Board Games!

[Tatsuya Kaname]

Just bought a copy of Machi Koro Legacy for a cheap auction price. Blasted through 5 of the 10 games with my 3p group.

Problems with original Machi Koro still exists (without spoilers, there are still broken optimal strategies, and luck can still screw everyone), but I think I enjoyed playing it.

Sure (again, without any spoilers) the legacy aspects are pretty subtle compared to big names like Pandemic or Clank! Legacy, but it's a nice fresh air which is good because Machi Koro is aa light filler anyway. The changes we've discovered so far is simple enough to grasp on, but also interesting enough to make each game at least slightly different.

[lilith2013]

among my friend group, Machi Koro is the ultimate game of betrayal. I don't think it's intended to be that kind of game.... but it is for us. we've basically banned ourselves from playing it because of how much we betray each other. I like the game concept a lot though.

[xRECKONERx]

i legitimately just hate Machi Koro. It's like everything I hate about board games boiled into one game

[PJ.]

I like machi Koro w/ the balance patches but I understand why people would hate it.

Do you just hate dice, reck?

[GreyICE]

Machi Koro is worse than sitting around watching Futurama episodes you've already seen with your friends. It might be as bad as sitting around watching family guy episodes.

It qualifies as a board game, if I'm generous.

It's the only game I've ever encountered where they released an expansion pack that took everything I hated about the game and added a whole new thing that made the game even worse. I think me and the designers want exactly opposite things out of a board game, they just found a way to cram new bad things in there. Then I heard about Legacy and I was like "yep, they really are on a specific vendetta against me."

[brassherald]

Various sites seem to have learned that I love both board games and Back to the Future, and want me to buy a Back to the Future board game, my fiancée might murder me if I get another game right now.

Do I chance it?

[brassherald]

Side note, it is a space issue, I had to promise her I would not even coilnsider buying Frosthaven until we have a house

[xRECKONERx]

Machi Koro is worse than sitting around watching Futurama episodes you've already seen with your friends. It might be as bad as sitting around watching family guy episodes.

It qualifies as a board game, if I'm generous.

It's the only game I've ever encountered where they released an expansion pack that took everything I hated about the game and added a whole new thing that made the game even worse. I think me and the designers want exactly opposite things out of a board game, they just found a way to cram new bad things in there. Then I heard about Legacy and I was like "yep, they really are on a specific vendetta against me."

This

No PJ I don't hate dice games. I think there's a way to design a game that uses luck well / manages randomness to let strategy really shine..MK does not do this. MK is a game pretending to have a single ounce of strategy in it's bones when it actuality it's a slot machine simulator

[GreyICE]

Good dice games (my wife may not agree):

Perudo/Liar's Dice - Fucking fantastic. Liar's dice is one of the best games ever. The only components are 5 dice/person, and the only things you do is roll them and then try to guess how many there are. Dice isn't just the main mechanic, it's the only mechanic, and it's pretty nasty strategy. Feels like a game of mafia at times.
Bora Bora - great worker placement game, dice add a nice bit of positioning/planning. Tons of strategy.
Can't Stop - I can spend 30 minutes rolling dice for games of Can't Stop. Dumb, but hell, I love it. Really grasps the essence of push your luck. It's a slot machine simulator, but it's one that makes me laugh.
Mage Wars - custom dice, but definitely important to resolution mechanics.

Look, there, four dice games that I'd happily play any time. I am never unhappy to play a round of Liar's Dice. Machi Koro just sucks.

[Ythan]

Liar's dice is super fun.

[shaft.ed]

Is Camel Up a dice game?
Cause its p good, but trying not to roll dice is about half the gameplay

[Tatsuya Kaname]

About Camel Up, there's never a good reason to roll the dice other than that $1 bonus, but really you can just sit back, watch and bet and you'll get a better payoff unless you really screw up end eame betting, and even then, Partner rules suck. Like why the hell do I make the most strategic and paid move ever, only to be copied by another player who just fricking rolls? Gotta admit the unpredictability, the pyramid mechanisms (which easily breaks, even the plastic version) and stacking camels are what makes the game fun though.

Also Dice Throne is the best dice game ever, fight me (I mean the system as a whole, not sure about the co-op/solo expansion Dice Throne Adventures, which have a copy sitting in the board game cafe I'm working but haven't played it. I have heard mixed reviews about it and it's pretty different so I can't say anything about that, but just fighting each other by rolling dice and cardplay in the main game is really awesome and there are various ways to play in terms of characters and abilities.)

Perudo is fun, I'll admit, but that game's strategic thoughts are too much like Poker and Riichi Mahjong, and I'd mostly rather play those (although I'm pretty sure no one here plays or even knows Riichi Mahjong).

[xRECKONERx]

Good dice games (my wife may not agree):

Perudo/Liar's Dice - Fucking fantastic. Liar's dice is one of the best games ever. The only components are 5 dice/person, and the only things you do is roll them and then try to guess how many there are. Dice isn't just the main mechanic, it's the only mechanic, and it's pretty nasty strategy. Feels like a game of mafia at times.
Bora Bora - great worker placement game, dice add a nice bit of positioning/planning. Tons of strategy.
Can't Stop - I can spend 30 minutes rolling dice for games of Can't Stop. Dumb, but hell, I love it. Really grasps the essence of push your luck. It's a slot machine simulator, but it's one that makes me laugh.
Mage Wars - custom dice, but definitely important to resolution mechanics.

