Board Games!

[PJ.]

game room sounds like chess and billards, yeah. Also still sounds like a boring as shit theme. I hope they just bring you into a room with a plastic table and give you one of those escape room board games.

[implosion]

game room sounds like chess and billards, yeah. Also still sounds like a boring as shit theme. I hope they just bring you into a room with a plastic table and give you one of those escape room board games.

Hey man, some of those things are goddamn amazing. We played the wizard of oz exit game at Toronto meet and I still remember basically the entire sequence of puzzles because it was so well designed. I’ve also generally enjoyed the destructive ones I’ve done.

[PJ.]

Oh, I wasn't implying they are bad or not worth the money. Just thought it'd be very funny. We played like..half the wizard of oz one.in between escape rooms once, it was very fun.

[xRECKONERx]

I'm gonna guess they have the chess piece puzzle I've seen in a few escape rooms. They'll probably have some traditional board games around with pieces that are clues to things. Maybe some kind of Monopoly Money puzzle that's the answer to a padlock. Deck of cards where certain cards are marked or missing. That sort of thing.

[Untrod Tripod]

two rooms and a boom only really works well with like 20+ people IMO and that's a big fucking issue

[brassherald]

So, the game room was really fun, actually. We got out with time to spare, but it was their easy room chosen solely because of a groupon.

I plan to do one of their harder rooms when my sister is in town since she wants to do an activity with my and my girlfriend.

[Chickadee]

game room sounds like chess and billards, yeah. Also still sounds like a boring as shit theme. I hope they just bring you into a room with a plastic table and give you one of those escape room board games.

Hey man, some of those things are goddamn amazing. We played the wizard of oz exit game at Toronto meet and I still remember basically the entire sequence of puzzles because it was so well designed. I’ve also generally enjoyed the destructive ones I’ve done.

I still think about the Wizard of Oz one, and tell everyone to play it.

[vonflare]

two rooms and a boom only really works well with like 20+ people IMO and that's a big fucking issue

I've had many fun games of 2r1b with ~10 iirc

it depends on the people, not the amount

[GreyICE]

Blood on the Clocktower is bad mafia for people who don’t like mafia.

Sidereal Confluence is still the best game ever.

[chamber]

When I play Sidereal Confluence I feel like the game is playing me. There is of course some degree of control in the quality of trades I can make, but ultimately I find I have very little control over what resource I produce, or what resources I want. Ultimately it still plays great in terms of 6 player games, but I don't get the love for it.

[GreyICE]

For me it’s like Agricola, in that respect. You’ve got to feed your family (converters) each harvest (round) but it’s what you do to score that changes up the strategy. Because you want to be amassing cubes of a single color, and your converters are going to rainbow a bit. So maybe you don’t want to run your own converter, you want someone else’s (that’s an option). Or maybe you don’t want to run the converter at all. Most everyone has at least one converter that’s below average - for instance the Bees’ hyper tech converter. Many times there’s someone who wants 1 hyper tech more than the value of the output of that converter. So you can use the converter as a negotiating tool. Everyone has a little mini game they can play to shape the table economy - Caylion with the 2x resource (should always be upgraded in the first three rounds), bees with upgrading people with planets, as I art in the most obvious way, etc.

It’s positioning your scoring resources that’s the heart and soul, and there’s a ton of options.

[Chickadee]

If anyone is looking for a chill filler game, I recommend looking at Second Chance. It's all about doodling. Everyone gets a grid and shapes are flipped over and you're doodling in shapes to fill your grid until you don't have space anymore. The person with the fewest empty spaces wins. Honestly it was so chill and it was satisfying as it's own puzzle that it's still fun wether you win or lose. Honestly I could just have a whole puzzle book of grids and shapes and doodle the day away on my own.

I'm a sucker for anything even remotely art related that actually makes you doodle or sculpt or act something out.

[Vi]

Digging through my old posts ITT.

