's what I try to steer her towards when she wants to play a game. There are numerous games we own that the Girl (this sounds odd, but somehow having one boy and one girl leads the Mrs. & I to refer to them by their sex on occasion rather than by name) likes playing that I don't care for. These tend to be the basic draw a card and move (Candyland), or spin and move (Chutes & Ladders), or even flip over one card after another (War). None of these games have decision making aspects and thus I will not place them on the list despite the fact that the Girl does enjoy them. Since this is a list of games we enjoy together, I suppose I'm allowed to nix those games that I don't enjoy. Not that playing a dull game with her is altogether bad: I still enjoy playing those games on occasion since it is a shared activity with my daughter. I have fun not because the game is good but rather despite the fact that it is bad. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the list is games that we both enjoy playing frequently. We have fun with everything on this list, and it's in no particular order:

• I Spy Bingo (2-6 players, age 4+) Each bingo card consists of a 4x4 grid, each box in the grid containing about ten pictures, each beginning with the same letter of the alphabet. The player whose turn it is flips over the top card of a deck to reveal four random pictures. She then calls out one of the pictures on the card and places a bingo token over the box on her card that contains that picture (if there is one). Sometimes its easy to find a given picture on your card since it is grouped by first letter. However, much more often the 'I Spy' aspect of the game comes into play because it is not immediately obvious which letter the picture starts with. For instance, what appears to be a snake may actually be under 'V' for viper. Also the green apple isn't under 'A,' it's under 'G' (either for Green or for Granny Smith...I guess both work!) A simple little game but it always seems to be a fun time for us.


• Memory (essentially any number of players, age 3+) The old standby. We actually have three separate copies of this game: original, Finding Nemo, and one with pictures painted on wooden blocks rather than cardboard cutouts. The Girl loves this game, which makes it fun. The remarkable thing is that young children seem to be on a fairly level playing field with adults at this one. I think I win slightly more often than she does, but I never throw games with her and she certainly wins her fair share.


• Flea Circus (2-6 players, age 6+) This is the most recent addition to our kids' board game collection. Designed by Reiner Knizia, this is a card game that the Girl fully grasps and enjoys despite the higher age suggestion. The game consists of a deck of cards, a pile of blue dog pieces, and a pile of white cat pieces. The basis of the game is that the players each run their own flea circus and they are vying for the attention of a common pool of spectators. Spectators come in two denominations: cats are worth one spectator, dogs are worth two, and they are fully interchangeable. If you play a card that nets you four spectators you may claim any combination of animals that adds up to four. This was the Girl's first experience counting by twos and she loved the challenge of counting to three or four using both ones and twos instead of just ones. It may be difficult for some young children to grasp that 'one' dog is actually 'two' spectators. Each player maintains a hand of five cards, drawing back up to that number at the end of each turn. Each player has a pile of their previously played cards in front of them called the 'show stack.' Each flea card has a different effect when played (some take spectators from the common pool, others steal them from opponents, some can be played in multiples, some have varying values depending on what is on top of other players' show stacks. Flea Circus gives young children lots to consider since individual card values greatly vary depending on what other cards are in their hand and which cards are showing on the table. You should listen to the Girl trying to explain this game to people when we sit down to show it to new players. Her excitement about the game is amazing, but she probably comes off a lot like I would if I were to try to explain Puerto Rico to my grandmother. One last note about Flea Circus: although the game is way over my two year old's head, it is quite easy to keep him entertained by the very fun rubber cats & dogs. This is a good thing! Highly recommended.
  

• Junior Labyrinth (2-4 players, age 5+) This is essentially identical to the adult version of the game except instead of the board being a 7x7 maze it is 5x5 and there are fewer treasures to find within its twists and turns. Players are dealt treasure pieces face down that they are to seek during the game by moving their ghost character through the maze. Most of the maze tiles on the board can be moved, which is accomplished by pushing the one extra maze tile against one row of tiles on the board and pushing a tile out the other side. This changes the layout of the board slightly, opening up some corridors that were closed off and closing off others that were open. Each turn a player moves one row of the labyrinth, then moves his ghost along the tunnel either to the current treasure she is seeking or as close to it as possible in order to set up a future move to actually acquire it. The Girl and I enjoy this game but she does have difficulty visualizing how any given maze shift will effect the layout of the board. Usually I let her push a maze piece and see how that changes the labyrinth, then push it back and try another spot if it doesn't help her towards her goal. The winner is the first to find all of their treasures then return to their starting space. Not as much fun as some other games on this list, but not bad.

• Mancala This is a classic game that I've owned for years but just never thought to play with the Girl until recently. I learned the game from my aunt when I was a child and used to enjoy it then as I do now. Players move stones on their side of the board and try to get as many as possible in their 'bank' at their end of the board. By choosing the best pile of stones to move and landing the final stone of the sequence in your bank you earn another consecutive move and thus can rack up a high score through thoughtful and precise decisions. After a few plays the Girl really started to grasp the strategy and she now loves this game. You can't go wrong with Mancala.

