[Spin-Off Central] What Constitutes a Game?

I was going to review Hive, an abstract chess-like game that has been reviewed very favorably by lots of people I like.

The game looks cool and appeals to me due to the two player nature. It's portable and seems straightforward enough, and doesn't have any math or random elements- all of these were plusses in my book. 

So I busted it open and discovered that to ME; it's not a game. It's a problem that needs solving. It didn't have "rules", it told me what I could do with certain pieces. There weren't any examples of "how to play". It confused the crap out of me. I decided I was not smart enough for the game and put it away.

(I will be totally fair and let you know I will give it another try before completely writing it off.)

What's the difference between a game and a problem? To ME, the difference is games have rules. Especially with board games, there are clear sequences and operational things to do, with an end goal in mind.

Hive does things differently. It tells you "here are how things work", and then asks you - "how would you make X happen?".

Based on this specific understanding, at the moment, I don't consider Hive a game. I consider it a puzzle. I don't mind that, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

While I was thinking this little idea over, I came across this post and the conversation it generated. I was very taken by the comments made between Sandwyrm and CaulynDarr. Here's the part I found most compelling:

CaulynnDarr: Games on the other hand are math, cognition, and memory problems, with art supporting the implementation.

You can have great process and great products at the same time. Usually great process is the difference between having 1 great product and several great products. Process is often that thing at the end that sends the whole project back to square one if it needs it.

Actually McDonnell-Douglas had the better design, but got out lobbied by Boing and bought out. Though all three designs would be in the same shape now, due to the conflicting requirements.

 

sandwyrm   23 hours ago in reply to CaulynDarr

Don't be silly. Games are not about math or the technical stuff. They're about the experience. The interactions. Making the interactions of a game interesting and rewarding is just as much of an art as any film or video game. The technical stuff has to support an artistic vision, as Star Wars taught us so long ago. As Apple teaches us now. As Blizzard, id, and Valve prove every day.

Good processes require consistency and predicability. But creativity is never consistent or predictable. So you have to optimize on one or the other. You cannot have both together. Or both end up mediocre at best.

I know these guys were talking specifically about miniatures games- table top war games with figure soldiers and dice and whatnot. But the comment put me in mind of something Porky asked me a while ago:

What is a game?

I think I discovered that anything I will consider a game (at least a board game) has to have operational structure- who does what when; that's essential to me. I think that my tastes have shown that I want a combination of math and/or logic problems ALONG WITH the experience and the interactions for almost any OTHER kind of game.

What about you? What do you consider essential components to be considered a game? What turns you totally off? If you understand either answer, why are those your answers? I'd love to hear.

[Review] Tok Tok Woodman

So, TheBoy and I came upon this fun idea. We would play a bunch of games. We would have fun. We would learn more about the products we sell at the store, and I could review them for my little blog.

We started out innocently enough with the Axis and Allies game. That was a blast. We had so much fun playing that game. I think we will play it a few more times so that I can get a chance to win. (Fat chance, but chance nonetheless.)

We have tried a few games. We loved some and didn't like others at all.

Tok Tok Woodman is one of our perennial favorites.

This game is billed as a "dexterity game", which means it involves hand/eye coordination. This is something I am usually truly bad at, but I STILL love this game.

It's more like a twisted version of Jenga than anything else.

The premise of the game is that you have a tree that you are trying to cut the "bark" off of without knocking any of the wood out from the base of the tree.

You do this with an axe, of course.

The axe pictured is actually from the expansion, but you get the idea. (Yes, there is an expansion. It's just as fun as the original!)  You tap the tree three two times, trying to knock the bark off but leave the discs of wood intact. Every piece of bark is worth points, while the wood COSTS points. Whoever ends up with the most points wins.

I have to say that for me, the largest portion of this game's appeal is how ramped up TheBoy gets. He is absolutely like a little kid, being given permission to break stuff. With an axe. (Yes, it's a little plastic axe, but it's an axe.)

I have sold this game on numerous occasions as a "party game". It's a great icebreaker or timewaster, without any complex strategy or overall need for thinking. It's just silly. The best part of the party game is that if you add drinking, it just gets sillier. I can only imagine making shots a part of this game.

There's no real rules breakdown, or complaint about pieces, or discussion of confusing something or other. This game is straightforward, and fun. It's even better when the folks you play it with understand it is meant to be silly, and get into it with the over the top actions (and reactions) to make it more entertaining.

The only downside I can think of is that if you like a serious, intelligent game, this isn't it.

I think you should play this game, and enjoy some good laughs.

