tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69670323750135190802024-02-19T18:21:57.351+01:00M635 J520A series of notes to myself.Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-30595645498131806732023-05-03T18:25:00.000+02:002023-05-03T18:25:01.695+02:00The 9 Greatest Boardgames Discovered in 2022<p> It’s the end of March and now the dust has settled enough to look back
at my game-discoveries from 2022, and do a write up of my favourites…</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2023-03-25-the-9-greatest-boardgames-discovered-in-2022/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="800" src="https://blog.ervik.fr/assets/img/posts/2022-top9new/2022-top9.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><br /> <a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2023-03-25-the-9-greatest-boardgames-discovered-in-2022/">Read more</a>.<br /><p></p>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-29932871198863965432023-05-03T18:21:00.006+02:002023-05-06T23:58:06.220+02:00Top 50 Boardgames of All Time<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp3wnbZRzK0JXu_NM2249Ee4lC5S4S4ZadX5Sg8EeOnuqCkOO3qZLNF-IS28QDjEKLi9YFNCF533vGN2OcfOz7rML8xgw1uyUYlzsJNeQUw7tkTGUdrzZTM0r-XNl8ERmE0-nGaS4jwb3Wa2aAZ-_lkSZ4CI44D0wEZl39jdCm4VpWI0ciYTwnN6au/s1080/100-latest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp3wnbZRzK0JXu_NM2249Ee4lC5S4S4ZadX5Sg8EeOnuqCkOO3qZLNF-IS28QDjEKLi9YFNCF533vGN2OcfOz7rML8xgw1uyUYlzsJNeQUw7tkTGUdrzZTM0r-XNl8ERmE0-nGaS4jwb3Wa2aAZ-_lkSZ4CI44D0wEZl39jdCm4VpWI0ciYTwnN6au/s320/100-latest.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Back in 2020 I decided to do a top 25 games as a countdown to <a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jule%C3%B8l">Jul</a> over on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CId2t18hw-e/">Instagram</a>. That was a fun experiment. This year I’ve decided to revisit it in a more… scientific manner. <br /><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-12-01-top50-part1/">Part I: 25-50</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-12-09-top50-part2/">Part II: 16-24 </a></li><li><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-12-19-top50-part3/">Part III: 7-15</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-12-21-top50-part4/">Part IV: 4-6</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-12-23-top50-part5/">Part V: 2-3</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-12-24-top50-part6/">Part VI: 1</a> <br /></li></ul>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-47375325030972918692023-05-03T18:16:00.006+02:002023-05-06T23:54:27.257+02:00Criss Cross AI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmaEzEtNXb40PRTJQ0mHXuNxsbLEvCJDnNKU1goa8KsmxkZwG7MNLP-FnzInAQtnc-aAHgQsvYFpIhNdZdQ5VLq4-Iy1osS0bVPnYCG8ErSk06FnyhYB3ECul_D2HgkvDRu4AWoDjGTaiAAwPdOmi35nr4e9XJjHCmTIArtPvlIjjBIV9xF8u7Xje/s2059/detrak.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1544" data-original-width="2059" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmaEzEtNXb40PRTJQ0mHXuNxsbLEvCJDnNKU1goa8KsmxkZwG7MNLP-FnzInAQtnc-aAHgQsvYFpIhNdZdQ5VLq4-Iy1osS0bVPnYCG8ErSk06FnyhYB3ECul_D2HgkvDRu4AWoDjGTaiAAwPdOmi35nr4e9XJjHCmTIArtPvlIjjBIV9xF8u7Xje/s320/detrak.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Some weeks ago, to end an evening of board gaming, I was introduced to the Knizia roll and write called <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/220988/criss-cross">Criss Cross</a> (or <a href="https://www.gigamic.com/jeu/detrak">Détrak</a>
here in France). A fascinating two dimensional dice placement game with
very simple rules. As we left my friends place we discussed that it
should be feasible to implement a simple AI for the game. So, when I got
home, I started the process… <div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-05-22-criss-cross-ai-1/">Part 1</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-05-29-criss-cross-ai-2/">Part 2</a> </li></ul></div>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-2022396561177350762022-04-07T15:53:00.004+02:002022-05-23T10:37:03.772+02:00Blog migrated!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="413" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWq3dTvQFTs_LPKwRaDrqNvueKGQmuSWu-dj-9-wJ66kVVWWoIwa7noMrnN_NXNNsg857U88A15wCLTKs6bRq7Rs2qD6tb898s95nozS7l7o0iW7Nhvtfmo3pQbuIH-Pxc_pWjgkMkk0SV5wyTqzwWMOyMYYIdD6Pk04QTzBf7xqY30Fb26JMpJ0U/s320/2022-05-23%2010_35_57-Window.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The blog has now moved to <a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/">https://blog.ervik.fr/</a>!</p>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-24030040682310192132022-03-31T17:11:00.016+02:002023-05-03T18:25:41.934+02:00The 9 greatest boardgames discovered in 2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrl2_NaBl57oApNg4cOViWRD3Sa0CvxorOeXmu8xnuwP_2ySvPgbmfilDxFR-1tZgPnIDMzNiE4LYnxTwsxlF8mGZIAlDfnuCFMwOni3uYTXaDH1WxkFr1o8p3mdnJjyXjwDZIYJIFBqJGS3k6ZJsYIEje-b-3tCmcTXAXlE0ZA3c7aLn-WcTiG8ML/s2048/6970B28E-83F5-4B79-9033-708EA5311E9F.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrl2_NaBl57oApNg4cOViWRD3Sa0CvxorOeXmu8xnuwP_2ySvPgbmfilDxFR-1tZgPnIDMzNiE4LYnxTwsxlF8mGZIAlDfnuCFMwOni3uYTXaDH1WxkFr1o8p3mdnJjyXjwDZIYJIFBqJGS3k6ZJsYIEje-b-3tCmcTXAXlE0ZA3c7aLn-WcTiG8ML/s320/6970B28E-83F5-4B79-9033-708EA5311E9F.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px 16px;"></p>This post has moved to my new blog: <a href="https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-04-05-the-9-greatest-boardgames-discovered-in/">https://blog.ervik.fr/2022-04-05-the-9-greatest-boardgames-discovered-in/</a><table style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; display: block; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; overflow: auto; width: 667px;"><thead style="box-sizing: border-box;"></thead><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;"></tbody></table>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-2424579834780613632022-01-09T21:55:00.056+01:002022-01-09T22:17:23.608+01:00Benchmarking Dynamic Programming with Python<div style="text-align: left;">In this post I'll explore and benchmark some simple dynamic programming concepts in Python.</div><div><br /></div><div>The example I'll use is a classic recursive implementation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number" target="_blank">fibonacci series</a>. (And for simplicity I'll skip the first element in the series (fib(0)=0).)</div><div><br /></div>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mortenjohs/5378706956/" title="_DSC7544.jpg"><img alt="_DSC7544.jpg" height="425" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5121/5378706956_9fa07f7e2b_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Naive approach </h2><div>This implementation:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDu88cdW34k7Xe48dQuT3W9jYeCufcc9uiMuY7WvCoboUc0sPAr4FOo5AlgdvsHkjh4ZauhcOrzVLHx2DDYI6MN6EjlZwQH-TTFFuy8mlcdl5ntGwKk2m5XMQr8ZTRl-6H8FyYNds3t3s/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="1982" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDu88cdW34k7Xe48dQuT3W9jYeCufcc9uiMuY7WvCoboUc0sPAr4FOo5AlgdvsHkjh4ZauhcOrzVLHx2DDYI6MN6EjlZwQH-TTFFuy8mlcdl5ntGwKk2m5XMQr8ZTRl-6H8FyYNds3t3s/w640-h70/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+10.46.38.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><p>...works well (enough) for small numbers:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjle_1AcPjRgUsQOQdRCS-cpDSJioO9MvT-6vODv-uPOC3wqLt38srAym4A3P17iNICd7yL8oHY5o3dqkPJEghTjGEivmJZQjOXIuYRf66zzHhjqtEI__vfU0pkbPdphIg4ckfOrGWOq9A/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="1980" height="48" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjle_1AcPjRgUsQOQdRCS-cpDSJioO9MvT-6vODv-uPOC3wqLt38srAym4A3P17iNICd7yL8oHY5o3dqkPJEghTjGEivmJZQjOXIuYRf66zzHhjqtEI__vfU0pkbPdphIg4ckfOrGWOq9A/w640-h48/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+10.47.55.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>but becomes impossibly slow quickly...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQL9O5REAirw4yNJ_9pSCShEivctQec5qqtrlNOv-0biQeUGIWelmcB4NKpS2_PvgxxSDqZdD9bF0fr7rUV_UAWNMwHKBGqm7EODegxDaMLw_r13jin4DiKOvGbPkGoGHV-rq91QGtj8o/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="1980" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQL9O5REAirw4yNJ_9pSCShEivctQec5qqtrlNOv-0biQeUGIWelmcB4NKpS2_PvgxxSDqZdD9bF0fr7rUV_UAWNMwHKBGqm7EODegxDaMLw_r13jin4DiKOvGbPkGoGHV-rq91QGtj8o/w640-h52/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+10.48.35.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>...since it has a time complexity of O(2<span face="arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86); position: relative; top: -0.4em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #5f6368;">n</span></span>). (So our seemingly harmless fib(42) would result in more than 4 trillion calls to fib... (Or about 4 times the number of bacteria on the human body... Or 2 times the number of galaxies in the observable universe... Or more than the estimated population of fish in the ocean... Etc.))</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Enter dynamic programming</h2><div>Since the result of these recursive calls to fib are all deterministic, we can cache the results instead of recalculating them.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">@functools.cache</h3><div>First a test by simply leveraging the cache in the library <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functools.html">functools</a>...</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXpLf_Q3HNx8qxRK3H7JdAApS6pbR3vCxlBlFvPs95WCbtKY7GD0nRlPy6UWTc0jXDYqqOT0a-oOvhiQ37AAXHrx6APJ13M1-EB10Wz6zr_geuShW2IABSR5wAuipWu_kCQdngP30NXc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="1976" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXpLf_Q3HNx8qxRK3H7JdAApS6pbR3vCxlBlFvPs95WCbtKY7GD0nRlPy6UWTc0jXDYqqOT0a-oOvhiQ37AAXHrx6APJ13M1-EB10Wz6zr_geuShW2IABSR5wAuipWu_kCQdngP30NXc/w640-h106/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+11.38.40.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This speeds, as expected, the runtime up significantly...</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfFE7LTrGSGkdvfN4LuzWHP_7qJQO9yE9H8kSLAyXsuVkjeGqGwEqOR2QdTT1zqZLX_98BlSq1fTEuApemglgPVn2pBKU5RBkDvNxKb1qulYkq91h4KgY81-nH42XFSRtdDpu6R0XGXg/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="154" data-original-width="1980" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfFE7LTrGSGkdvfN4LuzWHP_7qJQO9yE9H8kSLAyXsuVkjeGqGwEqOR2QdTT1zqZLX_98BlSq1fTEuApemglgPVn2pBKU5RBkDvNxKb1qulYkq91h4KgY81-nH42XFSRtdDpu6R0XGXg/w640-h50/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+21.23.56.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>...by a factor of about a million in the case of this 43rd fibonacci number.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Of course we can't run timeit in loops, as the first run would generate the cache for successive runs...)</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Hand made</h3><div>Then we can to compare this to the classic, hand made, way to implement memoization in dynamic programming, like so:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6kvGGGxqlgmLMc7D4DyQMuuhoepl9Gdv0yLnfQ6dimfFOsPvcY7IW-8PWaK-7TIukhpX86K4XPShH-OnwrMEXup45-K81SHDpQ_fKOxKCZyjLiXUSfg5ewXxUpw7xmDxi11_KWDIWKbY/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6kvGGGxqlgmLMc7D4DyQMuuhoepl9Gdv0yLnfQ6dimfFOsPvcY7IW-8PWaK-7TIukhpX86K4XPShH-OnwrMEXup45-K81SHDpQ_fKOxKCZyjLiXUSfg5ewXxUpw7xmDxi11_KWDIWKbY/" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="1980" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6kvGGGxqlgmLMc7D4DyQMuuhoepl9Gdv0yLnfQ6dimfFOsPvcY7IW-8PWaK-7TIukhpX86K4XPShH-OnwrMEXup45-K81SHDpQ_fKOxKCZyjLiXUSfg5ewXxUpw7xmDxi11_KWDIWKbY/w640-h102/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+10.54.27.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This <i>should </i>give more or less the same results as above. And it does. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMX6Q2vKv6Iq7jLseTEam8MsJFiX8Voy8-kSRc0Bg0DJczXcvJfo9Doq8mV18Vlh5zJxyoGGEBcm1axNfSP_1Ur-_ZhIzK5eaD_ONb7fRW9glo_pwepJKdkv4g7ln4228JlByIINCPd4/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="152" data-original-width="1976" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMX6Q2vKv6Iq7jLseTEam8MsJFiX8Voy8-kSRc0Bg0DJczXcvJfo9Doq8mV18Vlh5zJxyoGGEBcm1axNfSP_1Ur-_ZhIzK5eaD_ONb7fRW9glo_pwepJKdkv4g7ln4228JlByIINCPd4/w640-h50/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+10.55.37.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Interestingly, it actually systematically<i> </i>outperforms the functools@cache <i>slightly</i> on my M1 air.</div><div><br /></div><div>On my intel desktop I get similar difference in results results:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnryf5Xeh-19kJhU5T41GLPLA_H_Nnf2HXwLUBrpAGq6WCmD0s5qP5PPifSPmT1QlqfF29LxhK3PjhffWQjSAyI2QutD5aFoQgktT7WQKYjOSpdEkXqhVeO98wJ-E-2JbFJLKE9Rw9Hls/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="1976" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnryf5Xeh-19kJhU5T41GLPLA_H_Nnf2HXwLUBrpAGq6WCmD0s5qP5PPifSPmT1QlqfF29LxhK3PjhffWQjSAyI2QutD5aFoQgktT7WQKYjOSpdEkXqhVeO98wJ-E-2JbFJLKE9Rw9Hls/w640-h50/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+11.21.25.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu7uolWLCxzS4r493Go668iAOm1SnThvzWLD_7D82vshkraNanAEFPg-YBMIPfMi_Vd2xdHH8szyFANyMbgK20W-T3EUCsfEOV7yXDdf6Yqqa0a-INkAGz3zM4g0rDmMqUffIclGpNhGY/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="158" data-original-width="1980" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu7uolWLCxzS4r493Go668iAOm1SnThvzWLD_7D82vshkraNanAEFPg-YBMIPfMi_Vd2xdHH8szyFANyMbgK20W-T3EUCsfEOV7yXDdf6Yqqa0a-INkAGz3zM4g0rDmMqUffIclGpNhGY/w640-h52/Screenshot+2022-01-09+at+11.22.10.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h2><div>Leveraging<b> @functools.cache</b> is a great way to implement dynamic programming memoization in Python with little code overhead (but you still <i>might</i> be able to tailor make a faster solution).<br /></div>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-48427521550963630612021-11-07T21:58:00.007+01:002021-11-07T22:06:30.809+01:00Metaballs Revisited<p>The new visual identity of my work place (and the re-ignition of an old lava lamp) made me think of the good old metaballs from the Amiga demo-scene of yonder and how it has been a while since I have implemented them from scratch. This time I wanted to play around with Python and numpy to see what that could bring.</p><p>But first, what are metaballs? </p><p>It's, for example, this:<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AClGi1k64CFNNY0-f_2xfdcIbV098NGdxsAf8XZWwNrzqaWkgs1hHmeWNLygSyCXGh0BkcOvEU6G2hAtmWTJCiLibE17qgUPH4hpwhlr-skqexuxtVbQINMuhXJxvceF1nrSCh_tqqY/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AClGi1k64CFNNY0-f_2xfdcIbV098NGdxsAf8XZWwNrzqaWkgs1hHmeWNLygSyCXGh0BkcOvEU6G2hAtmWTJCiLibE17qgUPH4hpwhlr-skqexuxtVbQINMuhXJxvceF1nrSCh_tqqY/s16000/out_512x512_5681102.gif" /></a></div><p></p><p></p>
<p><br /></p><p>Wikipedia defines them as:</p>
<p></p><blockquote>In computer graphics, metaballs are organic-looking n-dimensional isosurfaces, characterised by their ability to meld together when in close proximity to create single, contiguous objects. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaballs)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaballs">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaballs</a></blockquote><p>As cool as multidimensional metaballs are, we'll stick to 2D ones in this post.<br /></p><p></p>
<h2 id="the-algorithm">The algorithm</h2>
<p>The algorithm behind them is quite straightforward -- in their simplest form. Basically for each pixel in each frame, or buffer, you add up the <i>influence</i> of each metaball in the simulation and then cut off below a certain threshold and normalize what’s left. The influence function can be a simple “ball-power” over euclidean distance calculation. <br /></p>
<p>So, for each pixel you get:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">generate_buffer_raw</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">balls</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">x</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="nb">range</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n"> buff</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">shape</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]):</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">y</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="nb">range</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">, </span><span class="n">buff</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">shape</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]):</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">b</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">balls</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="n">d</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">dist</span><span class="p">([</span><span class="n">x</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">y</span><span class="p">], </span><span class="n">b</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">pos</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">d</span> <span class="o">==</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="n">d</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">1</span> # not correct, per se, but, alas, it works...
<span class="n">effect</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">b</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">rad</span><span class="o"> / </span><span class="n">d</span>
<span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="n">x</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">y</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">+=</span> <span class="n">effect</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">buff</span>
</pre></div>
<p>And then you can apply the threshold, like so:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">apply_threshold</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">threshold</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">margin</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">s1</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">buff</span><span class="o"> <</span><span class="p"> (</span><span class="n">threshold</span><span class="o"> - </span><span class="n">margin</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">s2</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">buff </span><span class="o">></span><span class="p"> (</span><span class="n">threshold</span><span class="o"> +</span><span class="n"> margin</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">[:]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">255</span>
<span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="n">s1</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">0</span>
<span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">margin</span><span class="o">></span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="n">s2</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">0</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">buff</span>
</pre></div>
<p>(With this threshold function we can also generate membrane style metaballs, but more on that later.)</p>
<h2 id="first-go-pythagoras">First go: Pythagoras</h2>
<p>My first go at this was just a brute force by using Pythagoras to calculate the euclidean distance.</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">dist_sqrt</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">p1</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">p2</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">math</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sqrt</span><span class="p">((</span><span class="n">p1</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">p2</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">])</span><span class="o">**</span><span class="mi">2</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">p1</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">p2</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">])</span><span class="o">**</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
<p>The main loop is then just:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">images</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[]</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">_</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="nb">range</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n"> FRAMES</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">buff</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">generate_buffer</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">zeros</span><span class="p">((</span><span class="n">WIDTH</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">HEIGHT</span><span class="p">)),</span> <span class="n">balls</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">buff</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">apply_threshold</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n"> THRESHOLD</span><span class="p">, </span><span class="n">MARGIN</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">im</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">img</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">fromarray</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">)</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">convert</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"RGB"</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">images</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">append</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">im</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">update_balls</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">balls</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
<p>Where update_balls is simply a updating the position of the metaballs given their velocity — bouncing on the “walls” of our simulation, but, importantly not other balls.</p>
<p>And lo and behold there were metaballs.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkRa0t-SjCm6RTiimjBgDhlQLLHAmAhdZG4swFb5vMU4kcj2W2aavCZhUX0p_eY4G2qN0XMZ0f3hRjXtSDztvjFUWfzv_QmVCB5WPOaM3zwMj9EXxNrPeNf7QzR_nOADi0KjguZwxy5Mg/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="128" data-original-width="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkRa0t-SjCm6RTiimjBgDhlQLLHAmAhdZG4swFb5vMU4kcj2W2aavCZhUX0p_eY4G2qN0XMZ0f3hRjXtSDztvjFUWfzv_QmVCB5WPOaM3zwMj9EXxNrPeNf7QzR_nOADi0KjguZwxy5Mg/s16000/out_5.gif" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p>
<p><insert early="" gif=""></insert></p>
<p>However, as expected, this was rather slow. 100 frames of 128 by 128 clocking in at 46.5s on my macbook air from 2013. </p>
<div class="highlight"><pre>46.5 s ± 0 ns per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 1 run, 1 loop each)
</pre></div>
<p>(For fun I ran the same code using Juno on my phone, and runtime went down to about 17s!)</p>
<p>As you might have guessed the costly computation is the distance function, so I went about experimenting.</p>
<h2 id="take-two-numpylinalgnorm" style="text-align: left;">Take two: numpy.linalg.norm</h2>
<p>By naively replacing the distance function from with the equivalent linear algebra norm, we get:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">dist_linalg</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">p1</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">p2</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">linalg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">norm</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">p1</span> <span class="o">-</span> <span class="n">p2</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
<p>This led to the same metaballs, but, alas, a higher runtime of 2min 47s!</p>
<h2 id="take-three" style="text-align: left;">Take three: precalculations<br /></h2>
<p>Next attempt to investigate precalculation of the computationally costly square root function needed in my first approach.</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">sqrt_precalc</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">{}</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">i</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">arange</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">, </span><span class="n">WIDTH </span><span class="o">** </span><span class="mi">2 </span><span class="o">+ </span><span class="n">HEIGHT </span><span class="o">** </span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">sqrt_precalc</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">i</span><span class="p">)]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">math</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">sqrt</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">i</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">dist_precalc</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">p1</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">p2</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">i</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">p1</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="o"> - </span><span class="n">p2</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]) </span><span class="o">** </span><span class="mi">2</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">p1</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">] </span><span class="o">- </span><span class="n">p2</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">])</span><span class="o"> ** </span><span class="mi">2</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">sqrt_precalc</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">i</span><span class="p">)]</span>
</pre></div>
<p>This did shave off <i>some</i> seconds, and runtime went down to 42s.</p>
<h2 id="final-approach" style="text-align: left;">Yet another approach: moar precalc!<br /></h2>
<p>I left it at that, thinking that the future of this would be to look into cheaper distance approximations to cut away parts of the buffer where no metaball could show up, but in my sleep another solution appeared… I was thinking that one could go further with the precalculations and precalculate “fields” of influence for each ball, or “radius”, and use proper linear algebra to get rid of some for loops.</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">precalculate_field</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">ball</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">dim</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">buff</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">zeros</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">dim</span><span class="o">*</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">ball</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">Ball</span><span class="p">([</span><span class="n">WIDTH</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">HEIGHT</span><span class="p">],</span><span class="n">ball</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">rad</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">array</span><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">]))</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">generate_buffer_raw</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="n">ball</span><span class="p">])</span>
<span class="n">fields</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">{}</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">b</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">balls</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="k">if</span> <span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">b</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">rad</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="ow">not</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">fields</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">keys</span><span class="p">():</span>
<span class="n">fields</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">b</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">rad</span><span class="p">)]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">precalculate_field</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">b</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">np</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">array</span><span class="p">([</span><span class="n">WIDTH</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">HEIGHT</span><span class="p">]))</span>
</pre></div>
<p>As you can see, to accommodate all possible positions of the balls I generate a field of influence that is 4 times larger than the output buffer.</p>
<p>Then I updated the generate buffer function to look like this:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">generate_buffer_precalc</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">buff</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">balls</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">b</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">balls</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="n">x1</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">WIDTH</span> <span class="o">-</span> <span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">b</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">pos</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">])</span>
<span class="n">y1</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">HEIGHT</span> <span class="o">-</span> <span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">b</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">pos</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">])</span>
<span class="n">field</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">fields</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">b</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">rad</span><span class="p">)]</span>
<span class="n">window</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">field</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="n">x1</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="n">x1</span><span class="o">+</span><span class="n">WIDTH</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">y1</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="n">y1</span><span class="o">+</span><span class="n">HEIGHT</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="n">buff</span> <span class="o">+=</span> <span class="n">window</span>
<span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">buff</span>
</pre></div>
<p>The main trick here is to move the field in place so that it covers the buffer based on where the ball in question is -- a window into it, if you want. The only for loop now is over the balls themselves, and a simple linear algebra addition operation suffices to generate the resulting buffer of accumulated influence.</p>
<p>And lo and behold it was fast! A thousand fold increase over the best approach so far! </p>
<div class="highlight"><pre>40 ms ± 687 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 10 loops each)
</pre></div>
<p>Admittedly it consumes more memory, but hey, memory is cheap, time is money. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaM6pqnaBOIkaIgTyiB7sJKyJ9tx-dtKDUVQNED-qB7e_Gi6I1f2_YgPNLLC64RfC5zPq7Y3IusTnkrJZbNWwm_TugNfPjZGyI_FwpavaFNy98ji6xFYXdw7AUVAEge0UIWdBEJYoNaMk/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaM6pqnaBOIkaIgTyiB7sJKyJ9tx-dtKDUVQNED-qB7e_Gi6I1f2_YgPNLLC64RfC5zPq7Y3IusTnkrJZbNWwm_TugNfPjZGyI_FwpavaFNy98ji6xFYXdw7AUVAEge0UIWdBEJYoNaMk/s16000/out_512x512_5681315.gif" /></a></div>Some caveats:<p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>It is <i>slightly </i>less precise since it doesn't do decimal places. (Yet!) (You still get good-enough-looking metaballs, methinks.)</li><li>The precalulculation of the "fields" are not taken into account when reporting the run-time, but that is surprisingly fast -- and only done once per "radius" of metaball...<br /></li></ol>
<p>More importantly, like this I can implement a real time version of this at some point using, let’s say pygame.</p><p></p><p></p>
<p>Ah, yes, I promised membranes, here’s a gif:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigkhxDfL19QCRue9KbRDnI85oGG0kZJw9txa9Dxvx18zs_I4_dtTjtiLvXGGwE97BVW4CQUrikYaVrEPzA0bGyZW_626vJK0KoguohJ09RnXyOBalXuLqWdqf-MCHTION9I1se5t6_zuY/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="128" data-original-width="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigkhxDfL19QCRue9KbRDnI85oGG0kZJw9txa9Dxvx18zs_I4_dtTjtiLvXGGwE97BVW4CQUrikYaVrEPzA0bGyZW_626vJK0KoguohJ09RnXyOBalXuLqWdqf-MCHTION9I1se5t6_zuY/s16000/out_128x128_5680169.gif" /></a></div><p></p>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-85452037595293753202021-05-04T22:42:00.005+02:002021-05-04T23:57:09.235+02:00Crafting an artificial opponent for Fjordar<h1 id="crafting-an-artificial-player-for-fjordar"></h1>
