Yahtzee cards

Cheap ass Amazombies

2024.05.18 16:44 AYDLRV Cheap ass Amazombies

Cheap ass customer didn’t have the brains enough to clear the score card after finishing the game before returning this yard Yahtzee to Amazon. F’ing stupid.

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2024.05.12 01:46 Ok-End1915 I made a list of board games & RPG's based on horror movies & tv shows if anyone is interested in taking a look at it...

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2024.04.25 19:46 NewTavern1 Upcoming board game tavern inquiring about current game list

Hi everyone! I am starting up a board game tavern in the next year or so and need some help filling out my games list. I plan to open with >300 games, but I anticipate I won't be able to find everything on my list or be willing to purchase some of the more expensive options; therefore I'm hoping to get a few back ups so I don't fall short. I believe I've nailed quite a few favorites, and combed through BGG a few times, but if there are any games that you all think should be included in this list please comment! My only stipulation is that I'm not looking to stock super long campaign games like Gloomhaven, but a few sessions would be fine!
I've got 284 games listed as of right now, see the list below.
Thank you all in advance for your help, it is seriously appreciated!
7 Wonders
7 Wonders Duel
A Feast for Odin
A little wordy
Aeon's End
Aggravation
Agricola
Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small
Apples to Apples
Arboretum
Architects of the West Kingdom
Arctic Scavengers
Ark Nova
Arkham Horror
Arkham Horror the Card Game
Ascension: A Deckbuilding game
At the Gates of Loyang
Azul
Backgammon
Battlelore Second Edition
Battleship
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Between Two Cities
Beyond the Sun
Blood Rage
Bloodborne
Boggle
Botanik
Brass: Birmingham
Brass: Lancashire
Bristol 1350
Cacao
Candy Land
Carcassonne
Cards Against Humanity
Cascadia
Castles of Burgundy
Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Catan
Caverna: The Cave Farmers
Caylus 1303
Chaos in the Old World
Checkers
Chess
Chinese Checkers
Chronicles of Crime Board Game
Chutes and Ladders
Citadels
Clank! A Deck-Building Adventure
Clank! Catacombs
Claustrophobia
Clue
Codename: Duet
Codenames
Commands and Colors Ancients
Concordia
Concordia Venus
Connect Four
Cosmic Encounter
Cry Havoc
Cryptid
Cthulhu Wars
Cyclades
Dale of Merchants
Dark Souls Card Game
DC Deck Building Game
Deadwood 1876
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong
Decrypto
Descent: Legends of the Dark
Deus
Dice Forge
Disney Villainous
Dominant Species
Dominion
Dominos
Dragonfire
Dragonwood
Dune
Dune: Imperium
Durian
Escape: The Curse of the Temple
Everdell
Evolution: Climate
Exploding kittens
Fall of Rome
Fallout
Fantastic Factories
Farkle
Fields of Arle
Five Tribes: The Djinns of Naqala
Fjords
Flamecraft
Forbidden Desert
Forbidden Island
Forests of Pangaia
Forgotten Waters
Furnace
Fury of Dracula
Gaia Project
Gizmos
Glass Road
Glory to Rome
Go
Great Western Trail
Guess Who
Gùgōng
Hanabi
Happy Little Dinosaurs
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Harry Potter™ Hogwarts™ Battle Defence Against the Dark Arts
Heart of Crown
Heat: Pedal to the Metal
Hellas
Here to Slay
Hero Realms
Hive
Horrified
Hyperborea
Imperial Settlers
Inis
Isle of Sky: From Chieftain to King
It's a Wonderful World
Jaipur
Jaws
Jenga
Joking Hazard
Jurassic Park: Danger!
Jurassic Park: Danger!
Keep the Heroes Out!
Kelp: Shark vs Octopus
Keyflower
King of Tokyo
Kingdomino
Lancaster
Land vs Sea
Le Havre
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game
Letters from Whitechapel
Lords of Waterdeep
Lost Cities
Lost Ruins of Arnak
Love Letter
Machi Koro
Mage Knight
Mage Wars Arena
Mah-jongg
Mancala
Mansions of Madness Second Edition
Maracaibo
Marvel United
Marvel United: X-men
Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia
Master Dater
Mechs vs Minions
Memoir '44
Merchant's Cove
Mindbug: First Contact
Monopoly
Monster Hunter World: The Board Game
Mouse Trap
Mysterium
Mystic Vale
Nemesis
Neuroshima Hex! 3.0
New Frontiers
Not Alone
One Deck Dungeon
One night ultimate werewolf
Onitama
Orléans
Outfoxed
P'achakuna
Paladins of the West Kingdom
Pandemic
Pass the Pigs
Patchwork
Photosynthesis
Planet Unknown
Plunder
Plunder: A Pirate's Life
Project L
Puerto Rico
Puzzle Strike
Qin
Quarriors!
Queendomino
Qwixx
Race for the Galaxy
Raptor
Res Arcana
Return to Dark Tower
Roll for the Galaxy
Root
Rummikub
Runebound 3rd edition
Sagrada
Salem 1692
Santorini
Scattergories
Scotland Yard
Scrabble
Scythe
Seasons
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Sequence
Shadows over Camelot
shards of infinity
Sheriff of Nottingham
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Rpper & West End Adventures
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases
Skulk Hollow
Slay the Spire: The Board Game
Small World
Sorry!
Space Hulk 3rd edition
Specter Ops
Spirit Island
Splendor
Star Realms
Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Star Wars: Rebellion
Stone Age
Stuffed Fables
Suburbia
Sushi Go
Takenoko
Talisman
Talisman: Kingdom Hearts
Tapestry
Targi
Tavern Masters
Teotihuacan: City of Gods
Terra Mystica
Terraforming Mars
the blood of an englishman
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine
The Fox in the Forest
The Game of Life
The Lord of the Ice Garden
The Pillars of Earth
The Quacks of Quendlinburg
The Quest for El Dorado
The Search for planet X
The Witcher: Old World
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization
Ticket to Ride
Tigris & Euphrates
Tiny Towns
Too many bones
Too many bones: undertow
Tortuga 1667
Treasure Island
Trickerion: Legends of Illusion
Triominos
Trouble!
Trvial Pursuit
Tsuro
Twice as Clever!
Twilight Struggle GMT Games
Tyrants of the Underdark
Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar
Underwater Cities
Unmatched: Battle of Legends
Uno
Valeria Card Kingdoms
Vanished Planet
Vast: The Crystal Caverns
Viticulture
War Chest
Watergate
Wavelength
Wayfarers of the South Tigris
What do you meme?
Whitehall Mystery
Wingspan
Wyrmspan
Yahtzee
Yellow & Yangtze
Yinsh
You've got crabs
Zombicide

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2024.04.18 22:09 SaxophoneGOD OTJ First Collectors Pack - Car Pull

Treated myself to 5 CE boosters while on my lunch break and this was the first card (after the token) in my first pack. Yahtzee!

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2024.04.14 18:15 MemoryLane27_ Such a joke. Not one new card. I’m so close to being done with this game. I quit Yahtzee after a year for this same reason. Time to find a new game.

Such a joke. Not one new card. I’m so close to being done with this game. I quit Yahtzee after a year for this same reason. Time to find a new game.

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2024.03.28 21:45 Rotten_Muffin [Mobile][~2010's] PvP 1v1 Card game with Yahtzee like mechanics

When I was in high school, about 8 years ago, j remember playing a lot a game that was a sort of "card" game in which you chose a card with a character on it and played against people on 1v1s. You threw dice once or twice (similar to yahtzee) which, depending on the combination of dice you got, you could attack based on the card's text. I distinctly remember one specific card which was a female ninja named Chidori. I also remember most of the UI being yellow, if that helps. Thanks!

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2024.03.28 12:32 DarkJjay Ranking the 50 Reiner Knizia games I've played