[Review] Axis & Allies Angels 20

I have a giant soft spot for airplane games of any kind. I had pestered the living daylights out of TheDude for copies of Wings of War (now Wings of Glory), but he really didn't listen. (Sad panda!)

When Axis & Allies newest expansion line: Angels 20 came out, HiSign tried VERY hard to get me to buy it. I kept resisting, and he kept tempting me. I wasn't interested at first, and then I was worried I would spend too much, and I just didn't have anyone to play against.

Then TheDude bought a starter box. We all checked out the contents and were pretty impressed with the quality and quantity of items for the price. TheBoy started poking me about wanting to "play airplanes", and my resistance was wearing down.

The other day TheBoy out and out cheated. He asked me- "Mommy, will you play some airplanes with me?" He then proceeded to make cute engine and shooting sounds and batted his enormous eyelashes at me.

I bought a starter box and a booster.

DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!

The map- pretty nice quality

The starter set comes with 3 German and 3 British planes, along with dice, stands, a rulebook and counters. I wish I had actually READ the box before buying it, because I didn't want Germans, and TheBoy wanted British.  TheBoy got an entire flight (or bunch of planes), and I got zero planes I wanted. (More Sad Panda!) TheBoy took pity on me, and bought 2 boosters. I wound up with some Americans, some Japanese and some Russian planes. I still don't have a full flight of any one faction, but I have lots of choices.

We decided to try to play today. We set up the map, which is made of nice magazine thickness paper. There's not any obvious markings as to how they fit together, but after turning the map around a couple times, we figured it out.

Building my list of airplanes was really tough. With a point limit of 100 points, it was difficult for me to get more than 2 planes. I saw several options of 3-4 plane flights if I mixed factions (ie, 1 Poland, 1 Fin, 1 Britain) but single factions made it tougher.

For our first time around, I went ahead and played the Germans, even though I really didn't want to, because I had the most options that way.

This is what I picked from.  I had a bomber, an ace and two "average" planes to figure out what to fly. I picked the bomber and an ace.

These are the planes TheBoy had to pick from. They were pretty sweet, to be honest.

We figured out initiative and movement pretty well. There was a little confusion on whether and how to turn (and when), but after a little discussion, we got that decided. We opted not to use altitude because the rules were wonky and we wanted to get the basics down first. We just pretended we were at acceptable altitudes and went on our merry way. Lots of "merrrrroooooooooooom" noises were made.

My planes after movement

Movement went really fast. TheBoy had an ace that had movement almost double mine, so in one turn, it went from what you see above here to the picture below:

There was a little more movement (getting planes into place) that put us within a hex of each other. Unfortunately, we were situated in such a way that TheBoy was outside of my firing arc, but I was smack dab in the middle of his.

We did some shooting. TheBoy tore me up. It was awful. I am ashamed at getting beaten so badly by my lil punk so and so of a son. =/

I will take this moment to let you know that the rulebook is what I consider 'typical Hasbro/WotC' in that it is laid out badly and needs more examples. If I had any idea HOW bad it was, I would have brought TheDude's rulebook so I would not have spent so much time flipping back and forth from section to section for rules as we played.

We were interrupted quite a lot, so we didn't get more done, which is too bad. It was just starting to get fun. We both agreed that the game has a lot of promise to be extremely entertaining, but the map was way too small. There was not a lot of room for manuevering or moving around. Now, if the idea is to move the maps as you play, that might change things, but with the map staying static, we found it to be crowded.

We still had a blast and made way too many fun lil' airplane sounds as we tried to shoot each other up.

Shameless Self-Promotion

[Yes, I stole it from Dethtron. I'm sure he'll forgive me.]

I'm about to do something I generally try to avoid doing, and that's pimp the store.

We have a fantastic event coming up, and I can't help it- I'm excited! Some nationally known folks are going to be featuring us in a way that can only be described as : positive. 


We're going to be a stop on the Gamerati Tour!!!

http://tour.gamerati.com/il-urbana-armored-gopher-games/

[Weekly Whimsy] Brutal Beauty

[Welcome to Weekly Whimsy! You know, I had an alliterative intro, a serious article and all kinds of cool shenanigans up my sleeve until earlier today when a real-life situation alerted me to the necessity of some levity. I'll possibly throw down some crazy words you've never heard of in the midst of all my silly hijinx, so get a thesaurus just in case.Also, just to cover my self... the opinions herein are expressly mine, and HOP does not endorse them in any way.]