• Zingo (2-8 players, age 4+) We've had this game for quite a while and had a lot of fun with it. Zingo is really quite straightforward, it's simply bingo with a little red tower that shoots out two bingo tiles at a time. The tiles each depict one picture and the picture's name written beneath it. Each bingo board has nine different pictures on it arranged 3x3. As two new tiles are revealed a player will call out 'I need a house!' if they see a house tile that matches their board. Depending on how you play, either the first person to call a tile or the first person to grab it gets to place the new tile on his board. The first player to fill their entire board is declared the winner! Usually we have the first winner, then we keep playing to determine the second winner, then the third, etc. The Girl likes this game a lot but for the most part has moved on to other games we've been playing more recently. The Boy actually understands Zingo very well and usually plays with us too, and he is only two years old. Definitely a good game for a family with young children.

• Guess Who? (2 players, age 6+) This is a game I remember from my childhood, although I don't think I was crazy about it: Guess Who? was more of a novelty to me, but the Girl really enjoys it. It is a very simple game but is short, entertaining, and functions very differently than other games in our collection so it is a good change of pace. Yet another game listed at 6+ that the Girl has no problems with whatsoever. Some of the conceptual subtleties took her a few plays to figure out (such as asking about characters' having 'facial hair' rather than just 'a beard'), but she enjoys the game and is great at it as well. A word of caution, however: the plastic framework of the boards are very breakable and you should probably not allow your two year old to play with them. Yes, I'm speaking from experience here. Overall a fun little game to play with your child, or for two kids to easily play together.

• Dominoes Another game that I've had for a long time but just never thought to give it a try with the Girl. Not too much to be said here besides the fact she enjoys it. We really haven't tried playing any complicated games yet, just the basic matching your piece to those already on the table and trying to run out your dominoes.



• Blink (2 players, age 7+) It is quite surprising to me that the listed age on this game is so high, since the Girl has no problem with it and has considered it her favorite game for a while. Blink is comprised of a deck of cards with symbols on the face that vary along three different characteristics: color, shape, and number. Each player is given a draw pile of half the cards, then draws three cards for her hand and flips over one additional card onto the playing surface. Players then try to play the cards in their hand by matching them by any of the three characteristics to the two cards already face up on the table. New cards are drawn for each one played and the first player to play all of their cards is declared the winner. Blink bills itself as the world's fastest game, usually played within two minutes. Conceptually there is nothing here that a four or five year can't grasp, you simply have to adjust how many cards each player is given in their draw pile to compensate for ability. For instance, I might give the Girl 1/3 of the deck while I take the remainder. Thus even though I'm much quicker at the game we should still finish at close to the same time and have an enjoyable and competitive game. Blink is great fun for all ages and I'd think would make a good learning tool for preschoolers or kindergartners.

Just a few ideas that have worked for me and my daughter. It really is never too early to get kids started on board games!

A Most Personal Impersonal Game

In reality I seldom play board games at this point in my life. I've been in this location for four years now, but have only very gradually begun to develop friendships locally, and no one that I would consider a friend or close acquaintance has much of a propensity for board games. This represents a radical departure for me since the vast majority of my friends from the past have been game aficionados. All my best friends from high school, dorm mates from college, two younger brothers, uncles on both sides of my family, cousins, dad, mom & aunt (on very limited occasions), and my lovely wife, have all indulged my predilection for board games.


Real game, imaginary friends

Just recently I've realized that this state of affairs desperately needs to end. I have the suspicion that the quantity and quality of my gaming experiences have a direct impact on my happiness in life. My primary objective to remedy this sorry situation is to begin a gaming group in the Potsdam/Canton area. As I begin to plan my opening moves towards this lofty goal, I will keep you posted. Although I do feel severely board game deprived, I do have three outlets for my passion: I play two player games with my wife on occasion, kid's games with my four year old daughter every day, and online board games on the site AsoBrain games. The first two points on this list I would love to elaborate upon, but those are topics for another day. Playing on AsoBrain games (mostly their version of Settlers of Catan, called Xplorers) has been a revelation, albeit a bit of a puzzling one. True, being able to play board games on a daily basis if I so choose is a fabulous opportunity indeed, and one of which I've taken particular advantage the last couple of weeks. I love that I play this very personal, familiar game with opponents I've never met from all over the world. Indeed this is a typical representation of our modern situation: I am at once experiencing much more connectivity with people I would have never had known in the past yet simultaneously experiencing much less immediate relationships with those I meet in this way.


Is it really possible to play board games on a computer?

Though I love playing at this site I am quite aware that the experience is missing much of what I love about board games, namely the immediacy of an experience shared with friends and the aesthetic appeal of handling game components and performing the basic rituals of play. Internet play with strangers is almost completely a matter of strategy in that although there may be a little chat amongst players, such games are devoid of that natural comfortable chat between friends and the (usually) playful banter that arises from games played in person. The interface for the online game is cold. Even when players chat, there is only so much of their feelings, reactions, frustrations, moments of elation, and the like that can be gleaned from watching the game unfold. Essentially all you get from the experience is the moves on the board. From a narrow strategy sense this could be a good thing, since there are few distractions from one's concentration on the game and the moves to be made. If the point of playing is to develop or hone one's game strategies then this is an ideal environment. However I would assert that the distractions, reactions and the like are at least as important to a gaming session as the strategy involved in the actual game mechanics.