A bit of self-promotion to start off. I write for a Dutch boardgame website called bordspellencafe.nl, and we've gotten the opportunity to interview Reiner Knizia early April. To celebrate the occasion I thought it would be fun for me to take a look back at all the Knizia games I've played so far and see which ones are my favourites! I don't think you're going to see any real huge shockers if you've read any of my top whatever lists before (NuMbeR SeVeNTeeN WiLl ShOcK YoU!1), but hopefully you'll find something worthwhile nonetheless.
Also, I know I keep going on about wanting reprints of these games. It's a problem, my wallet and I have a mutual hate relationship.
Ranking method: I ranked these 50 games using Pubmeeple. For each ranking, I pictured being given the chance to play each of these games under ideal circumstances (my preferred player count, with all other players being excited and skilled) with the magical possibility of an identical clone of myself getting to play the other game so as to make sure that solo games or duel games have a shot against games I most enjoy playing at four. This list is of course highly subjective and is about my eagerness to play each game rather than any kind of purported objectivity. We ain't about that here.
Any discrepancies you may find between this top something and any other top whatever lists I've made is purely intentional and has vast amounts of underlying logic and reasoning. Please do question me about them and be astounded by the hoops I will jump through for your approval and satisfaction.
Brief comments up front - I have a copy of Stephenson's Rocket, but I haven't been able to convince people to play it with me. Part of that is my fault though, as I don't dare blindly springing it on people. It just so... trains. - I have a copy of Merchants of Amsterdam, but haven't gotten a chance to play it yet. It has a ridiculously cool gimmick clock thing that I'm dying to try, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Soon I will, though. - I've been looking for a copy of Medici to play, but I haven't been successful yet. They're out there, including here in the Netherlands, but the ones I come across are not in my budget. I'll get around to it though. - I'm currently still waiting for my copy of Cascadero to arrive, so I haven't really gotten the chance to play that yet. It sounds similar to some of his other games that I like though, so I'm looking forward to it.
Any game you don't see on this list probably doesn't look interesting to me. I can be wrong though! If you have any recommendations, be sure to let me know down below.
50. RevoltaaA Genuinely one of the worst games I played last year. It's this simultaneous selection trick-taking thing that really doesn't work. Games felt entirely arbitrary as to who would actually end up winning, and the game itself didn't really offer much besides that. I would play almost anything else over this.
49. Foodie Forest We didn't really get on with this trick-taker, unfortunately. It uses a threshold system kind of similar to American Bookstore where a trick immediately ends whenever someone plays a card that makes the total points played into the trick surpass a certain value. The thing that hampered this for us was the fact that you have to publicly choose a victory condition beforehand. It ended up happening more than once that someone got stuck with a hand that didn't work for any of the victory conditions they had left, meaning that the whole hand ended up being kind of a wash. Not that impressed, unfortunately.
48. Lost Cities: Auf Schatzsuche It's Lost Cities the Dice Game, But Not That One! This is a dice game that kind of vaguely hints at Lost Cities proper, but doesn't actually end up capturing much of the tension that makes that game so good. This ended up not necessarily being a bad game; it's mostly on this list because of how forgettable it was. My SO doesn't even remember playing this game with me, I think that says enough.
47. Reiner Knizia’s Decathlon This is not even a bad game, but it doesn't really congeal into something satisfying. As the name suggests, this is twelve minigames played back-to-back-to-back until there's a final winner. This was fun enough, and I won't complain too much about the quality of a game you can print out for free. You can see this game's DNA in a bunch of other games that Knizia would end up designing later down the road.
46. Chartae I spent a good while looking for this game after having read about it online, but it ended up being just a bit too slight for me to keep. The puzzle of figuring out how you want to orient each piece and what the consequences are of each rotation is really interesting though! This is a game that has a lot more depth than you would expect from a game this size, but nevertheless it did end up feeling too light for me to actually keep as a thing.
45. Clickbait I had a bunch of REALLY fun plays of this game, until they suddenly stopped being fun. That wasn't really the game's fault though, we just stopped being surprised by the cards and each other's wit at doing this particular exercise. The box was also really annoying to store, but that's neither here nor there. Really fun to play a few times, but not something I've missed since getting rid of it.
44. Clash of the Gladiators his is about as close as we'll be getting to an Ameritrash game on this list. I had high expectations of this game, but it ended up feeling kind of okay at best. Not bad, definitely not that, but moreso like I'd prefer to be spending my time in a different way. I've heard online that there's a dominant strategy in this game, but we didn't come across it and also didn't feel like we wanted to figure out what it is.
43. Rheinländer We mostly just didn't really care about this game. For me it was the fact that the card system sometimes made actually achieving a big contiguous group feel kind of arbitrary, although I'll admit to at least some ignorance here. We mostly just didn't tremendously get on with the game and ended up playing other things instead. I only really end up thinking of this game whenever I stumble across it in my collection, which inevitably leads to me saying "oh yeah, I did play that at one point" at myself.
42. Pickomino Pickomino is kind of an evergreen game here in the Netherlands, meaning that everyone seems to own this game. It's fine. I've grown to appreciate it more than I did a few years ago, but I still don't really enjoy it that much. It ends up feeling a little too mean a little too often, with the best action normally being trying to steal an opponent's tile rather than scoring one from the middle. I like it a lot more with the expansion though, that's for sure.
41. Kariba This ended up feeling like Schotten Totten with extra steps. Played it once and then never really thought about it again. I might rank this so low just because I don't think it really has that Knizia twist that I like so much, that one bit of spice that ends up making it feel vastly different from any other game in its category. Rather than feeling unique, it just ends up feeling like something I've seen better versions of before.
40. Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation It all comes down to the fact that I just really don't like Stratego. There's not much to discern from simple pawn movements, and the moment where you do try to attack and your unit ends up getting gobbled up for no real reason is never fun. This is my second favourite implementation of the Stratego system though (behind Stratego Tournament), and it's clear that this game has a lot more thematic trappings than you would expect from a game like this. The units feel like the characters from the book, which is a lot of fun. For other people though, not for me.
39. The Lord of the Rings It's the cooperative OG! I'm not too big on coop games to begin with, and this one has begun to really show its age. I haven't really thought too much about this game after last playing it, to the extent that I don't even really remember much about how it plays. I do remember coming away from it feeling perfectly whelmed, and as if I'd much rather play something like Pandemic over it.
38. Ninja Master I have a secret soft spot for games like Geist Blitz and Halli Galli, so you'd think that this game was right up my alley. Unfortunately though I ended up feeling overwhelmed because the game had just one too many data points for me to keep track of. That's more a consequence of my old-man brain though, rather than being a actual indictment of the game and its merits. I can see people having a ton of fun with this if they can wrap their head around the three or four different things you need to keep track of each roll.
37. Amun-Re This game was unfortunately a big flop with me. I liked the auctions to buy plots of land, but don't really like the way the economy works. There's just one too many moving parts for me, what with having to buy cards and bricks and farmers, only to walk into the offering phase where you (read: I) get goozled every time. Not for me.
36. Kingdoms This game had some interesting things going on, but I utimately didn't really end up thinking about it again after playing it. It does have a fun tempo game going on between you needing to decide when to build castles or play a tile. You're trying to create these cross-sections of points that (in a way) feel kind of similar to something like Targi even if they end up feeling much less rewarding. It was interesting to play, but not something I'm keen to play again.
35. My City My post-campaign review of this was a little controversial when I posted it online, but I stand by it still. Although My City started out feeling really nice, eventually it wound up feeling like my partner could never catch up to me because I had a few too many wins at the start. She was a good sport about it at the time, but the last few games she really had to will herself to even play. She still sometimes talks about how much she disliked the legact aspect of this game, and how she couldn't even win anymore. Same thing happened to the people we gave the game to, by the way. They ended up throwing it away without finishing it.
34. L.A.M.A. Party edition L.A.M.A. Party was the definitive edition of L.A.M.A. - or so I thought. Turns out there's still some life left in this hor- I mean llama, seeing that there's now L.A.M.A.Cadabra on the horizon.
I actually enjoy playing L.A.M.A. to some extent. Sometimes you just want to play a silly Uno-esque game. Just something where you can plomp cards onto a table and banter without you having to pretzel your brain five directions before you can play a card. Contrary to what people say, there actually is some strategy to L.A.M.A. - not much mind you, but definitely not none. I like this game, I'm glad it's around.
33. High Score High Score is the more refined version of Decathlon that I wanted to see. Each round is surprising, and I like having to re-evaluate how I'm going to use the dice each round. It didn't end up having a lot of staying power (my SO preferred other dice games as well), but we still had fun with this. I probably wouldn't suggest this game myself, but I probably wouldn't turn down a game either.
32. Würfel Poker This game is essentially "Schotten Totten: The Dice Game", and I'm here for it. I really enjoy Schotten Totten (spoilers), and this was a really fun experitment to try! You can play this yourself with six dice, a pen and some paper. I would gladly play this again, even if that would end up happening on the back of a napkin.
31. Mille Fiori I wasn't really that impressed by this game's gameplay, although I do love the production a lot. The chunky faux-glass pieces work really well with the game's theme and end up creating a really pleasing boardstate once the game gets going a bit. The game itself ended up reminding me of games like Ganz Schön Clever or other roll-and-writes (not an original observation, I admit), which are games that I don't really end up enjoying that much to begin with. I didn't have a terrible time - the game is engaging, a pleasant kind of interactive and turns whip by quickly. I just never had a turn that I fell in love with. That in itself was enough for me to not really play the game again.
30. Pollen Pollen looks beautiful, and the theme of trying to attract insects to your flowers really works. The main thing that sets this apart is the scoring system that Samurai pioneered, but I ended up enjoying the card version of that game much less than the boardgame version. That's mostly what this ranking comes down to I guess; I have access to a more enjoyable version of this, so why would I play Pollen?
29. Circus Flohcati Fun push-your-luck set collection game! There's a lot more going on with this game than you'd expect at first blush, which is really impressive for a game this small. I ended up owning the Japanese version of the game (which has a much more palatable theme), which did a lot of work. That version has beautiful cards and distinctive colours, which do a lot of good in helping you pursue different colours and expansive sets. It's fun!
28. Marshmallow Test I liked Marshmallow Test! It's a fun trick-taker that lives up to its theme, and the tiny squishy marshmallows that came with my version were a really fun gimmick. The game itself plays rather quickly, and the switching trump suits at the start of each hand made it so that you would have to do these fun evaluations at the start of each hand. I ended up getting rid of it because I felt that it wasn't necessary for me to own twenty trick-takers, but this is one I would gladly play again.
27. Ingenius I'm not that big into tile-layers, but this was one that I did still enjoy. I would say that this game's genetic heritage is most closely related to Tigris and Euphrates in the way that you score different kinds of points and how your lowest score is your final score. I'd rather play Tigris and Euphrates (spoilers), but nevertheless find that this game is pretty fun! It's a lot more approachable than T&E, that's for sure. I didn't feel like I needed to own this game any more, but I probably wouldn't say no if you wanted to play this with me.
26. MLEM: Space Agency I'm not gonna lie, part of the reason this is so low on my list is that nightmare fuel box cover. That said, the dice game is pretty fun. If this game was pitched as "Celestia: The Dice Game", nobody would have blinked an eye. I felt pretty medium on this game, although that's maybe just a result of me consistently wanting to stay on the rocket just in case. People are going nuts for this at my local game night though, so maybe I should give it another chance. If only those cats looked any less uncanny, that would go a long way for me.
25. Royal Visit Royal Visit was a casualty of my own... I don't want to say talent, but maybe prowess? I just ended up winning this game every time I played, which lead to other people not wanting to play the game with me any more. Royal Visit is really cool! It's a really fun hand management game taped together with an occasionally frustrating tug-of-war game. I like the back and forth in this game, but others did comment that they found the fact that turns would frequently be undone pretty frustrating. I'd play this again in a heartbeat, if only so that I can touch those beautiful chonky wooden boys and textile board again. Great components for a fun game.
24. Don’t L.A.M.A. Dice I like this game a lot, more than the card game. There's something really funny about rolling a hand, failing the roll and then making matters infinitely worse for yourself. It's still only a dice version of L.A.M.A. though, meaning that it can only ever reach certain heights. I also still prefer some other Knizia dice games over this (spoilers), so this one inevitably ranks lower. My SO really likes this game though, so I don't think this game will ever leave the collection.
23. Soda Smugglers I'll go out on a limb and say that I enjoy Soda Smugglers more than I enjoy Sherrif of Nottingham. It's much quicker and ends up having a lot more funny moments than I had when I played Sherrif of Nottingham. I'd gladly play this again, even though I don't currently own it anymore. The really fancy bottlecaps did help though, even if the theme was a bit silly for a game like this.
22. Through the Desert This is my least favourite of Knizia's signature 'tile laying' games, mostly because of my own inadequacies. I can manage this game when playing one on one, but I lose track of what is happening on the board when playing with too many players due to just how many colours are present on the board. That leads to me making unnecessary and flat-out dumb plays, which never feels nice. Other people (probably rightly) like this game more than me, but I'm not really looking to play it again even though I do like it at some level.
21. Hot Lead I like this game more than 6 Nimmt, which is probably its closest comparison. I always end up liking simultaneous selection less than I think I will, although this game does do a good job of it. The brinksmanship of trying to have sets of three without going to four and losing your cards is really fun too, as that leads to dramatic reveals that end up goozling a player's entire game plan. I would never play this without the 'advanced modules', as there's much less of an actual game if you take those out. With them included though, this game really does sing.
20. Viking See-Saw This is a brilliant stupid game. I don't have that many stacking games (it's really only this game and Rhino Hero), but I like this one the best if only for how small it is. There's some real hilarity in trying to place a small metal cube onto a boat, only for it to tip and spill all your hard work onto a table. Or for you to boldly declare that you're going to stack another tiny man on top of two other tiny men and have the table denounce your prowess, only for you to still pull it off. Even though this game is really stupid, I can't help but feel that it punches above its weight. I really, really like this game.
19. Schotten Totten Schotten Totten, along with Lost Cities, is the yard stick along which I measure all two-player card games that even vaguely hint at lane battling. Schotten Totten, again, is really simple, but it does a LOT with that simple framework. I think the best rule in the game is the rule that allows you to declare a victory in a lane if there's no combination left that beats you, if only because it forces you to really pay attention to what's on the table. That rule alone helps players start to count cards and try to suss out what the other player might have in their hands, which is a really impressive bit of Trojan Horse-teaching. Great game, will gladly play (even if I'm awful at it).
18. Escape Gosh, Excape has some delicious dice-driven drama in it! I loved springing this game onto these really serious gamers who grumble at the notion of rolling a die, only to counter by saying "oh, but you get to roll the dice as often as you want!". It's a delicious exercise in hubris, patience and blind luck. The only reason I ended up getting rid of it is because of a title a bit higher up on this list, but Excape really is the real deal. If you can get a copy of this (or its German language reimplementation Rapido) I would highly suggest getting it.
17. The Siege of Runedar The Siege of Runedar is a pretty cool tower defence/deck building hybrid. I had a lot of fun with this, although the game did end up feeling a bit samey after a bunch of plays. I did really like the central system though, and the deck... crafting? does really interesting things for this game. If they had included something like scenarios that you could use to change the outcomes game to game, that would have done a lot for the longevity of this game. As is though, it's 'just' a really solid game that doesn't have a really long shelf life.
16. Babylonia Babylonia is this fun amalgamation of Through the Desert, Blue Lagoon and Samurai, but it did end up feeling a bit too "point salad-y" for my tastes. It's not a bad game by any means, but the many different types of scoring that happen during the game meant that I'm constantly having to do calculations while already playing a game that has tons of placement options and variables that I have to keep track of. That said, I did enjoy my plays of Babylonia! It's just not my favourite of his tile placement games.
15. Lost Cities This is the other Knizia 1v1 card 'battler' that I inevitably end up using whenever I play cards that feel even vaguely similar to this. There's just no denying the elegance of Lost Cities, nor is there a good alternative to the hard choices that the game presents. You're constantly making interesting decisions and evaluations, but the game never ends up feeling too mathmatical or overbearing. It's really a work of some small genius, and I fully understand publishers printing this game in perpetuity.
14. Art Robbery The first thing I do when playing Art Robbery is put on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack - that in itself may have increased my enjoyment of the game. That said, I really do love Art Robbery just for its directness. It's a take-that-y game that doesn't end up feeling too mean-spirited and rather just ends up feeling very interactive. My group had a fun moment of discovery when we found out that the 3-card is arguably the strongest card in the game (together with the card that lets you take any token from the middle) because those are the cards that typically let you exert the most control over when a round ends. This game has a lot more going on than the simple rules let on, and it's been a mainstay in my collection after getting it at Spiel a few years ago. Really fun, check this game out!
13. Relationship Tightrope I played the Odd Socks version of this game, which was the perfect amount of silly. This game, moreso than even most other trick-takers, can really punish you for going first. I've seen entire hands spiral out of control because the same person kept having to go first, and that's the exact kind of thing that I find hilarious. It's a game that still really rewards good hand management and pseudo card-counting, and I can't wait to play this game again. Really fun.
12. High Society I had at one point sold my copy of High Society, and then ended up regretting it so much that I bought it again. That hasn't really ever happened, and I think it speaks to the allure of this auction game even within Knizia's ludography. There's just something really fun in having to kind of feel out whether or not other players are spending more than you. Plus, there's also a lot of drama in flipping open the top card, finding out whether or not it's a bad card and then figuring out if you want it or not. This game is a classic, and I'm glad to have it back.
11. Modern Art This game is just outside of my top ten, but it's a real classic. I used to own the Oink version, but I ended up selling it to a friend who loved it more than I do. The game itself is a riot if your group is willing to go that way, because there's a lot of hilarity in revealing your money and finding out you've vastly overpaid, or in conspiring with another person to absolutely tank a certain artist's value. Really fun game, would probably play whenever someone asks me to.
10. Blue Lagoon I really like Blue Lagoon. The game has a ton of little interesting decisions, and the two-phase structure works really well. Every game of this I've played has been this quiet, brooding and lightning-fast affair where play just zips around the table and we barely even get time to process what's happened before it's our turn again. This is my favourite between Through the Desert and Babylonia purely for how clean it is. The scoring takes a little to get your head around, but the actual play (including the decisions) are clean, fun and lightning fast. Love Blue Lagoon.
9. Marabunta This is the newest game on this list, and I haven't heard anyone really talk about this. Marabunta is GREAT. It this weird mix of I-split-you-choose, roll and write and area control that REALLY sings once you get the hang of it. There really is a ton of game in this tiny box, and I think you'll end up playing this over and over again if you find someone who's willing to go in-depth on it with you. Don't let this ugly box pass you buy, this game is the real deal.
8. Gang of Dice This is my favourite dice game, period. It's Yahtzee except your dice explode, what's not to love. I played this game last week, and it ended up being an absolute riot. People so often get away with stuff they shouldn't get away with in this game, managing to land rolls that should be impossible to get despite all odds saying their roll should have exploded. Really fun game, I love it a lot. Is it strategic or thinky? No, but it is a ton of fun.
7. The Quest for El Dorado The Quest for El Dorado is this rare game that manages to bridge the gap between gamers and non-gamers. It's a race game, that's a good start, and it's a deck builder that doesn't overload you with complicated abilities or unique cards that you've got to explain every game. Decisions are spicy yet simple (do I buy or do I race?), deck building is satisfying and the final game is always a ton of fun. My in-laws liked the game so much they bought their own copy. This game has a bunch of expansions that I don't think are even necessary (although I do enjoy Dangers and Muisca a lot). This game is great.
6. Samurai This was impossible to get, but I'm glad I stuck with it. Samurai is similar to a number of other Knizia games, but it differentiates itself by just how tight the tile placement is and how the final scoring works. There's basically three different kinds of points to get, and you need to have the most of one kind in order to even be eligible to win. Your final score then is the total sum of the other two points, meaning that you'll both have to specialize while also just straight up trying to score as much as you can; it's a really tight balance to walk. The token placement is also really tight, because you've only got so many things to place and the values of those tokens don't really fluctuate that much. It's really deep without being too mind-bending, leading to a game that's strategically satisfying while also being relatively quick. I'm hoping this gets reprinted soon, because it deserves a new audience.
5. Tower of Babel This game has (thankfully) been getting a bit more buzz after being mentioned on the Boardgame Barrage podcast, and rightfully so. Tower of Babel is a hoot and a half. Like Happy Salmon, it's arguably a game about cooperating the hardest. Unlike Happy Salmon though, you get to be faced with tons of spicy little decisions in this game. Knizia basically ductaped three different scoring mechanisms together, but the game never ends up feeling like a point salad. It's just this really interesting, really spicy little game about cooperating so hard that you end up just exploding into a shower of points. I love this game. Hopefully someone like Bitewing Games ends up picking this game up and giving it a fresh coat of paint. They did so for Quo Vadis, why not this?
4. Taj Mahal Talk about weird auctions, Taj Mahal (like Tigris and Euphrates) takes a bit to really wrap your head around. What this ends up being is this really cool route building slash auction game where you've constantly evaluating if you should invest further or back out and just take the profits you've acquired. I was struck by how sharp and how interesting this game was, and frankly I'm surprised this hasn't found its way back to market after the Windrider Games edition back in the early 2000s. I keep beating that drum, I know, but MAN. These games are SO GOOD, and I feel that they deserve another chance at exposure now the market has been primed to like Knizia again after El Dorado, the reissues of Amun-Re and Ra, and the runaway success that Zoo Vadis was. Taj Mahal is really good, and only feels weird because you've never gotten to play it.
3. Ra RAAAAA. This is probably my favourite auction game ever (although it sometimes switches places with Taiwan Night Market depending on my whims). I just love Ra so much, even when it looked all beige and horrible. I love the sharp little decision of choosing to either add a tile to the market row or to start an auction; I love the brinksmanship of playing a round with low-value tiles and basically being an auction terrorist for an entire round; I love the push-your-luck game that Ra devolves into when there's only one person left in the round and they can only grab two more Ra tiles before the round just ends. Ra gets my blood pumping, and I've only met one person who doesn't like it. You could genuinely wake me up in the middle of the night to play Ra with you.
2. Zoo Vadis This game has been a steady climber in my personal rankings simply because I love how it feels to play Zoo Vadis. I'm big on negotiation games simply because they're some of the most interactive games on the market, but the problem I run into is that they often end up feeling either too mathy or too hostile. Zoo Vadis manages to be neither with just a sprinkle of hidden info and inter-player dependencies. You need other players to allow you to even be eligible to win, meaning that you can't squeeze every drop of blood from each trade; people will simply not allow you to win the game. That makes the games I've played often end up feeling friendlier than something like Sidereal or John Company, or even something like Cosmic or Bohnanza. There's always uncertainty as to what something is worth, but you'll take the deal anyway simply because you can cash in that favour chip later. It's really, really good.
1. Tigris and Euphrates I don't think this will come as a surprise, seeing as to how often I've mentioned the game so far. I think that, of all the games I've played, Tigris and Euphrates feels the most singular. There's really nothing else like it around, which is incredible to me. The first time I approached teaching T&E it took me three days to come up with the 'script' of how I was going to approach teaching the game. It just does so many weird little things that in isolation aren't so bad, but all put together can end up feeling really alien and weird. I'm absolutely atrocious at this game (I think I've only ever won a single game after like, fifteen plays) but playing T&E just feels incredible. I know I'm already sounding real pretentious, but I genuinely feel that T&E is a masterpiece.
NOW IF ONLY THE REPRINT WOULD ACTUALLY COME OUT SO THAT I CAN OWN A COPY THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE GREY TRASH THAT WOULD BE GOOD PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
Concluding thoughts Thank you for reading all this way! Microsoft Office tells me I’ve used almost 6000 words so far, which still doesn’t really feel like a lot considering the amount of games we talked about here. I’d like to reiterate that I’m always looking for Knizia games I haven’t played before, so please let me know if I’m missing any of your favourites.

