I have only been to Barcelona once. We stayed for a day before traveling further into Spain. While there we caught some glimpses of the city, had a decent Frappé at a Greek restaurant with an impressively unfriendly waiter but didn‘t really get a feel for the city itself. Paradoxically, this makes me both best … More Game Night Verdicts #41 – Zoom in Barcelona
A few days ago, a friend of a friend passed away unexpectedly. I only knew him from the number of times we’d played together in the last seven or so years. Maybe longer, even. He was not a childhood schoolmate of mine, nor did we have many opportunities to spend time together outside of games, … More On the meaningfulness of games
The other day I had the opportunity to be taught some new games. As is so often the case, the explanation began with the unassuming phrase, that nevertheless made me stop and wonder. „This game is about…“ Every rules explanation or introduction begins with a phrase like that. It’s the necessary framing so the rules … More Barthes told me to do it
In the late 90s Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker starred in an action-comedy called Rush Hour. It was the story of Detective Inspector Lee (Chan) and Detective James Carter (Tucker) having to bridge their personal, cultural and at times lingustic differences in order to solve a kidnapping case. In one scene Lee enters a bar … More Theme non grata
Accessibility is the mark of a good game. While it’s fun to master an intimidatingly complex design, most people are limited in how much time they can sink into such an endeavour. Not to mention the number of players they can rope into multiple plays until such a game finally clicks. It’s the job of … More Game Night Verdicts #40 – Nova Luna
About a week ago the Spiel des Jahres jury announced the nominees for the Kennerspiel des Jahres, Kinderspiel des Jahres and of course the Spiel des Jahres itself. As expected this led to a wide range of responses online and probably in some gaming groups, too. I was quick to react as well. I announced … More When a list is supposed to light the way
A good story stays with you because of its cathartic ending. Just compare the finale of Star Trek The Next Generation to the end of Game of Thrones. One of those shows still has a passionate fanbase, whereas the other is barely mentioned after a… let’s say… disappointing ending. For the longest time, games were … More Game Night Verdicts #39 – My City
There are certain circles in this hobby where eurogames are looked down upon. There, these games are often decried as soulless cube-pushers, convoluted systems of oh-so-clever mechanisms with the vaguest semblance of a theme draped over them. They get criticized for their lack of player interaction. Playing them rarely succeeds in letting you feel something … More Game Night Verdicts #38 – The Romans
When you design games, write about games and in some cases simply try to make sense of them to better explain them to your gaming group, you eventually have to ask yourself what motivates people to play. Specifically, what goal do they pursue to get the elaborate construction of rules and components going. What exactly … More All Roads Lead to Victory
I don‘t often write about house rules or variants. Mostly because I rarely have much need for them. There are enough games on my shelf or new ones coming out that it doesn‘t seem worth the effort. I also don‘t often have the flexibility to dedicate an undefined amount of time to something that a … More Two co-op rules variants