Look, there, four dice games that I'd happily play any time. I am never unhappy to play a round of Liar's Dice. Machi Koro just sucks.

I'll add Dice Throne, Sagrada, Roll for the Galaxy, and Kingsburg to this list as not only "dice games" I'm happy to play, but games that are in contention for GOAT in my opinion

[xRECKONERx]

Also Dice Throne is the best dice game ever, fight me (I mean the system as a whole, not sure about the co-op/solo expansion Dice Throne Adventures, which have a copy sitting in the board game cafe I'm working but haven't played it. I have heard mixed reviews about it and it's pretty different so I can't say anything about that, but just fighting each other by rolling dice and cardplay in the main game is really awesome and there are various ways to play in terms of characters and abilities.)

I got sent a copy of Adventures to review and haven't cracked it open yet bc I've been having too much fun just trying different characters in the Season 1 box.

That being said, I think Dice Throne just barely toes the line for dice games where it's juuuuust cute enough not to make the player feel completely dragged down during the game. But if you ever play with more than 2 people, it gets dragged down a LOT. I can't imagine adding in a bunch of mechanics in DTA on top of what's already in Dice Throne is going to do the game any favors.

[Xtoxm]

Bang! the dice game is good

[Lady Lambdadelta]

God I hate Bora Bora. Fucking fishing village bore me to tears.

Liars dice is amazing though and can't stop is just so east to enjoy

[GreyICE]

God I hate Bora Bora. Fucking fishing village bore me to tears.

Liars dice is amazing though and can't stop is just so east to enjoy

I'm sorry you're so wrong about Bora Bora. Your taste in board games makes you a terrible person.

[Something_Smart]

I've played Machi Koro a handful of times. I enjoyed it.

Maybe I haven't played it often or seriously enough to see the optimal strategies.

[Chevre]

Good dice games (my wife may not agree):

Perudo/Liar's Dice - Fucking fantastic. Liar's dice is one of the best games ever. The only components are 5 dice/person, and the only things you do is roll them and then try to guess how many there are. Dice isn't just the main mechanic, it's the only mechanic, and it's pretty nasty strategy. Feels like a game of mafia at times.
Bora Bora - great worker placement game, dice add a nice bit of positioning/planning. Tons of strategy.
Can't Stop - I can spend 30 minutes rolling dice for games of Can't Stop. Dumb, but hell, I love it. Really grasps the essence of push your luck. It's a slot machine simulator, but it's one that makes me laugh.
Mage Wars - custom dice, but definitely important to resolution mechanics.

Look, there, four dice games that I'd happily play any time. I am never unhappy to play a round of Liar's Dice. Machi Koro just sucks.

I'll add Dice Throne, Sagrada, Roll for the Galaxy, and Kingsburg to this list as not only "dice games" I'm happy to play, but games that are in contention for GOAT in my opinion

Mentioning Kingsburg...I don't know if you know but there's Kingsport Festival, which is a bunch like Kingsburg but with a Lovecraftian theme. It's really good.

Love Liar's Dice, Can't Stop (which is not in print? but I've now been inspired to try to laser-cut a board and 3D print markers because it's THAT good), and Sagrada's real nice too if your mind works like that.

[PJ.]

Sagrada!

[GreyICE]

I've played Machi Koro a handful of times. I enjoyed it.

Maybe I haven't played it often or seriously enough to see the optimal strategies.

It's not about optimal strategies. Me and Lexi actually discussed it today, and what pisses me off about Machi Koro isn't that it's a slot machine simulator. It's a slot machine simulator where your reward for winning is you get to buy more slot machines to pull the arms on. Thus, if one player gets unlucky early, they get to watch everyone buy a bunch of slot machines, while on their turn they get to pull the arm on their one slot machine. Meanwhile other people are pulling the arms on 4-6 slot machines. Then they make slot machines that steal other people's money, which punishes the players who don't have any money to begin with more than the haves of the world.

We talked about it, and we have yet to play a game of Machi Koro, either of us, where one player wasn't simply out of the game very early on. Often with no relevant decisions they could have made to alter their fate, because it was just based on not being able to pull the lever right.

[Tatsuya Kaname]

We talked about it, and we have yet to play a game of Machi Koro, either of us, where one player wasn't simply out of the game very early on. Often with no relevant decisions they could have made to alter their fate, because it was just based on not being able to pull the lever right.

Yeah but comebacks ARE a thing in Machi Koro. Because even the worse rollers ever would net cash from wheat field. So he started buying more wheat fields... and another. While everyone else is building some kind of engine, he buys more wheat fields. Then a cafe, then when people started rolling two dice, he buys apple orchards. Then he buys a vegetasble market, upgrades to two dice and win the game in four rolls. while others are still struggling to trigger their forests.

It's a dice game. Sute, there will be one player luckier than others and 'gets a head start' but things turn around prety quickly too.

[Faraday]

i've only played machi koro once and absolutely trashed ariel doing so, just because i happened to roll a 4 or a 6 or whatever number a bunch of times in a row. the game was over fairly quick though, that's the only big plus I had.

can't stop and bang: the dice game are my fave fun, quick dice games.

I like roll player too, but that doesn't really feel like a dice game due to the level of mitigation available.

[shaft.ed]

bang is good but needs a larger number of people

[GreyICE]

In other news, who here has Tabletop Simulator? I'd love to organize a TI4 game with expansion this weekend.