submitted by DarkJjay to boardgames [link] [comments]

2024.03.28 01:15 TheTricho My hippos favourite game is “find it” because he always gets a peanut butter kong after a long game lol

*He got his reward after this pic lol, this is just his favourite toy Frank the Flamingo

submitted by TheTricho to velvethippos [link] [comments]

2024.03.24 05:01 rGamesModBot Indie Sunday Hub - March 24, 2024

Welcome to another Indie Sunday! This event starts at 12 AM EST and will run for 24 hours.
Please read the below guidelines carefully before participating. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to send us a modmail.
A reminder that Rule 8 is not enforced during this event for submissions which follow the participation guidelines.

Submission Restrictions

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The same game/developer can not be shared more than once every 30 days.

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Submission must be a self-post (No direct links)
Title: Game Name - Company (or individual) Name - Short description (for example: "classic turn based RPG" or "platformer inspired by Metroidvanias")
Flair: Indie Sunday
Body: Any links to trailers/footage, a description of the game, plans for release (platform, target date, etc), any additional information you'd like to add.

Weekly Spotlight

Previous Indie Sunday

Feedback

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below, or send us a modmail if it is urgent.

Discussion

Any of these games catch your eye?
Any games you want to personally highlight that haven't been shared yet?
Any projects that have had interesting development journeys?
What indie game recommendations do you have?

submitted by rGamesModBot to Games [link] [comments]

2024.03.19 16:31 Murraculous1 1st Impressions of 10 Knizia Games: City of the Living, Money, Keltis, and more! — Bitewing Games

https://preview.redd.it/d10foyrj5bpc1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=46d79d5e6f9fba16c0c9d7f1096f4c21d903e9ba
Note: This post also exists in podcast form, if you prefer to listen.

Penguin Party

https://preview.redd.it/3il1e7el5bpc1.png?width=433&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f1f2df122e73fa399626e73e89948f8a6cb315c
5 or more Plays (3 & 5 Players)
I’ve been playing Penguin Party on occasion for several months now with my family. It’s simple enough that my young daughters (3 and 5) can play just fine, and they absolutely enjoy it. All you do is play a card to the bottom of a pyramid or on top of two cards in the pyramid. Each card is nothing more than a single color — one of five possible options. The base of the pyramid can only contain 8 cards total, and you may only stack a card on top of two other cards if at least one of those supporting cards matches in color. The goal is to get rid of your hand — take penalty points for each card you can’t get rid of, discard two penalty points if you empty your hand. That’s the entirety of Penguin Party.
Playing with my girls, I had a hunch that this was quite a good little filler game. But I decided to reserve my judgment until I could put this tiny box in front of some grown-up gamers. I finally had that chance recently at Dice Tower West with a whopping group of five players. The result was interesting to observe…
In round one, the brash simplicity of the game made several of us question whether the game could hold our attention for five whole rounds (one round for each player). You really expect me to sit here for five cycles just building a pyramid of card colors? But we pressed forward into round two and the Knizia magic began to settle in. Players began to peel back and discover the implications of their decisions… positioning purple next to green in the base means that they’ll be competing with each other. Stacking a blue on top of a pink and a blue means that pink has been cut off from the party entirely… but other players have more pinks still in their hand than I do, maybe this isn’t so bad.
By round three, the hooks of the game had set in and the mental shift of the group was palpable. We were playing the same game, yet card positioning was more deliberate, more cutthroat, more desperate, more dramatic. What once felt like a mindless children’s game became a vicious bloodbath of penguins and colors. We were bonded together across a five-round journey of shared incentives and shared suffering.
Penguin Party is certainly not the most deep or dynamic card game from Reiner Knizia. Yet it impressively boils down the essence of card play to something transcendently simple and satisfying. It doesn’t possess any traits that compel me to love it, but I enjoy and appreciate its bold elegance.
Prognosis: Good
https://preview.redd.it/lijnwh8m5bpc1.png?width=437&format=png&auto=webp&s=225323475c0f3feadffb9ac0706d8ace3cb538de

Genial Spezial

https://preview.redd.it/nbpstyin5bpc1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=557757457f2c23b74f14e8d4e838c32fdebcf13d
1 Play (3 Players)
2009’s Genial Spezial by Reiner Knizia is indeed a special design — not just because it is an interesting spinoff of the Ingenious series, but also because it is the precursor to Cascadero. Check out my full thoughts on this game here (I ran out of space on this Reddit post).

Tatari

https://preview.redd.it/9xrn530p5bpc1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=e75eb1535cf4c6e19d545b781ef25453d14998d9
5 Plays (3 & 4 Players)
When I first saw Tatari, I figured it was simply a reskin of Zombie Mania — a Knizia dice chucker that I covered over a year ago. It made sense that Zombie Mania is the English version and Tatari is the Japanese version. Tatari is even linked to the former as a “reimplementation” on Board Game Geek.
And if you only glance quickly at the photos and description, they do look awfully similar. But even one play proved to me that Tatari was far more than a reskin. Yes you are still trying to purge yourself of figures (in this case, creepy dolls) by pushing your luck and chucking dice, and it’s possible to stick other players with your own figures, and the winner will be the player who starts their turn with zero figures. But while Zombie Mania was a nightmarish game that overstayed its welcome, Tatari was a delightful experience with nightmarish dolls that had our group playing it three times in one night. That’s a huge difference for two games that sound awfully alike.
For my money, everything that Tatari changes from its older sibling is an improvement on the formula. And I mean everything. Rather than having player turns often fizzle out into a zombie bust where nothing happens, a doll bust sees the offending player collect all of the dolls off of one board (whichever board has the most) which opens the door wide for their opponents to make an easy doll drop off. Rather than having the zombies get passed around between opponents in an endless take-that bash-a-thon, the dolls dwindle much faster as they enter the box shrine either through good rolls or by bouncing off a player who is at the maximum 10 doll limit. Rather than having one central pit stop where the group simply dumps their zombies, players must aim for an exact board by rolling a 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11+ and then roll more dolls than what that board contains — this is perhaps the most interesting part of the game.
Essentially, you need to roll a 7 or higher in order to not bust. This is done by rolling 1s, 2s, 3s, or 4s with the 6 available dice. Each time you roll, you must select a new value to lock in (setting aside all of the dice of that value). You can also bust by rolling only values that you have already set aside. Rolling an 11+ is always a good (and safe) thing. This is where you have reached the box shrine, and dolls never come back out of there, so any doll amount you roll simply gets permanently removed from your supply. But most often, you’ll be rolling a 7-10, and this is where things get… dicey.
Whatever exact number you land on in the 7-10 range, you better have brought some doll rolls with you. The 5th and 6th faces of the dice are replaced by single and double doll symbols. Whatever doll total you have rolled will become the new equilibrium of that board — where you will dispose of your own dolls with a good roll or reclaim some (or all) of the dolls there with a bad roll. Sometimes these boards will get 4 or 5 dolls placed onto them, which means that you want to avoid these boards at all costs. But if you get too greedy, you might simply bust and take all of those dolls anyway.
Brilliantly, the only way you can give other players your dolls is by rolling 1s and actually dropping off one or more dolls on a central board. So 1s are great for sticking it to the doll-purging leader, but they are awful at getting you to the threshold board of 7 or higher.
From our first few plays, Tatari showed a delightful arc of starting simple and low-risk. Players start with the maximum 10 dolls, so any more that you earn in a bust simply get dumped into the box and you’re left with merely a wasted turn. With a few good turns, tension starts to ramp up as players avoid crowded boards and whittle away at their doll supplies. Do you stop rolling and accept a couple dolls back into your supply simply because you couldn’t avoid the most crowded board, or do you toss the remaining dice one more time and risk taking all of the dolls on a bust? Maybe it’s not as big of a deal to risk it on your turn if you’ve slid back to 10 dolls in your supply, but a bust still means that you clear off a board entirely and make it that much easier for an opponent to add yet more dolls there.
The ebb and flow of Tatari is what makes it so much more addicting for me. Well that, and the fact that it doesn’t overstay its welcome (probably because it is much harder to pawn dolls onto your opponents). And it helps that these dolls are genuinely creepy, adding to the aura of the game as players try to purge them from their supply. Most importantly, the push-your-luck moments are much spicier here. Where many aging humans prefer to turn down the spice, it seems that Dr. Knizia still loves to turn it up.
Prognosis: Excellent
https://preview.redd.it/o1jnrwyp5bpc1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2e091d56dd71fddc70fb299984c7df0a15183b8