For me, games are like food...really

As I've written previously, the presence of physical components that are held, slid, shuffled, stolen, flipped, rolled, slapped, and generally manhandled throughout game play, for me, results in a great deal of enjoyment. I would liken this in a way to most any simple pleasure in life. Anything that one is passionate about, even broken down into its simplest components or steps can bring great enjoyment and satisfaction to an experience. For instance, I am passionate about cooking & working with food. Sometimes this can be a job or a chore, or just another action that I perform. When I stop to think about it and allow myself a little immediacy as I prepare a meal I derive much satisfaction from the simplest actions, from the motion of peeling a potato, to the explosive pop & sizzle of a steak hitting a hot pan, to the slide of a knife separating whole vegetables into the small accessible pieces that become the components to be transformed into finished dishes. Just as there are thousands of tiny pleasures found in the preparation of a meal from start to finish, tiny actions, motions, and rituals throughout a favorite game each provide startling pleasure in and of themselves far beyond even the bigger context of the game. In my mind this is one primary reason why I have a stronger attachment to board games than to video games: the only tactile experience in video games is the controller since they are almost entirely visual experiences. Although I love many video games, especially those on the NES and SNES systems from years past, they fall short of board games precisely because of those weaknesses I highlighted in the case of video board games on the Internet: shared experience and ritual pleasures. Playing Settlers of Catan on AsoBrain games ends up having much more in common with video games than it does board games despite the fact that the game rules are essentially identical to the tabletop version of the game.


Looking for a few good opponents

All this being said, my new found Internet board game fascination was thrown for a loop several days ago when I played online for the first time with people I know in real life. My brother Christopher, one of his friends, my cousin Jennie, and I got together for a game of Xplorers on AsoBrain games. This promised to be a lot of fun because both Jennie and Christopher have been real life gaming opponents for essentially all my days of board gaming. We played countless board games as kids along with my brother Ben and my cousin Katie, and almost always play games when we get together although this usually only ever happens when we are all able to gather at my uncles' farm during the annual family gathering at Thanksgiving. This has become fairly difficult since each of us has become far separated from one another. The farm is in Vermont, while I reside in New York, Jennie in South Carolina, and Christopher in Kansas. My fingers are crossed that we will have the opportunity for a session this November. Yes, I truly miss mopping the floor with the old gang and would love to do so this holiday season! Now, if any of them ever actually read my blog, this should get them all riled up, which is a good thing...they'll almost certainly play angry and be way off their game.


Great time playing a painful game

Back to our session on Thursday. The experience was incredible. I had a great time chatting with Toph & Jennie and actually getting to play a game with them was a rare treat. That being said, the game certainly was brutal in a couple of ways. First, although I have played quite a few games on this site the other three players were Xplorers virgins: they all knew how to play the board game, but since they had never used this particular interface, the entire game was spent familiarizing themselves with how to actually get things done. Trading especially takes a little practice since players need to know how to ask for cards from other players, counter-offer, trade with the bank, and reject an opponent's offer. Familiarizing oneself with this system makes for excruciatingly long turns. A few more plays down the road a game of Xplorers will probably take between 30-45 minutes for us to complete. Unfortunately this one lasted twice that long. The other problem for me in this particular session is that I made poor choices for opening settlement positions (as did Jennie, although she does have the excuse that she's only played Settlers twice...I can't make such a claim). The result is that Jennie and I were almost mathematically eliminated from contention after two or three turns. Neither of us had access to the proper resources or the room to expand our territory sufficiently to win the game. What this means is that I spent the final 1:15 minutes of the game waiting for the misery to end.


Final Score: Ugly

Results: Toph obliterated all of us because of good opening placement, a bit of experience, and a little luck; I will admit it here and now that I was thoroughly outwitted. He may have one the battle, but mark my words: I will win...the next battle! It really was a lot of fun, and future games will certainly be even better since everyone will be more familiar with the interface, turns will progress much more quickly, and hopefully I'll preform more like the most experienced player of the group rather than the least. Was this experience even close to as much fun as playing with the same group in person? No, I don't think so, but it is the only way I can frequently play games with these people I love, and there is certainly much to be said for that. My life is richer because we've started to play these games, perhaps not so much as it would be if I were playing regular board games with friends face to face in this area, but a great development nonetheless. I await our next game with much anticipation.


Additional reading

One additional note: There are several sites on the internet that allow you to play board games online. Settlers of Catan seems to be the most available for online play, although I know Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride are also available (Carc on AsoBrain, even), and legions of Euro style board games can be played on BrettSpielWelt, a german boardgaming site. I urge anyone looking for a little more boardgaming time than their immediate surroundings allow to check out some of these resources. http://www.games.asobrain.com/ in particular is very accessible and I highly recommend giving it a shot if you enjoy Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne. BSW is definitely worth a look too, but I have yet to play there since it is a bit more intimidating and complicated. Get online and give it a shot!