<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><figure><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCmca-sMCWlf8rdd1j0dTJazhXqSHNxcXKawzxu5mlaXUvcDyTGHKQwXSFQIgLWg7eqjn3zZzk9EfXb4yGmV5TpO_kuowvmozATq3k8LAuTA61HeFET4mS-37tZHIK6iGMovanSo8Fo8/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCmca-sMCWlf8rdd1j0dTJazhXqSHNxcXKawzxu5mlaXUvcDyTGHKQwXSFQIgLWg7eqjn3zZzk9EfXb4yGmV5TpO_kuowvmozATq3k8LAuTA61HeFET4mS-37tZHIK6iGMovanSo8Fo8/w400-h400/pic5038580.webp" width="400" /></a><br /></figure></div><p></p>
<p><code>Fjordar is an epic, tactical strategy game for 1 to 4 players, set during the Norwegian Civil War. The game begins in the year 1130, when the old king Sigurd Jorsalfar dies. Each player begins the game as one of Sigurd's heirs or one of the other influential people in Norway at the time, who is vying for power in the vacuum left by the old king's death. </code>
– <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/292707/fjordar">Fjordar, BGG</a></p>
<p>A while back, after a lengthy exchange on ideas around this topic, the designer of Fjordar, Frode Brændø, asked me if I would be interested in helping out with designing a solitaire variant for this upcoming game. Of course I would!</p>
<p>Here are some brief notes on some from the design process.</p>
<h2 id="idea">Idea</h2>
<p>We wanted to make an artificial opponent based the following criteria:</p>
<ol>
<li><b>Non-fiddlyness</b>
<ul>
<li>Running the opponent should not lead to <i>a lot</i> of overhead for the player.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>Readability</b>
<ul>
<li>The player should <i>to some extent</i> be able to read the artificial player enough to predict future actions and react to them.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>Keep gameplay</b>
<ul>
<li>The gameplay loop should not change for the player.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>No player decisions</b>
<ul>
<li>The player should not have to make decisions on behalf of artificial player.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>Keep scoring system</b>
<ul>
<li>The artificial opponent should score points in the same way a regular player would during the game to recreate the race aspects of the game.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<p>... and, on top of all this, it should be fun to play <i>and</i> be able to put up a good fight – even against Frode himself.</p>
<h2 id="inspirations">Inspirations</h2>
<p>Even before “the current hygienic situation”, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/209441/adventures-solo-gaming">I’ve gravitated more and more towards solo games, or solo variants, for a fair share of my boardgaming</a>, so a lot of the solutions to problems encountered creating an artificial opponent for Fjordar has, obviously, been inspired by other games.</p>
<p>Recently I have been particularly impressed with games by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/12547/shem-phillips">Shem Phillips</a> and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/103821/s-j-macdonald">SJ Macdonald</a>. And it is fascinating to follow the evolution of solitaire modes in games from Garphill games in general. Ranging from pure beat your own score of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176371/explorers-north-sea">Explorers of the North Sea</a>, via the simple “Automa”-deck of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/170042/raiders-north-sea">Raiders</a>, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236457/architects-west-kingdom">Architects</a>, to the even more fascinating systems of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266810/paladins-west-kingdom">Paladins</a> and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/296151/viscounts-west-kingdom">Viscounts</a> where you can to a larger extent <i>read</i> the Automa player.</p><p>A lot of the resulting work is inspired by Morten Monrad Pedersen’s Automa concept – summed up in <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/109521/what-automa">this short article</a>. (That I, sadly, didn’t came across before a couple of weeks ago…) <br /></p>
<h2 id="solution">Solution</h2>
<p>From the onset we wanted a deck of action cards with a notion of deck building so that the artificial player would, like other players, get stronger through the game. This also lead to one of the ways we constructed more difficult-to-beat opponents – by adding a higher number of upgraded cards. (These cards are also inspired by the Automa <i>focus</i> concept from Viscounts of the West Kingdom.)</p>
<p>One of the most interesting mechanisms in Fjordar is the card play. Each round you play a card from your hand to your mini-tableau that gives you movement points and other bonuses as well as ways to break the regular rules, like the fan favorite “Winter” card where you can ski your units down mountains. On subsequent turns you can add cards to your mini-tableau, if you can afford it, or pick up all cards and restart it. This leads to these build ups of waves of powerful turns where you have a lot of movement points, before reseting back to less powerful ones. We thought that would be good to keep as a central component of the Automa player, if it was possible to do without adding too much cognitive load or fiddlyness.</p>
<p>Another important aspect in the regular game is, obviously, the units on the map. This, we figured we could leverage to improve readability, or predictability, of what the artificial opponent can do. The Automa has a range of operation around certain units based on its current movement range.</p>
<p>So, to kick off the testing process, after a lot of brainstorming, planning, writing, some simulations, and back and forth with Frode, I created a simple Automa deck based on the cards of the regular players – matching actions with movement ranges that seemed fitting.</p>
<figure><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcj6_yP4qdGiGyiytG6fXwUxXY_7vhcfQKmIS2qoKvt19Go0uMw2Gqo_v2br2n63BFG4EahFWa0OkOXVlL1cyeIX_E1HF_NCtV7DWtNjeLfvLStbs-4fnYqtU0Qm4SC9tkyuWcS0BsqQ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="1466" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcj6_yP4qdGiGyiytG6fXwUxXY_7vhcfQKmIS2qoKvt19Go0uMw2Gqo_v2br2n63BFG4EahFWa0OkOXVlL1cyeIX_E1HF_NCtV7DWtNjeLfvLStbs-4fnYqtU0Qm4SC9tkyuWcS0BsqQ/" width="320" /></a></div></figure><p></p>
<p>Each action in the game is translated to actions of the Automa, with simple rules to follow, in classic <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/71006/morten-monrad-pedersen" target="_blank">MMP</a>-style. This early in the process it had only one moving unit, the Hird, that moved around and performed actions based on it’s range (movement points). And, it was already fun to play! (Mainly due to the strength of the Fjordar game itself, of course.) <br /></p>
<p>But how balanced was it? And could we streamline it further?</p>
<h2 id="simulations">Simulations</h2>
<p>I’ve always applied math and simulation to game ideas and puzzles – mine or the ones of others – to see if they… hold water. (I was happy to hear that the good folks of Garphill games does so too. (At least the math part, according to <a href="https://boardgamedesignlab.com/designing-worker-placement-games-with-shem-phillips-and-sam-macdonald/">this great podcast interview at Board Game Design Lab</a>. (They also reveal that they often design the solo mode at a very early stage for balancing purposes – and it shows in the resulting solo modes! (But I digress.))))</p>
<p>An example of where I applied simulations in this process is in the balancing of the battles between the player and Automa. Our first system for battles was that the player would chose and play a card as per usual, and then the Automa would draw two random cards and pick the one that would give him the most strength against the player.</p>
<p>(This clearly does not simulate all the bluffing, pushing of luck, and reading of opponents that goes on in the regular game, but is close, and “unfiddly” enough for our purposes here and it still leads to tense and exiting battles.)</p>
<p>My first simulation was around the hand size of the Automa. Are two cards enough? Too many? I fired up my Jupyter Notebook, created a representation of all the battle cards in Fjordar, and their interaction, before simulating how often the player would win in an even fight, given various hand sizes of the artificial opponent. And, lo and behold, after a mere 10000 virtual battles:</p>
<figure><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1b-Art1prRappz7M4hcR2-rK7cPFJPdYkbHDlST5MtIK1fZ89nZwnktVZlvq7HQP1oE4bkGKsRS5aI15Sb1jv-SkR0qMdR_FirYRduVE0GlNgpX2FsPxS4_TEpTrRiHkYkUuTJpnmHX8/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="262" data-original-width="382" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1b-Art1prRappz7M4hcR2-rK7cPFJPdYkbHDlST5MtIK1fZ89nZwnktVZlvq7HQP1oE4bkGKsRS5aI15Sb1jv-SkR0qMdR_FirYRduVE0GlNgpX2FsPxS4_TEpTrRiHkYkUuTJpnmHX8/" width="320" /></a></div></figure><p></p>
<p>So, if the Automa, with a hand size of 2, is on equal footing to the player going into a battle the latter would win about 42% of the fights. That sounds good. But! the most important thing is that it is fun and <i>feels</i> fair, so, back to testing.</p>
<p>We realized that it was sometimes slightly fiddly to calculate strength for <i>both</i> Automa cards before comparing. Also, it could lead to the player having to make a choice on its behalf. Something we wanted to avoid.</p>
<p>What if we rather gave the artificial opponent bonus swords? Intuitively that would result in a similar shift. Back to the notebook, and after 10000 further fights (oh, the poor post-vikings…), it resulted in:</p>
<figure><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLYA2MBv1yNHCijiNBK7hnBvh1KktLaI-FrUGF_QlG9hsapILrImCtKifGndkxrdKrzoHvsJkKU9YVJCymgrudVqjXU1KGSfJxSdTzpnlDqz_Haaw1q9jKSxm_lZuBDMyniTo9TOSGt1U/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="262" data-original-width="382" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLYA2MBv1yNHCijiNBK7hnBvh1KktLaI-FrUGF_QlG9hsapILrImCtKifGndkxrdKrzoHvsJkKU9YVJCymgrudVqjXU1KGSfJxSdTzpnlDqz_Haaw1q9jKSxm_lZuBDMyniTo9TOSGt1U/" width="320" /></a></div></figure><p></p>
<p>So, giving the Automa a one sword head start and drawing one card is fairly similar, baseline probability-wise, to giving it a hand size of two.</p>
<p>There are other aspects of battles I simulated to make sure that this system works, but I won’t go into more details here. (Maybe it could warrant another post at some point…)</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>And now, after many iterations and a lot of testing we have a version that is ready for other players to sink their teeth into.</p>
<p>The game will launch on <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fjordar/fjordar">Kickstarter</a> by <a href="https://www.gotopiecesgames.com/">Go to Pieces Games</a> the 28th of May but/and if you want to try out this beautiful euro- meets war-game for yourself (for free), Frode has made an excellent <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2109550970">mod for Tabletop Simulator</a>. As of Thursday last week this also includes a beta version of this solitaire variant!</p>
<figure><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGymjSM1Hyb6sIKsGcoVrXc5gf8ZNG94jrJObYS_vbEaKFGUQzayHkirUWWwPMT626hfplBeFEo_5JZ6XdiYtgFpSh_2sibbT7AXofuSPhTF8dRwk56C1WL5kLqAmlFlEvOErYInU_y4/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="637" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGymjSM1Hyb6sIKsGcoVrXc5gf8ZNG94jrJObYS_vbEaKFGUQzayHkirUWWwPMT626hfplBeFEo_5JZ6XdiYtgFpSh_2sibbT7AXofuSPhTF8dRwk56C1WL5kLqAmlFlEvOErYInU_y4/" width="320" /></a></div></figure><p></p>
<p>It has been great fun to work, or, perhaps, rather, jam, with Frode on this project and I’m looking forward to hear what you all think…</p>
<h2 id="links">Links</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/292707/fjordar">Fjordar on BoardGameGeek</a></li>
<li><a href="https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2109550970">Fjordar Tabletop Simulator mod</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/xowb0g98bn038hx/Fjordar_bot_living_rules.pdf?dl=0">Beta version of Fjordar solitaire mode rules</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sduo28evs3sza02/Fjordar_Living_Rules.pdf?dl=0">Fjordar game rulebook</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fjordar/fjordar">Kickstarter campaign</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.gotopiecesgames.com/">Go To Pieces Games</a></li>
</ul>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-69128885481033483352021-01-31T22:10:00.011+01:002021-02-04T17:45:23.022+01:00The 9 greatest boardgames discovered in 2020
<p>2020 was an… interesting… year boardgamewise, and in this post I'll summarize some of my key findings, but first, some stats:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>I played <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_(number)#/media/File:Answer_to_Life.png" target="_blank">42</a>… things… for the first time according to <a href="https://www.bgstatsapp.com/">BG Stats</a>.
8 of them were expansions, so 34 new games, then. (Down from 97/88 last year.)
</li>
<li>Interestingly, 8 of
my top 10 most played games of 2019 was new-to-me games, whereas in 2020
it was the opposite – only 2 of them were new-to-me.
</li>
<li>Every year, since I
started logging my board game plays semi-consistently back in 2013,
more than half of all games played has been new-to-me. In 2020 it fell
below one third. I seem to have been more keen to show my kids the
classics than seeking out new games in these confined times… (Or, maybe
even more importantly, I have hardly been to local board game cafés to
test new games, I have hardly rented new games from our friendly board
game rental store, I have hardly played games at friend’s places – new
or old, and I didn’t go to Spiel in Essen, nor <a href="https://www.octogones.org/" target="_blank">Octogônes</a>… What a year…)
</li>
<li>On top of
this, my <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/953084/whats-your-h-index" target="_blank">H-index</a> <i>almost </i>fell to 7 (From 8 in 2017, 2018, and 2019), but
I got a last game of Wingspan in on the last day of the year to bring
it back up to 8… Pfiu!
</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXWjKT4REeNB-hBMJgumTzrAhBZJw_h-sKJ1DyAl9m0BsjkKCdvQKt-BxFz5jISiWOx1F6BxlXDfsDg9vGNQGN68dal74R9zgfoYb3PbfBJe0KFChsam6UZdbyww-OVWJV9aTvVid5j0/s2048/743E9472-912F-4D97-8C1F-71B4275E896E.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXWjKT4REeNB-hBMJgumTzrAhBZJw_h-sKJ1DyAl9m0BsjkKCdvQKt-BxFz5jISiWOx1F6BxlXDfsDg9vGNQGN68dal74R9zgfoYb3PbfBJe0KFChsam6UZdbyww-OVWJV9aTvVid5j0/s320/743E9472-912F-4D97-8C1F-71B4275E896E.jpg" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>
Anyway, enough numbers, here’s my list of noteworthy new-to-me games
from 2020. (As usual this is not really my favourite nine games, but
rather a kind of optimal games library of games I played in 2020. Horses
for courses.)
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h2 id="filler-games">Filler games <br /></h2>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CHyfAR-B4CJ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjN6m6gi8oBZBVi56IWU_iEHIipMXvuy2ojGHlhBBiP9pKetne5BxyhfHVoGyLvrQ6RRrURwlpcqaFdTiwJbVs_Kzyh404Llo2GCcewkoKyHVXjniGat4F0WG7MS-0SSFo-Mza3terJRs/s320/126169492_127722602211179_290804643519132773_n.jpg" /></a></div>
<p></p>
<p>First game on the list is <i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/251412">On Tour</a></i>
– a game from 2019 (I kickstarted the 2020 re-edition with the European
map, though). I love how this game can be explained in one minute, but
is full of fascinating concepts and hard decisions… It is a
roll-and-flip-and write – it uses <i>both</i> the chaotic radomness of
dice as well as the orderly randomness of cards to dictate what you can
do each round. The main game-play loop is basically an adaptation of
the NP-hard travelling salesman problem from computer science in-fame –
you try to optimize a rock and roll tour across the US, or, in the
latest edition, Europe. Also, the components are great, it scales well,
and is perfectly suited for <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CHyfAR-B4CJ/">web cam play</a>. (More on this in this <a>earlier blog post</a>.)
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: The natural way that the wild numbers
appears – either by drawing 3 of the same region cards, or rolling a
double. Such an elegant solution to a problem – choice, by adding
something super valuable – a wild number.</i>
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKjGf7Uhi4D/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_929nMMTh0i_ehO0d8_mAysEest5n-HP-Uc9KfKPcpMn2alHKizLAAYgH4y3R-h1MSvjop0i-QmCKHCCY2ZpywnhCYx2CYvsh6FhEq3LS2X9aTbw3d004ZJJ6jyzYjdFkXnZ1zh2c2k8/s320/142593512_772112336751066_5552954794921650107_n.jpg" /></a></div>
<p></p>
<p>The second filler game I want to highlight is another 2019 sortie, but really took off in 2020: <i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/284083">The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine</a></i>
– a mission based cooperative trick taking game with a space theme… (It
should be a filler, but one of my very few board game evenings with
friends at home, turned into a The Crew evening instead. It’s so easy to
try the next level, or retry the one we just failed… One more round!)
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: The book of missions that you can pick and chose from at whim marries perfectly the coop nature of this game.</i></p>
<h2 id="gateway-games">Gateway games</h2>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKheA4GhvJp/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTxR-e2mFhzfsOzGBC7GwR870TUX6OTVKaMLcfG9yM5nW5YR4zuX1GGpTUAW3J-6jPYeUxw1Ic8iT83h2KUPlN44zZHfQ7Hs6PNBCnTz3csZobv3RwP8B43UeQM3jkhdm_ijG92e-jQ9M/s320/142763366_165283151766212_2249739082500903770_n.jpg" /></a></div>
<p></p>
<p>Stepping into the gateway game part of this list we first find another well received kickstarter: <i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283155">Calico</a></i>.
This game looks cute and simple and can be explained in two and a half
minute, but is really crunchy and thinky. (Not for the AP-prone, but for
those there’s the excellent solo mode…)
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: The bonus scoring tiles that you can try to solve using colour, pattern or, if you really want to push your luck and power of observation, both, leads to some really brain-burny moments.</i></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B-AJmgQqnDV/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcBwuWZjDTxXQlyGY5FVhEvFGSshV2TKIsJTyCv424PCJvrRIzQrjd6Y8EriR-pljzrfOFVL82EoJdrtUktOBVPAd7DWb-rT3iaCAqEgMMrKvkpVuQBnMUjBRWQHtc2HKGtSU7oL125Ok/s320/90181690_207596783636230_1693437767867556069_n.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<p></p>
<p>Some years ago I was introduced to a tiny computer came called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Town">Triple Town</a>, from <a href="https://spryfox.com/">Spry Fox</a>.
A fascinating match-3+ where you keep adding tiles to a grid while
trying to not run out of space. The last tile you add adjacent to two or
more similar tiles are replaced by an upgraded version of the tile, and
the others removed to make room for more. This kind of spatial puzzle
feels a lot like a spiritual predecessor to <i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/265736">Tiny Towns</a></i>
(or Petites Bourgades as my copy is called). My favourite gateway
weight game of 2020. Here you place resources on a grid trying to match
patterns dictated by cards representing various buildings with a
plethora of effects. The game flows really well with simultaneous play,
you have quite many combinations of buildings to play with, and you have
different play modes – there’s even a solo variant! (I’ve also invented
an unofficial mode without monuments to play with the youngest of the
household.)
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: The spatial puzzle of replacing
resources with buildings is really neat and leads to some really hard
decisions and long term planning. </i>
</p>
<p>One of the game modes almost resemble bingo – you draw resource cards
and announce it to all players that have to place that resource that
round (that you can also play over <a>webcam</a>), which brings us to the next game on this list…
</p>
<h2 id="gateway-games_1">Gateway+ games</h2>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CI_kTFJh50i/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGqF3d_ETlHEZ12bQmdQ79ROFmYSXptM90NjFknq4qHIUnQS9kl6I8FyBq_Ra2kBz6O_hnaSmTPXAbULDvOrtlI7IIS2bmk3PXGWMaRUG8nYpGJfwwlnGb3qOFFICpzktuh2Q4D8Oii8U/s320/131041905_119523566650361_2244997229934596383_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<p></p>
<p>When I was introduced to Rise of Augustus at Essen back in 2013, it…
fell a bit flat… The bingo mechanic felt too much like… well… Bingo! <i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/279254">Ecos: First Continent</a></i> revisits this, but, somehow, it works! Maybe it’s because the cards that you activate with the resources drawn from a bag <i>combo</i> better – forming potential cascading effects upon effects? Maybe it is what you can do when you get resources you <i>don’t</i>
need or want? Maybe the interaction and the emerging gameplay – and
game landscape – that results from whatever cards come into in play in
each game is more interesting? Maybe the theme is more appealing? (…or
maybe I should revisit Augustus?) Anyway, I’ve really enjoyed my
sessions of Ecos. Simultaneous play makes the game zoom along.
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: The solution to getting resources you
don’t need – that you can use it to make progress on drafting or playing
a new card – is really elegant to counter the random nature of the
bingo mechanic.</i>
</p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKtWWapB29x/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1r2pRtEB8WNRe4CkGHXWqF62R_FlK0FmggF0WILs8KPSlbllTWoE43rNmY4O5kpge1KZIA-fKlfak8Xdh4bZzBiuzFV-RX2JD83oFZ-WA0sAd10y8HEiSJYShZDKElq0Os5hYo7yv1v0/s320/144188376_782681172372832_2583787808444982117_n.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<p></p>
<p>Like I <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIpoHUsh1Xe/">mentioned on my instagram account back in December</a>, <i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/271324">It’s a Wonderful World</a></i> is a weird one. First time I played it at <a href="http://www.barnade.com/">@barnadelyon</a>
with some friends it didn’t make much of an impression. It was a fine
streamlined drafting game ala 7 Wonders. Then, some time later I had a,
seemingly, amazing idea for a board game design, so I sat down with my
ideas notebook and sketched it out. A drafting game where you had better
reasons for… “hate drafting”… Enter proper multi-use cards! After a
while I realized that this game I was about to make looked more and more
like a game I had played before. And it was. It was It’s a Wonderful
World. So I bought it at my FLGS <a href="https://www.trollune.fr/">@trollune_la_boutique</a>
and played it again. And, lo and behold, it was great. Even the solo
mode works great (a real boon in 2020)! In a drafting game! All in all,
this has been the game I have spent the most time in in 2020. (I realize
this <i>is</i> a bit of creative book-keeping, since I <i>technically</i>
discovered the game in 2019, but, hey, I make the rules here. Also,
I’ve enjoyed two of the three expansions released in 2020 (again as part
of a kickstarter)…)
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: One thing this adds to the mix is the
resource cubes that, since they are produced in a certain order, lets
you creatively combo events and create chains of card resolutions. So
rewarding.</i>
</p>
<h2 id="enthusiast-games">Enthusiast games</h2>
<p><i></i></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKro-k9hrY3/https://www.instagram.com/p/CKro-k9hrY3/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJh4ULlTIZuqbPBrjZr3uWKQ-UHzRWGgPJG8F4HFBopkbup4WfyZ1fxjz6eqx_Wiq9IIAVNCeWTc_C6And6X9QZo9fFK5e5Q3y3a7G9Q9Jqs6lQRnMR65AVxF8U-zOjmYpOMeB2aaN8LU/s320/144149486_237003994643180_8309848046867008548_n.jpg" /></a></i></div>
<i><br /></i>
<p></p>
<p><i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/276025">Maracaibo</a></i> was just shy of ending up in the top 10 part of my super-objective-top-25-games-of-all-time that I created last December, at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CI1OmiyhP_F/">11th place</a>.
And, as I pointed out, this is my second favourite Pfister rondel style
game. Instead of herding cows you’re travelling around in the Caribbean
during the age of pirates – with some tableau building and multi-use
cards thrown in. Great stuff. This is also the first big box game from
this designer in my collection with a solo mode. And a great one at
that. It has been fun to explore the – thankfully, non destructive –
campaign mode. (I haven’t played through the whole thing as I restarted
it with my son after some solo exploration at first.)
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: I really like the fact that the rondel
“stops” for everyone if someone finishes a round. It leads to some
really hard timing related decisions.</i>
</p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKq8xQdB9AQ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkGQB8MWpzNFUnzNWonKfKU_80C6ftw6GiwCFnnSVnDJ5q6mx5mkn8gIIstywEXfZ0tnUncrWKnoAj8T3-uqm8-7_GQKC8M-Kw0V6QgK80hJx4LwXpejXPZ65tSPZLkPLcvrdZf6sToc/s320/144850686_249803383190554_7044585037609614716_n.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<p></p>
<p>When I created my above mentioned list of favourite games, I put <i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266810">Paladins of the West Kingdom</a></i> on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CId2t18hw-e/">the 21st place</a>
just below Viscounts from the same Kingdom. Having played it some more I
realized it deserved one of the two enthusiast game slots on this list…
(Just barely beating these very same Viscounts…)
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: You can be competing for the same
cards/positions on the map, even with very different strategies, since,
for example, invaders can either be battled (if you go for military
strength) or converted (if you go for faith).</i>
</p>
<h2 id="solo-game">Solo game</h2>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7zL1oLIcWy/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja22WwEhAwD6mtOn03jv-N6-Nl-nIqQ6T9TyHkeCdFUFbBriWi8IinzX3-dgI4mWCwUP5tvWKQIdr-QqCqGuj6Bxn4FSdNaJ-XBgW1slfNn-DMSmEkAMfnxyqmUzBYWB-67f0EaOvNH8M/s320/81907092_201097327993797_3931573034608561097_n.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<p></p>
<p>Even though I’ve only gotten to play the solitaire variant, <i><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/184267">On Mars</a></i> is my game of the year. (This reached the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CI7n8DXhfRQ/">8th place on my super-objective-top-25-games-of-all-time list</a>.)
“On Mars is quite possibly the heaviest of the games on my top 25. I’ve
only been alone on Mars — playing the solitaire variant —, admittedly,
since it arrived at my doorstep this… year, so it might float even
higher or plummet like a stone next ranking around, but currently it
hovers nicely here in the 8th spot. System within system — like the
visual language of Guillermo del Toro turned into game design.
Incredibly impressive! Bravo <a href="https://www.instagram.com/vitallacerda/">@vitallacerda</a>!”
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><i>Favourite mechanism: The duality of what you can do on
surface versus what you can do in orbit, along with the need for the
shuttle to change between them, is really elegant and leads to oh so
many complicated multilemmas… </i>
</p>
<p>So, there you have it. My “Ludoteca Ideale” of 2020… Now for some honourable mentions!</p>
<h2 id="honourable-mentions-sorted-alphabetically">Honourable mentions (sorted alphabetically)</h2>
<ul>
<li>Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small – Agricola re-imagined as a
quick small 2P game without the starvation. (This has been sitting on my
shelf of shame since, well, ages.)
</li>
<li>Boomerang: Europe – A quick, simple draft-and-write from the ever so prolific Scott Almes.</li>
<li>Coffee Roaster – A great solitaire bag builder with the best theme
in my collection - coffee roasting. I have the second edition with
fabulous components and art. (In the first draft of this post, this game
was actually my solo game of the year. (It <i>is</i> the best pure solitaire game I played in 2020.))
</li>
<li>Draftosaurus – Draft dinosaur meeples to create a Jurassic park. (Not that one.)</li>
<li>Dream Catcher – The third best new-to-me children game I played in 2020.</li>
<li>Ghost Adventure – the second best new-to-me children game I played in 2020.</li>
<li>Hokkaido – revisiting the tile laying landscape building card game of Honshu.</li>
<li>La Isla – Another game that had been sitting on my shelf of shame for too long. </li>
<li>Mini Express – A follow up to Mini Rails (among last year’s
honourable mentions) that takes another stab at streamlining the 18xx
genre into a gateway game. I’ve only played this one virtually on
Tabletopia, but it worked really well. (One of two new-to-me games that I
<i>only</i> got to play virtually.) I hope to get to play a physical version at some point.
</li>
<li>Oceans – A great tableau builder with a evolution theme, although
it, so far, seems to fall a bit short of it’s older sister Evolution
(especially with the Climate extension).
</li>
<li>Oriflamme – A quick bluffing game of murdering with a fascinating chose when you want to reveal card mechanism.</li>
<li>Point Salad – Behind this humorous meta name is actually a great little card game with interesting card drafting mechanics. </li>
<li>Q.E. – My favourite aucion game discovery in 2020. Super simple, but
full of bluffing and double guessing – with a very clever ‘bid whatever
you want’ mechanic. Great fun.
</li>
<li>The Quiet Year – A story generator perfect for solitary or duet play
– using a regular deck of cards, some dice, a paper, pencils, a lookup
table – and some imagination.
</li>
<li>Trek 12 – Another great roll and write. Co-authored by Bruno Cathala.</li>
<li>Vintage – I got to test this in Cannes during FIJ. A great point
salady set collection game from Bruno Faidutti with some very
interesting drafting mechanics. The art direction is also very fitting.
</li>
<li>Viscounts of the West Kingdom – The game that was the closest to end
up on the list above. I’ve only played it solitaire, though… (Maybe
I’ll end up breaking my own rules next year around and add it to the
2021 list. Who knows!) This is a mix of so many mechanics that it made
me think of the first time I met Great Western Trail – Even some of the
mechanics overlap! Rondel movement, deck builder, (sliding) tableau
builder, area control, resource management, set collection, etc – but,
just like in GWT, they click! when you start playing.
</li>
<li>Welcome to New Las Vegas – Follow up to one of my most played games
of all time “Welcome to…” is a slightly… heavier… affair (to the extent a
random-write can be heavy), but, still, great fun.
</li>
<li>Zombie Kidz Evolution – The bezt new-to-me children game I played in
2020. A cooperative legacy game with ztickers and zombies – and an ever
evolving rule zet. My most played game of 2020 – in number of playz.
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="the-games-i-look-forward-the-most-to-play-in-2021">The games I look forward the most to play in 2021</h2>
<ul>
<li>Darwin’s Voyage – I have recently Kickstarted this – let’s hope it lives up to the hype…</li>
<li>Expedition to Newdale – Pfister revisiting some mechanics of his
excellent Oh My Goods (one of the games I have played the most solo),
but with… components (and retaining a solitaire mode). (Spoiler alert!
It’s great! My third favourite Pfister of all time?)
</li>
<li>Anno 1800 – Martin Wallace(!)’s take on the Anno video games series…</li>
<li>Praga Caput Regni – Rondel perfection?</li>
<li>Lost Ruins of Arnak – Deck builder and worker placement with a theme? Yes, please!</li>
<li>Mariposas – this arrived in the house during the end of year festivities…</li>
<li>Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun – </li>
<li>My City – The latest city building, pentomino, bingo game from Dr Knizia.</li>
<li>Whistle Mountain – Spiritual successor to a Whistle Stop – a “train game” I’ve always wanted to try.</li>
<li>Hallertau – Uwe Rosenberg</li>
<li>Tiny Epic Pirates – I think this Marauders-light (with, as the
Zeitgeist dictates, a rondel front and center) from Scott Almes will
appeal to people of all ages in this household. (So I kickstarted it a
while back…)
</li>
<li>Under Falling Skies – Space invaders as a solitaire board game – soon to be released here in France.</li>
<li>The Search for Planet X – Solitaire (that can be played <i>coop</i>…)</li>
<li>The Castles of Tuscany – Stefan Feld revisiting the sauce of one of
my favourite discoveries of 2019, but with a big enough twist to make it
interesting…?