City of the Living

https://preview.redd.it/e419ausq5bpc1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c58f4b07e4d067dcd8f407c943d0cf40bae040e
2 Plays (2 & 4 Players)
Review copy provided by the publisher
I’m beginning to see a pattern with these Knizia co-designs — Witchstone (co-designed by Martino Chiachierra) and now City of the Living (co-designed by Sebastian Bleasdale). It turns out that they feel less… Knizian. Shocking, I know.
For some folks, that may very well be a good thing. But for somebody who prefers Knizia’s style of game above all others, that is very likely a bad thing. How far does it stray from the way of the good doctor? Let us explore…
City of the Living is a game of managing your income tracks while improving your tableau of tiles. Players are managing their post-apocalyptic towns, scavenging for resources and supplies, fortifying their defenses, and trying to keep the zombies out. This dramatic retheme from Prosperity (the international balancing of pollution and advancement) at least maintains a base level of coherency, despite the pivot to an overused setting. Just don’t look too closely at or think too hard about the various tiles.
A discovered water purifier decreases the cooperation of your townsfolk… because they fight over it, perhaps? It also makes your town more secure from zombies, presumably because you don’t have to go out and search for clean water. Fair enough. Wooden walls strengthen your security, but brick walls weaken it? Zombies don’t function like the Big Bad Wolf, obviously. A few gas-powered lamps can wipe out three whole zombies… because zombies don’t like portable light? Let’s just say that it’s better to stick to the overhead concept of balancing zombie defenses against human cooperation against coolness factor (like building and using ballistas, just for style points).
This theme of balance and trade-offs is woven throughout the gameplay. How long do you build up your engine before pivoting to points? Do you prioritize fuel income or zombie containment? Are you ok with taking a hit on this track so you can leap up this other track? Do you take the time to improve your scavenging infrastructure or blow all your fuel to snatch up a prized item before an opponent?
Players are limited to two actions per turn, and like any Knizia worth its salt, you always wish you had more actions on your turn. A tile is revealed from the pile and added to the market as it triggers a type of income event for everyone. Each “year” or round sees all the events triggered once, so it helps to time your income boosts before the next event of that type rather than after. Gradually, your tracks will get healthier and healthier. But one particular track must never be too neglected — the zombie track — otherwise you’ll be blocked from scoring points until you clear out enough zombies. What’s the point of living if you are overwhelmed by the undead?
The thing that feels odd about this semi-Knizia design is that all of the action happens on your personal boards. Aside from a minor end-game track competition, and the drafting of tiles from the central market, there isn’t a wink of interaction to be found in City of the Living. It’s an engine builder more akin to modern Eurogames where action efficiency and track management hog all the attention. At least there are some tough decisions to be had in the tile purchasing.
The game offers two possible player board options to build your town of tiles, with the back side being slightly less flexible and more punishing. If I can’t have my opponents beating up on me, then I suppose I’ll settle for this back side. It is unfortunate, though, that this side of the player board has the wrong setup iconography for the tracks. We encountered a few other annoyances in the production — bumps in the user-friendly features — but I suppose one can’t complain too much in such post-apocalyptic settings.
The other odd thing about this design is that there is no scaling according player count. At two players you have an over-abundance of tiles at your disposal — arguably too many options that fit your needs. At four players you have the exact same number of tiles where certain types quickly vanish from the market and leave players starving for just a morsel of fuel or security or cooperation.
For me, the real hangup with City of the Living is that I still feel like the city bookkeeper rather than literally any other more thrilling zombie-era occupation. Tractor driver? Sign me up. Daylight scavenger? Heck yes. Border security? My pleasure. Rival town infiltration? I’m in. Please, just anything but a spreadsheet of symbols and tracks.
In terms of Knizia designs, this one doesn’t hit the spot like I was hoping it would. I respect the game for trying something different, even if it’s not quite what I was looking for. And I respect co-designer Sebastian Bleasdale who has made significant contributions to many a favorite Knizia game (as a primary playtester), including some of our own publications.
It’s neat to see Trick or Treat Studios bring this design back to life 10 years after its original publication. The new theme will likely have a broader general appeal, and the engine-building, income-balancing gameplay will undoubtedly find some new fans. As for me, I simply prefer it when the humans at my table are the biggest threat rather than the oscillating tracks on my personal player board.
Prognosis: Fair
https://preview.redd.it/8qew2jsr5bpc1.png?width=778&format=png&auto=webp&s=410cc0e83d23a2bd5b3b931500e34d2d4640e75b

Keltis + Neue Wege, Neue Ziele (New Ways, New Goals)

https://preview.redd.it/4akz2vrs5bpc1.png?width=601&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9fdd36efc44b07a3ab62232056e2b48c8a74a5d
1 Play (4 Players)
After playing and sharing my thoughts on Lost Cities: The Board Game, I culled the game from my collection and thought that would be the end of it. It was an amusing family-weight board game that ultimately didn’t call to me like other Lost Cities titles or family-weight games in my collection. Little did I know that I would get reeled back into trying this design due to a foreign expansion.
Reiner Knizia has had several board games nominated for the prestigious Spiel des Jahres (game of the year in Germany) but the title that actually won it was Keltis — a more abstract and loose version of Lost Cities: The Board Game. So naturally, Dr. Knizia followed that success up with an expansion called Neue Wege, Neue Ziele (New Ways, New Goals) which utilizes a new board with intertwined multicolored tracks.
The big draw of this expansion is that long-term planning is rewarded as players can move any of their pawns up any tracks and in any directions as they pivot from one color to the next. Your card play restrictions are fundamentally the same, although notably Keltis is looser because you can play each color in ascending OR descending order.
It’s hard to say whether the looser card play restrictions or the more flexible board were the main culprit (certainly both were contributors), but our play of this expansion board using the Keltis rules just felt too open and flexible to be all that interesting. Players basically never discarded a card (like you often do in Lost Cities) just to make room for another card — it was too easy to put too many cards to good use. So this experience was less about managing your hand with surgical precision and more about simply playing the best option currently available. Cards were played, pawns were advanced, and one player edged out the others by earning a few more points through collected tokens.
Between this and Lost Cities: The Board Game, I find the latter to be much more interesting. Keltis feels so stale without any theme at all, and it really loses its excitement by letting players play colors in either direction and jump across different color tracks on the expansion board. In terms of mechanisms and decisions, everything here just feels like a watered down version of better Knizia designs.
Prognosis: Poor
https://preview.redd.it/5gbxeimt5bpc1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a72ca7ee86c62477dcec4d888347c758924253b

Keltis: Fun & Go (Der Weg der Steine Mitbringspiel)

https://preview.redd.it/roz56lpu5bpc1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=85a4bda95e95048cde00fbb9793e68e9a0903d7d
1 Play (2 Players)
After Keltis and its expansion fell flat for me, I wasn’t expecting much from Keltis: Fun & Go. But one shouldn’t count out the good doctor’s ability to iterate... Check out my full thoughts on this game here (I ran out of space on this Reddit post).

Genesis

https://preview.redd.it/lv1p00uv5bpc1.png?width=537&format=png&auto=webp&s=e35cf498ea1ae4b6337ab8dec780c701e179f411
3 Plays (4 Players)
Reiner Knizia & tile placement games are like the milk & cookies of board games — they pair together beautifully. And I’m the Cookie Monster — I can consume an alarmingly unhealthy amount and still want more.
And while Genesis isn’t my favorite cookie, not even close, it’s still a mighty respectable one. It’s probably most comparable to a Subway cookie — its chocolate chips are satisfyingly melty, but it’s not going to win any awards.
It does feature something I’ve never seen Reiner do elsewhere — you start your turn rolling two dice, and those dice results restrict your tile placement options. Players each have their own pile of tiles made up of four terrain types: wetlands, mountains, forest, and savannas.
With the setting being Pangea from millions of years ago, the goal here is to establish yourself as the dominant lifeforms in each area. Areas aren’t really a thing until players start placing matching terrain tiles together and building them out across the board. You’ll be trying to build up your herds by placing your tiles (designated by your animal type) next to each other, and if a matching tile is separated by another life-form or terrain type then it is not part of the herd.
Players want to have the largest herd (or second largest) in each area in order to score points at the end of the game, and the largest area of each terrain type will score double or triple points. While it’s true that the dice dictate your options, it always feels like there is a smart play to be made. Plus, you can always just ignore the dice and place out any one tile instead, but that means you must sacrifice your second tile placement.
With the help of volcano and tar spaces (spaces where nobody can place a tile), it can be highly advantageous to surround and block opponents from growing their herds. This is especially critical for areas that look like they’ll earn double or triple points. It can also be wise to abandon a hotly contested area and start your own smaller region of the same color. If nobody else joins your smaller area, then you can score both first and second place points. It’s also common to have two regions of a matching terrain type compete for the bonus of double or triple points — this provides another incentive to keep feeding your tiles to an area even after you have a commanding majority lead there.
The dice rolling offers an element of unpredictably as well — four of the six sides have one terrain type, and the other two sides are wilds. It’s very possible to go multiple turns without rolling a specific color. With multiple locations demanding your attention, it’s common for one worrisome area to stay dormant and untouched while another spirals out of your control — all depending on what your opponents roll. Sneakily, the dice also keep the game running at a quick clip. This is particularly noticeable when a player rolls two wilds and proceeds to nosedive into the depths of analysis paralysis as their brain flips through all possible scenarios. They’re a gift and a curse, those double wilds.
It’s a clever little game that, despite the dice rolling, feels very abstract and strategic. Admittedly, the combination of randomized turn restrictions with abstract tile positioning is initially jarring. During my early turns of the game, I didn’t find this combination particularly thrilling either. But somewhere in Act 2 of Genesis, the brilliance of its system begins to emerge. As regions begin to crash into one another and the landscape takes shape, as competing herds struggle to be the dominant species and the empty spaces dwindle, Genesis really starts to heat up. Like a warm, gooey cookie after a freshly toasted sandwich, it really hits the spot.
As a big box Knizia tile layer, Genesis is certainly a bit of a misfit when lined up alongside its more radiant siblings. No wonder this one has quickly faded into obscurity. But as an approachable, abstract filler for 3-4 players, Genesis is shockingly good. Keep the milk coming, I’m hungry for more of this cookie!
Prognosis: Good
https://preview.redd.it/lwjcudww5bpc1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=36f86cadb916cdf176d4d5b6069deccb152be2fe

Reif für die Insel

https://preview.redd.it/1o8d07xy5bpc1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=cf0f049ae283c207a0c607e7693ce7506716778a
3 Plays (5 and 6 Players)
Reif für die Insel, or in English, Welcome to the Island… the island of many bananas. But not so many bananas that the monkeys won’t fight over them and the parrots won’t swoop in and steal them. Probably because some bananas are more ripe than others, and some are straight rotten.
In his latest auction game, Reiner Knizia mixes a whole bunch of tried and true ingredients into a satisfying new stew. The bidding itself feels like a mixture of High Society (spending away your dwindling hand of card values) and Amun-Re (raising the bid at a spot to bump out another player’s bid). The randomized options of bananas each round — each player ends up with a banana, and sometimes they come with parrots or bandits — feels like Hot Lead’s randomized row of evidence and back alley cards that players fight over. The mix of two possible auction types (clockwise bidding or simultaneous reveal) feels like the nice variety you get from Modern Art and Beowulf: The Legend. Sometimes you’re all bidding high to avoid a penalty (the rotten banana or thieving parrot) before somebody bites the bullet and takes it for free like High Society’s bad cards. Some of the bananas have a bit of push-your-luck (only a complete pair of them earns you any points, but they are big points) like plenty of other Knizia set collection games.
In other words, there’s not necessarily one particular feature to make Reif für die Insel really stand out from the pack. BUT, everything here is blended together into a very satisfying concoction. I suppose the ripening bananas (how long they stay on your mat, clogging up spaces before they score out) is the main unique feature, and it really helps to make the decisions the right amount of opaque.
You’ll play through three rounds, and only the ripest bananas (brown ones) will score out and clear your board in the first round. You’ll have to wait until rounds two and three to score and clear your yellow and green bananas. But those bananas are worth more points, so do you gun for those delayed ones instead? If your player board is already full of bananas and there are still a few auctions left in the round (because other players haven’t filled their board yet), you might find yourself discarding bananas that you won in previous auctions (unlesss they are a bad bananas which never leave you).
There’s a tight balancing act across the three rounds. When do you spend your valuable monkey cards, if at all? Any monkey cards that you don’t spend during the game will be added to your final score (equal to their value!). Players only have 9 cards in their hand to use throughout the game which usually consists of about 12 or so rounds. The only way you can stretch your hand out is by judiciously deciding when to use your zero card in an auction (which always comes back to your hand).
It’s hilarious to see some players blow their hand of cards early and be stuck bidding nothing but their zero for the final batch of auctions. And it’s impressive to see when players manage to hold back several big cards (their 6, 7, 10, etc.) to score massive bonus points on top of their respectable banana stash.
True, Reif für die Insel may not have the novel twist of recent auction hits like Nidavellir or Furnace to evoke the reverent ooos and ahhs of the industry. But what it lacks in standout novelty, it easily makes up for by being tighter, cleaner, and far more thrilling. This is one that I’ll happily bring back to the table over and over again, especially at higher counts (4-6 players).
Prognosis: Good
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King’s Road