Five Tribe is continuing to creep higher and higher on my list of faves every time I play it.

This is a good opinion. I like how it combines so many strategic elements with having the absolute wackiest game mechanic.

I think I'm done with Five Tribes. The ratio of AP:actual gameplay is too darn high. Also lurking BGG has kind of ruined my notions of this game being balanced.

(Another game that lurking BGG has ruined for me: Trajan.)

7 Wonders is still great, although I'm bearish on the expansions. Carcassonne is still good at what it does. Ra is still decent enough and I don't have anything else in its niche.

Argent is still my all-time favorite. As complex as other peoples' favorite heavy games, but so much more blatant in how rude you can be. The two-player variant is actually way smoother than I imagined. I learned that Synthesis Workshop is pretty much only useful in games where it comes after Council Chamber B.

It's so difficult to get exactly four people to play Code of Nine and they don't want to play with me any more. I swear, you disqualify every other player

once

, and they etc.

Azul was boring af, plus the rulebook was so badly translated that I found out later that we were playing the game very wrong twice over.
If I'm going to have a mediocre stained glass game I'd rather have Sagrada because it's way shinier.

I feel like I'm way behind the curve on ~new games~ but I also lean hard into not wanting to purchase anything that's not exceptional and won't get a bunch of plays.

[PJ.]

I don't think Sagrada is mediocre =(

[vizIIsto]

Sushi Go anyone?

[PJ.]

I think the "party" version of sushi go is pretty magnificent even though it makes it a little less portable

[vizIIsto]

I have yet to lose a game of Sushi Go! against my parents. I always beat both of them, though sometimes with the narrowest of margins.
Similarly I've only lost once or twice in like 20/25 games of poker against my parents. And they can play good poker. And they don't let me win. I mean, that would take some SERIOUS skill, to let someone win in poker without making it obvious (like calling with 4 high or not betting with the nuts on the river)

[Equinox]

Sushi Go anyone?

How about Sushi No?*

* - As much as I would find this rude joke amusing, it's an actual variant that I've yet to try but sounds like fun. The goal is to have the fewest amount of points.

[vizIIsto]

Seems ez.

[Chickadee]

I think Sagrada and Azul are both awesome games. I like the drafting aspect in Azul, and think it handles it better than a lot of other drafting games. Also design goes a long way with me, and the pieces look like candy and I want to eat them. I will say the rulebook was a bit cumbersome, but my game group heavily relies on BGG when we have any doubts about anything. Or we just call the designer of the game....but that's more just the connections some of our people have with some of our commonly played games. There are a lot of game designers really active on BGG to answer any questions btw.

[popsofctown]

Boards games might be what eventually lures me to one of the scummeets

[GreyICE]

Argent is still my all-time favorite. As complex as other peoples' favorite heavy games, but so much more blatant in how rude you can be. The two-player variant is actually way smoother than I imagined. I learned that Synthesis Workshop is pretty much only useful in games where it comes after Council Chamber B.

As someone who has probably played more Argent than me, I'm interested on your thoughts on the factions. First, I'm strongly leaning Council B/Infirmary A is the only way to play at more than 2. Otherwise Council Room is such a 'don't really care' room when it comes to ordering. Second, I really feel like Purple A is ridiculous to the point where I keep feeling like banning Ezra or handing him to the new player is the right call. B side feels more balanced. Having 2 purple mages is already so good that having arguably the best spell (behind MAYBE Trias) feels super bs. Also orange doesn't really get anything from having two technomancers since 1 is usually all you need, which makes them feel a little weak. Also boy does Red B side feel bad when you don't have any Immediately rooms.

[Vi]

I don't think Sagrada is mediocre =(

I will gladly play it with someone who has gone to the trouble of purchasing it so I don't have to. Please change my mind.

Argent is still my all-time favorite. As complex as other peoples' favorite heavy games, but so much more blatant in how rude you can be. The two-player variant is actually way smoother than I imagined. I learned that Synthesis Workshop is pretty much only useful in games where it comes after Council Chamber B.

