How to Host a Game Night – Book Cover Reveal

Iโ€™ve played board games since childhood, and as an adult I dove into hobby headfirst in 1999 after being introduced to modern games like Settlers of Catan. Board games are central to many of my favorite memories, likeโ€ฆ

The time a group of us played the entire campaign of Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 over a single weekend.

The time my wife and I introduced one of my older sisters to Saboteur and saw just how suspicious and conniving she can be.

The time I was the last player remaining in Ra and had a 50-50 shot of pulling the one tile that would give me the winโ€ฆ and lost.

The many times (far too many to count) that I nearly passed out from laughing so hard playing Timeโ€™s Up.

The time a good friend told me his house burned down and my first question was whether his game table survived the fire.

Most of all, I cherish the many incredible lifelong friendships built at the game table.

Needless to say, I love game nights. (And game days, game weekends, game weeksโ€ฆ if the word โ€œgameโ€ is followed by a timeframe, Iโ€™m all in. Especially once the gathering restrictions related to COVID-19 are lifted!)

In fact, I love game nights so much that Iโ€™m writing a book for Tiller Press called How to Host a Game Night, and Iโ€™m thrilled to reveal the cover here at The Opinionated Gamers:

The book is scheduled to be released this fall, and right now Iโ€™m smack dab in the middle of writing it. How to Host a Game Night will be full of practical advice and a lot of stories based on my game-night experiences — and the experiences of gamers like you.

In fact, I would love to hear from you!

What are your favorite game night memories? Whatโ€™s the craziest thing youโ€™ve ever seen happen at a game night? What are your go-to games for new players?

Please take a few minutes to share your stories by filling out this form. (Even if you donโ€™t host a regular game night, there are plenty of questions you can answer!)

How to Host a Game Night is my love letter to game nights and I canโ€™t wait for it to be available. In the meantime, hereโ€™s to many more great memories at the game table!


How to Host a Game Night will be available in trade paperback and ebook. It can be pre-ordered via the Tiller Press website. Connect with Erik Arneson on Twitter at @ErikBoardGames.

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Brandon Kempf – Surviving the Purge 16

Over the next few months, instead of going with my Three Games articles, I am going to take a look at my collection and try to discuss why certain titles survived the great purge of 2019. During this process I may take a look at some games that didnโ€™t survive, but only as a measuring stick for what did survive. Since I am silly, like a lot of gamers, I use Ikea Kallax shelves to display the games that we own. This makes it pretty easy to break things down cube by cube, so thatโ€™s what weโ€™re going to do, twenty-four cubes, plus a top shelf for games that donโ€™t fit in the cubes, over the course of a few months. I hope you enjoy!

If you are a BoardGameGeek user, you can also follow along on the Geeklist I created.

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Gaming in the Era of Social Distancing

Well, unless youโ€™ve be living under a rock for the past few months, youโ€™re aware of the new normal in the world of Covid-19โ€ฆ  Everyone is asked to stay at home when possible, schools are essentially closed for in-person learning, groups of 100 or more are illegal in my state.  I have already had two gaming conventions be canceled on me in March and Aprilโ€ฆ  

I have been shown some articles which show that the Covid-19 virus might be able to live on boardgame materials for awhile.  Which begs the question – should my game group still meet regularly to play games? I was thinking about what my other options might beโ€ฆ  What games could be played over email/webcam/etc?

Over the years, Iโ€™ve played a few games PBEM (play by email) and a few PBM (play by mail). I have also dabbled in some gaming via the computer on Brettspielwelt and Yucata.de.  

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Dale Yu: Review of Miyabi

Miyabi

  • Designer: Michael Kiesling
  • Publisher: HABA
  • Players: 2-4
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 40 minutes
  • Times played: 5, with review copy provided by HABA USA

In Miyabi, players vie to make the most elegant Japanese garden.  Each player starts with an empty garden board, which has a 6×6 grid on it.  They also get six wooden lanterns in their color to mark off the different columns of their board.  In the center of the table is placed a scoring board which also keeps track of the four to six rounds of the game.

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Brandon Kempf – Surviving the Purge 15

Over the next few months, instead of going with my Three Games articles, I am going to take a look at my collection and try to discuss why certain titles survived the great purge of 2019. During this process I may take a look at some games that didnโ€™t survive, but only as a measuring stick for what did survive. Since I am silly, like a lot of gamers, I use Ikea Kallax shelves to display the games that we own. This makes it pretty easy to break things down cube by cube, so thatโ€™s what weโ€™re going to do, twenty-four cubes, plus a top shelf for games that donโ€™t fit in the cubes, over the course of a few months. I hope you enjoy!

If you are a BoardGameGeek user, you can also follow along on the Geeklist I created.

Continue reading
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2020 American Tabletop Award Winners

Wow, that was quicker than I had thought. I had thought there would be more build up and a bit of drama, but the award winners have already been announced.

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