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1 Play (4 Players)
Only a couple years ago, I was under the impression that Reiner Knizia hadn’t really designed an area majority game. Of course some of his designs like Genesis, Samurai, and Babylonia possess hints of area majority, but I was thinking more along the lines of El Grande or Inis. I’ve since learned that my impression was wrong, as Municipium, Tower of Babel, Into the Blue, and King’s Road are very much area majority games from the good doctor. And perhaps there are more that I have yet to discover. The truth is simply that none of these have achieved the same level of fame as Knizia’s evergreens.
King’s Road is definitely on the simple filler end of the spectrum. It’s certainly more strategic than the Yahtzee style Into the Blue, yet it still manages to play out quick and breezy.
As a large king pawn travels around the board from one location to the next, players are committing influence markers to the locations of their choice. Each player is given an identical deck of 11 cards — these cards represent the 8 locations plus 3 special cards. Each round, players select 3 cards from their hand and simultaneously reveal them. Essentially, you’re simultaneously committing 3 influence markers onto locations of the board with the cards you reveal.
These locations have a definite El Grande vibe in that they award varying levels of points to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. The scoring for a location triggers once the King has reached it, and he reliably moves ever onward in an unending clockwise march. As the King approaches higher valued locations, players predictably commit more of their pieces there in an effort to claim the highest reward.
The nuance mainly comes from the 3 special cards as well as some subtle scoring strategies. One special card acts like a duplicate of another card you play in a round, allowing you to commit 2 influence to a single location in a single round. The other two special cards are one-time-use: 1) the witch lets you see what everyone else has played before deciding your three cards and 2) the dragon triggers premature scoring of the next location. These are all mildly interesting special cards that makes one wish that Reiner had explored this concept further. Stronger cards or more variety could have gone a long way to spice up the cyclical nature of the game.
What do I mean by cyclical? Well, the King’s movement is predetermined, the players’ hands are identical, and the special cards are mild and minimalistic. King’s Road has opted for an extremely safe, vanilla experience within a crowded genre of wild, flavorful area majority games. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good game, especially for one so quick (30 minutes). The clean, slim nature of the design allows for some nice mind games as you to try to eek out more points than your opponents. Despite its bare-bones design, it feels like there is still wiggle room for multiple strategies to succeed.
Unfortunately, the minimalistic nature of King’s Road means that it struggles to stand out in my collection, let alone its genre. As an old-school Euro, this one certainly hasn’t aged as well as El Grande. As an approachable gateway game, it’s not as thrilling as Ethnos. As a filler, it’s not quite as punchy as Rumble Nation. As a Knizia design, it doesn’t reach the satisfying dynamics of Municipium. In a vacuum, I’d happily play this one more. In my collection, it’s easily overshadowed by a dozen other games.
Prognosis: Fair

Money

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3 Plays (4-5 Players)
Reiner Knizia has been interviewed probably more times than any tabletop game designer ever. That’s largely thanks to the fact that he’s been around longer than most working designers, and he’s the most prolific in terms of total game output. He could interviewed about a different game in his ludography every week and it would take 14 years to get through all of his games. But in reality, that’s a lie, because he would make another 350 games in those 14 years. There’s simply no keeping up with this man.
I bring up his interviews because I quite enjoy listening to them. For as successful, brilliant, and revered as he is, I’m always struck by how thoughtful and humble his answers are. One question he’s been asked before is this: “What is your favorite board game component?” Or something similar: “If you could only keep 1 game, what would it be?”
His answer? A deck of cards. Reiner loves a simple deck of cards for how versatile cards can be. And he wouldn’t use them to play established or existing games. He would use them to create new games. The practice of inventing games that bring enjoyment to people is his sole drive and focus. His hunger to innovate and iterate and entertain is insatiable.
All of this is proven by his extensive ludography. Looking at his card games alone, heck even just the ones I’ve played, I can tally up 30 unique card games that are plain solid, at the very least. These 30 card games are good enough that I would happily play them at any game session. Several of them are so stinking phenomenal that they rank among the greatest card games ever made… Perhaps those precious pearls, those select masterpieces, are the only Knizia card games I truly need. But because these 30 games are so easy to teach, quick to play, and simple to store on the shelf, they all live on in my collection.
Money is one of these unassuming titles that promises to please when on the table and placate when on the shelf. It’s a pure deck of cards tailored for 3-5 players, and it only asks for 15-20 minutes of your time. The deck consists of up to 7 different currencies, with values of 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. There are also a handful of 10-value Chinese coins that add a little bonus to your bank. After dealing out 6 cards to each player, you’ll then proceed through a series of quick rounds where players simultaneously reveal a bid of one or more cards from their hands.
In the central market there are two sets consisting of four cards each. After players reveal their bids, the highest bidder can exchange their entire bid with one of the central market sets or with another player’s bid. Then the next highest bidder does the same, and so on until everyone has made an exchange (or withheld their bid).
The goal is to assemble a hand that contains as many cards of as few currencies as possible. Having all seven currencies in you hand would be a disaster, because each currency starts out with a 100 point deficit until you manage to cross 200 points in that currency. Surprisingly (for a Knizia), you cannot score below zero in a currency. So a value of 90 USD is zero points, while a value of 160 Euros is 60 points. But if you manage to cross that golden 200 threshold, then you don’t subtract 100 points from that currency at all. Additionally, if you manage to get any trios of 20s or 30s of the same currency, then you’ll score 100 bonus points for each one. And those 10-value Chinese coins are just a plain good 10-points each.
What this all leads to is a rapid-fire chaotic currency exchange where cards leave one hand to enter the market only to be snatched up again and traded away once more until they find the right home. Your hand starts out with a small but diverse array of currencies, and then it gradually grows in size while shrinking in variety. Eventually you’ll be forced to decide which precious sets to part with so that you can use those currencies to bid on others that show more promise.
Sometimes you’ll hunger for a juicy market set on display and overbid with your hand, only to find that nobody else cared about the available options and they all decided to bid low and get a cheap/easy gain… suddenly you regret adding that extra 50 to your bid. Other times you’ll try to thread the needle with a risky, low offer only to find that an opponent bid slightly higher to get first dibs on your desired stash. But all is not lost, because odds are that they’ll eventually relinquish your favored currency back out into the market with a future bid. Like many auction games, it’s all about reading the room and bidding with surgical precision.
When played fast, loose, and from the hip, Money feels like a stone-cold classic. Perhaps it’s not the most unique or innovative or dramatic card game in Knizia’s catalogue, but it’s a mighty fine one. And I have it on good authority that it is getting a new English edition soon, so that’s a plus.
Prognosis: Good

Launching on Kickstarter on April 9

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Coming soon from Bitewing Games — three games of cool jazz and cool cats. Follow the Kickstarter page here. Posts like these are made possible through the support of our backers. Thanks for your support!
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Prognosis: a forecast of how the game will likely fare in my collection, and perhaps yours as well.
Excellent– Among the best in its genre. This game will never leave my collection.
Good– A very solid game and a keeper on the shelf.
Fair– It’s fine. It’s enjoyable. But I’m not likely to seek it out or keep it around.
Poor– Really doesn’t fit my tastes; not one I want to revisit… but hey, that’s just me.
Hopeless– Never again. Run & hide. Demon be gone.
Article written by Nick of Bitewing Games.
Disclaimer: Bitewing Games collaborates with Reiner Knizia on some publishing projects. We enjoy playing, talking about, and publishing his designs. Please take any and all of our opinions with a hearty grain of salt as you partake in this tabletop hobby feast.

submitted by Murraculous1 to boardgames [link] [comments]

2024.03.18 20:14 nick_gadget Deckbuilding plus dice?

Are there any games that use dice as a trigger for the cards in your hand?
I’ve been playing the mobile game Dicey Elementalist, which is basically boss battler Yahtzee but the effects of the cards determine the damage etc.
It seems like such an obvious idea that I can’t believe the two haven’t been used together - particularly if certain triggers allow modifications, rerolls and so on.
Are there any dice & deckbuilders that I’ve missed?

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2024.03.17 19:36 savvybananas Yahtzee 25 house rule

If your 5 cards (in hand or crib) end up as a full house, you score 25 points regardless of the cards that make up the full house. Named the Yahtzee 25 rule because a full house is 25 points in Yahtzee.
It happens less than you think and adds a fun gamble element when you’re way behind and need a big boost.
Anybody else have good house rules?

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2024.03.15 15:17 OldService2019 Other card or tile games for roguelikes

So what I like about balatro is that it is more like solitaire rather than poker. The only similarities to poker are the hands and naming conventions. Which opens up the world of a lot more of these card based roguelikes.
For example, I am prototyping a 2p cribbage game where you have a large card hand with joker cards thrown in changing the value of cards, forcing opportunities to play 15, 31, or sets and sequences. That’s a pie in the sky goal that I doubt will go anywhere.
But I think there are games that could do well with the balatro formula.
I’m not really interested in yahtzee because it’s being done right now, and it’s not that dissimilar to poker if poker was more of a race/stall to the finish with press your luck mechanics. Who knows might offer something different.
Mahjong and Tichu seems to be good picks which makes me wonder if Southeast Asian card games(or inspired) make a good fit. I know that Balatro came from Big2 so I am wondering if there are any Cantonese games out there that could use a bit of rougelike love.

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2024.03.14 05:32 HughEhhoule P. I. T. Book 2 Episode 2

