Board Games!

[hasdgfas]

I really liked Catan the first few times I played it, but my problem with it now is that the inherent randomness of it means that sometimes you can be screwed through no real fault of your own. At least with Diplomacy or GoT, I at least feel like I was screwed because of what someone else did, instead of just my number not getting rolled.

[Claus]

Catan is fun, but I rather favor Ticket To Ride over Catan as a gateway game. The cool thing about Catan is that nowadays you can buy it basically anywhere.

[Seraphim]

There is a greater degree of strategy than people realize. I think the problem with Catan is that people are drawn to numbers that are "supposed" to be rolled often, like the 6s and 8s, rather than choosing a diversity of numbers.

I've heard really good things about Ticket To Ride but I've been hesitant about purchasing it.

[Magister Ludi]

ah yes, good suggestions all around. Do you guys ever play these games online with one another, either? I figure that would be a good way to play them lacking a large group of friends every night, but i'm not very sure if there are actually websites to do this.

[Brandi]

I prefer cities and knights to just regular ol' Catan
I also always try to have a variety of numbers as well as different squares for income... those 6's and 8's just don't always come
AND FUCK YOU 7
FUCK YOU

[Seraphim]

ah yes, good suggestions all around. Do you guys ever play these games online with one another, either? I figure that would be a good way to play them lacking a large group of friends every night, but i'm not very sure if there are actually websites to do this.

I know Catan has an online system in place though this site: http://www.playcatan.com/catan-online-world.html

and Diplomacy almost assuredly has online play somewhere. I bet you could even start a game here in Mish Mash if you wanted.

No clue about GoT.

[Fenchurch]

lacking

You can play quite a few euro games through brettspielwelt (either on the website or by downloading the free program). I find the interface a little fiddly at times, but the game selection is pretty good: eg. Carcasonne, Settlers, Power Grid, Puerto Rico, Pandemic, Stone Age, and loads more. I haven't actually played any of that list myself, I've only used it for 7 Wonders.

[zoraster]

If you have an iphone, the Ticket to Ride app is phenomenal as well. I don't think much of the Catan app as it doesn't allow playing against others (not to mention Catan isn't a favorite of mine). The Carcasonne app is good, but is quite expensive compared to others ($10 for the base game another $2 for an expansion to make the game good)

ze. I think the problem with Catan is that people are drawn to numbers that are "supposed" to be rolled often, like the 6s and 8s, rather than cho

It's a great game, especially if you're introducing it to others. It takes about 5 minutes to explain, and people immediately "get it." But it offers enough variety and strategy to continue to be interesting over many many plays. It's the first game I turn to when my friends who have only played games like monopoly, etc. come over to play because it has never failed to be successful and fun.

It also has great component quality, although the little cards are a bit hard to shuffle.

Finally it's a well TIMED game. I don't know why gamers don't spend more effort discussing how long it takes to play a game of something unless it's to revel in how long it is (looking at you, Twilight Imperium lovers). A game of TTR lasts about 60 minutes give or take a little depending on how many people you have playing. That's enough time that it feels like you've gotten a "meaty" game (rather than games that are great but tend to blend together like Dominion and 7Wonders), but it's not so long that you kind of have to plan around the game .

[mith]

For the people who have been to BGG.con, is it worth the money? Do they give out free stuff, or what is it like? What do you do at this con? What about this convention makes it worth the $500 for the hotel room and $700 for the plane tickets?

I can't speak for the hotel room and plane tickets - I'm local, I don't have to pay such things.

Otherwise:

BGG.con is almost entirely open gaming. They have a massive library of games to check out and play, and over a thousand (closer to two this year?) potential new gaming buddies. They also have a "hot games room", where they leave copies of the latest fresh-from-Essen games set up and usually have some teachers around willing and able to explain the rules.

There are "freebies" (I mean, it's not really free since you're paying for the registration, but you know what I mean) for everyone - last year there was a choice of games from Queen Games and from Tasty Minstrel Games. In previous years they have also had a "free games room" for some fraction of the attendees (based on a random daw) which had some more expensive games; don't know if they'll be bringing that back. Either way, the earlier you get there the better as far as the selection goes.

There is also a big raffle Saturday night, with some significant prizes - large bundles of games, expensive games (a couple Crokinole boards last year), even a Geek Chic table (several thousand dollars).

There are quite a few tournaments and events - Hold'em and Battling Tops (completely with luchador masks) tournaments ever year, plus the puzzle hunt and game show; last year I participated in the 7 Wonders and Kingdom Builder tournaments, and won things in both.

If you want to read about the sort of things we played last year, here's the relevant GCL list. Item 4 for Thesp, item 6 for me, item 10 for Rishi. (Some overlap of course, since we gamed together a lot.)

[zoraster]

I'm pretty sure I'll be going this year at least for the weekend portion of it.

[mith]

We may have enough this year for a proper Mafia game...

[zoraster]

All right. I've registered but haven't paid as I need to check to make sure my fiancee and father still want to come.

My fiancee (who will be my wife at that point) would probably be down for some mafia. As this will likely be the first time we go out of town after our wedding, we'll call this our honeymoon. Right?

[zoraster]

holy crap mith. you are WAY better at keeping track of your BGG games. I've probably only put down 5% or so of the ones I've done.

[Llamarble]

Settlers doesn't have zero depth, but after about 10-15 games I don't think there is a ton more to learn, and you don't have to calculate much to play well other than near endgame.