As someone who has probably played more Argent than me, I'm interested on your thoughts on the factions. First, I'm strongly leaning Council B/Infirmary A is the only way to play at more than 2. Otherwise Council Room is such a 'don't really care' room when it comes to ordering. Second, I really feel like Purple A is ridiculous to the point where I keep feeling like banning Ezra or handing him to the new player is the right call. B side feels more balanced. Having 2 purple mages is already so good that having arguably the best spell (behind MAYBE Trias) feels super bs. Also orange doesn't really get anything from having two technomancers since 1 is usually all you need, which makes them feel a little weak. Also boy does Red B side feel bad when you don't have any Immediately rooms.

Disclaimer: I randomize as much as possible.

Council Chamber A is fine as is because the Supporter tableau doesn't refresh until the between-round reset.
Infirmary B is made of :gimmicks: but I don't really care; if you're wounding people to begin with you're okay with the other party getting something for it.

Planar A is fine, but having it and Mysticism A in the game simultaneously means that the rushdown strategy totally dominates. Since pretty much every newbie assumes that setting everything to their A side is the recommended setup, this can result in some feelsbad roflstomping when someone has all five of their mages on the board while the newbie is staring down at their four waiting to be placed. If Argent were being reprinted and I could browbeat the dev, I would make both Planar A and Mysticism A cost 1 Mana to use their effects.

Xal Ezra is fine.
Lavanina's spell is so situational that it could probably be free without it becoming OP.
I find that people choose the Sorcery school least; maybe this is because Sorcery B and Burman's spell are both relatively subtle while Sorcery A is actually not as OP as a newbie may think. Rikhi's spell would actually be pretty okay if it were a Fast Action and/or could be used on mages on the board. (I really like Rikhi's character concept; please make her good.)
Sophica's spell badly needs a rework to just about anything except what it is; fast action wounding is pretty uncommon but it's not at all worth paying the person you're wounding a mana.
Riflam is by far the most overpowered character. On boards with Research or Mark scarcity his spell is borderline "you win", and otherwise it's just good. If I were in charge his spell would cost 2 Mana.

Talking of Riflam, there's an orange spellbook out there that lets you get Research and Marks as well... except with no cost and as a Fast Action. I know this game is hell to balance but

come on

. I'd make those spells cost 2 as not-Fast Actions as well.

Everything else seems fine. All the movement abilities on Green may be more silly than average but it's nothing worth changing.

I didn't really have a problem with the pre-revision tie-breakers for votes (i.e. without the Mark tiebreaker). I didn't, and still don't, have a problem with Influence. I acknowledge that this argument has already been had and that my non-preferred outcome is now canon.

[GreyICE]

I tend towards encouraging conflict, that's why I suppose Council A and Infirmary B rub me the wrong way. There's nothing particularly wrong with them, it's just that they both tend to make the game more passive (and Infirmary B goes a long way towards removing any ability to punish a leader by blowing all their crap up).

Ezra is fine if he only had the spell - it's among the best, but it's only among them. It's the combination with the purple mages that makes it almost offensively annoying. Not only can he rushdown like Berman, unlike the Lich he can take a prime spot in absolute safety, with only the tiny drawback that he gets it second (which is irrelevant on many spots). It's really the fact that Lavanina's spell is so obviously worse, and yet she's still perfectly fine that makes me uncomfortable with Ezra - if I can play a character with an obviously worse spell and yet still not feel like I'm at a disadvantage, then there might be something wrong with the A side. He'd be fine if Purple cost a mana to use. The one time we played with Purple B he was fine to bad - doing the same thing three times is a bit of overkill. I dunno, I've seen too often the entire table turn against Ezra and him still find a win or at least second place - if he gets the Legendary Planar spell it requires almost tablewide coordination to stop him from playing a game on his own separate copy of Argent instead of the one everyone else is at.