Before i noticed where i was standing , i heard it. Before my brain could process the image of the new hallway i found myself in , my ears picked up on the subtle wrongness of the door closing .
I've heard Eli's door close a million times, hell, maybe more. And the sound i heard was nothing like it.
It's a moment of shock, like a glass of cold water thrown on an unsuspecting hot tub user. I feel myself stagger for a moment and focus, my breathing is heavy, fear and confusion boiling up inside of me.
When you make yourself a hammer, you see everything as a nail. I can't take credit for that one, it's old and coined by a far better person than myself, but as i crouch, scanning the hallway for attackers, i'm a damn fine example of that old cliche.
There are no attackers, i'm not in a dingy basement, or maze of storage containers, it's a nice hallway in what i'm assuming is an equally nice apartment building.
Cream colored paint makes the high gloss wood doors seem inviting, the durable yet stain free carpet clearly is close friends with a steam cleaner, there isn't so much as a flickering light bulb giving a sense of unease.
In my left hand are a half dozen small grocery bags, my right grips a set of keys with an orange happy face key fob.
I stand, trying to appear at ease, though , thankfully i don't see any observers to whatever is going on. I have no idea what's happening to me, but at least i don't look like an asshole.
The door to apartment 403 unlocks with a square shaped brown key, and within isn't the purposeful rat's nest Eli spent so long cultivating, but a spotless living space , well furnished, and in good repair.
I find i.d. , i find chat logs, bills, a few pictures, and with every piece of evidence i pull from this place, a story emerges.
My name, is Mike Lawrence, i fix electronics (a skill i found essential back where things made sense.) , have a small circle of friends, and a life that has nothing to do with violence, conspiracies, or anything more dark than a handful of horror films on blu ray.
My job causes a certain amount of...stress on my mind. Par for the course for anyone who isn't a psychopath, but something i always have to be aware of. As useful as knowing how to sow up a stab wound is, understanding when it's time to procure some anti anxiety medication or mood stabilisers, that shit has saved my life more than kevlar.
So i know when the gears start slipping , and right now, my mind is running as well as someone with a couple of voices in their skull can be expected to.
Speaking of, Norman and The Boyscout are silent, like most of the time, when i really need them, they are no where to be found.
Now, i know none of you are here to listen to , what is going to amount to some generic dickhead's blog, so i'm going to give you the cliff's notes on about six months worth of mundane life, and existential dread.
I spent the first month or so waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for that moment where i found out the plot, or experiment i found myself in.
But as the days went on, i had to admit, there was nothing more sinister than a few angry voicemails from clients waiting on repairs.
At this point the only conclusion i could come to was that, i was Mike Lawrence. Whatever life i remember was some kind of hallucination, or fugue state , maybe even just the mother of all screwed up dreams.
So, for almost half a year, i was, Mike lawrence. I spent time with Mike's friends, i worked Mike's job, paid Mike's rent, all of that generic day to day crap.
And i loved it.
Every, safe, dull, boring moment, i savored like it was the last drop of the oldest bottle of wine in the universe.
But here is the catch 22.
Even if i could ignore my dozens of scars, burns and mutilations, rationalize them as a car wreck, maybe. I can't ignore why every moment free of gunfire and ill intent seems like a decade in heaven to me.
No dream, drug trip, or mental breakdown can mimic a decade of life or death. A decade of hard decisions, most of the right ones ending up with me doing something that haunts my dreams, and most of the wrong ones ending up with me watching some twisted bastard do similar.
Mike Lawrence, doesn't drink.
But there came a night, and a bottle, where i realized, i wasn't Mike Lawrence, no matter how much everything in this world wanted to lull me into thinking so , i was not Mike Fucking Lawrence.
Being an alcoholic, it's so romanticized calling that shit out is a cliche in and of itself. But take it from experience kids, chugging a 40 pounder of vodka alone, that isn't badass.
It's a sad, grimy experience, you become annoyed with yourself. Desperate to get wasted, but hating this drunken shithead you have to deal with.
But, in Vino Veritas, as they say, in wine there is truth. by that logic, there must be the secrets of the universe somewhere at the bottom of this texas mickey.
There was, in a sense.
"Took you long enough Michael." The voice is thin, but somehow full of power.
I want to call the thing sitting in the chair across from me a man, but, the deep pits of darkness that serve as his eyes tell me he's something... else.
The obvious answer being, hallucination.
And as far as those go, the guy makes sense.
Seven feet tall with long lanky limbs, he seems to barely fit in the oversized leather armchair. He's wearing a combination of victorian era suit and...voodoo shit? There has to be a better term, but stuff that makes me think of swamps, witches and potions. And all of this is topped with something i've always had a fondness for, a massive top hat.
I'm not shocked, or stunned, if anything, i feel relief. If i'm seeing things, that's fixable.
"Don't act like you're the first thing i've seen that wasn't there. " I slur in reply.
That laugh, that low, mocking chuckle, sends a shiver through me.
"Don't be stupid Michael.
You know you don't belong here. You can feel it in your soul, you can see it when you walk down streets with names you don't recognise, you are a traveler Michael. " The entity across from me says, his tone grave.
"Yer a wizard harry!" i scream, laughing at the apparition, "You know what screams, 'the cheese has slid of my cracker?' there, scary spice?
When you tell me i'm some sort of universe hopping savior. That is some stereotypical delusions of grandeur shit."
He shakes his head, his chuckle, this time seeming to barely suppress rage.
"You have severely misread the situation, Mike.
No, you are not a savior. You are an insignificant speck, battles for the fate of the world, are not in your future.
But your value isn't in what you are, but where you are.
The sum of reality is divided into nine corners Michael. And up until this moment, even a man-in-the-know such as myself, would have thought it impossible for so much as an atom to travel between them.
But here you are. " he lets the silence hang.
I want to dismiss this thing, to drink until i pass out, then blast whatever bit of my brain went rotten with antipsychotics.
But something about him, something about what he's saying is ringing true.
"Seems you know a lot about me, what about you, most drunks just see pink elephants why do i get a ghost?" I try to sound mocking, but my desperate question is obvious.
"Ghost? I wish.
That i had plenty of contingencies for.
No, my state, is also, rather, unique.
I was a man, one who was destroyed so thoroughly , under such a combination of etheral stress, that what was left, simply didn't have a place to go.
And under normal circumstances, that would have been it. I would have simply kept almost existing, the thin threads connecting the scraps of memory and intent that compose me fraying till every moment was a limbo of confusion.
But, Michael, you and i are alike. More alike than i have time to explain. And because of this, you may be able to help me.
You need to get home, this corner will twist and warp you, you are a foreign body, a splinter in this segment of reality's flesh.
And i, well, i need anything other than this. I'd sooner take my chances in the deepest pits of hell, those are at least charted waters.
But, we seem to be at an impasse, and an understandable one.
I'd ask you to trust in me, but i know i wouldn't trust anyone the least bit like myself, so i don't expect you to either.
Grab one of those pieces of junk mail, open it facing me. If all i am is 'a bit of undigested beef' , as it were, i'll not be able to recite the contents.
If i can though, we both look out your living room window, and you understand that what you are seeing is neither illusion nor hallucination. " the entity sounds like it is either giving a sales pitch, or a sermon. In either case, it's a damn good one.
I hold a nondescript white envelope long enough for my damp hands to stain it before i open one end, it's contents facing the thing sitting across from me.
It didn't miss a single word.
Without a sound he rises from the chair with a flourish, walking over and parting the curtains of my livingroom window.
I follow, i see New York at 4 a.m. , strange as it may be, i'm not seeing anything that would prove the universe has misplaced me.
"The name is Demitrious by the way. Not that you've asked.
Do you see the store on the corner?" Demitrious says.
"Of course..." something starts to turn in my poison soaked brain. "that wasn't there yesterday , was it?"
The ghoul smiles, "It most certainly was not, nor will it be by the time daylight shines on these syringe strewn streets.
That store is one of many oddities this corner of reality has to offer.
You started your...career, after seeing evidence of the worst humanity has to offer, am i correct, Michael?"
The shift in conversation has me edgy.
"Fuck you" i say as the first part of my statement, adding " But, yeah." after i was sure he understood my initial point.
"And to set you to action, to get you to the point where you were willing to kill, to maim, to torture, it took seeing this first hand, right?
Well i have a feeling it's going to take the same kind of thing happening here to shake you from this ennui filled little cocoon of a life.
We will sit we will...." He keeps going, but , i get it.
I can't slap myself in the face and suddenly be at 100 per cent, but as i piece together what's going to happen my heart starts to race, my hands flex and i feel my old friends, adrenaline and anxiety try their best to get my brain working.
Step one is disgusting, and as i jam a finger down my throat, spewing nearly liquid vomit into the sink, i hear Demitrious stop going on about spooky bullshit.
Step two starts with my swishing around a mouthfull of off brand energy drink and spitting it onto the floor. I shotgun the other 5 cans in the case , keeping the sickly sweet beverage down by sheer force of will.
"Michael, what are you doing?" The spectre says, his tone less composed, almost a little fearful.
"It's simple D " i begin, walking to my washroom, and rummaging through the medicine cabinet , "If i'm going nuts, then we are going to know about it real quick when i go down to that store and cause some shit.
If i'm not, well, we must not be all that much alike if you think i'm going to sit up here and watch some folks get killed or hurt by a haunted convenience store. "
I find what i'm looking for. And hell no i'm not going to tell you anything other than it's common and in extremely high doses it's a very potent upper.
I finish the bottle in eight heaving breaths, my pupils contracting to pinpoints.
"This isn't the kind of thing you can... punch Michael." the spectre follows me as i put together a few bits and pieces from around the apartment. I could vainly call the stubby pipe filled with solder a truncheon, and the bottle i fit into an inside pocket of a waist length coat is filled with a combination of flammable material that could be described as a malotov cocktail, if someone felt like being generous.
"Probably not, but you seem to need me around, so i'm sure you're going to step between me and whatever's down there. "
My tone is petulant, i'd much rather confidence, but at the moment it's a miracle i'm still awake, so i'll take what i can get.
"Step between? Have you not been listening? The extent of what i am, is a vision to a mentally unstable vigilante, and even that is coming at great cost and effort.
I apologise for my ...method of communication. it was callous, i'm too used to dealing with things, not people.
But if we play our cards exactly..." I interrupt the (possible) ghost before he has a chance to get going.
I can feel the cocktail of low grade stimulants starting to make me twitch, i need them right now , they keep me edgy, and mean, and much like the punk rock pioneers from new york who made those words famous, i wasn't about to take any shit from a bad xerox of me with a british accent.
"Fuck, you're under the impression this is a debate aren't you?
No, friend, i'm going down there, then i'm going to try to throw a monkey wrench into whatever situation is unfolding, win, lose or draw. " my words are clear, well, clearer than they have any right to be anyway.
"You cannot let your...lust to be a savior get us killed Michael. " Demitrious says , the black pits of his eyes locking to mine.
"D, i'm going to let you in on a little secret, because we're so closely connected and all.
I don't give a shit about being a saviour, to anyone.
I didn't find my manhood when i saw what that sick bastard did to his own family.
I broke, D.
That first night, i didn't plan on walking away.
I didn't want to.
If it had gone the way i knew it should, i'd have would up on a bullet train to hell right behind the evil prick i put down.
But instead, i just kept going deeper into the worst places the world had to offer. I'm no vigilante , or saviour, i've been trying to commit suicide by sociopath for ten years and failing miserably.
Maybe monsters can do what men can't, let's go find out. " the laugh i punctuate this monologue with is thin and sick.
It's not the whole truth, but it's enough to make D understand i'm not bluffing.
I briefly think of putting on some attempt at my...traditional outfit, but, something doesn't feel right.
If i were to put a finger on it, the concept of dressing scary in a world with real monsters, seems kind of sad.
My grin spreads as this thought gives me my first inklings of a plan.
"So, what am i getting into?" i say, breaking the silence between D and myself as we exit the lobby of the apartment building.
"You could take an 8 year course on what you are brazenly acosting, and still not get past it's names. " Demitrious shakes his head, " But you seem more like a broad strokes person. So i'll do my best.
It's old, dark and violent. Probably been around longer than most languages, and out of all the shapes it could take, now it chooses to be a store to do it's dirty work.
You can't break it, or burn it, blow it up or encase it.
It is the kind of thing you leave alone and remain thankful it only takes a handful of people from time to time. " I actually hear a bit of respect from D.
"Leave alone and remain thankful it only takes a handful of people?" I reply, my first attempt at matching Demitrious' voice. Mimicry, a skill I never thought my life would depend on.
It's far off the mark, and raises suspicion from the apparition.
"What was that?" it asks.
"Nothing, just messing with you.
So, what, even someone like you just lets this kinda thing do what it wants? Under optimal circumstances i mean. " I keep the goad subtle, sounding genuinely curious.
"In better days?
If i felt the urge i'd whisper a long dead name of mine to the void-wretch before weaponizing esoterica that it would fear out of instinct. " i hear longing in his boast.
"Fear out of instinct." i repeat, my second attempt much better than my first, but still lacking, an impression, as opposed to true mimicry.
I see a group of four men, college aged, drunk, and the only people besides myself anywhere in sight. I don't even ask if they are the intended victims as the run down old bodega seems to come to life, lights shining from within.
None of them notice, or if they do, they don't seem to care, drunken demands for snacks and poorly stored meat ring out in the night as they enter the store.
As the door closes, i feel my blood run cold despite the dutch courage and hillbilly cocaine, i should easily be able to see the men inside the store, but as the cheerful "ding" sounds , and the portal seals, i see nothing but booze, snacks and slowly rotating processed meat.
As i walk closer the lights dim and the sign flips from open to closed, though i couldn't tell you exactly when.
There's no feeling of unexplained dread, or nagging fear, no cold sweat or creepy breath on the back of my neck. But as i stand in front of the outdated, tiny bodega, i know, for a fact, death waits inside.
"I don't think we have been properly introduced, forgivable considering my short time in this little town." It's not perfect, it has a Rik Mayal flavor to it i need to iron out, but the accent is close enough. The look on Demitrious' face tells me he understands my plan.
"This is the worst plan i've seen michael, and i say this with no hyperbole. " D says, angry, shocked, and worried all at the same time.
I pretend my leering smirk is toward the store-thing , but D is my real target.
"But before introductions, we need to discuss, how can i put this politely, shows of respect.
I'm no demon prince, no, my royal days are long behind me , i need no taxes, but a token of peace, well, that would just be polite , wouldn't it?" I'm overdoing it, taking wild stabs in the dark, judging by the frantic 'stop' motions from D none of which are coming close to reality.
But i'm not trying to to do this well. I'm trying to put my new friend in a position where he can't lie, see how much he really needs me alive.
"Just...stop." D says, giving me a look that makes me do just that, " No more of your pulp novel drek.
Stand like you have a spine, don't look at one spot, watch the building as a whole.
I don't like my hand being forced Michael, but if you need to play russian roulette with our lives, so be it.
Listen carefully..."
And i do.
But then i start to feel lightheaded, a sense of panic rising in me.
Mental illness and cognitive dissonance are the worst mind fuck of any cerebral orgy.
