(in which I mostly talk about what I do to cobble together English language translations for Japanese games when I don’t speak, read, or write any Japanese and where I also hope that some folks will chime in with what they used to do to play the German imports.)
This portrait of Yayoi Kusama hangs in the stairwell at my house. It’s a cheaply framed page ripped from a magazine, and the only photo in my house that’s not of a friend or a family member. (That seems like a weird thing to say, but I never understood that schtick of having pictures of Elvis or Rod Stewart above the fireplace, so it seemed like maybe I should explain. She’s my Elvis.)
It’s there because of those polka dots in the background. Her shawl too. It’s the repetitive action of creating those dots. Of making those…tassels. There was a time when I made a lot of pottery and I had become infested with the same polka dot virus that got to Yayoi.
I don’t do well attempting to meditate or staying focused in yoga, but there was a time when I had polka dots. I’d spend my afternoons and my evenings and sometimes my mornings or my late nights with an eye dropper in one hand and a pot in the other. Dip, squeeze, squeeze, rotate, squeeze, dip.
There was an intoxicating meditative solace to be found in the mindless repetition.
I worked at five or so different studios and when switching one time, I gave myself a variation of an assignment my mentor at a previous studio had done: make 200 tea bowls. Don’t make anything else. Don’t get distracted. Me being me, I also didn’t tell anyone what I was doing, so I also had to brush off their encouragement that I could…do something else. It was a time of growth: doing away with inefficiencies in my processes and techniques; gaining flexibility in what I was working with.
There was an intoxicating meditative solace to be found in the mindless repetition.
In the first half below, I’m going to talk about ways for someone else to do, or have done, the translation you’re looking for. In the second, I’m going to discuss what happens when it falls to you, and the answer for me is going to involve something something solace in the process.
I sat here curious. Wondering why I had never reviewed Kingdomino, the Spiel des Jahres winning game that topped my Top 25 Games of 2016 List. I think at the time, my mind just told me that I didn’t need to, it had won the most prestigious award in gaming and had reviews everywhere, from the most niche of channels to mentions in every Top 10 list of the year. But a funny thing happened, even with all that love from both me and from all around me, we kind of forgot about Kingdomino, we moved on to the next 15 minute game that packs a lot of punch. Then we all got really excited about Kingdomino again because of Queendomino, but were a bit disappointed it came and it didn’t quite live up to its predecessor. It was a fine game, it just tried to be too much. Then, along came an expansion, a true expansion for Kingdomino, and we got excited again, but with a bit more apprehension.
Palm Trees was one of the small box games that I received
at Origins 2019. This year, there have
been a number of games in this small box format. In this game, players try to grow a Palm tree
in their hand. In order to make the game
seem more realistic, there are palm tree trunk “tattoo sleeves” which are included
in the box.
The 2019 UK Games Expo was the best one so far. Easily. It was extremely well organised, had a wide variety of events and larger than ever games halls. There were 97 new games launched and you can check the list. Many of them are from new companies, but there were a few larger companies releasing games at this show. Perhaps the best known was Star Wars Outer Rim, from Fantasy Flight but many other games were close to release Kickstarters, recently released Kickstarters or Kickstarters that will be coming in the next few months.
I’ve played Outer Rim a few times now and it is a pick up and deliver style game in the Star Wars universe. Similar to Xia and Firefly in many respects and works pretty well.
The show is expanding and so are the size of the exhibitors. This was the first show for Ravensberger, Quined Games and a few other well known board game companies though there were no new releases from them. When I spoke to them I think that this might well change. Portal Games had their largest ever booth and released their roll and write in the Imperial Settlers universe called Imperial Settlers Roll & Write, adding to the Imperial Settlers branding.
The Spielfrieks user group has finished their first week of voting for the Meeples Choice Awards. 26 games have received nominations. During the coming week, the voters will select their favorites from that group and the top three vote getters will be crowned as the MCA winners for 2018.