Then again, the legendary planar spell is a questionable piece of design. It's such an "I opt out of playing the game" it's obscene. Everything else just does something splashy and cool, the Planar spell turns you into an irritating ghost that haunts the rest of the gameboard whispering "spoooooky" then takes all the belltower cards. I am so happy whenever people take other things. I wish it somehow did something cooler or more fun, or just less obviously "place two mages, three if you have mysticism". Combining that with a purple mage lets you place 4 mages in 1 turn which never makes new players happy (or experienced players, if we're honest. We just have more coping mechanisms, like nuking all their stuff with extreme prejudice, or not placing anywhere they want to shadow until later).

Agree on Rikhi and Sophica, although I don't think Sophica is awful. It's just that two Technomancers is garbage - spending 6 coins on just mage placements is a cost that's too damn high to make much use of, especially when the technomancers lie and tell you that orange likes vault cards (it doesn't. You just blatantly don't have money to buy them).

Oh and agree the free shit orange spell is B.S. It's one of the ones I'll happily nuke if I get the spell that lets me do that, and trust me using that thing makes serious enemies. But if I use it on that, usually the table thanks me. Friggin free marks for the cost of a single research is stupid. Normally you'd have to pay gold for a vault item and you wouldn't get any of the benefits of casting a spell (last game Lexi had that and the spell that let you use other spells again... yeah, that was bad)

[Vi]

Ezra is fine if he only had the spell - it's among the best, but it's only among them. It's the combination with the purple mages that makes it almost offensively annoying. Not only can he rushdown like Berman, unlike the Lich he can take a prime spot in absolute safety, with only the tiny drawback that he gets it second (which is irrelevant on many spots).

You've lost me.
*Burman doesn't rush down. He lets you wipe a mage off the board and then do something else.
*Byron's spell lets him gain 2 Mana for free. No shadowing.

You have the right idea with nuking purple mages as soon as they hit the board. They're wide-open targets who arrive nice and early for your blasting pleasure. I'm even on board with "if they didn't want to be a target they wouldn't have chosen Planar A mages".

I think you're overrating the shadowing mechanic in general. It pretty much always costs something to do, and it

requires

a tempo that your opponents can gleefully deny you. If you run out of worthwhile actions before they decide to take the spot you want, you have to play the game the normal way without all the ducking and covering. I have spent multiple games getting schooled in this and feeling sad.

The purple legendary spellbook is pretty obviously the best of the bunch for that first spell, yeah. Not even because of the shadowing, but because it places two mages to begin with. It could probably cost 3 mana instead of 2... although I'd be more in favor of

reducing

the cost of the more destructive spells. You've already gone out of your way to get a legendary spell; you should be allowed to have fun.

TBH I feel like most of the mana costs above 3 could be reduced by 1 and the game would be more fun. No one is actually going to use those 6-cost spells, m8.

I really think that not putting Planar A and Mysticism A in the same game is simply healthier.

It's just that two Technomancers is garbage - spending 6 coins on just mage placements is a cost that's too damn high to make much use of

My copy of the game is out in the car but I'm pretty positive that the scientology mages don't actually

require

you to spend to place. It is true that you don't really need more than one except in extreme cases, but then again using the ability once per round is already strong.

Oh and agree the free shit orange spell is B.S. It's one of the ones I'll happily nuke if I get the spell that lets me do that, and trust me using that thing makes serious enemies. But if I use it on that, usually the table thanks me. Friggin free marks for the cost of a single research is stupid. Normally you'd have to pay gold for a vault item and you wouldn't get any of the benefits of casting a spell (last game Lexi had that and the spell that let you use other spells again... yeah, that was bad)

My last game was 2P and this spell flipped up midway through round 1 (because I used my orange research to grab a spell midround). Of course, my opp got it with their orange. The board had Mark scarcity.

We agreed after the game that the other person played p.badly because I only lost 6-6 by the Influence tiebreaker.