I freeze, thinking , for a moment of what this would look like to anyone passing by. A drugged out man screaming at a broken down old store long past closing. Having imaginary conversations with hallucinations that seem to actively hate him.
For years, realising when i've gone too far down a rabbit hole to see objectively has kept me from going insane. But trying to square the evidence around me, with the rules i know about reality is causing a mental storm strong enough to make me see black spots.
Or maybe it's the drugs, who knows.
I use it, taking a heaving breath before continuing my performance with demetrious' script.
"Subtlety not really your sport?
I am Demetrious of the Grey Warrens.
I was Silvio of the twelfth legion, those that never fell.
You do not wish to see what i have yet to become.
War or parlay? My time is valuable. " With words from his own mouth, my mimicry , though lacking his otherworldly tone, is flawless.
Hesitantly the lights rise to a dim shine, the sign flips to 'open', and one sliding door opens less than half way, forcing me to squeeze through.
In an instant all thoughts of insanity are flushed from my mind.
This place feels cold and humid somehow, the dim lights casting shadows that leap and flicker.
I feel as if there are people walking all around me, but nothing stops my progress, and no matter how hard i strain to see, it's clearly just myself in the building.
Small noises, glass jars rattling, bags of long expired food rustling, every inch of this place feels alive, and angry.
I once ran across a man, a sound engineer, who had pretty much perfected a way to induce small amounts of anxiety with subsonic frequencies. Got into the wrong hands, started a cult, it's a long story. The point is, it felt like adderall jitters with a small side of isolation. And at the time it was scary as hell, mild as it may have been.
True evil though, jesus christ, It feels more like a heartbeat. A living, pulsing thing, pressing in upon you.
I lean on the counter, it feels slick, the entire place reeks of old cigarette smoke and decay.
"The four from tonight, a one time fee, and you are free to attend to whatever business you have in my neighbourhood. " i say, letting my eyes wander around the store, not showing a seconds hesitation as i see glimpses of long, thin things, legs, or tentacles maybe, start to crawl from the darkest spots in this sodium ridden little hell.
"Tread lightly Michael. " Demitrious says, i like how nervous he is, i've accepted the reality of my situation, but i'll be dead before i let someone else take the lead in this dance.
The silence drags out, with every second the creeping, almost vine like appendages extend further into the store, probing with a a dull intellect.
I jump as the cigar case hanging above my head drops a pack of mold covered stogies onto the counter, the 4 pack has 2 remaining.
I understand what this thing is saying, but i don't have time to respond. My reaction, a slight jump, causes the thing to make it's move.
Three shelves slam into the counter, surrounding me, a half second later the lucite tobacco case falls, i crouch down, intending to leap out of the rapidly closing box, but before i can, swarms of those black, pointed, finger like appendages form a grasping, scratching roof.
Panic is too generic of a word to describe how i feel, as i see these otherworldly limbs twist through the cheap aluminum shelving , i feel small, like a gnat caught in the maw of some kind hell spawned toad.
Demitrious is saying something, but i can't make it out.
Slowly the pointed appendages push toward me, inch by inch, this place wants me to see my fate coming.
With a running start, and good posture, a grown man can blast through this kind of shelving without much effort or harm. Hunched over almost half way now, that situation changes drastically.
Luck seems to be on my side, this thing can do a lot, but the shelves themselves are just good old fashioned, milled by the lowest bidder metal.
I don't burst through, i slam myself into the shelves till metal clasps give, i feel twitching limbs start to gouge and claw my skin as my shoulder separates.
I get it back into place with another hunch backed body check to the shelving. It works, but the arm goes numb, useless, a nerve deep inside twisted and pinched.
I have no more room to twist, i can't get my opposite shoulder into position to finish the job.
Something rips a chunk of cartilage from my ear, the pain is blinding, i push down the urge to rage and scream, i'm doing more than surviving, i'm playing a role.
I slam my face into the shelf, using any bit of leverage i can to force my way through. 6 solid hits bend the cheap steel enough to get my shoulders , or at least most of them, through. With one final flesh tearing lunge i free myself, sprawled on the dirty black and white tile.
I get to my feet, making a show of brushing myself off. Blood is pouring out of me from dozens of gashes, and one arm is throbbing, useless.
This thing caught onto my lie, and made me pay. Now to normal people, once you get caught in a lie, you come clean. But one thing I've learned from scumbags of all types, is that you never come clean. It doesn't matter how many times you get caught in a bold faced falsehood, just how many half sensible possibilities you can put into someone's mind.
I stop trying to ape the ancient evil living in my head. I don't even have to think of the lie, it comes pouring out of me as easily as a drunken piss.
"Okay, so I'm not, he-of-the-too-many-names. I just thought that'd be an easy shortcut to our business here." I stalk toward the counter, ignoring the screaming pain throughout my body.
The trap this place tried to spring on me is a writhing mass of steel and black, greasy appendages, I supress a shudder as I think of what would have happened had I not sacrificed a decent amount of skin to escape.
The sound of my dripping blood provides an almost metronomic beat to my one sided conversation.
"But you want to know who I really am?
I'm the regular guy who found a way to put a leash on that long winded old bastard.
I'm the off kilter motherfucker who has a couple thousand years worth of power just begging to be let loose inside of his skull.
And pedigree or not, I'm the guy who's walking out of here with 4 live bodies to do with what I will.
And for being such a greedy prick, I'll take your two youngest to replace the two you've already ruined. "
I feel... Something, by the look on D's face, I think I struck a chord with this thing.
I'd call what Demitrious whispered to me words, but the sonic bastardization of language he relayed, verbal torture, would be a better description.
I smile as I enunciate each one with precision, the effect is immediate, and worldview shaking.
The walls begin to crack in the slightest ways, the dismal presence of the place eases, but personally I notice the tiny pieces of my tounge that pop and tear themselves free, more.
It's no more than two seconds, but in that time one of my back teeth has rotted into a black stump, and a sign saying " SORRY FOR THE INCONVIENCE!" drops in front of me, suspended at eye level with old, yellowed string.
I smirk, blood dripping from my torn lips.
Slowly, a door to a back room creaks open, I make the mistake of looking inside.
I know there is no way the massive field of victims and torture implements could fit in the backroom, I can see a horizon for fuck sakes, albeit, a crimson one with a forbidding yellow sky.
I feel sickened, humbled, grasping the scale of this thing for the first time.
But as requested, two of the four men, bruised, torn, and broken, mid twenties, and full of the kind of muscle that only comes from too much free time, come stumbling out of the unassuming door.
"Outside, and please, try to run, I'll find you." I say, no room for debate.
The two men comply as their counterparts, two identical twin girls, around 13 years old walk out of wherever the hell it is this thing keeps it's victims.
They don't seem to have been treated as rough as the jocks, but i feel a dark rage as I think of what this lecherous liquor store hand in mind for them.
"Wait outside" I say, casually walking around the store.
I want to be an outright bastard, to rub this in, to make this slap in the face something this collection of bricks, mortar, and evil remembers no matter how long it lives.
But I notice something, D, he's... Flickering, is the closest thing I can think of. His voice tinny, and indistinguishable.
I don't press my luck, leaving the store with nothing more than than a distainful look.
When I actually see all four waiting outside the store, I think a little bit less of their mental capabilities.
Protip kids, if a scary bastard tells you not to run away, chances are the best possible thing you can do, is run away.
"Follow me" I say, and to my surprise, the group does, and I find myself leading them like the God damned pied piper.
I try to plan on the run, marching the group, double time until I'm sure we are far enough away the Bestial Bodega.
I take the group deep into an alley, they want to hesitate, but shock and pain have made them all compliant. It takes nothing more than a sinister look to keep them moving deep into the foreboding laneway.
D keeps trying to get my attention, but whatever dial he uses, isn't tuned right. I can make out sounds, but no words, his form fading and warping.
I lean my back against the cold brick of the alley, taking in a series of long, heaving breaths.
First the pain sets in, I slide down the wall to a sitting position, tears staring to well. I feel the quarter sized piece of ear missing, and my mind starts to go through the litany of first aid I'll have to give myself.
Then, reality sets in, this reality. I don't have a quip, or a sly defferal, just the soul crushing knowledge that I'm caught up in some situation where I'm a pawn, at best. In a world that doesn't play by any of the rules I've spent the last decade or so learning.
I cry, and I shake. When I finally pull myself together I laugh at the look of shock and confusion of the faces of the group I saved.
The first guy to speak, asks me a question that seems out of left field as he offers his hand.
"You a hunter?" he says, gym rat accent making the question all the more strange, "Name's Vasily, bro."
I shake the man's hand and notice how torn up he is, I'm surprised he's still standing now that I have the time to survey his wounds.
"Me? No, I like guns, but never was able to pull the trigger on a deer.
I'm just some asshole that bluffed his way into saving you four." I say, my gaze drifting to the static ridden form of demitrious, wishing I knew what he was trying to say.
Something about the reaction of the two men, amused, and a little too happy, sets me on edge. These guys should be calling 911 before they collapse, not asking what recreational activities I enjoy.
Then I realize, I can't see the girls in the corner of my eye any more.
I look further, not moving my head, trying to seem casual, and still, I see neither of the two children.
"That being said, I wanted to ask you guys a few things about what all went down..." I say, making my way toward a dumpster where I see a small, black booted foot peeking out.
I adapt, it's what I do.
And we've all seen this part of the horror film before. Where our survivors make their way from whatever paranormal shit storm they were in, only to find out they storm hadn't quite passed yet.
I expect my kick to encounter something immovable, or maybe the opposite, intangible. I expect to see a look of rage, or malice, on the child's face as I head off it's attack.
I do not expect to feel a rib crack, and see a girl who is tiny, even for her age skid six feet across cold pavement, clutching her chest.
The other girl runs over, shocked and panicking.
I have just enough time to process my fuck up, then I hear it.
It's loud, and wet, like a room full of people playing Yahtzee with cubes of meat.
I turn, slowly, burnt out and shell-shocked from just the horror of the past hour or so.
But not so much that I don't say "Fuck me." as I see the source of the noise.
The two men now stand over seven feet, skin a sick greenish yellow, layers of mismatched and bulging muscle cover their bodies. Their eyes are transparent, glass like orbs. Teeth, flat, thin, almost whale like. Their clothing lays in a shredded pile on the ground.
But as they stand there, hulking, reeking and nude, I see the absolute critical nature of their wounds.
The fact vasily's voice didn't change one octave sends a chill down my spine.
"Sorry man, but your in a wrong place wrong time kinda situation.
See, me and my bro here, we got messed up real bad, and if we don't get something to eat real soon, we're gonna die.
Total respect for saving us and all, but we need a specific kind of protein, and you are the only one around that has it, no homo. " He fucking laughs.
So, suicide it is I guess.
The truncheon is small, has an awkward grip, but at the end of the day, is still three pounds of solid metal wielded by someone who knows where to apply it. Even if this thing has leather skin, and cement bones, a direct blow should crack them.
And I'm okay with this being my last act. Breaking a monster's jaw, not many people can claim that as the reason for their ticket to the pearly gates.
But no, the truncheon pops like a lightbulb, I don't even know if it managed to make contact.
I try to make a break for it, but Vasily grabs me, gently, by the shirt, faster than I can track, and with a grip I have no hope of breaking.
"I get it dude, it's a shitty deal, but hey, it'll be quick at least.
You think I feel good about this? Hell no, but gotta look out for number one, know what I'm saying?" Vasily let's go as he finishes.
"Do I have time for a smoke and a drink?" I say producing the steel flask, and a pack of cigarettes.
"Sure man, have a couple if ya want, we got a little bit." The ogre like thing answers.
I uncap the flask, putting it up to my lips, a few drops of the toxic combination rolling down my tongue as I push a small plastic bundle from the back of my cheek into the neck of the container.
I wipe my lips and toss the engraved gift in a garbage can about a foot behind the giants.
I light up a smoke, looking listlessly at the stars as I sit, some standing puddle soaking my pants.
My heart starts to race as the cigarette burns halfway. A cold sweat begins to break out as I taste filter, and throw the butt into the gloom of the alley.
I light up the second, trying not to let my fraying nerves take over.
See, when I was talking about my lackluster bomb earlier, I could have probably been more specific.
As far as punch goes, no issue. As far as safety goes? Also not a problem, as long as the dry and wet ingredients are kept separate, no issues there. What this particular chemical cocktail lacks is, consistency.
It's the kind of thing idiots across the world looking for a little bit of YouTube fame have blown off hands and set fires to houses with. The kind of blunt surgery chemistry that may take place in a minute, a second or a few hours.
My hand is shaking as I grind the second cigarette butt into the ground, trying to think of some new way of stalling.
But for once in my entire God-hated life, luck is on my side.
For a half second there's a shrill tea kettle like noise, I curl into a ball, my face to the wall I was leaning against.
I don't see it, but I hear the dull, low speed Krump turn the garbage can into a tornado of steel and overpressure. Pinging shrapnel bounces through the alley.
I'm on my feet in an instant, looking for a clear path to run. But through the dim lights, and acrid black smoke, I don't think I need to.
Vasily lays on the ground, dazed, one leg severed, entrails spilling. The look of rage on the twisted monster's face as it drags itself toward me, says more than the stream of threats it utters ever could.
It's partner got the shitty end of the stick. Torn open from neck to crotch, it twitches and speaks in a language that sounds like Cyrillic anarchy.
My ears ring, and I'm sure I'm sporting a handful of new wounds, but I smile.
I kneel on the nameless giant's chest, raising a massive, jagged spur from the garbage can. My right knee slips, sinking into the thing's chest.
What I do next is half experiment and half revenge. I drive the metal shard into the beast's eye. It stops it more than any organ has a right to, but not before the makeshift knife goes in almost three quarters of an inch.
The creature bellows, still together enough to feel pain.
Vasily finds some reserve of energy, propelling himself at me, headless of the quantity of his internals he's leaving behind.
I lock eyes with him.
"The only thing you are going to do is make this worse for him." I say, panting as I twist the blade.
Try as I might, one armed, I can't manage to make the spike penetrate past the ogre's eye.
Three solid stomps though, and this nameless horror stops twitching.
I'm riding high, feeling invincible, as, with a one legged leap, I'm pinned to the ground by several hundred pounds of dying monster.
One arm pins me to the ground as vasily starts to open his jaw, it extends past his collarbone exposing a reeking maw filled with row upon row of those flat, whale like teeth.
But before he can fall upon me, something catches his attention.
One of the girls stands mere feet away, her eyes swirling black and white fractal images, the same images swirl and break in the eyes of the ogre.
I slide out from under him without protest, suddenly the least of his worries.
"I can't keep this up much longer." the girl says.
You know the saying about gift horses.
I drive my hands deep within Vasily, grabbing handfuls of broken, pulsing entrails. I don't give him a death worthy of his flippantly callous attitude, but I most certainly get an A for effort.
My brain, and my body are past their limit.
I see D, clearly.
"Where were you with some of those magic words?" I say, my vision starting to swoon.
"Michael, I've worn myself much too thin.
You've forced me to expend resources I do not have.
Now get home, if I am lucky I can give you your destination, though I'd hoped to give you guidance as well." D is frantic, but I get it.
I don't remember passing out, but I do remember waking up to 2 shocked tween faces, and a cross country map written on an old newspaper sitting on my chest.
One of the girls speaks.
" I'm Tina, this is Annette, and we were wondering if we could ask you something..."