</li>
<li>Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 – I haven’t gotten to play any of the Pandemic Legacy games yet…</li>
<li>Santa Monica</li>
<li>...and! I almost forgot! The upcoming expansion for On Mars called: On Mars: Surviving Mars – The Cooperative Expansion for On Mars</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="from-earlier-years">From earlier years:</h3>
<p>Crystal Palace, Pipeline, Hadara, Watergate, Parks, Cooper Island,
Isle of Cats, Barrage, Cities Skylines, Spirit Island, Blackout,
Underwater Cities, Gugong, Teotihuacan, Undaunted: Normandy
</p>
<h3 id="shelf-of-shameopportunity">Shelf of shame/opportunity</h3>
<ul>
<li>Bios: Origins</li>
<li>The Gallerist</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<h3 style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: Lora, serif; margin: 1em 0px;">
<p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Also, for reference, here's <a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-9-bestish-games-discovered-in-2019.html"><span style="color: #25a186;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer;">my list from 201</span></span>9</a>.</p>
<p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">(Photos from my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/do_meeples_dream/" style="background: transparent; color: #25a186; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">@do_meeples_dream</a> Instagram account.)</p>
</h3>
</div>
<h2 id="all-new-to-me-games-played-2020" style="text-align: left;">All new-to-me games played 2020</h2>
<table style="width: 100%;">
<colgroup>
<col span="1" style="width: 52%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
</colgroup>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Year</th>
<th>Rank</th>
<th>Rating (avg)</th>
<th>Weight</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/119890">Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small</a></td>
<td>2012</td>
<td>269</td>
<td>7.38483</td>
<td>2.3504</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/300367">Boomerang: Europe</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>9800</td>
<td>7.181</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283155">Calico</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>487</td>
<td>8.01936</td>
<td>2.1299</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/267378">Chakra</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2459</td>
<td>6.94643</td>
<td>1.6667</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/196526">Coffee Roaster</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>1022</td>
<td>7.58812</td>
<td>2.1273</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/269160">Colors of Paris</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2583</td>
<td>7.09881</td>
<td>2.3182</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/264055">Draftosaurus</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>721</td>
<td>7.20356</td>
<td>1.2045</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/299028">Dream Catcher</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>6.72222</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/279254">Ecos: First Continent</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>1029</td>
<td>7.20973</td>
<td>2.6324</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/275032">Ghost Adventure</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>7.72</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/260332">Hokkaido</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>2676</td>
<td>7.09854</td>
<td>2.0952</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/246317">Isidore</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>17326</td>
<td>5.4</td>
<td>1.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/154246">La Isla</a></td>
<td>2014</td>
<td>934</td>
<td>6.89085</td>
<td>2.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/276025">Maracaibo</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>8.306</td>
<td>3.8782</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/300751">Mini Express</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>6638</td>
<td>7.7029</td>
<td>2.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/279869">Nine Tiles Panic</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2478</td>
<td>7.05442</td>
<td>1.1818</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232414">Oceans</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>600</td>
<td>7.71095</td>
<td>2.7912</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/184267">On Mars</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>74</td>
<td>8.30514</td>
<td>4.6256</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/251412">On Tour</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>1080</td>
<td>7.08037</td>
<td>1.4808</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/287084">Oriflamme</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2339</td>
<td>7.34603</td>
<td>1.5652</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266810">Paladins of the West Kingdom</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>75</td>
<td>8.0767</td>
<td>3.653</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/274960">Point Salad</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>388</td>
<td>7.33886</td>
<td>1.1592</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266830">Q.E.</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>909</td>
<td>7.52748</td>
<td>1.7586</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/268620">Similo</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2012</td>
<td>6.99174</td>
<td>1.0833</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/284083">The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>45</td>
<td>8.03382</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161880">The Quiet Year</a></td>
<td>2013</td>
<td>4156</td>
<td>7.79129</td>
<td>1.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172035">Thumbs Up!</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>16041</td>
<td>5.57843</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/265736">Tiny Towns</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>316</td>
<td>7.37681</td>
<td>2.0924</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/303672">Trek 12</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>5234</td>
<td>8.14339</td>
<td>1.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/296667">Vintage</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>6.46</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/296151">Viscounts of the West Kingdom</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>474</td>
<td>8.17948</td>
<td>3.5203</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/281075">Welcome to New Las Vegas</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>2431</td>
<td>7.14075</td>
<td>2.913</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256952">Zombie Kidz Evolution</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>738</td>
<td>7.90925</td>
<td>1.4429</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 id="expansions">Expansions</h3>
<table style="width: 100%;">
<colgroup>
<col span="1" style="width: 52%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
</colgroup>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Year</th>
<th>Rank</th>
<th>Rating (avg)</th>
<th>Weight</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/285235">Architects of the West Kingdom: Age of Artisans</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.23629</td>
<td>2.8889</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128236">Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Expansion 1: Illusions</a></td>
<td>2012</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>7.4099</td>
<td>1.6222</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/298851">It’s a Wonderful World: Corruption & Ascension</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.29278</td>
<td>2.3333</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/298752">It’s a Wonderful World: War or Peace</a></td>
<td>2020</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.00615</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224182">Star Realms: Scenarios</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>7.75701</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/273473">Terraforming Mars: Turmoil</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>7.68849</td>
<td>3.7273</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/279345">Terraforming Mars: Turmoil Promos</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.14362</td>
<td>3.6667</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/271874">Welcome To…: Easter Egg Hunt & Doomsday Thematic Neighborhoods</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>7.38627</td>
<td>1.9</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
BTW, the code I used to generate these stats (and more) is on my <a href="https://github.com/mortenjohs/BGG">github account</a>. (A huge thanks to the creators of the <a href="https://pypi.org/project/boardgamegeek2/">boardgamegeek2 python module</a> that I leverage extensively.)
Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-50076274713921501872020-06-26T20:54:00.005+02:002021-06-30T14:07:43.200+02:00PICO-8 on an ODROID-GO Advance Black Edition<p><i><b>UPDATE 2021/06/30</b>: This whole procedure is now super simple if you go the EmuELEC way following this guide: <a href="https://retrogamecorps.com/2020/11/12/guide-pico-8-on-retro-handhelds/#EmuELEC">https://retrogamecorps.com/2020/11/12/guide-pico-8-on-retro-handhelds/#EmuELEC</a> It's basically just to put the pico-8 in a specific folder, and any roms (unless you just use splore) in another.</i></p><p>Last weekend I built the <a href="https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-go-advance-black-edition/" target="_blank">ODROID-GO Advance Black Edition</a> with my daughter. (Apart from re-experiencing my childhood's Commodore 64 an Amiga games,) One of our goals was to run <a href="https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php">PICO-8</a>, the great little fantasy console, on it. That seemed possible, given that it shares a similar CPU to the Raspberry PIs – where it runs great. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ikWEAOKrDgotdemuaEiLTAfs5Exg4nT1992zjar1AUlz7CnIaCypuXx8WvgAnIaAkv_pX2kWIkPl2PdU1CWIvuWUnPexwN0dvZT2fjKCVDwzW8ugu5HpXlLW8ZI90DIGYZjh5gUy8To/s4032/IMG_1731.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ikWEAOKrDgotdemuaEiLTAfs5Exg4nT1992zjar1AUlz7CnIaCypuXx8WvgAnIaAkv_pX2kWIkPl2PdU1CWIvuWUnPexwN0dvZT2fjKCVDwzW8ugu5HpXlLW8ZI90DIGYZjh5gUy8To/s320/IMG_1731.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div>
<p>However, it was not <em>that</em> easy to get it up and running. Here’s what worked, but first, what didn’t…</p>
<h2 id="official-image">Official image</h2>
<p>First we installed the <a href="https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid_go_advance/make_sd_card">official image</a> from HardKernel on it. But alas, no luck getting things to run properly.</p>
<h2 id="emuelec">EmuELEC</h2>
<p>Next up was <a href="https://github.com/EmuELEC/EmuELEC/releases/tag/v3.6">EmuELEC</a>. There we managed to get PICO-8 to run in all it’s 8-bit glory! But! Controls didn’t work when launching from <a href="https://emulationstation.org/">EmulationStation</a>… What worked though, was to go to bash mode, ssh in from another device and launch joy2key.py and then PICO-8… What also worked was to plug an external controller into the device <i>before </i>launching PICO-8 from EmulationStation… This made me suspect that PICO-8 didn’t have the right SDL joystick config file. I couldn’t find the config for this new odroid online, but! I found this forum post on batocera linux: <a href="https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=193&t=37256&start=800#p295789">https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=193&t=37256&start=800#p295789</a></p>
<h2 id="batocera">Batocera</h2>
<p>So, I installed <a href="https://batocera.org/">batocera</a> and followed the steps outlined in the link above. Basically:</p>
<ol>
<li>Create folder <code>/userdata/roms/pico-8</code> (for the carts)</li>
<li>Create folder <code>/userdata/bios/pico-8</code> and extract the contents of the Raspberry Pi version of PICO-8 here. (As of this writing: pico-8_0.2.0i_raspi.zip)</li>
<li>Make <code>pico8_dyn</code> executable by <a href="https://wiki.batocera.org/access_the_batocera_via_ssh">ssh’ing into the odroid</a> and running:
<div class="codehilite"><pre>chmod a+x /userdata/bios/pico-8/pico8_dyn
</pre></div></li>
<li>Create a file called <code>pico-8.sh</code> in <code>/userdata/roms/ports</code> with the following bash script in it:
<div class="codehilite"><pre><span class="ch">#!/bin/bash</span>
/userdata/bios/pico-8/pico8_dyn -splore -home /userdata/bios/pico-8 -root_path /userdata/roms/pico-8 -joystick 0
</pre></div>
This makes Batocera’s emulation station add pico-8 to the “Ports” part of the launcher. Nice!</li>
<li>PICO-8 still wouldn’t get signals from the controller, so we need add this to <code>/userdata/bios/pico-8/sdl_controllers.txt </code>:
<div class="codehilite"><pre>// add SDL2 game controller mappings to this file
19000000010000000100000001010000,odroidgo2_joypad,a:b1,b:b0,x:b2,y:b3,leftshoulder:b4,rightshoulder:b5,dpdown:b9,dpleft:b10,dpright:b11,dpup:b8,leftx:a0,lefty:a1,guide:b17,leftstick:b13,lefttrigger:b6,rightstick:b16,righttrigger:b7,start:b12,platform:Linux,
</pre></div>
This is a slight adaptation of the config outlined in the forum post mentioned above – to handle the extra buttons on the BE version of the Odroid-GO Advance. Basically it seems that the two new trigger buttons has, bizarrely, gotten codes that used to be taken by up and down ('b6' and 'b7') – even though the ID of the controller has been kept the same… (To make the UI of Batocera work properly you need to do a similar remapping there... and that is actually how I found the proper button numbers -- from the config file resulting from remapping the buttons.)</li>
</ol><div>So, there goes. PICO-8 on a handheld device.</div>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-69015286695421995602020-03-21T13:23:00.006+01:002020-09-07T11:21:27.185+02:00Games in the time of Corona<div id="games-in-the-time-of-covid-19">
We can't stop playing games together even if we are confined, now, can we? But, what are our options? (Apart from spawning players within your confinement, but that tends to take 7-10 years...)<br />
<br />
This is a living post -- constantly updated. (Last update 2020-04-06.) <br />
<h3>
Table of content </h3>
</div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#video-conference-compatible-boardgames">Video conference compatible boardgames</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#tech">Tech</a></li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#random-writes">Random-Writes</a></li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#eurogames">Eurogames</a></li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#party-games">Party games</a></li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#forever-alone">Forever alone</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#solitaire-games">Solitaire games</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#games-with-official-solitaire-variants">Games with official solitaire variants</a></li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#games-with-unofficial-solitaire-variants">Games with unofficial solitaire variants</a></li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#games-i-have-played-as-solitaires">Games I have played as solitaires</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#virtual-board-games">Virtual board games</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#online-tools">Online tools</a>
</li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#dedicated-apps">Dedicated apps</a>
</li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#unofficial-web-apps">Unofficial web apps</a>
</li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#play-by-email">Play by (e)mail</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#video-games">Video games</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#video-games-without-screen">Video games without (too much) screen</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/03/games-in-time-of-corona.html#discussion">Discussion</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="video-conference-compatible-boardgames">
Video conference compatible boardgames</h2>
One of the reasons boardgames are so appealing is that it gets us away from our screens. Using video conference technologies might be the best way to play games with remote players, with the least screen nuisance. The basic idea is that one player runs the game and has the main copy of the game and others (potentially) have their own player boards etc. In theory this could work for any <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_information">perfect information game</a> -- where all information is open. (Although I have heard of people playing love letter over video by holding up the cards to the active player!)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B97sMHdqtPn/"><img alt="https://www.instagram.com/p/B97sMHdqtPn/" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguEMgtBymnW40Se-vyqMEl4N7iaSeDHzp_F4vJ-9kQGT9AgrLrw_sFvy54TpTF3paPy7H7193nNnTONP8ateMIm_x6YfBENHJ93UoKFj0HSMUA8h598TzQ2J8DuxkeqDjN4wLz-QoMk-o/s320/0A42BCF4-8AA5-4468-8228-E997141348DB.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
<h3 id="tech">
Tech</h3>
<h4 id="webcam">
Webcam</h4>
To play a board games via video conference you need, to various degrees, to be able to read/see the game, so you'll need a more or less capable camera -- depending on the game you want to play, obviously.<br />
<h4 id="conference-tool">
Video conference tool</h4>
<ul>
<li>Jitsi -- Free, open sourced. I've tested it with both Welcome to... and it works great. </li>
<li>Skype -- This old dinosaur works fine, and allows video of decent quality even with free accounts.</li>
<li>Zoom -- Free version only allows 40 minutes session for parties of more than 2.</li>
<li>Discord -- I know this one less well, but with a bit more research maybe this could be the ideal tool...?</li>
<li>... and million other tools, I would guess... (HouseParty, FaceTime, Hangouts, WhatsApp (although small screens might be an issue?), Twitch, ...)</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="player-sheets">
Player sheets</h4>
Some games, random-writes in particular, only requires a player sheet (and a pencil) per player. If players don't have the game, these would have to be distributed/downloaded beforehand.<br />
<h5 id="printer">
Printer</h5>
The easiest is, obviously, if people can print what is needed.<br />
<h5 id="on-screen">
On screen</h5>
Alternatively, you could fill in these sheets on a tablet or a computer. <a href="https://www.gimp.org/">GIMP</a> is an excellent, free and open sourced drawing program that and supports layers, so you can easily revert mistakes or keep a file with all games played... Another useful, free and open sourced tool tool is <a href="https://inkscape.org/">Inkscape</a>.<br />
<h3 id="random-writes">
Random-Writes</h3>
Random-writes (or Roll/flip and writes) are probably the games in my collection that lends themselves best to a video conf setting.<br />
<h4 id="welcome-to">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233867/welcome">Welcome to...</a></h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjYTz9vgxMSfyv1_OwEVWE7ltYlNrbcwa4hT6rHrg4HyBEvJa7mhU-kA2SjooVwE4dB_q0rXA941B-Dt95-vExV4jDYJ837yEJcJJlWHoet2tmsy-efiEnknjxe168LNjqLIbxisCDjE/s320/welcometo.jpg" style="text-align: center;" /></div>
<ul>
<li>Players: 1-100 (Although there is no real limit...)</li>
<li>Age: 10+</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-9-ish-best-board-games-of-2018.html">This is one of my favorite gateway game discoveries from 2018</a> and, also, the first game I hosted using webcams during this lockdown...<br />
<h5 id="whats-needed">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>Sheets: All players need access to the sheets of the game. They can be bought as part of the main game, as a refill, or <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/157648/scrore-sheet">downloaded from BoardGameGeek</a> and printed. (There's even <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/182959/w2-score-sheet-printer-friendly">a printer friendly low ink version</a>.) When we played this some players didn't have access to printers, but used tablets/PCs and used various paint programs. <b>Update:</b> There are also app versions of the score sheet available for <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/welcome-to-your-perfect-place/id1358077007">iOS</a> and Android as well as a <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/198138/welcome-entirely-fillable-player-sheet-pdf">PDF that you can fill electronically</a>. </li>
<li>One copy of the main game</li>
<li>The player that runs the game need a decent webcam for a video link -- the others just audio.</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="but-does-it-work">
But does it work?</h5>
Yes! The only thing lacking (with only one camera) is the ability to see how the others are faring with the common missions and how many temp workers they have used. Rumour has it that 800 people played it on TricTrac yesterday!<br />
<br />
(This should work equally well with the game's more... meaty... sister <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/281075/welcome-new-las-vegas">Welcome to New Las Vegas</a>, I would think...)<br />
<h4 id="the-castles-of-burgundy---the-dice-game">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232988/castles-burgundy-dice-game">The Castles of Burgundy - The Dice Game</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>Players: 1-5</li>
<li>Age: 10+</li>
</ul>
One of my favorite random-writes is the excellent dice version of Castles of Burgundy.<br />
<h5 id="whats-needed-1">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>Sheets: All players need access to the sheets of the game. The same version, preferably.</li>
<li>One copy of the main game.</li>
<li>The player that runs the game need a ok webcam for a video link -- the others just audio.</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="but-does-it-work-1">
Suggested house rule</h5>
<div id="but-does-it-work-1">
Players should probably announce when they have only one hex left of any given category... And maybe even announce all their moves if you are not playing with too many players... If you _do_ play with more than the prescribed max of 5 players, I would suggest that the scoring for different categories should work like in Welcome to... -- the first player(s) score the max score, the rest score the lower score. (If they finish, obviously.)</div>
<h5 id="but-does-it-work-1">
But does it work?</h5>
<strike>I haven't tested this one, but it should work, with the same caveats as for Welcome...</strike> <b>Update: </b>I tried this one over a webcam link and it played great. Also, as a added benefit, it should be less webcam dependent. (Although
you need to be able to distinguish the colours on the dice...)<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4 id="cartographers">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/263918">Cartographers</a></h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Players: 1-100 (Again, this number has more to do with number of sheets in the box...)</li>
<li>Age: 10+ (But I have introduced it humans that are only 6...)</li>
</ul>
On my <a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-9-bestish-games-discovered-in-2019.html">list of Top 9 games of 2019</a> was Cartographers, and that should work perfectly.<br />
<h5 id="whats-needed-2">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>Sheets
<ul>
<li>All players need access to the sheets of the game. Since this is a simple grid, you can even draw it on a grid paper. Or download and print. (<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/197337/cartographers-playsheets-simple-line-art">Line art version</a>.)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>One copy of the main game</li>
<li>The player that runs the game need a decent webcam for a video link -- the others just audio.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<h5 id="suggested-house-rules">
How</h5>
</div>
<div>
Depending on the quality of your webcam/internet connection/chosen communication tool it would probably be a good idea to distribute a picture of the goal cards via other channels (potentially the whole grid of 12 cards that define the party -- depending also on how familiar the players are with the game)... Come to think of it, this game could even be played just over chat. By photographing each new landscape card arriving...</div>
<h5 id="suggested-house-rules">
Suggested house rules</h5>
If you chose to play with the monsters, you can use the solitaire rules for placement. (Unless you have clusters of players that can physically draw on the sheets of other players...)<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<h4 id="penny-papers-adventure-series">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/48330/penny-papers-adventures">Penny Papers Adventure series</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>Players: 1-99</li>
<li>Age: 7+/8+/9+ (Depending on the game in the series)</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="whats-needed-3">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>Sheets
<ul>
<li>All players need access to the sheets of the game. Since this is a simple grid, you can even draw it on a grid paper.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>One copy of the main game.</li>
<li>The player that runs the game need an OK webcam for a video link -- the others just audio.</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="suggested-house-rules-1">
Suggested house rules</h5>
When rolling dangers follow the solitaire rules for placement. (Unless, as with Cartographers, you have clusters of players that can physically draw on the sheets of other players...)<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<h4>
Other</h4>
A lot of dice games where everyone reacts to the same dice roll should be playable like this:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/245654/railroad-ink-deep-blue-edition">Railroad Ink</a> (Even though the box says 1-6 (1-12 with two copies) you can basically play this one with as many players as you want...)</li>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/251412/tour">On Tour</a> (Ditto.) </li>
</ul>
Games that would need some more adaptations are games where there is a notion of "current player" and she has slightly a different role [heh]... Maybe one player, with a web cam, needs to do all the rolling/dice manipulations:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244522/s-pretty-clever">Ganz Schön Clever</a> (Also, the solitaire variant of this one is excellent!) </li>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183006/qwinto">Qwinto</a></li>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/131260/qwixx">Qwixx</a> -- (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Qwixx_scorecard_nofonts.svg">scorecard</a>, <a href="https://www.mikkosaari.fi/qwixx/">electronic scorecard</a>) </li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<h3 id="eurogames">
Eurogames</h3>
Even though many claim Eurogames often are multiplayer solitaires, I can't think of <i>that</i> many games that can easily be played remotely...<br />
<h4 id="tiny-towns">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/265736/tiny-towns">Tiny Towns</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>Players: 1-6 (But, over webcam, I guess more than 3 would be a mess...) </li>
<li>Age: 14+ (Although, without the monuments, I play it with my 7 year old...)</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="whats-needed-4">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>All players need a copy of the main game.</li>
<li>All players need an ok webcam for a video link -- otherwise you miss out on one of the key features of the game that is asking for resources that only you benefit from and free-ride on the resources that you can expect others to pick. (You can always play with the town hall rule and this would no longer be an issue, but I have not yet tested this...)</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="but-does-it-work-2">
How</h5>
<div id="but-does-it-work-2">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">For up to 3ish players (all with good webcams) I would guess one can play with regular rules. More than that and the town hall rules would be needed. (</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Basically a dedicated player draws from the resource cards deck and announces resources everyone has to use. Every third turn you are free to chose yourself. <b>Update: </b>AEG has been running live streams of the game like that during this confinement.</span>)</span></div>
<ul>
</ul>
<h4>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244521/quacks-quedlinburg">Quacks of Quedlinburg</a></h4>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Players: 2-4 (Over webcam, with multiple copies of the game, why not more?)</li>
<li>Age: 10+ (Although, I've played it with 6-year olds...)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<h5 id="whats-needed-4">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>All players need a copy of the main game.</li>
<li>All players need an ok webcam for a video link -- otherwise you miss out on one of the key features of the game that is observing how far others have gotten on the cauldron track...</li></ul><h4 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/281259/isle-cats">The Isle of Cats</a></h4><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Players: 1-4</li><li>Age: 8+</li></ul></div><div><h5 id="whats-needed">What's needed</h5><h5 id="whats-needed-3"><ul style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><li>Sheets: All players need access to the sheets of the game. The City of Kings has made this available as a "Remote Edition" here <a href="http://thecityofkings.com/games/the-isle-of-cats/remote-edition/">http://thecityofkings.com/games/the-isle-of-cats/remote-edition/</a></li><li>One copy of the main game</li><li>The player that runs the game need a decent webcam for a video link -- the others just audio.</li></ul></h5></div>
</div>
<h4 id="others">
Others?</h4>
I guess other Eurogames <i>could</i> be played with multiple copies of the game -- especially if the game is a perfect information game, but they might become too fiddly, if, for example, the player running the game has to update the game state for all players...<br />
<h3 id="party-games">
Party games</h3>
<h4 id="similo">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/268620/similo">Similo</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>Players: 2-8</li>
<li>Age: 7+</li>
<li>Coop</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="whats-needed-5">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>One copy of the main game</li>
<li>The player that runs the game need a decent webcam for a video link -- the others just audio.</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="but-does-it-work-2">
But does it work?</h5>
We tried it and it works. Gameplay is exactly like it would be in a local game, but if you don't know your historical/mythical/fably figures it might be too hard, since it is difficult to read the descriptive text over a video link... Still a fun challenge!<br />
<h4 id="similo">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15512/diamant">Incan Gold/Diamant</a></h4>
<ul>
<li>Players: 2-8</li>
<li>Age: 7+</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="whats-needed-5">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>One copy of the main game.</li>
<li>Remote players need tokens/cards for continue/turn back. And ideally tokens for diamonds and a place to store safe diamonds as well as temporary ones... </li>
<li>The player that runs the game need a decent webcam for a video link -- the other players just very basic ones.</li>
</ul>
<h5 id="but-does-it-work-2">
How?</h5>
The one running the game needs to do quite a bit of logistics in this one, but it should be doable. Remote players hold their decision cards up the their webcam at the same time, local player updates game state. Remote players collects diamonds as needed. I do think this could work! <br />
<h4 id="codenamescodenames-picturesetc">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames">Codenames</a>/<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/198773/codenames-pictures">Codenames Pictures</a>/etc</h4>
<ul>
<li>Players: 2-8</li>
<li>Age: 14+/10+</li>
<li>Coop possible. </li>
</ul>
<h5 id="whats-needed-6">
What's needed</h5>
<ul>
<li>One copy of the main game.</li>
<li>Audio link for clues and discussions. </li>
</ul>
<h5 id="but-does-it-work-2">
How?</h5>
One can distribute (a picture of)
the grid of words/pictures by email or similar prior to the game and just use
audio for the game itself. Depending on if you play coop or not, you can distribute the card with the map of red/blue/black agents to one or two players. (<b>Update: </b>I have created a small web app to generate grids here: <a href="https://ervik.hopto.org/codegrid/?seed=fromBlogger">https://ervik.hopto.org/codegrid/?seed=fromBlogger</a> -- take a screnshot or share the URL (including the 'seed' part among the spy masters. I have hear of people playing this in Whatsapp groups even!)<br />
<h4 id="codenamescodenames-picturesetc">
Other</h4>
<div id="codenamescodenames-picturesetc">
Other party games like <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169654/deep-sea-adventure">Deep Sea Adventure</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181304/mysterium">Mysterium</a> (a bit more involved, admittedly), <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/254640/just-one">Just One</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/10782/timeline">Timeline</a> etc should work as well... </div>
<h2 id="forever-alone">
Forever alone</h2>
If you want a more involved game, and reduce screen time, the best is to play, well, without screens. If you are not locked down with fellow board game players, you can play games all by yourself.<br />
<h3 id="solitaire-games">
Solitaire games</h3>
For some reason I didn't think I would like solitaire games. Until I played Friedeman Friese's solitaire only Friday some years ago and it was great. Since then I have continued exploring, and here are some of my favorites:<br />
<h4 id="coffee-roaster">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/196526/coffee-roaster">Coffee Roaster</a></h4>
An fabulous coffee flavoured [heh] push your luck bag builder. Probably my favorite solitaire-only game these days...<br />
<h4 id="onirim">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156336/onirim-second-edition">Onirim</a></h4>
A classic card based solitaire. (Current version comes with a gazillion extensions in the box for variability.)<br />
<h4 id="nemos-war">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/187617/nemos-war-second-edition">Nemo's War</a></h4>
Technically a cooperative game, but it feels like a solitaire. Great theme based on the Jules Verne book. (Second edition with Ian O'Toole art is the one to play.)<br />
<h4 id="one-deck-dungeon">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179275/one-deck-dungeon">One Deck Dungeon</a></h4>
Another technically coop game, but it works best thinking of it as a solitaire only game, methinks.<br />
<h4 id="the-lost-expedition">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216459/lost-expedition">The Lost Expedition</a></h4>
This puzzly card driven adventure also works like a story generator.<br />
<h4 id="friday">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43570/friday">Friday</a></h4>
Still a great little filler of a deck builder solitaire.<br />
<h3 id="games-with-official-solitaire-variants">
Games with official solitaire variants</h3>
More and more games in my collection comes with solitaire variants out of the box.<br />
<h4 id="tiny-epic-galaxies">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163967/tiny-epic-galaxies">Tiny Epic Galaxies</a></h4>
This is the game I have played the most solitiare. It was a the first game I started playing as a single player coop with my kids. And it works great. Lots of levels of challenge.<br />
<h4 id="its-a-wonderful-world">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/271324/its-wonderful-world">It's a Wonderful World</a></h4>
One of the latest additions to my collection has a very tense solitaire mode that works surprisingly well for a drafting game. (Maybe the same system could be applied to other drafting games?) It even has various scenarios you can play through. (And they just sent a scenario to kickstarter backers relating to the current crisis...)<br />
<h4 id="the-castles-of-burgundy---the-card-game">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/191977/castles-burgundy-card-game">The Castles of Burgundy - The Card Game</a></h4>
A small box game that is one of my worst tablehogs plays great as a solitaire.<br />
<h4 id="oh-my-goods-longsdale-in-revolt">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/209323/oh-my-goods-longsdale-revolt">Oh My Goods: Longsdale in Revolt</a></h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
The base game of Oh My Goods is fine. Just fine. The expansion, and especially the solitaire variant, is great! I can't wait to try out <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/272682/expedition-newdale">Expedition to Newdale</a> that comes with a solitaire mode out of the box.<br />
<h4 id="race-for-the-galaxy-the-gathering-storm">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/34499/race-galaxy-gathering-storm">Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm</a></h4>
Albeit slightly fiddly, this expansion to the amazing RftG adds a decent solitaire challenge.<br />
<h4 id="wingspan">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266192">Wingspan</a></h4>
Wingspan is another one of my favorites from 2019, and it has a great non-fiddly solitaire mode.<br />
<h4 id="terraforming-mars">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167791/terraforming-mars">Terraforming Mars</a></h4>
Great game with several different official solitaire variants -- depending on what expansions you have and what challenge you are looking for.<br />
<h4>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216132/clans-caledonia">Clans of Caledonia </a></h4>
On my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxA4-fpjTeS/">list of top 9 games of all time</a>, and it comes with a solitaire mode out of the box. There is also an <a href="https://myautoma.github.io/#clansofcaledonia">online app</a> if you want more variation and challenge.<br />
<h4 id="lisboaon-mars">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161533/lisboa">Lisboa</a>/<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/184267/mars">On Mars</a></h4>
Playing Vital Lacerda's game solitaire is a great way to explore the fascinatingly intricate rule sets of his games. Both of these plays great like that. (You need quite a bit of time on your hands though...)<br />
<h3 id="games-with-unofficial-solitaire-variants">
Games with unofficial solitaire variants</h3>
<h4 id="great-western-trail">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193738/great-western-trail">Great Western Trail</a></h4>
I love, love, love Great Western Trail, but I don't get to play it often enough, so at one point I tried an <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/video/129080/great-western-trail/great-western-trail-le-challenge-solo-regles-de-ba">unofficial solitaire variant posted on BGG</a>. It worked well enough, so I look forward to try that again. Now there is also an <a href="https://myautoma.github.io/#greatwesterntrail">online app</a> to help out. (Also, I have hopes that the solitaire enabled <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/276025/maracaibo">Maracaibo</a> will scratch some of the itches of GWT...)<br />
<h4 id="roll-for-the-galaxy">
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/132531/roll-galaxy">Roll for the Galaxy</a></h4>
Ditto for this.<br />
<h3 id="games-i-have-played-as-solitaires">
Games I have played as solitaires</h3>
I have created a <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/209441/adventures-solo-gaming">geeklist</a> to track games I have tried as solitaires, if you want inspiration... <b>2020-04-05:</b> ...or even better take a look at this <a href="https://emilbrett.github.io/SoloQuester/">ranked list of solitaire boardgames</a>.<br />
<h2 id="virtual-board-games">
Virtual board games</h2>
You can also go in the opposite direction -- towards <i>more</i> screen -- and live completely virtual versions of your favorite games. Here as well you have at least two options -- general online game tools, and dedicated game specific apps/sites.<br />
<br />
<b>Update:</b> <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pY80Cy9Zu4ed5HSa60LsHQGFau5LSkM5tZuvXv3qgFQ/edit#gid=1781637295">this impressive spreadsheet</a> helps you find games on various online platforms. <br />
<h3 id="online-tools">
Online tools</h3>
<h4 id="board-game-arena">
<a href="https://en.boardgamearena.com/">Board Game Arena</a></h4>
A beautiful and practical interface to play games in your browser. They have quite a nice selection of various complexities and game lengths. <a href="https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=14633">Their servers are impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown</a>, though, so be gentle...<br />
<h4 id="boite-a-jeux">
<a href="http://www.boiteajeux.net/">Boite a Jeux</a></h4>
This older site, doesn't look as nice as the 'arena, and it has a smaller collection of games, but it might be easier on the hardware...<br />
<h4 id="tabletop-simulator">
<a href="https://www.tabletopsimulator.com/">Tabletop Simulator</a></h4>
Tabletop simulator is another fascinating approach to virtual boardgames that more closely simulates the experience of a board game using virtual physical components instead of a classic web interface. You need to download the client for macOS or Windows and add games as <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/dlc/286160/Tabletop_Simulator/">DLC</a> (paid) or (<a href="https://steamcommunity.com/app/286160/workshop/">Steam workshop</a>) mods (free). This is probably the solution with the most sophisticated hardware requirements, but, yes, you can flip the table. (And there are undo-buttons... :-))<br />
<b>Update:</b> a reddit user has written <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/fksgkh/tabletop_simulator_a_guide_for_selfisolators/">a useful intro to this tool</a>. <br />
<h4 id="tabletopia">
<a href="https://tabletopia.com/">Tabletopia</a></h4>
This might be my favorite virtual game tool. It is a kind of compromise between the before mentioned technologies -- a mix between web UI and physics.