" Just like flying a cab" - Corbin Dallas, The Fifth Element

So all of the webbernetz is in a roar over the Stormraven. You know, this thing:

The general consensus of the masses is that the thing's a glorified garbage hauler- only uglier.

I say: Yer all crazy. It's flippin perfect.

[Mom Time] Teen Drama- Trying Again

Several months ago- conversation with TheGirl-

I referred to her as a "DramaMamma", which she did not like.

I told her no way can she be a Drama Queen, 'cause
--I-- am the queen in our house.

She pipes up: "Can I at least be a Drama PRINCESS?"

With teens in the house, drama is sure to follow. Most of the drama is pretty tame and easy for me to manage. I actually enjoy some of it, with some teasing and good natured humor thrown in as ammunition against the slings and arrows of angst in the hormone laden set.

The most recent drama in our home revolves around grades, with one child causing some consternation and eyebrow raising. I have given up any semblance of a social life in order to supervise the child in question, as well as administer chores to maximum effect against bad attitude.

The child has had a major schedule rework, with games totally removed until further notice. Games and music are pretty important in our household, and the revoking of such is done seriously and as a last resort.

I have little doubt the foundling will resume schoolwork in the expected fashion shortly, and all will be well soon. Until then, my house is getting very clean.

[Mom Time] My kids

I've mentioned that I HAVE kids a few times. I have made some passing references to the fact that they game, but haven't talked about them specifically very often.

I have 2 kids- a teen boy, and a teen girl.

TheBoy- Is kind of "gonzo" a la Hunter S. Thompson. He plays a lot of crazy stuff: Magic the Gathering, Dark Heresy, D&D versions 3.5 or before, World of Darkness, Savage Worlds- all games with pretty fantastic settings. It seems to me that the more "out there", the better, for him.

TheGirl- Is still "cutting her teeth". She's in a tabletop game run by a fun loving, wacky GM, and the World of Darkness game as well.

Last night, I heard TheGirl saying: "I call in the face punching!".

I have to admit I was both proud and a little mortified at the same time.

[Weekly Whimsy] Dice

Welcome to Weekly Whimsy! Discussing dueling dodecahedrons, dancing deciders of destiny, denizens of dicebags and deliverers of defeat.

[I don't think I'll ever get tired of that...onto today's topic!]
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Roll With It, Baby- Steve Winwood, Roll With It


We women have a terrible reputation for taking a long time to get ready, and being extra-particular about accessories and styling.

I've stumbled upon an area that puts girls to shame, and it's pretty universal across the board.Guys, girls, old or young, the subject at hand is one that fascinates us all.

Dice!

Put a gamer in front of a dice display, and you get the same general response all over.- "OOOOOOOOH, shiny!"

Aside from general fascination, there are some things we all share in regards to dice. Things like superstitions, obsessions and silly tendencies.

We've all heard of cursed dice- or worse, cursed people. There are a couple of guys down at the game store who are forbidden from touching other guys' dice for fear of "tainting" them.

Some people collect dice according to special themes- color, according to their army faction, shapes or other inscrutable reasons. TheDude is one of those collectors, with a great assortment according to a particular idea.

Here's a shot of his SPARE dice:

Can you guess the theme?

A better shot, about half full.

This is not a die! It's one of the "Rainbow Ninja"- universally known in our gaming circle. There's a pink one and a blue one, too.

Another one of TheDude's dice. With another die inside it.

And an orange round die.



No idea yet? The Dude collects the weirdest, strangest, most unusual dice he can find. Which usually end up being ugly. Our friends have all gotten in on the action, and bring home some of the craziest dice I've ever seen from conventions, game stores in other towns and other locations unknown. As seen above, he now has a HUGE collection and keeps his spare dice in a huge ice cream bucket. Spares- the ones he doesn't use every day.

These are my dice. The red ones are my spares. The black ones are my regular gaming dice.

This is what's inside my black bag.

These are the dice I use for Eile.

 

These are some of my favorites- custom dice from our game store! 

Now we have some themed  collections out of the way. Buying dice is pretty personal. Some guys get new dice every convention (TheDude), new game (TheDude) or  new character (TheDude). Some match their dice to their character's outfits. Some take the dice out of the shell and look at them in depth- others just grab whatever looks good. Some guys order straight from the catalog- but we all buy dice in a way that makes sense to us. 

There's even different approaches to dice- Crystal Caste, Game Science and Chessex are all different ways of making a gamer's heart leap with excitement. 

I see a lot of "wishful thinking" with dice- the tendency to sit them with the optimal number facing up, in hopes that doing so will encourage the dice to roll that way more often. 

