Gaming and adjacent

[liv]

I mentioned that this present-giving season was less book-focused than usual for our families. Instead, we exchanged a lot of games and puzzles.

Received: ghoti_mhic_uait gave me a really exciting jigsaw puzzle for my birthday: it turns out that some of the plates from The Ultimate Alphabet by Mike Wilks, a fantastic book from my childhood, have been made into jigsaws. And she made room in packing to bring the puzzle with us to France, and we were able to set it up on a coffee table and collaborate on it over the course of the holiday. It really worked well as a jigsaw because focusing intently on each piece was a good way to spot more of the tiny details in the delightfully complex picture. And the people who aren't as much into jigsaws still enjoyed helping spot obscure P-words.

That present was so successful that cjwatson and I have rediscovered our love for jigsaws, and we've been spending quite a lot of our most recent dates working on a horribly difficult facsimile of a blueprint of Turing's Zeta Function machine. Does anyone have a recommended source of good jigsaws for when we get to the end of this one? I can probably find good stuff just by trawling charity shops, but it would be cool to choose another fun and interesting picture rather than the standard postcard scenes and soppy art.

cjwatson gave jack Cogs and Commmissars for his birthday. It seemed like it should be the most Jack-friendly game ever, it's a card drafting thing set in an AU version of Soviet Russia with robots, with lovely thematic art. What it does well is that it has some of the nature of Magic: the Gathering, on a small, self-contained scale. But it's let down by clunkily awful humour: it tries to make "sending citizens to the gulag" funny, and no amount of bad puns makes that actually pleasant to play. It appears to have been created by someone whose knowledge of Russia and Communism comes from a bunch of warmed over internet memes, and thinks jokes about genocide are edgy. (Apart from the poor taste, I was particularly annoyed by the way that "bourgeoisie" cards are worth more than "proletariat" cards.)

Given: Someone on Twitter recommended IQ Puzzler Pro, noting that it's a physical and mental stim toy, though they disapproved of the branding about improving one's IQ. I bought it as a Christmas present for my partners' middle kid, because I liked the idea of a puzzle game that's properly tactile, and packs into a little pocket-sized case. I think she was more excited by jack's roller coaster marble run puzzles.

I bought a copy of Camel up for the OSOs, since we've all enjoyed the game but don't own a copy. I think I like the more artistic and less cartoony art of the second edition less than the original, but it's still a great game.

This hasn't happened yet, but I have ordered King of New York as a seventh birthday present for my partners' youngest. I enjoyed the game a lot when I played it a board game meet, particularly the large cardboard monsters. I hope it's at the right level of complexity; there are some effect cards, but not too many, and most of it is about making quite straightforward choices.

Possibly my most successful present ever was buying Scythe for jack for Christmas. I had heard a lot of hype about it but wasn't sure; my impression was that it was a sort of Risk-like quasi-wargame thing, which didn't interest me that much. But I did some more reading, and found a bunch of reviews which said, if you're looking for a wargame you'll hate this. It is a bit more expensive than I usually spend on board games, but it was on sale, and I decided that it would probably suit both of us well enough to justify the money.

Scythe far, far exceeded my expectations. We spent Christmas morning unboxing it, and squeeing over the beautiful art, the detailed miniatures, the fantastically clearly explained rules. And we've replayed it practically every time we have two hours free in the past several weeks. In terms of sheer hours of entertainment it's excellent value for money! What it does is it takes worker placement to a whole new level. Everything is abstracted just the right amount so it's interestingly complex with lots of emergent strategy, but it's never fiddly. The scoring mechanism at the end is a glory; it simplifies counting up all the different paths through the game so that everything is rewarded but scoring is almost instant. It's amazingly well balanced, with just slight asymmetries between countries and specialisms, with really cool synergies in the combinations.

And the flavour! It's set in an AU early twentieth century central Europe, where giant mechs protect workers of different nationalities and occasionally skirmish over territory. Completely the opposite of Cogs and Commissars, it takes something that could be grim and violent, and makes it poetic and beautiful. Not by glorifying violent conflict, but by abstracting it. As jack pointed out, the worker meeples are full of character, the landscapes are gorgeously detailed, whereas the soldiers are represented by entirely abstract cylinders. There are some lovely chance cards, which introduce really interesting randomness but also have delightful little scenes and stories to go with them. It's also remarkably non-sexist; in addition to having a good choice of female as well as male player characters, all the art has a realistic balance of male and female figures, and nobody is gratuitously sexy.