My Settlers Advice:
Diversity of numbers is good if you're ahead and bad if you're behind, but generally you want to have as many dots under your numbers as possible. Wheat is the best resource. Upgrading your original spots to cities for 5 resources is generally faster at ramping you up than spending 8 on an inferior settlement so it's the first thing you should try to do. Endgame you want to calculate how you can put the necessary victory points together at exactly the right time. Largest army is nicer than longest road and it works with the wheat strategy. I usually win with 4 cities and largest army or 3 cities a settlement a victory point and largest army.
The rest is mostly politics (convince people not to rob you and make favorable trades by not letting people realize how far ahead you are).

My best catan memory took place on a giant (Maybe 30 foot) board. With maybe 40 onlookers I pulled trade up to 7 brick -> monopoly wood (there were exactly 7 in play) -> build 7 roads -> win the turn before the other team would have.

[Fenchurch]

I recently played The Resistance for the first time, and I thought it was a really, really good game, I like it as much as (possibly a little bit more than) mafia, and that means a lot considering mafia/werewolf has been my most favourite game for the past ~5 years.

It doesn't have any player elimination; instead of gaining information from deaths, information is gained from the mission results, eg. 'one person voted to fail this mission, therefore there is at least one spy among these four players'. Of course it is never enough information as there are only five missions in the game, and several ways to interpret mission results, eg. a spy might not want to blow their cover by sabotaging that particular mission, and a group with multiple spies in risks giving too much information if they all vote to sabotage, and they have no method to co-ordinate. A single spy in a mission can cause it to fail (anonymously), and the winning side is the first to three points (ie. three fails or three successes), so there is a lot at stake every time, and a lot to discuss - leaders' suggestions and reactions, players voting to approve or reject a team, mission cards. The game is fairly simple, it moves quickly and gets more and more intense towards the end. I would recommend it to anyone who likes mafia.

On the other side, I also played Are You The Traitor for the first time, and was pretty disappointed with it. It also doesn't have player elimination, instead, the game is just like one massive Day 1, where the only information is from discussion, and a single player will decide the outcome of the whole game.

[xRECKONERx]

a Geek Chic table

oh my dear sweet heavenly god, do want

Buhh. It's just not doable for me & Grimm. Plane tickets alone would be $700, then the hotel room would be an extra $600. You guys have fun.

The Resistance is really fucking awesome for mafia players and you can even create your own home set for about $7.

[zoraster]

It's possible by the following year's BGG we'll have bought a townhouse and I could probably convince my fiancee to let us host a few people, which would at least cut down on hotel costs for people.

[xRECKONERx]

Oh, I'd be down for that. It's also possible Grimm & I might not even be in NC anymore by next year's BGG con depending on how my job offers shake out when I graduate this December, so it might be more doable by then anyway (though I'm not thinking Texas is our ideal destination).

[zoraster]

Texas wouldn't be ideal, although Austin is cool. Dallas is kind of a generic big city with huge suburban sprawl, but with pockets of "new urbanism". The cities don't tend to be as backwards as other areas.

Where were you hoping to move?

[xRECKONERx]

Dunno yet, it really depends on job offers. I'm in love with DC, but I don't think a sudden career change into politics would work out well for me (though I do know a handful of lobbyists up there who could probably get me a job). I've actually thought about getting involved in local government & politics for awhile, but I don't think my easy-to-Google internet history would lend itself well to a career in politics.

I've thought about Chicago a lot. I love the place and wouldn't mind moving there. I want to ideally move somewhere that is progressive/LGBT-friendly. I definitely want to live somewhere with a healthy, ecofriendly transportation system. Open to suggestions.

[zoraster]

I used to live in DC, and my sister works there now. I worked for a congresswoman on capitol hill. Lots of jobs in DC that aren't being a politician. Still, can't hurt to clean up your online presence.

Have you considered the West Coast?

[mith]

What part of Austin are you in, zoraster? I'm down there quite a bit visiting friends.

[zoraster]

I live next to Barton Springs' back entrance (Zilker Park). So South Austinish. I work at 6th and Congress.

[xRECKONERx]

I used to live in DC, and my sister works there now. I worked for a congresswoman on capitol hill. Lots of jobs in DC that aren't being a politician. Still, can't hurt to clean up your online presence.

Have you considered the West Coast?

see, I actually wouldn't mind being a congressional aide or something :shrug: i think it'd be fun to be a part of that culture/lifestyle up on capitol hill. if I had the drive and determination I think I could work my way up to being able to work in the white house, but i don't

west coast... eh, i've thought about it. it's just so far from everything I've ever known that I dunno if I'd wanna do it (plus it's pretty expensive). A lot of people keep yelling MOVE TO PORTLAND but I don't understand why it's so good

[zoraster]

Working for congress is a lot of fun. Most everyone is young, ambitious, and (generally) attractive. It's a good way to make connections, and it has a SUPER fast advancement rate due to how much turnover there is. Start as a Staff Assistant and if you're good you'll probably be an LA (Legislative Aid) within a year or so. At least that's true on the House side, Senate a little less so.

That said, it's not really a "career" for the vast majority of people. With the exception of a very few people like Chiefs of Staff that can make fairly good (though not astounding, due to the cap of not being paid more than a congressperson) money, you'll be vastly underpaid. But the experience is generally worth it for people.