I also see lots of crazy dice carrying methods. Plastic ziplocks, cigar boxes, dice bags, tupperdudes, deck boxes and much more. I love seeing how they're treated and what we make of them. 

I think we all love dice in some way. Sometimes, they are a pain- like when you play --IG-- or Orks and have cover saves or to hit rolls for 40+ figures. 

So what do you with mass rolls? With the rise of the iPod and iPhone, electronic dice rollers are becoming more common. The apps for deciding outcomes have gotten more sophisticated and easy to use, and some guys have been using them at the store. They certainly have a place and I like them for what they are, but they are not as fun to me as rolling big handfuls of dice.  I remember 20 or more years ago, my dad had a Dragonbone that he used, but it felt more like a remote control than a way to determine chances. 

I love dice- picking them, rolling them, and buying them for TheDude. (Especially really ugly ones!)

Come on and share some of YOUR dice stories!

[Killzone] Everyone Starts Somewhere

I am a former 40K player. I played back in 2nd edition, in the most half-assed, ridiculously lazy fashion possible. I loved the game at the time, because I did not take it seriously and had a blast.

I'm looking at getting back into 40K, and it just so happens that within a week of seriously looking at the rules again, I happened across BigJim's Special Operations:Killzone project.

A small, fast, fun game that wasn't 500+ pages of rules? This was the thing for me! Killzone appealed to me as a player rediscovering the game because it seemed to be aimed at the point of 40K- having fun. It appeared to be deceptively simple, with incredible depth and elegance under those pretty, shiny covers of "fast".

Thanks BigJim, for making my reentry to 40K so exciting.I haven't played a game of Killzone yet. I haven't made an army list yet. I haven't designed an awesome Killzone Table or scenario yet. I haven't done anything tangible towards actively being part of the Killzone movement- but I feel like I've taken  huge steps towards being a fan of this very cool looking game.
I've picked an army, so that I CAN build a Killzone SOP team. I've passed the Killzone link to 4-5 people in my local circle, as well as plugged BigJim to the best of my ability. I've talked to folks about both the rules and the community aspect of this great idea, and done what I can to get people on board with something very fun and fresh.

I can't wait to see how things actually go once I have dudes on the table and someone to play!

Zombie Gamers Want Tacos, Not Brains

My regular WOD group heard a couple weeks ago that I was planning to move. I had scheduled today (Sunday) as my move day but they volunteered to help me instead of gaming on Saturday (yesterday). This group is pretty large, and then several others in my gaming circle decided to join in as well. I offered my husband's famous tacos as reward for the volunteers, and that got around. More people came to help; many having been lured by the promise of food.

I had 20 people show up to help me move.

The group of us arrived at my house in a convoy (10+ vehicles) and we began loading up. Just a few hours later, my stuff was at my new place. 

I was one of the last to arrive at the new place, and it was later in the day (actually full dark out) and there was a large group of my friends waiting for me on my lawn. My son had coordinated all of them to zombie shuffle towards my vehicle, moaning

"Taaaaaaaaaacoooooooooooooooos"

I  have not laughed that hard in a while.

The slavering horde was fed, and I am proud to know that many zombies.

Uh-oh It's; Every Little Thing She Does; A Kind of;

Yes, I got sucked back into the world of Magic: the Gathering.

I don't play seriously or competitively. I play with a couple people I like and enjoy, and I play to pass time or have a fun evening. I actually kind of like putting decks together (even though I am truly bad at it) and I don't mind learning new ways to be defeated. (It happens a LOT.)

One of the guys I enjoy playing against most is a guy that a lot of people have a hard time dealing with. He's high functioning autistic and his 'special area of focused interest' is mathmatics. He understands the combinations, stacks, interworkings and otherwise fairly intricate nature of the "high end" of the game excessively well. His decks are usually well built around a single premise or card and he KILLS with them.

He's also completely fair and very patient. He never gives me difficulty for not knowing or understanding some of the more complicated rules or card combinations. He's a good opponent for me to learn from, because he explains EVERYTHING. I often learn more about a single card or combination through him than just by reading them or asking questions.

Another guy I play agains whenever I can is our local MtG Guru. He's forgotten more about Magic than I'll ever know- card names, colors, casting cost, effect, best ways to use them, etc. He's also one of the nicest, coolest guys ever. He loves the game and wants everyone else to like it too. He doesn't do jerk plays or in your face stuff. He saves competitive play for competitions; and even then he's a good-natured guy.

I have a small collection of cards, and I'm slowly learning how to use them. I'm having fun and enjoying myself.

"I can quit any time I want, Honest!"