Rediscovered: Other than that, we managed to get a family game of Mysterium in at the weekend. 10yo Judith has been watching Tabletop videos about it, and really got into playing as the ghost. And Andreas, at nearly 7, really got it and joined in effectively as well as enthusiastically, so we had an awesome time.

Comments

[ayebydan]

wasgij puzzles are my current thing. They don't show you the image you are trying to put together but a version of that image in a different time. So if it was a eating place it might show a 50s restaurant but you are trying to create a present day fast food mall. You get a handful of clues and then you just have to puzzle on. They take me ages and are a lot of fun. All the pics tend to be full of vibrant colours too.

It sounds like all your gaming was a wonderful bonding time :)

[jack]

Oh cool, that's really nice. I hadn't thought about an image that helps you but doesn't just show the whole thing.

[liv]

Yes, we have been really enjoying the company of playing together in pairs, threes or as a whole group.

I might check out the Wasjig puzzles. I'd been a bit put off because I don't always like the art style, but looking at the website there's more of a variety than I realized. And I love that the picture on the box is a clue but not identical to the puzzle picture. Thanks for the rec!

[ambyr]

This is the closest anyone has ever come to convincing me to try Scythe.

[lovingboth]

I will be fascinated to hear your reaction, if you ever do so. I'm only surprised there aren't any zombies in it. Doubtless there'll be another expansion with them in.

[liv]

I don't want to be one of those annoying gamers who incessantly nag everybody to try their favourite game, but based on what I know of the overlap in our tastes, I think you'd probably like it. I think you probably won't fall instantly in love with it and play it at every opportunity like me and jack, so trying it at a gaming meet seems more proportionate than buying it.

How it feels to me is, if you imagine the whole lineage of Eurogames from Settlers and Puerto Rico to now, it's conscious of all that, and all the ways that more modern games are just more playable than the classics, and yet entirely subverts that progression.

If you abominate worker placement games altogether, you probably won't enjoy it. But it's more interesting than just a worker placement game.

[ambyr]

I do like worker placement games! I've gotten less and less patient with games that require a lot of set-up time lately, though, and all the various bits and pieces made this one look like it fell into that category. (I'm at the point where I pretty much avoid games that can't be played within two minutes of opening the box, unless someone else is willing to do set-up while I fetch myself snacks.)

(I have played the My Little Pony version mentioned below and was fairly meh on it, though I could see it working as an introduction to Eurogames for kids. It was one of those games where it felt like all the actual decisions got made in the final turn, to the point where I was left unsure why we'd needed to play all the turns before that. The set-up is pretty quick, though.)

[lovingboth]

If you didn't like the MLP version, definitely don't pay money for the original until you've played it.

[batrachian]

I've seen Scythe on the shelves a couple times but never managed to play. This is a highly intriguing review. :)

[liv]

What I'd caught of the hype made me think it wasn't for me, but it really really is. Though of course other people may be looking for different qualities in games.

[rushthatspeaks]

I am delighted to be able to link you to Liberty Puzzles, who sell puzzles of many great works of art-- but the real draw is the whimsy pieces (page down on the About), which are unparalleled, in my opinion, in beauty and interest. I have never seen anything else like the crab in The Sea at Satta, Suruga Province, or the alternate solution of Diana and her Nymphs (click through the photos). A little pricey, but honestly if anything they're undercharging.

[ambyr]

Can confirm, having done one of these, that it was a lovely puzzle.

[liv]

Ooooooh! I'm really gladdened to know those exist, thank you for pointing to them. And yes, they're easily 10X more than I was intending to spend on jigsaws, and probably worse by the time I've shipped them from a different continent, but good value for works of art like that.

(I cringed from their web copy with all that snobby dismissal of mass produced things and electronic devices, but that doesn't stop their product from being good.)

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

We got three new ones, of which we have played Illusion and really liked it. You look at these multicolored cards and try to estimate how much of a color they have, and put them in order based on that. It's harder -- and more fun -- than it sounds.

[liv]

Thanks for the rec. I do like intriguing small games like that.

An alternative view of Scythe

[lovingboth]

I am delighted someone likes it, but I loathed it: it's Kickstarter at its worst.

