On Monday night I attempted to embody the rallying cry of the 1 player guild on BoardGameGeek: "together we game alone." If you've been following my blog, you know that I've been working through Clank! Legacy with my gaming group. We had previously booked our next game night for April 6, last night. The problem with that is (in case you haven't noticed) that we are currently working in a very socially distant world because of COVID-19.
Well, we decided to forge ahead anyway! I set up a double camera system so that my friends could see what was going on, but basically I was playing "solo" because I was in charge of every component, every card, every secret, every reading, etc... I don't think you can see any spoilers from this distance, so here is my set up.
I rigged up this rolling overhead camera from Duplo. I had the boards and cards laid out underneath and could just roll it back and forth so my friends could see everything. This worked really well except that my iPhone battery was eaten up fast so I kept having to plug it into my Chromebook to stay charged and then I couldn't roll it far enough! Stirling said he'll get me a longer cord for next time.
This little guy was my card holder so they could just switch screens to see what cards they had to play for that turn. This worked really well, except for the fact that due to camera quality or bandwidth, they weren't able to read the words on the cards and so I had to read those every turn. They could see the basic symbols and are familiar with the cards, so it still worked out.
The technology mostly worked, except apparently I was yelling into the microphone and kept my wife up. Which was bad, because it took us five hours to play the game and we weren't done until midnight. Was it worth it?
YES! Did we have tech issues? Yes. Did I scramble and run all around my dining room all night long? Yes. Did it take 5 hours instead of the usual 2-3? Yes. Did I eat too much junk food while I was waiting for them to decide what they were going to do on their turn? Yes. In spite of all of that (because of?) it was a blast. I got to see and talk to my best friends while enjoying our favourite game. Yes, it was different and had it's challenges, but we're already scheduling our next game night.
"The game, game!" you're probably yelling at your screen. "Who won the game? It HAD to be you because you were in control of everything and could have easily cheated without anyone knowing."
Yes, you'd think so, wouldn't you? Except I am not a cheater. I leave that up to my sister-in-law who is a compulsive cheater. Well, what happened then? Here are my reflections on the game.
(1) Brennan is so good. How does he always wins? He finds the best card interactions to maximize his points and always has a million dollars, too. We need to gang up on him more. I came in third though, so that's ok! Of course, there were only three of us...
(2) It's important to read and follow all the directions carefully. We came across something odd during this game - there was no way to "win" the game. Obviously, Brennan still won, but to complete the main objective, it wasn't possible. We did some digging and looking back in the story and turns out that 2 or 3 games ago, we made a big mistake. We forgot to read something and forgot to add something. This is part of why the game took five hours because I had to do so much and do it all by myself!
(3) This game is SO MUCH FUN! I love the story, love the cards, love the humour, love the gameplay, love it! It probably isn't an entry level legacy game (are there any of those?), but if you're a veteran gamer, this is a must play.
Another successful night of gaming. Well, by successful I mean we completed the game and had fun, not that I won. I'm 1-5 thus far. Stirling has won one and Brennan the other four. When do we gang up on him and kill him?
Well, we decided to forge ahead anyway! I set up a double camera system so that my friends could see what was going on, but basically I was playing "solo" because I was in charge of every component, every card, every secret, every reading, etc... I don't think you can see any spoilers from this distance, so here is my set up.
This little guy was my card holder so they could just switch screens to see what cards they had to play for that turn. This worked really well, except for the fact that due to camera quality or bandwidth, they weren't able to read the words on the cards and so I had to read those every turn. They could see the basic symbols and are familiar with the cards, so it still worked out.
The technology mostly worked, except apparently I was yelling into the microphone and kept my wife up. Which was bad, because it took us five hours to play the game and we weren't done until midnight. Was it worth it?
YES! Did we have tech issues? Yes. Did I scramble and run all around my dining room all night long? Yes. Did it take 5 hours instead of the usual 2-3? Yes. Did I eat too much junk food while I was waiting for them to decide what they were going to do on their turn? Yes. In spite of all of that (because of?) it was a blast. I got to see and talk to my best friends while enjoying our favourite game. Yes, it was different and had it's challenges, but we're already scheduling our next game night.
"The game, game!" you're probably yelling at your screen. "Who won the game? It HAD to be you because you were in control of everything and could have easily cheated without anyone knowing."
Yes, you'd think so, wouldn't you? Except I am not a cheater. I leave that up to my sister-in-law who is a compulsive cheater. Well, what happened then? Here are my reflections on the game.
(1) Brennan is so good. How does he always wins? He finds the best card interactions to maximize his points and always has a million dollars, too. We need to gang up on him more. I came in third though, so that's ok! Of course, there were only three of us...
(2) It's important to read and follow all the directions carefully. We came across something odd during this game - there was no way to "win" the game. Obviously, Brennan still won, but to complete the main objective, it wasn't possible. We did some digging and looking back in the story and turns out that 2 or 3 games ago, we made a big mistake. We forgot to read something and forgot to add something. This is part of why the game took five hours because I had to do so much and do it all by myself!
(3) This game is SO MUCH FUN! I love the story, love the cards, love the humour, love the gameplay, love it! It probably isn't an entry level legacy game (are there any of those?), but if you're a veteran gamer, this is a must play.
Another successful night of gaming. Well, by successful I mean we completed the game and had fun, not that I won. I'm 1-5 thus far. Stirling has won one and Brennan the other four. When do we gang up on him and kill him?
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