It has an impressive collection of more than 600 games. Some hidden behind a paywall, but that is fair enough.<br />
<h4 id="others-1">
Others</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.brettspielwelt.de/">Brettspielwelt</a> -- another classic old school web UI.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.yucata.de/en">Yucata</a> -- yet another classic old school web UI. (<b>Update:</b> When I played a round of Marco Polo the 2020-03-26 the servers seemed to struggle quite a bit...)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.vassalengine.org/">Vassal</a> -- a general framework for games, but I haven't used it in a long while, and/as it is more war game oriented... (This list is worth checking out for non-war games modules: <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/152181/non-war-vassal-games">https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/152181/non-war-vassal-games</a> )</li>
<li><a href="https://www.happymeeple.com/">Happy Meeple</a> -- small collection, but it looks nice. (I've never tried this one.)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.boardspace.net/">BoardSpace</a> -- a mix of well known (Viticulture, Santorini) and less known games. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.yourturnmyturn.com/">Your Turn My Turn</a> -- focused on classic games. (I've never tried this one.)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.slothninja.com/">Sloth Ninja</a> -- 5 games: After the Flood, Confucius, Indonesia, Guild of Thieves, and Tamany Hall </li>
<li><a href="http://play.boardgamecore.net/">BoardGameCore</a> 4 (heavier) games: Antiquity, Food Chain Magnate, The Great Zimbabwee, and Wir Sind das Volk!</li>
<li><a href="http://spielbyweb.com/">Spiel by Web</a> 7 games: Bus, Hascienda, Hoity Toity, Reef Encounter, Santiago, Tikal, Wallenstein</li>
<li><a href="http://boardwebgames.com/games/">BoardWebGames</a> -- (seemingly) unofficial copies of many games...</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="mixed-mode">
Mixed mode</h4>
One way to play games could be to do a mixture of conference call and online tools, perhaps? Some players on real games, and some online? Especially with tools like Tabletopia or Tabletop Simulator where the game logic is not necessary coded into the game interaction, so it allows some flexibility in how we use it... This could be worth trying in, for example, Tiny Towns!<br />
<h3 id="dedicated-apps">
Dedicated apps</h3>
Many games have excellent appifications, and most propose some kind online multiplayer option.<br />
<h4 id="castles-of-burgundy">
<a href="https://digidiced.com/castlesofburgundy/">Castles of Burgundy</a></h4>
The app released early 2019 from Digidiced is excellent (but I have never tried it online). (Android/iOS/Steam)<br />
<h4>
<a href="https://digidiced.com/patchwork/">Patchwork</a></h4>
<div>
Another excellent Digidiced app is Patchwork. (In our household this serves as a hotseat game when we are away from our physical copy of the game...) (Android/iOS/Windows Store)</div>
<h4 id="race-for-the-galaxy">
<a href="https://www.templegatesgames.com/raceforthegalaxy/">Race for the Galaxy</a></h4>
The official app works best on tablets or computers, since the cards has some text, but it is another excellent appification. (Android/iOS/Steam)<br />
<br />
There exist also an old <a href="http://keldon.net/rftg/">unofficial one</a> that is functional and free.<br />
<h4 id="star-realms">
<a href="https://www.starrealms.com/digital-game/">Star Realms</a></h4>
This is another app that I have probably played more than the real game. It works well on both tablets and computers as well as phones. I like their purchase model -- there is a free version that is quite complete, and if you want to buy the full game, expansions etc, you buy once on any platform and you can use it on any. (Android/iOS/Steam/Mac App Store) <br />
<h4 id="evolution">
<a href="https://evolutionvideogame.com/">Evolution</a></h4>
The appification of the great Evolution from North Star Games is another of my favorites. (Android/iOS/Steam)<br />
<h4 id="brass">
<a href="http://www.cublogames.com/game/brass/">Brass</a></h4>
Even though the app is stuck with graphics from Brass 2007 it plays great on a tablet. (Android/iOS/Steam)<br />
<h4 id="steam">
<a href="http://rails.acram.eu/">Steam: From Rails to Riches</a></h4>
Another great implementation of another great Martin Wallace game. (Android/iOS/Steam(PC))<br />
<h4 id="through-the-ages">
<a href="https://throughtheages.com/">Through the Ages</a></h4>
I've never played the physical game, but the app is great. (GOG(PC)/Android/iOS/Steam(PC))<br />
<h4>
<a href="https://www.asmodee-digital.com/en/terraforming-mars/">Terraforming Mars </a></h4>
From Asmodee Digital. (Android/iOS/Steam)<br />
<h4 id="carcassonne">
<a href="https://www.asmodee-digital.com/en/carcassonne/">Carcassonne</a></h4>
This lightweight classic has always had great virtual implementations and the latest from Asmodee is no exception. (Android/iOS/Switch/Steam(PC))<br />
<h4>
<a href="https://www.asmodee-digital.com/en/onirim/">Onirim</a></h4>
Another from Asmodee Digital and this one is a bit different since it is a solitaire game. (A real benefit with the digital version is that we don't have to shuffle the deck after searching for door-cards every fifteen seconds...)<br />
<h4>
Others</h4>
...and many, many more... <br />
<h3 id="unofficial-web-apps">
(Unofficial) Web Apps</h3>
<ul>
<li>Agricola: <a href="http://play-agricola.com/Agricola/Board1/Agricola.html">http://play-agricola.com/Agricola/Board1/Agricola.html</a></li>
<li>Avalon: <a href="https://avalongame.online/">https://avalongame.online</a></li>
<li>Azul: <a href="https://azee.mattle.online/">https://azee.mattle.online</a> and <a href="http://boardwebgames.com/rojo/">http://boardwebgames.com/rojo/</a></li>
<li>Cards Against Humanity: <a href="https://pyx-2.pretendyoure.xyz/zy/game.jsp">https://pyx-2.pretendyoure.xyz/zy/game.jsp</a> </li>
<li>Codenames: <a href="https://www.horsepaste.com/">https://www.horsepaste.com</a> -- in many languages (but, sadly, not Norwegian)...</li>
<li>Dominio: <a href="https://dominion.games/">https://dominion.games</a> -- the official Dominion web app.</li>
<li>Fake Artist Goes to New York: <a href="https://fake-artist.herokuapp.com/">https://fake-artist.herokuapp.com</a></li>
<li>Secret Hitler: <a href="https://secrethitler.io/">https://secrethitler.io</a></li>
<li>Pictionary-like: <a href="https://skribbl.io/">https://skribbl.io</a></li>
<li>Terra Mystica: <a href="https://terra.snellman.net/">https://terra.snellman.net</a></li>
<li>Keyforge: <a href="https://thecrucible.online/">https://thecrucible.online</a></li>
<li>Netrunner: <a href="https://www.jinteki.net/">https://www.jinteki.net</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="play-by-email">
Play by (e)mail</h3>
Could modern boardgames be played by mail, like chess infamously was in the olden days? I guess maybe abstract, perfect information games like Hive, or the Zipf series could work. Would it be worth it?<br />
<h2 id="video-games">
Video games</h2>
Yet another solution is just to give in to the screen altar and play some video games... (Currently I'm exploring Ori and the blind forest (finally) on Switch, but soon enough I'll fire up the new Doom on PS4.)<br />
<h3 id="video-games-without-screen">
Video games without (too much) screen</h3>
But! There are video games where you don't need a screen! <br />
<h4>
<a href="https://keeptalkinggame.com/">Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes</a></h4>
This video game could easily be played over the phone. Most players access the bomb manual (either printed or digitally) and one player works on defusing the bomb on his computer/PS4/Switch/iOS/Android device...<br />
<h2 id="discussion">
Discussion</h2>
What are your favorite games that can be played remotely? What adaptations are needed? What is the best video conference tool for boardgaming?<br />
<h3>
Other articles/lists/media</h3>
<b>2020-03-31:</b> Jamey Stegmaier of Stonemaier games <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bha7SW3AWkI">vlogged about this</a>. He also released his roll and write called <a href="https://stonemaiergames.com/games/rolling-realms/">Rolling Realms for free on his website</a>.<br />
<b>2020-03-31:</b> <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/03/board-games-video-chat-codenames.html">Slate wrote about remote board games</a> -- in particular Codenames. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It was a lone voice in the middle of the ocean, but it was heard at great depth and great distance.
<br />
―
<span class="authorOrTitle">
Gabriel García Márquez,
</span>
<span id="quote_book_link_9712">
<a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3285349">Love in the Time of Cholera</a> </span></blockquote>
---<br />
<h4>
<b>Updates: </b></h4>
<b>2020-04-02:</b> I created a <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/9987">blog on BGG</a> and posted this yesterday. This lead to some useful <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/102572/games-time-corona#comments">comments</a> that I have added here and there. (Thanks <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/user/qwertymartin">qwertymartin</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/user/Toriel">Toriel</a>, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/user/SergiSan">SergiSan</a>.)<br /><b>
2020-04-26:</b> Useful Reddit post on TTS recommendations: <a href="https://reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/g8ciso/list_of_my_recommended_tabletop_simulator_games/">https://reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/g8ciso/list_of_my_recommended_tabletop_simulator_games/</a><div><b>2020-05-07</b>: I added a link to a grid generator I made for codenames -- <a href="https://ervik.hopto.org/codegrid/?seed=fromBlogger">https://ervik.hopto.org/codegrid/?seed=fromBlogger</a></div><div><b>2020-09-03</b>: Some Evan has made a useful graphics with info on this: <a href="https://twitter.com/ellalovesbg/status/1259674518164889600/photo/1">https://twitter.com/ellalovesbg/status/1259674518164889600/photo/1</a> (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NO-05LM-SakbwqNajBXgIO4HuCSkBd6n/view?fbclid=IwAR0f-SXcRh_HmuIN0KYvc6Pamyi3wwplQgZKvTPU-cH3dz7RLVBBf7lLJuE" target="_blank">PDF</a> -- thanks <a href="https://twitter.com/ellalovesbg">EllaLovesBoardgames</a>.)</div>Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-42873211529145576002020-02-08T19:24:00.004+01:002021-02-04T17:47:23.687+01:00The 9 best(ish) games discovered in 20192019 was a good year boardgamewise. I played 97… things… for the first time according to BG Stats (some of them are not (even) on BoardGameGeek(!)). 9 of them are expansions, so 88 new games, then. It was difficult to cull this list down to a top 9, but here goes.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8PWz24o0vb/"><img alt="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8PWz24o0vb/" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBOEtGn33fz8mJWsFwASFYnFSmfUWTpesRkq9f0wve2Sh28Z0rZsnhvrrfDrduZKTwVs1dizWFWamTSF4v6kfDbGNj-676sXdKYcIiNiDyZLhJfc4to2QdnvY-AgokqJ3E1b1ex8k1SsA/s320/AE0A5417-4529-4417-8D34-60E876F88E58.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
(As usual this is not really my favourite nine games, but rather a kind
of optimal games library of games I played in 2019. Horses for courses.) <br />
<h2 id="filler-games">
Filler games</h2>
9 of the 88 above-mentioned games were “roll and writes”/”flip and writes”/”random writes”, or what you might want to call them. Both of the games I ended up with as favourite filler games are.<br />
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First one out is the great little <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/263918">Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale</a>. This has you discovering lands for a particularly picky queen, or something. The theme is as good a fit as it gets in the genre. What I particularly like in this game is the variable scoring goals and the Isle of Skye inspired way they come into play. You constantly have to balance the current goal with the ones on the horizon. Also, like in the Penny Papers series, here be monsters that other players will draw on your map. (Unless you play it as a solitaire.)<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8CUE2dotHc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2020-02-01T19:33:48+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Feb 1, 2020 at 11:33am PST</time></div>
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The last new game for me – on the year’s second last day – was <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283864">Trails of Tucana</a> – a fascinating take on the “flip and write” genre where you are… exploring jungles Ticket to Ride style by adding pieces of trail here and there on a map. The push your luck feeling of a roll and write is particularly strong with this one. Do you risk relying on getting more rare combinations of tiles or do you play it safe? (Like 2/3 of all the games on this list this one has an official solo mode, but I haven’t gotten to try it. Yet! (This game will hopefully find it’s way into my collection once it is back in stock here in France…))<br />
<h2 id="gateway-games">
Gateway games</h2>
My two picks for the Gateway games category have also not been added to the collection… yet. We have rented them a couple of time in my favourite board game rental place.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8Cl64aIndm/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2020-02-01T22:09:43+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Feb 1, 2020 at 2:09pm PST</time></div>
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<script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script> <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244521">The Quacks of Quedlinburg</a> is a super efficient push your luck bag builder from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/80162/wolfgang-warsch">Wolfgang Warsch</a> with a potion (explosion!) theme. Matt Lee(<a class="magiclink magiclink-github magiclink-mention" href="https://instagram.com/leesmatt" title="GitHub User: leesmatt">@leesmatt</a> from <a class="magiclink magiclink-github magiclink-mention" href="https://instagram.com/shut.up.and.sit.down" title="GitHub User: shut">@shut.up.and.sit.down</a>)’s comparison to Mario Kart is quite accurate, methinks. In a good way! It has a strong element of rubber-banding, is rather luck based and really wacky, but it is a great romp of a game that works for humans of ages 6 and up. Can’t wait to play again!<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8DyGEfoYLK/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2020-02-02T09:15:21+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Feb 2, 2020 at 1:15am PST</time></div>
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I rediscovered one of my old favourite designer Reiner Knizia with <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217372">The Quest for El Dorado</a>. This game was released in 2017, but I completely missed it at release – possibly due to some disappointing Knizia-experiences of late… But! his take on deckbuilding, combining it with a fairly classic race game, is brilliantly elegant.<br />
<h2 id="gateway-games_1">
Gateway+ games</h2>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8ESSTaIHee/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8ESSTaIHee/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2020-02-02T13:56:38+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Feb 2, 2020 at 5:56am PST</time></div>
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Ars Technica (<a class="magiclink magiclink-github magiclink-mention" href="https://instagram.com/arstechnica" title="GitHub User: arstechnica">@arstechnica</a>) called Wingspan a gateway-plus game and I think that is useful enough as a category to add it to my list… And <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266192">Wingspan</a> the logical “recipient” of my very first Gateway+ category… award. Before trying it for myself I was afraid that it couldn’t live up to the perfect storm of interwebb hypebuzz surrounding it. But, actually, it is really, really good. Not my favourite game in the whole wide world (That is, of course, Brass: Birmingham. (Yes, I’m one of those.) Currently.), but I really like it as a laid back tableau engine builder slash deep enough resource management game with a innovative theme(!) and beautiful artwork and components. Maybe my favourite Gateway+ game, though, come to think of it…<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8FLbfwoKoX/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2020-02-02T22:15:58+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Feb 2, 2020 at 2:15pm PST</time></div>
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The second “Gateway+” game I want to highlight is a Shem Phillips co-design. I discovered no less than three games from him in 2019. Two from the North Sea series – Explorers and Raiders, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236457">Architects of the West Kingdom</a> from his “current” series with S J Macdonald. All are really good for different settings, but the latter is my preferred one so far. It has some very fascinating twists on worker placement mechanics, turning it into something more like worker investment – the more workers you have in a spot you want to go, the more benefits you get from going there. Until someone thinks you are getting too powerful and arrests all of them. I also like the axis of evil/good that locks you out from some of the actions on the board depending on where you are on it. This leads to some very interesting choices. I’m looking forward to try new designs from Shem and co – and revisit Architects!<br />
<h2 id="solo-game">
Solo game</h2>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8HP-z_oUOr/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8HP-z_oUOr/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2020-02-03T17:34:13+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Feb 3, 2020 at 9:34am PST</time></div>
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<script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><a href="https://www.instagram.com/ianotooledesign">Ian O’Toole</a> is sailing (pun intended) up to be my favourite board game illustrator/artist, and his work on the new edition of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/187617">Nemo’s War</a>, my solo game discovery of the year, is really impressive. The gameplay itself is tense and sticks well enough to the theme of the Jules Verne classic. Lots of dice throwing and luck of the draw, but it works! I have only played the solitaire mode, but that seems to be the preferred player count. Certainly, for me, my preferred way experience this is with my son (who is a big fan of Jules Verne as well) as a co-pilot and strategy adviser… <br />
<h2 id="enthusiast-games">
Enthusiast games</h2>
My two favourite games of my favourite category of games this year, are older than all the others on this list...<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8KaTSHI4X1/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2020-02-04T23:02:07+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Feb 4, 2020 at 3:02pm PST</time></div>
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Back in March I cracked up and bought <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17133">Railways of the World</a> – some 14 years after it’s initial release. And wow!, what a game. What triggered this was actually the kickstarter campaign of Age of Steam. I’ve always wanted to try this classic, and the revised artwork from no other than Ian O’Toole made it very tempting… Reading about it, though, I realised that I wanted to start with something more forgiving, something lighter (so that I could play this with my kids (sooner)), and with a more manageable play-time (because, well, evenings are short here in France). I investigated Steam as well, but pulled the trigger on the 10th Anniversary edition of RotW. The game shot straight into my top 9 of all time at the time (the second Martin Wallace (co-)design on the list). It’s one of those games that despite a simple rule set the decision space is vast and open…<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B8MuZ9VIjil/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2020-02-05T20:36:17+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Feb 5, 2020 at 12:36pm PST</time></div>
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<script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script> <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/84876">The Castles of Burgundy</a>! <span color="rgba(38 , 38 , 38 , 1)" style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: inherit; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">My favourite discovery of 2019 was a game from 2011! It's one of those games that has been on my radar almost since release, and then, when the excellent appification released in February, my... yearning... was reignited. I held out for the Alea-anniversery edition with all the mini extensions and updated(?) artwork... I don't regret that, as I have been enjoying adding little by little the various new stuff to the game. Even the solo-mode has been entertaining. The graphical design of game itself is more ergonomic than the old version, methinks, so I don't mind the dark and oversaturated look... (I do think they overcompensated ever so slightly...) </span><br />
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Also, for reference here's <a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-9-ish-best-board-games-of-2018.html">my list from 2018</a>.</div>
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<h2 id="honorable-mentions-sorted-alphabetically">
Honorable mentions (sorted alphabetically)</h2>
<ul>
<li>Altiplano – Orleans reimagined. Bagbuilding. Is coffee unbalanced? Played only once.</li>
<li>Circle the Wagons – Tile laying wallet-game with a lot of variety in winning conditions. Interesting draft mechanics.</li>
<li>Clank! – Finally got to play this modern classic. Deck-builder with a board.</li>
<li>Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Real-time cooperative Indiana Jones themed exploration dice chucker.</li>
<li>Explorers of the North Sea – Could be called “My First Shem Phillips Game”. Viking themed fairly light pick up and deliver exploration game.</li>
<li>Fantasy Realms – A 3 to 6 players game – that might be best for 2 players – of combos upon combos.</li>
<li>Farben – Colour association/memory game. Maybe my favourite “party game” discovery of the year.</li>
<li>FUSE (Mission pas possible) – Another fun real-time coop game with dice, lots of dice.</li>
<li>Gaia Project – Terra Mystica 2.0 in space. Played only once, but already I can see how this does indeed improve the classic albeit making it slightly less accessible…</li>
<li>Hanamikoji – I cut, you chose card duel. With geishas. And scoring mechanics borrowed from Knizia’s good old Schotten-Totten.</li>
<li>Irish Gauge – Streamlined bare-boned <i>almost</i> 18XX with stocks and tracklaying and great artwork from Ian O’Toole.</li>
<li>It’s a Wonderful World – Straightforward drafting game with an interesting mechanism around the order of resource production that can lead to “Ganz Schön Clever”-moments of chaining bonuses. I also like the fact that there are many incentives to draft a card – no matter what strategies you choose, so “hate drafting” is often a more viable option than in similar games…</li>
<li>Minecraft: Builders and Biomes – Great implementation of Minecraft as a (light) Euro game.</li>
<li>Mini Rails – Another streamlined <i>almost</i> 18XX with stocks and tracklaying. A gateway filler with a bit of meat.</li>
<li>Pairs – More a deck of cards with lots of potential… Favorite rule-set so far is “The Judge”.</li>
<li>Patchwork Doodle – Roll and write implementation of Patchwork for (infinitively) more than 2 players.</li>
<li>Piraten Kapern (Mille Sabords) – Pirate themed “roll the dice as long as you dare” with varied conditions each turn.</li>
<li>Railroad Ink – Roll and write of building a network with rails and roads.</li>
<li>Sagrada – Abstract, but beautiful, puzzly dice drafting game.</li>
<li>Sprawlopolis – A collaborative tile-laying wallet-game of city building with the same winning condition variations as “Circle the Wagons”.</li>
<li>Terramara – Worker placement game with a fascinating “send your workers to the future for better spots but loose them for a some rounds” mechanics. Played only once, but with more plays this might have gotten into the top 9, methinks…</li>
<li>The Voyages of Marco Polo – A classic medium heavy Euro. The player powers seems rather unbalanced, but I have only played it once…</li>
<li>Tussie Mussie – I cut, you chose inspired wallet game from <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/111338/elizabeth-hargrave">Elizabeth Hargrave</a> of Wingspan fame.</li>
<li>Villagers – Draft refugees, put them to work in chains. Not those kinds. Production chains. Profit.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="the-games-i-look-forward-to-play-the-most-in-2020">
The games I look forward to play the most in 2020</h2>
<ul>
<li>On Mars – Kickstarted it so it should be on it’s way. (Spoiler alert: it has arrived! After half a solo run it is too early to tell, but it is as fascinating as the rulebook and preview videos made it seem…)</li>
<li>(Evolution) Oceans – Kickstarted it so it should be on it’s way.</li>
<li>Calico – Supposed to arrive towards the end of the year…</li>
<li>Maracaibo - Pfister’s latest seems to be a mix of things I like from Mombasa, Great Western Trail and Oh My Goods, so this will be interesting to try…</li>
<li>Cooper Island - ode.</li>
<li>Cities Skylines – I love city-building games – and the video game that this is based on, and the fact that this one is coop intrigues me. Also, Rahdo put it on his top 10 games of 2019.</li>
<li>Isle of Cats – Rahdo put this game on my radar. A “heavier” tetronomino puzzler – with cats!</li>
<li>Paladins of the West Kingdom – This seems one step up in… meatiness… from Architects in the same series so/and it seems really promising, but is it too much of a multiplayer solitaire? (Can there be such a thing?) (Spoiler alert: I tried it and it was great!)</li>
<li>Crystal Palace – This year’s Diamant d’Or winner (Ahead of “On Mars”…)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="from-earlier-years">
From earlier years:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Ex-Libris</li>
<li>Spirit Island</li>
<li>Blackout</li>
<li>Underwater Cities</li>
<li>Gugong</li>
<li>Teotihuacan</li>
<li>Bios: Origins – Currently on my shelf of shame/opportunity…</li>
<li>The Gallerist – On it’s way along with On Mars… (Spoiler alert: it has arrived!)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="all-new-games-played-2019">
All new games played 2019</h2>
<table style="width: 100%;">
<colgroup>
<col span="1" style="width: 52%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
</colgroup>
<thead>
<tr>
<th style="text-align: left;">Name</th>
<th>Year</th>
<th>Rank</th>
<th>Rating (avg)</th>
<th>Weight</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/234487">Altiplano</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>277</td>
<td>7.55838</td>
<td>3.3391</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236457">Architects of the West Kingdom</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>80</td>
<td>7.86344</td>
<td>2.756</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168609">Artifacts Inc.</a></td>
<td>2014</td>
<td>1171</td>
<td>6.8383</td>
<td>2.17</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10547">Betrayal at House on the Hill</a></td>
<td>2004</td>
<td>486</td>
<td>7.0717</td>
<td>2.3753</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171499">Cacao</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>533</td>
<td>7.11936</td>
<td>1.816</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156599">Caffeine Rush</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>16986</td>
<td>4.95873</td>
<td>1.6667</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/263918">Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>506</td>
<td>7.68741</td>
<td>1.9538</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/213266">Circle the Wagons</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>1429</td>
<td>7.22675</td>
<td>1.7419</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/201808">Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>58</td>
<td>7.80761</td>
<td>2.2079</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2604">Compatibility</a></td>
<td>1996</td>
<td>2759</td>
<td>6.49396</td>
<td>1.1194</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/157083">Dragon Valley</a></td>
<td>2014</td>
<td>15792</td>
<td>5.40793</td>
<td>1.1667</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232980">Dream On!</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>5091</td>
<td>6.74459</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113294">Escape: The Curse of the Temple</a></td>
<td>2012</td>
<td>495</td>
<td>7.013</td>
<td>1.484</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176371">Explorers of the North Sea</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>1022</td>
<td>7.36927</td>
<td>2.2364</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171273">FUSE</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>612</td>
<td>7.0828</td>
<td>1.6881</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223040">Fantasy Realms</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>666</td>
<td>7.35855</td>
<td>1.7679</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/259005">Farben</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>8451</td>
<td>6.608</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233020">Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>990</td>
<td>7.0628</td>
<td>1.5185</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/292707">Fjordar</a></td>
<td>2021</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.538</td>
<td>3.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/65244">Forbidden Island</a></td>
<td>2010</td>
<td>670</td>
<td>6.80724</td>
<td>1.7398</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/197097">Four Against Darkness</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>1920</td>
<td>7.62121</td>
<td>2.2667</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/220308">Gaia Project</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>8.50476</td>
<td>4.3093</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/248005">Ganymede</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>1950</td>
<td>7.31901</td>
<td>2.2973</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15617">Gnav</a></td>
<td>1600</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>5.05556</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/254088">Gravity Superstar</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>4001</td>
<td>6.90575</td>
<td>1.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158600">Hanamikoji</a></td>
<td>2013</td>
<td>214</td>
<td>7.55457</td>
<td>1.7178</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/207336">Honshū</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>807</td>
<td>7.01854</td>
<td>1.9524</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/134253">Hostage Negotiator</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>937</td>
<td>6.97602</td>
<td>1.9925</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161882">Irish Gauge</a></td>
<td>2014</td>
<td>1523</td>
<td>7.36505</td>
<td>2.3824</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/271324">It’s a Wonderful World</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>956</td>
<td>7.86184</td>
<td>2.2051</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/129736">Kakerlakenpoker Royal</a></td>
<td>2012</td>
<td>1236</td>
<td>7.01883</td>
<td>1.1304</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/200147">Kanagawa</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>590</td>
<td>7.12839</td>
<td>2.0565</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/235465">Karuba: The Card Game</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>3956</td>
<td>6.45052</td>
<td>1.3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/281960">Kingdomino Duel</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2889</td>
<td>7.11181</td>
<td>1.75</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/272692">Medieval Pong</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>11225</td>
<td>7.1129</td>
<td>0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/269603">Minecraft: Builders & Biomes</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>4213</td>
<td>7.21047</td>
<td>1.9091</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/225818">Mini Rails</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>1710</td>
<td>6.98015</td>
<td>2.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175199">Mottainai</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>844</td>
<td>7.04409</td>
<td>3.0652</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/269145">Mū</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>11806</td>
<td>5.98538</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/206084">Nautilion</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>1697</td>
<td>7.28787</td>
<td>1.913</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167355">Nemesis</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>43</td>
<td>8.49712</td>
<td>3.3057</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/187617">Nemo’s War (Second Edition)</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>334</td>
<td>8.03606</td>
<td>3.0268</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180937">Nut Job</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>5656</td>
<td>6.79257</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224821">One Deck Dungeon: Forest of Shadows</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>1153</td>
<td>7.30699</td>
<td>2.3667</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/152237">Pairs</a></td>
<td>2014</td>
<td>2303</td>
<td>6.3848</td>
<td>1.1505</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/264239">Patchwork Doodle</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2991</td>
<td>6.63122</td>
<td>1.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/242569">Penny Papers Adventures: The Valley of Wiraqocha</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>4293</td>
<td>6.61668</td>
<td>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/117663">Piraten kapern</a></td>
<td>2012</td>
<td>3199</td>
<td>6.45138</td>
<td>1.0862</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/240108">Pocket Sub</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>11529</td>
<td>5.96157</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/170042">Raiders of the North Sea</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>85</td>
<td>7.80445</td>
<td>2.5207</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/245654">Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>536</td>
<td>7.31297</td>
<td>1.5128</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17133">Railways of the World</a></td>
<td>2005</td>
<td>112</td>
<td>7.68925</td>
<td>3.024</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/177639">Raptor</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>336</td>
<td>7.37481</td>
<td>2.0566</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42452">Rattus</a></td>
<td>2010</td>
<td>924</td>
<td>6.80641</td>
<td>2.0603</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/262712">Res Arcana</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>253</td>
<td>7.79745</td>
<td>2.6493</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/237182">Root</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>39</td>
<td>8.06144</td>
<td>3.5845</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199561">Sagrada</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>141</td>
<td>7.5457</td>
<td>1.9101</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/80933">Sandwich</a></td>
<td>2010</td>
<td>6315</td>
<td>6.27401</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/194655">Santorini</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>120</td>
<td>7.57142</td>
<td>1.7355</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244330">Scarabya</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>2831</td>
<td>6.67532</td>
<td>1.375</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192237">Specific</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>14829</td>
<td>5.75641</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/251658">Sprawlopolis</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>770</td>
<td>7.48701</td>
<td>1.7818</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182631">Star Realms: Colony Wars</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>159</td>
<td>7.88317</td>
<td>1.9221</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182704">SteamRollers</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>1983</td>
<td>6.84694</td>
<td>2.1579</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/272427">Terramara</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2246</td>
<td>7.47959</td>
<td>3.5517</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/84876">The Castles of Burgundy</a></td>
<td>2011</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>8.12749</td>
<td>3.0019</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244521">The Quacks of Quedlinburg</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>101</td>
<td>7.75699</td>
<td>1.982</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217372">The Quest for El Dorado</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>207</td>
<td>7.56766</td>
<td>1.967</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171623">The Voyages of Marco Polo</a></td>
<td>2015</td>
<td>45</td>
<td>7.92482</td>
<td>3.1962</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236217">Timebomb</a></td>
<td>2016</td>
<td>2176</td>
<td>7.16839</td>
<td>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283864">Trails of Tucana</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>2977</td>
<td>7.4123</td>
<td>1.3846</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/257614">Tussie Mussie</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>2103</td>
<td>7.18752</td>
<td>1.1071</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/269210">Twice As Clever</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>502</td>
<td>7.55714</td>
<td>2.3333</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128063">Uchronia</a></td>
<td>2012</td>
<td>2537</td>
<td>6.50462</td>
<td>2.7162</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/245352">Unlock! A Noside Story</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>1882</td>
<td>7.17309</td>
<td>2.4545</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/229632">Unlock! Fifth Avenue</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>3232</td>
<td>6.92944</td>
<td>1.625</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216092">Unlock! Squeek & Sausage</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>840</td>
<td>7.25066</td>
<td>2.2105</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230303">Unlock! The House on the Hill</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>1264</td>
<td>7.11037</td>
<td>1.9286</td>
</tr>
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<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230304">Unlock! The Nautilus’ Traps</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>3896</td>
<td>5.98335</td>
<td>2.8</td>
</tr>
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<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/245353">Unlock! Tombstone Express</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>2320</td>
<td>6.8492</td>
<td>2.2</td>
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<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/269526">Valley of the Vikings</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>5151</td>
<td>6.7136</td>
<td>1.3</td>
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<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/241724">Villagers</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>737</td>
<td>7.49264</td>
<td>2.2742</td>
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<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232405">Western Legends</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>288</td>
<td>7.70046</td>
<td>2.7155</td>
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<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266192">Wingspan</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>27</td>
<td>8.105</td>
<td>2.3742</td>
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</tbody>
</table>
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Expansions</h3>
<table style="width: 100%;">
<colgroup>
<col span="1" style="width: 52%;" />
<col span="1" style="width: 12%;" />
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<thead>
<tr>
<th style="text-align: left;">Name</th>
<th>Rear</th>
<th>Rank</th>
<th>Rating (avg)</th>
<th>Weight</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/247315">7 Wonders: Armada</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.12675</td>
<td>2.7368</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/227514">Explorers of the North Sea: Rocks of Ruin</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>7.85958</td>
<td>2.6667</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/249301">Raiders of the North Sea: Solo Variant</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.23375</td>
<td>2.3333</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30450">Railways of Europe</a></td>
<td>2008</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.09576</td>
