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Tabletop Season 4 Day 5: Star Realms and Five-Year Mission

IMG_20160502_095636We did two games today, and I remember why I insisted that we only do one game a day, because I’m exhausted.

I had a whole lot of fun, but holy crap am I exhausted. I don’t know how I did this for ten straight days for three seasons, but I’m glad we don’t do it that way any more.

So in the morning, we played Star Trek: Five-Year Mission, which is a surprisingly fun cooperative dice-placement game. Like Dragon Farkle, it’s a game I shouldn’t like at all because dice (and as much as I love Star Trek, I’m inclined to stay away from it in my work, because of reasons) but I have fun whenever I play it, and it’s a good game for introducing people to our hobby. I played with Jesse Cox, Jaime King, and Jessica Chobot … and it was pretty hilarious.

In the afternoon, we did something I never thought would work, but ended up working spectacularly well: we played a 2-player game! Melissa De Tora, who is a professional Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour player came down from Seattle to battle heads-up with me in a game that I love called Star Realms. If you like deck building games like Ascension, you’re going to go nuts for Star Realms, which has my favorite Tabletop game app since Carcassonne.

Tomorrow, we’re playing Flashpoint: Fire Rescue, because if there’s one thing I want to play more of on Tabletop, it’s co-op games that we’re probably going to lose. (No, seriously, I really enjoy co-op games that I expect to lose, because that makes the improbable victories that much better).

Photo Credit Tony Case on Flickr
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The April Reboot Check-In That Happened In April

It’s the last day of April, so check me out: I’m doing my reboot check in for April before April is over. Go me!

I had this epiphany at the beginning of September: This thing that I’m doing? This series of choices I make every day? It isn’t working. I don’t like the way I feel, I don’t like the way I look, I don’t like the things I’m doing. Things need to change.

So I took a long, hard, serious look at myself, and concluded that some things needed to change.

  • Drink less beer.
  • Read more (and Reddit does not count as reading).
  • Write more.
  • Watch more movies.
  • Get better sleep.
  • Eat better food.
  • Exercise more.

Last year, I decided to hit the reboot button on my life. I’ve checked in about once a month since then, to see how I’m doing, celebrate the victories, and identify where I can do better.

Let’s see how I’m doing after seven months.

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Tabletop Season 4 Day 4: Dragon Farkle

IMG_20160427_101542Did I choose a dice game that’s pretty much entirely about luck? Yes, I did. Am I nuts? Maybe a little bit, yeah. This game is just silly and occasionally stupid, and always fun. Justifying why you lost thousands of soldiers and only scratched the dragon, or why you had a thousand soldiers ready to join your army but then lost all of them seconds later is a big part of why I like this game.

I played with Derek Mio, Neil Grayston, and Brandon Routh.

I wanted to mix up what we usually play on the show, and since we did so many heavier games last year, this is a great way to provide some balance and casual silliness to the lineup. A game like this also helps us learn how to make our own fun when we play, because the dice aren’t always going to do what we want, so if you’re just being competitive or getting super serious about strategy, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Because Dragon Farkle is 100% about luck and being silly, I don’t mind the randomness of the dice. There is just no strategy involved at all, here, so you either accept that and let the dice fall where they may, or you play something else. There are other games that have a lot of strategy in them, or other mechanics that should reward clever thinking, but then they put dice into the mix and if you don’t get lucky, all that strategy and clever thinking is wasted. Games like that are annoying to me, and make me feel disempowered. But Dragon Farkle? You roll the dice, press your luck, make a bunch of dumb noises, and then get on with it.

I shouldn’t like this game, but I have fun every time I play it. Maybe you will, too.

 

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Tabletop Season 4 Day 3: Codenames

Code Names Tabletop
Photo by Michelle Morrow

Yesterday, we played Codenames for Tabletop.

Codenames is something I’d like to see more of: a party game that breaks out of the typical (and at this point overused) “impress the judge” mechanic, while encouraging and facilitating genuine and meaningful communication among the players. Whether you’re new to the hobby, or have a bookshelf filled with epic strategy games, it’s a great addition to any gaming library.

Like Mysterium, it’s a game I had to play for all of one round before I decided it would be perfect for the show, and holy crap did we have fun playing it.

I played with Michele Morrow, Ashley Esqueda, Travis Willingham, Jackie Kashian, and John Ross Bowie.

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Tabletop Season 4 Day 2: Mysterium

IMG_20160425_102325So this one time, Dixit and Clue got stuck in an elevator, and … well, Mysterium happened … and I’m really glad that it did. It’s one of those games that plays pretty quickly, and whether I win or lose, I want to play again right away.

This game has been on my list since I first saw it at GenCon last year, because it’s just perfect for our show. Also, the artwork that is such an important part of this game is so beautiful, I’d like to buy a whole lot of it and hang it on my walls in Castle Wheaton.

I played with David Kwong, Laura Bailey, and Shannon Woodward.

I freaking LOVE this game, and I think the episode we shot today is going to do a great job showing people exactly why. And here’s a super neat not-so-secret: if you own Dixit, you can use your Dixit cards with Mysterium, for an instant expansion.