submitted by HughEhhoule to DrCreepensVault [link] [comments]

2024.03.13 22:02 Rokaryn_Mazel Wingspan for non-gamers?

How friendly is Wingspan for non gamers?
Background: I’m a lifelong gamer going back to Avalon Hill, Steve Jackson, Warhammer, MtG, etc.
Don’t game much now, family and middle age, etc.
Wife likes classic games like cribbage, Yahtzee, backgammon, or monopoly. Wife won’t touch card games with a lot of text on them like goat lords or guillotine.
Daughter is 11 and likes games but she’s 11 so she’s not great.
We got Parks at Christmas and we love it, beautiful game. The problem is we’ve played like 10-13 times and I always win. They kind of tired of the game because of that.
Other games they can team up on me or there is enough luck to sway the results.
I’ve heard great things about Wingspan, and we like birds, but would it be fun for them? Is there any luck that makes the outcome unpredictable?

submitted by Rokaryn_Mazel to boardgames [link] [comments]

2024.03.09 01:03 Prestigious_Talk_474 Who is the Yahtzee mascot?

Does anyone know who this is on the Yahtzee score card?

submitted by Prestigious_Talk_474 to Whatisthis [link] [comments]

2024.03.08 23:05 KellerundDrachen Personality Grid for Player Charakter

I want to design a personality grid inspired by the one Yahtzee Croshaw did for Starstruck Vagabond (link for longer explanation: https://youtu.be/mjVujTLoxkQ?si=tttpNgntQTIQ6VRE).
Basically it is like the alignment card from D&D but instead of good & evil + lawful & chaotic, it makes one side of the grid about motivation (in a broad sense) and the other about the attitude toward that motivation. This results in 9 personalities for the player character. (Upbeat Egoism, Private Egoism, Bitter Egoism, Upbeat Apathy, Private Apathy, Bitter Apathy, Upbeat Altruism, Private Altruism and Bitter Altruism).
Just copying felt wrong so I wanted to make some changes and I am not satisfied, so I want to get a second or thrid opinion. The original motivations of egoism, apathy and altruism is what I ended up messing with since I found it harder to find attitudes that are as broadly applicable as optimistic, masks feelings and pessimistic.
My 3 new motivation replacements are: Idealist, Cynic and Pragmatist. I thought while not really perfect opposites idealist (focus of ideas) and pragmatist (focus on efficiency) work well enough. As for what I mean with cynicism, well the philosophical kind. A rejection of societal norms or measures of success.
In the end I don’t know if Cynic fits this grid well. I am not looking for a middle ground between idealist and pragmatist but something like another side to the „coin“. Does anyone have any ideas? Even if you don’t, if you have any examples from films, series or games which would fit my personality grid, I would be happy to hear them.
Thanks for reading.

submitted by KellerundDrachen to gamedesign [link] [comments]

2024.03.07 16:34 joyseeker77 Building the marriage you've always wanted

Hi all,
I posted awhile ago and took a brief break from this sub to focus on R. I will update that I think the break did help. I was pain shopping through other's pain and finding new reasons to feel like shit... it stopped being productive for me. I am back for now with the hope that I can approach this sub with a healthier mindset. I believe in the importance of supporting one another and wanted to lend support where I can.
The A and the aftermath of everything has really forced us to think about what we want our marriage to look like. I'm embarassed to admit we probably didn't "work" at marriage prior to all this nonsense. I think we both kind of assumed if we were meant to be it would all work out. Then, when things got dark, neither of us really knew how to turn toward each other rather than away. We were both waiting for the other to "pull the plug". Insert a lot of resentment and contempt on both sides. None of this excuses WH's affair BUT this is an area we are focused on correcting to strengthen our marriage as we work to rebuild. I know we would never have successful R without doing this work.
So here are some marriage updates in striving to have the marriage we truly want. We are very focused on rebuilding and taking advantage of this effort to create the relationship we want going forward. I feel like this positive emphasis has been really helpful to me in my healing process. It's easy to focus on the past hurt (and I still do as I am still healing) but it has been incredibly helpful to focus on the bright future we are envisioning together...

Sharing the same bed. Well before the A, we had gotten into the habit of sleeping separately due to different sleep patterns and sleep habits. It started years ago and then just became how it was -- but when things got tough it meant we had no "guaranteed" point of connection in the evening. We would often part ways after the kids were in bed and spend our evenings separately. No sharing about our day. No together time. Well, no more. We are back to sharing a bed and suddenly all those sleep issues... gone. I love cuddling up at night and he often reads me to sleep. Knowing we have this point of connection each day has been huge for us. I think there are other ways to establish this but this has been our way.
Intentional together time/enjoying each other's company. We are very intentional about making time for one another every single day. It might be a 15 minute chat about our day, discussing questions from a "relationship card" set I purchased, playing a round of Yahtzee, sitting by the fire pit, etc. Just something to enjoy one another's company. Previously we were so caught up in our own shit and, quite frankly, didn't really like to be around each other and so we had pretty minimal together time. Our negative interactions were probably ten to one on our positive interactions. Maybe a date here and there but they often ended in arguments... we were a mess. Anyway, now we make time for each other every day and focus on positive interaction. We are fortunate that our kids are a bit older so this can be relatively easy to pull off but we still have to be intentional about it. We also try to do one "out of the house" date each month. This has really helped us reconnect and remember that we like each other. We still have arguments and I have already cried once this week in processing something A-related but we have a lot of positive interactions as well. We turn toward one another in the good and difficult moments. A long way away from the stonewalling and compartmentalizing.
Parenting as a team. It is probably fairly obvious at this point that our relationship had plenty of issues before and during the A and our approach to parenting was not immune. My WH had a lot of resentment toward me about my career success (being worked on in IC and MC) and this resentment would bleed over into him accusing me of taking him for granted for the things he did do. We would get into tit-for-tat arguments about who was doing more and were both convinced the other was right. Now... we work as a team. With the underlying resentment and contempt for one another being addressed and fixed, it's amazing how much bettter we are at recognizing when one of us needs to tag in/out. We have better communication, focus on what needs done rather than "who did what", and WH picks up the slack some weeks while I do others. It truly feels like he is on my side rather than my adversary. Honestly, we are now better parents.
Active relationship work. We are in counseling but we also do a lot on our own to actively work on our marriage and strengthen our connection. We use an app that gives us one question a day that we both answer -- the questions often help us explore our marriage and/or learn about one another (even after nearly 15 years together). I have also looked at multiple lists of "questions" related to infidelity and we have talked through so many different things related to the A, leading up to the A, after the A, etc. and a lot of stuff unrelated to the A. WH brings questions as well and is good about offering space for us to talk through what I need to (rather than me always having to ask for it). Making time for these conversations has been invaluable. We like to have them as we sit by the fire pit with a box of tissues nearby. We had a very cathartic conversation about the A on New Year's Eve this year and it felt like it "unlocked" a new healing level for me. These conversations are often very emotional but we try to end them on a positive note. We have a few songs that are or have now become very meaningful to us... we play them and sometimes slow dance by the fire or in our kitchen.

Anyway, this is where we are. I will say my WH is truly committed to this work. If he were not, we wouldn't be where we are. It truly takes both of you wholeheartedly committing. There can be no half-assing it or running because it's too hard/hurts too much. My WH still fights guilt and shame but has gotten better about not letting those emotions get in the way of supporting me as I need to be supported. He works on that in IC and we discuss it together sometimes. This is the hardest thing I have ever done but I am hell bent on making something beautiful out of all this destruction.
Love to you all as we carry on and fight for ourselves and the ones we love.
ETA: I would love to hear from you all on what you're doing to create the marriage you want for your future.

submitted by joyseeker77 to AsOneAfterInfidelity [link] [comments]

2024.03.07 01:50 Word1-Word2-4Numbers 23 [M4F] #Idaho/Online - Looking for conversation for now, perhaps more?

Hi,
I'm bored, lonely, and in desperate need of friends of the opposite gender. Most of this problem is my fault for not going out and seeking more social activities, but that's not my jam anyways so here I am on Reddit instead.
About me: I like playing games of all varieties. UNO, Yahtzee, whatever board/card games are lying around, you can probably convince me to play it. For video games, I mainly play Nintendo stuff like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. I do own a PC as well, though my game library can be counted on one hand right now. If you play any games and are looking for another player, I'd likely be down to try some things out. Except LoL. I am never playing that.
Another thing I like is sports, either to watch or play. For watching, hockey is absolutely my favorite, and I'll watch football or baseball if it's on from time to time. For playing, bowling is my go-to, and I consider myself quite good at it. I also quite like baseball and am probably looking for a league this summer (and hey if we live close enough we could possibly dominate a co-ed league).
One last thing before I stop blathering about myself, my main method of communication is Discord, so if we manage to actually hit it off feel free to ask for my info (I am not a very forward person so more likely than not I will choose to not take the shot rather than risk a miss, for better and for worse).
What I'm looking for: At this point just anyone who will talk to me is welcome, although like I said in the beginning and in the tag I'm primarily looking for women. I'm a bit socially awkward, and one of the things I hate doing most is initiating conversation by sending the first message. When it comes to replying, though, I'm much much better. If you like talking people's ears off about whatever, or want to bounce story ideas (or whatever kind of ideas) off someone, I'll do my best to be of assistance.
I don't even know if anyone will respond to this, but if this does find its way to you somehow I look forward to our conversations!

submitted by Word1-Word2-4Numbers to r4r [link] [comments]

2024.03.05 22:12 TiToim 1 year fully* into the hobby, here's my favorite games

Six months ago I've made a post in continuation to a post I've made nine months ago describing my favorite games coming into the hobby as a Chess and Magic: The Gathering fan. This one is probably my last post on the topic, just so I can share how my personal preference on board gaming changed over time. Maybe one more in 5, 10 years? :)
As usual, Chess and Magic are my long time favorites so I won't be putting them on the list. I'm just mentioning them as a reference today.
Also, this time I will make it a bit different, and I will share some thoughts on some categories of games that I've boiled down on my collection. I will put some that I really liked and some that I dislike. I will also share my list of favorite individual games, and while they may not match, the overall idea of categories is how I'm currently describe the games I like best.
So, here are the list; my current favorite board games are:

Bohnanza! Cosmic Encounter! Negotiation games! I just like something about board games that video games don't provide: human interaction. I personally vastly prefer games that players and whom you are playing with matters. Personal player expression, table talk, intrigue are all things I love in games. People always have fond memories on every single match, and so do I. Others I like to mention come from Chinatown to Catan, even through the later is a bit overhated here. I also have Sheriff of Nottingham and Goodcritters, for that matter. It is the only genre on this list that is hard to miss the table or fall flat. Even quick ones as Pit. Looking forward on getting Zoo Vadis.
7 Wonders, 7 Wonders Duel, Drafting Games! Open or closed. While I love negotiation games, 7 Wonders is the game that really got me into the hobby, and is probably my second favorite game overall, above many others from the previous section. And Jaipur, while some will say isn't exactly a drafting game (yes it is), the game that hit the table the most. What I like the most about drafting games is how lightly they can be taken, while also providing some "gamer" sense. People I play, either veteran or casual players, are always talking about everyday life stuff while playing a good draft, and the entire table is always playful. I love the Light Strategy genre as a whole, and drafting games are key to that. Me and wife play a lot of Patchwork, and we are waiting for our Splendor Duel to come. The only one that fell flat on our table was Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig due to its scoring system. Other games I like are Lost Cities, Point Salad, Sushi Go and Citadels. But the later one also falls into the next category.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Social/Deduction/Bluffing. I like social games. I like deduction games. And I like bluffing. Simple as that. Merge them and we have a blast. People screaming, people fighting, glass breaking (yeah it happened). Nothing as an accusation to change the room. Just the same things I love in negotiation games: interaction, table talk, intrigue. Many fun stories to tell. One fun moment I remember well is playing Mascarade with my cousins. Until the end, it was our first play, I thought it was just okay, nothing special. But, in the end, someone scream "I AM WHAAT???". And oh boy, we HAD to play it again. Coup and Love Letter are other great social deduction games, and Codenames is our to-go pure deduction one. We recently got Deception: Murder In Hong Kong and are anxious to play. The only one that fell flat on our table was The Resistance. I think the reason is that we didn't have much information to discuss other than pointing fingers on who participated on most failed missions. Maybe someday I will try Avalon. Honorable mentions to Skull and Cockroach Poker on the bluffing side.

Now, some weird categories/games that don't represent a trend on our group, but are great to mention.

Dominion/Ascension/Star Realms. I love the three games. But I like them digital. Otherwise, they are a bit slow to setup, even Star Realms which is way smaller than the other two.
Zombicide is the only coop that worked on our group. Maybe it is the immersion that it brings to the table. Hanabi didn't quite work, just as Regicide and Dungeon Fighter. Maybe I'm considering a group that is too large to mention and should divide it. But it is easier to put it this way. Never played Pandemic tho.
Tigris & Euphrates is the only "heavier" game I like and refuse to sell, even though my wife heavily dislikes it, no pun intended. It isn't even that heavy!
Area control is in a difficult position here as a genre. I loved Blue Lagoon, Small World of Warcraft, Mexica and El Grande, but they are so hard to bring to the table, mostly due to setup time. I have some great inserts, but maybe some tips to help? I've sold my Blue Lagoon and El Grande, please help before the other two get the axe!
Yahtzee! Is also warm here. King of Tokyo and Bang! The Dice Game are also games that I like but simply don't play too much, even though the later also falls in the social deduction category.
Both Unmatched and Summoner Wars got the axe. It simply didn't work here. Maybe my MTG background was distorting my perception on how card game duel games should be. Other one that was also sent to the gulag was Watergate. Exploding Kittens is still here, tho!
High Society won its battle against For Sale! While they both have their differences, we didn't get as much laughs in For Sale as people kept saying, and we missed the tension from High Society. Want to play Ra tho, maybe other auction games.

So that is it! Lastly I will just put a quick list on my current top favorites so you guys can complain!

Bohnanza
7 Wonders
Dominion (digital only)
Cosmic Encounter
Chinatown
ONUW
High Society
Love Letter
Coup
Citadels
(if you exclude Dominion) Camel Up! (2nd Edition)

Cya in 100 years!

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2024.02.27 02:53 mynameisteenager Warlock plays patron in cards for his soul back. How to run?

If you are or know a Selkie named Koo, turn away now.

In my campaign, one warlock has had a falling out with his patron, resulting in having his powers stripped. Now, the player wants to figure out how to get his soul back. We've established that the patron, a fire djinn, is a big gamblecard player, so I thought it would be fun to suggest that the warlock challenge his patron to a game of some sort to get his soul back (else forever submit to servitude).
For the game, I was thinking of possibly a dice equivalent of pokeblackjack, an abridged Yahtzee/farkle, or something from this post.
I'd like it if the warlock or other party members could interfere to try to improve their odds, cheating or otherwise.
I'm looking for any suggestions about what game to choose or any other tips on how you'd run this encounter!

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2024.02.23 22:04 Krispydave28 Need Feedback Finishing Boardgame Prototype

I've been developing a simple adventure style boardgame, and I'm wondering if anyone has tips on making a proto type. I'm considering buying up other games that have the parts and pieces I would need or could use, and modifying them to suit the purpose. Try to neatly cover a board and box in my own art. I'm just wondering if there are any services for this? Is there anyone on fiverr doing this sort of thing? lol I'm also looking for help with the art. willing to use ai but don't really want to unless you've got a great recommendation.
The game requires

a box
a boards
18-20 Adventurer cards (these would be thick card board, about 3"x3")
6 character tokens (thinking of using dnd minis to start for the extra detail)
144 item cards (these would also be 3"x3" but will be tinner card)
4-6 six sided dice and one special d6 (I'm trying to represent stat symbols with the different sides)
100-200 coins (was thinking cardboard pop out coins for final draft, but anything works for now)
character sheets (was thinking a pad of paper like Yahtzee score cards but instead with space to keep track of stats) about 2"x4"
monster manual (this will be a small booklet of encounters)
instructions
Anything helps and I'm looking to check out whatever. thanks

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