Board Games

When I say board game the first thing that popped into your head is probably Scrabble or Monopoly. Though these are both brilliant games, it's not nearly an accurate description of the phrase. Before computers, TV or even radio, board games were one of the most enjoyed indoor pastimes. Some board games have prevented all-out war between nations. Some games have remained unchanged for millennia. And still today board games are a popular pastime in the slightly-less-than-mainstream circles, global sales climbing 23.5% in 2008.

Broadly speaking you can split board games into a few categories, which I'll cover one at a time.

Abstract

These games tend to focus on strategy more than story. Almost everyone can play Chess to some degree, but it's not nearly the only game of its kind. A personal favourite of mine is Go, a Japanese game that evokes the same strategic thinking as Chess but with far simpler rules and a certain degree of elegance that few games can achieve. Another 2-player game I enjoy is Mancala, an old African/Asian game of moving marbles or stones around little pots. For its simplicity in rules there is some amazing strategic depth.

Party Games

It happens every so often that I would be hanging out with friends and a bottle or two of wine, and someone would say "Hey let's play 30 Seconds!" This is a typical party game. Easy to learn, fun to play, with little downtime between turns. Another good example is Clue (I still have a copy called Cluedo, when it was British). Party games tend to finish in under an hour, before it becomes repetitive.

Family Games

Games that are easy to learn and easy to play, and often don't require quite as much strategy. Good examples would be Boggle, Scrabble and Upwords (pictured above). Most family games also make good party games, such as Pictionary.

Eurogames

This is where I got into board games. Eurogames derive the title from the fact that the first games of this style came from Germany and became very popular very quickly. The games tend to have a basic back story to give context and theme, but what makes them most intriguing is that each game has a unique gameplay mechanic that is found in very few other games if any. The most famous eurogame is Settlers of Catan, but Carcassonne, Ticket To Ride (links to video review) and the newcomer Dominion are all worth a mention.

Fantasy Games
These games sacrifice simplistic rules for depth of story and intense scenarios. The games tend to play longer (2-6 hours) and have a very thematic style, usually fantasy but sometimes based on a TV series or game. I wouldn't recommend these games to the beginning board gamer, but if you've played Magic: The Gathering or some form of roleplaying such as D&D you'll fit right in here. Actually, the World of Warcraft game is quite popular... My friends and I have been playing Runebound (pictured above), which is an RPG in board game form. There's also a game for Battlestar Gallactica that many people are raving about.

Wargames

Warning: Only for the hardcore. These games typically take months of buying units, painting them and researching combat strategies. The rules are complex enough to emulate real-life warfare. If you enjoy RTS games you can try this, but it's not for the beginner or even intermediate player, and you'll need quite a bit of cash to get started. The most famous in this genre is Warhammer 40,000 (pictured above). There are also boardgames that give the same type of combat style without the hassle of amassing an army, though the games can still take a few hours to play. I would recommend HeroScape(very pretty) or Warriors of God.

So to conclude, I believe there's a board game out there for everyone. And once you're hooked you'll keep looking for something "the same but different", that will slowly introduce you to the wonderful world of board games. Places to go for more information would be BoardGameGeek, Board Games With Scott and The Dice Tower.

What board games do you enjoy? Comments welcome.

Good Old Days

It turns out that there are still many people that enjoy a good game of pen-and-paper roleplaying.

So I went in search of my old player's manual for Vampire: The Masquerade(pictured left). Upon finding my old character sheet the memories and nostalgia came flooding back, of late nights in a small theatre with a group of drama students pretending to be vampires. The epic adventures that played out there were the stuff of legend.

But what makes the games by White Wolf so amazing (and a little scary) is the fact that these future-changing revolutions could be taking place right under our noses, for real, and we would never know...

I called up a few friends and asked around and everyone seemed keen, so we all got together one evening with the player's manual and worked out our characters. We all then spent the next week thinking about our characters and developing them from mere pieces of paper to living (I use this term lightly) breathing members of society.

If you're familiar with Dungeons & Dragons you'll know how most roleplaying games work: The chronicler (a.k.a. narrator a.k.a. dungeon master) tells the story up to a point, then stops. It's the duty of each player to state what their character would do in that situation. A few minutes of stats-comparing and sometimes arguing commences, followed by a round or two of dice-rolling (with dice that have between 4 and 20 sides). Then the story can continue based on their successes or failures. What made The Masquerade unique in its day was focus on the theatrical more than the mathematical. Your character sheet was only there as a reminder. The real character, with full background story and entire family trees and political structures, was in your head. During play, when a challenge is presented a quick calculation and a single dice-roll is all that was needed to find out what happens. The story can then continue. It made for much faster paced gameplay and much more amazing stories. And indeed, the stories were told, because when you retell the tale of your adventure you portray it as if you are the person who experienced it, not the character sheet!

