*Spoiler-Free, all examples are made up while writing the review.
In Adventure Games: The Volcanic Island, players are students that are exploring a…you guessed it… Volcanic Island! There have been some strange going-ons on this island and, like Mystery Inc. without the talking dog, you’re here to figure out what’s going on.
BABYLONIA: AN EXEMPLARY KNIZIAN DESIGN By Mitchell Thomashow
Great game designers, writers, artists, and musicians generally develop multiple key insights, often early in their careers, and then rework, reiterate, combine, and revitalize them as they gain more experience, skill, and wisdom. Sometimes those insights are inspired by imaginative leaps. Often, they are synthesized in culminating projects. Prolific creators who develop a decades-long body of work generate insights in different ways. They experiment with their best ideas, and sometimes their most important works are overlooked. The core of their greatness is their ability to constantly learn, innovate, and experiment, while honing their skills, and using their cumulative experience to generate evocative works.
Without question, in my view, Reiner Knizia is the most prolific, and perhaps exemplary game designer of the modern board game era. His games span an extraordinary range of ideas and styles, but the hallmark is typically accessible rule sets, high player interaction, and multiple paths to victory. That doesn’t mean that all of his games are always great or even good, or that some aren’t repetitious of previous designs. However, when you look at the body of his work, stretching now through four decades, the number of his innovative designs is truly extraordinary. It would take a very long essay, indeed, to compile a thorough critical evaluation of his work, and to cover the spread and depth of his innovations, as well as to trace his influence and assess his legacy.
Well, thankfully, 2020 is in the rearview mirror by now (heck, by more than 2 days already in Kiribati – which I just learned yesterday is actually GMT +14!) – though like in my car, “objects in the rear view mirror may be closer than they appear”…
I have been blessed to have this close group of friends here at the Opinionated Gamers – to provide a forum to chat about games, to collaborate on game reviews and other articles, and to heckle me from all angles about anything and everything! Though 2020 wasn’t maybe the best year for playing games, most of us managed to adapt to the times and still find ways to participate in the hobby that we love.
I’m not good at talking about my emotions and have never gotten the hang of meditating. That’s why I bought this game and why I’m sharing it with you on January One.
I’m reminded of one of my first visits to my therapist a few years ago. I had one remaining grandparent, and we’d just come back from visiting her, a few hours away. She was…getting on in years, in her early 90s I think, and had lived a full life. But as happens, her memory and other faculties were not what they once were.
As we went to leave this particular visit, and I wish I could recall her exact words, but she asked something like “Are you leaving already?” or “Are you leaving me?” or “Do you have to go?” or “Are you coming back tomorrow?” or something that just breaks your heart. The despair in her voice.
So I was relating it to my therapist and he asked how it made me feel and I said something like ‘you know, what do you do? We had to get home for-‘ and he cut me off. But how did it make you feel? See, I had heard, or at least interpreted, his question as “So what happened?” but that wasn’t the question. And at 36 or 37 or however old I was, it felt like the first time anyone had pointed out the importance of talking about your emotions.
I struggled that day to label how I felt and I do today, at almost 39.5. (You celebrate “half” birthdays, right?)
New Year’s and its resolutions fall into a category with Halloween for me, of “fun” holidays that inexplicably…I was going to say “don’t work for me” or “don’t click for me”, but no. We’re going with emotions. I think they inexplicably make me sad. I can’t put my finger on why (but that’s probably related to my fear of being “wrong” as to things that don’t have right and wrong answers.)
I typically write about a game because I want to spread whimsy and have some words to get out. Since I stopped pottery many years ago, and baking a few years after that (and have never really taken up the ukelele that sits on the piano in my living room), I don’t have much of a creative outlet, and, for me, these are more of a public diary. I acknowledge that many of the games I choose to talk about are problematically niche and unavailable, but I’m not…I’m here not for, or especially interested in, followers or review copies or networking. It’s a personal creative outlet for me, and if even one of you finds something I share useful, I’ll sleep fine (I don’t, but that’s a different topic.)
For once though, I’m writing this review for you.
We’re going to talk about emotions and I’m going to couch it in the trappings of it being January One because I’m a full convert to the importance of talking about your emotions in the full sun and while it may not be a holiday that holds a lot of sway in my life, it could in yours. Maybe you have resolutions to make.
One of the joys of this time of year for me is reflecting back, in unnecessary detail, about the events of the last year. I’ve only sent out Christmas cards for maybe 4 of the last 17 years or so, but each year I write one of those “Christmas letters” recapping what happened, though I just stick it in a drawer (or more recently, save it to a cloud.)
I was first introduced to the concept of these “Christmas letters” from a friend I met at a high school summer camp about programming in Pascal. She had green sparkly shoes. My parents (and grandparents and siblings) sent me letters, but her mom sent her a fax. Anyway, years later, I was on her Christmas card list and hers was the first such letter I received. Later, an uncle-in-law would too.
It turns out there is a name for them “round-robin letters”, and, to my surprise, many people don’t like them for being too detailed, overlooking some of the lower lights, and indulging in some sort of braggadocios narcissist fest. Goodness! Well, if that’s you, we’ll have a new post tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll ramble about my year below (I’ve also made you a playlist of some of my favorite tracks and albums from the year to listen to as your read.)
Playing Time: 60-100 minutes ( shorter with 1 or 2 experienced players)
Ages: 12+
Over the last fifteen years Stefan Feld has established himself as a top-flight designer. Starting with 2005’s Roma, he truly made his mark under alea’s brand with games like Notre Dame and In The Year of the Dragon (both 2007), followed shortly thereafter by Macao (2009) and Castles of Burgundy (2011). In fact, at the time he seemed to be so prolific that alea wasn’t his only avenue for publication. New publishers like Hall Games and established brands like Huch stepped in to bring Luna (2010) and Trajan (2011) to the masses. Needless to say, Feld’s designs caught on with hobbyists, and his penchant for throwing together interesting mechanisms with many possible ways to score has led both players and reviewers to label some of his titles as “kitchen sink” games. Bonfire, his latest release from Hall Games and Pegasus Spiele, fits this definition to a T, and certainly ranks as one of Feld’s more complex (some might say convoluted) titles.
Moving away from standard Renaissance/Medieval settings, this time players find themselves in a mystical world of gnomes and Guardians who strive to relight the world’s bonfires that have almost all gone out. Players gather tasks, spend resources, obtain actions, and enlist different gnomes who can help them achieve their goals, or provide them with points.
Opinionated Gamers – 2020 in Review
Opinionated Gamers – 2020 in Review
Well, thankfully, 2020 is in the rearview mirror by now (heck, by more than 2 days already in Kiribati – which I just learned yesterday is actually GMT +14!) – though like in my car, “objects in the rear view mirror may be closer than they appear”…
I have been blessed to have this close group of friends here at the Opinionated Gamers – to provide a forum to chat about games, to collaborate on game reviews and other articles, and to heckle me from all angles about anything and everything! Though 2020 wasn’t maybe the best year for playing games, most of us managed to adapt to the times and still find ways to participate in the hobby that we love.
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