<td>2.9434</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/166707">Star Realms: Crisis – Events</a></td>
<td>2014</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>7.12103</td>
<td>1.9149</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183660">The 7th Continent: The Icy Maze</a></td>
<td>2017</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.37284</td>
<td>2.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/264104">The Castles of Burgundy: 10th Expansion – Solo</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.12293</td>
<td>3.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/248929">Viticulture: Visit from the Rhine Valley</a></td>
<td>2018</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.28023</td>
<td>2.9091</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/290448">Wingspan: European Expansion</a></td>
<td>2019</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>8.56351</td>
<td>2.2105</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
BTW, the code I used to generate these stats (and more) is on my <a href="https://github.com/mortenjohs/BGG">github account</a>. (A huge thanks to the creators of the <a href="https://pypi.org/project/boardgamegeek2/">boardgamegeek2 python module</a> that I leverage extensively.)Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-83362300545063562492019-04-22T14:59:00.001+02:002020-06-26T21:30:03.395+02:00The 9-ish Best Board Games of 2018<h3filler games="" h3="">
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April! And here's finally my post of favourite games discovered in 2018 -- a post that I had almost finished in early January... Here goes.</div>
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<h3>
Filler games</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrwgBOg38C4B-4OOHVecXwYEoTsVaS-qggCXN6WJpNnEJ0XZM4ElYzDIrguY6sKcuuafize3WTbLQlEqzNuoNmlp45bv4iMiLJvodg1Ah4l4UJjvx1Uz-GJqz9ek5JTdPr5dlJxHs6VQ/s1600/qwinto-unedited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="666" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrwgBOg38C4B-4OOHVecXwYEoTsVaS-qggCXN6WJpNnEJ0XZM4ElYzDIrguY6sKcuuafize3WTbLQlEqzNuoNmlp45bv4iMiLJvodg1Ah4l4UJjvx1Uz-GJqz9ek5JTdPr5dlJxHs6VQ/s320/qwinto-unedited.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Fittingly, since 2018 saw a revival of roll-and-write games, first out on this list is <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183006">Qwinto</a>. This is, obviously, inspired by Qwixx, as you are once again sorting numbers from small to big-ish, however it is filled with even more interesting choices, from how many dice you throw, and where to write the resulting numbers.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanism: The choice of number of dice and their colours, and subsequent result distributions, and how it impacts where you can place the results...</i><br />
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Next filler up is an ultra-swingy push your luck card game: <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/191300">Archaeology: The New Expedition</a> from Phil Walker-Harding. I had been looking forward to play this game since reading the excellent <a href="https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/review-archaeology-new-expedition/" target="_blank">Shut Up & Sit Down review</a> back in early 2016, but it has been impossible to get hold of (without paying extortion prices). Luckily Z-Man reprinted it. It is super light, but always tense and great fun.</div>
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<i>Favourite mechanism: The push your luck trio of set collection, collection-wiping sandstorms, and one-use tents...</i></div>
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Party game </h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikHbYdOyuCQYjqY47qKK5fh1t8Bw654ZhJgCB_0ln7Tkn0g_HedG_OAmNAJkaul4W0LoHP_L_ffzn39wYZ16yzRwbusrk4pCiwGZZiFSWreNskvksvNCNfHWoTLxu5Bn48GW4o83VEhW4/s1600/mind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="666" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikHbYdOyuCQYjqY47qKK5fh1t8Bw654ZhJgCB_0ln7Tkn0g_HedG_OAmNAJkaul4W0LoHP_L_ffzn39wYZ16yzRwbusrk4pCiwGZZiFSWreNskvksvNCNfHWoTLxu5Bn48GW4o83VEhW4/s320/mind.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244992">The Mind</a>, oh, The Mind. Is it a game? An activity? It's always great to introduce this to new groups. I played it first <a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2016/07/6-nimmt-ultimate-travel-game-components.html" target="_blank">using cards from 6 nimmt!</a> when it was surprise nominated to Spiel des Jahres back in the day. I got m own deck when it was released in France, and has since become my most gifted game...<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanism: Time as in-game resource. (And not in the same way as the great Patchwork does it...)</i></div>
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Gateway games </h3>
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Stepping up to a bit more involved games, we have two more roll and writes. Even though the first one out, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233867">Welcome to...</a>, is without dice! (It was clearly initially developed as a dice game, using two dice for numbers and two dice for colour, but this has been mapped to cards instead...) Like Qwinto we are once again tasked to organise numbers in three rows of varying length, however this time around there is a wafer-thin theme of suburbia-planning, and thematically fitting actions, added to the mix. (At least this makes the rules teach somewhat easier.)<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanism: The ability to peak into the future at the upcoming type of cards, but not the actual numbers...</i><br />
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<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244522">Ganz schon clever</a>, the second game from designer Wolfgang Warsch on this list, takes us back on more familiar ground for roll and writes -- the complete abstract. Six dice of different colours all with different way of scoring, and you get to chose three per round, is the core mechanics here.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanism: The endorphine inducing chaining of bonus actions.</i></div>
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Solo game </h3>
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My favourite solo game discovery, and subsequently my most played game, in 2018 was <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179275">One Deck Dungeon</a>. A great streamlined tiny-box dice-chucking dungeon-crawler. My favourite way to play this is to team up with my son and play one hero -- discussing our various options of play.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanism: Multi-use cards as spoils of victories. I love how you have to chose between getting new equipment (new dice!), new actions, or experience points that can be used to level up. You need all of it to toughen up before the end of dungeon boss, but can only chose one...</i></div>
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Enthusiast games </h3>
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The first heavyish Euro game I played in 2018 was a game I first came across in Essen Spiel 2013, and was intrigued by the Art Nouveau graphics, but never got around playing, namely <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144592">Bruxelles 1893</a>. That did not disappoint. A great economic worker placement game of architecture and resource management.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanism: The way you chose what districts are available each round and the resulting varying "market value" of the more central ones, is probably my favourite.</i></div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhjYsF6h5vr/" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCyJmSFb9g3YXhuFaYQeJ6IeJ4EFimVka31fWmC92Z8cLXaJQCBk-w_hMjlFW0ug44sy1Xy9S2lfRiId9xzy8JZrQQ1F5UcYBzptYDLHh6D5gMcrAetZ5rCwI1uAlw3JRhASyi9GH2XU/s320/7th.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180263">The 7th Continent</a> is the first kickstarter on this list, and second best game I played in 2018, methinks. It is <i>also</i> the game I played the most -- in number of hours. This is another game, like One Deck Dungeon above, that I have played with my son, teaming up to play two explorers. We are not very good at sticking to the quest at hand, though, so we have mainly just explored the island, and never even finished the first of the quests provided with the base game. With the freely available soundtrack to match each "area type" it has been a great, great experience...<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanism: The way cards function as a counter for energy, and that you have the choice upfront when choosing to engage with an event how many cards to use to boost the outcome.</i></div>
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And this brings us to my favourite new game(s) of the year: <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224517">Brass: Birmingham</a> and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/28720">Brass: Lancashire</a>. Prior to 2018 I had only played the iPad version of Lancashire, and I was sufficiently intrigued by that, and the hype surrounding the kickstarter campaign for the new edition, to jump into it with both feet -- backing both Birmingham and Lancashire. Both are amazing games, but if I had to chose one, I think I would go for Birmingham. I like the variable setup and the more varied industries. And beer. (Also, to me, the foreign marked in Lancashire is maybe the least strong design element, so I understand why it was cut.) For now both games fit into my collection...<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanism: There are so many fascinating mechanisms at play here, from turn order selection, to the choice between building and development to upgrade your buildings, but my favourite is probably the obsolescence of your infrastructure and low level buildings after the first age of the game. </i></div>
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<h3>
The games I look forward to the most in 2019</h3>
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<ul style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9585">Blackout</a> from one of my all time favourite designers, Alexander Pfister, was released at Essen last year, but I still haven't gotten around playing it...</li>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/247763">Underwater Cities</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/250458">Gugong</a>, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/262934">Teotihuacan</a> are all games that also were released at Essen and has gotten lots of buzz and nominations since. (The latter is even by half of the designers behind the amazing Tzolkin'...) </li>
<li>I backed <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/134068">Bios: Origins</a>, the third and final part of Eklund's Bios-series, on Kickstarter a while back and that should arrive sometime this year...</li>
<li>In January I read Crichton's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Teeth" target="_blank">Dragon Teeth</a> while playing Red Dead Redemption 2, so I'm curious to see how <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232405">Western Legends</a> has captured this period...</li>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4098">Age of Steam</a> seems to be deluxified and rereleased with the help of a Kickstarter campaign early 2019. Ian O'Tool from Lisboa fame has posted some promising artwork, and after the amazing Brass remake, this might be the time for me to try out this classic beast... (And/or maybe only/even AoS's simplified/streamlined siblings <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/27833/steam" target="_blank">Steam</a> and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17133/railways-world" target="_blank">Railways of the World</a>...)</li>
<li>I mentioned looking forward to <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232414/oceans" target="_blank">Evolution Oceans</a> on last year's list and that has finally reached <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/northstargames/oceans-a-standalone-game-in-the-evolution-series" target="_blank">kickstarter</a> stage. (Spoiler alert: I have backed it...)</li>
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Also, for reference here's <a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-9-ish-best-board-games-of-2017.html" target="_blank">my list from 2017</a>.</div>
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(Photos from my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/do_meeples_dream/" target="_blank">@do_meeples_dream</a> Instagram account.)</div>
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<h3>
(Almost) all games I played for the first time in 2018</h3>
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66 games</h4>
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<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/194789">10 Minute Heist: The Wizard's Tower</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124847">1911 Amundsen vs Scott</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/245483">Affinity</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140934">Arboretum</a> *<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/191300">Archaeology: The New Expedition</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/83195">Bazar Bizarre</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224517">Brass: Birmingham</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/28720">Brass: Lancashire</a> *<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144592">Bruxelles 1893</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/184921">Bunny Kingdom</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217547">Can't Stop Express</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17027">Canardage</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/241034">CAPcolor</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/228504">Cat Lady</a> *<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33088">Chabyrinthe</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/197376">Charterstone</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125758">Chop! Chop!</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/240465">CIV: Carta Impera Victoria</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/245476">CuBirds</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183571">Deep Space D-6</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/39080">Dino Park</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17580">Fais ta valise</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/231664">Fast Forward: FEAR</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13490">Five Balloons</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/229085">Forest</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244522">Ganz schon clever</a> *<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/198994">Hero Realms: Jeu de Deckbuilding</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233312">Histoires de Peluches</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169075">Imperial Settlers: Why Can't We Be Friends</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193042">Junk Art</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/241164">Jurassic Snack</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/241491">Kikafe</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176816">Le Petit Prince: Voyage vers les etoiles</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/237212">Les Gratounets</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209778">Magic Maze</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/242740">Magic Maze Kids</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/239082">MAUW</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172358">Maitre Renard</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193214">Meeple Circus</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230251">Mint Delivery</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/200077">Mint Works</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172931">Nom d'un renard</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179275">One Deck Dungeon</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26121">Palm Island</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230968">Panic Island!</a> *<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/241025">Penny Papers Adventures: Skull Island</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230358">Penny Papers Adventures: The Temple of Apikhabou</a> *<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/206938">Perlatette</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20301">Planetarium</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2165">Pokemon Trading Card Game</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193265">Port Royal: Unterwegs!</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13745">Puluc</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183006">Qwinto</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/218333">Rhino Hero: Super Battle</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/188834">Secret Hitler</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/253861">Skull</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150145">Skull King</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/231045">Speed Colors</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2078">Strike</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180263">The 7th Continent</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199269">The Lost Expedition</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/114143">The Mind</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/235655">Tresor de glace</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/234621">Tybor der Baumeister</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216091">Unlock! The Formula</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/195043">Welcome Back to the Dungeon</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/233867">Welcome to...</a></div>
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<h4 style="background-color: white; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">
And 5 expansions</h4>
<h3>
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<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/145325">Dixit: Origins</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/245744">Great Western Trail: Ruee vers le nord</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/219265">Port Royal: The Adventure Begins...</a> *<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/247030">Terraforming Mars: Prelude</a></div>
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Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-16938072536088009022018-02-21T21:48:00.000+01:002018-03-14T12:04:57.077+01:00The 9-ish Best Board Games of 2017This year, like the last year, I want to highlight 9 games out of the 56 that was "new-to-me-but-not-necessarily-new-to-the-world". Again, like last year, from feather light games, to less light games.<br />
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Voila, here we go:<br />
<h3>
Filler games</h3>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/do_meeples_dream/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Of Cardboard Sheep</a> (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2017-07-21T20:53:41+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jul 21, 2017 at 1:53pm PDT</time></div>
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/205597/jump-drive">Jump Drive</a> is Tom Lehmann's re-theme of his own filler called <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/103649/city" target="_blank">The City</a> -- bringing the game into the Race/Roll for the Galaxy universe. And it works great.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanic: Quite possibly simplest possible implementation of multi-use cards...</i><br />
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/195314/herbaceous">Herbaceous</a> by Steve Finn is another game that borrows heavily on one of the designer's earlier games, as it is kind of a zen <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34219/biblios" target="_blank">Biblios</a> lite -- with beautiful artwork from Beth Sobel (<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183394/viticulture-essential-edition" target="_blank">Viticulture</a>, <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168435/between-two-cities" target="_blank">Between Two Cities</a>, ...).<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanic: Card drafting ala Biblios.</i><br />
<h3>
Party game </h3>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BdJcfvLF0Hk/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Frode Brændø (@houseofcardboards)</a> on <time datetime="2017-12-26T01:48:50+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 25, 2017 at 5:48pm PST</time></div>
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I discovered Faidutti and Lang's <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/200847/secrets">Secrets</a> in Essen Spieltage 2017. Normally I'm not a <i>huge</i> fan of hidden identity games, but this one is the best one since last year's Burke's Gambitt. More chaotic, less tense.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanic: chaos-inducing side-flipping.</i><br />
<h3>
Gateway games </h3>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/do_meeples_dream/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Of Cardboard Sheep</a> (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2017-11-18T20:27:21+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Nov 18, 2017 at 12:27pm PST</time></div>
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/231665/fast-forward-fortress">Fortress</a> is part of the Fast Forward series of Friedemann Friese. In his Fabled universe. This one seems to be the best received of the first three, all released this year. It was great fun discovering this game. And by discovering, I really mean discovering. No rules are communicated before it starts -- just some words on player count and advice on player age. I thought this might be a good way to get rules-o-phobic people to play the table, but, alas, no. Rules popped up along the way and had to be read through and interpreted. (Instead of me having pre-digested them...) With my son we ended up playing through the whole game in a couple of sittings -- about 14 rounds, methinks.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanics: well, this is secret, not to spoil anything for others...</i><br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BZGWoe0gxf6/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream)</a> on <time datetime="2017-09-16T10:54:18+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Sep 16, 2017 at 3:54am PDT</time></div>
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180040/villages-valeria">Villages of Valeria</a> is a resource management tableau builder with a fascinating twist to the economy. You see, you can use other player's production facilities by paying them from your (very limited) supply of gold coins. This results in this both the fact that you lose the coin (as opposed to you getting it back next turn if you were to use your own facility), the other player gains one coin, but also, interestingly this facility is now locked until their next turn -- so they can't use it while "following" the actions of others.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanics: the economy with the resource blocking.</i><br />
<h3>
Solo game </h3>
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This has been a good year for this category. I've played solo variants of seven of these nine games on the list. (For two of them -- Jump Drive and Great Western Trail, admittedly, unofficial ones.) Only Secrets and Fortress would be difficult to play all by yourself...</div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/do_meeples_dream/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Of Cardboard Sheep</a> (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2017-11-30T22:16:56+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Nov 30, 2017 at 2:16pm PST</time></div>
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/209323/oh-my-goods-longsdale-revolt">Oh My Goods: Longsdale in Revolt</a> is the first story expansion for, the possibly worst named game of all time -- <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183840/oh-my-goods" target="_blank">Oh My Goods</a> from the great Alexander Pfister. The solitaire variant is really tense as the push your luck element of the planning between the two draws works great even alone.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanics: the push your luck element of worker placement and resource availability.</i><br />
<h3>
Enthusiast games </h3>
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Three games stand out from my 2017-discoveries in my favourite category of games. And, for now, it is impossible for me to say which one I prefer...</div>
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In his <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/223665/clans-caledonia-designer-diary" target="_blank">designer diary</a> Juma Al-JouJou lists some of the games and their mechanics that inspired him on his way to creating <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216132/clans-caledonia">Clans of Caledonia</a>. Games like Terra Mystica, Navegador, The Voyages of Marco Polo, Brass, etc. The sum of all this feels very tight. Like, well, clockwork.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanic: So many things, but quite possibly the very elegant, simple, and efficient implementation of price fluctuations comes out on top...</i><br />
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167791/terraforming-mars">Terraforming Mars</a> is a more theme laden game where you are in charge of making Mars (more) habitable for mankind. You do this in a kind of, sort of, semi-coop manner, while trying to grab as many points you can along the way. The game is clearly heavily inspired by, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/56446/designer-diary-terraforming-mars-or-life-mars-and" target="_blank">among other things</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy" target="_blank">Mars-trilogy</a> by Kim Stanley Robinson -- one of my favourite SciFi book series of all time.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanic: The way you activate awards (that you might end up not winning) and the race to claim achievements.</i><br />
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Don't let the possibly worst cover art on any board game ever in the history of board games fool you -- <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193738/great-western-trail">Great Western Trail</a> is another gem from Alexander Pfister. On paper it seems rather complicated and fiddly -- a mix of deck-building, worker-placement (with only one worker), point-to-point movement and tile laying, but the rules really click into place during play.<br />
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<i>Favourite mechanic: Choose your own speed through each cattle run.</i><br />
<h3>
Honorable mentions</h3>
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/221769/bios-megafauna-second-edition">Bios Megafauna (second edition)</a> by Phil Eklund is a huge game where you continue where last year's Bios Genesis ended -- the very beginning of the Phanerozoic eon. (There's even rules to play the games back to back.) It feels a bit more like an eurogame (especially the less random event prone tooth and claw variant) than the dice chucking "simulation" that was the predecessor. (Still, both are incredibly fascinating games.) One of the reasons for this just to get an honourable mention is that I still haven't found the time to get through a complete session of it...<br />
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Another, rather huge game I have, sadly, not been able to complete a game of, is the beautiful, beautiful, and very blue, <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161533/lisboa">Lisboa</a> from Vital Lacerda. I was introduced to it in Essen, by the designer himself, but that was an hour of anecdotes about Lisboa and explaining the historical context of the various rules and possibilities, rather than actual playing the game. Later I spent an evening with a friend slowly discovering the game, but only getting 3/4 or so through. I can sense the potential in it though, so I can't wait to get more acquainted with it.<br />
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146886/la-granja">La Granja</a> by Keller and Odendahl was released all the way back in 2014 and is a modern classic. A modern classic that i hadn't yet played. I did and it was great. It felt almost like a Feld game -- given the point salad cultivation. Also, I really liked the solo variant.<br />
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An even older modern classic that I hadn't played yet was the great <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144733/russian-railroads">Russian Railroads</a> from designers Helmut Ohley and Leonhard Orgler. A fascinating take on the worker placement genre. I'm looking forward to try their latest game -- First Class.<br />
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/214204/argh">Argh</a> -- A really quick and fun bluffing micro-game about deception and deduction. And animals.<br />
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<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199478/flamme-rouge">Flamme Rouge</a> is a simple, fun, and tense deck deconstruction/management bike race game. I love the way the theme meshes with the mechanics of a bike race -- drafting (the physical phenomenon, not the board game mechanic), fatigue, energy reserves, etc.<br />
<h3>
The games I look forward to the most in 2018</h3>
<ul>
<li>Both <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/28720/brass-lancashire">Brass: Lancashire</a> along with the new alternate version <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224517/brass-birmingham">Brass: Birmingham</a> from Martin Wallace are heading my way as kickstarter loot, if all goes well.</li>
<li>Ditto regarding <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180263/7th-continent">The 7th Continent</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232414/oceans-evolution-game">Evolution Oceans</a> is a stand alone version of one of my favourite discoveries of 2016 with more... oceans. (With art <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BR87Uo8Alv6/?taken-by=do_meeples_dream" target="_blank">same amazing artist</a> -- Catherine Hamilton.)</li>
<li>I got to try a prototype of <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/218804/imaginarium">Imaginarium</a> by Bruno Cathala and Florian Sirieix resulting in a great first impression. It should be released this weekend at FIJ in Cannes, if I remember correctly, so maybe I'll get to try it again soon...</li>
<li><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/201825/ex-libris" target="_blank">Ex Libris</a> (2017) -- A worker placement game about gnomes and books must be a hit.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/162886/spirit-island" target="_blank">Spirit Island</a> (2017) is another game with a fascinating theme -- somehow, collaboratively, chasing humans off an island.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/220308/gaia-project" target="_blank">Gaia Project</a> (2017) is "the other Terra Mystica" game of Essen 2017. Closer to the original than Clans of Caledonia. Terra Mystica is high on my list of favourite games of all time, so I can't wait to try this "version 2.0"...</li>
</ul>
<div>
Also, for reference, here's <a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.fr/2017/01/the-9-best-board-games-of-2016.html" target="_blank">my list from 2016</a>.<br />
<h3>
(Almost) all games I played for the first time in 2017</h3>
<h4>
56 games</h4>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/103343/game-thrones-board-game-second-edition">A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition)</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/202408/adrenaline">Adrenaline</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/237818/aquatico">Aquatico</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/214204/argh">ARGH</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230802/azul">Azul</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/191925/bandido">Bandido</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34219/biblios">Biblios</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/221769/bios-megafauna-second-edition">Bios: Megafauna (second edition)</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/219513/barenpark">Bärenpark</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/216132/clans-caledonia">Clans of Caledonia</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/229453/cv-pocket">CV Pocket</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223726/destination-x">Destination X</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125368/dino-hunt-dice">Dino Hunt Dice</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223151/entropy-worlds-collide">Entropy: Worlds Collide</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/201248/evolution-beginning">Evolution: The Beginning</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/231665/fast-forward-fortress">Fast Forward: FORTRESS</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236313/fightlings-card-game">Fightlings: The Card Game</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199478/flamme-rouge">Flamme Rouge</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217553/go-go-gelato">Go Go Gelato!</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193738/great-western-trail">Great Western Trail</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156138/happy-pigs">Happy Pigs</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/195314/herbaceous">Herbaceous</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/234105/hippo">Hippo</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/218804/imaginarium">Imaginarium</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102181/grove">In a Grove</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/206051/insider">Insider</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/205597/jump-drive">Jump Drive</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11195/karottenklau">Karottenklau</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146886/la-granja">La Granja</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/195528/la-granja-no-siesta">La Granja: No Siesta</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161533/lisboa">Lisboa</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224013/mini-park">Mini Park</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192638/multiuniversum">Multiuniversum</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/234396/muse">Muse</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/194879/not-alone">Not Alone</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/183840/oh-my-goods">Oh My Goods!</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156336/onirim-second-edition">Onirim (second edition)</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3737/operation">Operation</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/214491/paku-paku">Paku Paku</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223779/pocket-mars">Pocket Mars</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180974/potion-explosion">Potion Explosion</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/135116/rent-hero">Rent a Hero</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144733/russian-railroads">Russian Railroads</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/229543/sakura">Sakura</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169786/scythe">Scythe</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/200847/secrets">Secrets</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/234337/senators">Senators</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128671/spartacus-game-blood-treachery">Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171129/spinderella">Spinderella</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223770/startups">Startups</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/206156/superhot-card-game">SUPERHOT Card Game</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158130/tanto-cuore-oktoberfest">Tanto Cuore: Oktoberfest</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167791/terraforming-mars">Terraforming Mars</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232988/castles-burgundy-dice-game">The Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180040/villages-valeria">Villages of Valeria</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/190639/zany-penguins">Zany Penguins</a>
<br />
<h4>
And 4 expansions</h4>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/124693/game-thrones-board-game-second-edition-dance-drago">A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) – A Dance with Dragons</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/218127/terraforming-mars-hellas-elysium">Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/231965/terraforming-mars-venus-next">Terraforming Mars: Venus Next</a> *
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/209323/oh-my-goods-longsdale-revolt">Oh My Goods!: Longsdale in Revolt</a>
</div>
Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-29866812341583071772017-01-31T20:03:00.000+01:002017-02-01T08:54:08.038+01:00The 9 Best Board Games of 2016January is almost over, so it's time for my list of my favourite games I was introduced to last year. In total I played 58 games for the first time over the period. (16 of them was children games (I'll write another post on that later), so 42 games qualify as nominees.) As last year I go from light to... meatier... categories. But, this year, I have tried to select only 9 games. For simplicity. And it allows me to do this:<br />
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Off we go.<br />
<h3>
Filler games</h3>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BN1dIbUDF-Q/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Kingdomino worked quite well with a six years old. Slightly too complicated scoring, but interesting to build cute landscapes with monsters et co. #bgg #j2s #boardgames #kingdomino #brunocathala #juegodemesa #gamingwithkids #games #cyrilbouquet</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-12-10T11:38:40+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 10, 2016 at 3:38am PST</time></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/204583/kingdomino" target="_blank">Kingdomino</a></b> is one of Bruno Cathala's many new games of 2016. An excellent take on, well, domino. (Kind of.) This really clever 15 minutes filler is along with <b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169654/deep-sea-adventure" target="_blank">Deep Sea Adventure</a></b> my choices of the year for this category. I had the latter on the radar before Essen Spiel this year because of it's amazing minimalist artwork and simple push your luck gameplay. This lived up to expectations and is one of my most played games from the loot of 2016. It has a fairly claustrophobic theme, so I guess it is not for everyone...</div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLjJkyUD4UX/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Deep Sea Adventure by Oink games. Great push your luck undersea treasure hunt... simulator... #deepseaadventure #oinkgames #spiel16 #bgg</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-10-14T15:58:40+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Oct 14, 2016 at 8:58am PDT</time></div>
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<h3>
Party game</h3>
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<b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/198773/codenames-pictures" target="_blank">Codenames: Pictures</a></b>, however, probably is for everyone. This visually oriented game manages to improve the hit formula from 2015's word based Codenames. Since it is image based it works better (but not perfect) in settings where players don't have the same mother tongue...</div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BNgYFdADe7E/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Got to play some tense rounds of 6-player Codenames: Pictures yesterday. Most excellent. #codenamespictures #bgg #jeux #boardgames #boardgamegeek #infrench</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-12-02T07:10:32+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 1, 2016 at 11:10pm PST</time></div>
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<h3>
Gateway games</h3>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BL9nbLpj81D/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Restarting Fabled Fruit with another group of players. (Saved the previous game, obviously.) Fascinating stuff! #fabledfruit #2f #friedemannfriese #bgg #jeux #boardgames</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-10-24T22:39:45+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Oct 24, 2016 at 3:39pm PDT</time></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/203427/fabled-fruit" target="_blank">Fabled Fruit</a></b> and <b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182134/evolution-climate" target="_blank">Evolution: Climate</a></b> share this victory in this category. The former for its simplicity and elegant ever evolving game play trough Friese's take on the legacy game concept, and the latter for its simple rules and tons of variability with the ever evolving species "naturally selected" by the players.