Over the last week I've been combing the internet for information on The Masquerade, but it was replaced by a game called The Requiem(pictured right). No longer are the vampires an entity on their own. They are part of a much greater and sinister system known as the World of Darkness in which anything can happen, from ghosts to werewolves, in the tradition of horror stories the world over. I'm doing my best to find the books required to start playing the newer game, but not before the adventure of our Masquerade has concluded, which can take up to 3 months of weekly meetings.

With PC and console games as sophisticated as they are these days, it's good to know that we can still enjoy a good old-fashioned game of pretend, even if it is with some help...

The games also encourage you to read, so I find it especially suited for players in their low teens who are still in touch with their imagination, but who get bored when reading a book like we old people (early twenties). Once you've played a few hours with friends, you start wondering about the story behind the story. And it's all there. Beside the player's manuals and a guide for storytellers, there's a whole selection of books that widen the fictitious universe. Some of them have nothing to do with how the game is played, but are simple storybooks that serve to enrich the mental image you have of this world beneath our everyday lives.

However, it's not for everybody. The whole theme of this genre is very dark and brooding. If you struggle to keep a straight face while telling a ghost story, you would be better off playing a science fiction or fantasy game. World of Darkness is for the goths among us. Serve with Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema and especially Katatonia.

To Close: If you've never played a pen and paper roleplaying game, there's a very big gap in your education. In my opinion it's something that everyone needs to do at least once in their life.

Words:
"The cleansing astringence of rejection" is the most ridiculous phrase I have ever used in a comic."
-Questionable Content

But is it cheating?

Here's an interesting question: If you find a glitch in a game that helps you win, is it cheating?

As (almost) always, I'm using Counter-Strike as an example. Even though it has been mostly replaced by Team Fortress 2, there are still die-hard fans that play it. (or got so good at it that they're no good at anything else and just call it gay so they don't have to play it and lose)

When Counter-Strike first came out, you could do all your usual things like walk, run, shoot, jump, etc. Everything you expect from a first person shooter. However when you jumped you seemed to travel forward marginally faster than when running. Avid games started misusing this fact in what became known as "bunny hopping", when a player moves faster than usual by continually jumping, like a bunny rabbit. Because it also makes you harder to shoot, many people see this as a trick used by the elite, and thus acceptable. Others see it as cheating or unsportsmanlike.

In most variations of Quake 3 Arena, you can bunny hop, but there's an added trick: Rocket jumping: A player fires a rocket straight into a nearby floor or wall and uses the shock wave to push them further, higher, or in some cases to unreachable sections of the map.

The question is: If the game allows it, is it really cheating? Or are you simply exploiting a vulnerability? Some argue that because the glitch is available to any player who cares to use it, it is legal. Others argue that it goes against the original spirit of the game.

In Dungeons and Dragons, there's nothing preventing you from studying the map before you start playing, especially if you're playing from a pre-written book of quests. But it would have a negative effect during play, because you have a rough idea of where in the dungeon you are. Is it considered cheating? Yes. Why? Because it's unsportsmanlike and just plain spoils the game for the other players. Does that stop you from reading tips and tricks for that specific quest? No.

The same argument applies to any sport or game. You're there to have fun, not just to win. If the other players complain that you're camping or bunny hopping, stop it. Can you even play the game if you're not allowed to hop around like an insane person?

How about pool? An integral part of the game is snookering, where you place your own object ball between your opponent's object balls and the cue ball, preventing a clear shot. That's not the cheating I'm referring to. I'm talking about a jump shot, where the player would force his cue between the cue ball and the table surface, effectively scooping the ball into the air and over the snookering ball. Most, if not all (I'm no expert) cue sport authorities prohibit this type of shot. Some even go as far as prohibiting massé (hitting cue ball from above, making it spin, effectively curveballing it). But I've played in many bars and pool halls where this shot is perfectly legal and even considered a talent. Is it part of the game or are you cheating?

You can win by exploiting the rules, but is the win quite as sweet? Will you laugh about it with your friends over a coupla beers afterwards? Or will they ditch you and go drink on their own?

I guess the only conclusion I can come to is that all affected parties must decide beforehand whether certain things are allowed, and adjust the rules of the game accordingly, such as prohibiting jump shots in pool. The assigned dungeon master can keep the quest a secret until the sitting. In the case of Counter-Strike the bunny hop was removed by forcing the player's model to regain his balance after jumping (has to take a few steps, then continue running), effectively removing the advantage gained by jumping without preventing the player from jumping. In the case of Quake 3 Arena, it has become part of the game. In War§ow it has become part of the game's core design.

So let's attribute it to evolution. No game developer or board game creator can think of every possible condition of gameplay, nor do they want to. If the rules were complicated enough to be fill a book large enough to be sold separately, would the game still be fun ? (did I just insult D&D?)



Words:
"Genius lurks in everyone"
-Crash, Junkyard Megawars