Good: the rules explanation, including suggested starting strategies for everyone, and the non-sexism. Unfortunately, for me, that's where it stops.

What Scythe does is rip off ('be inspired by' is how I think the designer put it) Terra Mystica's engine and stick a pile of cludges and WTFs over the top.

So.. the flavour you like. Picking a bunch of fraction names from assorted countries that had been around Eastern Europe at different times in the previous centuries - oh, and Japan - does not make it central Europe. If they said it was the planet Yofouweh, it'd be exactly the same.

Repeat for the 1920s setting. Your society, capable of building mechs that can carry its entire population and all its resources - but not you - across mountains, can't build a bridge. When it does become able to cross a river, it can often only do so in one direction because only a couple of terrain types are valid exit points for it.

There's an obvious game reason for that, combined with the map of Yofouweh: the designer couldn't think of any other way to stop factions invading their neighbour's home territory. Erm, that's not good design.

Special faction powers. Oh yes, the point when I went 'I wish I hadn't agreed to play this' came with the teleporting submarines. If you're Polania and get the submerge power, your mechs can move instantly from one lake to another... even if they're not connected by a river or any other water.

Build stuff in the right (wrong?) order and you can have 1920s giant fighting robots that can magically teleport underwater while carrying entire populations between unconnected lakes that don't exist, but not cross a river. Erm... Even if it can, it can get out of a lake (or move by land) into any terrain type, but not if it is crossing that river. Erm...

You say combat is abstracted. I like the physical system design aspect of 'plastic stuff can fight, wooden stuff can't', but several times, it makes it very clear that the KS stretch goal sculpted leader piece is you and your pet giant animal. But you're not at any risk! Fight four mechs - I'm assuming that you can stack them, someone did in our game - and someone's entire population with just you and Tiddles the Tiger, and you could easily win. Even if you lose, you teleport back to your start hex. It makes no sense.

If those mechs are not in the hex, those millions (? thousands, certainly) of workers will run away from you and Tiddles, because only plastic can fight and they're wood. It makes no sense.

It's a sign of how bad the design work is that the My Little Pony slash version co-designed by someone about the age of eight looks a much better game. And makes more sense.

Re: An alternative view of Scythe

[liv]

I can completely see the value of these criticisms, yup. It sounds like you're at least somewhat more simulationist than I am as a gamer; I like semi-abstract Eurogames, I don't really care whether something seems realistic or not.

I am quite intrigued by the child designed MLP slash version; the children in my life are quite happy to play games pitched at adults but something shorter and simpler would likely get more play.

Interesting point about Terra Mystica; it's implemented on my favourite online gaming site, Yucata, and I had been put off by the incomprehensible rules. But if it's like Scythe, then it might well reward the effort of learning it. I shall give that a go.

Re: An alternative view of Scythe

[lovingboth]

I can do semi-abstract mechanic-based Euros, no problem. I have a pile of games from people like Knizia where the theme is so lightly pasted on, it's transparent.

I looked again at Scythe today to see what the cylindrical soldiers were, because I didn't remember any, and went 'ah, the "recruit" markers' that never hit the main board but just show what upgrades you've bought.

I also went 'argh, I forgot the bunch that can teleport to vacant home centres, being given a power that's worse with more players; and the teleporting mountain power; and the teleporting village power; and..' so many more things that simply do not fit the theme.

If a game tells me that this is My Little Pony, and some ponies can fly, no problem. But this is 'the game of the film book artwork' and makes a very big deal of being an alternate history of a real place and it's not unreasonable to expect at least a little bit of internal consistency.

Instead it's the game equivalent of Lost or Prometheus where someone went 'I don't care that it doesn't fit, it's neat and I can't think of an alternative'. Some people liked both, of course, and lots of people like Scythe.

The rules of TM aren't quite as well explained, but JA was 15 when she learnt it in about 30 minutes. I would call it a vastly better game, to the point that if someone had told me it was designed by Francis Tresham, I'd have believed them. More variety in it too.

[seekingferret]

It's just a bunch of printed pages, not a proper jigsaw puzzle, but Cut and Tape from the 2014 Mystery Hunt is my favorite jigsaw experience: http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/2014/puzzle/cut_and_tape/

[liv]

Oh wow, that looks amazing. It will take a bit of organizing to print it out but I'm really eager to try it. Thanks so much for the link!

[seekingferret]

Guaranteed hours of fun frustration funstration!