If you’re a member of Spielfrieks, please help us out and head over to the Yahoo User Group to participate in the final round of voting. If you’re not a member, but would like to participate, all you have to do is send an email to spielfrieks-owner@yahoogroups.com and you will be signed up and ready to join us.
Here is the list of nominated games, in alphabetical order.
18Lilliput
Architects of the West Kingdom
Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra
Blackout: Hong Kong
Brass: Birmingham
Carpe Diem
Coimbra
Concordia Venus
Decrypto
Drop It
Endeavor: Age of Sail
Forum Trajanum
Gizmos
Just One
Key Flow
New Frontiers
Newton
Root
Space Base
Teotihuacan: City of Gods
That’s Pretty Clever
The Mind
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Underwater Cities
Welcome To…
Yellow & Yangtze
Designer: Shuky Artist: Gorobei Publisher: Van Ryder Games (Makaka Editions) Players: 4 Ages: 7+ Playing Time: 45 minutes Times Played: 4 with purchased copy
Baïam first crossed my radar while preparing for a trip to Essen in 2017. I’m a fan of the Makaka graphic novel adventures and the prospect of one that could be played by 4 friends simultaneously was enticing –though I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s take a step back.
The Crusoe Crew is a sort of multidimensional Choose-Your-Own-Adventure graphic novel –designed so that 4 players each have a book, and while playing mostly in sync, and with books that are largely the same, the players embody specific characters with special abilities: strength, dexterity, animal communication, etc. If there is an element where a character’s special skills come into play, that player will have some extra options in that panel that your fellow adventurers won’t be able to see.
OK, another step back for a moment.
The Crusoe Crew is one of the newest titles in the “Graphic Novel Adventures” series that Van Ryder Games is releasing. So far, each of these was originally published in French by, Makaka Editions (and if you’re following along very closely, the French edition had a name change to “Kuala” shortly before it was released, so there is no “Baïam” edition; it’s just the first name associated with this game in my head.)
The books are a mixture of a choose your own adventure type book, where you most often will be selecting which path to take, but a series of riddles, puzzles, and hidden pictures might unlock alleyways, wormholes, or secret passages which skirt the more visible routes.
Creating Translations for Imported Games
(in which I mostly talk about what I do to cobble together English language translations for Japanese games when I don’t speak, read, or write any Japanese and where I also hope that some folks will chime in with what they used to do to play the German imports.)
This portrait of Yayoi Kusama hangs in the stairwell at my house. It’s a cheaply framed page ripped from a magazine, and the only photo in my house that’s not of a friend or a family member. (That seems like a weird thing to say, but I never understood that schtick of having pictures of Elvis or Rod Stewart above the fireplace, so it seemed like maybe I should explain. She’s my Elvis.)
It’s there because of those polka dots in the background. Her shawl too. It’s the repetitive action of creating those dots. Of making those…tassels. There was a time when I made a lot of pottery and I had become infested with the same polka dot virus that got to Yayoi.
I don’t do well attempting to meditate or staying focused in yoga, but there was a time when I had polka dots. I’d spend my afternoons and my evenings and sometimes my mornings or my late nights with an eye dropper in one hand and a pot in the other. Dip, squeeze, squeeze, rotate, squeeze, dip.
There was an intoxicating meditative solace to be found in the mindless repetition.
I worked at five or so different studios and when switching one time, I gave myself a variation of an assignment my mentor at a previous studio had done: make 200 tea bowls. Don’t make anything else. Don’t get distracted. Me being me, I also didn’t tell anyone what I was doing, so I also had to brush off their encouragement that I could…do something else. It was a time of growth: doing away with inefficiencies in my processes and techniques; gaining flexibility in what I was working with.
There was an intoxicating meditative solace to be found in the mindless repetition.
In the first half below, I’m going to talk about ways for someone else to do, or have done, the translation you’re looking for. In the second, I’m going to discuss what happens when it falls to you, and the answer for me is going to involve something something solace in the process.
Continue reading →Share this:
Like this: