Archive for Games

Once Upon a Space Opera

At some point in the late 1980s, someone (I think Geoff H) suggested that it might be fun to create a Once Upon a Time variant based on the conventions/tropes of space opera. (In place of the fairytale tropes of OUaT.) So we cut a bunch of index cards in half and invited friends to […]

Yay for Wingspan on BGA!

The boardgame Wingspan is available in electronic form on various platforms. Unfortunately, I find two of those platforms deeply frustrating to use. Fortunately, a third one turns out to be a pleasure to use. Over the past year or two, I’ve tried to play Wingspan on iPad and in Steam. Nearly every time I’ve done […]

BoardSpace

BoardSpace is another site for playing boardgames online. Overall, I don’t like it as much as Boardgame Arena, but it has its advantages. Some notes about BoardSpace: Design/layout looks like something from the ’90s. Has about a hundred games. Focused primarily (but not exclusively) on abstract strategy games. Has a downloadable app that you use […]

Ark Nova

Some notes about the boardgame Ark Nova: I was a little dubious about this game when I saw the Kickstarter for it. Some aspects were intriguing, but appeared to include a couple of mechanisms that I tend not to like: polyomino tile arrangement and worker placement. (But see below.) And the zoo-development theme didn’t really […]

Boardgame: _Alien: Fate of the Nostromo_

I recently came across a mention of the cooperative boardgame Alien: Fate of the Nostromo; it sounded interesting, so even though I have about half a dozen other boardgames that I haven’t played yet, I bought this one. It’s set on the spaceship Nostromo during the first Alien movie, but you don’t need to know […]

Boardgame review/thoughts: Supernova (2021)

I backed Supernova on Kickstarter, and I really like the idea of it: spaceships moving inward on a spiral path, harvesting energy cubes moving outward on the same spiral path. Loosely “inspired by the ancient Egyptian game of Mehen” (which did not involve spaceships). But Kam and I have now played it a couple of […]

The saga of the bocce balls

Way back in 2011 or so, I bought two sets of pro-quality bocce balls, paid for by work. My group at work at the time was starting to get into occasionally playing bocce, and I thought it would be nice to have a couple of good sets. So I ordered them and expensed them. Over […]

Maglev Metro disappointments

Kam and I played the boardgame Maglev Metro today. We both liked it, and want to play it again. But there are two things that I find really disappointing about it: 1. The game description starts out: “Welcome to the future of train games! With the use of cutting edge magnetic levitation technology, transport passengers […]

The Gardens Between

I recently finished playing a lovely puzzle game: The Gardens Between. It’s a sweet, wordless game about friendship and memory, available on a bunch of different platforms, including iOS and Steam. The game starts with two kids who are friends (and next-door neighbors), Arina and Frendt (I read them as being a white girl and […]

Wingspan: game or art?

Interesting article about Wingspan, which I’m posting mostly because it’s such a different perception of the game from mine. Though I’m also posting it because it includes interesting stuff about Elizabeth Hargrave and her process of developing the game, and how her success is helping to open the door to more diversity among game designers. […]

Blaseball

This year’s Hugo ballot has a (one-year-only) Best Video Game category. I had heard of (but not played) most of the nominated games, but was curious about one in particular that I had never heard of: Blaseball. Turns out that it’s a free, web-based “absurdist […] take on fantasy baseball,” in which you bet imaginary […]