Monday, February 24, 2020

All Roads Lead to... (Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition)

It was my baby's fourth birthday on the weekend. Does it make me sound old to say that I can't believe how fast the time has gone? It was a very fun, teddy bear themed birthday weekend, but Sunday night ended with Logan and Jenn (brother- and sister-in-law) staying after the kids were in bed. Logan and Sharayah got into a deep conversation, so I looked through the games they brought and forced Jenn to teach me one of their newer ones.

railroad ink deep blue edition board game

Friday, February 21, 2020

Most Anticipated Kickstarter Games Being Delivered in 2020

I guess we're already a little bit into 2020 now and so this is a little late in coming, but it seems like everyone is thinking about the top games for this year. There's a giant (and I mean giant) poll you can take on BoardGameGeek for your most anticipated games (I tried filling it in twice and both times got overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices and gave up). To be honest, I've been spending so much time working on my own board game that I haven't spent as much time looking ahead to new games as I usually would at this time. That being said, there are still some games I cannot wait for!

Image result for dinoblivionDinoblivion - this comes to us from the same designer as Goblivion and is a sequel of sorts. It is a 1v1 or solo deckbuilder, but with some newly added elements. I'll be honest, I haven't looked really closely at the differences, but this was an instant back for me. Goblivion was my surprise game of 2019 (it rose to be my second favourite solo game). You can find my full review here and two playthroughs here and here. Jean-Francois, the wonderful mind behind Goblivion Games, is also a stand-up guy. I actually had a video conference call with him last week to get some advice on Kickstarting a game in Canada. He gave me a lot of great ideas and if my game funds later this year, he deserves credit for his insights. This game is due in June and according to Jean-Francois, everything is running smoothly. It'll be here just in time for some summer gaming!

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Slow Motion Tetris (Blokus)

Most of my gaming is pretty thematic. I like games with stories, characters, choices, things that really make you feel invested and engaged in the game. On Valentine's Day I had the chance to fall back in a love with a very theme-less game: Blokus. I took my daughter to a local cafe and they had a copy for us to play. It was a good reminder that if you're not playing a solo board game, the theme might not matter as much if you have someone great to play it with. This inspired me to do a little review for Blokus and hopefully expose new gamers to the game or help some of you veterans to fall in love again as well.

blokus board gameWhat is Blokus? Basically, it's a block laying game. You have a variety of different sized blocks (very Tetris-like) that you are trying to play on the board. Your opponents are attempting the same thing. The catch - there isn't enough room on the board for everyone. Also, you cannot play one of your pieces in a way that any edges touch the edge of another of your pieces. However, you must play it so it is touching at least on diagonal of another of your pieces. So you need to try and find ways to fit your pieces in close to yours and between your opponents.

Brownies and Blokus (Blokus)

My 6 year old daughter and I were able to sneak away for a little daddy-daughter date on Valentine's Day while my wife took our almost four year old to a party with some friends. We went to a local coffee shop that had some surprisingly amazing brownies.

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

"But It Is Not This Day!" (Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated)

I'm not sure what happened, but somewhere along the line I missed writing about a game. I thought I was 0-3 going into last night's game, but I was actually 0-4. Yay me! I did write about the last game and it was my least favourite one. Not only because I got destroyed (although that didn't help), but also because as a group we couldn't figure out what to focus on and what our goals were. Since that was the case, Brennan raced ahead (as he does no matter what iteration of Clank! we're playing).

Well, we came up with a team strategy for game number five. I'm trying really hard not to give away any spoilers, but game five was VERY different from the first four. That's all I'll say about that. So, in order to fully explore this newness, we decided on the following strategies.

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

This Just Got Real (Donisi)

Well, this board game thing just got real. March 20-22 is GobFest in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (North America, Earth...too much?), our local board game convention. I haven't attended in the past, but I have been to their sister convention in Calgary, FallCon. It was a blast! One of my favourite parts was playing the prototype games. It was even cooler to see a few of the game I played there roll their way to a successful Kickstarter.

Well, it's our turn! We're bringing a prototype (not 100% done, mind you) to GobFest. We're hoping to get a lot of great feedback and some people excited about our upcoming game, Donisi (haven't heard anything about it? Check out my posts about designing the game here). What we learn there we'll take with us into putting together our complete prototype for EPOC, Edmonton's Prototype Convention (May 22-24). This will be our most polished prototype and hopefully the last big kick at the can before we get it ready for publishing.

Wow. Exciting times! If you're in Edmonton during March or May, we hope to see you there!