This is partly my usual Tokyo Game Market preview post of titles I’m looking forward to. It also marks my first trip to Japan. Earlier this week I talked about what the Game Market catalog is like and gone through a bit of the prep I do for each Game Market. Today I want to talk about some of the interesting games being released in a matter of hours. Some are things I’m excited to play, some I just think are notable, and others that please me simply because they exist. (The images used below are promotional images from the designer/publisher’s Twitter accounts, website, Game Market website, etc., unless otherwise noted.)

I’ve asked Rand to help me and highlight some titles of his choice, so from here down, we’ll label who’s adding which bits.

Red Thunder (Booth: ア04, Saturday)
Designer: Kenichi Tanabe
Publisher: COLON ARC

James Nathan: I’m very taken with the recent trick-taking game, “Roulette-Taking Game” (review is scheduled for November 23rd). In it, the winner of each trick places a bet on a roulette-style betting mat to reflect what card the player thinks will win the last trick. It’s a wild conceit, and one I think the game pulls off despite all odds. There’s a subtle and elegance to the trump mechanic that does a lot of heavy lifting. Part of why the game sticks with me is the pressure and excitement that builds during the game – it’s a game that comes down to overtime. Extra innings. It will be a walk-off trick – guaranteed each hand.

It also has me on the lookout for gambling themed games I might have otherwise overlooked. What other non-card casino games could be turned into rad card games? So along comes Red Thunder – a solo slot machine game! I have a soft spot for solo card games (such as Goritaire or Finished!), so I don’t mind that piece. I can’t quite tell how the rules work yet, though yes, it starts with reveal 3 cards. The designer has a sufficient track record for me, that I trust they’ve made it fun.

パチスロシミュレーター (Pachislot Simulator) (Booth: イ37, Saturday)
Designer: Party Taro
Publisher: Saispiel

James Nathan: Continuing the theme of slot machine themed games is Pachislot Simulator. It is a sort of stochastic deduction game where there are a number of different potential wheels in the slot machine, and as the game progresses, you try to narrow down which wheels are in play – but you won’t be able to do it with logical deduction skills. The game’s intent is to force you to make rough and quick inferences from the probabilities. I’ve left out the box cover, but I think the player screen and deduction sheet should suffice!

Domino Plant Company (Booth: ノ06, Both)
Designer: Kawakami Yuito
Publisher: Domino Plant Company

Rand: This game is played in two parts. Some players set up dominoes in the forest, adjusting their angle and position within the growing circles on the board. Then one player operates a domino-toppling hammer gadget trying to fell as many dominoes as possible to fulfill scoring objectives. There is also a on-time use meteorite that can be dropped from above to aid an attempt at felling the dominoes. You can also get in trouble by knocking down too many dominoes. In that case, you have overworked your employees and they retire.

For the first time, I’m preparing to visit Tokyo Game Market (TGM). As this posts, I’ll be in Tokyo, visiting the board game shops in Akihabara and Nakano, meeting up with some friends I haven’t seen in more than 20 years and others which I’ve never met. 

I want to start with this video Eric did with the founder of Game Market, Zyun Kusaba, talking about its origins.  He was involved in founding Japon Brand and, notably for me, the most zealful judge of the recent Trick Taking Party design contest in Japan – playing all 87 of the entries!

Much of my preparation will be the same as always – the research on which games exist and which I want to purchase – and some of it will not.  Namely, figuring out how to get my games home! When I went to SPIEL in 2017, I was able to rely on various blogs Dale had written over the years and his guidance on (a) punch everything (b) nest everything (c) bring extra baggies (d) remove rulebooks for languages you don’t need. But so much of that is not applicable to Game Market.  Few titles need punched, almost nothing can be nested, and there is typically only one rulebook – and while it’s not in a language I speak, it’s my only copy of the rules!  But, more on packing later.

I want to start with my spreadsheet.  I do all of my TGM prep through a single spreadsheet and I started using it for the Fall 2018 TGM. There’s a tab for each TGM; they are color coded in a few ways (genre, buy, maybe buy, pass), include the title in two languages, a brief description of why I’m interested, booth location, cost, and three columns for links to information on the game: gamemarket.jp, Twitter, and bodoge.hoobby.net (though that last one I don’t use as much anymore).  After a TGM is over, the titles I didn’t buy may find themselves moving elsewhere – titles that are delayed get moved to a new tab for the next TGM in 6 months; titles I “should’ve bought” get moved to a list of older titles that I’ll search for used copies of.  

(Somewhat unrelated to TGM, the spreadsheet also contains a tab for frequent Japanese language words/phrases I find myself needing, such as the difference between face up and face down, less than and less than or equal to, in your hand and at hand.)

Here’s a brief shot at where my spreadsheet is one month out from TGM. I started it in April when a handful of titles were delayed and hadn’t made it (with one of those titles delayed from the previous Fall.)  It’s currently 80(!) lines long. At present, 35 of those are titles I’ve decided to buy, 5 are things I’m picking up for friends, 5 or so are already confirmed not to make it and will be moved to the sheet for next May, and 2 are in the “likely pass” purgatory where I haven’t quite decided if I will buy them or not, but strongly leaning towards no.