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BM16HU6jewz/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Another session of the amazing Evolution Climate with @houseofcardboards and @abhoth_ . I really like how well theme and mechanics mesh in this game -- leading to some fascinating stories of survival, food, cannibalism, extinction etc #evolutionclimate #bgg #jeux #boardgames #kickstarter</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-11-15T19:20:32+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Nov 15, 2016 at 11:20am PST</time></div>
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<h3>
Solo game</h3>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BOmUOA7jO9K/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">A little Tiny Epic Galaxies for two. This is my favourite Tiny Epic game -- so far. The solitaire variant is also great fun! #bgg #tinyepicgalaxies #jeux #boardgames #j2s #spiel #game #scottalmes #gamelyngames #repost @mortenjohs</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-12-29T11:03:35+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 29, 2016 at 3:03am PST</time></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163967/tiny-epic-galaxies" target="_blank">Tiny Epic Galaxies</a></b> is by far the game I have played the most solitaire last year. It's great fun to try to beat the, rather large, selection of "AIs". Especially with my 6 year old as a sidekick.</div>
<h3>
Enthusiast games</h3>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BOjp4ZZDy_N/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Rolling for real tonight #rollforthegalaxy #bgg #jeux #dice #🎲 #j2s #boardgames #repost @mortenjohs</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-12-28T10:15:09+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 28, 2016 at 2:15am PST</time></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/132531/roll-galaxy" target="_blank">Roll for the Galaxy</a></b> is the game of the year in my favourite category.</div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLkwkidjp-t/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">The amazing Inis from last night #probablythebestgamethisyear #notjustbecauseiwon #spiel16 #inis #bgg</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-10-15T06:58:40+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Oct 14, 2016 at 11:58pm PDT</time></div>
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Ahead of the excellent <b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155821/inis" target="_blank">Inis</a></b>. </div>
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<b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/191977/castles-burgundy-card-game" target="_blank">The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game</a> </b>comes in as number 3. I haven't played the "original", but I love this card variant, and, as an added bonus, the solitaire rules are solid.</div>
<h3>
Honourable mentions</h3>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLn1xPoDs32/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Mombasa from Pfister started... #mombasa #spiel16 #bgg #jeux</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-10-16T11:41:48+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Oct 16, 2016 at 4:41am PDT</time></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172386/mombasa" target="_blank">Mombasa</a></b>, ah, Mombasa. I just got to play about one third of it at the last day of the Essen Spiel, so I can't really put it properly on this list... Amazing Pfister game! (although I am, for once, a bit put off by the theme.) </div>
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<b><a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176494/isle-skye-chieftain-king" target="_blank">Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King</a></b> is another Pfister game I got to play in Essen. Kind of. We improvised a six player variant with only new players, so it was far from ideal. Looking very much forward to play this again.</div>
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I have only played a kind of solitaire teach-myself-the-rules variant of Phil Eklund's <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/98918/bios-genesis" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Bios: Genesis</a>, but I can't wait to play the whole thing.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BNaD6CjDJDT/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">My first bacteria! #biosgenesis #bgg #jeux #boardgames #phileklund #bacteria #life #biosgenesis</a></div>
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A photo posted by Of Cardboard Sheep (@do_meeples_dream) on <time datetime="2016-11-29T20:18:46+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Nov 29, 2016 at 12:18pm PST</time></div>
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<h3>
The game I look forward to the most in 2017</h3>
<b><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193738/great-western-trail" target="_blank">The Great Western Trail </a></b>Voila. This game looks like it could be Pfister's best so far. I can't wait.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Also, for reference, </span><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.fr/2016/03/top-21-or-so-games-i-played-2015.html" target="_blank">here's my list from 2015</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">.</span><br />
<h3>
(Almost) all games I played for the first time in 2016</h3>
</div>
<h4>
42 games</h4>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/108784">Ascension: Storm of Souls</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/98918">Bios: Genesis</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192735">Broom Service: The Card Game</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192343">Bubblee Pop</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/206754">Burke’s Gambit</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/130882">Cardline: Animals</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163277">Cardline: Dinosaurs</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/198773">Codenames: Pictures</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192934">Colony</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68076">Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal – The Pacific 1942</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/149155">Dead Man’s Draw</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150376">Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169654">Deep Sea Adventure</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/185344">Dragon Keeper: The Dungeon</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182134">Evolution: CLIMATE</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/203427">Fabled Fruit</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/203430">Fuji Flush</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180602">Game of Trains</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/205420">Gooseberry</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155969">Harbour</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155821">Inis</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176494">Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/204583">Kingdomino</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/142325">Kobayakawa</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180938">La Glace et le Ciel</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193322">Master of Orion: The Board Game</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172386">Mombasa</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/56692">Parade</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181120">Pocket Invaders</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/203780">Power Grid: The Card Game</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/207691">Railroad Revolution</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/132531">Roll for the Galaxy</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178044">Small Star Empires</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91534">Struggle for Catan</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/191977">The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169393">The Lord of the P.I.G.S.</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/195544">Tides of Madness</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/145189">Timeline: Music & Cinema</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163967">Tiny Epic Galaxies</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180852">Tiny Epic Western</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/205885">X nimmt!</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113924">Zombicide</a><br />
<h4>
And 8 expansions</h4>
* <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/111661">7 Wonders: Cities</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92539">7 Wonders: Leaders</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/133993">7 Wonders: Wonder Pack</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181899">Port Royal: Ein Auftrag geht noch…</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175754">Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/166704">Star Realms: Crisis – Fleets & Fortresses</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24439">Ticket to Ride: USA 1910</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193823">Viticulture: Moor Visitors Expansion</a><br />
<br />Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-8679590928004706692017-01-29T17:45:00.000+01:002017-01-29T19:25:59.924+01:00Jamuary2017 #29<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJuoGbifIq1xWxfpfNrySXo-nsX9vuiD4OmHAj2c3ys7i1Fi3wDqX2FwvBbyBd7lriq4bAsdc24WbMMHGcWdXMxkAvosBd1nOj9-UAyBAGW8NYVeqgGO-585NGws0sGHr85cE2Ya83Cx8/s1600/DSC04063-HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJuoGbifIq1xWxfpfNrySXo-nsX9vuiD4OmHAj2c3ys7i1Fi3wDqX2FwvBbyBd7lriq4bAsdc24WbMMHGcWdXMxkAvosBd1nOj9-UAyBAGW8NYVeqgGO-585NGws0sGHr85cE2Ya83Cx8/s320/DSC04063-HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I haven't been able to participate too much in <a href="https://soundcloud.com/truecuckoo" target="_blank">@truecuckoo</a>'s excellent #jamuary2017, sadly. (Even though I have a close to a million of quirky drafts on various tapes from my OP-1. (It's amazing how it's such an idea generator that instead of finishing something it is way easier to just get a new idea and start following that instead. (I'll have to find a way around that one day. (But I digress.)))) This time I sat down in front of Cubase and started playing around with some new soft synths I haven't tested too much before -- Xpand2, SynthMaster, and the Kontakt library Solid State Symphony. I ended up with this stadium pop thing here. With <a href="https://soundcloud.com/simsmi" target="_blank">@simsmi</a> we will probably rearrange it and add some lyrics (on "Alternative Facts"!) and record a @1bisHill version one day, methinks. But, for now, since this is a weekend for finishing things, this is what it is -- a pompous cliché-ridden thing with the catchy name of "Jamuary2017 #29". Enjoy.<br />
<iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/305099145&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>
----<br />
In order of appearance:<br />
Xpand2, SynthMaster, Kontakt drums, Solid State Symphony, Fender Jazzmaster through GuitarRig 5.Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-67623727448356407582017-01-08T23:46:00.006+01:002017-01-08T23:51:44.227+01:00Using a Raspberry Pi as a MIDI USB/5-pin bridgeIn my constant... need... to get everything music instrument related to communicate with each other, I wanted to look into ways to get some of my keyboards/synths with only MIDI over USB to talk to devices with regular good old-fashioned 5-pin MIDI ports from the eighties.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BOXuDKbDvO7AMe8yrjjLnh-KEpBM7n4ot8wvlQ0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSsYwH9N2rr9oO69rK44IBxMW_A7VHw5OgZNfMwy3jm20iWRM0DZ9X_Zk0hyHWDFRD943rJCh0AMgCTaotZgdEBwETSLQq6r9bMfpZXn2uIslyFN-wayaItnp8tPeZoi57JnC8ZvNlaN0/s320/IMG_20161223_200030.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cables!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
First I had a quick look at off the shelf solutions. The most interesting one being the <a href="http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/utilities/usb-host.shtml" target="_blank">Kenton MIDI USB Host</a> – providing MIDI host functionality for USB devices as well as regular MIDI in and out in a small box. Unfortunately it is rather expensive (~125 €) and a reliable online source warned me that it was not entirely stable in collaboration with my OP-1, so I started thinking of more... home-grown solutions.<br />
<br />
I decided to try to use my old <a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.fr/2014/07/introducing-noisevote-or-democratising.html" target="_blank">Raspberry Pi</a> and see if that would serve as a USB host with a borrowed MIDI USB adapter. (Thanks Simon.) A cheaper, and, as an added boon, a nerdier solution.<br />
<h4>
Step 1: Get the USB MIDI device up and running</h4>
This was the easy part. The device I have been lent is a very straight forward <a href="http://www.creative.com/emu/products/product.aspx?pid=19089" target="_blank">Creative Technology, Ltd E-Mu Xmidi 1x1</a>. This was picked up by the ALSA drivers on the Pi. (If you don't have ALSA already installed it is just a matter of doing a <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">sudo apt-get install alsa</span>, basically.) The USB-only MIDI device I wanted to use for testing was my good old road-worn class-compliant <a href="http://www.m-audio-france.com/products/view/keystation-mini-32" target="_blank">M-Audio KeyStation 32</a>. Plugged and it in and it was picked up by the system.<br />
<h4>
Step 2: Connect the two worlds</h4>
To be able to route MIDI from the one to the other we need to use <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">aconnect</span>. (This should come with your ALSA installation.) A quick <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">aconnect -i</span> will list all the input ports of your connected MIDI devices. (Along with some concepts of through and system.) Here's what my system looks like at this point:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">pi@raspberrypi ~ $ aconnect -i</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">client 0: 'System' [type=kernel]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 0 'Timer '</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 1 'Announce '</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">client 14: 'Midi Through' [type=kernel]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 0 'Midi Through Port-0'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">client 16: 'Keystation Mini 32' [type=kernel]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 0 'Keystation Mini 32 MIDI 1'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">client 20: 'E-MU XMidi1X1' [type=kernel]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 0 'E-MU XMidi1X1 MIDI 1' </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The important part is the number after each keyword client. They tell you how to refer to the different devices when connecting them. So, if we want to send signals from the only port (0) of the Keystation Mini (client 16) to the only port (0) of the 5-pin out (client 20) we can set up a connection using the command:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">pi@raspberrypi ~ $ aconnect 16:0 20:0</span><br />
<br />
Voila, if we inspect the connections again (with an added <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">-l</span>) it will report this:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">pi@raspberrypi ~ $ aconnect -i -l</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">client 0: 'System' [type=kernel]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 0 'Timer '</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 1 'Announce '</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">client 14: 'Midi Through' [type=kernel]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 0 'Midi Through Port-0'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">client 16: 'Keystation Mini 32' [type=kernel]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 0 'Keystation Mini 32 MIDI 1'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Connecting To: 20:0</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">client 20: 'E-MU XMidi1X1' [type=kernel]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> 0 'E-MU XMidi1X1 MIDI 1'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Connected From: 16:0</span><br />
<br />
To test this marvel I hooked up my Volca FM to the receiving end of the MIDI chain, and lo and behold it received glorious MIDI signals and spat out magnificent frequency modulated digital synthesis!<br />
<br />
The way this works at this point in the story is that I hook the Pi up to the ethernet at home – with the midi devices already hooked up. Then I SSH to it from my computer and execute the commands listed above. Hardly ideal for a situation anywhere out in the real world, so I looked into ways to automate it. I wanted to automatically create the connections when I plug the devices...<br />
<h4>
Step 3: Automatic connection</h4>
The first thing I did was to write a script that connects the various devices as they are connected. I picked Ruby as scripting language of choice. (bash would probably be a more sane choice, but I like my daily dose of ruby...)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">pi@raspberrypi ~ $ cat dev/ruby/midiconnect/connectall.rb</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">#!/usr/bin/ruby</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">#</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">t = `aconnect -i -l`</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ports = []</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">t.lines.each do |l|</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> /client (\d*)\:/=~l</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> port = $1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> # we skip empty lines and the "Through" port</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> ports << port unless $1.nil? || $1 == '0' || /Through/=~l</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">end</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ports.each do |p1|</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> ports.each do |p2|</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> unless p1 == p2 # probably not a good idea to connect a port to itself</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> system "aconnect #{p1}:0 #{p2}:0"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> end</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> end</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">end</span><br />
<br />
(This is a rather brute force way of doing this as it will connect everything to everything but itself. The bonus is that if I connect several MIDI related devices using a USB hub everything will be connected to everything.)<br />
<br />
And it worked, so I created a convenience wrapper in a bash script for it, like so:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">pi@raspberrypi ~ $ cat bin/connectall.sh</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">#!/bin/bash</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">#</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">/usr/bin/ruby /home/pi/dev/ruby/midiconnect/connectall.rb</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">chmod +x</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> later and it is really easy to reestablish connections semi-automatically.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I added this script to the boot up sequence of the Pi, but that meant that I needed to reboot it if I do any changes. Hardly ideal, so I wanted to take it further.</span><br />
<h4>
Step 4: Automatic detection</h4>
Next up is to set up automatic detection of my USB devices. To accomplish this I'll rely on udev and sets of rules based on hardware IDs of the devices in question – <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">lsusb</span> to the resque.<br />
<br />
If we run <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">lsusb</span> we get a list of USB devices connected to the system. Like so, for example:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">pi@raspberrypi ~ $ lsusb</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Bus 001 Device 012: ID 0a4d:129d Evolution Electronics, Ltd</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Bus 001 Device 009: ID 041e:3f07 Creative Technology, Ltd E-Mu Xmidi 1x1</span><br />
<br />
The devices we are after are the two last entries. (Sometimes the list might be slightly cryptic, so you might want to run <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">lsusb</span> before and after connecting the device to see what has changed.)<br />
<br />
We see that the Keystation has a hexadecimal vendor ID of <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">0a4d</span> and a ditto device ID of <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">129d</span>, so we can add a file called, for example, <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">99-keystation-mini.rules</span> in the <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">/etc/udev/rules.d/</span> folder containing:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ATTRS{idVendor}=="0a4d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="129d", RUN+="/home/pi/bin/connectall.sh" </span><br />
<br />
I added one similar file per USB MIDI device I want the Pi to be able to talk to and we are good to go. Reload the udev rules with a <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">sudo udevadm control --reload-rules </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and we can plug and play as we want.</span><br />
<h4>
Final notes</h4>
<div>
Now I have a stand alone little gadget that bridges the world of USB MIDI and the world of standard 5-pin MIDI. The Raspberry Pi is powered by standard 5V over micro USB, so I've hooked it up to the USB port of my power bank I use for guitar pedals, volcas, etc. This means it can be used in the shade in a parc.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/2VrvVmls4XX8VqIOFcYgwLhV5Ey-l2rJ08YZM0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4cWzJTJHM5NjK5cmYvRaF7bQMQCW9PjA1EpljZxOY7D06KGxTngdwnuxGpEM5qwT7oJUyOgNl7EBLa-UBKSgg0XMoI0173bo3a_jgmcPhm_-1M0q0vnKMDPlH4Q-HAeW6Mj9Ega7DvOo/s320/IMG_20150506_132751.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outdoor season with 1bisHill.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
There must be more generic solutions to this – using other things than udev, maybe? But, hey, this works for me for now, so further optimisation will have to wait. Other kinds of things to look into would be:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Fancy routing options? Especially if more devices are hooked up with a USB hub?</li>
<li>MIDI filtering/translations?</li>
<li>Security-wise it is probably not a good idea to let the udev call scripts in my home dir, but this is really handy... (I should look into what user level these things run under...)</li>
</ul>
<div>
I have had some weird issues with my OP-1 not sending MIDI signals some times with this setup just after hooking things up. (The solution, bizarrely, seems to be swapping between COM programs, and then going into synth mode, and it works again.) However this is also happening when I use it as a MIDI controller hooked up to my mac so I won't blame the Pi for this yet. Also, once things are connected it works like a charm. (Touch wood.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If I need more on the fly configurability I might still want to try to use my iPad coupled with a USB hub as a bridge (using apps like midiflow or similar to do the routing), but I'm happy with the added portability (and nerd-cred) from the solving this with the Pi.</div>
<h4>
References</h4>
Luckily others has done some of this before, so I could base my work on their findings. I found the following URLs helpful:<br />
<ul>
<li>Basically a better write up of step 1 and 2 above can be found here: <a href="http://sandsoftwaresound.net/send-midi-from-usb-b-to-5-pin/">http://sandsoftwaresound.net/send-midi-from-usb-b-to-5-pin/</a> </li>
<li>My main source of information for step 4: <a href="https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/65891/how-to-execute-a-shellscript-when-i-plug-in-a-usb-device">https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/65891/how-to-execute-a-shellscript-when-i-plug-in-a-usb-device</a></li>
<li>And: <a href="https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/19600/is-there-a-way-to-automatically-activate-a-script-when-a-usb-device-connects">https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/19600/is-there-a-way-to-automatically-activate-a-script-when-a-usb-device-connects</a></li>
<li>And: <a href="https://stimresp.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/using-a-raspberry-pi-as-usb-midi-host/">https://stimresp.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/using-a-raspberry-pi-as-usb-midi-host/</a></li>
<li>The great Cuckoo discussing the Kenton MIDI USB Host: <a href="https://youtu.be/s6D9jafo5_I?t=8m20s">https://youtu.be/s6D9jafo5_I?t=8m20s</a> (Bonus: lots of Volca FM sounds!)</li>
</ul>
Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-60565884708297375512016-09-10T18:23:00.000+02:002016-09-10T18:36:40.072+02:00Secure Wipe of Laptop Drives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mortenjohs/11313805105/in/datetaken/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="CD-hage"><img alt="CD-hage" height="212" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5509/11313805105_4c25e8591d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>We have a couple of laptops that are still technically working, but we have moved on to greener pastures so we no longer need them. Around the corner there's a charity that reworks old tech, so the laptops are heading there. Prior to that I figured it would be a good idea to securely wipe their hard-drives -- by basically writing random garbage to them several times over. Luckily there are quite some tools made for that. After some trial and error here's what I ended up doing:<br />
<br />
1) Found an old USB disk, fittingly sporting a Batman logo.<br />
2) Formatted it as a FAT (MS-DOS) drive.<br />
3) Downloaded the free ISO of Darik's "boot and nuke" data wiping tool (DBAN) from <a href="http://www.dban.org/">http://www.dban.org/</a><br />
4) Dowloaded Unetbootin from <a href="https://unetbootin.github.io/">https://unetbootin.github.io/</a> and launched it.<br />
5) Used this to turn the Batman disk into a bootable disk based on the DBAN ISO.<br />
6) Due to a bug somewhere in this pipeline (Possibly Unetbootin? Or DBAN itself?), I needed to edit the "<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">syslinux.cfg</span>" file in the root folder of the USB disk. This entailed replacing all mentions of "<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ubninit</span>" with "<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ISOLINUX.BIN</span>" (and one mention of "<span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 18.7px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ubnkern</span></span><span style="font-family: "crimson text" , serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 18.7px;">" with </span>"<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">DBAN.BZI</span>"). Attention, case-sensitivity going on here. (<a href="http://alexpounds.com/blog/2012/07/18/workarounds-for-unetbootin-bugs" target="_blank">This handy guide</a> helped me to figure this out. It also points out that it is a good idea to remove the "<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">--autonuke</span>" flag in this config file since that leads to a potentially very dangerous auto-nuking USB stick...)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JkPZHAeLCWdwzY2HdAWDmuqOeQK3tcqkVh9pWp-E5kxp8h1c7bDIUUDXGF9IuH2fP0g5EVv5Vxzh2RGSl2_1YnUdr63SAZ4q5oS-PH3ilm3oXknC90NnSN5soxMfyhHP3TGNrOHUWrs/s1600/DSC_0008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JkPZHAeLCWdwzY2HdAWDmuqOeQK3tcqkVh9pWp-E5kxp8h1c7bDIUUDXGF9IuH2fP0g5EVv5Vxzh2RGSl2_1YnUdr63SAZ4q5oS-PH3ilm3oXknC90NnSN5soxMfyhHP3TGNrOHUWrs/s320/DSC_0008.JPG" width="320" /></a>7) Set the BIOS of the target laptops to prioritise booting from USB drives.<br />
8) Plugged Batman into the laptops and them started up - choosing the aptly named "Default" as wipe option.Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-46501413606271198892016-07-10T17:21:00.000+02:002018-08-23T16:15:19.761+02:006 nimmt! - The Ultimate Travel Game (Components)Back in the days before rediscovering modern tabletop games we played classic card games quite a bit. One of the best features of those is, obviously, their travel-friendliness. Literally <a href="https://www.pagat.com/" target="_blank">hundreds</a>, and possibly thousands, of games can be played with just one standard deck of cards. (I should really revisit some of those, I realise!)<br />
<div>
<h4>
Problem</h4>
<div>
Even games that consist mainly of cards come with their own deck of specially designed cards now. (This is pretty obvious, as how/why would people buy these games otherwise?) For immersion and rules recollection that is neat, but for travelling this adds unwanted bulkiness. </div>
<h4>
Solution</h4>
<div>
Lately I have compressed my travel gaming by bringing one tiny game that allows for playing several others, namely "<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/432/6-nimmt" target="_blank">6 nimmt!</a>". Great games that work with this relatively small deck of cards are:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>6 nimmt itself, obviously. An amazing game that plays from 2 to 10(!) players with increasing degrees of haphazardness - two player is an excellent tactical experience, whereas the more players you add, the more it turns into a slapstick romp. </li>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173090/game-are-you-ready-play-game" target="_blank">The Game</a> can be played by using 1 and 2 to mark piles for increasing cards, 101 and 102 as piles for decreasing cards and the rest of the cards (except 103 and 104) as, well, cards. Of course, as mentioned in the second paragraph above, you miss out on the "Norwegian black metal from 1996"[1] art direction of the original game, but the rest of the tension is there. This is quite a nice game for lazy summer days - if you can stomach collaborative games, that is. (Obviously, you can't play 6 nimmt with cards from The Game, since they have no notion of "block heads". (Or, you could, but it would lead to a more brainy game, since you would have to remember all the rules for block head distribution.))</li>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12942/no-thanks" target="_blank">No Thanks!</a> is one of my favourite bluffing games, and if you have components from either "6 nimmt!" or "The Game", you can easily play this. Just use cards numbered from 3 to 35 as "cards" and the rest flipped over as "coins" (or use any other coins/bottle caps/stones/sausages).</li>
<li><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/142325/kobayakawa" target="_blank">Kobayakawa</a> is another excellent bluffing game that can be played with components from any of the games above. Just use 15 cards with consecutive numbers as "cards", and any other components/cards as "coins".</li>
<li><b>Update 2018:</b> <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244992/mind" target="_blank">The Mind</a>, the Spiel des Jahres nomminated game from Wolfgang Warsch, can also be played with the 6 nimmt deck. You just need some way of keeping track of the levels, lives, and shurikens. (For example by printing <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/161310/player-aid-use-1-100-cards-such-game" target="_blank">this</a>.)</li>
</ol>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUV3Oo_LhMG1t9Ea2btTI2VrGf1xE58T-JZ7_pyDbhgV68PBQjw1r3954JkbDhMfuSW4XLtPnGXTrF26BEIAeColSumaNvK-Fj3jHYDVgijpso8aR6cCnjzyvpE4-kWENOQx2gj5gjRTo/s1600/11373604_852622681487723_1320380736_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUV3Oo_LhMG1t9Ea2btTI2VrGf1xE58T-JZ7_pyDbhgV68PBQjw1r3954JkbDhMfuSW4XLtPnGXTrF26BEIAeColSumaNvK-Fj3jHYDVgijpso8aR6cCnjzyvpE4-kWENOQx2gj5gjRTo/s320/11373604_852622681487723_1320380736_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Game played with cards from "6 nimmt!". <br />
(The contents of the piles of cards should normally not be visible, methinks.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Voila, <strike>four</strike> five excellent, different enough games – accommodating 1 to 10 players, ranging from bluffing to coop, using one small deck of cards! (Of course, I hope you have bought the original games mentioned here if you chose to do a stunt like this, as otherwise this would not be very nice towards the good people that designed and developed these most excellent games.)</div>
</div>
<h4>
Further work</h4>
<div>
So, did I miss any? Can you think of any other hierarchy of components for games? Could one, for example, want to play <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale" target="_blank">For Sale</a> with components from 6 nimmt/The Game/No Thanks! for "building"-cards and another set for "check"-cards? (Probably divide numbers by 2 to get the same distribution as the original game...) Also, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180602/game-trains" target="_blank">Game of Trains</a> components could be used to play No Thanks! and Kobayakawa, but not "6 nimmt!" nor "The Game" – or vice versa. One should probably make a huge graph of all relations between games like this - to find even more "ultimater" game components for future travels!</div>
<h4>
Side point: Box sizes</h4>
<div>
Most games, non-Japanese games that is, also comes in ludicrously unnecessarily huge boxes. (<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148228/splendor" target="_blank">Splendor</a>, I'm looking (especially) at you!) A couple of years ago I packed lots of games into the box of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143884/machi-koro" target="_blank">Minivilles</a> (French version of Machi Koro) – Splendor, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale" target="_blank">For Sale</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/131366/eight-minute-empire" target="_blank">Eight-Minute Empire</a>, along with Minivilles itself fit snuggly the box. (Only coins from one game came along, otherwise all components were present.) But that is probably meat for another blog post...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
[1] Damien André, Plato #88, page 34 :-)</div>
</div>
Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-49081001194330882812016-07-03T16:06:00.000+02:002016-07-03T16:07:29.176+02:00Gaming with kids #2: Monza and JurassikSecond batch of rented games tested on the kids!*<br />
<h3>
<span class="s1"><b>Monza</b></span></h3>
<div class="p2">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKwflY1lb1x5VSHv_uaGQZe3AZjyvrX4aJgbHNF-DgjFLk7CVJ7jKASFCeQxk-0Oj_12S7W1zU4OjmOsHqD3q0gk2Wp-B19kU5IAux8zzPQsxaec07BHbf9xu377j76MtO8rY5c70dVw/s1600/IMG_20160403_101418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKwflY1lb1x5VSHv_uaGQZe3AZjyvrX4aJgbHNF-DgjFLk7CVJ7jKASFCeQxk-0Oj_12S7W1zU4OjmOsHqD3q0gk2Wp-B19kU5IAux8zzPQsxaec07BHbf9xu377j76MtO8rY5c70dVw/s320/IMG_20160403_101418.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="s1">Monza (as in the Italian F1 race track) is a classic dice-based racing game from Haba.</span></div>
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>Overview</b></span></h4>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">Players control cars racing around a colourful three-lane oval track using handfuls of colourful dice. The goal of the game is to, well, win the race. Each round a player throws 6 dice - each with the same six colours on its sides. Any dic result lets you move to an adjacent place on the board of that colour, as long as you move forward, forever forward. It's up to the player to chose the order in which their dice are spent. And that is where the game manages to introduce basic concepts of tactics. Rare stuff in a game for 5 year olds, but it works well here.</span></div>
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>Components</b></span></h4>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">Nice wooden race cars, efficient wooden dice. Nice, big enough player board. (Maybe it could have benefited a double sided board (ala Automobiles from AEG) for longevity?)</span></div>
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>From what age?</b></span></h4>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">Box says five, and I tend to agree. Some tactical thinking is needed here. (I bet it would be fun for even younger ones, though.)</span></div>
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>Variants</b></span></h4>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">One potential fun variant could be for the players to alternate picking dice from the same dice throw. The current player throws all six dice and chose one, the next player picks another, and so on around the table until all dice are spent and it's the turn of the next player to throw the dice. This would render the game even more tactical, as one would have to pay more attention to what the other player(s) would need...</span></div>
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>Verdict</b></span></h4>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">The five year old loves this game. As good as Pique Plume, he states. First (children's) game he has gotten to play where you get to roll so many dice at the same time. Two thumbs up again.</span></div>
<h3>
<span class="s1"><b>Jurassik</b></span></h3>
<div class="p2">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj418UIuFs5QL-fEFd7WD8Z0Y-GtJJSrZx5uUsqF9hXzMCCRg6XxH_9L_GmT01nH1G2yaQEMxWPXllEMuHE-KPfbpKghlmPn_UV4HVuEpc7PGR6sHrR-tkXwAL5wB-FHfZEOJ8CfH6-P6s/s1600/IMG_20160403_101642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj418UIuFs5QL-fEFd7WD8Z0Y-GtJJSrZx5uUsqF9hXzMCCRg6XxH_9L_GmT01nH1G2yaQEMxWPXllEMuHE-KPfbpKghlmPn_UV4HVuEpc7PGR6sHrR-tkXwAL5wB-FHfZEOJ8CfH6-P6s/s320/IMG_20160403_101642.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="s1">Dinosaurs! Everybody loves dinosaurs! Especially every body that has wandered this planet for fewer than double digit number of years...</span></div>
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>Overview</b></span></h4>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">Jurassik is a card game where players are palaeontologist digging up sweet, sweet dino bones. Of the fossilized kind... The dig site in question in this game is a 6 by 8 field of cards - both dino cards and cards with special effects. Prior to game start one spreads the cards all over a more than medium sized table (Table size requirements seems to have been scaled down for the new edition of the game...), removes a special 1st dig card, and hey presto, the game can commence. Players alternate in removing any accessible card and either playing it for its effect or adding it to their tableau in front of them. The goal is to collect and complete sets of dinosaurs. A complete set of four cards of the same dinosaur nets you more point per card at the end of the game, and, as importantly, you get to secure it for yourself. Some of the effects cards lets you steal cards from the other player (unless they have the entire set of the bones in question). If a player chooses a fossilized card he knows exactly what dinosaur this card belongs to (as in "open information", if you want). If a player chooses a special effect card he turns it over to reveal either a positive action, like draw two additional bones, steal from another player, a negative one like lose a bone, or a stone blocking further excavation in that direction - making the player also, basically, lose one turn.</span></div>
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>Components</b></span></h4>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">The dinosaur illustrations on the cards are on the cute side, and/but clear enough. (It seems there is a second edition with updated components - tiles instead of cards. In a bigger box.)</span></div>
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>From what age?</b></span></h4>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1">The box says from 5, and once again that seems about right. Players benefit from planning ahead in their excavations.</span></div>
<br />
<h4>
<span class="s1"><b>Verdict</b></span></h4>
<div>
<span class="s1">A big hit in our household. We might not invest in it just yet, but it was well played when we rented it, and it is not boring - even for adults. Also, dinosaurs!</span></div>
<div>
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="s1">*Back in April, that is... This post has been excruciatingly slow to migrate from draft to published staus... (For (slightly) more up-to-date reports on our adventures in Gaming with kids, please see <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/208644/gaming-kids" target="_blank">my geeklist</a> on the topic...)</span></div>
Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-5116040854673513692016-04-02T16:27:00.003+02:002016-04-25T05:16:24.838+02:00Gaming With Kids #1: "Pique-Plume" and "Hop ! Hop ! Galopons !"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_DgGdmCXntI7e0s6zwyqjJxF2wCwfZKtn7i3r9ej3mX5ndlIACxBHcH1fDkclCQN__64k2CNA6BeE3PdWylyxu84CSHrwgfp1iWgUzYLQEWi6Nn06n8biB5PMJ8hOAqRkTsQnldnJ3I/s1600/DSC_3051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_DgGdmCXntI7e0s6zwyqjJxF2wCwfZKtn7i3r9ej3mX5ndlIACxBHcH1fDkclCQN__64k2CNA6BeE3PdWylyxu84CSHrwgfp1iWgUzYLQEWi6Nn06n8biB5PMJ8hOAqRkTsQnldnJ3I/s320/DSC_3051.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm beginning to get more experience in testing games on tiny human beings. Oftentimes more focus-challenged, and less interested in... tactiquery than middle-aged ones of the same species. Oftentimes. Recently we have started renting board games from a <a href="http://www.lodysseedescoccinelles.fr/" target="_blank">local-ish friendly game store</a> here in Lyon. To remember what we have played and what we thought about the games we have played I started making a list. And then I figured, why not put the list on this blog, in case it can inspire others. (And so that I will be able to find the list again.) Maybe this will become a <a href="http://m635j520.blogspot.com/search/label/gamingwithkids" target="">series</a>. Who knows. Anyways, first out is a post on the two first games we <i>rented</i> - the grand classique <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3570/chicken-cha-cha-cha" target="_blank">Pique-Plume</a> ("Chicken Cha Cha Cha" in English) and a game I had never heard of before, <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/104780/hoppe-reiter" target="_blank">Hop ! Hop ! Galopons !</a> from Haba ("Hoppe Reiter" in original version.)<br />
<h2>
Pique-Plume</h2>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS81NzPkhVFdmaPOPholSTHdQWxwKE8bwMZETBhQ4Rhdzl-9NQorauLRxc3Y-mV_CjiZj4bynEmHWC50FM6Zissy6BGc7rS4_ObnoQx3UN9cEvkS-v5-dSBCX1V5q0Qj-sDDh61LXmVyE/s1600/DSC_3038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS81NzPkhVFdmaPOPholSTHdQWxwKE8bwMZETBhQ4Rhdzl-9NQorauLRxc3Y-mV_CjiZj4bynEmHWC50FM6Zissy6BGc7rS4_ObnoQx3UN9cEvkS-v5-dSBCX1V5q0Qj-sDDh61LXmVyE/s320/DSC_3038.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Pique-Plume is a game I've seen on many a list of recommendations for board games for kids. And since it has a kind of chicken-and-eggish theme, I figured it would be a perfect match for our Easter weekend. It is a really simple memory game with race mechanics. </div>
<h3>
Overview</h3>
The play area consists of 24 egg shaped cards -- each with one of 12 different images -- that one places randomly in a circular path that the players will move on. The players' pieces are nice wooden chickens with initially one tail feather each. In the centre you have 12 face down octagon shaped cards -- one of each image that can be found on the path. On a player's turn she reveals a card from the center. If that is the same image that can be found on the first available card on the path in front of the player, the player can advance and play again. If it is another image, it is the turn of the next player. If a player overtakes another player he steals her tail feathers. The player that collects everyone's feathers win. That's all. And it's super efficient!<br />
<h4>
Components</h4>
The components are really nice. Huge wooden chicken shaped player pawns, nice playful drawings on cards of thick cardboard.<br />
<h4>
From what age?</h4>
The box says from 4 years of age, and that is probably right. The household's 3 year old was a bit overwhelmed, whilst the 5 1/2 year old had lots of fun.<br />
<h3>
Verdict</h3>
Like most memory games there's absolutely no downtime. Players have to focus all the time on what the others reveal so that one can use it on one's own turn. The really clever trick here is the race mechanics. The game is exciting till the end since a player can come from afar if he has a good memory. And this, I have discovered during my adventures in gaming, kids excel at! (To have any chance to beat my five year old after a couple of games, I had to "cheat" by exploiting classic mnemonics...) I'd say there are great chances that this game will end up in our library... Thumbs up!<br />
<h2>
Hop ! Hop ! Galopons !</h2>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdPkd9C6zUXDq9efk5o605EqE7LuYrOC2cVOLzyCevOnCBcI2ksWHv22UMKFKkKOaHyz2zSCER9jhvK2WJiQVmiqDEEz3z-eFVwCQdgWjv4059qNRkgSlZNZgHVJDPzpmVZZQT6P5hyE/s1600/DSC_3031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdPkd9C6zUXDq9efk5o605EqE7LuYrOC2cVOLzyCevOnCBcI2ksWHv22UMKFKkKOaHyz2zSCER9jhvK2WJiQVmiqDEEz3z-eFVwCQdgWjv4059qNRkgSlZNZgHVJDPzpmVZZQT6P5hyE/s320/DSC_3031.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Next up is a game that I had never heard of, but were advised it could be good for the 3 year old. This is a rather classic race game with a small puzzle element.</div>
<h3>
Overview</h3>
<div>
The players control quite big wooden horses that should move 15 or so steps to the goal - their stable. But before being allowed to enter they'll have to collect all their 7 puzzle pieces - all things a horse would need; carrots, four horse shoes, etc. Each turn a player rolls two dice, one red one with numbers 1 to 3, and a blue one with the puzzle pieces. The players have to chose one of the dice to use. Should he chose to advance his horse, or fill his puzzle? Decisions! In a game for small kids. Excellent.</div>
<div>
<h3>
From what age?</h3>
The box says from 3 year and that seems quite right. It's not terribly deep, the decisions you take each turn is, obviously, not interesting enough to grab the attention of much older kids. The end result of the game is still pretty random, obviously. (There are official rules you can add that lets you add barriers that the horses would have to jump over. This makes the decision ever so slightly more important.)<br />
<h4>
Components</h4>
Once again the components are really nice. Big wooden horses. Nice big dice. Thick cardboard board and puzzles with colorful thematic illustrations.</div>
<div>
<div>
<h3>
Verdict</h3>
</div>
<div>
The clever thing about this game is that it manages to present very young players with decision taking without making things too complicated. Most dice games for that age group is just about rolling dice and jumping. No choices, just random chaos. (Nothing wrong with that per se, of course. It still teaches younglings a lot.) This is a nice break from that. I think if we didn't have games like "<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159566/unicorns-clouds" target="_blank">Licornes dans les nuages</a>" (even though that one, admittedly, lacks the element of decision taking) this would end up in our collection. Still, at least one and a half thumbs up!</div>
</div>
Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-22174806763267877042016-03-25T14:41:00.000+01:002017-01-31T17:20:14.155+01:00Top 21 (or so) games I played 2015So, here it finally is, the list of my favourite games from 2015. (I learned some weeks ago that one can wish people a "bonne année" the entire year, here in France (at least in some regions), not like I've been previously led to believe only the first month, so I'm not _that_ late... Heh.)<br />
<br />
This year I've decided to introduced categories - from silly to less silly, from, for the lack of a better word, slapstick to... well, worker placement games. OK, here we go...<br />
<h2>
Slapstick games</h2>
<div>
These are the silliest of games that still count as proper games. They manage to balance the ammount of complete bonkerness and interesting enough decisions.</div>
<div>
</div>
<h3 id="winner-incan-gold">
Winner: Incan Gold</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37759/incan-gold" target="_blank">Incan Gold</a> is an excellent push your luck game by <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/125/bruno-faidutti" target="_blank">Faidutti</a> and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/9/alan-r-moon" target="_blank">Moon</a> from 2006 (reimplementing <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15512/diamant" target="_blank">Diamant</a> from the year before adding, basically idols, and... more interesting... components.)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSyHdOgBfRo3hjU3Xluvsp3FLMykSO7FbuTrxcDUhD73cJBIbC6PuR7l_HtqiybrwTYEakD5aORxuRqSR_GvkcbB9DtCfSxal3veoHA4or6pRH82cF7J-W16gtMhw_N6GEm8V6gpHMpA8/s1600/IMG_20150528_141906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSyHdOgBfRo3hjU3Xluvsp3FLMykSO7FbuTrxcDUhD73cJBIbC6PuR7l_HtqiybrwTYEakD5aORxuRqSR_GvkcbB9DtCfSxal3veoHA4or6pRH82cF7J-W16gtMhw_N6GEm8V6gpHMpA8/s200/IMG_20150528_141906.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Incan Gold<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-1-colt-express">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-1-colt-express" name="user-content-runner-up-1-colt-express"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up: Colt Express</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158899/colt-express" target="_blank">Colt Express</a> was the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamehonor/27748/2015-spiel-des-jahres-winner" target="_blank">Spiel des Jahres winner</a> this year. Released at Essen 2014, but I only got to play this late in 2015. Excellent chaotic romp of a game. Light hearted and silly, but a lot of fun!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/1168706_433441093505826_455945282_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/1168706_433441093505826_455945282_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Colt Express</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h2 id="party-games">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#party-games" name="user-content-party-games"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Party games</h2>
<div>
One step up in... seriousness... we have the party games. These are, of course a slightly different category.</div>
<h3 id="winner-mysterium">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#winner-mysterium" name="user-content-winner-mysterium"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Winner: Mysterium</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181304">Mysterium</a> is, as many has said, a really clever mix of Dixit and Cluedo. Fascinating.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12346102_1006529796060033_720576117_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12346102_1006529796060033_720576117_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Mysterium</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h2 id="mini-games">
Mini games</h2>
<div>
Small games -- both in time and space, but not necessarily in depth...</div>
<h3 id="winner-lost-legacy-the-starship">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#winner-lost-legacy-the-starship" name="user-content-winner-lost-legacy-the-starship"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Winner: Lost Legacy: The Starship</h3>
<div>
Seiji Kenai of love letter fame strikes again with his Lost Legacy series. The <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158339">Lost Legacy: The Starship</a> variant is the one I have played the most and it is really impressive how much game has been packed into those 16 cards. I think I even prefer this, ever so slightly deeper one, to Love Letter. (Although, as always, it depends on the crowd.)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XGzXIuJgBOUlypipEfsmmIJrJnzd0zroT1HM_w-WIMvYbf5xsd0sT6pSXC1K_bhoLLx2C5L62VUxdpgxg8hlhA7NCf7Zp1yAXXoPwr8SN0Sb1x1ecTZOw3XkfHX5y961OtBtoT43v0U/s1600/IMG_20160128_234609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XGzXIuJgBOUlypipEfsmmIJrJnzd0zroT1HM_w-WIMvYbf5xsd0sT6pSXC1K_bhoLLx2C5L62VUxdpgxg8hlhA7NCf7Zp1yAXXoPwr8SN0Sb1x1ecTZOw3XkfHX5y961OtBtoT43v0U/s200/IMG_20160128_234609.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Lost Legacy: The Starship</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-welcome-to-the-dungeon">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-welcome-to-the-dungeon" name="user-content-runner-up-welcome-to-the-dungeon"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up: Welcome to the Dungeon</h3>
<div>
Another game that packs an impressive punch with few components is <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150312">Welcome to the Dungeon</a> by fellow countryman Masato Uesugi. This game is played with 13 cards and 6 tokens and has a fascinating twist on the bluffing and push your luck genre...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7p2bY2E0Ag0439mXlkV2JJcuGBC41Kcv1i1W_cBJc_9OOdPpZpnUe6q2U8fxQYnJ7308YUdSpAEId3UghJVd-Jal-dqz0Fz0vdqB9DjAVi7QOWoJ8TpOX2FElOAQI8lAKAz151TjBag/s1600/IMG_20151012_005155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7p2bY2E0Ag0439mXlkV2JJcuGBC41Kcv1i1W_cBJc_9OOdPpZpnUe6q2U8fxQYnJ7308YUdSpAEId3UghJVd-Jal-dqz0Fz0vdqB9DjAVi7QOWoJ8TpOX2FElOAQI8lAKAz151TjBag/s200/IMG_20151012_005155.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Welcome to the Dungeon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<h2 id="2-player-games">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#2-player-games" name="user-content-2-player-games"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>2-player games</h2>
<div>
Games for, well, two players. Only.</div>
<h3 id="winner-7-wonders-duel">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#winner-7-wonders-duel" name="user-content-winner-7-wonders-duel"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Winner: 7 Wonders: Duel</h3>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173346">7 Wonders: Duel</a> is 7 Wonders for two -- borrowing from mahjong and... pyramid patience. I really enjoy the addition of the game ending criteria of war and science that looms through the sessions and that it still feels like a drafting game. Most excellent.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RhB1dry5E28ljyhcGnwR5BbSuax9YVWMjL4JcMqFB7_IUsG5wwPf3ieIAcEPM9tvqEZSgr-vqGdigrORorS5HdWm4LJkhHb761mjYy69WDtPiKqf06A6Ex4vxG_qvYGkTV-iHwH1blc/s1600/IMG_20151011_005709.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RhB1dry5E28ljyhcGnwR5BbSuax9YVWMjL4JcMqFB7_IUsG5wwPf3ieIAcEPM9tvqEZSgr-vqGdigrORorS5HdWm4LJkhHb761mjYy69WDtPiKqf06A6Ex4vxG_qvYGkTV-iHwH1blc/s200/IMG_20151011_005709.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">7 Wonders: Duel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-1-pinata">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-1-pinata" name="user-content-runner-up-1-pinata"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up: Piñata</h3>
<div>
This re-edition of Baloon Cup with the authors original theme (and some minor rules changes) has been the go to game for two player sessions in our house-hold. Simple rules, but deep enough choices. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/141791">Piñata</a>.</div>
<h2 id="mini-games">
Gateway games</h2>
<div>
<div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Glossary#toc83" target="_blank">The BGG Glossary says</a>:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Gateway Game: n. A game with simple rules that are easy to teach non-gamers in order to attract new players into boardgaming as a hobby.</blockquote>
<div>
This is the vaguest of the categories on my list, I guess. Also/so it has the most winners. (Too many, some surely could argue.)</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<h3 id="winner-thurn-and-taxis">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#winner-thurn-and-taxis" name="user-content-winner-thurn-and-taxis"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Winner: Thurn and Taxis</h3>
<div>
The designer of, probably my favourite game of all time, Puerto Rico, teamed up with his wife some years ago (2006) to release <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21790/thurn-and-taxis" target="_blank">Thurn and Taxis</a>. Alas, I hadn't played it before 2015! Maybe a little bit on the heavy side of the gateway game category, but it should be safe enough for most people... Great game to introduce people to the hobby -- unless competing in developing a postal system in Bavaria in the late 19th century is too... scary... a theme for them...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e15/11380145_831387553603693_403883771_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e15/11380145_831387553603693_403883771_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Thurn and Taxis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-1-broom-service">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-1-broom-service" name="user-content-runner-up-1-broom-service"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up #1: Broom Service</h3>
<div>
Kennerspiel 2015 winner <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172308/broom-service" target="_blank">Broom Service</a> is another re-edition on this list. (Originally published as Witch's Brew back in 2008.) I got to play this in Essen and it was most enjoyable. The push your luck/bluffing element of risking being brave or not is fascinating and clever.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOuailTZIP3enmhTI4wf4dPHUHhoZM71-4O6o7OBIkB4hsgHgs3TNHL_3v9wd3hTQc6MnbEJe11RKYw6L03JvjqZj521pR5-M7lZS5Mom5m1nhorrOfuS4Tzu1yKDR1esKrGl-wLOKfo/s1600/DSC_1750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOuailTZIP3enmhTI4wf4dPHUHhoZM71-4O6o7OBIkB4hsgHgs3TNHL_3v9wd3hTQc6MnbEJe11RKYw6L03JvjqZj521pR5-M7lZS5Mom5m1nhorrOfuS4Tzu1yKDR1esKrGl-wLOKfo/s200/DSC_1750.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Broom Service</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 id="runner-up-2-between-two-cities">
Runner up #2: Between Two Cities</h3>
<div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
I kickstarted this game based on BGG hype, lots of preview videos and reviews, and the fact that campaign was run by <a href="http://stonemaiergames.com/" target="_blank">Stonemaier Games</a>. (I was very impressed when backing Viticulture/Tuscany.) And it didn't let down. This is another 7 Wonders style drafting game with its set collection combined with a kind of tableau bilder, but with a coop-twist. You are collaborating with both your neighbours to create cities together. This works due to a Knizaish scoring mechanism where you only score your lowest scoring city. Great fun! - and way less complicated than it sounds. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168435">Between Two Cities</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgtCR0Xb-azKRQMs7Y_G3e-mlnj2yo9hIlYlGWf6flJaJVgEMvlV1riUhw2QMZR7_EeCTXxebaB-j_fDg4wpafFua1f3DhPgMG5zYneQ9DHhucFIjvGuks-ZZBqhl2ITj2T6Ilj7qw6QU/s1600/IMG_20151120_002051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgtCR0Xb-azKRQMs7Y_G3e-mlnj2yo9hIlYlGWf6flJaJVgEMvlV1riUhw2QMZR7_EeCTXxebaB-j_fDg4wpafFua1f3DhPgMG5zYneQ9DHhucFIjvGuks-ZZBqhl2ITj2T6Ilj7qw6QU/s200/IMG_20151120_002051.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Between Two Cities<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-3-new-york-1901">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-2-new-york-1901" name="user-content-runner-up-3-new-york-1901"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up #3: New York: 1901</h3>
<div>
I guess one could consider this a Ticket to Ride-competitor, in a sense that the rules are really simple and each round boils down to, basically, two (main) choices... The rules are, sadly, not as streamlined as TtR -- with some quirkiness to tearing down buildings before building new ones, but it is still an excellent game that was very close to win this category... Very close. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/174660">New York 1901</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw9MGrvbhOUNKP_rHibViGRqXzmLOrO1KW-C0aKac8L64g__kUByMFeGi0tKbuDsOuxjQMyJMV9RGbFNBPCzrvUQ6yfKVK-cov3-CRz4UruJj3f9cWWh25WsqxLr7XGgOHk7v4quZ35Mk/s1600/IMG_20151023_012548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw9MGrvbhOUNKP_rHibViGRqXzmLOrO1KW-C0aKac8L64g__kUByMFeGi0tKbuDsOuxjQMyJMV9RGbFNBPCzrvUQ6yfKVK-cov3-CRz4UruJj3f9cWWh25WsqxLr7XGgOHk7v4quZ35Mk/s200/IMG_20151023_012548.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">New York: 1901</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-4-barony">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-4-barony" name="user-content-runner-up-4-barony"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up #4: Barony</h3>
</div>
<div>
Splendor was one of my favourites back in 2014, so I was looking forward to this new game by Marc Andre -- <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167513">Barony</a>. Where his previous hit simplified the tableau builder, this one is a simple and elegant game of area control.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqhKib4y7CFNRc0Qw78V0xUGh6szaVj2HBKU0Q9x2M4HFrYfx4WX2AxqLzA0pLWlcWY40OWpqjr20Yy5uXNFkfBBS6ALqsKnDgeOnrmf-LujuUKuNAgVrISDNIQ3mdYweBdpCjLaFk1I/s1600/IMG_20151011_005836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqhKib4y7CFNRc0Qw78V0xUGh6szaVj2HBKU0Q9x2M4HFrYfx4WX2AxqLzA0pLWlcWY40OWpqjr20Yy5uXNFkfBBS6ALqsKnDgeOnrmf-LujuUKuNAgVrISDNIQ3mdYweBdpCjLaFk1I/s200/IMG_20151011_005836.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Barony</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 id="runner-up-5-abyss">
Runner up #5: Abyss</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155987">Abyss</a> was released in 2014, but I only got to play it back in January 2015. A great game with amazing art work albeit a rather pasted on theme...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaWM3CCxW9gPBW2HPn7Cu-njiGvbad4FSeC-X_Cewq3er-JzqsA0QegfG2XHHCjFxTXtVDbDyhURwD9S-WgCMjRYwy5O2SUUW1MYN_S6SbvSh-SHTg-K5oOwQhu6rcKDDo3BXBSjamO34/s1600/10919630_1594416480787880_1524851_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaWM3CCxW9gPBW2HPn7Cu-njiGvbad4FSeC-X_Cewq3er-JzqsA0QegfG2XHHCjFxTXtVDbDyhURwD9S-WgCMjRYwy5O2SUUW1MYN_S6SbvSh-SHTg-K5oOwQhu6rcKDDo3BXBSjamO34/s200/10919630_1594416480787880_1524851_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Abyss</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<h2 id="deckbag-builder-games">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#deckbag-builder-games" name="user-content-deckbag-builder-games"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Deck/bag-builder games</h2>
<h3 id="winner-star-realms">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#winner-star-realms" name="user-content-winner-star-realms"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Winner: Star Realms</h3>
<div>
Wow. This is the game I have played the most in 2015. A deep deck-builder that fits in the palm of your hand and plays in about 20 minutes. Perfect for lunch breaks. (It could/should also have won the 2-player game of the year, I guess...) <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147020">Star Realms</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsw8e6sULelwhSrCenUCxNFGTMx4AOK3dM9lW_8Sh1-H0UVnnCRS7AiA3r5aw8x2qTyyrnM6nf7yGxrgZenMxGuRQ_ou7tJb3rDzCgZpWgdwmFdU8pDGqBc13I50A47h7ZPhug_uLsIs/s1600/IMG_20150815_000807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsw8e6sULelwhSrCenUCxNFGTMx4AOK3dM9lW_8Sh1-H0UVnnCRS7AiA3r5aw8x2qTyyrnM6nf7yGxrgZenMxGuRQ_ou7tJb3rDzCgZpWgdwmFdU8pDGqBc13I50A47h7ZPhug_uLsIs/s200/IMG_20150815_000807.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Star Realms</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-1-automobiles">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-1-automobiles" name="user-content-runner-up-1-automobiles"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up #1: Automobiles</h3>
<div>
I played a very late prototype of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180680">Automobiles</a> at Messe Essen 2015. A bag-builder with seemingly lots of replay-ability. It borrows elegantly the notion of waste (rebranded as wear here) from the first game in this AEG-"series"; Trains. Looking forward to play this more when it is properly released.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbxZToB0ZXl_HuhiHBC-9-rE2EgiqCtoNV1_DVPufRl4lTHu0cvkJ6bCXEpuh9C_DsHwWkF-SQVr_WkvL7EJSlASLfWW68pfvXempbxztV8AsrS38hliY8Q6B_GSA5DH6-CpZxs_kUUQ/s1600/IMG_20151012_005541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbxZToB0ZXl_HuhiHBC-9-rE2EgiqCtoNV1_DVPufRl4lTHu0cvkJ6bCXEpuh9C_DsHwWkF-SQVr_WkvL7EJSlASLfWW68pfvXempbxztV8AsrS38hliY8Q6B_GSA5DH6-CpZxs_kUUQ/s200/IMG_20151012_005541.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Automobiles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-2-super-motherload">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-2-super-motherload" name="user-content-runner-up-2-super-motherload"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up #2: Super Motherload</h3>
<div>
A board game based on a video game, based on another video game, heavily inspired by a 8-bit video game from the 80s -- and it plays great! This is another game I played for the first time in Essen Spiel'15, and I liked it enough for it to come with me home... <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/162286">Super Motherload</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrkz_45EK9Jd1dfMGV_6c-ZJP989tgzxS59cSCwuGADLlDD1EfD4-yRtBHMoMAZyHCosRVLsJh_x2shJLACpTPG-gy4rGcodeSqIURL1zNZh5qg04msRajhSrMgdOpXsiTQzc5Rle4Mu8/s1600/IMG_20151012_005437.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrkz_45EK9Jd1dfMGV_6c-ZJP989tgzxS59cSCwuGADLlDD1EfD4-yRtBHMoMAZyHCosRVLsJh_x2shJLACpTPG-gy4rGcodeSqIURL1zNZh5qg04msRajhSrMgdOpXsiTQzc5Rle4Mu8/s200/IMG_20151012_005437.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Super Motherload</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h2 id="worker-placement-games">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#worker-placement-games" name="user-content-worker-placement-games"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Worker placement games</h2>
<h3 id="winner-viticulture">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#winner-viticulture" name="user-content-winner-viticulture"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Winner: Viticulture</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128621">Viticulture</a> is another game I kickstarted back in 2014, and it arrived as a nice late January 2015 present. Admittedly, I haven't played it enough times to know if it will stand the test of time (like, sadly, most of the other games on this list), but the few times it has gotten to the table has been great. Everything is top notch - from the streamlined rules that leads to tight competitions, via the clever thematic integration, to the beautiful, beautiful components. (I have the upgraded coins from the kickstarter campaign!)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvvYCmraFIiA3qid7p-ExH80FC8L5gaUqoa7cwYCg6G6RkGTDhKdrP2txrUaF23LzQ_0AXFz6YuccY0Kj6O9seNAUFI4Kn5ObMOJi_myV7R2KoE8CTAsLJBUZBtNuOIIDAS9jGO8RDb8/s1600/11098744_1118925674801327_590925382_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdvvYCmraFIiA3qid7p-ExH80FC8L5gaUqoa7cwYCg6G6RkGTDhKdrP2txrUaF23LzQ_0AXFz6YuccY0Kj6O9seNAUFI4Kn5ObMOJi_myV7R2KoE8CTAsLJBUZBtNuOIIDAS9jGO8RDb8/s200/11098744_1118925674801327_590925382_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Viticulture<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h3 id="runner-up-stone-age">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#runner-up-stone-age" name="user-content-runner-up-stone-age"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Runner up: Stone Age</h3>
<div>
A slightly lighter, and older, representative of the genre is <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34635">Stone Age</a>. This has been on my list of games to play for a long time, and after testing the excellent iPad version I decided to introduce it to my gaming groups. And it was great. A perfect way to introduce both gamers and non-gamers to the worker placement games genre, methinks.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12230902_1635243326740688_1198666138_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12230902_1635243326740688_1198666138_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Stone Age</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<h2 id="solo-game">
Coop games</h2>
<h3>
Winner: Mysterium</h3>
<div>
Wordless murder mystery solving has never been more interesting. Great, challenging (actually, as challenging as you want due to the system of difficulty levels) fun! <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181304">Mysterium</a></div>
<h3>
Runner up: The Grizzled (Les Poilus)</h3>
<div>
Another game I encountered at Spiel'15 - a nerve wrecking coop game with a first world war theme. The amazing illustrations are by the late great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tignous" target="_blank">Tignous</a>. (I guess if I would have a best visuals award this would be on the list - along with Mysterium. And Abyss.) <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171668">The Grizzled</a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItLln1vrwieGXYZk4eYKN49HuwoCHas7oW8jgqzGopHykvn0BeFa9gtTD85TM_iFNOzJOkF9chouReHN_kNOljXhN2qJUU637XWCXVsF7oJA2HYmtFf06QL_9PIoaVpuebYv048BInI8/s1600/IMG_20151011_010058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItLln1vrwieGXYZk4eYKN49HuwoCHas7oW8jgqzGopHykvn0BeFa9gtTD85TM_iFNOzJOkF9chouReHN_kNOljXhN2qJUU637XWCXVsF7oJA2HYmtFf06QL_9PIoaVpuebYv048BInI8/s200/IMG_20151011_010058.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Grizzled</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2 id="solo-game">
Solo games</h2>
<h3 id="winner-viticulture-with-tuscany-expansion">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#winner-viticulture-with-tuscany-expansion" name="user-content-winner-viticulture-with-tuscany-expansion"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Winner: Viticulture (with Tuscany expansion)</h3>
<div>
The <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147101">Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture</a> expansion mixes things up in the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128621">Viticulture</a> world, but most importantly (for this category) it introduces an automata you can fight. This works surprisingly well even though it is just a deck of cards that states what positions the "AI" blocks each turn and a given goal of 20 VPs to beat. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTSsjJ7Nrc4YvzNRYYAZCyQcBI85W-02WA_oZwOjNR7LecyiSSTeVbEjxfaTGhokCvb4XRniLAsU2Y4808bLQx4Xcm1hLfNIBdOX1WIuCygYCSxC6YI1q16Rs6byBVqcn5lD_mPvBa0gA/s1600/10986099_462885533859598_1008022336_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTSsjJ7Nrc4YvzNRYYAZCyQcBI85W-02WA_oZwOjNR7LecyiSSTeVbEjxfaTGhokCvb4XRniLAsU2Y4808bLQx4Xcm1hLfNIBdOX1WIuCygYCSxC6YI1q16Rs6byBVqcn5lD_mPvBa0gA/s200/10986099_462885533859598_1008022336_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viticulture: Solo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2 id="childrens-game">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#childrens-game" name="user-content-childrens-game"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Children’s game</h2>
<h3 id="winner-lescalier-hante">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#winner-lescalier-hante" name="user-content-winner-lescalier-hante"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Winner: L’Escalier Hante</h3>
<div>
I introduced this game to the kids over Christmas, and it worked wonder. "A magic trick" as my five-year old would say when the ghost he has made advance past the goal line turns out not to be his so that he has inadvertently made his little sister win. The players start out with normal player markers that advances on a simple enough stairway in a race to the top, but if anyone's dice-roll shows a ghost a marker of choice turns into a anonymous ghost. Unless there are no regular markers left, then you'll swap two ghosts! If you are unfocused for two seconds your game turns completely random, but great fun nevertheless. Especially via the eyes of humans with one digit ages.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZFP756zBn0E628utOsZ5yT6c9BMnsRe6F8iZHayUUn_wYPnE8VjbYK262LMjLxPOQyRJ0EwPwuvoPlzJMLO4KuYWv9jU41PLve3J5QgzIVQ-l9b3wT-UzfiN3RfgQXD5PN5oMLbY1NE/s1600/2015-Jul+i+Norge%2528105of+458%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZFP756zBn0E628utOsZ5yT6c9BMnsRe6F8iZHayUUn_wYPnE8VjbYK262LMjLxPOQyRJ0EwPwuvoPlzJMLO4KuYWv9jU41PLve3J5QgzIVQ-l9b3wT-UzfiN3RfgQXD5PN5oMLbY1NE/s200/2015-Jul+i+Norge%2528105of+458%2529.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L'Escalier Hante</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3 id="runner-up-stone-age">
Runner up: Mon Premier Carcassonne</h3>
</div>
<div>
This game is slightly more strategic, but still recommended from four years and up. It resembles the grown-up Carcassonne in the sense that you construct a medieval landscape tile by tile, but scoring is replaced by a race to get rid of your meeples by closing roads and tile-laying itself is simplified by the fact that all tiles fit together. Still, there are some strategic choices to make and interesting decisions to take. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41010">My First Carcassonne</a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMt5wmvpLmDlQEeRCRaPWtDTnUNwNfLnpXsTSu2b8UCiduD-P7RQ6gFo0g61qWl1JNApVeMcVJcqFTF9jz22sWodSKQksneqleBiN4H8xl2IjF2lavVMeFHKArXiO1kcQGZiPn9-lg5zU/s1600/11917962_1699970036937291_238908695_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMt5wmvpLmDlQEeRCRaPWtDTnUNwNfLnpXsTSu2b8UCiduD-P7RQ6gFo0g61qWl1JNApVeMcVJcqFTF9jz22sWodSKQksneqleBiN4H8xl2IjF2lavVMeFHKArXiO1kcQGZiPn9-lg5zU/s200/11917962_1699970036937291_238908695_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mon Premier Carcassonne</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 id="game-of-the-year">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#game-of-the-year" name="user-content-game-of-the-year"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Game of the year</h2>
<div>
So, this year I decided that it would be useful to crown one game as my "Game of the Year", and that is:</div>
<h3 id="viticulture">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#viticulture" name="user-content-viticulture"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Viticulture</h3>
<div>
Voila. Congrats. (Not by a landslide, admittedly, but still. Great game!) <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128621">Viticulture</a></div>
<div>
<h2 id="games-that-i-most-look-forward-to-play-in-2016">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#games-that-i-most-look-forward-to-play-in-2016" name="user-content-games-that-i-most-look-forward-to-play-in-2016"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Games that I most hope/look forward to play in 2016</h2>
<h3 id="roll-for-the-galaxy">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="headeranchor-link" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6967032375013519080#roll-for-the-galaxy" name="user-content-roll-for-the-galaxy"><span class="headeranchor"></span></a>Roll for the Galaxy</h3>
<div>
The dice game based on a card game based on my, as mentioned above, probably favourite game of all time, Puerto Rico. Base game comes with 111 dice. What can go wrong? Spoiler-alert: I have played it and it is amazing! Amazing!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s640x640/sh0.08/e35/12383563_1014999131892650_1385634455_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://scontent-cdg2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s640x640/sh0.08/e35/12383563_1014999131892650_1385634455_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Roll for the Galaxy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 id="roll-for-the-galaxy">
Pandemic Legacy</h3>
</div>
</div>
<div>
So much hype! BGG #1 these days! (Of course there is a very strong bias here, since players that don't like vanilla Pandemic won't play and rate this follow-up. Still! #1!) So many best of 2015 awards. (Like the BGG Awards 2015 (<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1546608/10th-annual-golden-geek-awards-winners-2015" target="_blank">published this week</a>) where it won all four categories it was nominated.) Can't wait to play <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161936/pandemic-legacy-season-1" target="_blank">Pandemic Legacy</a>! (If I can convince a group of people to play the same game (at least) 12 times...)</div>
<h3>
Evolution: Climate</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182134/evolution-climate" target="_blank">Evolution: Climate</a> is one of my kickstarter projects this year, so I'm looking very much forward to test it when it shows up -- hopefully some time after the summer break.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Also, for reference, </span><a href="https://m635j520.blogspot.fr/2015/01/top-n-games-of-year-where-n-seems-to.html" target="_blank">here's my list from 2014</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">.</span></div>
<h2>
(Almost) all games and expansions I played for the first time in 2015</h2>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173346">7 Wonders: Duel</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155987">Abyss</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180680">Automobiles</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143741">BANG! The Dice Game</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167513">Barony</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168435">Between Two Cities</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172308">Broom Service</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/153938">Camel Up</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5072">Carrom</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175117">Celestia</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900">Codenames</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158899">Colt Express</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15512">Diamant</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179723">Dino Twist</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161138">Dragon Run</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158243">Dragon Slayer</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/142326">Eight-Minute Empire: Legends</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33160">Endeavor</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168679">Flip City</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37759">Incan Gold</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/153065">Linko!</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158339">Lost Legacy: The Starship</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/75789">Mai-Star</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41010">My First Carcassonne</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181304">Mysterium</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/174660">New York 1901</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/184940">New York 1901: Flatiron</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12942">No Thanks!</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163412">Patchwork</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15818">Pickomino</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/141791">Piñata</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/106662">Power Grid: The First Sparks</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3228">Pueblo</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9220">Saboteur</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169649">Sapiens</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147020">Star Realms</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158957">Star Realms: Gambit Set</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34635">Stone Age</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/145196">Suburbia Inc</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/162286">Super Motherload</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/133473">Sushi Go!</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173090">The Game: Spiel…so lange du kannst!</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171668">The Grizzled</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21790">Thurn and Taxis</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/99975">Timeline: Discoveries</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113401">Timeline: Historical Events</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147101">Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128621">Viticulture</a> * <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150312">Welcome to the Dungeon</a><br />
<br />
Pictures from this article are (mostly) taken from my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mortenjohs/" target="_blank">mortenjohs instagram account</a>.Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-23602756520481152862015-09-25T20:39:00.000+02:002015-10-05T11:07:31.199+02:00My highly subjective and ever evolving list of games to check out at Spiel'15This year's Spiel in Essen will be a bit amputated for me unfortunately. Even more important to arrive prepared! So, I made a list. Maybe it can be of interest for others. Who knows. (A BGG Geek List with the same info: <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/197261">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/197261</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF2hChaCSwcX45eJK3DRcOmPnYIVLkXZwX8F_3Eqfcv2Asb1Oe8x4kUQcNGcDuGaXeUMLZ9ol3t3hYicT-iaUQkKHpf12EjYbO7ZNLGt3Oljdn1ixYo8XqnPR51xGrW4NmddMQ4ax-sUo/s1600/Essen%2528002of+071%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF2hChaCSwcX45eJK3DRcOmPnYIVLkXZwX8F_3Eqfcv2Asb1Oe8x4kUQcNGcDuGaXeUMLZ9ol3t3hYicT-iaUQkKHpf12EjYbO7ZNLGt3Oljdn1ixYo8XqnPR51xGrW4NmddMQ4ax-sUo/s320/Essen%2528002of+071%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h2>
Main Releases</h2>
<h3>
504</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175878/504">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175878/504</a><br />
This year's Friedeman Friese seems fascinating. "504 is a game that creates 504 different games out of one box.", they say, but will any of them be worth our time (and shelf space (and money))?<br />
<h3>
7 Wonders: Duel</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173346/7-wonders-duel">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173346/7-wonders-duel</a><br />
Antoine Bauza teams up with Bruno Cathala to revisit "7 Wonders" as a two player game with intriguing drafting mechanics inspired by... pyramid solitaire.<br />
<h3>
Barony</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167513/barony">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167513/barony</a><br />
Splendor is one of my favourite games from last year. Marc André is back with a seemingly (slightly) heavier game.<br />
<h3>
Mysterium</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181304/mysterium">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181304/mysterium</a><br />
Coop Ghost Murder Mystery Dixit! (Technically it was at Essen last year, but only in Polish.)<br />
<h3>
Ships</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/153737/ships">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/153737/ships</a><br />
This year's Martin Wallace (A Study In Emerald, A Few Acres of Snow, Mythotopia...)<br />
<h3>
Bretagne</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179350/bretagne">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179350/bretagne</a><br />
Probably too heavy to get much play time these days, but it sounds intriguing.<br />
<a href="http://opinionatedgamers.com/2015/09/21/liga-first-impressions-of-bretagne/">http://opinionatedgamers.com/2015/09/21/liga-first-impressions-of-bretagne/</a><br />
<h3>
Inhabit the Earth</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181797/inhabit-earth">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181797/inhabit-earth</a><br />
<h3>
The Gallerist</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125153/gallerist">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125153/gallerist</a><br />
<h3>
Steam Works</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143176/steam-works">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143176/steam-works</a><br />
Steampunk worker placement game.<br />
<h3>
Favor of the Pharaoh</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171011/favor-pharaoh">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171011/favor-pharaoh</a><br />
A new dice game from Tom Lehman. (Roll for the Galaxy, etc.) <br />
<h3>
Above and Below</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172818/above-and-below">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172818/above-and-below</a><br />
The new Ryan Laukat sounds intriguing. City building meets story telling... (Not entirely sure this will be presented at Essen, but <a href="http://ludovox.fr/lejeu/above-and-below/" target="_blank">LudoVox </a>seems to think so... )<br />
<h3>
Dice City</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179572/dice-city">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179572/dice-city</a><br />
"Dice crafting"?<br />
<h3>
Flip City</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168679/flip-city">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168679/flip-city</a><br />
Deckbuilding meets Minivilles? Push your luck with a card flipping gimmick... Why not?<br />
<h3>
Small City</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/130486/small-city">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/130486/small-city</a><br />
Another mayor-sim?<br />
<h3>
My Village</h3>
<a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172381/">http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172381/</a><br />
Dice-version of Village.<br />
<h3>
Pandemic Legacy</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161936/pandemic-legacy">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161936/pandemic-legacy</a><br />
Pandemic. Legacy.<br />
<h3>
Scythe</h3>
<a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169786/">http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169786/</a><br />
The new game from Stonemaier Games. (Viticulture w/Tuscany, Euphoria, Between two Cities...)<br />
<h3>
Automobiles</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180680/automobiles">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180680/automobiles</a></div>
Third game in the series that started with the excellent Trains. A bag-builder. My collection could do with a bag builder...<br />
<h3>
Cthulhu Realms</h3>
<a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179303/">http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179303/</a><br />
Star Realms meets Lovecraft? This must be tried.<br />
<h3>
Tides of Time</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176229/tides-time">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176229/tides-time</a><br />
Another two player drafting game... in a small box. From Portal Games.<br />
<h3>
Codenames</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178900/codenames</a></div>
<div>
Another take on the Dixit association party game sub genre? From a fascinating designer. Why not?<br />
<h3>
Nippon</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/154809/nippon">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/154809/nippon</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
Dino Twist</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179723/dino-twist">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/179723/dino-twist</a><br />
To call it "6 nimmt" with donosaur theme would be unfair, but I had a quick introduction to this game at the Octogônes fair in Lyon this weekend and I am looking forward to try it for real.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZvzic6VO6ZFJBmf4NwdZSUNFaZdNvwNtLHa9tXQNV6VlmALQV-wh0PR40TTkRWkEhvyidB1TgZJ4I4XFdVoI20W93J24QR2QGat6Wd_pYQXj2dRyXst6C5rJCRARkIOrEYRlWSRtBdwc/s1600/Essen%2528007of+071%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZvzic6VO6ZFJBmf4NwdZSUNFaZdNvwNtLHa9tXQNV6VlmALQV-wh0PR40TTkRWkEhvyidB1TgZJ4I4XFdVoI20W93J24QR2QGat6Wd_pYQXj2dRyXst6C5rJCRARkIOrEYRlWSRtBdwc/s320/Essen%2528007of+071%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h2>
Games released earlier in 2015 that might be playable</h2>
<h3>
New York 1901</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/174660/new-york-1901">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/174660/new-york-1901</a><br />
The new Ticket Ride? (Supposedly a great gateway game.)<br />
<h3>
The Voyages of Marco Polo</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171623/voyages-marco-polo">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171623/voyages-marco-polo</a><br />
Great reviews.<br />
<h3>
Sapiens</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169649/sapiens">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169649/sapiens</a><br />
Dominoes with cavemen-theme? Made in Lyon, but I haven't tested it yet... (A video: <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/46133/spiel-2015-preview-sapiens-or-dominoes-dawn-time">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/46133/spiel-2015-preview-sapiens-or-dominoes-dawn-time</a> )<br />
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<br />
<h2>
Expansions</h2>
<h3>
Suburbia 5★</h3>
<a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/171007/suburbia-5">https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/171007/suburbia-5</a><br />
Suburbia! (Along wiht the "Con Tiles" promo?)<br />
<h3>
Nations: Dynasties</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/180539/nations-dynasties">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/180539/nations-dynasties</a><br />
I wouldn't mind revisiting Nations, and why not including an expansion.<br />
<h3>
Port Royal: Ein Auftrag geht noch...</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/181899/port-royal-ein-auftrag-geht-noch">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/181899/port-royal-ein-auftrag-geht-noch</a><br />
Port Royal expension pack. Interesting.<br />
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<br />
<h2>
Already Kickstarted</h2>
I have kickstarted a couple of games that might be demoed this year.<br />
<h3>
Epic</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175621/epic">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175621/epic</a><br />
From the makers of Star Realms.<br />
<h3>
Between Two Cities</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168435/between-two-cities">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/168435/between-two-cities</a><br />
Stonemaier Games' first game from external designers. A fascinating take on drafting. Casual 20 minutes game for 1-7 players.<br />
<h3>
Black Hat</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148282/black-hat">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148282/black-hat</a><br />
Played this at Essen last year. Excellent take on trick taking.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<h2>
Things that have excaped me in earlier year(s) that I would like to try</h2>
<h3>
Roll for the Galaxy</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/132531/roll-galaxy">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/132531/roll-galaxy</a>
<br />
This was missing at last year's Messe, but it has an expansion out this year, so I hope they demo it somewhere... (<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/175754/roll-galaxy-ambition">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/175754/roll-galaxy-ambition</a>)<br />
<h3>
Castles of Mad King Ludwig</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155426/castles-mad-king-ludwig">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155426/castles-mad-king-ludwig</a>
<br />
Didn't prioritize this last year as I thought it was too close to the Suburbia that I already have in my collection... Expansion coming out, so it might be fun to try -- if possible. (<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/174296/castles-mad-king-ludwig-secrets">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/174296/castles-mad-king-ludwig-secrets</a>)<br />
<h3>
Colt Express</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158899/colt-express">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158899/colt-express</a><br />
Spiel des Jahres 2015, didn't prioritize it last year. Expansion out. Hope to test it. (<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/181158/colt-express-horses-stagecoach">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/181158/colt-express-horses-stagecoach</a>)<br />
<h3>
Russian Railroads</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144733/russian-railroads">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144733/russian-railroads</a><br />
Yet another much raved about game that I missed last year that has an expension coming out. (<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/181693/russian-railroads-german-railroads">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/181693/russian-railroads-german-railroads</a>)<br />
<h3>
Concordia</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124361/concordia">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124361/concordia</a><br />
With the new Salsa-expansion coming out maybe this will be demoed?<br />
(<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/181084/concordia-salsa">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/181084/concordia-salsa</a>)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Istanbul</h3>
<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148949/istanbul">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148949/istanbul</a><br />
New expansion... etc. (<a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172505/">https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172505/</a>)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52XZrk1JTCEnlq25ixGpKr_48PqRMpKcp3y7wY6aw3MwQXWpjZQnukVYHJoxui3dm711cLOJFZctAM4zrc_CjB8i4xcVa4X8rk-9svc1EP9fdC0M8sHBT6EKZ-3dJj_Lkp3vcXO6pR10/s1600/Essen%2528067of+071%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi52XZrk1JTCEnlq25ixGpKr_48PqRMpKcp3y7wY6aw3MwQXWpjZQnukVYHJoxui3dm711cLOJFZctAM4zrc_CjB8i4xcVa4X8rk-9svc1EP9fdC0M8sHBT6EKZ-3dJj_Lkp3vcXO6pR10/s320/Essen%2528067of+071%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<h2>
Resources</h2>
<ul>
<li>The "Essen Geek" tool website: <a href="http://essengeek.pcs-box.ch/index.php" target="_blank">http://essengeek.pcs-box.ch/index.php</a></li>
<li>A huge spiel 2015 preview geek list at BGG: <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/174654/spiel-2015-preview">https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/174654/spiel-2015-preview</a></li>
<li>"Dale Yu getting ready for Essen": <a href="http://opinionatedgamers.com/2015/09/11/dale-yu-getting-ready-for-essen/">http://opinionatedgamers.com/2015/09/11/dale-yu-getting-ready-for-essen/</a></li>
<li>Spiel in Essen android app: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.gioconomicon.android.essen">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.gioconomicon.android.essen</a></li>
<li>Gus & Co - "Absolument tous les chiffres pour Essen 2015": <a href="http://gusandco.net/2015/10/01/absolument-tous-les-chiffres-dessen-2015/">http://gusandco.net/2015/10/01/absolument-tous-les-chiffres-dessen-2015/</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
(Photos by myself taken at previous Essen trips.)</div>
Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-91164456303770941482015-09-23T21:52:00.000+02:002017-05-18T09:13:37.987+02:00Life, death, ghosts, xkcd, d3, and flowing data<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/travel_ghosts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/travel_ghosts.png" title="And a different ghost has replaced me in the bedroom."></a></div>
<br />
This morning I came across this <a href="https://xkcd.com/1580/" target="_blank">XKCD strip</a>. (I hope someone actually makes that app... Although with enough parallel ghosts chances are that you will lose more than you win, of course.)<br />
<br />
Later in the day Flowing Data published this <a href="http://flowingdata.com/2015/09/23/years-you-have-left-to-live-probably/" target="_blank">fascinating visualisation</a> of, well, when you might die. (Based on US life tables, mind you...) Each ball is a potential future self. (Like the ghosts in <a href="https://xkcd.com/about/" target="_blank">Randal Munroe</a>'s strip.) Travelling along the life table line 'till they... die. Fascinating. And then I wondered what would happen if we somehow mapped causes of death to that? And voila, based on <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db99.htm" target="_blank">data from CDC</a>, I added this colour coded death causes (along with some other minor changes) to <a href="http://flowingdata.com/about-nathan" target="_blank">Nathan Yau</a>'s excellent <a href="http://d3js.org/" target="_blank">D3.js</a> work:<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe height="800" scrolling="no" src="https://rawgit.com/mortenjohs/deaths/master/index_small.html" style="border: 0; height: 700px;" width="800"></iframe>
(Click <a href="http://rawgit.com/mortenjohs/deaths/master/index.html" target="_blank">here</a> for a full frame viz.)<br />
<br />
Scary.<br />
<br />
What could be next?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Bar chart reflects the colour coding of causes?</li>
<li>More detailed causes of death could lead to a better... narrative?</li>
<li>Life tables and causes of death probabilities from other countries? Maybe comparisons?</li>
<li>More accurate causes if we break it down also by sex? (The causes of death distribution is now assumed to be the same for men and women, which is, basically, wrong.)</li>
<li>Risk factors that influence the life line/causes of death? (Smoking, obesity, etc. (Thanks Graham.))</li>
</ul>
Update 2017-05-18: Code moved to GitHub, since Google no longer accepts serving html from Google Drive. (Available here: https://github.com/mortenjohs/deaths)Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6967032375013519080.post-52625976756687721022015-09-13T16:45:00.001+02:002016-09-10T18:24:12.423+02:00Scan with a Canon MP560 without ink<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mortenjohs/17055633481/in/dateposted-public/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Ja, så har det blitt vår"><img alt="Ja, så har det blitt vår" height="333" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8793/17055633481_269b3385eb.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>So, today I needed to scan something. And our Canon MP560 printer was out of ink... The beast never got past a screen saying "Ink tanks empty" on this and that colour, and thus wouldn't let me scan. Even remotely from my VueScan. And it was Sunday so our local friendly printer ink recycling store was closed. I suspected all hope was out, and cursed printer manufacturers conspirational grip on customers' use of their products, but did a quick google nevertheless. Lo and behold!<br />
<br />
"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">If you want to scan during an ink tank / cartridge error condition, press and hold the <Stop> button on the printer for at least five seconds, and then release it. The above procedure will disable the ink level detection. If the issue still persist, the ink cartridge would need to be replaced." </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">(</span><a href="http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Personal-Printers/My-mp560-won-t-scan-without-ink-Help/td-p/59921" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">Source</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">)</span><br />
<br />
I put back the empty tanks. Turned on the printer. Held the red button (that I guessed was) called "<Stop>", and hey presto, I could scan.Mortenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13546416989897902004noreply@blogger.com0